Parlour Song

The delicious Jonathan Cake was, to me, the star of the show. The restless and mysterious neighbor Dale, the villain, the foil, a victim of sorts. OK, who are we kidding - he stood downstage right - front and center - in his sexy H&M box cut undies showing off his uber-gorgeous bod. OK, moving on...

The acting was top notch all around. You should expect nothing less from the Atlantic. Chris Bauer and Emily Mortimer (Ned and Joy) round out the cast of 3 in this dramatic work. The story is a multi-level piece. It takes place in the here and now - the present - the literal, but the undertones of the abstract, of pent-up frustration, of insanity and regret clearly being communicated at the same time.

Instead of my telling you about it - why don't you watch the playwright, Jez Butterworth and the director, Neil Pepe along with the cast tell you in their own words. Check out the video from the Atlantic Theater Company:

Cymbeline

Late in his life, William Shakespeare started writing works for indoor performance with "modern" stages. Well, i think he also lost his touch a bit with this one. At Lincoln Center this season at the Vivian Beaumont Theater he seemed to throw in everything in his bag of tricks - - an evil woman marries the king just to get her son to be next in line to the throne - an old man reveals that he stole the king's two sons years ago - and those two sons (um, gorgeous!) saved the kingdom - - the king's daughter (Imogen) takes a vow of celibacy since he won't let her be with the man she married because he's a commoner - - this very same man is approached by this hunky man (shirt off in the baths was a nice touch) who bet him he could get his still wife to betray him and let him, shall we say, bang her - - he in turn tricks the woman and does not get in her pants, but steals her ring and watches her sleep -- so he tells the husband he won - which causes the husband to cast her off and hate her.... and on... and on... and on... there is a war with the Romans... poison potions... battles in the woods.... death... and that's only act I. Act II rounded out the performance in just about 3 hours. Oh brother!

Unremarkable performances by Felicia Rachad as the queen and John Cullum as the king (he's lost under all the King's Robes). Michael Ceveris (deceived commoner husband) and John Pankow (his devoted man-servant) hold the stage, but the story deals them a raw deal. Martha Plimpton, last seen in another LCT production (The Coast of Utopia) gave a valiant effort in a touch, gender-bending role.

Who knew Shakespeare wrote for As the World Turns?! Do me a favor - stick to Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar.