Category Archives: Theater, Movie, Event, Misci Reviews

Not the NY Times – Metropolitan Diary

Idiots at the Opera, New York Stories, Politics and Culture, Theater, Movie, Event, Misci Reviews, true story

Coming home on the 1 train, a robust gray haired woman got on – along with many others – at 66th Street. I offered her my seat, but she said in a native accent as thick as our own, “No thanks I’ve been sitting for three hours.” She looked at my better-half, “Why don’t you offer it to him?”
I said, “I tried, but he’s been sitting too.”
She noticed his Playbill in hand and asked, “What did you see?”
Me, “Waiting for Godot. Patrick Stewart. Ian McKellan.”
“How was it?”
“It was a preview,” I said diplomatically.
The better half shrugged in agreement.
“I just came from the Met.”
“What opera?”
“Rigoletto.”
“Oh, the Vegas Rigoletto.” I said.
She did an eye-roll. She blamed Peter Gelb. As we headed uptown there was conversation about the unfortunate Eugene Onegin, as well as some other new productions under Gelb’s tenure, including the Tosca which she saw and we are going to.  Her theater recommendation was 12th Night with Mark Rylance – so we’re going. She mentioned $26 rush tix. Always a good thing.
God, I love this city.

And btw Godot and No Man’s Land two plays in repetoire have rush tix going for $30 each including facility fee (cash or credit).Tix may be available at TKTS as well, but rush is probably a better deal. They start selling them at 10:00 am day of the performance at the box office.  I got there at around 8, but could have come later as the line never got very long.  As for the opera, that’s another cheap date for the savvy.

(If you find any of these posts useful, or even mildly entertaining, you might want to check out some of Marion’s other work, like her novel or a shorter work.)

The Lady On the Line (And Some Hot Tips About the TKTS Booth)

New York Stories, Politics and Culture, Theater, Movie, Event, Misci Reviews, true story, , , , , , , , ,

It was late July, after the heat wave had broken, and I was on a mission – to obtain half-price tickets to The Explorer’s Club. The show would be closing soon, and the better-half – who wanted to see it – was about to take off on one of his work-related do-gooding missions.

I got on the Play Express line at 2:00, an hour before it opened. The Play Express line, for those unfamiliar with the Times Square discount tickets booth, sells tickets only to non-musical plays. It’s located on the west side of the kiosks. Not only is this line much shorter than the two other general lines on either side of the kiosks, but the odds of getting to see the show you want to see are high, as most people who come to TKTS want musicals. I knew arriving early would get me one of the first spots.I’d be out quickly once the booths opened.

(Hot Tip #1 – Always check online for what time they open as it’s different on different days.)

I was the fourth person on the Play Express line, and was having a lovely chat with the woman in front of me. She was from South Carolina by way of Ohio, had retired there with her husband to be near her daughter and the grandkids. Wasn’t sure she particularly liked it, missed her friends and the feeling of being in a real city. It was her first time in New York City, a big anniversary trip, and she and her better half were having a ball. She’d seen Motown – The Musical the night before, paying full price. She was hoping  to score tickets to The Trip to Bountiful. We talked about the awesomeness of Cicely Tyson. She asked me what she thought her chances were of getting that show. I told her given where she was, the chances were excellent. We discussed many things including where to find the best Ethiopian food in New York. (She was planning a trip to Awash. I mentioned that Massawa was my favorite.)

She was afraid she might not have enough cash and she’d read somewhere that some shows didn’t take credit cards. I told her not to worry about it. All the Broadway shows Continue reading The Lady On the Line (And Some Hot Tips About the TKTS Booth) →

At the Theater — The Golem of Havana

Idiots at the Opera, Politics and Culture, Theater, Movie, Event, Misci Reviews, ,

They had me at the title, The Golem of Havana. They had my better-half as well. His father’s family briefly sojourned to Cuba on their way to America.

Tickets were cheap, and it was at La Mama in the East Village, a theater I probably hadn’t set foot in in twenty years or so though I once wrote a book set in the neighborhood.

As the band began to play, the BH realized with a little trepidation that it was a musical. He doesn’t like musicals — with a few exceptions. Fortunately, this turned out to be exceptional – one of those musicals where the music and story are integrated, where there is a serious theme and the music adds to the emotional impact. At intermission he paid the show the ultimate compliment. “It’s like opera,” he said.

The mostly equity-cast all acquitted themselves so well it’s hard to find standouts, though I especially enjoyed Felipe Gorostiza as Batista. He managed to make the dictator comically sleazy while also suggesting his dangerousness and superficial charm. Liba Vaynberg in the leading role was powerful, and if the world is just, she won’t need a day job for long.

The story is the tale of a tailor’s family – Hungarian Jewish immigrants, Holocaust survivors – struggling in Havana on the brink of revolution. The golem at first exists as a Continue reading At the Theater — The Golem of Havana →

Vanya and Sasha and The Assembled Parties and The Explorer’s Club

Politics and Culture, Theater, Movie, Event, Misci Reviews, ,

So the better-half and I have been seeing plays this summer. (Thank you TKTS.) We have to do something while waiting for opera season.

I already wrote about Macbeth. The following week we saw Vanya and Sonya and Marsha and Spike. This before Sigourney Weaver left the cast. It was sit-com, and it wasn’t even great sit-com. David Hyde Pierce’s timing was precise. Kristine Nielsen managed to actually give a moving performance, no small feat when the script undermined her character by always going for punchline over feeling. We found Shalita Grant grating and her character bordered on some loyal servant/magical Negro stereotype. Billy Magnussen was over the top. Sigourney Weaver is greatly in need of a new action franchise. And whatshername who played whatshername was kind of forgettable.

What was most annoying was all the ways the play pandered to the audience and avoided challenging any of its expectations. First, if you get the Chekov references you get to feel smug, but if you don’t, you still get to enjoy the show as (too) much is explained. Second, there are cringy-knowing references including a line about the half-price ticket line. Third, there’s a rant about technology separating us spoken by a late middle-aged character. (It was soooo 2002) Get off Vanya’s lawn!

Our next dramatic excursion was to The Assembled Parties, which I wanted to see because of the participation of Tony award winner, Dame Judith Light, who I’ve admired since her days as doctor’s wife/belle de jour Karen Wollack. Light has made a career out of realistic portrayals of over-the-top characters including real-life husband and child poisoner, Marie Hilly in the made for TV classic, Wife, Mother, Murderer. But hers was not the stand-out performance. Jessica Hecht in the lead role was a revelation. We were surprised to read that Remy Auberjonois had only recently stepped into the role of Jeff as he not only played well with others, but seemed to own the part. Of course all the actors were upstaged by the 14-room Central Park West apartment in which the action is set. The play already closed, so if you missed it, you missed it, but if it comes back in some form, bring a hankie.

Last night we saw The Explorer’s Club at City Center. It was a very well done farce. What’s not to like? Nothing. Most critics have already written about the drinks being thrown around the stage and expertly caught. How do they do it? Who knows? Don’t go home and try it with your spouse. Don’t ask me how I know. The play wasn’t only written funny. It was played funny, and expertly. It’s hard to pick standouts when the entire cast shined. Tickets are cheap(er than Broadway), but if you go to the TKTS booth, bring CASH. Show closes August 4th.

Side note: I had never heard of David Furr before but after seeing his performance in the above, I came across his youtube series, Jersey Shore Gone Wilde, in which he and Santino Fantana recite dialogue from Jersey Shore in the style (and period costumes) of Oscar Wilde. Off-topic, but here’s a clip of that.

Next post will be on TKTS line a how-to primer, along with info on its particular annoyances and delights.

(Hey maybe you enjoyed this post. Or maybe you think I’m a snot-nosed know-it-all. In either case, the best way to say “thank you” or “screw you” would be by reading and then writing a customer review of one of my books.)

What the F**k is wrong with people? Part 10,012.

Politics and Culture, Theater, Movie, Event, Misci Reviews, true story, , ,

So a couple of nights ago, the better-half and I go to see Alan Cumming in MacBeth. There’s only a few performances left, and this is not a review, but here are a few observations:

  • That Shakespeare guy, we all owe him for inventing the language: sound and fury, dagger of the mind, be-all-and-end-all, a poor player that struts, milk of human kindness, something wicked this way comes, sorry sight, etc. And that’s just one play!
  • Because of the concept, it helps to brush up your Shakespeare – specifically the basics of the Scottish play although the Playbill offered helpful notes.
  • It was thrilling and unexpected to see theater this alive on Broadway.
  • Alan Cumming was brilliant.

There are two other actors on stage at times, but mostly, this is a one man show, with Cumming playing everyone but Banquo’s ghost. That’s a lot of acting, and it feels both amazingly fresh and original, and also somehow retro – reminding this viewer of the old-timey (1980s) monologists who could fill the stage with distinctive characters, all embodied by a single being. And he doesn’t have to do this either. He’s a television star now with a regular paycheck. He’s there for us. We ought to show him some respect.

Which is why once I was back out on the street, I began to rant.

See here’s the thing:  Showtime is at seven. That’s what it says on the ticket, and Tuesday nights most non-musical plays start at 7:00. Remember this is one guy (mostly) on stage for 100 minutes straight. Not only isn’t there an intermission, there are really no “breaks” in the usual theatrical sense. So basically once it starts, there is no point at which latecomers could enter the theater without disrupting other audience members, and possibly Mr. Cumming himself.

And yet….

People seemed to trickle in for a good twenty minutes, accompanied by ushers leading them to seats, which meant people had to move and stand to make room. Some of these assholes (and I use the word because they are) had seats in the first few rows where it is not unlikely their presence could be felt by the players strutting their stuff.

Maybe you’re an idiot who assumed the curtain was at eight. Maybe you got stuck at the office. Your train was late. Your cat died.

I don’t care.

If you can’t get there on time, please stay home.

Another thing: When did it become permissible to have a snack while watching live theater? Five minutes before the lights dimmed, there was actually a concessions guy walking through the orchestra section hawking his wares. And during the performance, the sound of chewing could at times be heard accompanying the Scottish burr onstage.

I blame cell-phones. Not that I heard any. People did seem to heed the electronic device warning, at least within my hearing, although some pork-pie hat, soul-patch type two rows in front of me was standing and texting right up until the lights dimmed. I mean, I blame cell-phones for being the greenhouse gas of global narcissism, although it probably started before that, maybe with walkmans and oblivious joggers tuning out other pedestrians as they occupied their own private space in public.

I also blame the management of the Ethel Barrymore Theater for not managing this. Are they afraid if they don’t let the latecomers in they’ll make trouble? Are they so hard up for cash they need to sell concessions before the show begins, afraid they are somehow being cheated because no intermission means less money? Or is it just that they’ve accepted we’ve all become such big wah-wah babies that we are incapable of getting someplace on time and cannot go without snackies for more than two minutes? Maybe they were passive-aggressively hoping to provoke Cumming into pulling a Lapone?

Why can’t Broadway be more like the Metropolitan Opera? You don’t see this shit at the Met. First off, the other patrons would beat the crap out of anyone creating a disturbance, and by disturbance I mean shifting too loudly in your seat. Second, the Met just doesn’t play that. They lock the doors when the orchestra starts. They put the latecomers into a special room of shame, in which they must stay, maybe forever.

They check your bags when you walk in the front door, and the ushers give you the once over before you get to your seat. They’ll grab any food they see on your person and feed it to the homeless.

Have I turned into a bitter old coot yelling at people to get off my lawn? No, I have not. I don’t have a lawn. I live in a city with a lot of other people, and space must be shared, which means no one gets to act like they are in their own living room. No one. I don’t care who you think you are, who you work for, what you paid for your ticket, or how very educated you are. People have to look around and get it through their thick skulls that other people exist.

End rant.

(Enjoy this? There are plenty more rants on these pages, and you can see more of Marion’s work here.)