Review Roundup - Broadway Plays - Fall 2014
Normally, I'm all about the musicals, but there have been a number of productions on Broadway this season that have enticed me to stretch beyond my typical comfort zone. Two of them are revivals of plays written by playwrights who frequently toiled, or have toiled, in musical theater as well: Terrence McNally and playwright partners George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. And the other is a British import that came to New York on a wave of raves and sell-out houses in London, and was rumored to have some of the most visually stunning production design in years.
•The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
A few years back, the winner for Best Play at the Tony Awards was War Horse, which featured jaw-dropping production design, but a script that was essentially, "Boy meets horse, boy loses horse, boy goes to war to get horse back." There was talk at the time of creating a separate "Best Production of a Play" Tony category. I'm thinking that The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (by Simon Stephens, based on the novel of the same name by Mark Haddon) should renew talk of such an award. The design elements here are certainly stunning, and at the end, I was in tears like everyone else. But the play is basically, "Boy finds dead dog, boy searches for dog's killer and discovers secrets that turn out to be thoroughly mundane." Newcomer Alexander Sharp is thoroughly captivating as Christopher, the autistic boy at the center of the story, and the production is diverting, entertaining, and moving. But in the end, there's just not a whole lot of there there. More »
•It's Only a Play
The hottest ticket on Broadway this fall is It's Only a Play, if only by dint of its megawatt cast: Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, Megan Mullaley, Stockard Channing, F. Murray Abraham, and Rupert Grint. Truly an embarras de richesses. Would that the play and the production were worthy of all that talent. It's Only a Play is a creaky little farce by Terrence McNally, who has updated the play considerably in its topical references and Broadway-insider jokes. (I mean, if a play requires that much retuning for revival, it can't really be one for the ages, can it?) The ordinarily reliable director Jack O'Brien crafts a rather limp production. Perhaps all those stars and their egos proved rather tough to tame. Nathan Lane and Stockard Channing are the bright spots in the production while Matthew Broderick is practically comatose. With an average ticket price of $158.00, It's Only a Play is the most overpriced ticket on Broadway today. More »
•You Can't It With You
For my money, the funniest show currently on Broadway is the crackling revival of You Can't Take It With You, the Pulitzer-Prize-winning play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. Director Scott Ellis and a top-notch cast, led by James Earl Jones, bring this admittedly dated but well-made play to glorious life. Particularly hilarious among the cast are the brilliant Kristine Nielsen, the best part of last season's Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, and the breathtakingly funny Annaleigh Ashford, who is quickly establishing herself as a national treasure. And I mean "breathtaking" quite literally here: at one point in the second act, I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. This production is everything It's Only a Play should have been, but isn't. More »
Source...