Medea
Brooks Atkinson Theater

 Well, it sure isn't boring, though in the first ten minutes, with the female chorus yapping away incoherently, this Deborah Warner-directed Medea is damned annoying. And then Fiona Shaw arrives, a truly fascinating actress who manages to be simultaneously mannered yet mercurial. It's as if Warner told her to find specific gestures for every line of dialogue--and then kept every one of them in the show.

David Lefkowitz
Date Reviewed:
December 2002
Medea
Brooks Atkinson Theater

 Fiona Shaw's performance in the title role is the talk of Broadway, the surest Tony Award up there. With a new translation of the venerable Euripides text by Kenneth McLeish and Frederic Raphael and a radically fresh vision of the tragedy by director Deborah Warner, this is not the majestic termagant Medea of old. The murderous mom has been transplanted to the modern world and deposited in a curiously imposing villa with a plexiglass facade.

Perry Tannenbaum
Date Reviewed:
December 2002
Metamorphoses
Circle in the Square

It's been apparent since her highly-stylized and acrobatic work in Chicago that director Mary Zimmerman has a unique and captivating theatrical sense. What she's now refined, judging from her current Metamorphoses, is a sense of cohesion and purpose to her storytelling. Not only do we get pretty and witty stage pictures to look at, but this retelling of Ovid's myths has a children's-theater simplicity, and the evening, using interconnected themes and stories, builds to not one but two touching finales.

David Lefkowitz
Date Reviewed:
May 2002
Metamorphoses
Circle in the Square

 Circle in the Square Theater is the perfect home for this enchanting, imaginative concoction. Where else could the audience get as wet? Metamorphoses is an Arabian Nights out of Ovid - ancient tales retold with marvelous theatricality in "Story Theater" style, with brilliant conception by writer- director Mary Zimmerman, set by Daniel Ostling, costumes by Mara Blumenfeld, and great lighting by T.J. Gerckens. Vivid images and many funny moments fill this juxtaposition of ancient doings with contemporary language.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
March 2002
Metamorphoses
Circle in the Square

This Chicago import from Lookingglass Theater Company made a big splash last March when it opened at Circle in the Square, my favorite Broadway venue. About a dozen of the fabulous myths narrated by the great Roman poet Ovid are retold around and inside a spacious pool of water. The medium is perfect for simulating the mutability of mortals who become playthings of the gods. Trouble is, the Lookingglass gloss on Metamorphoses strips away the sensuality and the wit of Ovid, overlaying a mocking comedy of its own.

Perry Tannenbaum
Date Reviewed:
January 2003
Miss Saigon
Broadway Theater

Nearly nine years have passed since hype and controversy overshadowed the actual content of Boublil/Schonberg's "Madame Butterfly" riff, Miss Saigon. On first viewing, I was stunned by John Napier's set design -- not so much for its furniture and spectacle but its incredible sense of space; the upstage area seemed to extend past infinity. I had quibbles with the sometimes iffy lyrics and the unmoving love story, but every time Jonathan Pryce slithered across the stage, all was forgiven.

David Lefkowitz
Date Reviewed:
1994
Miss Saigon
Broadway Theater

 Of Broadway's musical mega-blockbusters, two of the longest running -- Les Miserables and Miss Saigon -- share several things in common: poignant, heart-wrenching stories, gorgeous melodies, multi-million dollar budgets, awe-inspiring spectacle, numerous awards, Tony nominations and awards galore, and an executive producer who believes every performance should be a repeat of opening night. Miss Saigon, in its fourth year at the Broadway Theater, is the new "kid" on the block.

Ellis Nassour
Date Reviewed:
1997
Monty Python's Spamalot

 see Criticopia review(s) under "Spamalot"

Spamalot
Minskoff Theater

Monty Python's Spamalot is the most entertaining excuse for entertainment since Hairspray. Director Mike Nichols has taken Eric Idle and John Du Prez's medieval spoof about Arthur and his boys, and, with the aid of the funniest, most ridiculous choreography in town by Casey Nicholaw, a brilliant set, absurd (and glamorous) costumes by Tim Hatley, and has put together a musical extravaganza as foolish and funny as The Producers.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
April 2005
Morning's at Seven
Belasco Theater

 Tired of the relentlessly pointless plays littering the season and yearning for the deep contentment one gets from a gentle and satisfying human comedy? Look no further than Paul Osborne's 1939 charmer, Morning's at Seven, which was rediscovered two decades ago and, thankfully, re-rediscovered again, courtesy of director Daniel Sullivan and a nifty cast of old pros, most notably William Biff McGuire, Elizabeth Franz, Estelle Parsons and Buck Henry.

David Lefkowitz
Date Reviewed:
May 2002
Morning's At Seven
Belasco Theater

 Paul Osborn's lovely play, Morning's at Seven, has just been extended for another month on Broadway. Run -- do not walk! The play is a peek into a rural past, in 1938, with ordinary Americans and their family interactions. It's almost like an anthropological study of customs, beliefs, taboos of a time long gone as four elderly sisters deal with the consequences of their marriages, lives, and affairs. The entire acting ensemble is super, though Piper Laurie, Julie Hagerty and Elizabeth Franz really knocked me out with the breadth of their performances.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
June 2002
Movin' Out
Richard Rodgers Theater

Moving perilously close to Billy Joel-meets-The IceCapades, the all-dance musical Movin' Out wants to use Joel's tunes to tell the story of America's loss of innocence from the 1950s to the 80s. But the results, in the hands of accomplished but repetitive director/choreographer Twyla Tharp, dwell too often on dances of youthful courtship and only come to life in scenes where the Vietnam War and its psychological aftermath affect the characters.

David Lefkowitz
Date Reviewed:
November 2002
Movin' Out
Richard Rodgers Theater

 With the emphasis on "movin", let it be understood that this is a dance production, a modern ballet, not a Broadway musical or even a dansical, and it doubles as a Billy Joel concert.

Jeannie Lieberman
Date Reviewed:
November 2002
Music Man, The
Neil Simon Theater

 Susan Stroman's charming revival of Meredith Willson's classic tuner begs the question: Can they make them like they used to? The answer is a resounding yes; this one's as old-fashioned as they come, but nearly irresistible. Ace choreographer-director Stroman doesn't really bother to update the material (thankfully, there's no Jesus Christ Superstar-style boneheaded ideas here) -- an admirable choice lately, as many revivals of late dilute the impact of what make them work in the first place.

Jason Clark
Date Reviewed:
April 2000
Mystery of Charles Dickens, The
Belasco Theater

 He's the college English professor you wished you had - the one who transforms the life and works of an author into a lecture as entertaining as it is educational. Grandly hammy Simon Callow narrates and plays Charles Dickens, a bunch of Dickens' most colorful characters, and Dickens playing those characters. He justifies his over-the-topness by reminding us that this is probably how Dickens played Micawber, Gamp and Heep when he embarked on the reading tours that thrilled but ultimately killed him.

David Lefkowitz
Date Reviewed:
April 2002
Mystery of Charles Dickens, The
Belasco Theater

 In the Broadway one-man show, The Mystery of Charles Dickens, starring Simon Callow, we see a 19th-Century man portrayed in 19th-Century grand-ham performance style, when there was no amplification in theaters, and one must above all be heard, mustn't one. The show, for the most part poorly written by Peter Ackroyd, begins with rather boring exposition about Dickens' early life. As it continues, Callow, at least in this show, proves to be basically a voice actor with unused physical capability. He gives us no reality in his characters -- all are exaggerated poses, and they overlap.

Richmond Shepard
Date Reviewed:
May 2002
I Had A Dream
Istanbul State Theater

 Currently on view at the Istanbul State Theater is a charming musical with book by Nazim Hikmet and music by Cumhur Bakiskan. For the plot, it's none other than girl Fatma (Mine Tufekcioglu) in love with penurious boy, but parents try to push a moneyed candidate onto her -- with a few wrinkles. Maybe Fatma's dilemma would resolve itself in one of the customary ways, but Gypsy (Nisan Sirinyan) gets everyone high smoking opium. Everyone simultaneously jumps ship and lands on a desert isle.

David Lipfert
Date Reviewed:
January 2002
I sette contro Tebe
Sala Assoli, Teatro Nuovo

 Continuing his long collaboration with Teatro Nuovo, Neapolitan cultural icon Mario Martone with his Teatro Uniti presented his adaptation of Seven Against Thebes. The major changes Mr. Martone made were to set the drama in a modern besieged city (presumably Bosnian Serbia, given the Orthodox shrine in one corner) and to elevate Antigone, played by favored collaborator Anna Bonaiuto, to be as important as her brother Eteocles (Marco Baliani).

David Lipfert
Date Reviewed:
December 1996
Il Calapranzi
Ass. Cult. Beat 72

 (Translation: "The Dumbwaiter"; see Criticopia International listing under "Victoria Station / Il Calapranzi")

David Lipfert
Date Reviewed:
October 1996
Victoria Station / Il Calapranzi
Galleria Toledo

 In the first of 23 scheduled theatrical offerings for the 1996-97 season at Galleria Toledo, Ass. Cult. Beat 72 [sic] presented two Pinter one-act plays. (Beckett, Fleming, Zimet and Duras are the other non-Italian authors featured this season at the most important experimental theater in Naples.)

David Lipfert
Date Reviewed:
October 1996
Il Censore
Teatro Colosseo

The Teatro Colosseo in Rome continued its series of new English theater with a stark production of Anthony Neilson's The Censor. The well-circulated phrase, "erotic generosity and bureaucratic cruelty," best sums up this curiously involving drama. Neilson offers few cues as to time or locale, so this could be any modern country where the public's interest in film content outweighs private liberty of expression. Power over what the public can see is concentrated in the hands of The Censor (Pietro Bontempo), a suitably repressed type.

David Lipfert
Date Reviewed:
February 2000
Il Corano
Teatro Argentina

 The Qur'an, Islam's Holy Book, can be appreciated in many ways, among them its masterful Arabic poetry, as director/adapter Cherif shows. Three Qur'an reciters - Hala Omran, Mohamed Zitouni, El Sayed Abdallah Sadek - nicely exploited the aural appeal of the chanted text. Appropriately enough for this novice audience, they utilized a rather simple reciting style that contrasted with the more rhetorical approach by nine players.

David Lipfert
Date Reviewed:
November 2000
Il Malato immaginario
Teatro Nuovo

 Noted Shakespearean actor Franco Branciaroli had the honor of opening the current theater season at Verona's Teatro Nuovo in Moliere's last play, The Imaginary Invalid (1673). Director Lamberto Puggelli created a production rigorously faithful to the original, a rarity even in Italy, where adaptations have begun to eclipse traditional stagings. (In America this kind of literalism might be found only in university theater or, more rarely, in regional venues.)

David Lipfert
Date Reviewed:
November 1999
Il Medico dei pazzi
Teatro Filodrammatici

 Teatro Filodrammatici director Emilio Russo has organized the entire 1999-2000 season around a single theme, The Art of Comedy, but with a strong emphasis on regional writers. Like last fall's Carta Canta, Il Medico dei pazzi offers a humorous scenario peopled with characters that could be taken from real life, here served up by Neapolitan actor/author Eduardo Scarpetta (1853-1925). Felice Sciosciammocca (played by the masterful Tonio Taiuti) has generously helped his nephew Errico Pasetta attend medical school.

David Lipfert
Date Reviewed:
February 2000
Il Milione
Teatro Nuovo

 Using the Italian title for Marco Polo's account of his travels in the orient, the ever congenial Marco Paolini has created a Venetian notebook of character sketches of his beloved city. Except for the tragicomic attempt by the northern separatists to take over the belltower in St. Mark's Square, no aspect of the ironies of Italian politics as they concern Venice seems untouched.

David Lipfert
Date Reviewed:
February 1999
Il mio amico Hitler
Teatro Nuovo

 Part of Teatro Nuovo's provocative Mishima series, Il mio amico Hitler was repeated after its successful run last season. Written two years before the author committed ritual suicide in 1970, the play is sensationalistic precisely because no value judgments are offered regarding any of the characters. Hitler has summoned steel magnate Krup, elite assault troops head Rohm, and confidant and resident leftist Strasser to his study in 1934, immediately before the "night of the long knives" commemorated in Visconti's film, "The Dammed."

David Lipfert
Date Reviewed:
May 1997
Imaginary Invalid, The
Teatro Nuovo

 (See Criticopia International review(s) under "Il Malato Immaginario")

David Lipfert
Date Reviewed:
November 1999
In The Balance
outdoors in Soho Square

 During the summer, a group called Alternative Arts sponsors a series of free, midday street theater performances, the locale oscillating between Soho Square and Victoria Embankment Gardens. One of the performing troupes is a duo calling itself The Better Halves, offering an entertainment titled In the Balance, which is described as "an acromantic tale of two lovers teetering on the brink." The performers are Jakob B. Goode and Josephine Public. There is no real story - rather, we get a sort of vaudeville act with some audience participation.

Caldwell Titcomb
Date Reviewed:
July 1999
Innkeeper, The
Famosa Mimosa

 (see Criticopia International listing under "Locandiera, La")

David Lipfert
Date Reviewed:
January 1997
Invisible Man, The
Shaw Festival - Royal George Theatre

 For all its discussions of man, god, science vs. religion, and the tyranny of conformity, The Invisible Man is basically a sci-fi melodrama about a mad scientist. Michael O'Brien's dark, brooding play doesn't even really work beyond the conventional excitement of a monster play. Will they catch him? Who's gonna get hurt? And wouldn't it be fun to be invisible?

Herbert Simpson
Date Reviewed:
May 2006
Irma La Douce
Opera Comique

 If ever a musical froze a time and place, it's the one about the prostitute idealizing love in an era when women were either supposed to be mamas knowing best or stirring with thoughts of becoming independent. In `50s Paris, Irma the fille de joie of Montmartre, used what society deemed immoral means to become one of its moral members. She gave France its first international musical hit, though naughtier in Paris than later on Broadway or in Hollywood. The show remains -- like Irma -- funny and sexy.

Marie J. Kilker
Date Reviewed:
November 2001
Island Princess, The
Royal Shakespeare Company - Gielgud Theatre

 To me, the Gamelan Musicians playing percussively against the backdrop went a long way toward meriting The Island Princess' epithet, "A Discovery Play." Probably the lightest of the RSC's 2002 Swan Season of rarely performed Jacobean plays, this one from 1617 fascinates by its referents to modern concerns like colonialism and clashes among cultures and religions. Rather than dismiss its melodramatic and non-intellectual facets, I found the swashbuckling and sudden "switchings" of allegiances amusing and the language fun.

Marie J. Kilker
Date Reviewed:
February 2003
I've Got Proof
Teatro dell'Archivolto

(See Criticopia International review(s) under "Carta Canta")

David Lipfert
Date Reviewed:
November 1999
Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell
Old Vic

 What a treat! Peter O'Toole gives the performance of a lifetime, here, depicting the brilliant but alcoholic journalist, Jeffrey Bernard. This is not the first time he's played the role. In 1990, this play, so incisively written, won London's Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy and was reprised for a limited engagement which began this July 27 and ended September 25, 1999. The Old Vic, a very large theatre in Waterloo that has two balconies, was packed to the rafters with an audience that responded enthusiastically to O'Toole and his merry cast's every move.

Rosalind Friedman
Date Reviewed:
August 1999
Jerry Springer: The Opera
National Theatre - Lyttelton

 What a coincidence: the new Jerry Springer is named David Soul. And award-winning (2004 Olivier for Best Actor) David Bedella, fresh from time out for filming, re-sizzles as Jerry's Warm-Up Man, and later Satan. Both look and act their risky parts perfectly in this raucous send-up of one "Jerry Springer moment" (on TV) after another (finally in hell, which is really not much different).

Marie J. Kilker
Date Reviewed:
October 2004
Jerry Springer: The Opera
National Theatre - Lyttelton

 The British musical has received its biggest jolt in ages via a most unexpected vehicle. What started out as a one-man show in 2001 has grown into a side-splitting extravaganza satirizing the sleazy American trash-TV show hosted by Jerry Springer (once the mayor of Cincinnati!). The result is Jerry Springer -- The Opera, a raunchy, scatological, foul-mouthed work of intentional tastelessness, with a score that is a pastiche ranging from Bach and Handel to modern country-and-western. One should leave one's intellect at home and just revel in the freakish fetishes on view.

Caldwell Titcomb
Date Reviewed:
July 2003
Julius Caesar
Globe Theatre

 England is revered for its level of excellence in the theater, not only in the West End, but at the Old Vic, the RNC, Stratford-Upon-Avon, throughout the Provinces, and in summer theaters like Chichester and Bath. But when the American actor, Sam Wanamaker, blacklisted in the McCarthy era, came to London 50 years ago, he was shocked to find that the Globe Theatre, built in 1599 on the Bankside of the Thames River, original home to Shakespeare's plays, did not exist.

Rosalind Friedman
Date Reviewed:
August 1999
Julius Caesar
Globe Theatre

 Mark Rylance, the artistic director of the reconstructed Globe, has chosen to present Julius Caesar in 1999, since the play premiered at the original Globe in 1599 with an all-male cast of fifteen. For this quadricentennial production, Rylance has again used fifteen actors (14 Brits and one American) and only men (no big deal, since there are but two minor female parts). The audience of groundlings serves as the Roman populace.

Caldwell Titcomb
Date Reviewed:
July 1999
Jumpers
National Theatre - Lyttelton

 I am an enormous admirer of Tom Stoppard, but I have to admit that Jumpers is my least favorite of his plays. Its main characters are George Moore, a philosopher trying to finish a lecture on the existence of God and the nature of good, and his wife Dorothy, a former musical-comedy star obsessed with astronauts on the moon. It is a whodunit, though we never find out the murderer. It is a farce, though there are long stretches of tedium. There is a troupe of ten yellow-clad philosopher-acrobats, though they are insufficiently used.

Caldwell Titcomb
Date Reviewed:
June 2003
Kathakali King Lear
Globe Theatre

 This year's foreign guest troupe at the reconstructed Globe Theatre is the Annette Leday/Keli Company from India. Its repertory draws on the centuries-old tradition of Kathakali dance-drama that originated in the Kerala region of southern India.

Caldwell Titcomb
Date Reviewed:
July 1999

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