A Great Show on PBS--Be Sure to Watch!

Great Performances on PBS is running a wonderful new documentary called 'In the Heights': Chasing Broadway Dreams. ITH was the winner of the 2008 Tony for Best Musical, and a show close to the hearts of the CBs. This is a well-made, heartwarming documentary of talented people working hard to make a dream come true. Lin Manuel Mirandos is very inspirational, and the glimpses into the lives of a few of the cast members are great. Make sure to see it!!

An Emergency Trip to Broadway

The CBs were surprised when it was announced that Desire Under the Elms was closing at the end of May- a full six weeks early. Surprised and irritated because our tickets were for early June, we decided that an emergency pre-Tony trip to Broadway was needed.. We started planning for a one night visit which quickly morphed into a three night, four show visit! We want to see as many nominated shows and performances as possible before The Tony’s on June 7th, and this short trip would let us squeeze a few more in before our longer trip in June.

So, last Tuesday night we went to see the historical drama, Mary Stuart. This play, a huge hit in London last year, was written in 1800 by Friederich Schiller. The timeless nature of political power games makes this play as relevant as Frost/Nixon was a couple of seasons ago. Stories of Elizabethan England and Henry VIII never get old! The play takes place after Mary has been imprisoned in England for years for plotting against Queen Elizabeth. The two queens (especially Mary) were raised in the public eye, so their gestures are grand and their speech is dramatic, making it a perfect story for the stage. Both women are well played by the British actresses Harriet Walter (as Elizabeth) and Tony winner Janet McTeer (as Mary). Mary is passionate and loud, while Elizabeth is controlled and crisp. One amazing scene revolves around a face-off between Mary, Queen of Scots, and Queen Elizabeth I. This meeting never actually occurred, but it makes for great theater as these two powerhouses jockey for power during a wonderfully simulated rainstorm. Mary is drenched, but the cooler Elizabeth stays dry under umbrellas held over her by her entourage.

The direction by Phyllida Lloyd (amazingly enough she also directed the movie Mama Mia!) is a bit unusual with the two queens wear period dress, but all the men wear contemporary grey suits. Leslie found this annoying and distracting, but it didn't bother me so much. The men do so much maneuvering and backroom theatrics that it seems like they are the Wall Street power brokers and political spin-meisters of today. The supporting cast is very strong with great performances from John Benjamin Hickey as the Earl of Leicester and Nicholas Woodeson as Lord Burleigh. Overall, a great production worth seeing . .

Tony Award Missteps

The nominations for the 2009 Tony Awards were announced last week and have left many – including the CultureBuddies - scratching their heads and wondering if they saw the same shows we did last year. While some of the nominees were obvious and made total sense- like the entire cast of God of Carnage getting nominations- some omissions were astounding. Didn’t the people who made these nominations see The Seagull last year? How could they have omitted Kristen Scott Thomas and Carrie Mulligan? What about All My Sons? Even if the nominators didn’t care for the director’s take on the play, surely Dianne Wiest , John Lithgow, and Patrick Wilson merited nominations. The total omission of Desire Under the Elms from every category was surprising especially after the reviews and may be the reason for it’s early closing announced this week. How could they have seriously nominated Constantine Maroulis for his performance in the juke box show Rock of Ages and omitted the male leads in West Side Story? What were those nominators thinking?