We go off the bus at the Port Authority and made our way to the St. James Theater for the matinee of Finian's Rainbow and a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon. The book of this musical sounds nutty--the story is set in a mythical southern state called Missitucky and includes a charming Irish dreamer, his headstrong daughter, a bigoted southern Senator who suddenly becomes black, a leprechaun who is slowly turning human, and a pot of gold. Somehow it all comes together with beautiful music, a charming love story (or two), humor, and surprisingly relevant messages about racial harmony, justice, social equality and living beyond one’s means . . . More than anything else, this is a good old-fashioned musical--Jim Norton was perfect as the adorable Irish father, Kate Baldwin (who we enjoyed so much in the Boston Huntington Theater's production of She Loves Me that we went back to see it twice) was born to play the role of Sharron, and Cheyenne Jackson is always fun to watch on stage.
Brief Encounter: On Saturday afternoon we went to St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn to see Brief Encounter,an adaptation of the 1946 film and of Still Life, a Noël Coward one-act play. The experimental theater group, Kneehigh, has created a unique experience that combines live theater and remade film footage to take the audience back to the 1940's. The whole 90 minutes is just so damn clever--characters jump in and out of film screens, a couple floats in mid-air, silly music-hall antics make you laugh, and live music punctuates every scene. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and were in awe of the talented cast of seven who play multiple roles at the drop of a hat.
go home. We had read great reviews--including an endorsement from Dustin Hoffman--and we were really happy that we gave it a try. The play centers on four rather lost souls who enroll in a community center drama class where they are lead through one acting exercise"after another by their new-age teacher, Marty. As the class progresses from Week One to Week Six, each of the characters is slowly revealed, relationships are formed and broken, and lives are changed. The five actors are really strong, and the play works as both a humorous jab at such acting workshops and as a moving exploration of the raw emotions and revelations that can come out in such situations. It was fun to see this in a small theater with lots of acting students in the audience who could clearly relate!
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