International theater launching here August 26, 2008
Posted by lharry , 2commentsYou heard it hear first–unless you’ve been hanging out in the halls of Butler University.
BU theater head John Green and prof/actress/director Diane Timmerman will be launching a new theater company next summer. Dedicated to bringing the best of world theatre artists here, International Theatre Indianapolis will present work and foster the development of collaborative projects.
Coming in ‘09: Wales-based director Phillip Zarrilli directing “The Beckett Project” featuring six Samual Beckett one-acts. Also, acting great Roger Rees–who was in town last year for the ISO’s “Rite of Spring”–will return for two performances of his one-person show “What You Will.”
In the meantime, both Green and Timmerman have busy seasons ahead of them. Green is directing the world premiere of David Hoppe’s “After Paul McCartney” at the Edinburgh International Festival (after a number of developmental productions here). He’s also narrating “The Innocents” for Ensemble Voltaire, and directing not only “Phaedraplays” at Butler, but also “Crime and Punishment” at the IRT and Samuel Beckett plays in St. Petersburg, Russia.
In addition to teaching, Timmerman, fresh from HART’s “Merchant of Venice” at White River State Park, will be featured in David Mamet’s “November” at the Phoenix. She’ll also be co-creating “Whirl of the Divine” for this year’s Spirit & Place Festival.
Your thoughts on the new company?
You-review-it Monday August 25, 2008
Posted by lharry , 1 comment so farAs you can see from the previous three posts, I spent most of the weekend on and around Mass Ave soaking up IndyFringe. It was great to see such strong crowds out. The festival continues through Aug. 31 and while I haven’t had the best of luck so far, there have been some winners–and plenty more to try. See my reviews here, here and here.
So what did you do this weekend?
IndyFringe reviews 3 August 24, 2008
Posted by lharry , 1 comment so farToday, some family friendly fringe–in the company of my 6-year-old son.
We started with “Tastes Funny,” in which a pair of goofballs (the Ed Grimley-haired Daniel Oldaker and the stunning, “Pretty Woman”-era-Julia-Roberts-looking Ranik Huszar) performed admirable feats of plate spinning, juggling, and contortionism. Missing, though, was an act that tied it all together. The elements are there. This Australian duo just needs a writer and/or director to accentuate and structure what they already do well. If you are looking for an acrobatic kid-friendly show, see my previous batch of reviews.
Next up was going to be the generically titled “Magical Cabaret.” In the best fringe fest tradition, though, we struck up a lobby conversation with someone who raved about “Stinky Flowers and the Bad Banana.” What to do? Leave the decision to my son, of course. He reasoned that we’d seen other magicians. We’d never seen a guy pretenting to be a 3rd grader telling stories in his attic. Plus, this one had a recomentation. So off we speed-walked from American Cabaret Theatre to the Phoenix.
My favorite part of the performance may well have been the pre-show, in which the “kid,” Sinclair, stood on stage with his back to the audience, writing simple stories and using simple bird cutouts to tell simple stories on an overhead projector. Soon, when the lights went down, he realized that we had somehow materialized in his attic and proceeded to tell us fanciful stories about warring monkeys and nasty smelling plants. Bits of biography slip in as well, and the two elements–and the bird stories–came together in a beautiful (and appetizing) climax.
I’m not convinced “Stinky Flowers” is as focused as it needs to be to truly communicate its overarching story to all ages. And some of the transitions were a bit abrupt and inconsistant for the character. Minor quibbles, though. This guy is clearly a talent and unlike some other Fringe productions, he has taken great care with this piece. He’s a talent to watch and I hope the show continues to evolve.
(Hanky alert: While his show isn’t designed to immediately pull tears, don’t be surprised if you well up later.)
IndyFringe reviews 2 August 23, 2008
Posted by lharry , 10commentsToday, at Indy Fringe, I went looking for laughs.
I started with a performance by Cool Table, a Chicago-based improv group that, two years ago, provided a very memorable evening anchored with a still-ringing-in-my-head song about the children’s game Duck, Duck, Goose (such is the case with most improv and sketch comedy: retelling is notoriously unfunny. So I’ll refrain from giving too many details). Last, year, they were about half as funny. This year, half again.
The venue actually helped. The ComedySportz arena is a much better space for improv than the American Cabaret Theatre. But the group opened and closed with flat, uninventive sketches and, in between, never quite found the rhythm to connect the occassionally funny bits. The four-person cast will be supersized for future shows when the rest of the compatriots join them for future shows. For future audiences’ sake, I hope this was just an understaffed warm-up rather than a sign of company decline.
Next up: “Adventures in Mating,” which had a fun gimmick but nothing to fill it. The premise is that a couple meets for a blind-date meal. Whenever a choice needs to be made (red vs. white wine, she kisses him/she slaps him), the waiter rings a bell and the audience makes a choice. Problem is, the characters are so broadly painted (both in the writing and the performing) that I didn’t care about whether or not they got together. The nearly full house was generous and seemed to have a good time while I had flashbacks to last season and remembered the Owensboro, Kentucky’s Merely Players weren’t funny then, either. The company’s founding artistic director, Alan Velotta, does a solid job as the waiter and deserves better.
The afternoon was saved with a visit to Clown at Work. Some theatergoers lament the number of magic/acrobatic acts and one-person shows at the Fringe this year and I, too, would hate to see the festival evolve further into busker territory. But thank goodness for the charming, sweet and very talented Brent McCoy, whose joyful awe at his own achievements–including juggling traffic cones, balances on various objects, and managing the outbursts of an extremely obnoxious brat in the front row–brought smiles and admiration from the crowd. Adults enjoyed him as much as the kids. Another big plus: McCoy’s act was more than just a series of stunts. His show, while casual and interactive, is smart and structured. It’s a show. And I’ll take his Bob-the-Builder-meets-Avner-the-Eccentric whimsy over amateur theatrics and slumming sketch comics any day.
On that high note, I called it a day.
Indy Fringe continues through September 31. You can find my earlier report here. And for more reviews, previews, video and blogs, visit www.ibj.com.
IndyFringe reviews 1 August 23, 2008
Posted by lharry , 26commentsFor the first night of this year’s IndyFringe Theatre Festival (aka IndyFringe or Indy Fringe), I decided to select four showsthat looked to be among the most risk-taking. After all, what’s a fringe without something out there on the fringe? (Skip to the end if you want to read the rave and bypass the rest.)
Looking for the fringiest fringe, it made sense to start with a female Hitler. Which turned out not to be such a great start. Because the play in question, “My Friend Hitler,” isn’t much of a play. Yes, turning the Fuehrer into a trouser role does allow for a kind of attention that a traditional male performance doesn’t. But actress Zehra Fazal doesn’t do anything particularly interesting or groundbreaking with the part. And, as written, there’s a seemingly endless series of forced “Remember when you…” expositional monologues. Ten minutes in, I was watching my watch.
I didn’t look at my watch during the next show, “Peace on Terror,” but that’s only because I knew it featured nine sketches and so could count down to when the torture would be over. I’m not talking about the torture on stage, which involved a woman pretending to urinate into the mouth of a political prisoner. I’m talking about the torture of sitting through this ill-rehearsed example of a playwright with nothing to say who insists, at length, on saying it over and over again. Sub-amateur directing, acting, and design contribute to make this not just the worst production I’ve seen in four years of IndyFringe, but one of the most pathetic theater productions I’ve seen in my life. Bloomington’s Theatre of the People is the culprit.
Things improved (how could they not?) with “Stripped,” offered by Indiana-based Twilight Productions. I still don’t recommend it–its excessive voiceover narration and derivative “Educating Rita”-meets-”Striptease” plotting gets in the way of some decent dialogue. There’s also an interesting physically transformative performance from Amy Pettinella as a troubled girl who turns to stripping but she’s in the wrong play. Does the writer really expect us to want her to end up with the English-teacher-turned-strip-club-owner? It sure seems so, although he’s written as a jerk.
My final show of the evening, “Assholes and Aureoles” was of another order altogether. With local actresses Diane Kondrat and Karen Irwin giving breathtakingly funny–verbally and physically–performances, the show already looks to be the breakout hit of the festival. I’m not going to say much else, because the less you know about the content of each of the short plays, the more fun you’ll have. Suffice to say that it’s outrageous in very smart ways and that the capacity crowd I saw it with was rolling with laughter even before a word was spoken. Our reaction built and built to a passionate standing ovation when the show was over. If comedy shows had encores, I’d still be at the theater.
Full disclosure: The writer of “A and A” is Eric Pfeffinger, who I’ve collaborated with on a novel and a pair of plays. Our writing relationship is based on brutal honesty and he fully understands that if I didn’t think this show worked, I’d call it as I saw it.
So I’m calling it as I saw it. DO NOT MISS THIS SHOW. The only downside is that it raises the fringe bar almost impossibly high. In order to appreciate the shows I’ll see for the rest of the fest, I’ll have to remind myself that this is an anomaly, not the standard.
Democrats’ composer in residence August 22, 2008
Posted by lharry , 1 comment so farDavid Amram (recently seen here in town at the opening of the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s Kerouac/Frank exhibition) has been named Composer in Residence for the Democratic National Convention. See full story here.
The story reports that Amram, who has collaborated in the past with the likes of Leonard Bernstein, Dizzy Gillespie, and Kerouac, will present pieces including `Three Songs for America,’ using the words of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy.
Also, the Colorado Children’s Chorale will perform an Amram piece whose lyrics were created out of sentences collected through street interviews.
Is this new post folly? Or a way of creatively humanizing convention politics? Indulgent or important?
Is a political convention any place for a sing-along? And what does it say that the Dems trust someone like Amram to pull it off?
Your thoughts?
Are crosswords anti-reading? August 21, 2008
Posted by lharry , 6commentsRon Rosenbaum at Slate.com seems think so.
“What always gets to me,” he writes, “is the self-congratulatory assumption on the part of puzzle people that their addiction to the useless habit somehow proves they are smarter or more literate than the rest of us.”
And he takes major shots at Crawfordsville-native and puzzle guru Will Shortz in the process.
Read his whole slap-you-in-the-5-Down essay here.
So, puzzle-lovers, how do you counter-argue? How to rationalize hours spent with crosswords, Sudoku and the like?
Your thoughts?
New theater launch, part 1 August 21, 2008
Posted by lharry , 3commentsA positive sign on the local arts scene (and we certainly could use those), is the launching of more professional arts organizations. Community theater is fine, but the more paying work there is for actors, directors, and designers, the better of an arts town we’re going to have.
The latest: Sapphire Theatre Company.
Sapphire Theatre Company artistic director Bonnie Mill has ambitious plans. She wants to open a company theater space by its third season that will “mix live concerts, classic and independent film, dance, theatre and more with a coffee shop and cocktail lounge.”
For now, it will be using at hoc locations, offering its adaptation of the “Make Love, Not War” classic “Lysistrata” in October at Circle Centre.
More news on another new company coming soon.
Happy birthday, Ben Harrison August 20, 2008
Posted by lharry , 7commentsToday marks the 175th birthday of our homegrown pres, Benjamin Harrison. The BH home at 1230 N. Delaware is celebrating with free tours today from 10-3:30.
I’m celebrating by trying to think of a list of Best Performance by an Actor as an Actual U.S. President. (Time will tell if Josh Brolin in the upcoming “W” will make the list.)
Here’s what I’ve got for starters. Feel free to add your favorites.
–Brian Keith as Teddy Roosevelt in “The Wind and the Lion.”
–James Whitmore as Harry Truman in “Give ‘em Hell, Harry.”
–Raymond Massey as Abraham Lincoln in “Abe Lincoln in Illinois.”
–William Daniels as John Adams in “1776.”
–Edward Herrmann as FDR in “Annie.” (Yes, the rest of the movie was pretty bad, but Herrmann did fine.)
–Pat McCormick as Grover Cleveland in “Buffalo Bill and the Indians.”
–Keene Curtis as Eisenhower in “IQ.”
–Henry Fonda as Abe Lincoln in “Young Mr. Lincoln.”
Care to add to the list?
On the brink of IndyFringe 2008 August 19, 2008
Posted by lharry , 8commentsIndyFringe 2008 launches this week with a kick-off party Thursday and performances beginning on Friday.
This year’s lineup includes 270 performances of 53 shows–including one-act plays, improvisational comedy, dance pieces, magic acts, confessional one-person shows and difficult-to-describe oddities.
As in the past, the shows aren’t vetted. For an act to be included in the festival, it merely has to sign up on time and pay an entry fee. The acts themselves get the ticket proceeds, so they have a vested interest in getting you through the door.
Does the format work for you? Are you comfortable dropping $10 on a 50-minute show that could be rank amateur or startlingly original?
If you haven’t attended, what’s keeping you away?
If you are a fringe vet, what do you think can be improved? Do you like to jump in during opening weekend or wait for word of mouth to help advise you on what’s worth your time? And what do you think the impact has been of IndyFringe on the overall theater scene in town?
Whatever the case, expect Mass Ave. to liven up considerably over the next two weeks.
Your thoughts?
Overdosing on the Beatles? August 18, 2008
Posted by lharry , 2commentsIn putting together this year’s IBJ A&E Season Preview (coming soon to your favorite business paper), I saw a mini-trend emerging.
It starts Aug. 28-29 with “Classical Mystery Tour,” a visit from a quartet of Liverpoolian-look-and-sing-alikes at Conner Prairie.
That same weekend, Rib America’s lineup includes a completely different foursome performing “Beatlemania Live!”
It continues in January when Dance Kaleidoscope brings back its “Magical Mystery Tour” program, set to the music of you know who.
Then March brings the tour of “Rain: The Beatles Experience” to Clowes Memorial Hall.
Plus it seems that “1964: The Tribute” plays Beef & Boards every year. There’s no reason to think that it won’t show up on this year’s yet-to-be-announced schedule.
Is this all too much, even for Beatles fans? Are Beatles impersonators/interpreters the new Elvis impersonators/interpreters? And is there artistic cred in what they do?
Your thoughts?
You-review-it Monday August 17, 2008
Posted by lharry , 4commentsI spend more time than I expected to this weekend soaking up Gen Con–including a performance of “Video Games Live” with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. More on the concert–and some great family board games I discovered–in this week’s print column. (See this week’s reviews of Beef & Board’s “The Producers” and the IU Maureen McGovern concert at www.ibj.com/arts).
I also served as emcee for an evening of pub trivia at Pat Flynn’s to benefit the Heartland Actors Repertory Theatre. (FYI if your not-for-profit is looking for a host, panel member, judge, etc., drop me an e-mail at lharry@ibj.com. Given the schedule here, I can’t promise anything, but I try to help whenever possible.)
So what were you up to this weekend? Did you catch “American Teen”? The last weekend of Theatre on the Square’s outrageous “Scientology Pageant”? Or maybe Gregory Hancock’s “Superhero” revisit?
Tell.
‘American Teen’–your comments August 14, 2008
Posted by lharry , 6commentsSo were you there at the IBJ Night at the Movies screening of “American Teen,” the high school documentary shot in Warsaw, Indiana?
Let us know what you thought of the film.
Thoughts on Gen Con Indy August 14, 2008
Posted by lharry , 13commentsNo, I’m not going to mock the costumed hoards that are converging on the Convention Center over the next few days for Gen Con. Instead, I’m just going to share some observations on the event, its people, and its subject.
- I don’t see a huge difference between a person wearing a Marvin Harrison jersey and a person wearing a Jedi knight robe. Both are engaging in fantasy. Neither poses a threat.
- I don’t find a huge difference between a group of people gathered around a table playing Wizards of Warcraft and a group of people gathered around a table playing Texas Hold ‘Em. Both are playing a game that involves interaction with other human beings–which beats watching TV.
- What’s David Faustino (late of “Married with Children”) doing at Gen Con as a celebrity guest? I mean, nothing against the guy, but I don’t see the connection.
- As a teen, I read a fair amount of science fiction but I’ve slacked off since then. I’m sure there’s great stuff still being written. If anyone knows a writer in the genre who can hold a candle to Robert Silverberg in his prime, let me know here.
- I’m a big fan of board games–preferring ones that don’t take hours to learn. You want to play Parcheesi, Monopoly (if you play by the rules–no Free Parking nonsense) or something more esoteric like Dvonn, I’m there. One thing that I don’t think the general public realizes is that there are lots of traditional games available at Gen Con. Not everything available for play or sale involves hit points, trading cards and multi-sided dice.
- Are we reaching a point where great science fiction and fantasy films of the past no longer have any power? Have CGI effects and rapid editing jaded us to a point where we can’t experience the thrills of earlier films? Can a kid still watch “Forbidden Planet” or “Earth Vs. the Flying Saucers” or “Jason and the Argonauts” with anything like the awe and pleasure that I felt when first seeing them?
- It would be a challenge to find a racist at a sci-fi/fantasy gathering. Once you’ve accepted blue people, intelligent creatures covered with fur, and beasts with exposed brains, it’s difficult to have irrational hatred of your fellow humans.
Your thoughts on Gen Con, recent science fiction and fantasy, gaming, etc.?
When the art hits the fan August 13, 2008
Posted by lharry , 7commentsAt Switzerland’s Zentrum Paul Klee, an inflatable pile of dog feces the size of a modest ranch home came loose from the museum grounds, knocked down a power line, and broke a window in a nearby children’s home. See the BBC report here.
The work, created by artist Paul McCarthy, was supposed to deflate in strong winds. That didn’t happen.
Frankly, I’m not sure what to say about it. And I don’t have the, well, scoop.
But I felt compelled to bring it to your attention. Discuss.
Mayor: budget cannot eliminate arts August 12, 2008
Posted by lharry , 11commentsAnd so the Indianapolis arts community exhales. There’s still $1 million in the budget and there’s less chance of our town being seen as culturally regressive.
But what’s the underlying message from Mayor Ballard’s budget speech?
Is it simply that cuts have to come from everywhere and the arts are no exception?
Is it that the the arts community (including its patrons) voiced itself so loudly that the outcry was heard and larger cuts were spared?
Or is it that stirring an “everything will be cut” panic makes the significant proposed cuts seem like a gift?
What message do you take from the Mayor’s proposed budget and its “We cannot eliminate the arts” words?
And what do you think will really be different about the Indy cultural landscape a year or two from now?
You-review-it Monday August 11, 2008
Posted by lharry , 4commentsFor me, the weekend was bookended with a Friday trip to Bloomington to see singer Maureen McGovern backed by IU musicians and a Sunday run to Beef & Boards for the opening of The “Producers.”
What did you see, hear, read or otherwise engage with this weekend?
Arts budget: Scales comments August 7, 2008
Posted by lharry , 21commentsEarlier today, City County Councillor Christine Scales e-mailed me regarding the city arts budget and the rumored threats against it. I’m reprinting the letter here (and posting it with the earlier blog) with her permission. Your thoughts are, of course, most welcome.–L.H.
—-
Dear Mr. Harry,
I have read many of the responses to my statements regarding the need to cut funds to the arts community in the 2009 City of Indianapolis budget. It is sad that many commentators see the proposed cuts in arts funding as lacking recognition of the many contributions the arts make to the Indianapolis community. Those who are proposing cuts are not cultural Neanderthals, and do not wish the city to be void of an arts culture. We share an appreciation and an enthusiasm for the enrichment the arts offer our minds and spirits.
It is difficult to understand that supporters of the arts funding by the city, seem willfully blind to the desperate financial crisis the city is in. Many of the arts organizations I have heard from, protesting city tax cuts to funding, are in much healthier financial shape than the city. Which major arts organization is in as poor a shape as the city is in right now? Certainly not the Indianapolis Museum of Art or the Children’s Museum. Yet, they each received the highest amount of allocated city funds from the Arts Council of Indianapolis. Why didn’t the big dollars go to more programs with more limited resources?
I was not on the Council when the decision to fund the stadium was made. Mayor Ballard was not the mayor when the deal was made to give Mr. Irsay 50% of the revenue brought in from all non-NCAA convention events. The current city administration leaders had nothing to do with where we have been. We are taking responsibility for where the city is going. Understanding and cooperation from the arts community during these difficult times is sorely needed and would be much appreciated. Is there any way they could accept a moratorium on funding from the city until the city is on better financial footing? For a few years, can there be a hold on grand new additions to the Children’s Museum and The Museum of Art? Can some of the duplicate programs reaching school children come together in a consolidation of services?
My mailbox is filled daily with requests for help from constituents. They can’t figure out their property tax bills-or pay them. Sewage flows in the White River on a regular basis. Homeowners battle the costs and aggravation of constant flooding of their homes, not because they chose to live in a flood plain, but due to antiquated stormwater drainage pipes. Commuters endure bone jarring travels along poorly maintained roads. Children are shot in their cars on their way home from church. You read the newspapers, you are fully aware of the challenges out there that need urgent financial fixes. This current administration is working hard to resolve problems that have been years in the making.
There is discussion about what a small portion of the city budget is allocated to arts funding. It is said, “Certainly the city can spare a measly 1.5 million”(actually more, if you count the 1 million the Arts Council receives through the CIB)? Last night, I attended a budget preview session. Please trust me, every thousand, and certainly every million dollars in cost savings is being evaluated and searched for.
My hope is that the disappointed arts supporters out there accept that a cut in funding is not to be taken as an insult or lack of esteem or appreciation of the arts community, but simply as a tough financial decision to be made.
Sincerely,
Christine Scales City County Councillor, District 4
P.S- Mayor Ballard has not yet supported a total cut in funding to the arts.
Latest B’way cast recordings August 7, 2008
Posted by lharry , 4commentsWith a new season starting on Broadway, I thought it a good time to give a listen to a stack of cast recordings of 2007/2008 shows. More than the original production, I believe, the cast recording is what encourages future productions of shows out here in the region. How a show comes across on disc could well determine how likely we’ll see it here in the future.
New Musicals
“In the Heights.” Telling of a transitional time in a multi-ethnic Washington Heights neighborhood, the double-disc set of the Tony Award winner for Best New Musical features infectious melodies, strong, clear vocals, and lyrics that fall nicely onto the music, whether in a ballad, rap or high-energy ensemble number. The lack of a star (although those in the cast have star quality to spare) leads me to be optimistic about the tour, which I hope will be cast for talent rather than name recognition. By the time that tour comes around, I expect to be even more familiar with the music thanks to many hours listening to this on long car rides. A keeper. (www.ghostlightrecords.com)
“Xanadu.” Listening to the campy musical version of the notorious Olivia Newton-John bomb movie, I was, at first, amused. But the amusement soon became tiring. What on stage seems like a fun bit of fluff, on disc sounds like just a silly recording session of Electric Light Orchestra and ON-J songs. As a souvenir of seeing the show, it’s fine. As someone who hasn’t yet seen it, I’m unlikely to listen again. On the other hand, I will give repeat listening to “Xanadu” star Kerry Butler’s first solo disc, “Faith, Trust and Pixie Dust,” an often charming, vocally solid, new-parent look at kid-centric music. (Both at www.psclassics.com)
“A Catered Affair.” Here’s a case where a mixed-reviewed Broadway show is likely to have its afterlife assured by an effective recording. “A Catered Affair” is a low-key show about a financially strapped couple and their daughter’s upcoming wedding. I was moved by the Broadway production but had reservations about some elements. Hearing it again on disc, I was even more engaged by John Bucchino’s subtle music and character-appropriate lyrics (I’m annoyed when, in a show, everyday characters suddenly become genius wordsmiths when they sing). Not only was I again moved, but I wanted to immediately call Janet Allen at the Indiana Repertory Theatre and beg her to stage it with IRT mainstays Priscilla Lindsay, Mark Goetzinger, and Chuck Goad. (www.psclassics.com)
“Passing Strange.” This disc, recorded live, is so connected to the Broadway production that it’s difficult to imagine anyone else doing it besides its one-named star and creator, Stew. Groundbreaking in its way, it’s likely to appeal as much if not more to crossover audiences than it is to those with other Broadway cast recordings in their collections. Not for all tastes (what is?) but unpredicable and richer on repeated listenings. (www.ghostlightrecords.com)
“Disney’s The Little Mermaid.” Sorry, I just couldn’t get through it. The original soundtrack from the movie will do just fine, thank you. (www.disneymusic.com)
“Young Frankenstein.” The show took its share of drubbing, so I proceeded with some skepticism into the disc. And while it doesn’t break any new ground, the show comes across as serviceably sophomoric on this recording—like a long, dirty joke that makes you smile in spite of yourself. The disc leads me to believe the show will be a huge hit on the road. And now I’m actually looking forward to seeing it–even if it isn’t the highest my list. (www.deccaclassics.com)
Revivals
“South Pacific.” The new recording of “South Pacific” certainly is a step up, technically, from the Mary Martin original. And it’s got outstanding work from its supporting cast—including Loretta Ables Sayre who, as Bloody Mary, powerfully takes away the novelty and adds reality to such easy-to-mock songs as “Bali Ha’i” and “Happy Talk.” As in the hit Lincoln Center production, the sailors are also terrific. And while Kelli O’Hara is in good voice in the leads, it isn’t a transcendent performance—there’s no star power. Paul Szot, who was very strong on stage as De Becque, won the Tony for Best Actor in a Musical. His vocal performance here is outstanding, but listening to Tom Wopat in “A Catered Affair” and Stew in “Passing Strange,” I’m thinking the wrong guy won. As for its inevitable tour, I’m not optimistic. In the past, when such major New York revivals hit the road, the very thing that made them distinct are often watered down or eliminated on the road. I’m thinking of the most recent version of “The King and I” where the youthful cast was ditched in favor of a voice-less “star” and the outstanding Lincoln Center “Carousel” that hit the road without its earthy sense of reality. (www.masterworksbroadway.com)
“Sunday in the Park with George.” Sometimes, a star-less cast recording can lead you to hear a show in a different light. Such is the case with this recording of the recent revival of Stephen Sondheim’s show about color, light and art. The original, with Bernadette Peters and Mandy Patinkin, is treasured by musical buffs (even if many of them aren’t fans of the second act). Here, with unknown Brits Daniel Evans and Jenna Russell in the leads, the music emerges even stronger. This is a show that, for me, grows stronger with every listen. Hearing it again (and again) through this recording, I’m becoming more convinced that it’s Sondheim’s musical masterpiece. And I’m kicking myself for not getting to see this production. (www.psclassics.com)
So have you heard or seen any of these shows? Your thoughts?
Emptying the A&E notebook August 6, 2008
Posted by lharry , add a commentSome thoughts on recent arts encounters that didn’t make it into my weekly IBJ A&E review column:
– With a trio of young, out-of-town sports nuts in tow, I recently paid my first visit in years to the National Art Museum of Sport. Don’t worry if the museum isn’t on your cultural radar: It’s housed unobtrusively in corridors and lobbies of the University Place Conference Center at IUPUI. While you won’t find blockbuster exhibitions here, the pieces are varied and interesting–and a walk-through is free. Right now, you can see work focused on the Olympics, including posters designed by fine art legends Robert Rauschenberg, Victor Vasarely, and Alex Katz.
– Last night I caught a sneak preview at the State Museum’s IMAX theater of the new 3-D computer animated film “Fly Me to the Moon.” It’s a remakable technical achievement with some of the most breathtaking visuals I’ve seen in this format. Unfortunately, it’s also a remarkably bad writing achievement, with a script that even made my 6-year-old cringe. Question: Didn’t someone realize how lame the drama, inconsistant the action, and unfunny the jokes are? And, given that the lip movements don’t match much of the dialogue anyway, couldn’t they have given it one more rewrite and redub before sending it out to theaters? A shame, because the IMAX and the show’s sponsors are doing some great tie-ins with the space program, offering free weekend tickets and interactive activities in the lobby.
–I was out of town when the Indianapolis Museum of Arts latest ticketed show, “To Live Forever” opened. A walk through last weekend revealed that the small artifacts were as interesting–if not moreso–than the large pieces. Not as thought-provoking or well-put-together as the recent Roman show, it’s nonetheless another feather in the cap for the IMA–even if the show would be just as comfortable in an historical museum.
For more reviews and previews, visit www.ibj.com/arts.