Dear Ben Brantley,
If you have not already done so, I would very much recommend reading Balancing Acts by Nicholas Hytner, about his years at the NT. He has a similar sensitivity to the events of these times as you do, and also seeks to find redemption in the power of theater to lift, but also to educate, us. Thanks so much for all your good writing this year!
Yours sincerely,
Christine Clover (in flyover zone Ohio, but we get NT broadcasts here as well the RSC, at times...)
Missing - Sweeney Todd at Barrow Street Theater. I remember thinking that Ben Brantley’s review suggested he had seen a totally different production than the one I saw. Exhilarating, outstanding cast, stripped down to perfection, touching, and frightening. Sondheim perfection from start to finish!!!
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One very good show with timely content is The Home Place by the Irish Repertory Theatre.
As a theater maker myself, I find it unnerving and bizarre the way that choreographers barely get mentioned when a creative team is listed for musicals or plays with movement. Do reviewers not realize that “musical staging” is its own form of directing? An egregious example of this misstep in this article is naming the public works show AS YOU LIKE IT as BEST OF and not mentioning Sonya Tayeh, without whom none of the nearly 300 people could’ve ever gotten on stage or off, and whose choreography brought each song to animated, deeper life. Not to mention that she was of the key collaborators in making this beautiful production a reality at large and even in the initial review, she was barely mentioned. It’s just bogus to me and feels like a part of a larger, more major oversight to choreographers in theater — it seems our reviewers don’t quite understand the power of movement/dance in plays and musicals, let alone the large quantity of responsibility most directors give to choreographers with regards to staging and even aspects of direction via the movement. Transitions, too, are one of the most important parts of keeping a show’s pace and tone. I think it’s really important we start to educate those who write about whose work counts (mainly, reviewers) about the power of choreography and about giving credit where credit is due and understanding what a collaboration actual entails to put these spectacles together.
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My top 5:
1. People Places and Things
2. The Tempest
3. Linda
4. The Light Years
5. The Liar
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People, Places and Things was amazing - best play I’ve seen in NY in years! How did you miss it?
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People Places and Things MUST be included in this list. It was not only a profound theater event that changed our prospective on the impact of addiction- But one of the most magnificent performances I have ever witnessed.
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New Rule: No more looking down one's nose at liberals who "preach to the choir." From now on, we will celebrate them instead for entertaining the troops.
No love for War Paint?! It was invigorating. Such a shame that it had to close early but Patti Lupone certainly looked like she was in pain on stage. I can’t wait for her to come back, stronger than ever!
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Bruce Springsteen is NOT an Everyman. He continues to sing about his affinity for the "working man", yet charges up to $800 a ticket to do so. That's pure hypocrisy. Why not cut the prices in half and let more people see him, rather than just the upper 0.5%? I'm sure he has enough money so that wouldn't cause him to go on welfare.
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Yes, but.... Springsteen doesn't "charge" ticket prices, the producers do, and their prices are dictated by the Broadway unions, primarily IATSE (stagehands) and the Teamsters. Union members at the Met Opera, the ballet, and Broadway shows often make a greater weekly salary than the creative staff and performers. I remember reading an interview with Marisa Jaret Winokur (sp?) after she won the Tony as Best Actress in a Musical for "Hairspray" bemusedly wondering why she can't afford her own apartment in Manhattan and having to share with three others, as she gazed at her award.
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Thank you for this insightful comment. I did not know that and have often wondered myself.
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"Of Human Bondage" was very good as well :)
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thanks for recognition of the Belarus Free Theater: not merely courageous politics, but courageous theater. they take creative and physical risks that astonish.
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"The Band's Visit" musical book is a virtual pickup of the Israeli film of the same name. The movie was written and directed by Eran Kolirin, and it is he who deserves the accolade "delicate story," not Yazbeck and Moses. I enjoyed the musical version which I saw at Atlantic Theater but to tell you the truth the music/lyrics added little to the story. However, I am glad that the musical is the reason that more people will go and enjoy this lovely story. See the film!
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The script is very close to the film, which shows good taste since it was a very good script. I think the music adds a good deal. I've long been a fan of Yazbek's work, as he's struck me as the closest we have today of Frank Loesser -- a master of the colloquial lyric with a genuine jazz sensibility. But this score introduces new flavors, not only to Yabek's catalog but to Broadway. This is the rare adaptation of a film that I think adds something of enormous value. The performances and Cromer's staging make poetry out of restraint. If you want showstoppers, there are other shows that will supply them. (The revival of ONCE ON THIS ISLAND is filled with wonderfully rousing numbers. Another great full-length one-act musical.) But BAND offers a rare pleasure -- a show that floats on heart-breaking subtext.
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eyny – Your comment minimizing the talent and skill of the adaptation made me think back to William Goldman’s description in “The Season” of a musical’s book writer from about 50 years ago. Today’s critics seem to understand the book writer’s job much better than in 1967, but the general principles still seem to stand! :)
“probably a playwright part of the time, certainly a masochist all of the time. Because that's what book writers do: suffer. If a show is bad, it’s their fault, according to the critics, and if it’s good, they don’t get in the way of the score, according to the critics. They can get rich from a smash, but loved? Never.”
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Freddie, I miss your lyric parodies (if this is the same Freddie who did those and if not I apologize). I simply had to say something because I just came from a performance of "Spamilton" in Los Angeles where it is currently playing at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. Having been present at the first preview of "Hamilton" on Broadway, Monday, March 13, 2015 (my comment is still one of the only FOUR NY Times picks underneath Ben Brantley's review when it opened on August 6, 2015), I was humming to the person I went to "Spamilton" with: "Have you seen the things that go out on twitter? Coming from the President! Tweets we wish Ivanka wouldn't allow. Wish he'd be more hesitant..." You're really good at it. I hope you do more. Best wishes for a lovely holiday Season.
Ben: ...
misty-eyed tales of uplift" (re Come From Away).
Not only was it an NYT Critics' Pick, here's how you put it in your review:
“Come From Away” sounds like a show that most New Yorkers would run a city mile to avoid...
"The show starts off in a grating key of deep earnestness, as a chorus of Ganderians step to the edge of the stage to deliver an anthem of hearty regional identity. ..
"But as it proceeds, the show — based on interviews with the people who inspired it — covers a vast expanse of sensitive material with a respect for its complexity. It understands that much of what it portrays is guaranteed to stir fraught memories among many of us. And it mostly refrains from overegging what could have been a treacly, tear-salted pudding.
"Are there moments that feel a little too heartwarming, like a rustic Canadian bar’s reflexive acceptance of a gay couple (Mr. Kimball and Caesar Samayoa) who nervously wander in? Sure. But the show also makes room for lingering prejudices — most notably regarding Muslims — and the sense that the altruism that arises in a crisis may evaporate as soon as the crisis is over."
Misty-eyed, perhaps. However, your actual review made it clear it was not just sentimental. So, how did you miss this?
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So glad to see the love for David Yazbek! I’m such a rabid fan of David Yazbek, and even have shlepped to see his work out of town just to try to study, and learn from, what different interpretations of his scores bring to his work. Great (and pretty generous of the Times) that Mr. Green’s pre-Times review of Band’s Visit is linked here: I inexplicably hadn’t read that review before.
It would be so great if Mr. Yazbek finally got that Tony I think he should have gotten years ago. Is it way too much to hope for a Band’s Visit-Frozen tie for the 2017-18 score Tony? (I admit to also being a Frozen nut, even though I’ve never been a tween princess, IMHO. I’ve also richly enjoyed what’s been online of the Mean Girls score; I just don’t think it’s the type of music that the voters give the awards to, though I’m in jaw-dropping awe of some of Nell Benjamin’s lyrics there, so maybe Ms. Benjamin might get the lyric Drama Desk since Band’s Visit was last year for that award.)
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Don’t know how you could omit People Places and Things. Unless you are so parochial that Brooklyn isn’t part of New York theater.
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Seeing as a meaningful number of Brantley’s selections were performed in Brooklyn, I’m not sure why you’re choosing to be insulting. The play got a good review; this article is a pick of their top experiences of the year. You can’t imagine how someone has a different opinion than yours? Doesn’t that sound a bit parochial, to use your word?
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