PICK - August: Osage County

Estelle Parsons as Violet Weston. Photo by Joan Marcus.
I recently returned to August: Osage County at the Music Box Theatre on West 45th St. to see if the play's magic depended upon its original cast of Chicago actors, or if it still crackles now that virtually the entire cast has changed out. I was happy to find that the new cast is an impressive ensemble and the play continues to send out sparks of energy. Estelle Parsons has taken over the role of the tough, pill-popping Violet Weston from Deanna Dunagan, and she puts her own spin on this juicy role. Amy Morton continues in the cast as the eldest daughter Barbara, and I was even more aware of how central her role is to this busy, jam-packed play. The play won numerous Tony awards last year, including best play.
Upon the disappearance of their alcoholic patriarch, an award winning poet who hasn't published any poetry in decades, the Weston clan gathers at their three-story home in rural Oklahoma to respond to the crisis and help mom, a pill addict with an attitude. The three Weston daughters bring in their significant others and all the attendant baggage. The stage set is huge, an open view into a three-story house that effectively allows the audience to view all the interactions among the family members inside the house and on the doorstep. The play is bursting with activity and emotions; it is a dark and corrosive comedy which violates all of the viewer's sentimental hopes for a silver lining and happy ending. August: Osage County satirizes feel-good family dramas in which a family crisis causes all to pull together and eventually find a hopeful resolution.
The best parallel I can give is that AOC is like "Long Day's Journey Into Night" with constantly shocking humor. The play also brings to mind "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" in mood and in its constant shifts and surprises. It is long - 3 hours plus, with two 10-minute intermissions, but the show never dragged, and it held my attention from start to finish. Compared to most recent plays, the cast is very large. The ensemble acting is superb,with no celebrity stunt casting.
Upon viewing the play for a second time, I was struck by two impressions. First, Tracy Letts is the rare modern male playwright who can write credible and interesting female characters. Second, the opening scene, in which we meet the patriarch Beverly Weston (he is missing for the rest of the play and does not appear again) and he hires the young native American woman Johnna to care for his wife and oversee the household, is probably unnecessary and is to blame for the excessive length of the play. Letts could have cut this scene and tucked one or two bits of exposition in other spots to make the play more concise.
Check for ticket discounts at TKTS, www.broadwaybox.com, and www.theatermania.com.
-- ELLEN

PICK - Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind

If you're looking for off-beat entertainment in the East Village on Friday and Saturday nights at 10:30 pm, here's an idea: Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind at the Kraine Theatre on E. 4th Street.
This review was sent in by Mike, who rates it a PICK:

Too Much Light is an eclectic and innovative format combining the thought-provoking intensity of rehearsed, premeditated theater with the energy and unpredictability of in your face improvisation. The goal of the production is to perform in 60 mintues 30 plays written by the show's six performers. The production is particularly entertaining because of the high level of audience participation and the use of chance. Even before the audience has made it's way to seats in the small theater, the excitement has already begun, each having rolled a die to determine the price of his own ticket. Chance and audience participation continue throughout the show, with the audience choosing the order of the plays by shouting numbers at the top of their lungs, and several plays involve volunteers from the audience, making each performance unique while keeping you on the edge of your seat. And yet, what I found truly impressive about Too Much Light is that the cast manages to deliver a range of plays from melancholy to philosophical to whimscal, despite frantically running around the set to manage the time constraint and relying on dollar-store props and gags. Each week, the performance changes as new plays are added and old ones are removed, so you can enjoy this show again and again without ever again seeing the same thing.
With tickets costing a flat $15 in advance or $11-$16 at the door (depending on your luck), Too Much Light is a great value and an entertaining way to kick off a Friday or Saturday night in the Village. You might even find yourself donating a little extra to this non-profit organization on the way out.

A few years back, when this show was resident in a Brooklyn theater after a long run in Chicago, Jeffrey Lewonczyk reviewed it for www.nytheatre.com

How is it that theatre isn't considered... to be as exciting and immediate as sports? A play and a game are both live, physical events performed in front of an audience that, if all goes right, is intimately embroiled in the fortunes of the players. I suppose an exploration of the issues surrounding this disjoint could fill volumes, but no one can deny that it exists, and that it finds theatre at a noticeable disadvantage. What, the frustrated lover of theatrics wails as he beats his breast and rends his garments, is to be done?
Well, the Neo-Futurists have come up with a pretty good example of how the gap can be narrowed. Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, which has been running in Chicago for 16 years, presents a group of actors who attempt to perform 30 original plays in 60 minutes—an athletic endeavor to be sure, and one which viscerally exploits the connection between performer and spectator for maximum ka-pow...
The randomness-loving interactivity of the evening becomes apparent before the audience is even let into the space, when each attendee must roll a six-sided die to dictate how much admission will set them back... Next, audience members are brusquely asked their names and given name tags that in no way resemble their answers (mine said "Avenue"). Then, after being given a program, or "menu," the games begin.

PICK -The 39 Steps

After a long run in London and a limited run at the Roundabout Theatre, this stage farce based on Hitchcock's film of The 39 Steps has transferred to a commercial Broadway run at the Cort Theatre. The film was a classic spy thriller melodrama; this version is a satire and irreverent imitation and send-up not only of the film, but also of the entire Hitchcock body of films. In brief, this is the story of an innocent man who learns too much about a dangerous spy ring and takes off on the run, suspected of murdering the young woman found dead in his flat. Handcuffed to the woman who believed he was the murderer and turned him in, he is pursued across Scotland, before returning to London to foil the villain’s dastardly plans. On stage, four actors play all the roles, using some pretty clever stage tricks and mime to convey all the characters and famous scenes from the movie, such as the chase on a railroad train, the escape on the Forth Bridge, and the grand finale in the London Palladium.
Caveat 1: You may enjoy this more if you have seen the classic 1935 film, although that is not strictly necessary. I suggest that you rent the film and view it again if you have not seen it in the past 20 years. (Film: The 39 Steps)
Caveat 2: If you don't like Monty Python-style humor and never liked the zany satires of movies and plays done by Carol Burnett or Sid Caesar/Imogene Coca, you probably will think that the gag goes on too long.
Sue Goldman reported "39 Steps is really extraordinarily well done," and I agree.
There are discount tickets available at TKTS and to TDF members. Also check such services as www.broadwaybox.com and www.theatermania.com for discount codes.
-- ELLEN

MIXED- In The Heights

Photo: Cast of In The Heights

We saw In The Heights off Broadway and rated it a PICK when it ran at 37Arts until July 15 of 2007. It is now at the Richard Rodgers Theatre on W. 46.
Regarding the off-Broadway production, Stagestrucknyc said:
"This musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda is drawing an enthusiastic young audience, and its fans return with their friends to see it repeatedly. No wonder, because the show has novel and exciting music, high energy dancing, and some really engaging performers. Nearly everyone has expressed exasperation with the corny story line, which is simplistic but sincere, but the music, dance and high spirit of the whole production make up for it."
Tickets available via http://www.intheheightsthemusical.com/

Definitions of Broadway, Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway?

A Broadway theatre is a house of 500 seats or more, used primarily for theatre, and in the district bounded by Sixth Avenue to Eighth Avenue, 41st to 54th Streets. The Vivian Beaumont is outside this district but also qualifies as Broadway. (Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall and City Center all have larger houses than Broadway but theatrical shows in those houses aren't considered Broadway.)
Off Broadway: A theatre of 99 to 499 seats is a reasonable guide for Off-Broadway but the strict definition is about whether the shows are mounted by companies working under an Equity contract or not. (But note: There are some Equity companies working in under-99 seat houses, some of which call themselves Off-Broadway and some of which don't.)
The 99 seat cutoff derives from Equity's showcase code which specifies the conditions under which Equity actors may work for a production not governed by a contract. It limits the length of run (20 or 24 performances), the price which can be charged, and the size of theatre which can be used (a maximum of 99 seats although the Fringe Festival has an exemption).
The theatre festivals and most of the Off-Off-Broadway companies of any note in New York are operating under “showcase code”, and there are hundreds of them. Sooner or later a company gets too big for showcase and must move to a transitional Equity contract. Even if they don't move theatres they are entitled to call themselves Off-Broadway at that point ,and they usually seize the chance because their expenses go up and hence their prices must go up as well.
Source: http://www.talkinbroadway.com