Is The Play Dead? Not In Osage County - Reviews

August: Osage County - Imperial Theatre - New York
Is He Dead? - Lyceum Theatre - New York
Die Mommie Die - New World Stages - New York

Yes, I'm still writing about my New York trip. I'm a little behind on things okay? And how is your Christmas?

Anyways, the year ends lists are coming out (I should have mine ready by the end of the week) and a ton of them are announcing it as the year the play came back from the dead. So, as the dutiful lemming, I went to see a few plays this past Broadway marathon, in between all the Christmas cheer, and to be honest, there were a few more (The Homecoming, Seafarer, Rock and Roll, Cyrano de Bergerac, Pygmalion, The Ritz) that I wouldn't have minded seeing (not to mention all the Off-Broadway stuff that I really must get to next time), especially after I had already missed Journey's End earlier this year.

Was I bored? No. Was I moved and inspired? No. Was I entertained? Yes. Mostly.

So if anybody has been following Broadway already knows, August: Osage County is the play to see this year, and the play to beat next year at the Tony's. There will be tough competition from what I hear, but it seems like August: Osage County has it pretty much in the bag. It's got themes of alcoholism, incest, dysfunctional family rage, divorce, pedophilia, and even a native American character to shake her head at it all. It's got an amazing cast of mostly unknowns. It's the underdog coming from a smaller theatre (Chicago's famous Stephenwolf Company) and it's basically about a white America family in Oklahoma that has a LOT of shit to deal with. A LOT.

And therein might lie the problem. I'm not white. I don't live in middle America. I feel for middle America. I'm fascinated by it (probably why I love Friday Night Lights), but I guess my family is actually quite normal compared to the Weston's of Osage County, who gather together when the patriarch disappears leaving the drug addicted mother to snarl her comments onto her three grown daughters, each who have their own problems.

So no, August: Osage County wasn't world changing for me, and didn't hit me emotionally like Spring Awakening did. So at this point, I probably sound quite negative about the play, but don't get me wrong. Don't get me wrong at all. The three hour and a half play (yes, it has TWO intermissions) never lets go and its long running time whizzes by after it sucks you into the despair around the Weston family. The great acting will get you hooked and then the stories will slowly seep into you, slowly tugging at you until the play finally ends leaving me actually wanting more (which again, might be the problem since I still felt I required a bigger moment, another moment that would finally move me, but it never really happened, but it did build to an incredibly high level).

The play has been touted essentially as the best new American play in years, with comparison to the classics like Long Days Journey Into Night amongst others, and I can totally see worthiness of the comparisons, but like some of the classics, I think I appreciate it, love it more on an intellectual level, than I love the play as a whole. Still, August: Osage County's playwright Tracy Letts does an impressive job infusing humour and pathos into one family's numerous problems while the cast is just superb, especially Deanna Dunagan as the mean matriarch, Amy Morton as the dutiful daughter dealing with a divorce, Jeff Perry (Thatch on Grey's Anatomy) as her husband and Madeline Marton as pot smoking daughter caught in between.

Meanwhile, as Broadway celebrates its newest playwright, a new play by an old one, a dead one in fact has just opened. Is He Dead? is the new play by Mark Twain. Yes, THAT Mark Twain, of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain. The play was apparently discovered recently and is being produced for the first time on a proper stage and even though it was written 100 years ago, the humour of seeing a man dressed up as a woman can always be funny. Especially when that man is Tony winning actor Norbert Leo Butz (Rent, Wicked, The Last 5 Years, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels).

Is He Dead? is a fictitious story of real French painter Jean-François Millet as he fakes his own death to drive up the prices of his works. Add in some mixed up romantic interests, an evil lender, some crazy potential buyers and it all adds up to an old fashioned comedy of errors farce that is both fun and funny and a light enjoyable evening at the theatre. All that heavy stuff in August: Osage County? That stays in America and never touches the French world, but there is still love, lust and some Norbert in a dress, and somehow it all works, like a good Shakespearean comedy, only in language I actually understand.

Apparently I was in a real drag mood because we also saw Die Mommie Die on the same day. This time, with Charles Busch in drag as Angela Arden, a has-been star living in Hollywood circa 1960's who plots to rid her ssuccessfulproducer husband (Bob Ari) and instead, becomes the target of her ungrateful daughter (Ashley Morris) and dimwitted gay son (Van Hansis who is famous right now for the Luke and Noah gay love plotline on As The World Turns). Add in a boytoy (Chris Hoch) and a maid (Kristine Nielsen) and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of campy send ups to the film noirs of Hollywood yyesteryear'swith a touch of gayness added to the farce (okay, more like a smothering actually) and you have a perfect vehicle for Charles Busch to camp it up as a gglamorousqueen.

Sadly, the play is less than the sum of its actors, with each actor hilarious taking their parts as if their lives depended on it, eespeciallywith Charles Busch as the lead, but in the end, the play was mildly amusing with some nice plot twists but was not as memorable as the performances themselves.

Unfortunately, I realised that as the masses have seemed to have dictated, I'd rather see a mediocre musical than a mediocre play, as I still seem to have a better and more memorable time when things are put into song and dance. With August: Osage County and Die Mommie Die not living up to the high expectations I had heard about, I haven't gone completely wild over it like I have some musicals (ahem, Spring Awakening, Company, Xanadu) but on the other hand, the news of the plays death was certainly greatly eexaggeratedas all three plays were still enjoyable at the very worst, with all three displaying some fantastic acting in various styles.

I'm going to be implementing a star rating systems (finally) to my theatre reviews based on a 5 star system so I may as well start here:

August: Osage County - **** (4 Stars out of 5)
Is He Dead? - *** (3 Stars out of 5)
Die Mommie Die - **1/2 (2.5 Stars out of 5)

For the Christmas/Winter themed shows (Radio City Christmas Spectacular, Cirque du Soleil's Wintuk and Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical) I saw on the same New York theatre marathon, check here.

(Photo Credits for Is He Dead? and August: Osage County, all by Joan Marcus except full cast of A:OC by Sara Krulwich/NY Times, Die Mommie Die all by Carol Rosegg)

More After the Jump...

Aliens in America, Gossip Girl, The Amazing Race - Happy Birthday Jesus, Let It Be Gay and Marry

Aliens in America - Church - Ep. 110
Gossip Girl - Roman Holiday - Ep. 111
The Amazing Race - This Is Forever, Now - Ep. 1207

For the sake of continuity, I'm going to quickly post this last blurb, and also because the first Aliens in America's "Christmas" episode was an amazing scathing critique on religion and belief in America, and does so, while still keeping the spirit of belief alive! Simply brilliant!

Gossip Girl talks Christmas as well and everything is gay and marry though Blair gets a little trippy. Meanwhile, The Amazing Race continues running during the holidays (with another new episode next week as well).

On Aliens in America, Raja is very proud of his Muslim religion but is very curious about the Tolchuk's Christian beliefs and wants to understand it more in order to better himself (hint hint hint? Crazy religious people, I'm talking to you!). The Tolchuks meanwhile have been spending their blessed Sundays at the church of America, the local mall, but decides to attend church for Raja's sake (and the fact that Claire requested birth control pills for Christmas which freaked Franny out).

Raja and the Tolchuks head to church only to discover their church is now a chicken fast food joint (too bad they didn't use a product placement with the chain Church's Chicken). They head across time to the megachurch where Franny sends Claire off to the chastity club, Justin discovers the power of prayer, Gary discovers retail therapy in the church, and Raja discovers Jesus. Well, not really, but he does become appalled when Justin starts using the power of prayer to get sex from the hot girl at school, and fixes the fight between Justin and Dooley (is it me or is Adam Rose's bug eyes getting bigger? Yet still adorable. I still love him for being Max though) who has stolen Justin's method of praying to get sex with the hot chick.

Seriously, brilliant. It skewers everything about the organization of Christian religion (love the store, loved the collectible plates Gary buys, loved that Claire managed to meet a hot guy in the chastity club and started making out and making Franny freak out) yet actually strengthened the case for belief and morality (well, mostly, Justin and Dooley still didn't really get Raja's point that using prayer to get sex with the hot chick was bad but they did become better people still).

Meanwhile, over on Gossip Girl, Serena and Dan have missions to come up with the best gift for under $50 (wait, that's a challenge? Not the norm? Holy me and my friends are cheap then), while Blair's father Harold, comes back to New York for the holidays but brings along his new boytoy boyfriend Roman (that's R-OH - MON to you), who was introduced by ex-wife Eleanor. Got all that?

And don't forget, Lily and Rufus are still playing coy as Allison fights Lily off and Bart Bass continues his pursuit completely oblivious to the other plots. And like father like son, Chuck Bass is off in Monaco oblivious to the New York scene, but he's smart enough to snag Nate, keeping the two boys away from Blair. And why did we not get any shots of Nate and Chuck on holiday in the south of France? Sounds a little gay to me doesn't it?

Blair is not liking father + boyfriend time and sets up her little bitchy evil plot (oh joy!) to bring back Roman's controlling ex-boyfriend but Eleanor is wise to her daughter's evil trick (she DID teach her everything she knows!). So in the end, Eleanor plays reluctant ex-wife/best friend to Harold and Roman and they all learn that Blair needs her daddy time and that family time is important during the holidays. What is this? Full House?

Meanwhile, Serena needs Vanessa (she's still on the show? Oh yeah, they need about 2 months before audience feed back of our hatred for her affects the producers decision to fire that actress) to help pick out a perfect gift for Dan after she fails miserably (and after Vanessa gives Dan the best gift of all, getting one of his stories (a story about Serena when he first saw her) published in the New Yorker), and Vanessa hatches a plan for Serena to give Dan a snow job. When Dan discovers the winter wonderland Serena created for him, the two make out and wake up together the next morning... I'm sure a snow job was not the only job done. (Oh, did I just type that? How crude of me.)

Dan meanwhile gives Serena the gift of wood... in the form of a big Christmas tree in their hotel living quarters, all with the help of Jenny and Lily of all people. Lily, she who told Rufus that she was off to on vacation with Bart, and regrets it after. Meanwhile, Rufus discovers that Allison has been talking with the man she had cheated on Rufus with, and he's cute and likable and Rufus would probably be friends with him if he wasn't schtooping his wife. So for Christmas, Dan and Jenny get the gift of uncomfortableness when Allison and Rufus realise that their marriage is pretty much over. So just as Rufus tries to call Lily and profess his undying love to her, Bart of course asks Lily to marry him. Which also means, Chuck and Serena will be brother and sisters... ew.

Finally, The Amazing Race is off to Italy and between some flag waving, DaVinci codes, and car troubles for TK and Rachel AND Kynt and Vyxen, it was another entertaining episode that didn't really matter in the end because it was a non-elimination episode. Oh, but it did matter for Donald and Nicolas who completed the only fast forward on the race by getting "FF" tattooed on their arms permanently. I'm sure they are cursing F#$KING F#$KERS at the producers right now.

Nicolas & Donald - 1st Place
Nathan & Jennifer - 2nd Place
Ron & Christina - 3rd Place
TK & Rachel - 4th Place
Kynt & Vyxsin - 5th Place

Luckily, it was the 1st of two non-elimination rounds (hey, I thought they said there were going to be no eliminations this season) and Kynt and Vyxen are still in the race. Unfortunately, there's a new speed bump for them, in a new twist called "Speed Bump" in the next leg where only their team will need to complete an extra obstacle.

More After the Jump...

TV Blog Coalition - And How Many People Have You Run Over In The Mall Parking Lot?

I thought ending one job would create more time for me, but instead it's been a bit crazy that comes along with this season, so as I'm falling behind on the blogging, head over to our fellow TV bloggers (who isn't feeling like they are dropping the ball on everything in life right now) to see what everyone else is up to.

BuzzSugar: This week, we got pumped about new previews for Lost and Heroes, celebrated the addition of Saved by the Bell to The N, and asked one very important question: Team Serena or Team Blair?

Daemon's TV: This week Sandie took a first look at pictures from the second season of Jericho. Araya posted part three of our interview with the cast of Chuck, including Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski, and Adam Baldwin. Eric shared his thoughts on the pilot of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Glowy Box: After answering some googled questions about Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency and Cash and Treasures, Liz celebrated the holiday season by recapping Pinocchio’s Christmas, which was surprisingly lacking in likeable characters, and Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town, the classic Christmastime ode to freedom and Democracy.

Mikey Likes TV: The graciously closure-filled season finale of Dexter put Mikey in the holiday spirit, so he started his countdown of the top 10 shows of 2007 with a look at why he loves 30 Rock so much. If anyone out there has a copy of the Who Dat Ninga? poster, it's all he really wants for Christmas.

Pop Vultures: This week, Marcia continued her obsession with TV's opening titles by naming the 5 best opening credits sequences, although she's fairly certain no one will agree with her choices. She then managed to gather her thoughts about the Dexter season finale. Also, guest poster Tracey checked in with a woman-on-the-scene report from Monday's strike lines.

RTVW: This week our TV Advent Calendar featured a bonus Bones scene under the mistletoe and we sounded off about our favorite holiday TV. Plus, Rae wondered how an episode of Scarecrow & Mrs King could still be considered "promotional."

Scooter McGavin's 9th Green: As the television season winds to a grinding halt, you can always reminisce the past year by going through Scooter’s 57 Channels and Only This Is On archives to relive the highs and lows of the season (or if only to check out the previous Gratuitous Token Hot Chick Picture of the Week). Still need something to get that annoying cousin for Christmas who thinks he’s ghetto despite living in suburbia? Try the new Lupe Fiasco album. And a Christmas movie with Olive Snook, Maeby Fünke, and Hurley has to be good, right?

Tapeworthy: Merry Ludachristmas! Vance went to "30 Rock" in New York and saw Christmas marathon of stage shows, including the Rockettes, Wintuk and The Grinch Musical (and the White Christmas The Musical back in Toronto). Also back in Toronto, Project Runway Canada had its finale with host Iman getting her regal final word in.

Televisionary: This week, Jace was blown away by the sheer genius of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's series-ender special of Extras, enraptured by the extended trailer for Season Four of Lost, and felt justified with his picks for the best TV of 2007.

TiFaux: This week, we ended up watching more TV on the internet than on the actual tube. That is, shows produced exclusively for the internet. First, there's the indie rock/comedy duo of Carrie Brownstein (of Sleater-Kinney) and Fred Armisen (of SNL) who produce the pretty darn funny Thunderant series. Then, there's hipster comedians Gabe and Jenny, who created an awesome clip spoofing The Hills. Rounding out the week, Kyle noticed a weird similarity between Pushing Daisies and Bill Murray's Groundhog Day.

The TV Addict: offered up an early review of TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES, interviewed SMALLVILLE's Allison Mack and Krisin Kreuk and wrote an Ode to JOURNEYMAN.

Tube Talk: Jennifer overdosed on Christmas movies, Ashley shared her favorite TV holiday episodes and readers chimed in with their choices, too, (Chrismukkah and Happy Festivus anyone?) and we rejoiced at the news that Pete Ross was returning to Smallville. Merry Christmas everyone!

TV Filter: Raoul interviewed Todd from Survivor. Kate discovered, much to her dismay, that she liked Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants and counted down her favorite not-too-Christmassy Christmas episodes of the past.

TV With MeeVee: We talked to Donald Trump and Gene Simmons - yup - about the upcoming "Celebrity Apprentice." We rocked the news that "Gossip Girl" star Ed Westwick has a rock band. And we taught you how to identify Cylons without having sex with them.

More After the Jump...

Let It Snow On Stage - A Christmas Theatrical Marathon - Reviews

Radio City Christmas Spectacular - Radio City Music Hall - New York
Cirque du Soleil's Wintuk - Madison Square Gardens Wamu Theatre - New York
Dr Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical - St. James Theatre - New York
White Christmas The Musical - Sony Centre for the Performing Arts - Toronto

I love Christmas time! I love the gatherings, the food (boy do I love the food and the January scream when I jump back on the scale is enough to prove it), the twinkly lights and I actually love the snow (and boy did we get lots of it here in Toronto this week)! I can skip the malls at this point, and I don't need gifts (I'd rather spend more time sitting, eating and chatting with you all than running around a mall looking for something to give you in the 2 remaining minutes I have left to see you. At this point, I only buy gifts for the kiddies) but strangely enough, I've never really seen the Christmas movies (I've never seen White Christmas and I only saw It's A Wonderful Life two years ago when everyone at work was shocked I hadn't seen it yet and forced me to watch it) or done those Christmacy theatrical events like the whole British pantomimes or the Radio City Rockettes.

So it never occurred to me I was doing a bit of a Winter/Christmas show marathon when I got tickets for the (limited Christmas season engagements of:) Radio City Christmas Specatacular starring the Rockettes, Cirque du Soleil's new winter themed Wintuk, Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Who Stole Christmas! The Musical, and White Christmas The Musical all within one week (and the three shows in New York were back to back to back). I think I'm pretty Christmased out at this point.

Basically, apparently I'm just not into leggy women dancing in a line, because the Rockettes kinda bored me. Cirque du Soleil creates a good appetizer course with Wintuk that's great for the young and newbies but might disappoint more experienced Cirque fans. The Grinch stole the Christmas spirit right out of the television special, but luckily, White Christmas (pictures from the San Francisco 2005 production) puts it all back in into a wonderfully old fashioned musical that managed to warm my heart underneath all that falling snow (and yes, snow fell around the theatre, in fact, all four shows had some sort of falling snow/confetti).

The Radio City Christmas Spectacular, a special 75th Anniversary special edition apparently this year, was still way too touristy cheesy for me. I enjoy cheese, but it kind of left me bored actually. Apparently, the Rockettes are just not my thing. (Radio City Music Hall on the other hand was SPECTACULAR and I'm definitely glad I finally visited).

Strangely, the religious portion of the show, the infamous Nativity scene, now with live animals! an actual camel! was actually one of my favorite parts (um, I'm "catholic" but I'm kinda anti-religion, probably because I went to Catholic school and became jaded) though maybe because "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" was performed during that section and I love that song (despite disagreeing with all the words).

The toy soldiers was really cool to see in person, and the dancing and kicking of the Rockettes was cool the first while but after a while it just seemed to touristy cheesy for me and I ended up looking around at the theatre itself instead of what was on the stage (seriously though, no wonder Rosie forced the Tony's to present in there, it's AMAZING!).

Wintuk was a bit like Cirque du Soleil light. A great version for kids and Cirque newbies, but will probably not be as impressive to those who have seen some of their other shows. It's again, a more back to basics circustry buried amongst the most narrative of tales (which for Cirque, still means nothing since it's still really odd and surreal) that has giant dog puppets for the kids but the Wamu Theatre's low ceiling limits the scope of this Cirque show. Still, the bike tricks and a few others were still impressive and I still loved the set with the ramps and hills and undulating shiny panels toward the sides.

The whole show follows a boy, Jamie, as he yearns for snow in New York City, and eventually is carried off to the north by some shaman, along with large dogs, some shadowgirl and um... yeah, there were giant birds, giant ice monsters and talking lamp posts all in an attempt I think to utilize the puppetry department as they thought "hey, it's a family show, we can use all these puppet tricks to amuse the kids". Sadly, it was mostly unnecessary since the best part of Cirque still comes down to the tricks, but the narrative in the show probably took far too much time (or more than other shows at least).

After having already seen Cirque's Koozå and another Montreal circus troupe the 7 fingers' Traces (opening in New York at the New Victory Theatre in Feb 2008), Wintuk just seemed slightly lesser than the other two shows. While Koozå is a back-to-basics show for Cirque, and Traces is performed entirely by a young 5 person cast in a simple, grounded street level way, Wintuk uses much of the same simpler circus tricks that are still awe inspiring, I just wish there were a few more in the show, and the loss of anything high (due to the low ceiling in the venue) also hurt the show.

Still, the messenger on the bike, the ragdoll, and the construction worker balancing on the balls and spindles was incredible and again, incite the same, "oh, I've seen that" initial response until it hits you "how the heck did they DO THAT?" and your mouth drops open.

I'm going to be a total Grinch but the musical Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical was mildly entertaining at best and completely saved by Patrick Page and Rusty Ross' performances as The Grinch and his dog Max. Whenever the Who's were on stage, I just wanted The Grinch to come back. I started seeing his point. I'm not sure that was the message intended to be sent.

The most memorable song "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" was from the original televised version as all the others were pretty forgettable. The sets popped out and were bright and cheery yet lacked a certain magic. There's a certain warmth to watching the original animated cartoon version on TV but the musical on stage lacked a certain depth, and felt more distant and cold despite being live in front of me. It seemed a bit too calculated and by the book and lost that flair that makes Dr. Seuss such a treat. I guess I should have known the whole affair was just some cash cow for the producers but it had a pretty good team behind it and a good cast (I felt bad for Hunter Bell who was an ensemble Who but I guess trying to get [title of show] onto Broadway doesn't actually pay the bills), but in the end, it was just another corporate attempt to cash in on our nostalgia. (On something completely off topic, since star Patrick Page is married to Trading Spaces' reinstated host Paige Davis, would she become Paige Page?)

Luckily, I came home to Toronto to watch the touring version (well, seems like every year they have 2 productions that camp out in different cities, this year is Boston and Toronto, previous cities were San Francisco, Los Angeles and Detroit) of White Christmas The Musical. The old fashioned musical put back the warm and fuzzies that I yearn for around the Christmas season back inside me and while it's not perfect, it was still pretty wonderful led by an amazing performance by local Kate Baldwin (who has been with the show since the San Francisco debut) and my favorite A Chorus Line boy, Tony Yazbeck (unfortunately, the production photos here do not have him featured).

I actually came partially because I found out Tony Yazbeck had joined the cast for the Toronto run and he's one of the many in the cast of the A Chorus Line revival that I'm now rooting for (and it was great that he was included within the central cast of this past summer's Gypsy with Patti LuPone and Boyd Gaines). He joined Shannon O'Bryan, Graham Rowat (LoveMusik) and Kate Baldwin (Throughly Modern Millie)(all in image above) who were with the show since the 2nd Tour began in San Francisco in 2005 (the 1st cast is in Boston right now headed by Bryan Darcy James). Tony plays Phil Davis opposite to Graham Rowat's Bob Wallace who meet the Haines sisters Judy (Shannon O'Bryan) and Betty (Kate Baldwin) who over the course of some comedy of errors, pair off in love at an inn in Vermont (again, the story was all new to me and since I haven't seen the movie, I can't say how closely it sticks but I thought the story was cute enough).

It was old fashioned, the dancing was great, and Kate Baldwin (who in real life is married to her co-star Graham Rowat and both come from around the greater Toronto area apparently (well, Peterborough but close enough in world terms)) is spectacular! I've never heard of her but she SHOULD be a star on Broadway, with an incredibly crisp, smooth and warm voice (everything something like White Christmas would ask for) and a genuine womanly presence that doles out wit, sass and smarts without being sharp or "feminist". It gave me goosebumps in the Donna Murphy/Christine Ebersole region as I watched Kate Baldwin's Betty sing and dance around her little miscommunicated romance with Rowat's Bob (who himself has a great deep voice which would be great in any other show but against his real life wife's talent, seems almost pedestrian by comparison).

And as for my beloved Tony Yazbeck, who was so great as Al last year in ACL, was amazing. I knew there was a reason he stood out amongst an already fantastic cast, but his dancing was crisper than most around him, his voice is INCREDIBLY SMOOTH and sultry and he can be really funny, making him a triple threat to look out for. I'm not sure if Shannon O'Bryan was sick last night but again, her voice was pretty good on any level of judgement but seemed to fall under the radar when paired up against Yazbeck.

White Christmas the Musical, filled with songs by Irving Berlin really can't go wrong, and while there are still some clunkier moments that don't shine as bright, or bask in the coziness of the story, as a whole, it's good enough to warrant the trek through the snow to see White Christmas.

Here are more images of all the shows:
Radio City Christmas Spectacular Picture Gallery:



Cirque du Soleil's Wintuk Picture Gallery:



Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Who Stole Christmas! The Musical picture gallery:



White Christmas The Musical Picture Gallery:

More After the Jump...