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February 10, 2006
TT: Not their kind, dear
Yes, it's Friday. Yes, I'm in The Wall Street Journal. No, I'm not in New York--OGIC is posting the weekly drama-column teaser in my absence, bless her! Two shows this week, one in New York (Charles Grodin's The Right Kind of People) and one in Chicago (Chicago Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing). Here goes:Reality-based theater--what I call theatrical journalism--comes in flavors ranging from the poetic ("Henry V") to the pedestrian ("Guantánamo"). Sometimes a purely fictional play may be journalistic in the precision with which it embodies a historical moment (Wendy Wasserstein, who died last week, had a knack for writing plays like that). And every once in a while a show comes along whose journalistic appeal is so strong that you find it interesting even though it really isn't very good. Such is the case with "The Right Kind of People," Charles Grodin's inside look at a Fifth Avenue co-op board, which had its New York premiere last night. Considered solely as a play, "The Right Kind of People" is creaky in the extreme, but if it's dish you're looking for, Mr. Grodin serves it up juicy....
I always make a point of visiting Chicago Shakespeare Theater whenever I'm anywhere near the Windy City. They've yet to let me down, and Marti Maraden maintains their winning streak with her production of "Much Ado About Nothing," in which the play is reset in the mid-19th century to no disruptive effect--the costumes are the main new wrinkle. Ms. Maraden, a well-known Canadian stage director, has brought with her two Canadian actors, Kelli Fox (she's Michael J. Fox's sister) and Jim Mezon, who play Beatrice and Benedick, the quarreling lovers, with enormous charm...
No link. You know what to do to read the whole thing, right? (A) Buy a copy of the Friday Journal. (B) Go here to subscribe to the Online Journal, which will provide you with instantaneous access to the complete text of my review, along with much, much more art-related coverage.
Posted February 10, 2006 12:00 PM
