Archives for August 2015

“There is much to be said in favor of modern journalism. By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, it keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community. By carefully chronicling the current events of contemporary life, it shows us of what very little importance such events really are. By invariably discussing the unnecessary, it makes us understand what things are requisite for culture, and what are not.”

Oscar Wilde, “The Critic as Artist”

In today’s Wall Street Journal I review the Broadway transfer of Hamilton and a Maine revival of Nice Work if You Can Get It. Here’s an excerpt.

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Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton,” the multi-racial rap musical about Alexander Hamilton and the making of America that sold out the Public Theater this spring, has now moved to Broadway, just in time to profit from the ruckus over the possible removal of its namesake from the $10 bill. Not that the show needed any more publicity: It was already a plutonium-hot ticket, stoked by ecstatic reviews of the premiere and acres of near-lascivious advance coverage. No matter what the critics say this time around, “Hamilton” seems a safe bet to occupy the Richard Rodgers Theatre forevermore.

So it should: “Hamilton” is the best and most important Broadway musical of the past decade. Why important? Because it sounds as though it had been written last week instead of a half-century ago. At the same time, and even more surprisingly, “Hamilton” enlists the musical language of hip-hop in the service of a patriotism that is at bottom as old-fashioned as skyrockets on the Fourth. Yet there is nothing quaint about the deeply thoughtful way in which Mr. Miranda has interwoven the tension between Hamilton’s personal ambition and sense of national mission with the parallel capacity of his fellow framers to balance realism with idealism….

The uptown version of “Hamilton” is not greatly changed from its off-Broadway predecessor. It’s still on the long side—two hours and 45 minutes—and I continue to think, as I did in February, that judicious cuts would have made it even stronger. That doesn’t matter much, though, for the vaulting energy of Mr. Miranda’s score sweeps all cavils aside…

Valerie Harper, who has continued to act while battling cancer, fell ill last Wednesday during a performance of “Nice Work if You Can Get It” at Maine’s Ogunquit Playhouse and was subsequently replaced on Tuesday by Brenda Vaccaro. Unable to postpone my planned Sunday-afternoon visit to Ogunquit, I instead saw Leslie Alexander, Ms. Harper’s emergency stand-by, and can report that no apologies of any kind were needed for her tough-broad second-act cameo as Millicent Winter, whose role was created by Estelle Parsons in 2012. Ms. Alexander couldn’t have been better, and neither could the rest of the production, which is comparable in quality to Kathleen Marshall’s original Broadway staging.

Much of the credit belongs to Peggy Hickey, the choreographer. She has a knack for knowing pastiche, and her evocations of Prohibition-era theatrical dance are lively and smart….

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To read my review of Hamilton, go here.

To read my review of Nice Work if You Can Get It, go here.

To read my review of the original off-Broadway production of Hamilton, go here.

A CBS Sunday Morning feature on the off-Broadway premiere of Hamilton:

Mort Sahl appears as a guest on Jackpot Bowling, hosted by Milton Berle. This episode was originally telecast in 1960:

(This is the latest in a series of arts-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.)

“I looked at my watch; it was four o’clock, but neither of us was ready to sleep, for in that city there is neurosis in the air which the inhabitants mistake for energy.”

Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited

Here’s my list of recommended Broadway, off-Broadway, and out-of-town shows, updated weekly. In all cases, I gave these shows favorable reviews (if sometimes qualifiedly so) in The Wall Street Journal when they opened. For more information, click on the title.

BROADWAY:
• An American in Paris (musical, G, too complex for small children, nearly all performances sold out last week, reviewed here)
• Fun Home (serious musical, PG-13, all performances sold out last week, reviewed here)
• A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder (musical, PG-13, nearly all performances sold out last week, reviewed here)
• Hand to God (black comedy, X, absolutely not for children or prudish adults, reviewed here)
• The King and I (musical, G, perfect for children with well-developed attention spans, some performances sold out last week, reviewed here)
• Matilda (musical, G, all performances sold out last week, reviewed here)
• Les Misérables (musical, G, too long and complicated for young children, some performances sold out last week, reviewed here)
• On the Town (musical, G, contains double entendres that will not be intelligible to children, closing Sept. 6, reviewed here)

OFF BROADWAY:
• Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps (comedy, G, ideal for bright children, remounting of Broadway production, original production reviewed here)
• The Fantasticks (musical, G, suitable for children capable of enjoying a love story, reviewed here)
• The Flick (serious comedy, PG-13, too long for young people with limited attention spans, reviewed here)
• The Weir (drama, PG-13, remounting of original off-Broadway production, extended through Sept. 6, original production reviewed here)

IN GARRISON, N.Y.:
• A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare, PG-13, closes Aug. 28, reviewed here)
• The Winter’s Tale (Shakespeare, PG-13, closes Aug. 29, reviewed here)

IN NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, ONTARIO:
• Sweet Charity (musical, PG-13, closes Oct. 31, reviewed here)
• The Twelve-Pound Look (one-act comedy, G, not suitable for children, closes Sept. 12, reviewed here)
• You Never Can Tell (Shaw, PG-13, closes Oct. 25, reviewed here)

IN SPRING GREEN, WIS.:
• An Iliad (drama, PG-13, closes Oct. 18, reviewed here)
• The Island (drama, PG-13, closes Sept. 26, reviewed here)
• The Merry Wives of Windsor (Shakespeare, PG-13, closes Oct. 4, reviewed here)
• A Streetcar Named Desire (drama, PG-13, closes Sept. 5, reviewed here)

CLOSING SOON OFF BROADWAY:
• Shows for Days (comedy, PG-13, sexual situations, closes Aug. 23, reviewed here)

“The doctor spoke dispassionately, almost brutally, with the relish men of science sometimes have for limiting themselves to inessentials, for pruning back their work to the point of sterility.”

Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited

Orson Welles stars in an excerpt from an abridged performance of King Lear that was originally telecast live on Omnibus on October 18, 1953. The production was directed by Peter Brook. The incidental music is by Virgil Thomson. The telecast was Welles’ TV debut:

(This is the latest in a series of arts-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.)

“My work upheld me, for I had chosen to do what I could do well, did better daily, and liked doing.”

Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited (revised edition of 1959)