Profile for mrsyaj

Woody has nothing to complain about. Incest survivors did not organize a boycott. A giant Mia did not appear over Broadway to terrorize opening night audiences. On the whole critics were fair and there were few out and out pans. He even got a Tony nom for his book, which was basically just a cut and paste of his twenty year-old movie script. It wasn't a "Producers" caliber hit, but wasn't a "Bridges of Madison County" level debacle either.

I wouldn't buy from a scalper.

The first acts of "Sunday in the Park" and "Into the Woods" are gem-like classics, but the second acts of both feel like "well, something else has to happen to make a full evening of theater so we'll add this and this." Maybe someday when we're all gone and the copyright expires people will stage those two first acts together as a pair of one-acts.

I'd love to see a new film version of "Pygmalion" that goes back to Shaw's original stage play with its "Doll's House" style ending rather than the romantic one Shaw always hated. Benedict Cumberbatch would be a natural for Higgins. My dream cast though would feature Hugh Laurie as Higgins and Stephen Fry as Pickering.

Good question. Woody sent in Diane Keaton to accept his award at the Golden Globes earlier this year. But this is Woody's first Tony nomination in a lifetime in show business that's included a couple of runs at Broadway before this (the stage version of "Play It Again, Sam" was nominated for direction and acting awards but the play itself wasn't) and after having experienced significant personal rejection from New Yorkers after the Soon-Yi debacle, it might mean a whole lot to him to win this...

I think he's just reciting clichés of mid twentieth century modernism here, where it's the artist's job to be daring and innovative and shake the audience out of its complacency, and if the audience isn't up for that, it's the end of civilization as we know it. Didn't postmodernism take us past the idea that if you're a TV or movie star you're a miserable sellout and the only great art is what's on the fringe?

Wake up, Michael, it's 2014. Brecht and Artaud have left the building.

Yes, I remember my Lutheran stepmother complaining about how "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Godspell" were an insult to religious people. Because, I guess, she had special knowledge that nobody who believed in God or Jesus had ever been involved in a production of either show.

Ehhh, I think there's a high camp sensibility going on here. Some of the men's costumes would have been a little risqué for that time and Pilate looks like something out of "Der Ring Gott Farblonjet."

I'm glad you did, because I always loved the idea of carrying a hip flask around and it sounds like a great idea for merchandising. Not so great in execution, though, apparently.

If you don't buy a Bullets Over Broadway flask, Mia wins.

It must be so hard to go to the theater when you're a narcissist. Having to sit still and be quiet and let somebody more famous and talented than you are get all the attention. The impulse to do something, anything to make it all about YOU must be irresistible. And of course talking and eating and moving around during the performance as though nobody else's comfort or need to concentrate exists is another aspect of the me me me personality.

Ridiculous. I don't think Woody Allen has ever produced what could be considered a family-friendly entertainment in his life. His work has always been edgy and risque and geared towards sophisticated adult audiences, including the film version of "Bullets." If I was going to choose a show from the current lineup for a school outing, I'd probably choose "Of Mice and Men," since that's a tried and true classic of the American theater and the novella version is a standard part of the high school...

Most creative people probably shouldn't read their reviews at all. Critics exist to entertain the readers of their publications, not to make fair and tactful observations. But at its best criticism is an art form in itself and Franco has just demonstrated he's no goddamn writer.

I assume they're also cutting the joke about the character picking coins off a bar with her genitals.

you're totally and unexpectedly blown away by the show and afterwards are trying to figure out why you felt that way and realize it's just the ineffable chemistry of theater where sometimes everything just works, even with nonprofessionals with zero budget.

Dame Angela's look was five decades ahead of its time. Pure Goth, straight out of a Tim Burton film.