A Rant on Straight Plays

*Changed the title of the thread. I don't want people to think I hated the Lyons. I really liked it. Go see it.*

I saw the Lyons tonight. Perhaps you gathered that from the title. And I loved it.

It's messy and gut-wrenching and hilarious. I just found it to be a stunner from beginning to end. Sure, I think it has it's many flaws and problems, but I think Silver should be applauded for providing some serious bomb-drops.

I think there needed to be a scene with the mother and daughter at home to balance out the weird interlude scene with the son and realtor. I understand the importance of the scene, but maybe it would have been better to just have it explained in Act 2. Hm.

Lavin was brilliant. I've never seen her live before, and just thought she was stellar. I know she's not expected to win, but I think she gave the best performance of a leading lady in a straight play this year. She was witty and quick and honest and brutal. It was just a great performance to watch, and I can't wait to go back and see her again.

The others were awesome as well. I didn't love the daughter, but she didn't irritate me too much. The son was great, but almost cried a little too much. Dick Latessa was hilarious, but his weird monologue-thing in Act 2 was not needed, or should have been used better.

I was just so happy to see a play that involves people standing around a room and "revealing family secrets" to be so hilarious - in a new, unusual way - and so unexpected. Some of the revelations weren't mind blowing, but the development of the son and the relation of the mother to them all is just so interesting. I almost thought this would have made a great pilot for a sitcom. I just don't understand why more people aren't into this, but are scooping up "Other Desert Cities," which to me is just such a boring mediocre piece of theater. It says nothing new and the big revelation is so horrendously delivered that you don't even care.

I thought "Chinglish" was the other great play of the season (I haven't seen C-Park yet). It managed to do the same things as "The Lyons." Make you laugh, cry, and think, which I think all great theater should have the ability to do. It, like "The Lyons," also tried to stay truly theatrical in its staging, and I really appreciated that.

I see a lot of theater throughout the year and I think theater has delved more and more into the leftover TV bin (Assistance, Other Desert Cities, God of Carnage, Time Stands Still) as of late, and it's disappointing. It's so exciting seeing "Death of a Salesman" or "Streetcar" and realizing how theatrical and raw and exciting something can be.

I know "The Lyons" is far from perfect, but it's exciting to not know how it's going to end, or what's going to be revealing next. While watching "ODC" I knew it was going to build and build to some big revelation and then it would be time for the curtain call. And that's exactly what happened. Boo.

Updated On: 4/29/12 at 01:15 AM

I couldn't agree more about OTHER DESERT CITIES. It is so refreshing to hear that someone else agreed with me. I was bored and left the theatre cold. I appreciated some of the performances, but the play felt like a first draft or an outline.

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Thanks everyone.

I just wanted to open a discussion on why we think American theater is playing it so safe? Where are the Albee's and Brecht's and Beckett's? Why is everything just people sitting around a room "arguing" about stupid, boring things? Why is there no one taking chances?

I only started seeing straight plays on Broadway about a year ago (though I've seen many regionally and read many), but I have to say, in that time, I've seen a handful of plays that I thought were fascinating and even sometimes risk-taking in their own way. Rippedman- did you happen to see JERUSALEM? Flawed though it was, it was certainly pretty bold. And although you might categorize it with the "tv drama"-esque plays, I found GOOD PEOPLE to be incredibly well-written and involving. And even VENUS IN FUR (which you should see if you haven't already) may not be substantial in terms of having lots of plot, but Ives has done some pretty clever stuff with that one. I think your point is interesting, and I have to wonder who the Albee or Beckett of our generation is (if there is one at all).

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I think a lot of the why is that tv and films have both opened up what their possibilities could be -- 1/2 of what is on tv today (and I'm not talking about reality crap) would have never been allowed on tv 20 years ago. With indie movies exploding with success, that is true on film as well. I think many are just going to a different media -- and where the money is.

I also think WE are different -- we hear more and are aware more of what is out there, and live less in a bubble. Additionally, those of us that are theater lovers SEE more than people of the past. Seeing MORE raises the chances of seeing more mediocre...when in times past, you saw the hit -- becaue you'd heard so much about it.

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There are theatres that consistently put up risky stuff, like the Public.

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Probably true, and you're right, The Public - for the most part - puts up interesting shows.

I'm not saying realism is bad at all, but I like Albee's sense of realism where there's always something lurking and some weird twist that happens that takes you out of the "4 people in a room talking."

I'm just so sick of seeing like "the alcoholic" - "the abusive mother" - etc. It gets old.

Exactly, I totally agree.

But I think "Our Town" is a masterpiece. It's realism in terms of acting, but it's so stylized and interesting and intricate. I don't feel like anyone is writing anything all that exciting. I saw "How I Learned To Drive" and just thought "Well, she pulled out all the Brechtian tricks and messed with the timeline." But heck, at least she was trying to do something different.

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Oh, brother, here we go again.

Another snotty put-down of comedies of yore.

It seems endemic to some here.

I'd take The Seven Year Itch any day over the likes of Other Desert Cities, The Lyons, Clybourne Park, Venus in Fur, Seminar, or worst of all, the grotesque and asinine Sons of the Prophet. Not just because it's more enjoyable than all of them -- how could anything be less?-- but because it's a better play.

^

You need to use words more adeptly so they convey exactly what you wish to convey.

So that people don't read "weird things" into your posts.

I don't know why you bother, Eric. There was nothing "snotty" in your mention of SEVEN YEAR ITCH, you simply said it wasn't "brave". In the context of this post, I assumed you meant not "brave" in the sense that Orton's comedies were brave--especially in their day.

RippedMan, I absolutely agree with you about OUR TOWN. I think it is vastly underrated and much too often dismissed as "sentimental" (when it is anything but). I taught it as a classic example of modernist experiment for years.

And, again, I wasn't knocking Realism. My argument is simply that film and TV do it very well, so it is harder for our Realistic theater to compete. I think we Americans love our musicals... To be fair, the whole world loves our musicals, but we Americans continue to think of musicals when we think of theater because they are essentially formalist creations that can't be precisely duplicated on film. (The film musical is an art form in its own right, but it is different.)

I mean, who knows. Maybe we're all to blame? I saw "Leap of Faith" tonight (see the previews thread for my review), and I was just astounded by how many people leap to their feet to applaud at the end. The girl in front of basically fell out of her chair to stand and clap and cheer and singalong. I mean, what? It was awful. I felt like someone wrote a score and a script then whitewashed the **** out of it until there was nothing left and then someone gave them millions of dollars and they blew it all on the fancy mirror jacket, so everything else just looked cheap.

Ripped, I've long thought Broadway has become so expensive that people are just determined to believe they are being entertained, no matter what is put in front of them. I realize everyone here seems to get great discounts, but a lot of theatergoers are paying astronomical sums! How could they dare to think they were bored!