Howard Katz: Fiddler on the Roof Meets Death of a Salesman

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 2/28/07 at 5:31pm

Possible spoilers throughout.

Patrick Marber's Howard Katz, Roundabout's new show at the Pels, is Fiddler on the Roof meets Death of a Salesman, minus the messages that those two shows had. It is a tour-de-force of mediocrity, with only the performance of Alfred Molina standing out. He is leagues better than his underused, oddly used, subdued, veteran co-stars.

Like Death of a Salesman, Howard Katz (Alfred Molina) tells the story of the decline of an unhappy businessman (in this case, a English talent agent). Along for the ride are his wife, Jess (best described by someone else as "Jessica Hecht on tranqulizers"), his may-or-may not be gay ten year old son, Ollie (Patrick Henney), his parents, Ellie (Elizabeth Franz) and Nat (Alvin Epstein), and his brother, Bern (Max Baker). In supporting roles are Euan Morton and Charlotte Parry.

Molina, who never leaves the stage, is the lone standout. Perhaps it is the fact that he only plays 1 character (as opposed to everyone else who play multiple characters), but he brilliantly captures the downfall of an unhappy person carrying a huge boulder (in this case, the urn of his dead father). Alvin Epstein and Elizabeth Franz are wasted in their various roles, as is Jessica Hecht. The entire cast is very subdued and leave no impact.

Like Fiddler on the Roof, the play focuses on the struggle to find a higher power in a tough world. The characters are British Jews, yet the Judiasm is completely unnecessary. It adds nothing and taking it away (making the characters Catholic) would not be detremental to the script.

Doug Hughes' has directed a very abrupt production with unnecessarily jarring scene changes. Scott Pask's sets are disappointing (especially after seeing his work for Coast of Utopia). Catherine Zuber's plain as day costumes suit the show well, as does Christopher Akerlind's lighting.

Patrick Marber has crafted a completely meaningless play, making me wonder why Roundabout even decided to produce it. I saw John Simon fiddling with his Blackberry pre-show. It opens tomorrow, I wonder what the critics will think.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 2/28/07 at 5:54pm

Forgot to mention the very accomodating staff, who, after missing the show on Saturday, let me past-date my ticket. I was given a general admission pass and a seat in the front row, 5 minutes before the curtain.

[D2]

Posted: 2/28/07 at 7:09pm

I must have had your seat then, since they honored my past date ticket on Saturday. Your review was kind. As far as I'm concerned this show went immediately on my list of all time worst evenings in the theater, and that includes a summer youth theater production of" West Side Story" that cut all the choreography down to box steps, had Blonde Sharks and Hispanic Jets and created the role of Maria's mother to make "A Boy Like That" a trio.

Updated On: 2/28/07 at 07:09 PM

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 2/28/07 at 7:10pm

Ha!

What didn't you like about it? (Besides everything I possibly listed, of course).

[D2]

Posted: 2/28/07 at 7:23pm

It made absolutely no sense. I was confused as to who these people were, why they were behaving the way they did and why I should care about them. I kept waiting for a reason, some breathtaking revelation that would have given the play its purpose, but none was forthcoming. None of the characters had any redeeming qualities, and the supporting cast did nothing to differentiate one character from another, contributing to the confusion. A sour, inconsequential mess.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 2/28/07 at 7:24pm

Agreed 100%. I kept waiting for some inspiration for the events, but....there wasn't any.

[D2]

Posted: 2/28/07 at 7:30pm

And what was with that set? If the play is FIDDLER...MEETS...SALESMAN, then the set is URINETOWN MEETS SWEENEY TODD, and has nothing to do with the text.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 2/28/07 at 7:33pm

I was trying to figure out why the grating of lights at the very top of the set kept changing for no apparent reason. I thought I was on the subway after a while.

Do you agree that it's Fiddler meets Salesman?

[D2]

Posted: 2/28/07 at 7:38pm

I guess if you put the scripts to FIDDLER and SALESMAN into some kind of automatic playwrighting software program and pushed a button, then yes, HOWARD KATZ may be what gets spit out. But frankly, I think it's insulting to both of those masterpieces to put HK in the same sentence with them.

I really didn't like it, did I? Hmmmm...

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 2/28/07 at 7:39pm

Ha. It didn't even have the "so bad it's good" quality.

Oh well. Not the first turkey Roundabout produced.

And watch, it'll get great reviews.

[D2]

Posted: 2/28/07 at 7:45pm

Well, it is British...

I'll be very surprised if it gets good reviews.

How was the audience response at your performance? It was pretty tepid on Saturday night. A few laughs here and there, but there was no energy in the house and just perfunctory applause during the curtain call. Most of the cast looked embarrassed, Molina looked pissed.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 2/28/07 at 7:52pm

The house was full, a few laughs, not much applause. They RAN off stage.