Jerusalem & The Normal Heart - 5/15

[MusicAndPassion]

Posted: 5/16/11 at 11:03am

Yesterday I treated myself to the 3:00 performance of Jerusalem after studying British drama this semester at college. And I treated myself to the 7:00 performance of The Normal Heart after participating in the AIDS Walk yesterday. Needless to say after 5 hours of walking 5 hours of siting and theatre were a great compliment.

Jerusalem - Easily the best play I've seen on Broadway since August: Osage County back in '08. This monster of a play digs deep into different elements of metacognitive realism and British elements that I was lucky enough to pick up on due to my British drama course. Mary Rylance gives the tour-de-force performance Broadway's been begging for this season, in my opinion. Bryon is a helluva character and Rylance's performance was electrifying and haunting - never have I been so terrified of a character since Violent Weston in August (sorry for the connections, August is my favorite play and now I'm adding Jerusalem up there). The direction, set design, costume design and lighting were fantastic and they seemed to add more to the play rather than just give details as many design teams seem to do on Broadway these days. The supporting cast was superb and Crook and Gallagher, Jr. deserve more recognition in their parts. I would love to see this play pick up all six of it's nominated Tony categories in June.

Side note: Anybody else deeply annoyed at the crowds for what I assume was Mother****er and Championship Season at the stage door? It always seems that there's so much outside noise during the quietest moments (because you can't hear them during the loud ones, duh) but it was too excessive yesterday. I'd blame The Music Box but it's my favorite Broadway house so I don't have the heart to. Also, was the music playing lightly in the distant music for the show? I assumed it was from the fair off in the distance, but felt like it was also Billy Elliot.

The Normal Heart - walking into the Golden I couldn't help but feel cold. The bare set, the terrible design of the John Golden Theatre, falling plaster from house left, it was an immediate turn off. It took bout ten minutes for the play to warm me up, but boy did it ever. It's a tad dated in terms of revealing character names and character development, too much of Kramer's voice inserted into the play takes away from the play itself and the characters at times, as well as plot situations and that Act I is significantly shorter than Act 2, but it still works. I never really understood or heard to development of the AIDS crisis in the 80's and Kramer's play really put it to light. In my opinion, the direction is the best I've seen in years. I don't know if it's because a strong director is in the leading part but every single movement was brilliant. The black and white contrasts are a personal favorite of mine on the stage, and when the milk explodes I was mesmerized. The entire cast is worthy of acting nominations and if John Benjamin Hickey doesn't win the Tony than the Tony voters don't understand what a mind blowing performance is. Regardless of my problems with the play itself, this production is not to be missed and hopefully it received huge recognition on Tony night.

Best day/night of theatre I've had in years. There's no doubt that both of these shows deserve the praise they've been given. Let's just hope that more awards come to Jerusalem and The Normal Heart, especially on Tony night.