MargoChanning's Best of 2004

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 3:36pm

Filled with lots of surprises and more than a few disappointments, 2004 proved to be a mostly rewarding year for theatre, in retrospect. I saw 86 plays and musicals on-, off-, and off-off-Broadway (as well as a few regional productions in Washington, D.C. and Seattle) -- probably a more theatre than ANYONE needs to see in a given year (though a few folks over at ATC saw more than double that amount) but as addictions go, hey, at least frequent theatre-going doesn't rot your teeth or leave tracks on your arms ...... well, not yet anyway.

The following is my list of what stood out in my mind as the "best" (whatever that means) -- smartest, most thought-provoking, most-inspiring, most emotionally and intellectually-stimulating, most fun, least flawed ....... I don't know ...... perhaps it's a combination of all of that and more. I omitted productions I returned to this year which I had seen before in prior years ("Caroline, or Change," which topped my 2003 list when it was at The Public; Linda Emond reprising her brilliant performance as The Homebody in Kushner's "Homebody/Kabul" at BAM). And, just so you know, there was a lot of tinkering with both the Top Ten, as well as the Honorable Mentions List, and several inclusions on the latter, could easily qualify, in my mind, for the former -- it's all a little arbitrary, so perhaps it's best to look at both together as a Top 20 List and leave it that. Anyway, without further ado:

TOP TEN OF 2004 (in alphabetical order):

BLACKBIRD by Adam Rapp (Off-Off-Broadway; The Blue Heron Arts Center)
Disturbing and claustrophobic, this powerful drama from the prolific young Adam Rapp, took stage naturalism to an uncomfortable extreme. Staged in a tiny (30 seat?) studio space in the Blue Heron Arts Center, the audience became flies on the wall to this tale of an ailing Gulf War vet and his drug-addicted teenage lover, living together in the squalor of a downtown tenement building. The realism of the staging was such that no effort was made in any way to separate the characters from the audience, to the point that you felt that you were actually in the apartment with them as an invisible observer (I was even bumped into twice by one of the actors). Paul Sparks and Mandy Siegfried gave stunning performances and Rapp managed to convey the poetry and pathos and a surprising bit of humor in exploring the lives of these desperate characters.

BUG by Tracy Letts (Off-Broadway; The Barrow Street Theatre)
The year's most visceral event. A sweaty-palmed, paranoia-inducing, Chicago-school absurdist nightmare, the whole experience made you want to scratch yourself incessantly and take a shower afterwards. The direction and design elements were all above reproach and Michael Shannon and Shannon Cochran led the flawless ensemble in this jarring and affecting production.

FIRST LADY SUITE by Michael John LaChiusa (Off-Off-Broadway; The Connelly Theatre)
This revival of LaChiusa's chamber musical depicting moments in the lives of first ladies -- Eleanor Roosevelt, Mamie Eisenhower and Jackie Kennedy -- was one of the unexpected delights of the year (and one of the biggest bargains: how often do you get to see and hear Broadway caliber talent like Mary Testa, Mary Beth Peil, Julia Murney, Donna Lynne Champion and Sherry D. Boone for $15?). Each vignette perceptively conveyed the isolation, power and responsibility that goes with being the first lady of the land, yet still found the humanity and vulnerability underneath. A remarkable score gorgeously sung by all of the ladies, with special kudos going to Mary Testa for her startling, goosebump-inducing vocal turn as Lorena Hickok, Eleanor Roosevelt's secret lover who, as she sits in the back on the floor of the plane while Eleanor is up front being wooed by Amelia Earhart who is giving them a flying tour of the capitol, sings a humorous, but bitter lament at being the other woman in the shadow of a legend. Brilliant.

GEM OF THE OCEAN by August Wilson (Broadway)
A rich, incandescent, mystical new work from the invaluable August Wilson, Gem represents the ninth play in his cycle of of ten plays chronicling the African American experience in 20th century America decade by decade, and is one of his best. The direction and the ensemble work are outstanding, some of the finest to be seen on any NY stage at the moment.

JUMPERS by Tom Stoppard (Broadway)
David Leveaux's dazzling, remarkably coherent and comprehensible production of Stoppard's three ring circus of a play about God and technology and the search for meaning in the modern world. The estimable Simon Russell Beale led a first rate cast from London's Royal National Theatre all making their Broadway debuts -- I look forward to their return.

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM by William Shakespeare (from Edward Hall and The Propeller Company @ The Brooklyn Academy of Music)
Sheer magic. Edward Hall and his masterful all-male Propeller Company came over London and turned a cynical theatregoer who thought he'd seen everything that could be done with this particular play into a true believer in the tranformative powers of the theatre. Simply the most joyous evening I spent in a theatre all year.

A NUMBER by Caryl Churchill (Off-Broadway; New York Theatre Workshop)
Just what is it exactly that makes you you? This question and others were explored in Caryl Churchill's potent and thought-provoking rumination on the nature of identity, personality and individuality from arguably the theatre's greatest living playwright. Dallas Roberts shined in a tour de force performance playing multiple clones of single individual, each with his own unique identity. A spare, scintillating, mind-bending 65-minute jewel of a play.

PACIFIC OVERTURES by Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman (Broadway; Roundabout Theatre Company)
In a year that saw three major productions of Sondheim musicals on Broadway, I thought that this one was the most completely successful on the most levels. Amon Miyamoto's Noh-inspired staging ably abeted by striking work from his talented design team takes the audience on a fascinating and sublime journey through the last 150 years of Japanese cultural and political transitions spurred on by Western (notably American) imperialism and hegemony. Weidman's complex book and Sondheim's ingenius score are shown off to excellent advantage here, with its issues and concerns every bit as relevant today as they were thirty years ago when the show debuted.

ROSE RAGE by William Shakespeare; adapted by Edward Hall and Roger Warren (Off-Broadway; The Duke on 42nd Street)
Another winner from my director of the year, Edward Hall. By boiling down the three Henry VI plays to a streamlined 4 hours, pacing the action within an inch of its life and imaginatively stylizing the (frequent) violence of the plays, he managed to keep the epic scope of the piece while bringing out the intimate nature of the characters and their predicaments. Quite an achievement from a gifted young director.

WELL by Lisa Kron (Off-Broadway; The Public)
The Best Play of the Year. Period. Lisa Kron has been a writer (and performer) to watch for well over a decade and with "Well" she fulfilled the promise that she would one day be a truly important playwright -- "Well" is a smart, inventive, comic masterpiece. Part exploration of the nature of sickness and wellness, part confessional family drama, part meta-deconstruction of the entire solo play genre, Kron considers and reconsiders the very notion of autobiographical storytelling as a dramatic artform and the limits of dramatic license. Further, the play considers who owns the stories of our lives and what responsibilities does the artist owe not only to the real people they depict in those stories, but to the "truth" itself. Somehow Kron makes all of this hilarious and emotionally involving and intellectually challenging all at once. A compelling and gratifying breakthrough for Kron and the best new play of the year.


HONORABLE MENTIONS (in alphabetical order):

AIN'T SUPPOSED TO DIE A NATURAL DEATH by Melvin Van Peebles (Classical Theatre of Harlem)
ASSASSINS by Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman (Broadway)
THE BIG VOICE: GOD OR MERMAN? by Steve Schalchlin and Jim Brochu (New York Musical Theatre Festival)
CVR -- CHARLIE VICTOR ROMEO (Collective Unconscious Theatre @ P.S. 122)
DOUBT by John Patrick Shanley (Manhattan Theatre Club)
THE DOWNTOWN PLAYS by various playwrights (1st Annual Tribeca Theatre Festival @ The Michael Schimmel Center at Pace)
THE FROGS by Stephen Sondheim et al (Broadway; Lincoln Center)
GOD OF HELL by Sam Shepard (Westbeth Theatre)
THE NORMAL HEART by Larry Kramer (The Public Theatre)
A RAISIN IN THE SUN by Lorraine Hansberry (Broadway)

THREE MEMORABLE EVENINGS:

CAROLINE OR CHANGE (last performance)
An electric, galvanic, standing ovation-filled performance from one of the finest shows to grace the Broadway stage in many a season. Too bad it couldn't have stuck around a while longer.

KIKI & HERB WILL DIE FOR YOU (their farewell performance at Carnegie Hall)
The King and Queen of warped downtown cabaret went out in style with a farewell blowout at the legendary Carnegie Hall with special guest Sandra Bernhard, Rufus Wainwright, Isaac Mizrahi, and Jake Shears of the Scissor Sisters. Can't wait for the inevitable comeback concert (s) in the years to come.

TINY KUSHNER
A riveting evening of Tony Kushner one acts: Jeffrey Wright performed EAST COAST ODE TO HOWARD JARVIS (a monologue) and Ben Schenkman (ANGELS IN AMERICA) and Linda Emond (HOMEBODY/KABUL) played patient and psychiatrist in the fascinating TERMINATING, OR SONNET LXXV. The highlight, though, was a wonderful and VERY pregnant Harden in the opening scene of ONLY WE WHO GUARD THE MYSTERY SHALL BE UNHAPPY, playing Laura Bush as she reads the "The Brother Karamazov" to a group of dead Iraqi children who speak only in bird noises. A very clever and provocative collection of lesser-known Kushner.

MEMORABLE PERFORMANCES:

Ashlie Atkinson, FAT PIG
Simon Russell Beale, JUMPERS
McCaleb Burnett, THE NORMAL HEART
Brent Carver, KING LEAR
Anthony Chisholm, GEM OF THE OCEAN
Shannon Cochran, BUG
Dame Edna, DAME EDNA BACK WITH A VENGEANCE!
Essie Davis, JUMPERS
Viola Davis, INTIMATE APPAREL
Ann Duquesnay, HALLELUJAH BABY! (DC)
Raul Esparza, THE NORMAL HEART
Edie Falco, NIGHT MOTHER
Julie Halston, WHITE CHOCOLATE
Lisagay Hamilton, GEM OF THE OCEAN
Nicky Henson, JUMPERS
Jayne Houdyshell, WELL
Ruben Santiago-Hudson, GEM OF THE OCEAN
Judith Ivey, DIRTY TRICKS
Cherry Jones, DOUBT
James Earl Jones, ON GOLDEN POND (DC)
Frank Langella, MATCH
Brian O'Byrne, FROZEN & DOUBT
Mary-Louise Parker, RECKLESS
Christopher Plummer, KING LEAR
Heather Raffo, NINE PARTS OF DESIRE
Phylicia Rashad, A RAISIN IN THE SUN & GEM OF THE OCEAN
Dallas Roberts, A NUMBER
Michael Shannon, BUG
Lilly Taylor, AUNT DAN & LEMON
Mary Testa, FIRST LADY SUITE

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 3:43pm

I am surprised, amused and delighted that Pacific Overtures "ranked" higher than Assassins.

But I'd have to say I completely agree with you on that.

Posted: 1/4/05 at 3:43pm

Thank you, Margo - I just printed this out.

Question, though - did you not think that some of the performances in Caroline, or Change were 'memorable'? Especially Ms. Pinkins?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 3:47pm

Thanks DGrant,

I mentioned somewhere in there briefly that Caroline, or Change -- both the show and the performances in it -- was on my list last year (when it was still at The Public), so I had to disqualify it from this year's list. Otherwise, it would have easily made my top ten.

Posted: 1/4/05 at 3:50pm

Margo - Ooops, so sorry! I was so excited to read what you had to say about the season that I'm afraid I didn't pay enough attention to your introduction. No wonder my teachers always found me so frustrating!

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 3:58pm

Priest,

I happen to think (and few agree with me) that that production of Assassins was more than a little overrated -- good, certainly, but not the landmark so many want to make it out to be. I think Weidman's book is more than a little muddled conceptually and isn't particularly inciteful in all the things it's trying to say about the lie of the American dream, how this country treats outsiders etc.... I also was underwhelmed with Mantello's direction -- also a minority view. Pacific Overtures, in contrast, is a much more accomplished piece overall and Weidman's book for it does a much better job of developing a whole raft of complex ideas and bringing them to life through character. It's just a better show than Assassins, IMO.

Posted: 1/4/05 at 4:07pm

Margo -thanks for sharing. Can I ask- are you in the theatre business? How do you get the opportunity and time to see all that you see? I am jealous!!!

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 4:08pm

Great list and comments, Margo. How wonderful that you were able to see so much.

Now what everyone really wants to know...
MargoChanning's WORST!

[NYadgal]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 4:09pm

Margo, thank you! I have printed it out and will save it forever! Brilliant!

[bronxboundexpress]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 4:12pm

Margo isn't saying it, but her REAL favorite show is, of course, MAMMA MIA! lol

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 4:14pm

Yes, dear. MAMMA MIA and BROOKLYN -- my secret shames ...

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 4:15pm

Sueleen,

I thought I'd try to take the high road and not slam anything -- though there are a FEW that deserve it ....

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 4:18pm

High road Schmy road, Woman. That's what PM's are for!

[midtowngym]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 4:33pm

A fine list. I mostly agree except for-
1. Bug-Margo knows i'm perplexed by this show. Overacted and overrated, with distracting nudity (yes, I actually wanted them to put their clothes on after awhile.) Tracy Letts was reaching for SOMETHING, but I left scratching my head.
2. The Frogs-a clever and entertaining first act, but even Roger Bart couldn't save the second acts nosedive (ie-the tedious tennis match between Shakespeare and Shaw.) If not for Nathan's stage talents, his flawed book would have been even more apparent.
3. Caroline, Or Change deserves Top Ten--Moving and thoughtful, with Tonya Pinkins delivering a performance for the ages.

AND you can't leave out Souvenir just because you haven't seen it! Judy Kaye brought me to tears in her touching and inspiring portrayal of Florence Foster Jenkins. Get thee to the York Theatre Margo.

Updated On: 1/4/05 at 04:33 PM

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 4:34pm

I'm seeing SOUVENIR tonight.

[Corine2]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 4:35pm

Oh Margo! I thought your list would include Brooklyn And Dracula.
HEH!

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 4:40pm

Midtown,

Again, Caroline was on my list LAST year so it wasn't eligible for my list (or honorable mention) this year. I included the final performance on a separate mini-list of a few unique, special "one-night only" events that I felt deserved mention here.

[Marquise]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 4:56pm

Thank you so much for this list Margo. I've also printed it out.
There's no doubt why so many here hold you in such high regard (myself included).
Updated On: 1/4/05 at 04:56 PM

[kissmycookie]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 5:40pm

This is a list that counts, in my book...

[beacon1]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 5:53pm

Margo,

Thanks for sharing. Your insights are fabulous and you are so eloquent.

Kudos.

[Testing1232]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 5:58pm

Margo,

Thanks for sharing !!! Have you seen "Twelve Angry Men" yet?

[magruder]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 6:08pm

Yeah! Take that, all you Jumpers detractors. Simpletons.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 6:11pm

Not yet, Testing. I know it's been getting raves and I'm happy it's doing so well, but I've had a hard time summoning the proper enthusiasm for it. I've seen too many versions of it already and, as you can probably tell from my list, I've begun to grow a little bored with the tidy "well-made play" (no matter how well made it is) over the years. Since it'll likely grab some acting nods come Tony time, I'll probably bite the bullet an catch it sometime in the next month or two.

Posted: 1/4/05 at 6:18pm

Margo - in reaction to your 'well-made play aversion', did they ever do a production of 'The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow' in NYC this year? The production that we saw at SCR was stunning.

Also, did 'I Am My Own Wife' fall into your 2003 list, or did it not work for you?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 6:44pm

"Jenny Chow" hasn't made it here yet, but I'll be sure to check it out when it does ("Brooklyn Boy" which is a co-production of SCR and MTC begins here in a couple of weeks).

I saw "I Am My Own Wife" several times both off-Broadway at Playwrights and on Broadway and found it mesmerizing. While I was hesitant to see it when it was first announced -- it sounded like YET another "uplifting" gay hero play (zzzzzz) and the one-person show genre had gotten played out for me -- but this was clearly something very different and very special (and Jefferson Mays blew me away). Eventually I dragged about a half dozen friends to see it, all of whom had the same reaction -- a truly remarkable production.