MargoChanning's Best of 2004- Page 2

Posted: 1/4/05 at 6:51pm

Margo - 'Brooklyn Boy' was something of an amazement to us - and not really in a good way. Robert had just done some scene-work with Sight Unseen, so we were very keen to see his new work. Frankly, it read and played as very uninsightful and episodic beginning Neil Simon. If you see it I'll be curious as to your reaction. I had seen the reading of it the year before and then the fully mounted production, and virtually nothing had changed - so I wouldn't expect anything to be different by the time it hits NYC.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 7:10pm

I just read an interview with Margulies who said that this is his most personal play yet and he had a very difficult time "giving birth" to it. Scant weeks before opening at SCR he still hadn't finished a workable draft and rewrote through previews. The reviews were mixed-to-positive there and he says that he's been doing significant rewriting since and plans to continue working on it throughout previews at MTC.

Though he's not a favorite playwright of mine, I'm seeing it the night before opening (2/3) so it'll be very interesting to see what the final draft of this play looks like.

[midtowngym]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 7:10pm

Jefferson Mays was amazing. A Pulitzer it may have won, but Doug Wright's book for 'I am my own wife' was flawed. When Jefferson switched to Doug Wright (flawless accent, of course)the play lost momentum. Doug's travails were distracting and not all that interesting. Charlotte's story is worthy of several plays.
My question--could Golda Meir have kicked Charlotte von Mahlsdorf's butt in the boxing ring?

Updated On: 1/4/05 at 07:10 PM

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 7:13pm

I'll take Golda in 3.

[Ellie3]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 7:21pm

Margo, do you find no merit in the more commercial endeavors of the last year?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 8:12pm

See, what I found fascinating about "I Am My Own Wife" was Doug Wright using himself as a non-omniscient narrator for the play where he included his own ambivalence regarding her and the potentially dark aspects of her past to drive the narrative.

He had set out to write yet another of those damn "uplifting" solo gay hero plays seem to pop up every other month in New York that frankly I've stopped going to because they bore me to tears (the last one I liked was the Quentin Crisp doc "Resident Alien" at NYTW several seasons back, and I enjoyed that just for the wonderful Bette Bourne's performance -- the play itself was nothing new). Had he written some "Belle of East Berlin" solo show, I probably wouldn't have bothered and I doubt many people would have cared because it's been done to death in the last 20 years.

What made "Wife" different and special was just when you think it's going to follow the same old tired formula as all those other plays, at the end of Act One, Charlotte's Stasi file is unearthed, implicating her in spying and all sorts of heinous acts. It called into question everthing we had assumed about this sweet little old trannie up to that point in the play and THAT'S when I found myself leaning forward and getting really drawn into the story. Wright's struggle with how to tell this story, what to be truthful about, what, if anything, to leave out was fascinating to me.

Lisa Kron explores the same sort of issues in her play "Well" -- what does an artist owe to the truth and what responsibilities does he/she owe to history ..... Kron came to the same conclusion that Wright did -- warts and all unvarnished truth is a hundred times more complicated AND more interesting in autobiographical theatre, than the typical sort of well-made, black & white narrative, in which everything is tied up into a neat little bow. Messiness is good..... and very human.

Wright's decision to depict a complicated, not-always-heroic survivor -- a non-sanitized, not-ready-for-primetime, morally flawed real person rather than the sort of plasticized, perfect, super-"woman" that Hollywood would have turned her into if they had decided to tell this story -- elevated the entire enterprise into something truly thought-provoking and intriguing. And his willingness to show his own disappointment, his own disillusionment, his own personal need to believe Charlotte was something she was not, gave the play a profound human dimension it would have lacked otherwise.

I think Wright putting Wright into the narrative of that play turned it into something far more interesting than what he had initially set out to write -- a truthful consideration on the nature of hero worship and just who has a right to judge another person's past when you haven't walked in their shoes. As well as Wright thought he knew her, all people, ultimately, are unknowable. Whatever Charlotte did or didn't do in order to survive the Nazis and the Communists, we'll probably ever know -- but seeing "Wife" we all can, as Wright did, come to accept that her life, flaws and all, was worthy of respect.

[midtowngym]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 8:34pm

I found Doug Wright's narration distracting. There are many ways to raise questions about Charlotte's veracity, some of which he employed (ie-the German public's affection slowly turning to anger, the headlines changing from fascination to disgust, etc.) It wasn't self-serving--clearly he wanted to tell Charlotte's story in the most interesting manner, whether or not his narrative was involved. I simply felt it was the wrong choice. He IS the author after all--his disappointment could've been made clear in other ways.

Updated On: 1/4/05 at 08:34 PM

[MusicMan]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 8:55pm

If the considerations for "Best" include poorly-written and insufferably pretentious claptrap, then, yup, CAROLINE, OR CHANGE and FIRST LADY SUITE top off the list.

[GovernorSlaton]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 8:58pm

...

FLAT
FLAT
FLAT
FLAT



Nice list. :)

[VeuveClicquot]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 9:09pm

Margo, it's lovely to read your delightful assessments, as always. Sounds like a great year at the theatre!

I'm so glad you liked that FIRST LADY SUITE production. It wasn't just the best thing I saw last year, it was one of the best things I've ever seen. For me, though, the stand out performance in that production wasn't Testa, although she was her usual brilliant self. I was totally knocked out by Donna Lynn Champlin's performance in the first piece. (Possibly because I've seen Testa in many, many things, but Champlin is relatively new to me, and I've never seen her do anything that remotely approached the quality of her acting in that show.)

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 9:14pm

Veuve,

So many things stand out about that production, including Miss Champlin's performance. Too bad it couldn't have found life beyond that two week run in the East Village.

[Mattio98]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 9:31pm

Yes! I saw First Lady Suite too and loved it. I coudn't believe what an amazing deal it was at $15 considering I could've payed $100 for it and still felt satisfied. Brilliant piece with an incredible cast. The whole Mamie section may be one of the most exhilerating half-hours (I'm ballparking it) I've ever spent in the theatre.

Posted: 1/4/05 at 9:33pm

While I understand individual opinions are everyone's inherrant right, I can't for the life of me figure out how Caroline, or Change could be considered poorly written or pretentious.

[Mattio98]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 9:37pm

MusicMan....I don't think I've ever read a positive comment from you.

For my money, Caroline or Change is brilliant and Broadway lost one of its best shows with its closing.

Posted: 1/4/05 at 9:39pm

Mattio - I saw it recently in LA and was completely blown away. I'm sorry that it had its Broadway run cut short, but I'm thankful that so many of the original cast get to share their gifts with other parts of the country.

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 9:42pm

"MusicMan....I don't think I've ever read a positive comment from you."


That's because he has never written one.

[Mattio98]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 9:44pm

I saw it on Broadway over the summer and I was blown away as well. Tonya Pinkins was unbelievably powerful as was the score, the direction, and pretty much everything. SOOOO glad I got to see it before it closed.

And Priest - good point.

[GovernorSlaton]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 9:46pm

I bought the CD a week before the show closed, fell in love with it, and became very depressed that I had missed it.
Here's hoping HBO taped it and will air it eventually.

[Mattio98]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 9:51pm

From what I hear, HBO is probably going to air it and it will also be released on DVD. I am beyond thrilled.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 9:54pm

I decided long ago to ignore MusicMan vis-a-vis Caroline and pretty much everything else. He has been banging an anti-Caroline gong for quite some time now and doesn't merit a response, at least from me anymore. His mind is closed on the issue, much to his own detriment and I pity him. Let him write another long post extolling how the score to Pajama Game is vastly superior to everything Tesori, Lippa, La Chiusa, Guettel, JRB et al have ever written if he wants -- I won't be reading it (talk about boring and pretentious ......).

Updated On: 1/4/05 at 09:54 PM

[leomaxfrank]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 10:37pm

Margo - you totally have one of those brains that I would love to pick at some point in my life. What are your plans as far as shows go in the near future? You've mentioned "...Spelling Bee" and possibly "12 Angry Men" - anything else? I'm flying in to NY from Pittsburgh on Sunday evening and plan on seeing Fat Pig on Monday night and Pacific Overtures on Tuesday. I am truly glad you enjoyed Pacific Overtures. The overwhelmingly negative reviews only somewhat stirred me, but I'm dumbfounded as to how theatre reviewers question the material itself.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 10:44pm

I'm surprised you skipped out on this year's Obie winner, SMALL TRAGEDY....or did you?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 10:47pm

Well, I'm taking friends to see Dame Edna this weekend (as a belated Xmas present) and will be taking another friend to see "A Number" in two weeks. I'll probably check out Fiddler with Harvey and Andrea Martin in the next couple of weeks. In the next month or two, so far I have tickets for Spelling Bee, Little Women, Brooklyn Boy, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Spamalot, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (The Public), Billy Porter's Ghetto Superstar (Joe's Pub, but part of the Public's season), and On The Mountain (the new Christopher Shinn play at Playwrights). And there'll be more to come soon ....

[MusicMan]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 11:30pm

But, Margo, since you HAVE responded, let me just say that you are most entitled to your undiscriminating and received opinions.

DGrant, how could I knock CAROLINE? Very easily, considering its inept dramaturgy and amateur score. But don't take my word for it, tho--the audience has spoken.

Updated On: 1/4/05 at 11:30 PM

[Mattio98]

Posted: 1/4/05 at 11:35pm

Margo, can I be your theatregoing partner?