During this February dry spell of opening Broadway shows, there’s always something going on elsewhere to keep us reviewers busy. I therefore ventured out last week to take in a few shows I thought might be interesting for theatergoers to see while winter is still with us.
“Merrily We Roll Along” is the current Encores production now airing at New York City Center though February 19th. This is a Sondheim show from 1981, and one that wasn’t received very well. This time around I can honestly say that the new version was gussied up with a big band sound and big name performers including Celia Keenan-Bolger, Colin Donnell (“Anything Goes”) and Lin-Manuel Miranda, the composer and driving force behind “In the Heights”. I’m a Sondheim fan but if you’re not, you might wince in the first act. But if you’re familiar with such wonderful showstoppers like “Old Friends” and “Our Time”, you are going to love this show.
Its story is told in a flashback, beginning with wonderful video shots of 1976 and moving backward to 1957. The plot centralizes around two theatrical entrepreneurs and their many wives and lovers. Keenan-Bolger, who plays a recent college grad turned newspaper columnist, takes care of the show’s comedy and Betsey Wolfe, soon-to-be-ex-wife of Frank Shepard, is a terrific singer.
Adding to the theater experience, you’ll be delighted to know that City Center has installed extremely comfortable seats and a sound system that is so superb you will wish every theater in New York would do the same. “Merrily We Roll Along” is more than Merry; it’s a big must see.
The revival of “Look Back in Anger” left me somewhat disappointed. I usually enjoy John Osborne’s revolutionary play about the complexities of the “angry young man”, where four people feel trapped in their lives and squalid apartment. But for whatever reason, this time the producers decided to play the entire show on a four foot wide piece of stage in front of what looks like a gigantic chalkboard. The absence of sets and wings leave the characters lolling to the side, or often times tripping over a mass of clutter covering the stage. I was amazed no one fell into the audience.
This play stars Adam Driver, Matthew Rhys, Charlotte Parry and Sarah Goldberg at Rondabout’s Laura Pels Theatre and while it's the same dialog to the 1956 hit English play, this production falls flat. Unless you like this sort of thing, I suggest buying a copy of the script and reading it in your own comfortable chair.
Adam Guettel, who was responsible for the music in “Light in the Piazza” a few years ago, has a new very small show in a church on West 86th Street called “Myths & Hymns”. I’m not going to tell you what the 80 minute show is about, since I’m still trying to figure it out myself, but I will say the music was very enjoyable. If you are adventuresome, you might like this intimate production. However, do not expect a repeat of his previous show.
Christine Ebersole is on now at the Café Carlyle on Madison and 76th street in a show called “The End of the World as We Know It”. Now I love this woman, she’s a terrific singer and actress, but why in the world is she singing a bunch of songs no one has ever heard of and are for the most part depressing? Do we need to know that we will all be shoveling off this mortal coil shortly? With her talent, and the talents of a terrific seven piece orchestra led by John Otto, it seems a huge waste and I can tell you that the audience the night I was there was less than appreciative. Come on Christine! Light us up next time with some of the show music you made famous. By the way, it’s expensive up at the Carlyle. For that kind of money I want a bigger bang from Ms. Ebersole. BUT - if you’re bored with life and very rich, enjoy.
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