New York City Theater

This was meant to be the first blog segment, which I wrote on Monday, October 19 over the shows I had seen the previous weekend...

I often remark to friends that “I just saw the worst show ever” after seeing a particularly bad production. Have I actually seen the worst show ever? Probably not, especially since I get this kind of feeling about once every two weeks, sometimes even more frequently among the seven or eight shows that I regularly see per week. However, the revival of “Hair” that I attended this past weekend at the Skirball Center at NYU really deserves a place on my All-Time Painful List.

Though this is not to say that the cast was not talented! Problem is, the production went for an odd, experimental concept in which the show took place on an entirely white set and the cast, both boys and girls, had shaved their heads. Apparently, this was done in an attempt to make the show shocking again, since supposedly doing it in its original style, a la 1968, could seem dated. Instead, such choices alienated us from the show’s characters and plot. And perhaps most painful of all, the songs were reorchestrated.

Now, this is not to say that I think experimentation in general is a bad thing. However, the consequences, especially when done to musical theater and when applied in such a reckless manner of conceptualization, can result in disastrous consequences. Many people, myself included, feared such a fate would happen in last Broadway year’s revival of “Sweeney Todd,” but that turned out to be quite an impressive production.

Legal implications aside (i.e. did they have the right, lawfully, to make so many changes, even to “Hair”), don’t audience members who bought tickets expect to see “HAIR,” not someone else’s vision of “Hair” that is substantially different than those familiar with the show are bound to expect?

On Saturday night, I attended Alice Ripley and Emily Skinner’s reunion concert at Town Hall, part of Scott Siegel’s weekend-long Broadway Cabaret Festival. Eight years ago, these two extremely talented ladies played the Siamese twins Daisy and Violet Hilton in the short-lived cult musical “Side Show.” The concert was, as expected, quite wonderful and extremely enjoyable.

Many people have been wondering whether Skinner will play Ursula in the upcoming Broadway production of “The Little Mermaid,” especially since she played the role in a workshop a couple years back. As it happens, she did perform Ursula’s torch song “Poor Unfortunate Souls.” However, I asked her whether she’d be playing the role later that night at the after party, and she at least claimed that she would not be doing it.

Here is a complete song list from the concert:
Two's Company/Little Me- Both
I'd Rather Wake Up By Myself - Skinner
Cigarette Dream/Last Smoker in America - Ripley
Sleepy Man - Skinner
I Miss The Mountains - Ripley
No One Is Alone - Skinner
Every Day A Little Death- Both
Broadway Baby - Ripley
Sisters/Ohio - Both
Trouble - Both
Poor Unfortunate Souls - Skinner
You Have To Be There - Ripley
Come Up and See Me Sometime - Skinner
Past My Prime - Both
Lazy Afternoon - Skinner
She's Gone - Ripley
Who Will Love Me As I Am? - Both
I Will Never Leave You - Both

Attended a discussion last night to promote "The Alchemy of Theatre," a new book by Playbill On Line's Robert Viagas, which uses a few dozen essays to dissect the art of collaboration in the theater and the various challenges that occur typically while attempting to create a successful collaboration, whether in theater writing, production or craft.

The panelists, all of whom are explored in the book, included Edward Albee, Harold Prince, Terrence McNally, Kathleen Chalfant, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty. Though I have not yet read the tome, the discussions at the event seemed promising. Here were some of my favorite quotes, as scribbled onto my program at whim:

McNally - A play is just a bunch of stuff on a two-dimensional piece of paper.

Albee - I completely disagree with you! Anyone who goes around messing with Beckett will end up with something less than Beckett intended.

Kathleen Chalfant - The theater is an extraordinarily democratic undertaking. You all want to move the work forward and illuminate it.”

Lynn Ahrens - I never thought of the critic as a collaborator. That thought paralyzes me. I don’t know who these people are.

Matt Windman is theater critic and columnist of AM New York. He has also written for Playbill On-Line, Time Out New York, New York Press, Backstage and Theatermania. He holds a Bachelor’s degree summa cum laude in Dramatic Literature and Journalism from New York University and is currently completing his J.D. at New York Law School. He can be contacted at MattWindman@aol.com.