Month: June 2011

News: Mink Stole and Everett Quinton to star in my production of wild Tennessee Williams play

On By dramaqueennycIn musical, news, Off-Off-Broadway, play, theatre2 Comments

I am very excited to announce that the production I will be directing this fall one of Tennessee Williams most wildly creative plays, Now The Cats With Jewelled Claws, will star John Waters film phenomenon Mink Stole, together with Everett Quinton, a core member of Charles Ludlam’s Ridiculous Theatrical Company. The production will be premiering at the 6th Annual Provincetown Tennessee William Festival, September 22-25, 2011, before opening the 50th Anniversary Season at The Club at LaMaMa ETC, for a run from October 27-November 13, 2011.

The opening stage directions read “A luncheon table at the window of a restaurant. Outside the window, there is a deserted street, with the marquee of a cinema visible. The feature playing at the cinema is Defiance of Decency, which is followed by four stars.” Conversations in a restaurant between two socialite women friends, a roughed up pregnant waitress, two young gay hustlers with pink leather jackets emblazoned with “The Mystic Rose”, and a lecherous, prophetic restaurant manager. Apocalyptic, funny, musical, physical, wild, futuristic, shamanistic. Tennessee Williams at his experimental best.

Mink Stole’s career as an actor began nearly 45 years ago, when she was introduced to John Waters in Provincetown in the summer of 1966. She has since appeared in 13 films directed by Mr. Waters, creating such roles as Connie Marble in “Pink Flamingos,” Taffy Davenport in “Female Trouble,” and Dottie Hinkle in “Serial Mom.” Among her non-John Waters roles, she has played Natasha Lyonne’s mom in Jamie Babbit’s “But I’m a Cheerleader,” and a bible-addled death row inmate in Steve Balderson’s “Stuck!” In last year’s “All About Evil,” directed by Joshua Grannell, she was Evelyn, the too-talkative librarian, and this year she continued her recurring role as Aunt Helen in installments Four and Five of the popular Eating Out film series by Q. Alan Brocka. On stage, Mink was lucky to have the chance to work on two shows with the late, great Charles Ludlam, Love’s Tangled Web, and Secret Lives of the Sexists. She worked with the legendary Cockettes in the early 1970s. More recently, she appeared as Autolycus in the L.A. Women’s Shakespeare Company’s production of The Winter’s Tale, which role led her to her new passion, music. With her Wonderful Band (West Coast and East Coast editions) for the last few years she has been performing cabaret act, “Do Re MiNK,” and her Christmas show. She is currently working on her first CD.

Everett Quinton has recently appeared in The Witch of Edmonton at Red Bull Theater, as Florence Wexler in Devil Boys from Beyond at New World Stages, as Dr. Caius in The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C., and as Jacob Marley in The McCarter Theatre’s A Christmas Carol. Everett is also a member of Cleveland State University’s Summer Stages where he appeared as Madam Rosepettle in O Dad, Poor Dad, Mama’s Hung You in the Closet and I’m Feeling So Sad. Everett previously appeared at Red Bull Theater in Women Beware Women (2008 Callaway Award, Best Actor). Everett was a member of The Ridiculous Theatrical Company and served as its Artistic Director from 1987-1997. He has appeared in Charles Ludlam’s Medea, The Secret Lives of the Sexists, Salammbo, Galas, The Artificial Jungle and the original production of The Mystery of Irma Vep (Obie and Drama Desk Award). He was also seen in Georg Osterman’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Brother Truckers (Bessie Award); Richard and Michael Simon’s Murder at Minsing Manor (Drama League Award); as well as in his own plays: Carmen, Linda, Movieland, A Tale of Two Cities (Obie Award), and Call Me Sarah Bernhardt. Everett has directed revivals of Charles Ludlam’s Big Hotel, Camille, Der Ring Gott Farblonjet and How to Write a Play. He also directed Brother Truckers (in New York, London and as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival), Carmen, Sebastian Stewart’s Under the Kerosene Moon, as well as The Beaux Stratagem at the Yale Rep and Treasure Island at the Omaha Theatre for Young People. Film and TV credits include “Natural Born Killers,” “Big Business,” “Deadly Illusion,” “Forever Lulu,” “Miami Vice” and “Law & Order.”

For tickets to the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Festival, click here.

For more about my directing work, see jonathanwarman.com.

Review: One Arm

On By dramaqueennycIn Off-Broadway, play, review, theatreLeave a comment

I’m a little surprised that, in this year of Tennessee Williams’s hundredth birthday, we aren’t seeing more productions of his plays in New York City – none of his really big Broadway hits are getting an airing. I’m glad, however, that the Williams productions we are getting this centenary year are of uniformly high quality, and Moisés Kaufman’s adaptation of Williams’s unproduced screenplay One Arm is easily the best yet.

Based on Williams’ 1948 short story of the same name, One Arm follows Ollie, a young boxing champ who loses his arm in a car crash, and drifts into a life of hustling, crisscrossing the gay underworld of late 1960s America. (This isn’t Ollie’s first appearance on the New York stage: director Andy Milligan’s adaptation of the short story was the very first production at legendary off-off-Broadway theatre La MaMa back in July 1962, having played earlier that month at the equally legendary Caffe Cino).

Boxers crop up very regularly in Williams’s drama, sometimes representing an oppressive force (not unlike Streetcar‘s Stanley Kowalski), but just as often representing defiance to oppressive forces (the most prominent example being Camino Real‘s lead character Kilroy). Ollie is perhaps the most complex boxer Williams ever created: he’s more oppressive to himself than anybody else, and he crisscrosses diverse landscapes of emotional and physical mutilation as he traverses the country, arriving, too late, at an appreciation of simple human connection.

As Ollie, Claybourne Elder delivers a nuanced, aching performance that is even more stunning than his handsome face and chiseled physique. He is supported by a uniformly strong cast, with standout performances by KC Comeaux as girlish “chicken” hustler Willy and Steve Hauck as pretentious (but ultimately kind) New York “client” Lester.

I admire Kaufman about as much as I admire any director currently working in the American theatre. Here he inventively use techniques from cinema and narrative fiction to frame a story whose innate theatricality he has loving teased out. Now that’s great directing!

For tickets, click here.

Tony Picks 2011

On By dramaqueennycIn Broadway, musical, news, play, theatre, Tony Awards1 Comment

 

Every year, my boyfriend and I look over the Tony nominees and pick our favorites. Not who we think will win, mind you, but whom we would choose if we were Tony voters. Here is a list of whom we would like to win, with a handful of folks we feel were, in Julie Andrews’s timeless phrase, “egregiously overlooked”. Enjoy.

Best Play

Good People

Jerusalem

The Motherfucker with the Hat

War Horse

Our Pick: Good People. Playwright David Lindsay-Abaire delivers his best work to date, taking us to Southie, the hardscrabble Boston neighborhood where he grew up. He is very much writing what he knows, more directly than he ever has before, with powerful results.

Best Musical

The Book of Mormon

Catch Me If You Can

The Scottsboro Boys

Sister Act

Our Pick: The Book of Mormon. One of the funniest, most tuneful shows to open on Broadway in quite some time. That’s largely because The Book of Mormon, no matter how you look at it, is classic musical comedy fun. Scottsboro was an admirable, ambitious work, but didn’t have Mormon‘s tunes or wit.

Best Book of a Musical

Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Alex Timbers

The Book of Mormon, Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone

The Scottsboro Boys, David Thompson

Sister Act, Cheri Steinkellner, Bill Steinkellner and Douglas Carter Beane

Our Pick: The Book of Mormon, Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone. There are a few times that a joke in Mormon can feel forced, but fortunately they’re really set ups for better comic payoffs later on. Raucous comedy has rarely been so lovingly crafted.

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre

The Book of Mormon, Music & Lyrics: Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone

The Scottsboro Boys, Music & Lyrics: John Kander and Fred Ebb

Sister Act, Music: Alan Menken, Lyrics: Glenn Slater

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Music & Lyrics: David Yazbek

Our Pick: The Book of Mormon, Music & Lyrics: Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone. It was clearly constructed with Rodgers and Hammerstein in mind as its musical and dramatic model, while satirizing classic and current musical comedy, even while it profits from their best lessons.

Best Revival of a Play

Arcadia

The Importance of Being Earnest

The Merchant of Venice

The Normal Heart

Our Pick: The Importance of Being Earnest. Director Brian Bedford, who also plays colorful gentry gorgon Lady Bracknell in this bright, vigorous production, has successfully captured the unbridled joy with which Oscar Wilde suffused every line. Bedford has plainly encouraged his castmates to make a full meal of this classic comic feast.

Best Revival of a Musical

Anything Goes

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

Our Pick: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Director/choreographer Rob Ashford gets a long way with hyper-kinetic frugging and monkeying. A thoroughly entertaining revival that has the size and sizzle you expect from a Broadway musical.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play

Brian Bedford, The Importance of Being Earnest

Bobby Cannavale, The Motherfucker with the Hat

Joe Mantello, The Normal Heart

Al Pacino, The Merchant of Venice

Mark Rylance, Jerusalem

Our Pick: Mark Rylance, Jerusalem. Rylance proves once again that he is one of the English-speaking world’s greatest actors, this time in a role that, while wildly funny, goes way beyond comedy.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play

Nina Arianda, Born Yesterday

Frances McDormand, Good People

Lily Rabe, The Merchant of Venice

Vanessa Redgrave, Driving Miss Daisy

Hannah Yelland, Brief Encounter

Our Pick: Frances McDormand, Good People. A knockout female lead role performed by one of the finest American actress of our time. McDormand is incandescent, with exciting rock ’n’ roll energy to boot.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical

Norbert Leo Butz, Catch Me If You Can

Josh Gad, The Book of Mormon

Joshua Henry, The Scottsboro Boys

Andrew Rannells, The Book of Mormon

Tony Sheldon, Priscilla Queen of the Desert

Our Pick: Josh Gad, The Book of Mormon. Butz was stiff competition, but Gad’s deliciously varied comic effects and eccentric charm put him over the top (literally) for us. Egregiously overlooked: Daniel Radcliffe, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Probably wouldn’t vote for him above the others, but the lad did deserve a nod for his efforts.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical

Sutton Foster, Anything Goes

Beth Leavel, Baby It’s You!

Patina Miller, Sister Act

Donna Murphy, The People in the Picture

Our Pick: Beth Leavel, Baby It’s You! Housewife turned record company exec Florence Greenberg is magnetically channelled by Beth Leavel. Leavel fills her portrayal of Greenberg with a profound soulfulness, and sings and dances with a fiery vigor that keep the whole thing moving.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play

Mackenzie Crook, Jerusalem

Billy Crudup, Arcadia

John Benjamin Hickey, The Normal Heart

Arian Moayed, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

Yul Vázquez, The Motherfucker with the Hat

Our Pick: Arian Moayed, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. Moayed played disillusioned Baghdad gardener Musa with great sensitivity and detail – a singularly striking and emotional performance.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play

Ellen Barkin, The Normal Heart

Edie Falco, The House of Blue Leaves

Judith Light, Lombardi

Joanna Lumley, La Bête

Elizabeth Rodriguez, The Motherfucker with the Hat

Our Pick: Judith Light, Lombardi. Light was particularly marvelous as a woman who isn’t thrilled with being a “sports widow” but nonetheless loves her man enough to realize that his happiness depends on the game and not on her.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical

Colman Domingo, The Scottsboro Boys

Adam Godley, Anything Goes

John Larroquette, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

Forrest McClendon, The Scottsboro Boys

Rory O’Malley, The Book of Mormon

Our Pick: Adam Godley, Anything Goes. A standout performance, and a bit of a stealth performance: he tools along gracefully until his big Act II number “The Gypsy In Me” when – Bam! Pow! – he totally nails it, delivering the song and dance with real fire, knocking all of the song’s comedy right out of the ballpark.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical

Laura Benanti, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

Tammy Blanchard, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

Victoria Clark, Sister Act

Nikki M. James, The Book of Mormon

Patti LuPone, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

Our Pick: Laura Benanti, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. Laura Benanti stole every scene she was in as ditzy model Candela.

Best Scenic Design of a Play

Todd Rosenthal, The Motherfucker with the Hat

Rae Smith, War Horse

Ultz, Jerusalem

Mark Wendland, The Merchant of Venice

Our Pick: Ultz, Jerusalem. Ultz’s very impressive set laid out a pastoral but chaotic scene in fastidious detail, evoking both the gutsiness of the play’s trailer-dwelling hero and the grand mysteries of nature (and even supernature).

Best Scenic Design of a Musical

Beowulf Boritt, The Scottsboro Boys

Derek McLane, Anything Goes

Scott Pask, The Book of Mormon

Donyale Werle, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson

Our Pick: Donyale Werle, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. Werle created an audience-surrounding environment, which successfully blended early 19th Century hunting lodge realness with witty 21st Century kitsch. Egregiously overlooked: Brian Thomson, Priscilla Queen of the Dessert. Garish, yes, but gorgeous, too. Flamboyant, fabulous, an outpouring of pure joy that I liked better than Werle’s work.

Best Costume Design of a Play

Jess Goldstein, The Merchant of Venice

Desmond Heeley, The Importance of Being Earnest

Mark Thompson, La Bête

Catherine Zuber, Born Yesterday

Our Pick: Desmond Heeley, The Importance of Being Earnest. Glamorous, giddy and glittery, Heeley’s excellent creations go elegantly, entertainingly over-the-top; his costumes for Lady Bracknell in particular are easily among the best of the year.

Best Costume Design of a Musical

Tim Chappel & Lizzy Gardiner, Priscilla Queen of the Desert

Martin Pakledinaz, Anything Goes

Ann Roth, The Book of Mormon

Catherine Zuber, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

Our Pick: Tim Chappel & Lizzy Gardiner, Priscilla Queen of the Desert. Goes even further over the top than Heeley’s Earnest designs (this is a drag queen musical, after all) and are even more wonderfully witty and complex than their own Oscar-winning designs for the Priscilla film.

Best Lighting Design of a Play

Paule Constable, War Horse

David Lander, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

Kenneth Posner, The Merchant of Venice

Mimi Jordan Sherin, Jerusalem

Our Pick: David Lander, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. Lander’s rich and profound yet delicate lighting is perhaps the most successfully evocative thing about this production, practically bringing us the smells and flavors of wartime Baghdad.

Best Lighting Design of a Musical

Ken Billington, The Scottsboro Boys

Howell Binkley, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

Peter Kaczorowski, Anything Goes

Brian MacDevitt, The Book of Mormon

Our Pick: Howell Binkley, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Rarely have pastels been so vibrant! Binkley’s swirling lighting literally caresses the How to Succeed set. Egregiously overlooked: Nick Schlieper, Priscilla Queen of the Desert. See scenic design above. Same story.

Best Sound Design of a Play

Acme Sound Partners & Cricket S. Myers, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

Simon Baker, Brief Encounter

Ian Dickinson for Autograph, Jerusalem

Christopher Shutt, War Horse

Our Pick: Simon Baker, Brief Encounter. Baker is literally the wind beneath this production’s wings, giving support to the production’s many musical interludes, as well as creating emotional and symbolic soundscapes all his own.

Best Sound Design of a Musical

Peter Hylenski, The Scottsboro Boys

Steve Canyon Kennedy, Catch Me If You Can

Brian Ronan, Anything Goes

Brian Ronan, The Book of Mormon

Our Pick: Brian Ronan, The Book of Mormon. Always a difficult category to judge, but one that comes down to this – can you hear the lyrics and does the music sound full? Ronan suceeds loud and clear on both counts.

Best Direction of a Play

Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris, War Horse

Joel Grey & George C. Wolfe, The Normal Heart

Anna D. Shapiro, The Motherfucker with the Hat

Daniel Sullivan, The Merchant of Venice

Our Pick: Anna D. Shapiro, The Motherfucker with the Hat. As always, Shapiro delivers a production that is very sharp and well-calibrated while also being profoundly human and emotional. Egregiously overlooked: Brian Bedford, The Importance of Being Earnest. He didn’t just play Lady Bracknell and let the chips fall where they may. This production is the best Earnest in a long time because Bedford imparted the true spirit of Wilde to his cast with intelligence, joy and vigor. I’d pick him over Shapiro, if only by a bit.

Best Direction of a Musical

Rob Ashford, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

Kathleen Marshall, Anything Goes

Casey Nicholaw and Trey Parker, The Book of Mormon

Susan Stroman, The Scottsboro Boys

Our Pick: Susan Stroman, The Scottsboro Boys. Stro is doing some of her best work ever here, using minimal means to create a constantly compelling theatricality. Sometimes her direction and choreography do diametrically opposite things at the same time, to truly stunning effect.

Best Choreography

Rob Ashford, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

Kathleen Marshall, Anything Goes

Casey Nicholaw, The Book of Mormon

Susan Stroman, The Scottsboro Boys

Our Pick: Susan Stroman, The Scottsboro Boys. See above. Egregiously overlooked: Jerry Mitchell, Catch Me if you Can. Precise, even tricky high-energy steps, that tell the story and reveal character very effectively. I’d still probably give the prize to Stro, but Jerry truly deserved a nod.

Best Orchestrations

Doug Besterman, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

Larry Hochman, The Scottsboro Boys

Larry Hochman and Stephen Oremus, The Book of Mormon

Marc Shaiman & Larry Blank, Catch Me If You Can

Our Pick: Larry Hochman, The Scottsboro Boys. The show satirizes minstrelsy’s worst tendencies while also allowing Kander and Ebb to write an energetic, engaging score of minstrel-style songs. Hochman unflinchingly captured all the wonderful things that made this music so abidingly influential.