July 2012: NYC

 

MoMA's Century of the Child

This new Museum of Modern Art exhibit chronicles modern toys and other things related to kids (schools, etc) from the twentieth century. The focus on all things modern doesn't surprise given the name of the museum, but it also means many of the toys aren't very fun (I feel sorry for the children of the art snobs who probably bought most of these). It also means there aren't many toys present from the last 20 years of the century. How politics worked their way into many of the items is scary, the most shocking example of which is the Nazi board game for German children where the game's pieces move around spaces on a huge swastika. Yikes!

 

Sydney Theatre Company's Uncle Vanya

Boy, does this theatre company do outstanding work! This is the second production of theirs I've been lucky enough to see (the first was the best-ever production of A Streetcar Named Desire that played the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2009 and also starred Cate Blanchett, STC's co-artistic director). While I'm a huge fan of Tennessee Williams, I wasn't sure I wanted to bother with a production of a playwright I'm completely ambivalent about no matter how acclaimed it is. Whereas Chekhov's characters have always appeared bored and boring to me in the past, here they bound to life, full of emotion and even hilarity! There is such brilliant work here, not only by the cast of Australians, also including Richard Roxburgh in the title role and Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith in The Matrix movies!) as the doctor, but also by some exciting Hungarians, director (Tamás Ascher) and set designer (Zsolt Khell). And, it's just amazing how good Ms. Blanchett is on stage. Sydney is one very lucky city!

 

Potted Potter

Unfortunately, this supposedly hilarious parody of the Harry Potter books/movies, imported from England with its original cast/writers intact, isn't really a parody at all and it's definitely not hilarious. It's more of an amusing retelling of all 7 books that derives most of its humor from the very low-rent props used to portray characters, places, and objects from the series. Only for diehard fans and kiddies and those with the space open to see a 5 pm matinee. Very disappointing.

 

Into the Woods in Central Park

The Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park imported this 2010 take on Into the Woods from London's Regents Park Open Air Theatre (although there is new design work for the US). While rain threatened my first trip to Central Park's Delacorte Theater, it didn't delay the show thankfully since it already runs over 3 hours. This Les Miz-long Into the Woods borrows from all previous versions and has a strong framework, using a boy running away from home to play the narrator (he is eventually reunited with his father, who also plays the baker). There is a lot to admire in this low-tech, but highly imaginative production, which has a fresh take for just about everything in the show. It would take hours to list all the details, but some of my favorites include the use green umbrellas opening up along the four-level set to create the beanstalk, the witch's slow disfiguration as the time to regain her beauty runs out, the very sexual relationship between Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf (this production is definitely not for kids!), and the use of puppetry for the giant (voiced by Glenn Close!). A few things don't really work or are very confusing (Did Rapunzel kill her babies Medea-style? Why does the witch sing "The Last Midnight" to the baker's baby?), but this production is a winner even if the show still doesn't quite work overall. The cast is mostly excellent, but some are much stronger than others (another great turn by Donna Murphy!). I caught this in its fourth performance and would definitely like to see it again after it gets tweaked even more (maybe some of the other leads will improve too). Here's hoping for a Broadway transfer!

 

Harvey

The Roundabout's revival of the play Harvey is packing them in, thanks to the bankability and personality of its lead, Jim Parsons. Its shocking how little he has to do to get a laugh from an audience all too familiar with his work on TV. This production is definitely a mixed bag. The play itself is creaky and the performances are all over the place. Indeed, Jessica Hecht's wild and crazy take on her role as Harvey's brother is so inappropriate to the period and rest of the production as to be laughably distracting. Seriously, WTF is she/the director thinking. Overall, this Harvey lacks the charm that is should.