Henry V; The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd; ENTER LAUGHING; The Story of My Life

HENRY V by Shakespeare
Brought to NYC by the Guthrie and NYC’s Acting Company, this was a fabulous production of this Shakespearean classic…the young guy who plays Henry (Mathew Amendt) is destined for great stardom in movies & TV (you heard it here first). This is a star-making role (it’s where Kenneth Branagh was first spotlighted). I was fortunate to have a friend who writes for theatre publications invite me to the last performance on last Sunday afternoon. Completely “stripped down” Shakespeare…the entire world is created by the actors, costumes, a simple stockade set with openings and lighting. It’s a bit confusing because 12 actors play ALL the roles: noblemen, soldiers on both sides, royalty, etc. but I suppose to do Shakespeare these days you’ve got to be economical.
THE WIDOWING OF MRS. HOLROYD by D.H. Lawrence
Another small production, this is a small show at the tiny MINT THEATRE, which is located up in an office building on West 43rd St. I attended this with a friend who is a critic and theatre writer and there were several other “press” people in the audience that day such as the TIME OUT New York theatre reviewer. This is a dark play with a simple premise: In 1910, an English woman who is caught up in a bad marriage to a coal miner, who is a drunk and philanderer, fantasizes about his death and is shocked when it happens. The play’s dramatic highlight is when the husband’s “corpse” is brought into the house and spread out on the floor for the wife to clean him and prepare him for the funeral…an old practice which modern audiences are not aware of. Apparently Lawrence only wrote a few plays and this is an early one…the subject matter shocked people at the time and he had trouble initially getting it produced. Again, some of the best acting in New York is Off-Broadway and this cast is no exception.
ENTER LAUGHING
Finally, the small YORK THEATRE COMPANY has a hit…a BIG Hit with critics AND audiences. In any other economy, it would transfer immediately to Broadway but producers these days are skittish, so we must wait and see. This is a sweet, old-fashioned musical about a young man, “David Kolowitz”(played by Josh Grisetti) who is dreaming of leaving 174th Street in the Bronx and getting into the theatre. Apparently, it’s thinly based on the life of Carl Reiner. Other actors include Jill Eikenberry and her real-life husband Michael Tucker (L.A. Law) as the parents. It’s a very thin story, really just an excuse for some laughs and nice songs with great scaled-down production values for a small theatre. Just goes to show you don’t need a ton of money for scenery to get the point across. Watch for this show to move eventually…especially if they can keep Grisetti.
THE STORY OF MY LIFE
Last month I got a free ticket at Actors Equity to see THE STORY OF MY LIFE at the Booth Theatre on Broadway…a sweet little two-person show about two lifelong friends told in flashbacks. The show opens with one friend writing another friend’s obituary and Eulogy. It’s a bit sappy and maudlin and feels like you’ve seen it before. The show closed only a couple days after opening, which I could have predicted. The music feels like the composer Neil Bartram is aping Sondheim and it’s irritating that so many young composers do this. My friend leaned over during one song and said…”that melody…isn’t that directly from FINISHING THE HAT from Sunday in the Park With George?” It’s a sweet show but I knew it was too small to last in a big Broadway house…it should have opened in a small space such as the Westside Arts Theatre or Manhattan Theatre Club. The two actors are FABULOUS…Will Chase and Malcolm Gets…just to prove that if you have wonderful people, even pedantic crap is watchable and has “heart.” I leaned over to my friend and said “this show was obviously written by somebody who went to a good music school and knows how to turn out a lavish score, but is ANYthing memorable?” So many young composers today forget what Richard Rodgers and Irving Berlin knew…give the audience a song or two (or three) to hum and take home with them!! MUSICALS first and foremost should have some good MUSIC not just endless recitative aping the best of Sondheim. Recitative should be used sparingly, not making up the entire show. This was directed by Broadway composing veteran Richard Maltby Jr. who knows the value of a good tune and should have sent Bartram back to the piano to come up with a good tune or two.