This trailer for the Broadway production of Jerusalem has just been released. As ever, I’m skeptical of its success over here, but would love to be proven wrong. Rylance is terrific. The play is stunning. But it’s very bleak and very British, neither of which usually lead to Broadway success. But if the producers don’t mind taking a risk on it, I’m more than happy to get to see it again. Hopefully not too much has changed from the UK production.
As a side note, I’m enjoying seeing how theaters/producers get creative with theatrical trailers. They’ve definitely been getting better over the years.
Last Wednesday I was fortunate enough to get a rush ticket to see the current Broadway revival of Arcadia. I saw the West End production(which had the same director and the same set) before I moved to New York (you can read my slightly nonsensical post about it here) and thought it was fantastic.This time around I still enjoyed the play very much, but found aspects of it lacking. The cast was uneven and the direction seemed, perhaps, broader than it had been in London. I was utterly charmed by Billy Crudup’s take on Bernard Nightingale, despite having reservations when I heard he was playing him. His manic enthusiasm brought something new to the part while also seeming very familiar. The manic rakish academic is a type that I’ve come into contact in very frequently, and Crudup is certainly the right man to bring it to stage.
Arcadia is a difficult play to describe, but I will try to do it justice. The play takes place in one room and two time periods in Sidley Park, a country house in England. The action alternates between the two time periods while the props/animals onstage tie the two together. In the early 1800s a precocious mathematician surprises her charming tutor, a contemporary of Byron in school and at Cambridge, with her genius. In the 1990s, two academics, one researching the garden at Sidley Park, the other a voracious, misogynistic Byron scholar spar over books in the estate’s library. Discoveries, true and false, are made. Love is kindled and lost. And it’s very very funny. Each time I see or read this play, something else occurs to me. Something in its brilliance or its soul all of a sudden crystalizes for me. And then I wonder if that thing occurred to me the last time I saw the play or if it’s a new thought. Which might be the point. Either way, it was a great night, though marred slightly by a man who had what appeared to be a heart attack between the 3rd and 4th scenes and the mismanagement by the house staff/stage manager of the situation.*
*As a playwright and a former usher, I am very particular about these sorts of things.
This Sunday marks episode two of the theatrical series I’ve been working on. Information below:
Get in on the second episode and follow the exploits of Audrey, Felix, Lena and Miles. Can their passion lead them to their ultimate goal? Or will the daily grind wear them out?
This time, join the intrepid book shop staff as they navigate callbacks, reality show producers and craigslist in our belated Valentine’s day episode.
Episode Two: Missed Connections
Sunday March 6, 2011 7pm
Drama Book Shop 250 W 40th Street
Written by Matt Alspaugh and Kate Mulley
Directed by Matt Alspaugh
Featuring: Sean-Michael Bowles, Sharone Halevy, Abigail Hardin, Rachel Karp, Carmen Meyers, Kate Mulley and Shawn Verrier
“As individuals, as communities, as nations, we are the constant adapters of ourselves, and must constantly ask ourselves the question wherein does our finchness lie: what are the things we cannot ever give up unless we wish to cease to be ourselves?”
