THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 12, 1994 TAG: 9406110040
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
DATELINE: 940612 LENGTH: Long
Sure, local theatergoers also need an airplane ticket (or several tanks of gas and good insurance) just to get there, but it's worth the trip. Summer is prime Broadway time.
{REST} Broadway, commonly known as ``the magnificent invalid'' for its always-ailing status, gets its much-needed annual TV exposure tonight when the 48th Tony Awards are presented at 9 p.m. on CBS, live from the Gershwin Theater.
Here are thumbnail capsules of what's currently on Broadway, limited, of course, to the ones I've actually seen. With prices like these ($65 high this season, $75 high next), it pays to shop.
``Passion.'' To most Broadway insiders, any Stephen Sondheim musical is worth seeing. This one is musically monochromatic, but it is a strangely effective drama of the sexual wars. A particularly ugly and seemingly pathetic woman sets her sights on a handsome young soldier in the Italy of 1863. Fosca, the ugly one, plays him like a fiddle; he eventually slips into a mixture of what may be sympathy but may also become passion. Who is using whom here? You'll be debating it afterwards, and opinions may be divided along male and female lines. Donna Murphy turns in a stunning lead performance.
``Beauty and the Beast.'' Disney moved on Broadway this year with this huge production based on the hit animated film. The result is, well, BIG. It's the most expensive show in Broadway history, complete with a beast that revolves in mid-air and turns into a prince, and a ``Be Our Guest'' number with the silverware descending a staircase made of huge plates. The five songs from the movie are still there, with a handful of new tunes added.
``Carousel.'' A new and darker version of the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical comes to New York after a hit run in London. The two leads cannot sing. She, Sally Murphy, is a veteran of Broadway's ``Grapes of Wrath,'' and he, Michael Hayden, has a metallic voice. Look for this to win the best revival award, even though the competition is tough.
``An Inspector Calls.'' Dramatic theater at its most craftsmanlike and magical best. This 1947 thriller by J.B. Priestley won the Olivier Award last year in London. An inspector calls upon a wealthy British family and before he's through just about everyone has been involved in the suicide of a young girl. The production is better than the script: Colored rain falls, and the house explodes and threatens to fall into the audience. This one proves that meaningful drama can also be a great deal of fun.
``Damn Yankees.'' The devil helps the Washington Senators win the pennant in this revival of the 1956 musical. It seems quite dated and smallish. Bebe Neuwirth (Lillian from ``Cheers'') puts on a blonde wig as Lola but, somehow, she isn't sexy enough to get whatever Lola wants. In this version, the guys shower on stage.
``Sally Marr . . . And Her Escorts.'' It's fun to watch Joan Rivers work, but she's still Joan Rivers, not Sally Marr, who was the mother of Lenny Bruce and claimed to be the first woman comic. Marr was also a vacuum-cleaner saleswoman and a teacher of strippers. Rivers co-wrote the show and you mostly learn how how badly she apparently wants to become an actress. Joan appears as herself later this year in a stand-up show at the Virginia Beach Pavilion.
``Angels in America'' (``Millennium Approaches'' and ``Perestroika''). Tony Kushner's play about AIDS and an ailing society won the Tony last year for its first part. It's likely to repeat tonight with Part II, called ``Perestroika.'' It takes seven hours to see both parts. The best way to do it is in one day - matinee at 2, evening performance at 8. F. Murray Abraham (an Oscar winner for ``Amadeus'') stars. It's a glorified soap opera that requires a good deal of give from the audience.
``Blood Brothers.'' A serious musical moaning that has run forever in London. Willy Russell's play is about twin brothers who, separated at birth, have very different lives - poverty vs. riches - and eventually fall in love with the same girl. Petula Clark (Miss ``Downtown'' herself) has taken over the role of the mother. Real-life brothers Shaun and David Cassidy star. It isn't the hit in America that it was in London. It does build, though, like an old-fashioned revival to the point that it often gets the audience to its feet for the finale.
``Cats.'' The place to see it is at the Winter Garden Theater on Broadway at 50th Street; that theater has been renovated especially for the spectacle. This megamusical has just broken into the Top 10 longest-running shows in Broadway history and helped begin what is most wrong with Broadway presently - spectacle and glitz over substance. There is ``Memories,'' but there are a lot of other cats who aren't as cool.
``Crazy for You.'' For those who want musicals to be the way they once were, here is a dream show, complete with tap dancing and a score by the Gershwins. The choreography by Susan Stroman is a knockout. The idea is to get the best Gershwin songs from a number of shows and fit them into one. This won the Tony for ``best musical'' in 1992.
``Guys and Dolls.'' Perhaps the best revival of the 1950 musical, which in turn was based on Damon Runyon characters. Most of the original cast has been replaced, but TV fans of ``M*A*S*H'' can look for Jamie Farr. It's in its second year.
``Kiss of the Spider Woman.'' The Manuel Puig novel about two political prisoners in a South American jail would seem an unlikely basis for a musical. One prisoner's fantasies become production numbers - anything to get us out of that jail cell. Chita Rivera, the spider woman of the title, won a Tony for her performance. She's being replaced by former Miss America and current recording star Vanessa Williams.
``Laughter on the 23rd Floor.'' Shut out entirely in the Tony nominations, this wisecracking comedy doesn't reveal as much as it should about the old TV show ``Your Show of Shows.'' With a little more heart from playwright Neil Simon, it could have been a real play. Strictly for the folks who like comedy clubs.
``Les Miserables.'' It's shorter than the Victor Hugo novel, but it appears that it will run forever, which is OK with me. The score is tremendous throughout. Trevor Nunn's direction is still innovative even after this long run. Andrea McArdle, the original ``Annie,'' is now in the cast. The turntable stage, now much imitated, worked fine here. Spectacle with a purpose.
``Miss Saigon.'' Commonly known as the ``helicopter show,'' this one is big but the score is not memorable and the lyrics are downright dumb. Taking the ``Madame Butterfly'' romance to Vietnam should have been more touching. Still, it's something you just have to see, if you're into spectacle.
``The Phantom of the Opera.'' Still one of the hardest tickets to get, and understandably so. The snobs can snipe all they want about it being spectacle rather than art, but it's still quite a show. So what if the score, composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, was stolen from Puccini? The cast keeps changing, but no one really cares who's in it as long as they hit the high notes and the chandelier falls. This remains a great theater adventure and it's best to see it in New York.
``She Loves Me.'' A small, sweet, tender show that revives the 1963 Tony-winning musical about a squabbling sales clerk and her manager. It surprised everyone by getting nine Tony nominations.
``The Sisters Rosensweig.'' Wendy Wasserstein's most accessible play, and the play that knocks men least, now stars Michael Learned (Ma Walton), Deborah Rush, Tony Roberts and Joanne Camp. (The national touring company, starring Mariette Hartley, opened in Norfolk). Sara and her sisters, including the wisecracking Gorgeous, again gather in London to celebrate her 54th birthday.
``The Who's Tommy.'' A flashy, electronic staging of the musical composed by Pete Townshend, based on the 1969 recording by The Who. Once again, poor Tommy becomes a Pinball Wizard. It's a big show that may eventually play arenas rather than theaters. Microphones galore.
OFF-BROADWAY
Here are the Off-Broadway vehicles we have sampled.
``Three Tall Women.'' This is the best drama currently in New York, with the best performances. It marks the return to form of playwright Edward Albee, who justifiably won the Pulitzer Prize for it. Albee wrote the play about his wealthy, 92-year-old mother, who re-examines the events of her life. Myra Carter delivers one of the great performances of recent years as the old woman who fights Alzheimer's as much as she does society in general. This one will wring you out.
``Love Hurts.'' The Bobbit musical. It's terrible. It's awful. So what did you expect? The guy who plays John Bobbit can't carry a tune, but it's somewhat understandable. Still, it's something to talk about when friends start bragging about how they've seen everything. You might call it camp, if you were kind.
``Blue Man Group: Tubes.'' It's for those who want something entirely different. Three guys with blue heads wander about the theater and sometimes stare in your face. In fact, they're blue all over, as far as we can see. It's entirely unpredictable; $40 top price and worth every cent. A special kind of nonsense.
``The Fantasticks.'' Now in its 35th year and they still sing ``Soon It's Gonna Rain.'' Can you believe it's still there?
``Forever Plaid.'' A male quartet from the 1950s sings things like ``Three Coins in the Fountain'' and ``Love Is a Many Splendored Thing'' but, actually, they died in 1964. These four get to come back to earth to do the show they never did.
``Four Dogs and a Bone.'' A major disappointment. There have been ravings that this is an effective Hollywood satire. It's about making a movie but its humor is on a superficial level. The actors play a producer, a screenwriter, a mature actress, and an aspiring newcomer.
``Nunsense.'' Five nuns stage a talent show to raise money for a noble cause. Likable and entertaining, it's in its ninth year. The nuns say they will pray for you, but only if you see the show. (This one has had several just-as-good local productions).
``Perfect Crime.'' A wealthy psychiatrist is accused of murdering her husband. A detective tries to prove that she actually committed the perfect crime. It's so synthethic, that I can't believe its been running since 1987. It's actually the producers who have produced the perfect crime.
``Stomp.'' A group from London stomps and beats sticks together for almost 90 minutes. Buckets, brooms and trash-can lids are their percussion instruments. It's quite diverting, for about 30 minutes. Beyond that, it becomes a bit strained. For those who simply insist upon something different. by CNB