Disruptive, On Stage and Off

Something exciting’s happening in Henderson TN. the Henderson Arts Commission may well make a difference in the lives of artists, children and citizens of the county.

Keep your eyes open. The Arts are coming!

Act I concludes with the downtrodden wannabe singer, Max, dressed I’m an Otello costume having found the courage to impersonate the seemingly dead Italian strand save the show. This production is as fast-paced as a day at the races. Tucci’s staging never disappoints. Lots of circles. Lots of tension and release contrasts in unexpected places. Tony Shalhoub and Justin Bartha are admirably physical comedians. They never let a moment on stage pass unshaped. Bartha plays an exquisite nervous tension throughout his entire body. What he does is exhausting. Shalhoub is a master of the controlled explosive remark. The moments when Saunders (Shalhoub) launches across the stage to throttle the “dead Italian” only to be thwarted by Max (Bartha) are screwball funny.

No line is wasted for lack of comic subtext, comic build or physical business. My students sometimes wonder why I insist we see plays and not just musicals when in NYC. I believe that often (not always) this city produces excellent work. Tonight’s production is almost as good as the recent Man Who Came To Dinner revival.

Act II didn’t come off quite as well as Act I because the writing is really a single joke, who will bed the opera singer. But the evening ended well. Interesting that Act II really slowed down when Bartha wasn’t onstage.

Takeaways:

1. Pay attention to the law of three - funny, funnier, funniest

2. Play the comedy Physically. Actors make shapes, play with different tensions, stretch themselves.

3. Timing timing timing! Keep the piece fast paced, but don’t be afraid to pull out a moment if it’s truly funny.

4. Shape moments to set up surprises. The spoon left on a table as an afterthought. The spoon becomes a suicide device for a desperate tenor. The spoon becomes a weapon in the hands of a producer.

5. Talking to the audience and spitting plastic grapes, throwing roses etc. can be funny.

6. Remember Tucci’s staging with the chair and the sofa cushion in Act I.

Great production with lots to teach

I haven’t written in too long. I hope my current stint in NYC will motivate me to say something worth reading.

Tonight I’m in my favorite Broadway theatre, the Music Box. It’s a small house that features plays over big musicals. I got to tour this space a few years ago. Saw Farnsworth Invention by Sorkin here.

Lend Me a Tenor is an old fashioned, “screwball comedy” like the show I’m directing this fall (Musical Comedy Murders of 1940). Tonight’s cast features Tony Shalhoub (Monk), Justin Bartha (National Treasure) and Anthony LaPaglia (Without a Trace). I’m especially interested in Stanley Tucci’s (Julie and Julia) directing. I need to see a professional stage a fast-paced farce,

5 rows from the front and house left. I’m optimistic. I’m also ready to see some good theatre after a dismal spate of summer movies