Wendy R. Williams

Wendy R. Williams Theater Column

Greetings Theater Lovers,

On Sunday May 22, 2005 I went to ARS Nova (www.arsnovanyc.com) to hear/see Theatermania.com’s The Season Dissected, a panel of theater critics who (as you would suspect) discussed the pros and cons of the recent theater season. Present were: Michael Portantiere (Theatermania and the afternoon’s host); David Cote (Time Out New York); Jeremy McCarter (formerly of the New York Sun - newly at New York Magazine), Michael Musto (Village Voice); David Finkle (Theatermania); and Linda Winer (Newsday).

First, I want to tell you, ARS NOVA is gorgeous and definitely worth the trip you have to take (you are almost in the river when you get there) to 511 West 54th Street to see a show. The theater is a burgundy Art Deco marvel with theatrical and nightclub lighting, cabaret-style seating and a bar. What more could you want?

But back to the panel. This panel, as are most panels, was a free-for-all with lots of give-and-take and jumping from subject to subject. I have tried to organize the discussion into topics without treading too much on the actual dialogue, which I will quote verbatim when I can. The first question from the moderator Michael Portantiere was about the effect gossip has on theater and for some reason, he directed this question to Michael Musto.

Michael Musto replied that naturally he thinks gossip is healthy for the theater: “It is what makes Broadway sexy, conflict brings sex appeal and makes people want to come.” Everyone thought it was great that Michael Riedel of the New York Post was dishing out gossip now that the New York Times had discontinued their column. Then as a bit of hot gossip, Michael said that he thought the reason that Jeremy McCarter (that is the Jeremy McCarter sitting on the panel with him) had recently been hired to replace John Simon at New York Magazine was that the editor of New York Magazine is gay. I see. Well, you can do the math for yourselves.

Quickly changing the subject, Linda Winer said (loosely quoted), “Why when we hear about any play by Edward Albee, is it always Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf or whatever?” She said it was like his name was part of the title. She also spoke about how few women were nominated for Tony Awards and how few shows featured women. (The entire panel seemed to feel that this year’s Steel Magnolias did not make the “grade.”) Later on in the discussion, Ms. Winer also pointed out that in the show Spamalot, one woman seems to play all the roles and that in this panel discussion she (Linda Winer) was the only woman on the panel! Yikes!

David Cote agreed that there were a lot of plays featuring men such as Pillowman and Glengarry Glen Ross. He then discussed how two of his favorites this season were Spelling Bee and Altar Boyz, and that both shows featured original work.

After that positive note, the panel quickly turned to the subject of jukebox musicals, which none of them liked. They collectively abhorred the practice of taking a bunch of songs and forcing a story around them in shows like Mama Mia and Good Vibrations. The exception to that seemed to be Billy Joel and Twyla Tharp’s Movin’ Out, which they all pointed out was actually a dance show and that Billy Joel’s body of work had always had a storyline to it anyway. David Finkle then waxed nostalgic back to the days when the songs from original Broadway musicals were the hit songs, not the other way around.

Jeremy McCarter (newly of New York Magazine, the youngest speaker on the panel and the subject of the opening gossip volley) spoke about how he would like to see a musical based on some of the bands he likes to listen to and how this would attract a much younger audience to the theater. Everyone then chimed in to say that they would love to see a musical based on Pink Floyd’s The Wall. Well, I would too, but I don’t necessarily think The Wall is quite what Jeremy McCarter had in mind. I have vivid memories of listening to The Wall while my teenage children yelled, “Turn that off, you’re embarrassing us.”

Then the talk turned to Hollywood stars coming to Broadway to supposedly “help it out” by shining their star presences. I can’t remember which panelist said it (Michael Musto?) but the overall consensus was that these luminaries came back to Broadway (their one true love?) when they had nothing better to do. Their agents would simply schedule some Broadway time to keep them in the tabloids during their down times. Then, they started in on Denzel Washington (of Public Theater fame) and Jessica Lange (The Glass Menagerie) and even Sally Field (The Goat) and how they were all awful on the stage. Well, my goodness. Denzel Washington does not have anything better to do? How could that be? Now I have not seen Jessica Lange in The Glass Menagerie, but I did see Sally Field in The Goat and she was utterly amazing. So this portion of the discussion left me totally perplexed.

On the subject of which plays were outstanding this year, Michael Musto said that both Doubt and Pillowman were outstanding and that they both went to the same dark place, but in a totally different manner. Linda Winer said she always uses the “friend from out of town test”; which shows should this hypothetical friend absolutely see? She then listed Doubt, Pillowman and Glengarry Glen Ross and said that there were three or four more, but she would have to think. (P. S. With the exception of Cherry Jones in Doubt, these shows all have a lot of men in them, Linda.)

And then there was a sort of free-for-all on the subject of how Broadway has now become a showcase for the tried and true: regurgitated musicals (Sweet Charity, etc.) and plays that “made their bones” outside New York City. David Finkle said, “I don’t think we will see a return to new plays starting on Broadway.” Linda Winer added that she thought it was was okay for Broadway to be a showplace for plays that started somewhere else. And then Michael Musto chimed in, saying that Broadway was now a “Museum for the Safe, Tried and True.” Everyone seemed to think that it was a real shame that August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean was unable to stay open, but thought it might have been hurt by the simultaneous staging of A Raisin in the Sun, of Sean Comb fame, whom they all thought could not act. ( P. S. www.newyorkcool.com loves P Daddy and he can grace our cover anytime.)

David Cote then walked out on a limb and declared that Dirty Rotten Scoundrels was the best musical of the season. That was a brave thing to do in this crowd because no one else seemed to like any of the season’s musicals.

Towards the end of the panel discussion, the topic turned to theater festivals and their vital role in nurturing new work. There was a very enthusiastic discussion of how theater festivals do not seem to be fulfilling their role of nurturing original new work like Urinetown and are basically putting out a lot of dreck. They poke about how many theater festivals there are and how some of them are pretty dismal (including The Fringe Festival which got a good drumming for putting up shows like Slut the Musical). This would definitely be a tough room to work.

And then, at the end , on the topic of the dumbing-down of Broadway, everyone agreed that if you produce great work, the audience will appear, as aptly demonstrated by the popularity of Doubt and Pillowman. But then David Cote ended the discussion with this very funny observation about the audience and the nation in general. He said that the entire country has been dumbed-down - just look at the election of George Bush - and that we have all collectively turned into “a pig with stomach cancer.” I loved it.

Rock on!

Wendy