mb palaver

TheaterPalaver: Swampoodle

I don't know what to make of Solas Nua's latest theater offering.  The Washington-based Irish arts organization is staging a "promenade show" called Swampoodle, starting this weekend.  All their website gives by way of description is:

It's the question on everyone's lips: What on earth is Swampoodle? A rundown part of town where the Beatles sang and the girls screamed? An underground ghetto where the Irish fought and died? A beat-up urban Cathedral where Malcolm X lectured the Nazis and Nureyev danced? There's only one way to find out!

Warning! Swampoodle may contain eye-popping high-wire feats, roller derby smack-downs and scenes of a spectacular nature.

Please note that this is a promenade show and the audience is not seated.

As far as I can tell, you wander along with the cast inside the U-line arena -- which was renamed the Washington Coliseum n 1959 -- where, according to Wikipedia, the Beatles played their first concert in the U.S.  More importantly (presumably), from Solas Nua's standpoint, it's located in the area of DC once known as Swampoodle -- an area settled by Irish immigrants in the 19th century fleeing the potato famine.  Again, according to Wikipedia (so it must be true):

The name Swampoodle is attributed to a newspaper reporter covering the ground-breaking of St Aloysius Catholic church in 1857, who referred to the land at the site on North Capitol and I street as containing numerous swamps and puddles - which often occurred when Tiber Creek overflowed its banks.

I've lived in DC for most of the past 31 years, and don't ever recall hearing this term, which may be reason enough to check out Solas Nua's potentially bizarre show.

Swampoodle
Friday, May 20- Saturday, May 28
Tickets are $16

Audience members requiring special assistance should contact the Solas Nua office directly at (202) 315-1317 so that arrangements can be made.

TheaterPalaver: Last Call for the Last Cargo Cult at Woolly Mammoth

At some point during Mike Daisey's two-hour monologue at Woolly Mammoth last night about a trip to the South Pacific island of Tanna for their annual John Frum celebration, the American banking crisis, the concept of currency and trust, and assorted other things, he poked fun at the audience's dither over the coming blizzard:  "'We're lucky we're here tonight.  The people tomorrow night are f#%ed.'"  (I'm paraphrasing.  Except I'm sure of the last word.)  Turns out the people tonight and tomorrow night are, indeed, . . .  unlucky, because the show is snowed out.  And it is sold out on Sunday, which was due to be its last night.  Because of the snow-outs, though, they've added a show on Monday night, and tickets are still available.

Though "The Last Cargo Cult" deals with serious themes, it is frequently laugh-out-loud funny.  (I'm not proud to say I split my side when he talked about the way the celebrating islanders wove tinsel through their hair and clothes, and said something like "If Martha Stewart saw what they did with tinsel, she'd s@!& herself."  Note:  this show is not for those who don't care for cursing.)  Daisey tells his story seated at a table with a glass of water, Spalding Gray style, but his delivery is a combination of Lewis Black, Jack Black, and Chris Farley.  Check out the Washington Post review here.

"The Last Cargo Cult"
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
641 D Street, NW  20004
Washington, DC
Box office:  (202) 393-3939

Photo from www.woollymammoth.net.

TheaterPalaver: Avenue Q

Avenue Q, the multi-Tony-award-winning, irreverent, Muppet-like puppet show, started a brief run in DC tonight at the Warner Theatre.  I haven't been yet (I'm going later this week), but who wouldn't like a puppet musical featuring the song Schadenfreude?

The show runs from today through Sunday, February 15, and it looks like some shows still have tickets available.

Warner Theatre
1299 Pennsylvania Ave., NW (near corner of 13th and E)
Washington, DC  20004
(202) 783-4000

TheaterPalaver: The Seafarer at Studio

Just before Christmas 2007, I saw, and loved, and posted about the Broadway production of Conor McPherson's play, "The Seafarer." The play's Washington debut is going on at the Studio Theatre.  I guess you never forget your first Seafarer, because I found myself comparing it to the New York production, and finding it a bit wanting.  But the play itself is great no matter the production, and many of the performances are fine.  Floyd King is terrific as the difficult, blind, drunkard brother Richard, but the whole time he reminded me of Floyd King, whereas the Richard in the New York production reminded me of a crotchety version of my Uncle Charlie.  Edward Gero, who also appeared in McPherson's "Shining City" at Studio, was very good as Ivan, but I missed the oddball antics of my first Ivan.  And I've always been a big fan of Ciarán Hinds, who created an elegant and sinister Mr. Lockhart in the Broadway show; the actor in the Studio version seemed to be doing an impersonation of Hinds, which didn't quite work.  As The Washington Post review said:

[McPherson's] also adept at exploiting an Irish fascination with guilt and sin, and in "The Seafarer," his Mr. Lockhart serves up a portrait of eternal damnation out of both the most disturbing type of nightmare and the most terrifying Sunday sermon. Goodwin, however, chooses the preachier route, declaiming the Devil's words rather than offering them in slier confidence, an approach that diminishes their nerve-fraying impact.

Though I didn't love this production as much as I did the first one I saw, it's a wonderful play, and it still made me laugh out loud (when I wasn't having a coughing fit -- my apologies to anyone seated near me), such as when Richard says, after an overly dramatic departing speech by Mr. Lockhart, "Well, that is one maudlin f[expletive deleted]er."  (You probably had to be there.)

"The Seafarer" will be at Studio through February 22.  If you're interested, I suggest calling the box office rather than ordering online.  I was able to turn up seats by phone that didn't appear online.

Studio Theatre
1501 14th Street, NW (at P Street)
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 332-3300

TheaterPalaver: Next to Normal, at Arena via Goldstar

Time is short, but you still have a few days to catch Arena Stage's production of "Next to Normal," a musical about a family trying to cope with the mother's mental illness.  The performances are top-notch and the music is great (and I'm not a big fan of musicals).  According to The Washington Post, the show did well last year off-Broadway, but it never quite made it to Broadway. They tweaked the show, removing some numbers and adding others, and it appears they're trying it out at Arena's Crystal City digs and hoping for another chance at Broadway. You can check out The Washington Post review here.

The show closes January 18, and tickets are still available, not only directly from Arena, but also at a discount from goldstar.com.  Egbert clued me in to Goldstar, a site where you join simply by signing up, and then purchase tickets to available events at sometimes a considerable discount.  I was able to buy $76 tickets for a Saturday night performance for $39 each.  The only catch is that you're not guaranteed a particular seat, only a class of seats.  It's my new favorite toy.

While Arena's home is renovated they are operating out of a stage in Crystal City.  You can find directions, parking info, and a list of nearby restaurants and special offers here.  One good thing about the Crystal City location is it will make the theater's usual Maine Avenue location seem appealing once renovations are complete.

TheaterPalaver: Rock n Roll, Czech Style

If I'm being honest, I have to admit that Rufus Sewell's name on the marquee caught my attention before Tom Stoppard's.  But Stoppard's brilliant writing, Rufus's swarthy good looks, a talented cast all around (including Brian Cox and Sinead Cusack), and classic rock and roll music could only add up to a great time at the theater.  And it was.  There's only a few days left to see Stoppard's Rock n Roll on Broadway -- it closes March 9.  You can still find discounted tickets at broadwaybox.com.  If you don't know much about the Prague Spring, Pink Floyd, or the Plastic People of the Universe, you might want to do a little homework first.  Even if you don't, just go with the flow -- so what if you don't get half of it?  Isn't that what Stoppard's all about?

MusicPalaver: Lots of Doings at the Folger

As an English major at Georgetown University, I was delighted to go to a performance of a Shakespeare play -- I don't recall which one -- in the beautiful Elizabethan theatre at the Folger Shakespeare Library on Capitol Hill.  Since then the Shakespeare Theatre Company has moved to Penn Quarter, but the Folger continues to put on exhibits, plays, and musical performances.

The Folger Consort is a chamber music ensemble, performing music from the twelfth through eighteenth centuries.  This week it celebrates Valentine's Day with "Seven Songs of Love," a program of love songs from the 13th Century, running February 15 to 17:

A rich and varied assortment of lyric song including the Gallician poet/singer Martin Codax's Seven Songs of Love, Western Europe's first song cycle.  Treating love in all its guises, the songs of the troubadours and lively dances for fiddles, harps, citole, and percussion celebrate the joy of love requited.   

In April, fans of Scotland and Shakespeare will have a treat in store with "Highland Ayres":

Macbeth's enchanted homeland has a fascinating musical tradition dating back to the Middle Ages. This trove of Scottish riches -- traditional and courtly, simple and sophisticated -- is explored with medieval accounts of battle, songs from the 16th and 17th centuries, distinctive Scottish music for pipes and fiddle, and music from the French allies of the Scots, preserved only in Edinburgh.

This musical event, running April 18 to 20, complements the Folger Theatre's production of Macbeth, which runs from February 28 to April 13.  Here's an interesting tidbit about the play:  one of its directors is Teller, of Penn & Teller, and includes magic designed by him.  (P.S. Teller is the quiet one.)  For those of you up in New Jersey, the play is running at the Two River Theater Company in Redbank until February 17.

If history is more your thing, check out the Folger Shakespeare Library's current exhibit, "History in the Making:  How Early Modern Britain Imagined Its Past":

This exhibit considers the ways in which the early modern British made, and remade, their own history. "Making History" focuses on how key events, such as the controversial execution of Mary Queen of Scots or the murderous Gunpowder Plot, were interpreted in the period, as well as on crucial ideas that helped shaped those interpretations.

It also examines some of the period's most important figures, both real (Charles I) and imaginary (Shakespeare's Falstaff), and the roles they played in the making of British Renaissance history.

"History in the Making" is on display in the Folger Great Hall until May 17, Monday through Saturday, from 10 am to 5 pm.

Folger Shakespeare Library
201 E. Capitol Street, SE
Washington, DC  20003
(202) 544-4600

TheaterPalaver: Discount Broadway Tickets

Thinking about seeing a show in New York this holiday season?  Here's a way to get discount tickets in advance and without standing in line in the cold in Times Square.  Broadwaybox.com offers discount codes for dozens of shows on Broadway and off.  They don't sell the tickets themselves -- in fact, they are just a clearinghouse for codes provided by members of the public.  But you can click through to the ticket agency to get the discount. Or if you live in New York and want to avoid the service charge, do like my neighbor, a former New Yorker who told me about the site, used to do:  bring the code to the the theater and buy the tickets there.

The site doesn't just offer discounts to long-running tourist attractions.  For example, the site says the codes will get you 40% or more off tickets to Conor McPherson's "The Seafarer" (which I highly recommend) or Aaron Sorkin's "The Farnsworth Invention," and up to 45% off Tom Stoppard's "Rock 'n' Roll."

TheaterPalaver: The Seafarer

If you're in the mood for a Christmas story with a supernatural element but want to branch out from "A Christmas Carol" and "It's a Wonderful Life," get yourself to the Booth Theatre in New York and see "The Seafarer."  Mysterywriter sold me and our friend Lynn on getting tickets to this some time ago on the grounds that it was written by Conor McPherson, one of our favorite contemporary Irish playwrights, and starred Ciarán Hinds, aka Persuasion's Captain Wentworth (pause for sigh).  Little did we know what a treat we were in for.  (Or how lucky we'd be that the stagehand strike settled just in the nick of time.)  According to the play's website, here's what it's about:

The Seafarer is a chilling new play about the sea, Ireland, and the power of myth. It's Christmas Eve and Sharky has returned to Dublin to look after his irascible, aging brother who's recently gone blind. Old drinking buddies Ivan and Nicky are holed up at the house too, hoping to play some cards. But with the arrival of a stranger from the distant past, the stakes are raised ever higher. In fact, Sharky may be playing for his very soul.

That sounds so dour. But it isn't.  After seeing McPherson's intense "Shining City" last month at the Studio Theatre in Washington, I wouldn't have imagined laughing myself silly to another of his plays a few weeks later.  When curmudgeonly, older brother Richard comes home drunk from getting some "bits" for Christmas dinner, he stumbles into the house singing his own Christmas medley (including "O come let us redore him" and "Oh the weather outside is frightening"); it's silly, but you can't help but laugh at the joy he takes in singing in the face of his miserable condition.  Or at the way Ivan nimbly picks his way around the house in a drink-induced and half-blinded stupor (he's lost his glasses).  Like "Shining City," "The Seafarer" deals with serious themes -- guilt, loneliness, faith -- and you're constantly bracing yourself for a tragic turn.  But the play is ultimately, and unexpectedly, uplifting.

Ciarán Hinds plays the dapper, mysterious stranger, Mr. Lockhart, who shows up Christmas Eve for a card game, and eventually reveals himself to be the devil himself.  Although this sounds hokey, it doesn't play hokey.  The devil hasn't appeared so tragic, or so human, since Milton's Paradise Lost. As Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune said, "to understand hell, we're told, you just have to recall when 'you see all the people who seem to live in another world all snuggled up together in the warmth of a tavern or a cozy little house, and you just walk and walk and walk and you're on your own and nobody knows who you are.'"

And yet you don't walk out of the play slackjawed looking to drown your own sorrows.  As Ben Brantley put it in the New York Times last Friday,

in a season when many of the best new movies, like “No Country for Old Men” and “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead,” are bare of any sense of salvation, Mr. McPherson’s allowance of a provisional, redeeming grace has its warming charm. You don’t have to believe in it to be moved by it. Besides, transporting acting like this has an amazing grace all its own.

If you live in New York, or you've heading up there to do a little Christmas shopping, tickets are still available at Telecharge.com

Booth Theatre

222 West 45th Street
Between Broadway and 8th Avenue
New York, NY 10036

TheaterPalaver: Shining City

Last Monday night I saw William Bolcom's opera, "A View from the Bridge," based on the Arthur Miller play, at the Kennedy Center.  I tried to enjoy it.  But without the lyricism of the Italian language, the dramatic, operatic delivery seemed disproportionate to such lines as "I was sitting in my office/Usually I've left work by six/But I'd taken an unusually long lunch/And needed to make up my billables." (I only made up part of that.)  During intermission, my friend E predicted that it was going to come out that tough guy Eddie was a male prostitute, because he'd said he'd been "a patsy and a hustler" on the docks of Hoboken and Weehawken.  If only.  If you're an opera fan don't place much weight on my uneducated word, though; the Washington Post's Tim Page loved it, and the opera received rave reviews when it made its premiere in Chicago in 1999.

All that is a long prelude to say how happy I was three days later to be sitting at the Studio Theatre watching a sad, lonely, talky Irish drama.  In Conor McPherson's "Shining City," a widower haunted by his wife's ghost tells his story to a therapist, who has a host of problems of his own.  I won't say more, other than that the New York Times said that "[i]n terms of construction, 'Shining City' is as close to perfection as contemporary playwriting gets."  And that in one scene I got chills all over; it was the most astonishing 3 seconds I've ever experienced at the theater.

"Shining City" runs through December 16.

Studio Theatre
1501 14th Street, NW (at P Street)
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 332-3300

11/14/07 -- Edited to add:  Peter Marks gave the play a great review in today's Washington Post, so if you're interested in tickets you might want to act quickly.