Notable Opening Nights Recap, Part III, and Your Own Thursday Headlines

 

Courtesy Brittanica.

Still playing catchup, so another round of capsule commentary. I'm determined to be on the right track again by Thursday, Oct. 23.

Notable Oct. 2 debuts include:
Charley's Aunt, which made its Broadway debut in 1893 at the now-demolished Standard. Brandon Thomas' farce, where an Oxford student poses as a wealthy dowager and naturally, complications arise, was a smash on the West End and it repeated its luck in New York. Charley's Aunt went on to inspire the musical Where's Charley?

Courtesy YouTube.

The Storm, which opened in 1919 at the now-demolished 48th Street Theatre. Langdon McCormick's play concerned the sexual tension when two soon-to-be-ex male friends end up sharing a cabin with a woman.

Ah, Wilderness!, which opened in 1933 at what is now the August Wilson. Eugene O'Neill's comedy is the story of the Miller family as they celebrate the Fourth of July in 1906. Wilderness' original production was headlined by George M. Cohan as the father, Nat, Elisha Cook, Jr., as his son, Richard, as Gene Lockhart as Uncle Sid. This also became a musical, 1959's Take Me Along.

Courtesy YouTube.

An Evening With Beatrice Lillie, which opened in 1952 at the Booth. Lillie, celebrating nearly 40 years in show business, won a special Tony for her comedy and music revue.

Courtesy YouTube.

Comedy in Music, which opened in 1953 at the John Golden and ran for nearly 900 performances with star Victor Borge.

Courtesy YouTube.

A Touch of the Poet, which opened in 1958 at the original Helen Hayes Theatre. Eugene O'Neill again, this time posthumously. Eric Portman, Helen Hayes, and Tony nominee Kim Stanley starred as the Melodys, who have a tavern outside of Boston. As the play goes on, it's apparent that "Con Melody" is more than a name. "He is an Irishman of humble origin in a strange and unfriendly civilization," John Chapman wrote for the New York Daily News. "He is totally in debt. His wife keeps the tavern going; unaccountably, this long-suffering woman adores him. His spirited daughter, whom he treats like a servant and berates as a slut, hates him."

Show Boat, which was revived in 1994 at the Gershwin. The landmark Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein II musical played for nearly 1,000 performances until January 1997. It scored five Tonys, including Best Revival and for Harold Prince's direction and Susan Stroman's choreography. Alas, Lonette McKee was overlooked as Julie.

Courtesy YouTube.

Little Shop of Horrors, which made its Broadway debut in 2003 at what is now the August Wilson. Led by Hunter Foster and Kerry Butler, this production ran for nearly a year. It scored just one Tony nomination, for Foster (who lost to Hugh Jackman in The Boy From Oz). Side note: the current off-Broadway revival, which opened in 2019, has got to be getting close to exceeding the original off-Broadway production's 2,209 performances.

Courtesy YouTube.

Leopoldstadt, which opened at the Longacre in 2022. Here's what I wrote in March 2023:

"How many people here have read William Goldman's The Season, looking at 1967-68 on Broadway? In one chapter, William discusses 'the three theaters.' There's musical theater (self-evident), popular theater (reinforces the audience's values) and third theater (introduces something the audience might not have considered).

It's unfortunate that here, in 2023, 'anti-semitism is wrong' has arguably gone from a popular theater sentiment to a third theater sentiment. Leopoldstadt, by Tom Stoppard, depicts the lives of a Jewish family in Vienna from 1899-1955. Assimilation recurs throughout the play (Two acts, 130 minutes, no intermission, it did not drag), which begins with a little boy putting the Star of David atop his family's Christmas tree. There's a lot of characters from child-elderly, and I can't pretend that I completely remembered everyone. I mention this because I can't remember if that little boy (who was dressed like a soldier) was the one who grew up to die on a WWI battlefield, or if he was the one who lost an arm and eye.

One line, delivered by the matriarch (Betsy Aidem) during that Christmas scene, affected me more than I expected. Some photos in the family album don't have names with them and she's forgotten those people. When that happens, it's like dying a second time.

The two performers who most wowed me were Faye Castelow, a Broadway newcomer but active in Britain, as Gretl, the Catholic wife of Hermann (Joshua Malina), and Brandon Uranowitz, who played both Ludwig, the mathmatician brother-in-law, and finally, Nathan, the cousin who survived the concentration camps and was one of only three members of the family left. I don't know if Castelow will get a Tony nomination, but I hope she does: Gretl's arc included her complicated but ultimately loving relationship with Hermann and the tragedy of the loss of their sons and later, dying amid and after wartime, her by complications of a brain tumor and him by suicide.

Uranowitz deserves a nomination for the last scene with Nathan, his aunt Rosa (Jenna Augen, also making her across the pond debut) and cousin Leo (Jesse Aaronson), who made it to England, anglicized his name and became especially assimilated. That last scene, with Nathan trying desperately to get Leo to connect with his roots, was riveting.

My grade: A."

Hold me to it! I've got to do a mid-week catchup post or two!