Category Archives: Arts

Arts, FAME, NYC, Theatre

Mamma Mia Celebrates 10th Anniversary with Pizza and a Winter Sale

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In October2001, a musical made its Broadway debut at the legendary Winter Garden Theatre.  It boogied onto U.S. shores in 2000 after conquering London and Toronto, first playing at San Francisco’s Orpheum Theatre, then moving on to Los Angeles’ Shubert Theatre and lastly playing Chicago’s Cadillac Palace before bursting onto The Great White Way and globe-trotting to theatres all over the world.  The musical is based on a Swedish pop/dance group’s songbook, and if you have not guessed which musical I am referring to by now, I am talking about no other than Mamma Mia!, the international smash homage to ABBA. 

ABBA, comprised of Bjorn Ulvaeus, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Faltskog, is one of the most successful groups in pop music history.  They were consistent chart toppers before disbanding in 1982.  The fourth best-selling music artists in the history of recorded music, ABBA sold over 370 million records worldwide and still sell approximately two to three million records per year.  Mamma Mia! was first conceived by producer Judy Craymer after meeting Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson in 1982.  She believed ABBA’s “The Winner Takes It All” showcased the theatrical ability of their music.  In 1997, Craymer enlisted Catherine Johnson to write the book and in 1998, Phyllida Lloyd signed on to be the show’s director.  Mamma Mia! first premiered in the West End at the Prince Edward Theatre on April 6, 1999.   In June 2004, it moved to the Prince of Wales Theatre, where it currently plays.  Since its London debut, Mamma Mia! has marched through the international theatre community like General Sherman on methamphetamines.   It even spawned a 2008 movie starring Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Amanda Seyfried, Dominic Cooper and Christine Baranski. 

The musical takes place on the Greek Island of Calicos.  It is the day before 20-year-old Sophie’s wedding to Sky, her fiancé.  Her mother Donna is the proprietor of a taverna.  Before guests start arriving for the big day, Sophie confesses to her two best friends and bridesmaids that she has written letters to Sam, Bill, and Harry, the three men whom she believes could have fathered her.  She has a longing to know where she comes from, and desires her father to walk her down the aisle.  The only problem is she sent the letters under the guise of her mother and Donna has no idea that the three men will be coming to the wedding.  Tanya and Rosie, Donna’s ex-bandmates, are also there to help relieve the shock after Donna’s romantic past leaps off the pages of her journal and back into her life.   The wackiness that ensues after Sophie’s potential sperm donors arrive takes everyone through the changes of love and back and ends with a new beginning for Sophie and Donna, but not the one that either of them anticipated.  And of course the music of ABBA takes the audience through the journey, telling the narrative better than the characters themselves.  At the end of the show, the audience is treated with a super-sized ABBA encore with Donna, Tanya, Rosie, Sam, Bill and Harry performing “Dancing Queen”, “Mamma Mia, and “Waterloo” in ABBA-styled costumes.

A decade is long time for any production to stay on Broadway, especially considering the time in which the musical premiered.  It had only been a month since 9/11 and the theatre community suffered tremendous losses due to the lack of tourists.  Somehow, Mamma Mia! survived, perhaps it’s due to the music, which harkens back to an era where people felt free and orange alerts were non-existent.  This musical has created a world-wide phenomenon that is rarely seen today; it is safe to say that this light-hearted nod to love and the music of ABBA could be the musical of the first decade of the new millennium – and it is not done yet.  With 10 years on Broadway and no end in sight, Mamma Mia! is giving an early Christmas gift to ABBA fans with its first Winter Sale.  All orchestra seats have been discounted, ranging from $49 to $79, for performances from January 9 through March 4.  The ordering deadline is Christmas Eve so there is still time to take advantage of this opportunity.    In addition to the Winter Sale, Two Boots is offering it variation of dinner and a show with its brand new Mamma Mia! pizza.  Founded in the East Village by two indie filmmakers in 1987, Two Boots is a staple in New York City.  Their Hell’s Kitchen location, 624 9th Avenue, is known for their pizzas named after entertainers, within walking distance of the theatre, Two Boots serves to be a great finishing touch to an ABBA-filled evening.

Mamma Mia! is touted as being the ultimate feel-good show and over 50 million people around the world seem to agree.  I must admit it would be hard for anyone to walk into the Winter Garden Theatre with an attitude and not do a 180 upon walking out at the end of the show.  You can not help it, one of those ABBA songs is gonna get ya’ and if the music does not do it, then the energy will.  The audience is so lively, they will take you on their sequenced, bell bottom jumpsuit journey with them whether you like it or not.  Even a disco novice will be clapping by the encore.  The hawk approaches swiftly from around the corner; winter is almost here.  FAMERS, liven up your winter doldrums with a hot slice of pizza and a cool show.

Photos:  Bruce Glikas, Jenny Anderson, Serino Coyne

 

To purchase tickets for Mamma Mia!, click

http://mammamianorthamerica.com/land/wintersale/

To view Two Boots menu, click

http://www.twoboots.com/

 

Arts, Theatre

Seminar – A Gold Star Production at the Golden Theatre

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Words…Words…Words, the foundation plays are built on.  Playwrights use them to create characters, discourse and plots that become microcosms for life.  Actors absorb words and give them a voice, emotion and the breath of life.  Words are the foundation of the Broadway community, and no words have been as deliciously scripted as those coming to life eight times a week at the Golden Theatre – Seminar is a seductive, sagacious comedy that is at the head of Broadway’s fall 2011 class.

Kate, Martin, Douglas and Izzy are four aspiring writers that gather together in Kate’s rent stabilized palace for a workshop with Leonard, a world-renowned literary genius who happens to be a venom-spewing, unconscionable scapegrace.  Each session with Leonard has the potential to end disastrously, but throughout the course of Leonard’s brutal verbal boot camp, the foursome learns about their art, each other and about Leonard.  If I had to sum up this production with a grade, I would be compelled to give an A with as many pluses as I could fit on the page.

How ingenious for a playwright to pen a play about four fledging writers taking a writing seminar with the hopes of elevating their style and becoming the next darlings of the literary world; only to be orally gunned down like the McLaury brothers at the O.K. Corral by the very person they admire and seek to impress.  Every writer, including myself, has a story like that, which is why Seminar is a play that will be close to the soul of every writer who views it.  But this production is not just for writers, it is for anyone in any creative field.  Seminar is sophisticated; there is no doubt about it.  Although, Rebeck’s luscious script may require some audience members to bring a thesaurus with them when attending a performance, the word play is a critical component to its allure.   Her attention to detail and phrasing creates a world of its own – a linguistic oasis that I thoroughly enjoyed basking in.  

In fact, every detail of this play is sublime.  The foundation Theresa Rebeck supplies is impeccable.  David Zinn’s costume and set designs are descriptive and complimentary to the characters.   The direction of Obie Award winner Sam Gold provides the subtle nuances the really allows the actors to shine in their characters.  This may be his Broadway debut, but this veteran needed no introduction to the Great White Way, this will be the first of many Broadway shows that will benefit from his skill.  Additional members of this production who are making their Broadway debuts are television and film star Jerry O’Connell, Hettienne Park and Hamish Linklater.  O’Connell’s portrayl of the name dropping, pseudo intellectual Douglas is extremely entertaining.  From the first blistering monologue, he proves he deserves to be on the stage and should be welcomed into the theater community with open arms.   Hettienne Park is excellent as Izzy.  She makes using sex as a means to achieving success extremely comical.  Hamish Linklater is totally convincing as Martin, the tragic genius.  O’Connell, Park and Linklater did not make a Broadway debut, they made a Broadway coup!  Lily Rabe puts the feminine in feminist/poor little rich girl Kate.  She is always a pleasure to watch.

Perhaps the greatest detail of the show is the return of Alan Rickman to Broadway.  Whether he is Hans Gruber, the Metatron or the Sheriff of Nottingham, Rickman is nothing less than stupendous.  No one can play a frosty, cheeky snob like he does.  Watching Rickman exhibit his talent live is worth the price of admission and is a memory that is priceless.   There is so much right with this show I doubt anyone could find a reason not to pass this play with flying colors.  Words have never been wittier. 

  

 

 

Photos:   Jeremy Daniel

 

 

 

Arts, Theatre

Love, Loss and Gay Marriage

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Marriage is an institution that heterosexuals constantly question – Is it antiquated?  Why did I get married?  Is there truly a happily ever after?  When it comes to homosexuals, I believe only one question comes to mind when the subject of marriage is brought up – Why can I only marry in six states?  Besides Washington D.C., Oregon’s Coquille and Washington State’s Suquamish Indian tribes, New York, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Iowa are the only states in which same-sex marriage is legal.  The movement to achieve marriage rights and benefits for homosexual couples in the US began in the early 70s and is still a hotbed political issue.   Very often art uses real life situations as a muse to create a powerful piece of work that will provoke people to become inspired, think and be motivated enough to act.  Such is the case with Standing on Ceremony the Gay Marriage Plays.

Standing on Ceremony is a compilation of nine plays that courageously, poignantly and hilariously attack the issue of gay marriage in America.  The plays are written by Wendy MacLeod, Paul Rudnick, Jordan Harrison, Neil LaBute, Jose Rivera, Mo Gaffney and Doug Wright and are as unique as they are brilliant.  Stage and screen veterans Beth Leavel, Richard Thomas, Mark Consuelos, Polly Draper, Craig Bierko and Harriet Harris passionately and exquisitely perform the material, taking the audience on a journey that spans the range of human emotion. 

For me, what resonated more than the universal theme throughout the plays was the universal experiences that are the same for everyone whether heterosexual or homosexual.  We all experience death, fear, head over heels affection, preconceived beliefs, bliss and outrage.  Standing on Ceremony is by far one of the most relevant productions to hit the stage this millennium.  It is The Normal Heart for this century.  No one can view this production and not be moved.

A portion of ticket sales from each performance will go to Freedom to Marry and other organizations promoting marriage equality. Standing on Ceremony is playing at the Minetta Lane Theatre, located at 18 Minetta Lane east of 6th Avenue between 3rd Street and Bleecker.  Buy a ticket and say, “You do too.”

Join Standing on Ceremony on Facebook and find out how to win a party for your party of 20, http://www.facebook.com/standingonceremony?sk=app_112053162216760.

Photos:  Joan Marcus

 

Arts, NYC, Theatre

Navigating Broadway Through 3D Waters

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According to popular legend, Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon discovered the state of Florida while searching for the Fountain of Youth – the mythical spring said to promise longevity to anyone who drinks its waters.  Tony Award-nominated director Kenny Leon appears to have found the secret for endurance on Broadway – choose to work with impeccable playwrights and extraordinary actors.  When asked about his selection processes on choosing which plays he will work with, Leon states, “When I choose a project to spend time with, I first have to make sure that it will make a contribution to the world.  At one time, in my career I had to say yes to anything and now I ask myself, ‘Is me doing this project going to make a difference?  Is it going to touch people’s lives?’ I pray on it and wait for the answer to come back.  Then I usually move forward with it knowing that it’s not what the critics say about it, it’s what the people say about it.”

Leon definitely has the ear of the people and the critics.  Early this fall Leon’s brilliance was seen on Broadway when playwright Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop brought new meaning to the term British Invasion.  After having a successful run on London’s West End, the play that provides a fictional account of the night before Dr. King’s assassination is now playing at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre with Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett in the lead roles and Kenny Leon as director.  The play has been a hit with critics and audiences alike.  One might have found the notion of tackling Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as subject matter for a stage production an insurmountable task, but Katori, Leon, Jackson and Bassett wove a new stitch in the tapestry of Dr. King’s legacy with out blemishing the fabric of the man or his dream.  “Originally when I received the offer to do [The Mountaintop] my first thought was I didn’t want to do anything that was destructive of the iconic nature of Dr. King.  My agent said it’s about Dr. King and a sexy maid, and it’s like wait a minute,” he says.  “Then I said to myself, if it’s a fictitious account it might work, but if it’s trying to be realistic then that may not work.  Then when I read the script, what really convinced me was how I felt at the end.  At the end of the script I knew Dr. King was a man who loved his family, who loved his wife, who loved his country and who loved God and those were the things that brought me to it because those were the things that uplifted Dr. King.   And Katori had a way of making this man be human but at the same time showing those values that made him great.”

This Thanksgiving, Leon will have two plays on the Great White Way.  Stick Fly began previews November 18, and has a scheduled opening date for December 8.  Written by Lydia R. Diamond and produced by Alycia Keys, the play stars Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Tracie Thoms, Mekhi Phifer, Dule Hill, Rosie Benton and Condola Rashad and is about a family that comes to terms with themselves one weekend on Martha’s Vineyard.  Right after The Mountaintop debuted on Broadway, Leon was hard at work at the Cort Theatre helping to bring this script to life.  “Stick Fly is such a great project because Lydia Diamond is such a great writer,” he says.  She is an intelligent writer and she’s very funny.” 

Leon is widely known as one of the foremost African American directors, with the majority of his acclaim coming from the projects he has done on stage.  And it seems to me that Leon has charted a course that keeps him loyal to the theater, despite the more lucrative mediums of television and film.  “I have a T-shirt that says, ‘Film is art, theatre is life, television is furniture.’ That sort of summarizes it for me,” he affirms.  “I love television and I love film; they all have there ups and downs and pros and cons.  I’m getting ready to do a Lifetime movie for cable and I’m very excited about it.  We’re going to be able to reach a millions of people with that story.  In the theater you’re only able to reach a thousand people per night.  It is the ultimate 3D experience.  You don’t have to put on any funny looking glasses, you can just sit there and you can see Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett or Denzel Washington.  It’s the closest thing to life that we have.”

With all the successes and accolades that Leon has achieved, one thing has eluded him – a Tony win for Best Direction in a Play.  I wondered if not bringing home a Tony still mattered to him.  “It does, but you keep going you know,” he says.  In certain ways, a director is similar to an explorer.  A director is given a map – the script and is told to take it, get a crew together, go off and make a great discovery.  Kenny Leon has allowed his innate sense of understanding the beauty and frailty of human nature to guide him in participating in productions that are great discoveries to theatergoers each night.  In 2012, Leon promises to keep the tradition of surprising himself and his fans going by continuing to work with meaningful projects.  I am sure any project he works with will feature Kenny Leon’s ability to bring the soul out of the work and rejuvenate the soul of the audience in the process.

Photos:  Wire Image and  stickflybroadway.com

Arts, NYC

Arts, Crafts and More at the Contemporary Art Fair NYC

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The second annual Contemporary Art Fair NYC is well underway at the Jacob Javits Center and will conclude tomorrow.  This year additional exhibitors were featured as CAFNYC was combined with the American Craft Show.  In total, there are over 190 artists from Canada, Spain and across the US showing at the fair.   Along with the presenters, additional highlights include performances, demonstrations and artists talk.  Last year over 5,000 visitors attended in the fair.  Richard Rothbard, Director of American Art Marketing and producer of CAFNYC, believed that the numbers of this year’s event could double.

CAFNYC offers its visitors a unique experience by combining what most would consider being art with the world of craft.  Like fashion and beauty, two entities that can coexist alone, but are even better when brought together, arts and crafts are symbiotic methods of creativity that seek from inspiration each other.  It was extremely fascinating to see both disciplines brought together in one venue.  Whether it is a purse, vase, sculpture or a brightly painted canvas, art is art.

Photo and Slideshow:  F.A.M.E NYC Editor

 

Arts

Five Years of Pinta in NYC

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This fall the creators behind Pinta, the Latin American modern and contemporary art show, are not only celebrating five years of displaying the works of some of the most prominent Latin American artists in the Big Apple, they are also showing in a new location.  This year Pinta welcomed the public at its new location, 7 West 34th Street.    The new location also brought a new look as the show was set up like a labyrinth  with sculptures, mixed media and canvases seamlessly running into each other.  As in the past, New Yorkers were able to view the works of artist such as Fernando Botero, Rufino Tamayo, Wifredo Lam and Roberto Matta.  Viewers also had the opportunity to witness the rediscovery of conceptual art from the 70s and 80s.

Participating US galleries included those from Manhattan, New York, Miami and San Antonio, as well as those from Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Santo Domingo, Spain, Cuba and Venezuela. 

Photo courtesy of Galeria Millan

Slideshow:  F.A.M.E NYC Editor

Arts, Theatre

Brits Off-Broadway Off To a Smashing Start

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The British are here…the British are here!  And they are residing Off-Broadway.  November kicks off the unofficial beginning of the holiday season, but at the 59E59 Theatres, November is the start of the 2011 Brits Off-Broadway Festival.  From November 1 to January 1, 59E59 Theatres will feature the most innovative productions the UK has to offer.  The festival begins with three titillating solos: Bunny by Jack Thorne and featuring Rosie Wyatt, The Maddening Rain by Nicholas Pierpan and featuring Felix Scott and Shadow Boxing by James Gaddas and featuring Jonny Collis-Scurll.  Each of these expressive narratives can be seen alone or in succession.

Bunny tells the coming of age story of an 18-year-old girl named Katie.  During a blistering afternoon, Katie witnesses her boyfriend get into a fight and comes face to face with racism, the future of her relationship and the truth about her pseudo contumacious way of life.  Bunny is a superbly wicked fusion of The Breakfast Club and Rebel Without a Cause and includes all the oversized angst of being a teen in the 21st century.  And it is only natural that it would considering Jack Thorne, the writer behind the BBC series Skins, was the mastermind behind this potent monologue.  Rosie Wyatt lends a commanding voice to Gen Y that can be understood no matter which continent you reside from.  She has Natalie Wood looks and Jimmy Dean swagger.  Although there are some areas where Katie tends to ramble, the dissonance works with the theme of disaffected youth.   

 There is a line in The Talking Heads classic “Once In a Lifetime” that says, “You may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife.  You may ask yourself, “Well, how did I get here?”  It is almost guaranteed that most adults ask will ask that question once in a lifetime.  It is similar to going to bed and waking up on a foreign shore.  The life you dreamed of, or even sometimes did not dream of, never materializes and you are living an existence that you did not sign up for, yet are mechanically doing anyway.  The Maddening Rain explores the journey of a man without a plan that ends questioning the life he carved out for himself.  The protagonist, simply called “The Man,” takes the audience on a diatribe about love and finance and the consequences of losing both during the height of the global economic crisis.   Poignant, zany and very well written, The Maddening Rain is a must see for any thirtysomething individual going through an existential crisis. 

James Gaddas’ Shadow Boxing has been billed as, “An emotionally intense and highly physical performance.”  This 60-minute pulsating, pounding drama has received rave reviews from Backstage and www.womanaroundtown.com.

If these three solos are just a sample of what is to come, then I cannot wait to view the rest of the festival.  The east side should be in for some bloody good theater.

To view the current and upcoming schedule for 59E59 Theatres, click http://59e59.org/.

Photos:  Joel Fildes and Upstart Theatre

Arts, Theatre

A Celebration of Chinglish

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Life is filled with episodes of hilarious miscommunication, none of which are more comical than those that occur in the boardroom and bedroom.  Unfortunately when these real life scenarios transpire, the people involved do not have the brilliance of playwright David Henry Hwang to create side-splitting prose and provide subtitles for what is actually going on.  Fortunately for theatergoers, Hwang did exactly that with Chinglish – the best comedy to hit Broadway in an extremely long time. 

Chinglish explores the idea of being lost in translation through the eyes of businessman Daniel Cavanaugh, a ne’er do well entrepreneur running his family’s flailing signage company (and did I mentioned he worked for Enron).  He travels to a modest province in China with the hopes of acquiring a few contracts that would significantly revive his business and life.  But he soon learns that it is not only the language of Chinglish that is convoluted.  Chinglish commonly refers to mash-up of spoken and written English language that is interpreted from Chinese, often times very badly.  It is best exemplified in signs that grossly misconstrue Chinese symbols with English transcription.  During the course of his stay, Daniel realizes that like Chinglish, one thing often times means something else when it comes to navigating business and love in China.  But alls well that ends well, through a series of missteps Daniel learns about himself as well as how to maintain relationships, both professionally and personally.

Daniel’s initial journey in China is a comedy of errors, but this play is a comedy of triumphs!  Chinglish is spectacular – it is innovative, proactive, sophisticated and extremely entertaining.  The set design is as titillating as the play itself.  Reminiscent of a Rubik’s Cube, the set is an ever-changing moving background, constantly folding out of itself, creating awesome synchronicity with the events happening on stage.  The actors, the majority of whom are making their debut on the Great White Way, have the serendipitous fortune of using the wonderful script of David Hwang as a vehicle to introduce themselves to a Broadway stage.   Gary Wilmes, who plays Daniel Cavanaugh, excels at displaying American arrogance and naiveté when dealing with individuals from different cultures.  Jennifer Lim, who plays Xi Yan, is captivating; even when she is speaking in Chinese the audience will have a hard time looking away.  The most riotous lines are delivered by Stephen Pucci and Larry Lei Zhang who portray Peter Timms, the British teacher trying to pass as a consultant, and Minister Cai Guoliang, the quirky politician who is in charge of approving Cavanaugh’s proposal.

Although Chinglish is about miscommunication, it is right on time.   This play is primed for this millennium.  It transcends the themes explored on stage and becomes a microcosm for the current state of affairs between the US and China – two entities desperately trying to figure the other out, each step toward each other taken with great trepidation.  When discussing her initial reaction to the concept of Chinglish, director Leigh Silverman states, “It sounded like the most relevant, important play.”  David Henry Hwang describes the system of Chinglish to be a phenomenon; well I say Chinglish the play is a phenomenon also.  During a recent blogger meet and greet with Silverman and Hwang courtesy of Broadway’s Best Shows, Hwang admits, “The first time we had it read it was a lot of laughter and I realized that I written a comedy.”  And through laughter, the audience discovers that human nature is the same, no matter which continent one hails from.   Do not “Slip down and fall carefully,” do not gamble on missing this show, run to the Longacre Theatre and get tickets for this play.  Chinglish is a winner.  I smell another Tony win on the horizon for David Hwang.

 

Photos: Michael McCabe

Video courtesy of Broadway’s Best Shows

Arts, Theatre

Downtown Theatre Goes Uptown With MANGELLA

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Facebook profile updates…Twitter wars…LinkedIn networking…Skype avatars; all evidence of how the virtual world has integrated itself into the so-called “real world” to a degree that it is practically impossible to disconnect from it.  Such is the case for Ned, the protagonist for MANGELLA, a hilarious, touching multimedia production presented by Project:   Theater.

Ned is the scourge of the cyber world – a hacker terrorizing Asian gambling sites.  He and the love of his life Gabriella, his computer that acts more like a possessive girlfriend than a mainframe, spend their day extorting money through solicited network attacks, social networking, watching porn and playing an antiquated PC game.  Ned’s hacking pays for his isolated lifestyle as well as the drugs he uses on his father in an unorthodox treatment to try to evoke memories from his dementia-riddled brain, which is the result of multiple strokes.  But Ned’s father refuses to believe that his is anyone other than Mangella St. James a fictional black blues legend.  Ned’s cruel to be kind treatment of his father borders on insane – his father is the only living link left to his deceased mother whom he adored.  He straps his father down to a wheelchair with duct tape and forces him to watch old movies.   But one Flag Day, Ned has a surprise for his father and she is much more than either of them bargained for.

Lily, the hooker that shows up at Ned’s door to service his father, brings with her an air of mystery  that turns Ned’s whole world upside down. Like a glitch in the Matrix, she reveals to him that not everything is what it seems.  She allows him the opportunity for change – to start anew, but her tactics destroys Ned’s virtual existence, which yields tragic results for everyone.

Cheeky…thought-provoking…stylish, Ken Ferrigni penned a script that is ripe for the madness that is pop culture in the 21st century.  Director Joe Jung and scenic designers J.J. Bernard and did a masterful job bringing Ned’s reality to life.  The cast is equally entertaining.  Anthony Manna, who plays the role of Ned, is the epitome of a cyber geek, yet in his coldness, his yearning for love is palpable and heartbreaking.  Bob Austin McDonald portrayl of blues great Mangella is a real humdinger.  Ali Perlwitz is amazing as Gabriella and like Lily, Hannah Wilson stings. In fact, stole my interest from the very start. 

MANGELLA  is playing at the Drilling Company, located at 236 West 78th Street, for a limited engagement which has been extended to October 29.  I am used to going downtown to witness theatre such as MANGELLA, but I would gladly ride the one train uptown to see awesome experimental theatre like this.  If you’re looking for something deliciously macabre to watch this Halloween, I recommend MANGELLA.  It is Stephen King and Quentin Tarantino rolled into one.  You will not leave disappointed.

Photos:  Lee Wexler/ Images for Innovation

Theatre

The Mountaintop, MLK Comes To Broadway

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“And then I got to Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers? Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t really matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life; longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. So I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” – The fatidic final words of Martin Luther King’s “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech given April 3, 1968, at the Mason Temple, headquarters of the Church of God in Christ, in Memphis, Tennessee.   After his riveting oration, Dr. King went back to the Lorraine Motel where he remained through the night.  The next day the Nobel Peace Prize-winning civil rights leader was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of the motel.  These are the facts, but the events that transpired in room 306, often referred to as “the King-Abernathy Suite,” following King’s last speech has been the subject of debate.   Forty-three years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King and on the eve of the official dedication of The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington D.C., Broadway revisits King’s assassination in The Mountaintop.

The Mountaintop is the opus of playwright Katori Hall and takes a poetic look at crowning hours of King’s life before he made the transition from civil rights leader to martyr.  The production premiered in London in 2009, first playing at Theatre503 then transferring to Trafalgar Studios and featured British actors David Harewood and Lorraine Burroughs in the lead roles.  The play received positive reviews, won the Olivier Best New Play Award and was nominated for Whatsonstage Awards and Most Promising Playwright in the Evening Standard Awards.  The Mountaintop has crossed overseas.  It made its official Broadway debut at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, located at 242 West 45th Street, on October 13 and stars Hollywood luminaries Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett.

With an emotional score composed by Grammy Award-winning jazz maestro Branford Marsalis, The Mountaintop is set entirely in room 306 of the Lorraine Motel on the evening of April 3, 1968 and opens with Dr. King (Samuel L. Jackson) returning to his room, escaping from a serious storm howling outside.  As he settles in, waiting for Reverend Ralph Abernathy to return with a pack of Pall Mall cigarettes, he calls his wife, whom he calls Corrie, toils over a speech he intends to recite and orders a cup of coffee.  At his door arrives Camae (Bassett), a seemingly star-struck motel maid with his java.  What follows is a blistering, vivid, tender tête-à-tête that reveals Dr. King’s insecurities, mortality and his desires for the world.

Playwright Katori Hall manufactured a gem of a script, in my opinion is it is nearly flawless. She chips away at the mammoth, mythic figure that Dr. King was in life and in death and exposes him as a man with myriad emotions and frailties.  So many times we place figures like the late Dr. King on a pedestal and transform, without their consent, into demigods.  We dismiss humanistic qualities and dare anyone to paint a picture that is less than perfect. Really, who would have the audacity to depict Martin Luther King Jr. as a man that takes whiskey in his coffee, chain smokes Pall Malls, uses the N-word, engages in pillow fights, is riddled with fear and has smelly feet to boot.  Katori Hall had the balls to do it and did so in exquisite fashion by adding the necessary tints that changed the portrait of Dr. King from a supernatural civil rights hero into a man with the extraordinary ability to rise above his foibles to fulfill his destiny.  Impresario Kenny Leon hot streak on Broadway continues.  His ability to sniff out projects that are rich with complex characters coupled with the touches of genius he brings to an already beautifully crafted story should garner him another Tony nomination.  He is steadily showing himself to be one of the best directors on Broadway.

The two person cast of Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett is sublime.  In fact, Jackson could not have picked a better role in which to make his Broadway debut.  There is no doubt that Samuel Jackson is one of the best character actors in the business.  He possesses the knack to morph himself into a government agent, Jedi knight and crackhead and do so with the ability to bring forth the humanity in the character, uncovering their hidden truths and making them relatable to the audience.  There was no man better suited to show Martin Luther King the man than Samuel L. Jackson.  He utilized all of his ability in his portrayl of MLK and his depiction is no less than glorious.  Angela Bassett does not need house lights; her star power can illuminate the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre all on its own.  Her portrayl of the drinking, cussing, fascinating Camae scorches the stage – she is The Mountaintop.  Bassett is a force whose presence can only truly be experienced watching her on stage.  If you thought she was something in a movie theater, wait until you see her live.  Together she and Jackson conjure magnetic energy that surges through the audience, captivating them from the rise of the curtain to its fall. 

The Mountaintop is a phenomenal addition to the late Dr. Martin Luther King’s legacy.  It has tremendous heart and the heart and soul of each person involved in the play is evident in this production.  Perhaps, the best testament to The Mountaintop’s ability to capture the spirit of Dr. King was evident in the audience filled with people of different hues and age groups.  I attend Broadway shows very often and by far this was most diverse audience I have witnessed this season.  Looking at the audience made me recognize that although we still have a ways to go before Dr. King’s dream is truly realized, we are closer to the Promised Land than we have ever been and if each of us absorbs the production’s true message, we will not have far to go.

Photos: Joan Marcus and Bruce Glikas