Week of Theater: Summer Edition!

I've apparently given up movies for theater. I can't remember the last movie I saw in the theater, but I've seen three shows in the past week.

(In fairness, I plan on seeing a bunch of movies this weekend.)

Last Thursday, I saw First You Dream: The Music of Kander and Ebb at the Kennedy Center. Other than Chicago, Cabaret, and Kiss of the Spider Woman, I'm not too familiar with their work, but I got a good price for a front-row seat and I'd seen a couple of the cast members before, so figured, why not? And man, I did not regret that decision. What a fabulous night. Three men and three women performed for two hours on a stage bare except for the orchestra--who also managed to become part of the evening, as the cast interacted with them subtly throughout the night. A credit to the show is that it made me want to run out and buy all the songs I heard. Even without context, director Eric Schaeffer created vignettes that needed nothing additional. The first act was a bit more humorous than the second, but both were wonderful. Two standouts in the cast for me were Matthew Scott and Heidi Blickenstaff (though the rest were great, too). Scott's transformation from "She's a Woman" to "Dressing Them Up" (both from Kiss of the Spider Woman) was amazing, and Blickenstaff's balance of belting and singing intimately blew me away. The orchestrations were fascinating; there were some new versions of classics that were extraordinarily well done. Great, great evening.

Tuesday I saw God of Carnage at Signature. The play is actually originally French, but the setting was moved to Brooklyn when the show was translated into American English. Made into a movie with Jodie Foster and Kate Winslet last year, it tells the story of two couples whose sons got into a fight in a park. The play goes into couple dynamics--how they relate to each other, how they relate to other couples--and gender roles. It's a play that is largely very comedic, but has a very serious undertone that becomes less and less "under" as the show goes on. Paul Morella, who plays Alan, reminded me a LOT of Ralph Fiennes. All four actors were excellent; it was a joy to watch them react to each other. A fun evening, though one that I walked out of perhaps a bit more shaken up than I thought I would be as I walked in. I do have to say that while I don't have many complaints about the show, it didn't stick with me the way I perhaps thought it would. I saw it two nights ago, and when I sat down to write this, I had to pause to figure out what that show was that I just saw.

Ending the week of theater is Double Indemnity, performed at Round House. I've seen the movie, but it's been a few years (or, you know, a decade), so my memory of the details of the plot was a bit hazy. For those not familiar, it tells the story of Walter Huff (Neff in the movie), an insurance salesman who hooks up with Phyllis Nirlinger to kill her husband and get the insurance money. The ending of the movie was a bit stronger than that of the play--and the author of the book, after seeing the play, declared Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler's version superior. Marty Lodge was onstage almost the entire night as Huff, and he did a good job, but he had zero chemistry with Celeste Ciulla's Phyllis. His asides the audience were fantastic, but I can't help but feel that the character should be about 20 years younger. I would've been fascinated to see how the play worked with understudy Danny Gavigan in the role. Gavigan played a variety of roles in the play, and I enjoyed him in December in Pride & Prejudice, and I can't help but wonder if his youthfulness may have helped the show. I was very impressed with the lighting and set. The mood was there. I also have to give props to Todd Scofield, who played both Nirlinger and Huff's boss who figures out the murder scheme. In watching one character, I had to remind myself that it was the same actor as the other. As with a number of other shows I've seen at Round House, it was a worthy effort, but not something that I'd tell my friends to run out and see.

A hat tip for the week also goes to One Destiny at Ford's. It's a one-act that tells the story of the Lincoln assassination from the point of view of two of the men present (Harry Hawk--the actor on stage at the time of the shooting--and Harry Ford, owner of the theater). They act out the events leading up to the assassination. It was the 500th performance last night. It's an enjoyable show and a great way to tell the story that's more lively than the normal ranger talks--and one that adds an emotional layer. Kudos to Stephen Schmidt and Michael Bunce for their hundreds of performances over the years!