this week in theater

TICKET ALERT: IT’S ONLY A PLAY

Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick will be back onstage together for updated revival of Terence McNally comedy

Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick will be back together onstage again for updated revival of Terence McNally comedy

IT’S ONLY A PLAY
Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre
236 West 45th St.
Previews begin September 4, opening night Thursday, October 9
Tickets on sale now, $72-$147
www.itsonlyaplay.com

Shortly after an early closing notice went out for Terence McNally’s Tony-nominated Mothers and Sons, starring a Tony-nominated Tyne Daly, tickets went on sale for the Broadway debut of an updated version of the four-time Tony-winning playwright’s 1982 comedy, It’s Only a Play. McNally (Master Class, Love! Valour! Compassion!), whose other recent works include And Away We Go and Golden Age, which go behind the scenes of theater and opera, respectively, takes the audience backstage for opening night of a new play in the revised revival, which features an all-star cast, including Matthew Broderick as the playwright, Nathan Lane as a television star, Megan Mullally as the producer, Stockard Channing as the leading lady, Micah Stock as a coat-check attendant, and F. Murray Abraham as a powerful critic. Original director and three-time Tony winner Jack O’Brien is back at the helm; O’Brien has previously directed McNally’s The Full Monty and Love! Valour! Compassion! and is currently directing Shakespeare in the Park’s Much Ado About Nothing. It’s Only a Play begins previews at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on September 4 for an October 9 opening and will run through January 4.

JUST JIM DALE

Jim Dale waits for applause — of which there’s plenty — in new one-man show (photo by Joan Marcus)

Laura Pels Theatre
Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre
111 West 46th St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
Tuesday – Sunday through August 10, $79
212-719-1300
www.roundabouttheatre.org

Jim Dale shares his love of the footlights in his charming new one-man show, Just Jim Dale. Over the course of one hundred minutes, the Tony- and Grammy-winning, Oscar-nominated British actor traces his life and career, from his birth in the small town of Rothwell, “the dead center of England — in every way,” to his more recent fame as the man who voices the Harry Potter audiobooks. Dale, who will turn seventy-nine in August, is a tall, lanky performer who took his father’s words to heart: “Learn how to move,” his dad told him when young Jim Smith, Dale’s real name, expressed interest in show business after they saw Me and My Girl. Dale recalls his early days as a dancer, a British music hall comedian, and a pop singer, including a very funny bit in which he re-creates a pas de deux he was supposed to do with his cousin Ruth in a ballet competition when he was about eleven, but she missed the bus and Jim did the duet himself. Accompanied by co-arranger Mark York on piano, Jim performs songs from Me and My Girl and Barnum, for which he won a Tony playing Phineas Taylor Barnum; sings the music hall standard “Turned Up” and songs that he wrote, including the pop hit “Dicka Dum Dum” and “Georgy Girl”; and tells lots of old, purposely groan-worthy jokes. (“I said, ‘Waiter, what’s this?’ He said, ‘It’s bean soup.’ I said, ‘I don’t care what it’s been. What is it now?’”)

Jim Dale looks back at his life and career in charming Roundabout production (photo by Joan Marcus)

Dale also recites the climactic scene from Noël Coward’s Fumed Oak; gives a tour-de-force lesson in quoting Shakespeare in contemporary language (“If you can’t understand an argument and you say, ‘It’s all Greek to me,’ you’re quoting Shakespeare.”); and performs the powerful opening moments from Peter Nichols’s Joe Egg, getting the audience involved. In fact, throughout the show, Dale interacts with the crowd, occasionally ad-libbing and making everyone feel comfortable and welcome. He’s an amiable fellow, so it’s easy to forgive some of the transitions that need tightening, the timeline that occasionally gets confusing, and a few of the bits that go on too long (the Fumed Oak scene, for example). Dale begins the show, which is directed by Richard Maltby Jr. (Ain’t Misbehavin’, Fosse), with “I Gotta Be Me,” in which he sings, “So I’ve got to be me / I’ve said it before / A juicieful actor / for folks to adore.” Just Jim Dale reveals the many surprising facets of this juicieful actor who is easy to adore.

RAISING THE ROOF

Topol will be among the participants in gala tribute to Sheldon Harnick FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, and the National Yiddish Theatre — Folksbiene

Topol will be among the participants in National Yiddish Theatre – Folksbiene gala tribute to Sheldon Harnick and FIDDLER ON THE ROOF

The Town Hall
123 West 43rd St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
Monday, June 9, $75-$500, 7:30
www.thetownhall.org
www.nationalyiddishtheatre.org

In the summer of 1964, a little show about a Jewish community struggling to survive in a Russian shtetl played in Detroit, of all places, and Washington, DC, before moving to Broadway in September, where it went on to make history, running for 3,242 performances, with numerous revivals in the decades since and another version expected next year. As part of the National Yiddish Theatre – Folksbiene’s centennial celebration, the longest continuously running Yiddish theater company in the world will pay tribute to the fiftieth anniversary of Fiddler on the Roof with a gala June 9 at the Town Hall. The evening will also honor the ninetieth birthday of lyricist Sheldon Harnick, who wrote the words to Jerry Bock’s music; the book was written by Joseph Stein, based on the writings of Sholom Aleichem, and the show was directed by Jerome Robbins. The gala will bring together the largest reunion ever of Fiddler on the Roof alumni, nearly four dozen men and women, including Topol, who played Tevye on Broadway and in Norman Jewison’s 1971 film and just performed the role at the Detroit Opera House, as well as Adrienne Barbeau, Fyvush Finkel, Liz Larsen, Rosalind Harris, Michèle Marsh, Neva Small, Andrea Martin, Austin Pendleton, Pia Zadora, Jerry Zaks, Karen Ziemba, and Louis Zorich. There will also be appearances by Ambassador Ido Aharoni, Bel Kaufman, Jewison, Jeffrey Lyons, Jackie Hoffman, Frank London’s Klezmer All Stars, Joshua Bell, Alisa Solomon, and a thirty-six-children choir. The event’s honorary cochairs are Frank Rich, Harold Prince, who produced the original Fiddler, and Harvey Fierstein, who played Tevye in the 2004 Broadway revival.

TWI-NY TALK: BRIDGET BARKAN / THE LOVE JUNKIE

Bridget Barkan plays multiple characters in THE LOVE JUNKIE, returning to Joe’s Pub on May 31

BRIDGET BARKAN IN THE LOVE JUNKIE
Joe’s Pub
425 Lafayette St.
Saturday, May 31, $15, 9:00
www.joespub.publictheater.org

Bridget Barkan is a practitioner of the healing power of music, having worked as a music therapist for special-needs children. The native New Yorker, a singer, actor, and Scissor Sisters regular who appeared on Sesame Street as a child and as an adult in such films as Sherrybaby and Everyday People and has a recurring role as a one-legged hooker on Law & Order: SVU, is doing some public healing of her own in her one-woman show, The Love Junkie. In the solo performance, returning to Joe’s Pub on May 31, the fiery redhead and self-described “douche bag magnet” — whose father, Mark, coproduced what might be the first psychedelic album, the Deep’s 1968 Psychedelic Moods: A Mind Expanding Phenomena — employs a mélange of musical styles and genres, including cover songs and originals, while portraying multiple characters to explore recovery from such intimate addictions as love and sex. Barkan, who has been busily posting short “Love Junkie Episodes” on her YouTube channel, recently discussed Times Square, the ’80s, gender roles, and hunting with twi-ny.

twi-ny: You were born and raised in New York City, where you started taking the subway by yourself to school when you were eleven. There are people today who would have your parents locked up for allowing such a thing. What was your childhood in the city like?

Bridget Barkan: Well, taking the subway wasn’t such a huge deal; kids younger than me did and still do. An old man once touched my ass when I was seven and I screamed bloody murder. New York was more edgy. I spent a lot of time going to play pinball or to the movies with my dad in the dirty Times Square, not the Disney version. One time, these two guys tried to mug my dad under some scaffolding, but he was raised in Brooklyn and ended up scaring the shit out of them. It was a very sexually vibrant city and I was excited about it all. It was also oozing with creativity. Sex and art come from the same place, so it makes sense. I think growing up here has given me a real love and connection to many different cultures and sense of openness. I live on the stage of life with no fourth wall.

twi-ny: You got fired from Sesame Street when you were six. What happened?

BB: Well, the rumor is that Bert and Ernie were having a fight in between takes and I came over and tried to fix the problem like I usually did with my parents. But then Big Bird stuck his big head in and Cookie Monster lost his cool. It got pretty messy and for the sake of the show, I took the fall.

No, the truth is, I was apparently bossing the older kids around and a parent complained. I was always an actress, but directing is my real passion . . . haha.

twi-ny: You have a special fondness for the style of the ’80s. What is it about that decade that appeals to you?

Bridget Barkan is looking for love in one-woman show

BB: Well, I grew up in NYC in the ’80s. Damn, I didn’t want to reveal my age, but oh well, I’m already an old hag in this industry anyway. You gotta be twelve years old but look thirty to be of any interest. I believe the ’80s was the last era of real unique expression. Everything that has come after seems to be regurgitated from the past. The ’90s definitely had some moments too. But to me, the real metamorphosis and discovery of hip-hop was a major game changer in the ’80s.

twi-ny: You recently tweeted, “I’ve always been more of the beast than the beauty.” What did you mean by that?

BB: I talk about this in the show, feeling like I’m a hunter. It’s rare that I meet a guy who is coming for my hide with a strong and ferocious intention. I’ve always had the instinct to woo men, shower them, serenade their hearts. Could be attributed to my growing up around three big brothers, having more testosterone. I generally played the boy when playing house or I was the evil witch. Never really the damsel in distress. Maybe I was a dude in my past life or maybe our gender role ideas and concepts are really screwed up. But I’m kind of a closeted hunter. I’ve realized I’m more afraid of going after men the way I used to. I dip my toes in it but I don’t go in for the full attack. I’m like a cowardly lion.

twi-ny: You’ve noted that you’ve wanted to do a one-woman show since you saw Lily Tomlin in The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe. What was it about that show that so deeply affected you?

BB: There was this amazing web of stories. They were all connected so magically, intertwined and mirroring one another. I’ve always loved movies and books that express and highlight how we are all connected. And how a life can be this pure explosion of seeing what other stars you are connected to in your constellation. At the end of the show, this giant mirror comes down, so the audience can see themselves. I was just in tears, and it has stayed with me ever since: The power of art that opens your heart, breaks it, then heals it again.

twi-ny: What was the genesis of The Love Junkie?

BB: I started writing many different one-woman shows over the past years and they were always about heartbreak and failed love. One show started where I played every guy I was with but I could never find an ending, because I kept doing the same thing over and over again. I needed to actually change something in my life so I could write the show I wanted to. I did just that, this time around. I ended a relationship and committed to the relationship with myself.

During the last two years on tour with Scissor Sisters, I researched every artist and show that I loved. I journaled, I wrote weird songs, made tracks, improvised for hours on my computer, danced, did solo photo shoots. I also got lots of advice from [Scissor Sisters] Jake [Shears], Ana [Matronic], Del [Marquis], and Babydaddy, in different ways. Just being who they were inspired me, but they also took time to let me share with them. But it was the actual doing that got me running. I tried out a different performance art piece once a month at an art party called ArtErotica, curated by Dinna Alexanyan. I found a spiritual comedy coach named Alicia Dattner, who guided me through some healing work. She also had been going through love pain as well.

twi-ny: You play multiple characters in the show. Do you have any particular favorites?

BB: I think my favorite character to play is the Old Me, the jaded, lonely, fat, sick, dying, washed-up me. Playing her with a fat suit, cigarette, and cane is a lot of fun. On a personal level it’s like I’m exorcising that idea from my head, that I won’t ever really become her.

twi-ny: You’ll be performing The Love Junkie on May 31 at Joe’s Pub. What are the plans for the show after that?

BB: I love Joe’s Pub; it’s become a real home to me. I would like to have a consistent run of it in NYC, maybe weekly, biweekly, then take it to L.A., London, and beyond! I am looking into spaces and always looking for people to help it grow. I’m excited to let it evolve. Not every show will be the same. It’s an organism in itself. I designed it to be a journey. Maybe this show will be the first step. There could be eleven more. It is a healing experiment for me. So I will walk the road to recovery and see where it takes me.

TRIBECA FAMILY PRESENTS: ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY

Musical adaptation of classic children’s book comes to TPAC on June 1 (photo by Patrick Dwyer)

Tribeca Performing Arts Center
199 Chambers St.
Sunday, June 1, $25, 1:30
www.tribecapac.org
www.theatreworksusa.org

“I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there’s gum in my hair and when I got out of bed this morning I tripped on the skateboard and by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was running and I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.” So begins Judith Viorst’s classic 1972 children’s book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. We were hesitant to bring this up — one of the real-life Alexander’s real-life brothers is an FOT (friend of twi-ny) — but on June 1, Theatreworks USA’s musical adaptation is being staged at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center. The sixty-minute show, appropriate for ages four and up, features music by Shelly Markham, choreography by Cynthia Thole, and direction by Rob Barron; Viorst wrote the book and lyrics. Theatreworks USA’s repertoire also includes musical adaptations of Charlotte’s Web, A Christmas Carol, Junie B. Jones, Peter Pan, The Lightning Thief, and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, among others, and special study guides accompany each production.

THE CITY OF CONVERSATION

Georgetown hostess Hester Ferris’s (Jan Maxwell) carefully orchestrated dinner party doesn’t go quite as planned in new Anthony Giardina play (photo by Stephanie Berger)

Lincoln Center Theater at the Mitzi E. Newhouse
150 West 65th St. between Broadway & Amsterdam Ave.
Tuesday – Saturday through July 6, $87
212-362-7600
www.lct.org

Five-time Tony nominee Jan Maxwell gives a whirlwind performance as a Georgetown hostess trying to balance the personal with the political over the course of thirty years in Anthony Giardina’s The City of Conversation. Maxwell (Follies, Coram Boy) stars as Hester Ferris, an elegant liberal who hosts important dinner parties at her fancy home (the set is designed by the incomparable John Lee Beatty), where important men come to smoke, drink, and craft policy away from the craziness of Congress. The play begins in September 1979, as Hester and her sister, Jean Swift (Beth Dixon), prepare for the arrival of Kentucky senator George Mallonee (John Aylward) and his wife, Carolyn (Barbara Garrick); George, a Republican, has important business with Democrat Chandler Harris (Kevin O’Rourke), Hester’s married lover. But when Hester’s son, Colin (Michael Simpson), and his extremely ambitious right-wing girlfriend, Anna Fitzgerald (Kristen Bush), suddenly show up, Hester’s carefully planned party doesn’t go quite as expected, leading to a rift that grows as the play moves to October 1987, during the Reagan presidency, and then on to January 2009 as Barack Obama takes office.

Hester (Jan Maxwell) has more than a few words for Anna (Kristen Bush) as son Colin (Michael Simpson) looks on (photo by Stephanie Berger)

The City of Conversation — the title comes from a Henry James quip about D.C. — looks back at a disappearing past, when the nation’s capital operated very differently from today. “That’s the way it used to be,” Hester tells Anna, relating a story about John F. Kennedy soliciting advice from columnist Joe Alsop regarding Cuba. “A president was able to get out of the White House, come to Georgetown, and learn something just because someone brilliant happened to be at dinner.” Novelist and playwright Giardina’s (Living at Home, Scenes from La Vie de Boheme) first work not specifically drawn from personal experience, The City of Conversation is a superbly acted, well-paced drama about legacy and power, going behind the scenes of a changing Washington where partisanship has affected policy, ended friendships, and torn families apart. Maxwell gives a virtuoso performance, an expert balance of rampant energy and subtle mood shifts as she tries to maintain her relationship with her Republican son and her grandson (Luke Niehaus) while also standing up and fighting for her beliefs. Aylward (The Kentucky Cycle) is excellent as George Mallonee, eating up and spitting out the stereotype of the country-bumpkin southern senator, while O’Rourke (Spoils of War, Checkers) provides solid support as Hester’s significant other. Director Doug Hughes (Outside Mullingar, The Royal Family with Maxwell) knows Giardina well, having directed his works for thirty years, so the play moves seamlessly through the decades, revealing a Washington that has grown dysfunctional perhaps past the point of no return. Be sure to pick up a copy of the Lincoln Center Theater Review, which includes the long, well-researched article “The Doyennes of D.C.” by Sally Bedell Smith as well as contributions from Giardina, Christopher Buckley, Jane Stanton Hitchcock, James Schroeder, and John Guare.

FREE SUMMER THEATER 2014

The Drilling Company have left the parking lot (temporarily) for Bryant Park to put on HAMLET (photo by Lee Wexler/Images for Innovation)

Broadway prices might still be skyrocketing, but every summer in New York City you can count on myriad shows put on by amateur and professional theater companies of all skills and sizes. This year’s crop features all-star Shakespeare in Central Park, of course, in addition to Bard presentations in Bryant Park, Prospect Park, Battery Park, Carroll Park, and a Lower East Side parking lot. There are also plays by the New York Neo-Futurists, Urban Theatre Movement, and the Piper Theatre and, as always, some cutting-edge shows as part of the River to River Festival.

Thursday, May 15
through
Saturday, May 31
Shakespeare in the Parking Lot: Hamlet, by the Drilling Company, directed by Hamilton Clancy, Bryant Park, 7:00

Thursday, May 29
through
Sunday, June 22
New York Classical Theatre: As You Like It, Central Park, 103rd St. & Central Park West, Thursday – Sunday at 7:00

Thursday, May 29
through
Sunday, June 29
Manhattan Shakespeare Project: Romeo & Juliet, directed by Reesa Graham, Central Park Summit Rock (May 29-31, June 1, 4-7), St. Nicholas Park (June 11-12, 18-19), Sunset Park (June 13-15, 20-22), Morningside Park (June 26-29), 6:00

Tuesday, June 3
through
Sunday, July 6
Shakespeare in the Park: Much Ado About Nothing, starring Matt Bittner, Alex Breaux, Steel Burkhardt, Carisa Cotera, Isabella Curti, Jack Cutmore-Scott, Austin Durant, John Glover, Hamish Linklater, Paco Lozano, David Manis, Kathryn Meisle, Ismenia Mendes, Brian Stokes Mitchell, John Pankow, Pedro Pascal, Lily Rabe, Matthew Russell, Eric Sheffer Stevens, and Zoë Winters, directed by Jack O’Brien, Delacorte Theater, Central Park, Tuesday – Sunday at 8:30

Monday, June 23, 2:00
Tuesday, June 24, 5:00
and
Thursday, June 26, 2:00
River to River Festival — CollaborationTown in Development: Staged Readings of Henry IV by Geo Decas O’Donnell and The Fun Pain by Jordan Seavey, One Liberty Plaza, twelfth floor, free with advance RSVP

Advance RSVP is required for such free River to River productions as LUDIC PROXY (photo by Jeanette Yew)

Monday, June 23, 5:00
Wednesday, June 25, 2:00
and
Friday, June 27, 4:00
River to River Festival: Ludic Proxy by the Play Company, written and directed by Aya Ogawa, One Liberty Plaza, free with advance RSVP

Tuesday, June 24
through
Sunday, June 29
New York Classical Theatre: As You Like It, directed by Stephen Burdman, Prospect Park, Long Meadow near the Picnic House, 7:00

Tuesday, July 1
through
Sunday, July 27
New York Classical Theatre: As You Like It, Battery Park (meet in front of Castle Clinton), Tuesday – Sunday, 7:00

Thursday, July 3, 10, 17
Friday, July 11, 18
and
Saturday, July 5, 12, 19
Piper Theatre: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, directed by Nigel Williams, Old Stone House in Washington Park, 8:00

Sunday, July 6, 13, 20, 9:00
and
Wednesday, July 9, 16, 7:30
Piper Theatre: Mr. Splitfoot, written and directed by John P. McEneny, with original music by Dario Eskenazi, Old Stone House in Washington Park

Wednesday, July 9, 16, 9:00
and
Sunday, July 13, 20, 7:30
Piper Theatre: The Buffalo Nickels Medicine Show, by Mike Shapiro and Kate Prascher, Old Stone House in Washington Park

Thursday, July 10
Broadway in Bryant Park: STOMP, Rocky, Wicked, If/Then, Bryant Park Lawn, 12:30

Thursday, July 10
through
Saturday, July 26
Shakespeare in the Parking Lot: Twelfth Night, by the Drilling Company, municipal parking lot, corner of Ludlow & Broome Sts.

Thursday, July 17
Broadway in Bryant Park: Pippin, Chicago, Les Misérables, Atomic, Bryant Park Lawn, 12:30

Monday, July 21
through
Friday, August 22
Theatreworks USA: The Lightning Thief, Lucille Lortel Theatre, Sunday – Friday, times vary

Tuesday, July 22
through
Sunday, August 17
Shakespeare in the Park: King Lear, starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Annette Bening, Jeremy Bobb, Steven Boyer, Andrew Burnap, Jessica Collins, Glenn Fleshler, Christopher Ghaffari, Ryan-James Hatanaka, Jessica Hecht, Matt Helm, Slate Holmgren, Christopher Innvar, Chukwudi Iwuji, Dave Klasko, John Lithgow, Clarke Peters, Dale Place, Jay O. Sanders, Phillip Shinn, and Eric Sheffer Stevens, directed by Daniel Sullivan, Delacorte Theater, Central Park, Tuesday – Sunday at 8:30

Smith Street Stage celebrates its fifth year of presenting Shakespeare in Carroll Park with MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

Wednesday, July 23
through
Sunday, August 10
Shakespeare in Carroll Park: Much Ado About Nothing by Smith Street Stage, bring your own seating, Carroll Park, Wednesday – Sunday, 7:00

Wednesday, July 23
through
Saturday, August 16
Hip to Hip Theatre Company: Two Gentlemen of Verona, directed by S. C. Lucier, and Cymbeline, directed by David Mold, performed in repertory at different times in parks across the city, including Crocheron Park, Cunningham Park, Socrates Sculpture Park, and Gantry Plaza, preceded by Kids & the Classics, Wednesday – Sunday

Thursday, July 24
Broadway in Bryant Park: Phantom of the Opera, Piece of My Heart, Cinderella, Avenue Q, Bullets over Broadway, Bryant Park Lawn, 12:30

Monday, July 28
SummerStage Fania Series: John Leguizamo’s Ghetto Klown, directed by Fisher Stevens, Central Park, 8:00

Tuesday, July 29
through
Saturday, August 9
SummerStage Presents: Urban Theatre Movement’s Handball by Seth Zvi Rosenfeld, directed by Brenda Banda, Marcus Garvey Park, Tuesday – Saturday, 8:00

Thursday, July 31
Broadway in Bryant Park: Rock of Ages, Once, Heathers, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Bryant Park Lawn, 12:30

Thursday, July 31
through
Saturday, August 16
Shakespeare in the Parking Lot: Othello, by the Drilling Company, municipal parking lot, corner of Ludlow & Broome Sts., Thursday – Saturday, 7:00

Thursday, August 7
Broadway in Bryant Park: Jersey Boys, 50 Shades! The Musical, Cabaret, Revolution in the Elbow of Ragnar Agnarsson Furniture Painter, Bryant Park Lawn, 12:30

Monday, August 11
SummerStage Presents: Urban Theatre Movement’s Handball by Seth Zvi Rosenfeld, directed by Brenda Banda, Central Park, 8:00

Wednesday, August 13
through
Saturday, August 16
SummerStage Presents: The New York Neo-Futurists’ Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind, East River Park, 8:00

Thursday, August 14
Broadway in Bryant Park: Matilda, On the Town, Mamma Mia!, Motown the Musical, Bryant Park Lawn, 12:30