In Transit

I walked home with a happy heart after seeing Primary Stages’s new a cappella musical In Transit, which opened last night in its world premiere at 59E59 Theaters. This upbeat portrayal of life in New York is loads of fun, plus it packs an important message that we all need reminding of from time to time.

The show features seven actors in a variety of roles, riding the subway and singing about the joys and frustrations of life in the Big Apple. Director Joe Calarco keeps things hopping and music director Mary-Mitchell Campbell has done a superb job of harmonizing the talented cast -- Steve French as Bass, Celisse Henderson as Alto/Regina, Hannah Laird as Soprano/Ali, Chesney Snow as Boxman, Graham Stevens as Baritone/Nate, Denise Summerford as Mezzo/Jane and Tommar Wilson as Tenor/Trent.

The songs (book, music and lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez, James-Allen Ford, Russ Kaplan and Sara Wordsworth) tell familiar stories: in “No Dental” an aspiring actress sings about the frustrations of her day job as she auditions repeatedly, continuing to hope for her moment in the spotlight; “Four Days Home” is about a gay man’s difficulty visiting his small hometown in Texas where he has to stay closeted, and his longing to get back to New York.

The stories are framed by the opening number, “Not There Yet,” about all the various agonies straphangers endure trying to get to their destinations, and the closing number, “Getting There,” which offers the message that getting somewhere is just as important as being there. The Boxman, who raps in the subway station and acts as a connector for the other characters, makes the musical point that since most workers spend about two hours a day commuting, it’s better to be in the moment of that time instead of looking at a watch or cursing the train delays. He helps the others appreciate the journeys of their lives and all are transformed in the Finale.

Anna Louizos’s set and Jeff Croiter’s lights do a good job of evoking the look and feel of the subway stations and trains.

Thanks to all involved for taking us on a 90-minute pleasure ride. As my friend Trixy said: “I really enjoyed the show.  It was fresh and fun and very NYC.  Nice to see something that is not sitcom.”

In Transit continues at 59E59 Theaters through Oct. 30. Tickets are available by calling (212) 279-4200 or at the box office, 59 E. 59th St. For more information, visit primarystages.com.

Broadway Musicals: The Biggest Hit and the Biggest Flop of the Season - 1959 to 2009

Broadway Musicals: The Biggest Hit and the Biggest Flop of the Season - 1959 to 2009 by Peter Filichia is now available. 

It happens every season. Broadway has one, two, or if really lucky a few hit musicals, but there are many, many more flops.  From torturous Philadelphia and disaster Boston tryouts, and to Broadway with award winning composers, bookwriters, lyricists, producers and stars; here's a look at the extreme cases from each season of the past half-century.  100 Shows: The musicals that everyone knew would be hits - The Sound of Music, The Phantom of the Opera, The Producers. Those that sounded terrible from their announcement - Via Galactica, The Civil War, Lestat (and sometimes even worse than expected). The musicals that were destined to succeed - Breakfast at Tiffany's, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Merrily We Roll Along. The shows that there was not much awareness or thought didn't have a chance - Man of La Mancha, 1776, Grease. 

Peter Filichia is a New York-based theater critic for The Star Ledger newspaper in Newark, New Jersey and for television station News 12 New Jersey.  He also writes a regular column three times a week, "Peter Filichia's Diary," for the website TheaterMania.com. Weekly, he writes a column on original cast recordings for Masterworks Broadway.  Filichia is the author of the book Let's Put on a Musical: How to Choose the Right Show for Your School, Community or Professional Theater, currently available through Back Stage Books. He wrote the weekly column entitled "Stagestruck" for Theater Week magazine during its nine-year run and for three years for Playbill On-Line. Then he wrote a daily column, "Theatergoer's Diary," for Theatre.com and BroadwayOnLine.com.

Where the Wind Comes Sweeping Down the Plain: Autumn in New York Now Features The New York City Ballet

BY MARY SHEERAN

After NYCB shuts down and leaves the city in June, drought used to set in until after The Nutcracker had ended its run in January for ballet fans. No more. NYCB instituted a welcome mini-season this autumn. I went with a friend on Sept. 28, and here’s a rundown of the program.

Estancia. I was visiting Yosemite when this piece by Christopher Wheeldon premiered last spring, but I did read the reviews and wondered how awful was this piece going to be when I eventually got around to seeing it. Well, guess what, I liked it, as did the friend who was with me. I’m not going to say it’s a masterpiece, but it is well done. I’m also not going to say there’s a great story here, but it’s definitely something different for NYCB. It’s an old fashioned tale, almost hackneyed (you might have seen this as an episode on "The Big Valley" or "Bonanza" and it could have passed as a country cousin of Oklahoma without Poor Jud), but even so, it is interesting. (I never saw Barbara Stanwyck whirl around the ranch on pointe.) It also works with the gorgeous scenery that was not the dark dark angsty stuff NYCB’s new pieces surrounded themselves with last season. It had a place and a time and took a certain pleasure in its simplicity. I’m sure somebody minded the dancers being horses; my thought was, why not? (Don’t choreographers refer to their dancers as horses sometime? It was fun, like play.) My real only quibble is that the easygoing singer, Thomas Meglioranza, appeared in the beginning and the middle; given the cyclical nature of the piece timewise, it would have seemed fitting for the him to have sung something at the end. Tiler Peck was the energetic country girl, Tyler Angle the greenhorn, and Andrew Veyette had the fun of being the Wild Horse. It’s not Swan Lake, although the explanation in the program was a little pretentious (the company’s program notes are all kind of getting that way. I think they’re trying to impress us. I remember with nostalgia Lincoln Kirstein’s abrupt, six syllable notes). Just relax and enjoy it, people!

Danses Concertantes. This was made for the ballet event I wish I’d gone to: the Stravinsky Festival in June 1972. At the time, George Balanchine said, “I wanted, with the new dancers I was working with, to do something different…Writers think with words; I think with bodies, and the ballets I work on necessarily have a great deal to do with the here and now.” Balanchine had previously set Danses Concertantes in 1941 for the Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo at City Center. It’s a colorful, witty production, with lots of dancers, featuring Sterling Hyltin and Amar Ramasar as the golden couple. The whimsical setting suggests a happy Orpheus and a prominent lyre, the company’s symbol. I think I even saw a bit of shuffling tap in there, but it’s all ballet. How’d he do that?

Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux. Ashley Bouder and Andrew Veyette skipped going fully bravado to take some time to enjoy themselves in this delightful miniature that Balanchine set in 1960. They seemed overcautious to me (not that I blame them!). I remember gasping throughout when watching this; this left me all smiles, but with most of my oxygen.


Barber Violin Concerto. This is one of Peter Martins’ most exquisite ballets, done in 1988, back in the day. I haven’t seen this in years, but as soon as the music started (the violinist was the superb Arturo Delmoni) I remembered it almost “verbatim,” so I must have seen a lot of it, back in the day. It is a romantic, witty, gorgeous piece to watch and to listen to. It’s almost sad to see because there is a beauty of dancing relationships in the piece that one sees rarely in Martins’ later works (those seem to pull back from the audience and put up a wall). I could recognize some signature moves from Balanchine pieces, such as Chaconne, but they flew into different directions. Barber Violin Concerto is tempestuous, goes like the wind, and yet it can be reflective as well, while happy in its dancing, and the dancers (Megan Fairchild, Jared Angle, Sara Mearns, and Charles Askegard) were all wonderful. Even its predictable mix of classical and modern styles didn’t make me groan because the approach was still so fresh. I hope they keep this one around.

By the way, at this performance, not one dancer came out to speak to us. That’s the latest thing at NYCB, you know, dancers coming out and talking before the performance. Sometimes you learn things such as that the lead dancers are engaged, which really brings you into the piece, I guess. I don’t know if they’ve already decided against the practice or if they just are running out of dancers willing to face the public and not dance. I was outside the NYCB theater (I refuse to say its new name) at the end of a performance last Sunday, and I heard a few not very kind remarks about whomever the speaker was at that matinee (and they couldn’t hear him in the fourth ring). It seems a little silly since these practices are marketing ploys that both distract from the performance and, if they are aimed at bringing people into the theater, um, the audience is already there.

I have to say that every time I have heard NYCB dancers speak, they have been articulate and charming – and there’s been none of the hems and haws and ums and “likes” and “you knows.” (When I was handing people my manuscript of my book to read, they said that dancers wouldn’t sound so intelligent, but I disagree.) Still, I’m not sure the practice is all that useful on a daily basis, but, que sera sera. Just don’t forget the dancing part.

Estancia: Choreography by Christopher Wheeldon; Music by Albert Ginastera. Libretto and Synopsis by Valeria Luisilli after Albert Ginastera; Premiere: May 29, 2010. Danses Concertantes: Choreography by George Balanchine; Music: Danses Concertantes for Chamber Orchestra (1941-1942) by Igor Stravinsky; Premiere: September 10, 1972, Stravinsky Festival, New York State Theater. Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux: Choreography by George Balanchine; Music: Excerpt from Swan Lake, Op. 20, Act III (1877) by Peter Ilyitch Tschaikovsky; Premiere: March 29, 1960, New York City Ballet, City Center of Music and Dance. Barber Violin Concerto: Choreography by Peter Martins; Music: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 14 (1941) by Samuel Barber; Premiere: May 12, 1988, New York City Ballet, American Music Festival, New York State Theater.

New York City Ballet performances run through Oct. 10 at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center. Performances of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker begin Nov. 26 and run through Jan. 2, followed by a full repertory season from Jan. 18 through Feb. 27. For tickets and information, go to www.nycballet.com.

Writer/singer Mary Sheeran’s novel, Who Have the Power, an exploration of cultural conflict, feminism, and Native American history set on the American frontier, was published in 2006 (www.whohavethepower.com). Her next novel, Quest of the Sleeping Princess, which unfolds during a gala performance of the New York City Ballet, will be published later this month. She has sung through several operas, cabarets, and song recitals in New York, including several performances of Songs From the Balanchine Repertory.

The Pitmen Painters

In The Pitmen Painters, Tony Award winner Lee Hall once again gives us a moving and involving look into the world of miners in the northeast of England, this time basing his play on laborers who became celebrated artists in the 1930s and '40s. Hall had previously brought this profession and its people to stage life as the book writer and lyricist for Billy Elliot: The Musical.

Pitmen, which takes place in Ashington, Northumberland, Newcastle Upon Tyne, London and Edinburgh between 1934 and 1947, offers a great deal of humor in the first act as the men discover art for the first time -- not one had ever even seen a painting and a couple stopped school at 10 or 11 when they started in the mines. Wanting to know “the facts” about art, they’ve hired art historian Robert Lyon (Ian Kelly, far right in photo) to give them an art appreciation course in the evening, but quickly become irritated by his repeatedly asking them how they “feel” about the slides he shows in the first class. They say they don’t feel a thing and only want to know what the paintings mean.

“Art isn’t about answers,” Lyon tries to make them understand. “It’s about asking questions.”

Realizing their background is keeping them from getting what he wants to convey, he tosses aside theory in favor of having them paint their own works based on a given subject. At first they are reluctant, but one by one take a chance and quickly become engaged in the creative process, even journeying together to London for the first time to visit museums. Soon art is the main focus of their lives outside the mines.

Oliver Kilbourn (Christopher Connel, far left in photo), the first to experience the transforming power of art, shows the most promise, but ultimately he is unable or unwilling to leave his old life. When he is offered a stipend to paint full time by a rich art patron (Phillippa Wilson) he at first considers accepting the position but ultimately can’t take the risk and decides to continue laboring with his fellow miners underground.

The least promising -- and funniest -- is Jimmy Floyd (David Whitaker, (second from left), a droll little man on whom the beauty of art is lost. The other students are George Brown (Deka Walmsley, center), Harry Wilson (Michael Hodgson, second from right) and Ben Nicholson (Brian Lonsdale). The cast also includes Lisa McGrillis as an art student who poses nude for the miners, much to their excitement and/or embarrassment.

The second act is more serious and at times too wordy with its political pronouncements. The play, which runs two hours and 25 minutes, could be tightened here.

Although the real life men achieved recognition in the art world within a few years, becoming friends with avant-garde artists and selling their work for inclusion in prestigious collections, they continued to work nine hours a day hauling coal out of the mines just as they always had, painting when they could in the evening.

This production at Manhattan Theatre Club's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre is the American premiere. First staged in 2007 at Live Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne, it features the original U.K. cast, all of whom are excellent. Max Roberts once again directs. The production features simple, atmospheric scenic and costume design by Gary McCann and lighting by Douglas Kuhrt.

Hall, who won the Best Book Tony Award for Billy Elliot The Musical, which is based on his screenplay, drew inspiration from a book by William Feaver that told the story of the Ashington Group, miners from Northumberland who became celebrated artists. He condensed the 30-member group into the five men in the play.

"It's a piece of lost social history," Hall told Playbill.com, talking about finding Feaver's book in a bookstore. "It was about this group of miners where I'm from in the Northeast of England, who became really accomplished and famous painters of their day. I got in a cab, and I started reading this thing, and, before I finished the first chapter, I rang [director] Max [Roberts], who is a long-term collaborator. I owed him a play, and I said, 'I’m going to cancel the play I was going to write for you because I found this fantastic story.'"

It is a fantastic story, and it’s engagingly told. A touching element is the projection of actual pitmen paintings. It’s heartening to think those uneducated working-class men are being celebrated once again, this time on a Broadway stage. And their work is now permanently housed in a museum created for it in Newcastle.

Roberts told Playbill.com, "I'd actually been to the museum where some of the paintings were being displayed in the Northeast of England. You know, you often buy a book when you go to an exhibition, and you look at the pictures, and you don't quite read it, and then you just put it on your shelf, so when [Lee Hall] rang me from the cab, [I said,] 'Oh, yeah. I've got that. I've seen the paintings.' And I actually pulled it off the shelf, and I read it straightaway and shared Lee's passion that this could indeed be a play."

This is one I definitely encourage you to see. Tickets may be purchased through Telecharge.com, by calling (212) 239-6200 or at the box office, 261 W. 47th St.  For more information, visit www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com.

Happy World Animal Day

“If you have men who will exclude any of God’s creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.”
-- St. Francis

Brief Encounter

The special effects are amazing in Brief Encounter, so much so that they overwhelm Noël Coward's story about two married people who meet by chance in a train station tea room in 1940s England, fall in love and part nobly at the end.

Director Emma Rice has a real three ring circus going one in this 90-minute show. I was most fascinated by the black and white film projections into which the stage characters step and become part of that world. I loved the Coward songs ("Mad About the Boy," "A Room With a View," "Go Slow, Johnny," "Any Little Fish"), which secondary characters move away from the action to sing, at times in the aisles. Unfortunately, they also perform a lot of silly comic routines that get tedious. In the midst of all this the romance takes on what seems like a minor character role. It was hard to feel emotionally connected to the lovers, Hannah Yelland and Tristan Sturrock, with all those distractions. (The script is an adaptation of Coward's screenplay (for the 1945 movie by the same name) and his one-act play Still Life.)

My friend Mary shared this reaction, but we are probably in the minority. Earlier productions -- this is the Broadway premiere -- have been hits with critics and the public. It originated in England, then moved to St. Ann's Warehouse last season before touring the United States. Even my cynical friend Carolyn loved it when she saw it in Brooklyn, and Carolyn rarely likes anything. I wish I could have shared the enthusiasm. I had expected to, especially after reading all the buzz on Facebook. I wanted to care more about Laura and Alec, but they were overshadowed.

The Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of Brief Encounter continues at Studio 54 through Dec. 5. Tickets are available at (212) 719-1300, online at www.roundabouttheatre.org or at the box office, 254 W. 54th St.

Liberals leaving the U.S.

The Manitoba Herald, Canada, as  reported by Clive Runnels, Aug. 6, 2010

The flood of American liberals sneaking across the border into Canada has intensified in the past week, sparking calls for increased patrols to stop  the illegal immigration. The recent actions of the Tea Party are prompting an exodus among left-leaning citizens who fear they'll soon be required to  hunt, pray, and to agree with Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck.

Canadian  border farmers say it's not uncommon to see dozens of sociology professors, animal-rights activists and Unitarians crossing their fields at night.

"I  went out to milk the cows the other day, and there was a Hollywood producer huddled in the barn,"  said Manitoba farmer Red Greenfield, whose acreage borders North Dakota. "The producer was  cold, exhausted and hungry. He asked me if I could spare a latte and  some free-range chicken. When I said I didn't have any, he left before I  even got a chance to show him my screenplay, eh?"
 
In an effort to stop the illegal aliens, Greenfield erected higher fences, but the liberals scaled them. He then installed loudspeakers that blared Rush Limbaugh across the fields.

"Not real effective," he said. "The liberals  still got through and Rush annoyed the cows so much that they wouldn't give  any milk."
 
Canadian hunters are afraid the animal activists may  encounter bears in Canada.

"These people just don't have the normal fear of  bears that Canadians do," said one hunter. "They see them as spokesmen for  responsible campfires, the bears see them as meat."

Officials are  particularly concerned about smugglers who meet liberals near the Canadian  border, pack them into Volvo station wagons and drive them across the  border where they are simply left to fend for themselves.

"A lot of these people are not prepared for our rugged conditions," an Ontario border patrolman said. "I found one  carload without a single bottle of imported drinking water. They did have a nice little Napa Valley Cabernet, though."

When liberals are caught, they're sent back across the border, often wailing loudly that they fear retribution from conservatives. Rumors have been circulating about plans being made to build re-education camps where liberals will be forced to drink domestic beer and watch NASCAR races.

In recent days, liberals  have turned to ingenious ways of crossing the border. Some have been  disguised as senior citizens taking a bus trip to buy cheap Canadian  prescription drugs. After catching a half-dozen young vegans in powdered wig disguises, Canadian immigration authorities began stopping buses and quizzing the supposed senior citizens about Perry Como and Rosemary Clooney to prove that they were alive in the '50s.

"If they can't identify the accordion player on “The Lawrence Welk Show,” we become very suspicious about their age," an  official said.

Canadian citizens have complained that the illegal  immigrants are creating an organic-broccoli shortage and are renting all the Michael Moore movies.

"I really feel sorry for  American liberals, but the Canadian economy just can't support them,"  an Ottawa resident said. "How many  art-history majors does one country need?"