This week we look at the Gablestage at the Biltmore Hotel, are visited by Stoney Westmoreland and free our natural voice with Guy William Molnar.

John and I were featured on The David Lawrence show tonight.  It was on XM 171, but you can hear it by going to David’s website and signing up for his podcast of the show!  Thanks, David!

This week we take a look at the Oxford Shakespeare Festival, re-visit the hamlet, and have another check in on gov. school.

This week we take a look at Georgia Shakespeare and get an insight to gov school’s trip to Virginia!

This week we discover a valueable website for North Carolina theatre-goers, recap John’s trip to NYC, TN. Governor School for the Arts, and introduce our new segment!

This week we take a close look at the Tony Awards, rant about some misguided teaching practices, and the better halves of the podcast talk about being theatre widows!

A Moon for the Misbegotten

NYC, Brooks Atkinson Theatre by way of the Old Vic, UK

May 30, 2007

I will be honest…my first choice for seeing a show on my day in the City was Spring Awakening. Every year, my wife and I (plus now, our little one) make a family visit to Farmingdale, NY. It’s on Long Island for those that don’t know and little more than a forty minute train ride to Penn Station. Consequentially, we take a trek into the city to see a show and I pay my respects to the Drama Book Shop which usually consists of me leaving with a very large bag of plays and a huge tax write off.

With the Tony’s coming up, the entire town was buzzing about Spring Awakening that I was really stoked to see it. But as fates would have it, there was no matinee and with a little one being looked after on Long Island…a matinee was the only option. My wife and I went down our list of shows that we wanted to see with each of us adding our two cents to a growing mound of pros and cons. One front runner was Curtains but what if David Hyde Pierce has the day off. Another was Inherit the Wind…it has a powerhouse cast but my wife and I currently hail from Tennessee which automatically filled me with dread at hearing bad southern accents for two hours. Plus, let’s be honest…it’s still Inherit the Wind…still a courtroom drama about evolution…still a snooze fest.

But wait! Isn’t there an O’Neill play being performed. A Moon for the Misbegotten. I love O’Neill and I feel that his plays are vastly under-represented in the American theatre cannon. To add insult to injury, there was a marker on the building of his birth denoting him as the “greatest American playwright”, this building now houses a Starbucks! I wonder if he was a Venti or Grande guy…soy, skim, or whole milk. Ah, modern conveniences!

Oddly enough this production from the “greatest American Playwright” got its start in England by an ex-patriot American. The Old Vic was the birthplace of the newest production of this O’Neill play. Success there led to it being brought over with Kevin Spacey in the forefront…the prodigal son returns home again. He brought along with him: Eve Best and Colm Meaney. A dreamcast if ever I heard of one.

This production takes place on a fantastic set. A lean-to shanty set against a brilliant electric blue sky which leads to a clear understanding of the dichotomy between the rich and the poor. A recurring theme that permeates the entire script. The sky symbolizes unattainable ideal life versus the shanty as the unabridged reality of life as it is and not what we wish it to be. Heaven and hell if you will, clearly displayed for us by the set design by Bob Crowley.

The costumes were greatly appropriate to the time frame and the economic level of the characters. I thought the neutral color pallet was a great counter-point to the amazingly rich colored sky back drop. The costumes were really a part of the character as opposed to simply clothes to wear. Nicely done by Lynette Mauro.

The acting was spot on in most parts but would wander into the realm of the overblown. This is due to the fact that the actors and director would not trust the audiences’ level of intelligence to comprehend the nuances of O’Neill’s play. They seemed to overplay moments to the level of beating us over the head with the point of the scene. O’Neill plays are not easy. He writes what is his version of his regional dialect. This tends to lead actors to adopt overblown accents and overblown emotional wailing and gnashing of teeth. This seems to be a common problem with producing O’Neill plays even with very seasoned performers as is the case in this production. Sometimes the play seemed to perform the actors rather than the actors performing the play.

That being said, the strongest performance was not by Spacey, not by Best but by Colm Meaney. His performance seemed stagy in the first scene but he seemed to find his stride and maintained that level of performance throughout the afternoon. He was a joy to watch. His relationship with his daughter played by Eve Best was very touching in the second act. The relationship between Meaney and Spacey at times bordered on being a special moment in theatrical history. Colm Meaney seemed the most comfortable in his character’s shoes than the others. For me, he stole the show.

Eve Best seemed to think that great acting comes at the cost of a great physical exertion. She seemed to be fretting about the stage with great fury but not great substance. I understand the desired affect this was to create for her character as an awkward and hard loved woman. But again this seemed to be a case of the play performing the actor rather than the actor performing the play. She is Tony nominated and I do not wish to take that away from her; however, I was a little baffled that a nomination would be granted for the performance that I saw. It was not poor, just not an award winning or nomination worthy performance in my opinion. When she would relax into the character, then she gave a masterful performance. These moments came as highlights to her performance but not a major portion of it. She had believable chemistry with Spacey.

Kevin Spacey was interesting to watch. He is definitely a crowd favorite as well as one of mine; however, he again seemed to have moments of disconnection and tended to overplay moments for a desired affect. He was funny in act 1 and a dramatic tortured soul in act 2. His performance had a very calculated feel to it. This left his performance a little flat which seemed to fuel his need to manipulate the audience by over the top gesticulations and vocal dexterity.

All in all, I am really glad to have seen this production with these actors. These stars. I am thoroughly appreciative of being able to see a top level production of an O’Neill play even though my wife and I lowered the average age in the audience by thirty years. Just next time trust the script and trust that the audience can handle the material without it being pre-chewed and spoon fed to us.

This week we take a look at Theatre in the Square, have a union update with Brian Webb Russell, and have a very special update with a local up and coming talent!

This week we look at Southern Rep and have an interview with Illusionist/ Magician Misty Lee. We also discuss “special” insurance plans.

Hey, we’ve been pretty busy around here lately.  First it was exams, then it was the podcast stuff…well, I won’t bore you with the details.  Here’s the stuff you really need to know:

First, there is a new poll online!  If you are reading this directly from the website, look to the right and you’ll see it.  If you are reading it via a feed reader or your e-mail, you can find it here.  We’ll be talking about it in the coming weeks on the podcast, but make sure you vote now!

Speaking of the IDS, the one-year anniversary of the podcast is coming up soon and we are working on some pretty special stuff to celebrate!  We can’t announce it yet, but rest assured we are working on making it happen for you, our beloved audience.  Help us to prepare for our big one-year extravaganza buy filling out a Listener Survey and buying a t-shirt from the CafePress store!   We’ve also got some great new product reviews we’ll be posting in the coming weeks, so make sure you stay tuned for that as well.

In the meantime, I’m heading for a little R&R on the beaches of Florida and John is taking a trip to the Big Apple.   So, have a great start to your summer!