Broadway Shows
 

This is a wonderful, helpful site. Planning vacation at the end of May. I just wouldn't feel right if I visited New York without seeing a Broadway show. But the problem is I am not a big fan of musicals &amp; neither is my boyfriend. Does anyone have any suggestions to non-musical shows? Is The Graduate still running?<BR>Thanks to all.

For a listing of shows see: http://www.playbill.com/events/listing/1.html. Most are musical but there are a few comedies and dramas. You can also check off-broadway listings. The Graduate is closed and from what I heard it wasn't very good.

&quot;A Long Days Journey into Night&quot; with a stellar cast will be opening on May 6. O'Neill, I know, is not everyone's cup of tea, but this should be a major theatrical event.

An intersting play that has gotten very good reviews is called 'Take Me Out'<BR>The premise is a major league baseball player, sorta 'Derek Jeterish', comes out as the 1st gay baseball player. The play follows what are the conseqences of his decision to come out. There are shower and locker room scenes with full male nudity. <BR>

Here are three good choices:<BR><BR>There has been a lot of buzz about the new production of THE MIRACLE WORKER starring Hillary Swank.<BR><BR>The London hit A DAY IN THE DEATH OF JOE EGG starring Eddie Izzard is just opening -- and he got rave reviews in London. Very heavy show with some comic overtones, if you can laugh at the idea of parents dealing with a severly handicapped child.<BR><BR>Helen Hunt and John Turturro are opening in LIFE X 3 at the famed Circle in the Square. The play is by the playwright of ART.

Anthony and I were posting at the same time. We saw the premiere at the Donmar in London of Take Me Out (actually attending on July 4th -- as a substitute for real baseball in London). The full nudity is more than a little &quot;in your face&quot; or at least in that small theatre. About 8 men take a full 10 minute shower onstage -- and they scrub thouroughly if you know what I mean.<BR>But the bottom line (pardon the pun) was that in my opinion the show just wasn't very good -- perhaps there has now been some re-writing. This guy comes out of the closet, but we never understand why or what for? And it just doesn't seem to go anywhere except that surprisingly it shows a gay protagonist who just plain isn't a very admirable character -- which did make the play interesting. The play seemed to say that because he came out of the closet, he loses his popularity. But he was such an unlikeable guy to begin with and so wishy-washy, that it was hard to understand what made him so popular before he did come out.

As of now, here are your Broadway options:<BR>Enchanted April--based on the book which was also the basis of a successful movie. Opening for previews April 8, it stars Elizabeth Ashley and Molly Ringwald.<BR>A Day in the Death of Joe Egg--see Patrick's description above. It's a limited engagement, so I'm not sure if it'll be around in late May. It hasn't officially opened yet.<BR>Life x 3--again, see Patrick's description above. It has officially opened yet.<BR>Long Day's Journey into Night--Eugene O'Neil's classic has an all-star cast (Brian Dennehy, Vanessa Redgrave, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Robert Sean Leonard). It will be a hot ticket, opens for previews April 26.<BR>Salome--another potential hot-ticket show starring Al Pacino, Marissa Tomei and Dianne Wiest. Previews begin April 11.<BR>Take Me Out--see Patrick's comments above. It's gotten mixed reviews.<BR>The Miracle Worker--starring Hillary Swank. (I don't know where Patrick is hearing all this favorable buzz, but discount tickets are readily available!)<BR>Vincent in Brixton--an award-winning British play about the early adult years of Vincent Van Gogh.<BR>If I were you, I'd wait a while before ordering tickets for most of the above, as some may not be around in late May. The only two sure tough tickets will be Long Day's Journey into Night and Salome.

Just goes to show you the power of the written word, Howard. Being pretty far removed from Broadway here in Florida, I'm often convinced by what I read. I read a recent article about the MIRACLE WORKER revival and how &quot;huge&quot; it was expected to be due to the appearance of Oscar winner Hilary Swank, and also thought it had a &quot;huge&quot; advance. I do know that someone here also mentioned that belief on another theatre thread. Guess it ain't true, huh?

Whenever I go to a broadway show, I leave disappointed. It just isn't my kind of thing. There are two shows that I absolutely love, which are off broadway: Blue Man Group and De La Guarda.

I'm also curious what people have heard about the Al Pacino/Marissa Tomei version of SALOME. They are advertising it as a &quot;full production staged reading&quot;. I've been in theatre all my life and still am not sure exactly what that means. Normally a staged reading would indicate that people sit on chairs and read (although usually pretty well memorized) the script. But does full production mean they simply do that in full costume in front of a full set, or does it mean they actually do blocking -- moving around carrying their scripts? In any case, I fail to understand the attraction of a &quot;full production&quot; staged reading over a regular reading of a play. Granted some plays work fine as readings -- LOVE LETTERS really couldn't or shouldn't be performed any other way, for example, but SALOME?

Another vote for The Miracle Worker....I've heard it is suppose to be a BIG success so get tickets now while they're readily available. It begins previews in mid April and probably opens officially in May.<BR><BR>I've also heard great things about NINE (with Antonio Banderas) and GYPSY (Bernadette Peters) which will be playing in May BUT THESE TWO ARE BOTH MUSICALS.

Note to &quot;Lucienne78&quot; - you might like Betty Rules, which is playing at the Zipper Theater. Small, non-traditional and very cool theater and the music rocks (at times). Not in the same class as the original Off-Broadway production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch but if you want some musical theatre that really isn't musical theatre... you might like it.

Patrick, I wouldn't be surprised if the producers created the buzz! Sure, Hillary Swank is an Oscar winner, but somehow, I don't see her as a hot property who'll sell a lot tickets on her name alone!<BR>I can only chuckle at all these reports. In the case of Gypsy and The Miracle Worker, it's borders on the ridiculous, since it hasn't even started previewing yet. Yes, Bernadette Peters is a big name in the theater and Gypsy is indeed a classic, but let's at least wait until there's a performance before putting giving any credibility to the &quot;buzz&quot;!

Has anyone heard any &quot;buzz&quot; about Enchanted April? It's one of my favorite movies but a large part of the enjoyment was the spectacular setting which can't be duplicated on stage. It's not available on any of the discount sites I've checked either.<BR><BR>What about Vincent in Brixton? Anyone see it in London? Thanks.

Thanks Owen. I'll definitely look into it. If you hear of anything else, let me know.

This just in from the sticks: &quot;The Miracle Worker&quot; opened here in Charlotte last week in its pre-Broadway tryout. Some friends saw it over the weekend and said Swank it still perfecting her role and struggling with her accent. The play is good, but not outstanding. But that's why out-of-town tryouts are for -- fine-tuning.

I am not sure either what a full production reading is. However, I saw the reading at St Ann's in Brooklyn with the same cast and loved it--without costumes and scenerey. So, I recommend the show/reading/production or whatever it is with high marks. Also I saw Life X3. The acting was great, but the story left us a bit baffled as to, really, what was the point? It is 3 acts of the same basic story line, but they change the actors responses and thus alter the outcome of the situation. By the 3rd time around, I was ready to jump ship. But, I love to watch good actors and the theater is great (not a bad seat in the house). If you can get discount tickets, fine, but I would never pay full price for that show. Belongs off-broadway.<BR>

<BR>Nine or The Miracle Worker. <BR>If you have a Gold American Express you can get some tickets for $47.50

Miracle Worker closed before it opened.

I think Nine is a musical.

MFNYC is right about NINE. (DUH is me)<BR>I just read about it in the NY Daily News. <BR><BR>I have not seen anything about the Miracle Worker closing (or not opening) What happened?

AC, fro Newsday.com: &quot;In the week's other big surprise, producer Barry Weissler on Friday released a statement saying the revival of &quot;The Miracle Worker,&quot; set to begin previews at the Music Box on Tuesday, has been indefinitely suspended. The announcement came just before the production starring Skye McCole Bartusiak and Hilary Swank finished its brief out-of-town tryout at the Charlotte Repertory Theatre in North Carolina, where the show garnered mixed reviews.&quot;<BR><BR>

Just curious: How can you recommend a show that hasn't opened anywhere yet?

Owen,<BR><BR>Is Betty Rules a play based on an NYC girl band? Two jewish sisters, one giant bassist, all severely wacky?<BR><BR>

Thanks MFNYC<BR>I just deleted the notice from American Express about the $47.50 tickets for the Miracle Worker. Too bad.