Archives for 2009

In today’s Wall Street Journal I review two new Broadway shows that are already drawing large audiences, Jude Law’s Hamlet and the Manhattan Theatre Club’s revival of The Royal Family. I had sharply mixed feelings about both shows. Here’s an excerpt.
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Few Broadway producers would dream of putting cash into a homegrown Shakespeare staging: They’d rather buy British, and they won’t even do that without a Hollywood-issued flop-insurance policy.
So what are the backers of Mr. Law’s “Hamlet” getting for their money? A perfectly respectable, perfectly predictable modern-dress version whose been-there-seen-this minimalist décor, created by Christopher Oram, is the theatrical equivalent of a little black dress: Everybody has one and they all look alike. The whole cast, in fact, is dressed in black (except for Ophelia, who is black). Black leather jackets, black pea jackets, black shirts and ties…you get the idea. The set is an abstract castle whose sole ornament is a pair of proscenium-high doors that slide open and shut at frequent intervals, much like the elevators in a high-rise office building, and the mist-filled stage is illuminated by narrow shafts of chilly bluish-white light.
It would be inordinately difficult to make anything surprising happen in this enervatingly familiar space. Michael Grandage, who directed the Donmar Warehouse premiere of “Frost/Nixon” that came to Broadway two years ago, barely even tries….
Mr. Law, a well-trained actor with extensive stage experience, gives a performance that struck me as a polished first draft…
George S. Kaufman was the Neil Simon of his day, a commercial craftsman whose comedies used to be immensely popular but are now mostly forgotten, “The Man Who Came to Dinner” and “You Can’t Take It With You” excepted. The Manhattan Theatre Club’s revival of “The Royal Family,” written in 1927 by Kaufman and Edna Ferber, the authoress of such blockbuster novels as “Show Boat” and “Giant,” is only the third Kaufman revival to open on Broadway in the past quarter-century. Why are his plays seen so rarely? Partly because they call for big casts–it takes 16 actors to perform “The Royal Family”–but mostly because contemporary audiences suckled on TV expect stage comedies to move faster than they did in the ’20s and ’30s. The Manhattan Theatre Club’s production of “The Royal Family” runs for two hours and 45 minutes, and by the time the third act (yes, there’s a third act) got going, I felt like the lady sitting a couple of rows behind me who cried “My God, this is a long play!” louder than she realized….
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Read the whole thing here.

“The affirmative of affirmatives is love.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Success”

Yesterday, a friend of mine who’s a law clerk happened to mention how much she enjoys reading Justice Roberts’ legal decisions. This enjoyment, she said, is irrespective of any agreement or disagreement with him on points of law — but rather has to do with his writing style, which she described as crisp, readable and frequently entertaining.
One favorite is his dissent in Pennsylvania v. Nathan Dunlap, which opens in a Sam Spade style:

North Philly, May 4, 2001. Officer Sean Devlin, Narcotics Strike Force, was working the morning shift. Undercover surveillance. The neighborhood? Tough as a three-dollar steak. Devlin knew. Five years on the beat, nine months with the Strike Force. He’d made fifteen, twenty drug busts in the neighborhood.
Devlin spotted him: a lone man on the corner. Another approached. Quick exchange of words. Cash handed over; small objects handed back. Each man then quickly on his own way. Devlin knew the guy wasn’t buying bus tokens. He radioed a description and Officer Stein picked up the buyer. Sure enough: three bags of crack in the guy’s pocket. Head downtown and book him. Just another day at the office.

On the same topic of Legal Dissents that Make Enjoyable Reading, my friend also cited this one, given by Judge Bybee in the 9th Circuit case US v. Nevils:

It is said that the wife of English lexicographer Samuel Johnson returned home unexpectedly in the middle of the day, to find Dr. Johnson in the kitchen with the chambermaid. She exclaimed, “My dear Dr. Johnson, I am surprised.” To which he reputedly replied, “No my dear, you are amazed. We are surprised.”
Earl Nevils was surprised when two LA police officers with guns drawn ordered him not to move. But Nevils was not amazed in the least by the circumstances in which he found himself: he had a loaded, chambered semiautomatic Tec 9 on his lap and a loaded, chambered .40 caliber pistol by his leg. Nor was he astonished by the marijuana, ecstasy, cash and a cellphone on a table a foot away. Although the unoccupied apartment was not his, Nevils wasn’t the least bewildered at finding himself in Apartment #6–officers had found drugs and guns in the apartment just three weeks earlier and had arrested Nevils there for parole violation. According to one of the officers, Nevils first impulse was to “grab towards his lap” where the Tec 9 lay and “then he stopped and put his hands up.” He later exclaimed to an officer, “I don’t believe this s—. Those m———— left me sleeping and didn’t wake me.” The jury found him guilty of being a felon in possession.
The majority overturns his conviction because it finds the evidence insufficient to show that Nevils knowingly possessed the guns. It surmises that it is equally plausible that someone–anyone, actually, since the defense couldn’t finger any person in particular–set Nevils up by placing the guns on him while he was in a drunken stupor. Thus, the majority concludes, no reasonable juror–certainly not the twelve who did–could have found that Nevils knowingly possessed the guns. Like Mrs. Johnson, I am both amazed and disappointed. I respectfully dissent.

Here’s my list of recommended Broadway, off-Broadway, and out-of-town shows, updated weekly. In all cases, I gave these shows favorable reviews (if sometimes qualifiedly so) in The Wall Street Journal when they opened. For more information, click on the title.

Warning: Broadway shows marked with an asterisk were sold out, or nearly so, last week.

BROADWAY:

• Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps (comedy, G, suitable for bright children, closes Jan. 10, reviewed here)

• God of Carnage * (serious comedy, PG-13, adult subject matter, closes Jan. 3, reviewed here)

• South Pacific * (musical, G/PG-13, some sexual content, brilliantly staged but unsuitable for viewers acutely allergic to preachiness, reviewed here)

• A Steady Rain * (drama, R, totally unsuitable for children, closes Dec. 6, reviewed here)

• Superior Donuts * (dark comedy, PG-13, violence, reviewed here)

OFF BROADWAY:

• The Fantasticks (musical, G, suitable for children capable of enjoying a love story, reviewed here)

• Our Town (drama, G, suitable for mature children, reviewed here)

IN ASHLAND, OREGON:

• The Music Man (musical, G, very child-friendly, closes Nov. 1, reviewed here)

IN STRATFORD, ONTARIO:

• The Importance of Being Earnest (comedy, G, closes Oct. 30, reviewed here)

CLOSING SOON IN CHICAGO:

• The History Boys (drama, PG-13/R, adult subject matter, too intellectually complex for most adolescents, closes Oct. 18, reviewed here)

CLOSING SOON IN SPRING GREEN, WIS:

• Long Day’s Journey into Night (drama, PG-13, adult subject matter, too long and demanding for some adolescents, closes Oct. 18, reviewed here)

CLOSING FRIDAY IN SPRING GREEN, WIS.:

• Henry V (Shakespeare, G, reviewed here)

CLOSING SATURDAY IN STRATFORD, ONTARIO:

• Three Sisters (drama, PG-13, reviewed here)

CLOSING SUNDAY IN ARLINGTON, VA.:

• Dirty Blonde (serious comedy, PG-13, adult subject matter, reviewed here)

CLOSING SUNDAY IN ST. LOUIS, MO.:

• Amadeus (drama, PG-13, reviewed here)