“Power doesn’t have to show off. Power is confident, self-assuring, self-starting and self-stopping, self-warming and self-justifying. When you have it, you know it.”
I woke up this morning at nine-thirty, an hour later than my normal get-up-and-go time. As I descended from the loft in which I spend my nights, it struck me that I had nothing whatsoever to do today: no deadlines, no shows to see, no meals with friends, no plans of any kind. For a moment I felt myself revving up, trying to think of culture-related activities with which to fill all those empty hours. Then a new, unfamiliar reflex kicked in. Why not do nothing? I asked myself, and a smile flickered across my face….
A new episode of Three on the Aisle, the podcast in which Peter Marks, Elisabeth Vincentelli, and I talk about theater in America, is now available on line for listening or downloading.
Here’s American Theatre’s “official” summary of the proceedings:
This month, as the scale of the economic devastation facing arts professionals continues to sink in, the critics forgo criticism to conduct interviews with creative theatre folks who are finding their way through this extraordinary time: Orange Is the New Black star Samira Wiley, who appeared in a starry Zoom production of Uncle Vanya last fall (and is in the upcoming film Breaking News in Yuba County); and actor/playwright Kate Hamill, best known for her adaptations of period classics, in which she also often appears, who recently starred with her husband, Jason O’Connell, in a video-captured Talley’s Folly at Syracuse Stage. The two artists talk about the tough choices they’ve made and their hopes for change in the field when it returns to production.
To listen to or download this episode, read more about it, or subscribe to Three on the Aisle, go here.
In case you’ve missed any previous episodes, you’ll find them all here.
In today’s Wall Street Journal drama column, I review two theatrical webcasts drawn from important New York productions of the past by the Hunter Theater Project and Shakespeare in the Park. Here’s an excerpt.
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Sometimes you have to dig to find the best theatrical webcasts, while others are hiding in plain sight. Before the pandemic, WNET, New York’s PBS affiliate, used to telecast plays from Manhattan at irregular intervals. And some of its strongest offerings are still online for free on-demand viewing—if you know where to look.
One place, tucked deep within the thirteen.org website, is a page devoted to Channel 13’s “Theater Close-Up” series of off-Broadway productions. The most recent episode, one of the greatest Chekhov productions I’ve ever had the privilege to review, is the 2018 New York premiere of Richard Nelson’s adaptation of “Uncle Vanya,”the auspicious inaugural production of Hunter College’s Hunter Theater Project, in which professional stagings are mounted under the aegis of the Upper East Side school’s drama department. This concise “Vanya,” which was taped in front of a live and responsive audience, was performed in casual street clothes and modern English (Mr. Nelson, who was also the director, translated Chekhov’s play in collaboration with Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky). The goal in the theater was to make everything more intimate, with 12 area mikes used to boost the volume just enough so that the actors could throw away their lines and still be heard in every corner of the small black-box house.
Not only did it work there, but viewing it on a laptop with earphones proves to be just as successful, so much so that I can enthusiastically recommend this “Vanya” to Chekhov novices and connoisseurs alike….
Another noteworthy show that I recently ran across, available on WNET’s “All Arts” streaming platform, is an extreme rarity, a telecast of the 1973 Shakespeare in the Park outdoor production of “King Lear” directed by Edwin Sherin and starring James Earl Jones, Paul Sorvino and Raúl Juliá. Mr. Jones was not yet known as the resplendent bass voice of Darth Vader in 1973. Back then he was a distinguished stage actor who made occasional screen appearances (he had a small part in “Dr. Strangelove” and got a best-actor Oscar nomination for ‘The Great White Hope,” in which he had previously appeared on Broadway)….
