By Robert Simonson
27 Dec 2009

	Jeremy Piven
	photo by Brigitte Lacombe

A FISH STORY
David Mamet writes nice plays. But he never composed anything as fraught with melodrama as the backstage drama that engulfed the 2008-09 Broadway revival of his Speed-the-Plow. Scene One: Show opens on October 2008 with star Jeremy Piven, gets good reviews, sells like hotcakes. Scene Two: Piven suddenly bolts show — feeling ill, or feeling bored, depending on who you talk to — heading to the airport, citing mysterious mercury poisoning derived from excessive fish eating. Steaming producers scramble to keep show afloat, putting in one replacement actor, then another, then another. Scene Three: Producers file a grievance with Actors' Equity Association regarding Piven's abrupt departure, delighting the press, who desperately don't want the story to die. Intermission! Scene Four: Piven triumphs, sort of, as February hearing doesn't result in a unanimous decision. Scene Five: Tenacious producers won't give up, decide to seek arbitration. Finale: Piven, his reputation bloodied and tainted, triumphs. The arbitration rules in favor of the actor and AEA. Epilogue: As The Piven Monologues plays at Joe's Pub, the actor's name, it seems, will be irrevocably linked to "Sushigate."

	Natasha Richardson
	photo by Jason Bell

A DEATH IN THE ROYAL FAMILY
The most shocking, unexpected theatre death of the year was that of Natasha Richardson, who died March 18 following a peculiar, and seeming harmless skiing accident in Canada. She was just 45, and always seemed younger. Richardson was born into the theatre. As the daughter of Vanessa Redgrave, she was a major figure in the third generation of the storied Redgrave clan, the most prominent theatrical family on the English-speaking stage. Her father was director Tony Richardson, and her grandparents were Olivier contemporary Michael Redgrave and actress Rachel Kempson. She called Lynn Redgrave aunt and Corin Redgrave uncle, and married Liam Neeson. Unsurprisingly, she entered the family business at an early age, and she won a Tony Award for her work in the 1998 revival of Cabaret.

NOW AVAILABLE IN OFF-BROADWAY SIZE
Avenue Q decided to downsize to a lane, rather than put up a "Road Closed" sign. Instead of closing on Sept. 13, like promised, the producers of the long-running Broadway musical pulled a fast one and announced they would reopen the show Off-Broadway, where it began. This was a new sort of commercial transfer. The idea caught on. Soon after, the producers of Broadway's The 39 Steps indicated that they would find a new home Off-Broadway in spring 2010, sometime after its scheduled closing date in January.

	Neil Simon (back) with Josh Grisetti and Noah Robbins
	photo by Joan Marcus

NEIL DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE
One of the signature theatrical events of the fall Broadway season was to have been the in-repertory revivals of Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound. In theory. In practice, it was all over in a week. Brighton opened to good, but not great, reviews. And then, Poof!, it was suddenly gone, closed the Sunday after the reviews came out. Broadway Bound never opened at all. Jaded Broadway denizens were sincerely shocked and there was much hand-wringing. Reasons for the closure were parceled out like leaflets at the TKTS booth. Simon's humor was passé. His audience was dead. The production didn't have a big star. The advance was too small. The marketing plan was all wrong. All of the above. At the end of the day, producers crawled back to their offices, very likely more determined than ever to play it safe in the current economy.

THE MILLER'S TALE
The Roundabout Theatre Company took on yet another Broadway theatre, "reopening" the old Henry Miller's Theater on 43rd Street with Bye Bye Birdie. Only the landmarked facade was original. Beyond it, the auditorium was completely new, and was subterranean to boot: performances played out far below the pavement. But the most interesting thing about the Miller was its status as Broadway's first "green" theatre. The air brought in from outside is filtered to a very high degree; the wood used is North American Cherry from a Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified forest; the carpet is made of wool, a renewable resource; the grey, stone-like material on the walls is made of highly condensed recyled paper; men's washrooms contain waterless urinals — they do not flush, but are cleaned with a spray.