Well, actually, five shows opened in four days. Because, yes folks, the unthinkable happened — for the first time in long memory, two Broadway shows opened on the same night, April 30. Neither the producers of 9 to 5 nor those of the new revival of Beckett's Waiting for Godot blinked. They both kept to their pledge that they would open on the final Thursday of the season. Sardi's didn't fall down. Everyone kept their heads. But it was unusual.
Given the circumstances, the New York Times' lead critic, Ben Brantley, could have chosen to share the wealth, and tossed one of the two big shows to second-stringer Charles Isherwood. But hungry Ben kept them both to themselves, loving Godot and not loving 9 to 5 so much. By and large, the other reviewers fell in line with those opinions. Godot, directed by Anthony Page, was deemed a fine, even admirable interpretation of Beckett's existentialist classic, well suited to our worrisome times, and showing off its four stars — Bill Irwin, Nathan Lane, John Goodman and John Glover — to excellent advantage. Goodman, in particular, was hailed as a joy and a revelation as the grandiose Pozzo.
9 to 5 had its advocates; certainly some liked it better than Brantley. But even the supporters admitted that it was simply good entertainment, a bit dated in its feminist storyline, which hewed closely to the 1980 film, and somewhat cut-and-pasted in its influences. Given all that, though, they allowed that it could be a crowd-pleaser with legs, given its nostalgic and familiar storyline.
photo by Liz Lauren |
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And that's it. The 2008-09 Broadway season officially ended April 30. (The Tony Award nominations will be announced May 5.) There's always next season, though. Part of next season, it was announced this week, will be the New York City premiere of Carrie Fisher's popular solo show Wishful Drinking this fall. The darkly comic autobiographical play, created and performed by actress-writer Fisher and directed by Tony Taccone, has been a hit in regional theatres for more than a year. Wishful Drinking will begin previews on Sept. 22 toward an Oct. 4 opening at Studio 54 — where a lot of drinking went on, back in the day. Other stuff, too.