For most mortals, the reality of having a single play on Broadway is enough to keep one on Cloud Nine. But Neil Simon and David Mamet can tell you, you simply haven't arrived unless you have two plays crowding the Rialto at the same time.
The more impressive of these double acts is arguably Simon's. Under the umbrella title of "The Neil Simon Plays," his autobiographical Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound will be revived in repertory. (Missing from the original Brighton Beach Trilogy will be the army-set Biloxi Blues.) Noah Robbins and Josh Grisetti will play, at different ages, Simon's alter ego, Eugene Morris Jerome. Laurie Metcalf will be their stage mother. Director-of-the-moment David Cromer (The Adding Machine, Our Town) has been given the reins to the ambitious effort, which is produced by Simon's longtime advocate, Emanuel Azenberg. Previews begins at the Nederlander on Oct. 2, and then again on Nov. 18.
For Mamet, meanwhile, 2009-10 may seem like a replay of 2008-09. Last season, he saw both his American Buffalo and Speed-the-Plow revived. The first was quickly felled by unimpressed critics; the second was nearly done in by Jeremy Piven's love of brain food (that is, fish). Now, the playwright is back with one of his oldies-but-goodies, Oleanna (making its Broadway debut), and one newbie, Race. The plot of the latter has been kept under wraps, but it's a safe bet that it's not about Lance Armstrong and the Tour de France. James Spader, Kerry Washington, David Alan Grier and Richard Thomas star and Mssr. Mamet himself will direct. Previews begin Nov. 16 at the Barrymore.
Even back before Mamet became a Republican, he still didn't like political correctness much, as is amply illustrated in the professor-student duel at the center of Oleanna. William H. Macy and Rebecca Pidgeon (Mrs. Mamet) starred in the original Off-Broadway production, which was notorious for sending theatregoers out onto the sidewalk arguing with one another. On Broadway, Bill Pullman and Julia Stiles will go head to head, with the dependable Doug Hughes directing. Previews begin Sept. 29 at the Golden. Look for a lot of heated discussions on 45th Street.
photo by Greg Williams |
photo by Jason Bell |
The most talked-about new musical of the fall will likely be the most ambitious: Fela!. The new musical based on the life of groundbreaking African composer and activist Fela Anikulapo Kuti was acclaimed when it played a limited engagement in fall 2008 at Off-Broadway's 37 Arts — enough so that it will begin previews at Broadway's Eugene O'Neill Theatre Oct. 19. Bill T. Jones, who won a 2007 Tony Award for his Spring Awakening choreography, directs and choreographs Fela, and Sahr Ngaujah, who starred in the title role Off-Broadway, will again star on Broadway.
Also new is Memphis, the Joe DiPietro-David Bryan (the latter a member of the rock band Bon Jovi) rock musical, which will begin previews on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre Sept. 23. The pulpy plotline is worth quoting: "In the smoky halls and underground clubs of the segregated 50's, a young white DJ named Huey Calhoun fell in love with everything he shouldn't: rock and roll and an electrifying black singer. Memphis is an original story about the cultural revolution that erupted when his vision met her voice, and the music changed forever." Sounds like a page-turner.
photo by Aubrey Reuben |
The third revival didn't take as long getting back to town. It's Ragtime, which debuted on Broadway only back in 1998. The Stephen Flaherty-Lynn Ahrens-Terrence McNally musical blew many people away at the time. It had a huge cast! A huge set! It had sweep! It had grandeur! But it also had future felon Garth Drabinsky as a producer (uh-oh), and The Lion King across the street as competition (yikes!). It closed after a two-year run that many people thought should have been longer. The new staging, beginning Oct. 23 at the Neil Simon, is a transfer of the recent Kennedy Center production. Marcia Milgrom Dodge directs and choreographs. Starring are Stanford White, Emma Goldman, Harry Houdini, Booker T. Washington, Teddy Roosevelt and Henry Ford. Now, those are what I call headliners!