All the World's a Stage

This last week has made me feel that this is actually true, in the literal sense. I’ve been to four pretty incredible performances (well, two of them, which I will describe in upcoming entries, may not count as performances – you can be the judge of that) in the last week, three of them in the last three days. Just when I think the richness of the cultural events in New York cannot impress me more, it does.

Anything Goes

Last week I joined some friends to see Anything Goes on Broadway. It’s a show that’s been around for a while, but it has been newly released on Broadway and this particular version of it was supposed to be great. Anyway, Julia has impeccable taste, and if she says a show is worth seeing, I’m the first to say I’ll go with her. Irwin, a friend of hers, got us all discounted tickets through NYU, and we settled into seats in the balcony on Wednesday night ready for a good show.

Reviewing the program before the show began, I saw that there were quite a few actors worth getting excited about, if you’re into that sort of thing. Julia and her friends are REALLY into that sort of thing. They were most looking forward to seeing the actor playing Moonface Martin, a guy named Joel Grey. Go figure I’d never heard of him, but my companions gushed that he has been in simply everything, most notably in the original cast of Cabaret, where he played the Master of Ceremonies and won a Tony, then an Academy Award for the same role in the movie version. Also of note was Jessica Walter (in the role of  Evangeline Harcourt), famous for playing the mother in the very funny TV series Arrested Development.

Sutton Foster, though, absolutely stole the show as Reno Sweeney, and with a supporting cast like the one she had, that is no small statement. As the wry, wise-cracking sidekick to the show’s male lead – not his romantic interest, it must be noted for the benefit of those unfamiliar with the show; the romantic interests in these productions tend to be simpering and uninteresting – she was the best actress I think I’ve seen on Broadway yet. I’m not alone in that assessment – just four days after we saw the show, Foster won a Tony for Best Leading Actress. The show has some pretty cheesy lines and songs. I’d describe Cole Porter, who wrote the score, as eccentric if I was going to be nice and as a certifiable lunatic if I wasn’t. Instead of cringing inwardly and trying to be sincere as she delivered some of these ridiculous lines, Foster’s performance was tongue-in-cheek and downright hilarious.

On top of that, the dancing was out of this world – the show won another Tony for best choreography – the sets were great, and the costumes were spectacular. This was definitely one of my more enjoyable Broadway experiences.

As You Like It

Turns out I was a bit mislead about the nature of this “performance,” but luckily it all worked out anyway. I bought two tickets through Symphony Space and invited Ed to come with me. When I finally arrived at the theater, late, as usual, he asked me whether we were going to see a movie. “Uh, no,” I replied, thinking him a bit thick. “It’s a play.” He pointed out that it was listed under the “Films” heading in a brochure he’d been perusing while waiting for me, and I was initially a bit disappointed (largely because the tickets were $20 each, which I thought was a bit steep for a movie).

Good old Will sure loved a good cross-dressing gag...

It didn’t take long for me to decide that this was a pretty unique movie experience, though. The film was a recorded performance at The Globe Theater in England, but it wasn’t the kind of recording your dad made at your third grade school play; there were close-ups of important characters at all the right moments, and different cameras captured events from different angles of the stage, so we had what felt like the best seats in the house. It was pretty cool to be able to watch the play against the same background that it would have been originally performed before, and the actors were phenomenal (as one would expect from people chosen to perform Shakespeare in The Globe in England). I also enjoyed seeing the audience members watching the show in the background of most of the shots. While it was sometimes distracting – there was a teenage boy in one of the first rows who slept through just about the whole show – it made the whole experience much more authentic, as if we were actually there. At the same time, though we had the benefit of watching it surrounded by real people who gasped, laughed, and clapped along with us. A perfect compromise.

The play itself was fantastic. I had never seen it before, nor read it, and it was great to put context behind some of the famous characters I’ve heard about and lines I’ve seen quoted (like the one that titles this entry). I’ve always liked Shakespeare, but I find that I appreciate his work more and more as I get older. Watching a really talented Shakespearean actor at work makes his sometimes tricky language very easy to understand, and all of these actors were masters of their craft. The story line was, admittedly, a bit contrived, but there were some really funny moments, and the 2 ½ hours flew by.

I hope that this is just the beginning of a summer filled with great performances of all kinds!