My favorite theatre of 2011

This year, it's easy to pick my favorite theatre. Tony Kushner's Angels in America, at the Signature Theatre, and Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart, on Broadway, stood far above anything else I saw in 2011.

Each playwright takes a very different approach to writing about the early days of the AIDS epidemic in New York City, and its devastating impact on gay men. But both tell absorbing stories brought to life by superb actors whose performances had me in tears. They are lyrical and angry and infused with humor and humanity and they will live in my heart forever.

The best of the rest:

Clybourne Park
This Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Bruce Norris, which I saw at Trinity Rep, draws its inspiration from A Raisin in the Sun. It examines how we talk about race in America both in the 1950s and today. The similarities and differences are at times subtle, at times in your face but always compelling. Norris's characters - why they behave the way they do - left me with much to think about.

The Mountaintop
Katori Hall's Broadway play imagines the final night of the Rev. Martin Luther King's life, in his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. I was riveted watching Samuel L. Jackson as King and Angela Bassett as a hotel maid he encounters. I thought it was a fascinating look at the civil-rights leader not as an icon but as a man.

Follies
This Broadway revival was a great reminder of how great a musical can be when its stories and characters are truly original. Through Stephen Sondehim's songs and James Goldman's book, this is a show that speaks honestly - with humor and pain and poignancy - about what happens as we grow older.

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Maybe it had something to do with the rapturous reception for the endearing Daniel Radcliffe as aspiring executive J. Pierrepont Finch, but the crowd just carried me along on this one. It was hilarious and the story of what you have to do to get to the top resonates today. The Broadway revival of Frank Loesser's musical had me grinning from beginning to end.

Porgy and Bess
I saw Porgy and Bess in its pre-Broadway tryout at the American Repertory Theater. It was my first time seeing the show and hearing the Gershwin score and I was captivated. What made this musical so moving for me was the romance at its core. I thought Audra McDonald and Norm Lewis were wonderful together.

Candide
I loved Leonard Bernstein's glorious score and the story, adapted from Voltaire by Mary Zimmerman. This production originated in Chicago but I saw it at the Huntington Theatre in Boston. It was an exuberant, inventive and melodic tale about a young man's adventure-filled journey through life. There were so many twists and turns, quirky characters and shifting locations that I was enthralled.

The Mountaintop

The Mountaintop, at Broadway's Jacobs Theatre
Gratuitous Violins rating: **** out of ****

When he was governor of New York, I once heard Mario Cuomo read a story to students at an elementary school. It was about two animals, one very large and the other very small. The moral: it's not your size that matters but what's in your head and in your heart.

Cuomo then asked the children, who were probably in the first or second grade, whether Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King had been big men. They answered, in unison, "Noooooo!" Clearly, they got the lesson - or they had been well prepped by their teachers.

If any of those now adults happen to see The Mountaintop, one thing might puzzle them - Samuel L. Jackson, who plays the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., is over 6 feet tall. However they would certainly appreciate the message in Katori Hall's play, which draws a compelling portrait of the civil-rights leader not as a larger-than-life figure but as a man.

The Mountaintop takes the form of an imagined conversation between King and a maid in his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis on April 3, 1968, the final night of his life. Hall's writing is conversational, graceful and honest. She's tackling a tough subject - the private thoughts of a revered figure - and she does it in a way that does not diminish him or his legacy.

This isn't a biography, so you won't hear about the Montgomery bus boycott or any of the other defining events in the struggle for civil rights for African-Americans. But you will hear King talk on the phone to his wife and children, his anguish at growing violence, his concern about the plight of the poor and his opposition to the Vietnam War.

Initially I had mixed feelings about Jackson, mostly due to his age. He's 62 and King was 39 when he was assassinated. He's bigger than King and he doesn't sound like him. (Although come to think of it, how often have we heard King's regular speaking voice?)

Well Jackson won me over, and I only saw the third preview. I never felt like I was seeing an icon but always a flesh-and-blood human being. His King is flirtatious and playful, tender when talking about his family. (I met Coretta Scott King briefly when I was in high school, in 1976, and I could just imagine her on the other end of the phone.)

But he's also facing criticism for speaking out against the war. He knows the FBI is following his every move. He's weary and worried about who would carry on his work should something happen to him. You can tell from his voice the toll that all of this has taken.

As Camae, the maid who brings King a cup of coffee and stays to talk, Angela Bassett is a powerhouse. Hall is from Memphis and the character is loosely based on her mother, who was forbidden from attending King's final, prophetic Mountaintop speech and always regretted it.

Bassett's performance is wonderfully layered. Sometimes actors I know from the movies don't always translate well to the theatre but she has a commanding presence onstage. She's clearly at home in both places.

She's deferential at first, a bit shy and even motherly. But she's also sexy, spunky, a bit teasing and unafraid to speak her mind. There's a thrilling, and hilarious, scene when she stands on the bed and gives the sermon that she thinks King should deliver.

Without giving anything away, when Camae's purpose is revealed it's a startling moment that could be maudlin but Bassett handles it with tremendous care.

The play consists of Jackson and Bassett talking in a motel room for nearly two hours and you'd think that might not hold your attention but they work off of each other well, their interaction seems so natural. They're absolutely riveting.

There are some beautiful passages, like when King says that fear is his best friend and the reason he gets up in the morning: "I know that if I'm still afraid, then I am still alive." Even though we know it ends sadly, there are surprising flashes of humor. And Kenny Leon's direction has paced this work so well. It never lags.

At first, it was jarring to see King in such a private setting. But at the same time, it was fascinating and really drew me in. Although I've read books about the civil-rights movement and a biography of King, this was different. It was so personal.

I have to mention that there is some swearing, but Hall doesn't overdo it by any means. What made me more uneasy was King's use of a racial epithet. I had a chance to ask her about it afterward and she told me she'd spoken with his advisers and it was accurate. And it's not said in a mean-spirited way. She's done her homework and I respect her for that.

It's always tricky to put words in the mouth of a real person but what I took away from The Mountaintop was a portrait of a man who, even in private, remains true to his core values.

He may be tired and smoke and cuss occasionally and express doubt and flirt with a pretty woman but he's clearly devoted to his wife and children, committed to nonviolence and equality. When Camae makes a homophobic remark he immediately rebukes her, saying in effect that we are all God's children. (And lest you think this is an example of revisionist history, it's not.)

And no matter how weary, he's not giving up. He talks about planning a poor people's campaign. (King had returned to Memphis to support striking sanitation workers. An earlier rally, in late March, ended in disaster with looting and a young man killed by the police.)

Martin Luther King is arguably the most important American of the second half of the 20th century. And yet in our popular imagination, he's too often reduced to a 30-second clip of the "I have a dream" speech that's played every year on the federal holiday in January commemorating his birth.

I think Hall's point is that by turning King into a saintly figure we're doing him and ourselves a disservice. We're reducing him to a caricature - no matter now noble. And we're absolving ourselves of any responsibility to make our communities better. After all, what could we mere mortals do by comparison?

The truth is, King was not super human, simply a man who wanted to be a minister of a small church but for whom God had other plans. Like him, we all have the obligation - and the ability - to be a drum major for justice.

The Mountaintop includes a terrific projection design by David Gallo, who also re-created King's room at the Lorraine Motel. I sat there stunned. It was an absorbing look at how far we've come since his death and how far we have to go.

Broadway wish list: Fall 2011

My 2011-2012 New York theatre season starts this weekend!

I'm even more excited than usual because my first trip of the fall coincides with Sunday's Broadway Flea Market sponsored by Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

I've never been to the flea market and this year it's supposed to be bigger than ever, spilling over from West 44th Street into Times Square. I'm sure I'll pick up a Broadway-themed tchotchke or two, all for a great cause. Good thing there's a Bank of America ATM nearby!



Here's what I'm most looking forward to seeing on Broadway:

Relatively Speaking

Two names make this trio of one-act comedies a must-see for me: Woody Allen, who wrote "Honeymoon Motel," and Marlo Thomas, who stars in Elaine May's "George is Dead." (The third, "Talking Cure," is by Ethan Coen.) I've been a Woody Allen fan for a long, long time. (Don't even ask!) And Marlo Thomas, That Girl herself, wow.

The Mountaintop

As soon as I heard the plot of Katori Hall's play, I was interested. It takes place at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis on the last night of Martin Luther King's life. I've mentioned before my mixed feelings about Samuel L. Jackson playing Dr. King but I'm going in with an open mind. And I'm excited about seeing Angela Bassett, an amazing Tina Turner in What's Love Got to Do With It, as his costar.

Other Desert Cities

Jon Robin Baitz's play about a woman who returns home to visit her parents after a six-year absence sounds like the kind of meaty family drama I'd enjoy. (I'm hoping secrets will be revealed!) And he has plenty of experience in this area - I loved his ABC series Brothers and Sisters. The cast includes Rachel Griffiths, from Brother and Sisters, and Judith Light, who was simply sublime in Lombardi.

On A Clear Day You Can See Forever

I'm not super familiar with this Burton Lane/Alan Jay Lerner musical, which is having its first Broadway revival. I know it involves ESP and reincarnation and I vaguely remember watching the movie, with Barbra Streisand, years ago. Apparently things have been changed around, Streisand's character has been turned into a man. Also, it stars the handsome and talented Harry Connick Jr., whom I've never seen onstage.

Chinglish

Living in a foreign country is an eye-opening experience. I certainly gained a new perspective during the year I spent working in an elementary school in Israel. And I had my fair share of linguistic misadventures. So I'm eager to see this clash-of-cultures comedy by David Henry Hwang about an American businessman trying to launch a new enterprise in China.

Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway

A late addition to my wish list! Yes, I'd rather see Hugh Jackman in a book musical rather than a one-man show. But a couple hours of the man from Oz singing, dancing and telling stories, accompanied by an 18-piece orchestra, sounds pretty pleasant, too. Plus, just looking at the artwork makes me feel kind of tingly. Those brown eyes, that stubble!





There are also several off-Broadway shows on my wish list:

The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs

I've been an Apple fangirl for decades. If I counted up all of the iMacs, iPods, etc., that I've owned over the past 30 years, I'd probably have to use my fingers and toes. So Mike Daisey's monologue about the Apple cofounder, how his devices shape our lives - and at what cost - is definitely a subject that intrigues me.

Maple and Vine

The premise of Jordan Harrison's play - a group of 1950s reenactors - sounds both bizarre and brilliant. I mean, who would want to return to a decade of suffocating conformity? If done well, this could be the kind of clever, witty and insightful work that I really enjoy. How do you re-enact the 1950s? I'm guessing there'll be some women vacuuming the living room in high heels and pearls.

Asuncion

I thought Jesse Eisenberg was terrific in The Social Network and I'm curious to see how he does as a playwright. In Asuncion, two young men have a chance to demonstrate how open-minded they are when a young Filipina woman becomes their roommate. In addition to Eisenberg, the cast features Justin Bartha, who was hilarious in his Broadway debut in Lend Me a A Tenor.

Giving stunt casting a bad name

I know it's called acting and it's wrong of me to prejudge but I'm having a hard time imagining Samuel L. Jackson, who's nearly 63, portraying 39-year-old Martin Luther King on Broadway in The Mountaintop.

The play, by Katori Hall, imagines an encounter between King and a maid in a Memphis motel room on the night before his assassination. The producers have announced that they'll begin previews Sept. 22 at the Jacobs Theatre.

I love seeing actors onstage whose work I've admired from movies or TV. I think it's great when they generate excitement and bring people to the theatre who wouldn't have come otherwise. But the actor has to be right for the part.

Maybe I'm totally wrong and Samuel L. Jackson can "play" younger. Perhaps the playwright believes he's just perfect for the part - or has just resigned herself to the economic reality of mounting an unknown work on Broadway. Maybe it's been so long since King's death that it no longer matters.

I usually don't get too hot and bothered about this. I realize it's a business. But my initial reaction is that having an actor who's nearly 25 years older than the real-life figure he's playing is ridiculous. It's the worst kind of stunt casting because it ignores the role, not to mention the paucity of leading dramatic roles for black actors.

Now I realize that The Mountaintop would have no chance of getting staged on Broadway without a "name." But couldn't the producers have found an African-American actor from TV or movies who was more age-appropriate? (For example Jeffrey Wright, a Tony winner who played King in an HBO movie, Boycott.)

Could you imagine a 63-year-old white actor in the lead of a Broadway play about the last night of John F. Kennedy's life? I don't think so.

Bringing The Mountaintop to Broadway

Producers of the play The Mountaintop are aiming to bring it to Broadway next fall, which interests me for two reasons.

The subject of Katori Hall's play: the Rev. Martin Luther King. Jr. on the last night of his life, sounds fascinating. Here's an interview with Hall from 2008, where she talks about what led her to write it.

The title comes from King's stirring and prophetic final speech, delivered at a Memphis church on April 3, 1968:

"Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!"

What surprises me is that The Mountaintop had its world premiere in London last summer. It was praised by the critics, including the very discerning West End Whingers, and has received an Olivier nomination for Best New Play. (Update 3-21: In an upset, The Mountaintop won the Olivier for Best New Play!)

London?

Why did a play by an American writer about such an important American subject have to go across the Atlantic Ocean to get produced?

That just seems astounding to me and a little sad. (Apparently there was some kind of in-development reading at the Lark Theatre in New York.)

Why couldn't Hall get The Mountaintop commercially produced in the United States? Is there something about London that makes theatre producers salivate, that gives a play a little extra cachet?

I found an interview with Hall from the London theatre Web site What's on Stage, and maybe this is part of the answer:

"I would love to work here again. The space for new writing is much much bigger here. New writing is much more respected. It seems like there’s a bigger space for it ..."

Here's the trailer from The Mountaintop:



My guess is the play, which has only two characters, King and a maid at the Lorraine Motel, will be re-cast with American actors.

I'd like to nominate Tony winner Jeffrey Wright, who's already portrayed the civil-rights leader in the HBO movie Boycott. Just my 2 cents but he's about the right age and I think he'd be a great choice.