War Horse

War Horse, at Broadway's Vivian Beaumont Theatre
Gratuitous Violins rating: ***1/2 out of ****

I've been looking forward to War Horse for about two years, ever since I saw a video of the original production from Britain's National Theatre, with its stunningly lifelike horse puppets.

In some ways, the show lived up to my expectations - the horses are amazing. The story, unfortunately, pulled up a bit lame. Still, as theatre War Horse gets high marks from me for sheer inventiveness.

The play is adapted from a children's novel by British author Michael Morpurgo. It takes place in an English village just before World War I and then moves to the battlefields of France as war breaks out.

The story is pretty straightforward. Teenage Albert Narracott, played by an earnest and appealing Seth Numrich, has a horse named Joey that he's raised from a foal. When the war begins, his alcoholic, wastrel father (Boris McGiver) sells Joey to an Army officer. A heartbroken Albert enlists to search for him.

Without any elaborate sets, War Horse manages to evoke a time that now is nearly a century in the past. I loved the lyrical folk music from Adrian Sutton and John Tams and the projection design by 59 Productions - drawings of the English and French countryside that looked like they were torn from a sketchpad.

I also thought War Horse was very effective in showing how World War I became a watershed in the sad history of human conflict. We know what the characters don't realize - that soldiers on horseback will be no match for the tanks and other weaponry of modern warfare.

Where I thought the story got bogged down was in Act II. Joey is captured by a German officer, played by Peter Hermann, who ends up befriending a young French girl and her mother. That part struck me as overly cloying. Morpurgo has said that he wanted wanted to show the suffering on all sides but I thought it pushed Albert off to the side for too long.

The stars of War Horse, though, are the horses, created by South Africa's Handspring Puppet Company. I'm so thrilled that Handspring's Adrian Kohler and Basil Jones, partners in business and in life, are getting a special Tony Award next month. Their work doesn't easily fit into any category and it's so deserving of recognition.

Each of the two main horses, Joey and Topthorn, requires two actors inside and a third who walks alongside to maneuver the head. Somehow the combination of wood and leather and metal comes together in a way that's truly magical. They seem alive.

(I have to give a shoutout to one of the puppeteers. Jude Sandy is a Brown/Trinity Rep MFA graduate who I saw in A Raisin in the Sun. He's the first Trinity Rep actor I've seen on Broadway. He's also a dancer and I can see where that training would be invaluable for the intricate equine choreography.)

I know some critics felt that War Horse was manipulative but I think all art is designed to manipulate our emotions in some way - you don't want to look at it and feel absolutely nothing. What would be the point? The question is, are you absorbed by the story. And I was.

I'll admit that I got a little teary at the ending but where I really felt emotional was the curtain call, when Joey and Topthorn, their manes flying, took one last magnificent gallop around the stage.

2011 Tony nominations

Some thoughts on the 2011 Tony nominations, announced this morning:

I was shocked (but in a good way) by 12 nominations, including Best Musical, for The Scottsboro Boys, which closed in December after a brief Broadway run. I'm so happy for Joshua Henry, Forrest McClendon and Colman Domingo, all of whom received richly deserved acting nods.

I thought Scottsboro was inventive and compelling for the way it told the story of nine black teenagers falsely accused of rape in Alabama in 1931. One of the last musicals from John Kander and the late Fred Ebb, it was profoundly moving and entertaining in the best sense of the word.

I'm also glad the Tonys recognized other performances I enjoyed from shows that have closed: Laura Benanti as a wacky model in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown; Hannah Yelland as a woman involved in a clandestine love affair from Brief Encounter; and Joanna Lumley's princess and artistic patron from La Bete.

And I'm thrilled for Judith Light, nominated for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role as the wife of the Green Bay Packers coach in Lombardi. While I didn't love the play, I thought her portrayal of Marie Lombardi was sublime.

It's also great to see South Africa's Handspring Puppet Company receive a special Tony for War Horse. Their horse puppets were amazing and I was wondering how the nominators would deal with them. They don't fully belong in any category but they so deserve to be recognized.

Now, some disappointments.

The biggest surprise for me was Daniel Radcliffe being snubbed. He was so charming in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. He sang sweetly, danced up a storm and had a flawless American accent. He should have received a nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. I would also have given a nomination to the lovely Rose Hemingway as Rosemary.

And I wish Nick Adams had gotten a nod for his very funny performance in Priscilla Queen of the Desert, which was shut out of the Best Musical category. I am happy his costar, Tony Sheldon, received a nomination. He totally inhabits his role as the transsexual Bernadette, an aging drag queen.

I also would have nominated David Hirson's La Bete for Best Revival of a Play. It got a lukewarm reception from the critics, even as they praised Mark Rylance's performance. But I absolutely loved the play. I thought it was clever, hilarious and thought-provoking.

The 65th annual Tony Awards, showcasing the best of Broadway, will air Sunday, June 12 at 8 p.m. on CBS.

Theatre wish list: spring 2011

It's cold, it's snowy and icy, it gets dark early. What better way to keep my spirits up than to look ahead. These are the Broadway and off-Broadway shows I'm most excited about seeing this spring. Of course I hope to see more but if I had to pick ...

Musicals:

Catch Me If You Can

I liked the movie, with Leonardo DiCaprio as con man Frank Abagnale Jr. But the main attraction is the score. Hairspray is one of my favorite musicals so I want to check out the next show from Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman.

Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

I enjoyed the Australian movie, about three drag queens traveling across the Outback. It's poignant story about a journey, and who doesn't look forward to a road trip? Plus, there will be an actual bus onstage.

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

I thought Daniel Radcliffe was so compelling in a dramatic role in Equus. I actually enjoyed him more onstage than in the Harry Potter movies. So I'm curious to see how he'll handle musical comedy. And he looks so cute in that blue bow tie!

Plays:

War Horse

I've watched a trailer from Britain's National Theatre and I'm quite taken with the lifelike horse puppets. The story, about a boy's search for his beloved horse amid the trenches of World War I, sounds compelling.

House of Blue Leaves

The revival of John Guare's play, which takes place on one eventful day in New York City in 1965, features Edie Falco and Ben Stiller. Of all the actors appearing on Broadway this spring, they are the two I'm looking forward to the most. Plus, it's directed by David Cromer and I think his work is brilliant.

Jerusalem

I love Mark Rylance after La Bete and I've heard he's terrific in Jerusalem, too. The Guardian wonders whether Jez Butterworth's 3-hour play will be too British for Americans. I'm willing to give it a try. And I've been to the original Jerusalem, so I'm intrigued to see if I'll get the connection.

Off-Broadway

It's tougher to come up with an off-Broadway list. There are so many more shows and some of my choices may have opened and closed by the time I get to New York. But realistically, here are three I'd love to see and I have a good chance of catching:


By the way, Meet Vera Stark

It's a new play by Lynn Nottage, who wrote the Pulitzer-winning Ruined. Plus, from the description it sounds like such an interesting story: A seventy-year journey into the life of Vera Stark, a headstrong African-American maid and budding actress, and her tangled relationship with her boss, a white Hollywood star desperately grasping to hold onto her career.

The Other Place

In Sharr White's play, Laurie Metcalf portrays a medical researcher working on a treatment for Alzheimer's whose life takes a disorienting turn. Metcalf is the draw for me. I first saw her as Kate Jerome in Brighton Beach Memoirs in 2009 and I thought she gave an amazing performance in the short-lived revival. She's an actress I would see in anything, if I had the chance.

The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World

A father in New Hampshire in the 1970s forces his three daughters to form a rock 'n' roll band as a way to climb out of poverty. They're not very talented but they end up becoming a cult favorite before fading into obscurity. I know it sounds a little bizarre but the musical is based on a true story. And I'm intrigued.

Will War Horse hoof it to New York?

Okay, I know it's not going to happen for a couple of years but this is so exciting: the producers of War Horse are planning to bring the play, currently a hit in London's West End, to New York in 2011, according to this story in The New York Times.

"British and American producers plan to mount War Horse in New York in 2011 and are now looking at Broadway theaters and other locations, like the Park Avenue Armory, that would be large enough to house the show, said one of the producers, Bob Boyett. The ideal, by many accounts, would be the Vivian Beaumont Theater, with its wide thrust stage."

(Update February 2010: It's been announced that War Horse will be part of the 2010-2011 season for the Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center. Performances begin March 17, 2011.)

The play, based on a book by British children's novelist Michael Morpurgo, is about a boy who goes searching for his beloved horse after the animal is sold to the cavalry during World War I.

In his review, the Telegraph's Charles Spencer said the story, adapted by Nick Stafford, "brilliantly captures not only the mysterious and intense relationship that can exist between humans and animals, but also the dreadful waste and terror of the Great War."

From everything I've read, all the photos and videos I've seen, this production, which began at Britain's National Theatre, looks terrific. And it has some amazingly lifelike and life-size horse puppets from South Africa's Handspring Puppet Company.

Here's the trailer:

Live theatre, at the movies

What a great idea: Britain's National Theatre is going to broadcast plays live, in 50 movie theatres across the United Kingdom, beginning in June with Helen Mirren in the classic tragedy Phedre.

Four plays in all will be presented, for one performance only. Tickets will cost 10 pounds apiece, which I think is about $15. And to recoup some of the expense, the National Theatre's director, Nicholas Hytner, says that broadcast rights will be sold to to other countries.

One of the productions he mentioned as a possibility for a future showing is War Horse, which I would love to see. It's about a boy and his beloved horse and takes place against the backdrop of World War I. The horses are puppets operated by three actors, and they look amazingly lifelike. Here's a video that'll give you an idea:



And I like this quote from Hytner: "I keep thinking that if Olivier's National Theatre had been available in a cinema in Manchester when I was a teenager I'd have gone every time and it would have been fantastic."