{"id":4529,"date":"2018-12-17T01:39:38","date_gmt":"2018-12-17T09:39:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/?p=4529"},"modified":"2018-12-17T01:39:38","modified_gmt":"2018-12-17T09:39:38","slug":"billy-reviews-broadway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/blog\/2018\/12\/17\/billy-reviews-broadway\/","title":{"rendered":"Billy Reviews Broadway"},"content":{"rendered":"

Then I had to rush to LAX to catch a plane to NYC.  Since I paid for all my show tickets, I can say whatever I want \u2013 I mean, I always do anyway, but now I don\u2019t have to sugarcoat it.  First up was The Waverly Gallery<\/em><\/strong> with Elaine May<\/strong>, not a name one immediately thinks of to helm a play about a woman in the beginning stages of dementia.  To pace it just right and know when to give more and when to pull back is a master skill, and May handles it beautifully.  The play itself is somewhat episodic in nature, but the performances were indelible.  Everyone in this show was great (kudos to Joan Allen<\/strong>), but ultimately you\u2019ll walk out whistling Elaine May.<\/p>\n

One of the hot tickets in town was Stockard Channing <\/strong>and Hugh Dancy <\/strong>in Apologia<\/em><\/strong>.  Since this was the play\u2019s final week, it was sold out.  But that didn\u2019t stop me from going to the theatre anyway.  Happily, I was able to grab a single seat \u2013 although in confirming my purchase, it sounded like the guy in the box office said \u201cOne ticket for Stockard Channing as Apollonia<\/strong>\u201d.  For a split second, I had visions of Stockard in leather and lace, straddling a motorcycle, and singing \u201cWhen Doves Cry\u201d.  Now THAT\u2019S a show I\u2019d fly out to see!  Anything short of that was going to be a disappointment.  Happily, the play is good and Stockard was her usual brilliant self.  As great as Hugh Dancy always is, I felt he was woefully underutilized \u2013 but that might be because he never took his shirt off.<\/p>\n

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I knew going into Torch Song<\/em><\/strong> that Michael Urie <\/strong>was miscast as Arnold.  It\u2019s not that he\u2019s not good \u2013 he\u2019s exceptionally talented.  But it\u2019s not an effortless fit.  More often than not, it feels awkward and forced.  Most of the blame falls on Mois\u00e9s Kaufman<\/strong>\u2019s direction, which could have (and should have) masked some of the issues.  More often than not, Urie appeared to be trapped in an SNL<\/em><\/strong> skit filled with bad accents and schticky physicality.  People either love or hate Mercedes Ruehl <\/strong>as Arnold\u2019s mother.  I thought she was fine.  Great even.  Specifically, you completely believed she was Urie\u2019s mother because many of their mannerisms were strikingly similar.  Arnold\u2019s on-again, off-again bisexual lover Ed was played to perfection by Ward Horton <\/strong>(who I previously enjoyed in a play nobody else saw), while Michael Hsu Rosen <\/strong>was a deliciously conniving twink Alan.  But why, oh why, did they cast someone as the son who looks twice the age he\u2019s supposed to be?  This David looks like he stumbled in from a post-college Propecia commercial.  When Ma mistakes him for her son\u2019s new lover, it seems completely plausible.  If anything, David looks like he could be Arnold\u2019s sugar daddy.  Sorry, I calls \u2018em like I sees \u2018em.<\/p>\n

Lifespan of a Fact<\/em><\/strong> stars Daniel Radcliffe<\/strong>, Bobby Cannavale<\/strong>, and Cherry Jones <\/strong>\u2013 a terrific trio, indeed.  Cherry ends up with the short end of that stick (I kept picturing Elizabeth Ashley <\/strong>in the role).  Cannavale plays a difficult but acclaimed writer hired to write an \u201cessay\u201d for a magazine.  Radcliffe is assigned the role of \u201cproofing\u201d the essay.  He comes up with 129 pages of notes for an essay that is only 15 pages long!  It\u2019s a fascinating discourse on how sometimes the truth can get in the way of a good story.  Is fudging OK if it helps the narrative?  Or is a lie always a lie?  As someone who struggles with this weekly (yes, I\u2019m talking to you, Pasadena), it definitely hit home.  The play is smart, funny, and engaging \u2013 to say nothing of topical.  Definitely my pick of the week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Then I had to rush to LAX to catch a plane to NYC.  Since I paid for all my show tickets, I can say whatever I want \u2013 I mean, I always do anyway, but now I don\u2019t have to sugarcoat it.  First up was The Waverly Gallery with Elaine May, not a name one immediately thinks of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-breaking"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4529"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4529\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4530,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4529\/revisions\/4530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}