This week's spotlight is
Through the Yellow Hour by Adam Rapp. His spiky pessimism may not be
for all audiences but his grungy style and horror-movie tone feels
more contemporary than many glossy works of realistic drama. Rapp
pursues his imagination down dark alleys, as in this week's debut
Through the Yellow Hour. Set in a US that's been attacked (but by
whom? from without or within?) and its populace terrorized, a feral
woman comes out of hiding to change the world.
where: Rattlestick
Playwrights Theater
first night: Thursday,
Sept. 13
But there's plenty more
to see if that doesn't strike your fancy.
where: 59E59
first night: Tuesday,
Sept. 11
Rip-snorting swing jazz
from the WW2 era is the main draw of this bio-musical. A pair of
twins play Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, bandmates whose rise to fame
caused their family and band to rupture. The drama was filmed a few
years later in The Fabulous Dorseys, which this staging takes footage
from.
where: Roundabout on
Broadway (American Airlines Theater)
first night: Friday,
Sept. 14
The musketeer with the
long nose returns to Broadway, a mere five years after his last
visit. This time, the ultra-talented Douglas Hodge dons the
prosthetic schnozz; he impressed New Yorkers in La Cage aux Folles a
few years back, but Londoners knew his work in Pinter &
Shakespeare as well.
where: BAM Opera House
first night: Friday,
Sept. 14
I'm ashamed to admit I
have no desire to see this modernist masterpiece, a seminal work of
the 20C. Usually I love the dilation and abstraction of time that occurs during a play. And coupling that conceptual theme with Einstein's
theories of spacetime is a brilliant idea. But I've always been
underwhelmed by Robert Wilson's work and I've given it so many
chances. Go, and tell me that I'm missing out.
where: The Culture
Project
first night: Saturday,
Sept. 15
Produced during W. Bush's
first term, this piece seemed a theatrical tonic in that bitter
conservative era. Astonishing and effective, it shapes interviews,
letters and court documents about innocent death-row inmates cleared
by DNA evidence into a galvanizing work of journalistic theater.
Agitprop can be incredible theater.
where: Broadway (Cort
Theater)
first night: Thursday,
Sept. 13
Paul Rudd, shorter but
also more confident onstage than you'd figure, leads Ed Asner,
Michael Shannon, and Chicagoan Kate Arrington to Broadway, a solid
line-up for a straight drama. It's a rather dark comedy about faith
and Florida, whose sober tone and weighty themes stick with you
longer than the plot.
where: Theater Row
first night: Tuesday,
Sept. 11
Stephen Sondheim gets top
billing here, since this musical features his work. But this show is
a set of SS's songs removed from their context and slotted into a new
story by Craig Lucas & a writing partner. Their subject is a
neighboring pair of lonely urbanites and their romantic fantasies. It
sounds pretty un-Sondheim, but may possess its own satisfactions.
where: Cherry Lane
Theater
first night: Wednesday,
Sept. 12
A quirky comedy about a
set of night watchmen who must comfort one of their own after he's
lost his cat. Every part of that description—from quirk to
cat—should raise your guard. But the Playwrights Realm have a good
record of producing writers worth getting to know, so they deserve
the benefit of your doubt.
where: Classic Stage
first night: Friday,
Sept. 14
A trio of works from
Beckett's twilight years—when he'd gone past abstract, beyond
abstruse to obscure. Dark, dark stuff. But the staging might be worth
your time, with DC doyene Joy Zinoman directing in collaboration with
the Cygnus Ensemble, a famously tight chamber orchestra whose style
should match Beckett's well.
Last chance!
New Girl in Town
where: Irish Repertory
Theater
Space Captain: Captain of
Space
where: Kraine Theater
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