Fall Preview 2009, Part Two: The Scribes

Last week, we swooned over the stars coming to Broadway in the new fall season. Now it’s time to pay homage to the people who (as the TNT commercials put it) “know drama”: the scribes. Stage scribes know more than the basics of dramatic narrative, though. They have a knack for sweeping us off our feet and transporting us to new worlds—with style. They also give us a lot to talk about once the curtain comes down. (Try walking out of David Mamet’s Oleanna and not discussing it over dinner. Can’t be done.) This fall, Broadway is welcoming a group of high-powered dramatists with more than a few shiny awards (think Oscar, Pulitzer, Tony) displayed on their mantels. In the second installment of our three-part series of season previews, we raise a glass to Broadway’s finest writers. Cheers!


Oleanna
There are certain playwrights so famous, they are practically brand names. High on that list is David Mamet, the prolific provocateur, who is represented on Broadway this fall with the mysterious and starry Race and his highly charged 1992 two-hander Oleanna. Tony winner Doug Hughes directs Julia Stiles and Bill Pullman in this politically correct nightmare, in which a university professor faces off against the female student accusing him of sexual exploitation. Written as a response to the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas hearings, this incendiary work is built to make sparks fly—both onstage and among theatergoers—no matter your point of view.
Previews begin September 29 at the Golden Theatre; opens October 11.


The Royal Family
If you are hankering for a charming world filled with cocktails and witty conversation, dive into the work of two sharp, stylish scribes from the 1920s. George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber, a pair of Pulitzer winners with seats at the famed Algonquin roundtable, penned this valentine to theater and its quirky inhabitants. The comedy of manners follows the notorious Canvendish clan, who are not unlike the Barrymores in that they are a famous family of stage stars. With a work filled with bon mots and handsome beaus, Kaufman and Ferber offer an ear for absurdity grounded in reality and a penchant for witty one-liners. If you are looking for peace, tranquility and loved ones getting along swimmingly, keep looking, darling.
Previews begin September 15 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre; opens October 8.


Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound
Is there a playwright more synonymous with comedy than Neil Simon? The only living writer to have the honor of a Broadway theater named after him is back on the boards with a double helping of Eugene Jerome. These wistful comedies chronicle Eugene, the semi-autobiographical central character of what is sometimes called the Eugene Trilogy. (Biloxi Blues is the second play in the trio.) From coming of age in Brooklyn in the 1930s to his early career as a comedy writer, Eugene’s journey is as emblematic of a bygone New York Jewish-American experience as a knish and an egg cream. And just like that tasty snack, The Neil Simon Plays are sure to hit the spot.
Previews for Brighton Beach Memoirs begin October 2 at the Nederlander Theatre; opens on October 24. Previews for Broadway Bound begin November 18; opens December 10 at the same theater.


Finian’s Rainbow
Musical writers are not always included in roundups of great dramatists, but we think that is a terrible omission. Case in point: composer Burton Lane and lyricist E.Y. Harburg’s beautiful work on this 1947 tuner, which features a book by Harburg and Fred Saidy. With a story steeped in myth and magic, Finian’s Rainbow combines political satire with romance in a charming tale of an Irishman who sets out to bury a pot of gold in the fictional state of Missitucky. The plot has more twists than a bag of pretzels, but it pulls off its storytelling with professional deftness. The creators are also associated with legend: Lane is credited with discovering a very young Frances Gumm (a.k.a. Judy Garland) and Harburg is famous for writing her anthem, “Over the Rainbow.” Convinced? Get your Glocca Morra in gear and see this masterwork.
Previews begin October 8 at the St. James Theatre; opens October 29.


Superior Donuts
Chicago scribe Tracy Letts won every award under the sun for his epic dysfunctional family drama August: Osage County. How to follow up? The never-idle Letts knows that sophomore Broadway attempts can go awry, so he started working on this new play before August was up and running in New York. Set in a seedy Chicago neighborhood, the comedy centers on the unlikely friendship between a long-haired former ‘60s radical (played by Michael McKean) who owns a donut shop and his brash young African-American employee. As always with Letts’ muscular, unpretentious writing, there are more than a few surprises and not a lot of sugar-coating to the zingers—despite the setting.
Previews begin September 16 at the Music Box Theatre; opens October 1.


A Little Night Music
The final entry in our scribes series is a man who is already an icon: Stephen Sondheim. The composer/lyricist extraordinaire’s collaboration with uber-talented librettist Hugh Wheeler had to be on this list despite the fact that it has not yet been officially announced. (Yes, the names Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury have been bandied about, but let’s stick to the point.) Inspired by the Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night, this romantic musical romp in the country offers much more than its signature song “Send in the Clowns.” Like that number, it offers a bittersweet sadness of love won and lost. Given its grandiose pedigree, you might think this piece is high-minded and showy, but instead it offers straightforward, emotionally naked storytelling that literally sings its passions and sorrows. If it is cast with A-listers, consider that the gravy to this meaty show.
Dates and theater TBA.