Letter from London: October 2006

As we head into the thick of the theater season, the choices expand, the air grows crisp, the evenings extend their shadows, and I find myself craving one of two types of theater experiences: absorbing stories or splashy musicals. The former feeds the longing of the season; London is perfect for listening to an enthralling tale in a darkened room—whether it's at your local pub or the Donmar Warehouse. And a splashy musical brushes aside the gloom of the approaching winter with a little glitter and glam. Luckily, the current theater scene has plenty to offer in both categories.

Engrossing Dramas

The late September opening of Howard Davies' breathtaking production of Eugene O'Neill's A Moon for the Misbegotten, starring Kevin Spacey, Eve Best and Colm Meaney, has whet my appetite for serious drama—the kind in which you are completely transported and left blinking into the houselights at intermission. The world premiere of Conor McPherson's The Seafarer at the National Theatre fits the bill; it is a suspenseful dance with the devil set on a dismal Christmas Eve in Dublin. For those who have been entranced by McPherson's haunting works The Weir, Dublin Carol, Shining City, here again you will find that great quantities of alcohol cannot abate his characters' inner or in this case—outer demons.

Another National offering is the amusing and complicated tale of The Alchemist, Ben Jonson's 1610 work about a couple of creative swindlers played by a dream team of theater stalwarts in their first stage pairing: Alex Jennings and Simon Russell Beale. Also at the National it's a big place; it contains multitudes, there is the London premiere of Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori's Caroline, or Change, starring Tonya Pinkins in the titular role she created first at the Public Theater and then on Broadway in 2003. Though it is a musical, I think Caroline is more of an engrossing drama with its underscore of big issues such as social transformation and personal loss than a flashy tuner. Director Rufus Norris' dark take on John Kander and Fred Ebb's Cabaret is also in this category due to its emphasis on substance over spectacle.

Across the Thames, Alan Cumming is headlining a revival of Martin Sherman's Bent. After his gleefully sleazy take on Mack the Knife in The Threepenny Opera on Broadway, it is refreshing to see Cumming stretching his range in this intense drama mostly set in a concentration camp. For an altogether different kind of gripping tragedy, The Cryptogram, David Mamet's unsettling and menacing story of a family breaking down, is playing at the Donmar. Sex and the City's Kim Cattrall stars. If you are interested in another doozy with a strong leading lady, then look no further than Summer and Smoke featuring Rosamund Pike. In typical Tennessee Williams fashion, Pike stars a heroine too delicate for this world, matched to a wild, vulgar and earthy lover played by Chris Carmack, who you may know from his performance off-Broadway in Entertaining Mr. Sloane—let alone stints as an Abercrombie & Fitch model and character on TV's The O.C.. Oh, there's no shortage of riveting theater in London, I tell you!

For those who want their theatergoing experiences to be so memorable that they approach the historical, there are two shows not to be missed, both by Samuel Beckett. First up is Krapp's Last Tape at the Royal Court. Beckett's monologue of mortality and memory is being performed by none other than Nobel Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter remember that Pinter began his career as an actor in the early 1950s. The production is part of the Royal Court's 50th anniversary season. Also marking a milestone is Beckett's masterpiece Waiting for Godot. The English-language premiere of this widely influential work was presented in August 1955 at the Arts Theatre in London directed by a 24-year-old named Peter Hall. Now, 51 years later, Sir Peter is directing his 50th anniversary production at the New Ambassadors Theatre. Yes, it is a year late in its return the West End, but that's a story for another day.

Blockbuster Musicals

Now that everyone is off to see the Wizard and more importantly, witches Idina Menzel and Helen Dallimore in the West End's Wicked, it is time to turn our attention to the other big musicals of the season…

With sales of more than 240,000 tickets and an unprecedented £11 million advance, Dirty Dancing's producers must be having the time of their lives. The feel-good show, based on the 1987 movie starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, stars Josef Brown as Johnny Castle and Georgina Rich as Frances "Baby" Houseman. Though I too have seen the movie a million times get up in the middle of the night, turn on the TV, there you go…, I've often wondered what it is about this story that touches so many. Is it the yearning for a more innocent time, that first summer crush, a blossoming into adulthood? Or is it all of those memorable songs and moves? As the central character says in the film: "That was the summer of 1963—when everybody called me Baby, and it didn't occur to me to mind. That was before President Kennedy was shot, before the Beatles came, when I couldn't wait to join the Peace Corps, and I thought I'd never find a guy as great as my dad." Yeah, maybe it's the emotional center of family relationships that made this movie the original chick flick. Whatever the reason, it's clear that in a season rife with big musicals, no one's gonna put this baby in a corner!

If Dirty Dancing is one of the biggest cult flicks for women, then surely the 1975 movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail qualifies as one for men. Spamalot, the Tony-winning show based—or "lovingly ripped off," as they say—on the latter film is the cheekiest show in town by a mile. The West End opening is being treated as a homecoming of sorts. After all, the Pythons are with the exception of American-born Terry Gilliam British born and bred; they are the Beatles of comedy, and no one understands their blend of absurdity, slapstick and all that is Monty Python better than a British audience. Telling the legendary tale of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and the quest for the Holy Grail in song, of course, this show is destined to be one of London's long-running hits.

Speaking of long-running hits, two landmarks are observing milestones in October. The legendary Les Miserables, based on Victor Hugo's renowned novel of 19th century France, celebrates its 21st birthday on October 8. In doing so, it will become the West End's longest-running musical by surpassing the record currently held by Cats. A hearty bon anniversaire to the Les Miz family! One day later, on October 9, the London production of The Phantom of the Opera which is Broadway's longest-running show will celebrate its 20th anniversary. With detailed plots and sweeping scores, these musicals belong in both the "engrossing drama" and "splashy musical" categories. Time to revisit!