(Digital) Theater Digest - May 24, 2021
Hello theater lovers!
How strange and nice it is to feel like we’re nearly out of the woods of this pandemic (hopefully!). I’ve been going to the movies pretty often recently, and I definitely have the itch to see some in-person theater again soon!
As a rule, I won't be talking about any Disney/Fox/Hulu shows. Since this newsletter is geared towards people in the entertainment industry, there's a good chance I won't like a show that you or someone you know was involved in. I'm sure that you/your friend put a lot of effort into your/their work! I've been in a few shows, I know how much work goes into putting on a show. But just as you're entitled to dislike TV shows your friends worked on, I'm allowed to dislike theater you/your friends may have worked on. I try not to be vindictive, but I also do make it clear when I don't think a show is worth the price of a ticket or the time spent watching it.
I won't be writing much/any synopsis in these blurbs, but feel free to check out other reviews for synopses! Or just check out other reviews in general! Keep theater journalism alive & well!
Each week, I'll remove everything that’s closed, and put ** next to anything that’s new!
Worth Seeing:
Good Grief on Audible. Full disclosure, this is a recording of a play and while I have not listened to the recording, it’s a recording of the Vineyard Theatre production of the show, which I saw two years ago in New York. This is one of my all-time favorite plays, and it was a fantastic production, so I definitely recommend checking it out if you’re an audiobook type of person! It is sad (as one would expect from the title), and while I don’t usually like sad stories, the playwright, Ngozi Anyanwu, writes so beautifully and balances tone so well that I don’t mind.
Download here.
A Mixed Bag:
**Reykjavík via the Road Theatre. This is a well-produced recording of a new play at one of LA’s 99-seat theaters, and the recording really does make you feel like you’re tucked away in the Road’s space above Magnolia Boulevard in NoHo. I had reviewed another work by the playwright, Steve Yockey, years ago, and quite liked it, and was delighted to see his name in the credits of HBO Max’s The Flight Attendant, a really clever and fresh show I loved this winter. While I still think that Yockey is a talented storyteller with a sharp ear for dialogue, I was underwhelmed by the performances in this production, which, for the most part, lacked nuance and depth.
American Utopia on HBO/HBO Max. I’ll be honest, I didn’t care for this one at all, I’m definitely not the target demographic for a David Byrne concert/spoken word show, but some of the musical performances are fun, and I’m sure this is a blast for Talking Heads fans. Spike Lee did a great job of capturing the energy of a live performance, and I found myself missing feeling safe enough to walk into a theater with a bunch of strangers and watch something that I didn’t ~get~ and then discuss all the oddities of the show with a friend on the way home. The barrier to entry for this one is pretty low for HBO subscribers, so why not check it out and see if you dig it?
Included with HBO/HBO Max subscriptions. Find it through your TV or their streaming app.
Not worth it:
**This American Wife via FourthWall Productions. This is the new live-streamed show from Fake Friends, an innovative group of Yale grads who produced last fall’s Circle Jerk, a relentless and overstimulating meta experience that was very fun because of the ways it played with the theatrical form while taking advantage of the opportunities of the livestream experience. Since I was overwhelmed by, but net enjoyed, that show, I came into This American Wife with high expectations. I only have a passing familiarity with Bravo’s Real Housewives franchise, so I was at a disadvantage when it came to understanding this show, but even so, the I didn’t find the form of This American Wife to be particularly engaging, as much of the first hour or so consists of the performers mimicking iconic quotes and moments from the docusoap. The show becomes more engaging in the final 20-ish minutes, when the performers do their take on the tropes of the confessional interview and the reunion show, and the actors, who have an extended, uninterrupted chance to fully inhabit the characters they are playing, rather than the Real Housewives they are imitating, give us a peek at the characters’ fascinating inner lives. The last segment moves a mile a minute, and captures the heady, reckless magic that made Circle Jerk so special—but also, in comparison, makes the rest of the show feel that much more underwhelming.
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