AmericanTheaterWeb Original News & Reviews

Here's a sampling of the reviews that I've found online so far. Of course, there will be a full digest tomorrow - figured that everyone would like to see what's in so far before hitting the sack.

Andy Propst

New York Times

Read the Full Review [link not active yet - 11:31PM EST]
It’s raining greenbacks in “Road Show,” the latest version of Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s long-aborning, ever-evolving and eternally slender musical about curdled American dreams, which opened on Tuesday night at the Public Theater. Throughout this short and sardonic production, directed by John Doyle and starring the marvelous team of Michael Cerveris and Alexander Gemignani, fistfuls of dollars are flung into the air with such enthusiastic frequency that by evening’s end they carpet the stage floor.

New York Daily News

Sondheim returns to Broadway with 'Road Show'

amNY

Theater Review of Road Show
It’s been over a decade since Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman began work on their musical about real-life brothers Addison and Wilson Mizner. While in development, its titles have included “Wise Guys,” “Gold,” “Bounce” and finally “Road Show,” which now makes its long-awaited New York debut. ... So was it worth all the wait? It pains us to confess that after so much rewriting and so many directors (Sam Mendes, Hal Prince and John Doyle), “Road Show” probably is the least interesting show in the exalted Sondheim canon.

Associated Press

Two brothers are forever seeking success in musical 'Road Show'
...persistence has paid off, at least for the show's creators. They have put together a small show about big ideas, an intelligent, fascinating examination of the American psyche, both good and bad. The musical opened Tuesday at the Public Theater off-Broadway.

Variety

Reviw: Road Show
Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman have cooked up a strange and beguiling musical in "Road Show." "In America, the journey is the destination," says one of the enterprising early 20th century brothers whose paths are unconventionally mapped here. ... Is it a major new Sondheim work? No. But it's far from the failure its tortuous path to New York might suggest.

Hartford Courant

Sondheim's Reworked Musical On A Long And Winding Road
First it was "Gold!," then "Wise Guys," then "Bounce." Now as "Road Show" this tale of the roving Mizner brothers rolls merrily along for a time, but finally tilts off the rails.

NPR

After Years, Sondheim's 'Road Show' Pulls Into NY

USA Today

'Road Show' is rich with despair
Feeling discouraged by the plummeting economy? Have I got a deal for you. ...
Money is literally raining on the Public Theater's stage, where Road Show (**** out of four), the taut, thrilling new musical by Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman, opened Tuesday.

Chicago Tribune Theater Loop Blog

Stephen Sondheim's 'Road Show' opens at New York Public Theatre, and Mizners have the last laugh

Los Angeles Times Culture Monster Blog

Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's 'Road Show' finally hits New York
Odds are that many of the critics who went ape for "Billy Elliot: The Musical," finding it a testament "to the power of the human spirit" to such an extent that all flaws were forgiven, will approach "Road Show" with daggers drawn. ....

TheaterMania

Review: Road Show
Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's long-aborning musical about two brothers in the early 20th Century is sadly deficient.

Talkin' Broadway

Review: Road Show
The next-to-last thing a musical needs if it's been gestating for a decade is a different title, especially if it's already gone through three - that's enough to make you think the creators have no clue what they're writing. The last thing a musical needs if it's been gestating for 10 years is direction by John Doyle, who has yet to demonstrate with any musical he's helmed in New York that he's had any clue what their creators actually wrote. Road Show, the energetically uninvolving musical by Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman that just opened at The Public Theater's Newman Theater, has both. .

Just went by Footlight Records' site. This is what's splayed across the top of their page:

"We gave it our best try. Unfortunately with downloading, the economy, and other factors, staying open is no longer an option for us. Footlight Records will be closing around Thanksgiving, and we will give an exact date in a few days.
We want to thank everyone that has supported us over the past 30 years.
All the best from all of us at Footlight."

Sigh.

Well, it's going to be a couple of weeks until I get to check out Stephen Sondheim's Road Show at the Public (you can see what my colleagues thought about it a complete digest late night and first thing tomorrow), so I figured I'd talk about the plethora of music from the composer-lyricist that's recently come into music stores around the country.

I'll start with the marvelous 4-disc, ultra-deluxe box-set "Stephen Sondheim: The Story So Far.." from Masterworks Broadway. Here, 82 tracks (33 of them previously unreleased) give an amazing snapshot of Sondheim's output. From the very first show of his which made it to Broadway (West Side Story, which of course will be returning in the spring) to his most recent Broadway outing (The Frogs at Lincoln Center Theater) and his once Broadway-bound Bounce (which has resurfaced as we all know as Road Show). "So Far…" includes copious amounts of everything that's come in between, some of it familiar, and some of it tantalizingly new or unfamiliar.

As with PS Classics two volumes (at this juncture is it too much to hope for a third or more?) of "Sondheim Sings," many of the unreleased tracks on "So Far…" come from personal audio archives that he's kept. These give fascinating glimpses into his writing process. For instance, the tracks "Prayers" and "There Is No Other Way," from Pacific Overtures, allow listeners to hear an extended sequence of music that was ultimately trimmed down for performance to simply the latter, although aspects of the former were used in a song later written for the show, "Chrysanthemum Tea." From another show from the 1970s, A Little Night Music, the "So Far…" discs include one "Night Waltz" – "Love Takes Time" – that was dropped. There's also a terrific track of Sondheim himself singing another song dropped from this show, "Silly People," and though this one has become familiar through the years, this track, and others like it on the discs, afford the listener the chance to hear the composer himself interpret his lyric and melody – always an illuminating experience.

The treasures that have been unearthed for "So Far…" go far beyond such tracks. There are also a quartet of tracks from his 1954 musical Saturday Night, which was aiming for Broadway at the time, but languished unproduced until nearly 50 years later. These tracks don't come from either the London or New York cast recordings made of the show when it did finally bow, but rather from a demo recording of the period, and feature such performers as Jack Cassidy, Arte Johnson and Alice Ghostley, who's absolutely hysterical singing portions of "At the Movies." There's also a trio of songs from "Into the Woods" that come not from cast recordings of the show, but rather from an intended television production of the musical.

Other highlights on the discs, which include some expertly (and probably to be debated for years to come) chosen selections from already released material, include both Angela Lansbury's and Patti LuPone's interpretations of Mrs. Lovett. Two tracks from the original cast recording of Passion bring back the intense emotion of that score, and who can argue with the joys of three songs from the original cast recording of Company?

Some of the most interesting material on the "So Far.." discs comes not from the stage musicals, but from Sondheim's work elsewhere. There's a track of "I Never Do Anything Twice," taken from the soundtrack of the movie The Seven Percent Solution, unreleased recordings of tunes from the movie Dick Tracy, and even five tracks from his 1967 television musical, Evening Primrose. Combined with such ephemera as Sondheim's incidental music for Arthur Laurents' The Enclave (there's more here than on the "Unsung Sondheim" disc), and older pieces like "The Two of You," which was submitted and rejected for "The Kukla Fran and Ollie Show," "So Far.." does give a grandly broad view of the work of this master artist.

The packaging for this impressive collection matches the material. For all of the previously unreleased tracks, there are not only blurbs about the music from Sondheim himself, there are also complete lyrics. Additionally, the full-color booklet includes an introduction from long-time Sondheim collaborator Hal Prince and appreciative statements from artists with whom he's worked, from Angela Lansbury to Nathan Lane, as well as some really incredible photographs, many of which are rarities and casual glimpses of the shows represented on the four discs. "So Far…" is a treasure trove to be savored by all fans of musical theater, not just Sondheim enthusiasts. There's one other important facet to "So Far…" – the impressive 27-part podcast that's available for free at iTunes. These podcasts feature some terrific interviews with the likes of LuPone, Elaine Stritch, and Paul Gemignani that are grand complements to the music on the discs.

Tracks that are included from Evening Primrose should whet listeners' appetites for the entire score and the good news is that the original television soundtrack recording of the piece was released in limited edition earlier this year by Bruce Kimmel's Kritzerland label. On this disc, 11 tracks take the listener through the entirety of Sondheim's score for this show. Not only are the songs here, but also all of the underscoring for this television musical, which starred Anthony Perkins and Charmian Carr. I've found the sound quality on the Kritzerland release of "Primrose" to be superior to what's found on the same tracks on "So Far…" also several tracks including Perkins' galvanizingly buoyant "If You Can Find Me I'm Here" feature a bit more introductory material than what's on "So Far…" Finally, given that the orchestral sections of the piece have never been released on disc – including the studio recording from a number of years ago – this is a wonderful way for listeners to hear the complexity of all of the music for this little gem.

Finally Sondheim fans and just folks who like musical theater history will want to check out Teri Ralston's I've Gotta Get Back to New York from LML Music. This truly satisfying disc is a recording of an appearance that Ralston (from the original casts of both Company and A Little Night Music) made in January 2008 at New York's intimate cabaret, The Metropolitan Room. Not only does Ralston perform some of the songs that she's associated with from these shows – one medley is hysterical, she also performs some Sondheim tunes from shows she's done regionally, notably two from Follies: "In Buddy's Eyes" and "Losing My Mind" (a song not heard at the Metropolitan). Between songs, Ralston's patter has been captured for the disc, and it in she shares some wonderful stories about working on Sondheim shows. As if her work were not enough to recommend it, there are a couple of tracks that come late on the disc when Pamela Myers, one of Ralston's Company co-stars, takes the stage, offering two numbers, including "Another Hundred People," which she introduced on Broadway. Somehow this disc seems to be a perfect companion to "The Story So Far," and as necessary for Sondheim enthusiasts.

-- Andy Propst

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“No one has ever experienced a love as great as ours.” This is what three successive Marys tell themselves, despite evidence to the contrary and a knack for repeating mistakes handed down through the generations in a quest to find the perfect love in Rachel Crothers' Mary the Third, presented by Women Seeking at the West End Theatre.

The three Marys ponder marriage in separate time periods: the first in 1870 when Mary (Anna Malinoski) and her beau William (Chris Gatterdam) decide to abandon the fiancés chosen for them by their parents and make a life together instead. A few set pieces move and with a quick costume change (made on the stage), we’re in 1897 where another Mary (also Malinoski) isn’t sure who she is or what she wants and is trying to decide between suitors, Richard (Michael Deleget), a poet and intellectual snob whom she “loves sometimes,” and Robert (Loren Dunn), less exciting, but steady. Calling her a “little girl,” Robert promises Mary the moon and stars and she agrees to marry him.

Director Katrin Hilbe treats us to another on-stage costume change and we’re in 1923 where Mary (again Molinoski) is trying to decide between two swains, Hal and Lynn (Deleget and Dunn) and wishes she could combine parts of both of them into one perfect man. She convinces them and friends Max (Gatterdam) and Lettie (Stephanie Schweitzer) that they should go off and “experiment” with being married to each other to see whether they like it. This horrifies her grandmother (who is the first Mary, and divinely portrayed by Ann Parker as a meddling, Victorian prude), her mother, (the second Mary, played by Rhonda Ayers) and her father (Robert, played by Dan Jacoby). Although she finds an ally in her brother Bobby (Ben Sumrall), she chooses to put her parents first and doesn’t go through with the plan which would disgrace them all. Disillusioned to discover that her parents have been unhappy with each other for years, she resolves not to marry, but yields when her mother tells her that “there’s nothing wrong with marriage; it’s what people do to it.” She doesn’t appear to choose wisely, however, and seems destined to repeat the cycle.

The play’s themes are interesting and surprisingly timely (this is the first revival of the work in New York since it premiered in 1923). Meredith Neal’s costumes stand out, with the women’s evening wear shifting period style, but remaining in shades of pink, mauve and burgundy to emphasize the relationship between the women. The men are in black and grays – the story really isn’t about them, except when they get the Marys to see them as more colorful and as a result, are able to influence their thoughts.

Heidi B. Anderson’s set is minimal. Frames are moved around to represent doors. A sofa is featured in each of the stories, even serving as a car when the flapper-era threesome goes for a joy ride. “All sorts of things have happened on that sofa,” quips Granny, but alas, it's not proven to be a perfect loveseat.

---

--Lauren Yarger

Mary the Third plays at the West End Theatre (263 W. 86th Street). Performances are Saturday, Nov. 22 at 3pm; Sunday, Nov. 23 at 3pm; Friday, Dec. 5 at 6:30pm; Saturday, Dec. 6 at 3pm; Sunday Dec. 7 at 3pm. Tickets are $18.00 and can be purchased by calling 212-868-4444 or by visiting www.SmartTix.com.

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AmericanTheaterWeb

Review - American Buffalo - Small-Time Theft Played Small

New York Times

A Junk Shop Breeding Best-Laid Plans
Robert Falls’s deflated revival of David Mamet’s “American Buffalo” evokes the woeful image of a sports car’s flat tire, built for speed but going nowhere.

New York Daily News

'Buffalo' not worth a wooden nickel
Another week, another David Mamet revival. Or so it goes this season on Broadway, where "American Buffalo" opened last night, just three weeks after Mamet's Hollywood hate letter "Speed-the-Plow."

amNY New York City Theater

Theater Review of American Buffalo
You know that you’re watching a David Mamet play when the pre-show announcement instructs you to “turn off your f***ing cell phones.”

Newsday

Review: 'American Buffalo'
Broadway's unofficial David Mamet festival and revival smack-down continued last night with an enjoyable if not revelatory "American Buffalo."

New York Post

Barely worth a plugged nickel
Just how many f - - - ing David Mamet revivals do we need this season? For the moment, Broadway's got two: "American Buffalo" blundered into the Belasco last night, hard on the heels of "Speed-the-Plow." Thanks to Neil Pepe's pitch-perfect staging, "Plow" has the rat-a-tat rhythms of a speed-talking FedEx...

New York Journal News

'Buffalo' actors go their own way
Talk about stunt casting: Comic actor Cedric the Entertainer proves remarkably serious as Donny Dubrow, the owner of a Chicago junk shop. Haley Joel Osment is Donny's somewhat slow protégé Bobby. But the Broadway veteran of the trio, John Leguizamo is wrong here.

Hartford Courant

Mamet's 'American Buffalo' Is Darkly Funny in Revival

Bergen Record

Chuckleheads buffaloed, again
We've recently learned that capitalism can be a fiasco at the highest levels. In David Mamet's "American Buffalo," it's also quite rickety at the bottom.

Associated Press

A tension-free 'American Buffalo' arrives on B'way

Bloomberg.com

Leguizamo Drops F-Bombs in Mamet's `Buffalo'; Woolf Goes Video: John Simon
“American Buffalo” (Chicago, 1975; Off Broadway, 1976; Broadway, 1977, 1983) made its steady progress to becoming David Mamet’s breakthrough play. Revived on Broadway with Cedric the Entertainer, John Leguizamo and Haley Joel Osment, it has now become multicultural (black, Hispanic, Caucasian) but still concerns three lowlifes botching a heist.

USA Today

Mamet's 'American Buffalo' just might steal your heart

Variety

Review: American Buffalo
...the influence of its speech patterns has become increasingly pervasive in films, cable TV and imitative theater, while humanized hoodlums have turned up everywhere. Maybe that's why this starry revival sits so flatly on its impressive set. Or maybe it's the lack of a connective thread among its performers. Either way, something isn't working.

Back Stage

American Buffalo reviewed by David Sheward
Director Robert Falls provides a solid, straightforward framework for David Mamet's deceptively simple story. Unfortunately, his actors are not as perfectly balanced as the material.

TheaterMania

Review: American Buffalo
Robert Falls directs an effective if not explosive revival of David Mamet's career-making play about three small-time crooks.

Talkin' Broadway

Review: American Buffalo
The con is on, but it’s not on the audience. The new revival of David Mamet’s American Buffalo at the Belasco takes so many uncalculated risks in its casting, it might at first seem the names were pulled out of a very tattered, very multicultural hat. John Leguizamo? Haley Joel Osment? Cedric the Entertainer? On the short list - heck, on the long list - of high-born interpreters of Mamet’s piercing machine-gun dialogue, these are not names on which your mind’s eye alights. Yet this production, as directed by Robert Falls, turns their potential liabilities into major strengths. . .

Chicago Tribune

Mamet revival on Broadway leaves Chicago setting far behind

Los Angeles Times Culture Monster Blog

One Mamet revival is genuinely reviving
Charles McNulty on 'Plow' & 'Buffalo'