Davis McCallum to Be Artistic Director of - Boneau/Bryan

April 4, 2014
Davis McCallum to Be Artistic Director of Hudson Valley
Shakespeare Festival
By Allan Kozinn
The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, in Garrison, N.Y., has appointed the director Davis McCallum as
its new artistic director, the company announced on Friday. He succeeds Terry O’Brien, who founded the
festival in 1987, and who stepped down last fall, after the company’s 27th season. Mr. McCallum takes up
his new position immediately, but is not directing at the festival this summer. A spokeswoman said that it
was too soon to say when, and what, his first production for the company would be.
Mr. McCallum’s background includes a good deal of Shakespeare, including recent productions of “Henry
IV Part One” for the Pearl Theater Company, “The Tempest” and “Henry V” for the Acting Company,
“Twelfth Night” for the American Shakespeare Center and “As You Like It” for the Academy of Classical
Acting. Beyond Shakespeare, his recent work includes the current Mint Theater production of John van
Druten’s “London Wall,” Gabriel Kahane’s and Seth Brockley’s “February House” at the Public Theater,
Samuel D. Hunter’s “Bright New Boise” for Partial Comfort Productions, and Charles Mee’s “Queens
Boulevard (The Musical)” at the Signature Theater.
The company also announced the directors for its 28th season, which opens on June 10. Eric Tucker, the
artistic director of Bedlam, a company that performs in Greenwich Village, will direct “Two Gentlemen of
Verona.” Christopher Edwards, who has overseen five productions at the festival in past summers, will
direct “Othello.” And Russell Treyz returns to the festival for his third production, David Ives’s adaptation
of the Pierre Corneille classic, “The Liar.” The shows will run in repertory through Aug. 31.
Total Daily Circulation–1,586,757
Sunday Circulation– 2,003,247
April 6, 2014
Attuned to the Money
‘Greed: A Musical for Our Times’ Satirizes Materialism
By Alexis Soloski
Was Bernard L. Madoff ever tempted to sing about his pyramid scheme? Did Martha Stewart contemplate
an insider-trading tap dance? Their efforts might have enlivened “Greed: A Musical for Our Times,” a
revue by Michael Roberts at New World Stages.
Belted and crooned by four actors — Julia Burrows, Stephanie D’Abruzzo, James Donegan and Neal
Mayer — the show hurtles through 19 songs in 85 minutes, some of them briefer than the scene change
vamps. But just as their lyrics suggest, more isn’t always better. For every sound investment, there are
numerous toxic assets.
On a bare set with a pianist and a percussionist shunted to the side, the quartet offers songs about avaricious
bankers and crooked chief executives (a silent Mr. Madoff shows up here) as well as grasping doctors,
covetous athletes, acquisitive collectors, even a selfish baby. The vibe resembles “Forbidden Broadway,” if
that long-runner had gleaned its material from Business Day rather than the Arts & Leisure section. But
whereas great satire enlivens and complicates its subject, Mr. Roberts grabs for the obvious and hits it
harder than a compulsive shopper’s credit card.
There are occasional moments of formal wit, as when Mr. Roberts scores “I’ll Cheat on My Taxes” as a
heroic ballad or “Slip ’n’ Fall” as a novelty dance track. Yet despite some clever multisyllabic rhymes —
“tactile/polydactyl,” “doozy/Brancusi” — most songs overstress the same unsurprising premise.
Christopher Scott’s unvaried direction pushes the performers further toward stereotype, though, admittedly,
tunes like “I Like Things” or “Passing the Mortgages” don’t permit much in the way of psychological
complexity.
Still, these actors are pros at putting over the indifferent material, even mildly offensive jingles such as
“Another Kid,” an ill-judged hoedown, which features a cheerful Ms. Burrows as a welfare queen. Mr.
Donegan works his Everyman charm, while Mr. Mayer is an excellent dancer, and Ms. D’Abruzzo (a Tony
nominee for “Avenue Q”) doesn’t spare her voice or vanity. They’re selling. But who’s buying?
“Greed: A Musical for Our Times” continues through May 24 at New World Stages, 340 West 50th Street,
Clinton; 212-239-6200; greedmusical.com.
Total Daily Circulation–1,586,757
Sunday Circulation– 2,003,247
April 3, 2014
On This Magical Island, Women Rule
‘Amaluna,’ a Cirque du Soleil Extravaganza
By Claudia La Rocco
Who among us, in a fit of desperation over losing his beloved to a giant lizard man, has not torn off his
shirt and scaled a pole with the ease of a lemur — only to reach the top and find he has nowhere to go, but
must hang there, devastated and batlike, to the moody vocalizing that surrounds him, as if in a dream?
No? Anybody?
It’s possible, then, that you won’t connect emotionally to “Amaluna,” the latest Cirque du Soleil
extravaganza to roll into New York. This one, written and directed by the Tony Award-winning Diane
Paulus (“Pippin”), has put down stakes in Citi Field, housed within its own sprawling encampment.
Arriving by the No. 7 train, as I did on Tuesday evening, with a still-wintry sun descending into darkness,
and walking across the expanse of concrete surrounding the large tent, is to feel as if you were entering
another world — which is, of course, what Cirque du Soleil is all about. Who needs connection when
you’ve got contortionists?
Yes, there is a sort-of plot. This one is based ever so vaguely on “The Tempest,” with the twist that this
magical island is ruled by women. (Julie Taymor, who directed that play’s 2010 film adaptation, got there
first; Helen Mirren was cast as Prospera.) Cirque said that the cast is 70 percent female, an unusually high
proportion for the organization, and all of the musicians are women. You can imagine Beyoncé nodding her
head approvingly, about both the casting and the hair extensions.
Lili Chao’s delicate balancing act offered a moment of refreshing quiet, while Virginie Canovas, Kylee
Maupoux and Marina Tomanova showed surging aerial force. (The men, it should be noted, held up their
end; a high-flying teeter board quartet offered a rare instance of mostly unadorned tension and play.)
Ms. Paulus has said that she did not want to create a show with a “women’s agenda,” which is probably a
good thing, as any specific message would be hard to decipher amid all the Cirque frippery. But the display
of female strength (as in biceps and triceps and quads, oh my) is nonetheless a lovely thing. There are no
damsels in distress here, despite the aforementioned pesky lizard man.
Beyond this feminist gloss, is there anything to be said about “Amaluna” that you couldn’t guess? Not
really. It may be a new production, but it’s an old formula, a giant machine of a spectacle with
(unfortunately tedious) clowning thrown in, and lots of sound and light and quick set changes to keep
things moving in a blur. Does this sound like your cup of tea? Well then, get thee to Queens. The big top
awaits.
“Amaluna” runs through May 18 at Citi Field, Flushing, Queens; cirquedusoleil.com/amaluna.
Total Daily Circulation–1,586,757
Sunday Circulation– 2,003,247
April 7, 2014
John Pinette, 50, Stand-Up Comic and Actor, Dies
By Margalit Fox
John Pinette, a stand-up comic whose Falstaffian figure provided him with no shortage of subject matter,
died on Saturday in Pittsburgh. He was 50.
The apparent cause was a pulmonary embolism, his manager, Larry Schapiro, said. Mr. Pinette, who had
homes in Philadelphia and Los Angeles, was found dead in a hotel room in Pittsburgh, where he was
attending a family function.
Known for his high-pitched voice, broad Massachusetts accent and trademark two-word condemnation
(“Nay-nay!”) of all manner of deplorable things, Mr. Pinette toured widely and was a guest on “The
Tonight Show” and “The View.” He dealt most often in comedy rooted in his own life — “the funniest
thing that I can think of,” he often said.
He was also known for his brief but memorable turn in the series finale of “Seinfeld” in 1998 as the hapless
victim of a carjacking. In that episode, seen by an estimated 76 million viewers, Mr. Seinfeld and his
friends observe the crime but do nothing, leading to their arrest on charges of violating good Samaritan
laws.
Mr. Pinette, whose first comedy album, “Show Me the Buffet,” was released in 1998, stood about 5 feet 11
and weighed, at his heaviest, some 450 pounds.
“I don’t do fat jokes per se,” he told The St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 2001. He added, “I’d rather talk about
the trials and tribulations of a large mammal in our society.”
Those tribulations, in his telling, included the daunting climb to the top of an amusement-park water slide
(“It’s like 20 stories high, and I’m looking for the elevator”); the hollow promise of restaurant salad (“They
don’t charge you for the salad, because it ain’t worth anything. Salad is a promissory note that food will
soon arrive”) and life after gastric-bypass surgery, which Mr. Pinette had about 15 years ago, resulting in
the loss of more than 100 pounds.
“That was not fun, but it was the right thing to do,” he told The Montreal Gazette in 2006. “I have a lot of
loose skin, so I’m going to get a tummy tuck. My brother-in-law is going to do it. I’m a little nervous
because he’s a plumber, but he’s set up the garage and got it all painted white.”
John Paul Pinette was born on March 23, 1964, in Malden, Mass., outside Boston. He worked as a janitor to
pay his way through college at what is now the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. After earning an
accounting degree there in 1986, he embarked on a brief, unhappy career in the field.
“I was a very bad accountant,” he told The Gazette. “I knew the book theory but I didn’t have the heart for
it. I did it for six months, and my job was to distract the auditors with jokes.”
Total Daily Circulation–1,586,757
Sunday Circulation– 2,003,247
Trying his hand at local comedy clubs, Mr. Pinette grew so proficient that by the early 1990s he was
opening for Frank Sinatra in Las Vegas.
His other stage work includes replacing Harvey Fierstein as Edna Turnblad, the heroine’s mother, in the
Broadway musical “Hairspray”; Mr. Pinette also played the part in the show’s national tour.
His film credits include “The Last Godfather” (2010), starring Harvey Keitel, and “Simon Sez“ (1999),
starring Dennis Rodman. He had recurring roles on the TV shows “Vinnie & Bobby” and “Parker Lewis
Can’t Lose.”
Last year, as was widely reported, Mr. Pinette entered a rehabilitation facility to be treated for an addiction
to prescription pain medication.
Mr. Pinette’s survivors include a brother, Robert, and two sisters, Dorothy and Kathleen.
Videos of his stand-up act include “John Pinette: I’m Starvin’!” (2007) and “John Pinette: Still Hungry”
(2011).
In an interview last year with The Lantern, the Ohio State University newspaper, Mr. Pinette expressed
delight in his chosen calling and regret — or was it relief? — at the road not taken.
“I’m really happy to have a job that I love,” he said. “I tried interpretive dance, but it just didn’t work out
for me.”
NY Times
Total Daily Circulation–876,638
Monthly Online Circulation–19,500,000
Review: ‘Threepenny Opera’ is energetic, fluid’
By Associated Press, Published: April 7
NEW YORK — Mackie’s back in town, and he and his fellow
degenerates are serving up their anger and irony in The Atlantic
Theater Company’s energetic revival of “The Threepenny
Opera,” which opened Monday night off-Broadway at the Linda
Gross Theater.
This fluid production of the famously sardonic musical by Bertolt
Brecht and Kurt Weill is directed and choreographed by Martha
Clarke, with music direction by Gary S. Fagin. Weill’s
discordant, jazz-infused score is well-served by a brassy, bowlerhatted seven-member band led by Fred Lassen on keyboard.
Boneau/Bryan-Brown; Kevin Thomas
Garcia/Associated Press - This publicity photo
released by Boneau/Bryan-Brown shows Laura
Osnes, left, and Michael Park in a scene from
Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s musical “The
Threepenny Opera,” currently performing offBroadway in a revival at The Atlantic Theater
Company in New York.
Brecht and Weill based their 1929 work on John Gay’s 1728
parody, “The Beggar’s Opera,” creating a scathing satire of the
Weimar era in Germany. Their bilious view of the general
poverty, oppression and widespread corruption of the time
remains bitingly relevant today. One criminal leader muses that
there’s not much difference between robbing a bank and founding
one, and most people affected by recent global recessions will
heartily agree.
Using the English adaptation by Marc Blitzstein, Clarke sets the
show in 19th-century London right before the coronation of
Queen Victoria. Her overall atmosphere, at times almost
dreamlike, is neither terribly edgy nor cartoonishly vulgar.
Michael Park is strong and sensual as Macheath, the womanizing gang leader and anti-hero whose downfall is
set in motion when he pretends to marry virginal Polly Peachum (a charmingly radiant enactment by Laura
Osnes). Polly’s father (F. Murray Abraham, blithely venal), runs the beggars of London like a well-organized
army, and can’t tolerate a fellow gang member in the family. He and his harpy wife, (an appropriately strident
Mary Beth Peil) aggressively use bribery and blackmail to ensure their unwanted son-in-law’s arrests and
eventual trip to the gallows.
Diverse staging ranges from sprightly (a group of beggars indoctrinates a new member in their deceptive arts),
to vaudevillian (inept sleeping cops unwittingly aid a jailbreak) while allowing pauses for poignant renditions of
dark and often abrasive ballads. Clarke provides a memorably dissolute, languid scene wherein scantily-clad
prostitutes, occasionally nude, drift around in slow motion while listlessly servicing customers in their brothel.
Among the many women Macheath treats carelessly (”Oh, the line forms on the right, dears”) are prostitute
Jenny Diver, (beautifully performed by Sally Murphy, especially her world-weary “Pirate Jenny”), and the
once-respectable but now pregnant Lucy Brown (Lilli Cooper, a strong singer whose modern song
interpretations feel misplaced). Rick Holmes is nicely blustery as buffoonish police chief Tiger Brown, and a
bulldog named Romeo enlivens the finale without stealing the show from the fine ensemble.
Clarke’s presentation of the Brecht-Weill classic may be more dreamlike and less harsh than other New York
productions have been, but retains the essential core of dark humor that softens the bleak heart of this musical.
___
Online: http://atlantictheater.org
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast,
rewritten or redistributed.