Theatre Update – Jeanette Hendler

Sweet Charity, La Cage Aux Folles and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? are all undergoing revivals right now on Broadway.

Theatre Update

Jeanette Hendler

Sweet Charity, La Cage Aux Folles and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? are all undergoing revivals right now on Broadway. They may be old, familiar plays, but they all hold their own against the newest Broadway offerings such as The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and the dynamic new play premiering off Broadway, Faster. One would imagine that when put in the same category, the old Broadway chestnuts might appear tired and not timely. But they all had new life thanks to interesting sets, and innovative direction and/or choreography.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee came to Broadway from off Broadway. The new location is a theater in the round. The casting was pitch perfect, as was the music, with lyrics by William Finn. There was audience participation as seen on the Tony’s on TV with Rev. Al Sharpton. Dan Fogler was awarded the Tony award for best supporting actor in a musical. Bill Irwin also received the Tony award for best actor in a drama, namely, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and La Cage was honored with Best Choreographer and Best Revival of a Musical.

The most unusual, inventive play on the boards this season is Faster, part of the Brits off Broadway festival, coming from the U.K., where it was also a big success. The play is housed at the 59 East 59th Street Theater. This new three-theater complex was founded by the director and actor Elysabeth Kleinhans. The family owned the property, prompting Kleinhans to build the theater.

Faster experiments with storytelling and presents a total theater experience incorporating a lot of movement, mime, music, and technology. There are also two musician/actors very visible on the stage who use their instruments and sound effects. Images are projected to add to the telling of the story. The producing company and actors are from the UK and started at the Battersea Arts Centre, the same place Jerry Springer, The Opera began. The seventy-five minutes fly by. Experimental theater is very hard to pull off without being pretentious and we’ve all seen examples that don’t quite match the high level of these productions.

Other plays having originated in 59 East 59th Street have gone on to a much longer life, having moved to various locations. Faster deserves the same fate.