MOM, HOW DID YOU MEET THE BEATLES?

As has been noted in Gothamist, opinions diverge regarding Mom, How Did You Meet the Beatles?, which runs at the Public Theater through February 23, 2008. Christopher Isherwood raved about it in The New York Times, but Robin Rothstein thought it "dull and static" and in need of more work.

So what's the deal? Well, the production is an engaging albeit roughly staged reading of a memoir/interview based on the experiences of playwright Adrienne Kennedy, who wrote Funnyhouse of a Negro, a 1964 play that was recently revived by the Classical Theatre of Harlem. After the success of that play, Kennedy relocated to London and had a bit of a roller coaster ride pitching a theater piece based on John Lennon's "nonsense" book In His Own Write.

Co-written by Kennedy and her son Adam, Mom, How Did You Meet the Beatles answers the title question and also covers how the playwright met a bunch of other Big Names during her sojourn in the United Kingdom during a very fertile creative and commercial period. The production is like a very special Selected Shorts in which actress Brenda Pressley does a splendid job delivering about an hour's worth of personal narrative almost entirely on her own, supplemented by projected images of locales and occasional intrusions of music that only occasionally enhance the performance. Like the great play Yellow Face, the production also touches on the importance of Joseph Papp and the Public Theater.

So, for $10 admission, you get a well-told story about Adrienne Kennedy's experiences with the Beatles and others who were part of the scene, including James Baldwin, Laurence Olivier, and Kenneth Peacock Tynan. If this intrigues you, consider giving it a try—and don't let Isherwood's rave raise your expectations too high. The Friday, February 22, 2008 performance includes a post-show discussion with John Guare (who spoke at MOMA's Friday night screening of Taking Off) and Gerald Freedman.

Here's some Beatle footage tied in with In His Own Write.

YELLOW FACE

Glancing at one or two synopses of Yellow Face, I somehow got the false impression that this new work by David Henry Hwang was about his protest against the casting of Jonathan Pryce in Miss Saigon. That's a key part of the Hwang's dazzling play—and it seems to "belong" at the Public thanks to theater founder Joseph Papp's advocacy of colorblind casting as much as his willingness to recognize the complexities of the issues involved—but the humorous and thought-provoking Yellow Face covers much more than that, craftily interweaving tales of integrity and identity, deception and confession, role-playing and racism, patriotism and opportunism, and theater and journalism. Who could ask for anything more?

A great thing about expecting Yellow Face—currently extended at the Public Theater through Sunday, January 13—to be about the Miss Saigon controversy was the element of surprise as the actual play revealed itself. So I'll keep anything approaching a spoiler to a minimum. I'll just note that director Leigh Silverman seems to have had just the right touch with the strong ensemble as well as the play itself...among the "characters" is BAT favorite Jane Krakowski, who gets some prize lines...Anthony Torn does a great turn in an enigmatic role...fleeting comments attributed to assorted politicians (including Fred Thompson) demand attention...and Hwang's treatment of his own "character" is stunning. Truly a companion to Hwang's career-making M. Butterfly, Yellow Face is one of the best plays I've seen in recent years.

$20 rush tickets are available an hour before curtain; other discounts may well be available.

Here's a review of Yellow Face during its Los Angeles run.



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