Going Soon, Coming Soon

Just thought I'd dash out a couple of theater notes.

Going Soon! I'm amazed that Lillian Hellman's play The Children's Hour premiered 75 years ago! Despite its age, it's surprisingly fresh—a good thing for theatergoers as well as actors, but of course also kind of sad because homophobia and the other plagues that it touches upon are still too much with us. The play has to do with a girl's accusation that the two close woman friends who run her school are actually lesbian lovers. The revival at the Astoria Performing Arts Center (APAC) isn't slick but it still does justice to Hellman's troubling work. There's only one more performance...and it's Sunday night at 6pm, just before the Tony Awards.

Coming Soon! I'm really excited about next weekend's five-performance revival of High Spirits, featuring Carol Kane. My regular readers (and friends) might recall that this musical, which is based on Blithe Spirit, has a hold on me—it's my Drowsy Chaperone! Having only heard the charming cast recordings, I've dreamed of Encores! reviving it, but it turns out to be Musicals in Mufti that has the good sense to offer theater lovers a sense of what a full-scale production might be like. I look forward to seeing it—and, if you're interested, I recommend snagging your seat(s) immediately. Tickets seem to be going fast, which is why I decided to make this post as soon as I could.

NO, NO, NANETTE

The flapper musical No, No, Nanette is a tap-dance frivolity that turned out to be a great counterbalance for the powerful psychodrama of Ariadne Unhinged that I saw Wednesday night. Everything is pretty much surface-level, with its intimations of naughtiness (somewhat evocative of the Eliot Spitzer scandal) merely used to spark audience interest before being cast aside in a celebration of innocence and wholesomeness.

This Encores revival—based on the 1971 smash revival of the original 1925 hit—stars an enviably fit and sunshiny Sandy Duncan along with the light-footed Michael Berresse, Beth Leavel (fitting, considering her titular role in The Drowsy Chaperone, a parody of a Nanette-era show), the Nanette of Mara Davi (another Drowsy veteran previously noted here for her supporting role in Of Thee I Sing) and the celebrated blogger Rosie O'Donnell as the wise-cracking maid.

But it's the dance work—choreographed by Randy Skinner—that remains the big star of the show. It's not very flashy, but it's full of very solid ensemble tap work and charming solo and partner routines. I understand that the spectacle of a small platoon of synchronized tap dancers used to be fairly common in show biz, but nowadays it's once again novel and refreshing, a key component of yet another Encores success.

Ticket discounts may well be available at the usual places, including Playbill.com. The rear gallery seats are far away but probably just fine for many attendees.

Here's one of the enduring Vincent Youmans tunes from No, No, Nanette. Beware: It might lodge inside your noggin!



Source (1:13)