THEATRE

Mouth watering morsels in NY theatre

THERE is no doubt that Broadway is having more than its fair share of problems, although it seems to be coping a little better than London. The present season has been abysmally unsuccessful with a string of shows closing after one or two performances. New musicals have been in the minority, with Cats being the only new hit musical of the season. Part of the problem with musicals is the depressing lack of new authors. Mauri Yeston made a big impression last year with Nine, partly because it was his first major work and there was a feeling he needed to be encouraged. As a result his show received more Tonys than the infinitely superior Dreamgirls. But many of the old writers and directors, like Bob Fosse, Stephen Sondheim, Cy Coleman etc., have drifted into other fields or are just not writing for the musical stage anymore.

There is no talk in New York of any "twilight in theatreland," a term bandied around London at the moment. But times are hard, money is tight and people are more choosy. Even Broadway's favourite, Angela Lansbury, flopped in her latest show, A Little Family Business (she will arrived back on Broadway however in a revival of Mame). However, for the occasional visitor to the Great White Way there is more than enough product to keep the mouth watering.

The great thing about Broadway is the audiences. Their constant enthusiasm for good product keeps casts high and adrenalin pumping. If a show has a good track record, an audience will come like churchgoers to praise and rejoice in the show's success. This above all else makes Broadway unlike anywhere else in the theatre world.

The Broadway production of Cats is a marvellous piece of theatre. It makes the London production look like an out-of-town tryout. All the potential the show had in London has been realised by the same production

New York's Great White Way has been the birthplace of many a fine western cultural achievement. LES SOLOMON casts a critical eye over the plusses and minusses of the current season, and gives an in-depth report on the great success, Torch Song Trilogy.

team which has converted (at huge expense) the old Winter Garden Theatre into a cave of feline fascination. Twice the money spent in London has been pumped into this production and it shows. The sets are more spectacular, the costumes more dazzling, the choreography tighter and the slow spots elevated to show stoppers.

An excellent example of this, is the long play within a play Growltigger's Last Stand, in the second half of the show a tale of a villanous old cat getting his comeuppance from a bunch of Siamese thugs. In London it was slow and staging was unimaginative and gave reason for many of those complaints that the second half of Cats dragged badly. On Broadway, a whole new set has been devised for this number and a mini operetta has been added for Growltigger and his lady, Griddlebone, to sing. This scene is marvellously realised by Bonnie Simmons and Stephen Hanan. Finally, the Siamese appear in costumes that would put King and I to shame. The ensuing fight and attack is theatre at its finest.

There are a dozen such instances where minute detail has made the show into an evening of unforgettable theatrical magic. Particular reference must be made to Terence Mann as a very erotic Rum Tum Tugger, the incredibly sleek black dancer Kenneth Ard as Macavity, Ken Page as a towering Deuteronomy, king of the cats, and the marvellous Betty Buckly as Grizabella. I have never heard Memory sung with such gusto, power and feeling. She not only brings tears to her own eyes but most of the audience. It's hard to believe this is the same lady from the movie Carrie and the TV series Eight is Enough.

No other show on Broadway could match Cats for originality but there is much to revel in. 42nd Street is still going strong with spunky little Lisa Brown taking over the role of Peggy (a big improvement on Wanda Richert). Millicent Martin is now Dorothy Brock and Jerry Orbach and talented singer and dancer Lee Roy Reams are still heading the cast. The show is smoother than when I last saw it, but there is no escaping the

fact that the book is a bit of fluff. The eye-catching, spectacular production numbers are what the show is all about, and as such they are as spectacular as anything on Broadway.

A Chorus Line is still dancing its way into becoming the longest running musical on Broadway. Unfortunately the cast looked like they needed a bit of shaking up. But there is no escaping the dramatic pull of this show. A great plus for me was seeing Tommy Aguilar back in the role of Paul. I saw Tommy do the part when the show first opened in London, back in 1976. Paul is the cornerstone to the success of the show and Tommy is undoubtedly the best person to realise the depth and significance of this gay character. It is only a shame the rest of the cast look like they've come out of a second-rate touring company. I have a feeling the producers are only keeping the show going till July when it will become the longest running musical in Broadway's history.

The Fantasticks is still playing OffBroadway (now in its 23rd year) and still weaves it's magic on each visit. A visit to the Big Apple isn't complete without two hours with this delightful old chestnut. Also Off-Broadway, I took in Little Shop of Horrors, based on a 1960's Roger Corman horror movie. This show has 'world wide success' written all over it. At the moment the producers are resisting offers to take it out of the tiny Orpheum Theatre and put it on Broadway. But it's only a matter of time before a larger audience discovers the joys of the 'little shop'. Already Cameron Macintosh has it lined up for London and Australia in the spring of 1984. It has the same sort of offbeat outrageousness as Rocky Horror, which was also born out of a tiny fringe theatre. Little Shop is about a personeating plant called Audrey II, who is fed by her master a little guy called Seymour. The plant demands blood so Seymour spends most of his time killing people, dismem-

bering them and feeding them to the plant. The plant talks jive and sings rock 'n' roll and constantly demands Seymour to Feed Me (a term that has become the show's catchery). Gradually (as in Faust) Seymour gains fame and riches as the plant grows, but disaster is just around the corner, as the plant eventually eats most of the cast and in the finale starts after the audience. The show is spiced with truly delicious songs and features an exciting new find Ellen Greene, who plays Audrey, Seymour's one and only love, after whom he names the plant. Ms Greene has a voice to rock and crack walls and does her 'stuff' in her big number, Somewhere that's Green-a hymn to all that is good in middle America, from chain linked fences to pine-sol scented air. Like Audrey II, Little Shop will grow and grow. It's a night of fun presented in a charming naive way with a refreshing lack of high camp humor.

Nine, last year's Tony award winning hit, is a treat to the mind and eye. The show has a marvellous one set which becomes at various times the Grand Canal in Venice, a spa (most of the time) and various reaches of the leading character's mind. Based on Fellini's 82 (with a bit of Satyricon and Amarcord thrown in for good measure), it is largely the tale of one Guido Contini, a film director whose mistresses and wife all gather at a spa as he battles to decided how to write his latest movie. It is a dream of a show for women-21 strong women's parts and four little boys. Viciously stylish, the show is another step forward in the art of musical theatre. Raul Julia is charming as Guido, though I felt his stage presence could have been stronger at times. Liliane Montevecchi (Continued on page 53)

48 CAMPAIGN MAY 1983