Escapes and Pleasures
Escapes and Pleasures
On a recent trip to the big city, I had the good fortune to see three Broadway plays, all worthy of your attention I think.
The Book of Mormon:
I suspect that this play will be one of the hits of the 2011 season and will attract a good deal of attention and comment.
Still in previews and thus not yet reviewed, The Book of Mormon is not easy to describe, or rather, a description may be misleading. It is a musical about Mormonism (and other religions that seek to proselytize?) and the ‘young elders’ who are newly setting out to spread the word and convert the ‘heathen.’
Sounds dull?
It is anything but.
Written by the South Park duo of Matt Stone and Trey Parker, it is an evening filled with irreverence and hilarity. The night we attended the audience laughed from beginning to end (Jon Stewart was sitting three rows in front of us and could not stay in his seat for his laughing).
Buy tickets before they become hard to get.
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Lombardi:
This play has been on Broadway for a while now and has had mixed reviews. I’m not sure how long it will continue to run, but it has a lot to offer.
Vince Lombardi, as you may know, was the football coach of the Green Bay Packers and later of the Washington Redskin, and many folks consider him the greatest professional football coach in NFL history. His name has become synonymous with obsession for winning.
But you do not have to be a football fan to enjoy this play. What was most interesting to me was the portrayal of the man behind the myth, what drove him, what disturbed him, his contradictions, his imperfections, his successes and his failures, all of the complexities of this fascinating individual.
Dan Lauria leads a good cast in this well acted and well written play, one that is worth your time if you are curious about what drove the man to be what he became, the ‘great’ Vince Lombardi.
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Arcadia:
This revival of Tom Stoppard’s 1993 play volleys back and forth between the present and the past, between comedy and tragedy, between thought and feeling, between science and romance, between order and disorder.
You have to pay close attention to the dialogue, and you often don’t have time to think about what is being said because if you do, you will miss the next important dialogue.
It helps to have knowledge of the outline of the play prior to attending; but even then, you can’t let your mind wander.
If you are looking for light entertainment, Arcadia is not it.
But I think the effort it takes to wrestle with this play is well rewarded.
I will be curious how well this play succeeds once it officially opens Mar. 17.
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And one movie back in Washington at DC’s new West End Cinema which continues to show films not available elsewhere:
Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune:
If the name Phil Ochs is only vaguely known to you, or not at all familiar, but if you interested in folk music and learning about one of the best songwriters and singers of the protest movement of the 60s, check out this documentary.
It is a well researched, well presented and informative portrayal of an unlikely ‘hero’ and an ultimately tragic individual who entertained and taught many of us who had the good fortune to be in our 20s when Phil Ochs was at his best.
3/14/11
THREE PLAYS & A FILM -- ALL WORTH SEEING