The fact is, I've felt no desire to see theater, especially after the ordeal of getting oph3lia on its feet. I have, however, found myself in the theaters (and, as it happens, pretty commercial theaters for some reason) a handful of times this autumn, and before the year ends I wanted to (b)log them briefly here.
I'd never seen a production by Robert LePage so I felt almost obligated to go see his The Damnation of Faust at the Metropolitan Opera. The set consisted of 5 or so levels of scaffolding, on which both upstage and downstage there were opaque and translucent projection surfaces that sometimes were retractable. There were some acrobatic flying, big epic images (people falling into water, full stage sunset), and repetition of stage pictures (the scaffolding and partitions created a dense grid of cubicles in which the a "man at a table" could be repeated 20, 30 times. all in all, though, I was not moved or impressed.
I went to see the Builder's Association at BAM, also because I'd never seen their work before, and, from what I heard, the narrative and themes in their latest work Continuous City. Really cool technology (hydraulic? screens that pop open and closed with projections or LED or something) kind of hackneyed concept (social networking -- i.e. mediated communication -- cannot be a substitute for real interaction... or can it?), and pretty loose story that kind of didn't have a drive. Actually I might argue that the reason why it felt so flat was that so much of the acting was pre-recorded, and so the live actors, when having to interact with recorded media, were forced to flatten themselves out. But I did find the lead actor incredibly handsome. Is that a really sexist thing to say? Oh well.
Last night I went to see Billy Elliot on Broadway. Not my choice. My friend had an extra ticket. Cute story. I imagine the movie was better able to communicate the context of the story (coal-miners in England on strike in the 1980s). The young actor playing Billy that night was a technically skilled dancer... but... and I know that this is harsh or whatever and that you're not really allowed to have criticisms about someone who is still "a kid" or whatever but, I just felt that there were limitations to his emotional range, and that his dancing, although executed with finesse, rang empty.
So, what I'm really excited about is that tomorrow, I am going to see The Seagull on Broadway, starring MACKENZIE CROOK (Gareth from the BBC The Office) who I am totally in love with. I happen to love that play too, my favorite of all the Chekhovs. Hopefully I won't be (too) disappointed...
2008 was a hell of a year. I hope 2009 is a bit calmer and happier.
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