Criticultura em Portugal

Parsifal Music and libretto by Richard Wagner Directed by Uwe Eric Laufenberg Conducted by Semyon Bychkov Starring Andreas Schager, Günther Grössbock, and Elena Pankratova Festspielhaus Bayreuth, Germany August 22, 2019 This was my second trip to the revered Wagner festival in Bayreuth, Germany. Each summer since the late 1800’s this small Bavarian city has hosted productions of Wagner’s operas, with some pauses for wars and for some post WWII de-nazification (Wagner’s widow Cosima was a big Hitler fan). Initially ultratraditional (think Brunhilde with helmet and breastplates), the festival productions entered an abstract/symbolic phase after WW2, intended to de-link it from its conservative Nazi/nationalist past. More recently the festival has favored directors’ creativity in re-interpreting the Wagnerian canon. This was terrific when I first attended six years ago, with an extraordinary  Parsifal  done as an allegory of German history (complete with collapsing swastikas on...

Little Gem Written by Elaine Murphy Directed by Marc Atkinson Borrull Starring Marsha Mason, Brenda Meaney, and Lauren O’Leary Irish Repertory Theater, Manhattan July 19, 2019 Little Gem (2008) is a three-actor play about the interacting lives of three generations of Irish women. We hear about their challenging lives in an evolving era where abortion, divorce, and profanity are options that might not existed for Irish women a generation ago. The play is very challenging for the actors, with mostly long, exposed monologues. During these, the other two actors are often offstage or in the shadows. True interactions between the characters are uncommon and become almost a special effect. The monologues are a mixture of narration of current events (an unexpected pregnancy, a new boyfriend, death of a family member) with selective use of retrospection and past history. Most of the latter comes from the juiciest role of Kay, a 60-ish woman caring for her ill husband but yearning for he...

Fairview Written by Jackie Sibblies Drury Directed by Sarah Benson Starring Roslyn Ruff Soho Rep/Theater for a New Audience Polansky Shakespeare Center, Brooklyn July 11, 2019 Fairview (2018) won the Pulitzer Prize for drama this year. Previously seen in small theaters off Broadway in in Berkeley, California, it’s moved to the larger 300 seat Polansky Center in Brooklyn and has had a sold out run. The play’s intensity translated very well indeed, as the surprises and shock value commented upon in the original was very much present the night I saw it. Fairview has no substantive plot. We observe an upper middle class black family plan and experience their grandmother’s birthday dinner, rather like a standard US sitcom. But the play comes across as if a Cosby Show episode was shown, then put in a blender, kneaded, acidified, than thrust back in the face of the audience. Its structure and tone was unlike anything I have seen, and while I don’t think it was always successful, it ...

Ink Written by James Graham Directed by Rupert Goold Starring Bertie Carvel and Jonny Lee Miller Samuel J. Friedman Theater, Manhattan July 5, 2019 The Brits seem to have a laser-like ability to write good plays about the failings of our carnivorous capitalistic system. Ink was written in 2017 by British playwright James Graham (b. 1982), renowned in the UK for his politically focused plays like This House (2012), which dissected the House of Commons. Ink takes on a different political target, Australian business magnate Rupert Murdoch’s 1969 takeover and transformation of The Sun , a London newspaper. His business philosophy there was a prequel to his takeover of Fox Broadcasting in 1986. We know how that turned out. The fun thing in this rapid-motion, coarse play is seeing how Murdoch’s populist philosophy would later translate into Fox News …give “the people” (well, at least a rabid subset of them) what they want, using the news as raw meat rather than as a “highbrow” Oxbr...

Dear Evan Hansen Music and Lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul Book by Steven Levenson Directed by Michael Greif Starring Andrew Barth Feldman Music Box Theater, Manhattan June 28, 2019 Dear Evan Hansen continues on Broadway in its third year, still playing to sold out houses (and now touring around the US). Its combination of catchy ballads, millennial angst and strong interpersonal relationships is seeming mothers’ milk to millennial youth, millennial parents, and the millennials’ own kids (yes, some millennials are approaching 40). The show has become a popular smash, with some songs like “You Will Be Found” and “Waving Through a Window” achieving pop hit status. I first saw it a couple years ago soon after the departure of 23 year old lead actor Ben Platt, famed for his twitchy, exhausting performance as the insecure 17 year old Evan, who uses internet manipulation of the suicide of a fellow high school student to gain first fame, but ultimately notoriety. When I saw the ...