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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 2005)
42 JUS* out ’ October 21. 2005 eating eating eating THEATER ▼......... eating It's up to you, New York Broadway season goes up in cost, down in quality K retzu ROSEGG by J on Special Omelettes Gooimel Sated: • Eipreni c*n & tsiwsso Homemade Simps S More Unique Uptown Village 1708 Main St.. Vancouver. WA • 360-737-9907 Hours: Mon-Sat 7am-3pm / Sun 9am-2pm | Brnuj in this tui for 10% OFF (dine in food only) imwrlv PUFFERFISH SUSHI J I I expires 12/7/05 aiiia J apanese R. so ^STA uranj / 503-288-5149 • 914 NE Broadway • Portland Mon-Thurs • Lunch: ll:30am-2:30pm • Dinner: 4:30-10pm Friday: ll:30am-llpm • Saturday: 3-llpm • Sunday: 3-9:30pm L M OREGONTHEMRE » Gay icons Harvey Fierstein and Rosie O’Donnell promote family values in Fiddler on the Roof. > •••••••«•••••••••••••••••••••••••••«•»••••a*•••••••••••••••»•••••• ■ i* ■' y : OPEN AT NOON EVERY DAY! 3530 SE DIVISION 503-232-SHOW(7469) ■ ON THE #4 DIVISION BUSLINE FREE INDOOR BIKE PARKING « THREE XXX MOVIES EVERY DAY M « ON OUR HUGE 25' VIDEO SCREEN. ■ » « I « ■ ■■ I > i « « ■ * * < 1 .... ■ I' i J _________ v ta BI-SEXUAL MOVIES EVERY WEDNESDAY TILL MIDNIGHT ta ta EVERY SATURDAY TILL 1:00AM STRAIGHT MOVIES CHANGE FRIDAY A MONDAYS FREE CONDOMS COURTESY OF CASCADE AIDS PROJECT « I M ■ ■ ■ I ‘"'■■U...... —"X- ..... ■ JÍ fter two recent trips to New York City, I am sad to report that the malaise of mediocrity that has been afflicting Broad way and off-Broadway theater the past few years (OK, make that the past decade) is not showing any sign of improving. As ticket prices keep ascending, the levels of quality, ingenuity and sheer theatrical excitement keep descending. Being in New York is still a thrill, hut unfortunately the charge doesn’t exactly come from what is on its stages anymore. Starting with the best, at least one could say the past season had no dearth of new musicals. Many of these shows had gixxl intentions and attempted to he both fresh and new—they just didn’t quite succeed. The biggest artistic success of the season, judging from critics and musical aficionados, was The Light in the Piazza. I wanted to love this show but was defeated at every turn. The libretto (the piece was very nearly a sung-thni pop-era) was based on a 1950s short story and film that are Lifetime Television quality at best—the old overprotective-mother-leaming- to-let-go-and-allow-her-daughter-who-was- kicked-in-the-head-by-a-pony-to-finaily-find- love-in-picaresque-Florence-with-an-ltalian- stud-muffin plot. Adam Guettel, whose bril liant score for Floyd Collins remains one of the most exciting musical theater works of the past 10 years, tried hard for romantic ecstasy here but was defeated by his leaden lyrics and by music that was forever yearning to soar but remained sadly earthbound. Another one of Broadway’s current crop of new age composers, William Finn, got lots of notice for the cult hit The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, but again there was a whiff of “Emperor’s New Clothes” about this off- Broadway transfer to Circle in the Square. The cast was amusing if a bit overeager, the songs mostly uninspired (especially next to Finn’s masterful work on Falsettos and A New Brain) and rhe production wittily designed and direct ed. Still, it just didn’t add up. Rachel Sheinkin’s book was very funny at times, but did every one of these child contestants have to be pint-sized grotesques? There was some thing uncomfortable and demeaning about this freaks-and-geeks sideshow that somehow put a damper on the evening. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, based on the 1988 film starring Michael Caine and Steve Martin, was a delightful surprise—the work of some clever musical theater talents combining to create an entertaining, old-fashioned musical comedy. David Yazbek’s score was both service able and mildly memorable, Jeffrey Lane’s txxik very funny indeed and the work of the cast simply stellar—especially Norbert Leo Butz’s hilarious Tony-winning star turn. Jack O’Brien’s effortless direction gave the evening panache, and the whole show was an un expected, somewhat guilty, pleasure. The biggest hit of the Broadway season was undeniably Spamalot, rhe merrily mad musical version of the 1975 cult film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. This fun house of a show was filled with inspired idiocy and a wickedly sharp satiric edge. Impeccably directed by Mike Nichols and blessed with a cast of inspired clowns, Spamalot made the audience just plain giddy. Almost everything in the show worked, but a few performances raised the show to the pantheon of comic heights: Tim Curry’s peer lessly deadpan King Arthur, David Hyde Pierce’s stylish comic genius epitomized in one of Broadway’s greatest (and most unexpected) 11 o’clock numbers, Hank Azaria’s kxik of befuddlement as he is initiated into gay life as a
