Roundabout?

I hate to disagree with my compatriot Aaron Riccio, but I found this post on The Roundabout... strange to say the least... or to be more even-handed, I think it simply reflects some differences in my tastes and Aaron's.

I am not one to just knee-jerkily bash a theater, and I think Roundabout's done some good stuff over the years, and I too am looking forward to the Chris Shinn adaptation of Hedda Gabler.  Also Roundabout Underground = yay! But there's a lot here that I don't think is exactly accurate:

They seem genuinely interested in putting butts in the seats, and in making revivals interesting, casting theater stars (not film stars) to do so, even when it sometimes hurts a show (like the brilliant Journey's End).  

But Roundabout didn't produce Journey's End as far as I know, which was a commercial show on Broadway not a show at a nonprofit theater.  I'm not sure that either Matthew Broderick or Frank Langella can be called straight up theater stars.  The latter is a theater star who has done TV and film work for many years before returning to the stage and becoming a kind of royalty.  The former is an ex-film star who quite recently has built up a stage career by acting in a couple of  Broadway shows, garnering good reviews in one of them, and mixed-to-bad reviews in the other.  Cyndi Lauper certainly isn't a stage star, either. And I'm not entirely convinced that Cynthia Nixon would be performing at Roundabout without Sex and the City.   I think their track record on this one is kind of mixed.

I understand that people tend to knee-jerkily bash the Roundabout because they have (in general) pretty conservative taste that extends to the material they choose and how they choose to do it. So a defense of them may be in order.

But might I just say that "best on the boards" in my mind absolutely goes to Woolly Mammoth in Washington, D.C. this season?  No other theater that i know in this country has a season producing work that's this consistently adventurous with these kinds of production values.  The last Robert O'Hara play I saw in NYC was produced in a basement.  BOOM was produced at Ars Nova, a small (but totally awesome) cabaret-ish space in midtown.  These plays will be done in a 240 seat theater with some of the best designers and actors DC has to offer.  

But then again, my bias is towards new work, so my taste is going to reflect that... Roundabout really isn't trying to appeal to me (although Roundabout Underground certainly is).

Comments

[Aaron]

Glad that you disagree! That's a really badly phrased sentence (on my part): I posted an update to clarify my intent, and to agree/disagree with some of your notes here. I'm for new work too, but at the same time, I've never seen a David Rabe play on Broadway (and I missed New Group's star-studded production of Hurlyburly), don't get much opportunity to see quality Ibsen (with a new translation), and would happily see Bill Irwin in anything. Period. Well, maybe I'll see you at The Flea?

[RLewis]

Not to defend stars or the Roundabout, but Nixon does hold the distinguished honor of being the only contemporary actor (as far as I know) to be in 2 broadway shows at the same time (Hurly Burly and a Stoppard), among other stage credits (and who wouldn' love running from stage door to stage door for curtain calls, but then again Hurly was soooo long she probably could have squeezed in another show, too).

And I may be wrong, but didn't Broderick got his start in Simon's B plays? Now, that may have been before your time, but I think it counts at least a lil'.

[Scott Walters]

I thought Frank Langella was a stage star BEFORE he was a film star. I seem to remember him being nominated for a Tony for "Dracula" when I was in high school (1970s), and didn't he do a lot of work at the Public and Shakespeare in the Park (why am I thinking...Two Gentlemen of Verona...).

[Ben TS]

Hey, while we're griping about the Roundabout, what the hell is with the increasingly 80s-centric programming? Crimes of the Heart, Marriage of Bette and Boo, Les Liasons Dangereuses, Sunday in the Park with George? Three shows from the past season premiered in New York in 1985. Oh, and the Ritz, which while technically not a show from that decade, was written by one of the 80s' quintessential playwrights.

This season is a little better, I guess (Streamers is the only Reagan-era piece). But this is offset by all the 80s NY Theatre staples that have been cast: Langella, Nixon, Broderick, Nathan Lane, Bill Irwin. Why?

[Ken]

"Streamers" is actually a Ford/Carter-era piece (premiered in '76, I think). Looking forward to seeing it.