Thoughts Day by Day

Without a doubt this was an intriguing play filled with a lot of "what if's" and 'what might be's". All (but one) of the actors were superb. While Tim Pigott-Smith (Charles) does not actually look or sound like Charles he got his mannerisms and angst down perfectly. Befuddled and easil y distracted, unable to cry tears for his mother's passing, out of touch with his subjects. That is Charles, sadly, and that is certainly the reason for this play. The actors who played Harry, Willian and Kate  (Richard Goulding, Oliver Chris and Lydia Wilson) in particular were right on the money with their portrayals, not to mention that they looked like the royals they portrayed. There was never a dull moment. 3 hours went very fast. Beautifully staged and directed too. Very strong ending. On the negative: the actress who played "The Ghost" (i.e. Diana) was God-awful. She gave the absolute WORST impersonation of Diana ever. It was a terrible performance. I unde...

On the morning TV news there was a story about an Asian woman who had locked her baby in her SUV yesterday in the parking lot of a Costco in New Jersey.  The temperature outside was over 95F.  Shoppers in the parking lot heard the baby crying in the car, which was locked, and called the police.  The police arrived quickly, broke open the car to remove the baby who was by now soaking wet from sweat.  A few minutes later the mother arrived with a shopping cart full of purchases and another toddler in tow.  When she realized the police had just rescued her baby because of her own negligence she kept saying ‘I sorry, I sorry’ with sincerity.  But the crowd in the parking lot screamed at her that being sorry was not enough since she could have killed her baby.  They turned into an angry mob.  Part of the problem here was the language barrier.  I did not get the impression that this woman spoke English well.  That means she may not have been ...

Last night I saw a revival of "On The Twentieth Century" at the beautiful American Airlines Theatre. "20th Century" was the first Broadway musical that I saw on Broadway, 37 years ago.  I had forgotten how very funny this musical was. Kristen Chenowith was born to play Lily Garland/Mildred Plotka. In this role she fully demonstrates her magnificent voice and great comedic skills.  Peter Gallagher was a great hammy and handsome Oscar Jaffe. I've always thought the Oscar Jaffe character was based on the late impresario David Merrick.  Andy Karl was very good as the egocentric Bruce Grannit although not as agile as Kevin Kline was 37 years ago in pratfalls and comic timing.  Nevertheless he was quite funny.  Mary Louise Wilson was a scene stealer as the nutty Letitia Primrose and much better and funnier than the original Imogene Coca.  The sets were again a star of this show - as they were in 1978. Almost all the action takes place on a train traveling ...

When I arrived at work this morning there was an e-mail from 'M' to all 20 members of my department.  Our boss, a company VP, is going on a cruise to Bermuda on Sunday and 'M' says she thinks it is a good idea for everyone to kick in $20 each so we could buy an NCL gift certificate for the boss to use on his cruise ship.  WHAT???  The boss makes twice as much as I do!  Why should I subsidize his vacation trip?? I decided to ignore the e-mail.  I was not going to contribute.  Besides, solicitations for money in the office for every conceivable reason have gotten out of hand.  I know I have developed a reputation as a cheapskate because I pass on these collection envelopes without giving money.  But I am not the only one who feels that way.  My co-worker 'G' was also infuriated by the e-mail.  I told her I was going to ignore it.  She decided to do the same. End of story?  Of course not.  Around noon I received a second ...

I was an avid theater goer until I moved out east to Suffolk County. Then I stopped because the journey into Manhattan is a long one from Ronkonkoma station. But after years of missing live theater I made a promise to myself to make the effort to venture into the City at least 6 times every year to see a play or musical.  The train ride takes at least 90 minutes.  But I have kept this promise.  This past season (which I measure from Tony Awards to Tony Awards) I saw Perfect Crime , Disgraced , The Boy from Oz , The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time , Aladdin , Don't Dress for Dinner , I Love You You're Perfect Now Change , The Audience , Hand to God and Something Rotten! .  I still have one more play to see this season ( Oliver! )  Four of those productions were at Theatre Three in Port Jefferson.  They provide quality productions and I am grateful they are so local.  One play was off-Broadway. I disliked Perfect Crime .  It was a big...

I have lived in my house for 27 years.  Prior to that an elderly couple lived her for about 25 years. Here in the Town of Brookhaven we have cesspools, no sewer systems.  Cesspools have to be cleaned out periodically and sometimes even replaced at a cost of thousands of dollars. To my knowledge my cesspool has never been serviced in 52 years. The issue of installing sewer systems by the township has been discussed all the years I have lived out here - but it never gets anywhere.  Each homeowner would have to pay around $5000-6000 to hook their homes up to the sewer system - if the town ever builds one - and then pay an annual tax for sewer service.  To my thinking it would be worth the investment.  But the majority of Brookhaven homeowners disagree.  Consequently we will never see sewers here in Crookhaven. Last year I noticed my washing machine, located in my basement, was not draining properly.  Water remained in the machine well.  So I called...

Theater critics are unreliable.  Recently The New York Times gave a brilliantly positive review to the new musical 'An American in Paris'.  Two days later I was sitting in a theater next to an elderly couple (I know, I know.  I am elderly now too.  But they were older.) and we got into a discussion about the new season and they mentioned they saw 'An American in Paris' the weekend before.  They were not impressed.  In fact they said it was 'boring'. They admired the dancing and the sets but said they almost fell asleep. So is it worth seeing? 'Finding Neverland' opened two days ago.  This is/was a much anticipated musical with a star-power cast.  The New York Times disliked it. But I just heard ABC News theater reviewer Andy Kenyon give it a rave.  In fact he has convinced me I should grab a ticket before it disappears. The story itself is substantial but this reviewer raved about the actors, the music and all the special effects.  ...

I just saw the funniest musical in the world. No exaggeration.  "Something Rotten!" doesn't open on Broadway until next week but I know it is going to be a big hit.  First of all, the plot is preposterous, ridiculous, inane, over the top.  But that is part of the fun.  It is not based on any book, film, play or historical character (other than William Shakespeare who in this case is Shakespeare as 16th century rock star.)  So one never ever knows where the plot will turn next.  It is always a surprise.  This is Shakespeare meets Spamalot.  I'm not even going to give the plot away here because I must recommend this musical and I don't want to spoil your fun. The costumes, sets and lighting make this a very colorful musical - more colorful than one would ever expect to find in 1595 London.  The musical score is first rate.  There are several showstopping musical numbers - especially "A Musical" - a big, fat Broadway production numb...

On Saturday I saw “Hand to God” at the Booth Theatre and "The Audience" at the Schoenfeld Theatre.  Have you seen "Hand to God"?   If so, can you please explain to me what this play is about?  I was more than a bit in shock.  Not what I was expecting. That is not to say it wasn't a good play or a good experience.  I was just totally taken aback. "Hand to God" opened this week to stupendous reviews.  So I thought I must see it.  A shy teenage boy named Jason (played by talented Steven Boyer) has a hand puppet named Tyrone that speaks for Jason – the inner voice of his most repressed thoughts, but that the loud, assertive, licentious and foul-mouthed Tyrone has no second thoughts about expressing.  Okay – this is an interesting concept to begin with: deep within our civilized public personas there are devilish and sexually repressed desires lurking within us that we are ashamed to acknowledge and speak about.  Jason’s recently widowed mo...

Last night I saw "Don't Dress For Dinner" at Theatre Three in Port Jefferson.  The $18.00 senior citizen discount ticket was worth every penny.  This is a typical French bedroom farce: Mistaken identifies, deceit, bribery, pratfalls, cheating husbands, cheating wives, mistresses and lovers.  But even though the plot line has been done repeatedly in every farce this play was full of laughs and surprises throughout.  The cast was excellent.  In particular James Schultz, whom I have seen now in several Theatre Three productions.  I am always impressed by his comic timing and how he dissolves into his character.  He is not an intentional scene stealer.  It is simply that he is heads and shoulders more talented than the rest of a very good cast.  A standout.  To quote the Times Beacon Record, "James D. Schultz ... In one word, outstanding. Every line he delivers, every movement he makes, every facial expression is so on point that the man t...