Image Credit: Carol Rosegg
Looks like we’re waiting a little longer for Dane Cook’s Broadway debut. Producers of Neil LaBute’s Fat Pig (featuring the comic and Julia Stiles) announced Thursday that the play’s April opening has been pushed back until next season. But at least that show is still going on: Earlier in the week, Arthur Laurents confirmed he’s put the kibosh on the Barbra Streisand-led film adaptation of Gypsy, crushing the dreams of “Rose’s Turn” fans everywhere.
Yet, it’s not all bad news for theater folk. The Olivier Awards (Britain’s Tonys) were handed out on Sunday, making winners like Sheridan Smith, who grabbed the Best Actress in a Musical prize for Legally Blonde, very happy. Kathy Griffin Wants a Tony started its hilarious, if short, Broadway run (check out Kathy’s self-penned fictitious Playbill bio here). And our critics saw two plays: One off-Broadway dud and one splendid Great White Way must-see.
Cactus Flower: I found this D-grade off-Broadway production of Abe Burrow’s 1965 farce (starring Grease 2’s Maxwell Caulfield as a playboy dentist) to be “poorly staged, terribly miscast, and just plain difficult to sit through.”
Arcadia: EW critic Melissa Rose Bernardo claims you’ll have a “rousing evening” at director David Leveaux’s Broadway revival of Tom Stoppard’s period-shifting drama about love, sex and, academics (starring Billy Crudup, Lia Williams, Raúl Esparza, and New York stage newcomer Tom Riley). She raves “the acting could hardly be better … personally I preferred this cast to the original production’s” and gives it an A-.
Couldn’t agree more about Arcadia! It is superb – I especially love Septimus as played by Tom Riley. Perfect.
I got to see Arcadia last week over Spring Break. As a theatre student, it really reenergized me. I would encourage everyone to try and see it.
I loved this production of Arcadia, but it definitely did not open to raves. The reviews were positive, but most critics found some problems with the production, especially the sound.