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Aaron Sorkin Drops Out of Broadway 'Houdini' - NYTimes.com

JANUARY 30, 2013, 4:52 PM Aaron Sorkin Drops Out of Broadway ‘Houdini’

By FELICIA R. LEE Aaron Sorkin, who was to make his debut as a librettist with the Broadway musical "Houdini," has pulled his own disappearing act and dropped out of the production because of scheduling conflicts, the producers confirmed Wednesday.

Deadline.com first reported on Tuesday that scheduling conflicts led Mr. Sorkin to withdraw from the musical starring Hugh Jackman as the famed illusionist. Mr. Sorkin was writing the book with Stephen Schwartz, the composer of "Wicked" and "Pippin."

Mr. Sorkin was balancing "Houdini" with the writing of his HBO series "The Newsroom," as well as work on a screenplay about Steve Jobs, adapted from Walter Isaacson's best-selling biography. In an interview with The New York Times last June, Mr. Sorkin was asked about juggling his various projects, noting that he had walked away from his TV series "The West Wing" before the run ended.

"I'm not good enough to be able to give any of these things less than my full attention and expect them to have a chance at being good, so the answer is that 100 percent of my attention goes to whatever's right in front of me," Mr. Sorkin said at the time.

In the statement released Wednesday, Mr. Sorkin said, "I was really looking forward to returning to Broadway and working with such an incredible team. I am very disappointed my schedule won't allow that at this time."

The producers Scott Sander and David Rockwell said, "Mr. Sorkin's considerable talents are an asset to any project and we regret that he's unable to remain with 'Houdini.'"

The musical's projected arrival on Broadway and additional creative team announcements will be made at a future date, the statement said.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/aaron-sorkin-drops-out-of-broadway-houdini/?pagewanted=print[2/1/2013 10:25:00 AM] Hizzoner Onstage: Sing Out, You Hoods and Hacks! - The New York Times

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January 31, 2013 THEATER REVIEW Hizzoner Onstage: Sing Out, You Hoods and Hacks!

By BEN BRANTLEY

Let’s hear it for the boys of the American musical. No, not the gentlemen of the chorus. This time I mean those tough, growly guys who wouldn’t know a chassé step unless it kicked ’em right in the kisser. Guys like that cigar-chomping Republican district leader from the smoky, rotten past of New York City politics: Ben Marino, his name is.

Playing this fog-throated politico in the jaunty new Encores! production of “Fiorello!” and backed by a chorus of slobs identified only as “political hacks,” Shuler Hensley offers a reminder as bracing as bootleg whiskey that it’s not just the brassy leading dames and love-struck swains who make vintage American musicals so much fun.

There were also those snarling galoots with voices of gravel and feet of lead (not unlike the repertory of hapless, testosterone-charged supporting characters in Sturges and Hawks movies) who cut right through the mushy love stories and gleaming declarations of idealism with blissfully bumbling numbers about what really counts in life.

Think of the rhyming gamblers from “Guys and Dolls” barking out track tips in “Fugue for Tinhorns,” or the leg-breaking, harmonizing gangsters from “Kiss Me, Kate,” who advised that you “Brush Up Your Shakespeare.” Dem’s happy memories dose guys gave us, right?

Now, having seen Mr. Hensley’s Ben Marino and his back-room cronies put over a sly showstopper about graft and perjury called “Little Tin Box,” I can attest that they too belong right up there in the Singing Lug Hall of Fame. (By the way, I thank Encores! for allowing us to see Mr. Hensley in such deliciously antic form after his recent tour de force as the housebound title character of “The Whale.”) And like the guys of “Guys” and the hoods of “Kate” they are part of a fraternity that could be made (and had) only in New York.

“Made in New York” might as well be stamped all over this Pulitzer Prize- and Tony-winning 1959 musical, which opens the 20th anniversary season of Encores! musicals in concert. “Fiorello!” was also chosen in 1994 to inaugurate the first season of this performance series, which has since made itself an essential fixture on the New York cultural landscape.

This double honor feels appropriate. For one thing “Fiorello!,” like Encores!, has an exclamation point, and the classic American musical is an exclamation-point kind of art form. (It sings! It dances! It acts!)

And as a portrait of an unstoppable human juggernaut (that would be the three-term mayor Fiorello La Guardia, played here by the suitably spark-pluggish Danny Rutigliano), “Fiorello!” is a celebration of the

http://theater.nytimes.com/2013/02/01/theater/reviews/fiorello-an-encores-musical-at-city-center.html?ref=theater&_r=0&pagewanted=print[2/1/2013 10:25:43 AM] Hizzoner Onstage: Sing Out, You Hoods and Hacks! - The New York Times

exhibitionism, egotism and endurance skills that New Yorkers like to think of as their city’s own special virtues.

But there’s one other trait that makes “Fiorello!” ideal Encores! fare and that makes me happy it’s come around a second time, since I missed the 1994 staging. Unlike Encores! presentations like “Chicago” and “Wonderful Town,” “Fiorello!” isn’t apt to skip over to Broadway and settle into a long run. It exudes an idealistic peppiness, especially regarding its white knight of a hero, that confines it to the era whence it came.

That doesn’t mean that “Fiorello!” is without distinctive charms, starting with its bevy of buoyant songs by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, who would go on to the greater glory of “Fiddler on the Roof.” And thanks to Rob Berman and the Encores! orchestra, a cast of highly competent singers, and the scene-summoning efficiency of the director Gary Griffin and the choreographer Alex Sanchez, those melodies can be savored firsthand (or first-ear) in all their lively variety.

In tracing the decades-spanning rise of its hero, an energized melting pot of Italian and Jewish descent, the show’s songwriters sampled an assortment of period styles, from the political jingle that George M. Cohan immortalized in “Harrigan” (in the witty campaign anthem “The Name’s La Guardia”) to the sentimental piano-sheet ballads crooned to doughboys leaving for war (“Home Again”).

There are also several perky comic songs by and about women in love, frustrated or otherwise, that one associates with the madcap revue singers of the 1950s: “I Love a Cop” (performed by Jenn Gambatese as a union worker whose heart leads her beyond the picket line) and a couple of wry, heart-baring spinster’s laments from Fiorello’s devoted assistant Marie, played by Erin Dilly. (Ms. Gambatese and Ms. Dilly are winning and polished veterans, but they are leading-lady-style performers, pushing to fill out more eccentric roles.)

As Thea, the Italian beauty that Fiorello courts, wins and loses (to an early death), Kate Baldwin easily ascends the evening’s musical peak, with a lush but gentle rendering of “When Did I Fall in Love?” — a ballad that deserves to be heard regularly. And in a role created by Tom Bosley (who won a Tony for it), Mr. Rutigliano runs confidently with a part he would seem to be born for, by virtue of lack of height, power of lungs and sheer force of energy.

Unfortunately single-minded, incorruptible people with a Mission (in this case, to save New York from the moral slime of Tammany Hall politics) tend to lack many arrows in their psychological quivers. And even with a new second-act number (written not long before Bock died in 2010) in which Fiorello bares his soul after losing both his first mayoral run and his first wife, the character remains a gleaming brass instrument with a limited range of notes to play.

On the other hand, if you’re going to put on a musical that conflates show business with politics, who better to deliver that lesson than a feisty human trumpet. There’s one memorable moment, which defines this show’s essence, in which Fiorello instructs a too-genteel all-female picket line of garment workers to raise their voices to sell their cause.

You know, he might well have said, “Sing out, Louise!” But in 1959 those words were being shouted on another Broadway stage by another human dynamo, named Momma Rose and played by Ethel Merman. That was in a show called “Gypsy,” which found the neurotic cracks in human trumpets and redefined musical-comedy portraiture for the ages.

“Gypsy” was shut out at the Tony Awards that year. It was “Fiorello!” that tied for best musical with “The Sound of Music,” a timely reminder in this awards season that true greatness is seldom accurately measured in plaques and statues. Thank Heaven that Encores! makes it such a pleasure for us to savor the near-greatness of times past and to assess the difference.

Fiorello!

Book by Jerome Weidman and George Abbott; music by Jerry Bock; lyrics by Sheldon Harnick; directed by Gary Griffin; music director, Rob Berman; choreography by Alex Sanchez; sets by John Lee Beatty; costumes by Jess Goldstein; lighting by Ken Billington; sound by Scott Lehrer; concert adaptation by John Weidman; music coordinator, Seymour Red Press; original orchestrations by Irwin Kostal; general manager, Over~Sky Productions; production stage manager, Tripp Phillips. A New York City Center Encores! Production, presented by New York City Center, Arlene Shuler, president; Jack Viertel, artistic director; Mark Litvin Sr., managing director. At City Center, 131 West 55th Street, Manhattan; (212) 581-1212, nycitycenter.org. Through Sunday. Running time: 2 hours 15 minutes.

WITH: Kate Baldwin (Thea), Jeremy Bobb (Floyd McDuff), Ray DeMattis (Mr. Zappatella), Erin Dilly (Marie), Jenn Gambatese (Dora), Adam Heller (Morris), Shuler Hensley (Ben Marino), Richard Ruíz (Mr. Lopez), Danny Rutigliano (Fiorello La Guardia), Andrew Samonsky (Neil), Emily Skinner (Mitzi Travers) and Cheryl Stern (Mrs. Pomerantz).

http://theater.nytimes.com/2013/02/01/theater/reviews/fiorello-an-encores-musical-at-city-center.html?ref=theater&_r=0&pagewanted=print[2/1/2013 10:25:43 AM] Beer, Bus Stop, Doritos and Brief Escape From Loneliness - The New York Times

January 31, 2013 THEATER REVIEW Beer, Bus Stop, Doritos and Brief Escape From Loneliness

By CHARLES ISHERWOOD

Portraying a woman waiting for a bus in “The Vandal,” a new play by Hamish Linklater that opened on Thursday at the Flea Theater, the wonderful Deirdre O’Connell gives a brief master class in minimalist acting.

Staring glumly before her, with her arms held tightly together for maximum warmth, her nameless character utters only the chariest of responses when a teenage boy attempts to pass the time with a little friendly conversation. Barely glancing in his direction, she exudes a frosty determination to avoid any sustained engagement. Although he pretends he can’t read it, her body language couldn’t be clearer: an exhausted stillness suggests that a long, dull wait for a bus is just about all this woman expects from life, today or tomorrow or the day after. And her clipped replies to his relentless questions imply a decision to embark upon this vigil in solitude, thank you very much.

Pregnant with meaning though her stillness is, we are probably fortunate that Ms. O’Connell’s character eventually succumbs to her companion’s perky friendliness. “The Vandal,” a modest but amiable comedy- drama that is the playwriting debut of Mr. Linklater, a talented actor, depicts the gradual coming together of two lonely souls in surprising, supernatural circumstances.

Directed by Jim Simpson, “The Vandal” has been expertly cast: in addition to Ms. O’Connell, an Off Broadway mainstay who specializes in tough-hided women with generous hearts, the play stars Zach Grenier (who plays a suavely opportunistic lawyer on “The Good Wife”) as the proprietor of a liquor store near the bus stop. Noah Robbins, seen (briefly) on Broadway in Neil Simon’s “Brighton Beach Memoirs,” portrays that pesky youngster, whose desire to score some beer sets the story gently rolling.

This motormouth has been hanging around in the graveyard near the bus stop, and coaxes from the woman the information that she has just come from visiting a friend in the hospital. The existential proximity of “get well soon” and “R.I.P.” inspires a funny riff. “I guess it’s practical, it’s like economical, if things don’t go well in one place it’s a short drive to the next,” he cracks, adding that this might, on the other hand, put a damper on the moods of expectant mothers. “You’re like, ‘Yea, new life! Ooooo, right, we’re all gonna die. Shoot, almost forgot. Thanks, city planner.’ ”

The bubbly geniality of Mr. Robbins’s character eventually burrows through the woman’s tough armor, when he compares her to another free-spirited woman he knew. Both understand that, as he says, “life is short, and, like, much easier to waste than use,” and therefore “when you see a chance to buy a funny kid a beer so that your freezing wait for a bus is noisy and entertaining instead of quiet and boring, you both choose life! Life! Life! Rah, rah, rah!”

http://theater.nytimes.com/2013/02/01/theater/reviews/the-vandal-by-hamish-linklater-at-the-flea-theater.html?ref=theater&pagewanted=print[2/1/2013 10:26:31 AM] Beer, Bus Stop, Doritos and Brief Escape From Loneliness - The New York Times

Maybe because her heart is defrosting, and maybe just so the boy will clam up, Ms. O’Connell’s character finally makes that purchase, only to be given a rough welcome by the wary, sardonic proprietor of the liquor store. He demands to see her ID, although she’s clearly on the far side of 40. He questions her credit card. Finally he advises her to buy some Cool Ranch Doritos along with the beer. When she balks, he reveals that Cool Ranch Doritos happen to be his son Robert’s favorite, and that his son makes a habit of sending in strangers to buy him beer.

Mr. Grenier, his dark baritone rumbling with mordant humor, imbues his storekeeper with a dryly cynical attitude that matches nicely with his customer’s. His testy sparring with her about her decision to purchase beer for a minor eventually wears on the poor woman’s nerves, to the point that she throws in a small bottle of whiskey for herself.

Mr. Linklater, whose stage appearances in New York include a splendid starring role in “The School for Lies” at the Classic Stage Company, writes tart, often friskily funny dialogue. All three characters in “The Vandal” are effectively drawn with sharp contours, and while the revelation on which the play turns is a slightly hoary one, it nevertheless gives the resolution a nifty little twist.

But even at about 75 minutes, the play has draggy patches and passages of overwritten dialogue. Particularly wearying is Robert’s elaborate spiel about those Cool Ranch Doritos as an extended ontological metaphor. (“What if the chip is the soul, the flavor dust is magic, the fingers what you do with your soul....”)

More appealing are the subtle ways that the loneliness — and the quiet fortitude — of the woman and the storekeeper are expressed. When they find themselves together in the cemetery, wandering among the gravestones and comparing their losses, the antagonism gives way to a growing sense of camaraderie in their mutual acceptance of life’s sadness, and the long, inescapable shadow of mortality.

The Vandal

By Hamish Linklater; directed by Jim Simpson; sets by David M. Barber; lighting by Brian Aldous; costumes by Claudia Brown; music and sound by Brandon Wolcott; stage manager, Michelle Kelleher. Presented by the Flea Theater, Mr. Simpson, artistic director; Carol Ostrow, producing director; Beth Dembrow, managing director. At the Flea Theater, 41 White Street, TriBeCa; (212) 226-2407, theflea.org. Through Feb. 17. Running time: 1 hour 15 minutes.

WITH: Zach Grenier (Man), Deirdre O’Connell (Woman) and Noah Robbins (Boy).

http://theater.nytimes.com/2013/02/01/theater/reviews/the-vandal-by-hamish-linklater-at-the-flea-theater.html?ref=theater&pagewanted=print[2/1/2013 10:26:31 AM]

‘Bad Jews’ back at Roundabout | Variety

Legit News

Posted: Thu., Jan. 31, 2013, 1:48pm PT

'Bad Jews' back at Roundabout Play to get fall run at the Pels Theater

By GORDON COX

Roundabout Theater Company is promoting from within, tapping its well-received small-scale production of "Bad Jews" to move up to the org's larger Off Broadway space for a run that begins in the fall.

Josh Harmon's "Bad Jews," about two cousins fighting over an heirloom of their late grandmother's, was initially produced last year as part of the Roundabout Underground series, the theater's programming dedicated to smaller productions that are showcases for emerging creatives. Play's original cast -- Tracee Chimo, Philip Ettinger, Molly Ranson and Michael Zegen -- will return for the move to the Laura Pels Theater, as will helmer Daniel Aukin.

The Underground series has previously yielded another Off Broadway title, Pulitzer finalist "Sons of the Prophet" by Stephen Karam, whose first play was produced in the Underground series. Scribe's latest, "The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durnin," will bow at the Pels over the summer.

Roundabout also has set the sked for its latest series of Underground readings, of which "Bad Jews is an alum. Writers on the docket include Jonathan Caren ("The Recommendation"), Rachel Bonds ("Swimmers"), Mat Smart ("Tinker to Evers to Chance"), Christian Durso ("Shiner") and Kate Gerste ("Benefit of the Doubt").

Reading series runs Feb. 25-March 1. "Bad Jews," meanwhile, gears up for a run that begins Sept. 20.

Contact Gordon Cox at [email protected]

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118065497/?refcatid=4154&printerfriendly=true[2/1/2013 9:54:45 AM]