February 16, 2011
Anyone who has seen Shine, Shakespeare in Love, Exit the King or most recently The King's Speech knows that everything Geoffrey Rush touches turns to gold, and his current theater engagement should be no exception. The Diary of a Madman, which opened last week for a one-month run at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, showcases Rush as Poprishchin, an unaccomplished civil servant living in 1830s Russia during the reign of Nicholas I. Based on a satirical short story by Nikolai Gogol, the play details the protagonist's descent into insanity as told through his diary entries: He suspects two dogs of swapping love letters and spies on their affair, believes himself to be heir to the Spanish throne and falls in love with his superior's daughter. If Rush's past performances offer any clues as to how he will play a man held captive by a rigid social structure and a debilitating mental state, it's a safe bet to expect brilliance. At 651 Fulton St., Brooklyn; 718-636-4100; bam.org.
Photo Heidrun Lohr
January 26, 2012
Courtesy Signature Theater.
New York’s Signature Theater Company has long been known as a kind of playwright’s utopia, with a tradition of offering emerging playwrights intensive residencies and, more unusually, devoting entire seasons to the work of a single playwright. (The 2010-2011 season, for instance, staged only works by Tony Kushner, from a revival of his Pulitzer Prize-winning Angels in America to a new piece called The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism With a Key To The Scriptures.)
After 20 years of moving from theater to theater, the company is now opening the doors to its permanent home: the Signature Center, a 70,000 square-foot space on 42nd Street, in Manhattan, that was designed by Frank Gehry. The space features three theaters with various and flexible seating arrangements, all occupying the same level as the vast lobby and central plaza, which contains a café and a bookstore. “I wanted to create a space that celebrates and enhances the intimacy between the performer and the audience,” said Gehry, “while encouraging the innovation that Signature is known for.”
The new season kicks off January 31 in the new building (we hope the paint is dry!) with Blood Knot, which is by this year’s playwright-in-residence, Athol Fugard. A restaging of Edward Albee’s The Lady From Dubuque will follow on February 14. But first: a properly grand opening gala on January 30, where attendees can roam from theater to theater enjoying champagne, hors d’oeuvres and various performances. The VIP ticketholders especially are in for a treat: an intimate, pre-gala cocktail hour with honoree Edward Norton and Frank Gehry himself. Tickets from $1000; Single VIP tickets, $2500, VIP parties of ten, $25,000; 480 West 42nd Street, 212-244-7529; signaturetheatre.org.
August 04, 2011
Summer theater started with a bang when the Royal Shakespeare Company set up residency in New York in July. It'll be capped off with a bang, too, as Oscar winner Cate Blanchett headlines the Sydney Theatre Company's performance of Uncle Vanya at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. from August 4 through 27. The company received enthusiastic reviews for its smash-hit production of A Streetcar Named Desire in 2009, and Blanchett was universally praised for her powerful portrayal of Blanche DuBois. Now she returns as Chekhov's enticing Yelena, who visits a distant farm only to become embroiled in a complex love affair. Australian reviews from the company's fall run suggest we're in for a treat. August 4-27, tickets from $59. 2700 F St. NW, Washington, D.C.; 202-467-4600; kennedy-center.org.
Before it's too late: Check these cultural events off your summer to-do list
Cate Blanchett and Richard Roxburgh in Sydney Theatre Company's Uncle Vanya. Photo courtesy of the Kennedy Center
