London shows (June 2016)

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  • How the Other Half Loves, 6/11/16 (Sat), West End
  • Showboat, 6/11/16 (Sat), West End
  • In the Heights, 6/12/16 (Sun), King’s Cross
  • Iris, 6/14/16 (Tues), Holland Park Opera
  • The Invisible Hand, 6/15/16 (Wed), Tricycle
  • Elegy, 6/16/16 (Thurs), Donmar
  • The Flying Lovers Of Vitebsk, 6/18/16 (Sat), Sam Wanamaker
  • The Comedy About a Bank Robbery, 6/19/16 (Sun), West End
  • Macbeth, 6/19/16 (Sun), Globe

Continue reading →

Grease Live (TV)

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Grease Live (TV), 5/2/16 (Mon)

Fox’s entry into the live musical genre pioneered by NBC. Grease seemed a natural choice as an ever-potent title about high-school life in the 1950s, using a retooled version incorporating songs from the super-successful movie. The broadcast had received strong reviews and ratings, and while I’m not a big fan of the show itself, I had been interested in seeing what they did with it. Continue reading →

Toast/The Effect

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Toast, 4/24/16 (Sun), Off Broadway

The Effect, 4/24/16 (Sun), Off Broadway

Toast: A revival of the debut piece by the entertaining British writer Richard Bean. I usually avoid US productions of UK shows because of differing acting styles and accents all over the map, but this was imported intact from London in the Brits on Broadway series. The unglamorous setting is a canteen in an aging bread factory, where the all-male work force whiles away the breaks between their grueling plant duties with cigarettes, stale sandwiches, idle talk (e.g. gossip about one worker’s affair with a toothless woman, eye-opening use for skate fish) and horseplay (a habit of crotch-grabbing in one guy’s case). Continue reading →

Eternal Chikamatsu (エターナルチカマツ）

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Eternal Chikamatsu

12 March 2016 (Sat), Tokyo

I decided rather on a whim to see this show, knowing only that it’s a riff on Chikamatsu Monzaemon’s 18th-century classic  Love Suicide at Amijima (心中天網島) where characters from that play somehow interact with similar modern-day counterparts. I was interested in remarks made by the director, David Leveaux, that suggested he (along with the scriptwriter) did not have a good understanding of the notion of suicide in the context of Chikamatsu’s shows. I like both the leads, Fukatsu Eri and Shichinosuke, so I figured it might be worth catching. Continue reading →

Terrace of the Leper King (ライ王のテラス )

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ライ王のテラス (Terrace of the Leper King)

3 March 2016 (Thurs), Tokyo

15 March 2016 (Tues), Tokyo

Tickets to Miyamoto Amon’s production of this Mishima work, its first large-scale revival in over 40 years, were completely sold out on the strength of its rising star Suzuki Ryohei (helped by a great poster with the sculpted Ryohei sitting shirtless front and center). I had read the play and couldn’t make much sense of the rambling theme, but the story itself was certainly dramatic. Also, the Cambodian setting offered promising design possibilities, and Amon had brought in dancers from the Royal Ballet of Cambodia and acrobats from a traditional Cambodian circus called Phare. I was ready for anything. Continue reading →

Tairo Jo: Puppet Hamlet

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Taira Jo’s Hamlet

27 February 2016 (Sat), Tokyo

A second tragedy by puppeteer Taira Jo after last month’s Medea. The performance was sold out, impressive in this theater (Ueno Bunka Kaikan, typically a concert hall). At three-and-a-half hours, including two intermissions, this is not a show for the faint hearted. This was the show’s first and only performance, part of a three-play series commissioned by the hall. Continue reading →

Tairo Jo: Puppet Medea

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Taira Jo’s Medea, 17 Jan 2016, Tokyo 

A puppet version of the Greek tragedy performed by Taira Jo, who adapted, directed, designed and performed the entire show and all characters. As a puppet lover, I had been curious about his plays, so this seemed as good a chance as any. Knowing this was a one-man show, I had expected an hour-long play and was taken aback when I heard it was in fact in two-and-a-half hours. And that was on top of my skepticism as to whether Medea is really a good choice for a puppet show. That said, I happily sit through Bunraku plays for five hours (though those involve a significantly larger cast), so I was willing to give this a chance.

It turned out to be a very appealing concept superbly realized. Continue reading →

How to fix LA CAGE AUX FOLLES (musical)

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How to fix LA CAGE AUX FOLLES (musical)

A bit of a presumptuous heading, I suppose; I honestly doubt anyone connected with La Cage thinks it needs fixing – it remains a tremendously popular show some 40 years after its debut, and picks up a Tony for Best Production every time it plays Broadway (one for Best Musical and two for Best Musical Revival). I’m actually a fan, so it’s hard to complain too much; whatever the flaws, it’s always a fun night out.

But the flaws are there. Continue reading →

Germany and migrants: I See Nussing

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I don’t like venturing out of my comfort zone of theater, but a link I added to Facebook some weeks back attracted curious comments that deserve a response. I wasn’t even aware for a few years that “liking” an article left a link on my FB page; I thought I was just giving the writer a pat on the back.

The article in question by the great Mark Steyn was an opinion piece on the recent inflow of migrants into Europe, especially Germany. It noted that nearly 900,000 of the 1.1 million migrants in Germany last year were young males, an astonishing statistic if true.

Doesn’t that age and gender ratio strike anyone as odd? Continue reading →

Diana Krall

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Diana Krall

19 February 2016, Bangkok

I only know vaguely about Diana Krall: Canadian jazz pianist, blonde beauty, Julie London-type cool, married to Elvis Costello. I’ve heard scattered songs, such as her famous version of “The Look of Love”, and was never overly wowed. But with little else to do on a Friday night in Bangkok, this seemed as good a time as any to check her out for real. Continue reading →