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This has gotten a lot of promotion on CNN, but for those who don't often watch the channel or in case it fell through the cracks, I thought it deserved a reminder. But this coming Saturday, June 7 -- also known as "tomorrow" (if you're reading this when posted on Friday -- CNN is broadcasting live the second-to-last performance of the Broadway play, Good Night and Good Luck with George Clooney, based on the film he starred in and co-wrote with Grant Heslov. It airs live at 4 PM in Los Angeles. And 7 PM in the East.
(It's the "second-to-last" performance, rather than the last performance, because that is a matinee on Sunday.) The production was always planned as limited run, so it's not closing early. In fact, it set box-office records during its run. ("Box-office records" have been more common these days, given increased ticket prices...and massively increased ticket prices for celebrity-starring productions. Still, the show has to be good enough to bring in audiences willing to pay those sky-high prices.) CNN will also be having a discussion after the play.
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I come visit Chicago every year – at times twice a year. And I had plans to come this Spring at some time. But there is a specific reason I came right now – a reason which even the elves back in Los Angeles taking care of the homestead understand. And they always insist that they understand little of what I do… Around 35-40 years, I saw an absolutely wonderful play in Los Angeles, called Translations, by the great Irish playwright Brian Friel. The first play of his that I saw years earlier was Philadelphia, Here I Come – a terrific show with fascinating staging, where the main character is played by two actors on stage at the same time (one his “outer self” who deals with all the people around him, and the other his “inner self,” where we see what he’s really thinking and the exchanges with others he’d like to have). It was nominated for a Tony Award as Best Play. He also wrote the play Dancing at Lunaghsa, which won the Tony Award as Best Play, and was made into a wistful, moody, lovely movie that starred Meryl Streep. So, when I say he’s a great playwright, I’m not kidding around. I’d loved Translations, which was staged in a small, Equity-waiver theater that only seated around 200 people. But as much as I wanted to see it again, in the intervening years hadn’t come across another production of it. In fact, it didn’t finally play on Broadway for another decade after I saw it. But as it happens, the excellent theater company I’ve written about there, the Writers Theatre (that began life literally in the back of a bookstore in Glencoe where I grew up, though now they built a magnificent facility there with two intimate stages – one so small, in fact, that it’s an homage to the original bookstore location) – is putting on Translations!! When I saw their new season announced a year ago, I’ve been anxiously awaiting for tickets to go on sale for this, finally got them, and planned my trip into town around it. (The Writers Theatre has an excellent company, and often uses actors from the Goodman Theater in Chicago. When they put on productions, the main theater critics from the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times drive out to the suburbs to review the plays – and even the critic from the New York Times includes Writers Theatre productions when making his annual “what’s going on with theater in Chicago” trip. The Wall Street Journal has reviewed the company’s productions, as well.) All the more reason why I was glad that it was the Writers Theater putting Translations on. The play is a drama, though often rambunctiously funny, and even has a romance. It has to do with the importance of language and culture, and takes place in 19th century Ireland, when the British occupy Ireland and want to change the national language from Irish to English. The clever thing about the staging is that while all the actors speak to the audience in English, of course, the Irish characters (who only speak Irish) use an Irish accent and the British characters use an English accent – and so, although the two sides within the play can’t understand one another, we in the audience can understand them both. There is a terrific “Romeo and Juliet-like” subplot between an English solider and Irish girl – their sides are natural enemies, but the two are clearly attracted to one another. However, they can’t understand each other, though the audience can. There are times you want to yell out to the stage, “He’s telling you he loves you!!!” Oddly, something weird cropped up related to this. A month ago, I was watching the British talk show The Graham Norton Show on BBC America. One of the guests was one of my favorite actors, Chris O’Dowd (who, not shockingly, is Irish). He was telling a story about having recently appeared in a production of the play…Translations!! But further, as part of the story, he brought up that in the very first production of Translations, about 40 years ago, one of the actors in it was a young actor at the start of his career, Liam Neeson!! Since then, I’ve seen that it was put on by the National Theatre in London, and also the famed Abbey Theatre in Ireland. So, it seems to be done a lot in the U.K. And there even have been productions around this country – I just hadn’t been aware of them, despite keeping my eyes open for it. Obviously, not open wide enough. So, after going around 35-40 years looking for another production of Translations ever since I saw the play, and not coming across even a story about one, I then heard, within a matter of weeks, three different productions brought up! As well as found out about these other major productions, albeit when doing research. But still, something is in the water. But there's even more in the water than just that. Because it only recently struck me how far-more timely the play is today than when it was written. Keeping in mind that the play was scheduled by the Writers Theatre over a year ago -- and noting how in the news right now, the Trump administration not only is blocking the teaching of black history and erasing any DEI references from government documents, but also changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America" and changing the traditional Alaskan Native name of Mount Denali (the highest peak in the United States), back to "Mount McKinley" -- the reality is that the play of Translations isn't just about soldiers coming to change Gaelic to English, which is close enough to today's headlines...but is about the British government sending in, literally a team of cartographers to change the maps from Irish locations to English names! In fact, how ripped from the headlines is this 40-year old play? Watching a video that the Writers Theatre made with its cast members discussing the meaning of the play, and describing it from the perspective of the ages-old battle between the British and Irish, there is a passage where they say -- verbatim -- that Translations is about "Trying to erase culture and language of that culture, the identity of that culture...Changing the names and places of Ireland to Anglicize them for English purposes." Little could be more current in America. As for the play, it was a joy to see after all this time. It was a great production, as the Writers Theatre's works almost always are. And the acting was impeccable, down to the minor characters. The only "hiccup" is that I could tell that some of the older audience (including those I went with) were having trouble with the thick Irish accents and pronounced British ones. But that's important to the play and the whole point of what it's about. It could be done without accents, I supposed, but it would be a lesser work for it. The play itself is excellent. It's not my favorite of Brian Friel's worth, and there parts that don't work as well for me as others -- the first act is a little slow, but it's absolutely critical for setting up the town, the people in it, the culture there, the relationships and history. Though for my taste, I'd have liked it a touch shorter. But it's so rich in texture, I understand why it's that way. And once the British arrive, the story becomes more involved.  There is a lot left "uncertain" (or unexplained) in the play, but that's part of its point, as well. As Friel writes about the work, language and culture is what's important in the play, not the politics. And lack of clarity and misunderstanding and the criss-crossing of unshared history is at the heart of the play, so not everything is explained neatly. Because language when relying on translating is rarely exactly clear, while trying to be understood is the core of communication. All in all, I was so glad to see the play again after all these years. It's a thoughtful, rich, meandering and substantive work.  Here's a short, 30-second trailer of the play when it was done at the National Theatre in London. It really doesn't to the play justice, or give all that much a sense of the substance, but hey, it's the National Theatre and at least is a start... And as a bonus, this is a short video from one of the actors in the original 1980 production -- Liam Neeson, as he talks about a (then) major revival of the play being done in Ireland two years ago, and then touring, ending at the famed Abbey Theatre. On this week’s ‘Not My Job’ segment of the NPR quiz show Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!, the guest contestant is Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. Her conversation with host Peter Sagal is a total, enthusiastic and even surprising joy – though they don’t talk about the law (albeit do touch on the Supreme Court), but mostly discuss her great love of theater and her (then) upcoming walk-on appearance in the Broadway musical “& Juliet.” But the highlight may be when she talks about being in a college production at Yale of the musical “Little Shop of Horrors” with panelist Mo Rocca. Followed by a story about doing a scene in acting class there with Matt Damon. It’s all wonderful. This is the full Wait, Wait… broadcast, but you can jump directly to the “Not My Job” segment, it starts around the 18:15 mark. Today, once again (and again and again...) marks the anniversary of when Agatha Christie's play The Mousetrap opened on London's West End. That was on November 25, 1952 -- 72 years ago today. It's still running, after 29,547 performances. By way of comparison, not long ago Phantom of the Opera closed as the longest-ever running production in Broadway history. It ran for 13,981 performances, over the course of 35 years. If it hadn't closed and played for another 35 years…it still would be short of The Mousetrap. And that's if The Mousetrap closed tomorrow. Even the longest-running show in New York, off-Broadway's musical The Fantasticks, which had a remarkable run of 42 years and 17,162 performances fell far short, just over half as long. And again, The Mousetrap is still running. I have a theory about that. At some point long ago, it stopped by just a long-running play and instead become a tourist attraction, a stop to make when in London. As a kidling, I saw The Mousetrap on a family trip to Europe in 1966, the play's 14th year. A couple years later on another family trip, I picked up a poster which I have up on my walls.  At the time, I was a little sorry that the poster had as many years as "16." Little did I know how paltry that number would be. A couple of fun tidbits about that first production in 1952. One of the actors in the play was Richard Attenborough, who of course went on to great fame as an actor (in such movies as The Great Escape and Jurassic Park), but even greater fame as a director, winning an Oscar for Gandhi. And also, when Agatha Christie signed a contract to give away the movie rights, it was under the condition that no movie of it would be made until after the play closed. That was 72 years ago. So far... This is SO wonderful – for the brilliance of the idea, the cleverness of how it builds, the participants they got (all of them major actors who’ve played Hamlet in the West End), and finally being able to payoff the joke with a great punchline and a huge surprise. It’s from eight years ago, and I’m not exactly sure what it was for, but it seems like perhaps a benefit for the Royal Shakespeare Company, or a TV special called “Shakespeare Live.” I wish I could find the full sketch, but the BBC hasn't posted it yet, despite many commenters begging for it). However, I’ll keep looking -- and I do have a bonus video below -- but this suffices nicely, and a joy to have, with the writer who came up with the idea, Gregory Doran, explaining how it all came together. I wish the freeze frame doesn't give away the joke at the end, but that's how it goes. I'll just note that it's not the full joke, since what's specifically said is the final punch line. And this is the bonus. Still not the full sketch, but it's the surprise at the end when then-Sir Charles appears and comes on stage to correct them all. So, you at least get the full audience reaction of the payoff. Why the BBC hasn’t posted the full sketch…well, that is the question. Back on November 11, 2016, I wrote an article here about a world premiere play I saw in Culver City called Vicuña by Jon Robin Baitz. It was probably the strangest experience I've had seeing a play. What made it so other-worldly? Well, first, the play was a political satire about, as I wrote at the time, "a blustering real estate tycoon and reality TV star who—to everyone’s surprise—becomes a major party’s nominee for President." And second, look at the date. I'd seen the play the night before -- which was only two days after the 2016 presidential election when Trump was elected to the White House. The play was very funny -- though there was almost no laughter in the theater. It was eerie. I should add, too, that it was not a comedy, and takes a dark turn in the second act, making the evening all the more chilling. I don't explain why in the article, not wanting to give anything away. But since enough time has passed, I'll include a brief mention of it all at the end of this piece for those interested. I thought it was timely to repeat the original article about the play. For the longest time, Trump's win killed the show's future life. The comedy and satire were too raw. However, it finally did get a production in Washington, D.C. -- to deserved good reviews. I don't know about productions since then, but enough time has passed that it would be very effective today. In fact, it film adaptation would be timely for one of the streaming services. And it would be inexpensive to make, since the set locations are very limited. So, here's that original piece. Written three days after Trump was elected, seen the night before, two days after. A wonderful political satire, where no one in the theater was laughing. As I said, I'll update the play's plot a bit after the photo at the end. Vicuña Well, that was an odd experience. I had tickets a couple weeks ago to see a world premiere production of the play Vicuña by Jon Robin Baitz, which is running at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. However, when I had bought the tickets a few months earlier, it had never occurred to me -- given a lifetime of experience -- to check to see if there'd be any conflict with the beloved Chicago Cubs and the World Series. As it happened, there was. Who'd a thought? So, I blew off the show. However, I'm very slightly acquainted with Robbie Baitz (only through email. We exchanged a lot of them during the last Writers Guild strike several years back), so I did want to see it. Plus, the story sounded interesting, and I'd have wanted to see it regardless. Happily, I was able to exchange seats for another evening, with a service charge. And so I went last night. Why is that an odd experience? Here's the premise of the show, described as a satire on the Center Theatre Group's website -- "A tailor to the wealthy, powerful, and famous struggles to serve a very unusual client: a blustering real estate tycoon and reality TV star who—to everyone’s surprise—becomes a major party’s nominee for President. As the election spins out of control, the tailor and his apprentice are forced to examine their roles as confidants and image-makers for the candidate…and whether the right suit has the power to clinch the presidency." I have absolutely no doubt that watching the play two weeks ago was an UTTERLY and TOTALLY different reality from two days after the actual, real-life election. Honestly, I really wasn't sure I was even up for going to see a satire about this, so soon after votes were in, and considered blowing it off again. But last month I'd sent a note Robbie that I'd be going, and even though I don't even know if he remembered, I felt a certain obligation. And the truth is that it is indeed a tough play now to sit through. To be clear, when I say "now," I mean literally that. Now, two days after the election. I don't think it will be as much the case in three months, and likely (hopefully) not at all in a year. But now? Yes, it was difficult. There are a lot of very funny lines in the first act, though I think I only laughed twice -- and both cases had nothing to do with politics. But it was certainly well-written. What's good to note though is that, although described as a satire, that doesn't mean the whole play is funny -- and, in fact, the second act takes a turn and becomes more dramatic. And then ratchets things up even more. And it's really quite strong, building surprisingly to an unexpected impactful conclusion. Make no mistake, good as the show is, it was still very raw and difficult to watch only two days after the election -- the audience was very responsive throughout although clearly muted, which was equally clear watching faces and body language at intermission -- but the show nonetheless works very well even under such conditions because ultimately it's not a joke-fest making fun of the character and situation but turns out to have a meaningful subtext that bubbles to the surface and takes over. Jon Robin Baitz is a terrific writer, with a great many plays to his credit, perhaps most notably Other Desert Cities which got a Tony nomination as Best Play and won the Outer Circle Critics Award in 2011. He also created the TV series Brothers & Sisters. Harry Groener (who most people would like recognize from his many genial appearances on TV and films, as well as Broadway) stars at the candidate. And the other recognizable actor in the show is Brian George, who plays the tailor, and who has a very long acting career, too, though most-certainly is best known as "Babu" on Seinfeld. I noticed a bunch of stumbles in the first scene (it's possible that, being a first production and so timely, there are some line changes being tweaked), perhaps too the rawness of the reality affects the cast, as well. In any event they were gone by the end of the first act More to the point, the whole cast was very good -- Ramiz Monsef plays the outspoken apprentice tailor whose parents have a questionable immigration status. And Samantha Sloyan is the candidate's daughter and campaign manger, who begins to see the quandry she's involved in as her father's dark side slowly surfaces. Also, in a small role, but with a great monologue is Linda Gehringer who plays the party's chairwoman sent on a mission to buy the candidate off so that he will drop out of the race before destroying the party, and possibly the country. I'm extremely glad I saw the show. I just wish it wasn't last night and under these circumstances. But it certainly made it unique, an experience most people won't have...  And here's the very brief update about the plot which I left out of the original telling of the story. I left it out, in part because I didn't want to give away any of the plot. But also in part because it was just the fictional story of the play. Not real life. So, for people who do want to know the update -- Though what happened onstage was merely a fictional plot, with the passage of time, it turned out to be eerily prescient. Because the "dark turn" I reference is that this buffoonish political candidate in the first act turns out, in the second act, to have a deeply racist side that grows from there and manifests itself in a fascist vision of arrests and deportations. The audience wasn't laughing out of concern from knowing the future, but only because of what had just happened in the immediate present. Yet, given that we were all only reacting to the election two days before, consider what I wrote above, that one of the characters in the play is sent on a mission to get the joke candidate to drop out of the race before destroying the party, and possibly the country. What Jon Robin Baitz wrote was funny, rich and deep -- and went into totally fictional areas that I suspect he wishes today he was only imagining. |
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. 
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