From Last Row of the Orchestra at the Cort Theatre

From Last Row of the Orchestra at the Cort Theatre 

(The Night I Saw Paula Vogel’s Indecent) 

The Cort Theatre / 138 W. 48 St., NYC
Photo courtesy of The Cort Tehatre

The Producers, the Mel Brooks original movie, was on channel 13 about a week ago.  I tuned in just in time to see Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder watching Springtime for Hitler from behind the last row of the orchestra at the Cort Theatre.  I started thinking of all the shows I saw there.  The list grew rather lengthy.  It included Grace, Stick Fly, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, This is Our Youth, M. Butterfly (December 17, 2017 posting on this blog), Glenda Jackson in King Lear (April 23, 2019 posting on this blog), and Linda Lavin in The Lyons.  My memory of shows there goes all the way back to Cherry Jones and Frances Sternhagen in The Heiress.  The one night that stands out in my memory of shows I experienced in that hallowed hall is when I saw the production of Indecent (April 30, 2017 posting on this blog).  It was stunning.  I sat in the last row of the orchestra, house right, third seat from the side aisle.  That seat is not the most comfortable and does not offer the best view of the stage.  If you ever sat in the last row of the orchestra at the Cort Theatre, you probably know what I’m talking about.  I felt like I needed a booster seat, and the overhang from the mezzanine seems really low.  Since I usually get my tickets on TDF, I often sit in last row.  I am very grateful for that discount, which affords me to see as much theatre as I do (or did).  I remember occupying that very same seat at the Cort Theatre a few times.  Once the show starts and I engage, I usually surrender to the elements and connect with the performance.  However, when I saw Indecent, there was another challenge I faced from the last row. 

Photo courtesy of Indecent

The night I saw Indecent, the couple in front of me was on a date.  Not necessarily a first date, but definitely an early in their relationship date.  As soon as the show started, the man put his arm around the woman’s shoulder, sat close to her, and leaned his head against hers, blocking my already slumped view, claustrophobic from the mezzanine overhang.  I am not the type of person to tap a stranger in front of me on the shoulder and disturb their theatre experience.  I am, however, the type of person who writes about it on their theatre blog sometime in the future (meaning now).  I doubt they will be reading this, and if they do, won’t recognize themselves.  In my vengeful imagination, they broke up after the show.  I spent the evening shifting my focus from over their joined heads, to the right side of their joined head, then the left, and sometimes, when the stage positioning allowed, to the small open space under their lightly touching ears.  Remember, I was already slumped down.  The total effect of the powerful images by director Rebecca Taichman was enthralling.  Paula Vogel’s sweeping dialogue was encompassing.  The production left a very strong impression on me, no matter how hard I had to work to be emotionally engaging because of the challenges.  My blog post here on April 30, 2017 focused on that, and did not reflect my discomfort. 

My reading list of plays during this coronavirus lockdown seems to get longer every week.   Reading the works of one master playwright seems to open up inquiry into another.  My list originally included a number of plays written by Donald Margulies, including his version of The God of Vengeance.  I found his adaptation of Sholem Asch’s original play, which is the inspiration for the story of Indecent, to be powerful and intriguing.  Since Paula Vogel’s play does not re-tell the story of The God of Vengeance, I decided to read her play with my newfound understanding of the full story.  I thought it would be interesting to see if my reaction would be different, and I figured reading the play would also fill in any gaps I might have missed while dodging the couple’s heads in front of me. 

The Broadway production of Indecent at the Cort Theatre
Photo courtesy of Indecent

A close read of a play always gives me a strong appreciation for the intention of playwriting, and my read of Indecent was no exception.  Paula Vogel crafted a strong work that is a testament to what she states in the introduction to the published play.  “There are storied collaborations in the American Theater, writer/director collaborations that over years result in plays that remain vivid on the page.”  Indecent is definitely one of those plays.  Her scenes develop with a fierce focus on the desires of the characters.  The overarching action evolves out of these moments.  The characters are driven by their deep need to communicate the truths of their experiences.  This comes strongly into conflict with the norms of the society in which they long to assimilate.  In all her plays Paula Vogel takes her audience on a journey that exceeds any expectation.  Her collaboration with director Rebecca Taichman on Indecent supersedes the high bar she sets for herself and her audience in any of her previous work. 

Zero Mostel & Gene Wilder behind the last row
of the orchestra at the Cort Tehatre
Photo courtesy of The Producers

Toward the end of Indecent, one of the characters makes a powerful statement about the theatre experience.  “…the play belongs to the people who labor in it!  And the audience who put aside the time to be there in person!”  This line rings with extra veracity in this time of the pandemic shutdowns.  I look very much forward to the return of live theatre so I can belong in that way again.  I would be willing to pay three times the ticket price for that seat in the last row of the Cort Theatre, house right, third seat from the side aisle, slumped down and claustrophobic from the mezzanine overhang.  I’d even pay that price to stand where Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder stood just to engage in a live theatre experience.  It is worth any effort it takes to commune with an audience, even dodging head of a couple seated in front of me.  I look forward to that return.  I look forward to seeing you there!

Domenick Danza

The Plays of Christopher Shinn

The Plays of Christopher Shinn

Playwright Christopher Shinn
Photo courtesy of Playbill

The first play I saw that was written by Christopher Shinn was Dying City at Second Stage Theater.  I posted about it on this blog on June 23, 2019.   The play was enthralling.  Allow me to quote myself, which I have never done before.   “Mr. Shinn holds back the details, building suspense and intrigue until the characters spill out the truth.  He then takes the characters to a place of understanding, both free of what was weighing them down and newly burdened by their current awareness.”  I immediately bought an anthology of his plays an read all five of them.  Each work is distinct, yet all contain skillfully crafted dialogue and characters in search of their own truths.

Judgement Day
Photo courtesy of Park Avenue Armory

When I read he adapted Judgment Day, which was running at the Park Avenue Armory in December, I did something I rarely do.  I bought a full price ticket.  I wrote about that production in a blog post on December 14, 2019.  I won’t directly quote myself again.  I’ll just paraphrase.  In Judgement Day Mr. Shinn builds strong characters motivated by the underlying themes in Ödön von Horváth’s original play.  You empathize with their situation and feel, as they do, that there is no escape from their actions.  

Photo courtesy of
Bloomsbury Methuen Drama

Last week I read another of his plays, Against.  Of all the plays of his that I read, it is one of the more complex and enigmatic.  This is because of two skillfully crafted elements: his structure, and the creation of his main character, Luke.  In the first scene we find out this “Silicon Valley billionaire” thinks he was visited by God.  The message he received was, “Go where there’s violence.”  It is the opening line of the play and sets Luke off on his journey.  His character unravels one page at a time as we hear the adoration and suspicions of the people he comes in contact with.  The action is not fast rising, but builds the world of the play layer upon layer with each progressive scene.  The ending is unexpected, yet brings about the change that Luke was hoping to evoke.  You are left with the realization of how violence is firmly embedded within our culture.  You wonder what needs to happen to change the “status quo.”

If you are looking a good read in your time at home with no access to live theatre, I recommend reading the works of Christopher Shinn.  Do as I did, start with Dying City. His collection of plays is entitled Where Do We Live & Other Plays.  Save Against for last.  It will serve as a stunning ending to your Christopher Shinn journey. 

Domenick Danza

Shakespeare from the American Point of View

Shakespeare from the American Point of View

Shakespeare in a Divided America written by James Shapiro

Published by Penguin Press, 2020

Photo courtesy of Getty Image

I have not written a blog post since March 7, before the pandemic became our norm.  It was a strange day when theatres in New York closed.  We all know the bad luck associated with using the work “closed” or “shutdown” when talking about theatre.  We say the theatre is “dark.”  And it is definitely a dark period.  I enjoy writing for my blog because I share my experiences.  Live theatre, which I miss terribly, is all about the experience.  I usually attend alone, meaning I go by myself, but I have a shared experience with anywhere from two hundred to two thousand people.  We commune.  Then, when I share that experience here on this blog, I commune again.  That is what I most value in about live theatre.

What I’ve been doing these past few weeks, aside from teaching remotely, is reading.  I’ve been reading fiction, which is rare for me, as well as plays and non-fiction, which, as a grad student in the Goddard MFA Creative Writing low residency program with a focus on playwriting, is where most of my time is spent.  Sharing books and thoughts about what I’ve been reading is much more a personal/intellectual conversation than sharing a communal theatre experience, but I’d like to give it a try.  I will keep the topics focused on theatre.  Let’s start with Shakespeare in a Divided America by James Shapiro.  It is a truly fascinating read.

Photo courtesy of Folger Shakepeare Library & Penguin Press

I am a late bloomer to Shakespeare.  Reading his works have always been difficult for me.  My experience seeing numerous productions of the Drilling Company’s Shakespeare in the Parking Lot, which I have written about on this blog, opened the door for me to understand and enjoy the world of William Shakespeare.  Mr. Shapiro’s many books have provided me a frame for Shakespeare’s work, both historically and socially.  His latest book, Shakespeare in a Divided America, focuses this frame directly on our American culture, right up to the present day.  He writes about John Quincy Adams’ documented response to the character of Desdemona in Othello, illustrating how this well-known abolitionist harbored a racist perspective.  This reinforces what we have come to know about the detrimental effects of implicit bias today.  Mr. Shapiro also takes a very close look at how Prospero’s treatment and attempt at educating Caliban in The Tempest heightened the debate around the immigrant experience in the early 20^th century, and carries forward to the present.  And yes, there are some very steamy chapters about marriage, adultery, and same sex love as reflected in the The Taming of the Shrew and the development of the 1999 Academy Award winning movie, Shakespeare in Love.

The Booth men in Julius Caesar, 1864
photo courtesy of the John Hay Library

My favorite chapter was about the Scottish play and the connection between Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth’s knowledge and understanding of this tragic character.  Since I teach this play with my 5^th Grades classes, it is the Shakespeare work that is most familiar to me.  The complexity of the characters and the subtlety in Shakespeare’s political commentary on England under the reign of King James are brilliant and fascinating.  Finding out how these complexities were appreciated and quoted by both Lincoln and Booth illuminate the magnitude and universality in Shakespeare’s writing. 

The Shakepeare in the Park 2017 production of Julius Caesar
Photo courtesy of The Puiblic Theater

These historic debates become relevant as Mr. Shapiro writes from this personal experience of the political and threatening response to The Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park 2017 production of Julius Caesar.  These stories all link together to reveal how the responses to Shakespeare in this country illustrates how we have been a very divided nation throughout our history.  Whether you are a Shakespeare fan or a history buff, this book is an enlightening read. 

       

Domenick Danza