"West Side Story," "As You Like It", "Present Laughter," "Carmen," "A Little Night Music," "Time Stands Still"

     There is no reason that these shows are grouped together under one heading other than pure neglect of this blog on my part.  So, if you're wondering why I'd put all these shows together, along with an opera no less, rest your minds, for there's no good reason.  I'll write about them in the order they were seen, which means that I'm relying on pure memory - or lack thereof - and the Playbills - for what I'm about to say.   I'll place them in separate blog entries.

TIME STANDS STILL

         When you look at the names associated with this new play, being produced by the Manhattan Theatre Club at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, it's hard to imagine what could go wrong.  Written by the talented Donald Margulies, directed by Daniel Sullivan, and starring Laura Linney, Eric Bogosian, Brian D'Arcy Jame and Alicia Silverstone, audiences are not wrong to assume that Great Art is in the theatre.  Or, perhaps this is my way of saying that, with this cast and crew, I expected to have my proverbial socks knocked off.

         Alas, my socks were still on after the show, touched, perhaps, but hardly knocked.  It wasn't from lack of trying on anyone's part.  Just the opposite: the show is worth the price of admission just to see Laura Linney, and the rest of the cast is nothing to sneeze at either.  If only theatre was about great performances by actors under a skilled director's hand.  Almost every show could be a hit.

         But at some point, to be considered "great," in the world of dramatic realism at least, the story has to do something beyond what any actor or director can do, which is to take me on a journey that resonates in a deep and meaningful way about life.  While Time Stands Still has lots of important things to say about Politics, Morality, Relationships, et. al., and what is written is beautifully rendered, the totality of the evening left me flat.  Not only flat, but in some ways, really disappointed.

         Haven't we gotten beyond the point where women are either written as bimbos or castrating bitches?  In Time Stand Still,  we're presented with two couples in current day Brooklyn.  Sarah Goodwin (Laura Linney) is a photojournalist who has returned to the apartment she shares with her writer boyfriend James Dodd (Brian D'Arcy James) after being seriously injured while on assignment in Iraq.  Her editor, Richard Ehrlich (Eric Bogosian) introduces Sarah and James to his new love, Mandy Bloom (Alicia Silverstone), a woman half his age (and then some), with whom he marries and has a baby.  The horrors of the war in Iraq; the moral dilemmas faced by journalists covering such a war; the difficulties of creating art, alone or in collaboration; ageism in our society; and so forth:  the play is full of ripe issues.  

         But what is the major dramatic question?  Will Sarah settle down with James and live happily ever after, following the model of Richard and Mandy, rather than go back to Iraq and pursue her photography/career.  Yup, that's it: after putting all these sophisticated dishes on the table, all we get to eat is jello.

         The vanilla concerns of middle class white heterosexuals has always been the focus of Manhattan Theatre Club's subscription audience, and Time Stands Still will make such audiences feel right at home. Or even better, since it touches on "Important Issues" that they can then not discuss at the next cocktail party, but might feel better about since they saw this play.    What they won't discuss is why, at the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century,  a woman's choice still seems, in popular culture at any rate,   to be about playing the bimbo and having babies, or being the hardened career woman, sad and alone for all time.  And why this is a still a major dramatic question in theatre.

         So, a fabulous cast, a top-notch director, impeccable sets (by the great John Lee Beatty), perfect costumes (Rita Ryack) and lighting (Peter Kaczorowski), all doing their best and worth seeing, but leaving me feeling: really?

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!