In Fashion (Broadway Theatre Archive) (1974) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)A charming period piece on many levels- a look at the 1890's from the perspective of the 1970's. Pleasant songs, none of which go on too long (except one- on purpose) and a very capable cast. The romantic lead is Daniel Davis, who might surprise those who know him as Niles the butler in THE NANNY, or Professor Moriarity on STAR TREK. Likewise Charlotte Rae (from THE FACTS OF LIFE) reveals a remarkably good singing voice behind her comic facade. The quality of the image is quite good, with the usual dificulties of shooting a live performance. There is one tape glitch about midway through, but I'm thankful that this minor gem survived.

Click Here to see more reviews about: In Fashion (Broadway Theatre Archive) (1974)

By John Jory. This rollicking musical is based on George Feydeau's turn-of-20th-century farce "Tailleur Pour Dames." Set in Paris shortly after 1900, the plot revoloves around Feydeau's favorite theme of marital infidelity. Full of chance meetings, mistaken identities, little deceits and big lies, In Fashion is a delightful French souffle with bouncy music, witty lyrics, and plenty of laughs. Starring Max Wright(All That Jazz), Daniel Davis (The Nanny, Hunt For Red October), and Emmy and Tony-nominee Charlotte Rae (Bananas), this show was taped before a live audience in New York City.

Get 40% OFF

Click here for more information about In Fashion (Broadway Theatre Archive) (1974)

Guests of the Nation (Broadway Theatre Archive) (1981) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Frank O'Connor's famous short story becomes a stage play by Neil McKenzie in this Broadway Theatre Archives production, directed by John Desmond. Set in Ireland in 1921, the waning days of the fight for Irish independence, the play, like the short story, emphasizes the futility of war as two Irishmen capture two British soldiers while the British soldiers are bird-watching. Assigned to guard them in an Irish cottage for three weeks, the Irish soon discover that the British, like them, are country people who have been doing what they are expected to do by those in charge of their "side." None of them are really committed to the bloodshed which has marked this horrific war for independence.
To help the time pass inside Kate O'Connell's thatched cottage, they play cards together, practice step-dancing, share cigarettes, become friends on the most basic level, and even argue about the fine points of religion. The Irish think their prisoners are "decent chaps....to keep a guard on them is beyond sense," while the British acknowledge that "it's hard to remember what side you're on....I ain't even thinking of being set free no more." When a sixteen-year-old English soldier is killed in the western part of Ireland, the Irish soldiers must decide whether their emotional kinship with these simple, British "good lads" is stronger than their political kinship with the Irish army.
The almost slapstick high humor of the beginning becomes agonized decision-making in the course of the play. Frank Converse, as Barney, and Richard Cottrell, as Noble, the Irish guards, effectively convey the difficulties of wielding power over men very much like themselves. Charlie Stavola, as the irrepressible, harmonica-playing Hawkins, and Nesbitt Blaisdell as Belcher, the English birdwatcher, are so ingenuous that their efforts to be friends, rather than enemies, are completely believable.
Estelle Parsons, as Kate O'Connell, offers common sense advice, gradually changing from being a crotchety scold to a woman blossoming under their attention. The music by Elizabeth Swados, mostly flute, fiddle, and bodhran drums, suits the setting, and the outdoor scenes in the Irish countryside are beautifully filmed. A play that goes straight to the heart, Guests of the Nation, shows two sets of "lads" trying to understand their "duty" when it is "hard to remember what side you're on." Mary Whipple


Click Here to see more reviews about: Guests of the Nation (Broadway Theatre Archive) (1981)

This drama tells the story of Irish insurgents and the captured British soldiers whom they are assigned to guard. While confined to a remote farmhouse owned by the spirited Widow O'Connell (Estelle Parsons of Bonnie and Clyde), the foursome - all equally attuned to "make peace, not war" - enjoy card playing, jig dancing, and a great deal of amiable bickering. Throughout the conviviality, however, Barney Callahan (Frank Converse) is haunted by the knowledge that reprisals will be in order if the Irish harm their captives.

Get 40% OFF

Click here for more information about Guests of the Nation (Broadway Theatre Archive) (1981)

John Cheever's The Sorrows of Gin (Broadway Theatre Archive) (1979) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)With an eye for details and an ear for the hollow speech of the upper-middle-class residents of Shady Hill, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Wendy Wasserstein transforms John Cheever's famous short story into a realistic play about the failure to connect. Set primarily inside a suburban home, the play focuses on the lives of the Lawton family--Kip (Edward Herrmann) and Marcia (Sigourney Weaver), for whom the social whirl of cocktail parties and evening martinis has completely subsumed real life, and eight-year-old Amy (Mara Hobel), sad, lonely, and often fobbed off on the household help. The acting is outstanding, with an amazing performance by young Mara Hobel.
Although the Lawtons' household employees come and go, Amy becomes particularly fond of Rosemary, a cook who is as lonely as she is and who reads to her and gives her affection. When Rosemary returns one evening from a trip to the city, drunk, she is instantly fired, in part because she has embarrassed Amy's father in public. Amy, devastated, decides to follow a suggestion Rosemary once made to her--she pours her father's gin down the sink. When Amy continues this practice, her parents assume that the help is stealing it, and they fire a succession of employees. After her father's hot-headed confrontation with a babysitter, Amy decides to run away.
Produced for Public Television in 1979, this Jack Hofsiss-directed play depicts every aspect of the Lawtons' shallow lives. Amy's imitations of her parents' speech and their alcohol-related entertaining are duplicated when she plays with her dolls, and her mother's concern with appearances and her father's constant escape into martinis show the emptiness of their lives and the effects on Amy. Unfortunately, while this realistically depicted subject may have been fresh in the late 1970s, when the story was written, it is now stale and offers little that is new, thematically. The Lawtons are not intrinsically interesting, and their interactions with their daughter, such as they are, do not develop any real dramatic tension.
The intricacy and satire of Cheever's short story are missing here, and the pacing and careful buildup of details, which enhance the themes of Cheever's short story and leave something to the imagination, are sacrificed--everything in the play is obvious from the outset. The good acting, Wasserstein's natural-sounding dialogue, and the accuracy of the sets and costuming do not compensate for the losses that occur when this carefully constructed short story is transferred from the reader's imagination to an in-your-face revelation of family problems by people who do not learn from their experiences. Mary Whipple


Click Here to see more reviews about: John Cheever's The Sorrows of Gin (Broadway Theatre Archive) (1979)

Sigourney Weaver and Edward Herrmann portray an affluent suburban couple whose empty and gin-fueled lives are observed through the eyes of their neglected, eight-year-old daughter in a teleplay adapted by playwright Wendy Wasserstein from John Cheever's short story. The tension and sadness behind the veneer of upper-class life in Shady Hill are at the heart of this insightful drama.

Get 76% OFF

Click here for more information about John Cheever's The Sorrows of Gin (Broadway Theatre Archive) (1979)

Luigi Pirandello's The Rules of the Game (Broadway Theatre Archive) (1975) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Pirandello's "The Rules of the Game," which has nothing to do with the Renoir film of the same title, is a relatively minor entry in the Pirandello canon but it's still an intriguing and effective play.
This TV production, originally presented on PBS's Theater in America series, was based on a stage production by the Phoenix Repertory Company that played on Broadway in 1974. (And how sad is it that it's been so long since PBS has had anything like the Theater in America series?)
The main characters are Silia (Joan van Ark), who is having a long-term affair with Guido (David Dukes), while remaining obsessed with her estranged husband, Leone (John McMartin) As part of their separation agreement (this being Italy and there being no possibility of divorce), Leone must visit Silia every evening for a half-hour.
Leone has decided that the best way to win what he refers to as "the game" is to drain himself of all painful emotions and to give in without argument to what others request of him. By continually agreeing to all of Silia's requests, including when she requested a separation, he frustrates her will, which is why she remains obsessed with him.
The play has a couple of plot twists that are fairly predictable, but what makes it a pleasure is Pirandello's language, which comes through effectively even in translation. (The William Murray translation is used.) And Pirandello provides dramatic situations that give good actors a lot to work with.
As Leone, John McMartin is particularly fascinating, finding ways to make Leone seem somewhat passive while subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) tormenting Silia and Guido. That fine actor David Dukes (who died far too young) provides an excellent foil for McMartin. They play their scenes beautifully.
Joan van Ark, who had been a late replacement for Mary Ure in the stage production, doesn't inhabit Silia's mix of sensuality, sadism, and neediness as fully as she might, but she's generally sound and sometimes more than that.
The supporting cast (including Charles Kimbrough, perhaps best known as Jim Dial on "Murphy Brown," in a fairly important supporting role, and Glenn Close, listed prominently on the DVD case, in a tiny role) is excellent, though it's a little strange that while most of the cast speak in more-or-less standard American stage speech, a couple seem to be trying to sound vaguely Italian.
The play was a cut a bit to fit into a 90-minute TV time slot, but the cutting was done skillfully. I question how McMartin was directed to play the final moments (going way beyond what is suggested in the script), but this DVD is an excellent way to experience this rarely seen Pirandello play. And except perhaps for those final moments, McMartin gives a superb and fascinating performance.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Luigi Pirandello's The Rules of the Game (Broadway Theatre Archive) (1975)

This 1918 tragicomedy by Luigi Pirandello is set among the Italian upper class. The main characters are an impulsive young woman, the lover she exasperates and her cynical husband. The husband's apathetic attitude is that life is a game played by arbitrary rules, and his role is that of an unemotional observer. His philosophy is severely put to the test when his wife draws him into a duel with a nobleman who drunkenly accosted her. Stars Joan Van Ark (Dallas)and Emmy-nominee David Dukes (The Josephine Baker Story). Also featuring a brief appearance by Glenn Close in an early role.

Click here for more information about Luigi Pirandello's The Rules of the Game (Broadway Theatre Archive) (1975)