Arkady Leokum's Enemies (Broadway Theatre Archive) Review

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(More customer reviews)Enemies is a wonderful two character, one-act, 45 minute play from the Kultur Broadway Theatre Archives. The setting is a small restaurant in the Catskills, 1971. The two characters, well into their senior years have encountered one another for five years. Gittleman (Sam Jaffe) is a waiter who has to put up with the demanding, harsh and critical insults of customer Miller (Ned Glass), who makes his frequent visit, as he puts it, to eat before the riff raff comes in.
For five years, Miller criticizes the food, the hygiene, the coffee, the menu, the establishment and the final blow is to refer to Gittleman as a lowly waiter who Miller has had to train! Clearly Gittleman and Miller are not friends. Miller is a widowed man has merely enjoyed the pleasures of life that "discount hours" have brought him, clearly a lonely and less expensive existence. But he flaunts a different lifestyle filled with success and happiness. Gittleman is a hard-working family man.
It is the turn of events that makes this play a gem! The two veteran actors have starred in television and movies for years. Ned Glass is known also for his nasal voice while Sam Jaffe for his wild white hair. The two actors both died in 1984. Arkady Leokum is popular for his Tell Me Why: Answers to Hundreds of Questions Children Ask. If you care to see another great play by him, try Neighbors (Broadway Theatre Archive) ....Rizzo


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The Typists (Broadway Theatre Archive) Review

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(More customer reviews)Saw this show years ago on TV when it was first shown. Enjoyed it then for its excellent performance by great actors. The story interesting as the characters age before your eyes throughout the show. Great actors, interesting script and a real jewel of a performance.

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Sea Marks (Broadway Theatre Archive) (1976) Review

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(More customer reviews)Colm Primrose, a fisherman from the wild coast of Ireland, loves his work, his boat, his fishing buddies, and the sea in all its moods. Living in a small, rural community, he has no telephone, no modern conveniences--and no wife. While at a local wedding, he sees Timothea, a young woman from Liverpool, to whom he eventually writes a letter. Their correspondence, in which he describes his life, continues for eighteen months, before she returns to the area for another wedding. Before long, she has persuaded him to visit her in Liverpool, where she works for a publisher.
Their relationship, the first ever for Colm, provides sweet romance, but the seeds of disaster are sown from the beginning, when Timothea has his letters published as "sonnets." Described by publicists as "primitive," the unschooled Colm finds himself, unexpectedly, a celebrity poet, in demand for talks to clubs. Like the proverbial fish out of water, however, Colm misses the sea and "the heads," while Timothea, who has escaped to Liverpool from rural Wales, wants never to live the primitive life again. Their love, which drives the first act of the play, becomes the conflict which drives the second act.
Gardner McKay has created a romantic drama which glorifies the life of the fisherman and his ties to the most basic elements of wind and weather. The visual contrast between the wild Irish coast in this filmed-for-television production and the seamy side of Liverpool illustrate the themes. The plot is simple--and predictable--but George Hearn manages to make Colm a real person experiencing real agonies as he tries to reconcile his first experience with love with his need to return to his roots. Veronica Castang, as the more experienced lover, plays her role with a lovely softness, which disguises her selfish side, seen in her refusal to consider leaving the city and her determination to persuade Colm to remain.
This Broadway Theatre Archive production from 1976, contains themes as relevant today as they were then--the desire for love, the need for openness to new experiences, and the beauties of the simple life vs. the city life. The attractions of a life as raw and primitive as Colm's may be less appealing today than they were in 1976, however, and the conflict is so basic that the conclusion is obvious from the beginning of the play. Still, Hearn makes Colm such an attractive character that one hopes that he will achieve happiness by finding both a lover and a continued life on the sea he loves. A well-acted romantic drama. n Mary Whipple


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The Trial of the Moke (Broadway Theatre Archive) Review

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(More customer reviews)Henry O. Flipper (played with subtlety by Franklyn Seales), the son of a white mother and a black father, particularly resented being called a "moke," a crossbred ass, the equivalent of a mule. "Moke," however, was just one of the names he was called as a cadet at West Point. Though there had been other non-white cadets, Flipper was the first to ignore all the harassment and actually graduate. In this play, Flipper is in his third year as a lieutenant in the army, stationed at Fort Davis, Texas, and his race has become an issue. A new, grassroots colonel (crudely played by Robert Burr) and a group of uneducated fellow officers frame Flipper, the only black officer, and put him on trial for stealing funds from his commissary job.
Produced in 1978, this play by Daniel Stein, set in 1881, illustrates the depth of resentment against educated black men, even in the army. Seales carries the weight of the play's message, but he keeps the drama under control, resisting the temptation to push the message by "emoting" for dramatic effect. Instead, he portrays Henry Flipper with the dignity and self-respect which were his due. Alfre Woodard sensitively portrays Lucy, the black maid who is attracted to him, representing Flipper's opportunity to become part of black society and anchoring the play thematically. Johnson Whittaker (Samuel L. Jackson), a fellow cadet at West Point, appears and reappears as a ghost through Flipper's memories. Whittaker was dismissed from West Point when Flipper did not support him in a trial.
Black/white issues permeate the visual aspects of the drama, which features tasteless entertainments starring a white man in blackface playing Frederick Douglas, "the head of the Miscegenation Society"; blackfaced minstrels appearing in black and white (though the rest of the film is in color) as ghosts during Flipper's trial; and repeated references to "twilight," when the day is part white daylight and part black night. The trial is a foregone conclusion from the beginning, but Flipper and his lawyer fight the authorities for weeks.
A true story, the play, directed by Stan Lathan, drew public attention to this injustice when it was presented by the Milwaukee Repertory Theater in 1976, and was instrumental in having the court martial reversed, posthumously. Flipper, after serving as a respected mining engineer, was reburied with military honors later that year. The acting is superb, the production is thoughtfully presented, though a bit didactic, and the message is still pertinent. Mary Whipple


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In Fashion (Broadway Theatre Archive) (1974) Review

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(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.

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Monkey Monkey Bottle of Beer, How Many Monkeys Have We Here? (Broadway Theatre Archive) (1974) Review

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(More customer reviews)The title for this play originates from a counting nursery rhyme that indicates who is "it" or "out", so, it may seem apropropriate for the theme of the play. Five women arrive separately to the basement of a hospital to learn the results of an experiment conducted on their mentally challenged 8-year olds. Little is known to the women regarding the experiment, except that it is "needle to the brain with no pain." So, no one knows how the experiment turned out, which of their sons could be improved or worse. Therefore, the title of counting rhyme may indicate one or another's son may have a different outcome.
The setting is the basement of a hospital, and we listen as the five woman sit in a circle, taking her place, and waiting to be called for the doctor. As they wait in closeness, the women's personalities are soon revealed, why they are in the program, their personal issues, attitudes, doubts, finances, fears, etc. There is some dramatic confrontation. So, the gist of the play is mostly that, sitting, chatting, confronting, while waiting.
The character roles are well-defined in the short time we learn about them, and, the acting is well-done. Toward the end, one woman meets with her 8-year old, and realizes he is changed. However, the kid, about 8 years old is not a good actor and unfortunately he had more than enough lines. His acting was so forced and on the brink of noticeable and irritating. It was highly distracting to the work.
Other than that, the play was nothing too memorable. Playwright Marsha Steiness, who has written about 5 plays, is new to me. ........Rizzo.


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

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(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


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Let Me Hear You Whisper (Broadway Theatre Archive) (1969) Review

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(More customer reviews)Ruth White was a Broadway stage, film, and television actress with an enormous range of talent. None better than in this 70 minute display. She plays a lonely night cleaner in a science laboratory. She befriends the dolphin and they form a unique communication between them that they understand. The dolphin represents her in many ways. The dolphin is trapped in a pool of water with no where to go. He wants to go to the sea and Ruth's character would do anything for him. If the dolphin does not talk to others, he will lose his life. Ruth's admirable performance is worth watching. If you're a Ruth White fan, you will certainly appreciate this drama. Bil Baird is the puppeteer behind the dolphin and Elizabeth Wilson plays a very cold well-meaning night manager. All of the characters appear to be as lonely as the dolphin in the cage.

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Story Theatre (Broadway Theatre Archive) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is NOT the Story Theater of the Broadway show created by Paul Sills, and the actors from the show who are listed here (e.g., Melinda Dillon) and in the imdb.com entry for this title do not appear in this DVD. This is a group of scenes performed at the Yale School of Drama that are "inspired" by Sills' work and based on folk tales that Sills used. Acting students may find it interesting, but fans of the Broadway play will be confused at best, and disappointed.

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Fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm come to vivid theatrical life in Paul Sills' innovative Yale Repertory Theater production. Taking simple, narrative stories - such classics as "The Golden Goose," "The Blue Light," "The Clever Gretel," "The Goose Girl," and "The Bremen Town Musicians" - Paul Sills eliminated the customary use of sets and costumes and relied instead on the transforming talents of his gifted actors. Utilizing gestures, mime, music and the actors' own imaginations, he has created a fresh and unique theater piece to present these timeless tales.

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

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(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.

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The Patriots (Broadway Theatre Archive) Review

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(More customer reviews)Here's a little-known gem from 1976.
"The Patriots" tells the tale of a struggling, post-Revolution America from Thomas Jefferson's point of view. Easily on a par with the more famous musical "1776", this serious drama outlines Jefferson's conflict with the philosphy of Alexander Hamilton (Philip LeStrange).
The performances are top notch, especially Jefferson (Robert Murch) and Washington (Ralph Clanton). Both forefathers spring to life under the steady hands of the actors who portray them. You'll be hard pressed to find a better or more memorable portrayal of these two men once you sample "The Patriots". Madison, Monroe and Hamilton also become real human beings, in place of the marble statuary we are so used to.
Also of note is the accurate depiction of the little-known danger facing the young American nation in the 1780's-90's, as forces conspire to impose a monarchy and dissolve the Constitution. Jefferson helped to stem the tide, and his role in that conflict is ably demonstrated here.
There is some minor television-acceptable cursing, but nothing kids can't handle today. Kids ought to watch this anyway, as it makes history come alive in ways that books sometimes cannot.
The transfer here is excellent, so you won't suffer the common video errors from some poorer transfers to DVD. If you like Jefferson, Revolutionary Era history, or just good theatre, this one's a keeper.

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Zalmen or the Madness of God (Broadway Theatre Archive) (1975) Review

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(More customer reviews)Most familiar with the works of Elie Wiesel will think of his memorable semi-autobiographical novels, his two-volume memoir or his long and unflagging effort to bring the issue of human rights--not only Jewish human rights--before the eyes of the world. Here, we see a different Wiesel, even different than the man who stood up to Ronald Reagan when he urged him (unsuccessfully) not to visit Bitburg. it is not so much that his theme--the plight of oppressed Jews-- is unfamiliar. Rather, it is how it is revealed. Not only is it a play, and brilliantly cast, but, as some may remember from its appearance many years ago on PBS, it focuses us on post-World War II history, the struggle of Jews in freshly post-Stalinist Russia. Joseph Wiseman is the old Rabbi of the town who has nearly given up hope of ever seeing his people breath the brisk air of freedom, and, at the same time, grieving for his spiritually wayward daughter, while he and his neighbors and congregants alike cow-tow to the local officials who gently strong-arm them to behave and shut up. Richard Bauer, as the synagogue beadle, and crazy like a fox, tries to lift Wiseman out of his spiritual malaise and speak out. There is great humanity here, and--please--it is not just for a Jewish audience, much like, I would argue, is the case with most of the Wiesel canon. Watch this and be changed.

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Neighbors (Broadway Theatre Archive) (1971) Review

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(More customer reviews)Many may know the author, Arkady Leokum, as one who writes "Tel Me Why" childrens' books. As a playwright, Leukom has written the humorous short play "Enemies".
"Neighbors" is mostly one-on-one dialogue which doesn't entail any grand or lengthy monologues. The 70s performance is a television cast with veteran actor Andrew Duggan, Jane Wyatt (Father Knows Best), actress Cicely Tyson and Raymond St. Jacques (Roots). The scene takes place in the living room of a nice suburban New York home.
A well-to-do elderly white couple, Chuck and Mary, prepare for a visit to their home from prospective buyers, a young, also well-to-do, black couple, Bill and Vicky, from Harlem. Bill and Vicky's reason for buying into a "lily-white" neighborhood is for the schools, to buy their children an education. That's it!
Owners Chuck and Mary Robinson are stay-at-homes who thrive on community social involvement and indirectly, they lead the black couple to believe that involvement and responsibility to the community is the "thing" to do.
On the other hand, perspective buyer, Bill, a salesman, is a world traveler, and not home much, and he is confident with himself. Vicky is a Soul Sister who does for herself, has a maid, gets her nails and hair done, shops, and is strictly into being a w-o-m-a-n for her man. Bill and Vicky have absolutely no interest in community involvement.

The action begins after looking around the home and chatting about themselves. The sale is made and things get crazy when the black couple assumes that the white couple suggests "they behave like whites and get involved in the community"!
This short play is great! ....Rizzo


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