THE new theater season is under way, so here’s a quick rundown on the plays and players to keep in your sights.
THE HUNKS OF BROADWAY
We know Hugh Jackman can handle a Broadway show. But can Daniel Craig?
The two buffed movie stars begin previews tomorrow in a very dark and serious play called “A Steady Rain,” about a couple of Chicago cops whose friendship unravels when an investigation goes awry.
Everybody will be watching to see if Craig is up to Jackman’s level. If they’re not perfectly balanced, the show, basically a collection of monologues (there is minimal interaction between the two hunks), will be a slog.
Craig has a theater background. He appeared in London in “Hurlyburly,” “Angels in America” and “A Number.” But he’s been doing movies for a long time now and, frankly, I find him a little stiff as James Bond. (Give me the elegant and witty Roger Moore any day.)
Craig’s already proving to be something of a prima donna, demanding, according to Page Six, tons of security.
But there’s one thing all the security in the world can’t protect you against, 007: critics.
THE SPIDER-WOMAN
Only one person can save “Spider-Man,” the hapless, gazillion-dollar musical that promises to provide all sorts of backstage drama this season.
That person is the director, Julie Taymor.
If her production generates the awe and excitement of her last hit, “The Lion King,” the money problems that have plagued the show will be forgotten.
But it’s a tall order. Taymor’s going to be working in a fishbowl, with every preview being chewed over by Internet chatters and a certain theater reporter whose nostrils are already twitching at the smell of flop blood. (Boy, is that Pat Healy from the Times a piece of work!)
Taymor is performing the most daring high-wire act of the season. And she’s doing it without a net.
MR. LANDESMAN GOES
TO WASHINGTON
Rocco Landesman, the producer and former president of Jujamcyn Theaters, was confirmed this summer as the new head of the National Endowment for the Arts.
He says he wants to shake things up, but so far the only thing he’s done is insult Peoria. Interviewed by his mouthpiece, the Times, Landesman said: “I don’t know if there’s theater in Peoria, but I bet that it’s not as good as Steppenwolf or the Goodman [two Chicago theaters].”
Now he has to go to Peoria to make amends. As punishment, he should be forced to sit through the Peoria Players production of “Lend Me a Tenor.”
But once he’s back in DC, he should put his animosity toward unadventurous nonprofit theaters to good use by slashing their funding.
Why should taxpayer dollars go to an institution like Lincoln Center, which has plenty of corporate backers and makes mountains of money doing stately revivals like “South Pacific”?
Give the money to small arts groups run by ambitious young artists. That way, the NEA can stoke the flames of creativity instead of providing a Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval to middlebrow institutions.
Footnote: Jordan Roth officially took over Jujamcyn Theaters from Landesman yesterday. The son of New York real estate tycoon Steve Roth and theater producer Daryl Roth, Jordan has acquired a 50 percent stake in Jujamcyn, which Landesman bought for $30 million a few years ago. At 33, Jordan is the youngest theater owner in town. He’s one to watch.
THE AFRO-BEAT GOES ON
“Fela!” — Bill T. Jones‘ terrific musical about the Nigerian songwriter and political activist Fela Kuti — was a hit off-Broadway last year.
An $11 million production opens in November on Broadway, but so far ticket sales are weak. The show can count on the support of the critics and the theater press, but it may need something else.
That something else could be Jay-Z. The rapper-mogul invested in the show, and he’s going to have to get behind it — publicly — in a big way.
Another investor is Will Smith.
The two of them should get out there and give “Fela!” the liftoff it deserves.