Katie Holmes cruises into “Dead Accounts” on Broadway. (Michael Brosilow)
The fall season is technically under way, but since the first musical was “Bring It On,” which opened over the summer, I’m calling for a do-over.
Just when you thought Broadway musicals couldn’t get any dumber — “Rock of Ages”? — along came the infantile “Bring It On,” with its tedious human pyramids and nice little lessons about bridging ethnic and class divisions.
Once upon a time, Broadway musicals were written for adults. Now they’re written for teenage girls.
“Glee” has a lot to answer for.
So let’s pretend “Bring It On” never happened and look at the promising productions headed our way.
I’m looking forward to the revival of Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” from Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre. I never tire of this play. Every scene crackles as Albee ratchets up the tension between George and Martha until that unforgettable final moment when all the lies are stripped away.
It’s bleak but, played right, unbearably moving.
This revival, which got raves in Chicago last year, stars Tracy Letts, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright (“August: Osage County”) as George and the wonderful Amy Morton, the Tony-nominated star of “August: Osage County,” as Martha.
Blowsy, boozing and braying, Martha is one of the showiest roles in the American theater, and is usually played by showy actresses — Uta Hagen (the original), Elizabeth Taylor, Kathleen Turner. The tall, angular Morton doesn’t fit this mold, and some of her critics thought she should up the bitchiness. But all agreed she was devastating in the final scene.
Letts, who won heaps of praise, has given George a different twist. The character is usually played as the long-suffering husband, but in this production, George is quietly tough and calculating, and he runs the show. This is a valid interpretation. George lets Martha go only so far with her self-deception before brutally yanking her back to reality. I think Letts’ performance will give this great play a fresh edge.
On the celebrity front — what would a new season be without a mega-watt performer or two? — Katie Holmes is the one to watch. She’s starring in Theresa Rebeck’s comedy, “Dead Accounts,” about a family whose routine is upended when a prodigal son returns home.
Having ditched Tom Cruise and those nutty Scientologists, Holmes is determined to prove she can get along on her own, personally and professionally. We will soon see if an ex Mrs. Cruise is a box-office draw, but I bet she turns in a solid performance. She was just fine a few years ago in “All My Sons,” and this time around she’s in the very capable hands of director Jack O’Brien.
As for musicals, nothing’s all that exciting until spring, when the London hit “Matilda” reaches New York. In the meantime, we may be treated to the delightful spectacle of a couple of fast-folding flops.
“Chaplin,” a last-minute entry, is being financed by a group of billionaires with little experience in the treacherous waters of Shubert Alley. The show, which opens next week, received lackluster reviews two years ago at the La Jolla Playhouse, and isn’t exactly roaring at the Barrymore box office. If the critics thump the Little Tramp, it’ll fade quickly.
Another one that could go up in flames — onstage and off — is “Rebecca,” based on the Daphne du Maurier novel. This one was supposed to open last season; the marquee even went up at the Broadhurst. But — oops! — they forgot to raise the money. And so the marquee went into storage, only to be hauled out again a few weeks ago now that the $12 million is (supposedly) in hand.
This is one of those big, lumbering, gothic pop operas that went out with “Jekyll & Hyde” (which, God help us, is being revived in the spring).
The score is by the guys who wrote “Fly, Robin, Fly.”
Last night, I dreamt I went to Studio 54 again.
Finally, a musical I’m looking forward to: the revival next month of “Annie.” Sure, girls love it. But the score, by Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin, is witty and tuneful, and Tom Meehan’s canny book, written right after Watergate, makes some sly political points.
In other words, “Bring It On” with brains.