What an emotionally draining Broadway theater week it has been for Billi Pod.
First was memories of The Holocaust and the onset of dementia (THE PEOPLE IN THE PICTURE), then the horrors of war and battlefield chaos (WAR HORSE) and then, last night, the AIDS crisis in the 1980s (THE NORMAL HEART).
These three plays are the very definition of what the theater is all about for avid theatergoers like moi, so ... let me give you loyal and faithful readers Billi Pod’s report card on ...
THE NORMAL HEART==>A+<==excellent acting and very emotionally draining story line about the early days of the AIDS crisis in New York City in the 1980s.
The stellar cast is lead by Joe Mantello in the role of the alter-ego of the playwright Larry Kramer, who was the teller of unpopular truths about the dangers of gay sex and who was also a founder of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) and later ACT UP, after he was expelled from the GMHC.
Equally compelling is Ellen Barkin as an early AIDS doctor, who in Act II gives a spine-tingling tirade about the snail-like government response to the epidemic, whose very existence no one wants to acknowledge.
The show lasts about 2 hours and 40 minutes, with one intermission, but the action on stage makes the length become irrelevant.
As I had previously posted, I was fortunate to see the original Off Broadway production, years ago, and remember being emotionally drained when it was over. Now, decades later many of the same problems exist and I was just as emotionally drained when this performance was concluded.
Folks in the NYC area==>you gotta see this show and bring your teenage kids with you. Yes, I said ... teenagers. They won’t hear any language they haven’t already heard, so ... just do it!!
Well, my loyal and faithful readers, I have to admit that Billi Pod was/is in the need of something much lighter and, hopefully, smile and laughter inducing, so he has booked for today a two comedy doubleheader ...
3:00==>FUTURE ANXIETY - “Set in the not-too-distant future - the planet’s become uninhabitable and a new generation struggles to live with increasingly drained resources and suspect inhabitants. How will ‘we’ survive? Do ‘we’ want to?” (Off Broadway - complimentary ticket)
This is playing downtown at the Flea Theatre and is being performed by their resident company of young actors called The Bats. They usually do very good work.
Then, another comedy ...
8:00==>LUCKY GUY - “Tells the tale of an all-American singing cowboy and a cast of hilarious characters in Nashville, all chasing the same dream: a solid gold hit record.” (Off Broadway - complimentary ticket)
This show is playing at The Little Shubert Theater which is next door to my apartment building. I hope this show is better than the last 3 productions I saw there, each of which bombed and closed early.
Speaking of closing==>let me do so with a kinda response to some rather nasty and snide emails, texts and messages about my lack of reporting on The Yankees. Yeah, I know ... but, folks, I got about an equal amount of flack from out there in the vast hinterlands to the effect of ... “hey, asswipe, enough already with all of this Yankee baseball crappola ... we just don’t care out here in Des Moines, IO.”
So ... what am I to do? Well, please stay tuned. In the meantime ...
GO YANKEES AND GO GATORS!!
Billi Pod
“Don’t pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he’ll just kill you.”
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