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666 PARK AVENUE: Sunday 10PM on ABC
WHAT IT'S SAYING: The Devil's Advocate, Rosemary's Baby and The Shining in a stunning NY apartment, and fielding an all-star team of ABC veterans (Terry O'Quinn, Vanessa Williams, Dave Annable, Rachael Taylor).
WHAT IT'S REALLY SAYING: The world can only handle one American Horror Story, so the show needs to calm down and make some sense. No trace of humor, which this genre (True Blood, Vampire Diaries) can really use. And is "From the Producers of Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars" supposed to be a good thing? But no one does enigmatic menace like Terry O'Quinn (unless it's Michael Emerson). The pilot, at least, looks like it has plenty of spooky scares. And it's sure going to be different from The Mentalist, its only scripted competition in the hour.
GRADE: B+
Stay with SHOWBUZZDAILY Next Week for EXCLUSIVE FALL RATINGS PREDICTIONS!
Related Posts: 2012-13,666 Park,ABC,Annable,fall premieres,horror,O'Quinn,sunday,Taylor,The Sked,thriller,trailer review,tv reviews,Williams
17 Mayıs 2012 Perşembe
THE SKED: CW FALL SCHEDULE & INSTANT ANALYSIS
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CW needed to rip up its schedule and start over, and it mostly has.
Let's take a look night-by-night.
MONDAY: The network is reuniting two of its cornerstone soaps for the Fall, with 90210 as the lead-in for the final 11-episode season of GOSSIP GIRL. Since CW isn't planning to begin its Fall season until October, that will take Mondays through the end of the year, and then in January 2013, 90210 remains in place to launch what the network hopes will be its new generation of signature soap, the Sex and the City prequel THE CARRIE DIARIES. This makes sense, because the 90210 and Gossip Girl audience (what's left of it) should be the crowd for Carrie.
TUESDAY: An evening of medical soaps, with the moderately successful HART OF DIXIE changing nights to launch the new EMILY OWENS MD. Again, Hart won't carry along a huge viewership as lead-in, but the shows are logical together.
WEDNESDAY: CW must have confidence in ARROW, their new superhero action series, since they're having it open the night. It's compatible with SUPERNATURAL, one of the network's stronger shows, which is moving from Friday to be its companion.
THURSDAY: The network's rebooted BEAUTY AND THE BEAST gets the closest CW has to a plum spot, after its one hit THE VAMPIRE DIARIES. Both are romantic supernatural fantasies, so again there's a genre connection.
FRIDAY: The network's night of misfit toys: AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL is being moved because its sinking ratings no longer justified a Wednesday berth, and NIKITA is probably still on the air because its international sales value balanced out low US numbers.
Apart from the debut of Carrie Diaries, CW will launch the thriller CULT on an unspecified midseason date.
Related Posts: 90210,Arrow,beauty beast,Carrie Diaries,CW,Emily Owens,fall schedule,gossip,Hart of Dixie,next top model,nikita,supernatural,The Sked,vampire diaries
CW needed to rip up its schedule and start over, and it mostly has.
Let's take a look night-by-night.
MONDAY: The network is reuniting two of its cornerstone soaps for the Fall, with 90210 as the lead-in for the final 11-episode season of GOSSIP GIRL. Since CW isn't planning to begin its Fall season until October, that will take Mondays through the end of the year, and then in January 2013, 90210 remains in place to launch what the network hopes will be its new generation of signature soap, the Sex and the City prequel THE CARRIE DIARIES. This makes sense, because the 90210 and Gossip Girl audience (what's left of it) should be the crowd for Carrie.
TUESDAY: An evening of medical soaps, with the moderately successful HART OF DIXIE changing nights to launch the new EMILY OWENS MD. Again, Hart won't carry along a huge viewership as lead-in, but the shows are logical together.
WEDNESDAY: CW must have confidence in ARROW, their new superhero action series, since they're having it open the night. It's compatible with SUPERNATURAL, one of the network's stronger shows, which is moving from Friday to be its companion.
THURSDAY: The network's rebooted BEAUTY AND THE BEAST gets the closest CW has to a plum spot, after its one hit THE VAMPIRE DIARIES. Both are romantic supernatural fantasies, so again there's a genre connection.
FRIDAY: The network's night of misfit toys: AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL is being moved because its sinking ratings no longer justified a Wednesday berth, and NIKITA is probably still on the air because its international sales value balanced out low US numbers.
Apart from the debut of Carrie Diaries, CW will launch the thriller CULT on an unspecified midseason date.
Related Posts: 90210,Arrow,beauty beast,Carrie Diaries,CW,Emily Owens,fall schedule,gossip,Hart of Dixie,next top model,nikita,supernatural,The Sked,vampire diaries
The Sked: WEDNESDAY RATINGS May 16
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American Idol leads FOX to victory again on Wednesday, but the original singing competition show is not showing signs off a big lift to come for next week's finale (as it has in previous seasons). Look for a May Sweep ratings update posting soon.
Nightly Adult 18-49 Rating
Wednesday FOX CBS ABC NBC
05.16.2012 4.8 2.7 2.3 1.3 THIS WEEK
05.09.2012 4.5 2.7 2.5 1.3 LAST WEEK
05.18.2011 7.2 2.2 2.2 1.6 LAST YEAR
FOX got a rebound from American Idol last night (up three tenths of an Adult 18-49 rating point from last week and probably that will go up to a four-tenths gain in the official ratings this afternoon). But even if last night's show hits a 4.9 rating, that is still slightly below where it was six or seven weeks ago. Given past patterns, the singing competition show should have been in the low-5 rating range last night in advance of the big finale next week. Last year on this night, American Idol aired for two hours (7.2). Despite the big drop from last year (down 32-33% on comparable nights), FOX remains solidly in first place on Wednesdays.
Season Last Six Episodes
FOX Wed High Low 4.11 4.18 4.25 5.02 5.09 5.16
American Idol7.4 4.5 5.0 4.8 4.8 4.7 4.5 4.8*
Mobbed 3.0 2.8
Touch 3.9 3.9
X Factor 4.4 2.5
Hate Teenage 2.8 1.8
CBS was even with last Wednesday from 8-11 pm. The network was down massively in the 8 pm hour (1.1 rating for repeats of Mike & Molly and Rules of Engagement versus a 2.8 rating for the final Wednesday episode of Survivor), but up from 9-11 pm with the two-hour Criminal Minds finale. Last year on this night: Criminal Minds repeat (1.4), Criminal Minds (3.3) and Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior (2.0).
Season Last Six Episodes
CBS Wed High Low 4.11 4.18 4.25 5.02 5.09 5.16Survivor 3.6 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.7 2.6 2.8
Criminal Min 4.1 2.8 3.0 1.7R 1.8R 3.0 2.9 3.5*
CSI 3.3 2.3 2.4 1.5R 1.5R 2.3 2.4
On ABC, the entire night declined two tenths of a rating, with Suburgatory, Modern Family and Don't Trust the B- each down three tenths of a rating point from last week. Revenge was down two tenths, mostly because it faced stiffer competition from the second hour of the Criminal Minds finale. The comedies, however, just seemed to have a bad, anomalous night. Last year on this night: The Middle (2.4), The Middle repeat (1.8), Modern Family (4.0), Cougar Town (2.0), Happy Endings (1.6) and Happy Endings repeat (1.3).
Season Last Six Episodes
ABC Wed High Low 4.11 4.18 4.25 5.02 5.09 5.16
The Middle 3.2 1.9 2.1 1.3R 1.3R 2.0 1.9 1.9*
Suburgatory 3.4 2.0 2.1 2.0 1.4R 2.0 2.1 1.8*
Modern Fami 6.1 4.1 4.2 4.1 2.2R 4.1 4.4 3.9*
Don't Trust 2.9 2.0 2.9 2.6 2.0 2.3 2.3 2.0*
Happy Ending 3.5 1.7
Revenge 3.4 2.1 1.6R 2.3 2.1 2.1 2.2 2.0*
No anomaly at NBC. Another terrible Wednesday night with two episodes of Betty White's Off Their Rockers (1.4 at 8:00 and 1.5 at 8:30) leading into a repeat SVU at 9 (0.8), which is just about what Rock Center was doing before it was benched for the rest of the sweep (as it prepares for an unearned promotion next fall to the marquee Thursday at 10 hour). The original SVU at 10 pm last struggled to a 1.7 rating against Criminal Minds, a show it faces next year at 9 pm (an hour in which that it did not do well in previous seasons). Last year on this night: Minute to Win It (1.0), Minute to Win It repeat (0.9) and Law & Order: SVU (2.8).
Season Last Six Episodes
NBC Wed High Low 4.11 4.18 4.25 5.02 5.09 5.16
Up All Night 2.4 1.5 Free Agents 1.3 1.0
Whitney 2.1 1.4
Chelsea 2.3 1.2
Off Rockers 1.8 1.3 1.6 1.6 1.7 1.3 1.5 1.4*
Best Friends 1.2 0.8 0.9 0.8 0.8
Bent 1.0 0.7
Harry's Law 1.4 1.1
Rock Center 1.1 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.9 1.0 0.7
L&O SVU 2.4 1.6 1.7 1.6 1.7 1.9 1.8 1.7*
###Related Posts: american idol,criminal minds,don't trust the b,middle,modern family,revenge,suburgatory,SVU,The Sked,TV ratings,Wednesday
Nightly Adult 18-49 Rating
Wednesday FOX CBS ABC NBC
05.16.2012 4.8 2.7 2.3 1.3 THIS WEEK
05.09.2012 4.5 2.7 2.5 1.3 LAST WEEK
05.18.2011 7.2 2.2 2.2 1.6 LAST YEAR
FOX got a rebound from American Idol last night (up three tenths of an Adult 18-49 rating point from last week and probably that will go up to a four-tenths gain in the official ratings this afternoon). But even if last night's show hits a 4.9 rating, that is still slightly below where it was six or seven weeks ago. Given past patterns, the singing competition show should have been in the low-5 rating range last night in advance of the big finale next week. Last year on this night, American Idol aired for two hours (7.2). Despite the big drop from last year (down 32-33% on comparable nights), FOX remains solidly in first place on Wednesdays.
Season Last Six Episodes
FOX Wed High Low 4.11 4.18 4.25 5.02 5.09 5.16
American Idol7.4 4.5 5.0 4.8 4.8 4.7 4.5 4.8*
Mobbed 3.0 2.8
Touch 3.9 3.9
X Factor 4.4 2.5
Hate Teenage 2.8 1.8
CBS was even with last Wednesday from 8-11 pm. The network was down massively in the 8 pm hour (1.1 rating for repeats of Mike & Molly and Rules of Engagement versus a 2.8 rating for the final Wednesday episode of Survivor), but up from 9-11 pm with the two-hour Criminal Minds finale. Last year on this night: Criminal Minds repeat (1.4), Criminal Minds (3.3) and Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior (2.0).
Season Last Six Episodes
CBS Wed High Low 4.11 4.18 4.25 5.02 5.09 5.16Survivor 3.6 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.7 2.6 2.8
Criminal Min 4.1 2.8 3.0 1.7R 1.8R 3.0 2.9 3.5*
CSI 3.3 2.3 2.4 1.5R 1.5R 2.3 2.4
On ABC, the entire night declined two tenths of a rating, with Suburgatory, Modern Family and Don't Trust the B- each down three tenths of a rating point from last week. Revenge was down two tenths, mostly because it faced stiffer competition from the second hour of the Criminal Minds finale. The comedies, however, just seemed to have a bad, anomalous night. Last year on this night: The Middle (2.4), The Middle repeat (1.8), Modern Family (4.0), Cougar Town (2.0), Happy Endings (1.6) and Happy Endings repeat (1.3).
Season Last Six Episodes
ABC Wed High Low 4.11 4.18 4.25 5.02 5.09 5.16
The Middle 3.2 1.9 2.1 1.3R 1.3R 2.0 1.9 1.9*
Suburgatory 3.4 2.0 2.1 2.0 1.4R 2.0 2.1 1.8*
Modern Fami 6.1 4.1 4.2 4.1 2.2R 4.1 4.4 3.9*
Don't Trust 2.9 2.0 2.9 2.6 2.0 2.3 2.3 2.0*
Happy Ending 3.5 1.7
Revenge 3.4 2.1 1.6R 2.3 2.1 2.1 2.2 2.0*
No anomaly at NBC. Another terrible Wednesday night with two episodes of Betty White's Off Their Rockers (1.4 at 8:00 and 1.5 at 8:30) leading into a repeat SVU at 9 (0.8), which is just about what Rock Center was doing before it was benched for the rest of the sweep (as it prepares for an unearned promotion next fall to the marquee Thursday at 10 hour). The original SVU at 10 pm last struggled to a 1.7 rating against Criminal Minds, a show it faces next year at 9 pm (an hour in which that it did not do well in previous seasons). Last year on this night: Minute to Win It (1.0), Minute to Win It repeat (0.9) and Law & Order: SVU (2.8).
Season Last Six Episodes
NBC Wed High Low 4.11 4.18 4.25 5.02 5.09 5.16
Up All Night 2.4 1.5 Free Agents 1.3 1.0
Whitney 2.1 1.4
Chelsea 2.3 1.2
Off Rockers 1.8 1.3 1.6 1.6 1.7 1.3 1.5 1.4*
Best Friends 1.2 0.8 0.9 0.8 0.8
Bent 1.0 0.7
Harry's Law 1.4 1.1
Rock Center 1.1 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.9 1.0 0.7
L&O SVU 2.4 1.6 1.7 1.6 1.7 1.9 1.8 1.7*
###Related Posts: american idol,criminal minds,don't trust the b,middle,modern family,revenge,suburgatory,SVU,The Sked,TV ratings,Wednesday
The Sked: MAY SWEEP UPDATE Three Weeks Down, One To Go
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With 21 nights in for the May Sweep (official ratings for April 26-May 15 and fast national ratings for May 16), the race is starting to solidify. FOX will be able to claim victory in May, but CBS remains the only network with stable ratings and is well poised to win next season with the aid of the Super Bowl (and possibly able to win without it if one or two new programs hit with viewers).
FOX is starting to pull slowly away from CBS with three weeks complete in the May Sweep. FOX's 2.30 rating so far will certainly become a 2.4 rating one week from today with the finale of American Idol factored in. Remember, FOX only has to gain a few hundreths of a rating point -- anything above a 2.35 rating will round up to a 2.4 for the sweep. But FOX remains down over 20% from last year, thanks to severe declines in the Idol tentpole and with nothing else catching fire to mitigate the losses. .
MAY SWEEP
Adult 18-49 Rating Live+Same Day (through 21 of 28 nights)
2012 2011 % chg FOX 2.30 2.92 -21% CBS 2.23 2.24 - 1% ABC 2.01 2.37 -15% NBC 1.64 1.88 -13%
CBS is tantalizingly close to maintaining last year's May Sweep average, the only network able to make that claim. ABC and NBC continue their fades versus last year. NBC has a shot at moving up to a 1.7 rating for the entire sweep (just a hundreth of a rating point or two), but a 1.6 is more likely.
The May Sweep is an important measurement period because most local TV stations use these ratings for six months to set advertising rates (until the next major sweep in November) -- including the rates paid by political candidates in the upcoming election. It is also a very high profile ratings contest because the network performance is scrutinized by advertisers and agencies as the upfront process kicks off in a few weeks to establish advertising rates for next fall's prime time schedules.
Related Posts: ABC,american idol,cbs,FOX,may,NBC,Nielsen,Super Bowl,sweep,The Sked
FOX is starting to pull slowly away from CBS with three weeks complete in the May Sweep. FOX's 2.30 rating so far will certainly become a 2.4 rating one week from today with the finale of American Idol factored in. Remember, FOX only has to gain a few hundreths of a rating point -- anything above a 2.35 rating will round up to a 2.4 for the sweep. But FOX remains down over 20% from last year, thanks to severe declines in the Idol tentpole and with nothing else catching fire to mitigate the losses. .
MAY SWEEP
Adult 18-49 Rating Live+Same Day (through 21 of 28 nights)
2012 2011 % chg FOX 2.30 2.92 -21% CBS 2.23 2.24 - 1% ABC 2.01 2.37 -15% NBC 1.64 1.88 -13%
CBS is tantalizingly close to maintaining last year's May Sweep average, the only network able to make that claim. ABC and NBC continue their fades versus last year. NBC has a shot at moving up to a 1.7 rating for the entire sweep (just a hundreth of a rating point or two), but a 1.6 is more likely.
The May Sweep is an important measurement period because most local TV stations use these ratings for six months to set advertising rates (until the next major sweep in November) -- including the rates paid by political candidates in the upcoming election. It is also a very high profile ratings contest because the network performance is scrutinized by advertisers and agencies as the upfront process kicks off in a few weeks to establish advertising rates for next fall's prime time schedules.
Related Posts: ABC,american idol,cbs,FOX,may,NBC,Nielsen,Super Bowl,sweep,The Sked
THE SKED'S WEDNESDAY NETWORK SCORECARD
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ABC is glad last night happened after its Upfronts.
ABC: With the exception of THE MIDDLE, which stayed even (albeit at its season low 1.9), everything plunged: SUBURGATORY's season finale down 0.3 to a new low 1.8, MODERN FAMILY down an ugly 0.5 to a season low 3.9, DON'T TRUST THE B___ down 0.3 to tie its 3.0 low, REVENGE down 0.2 to a new low 2.0. A night like this has nothing to do with the quality of the week's episodes, all of which were fine (Family) or better (Suburgatory, Revenge). The numbers may be a Nielsen blip--remember, 22 people determine a 0.1 shift in 18-49 ratings--or a result of increased competition on CBS and FOX, or both. Still, no network likes to see its big night crash.
CBS: Meanwhile, after 1.1s for a pair of comedy repeats in the 8PM hour, CRIMINAL MINDS had a very solid 2-hour season finale, scoring a 3.5, up 0.6 from last week and its best rating in months.
FOX: AMERICAN IDOL won the night with a 4.8, but while that was up 0.3 from last week, as Mitch Metcalf noted, it's no cause for celebration compared to the way Idol has performed towards the end of previous seasons.
NBC: This is the lead-in Dick Wolf's new Chicago Fire can look forward to on Wednesdays next season: his SVU declined to 1.7 with a new episode last night (after a repeat trudged to 0.8 in the previous hour). At 8PM, OFF THEIR ROCKERS was slightly down to 1.4.
CW: AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL, newly demoted to Fridays in the Fall, ticked up to 0.5, after a repeat was only slightly lower at 0.4 in the previous hour.
Plenty of season finales tonight. On CBS, PERSON OF INTEREST and THE MENTALIST (for the latter, its last new episode on Thursday, as it moves to Sunday next season), plus what could be the series finale of RULES OF ENGAGEMENT if CBS and Sony don't make a new deal. ABC wraps up MISSING (for good), plus GREY'S ANATOMY and SCANDAL for the season). FOX features the last new Thursday episode of TOUCH, which will air on Fridays in the Fall. NBC has a truly weird night planned: 90 minutes of COMMUNITY season finale wrapped around the 30 ROCK season finale at 8:30PM, followed by a non-finale episode of AWAKE.
Related Posts: american idol,criminal,don't trust,middle,modern,network scorecard,off their rockers,revenge,suburgatory,SVU,The Sked,TV ratings,Wednesday
ABC is glad last night happened after its Upfronts.
ABC: With the exception of THE MIDDLE, which stayed even (albeit at its season low 1.9), everything plunged: SUBURGATORY's season finale down 0.3 to a new low 1.8, MODERN FAMILY down an ugly 0.5 to a season low 3.9, DON'T TRUST THE B___ down 0.3 to tie its 3.0 low, REVENGE down 0.2 to a new low 2.0. A night like this has nothing to do with the quality of the week's episodes, all of which were fine (Family) or better (Suburgatory, Revenge). The numbers may be a Nielsen blip--remember, 22 people determine a 0.1 shift in 18-49 ratings--or a result of increased competition on CBS and FOX, or both. Still, no network likes to see its big night crash.
CBS: Meanwhile, after 1.1s for a pair of comedy repeats in the 8PM hour, CRIMINAL MINDS had a very solid 2-hour season finale, scoring a 3.5, up 0.6 from last week and its best rating in months.
FOX: AMERICAN IDOL won the night with a 4.8, but while that was up 0.3 from last week, as Mitch Metcalf noted, it's no cause for celebration compared to the way Idol has performed towards the end of previous seasons.
NBC: This is the lead-in Dick Wolf's new Chicago Fire can look forward to on Wednesdays next season: his SVU declined to 1.7 with a new episode last night (after a repeat trudged to 0.8 in the previous hour). At 8PM, OFF THEIR ROCKERS was slightly down to 1.4.
CW: AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL, newly demoted to Fridays in the Fall, ticked up to 0.5, after a repeat was only slightly lower at 0.4 in the previous hour.
Plenty of season finales tonight. On CBS, PERSON OF INTEREST and THE MENTALIST (for the latter, its last new episode on Thursday, as it moves to Sunday next season), plus what could be the series finale of RULES OF ENGAGEMENT if CBS and Sony don't make a new deal. ABC wraps up MISSING (for good), plus GREY'S ANATOMY and SCANDAL for the season). FOX features the last new Thursday episode of TOUCH, which will air on Fridays in the Fall. NBC has a truly weird night planned: 90 minutes of COMMUNITY season finale wrapped around the 30 ROCK season finale at 8:30PM, followed by a non-finale episode of AWAKE.
Related Posts: american idol,criminal,don't trust,middle,modern,network scorecard,off their rockers,revenge,suburgatory,SVU,The Sked,TV ratings,Wednesday
13 Mayıs 2012 Pazar
theatre review LOOK BACK IN ANGER, Off Broadway, March 31
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The "angry young man" is a well known character in both plays and movies. But that term wasn't known until the mid 1950's when John Osborne's play Look Bank in Anger burst upon the London stage. Over the course of three acts, we meet and get to know Jimmy Porter and his three friends, and while they are pretty much all angry it is Jimmy who is the angry young man in question, and boy is he angry. He is a working class man but one with an education, but he is angry at everything from his wife, his job, his friends, family, the mediocrity of his generation and the class system in general. After years of posh upper crust English plays like The Importance of Being Earnest and Blithe Spirit one can hardly grasp the gasps that must have come from the audience when they saw the characters and language that was in front of them when Look Back in Anger first premiered. Supposedly just the sight of an ironing board on the stage alone when the curtain went up dress gasps. Imagine an ironing board on stage in either Earnest or Blithe Spirit!
Jimmy is an intellectual bad boy and it is easy to see why both his wife and her friend fall for him, even though both ladies are from a much higher class on the class scale. Even Cliff who rents the room next door is drawn to Jimmy. Jimmy is a man fighting but with no cause or crusade. It is as if Osborne is saying that this is what centuries of the class system in England have spit out.
Today the shock of the play is nothing compared to what it must have been like almost sixty years ago but this revival of the play is still shocking in its ability to cut to the raw nerve at the center of the piece. It gets there by having one of the most minimal set designs in recent history as the entire stage is about six feet deep and consists of a black back wall, a mattress, a couple of dressers, a few chairs and an ironing board. This minimalistic approach is effective in grounding us in the reality of how Jimmy and his wife Allison are living. The stage is on a slightly higher platform than usual as if the four characters are on display for us and in such a small setting as if they are trapped with no where to go. If this idea of being trapped and lost was what director Sam Gold was going for then he vastly succeeded.
The cast is simply superb. Led by Matthew Rhys, best known as Kevin from tv's Brothers and Sisters, he is so effective as Jimmy that he perfectly gets under the skin of the character ringing every nuance out of Osborne's language. His emotional range alone is amazing and the way he delivers the words, almost in the way a poet would, makes the other characters and the audience pay attention. You can easily see how others would be drawn to him. He is exciting and intense but you also see in his eyes the love that he has for the other characters. He also plays a pretty good trumpet, even if he only knows a few notes.
The supporting cast is just as good, Sarah Goldberg as Jimmy's wife Alison is quiet and reserved around Jimmy as if trying not to wake the sleeping, angry giant. The way that Alison tears into a head of lettuce when she makes a salad more than exhibits in frustration as well as what her true feelings for life are. Adam Driver as Cliff so perfectly exhibits the lost youth who clamors for anything to excite him and when that excitement comes in Jimmy and Alison you know there won't be much of a happy ending for him. Charlotte Parry as Helena is excellent at playing two sides of a character, the upper crust one who looks down upon the life that Alison has made with Jimmy but then finds herself, in a very humorous moment in the second act, living exactly the same existence as Alison.
Look Back in Anger is an interesting play in that while it is about desperation and how characters are drawn to others while being used or using them it is also about lost youth and how society has forced some individuals to only achieve certain levels of success. Seeing this show in a weekend when we saw the new play Clybourne Park and the classic drama Twelve Angry Men was very interesting as they all deal with the issue of race or class and how society treats people differently. This production only runs through this Sunday, April 8th, don't miss your chance to see this excellent production.
Official Show Site
Highlights from this production:
The "angry young man" is a well known character in both plays and movies. But that term wasn't known until the mid 1950's when John Osborne's play Look Bank in Anger burst upon the London stage. Over the course of three acts, we meet and get to know Jimmy Porter and his three friends, and while they are pretty much all angry it is Jimmy who is the angry young man in question, and boy is he angry. He is a working class man but one with an education, but he is angry at everything from his wife, his job, his friends, family, the mediocrity of his generation and the class system in general. After years of posh upper crust English plays like The Importance of Being Earnest and Blithe Spirit one can hardly grasp the gasps that must have come from the audience when they saw the characters and language that was in front of them when Look Back in Anger first premiered. Supposedly just the sight of an ironing board on the stage alone when the curtain went up dress gasps. Imagine an ironing board on stage in either Earnest or Blithe Spirit! |
| Matthew Rhys and Sarah Goldberg |
Today the shock of the play is nothing compared to what it must have been like almost sixty years ago but this revival of the play is still shocking in its ability to cut to the raw nerve at the center of the piece. It gets there by having one of the most minimal set designs in recent history as the entire stage is about six feet deep and consists of a black back wall, a mattress, a couple of dressers, a few chairs and an ironing board. This minimalistic approach is effective in grounding us in the reality of how Jimmy and his wife Allison are living. The stage is on a slightly higher platform than usual as if the four characters are on display for us and in such a small setting as if they are trapped with no where to go. If this idea of being trapped and lost was what director Sam Gold was going for then he vastly succeeded.
 |
| Adam Driver, Sarah Goldberg and Matthew Rhys- this is about 1/2 of the entire set! |
 |
| Matthew Rhys and Charlotte Parry |
Look Back in Anger is an interesting play in that while it is about desperation and how characters are drawn to others while being used or using them it is also about lost youth and how society has forced some individuals to only achieve certain levels of success. Seeing this show in a weekend when we saw the new play Clybourne Park and the classic drama Twelve Angry Men was very interesting as they all deal with the issue of race or class and how society treats people differently. This production only runs through this Sunday, April 8th, don't miss your chance to see this excellent production.
Official Show Site
Highlights from this production:
theatre review TWELVE ANGRY MEN, George Street Playhouse, April 1
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Twelve Angry Men is the ultimate ensemble dramatic play. Every one of the twelve actors gets a moment to shine in it and the revival of the play at the George Sreet Playhouse has a excellent cast with several firecracker performances. The play itself started as an hour long tv drama in 1954, was expanded for the 1957 Oscar nominated film and also reshaped as a 100 minute one act play. The author of all three of these versions in Reginald Rose who was inspired to write this after he served as a juror on a manslaughter case.
The play is set in 1954, on a very hot day, and starts right when the jury enters the jury room to begin deliberations on a murder case. The 12 jurors are all white men of various ages and the 16 year old boy who is on trial for murdering is father we quickly learn is most definitely not white. They must reach a unanimous decision and when they take their first vote, just moments after they enter the room, they quickly learn that 11 of them believe the boy is guilty where as one believes he is innocent. That one man has some question about the "beyond a reasonable doubt" part of the guilty verdict and he begins to bring up various pieces of evidence that were presented in the case to question as well as has serious issues around the lack of concern and attention to detail on the part of the boy's court appointed lawyer. The play is a well written demonstration of various views of racism, aging, father/son rebellion and the impacts all of those have on the twelve men in the room. It is also an interesting demonstration of the judicial system where one man is to be judged by a jury of his peers, which is especially concerning when the peers in front of you are nothing like you and come in with already preconceived judgements.
Led by Gregg Edelman as the lone "not guilty" voting juror, who quietly and slowly works his concerns of the trial and thoughts on the rest of the jurors, he so simply but effectively portrays this man who is fighting for justice that we've all seen before. He keeps his cool even when many of the men around him don't and provides the one constant glimmer of hope throughout the play. David Schramm and James Rebhorn are the two most obstinate people in the room and the two loudest. Schramm is the loud mouth bigot and Rebhorn is the juror who has plenty of issues with his son. They are excellent in portraying the opposite side that Edelman is on. Both men get themselves so worked up during the deliberations that you literally wouldn't be surprised if one of them has a heart attack, that is how accurate their portrayals are.
Jonathan Hadary and Terry Layman are the foreign juror and oldest juror respectively who both come to Edelman's understanding earlier then the rest and are ridiculed by the others for doing so. Hadary in particular is so perfectly stated in his portrayal. He is polished in his Eastern European accent and demeanor and appears so much more accepting of the responsibility and importance of being called to serve as a juror. That role is quickly lost on a few of the other fellow jurors, Jonathan C. Kaplan in particular, who would rather get their juror sentence over as quickly as possible so they can get back to their lives. Kaplan can't stop going on about the baseball tickets he has for that night and he is always rushing the others to make decisions. (Kaplan was actually nominated for a Tony in 1993 as 13 year old Jason in the Tony winning musical Falsettos. I saw him twice in that role and it is nice to see him all grown up and acting in a serious drama.)
Scott Drummond and Michael Sirow are the two youngest jurors who let the older men have most of the say in the matters, but both are easily stirred to action when they find themselves caught in the crossfire of the other jurors as well as when issues that are directly related to their upbringing, Sirows in particular, are up for debate. David Adkins is the wealthy businessman who tries to be calm and cool and is very reserved about the proceedings until he realizes that he starts to have his doubts as well about his initial guilty vote. John Bolger, Jim Bracchitta and Lee Sellars round out the 12 jurors and they all get a moment or two to shine, add to the conversation as well as the decisions that the jurors make. There isn't one bad actor on stage here.
Director and George Street Artistic Director David Saint can be commended once more for not only his superb, taught direction but for assembling a top notch catch. The effective set design by R. Michael Miller perfectly grounds the action in the 1950's with a period perfect giant room. The pre-existing sweat stains alone on Schramm's shirt earn costume designer Esther Arroyo a huge award. The rest of the costumes are designed perfectly to easily establish the various different classes and ages of the jurors.
Twelve Angry Men only runs through this Sunday- don't miss it.
Official George Street Playhouse Site
Highlights from this production:
Twelve Angry Men is the ultimate ensemble dramatic play. Every one of the twelve actors gets a moment to shine in it and the revival of the play at the George Sreet Playhouse has a excellent cast with several firecracker performances. The play itself started as an hour long tv drama in 1954, was expanded for the 1957 Oscar nominated film and also reshaped as a 100 minute one act play. The author of all three of these versions in Reginald Rose who was inspired to write this after he served as a juror on a manslaughter case.The play is set in 1954, on a very hot day, and starts right when the jury enters the jury room to begin deliberations on a murder case. The 12 jurors are all white men of various ages and the 16 year old boy who is on trial for murdering is father we quickly learn is most definitely not white. They must reach a unanimous decision and when they take their first vote, just moments after they enter the room, they quickly learn that 11 of them believe the boy is guilty where as one believes he is innocent. That one man has some question about the "beyond a reasonable doubt" part of the guilty verdict and he begins to bring up various pieces of evidence that were presented in the case to question as well as has serious issues around the lack of concern and attention to detail on the part of the boy's court appointed lawyer. The play is a well written demonstration of various views of racism, aging, father/son rebellion and the impacts all of those have on the twelve men in the room. It is also an interesting demonstration of the judicial system where one man is to be judged by a jury of his peers, which is especially concerning when the peers in front of you are nothing like you and come in with already preconceived judgements.
 |
| John Bolger, Michael Sirow, Jonathan Hadary, David Schramm, Terry Layman, Gregg Edelman and David Adkins. |
Led by Gregg Edelman as the lone "not guilty" voting juror, who quietly and slowly works his concerns of the trial and thoughts on the rest of the jurors, he so simply but effectively portrays this man who is fighting for justice that we've all seen before. He keeps his cool even when many of the men around him don't and provides the one constant glimmer of hope throughout the play. David Schramm and James Rebhorn are the two most obstinate people in the room and the two loudest. Schramm is the loud mouth bigot and Rebhorn is the juror who has plenty of issues with his son. They are excellent in portraying the opposite side that Edelman is on. Both men get themselves so worked up during the deliberations that you literally wouldn't be surprised if one of them has a heart attack, that is how accurate their portrayals are.
 |
| James Rebhorn being held back at an explosive moment in the play |
Jonathan Hadary and Terry Layman are the foreign juror and oldest juror respectively who both come to Edelman's understanding earlier then the rest and are ridiculed by the others for doing so. Hadary in particular is so perfectly stated in his portrayal. He is polished in his Eastern European accent and demeanor and appears so much more accepting of the responsibility and importance of being called to serve as a juror. That role is quickly lost on a few of the other fellow jurors, Jonathan C. Kaplan in particular, who would rather get their juror sentence over as quickly as possible so they can get back to their lives. Kaplan can't stop going on about the baseball tickets he has for that night and he is always rushing the others to make decisions. (Kaplan was actually nominated for a Tony in 1993 as 13 year old Jason in the Tony winning musical Falsettos. I saw him twice in that role and it is nice to see him all grown up and acting in a serious drama.)
 |
| Hadary, Rebhorn, Schramm, Layman, Sirow, Kaplan, Sellars and Edelman |
Director and George Street Artistic Director David Saint can be commended once more for not only his superb, taught direction but for assembling a top notch catch. The effective set design by R. Michael Miller perfectly grounds the action in the 1950's with a period perfect giant room. The pre-existing sweat stains alone on Schramm's shirt earn costume designer Esther Arroyo a huge award. The rest of the costumes are designed perfectly to easily establish the various different classes and ages of the jurors.
Twelve Angry Men only runs through this Sunday- don't miss it.
Official George Street Playhouse Site
Highlights from this production:
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