Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Princeton, NJ’ Category

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (Berlind Theatre, Princeton, NJ, October 3, 2012)

Posted in Anton Chekhov, Berlind Theatre, Christopher Durang, David Hyde Pierce, Funny (ha ha), Play (Drama), Princeton, NJ, Sex, Sigourney Weaver, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike on October 13, 2012| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 3, 2012] Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

Berlind Theater is on the back side of the McCarter Theater on Princeton University’s campus.  I’ve seen a number of shows at McCarter, but none at Berlind.  Berlind proved to be an even smaller and more intimate venue than the gorgeous McCarter.

What better place to see Sigourney Weaver and David Hyde Pierce in starring roles?  Especially when I managed to get $20 seats that were in row K.  That’s right, Row K, as in 11 rows from the stage.  All for $20 and free parking…suck it, Broadway!

Sorry, that was very unclassy.  Let me start again.

Christopher Durang wrote the play Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike as a kind of loving nod to Chekov’s Uncle Vanya.  The booklet that came with the play is very funny in which Durang interviews himself and gets most of the details wrong (he keeps calling it a parody of Uncle Vanya, which he explicitly states it is not).

The play is set in Bucks County, PA (just a hop skip and a jump from Princeton).  David Hyde Pierce played Vanya, an older man who lives with his sister Sonia.  Sonia, who is played by Kristine Nielsen, was adopted as a little girl.  Their parents loved Chekov and named them after the characters in Uncle Vanya.  And when thy became infirm, Vanya and Sonia stayed in their childhood home to take care of their ailing parents.  Now Vanya and Sonia are much older, unemployed and curmudgeonly.  She and Vanya have a hostile, co-dependent relationship.   (more…)

Read Full Post »

Richard Thompson (McCarter Theatre, Princeton, NJ, February 17, 2012)

Posted in Concert, McCarter Theatre, Princeton, NJ, Richard Thompson, Set in New Jersey! on February 28, 2012| 2 Comments »

[ATTENDED: February 17, 2012] Richard Thompson at the McCarter Theater

I have seen Richard Thompson live many times.  By my last count I think it must be five or six.  I’ve seen him solo and with others, I’ve seen him at Festivals and small venues.  And he never disappoints. RT makes an annual (or nearly annual) pilgrimage to Princeton’s McCarter Theater and the crowd is devout.  The last time Sarah and I saw him was on his 1,000 Years of Popular Music tour (a wonderful extravaganza) with olde instruments and two backing players.  But every show is different and you never know which incarnation  you never know which RT you’re going to get.

This tour was just RT and his guitar and our show proved to be a (mostly) request show.  Whether it was meant to be a request show is unclear (he just did three all request nights in NYC).  For tonight’s show, he definitely had songs in mind but the crowd politely asked for other songs and he accommodated (he doesn’t always).

Sarah and I laughed at the demographic of the audience (a lot of gray-haired ponytails here, Sarah noted–and that was just the men).  And yet next to us were a group of young rocker kids, so we were neither oldest, younger, coolest or squarest.  But none of that mattered because RT bridges all groups.  It was just he and his acoustic guitar, and he played slow ballads, serious rockers, funny songs and a few classics.

I didn’t know the first couple of songs (which surprised me) but it’s possible they were brand new, because why would he start what proved to be a greatest hits set with a bunch of obscure songs?  Well, he’s a conundrum.  Maybe anyone who was there can fill me in on the setlist.

After the first song the requests came.  RT explained that he had hoped to do some songs that he wanted to play and he hoped that those songs would be ones that we wanted to hear.  So obliging!  When the crowd convinced him to play Britney Spears’ “Oops I did it Again” (a song he played in his 1000 Years retrospective) we knew it was going to be a great show.

And it was.  (more…)

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts