Couple thoughts on Rock 'n' Roll

I know Rock 'n' Roll is supposed to be, like, the crowning achievement of Tom Stoppard or something, but I gotta come out and say it: I was kinda bored. I don't think I was missing a major piece of the puzzle - I just felt ambivalent about a lot of what was happening up there. Okay, ambivalent about the first act, less so about the second act. I saw the show on it's first night back from the stagehands strike, so it might have been a little off or something, but I just didn't click with it the way that it seems like everybody else does.

My first complaint: I'm going to seem extremely dense saying this, but it sort of seemed like the use of the actual Rock 'n' Roll (between the scenes, not within the plot) played like an old dude's nostalgic mix CD. I know Pink Floyd, I love Pink Floyd, I get it. What's your point? I mean, I get the point - it's legendary, ground breaking, incredible, revolutionary. Yes, of course it was. But, what's your point?

And even though the performances were really, really great (especially Rufus Sewell, fucking incredible performance that made me miss British acting terribly), I didn't see any reason to care about the trademark Stoppardian philosophical debates of the play. With Coast of Utopia, the characters were so invested in the philosophies they were discussing - their lives and their country hinged on it, they were practically on fire with the passion they had for the subject. I mean that's why Billy Crudup won his Tony, right? Rock 'n' Roll, on the other hand, spends a lot of time with an aging professor who still believes in communism after everybody else moves on, and another man whose soul lives in music more than politics. Not that there's anything wrong with that! But it's just not very interesting to me to watch those kind of characters go through multiple looong conversations about politics and philosophy. Especially when I feel like I just got 9 hours of similar debates better-achieved in Coast of Utopia. Move on!

The rest of the play, all the stuff about family, love, trust, all of that I loved. In fact, the second act was way more engaging than the first because of how much more it focuses on those themes. Why do we need an hour and a half of philosophy to justify focusing in on matters of the heart? I can't help feeling that in Rock 'n' Roll, the long philosophical debates are nothing than the crutch that Stoppard just can't abandon.

Tony Awards: Money Quotes

"There's a line in Frost/Nixon which says, "Success in America is unlike success anywhere else. That feeling when you're up, it's indescribable." I'm very grateful to the theater community, to my colleagues in Frost/Nixon here and overseas and the New York theatergoing public for allowing me that feeling this season. The line in the play then goes on to say "But there's another feeling, when it's gone, to somewhere else, to someone else." And I know that feeling, everyone in this room knows it. I suppose we can't stop people from putting us into competition with one another, and once we're here, I suppose we all want to win, but I think we must honor the common bond in us, the struggle. The striving for success because that's a race we simply can't lose. I am very proud, very honored to work and live among you splendid people. Thank you. Thank you for giving me that indescribable feeling, I wish it for you all." - Frank Langella gives the best speeches, no?


"I didn't go to acting school, [but] I have been working in the theatre for 25 years. Over that time you learn by doing and you learn by watching wonderful people, and you learn by making dreadful, embarrassing mistakes! . . . I literally made my debut 20 years ago in Lucky Stiff — a musical by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty. I sang the dog song." - Julie White in the Tony press room, following her win (via the Playbill.com Tony Blog)


"Frank Wood, Mary McCann, Kerry Gartner, Jim Carnahan, all of our producers..." - John Gallagher Jr. thanked Frank Wood and Mary McCann, the only two actors who were replaced when Spring Awakening moved to Broadway.

"Not one audience shot of Les Moonves in the entire TONY broadcast. I thought, “Wait a minute. Is this not the TONYS?” And then a winner mentioned Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall and I knew I was in the right place." - Blogger and tv writer Ken Levine on the Tony telecast

"Of all the big awards shows, I find the Tonys the most reliably moving... Though the awards honor only a fraction of what makes up even New York theater, they nevertheless seem to stand for the art as a whole in a way that the Oscars, Grammys or Emmys don't — they represent a community rather than an industry." - Robert Lloyd of the LA Times , in his review of the telecast

"I did tell Jack O'Brien that if he wanted to a do a musical of this, I think 'Serfs Up' would be a good title." - Tom Stoppard

"Special thanks to music director Kim Grigsby, sound designer Brian Ronan, casting director Jim Carnahan because the Tonys aren't given for their categories, and I think they should be." - Michael Mayer thinks there should be a Tony for casting.

"That's the virus of the show... It starts with that young woman whose body is talking to her. I told them, 'Feel just the tips of your body. Feel all those gentle, tender places you would like to be kissed." - Spring Awakening choreographer Bill T. Jones (via Variety)

Gimme the beat, boys, and free my soul....

Playbill reports that Tom Stoppard's Rock 'N' Roll is coming to Broadway in fall '07. I'm excited about this, as a medium fan of Stoppard and a big huge fan of rock and roll. The play uses rock 'n' roll as a symbol for freedom of expression, and is about a czech student who discovers music in the oppresive communist times.

As excited as I am about the play, I'm a little nervous. Every time I think about this project, I can't help imagining Tom Stoppard, alone in his bedroom, rocking out Elvis-style in a full leather suit, something a wee bit like this:

Scary, no?

Coast of Utopia: Voyage

Whew! Moxie was lucky enough to attend the opening night of the first installment of Lincoln Center's The Coast of Utopia trilogy, entitled Voyage. Being on standby for tickets encouraged lots of star-gazing, and Moxie thrilled at the sight of Martha Stewart, entourage-free, entering humbly through the downstairs door by the Mitzi Newhouse Theater. We're also pretty sure we saw Josh Hamilton (who appears only in one scene at the top of act two) wandering doe-eyed around the lobby during intermission. Unless he has an actual identical twin, he was in the lobby, looking a bit confused. Moxie also saw director Jack O'Brien being complimented up the wazoo... it went something like this:

Drooling theatergoer: Congratulations! You must be so happy.
O'Brien: I am!
Drooling theatergoer: You must be so proud!
O'Brien: I am!

Moxie thought the reviews were just a *little* over the top in their praise - it seems like Stoppard's play and O'Brien's staging have turned the whole theater community into drooling lapdogs. However, we must admit, the play is profoundly beautiful and intelligent, and O'Brien's direction makes it wholly approachable and free of the intellectual arrogance and self-congratulation that Moxie expected to see.

It strikes us that this is a play different than any other we can think of. Utopia spends about two thirds of the script discussing various philosophies of why we exist, what is reality, and what is that reality worth. These are discussed literally, between a couple people standing on the stage. It seems to us that most plays are a giant metaphor leading to a point of discussion about these philosophical questions, but to discuss them outright onstage is obvious and ill-fitting to the medium of theater, perhaps better suited for a docu-drama or essay. What's quietly mindblowing about the show is how effectively it wraps the audience into these philosphical debates, and makes us interested in what is essentially characters talking about something, rather than doing.


Of course, there's also plenty of character-based action, relationships to invest in, and all that meaty good stuff we go to theater to see. Moxie didn't love Billy Crudup in The Pillowman (though the show is one of our favorites), but he absolutely glows in this role, pouring all his frenetic energy into the awkwardness, social discomfort, and warm heartedness this character has in spades. Ethan Hawke's normally annoying qualities (bravado overdose, suspicious smell of arrogance lurking beneath the surface) are suited perfectly for the macho rock-star-esque Bakunin. Kelli Overbey and the other sisters are good, and Brien F. O'Byrne has just a dollop of a role in Voyage, whetting Moxie's appetite for the next two installments.

Voyage runs through March 10th at Lincoln Center Theater. Pictures by NY Times and TheaterMania.

The Golden Compass will be the Best Movie Ever Made, Ever

How has Moxie missed this? Filming is under way for The Golden Compass, the first of the His Dark Materials movies which are sure to amaze and inspire.

Moxie was lucky enough to see the National Theatre's two-play production of His Dark Materials in London, starring Anna Maxwell Martin and Dominic Cooper (The History Boys). The double-whammy two-part spectacular was one of the most fun, inspiring, heartbreaking, and beautiful productions Moxie has ever seen. Check out many long video clips of the show and other multi-media fun stuff at Stagework's incredible website.

For those who don't know Phillip Pullman's trilogy of books, here's IMDB's summary:

In a parallel Oxford, young Lyra Belacqua begins a dimension-crossing odyssey that builds from a merely atypical children's adventure into a complex (and frequently quite dark) philosophical epic.

The story is something of a children's story - sort of a darker, wiser, fiercely intelligent version of Harry Potter. It challenges organized religion, politics, sexuality as we know it, and many other concepts and beliefs we grown-ups begrudgingly accept.

So now they're making a movie of the story, with a screenplay by Tom Stoppard! Starring in the movie will be Nicole Kidman as the evil Marisa Coulter, Daniel Craig as Lord Asriel, Eva Green (recent interview) as the ageless witch Serafina Pekkala, and Adam Godley (the original Michael from The National's production of The Pillowman) as the voice of Pantalaimon. Ian McShane will also voice the role of Iofur Raknison, the king of the polar bears.

Moxie is abuzz and atwitter with excitement for the film!