Peter Filichia ha nominato “Avenue Q” miglior Musical del decennio, ecco l’articolo del famoso critico Americano:
” The Last 10 Years
So when does the decade end? Some say NOT Dec. 31, 2009, because there was no year zero; given that 1 A.D. started us off, a decade ends with the year ending in 0. Thus, we’re still a year away.
And yet, many see a year ending in 9 as the end of the decade – including AOL, which released a “50 Best Songs of the Decade.” (And not one show song is among them!) For those who think that the decade has ended, I’ll give my best of the – well, let’s just say The Last 10 Years. I’m only counting the New York productions I saw ranging from Jan. 1, 2000 to Dec. 31, 2009. Just my opinion, y’know:
Musical: Avenue Q, by Jeff Whitty, Jeff Marx, and Robert Lopez, 2003. Musicals based on no source material are harder to write than adaptations, but you’d never know that from this seemingly effortless effort. It made us laugh at people and puppets, then made us genuinely care about everyone – and then had us enjoy a most happy ending. That we had songwriters who wrote in the Grand Broadway Tradition helped immeasurably.
Musical Revival: Ragtime, 2009. Here was the best musical of the previous decade in a strong new production. It’s a nice reminder of how well Terrence McNally, Stephen Flaherty, and Lynn Ahrens told the seemingly unwieldy story of WASPS, blacks, and Jews. If you like intelligence in musicals and not just mocking silliness, get thee to the Neil Simon Theatre by Jan. 10 before you’re too late.
Concert: Merrily We Roll Along Reunion, 2002. In 1981, a cast of teens struggled through 52 notorious previews – and only 16 regular performances. A couple of decades later, they returned as middle-agers and conquered – and reminded us that Stephen Sondheim wrote his warmest score for this so-called flop.
Musical Actor: Hugh Jackman (The Boy from Oz, 2003). Only the greatest of entertainers can carry not-so-good musicals on their shoulders and make most of the audience not care. Kudos to Jackman, too, for playing a gay man and not worrying on how that might affect his career.
Musical Actress: Christine Ebersole (Grey Gardens, 2005). Playing a cultured pearl in the first act — and shattered glass in the second – was a challenge even for a gifted actress. But playing Big Edie Beale – and then Little Edie Beale when she was big – was no problem for Ebersole. Yes, she sang, dance, and acted extraordinarily, but her finest moment might have come at the show’s end when she was standing still. Was she going to leave her mother and forge her own life or retreat? Ebersole sure had us wondering.
Musical Featured Actor: Norbert Leo Butz (Thou Shalt Not, 2001). Wasn’t he something as Camille, the cuckolded husband who was in such denial that he couldn’t even acknowledge that his wife didn’t love him — let alone that she’d wind up help killing him. In an amazing coup de theatre, he returned in the second act in a completely new characterization as smugger but wiser, ready to enact revenge on the couple that betrayed him.
Musical Featured Actress: Kaitlin Hopkins (Bat Boy, 2001). We all thought Bat Boy would be a goof, a hoot, a so-bad-it’s good musical. But Hopkins’ caring for this young, uh, batman showed wonderful maternal instincts and a good human being inside. Who expected that she’d touch our emotions when we entered the theater?
Director of a Musical: Christopher Ashley (The Rocky Horror Show, 2000). He started the show with “Give me an R!” followed by a request for O,C,K, and Y – letting everyone know that, yes, the audience participation that made this property a legend would not only be allowed, but also encouraged. I’m guessing that Ashley thought of reserving the circle in Circle in the Square for a mock movie theater where some cast members (and mannequins) played those who participated in midnight showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Thus, Ashley honored the audience that made the property what it became.
Choreography: Twyla Tharp (Movin’ Out, 2002). This wasn’t just a case of quantity; it was quality, too, in conveying a most movin’ story.
Book: Marshall Brickman and Rick Elise (Jersey Boys, 2005). How smart to split the story into seasons: Spring, when the lads are just starting out; summer, when they start to succeed; fall — not “autumn,” mind you, because the word “fall” is needed because the group does take a fall here; and winter, to show their various states of content and mostly discontent.
Score: Marvin Hamlisch and Craig Carnelia (Sweet Smell of Success, 2002). Give another listen. You’ll find that Hamlisch’s haunting music captured the underbelly of New York nightlife; has there ever been more film noir music for any show? Carnelia had the exact same voice for the characters adapted by bookwriter John Guare, so that the work seemed to be from one man. That doesn’t often happen.
Song: “Next Best Thing to Love” (A Class Act, 2001). Edward Kleban’s song came out of the trunk and into our hearts. What a fascinating idea he postulated: That a deep friendship is as close to love as one can get – before coming to the beautiful conclusion that it’s good enough to qualify as genuine love, too.
Play: The Lieutenant of Inishmore by Martin McDonagh, 2005. If only people would be as nice to other people as they are to their pets. Certainly the Irish terrorist we meet here – in the process of torturing someone – is more interested in the cat he’s had since childhood. But almost everyone suffers before a marvelous surprise ending that implies fighting some wars may mean fighting over nothing.
Play Revival: The Cripple of Inishmaan by Martin McDonagh, 2008. What happens when a movie crew comes to Ireland? Stones in His Pockets asked the same question in 2001, but not as hilariously or uniquely. Virtually nobody liked the original production in 1998, but virtually everyone liked this one.
Play Actor: Alan Bates (Fortune’s Fool, 2002). We’ve since lost this marvelous and versatile actor, but his trying to explain his way out a situation while struggling to hide that he’s blind drunk remains the best delivered monologue of the decade.
Play Actress: Jan Maxwell (A Bad Friend, 2003). Maxwell played a 1950s Jewish Communist sympathizer who truly believed that Stalin was a great man. What fervor she displayed in her need to convince others! Then, when her husband learned how the Russian dictator treated Jews, what fervor she displayed in her absolute need to convince herself he was wrong – all the while knowing he was right.
Play Featured Actor: Conor Donovan (Privilege, 2005) As a 12-year old whose father is indicted for insider trading, Donovan showed the utmost faith in his dad’s innocence. That resulted into his utter devastation when his father had to tell him the reality. Those tears sure seemed real to me.
Play Featured Actress: Marian Seldes, for giving so much of herself in The Play about the Baby; The Torchbearers; The Butterfly Collection (all 2000), 45 Seconds from Broadway (2001), Helen; Play Yourself; Dinner at Eight (all 2002), Beckett/Albee (2003), Dedication or the Stuff of Dreams (2005), and Deuce (2007).
Play Director: David Cromer (Our Town, 2009). Life is NOT nice ‘n’ sleepy in Grovers Corners, says Cromer; people there are always busy, too. So he designed the speediest Our Town, with his cast running through life, and not stopping to smell those New Hampshire flowers or Southern bacon.
Settings: John Lee Beatty (Rabbit Hole, 2006). How many, many times have we seen the curtain go up on the interior of a house? But Beatty found a way of twisting and turning the set so that we could see the other rooms of the house, sliding each on and off. Directors are often called “traffic cops,” but Beatty really deserved the compliment.
Costumes: Susan Hilferty (Wicked, 2003). All right, Hilferty got a head start on G(a)linda’s dress from that 1939 film, and Elphaba had to be in basic black – but what about the other 200 or so costumes and hats? They took a most fertile mind and imagination, and Hilferty showed she had both.
Lighting: Jason Lyons (Mourning Becomes Electra, 2009). Here’s something I’d never seen before: Fourth-wall lighting. In other words, when anyone came on stage and looked out at the moonlight shining on what he saw, Lyons atmospherically lit US in the audience, too.
Unique Theatrical Experience: Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance, 2005. No one can draw a more homogenized audience than the Dame. All races of gays sit next to straights sit next to men sit next to women sit next to young people sit next to old people. They all have one thing in common: They laugh like crazy at such questions as “What color is the carpet in your bathroom?”
That’s all, folks. But may I add that all of the above were so accomplished that I won’t be surprised if this time next year — when the decade officially ends — my list looks exactly the same. “
