| Ladies and Gents,
Anyone who ever claimed that April comes in like a lion and out like a lamb has never worked on Broadway! The Spring Season is at its sweaty crescendo and has commandeered my iCal with the confidence of an overeducated executive assistant at a Silicon Valley startup. There isn’t a free night in sight, and, frankly, I wouldn’t trust one if it appeared. This past week offered a particularly rich trifecta: The Fear of 13 premiered, Proof threw open its doors once again, and Hadestown marked an astonishing anniversary on Broadway by (not) looking back at the past seven years since it first bowed.
Let us begin with Proof, where the crowd was nearly as juicy as the play’s central mystery. The revival’s opening brought out a splendid assortment of film, television, and theater folk, all orbiting around Ayo Edebiri, Don Cheadle, director Thomas Kail, and playwright David Auburn. Matt Damon was there in loyal support of his friend and co-star Cheadle, which gave the proceedings a touch of old-school Hollywood fraternity—something I always find rather becoming in an age when so many celebrities seem only to support themselves. And there was a darling little mini-Hamilton reunion in the room, with Lin-Manuel Miranda, Renée Elise Goldsberry, and Jasmine Cephas Jones turning up to cheer on Kail.
Also in the mix: Quinta Brunson, joined by her Abbott Elementary confrères Tyler James Williams and Chris Perfetti. And, of course, Michelle Williams was on hand, looking fab, playing the part of Mrs. Tommy Kail.
The night before, The Fear of 13 planted its flag at the James Earl Jones Theatre with Adrien Brody and Tessa Thompson making their Broadway debuts in Lindsey Ferrentino’s dark, true-life drama about a falsely convicted prisoner. It is the sort of material that sounds almost too harrowing to bear until theater works its old alchemy and makes pain feel not punishing, but illuminating. The opening crowd was satisfyingly sleek: Anna Wintour, Common, Michael Urie, Rebecca Hall, and Emmy Rossum among the faces in the house.
Then came Hadestown, which has now been seducing audiences for seven years—a mere flash in underworld time but a genuine triumph in Broadway time. The anniversary celebration had the proper civic sheen, with the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment represented by Commissioner Rafael Espinal, who presented a special mayoral citation in honor of the occasion to producer Mara Isaacs, who accepted the honor with a speech for the ages. “New York,” said she, “is not just where we perform this show. New York is this show — gritty, resilient, full of people working hard, daring to hope, and choosing to try again even when the odds are against them.”
And just when one thought the evening might be winding down, the cast popped outside and delivered a surprise performance of “Way Down Hadestown” on the street. I ask you: what could be more New York than commemorating a mayoral citation with a little open-air underworld proselytizing on the sidewalk?
It was one of those weeks that reminds me why, after all these years, I still rush toward a first night like a moth to a chandelier. Broadway in spring is part athletic event, part courtship ritual, part endurance test. You powder your nose, flag a car, and surrender to the glorious possibility that by evening’s end you’ll have seen something moving, spotted someone marvelous, and been reminded by this maddening little artform has drawn the masses since the days of ancient Greece.
Tidbits from around town…
Saw Michael Bloomberg peering at pastries in a Madison Avenue café with the solemn concentration of a man reviewing municipal budgets.
Spied Sarah Snook gliding through Soho in dark glasses and yoga pants.
Overheard Paul Simon politely decline a martini at a downtown dinner.
A toast of something sparking to you and yours!
Kisses, |
