Albee Memory - three short reviews

More Albee memories.  Gosh, I got a kick out of remembering how much my friend HATED Me, Myself and I.  I almost reprinted the review he sent me, but changed my mind.  I'm giggling about it anyway.  I think I have one or two more reviews left, so I think I'll be able to take up a whole week with Albee, which is as it should be...

4/25/08:  Hi!  I’m swamped today, but I wanted to get some sort of review out of my head, so it wouldn’t be lurking in the back of my brain!  It will be scattered and not very detailed, so sorry in advance!  I lucked into a ticket last night for the Albee doubleheader at the Cherry Lane Theater.  Woo hoo for lucking into a ticket!

I enjoyed the evening quite a bit.  Always fun to see early Albee—no one really writes in an absurdist way anymore, plus it was cool to see a lot of future Albee themes in their earliest forms.  The symbolism gets a little heavyhanded in American Dream, but I shrugged it off.

The cast is spot on.  Kate Mulgrew=riot.  She’s just great.  Everyone is.  Oh, and there is MAJOR eye candy in each act.  I’m just saying.

The first act started to drag a bit towards the end, but that was minor.  The music composed for the evening was first-rate.  Overall, I give the production a thumbs-up.  I’m sure if you have specific questions, I can wrap my head around more coherent answers later this afternoon.  

10/25/10:  Well, I’m sending this brief review around to everyone but a dear friend who didn't enjoy himself in the extreme at this play.  I almost feel guilty about giving him a ticket.  Because, I’m a little sheepish to admit after his rant, I kinda liked Albee’s Me, Myself and I.  An office chum had an extra ticket for last night’s performance, and she and I had a good time.

Yes, his mommy issues can seem a little old; yes, the play is a little long; yes, Elizabeth Ashley is a little too charming and cuddly in her role as the monster mom, but I thought the play itself was funny and it really raised some interesting ideas about identity and family and individuality.  Although Elizabeth Ashley is maybe trying too hard to be liked, I still thought she was a lot of fun and her monologue about why she gave her twins the names she did was full-on amazing.  I also liked the meta-theatricality of the whole thing.

photo credit: Joan Marcus

The guy sitting next to me HATED IT.  I was hoping he would leave at intermission, because he was one of those people who fidget incessantly when they’re not enjoying something, but alas, he came back for the second act.  I was thisclose to telling him to sit the f*ck still, but I didn’t.  I can be nice sometimes, and I can certainly understand why this play wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea…

Anyway, this isn't first-tier Albee, but I still consider second-tier Albee to be better than most new stuff out there.  And there were some real laugh-out-loud moments for me, so thanks to Edward for that.  And also moments to really chew on.  I’m still thinking about some of the ideas, so thanks to Edward for that, too.  Just don't tell my friend who hated it!  Please!    

5/27/16:  [the following review is excerpted from my notes about the three one-acts put together called "The Signature Plays" at Signature Theater]  First was the fifteen-ish-minute The Sandbox by Edward Albee.  It's an early play, and one he has described as being his only 'practically perfect' piece, but it has a lot of familiar Albee imagery in it, with the domineering mother, the milquetoast father and the horrible treatment of each other by the upper classes.  It was absurd, yet relatable, with an onstage cellist, a handsome man wearing only swim trunks who turns out to be an actor/angel of death. Alison Fraser and Frank Wood are terrific as the oddball indifferent couple who come to the beach to wait for Grandma (played with delicious pluck and satire by Phyllis Somerville) to die in the sandbox.  Witty, acidic and totally odd, The Sandbox is a great way to start the evening.