Tynan's Anger

I love Brighton Beach Memoirs. I believe it is a sincerely underrated play dismissed by snooty old/dead theater critics who consider Neil Simon a sitcom writer.

I have exceedingly fond memories of the play; performing monologues from it in the 7th grade was the highlight of my acting career.

I was thrilled when I heard that David Cromer, the best director in American theater, thought the same about Brighton Beach Memoirs. I was thrilled that Cromer's Broadway revival got excellent reviews.

But if its failure causes Broadway producers to stop pandering to the blue-haired crowd with straight plays, it may be the best thing to have happened to American theater in decades.

Labels: american theater, brighton beach memoirs, broadway, neil simon, old people, Producers, theater criticism

Each month, I will be unrolling a top 10 list regarding English-language drama this decade. Last month, I revealed the best lines from English-language plays this decade [Part One] [Part Two] [Part Three]. This month, I will be unveiling the best characters to emerge in Engish-language drama this decade. Because of the complications of such a list; I have broken it into three categories

1. Original Characters
2. Historical Characters (a.k.a. characters based on real life people)
3. Reinterpreted characters: Characters Who Are Fictional But Have Appeared in Other Plays or Media Previously.

On Monday, we begin with the Top 5 Reinterpreted Characters in English-Language Drama This Decade.

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5. Peter (Peter and Jerry, Edward Albee)
Edward Albee solves some unfinished business in his sequel to his 1958 classic Zoo Story—giving a character the chance to explain himself that Albee fans had craved for half a century.

4. Eurydice (Eurydice, Sarah Ruhl) Greek mythical heroes are being updated all the time, but by turning Eurydice into a sweet girl who’s tragic trait is being “interesting” is particularly inspired, especially since Ruhl manages to avoid getting too fey.

3. Moritz Stiefel (Spring Awakening, book & lyrics by Steven Sater) The character once deemed to disturbing to even touch the Fringes of New York theater became the decade’s biggest icon for depressed teenagers in American theater.

2. Franz Liebkind (The Producers, book by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan) Brad Oscar may never escape the life he gave to this character, but his performance and Brooks and Meehan’s reinterpretation may have been the only character to literally cause attendees to roll in the aisles on an almost nightly basis.

1. Aunt Esther (King Hedley II & Gem of the Ocean, August Wilson) Posthumously, we can look at August Wilson Pittsburgh Cycle in the fictional order; in real life we watched the death of the spiritual center of his body of work in his most obtusely tragic work; her role as one of the most crucial characters in African-American literature was sealed by her origin story seen just a few years later on Broadway.

Labels: august wilson, edward albee, Eurydice, franz liebkind, gem of the ocean, king headley ii, mel brooks, peter and jerry, Producers, sarah ruhl, Spring Awakening, zoo story