Nathan Lane-led ‘Death of a Salesman’ is relevant and sad as ever
There is the new technology Willy doesn’t understand, the disloyalty of his mercenary company that makes him feel betrayed, the humbling that leads him to lash out, making everything so much worse. If there’s an American workplace nightmare, it’s in this scene. Written in 1949! And as played by Lane and John Drea in Joe Mantello’s exquisitely directed Broadway revival, it will sock you in the gut. Sure did me, and I’ve seen this play countless times. Then again, when you get close to Willy’s age, you also start to see this play very differently.
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Pope/Bettany Elevate ‘The Collaboration’ Into Art Worth Contemplating
One of them paved a path of his own ascending to artistic godhood by glorifying the mundane; the other painted SAMO (meaning the Same Old Sh*t) criticizing the very idea of repetition. One of them broke down the wall between art and business; for the other, walls didn’t mean a thing. One saw beauty, immortality, […]
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Complex Men and Caricatures of Women Are Caught ‘Between Riverside and Crazy’
Walter “Pops” Washington, as he self-describes in Stephen Adly Guirgis’ Pulitzer-winning play Between Riverside and Crazy, is “a flesh and blood, pee standing up, registered Republican.” He is also a litigious former cop caught within the crossroads of bureaucracy, racism, life as a widower, and a fast-gentrifying Riverside Drive. He also happens to be Black. […]
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