Martin

Wed, 29 Dec 2004 13:16:17 -0500

Most of my theatergoing was early in 2004, so it all seems so long ago. Judging from my little stack of Playbills here, I saw a lot of "worthy" off-B'way type stuff that I didn't think was all that great, for the most part. * Gallery Players "Lobby Hero" by K. Lonergan was fantastic (Brooklyn). * I didn't like Tracy Letts's "Bug" very much, but it was pretty intense. * I liked Will Eno's "Flu Season" a lot. * Paul Weitz's "Roulette" was silly fun but not really very good. * Melissa James Gibson's "Suitcase" was okay, not as good as "[sic]." * "Road House" was awesome! * Stephen Belber's "Match" was ... a bit much. * Howard Korder's "Sea of Tranquility" was also a bit much. * "Charlie Victor Romeo" was incredible. * A lot of people were impatient with the revival of Stoppard's "Jumpers." I was not among them. * Dylan Moran's "Monster" was very funny. More of a monologue thing. * Roland Schimmelfennig's "Push Up 1-3" was quite good. * Bryony Lavery's "Frozen" was quite good, but I think people overpraised it. * LaBute's "Distance from Here" was ... okay I guess. I much preferred "Mercy Seat." * off-Bway revival of Stoppard's "Arcadia" was fantastic. * Dave Gorman's "Googlewhack Adventure" was a hoot. Usually I see tons of great stuff and I'm very enthusiastic about most of it. This year I experimented more, I stayed low-budget and hence away from big Bway productions, and apparently didn't choose all that well, overall. Still a fine year of theater by my lights. Oh, and a lot of the things that weren't that great had compensating virtues, mainly acting. When I say I didn't like it or whatever, I'm usually talking about the writing.

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Martin