Master Class

Tyne Daly puts on the pantsuit and the carré Hermès as Maria Callas in Master Class. If you think that's a bit of a stretch, you're right. My review's here.

Sex Lives of Our Parents + Unnatural Acts

After going off the grid on vacation, I'm back and ready to rock the new season.

In the meantime, here are links to a pair of reviews I'd filed ahead and which were published while I was away: Unnatural Acts at the Vineyard and Sex Lives of Our Parents at Second Stage Uptown.

4000 Miles

I didn't care much for Amy Herzog's After the Revolution but her latest, 4000 Miles, is delightful. Well worth a trip to the Duke on 42nd Street, especially since tickets are only $20. You could pay three times that for the privilege of seeing Mary Louise Wilson in action.

Side Effects

Today's review is of Side Effects at the Lucille Lortel. Ayee! Not a very good show, I'm afraid. The highlight of the evening I saw it was sitting behind Vanessa Redgrave -- whose daughter Joely Richardson is in the play.

Theater outside NYC

In today's Post, I offer some suggestions about catching theater out of town this summer. This is one of the few times when I wish I had a car -- so I could get myself to Williamstown and see everything. At least I can go to Vassar's Powerhouse Theater by train.

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark redux

I saw Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark 2.0 last Friday and lived to write a review. Boy, what a ride it's been — getting this show to open, I mean, because the actual production isn't actually a ride. Or at least not a very fun one.

I also cooked up a handy timeline, so you can discover with astonishment that the seed was planted all the way back in 2002.

One Arm

More Tennessee Williams curios! This time it's One Arm, unearthed and put together from various drafts by Moisés Kaufman. Not a long lost masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but a worthy experience for Williams fans.

The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World

The Shaggs may not be a great musical, but it's a surprisingly warm, affectionate one — and very smart about varying perceptions and the pressures of family. I suspect those who love traditional musicals won't go for it, but fans of a certain brand of indie rock — and a certain indie spirit — should. I certainly did. Click here for my review.

Through a Glass Darkly

Don't mess with the master! Yes, I'm a bit of a Bergman freak (I even have a magnet of his face on my fridge), but even a dabbler could tell that the stage adaptation of Through a Glass Darkly completely misses the point of the movie. I liked Carey Mulligan's performance but that ending left me steaming. More thoughts here.

Lysistrata Jones

Yay, another good musical! What a spring season! Douglas Carter Beane and Lewis Flinn's Lysistrata Jones is a cheerleader update of the Aristophanes chestnut. It's ridic good fun. Full review here.

The Best Is Yet to Come

The Cy Coleman revue The Best Is Yet to Come is now at 59E59. I actually love Coleman's work — one of the most swinging on Broadway — but the show is frustratingly uneven. My review's here.

Cradle and All

Daniel Goldfarb's Cradle and All opened at MTC last night. Listening to yuppies talk about having kids — or not — isn't really exotic when you live in Park Slope.

Knickerbocker

Jerry is 40 and about to be a dad, so naturally he has a lot to talk about. That's pretty much the plot of Knickerbocker, which just opened at the Public. My review's here.

Lucky Guy

The new musical Lucky Guy brought me back to those heady 1990s and their kitschy revues. With several judicious cuts (20 songs?!), it could be a nifty show. Review here.

Radio Play

Reggie Watts and Tommy Smith's Radio Play left me cold at PS 122. I suspect my enjoyment of the show may have been enhanced by the ingestion of brain-altering substances but alas, I went in perfectly sober.

Squealer

It's not easy to pull off shock tactics. The Amoralists mostly succeed, but their feats only underline how hard it is to pull off shock tactics. The gory new off-off-Broadway show Squealer, at Theater for the New City, is an example of how not to do it. Still, it's always a pleasure to see Sarah Lemp in action.

By the Way, Meet Vera Stark

Oh man, how excellent is Lynn Nottage's new play! By the Way, Meet Vera Stark is just fantastic, both hilarious and very sharp. Click here for my review.

A Minister's Wife

A Minister's Wife opened last night at Lincoln Center. It's a musical adaptation of Shaw's Candida, and is fairly bloodless...until the very end. Talk about a late wake-up call.

King Lear

Michael Grandage and Derek Jacobi's King Lear is at BAM, and my review was in yesterday's paper. If you're keen on seeing a Lear, there's two more productions coming later this year, so you may want to sit this one out.

The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide...

Tony Kushner's The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures has finally landed. It's not everyday you hear discussions of dialectical materialism on a New York stage, but boy is this show a slog. My review's thataway.

Be a Good Little Widow

I really liked Bekah Brunstetter's new play, Be a Good Little Widow. It's at Ars Nova (meaning you can get cheap tix) through May, and well worth a trip to west west W. 54th St.

The School for Lies

I loved David Ives' The School for Lies, a rhymed riff on The Misanthrope. The Rialto is celebrating the end of the season but what they mean is the end of the Broadway season — this new show is proof that the Off scene continues unabated.

Leslie Kritzer's back

On yesterday's paper, I previewed Leslie Kritzer's new solo show at Joe's Pub. You can still catch it tonight and tomorrow night. It's nice to see the Kritz back at Joe's, where she triumphed in the classic Leslie Kritzer Is Patti LuPone at Les Mouches back in 2006-07.

The People in the Picture

The Broadway season ends with a flaming fiasco: The People to the Picture, brought to us by the Roundabout. It's a well-meaning musical, but also completely pandering and clumsily executed.

Baby It's You!

The Florence Greenberg/Shirelles musical Baby It's You! has just opened on Broadway. It's not atrocious, but it's not very good either — mostly because of an insultingly broad book. Why do these people keep underestimating audiences??

The Normal Heart

Larry Kramer's 1985 pamphlet, The Normal Heart, makes its Broadway debut in a topnotch production. If someone's on a roll right now, it's Joe Mantello, who directed hits last year and is now back on stage — and great at it.

The House of Blue Leaves

What a weird thing The House of Blue Leaves is. The new revival by David Cromer doesn't quite hit the wide, wide breadth of tones the play encompasses, but it stays with you. Edie Falco and Jennifer Jason Leigh are particularly great to watch. My review's over there.

Born Yesterday

Garson Kanin's 1946 play Born Yesterday comes back to Broadway. The lead reason to see it: a star-is-born turn by Nina Arianda. Oh yes, she is that good.

Jerusalem

I'm glad for any opportunity I get to see Mark Rylance on stage but Jerusalem doesn't live up to its hype — Jez Butterworth really overreaches in that third act. Thataway for my review.

Sister Act

I don't have any particular attachment to the Whoopi Goldberg movie Sister Act, so it was fairly easy for me to enjoy the musical version as, ahem, superior.

I particularly loved Alan Menken's little tributes to Gamble & Huff (the story has been moved to 1978 Philly), and the cast is firing on all cylinders. Would it be wrong to say the show is a hell of a good time?

Picked

Christopher Shinn's new play, Picked, is a complete misfire. In a season as vibrant as the one we're in, it doesn't stand a chance.

High

On the one hand, High is a pretty bad play. On the other, it stars Kathleen Turner. And boy, does she still have it! My review of this purple melodrama thataway.

Wonderland

Frank Wildhorn is back on Broadway! This time he tackles a loose Lewis Carroll adaptation with Wonderland, at the cavernous Marquis. Thank god for Susan Hilferty and her costumes, because there's not much else happening on that stage. Go there for my review.

War Horse

Today's review is of the extraordinary War Horse, currently at the Vivian Beaumont at Lincoln Center.

I'm not much of a horse person, but I sure am a WWI person — my mother's family is from Lorraine, where much of the bloodiest front was, and I've always been interested in that particular conflict. So the play's setting hit me particularly hard.

In any case, you just need to be a theater person to enjoy this show.

Sleep No More

The London company Punchdrunk lives up to its reputation with its first New York show, Sleep No More. I absolutely loved this immersive haunted-house ride, so much so that I'm already planning a return visit.

In short: You wander through 6 floors and 100 rooms, free to explore at will or follow actors. It's Macbeth (particularly Orson Welles' version) but also The Shining, Vertigo, Rebecca, Eyes Wide Shut and drum & bass. Just fantastic.

Go Back to Where You Are

David Greenspan's new Go Back to Where You Are just opened at Playwrights Horizons' upstairs space. My review's here.

Speaking of Playwrights, I was there last night to catch up with Kin. I wasn't the only one: Vanessa Redgrave was there, too. Star sighting!

The Motherf**ker with the Hat

I really like Chris Rock so I'm a bit sad to report that he's underwhelming in his Broadway debut, The Motherfucker with the Hat (I use the marquee's spelling in the subject line). I hope people will give Stephen Adly Guirgis' play a chance though, because it's better than Rock.

Catch Me If You Can

You've seen the Steven Spielberg movie about a charming scammer, now see its musical adaptation on Broadway. Catch Me If You Can opened last night and all I can say is: Thank God for Butz! Norbert Leo Butz, that is: He's the heart and soul of the show, which would be flatlining without him. My review's over there.

Company

I went to the Philharmonic's Company on Thursday, and managed not to be blinded by the stars packed on that stage (review here). I have to admit, I feel that a lot of my colleagues drank the celebrity Kool-Aid on that one — it was fun, but not all that great from a production point of view.

Other than that, I discussed some Spring Broadway shows with Adam Feldman from Time Out on WNYC. You can hear the conversation here.

Anything Goes

Kathleen Marshall's revival of Anything Goes hits the Stephen Sondheim Theater. Ah, Sutton Foster … can she do any wrong? So she's not perfectly cast as Reno Sweeney — that doesn't make her less fun to watch. Click here for my review.

Macbeth

It's the Spring of Macbeth here in New York. First there was the Theater for a New Audience version, now there's the Cheek by Jowl version at BAM. I usually like Declan Donnellan's work but this production is meh — yes, a meh Macbeth. How is that even possible?

Anyway, still to come if Punchdrunk's Sleep No More, which is Macbeth as a choose-your-own-adventure show. More on that next week.

Marie and Bruce

The New Group's revival of Marie and Bruce isn't a fun ride but it's definitely worth investigating. Fun fact: The Sheila and I saw the show on our anniversary night. Considering Wallace Shawn's play is about a toxic marriage, it was an auspicious, er, treat. We repaired to the West Bank Cafe afterwards. All in all, a good night out!

Feeling stripey

I've been a fan of St. James T-shirts and sweaters for years now, and the Sheila has joined me in stripe love. So it's no surprise that I love the new away jersey that Nike has designed for the French soccer team — it's so effortlessly cool that even the über-trendy store Colette carries it. The two designs Nike has come up with for the team so far have both been winners — much better than the atrocities Adidas forked out by the end of their contract. The away version is a take on the classic marinière design, while the home version is a thing of beautiful simplicity, even if it looks like, well, a rugby jersey.

Add a good new coach, convincing victories over England and Brazil in the past few months, and I think we'll soon be able to put the last World Cup behind us.

Bring Us the Head of Your Daughter

I'm a big fan of the Amoralists' work but their latest, Bring Us the Head of Your Daughter, left me frustrated. More than plot problems, it raises the issue of what miscasting can do to a play.

My Girlfriend's Boyfriend

Mike Birbiglia is back with another solo show, My Girlfriend's Boyfriend. I enjoyed it but at the end of the day, what's the line between stand-up and theater? The lack of a drink minimum at the latter? There should be more than that. My review's over there.

Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

Rajiv Joseph's Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo was a Pulitzer finalist last year, but the true reason it's on Broadway is that Robin Williams is in it. I wasn't overly impressed — as with Gruesome Playground Injuries a few months ago, Joseph bites more than he can chew.

La Cage aux Folles redux

Last week I revisited Terry Johnson's revival of La Cage aux Folles to check out the two new leads, Christopher Sieber and Harvey Fierstein. And while Douglas Hodge still holds a special place in my heart, I quite enjoyed the new pair.

The Other Place

Laurie Metcalf rocks The Other Place at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. Just…wow. A performance of impeccable command and vulnerability. She's well worth the price of admission. Thataway for my review.

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

Frank Loesser's 1961 tuner gets a good revival starring Daniel Radcliffe -- and I liked it. Oh he tries so hard and is so adorable doing so!

The Dream of the Burning Boy

Soft-spoken drama The Dream of the Burning Boy opens at the Roundabout's black-box theater. It doesn't add up to much, but Reed Birney gives yet another great performance. I saw him eat at Green Symphony (love that place) a few weeks ago and almost went all stalker-fan on him. Fortunately I somehow preserved my dignity.

The Book of Mormon

Can I see this show again? Like, right now? I loved loved loved The Book of Mormon (my rave here). Tap dancing and explosive diarrhea: What more do you want, people!?!

Ghetto Klown

John Leguizamo's latest solo show, Ghetto Klown, opened last night on Broadway. It was hard steering clear from the Krusty jokes, but I managed to do so in today's review. Don't worry, there's another K crack in there.

Hello Again

Come again? Yes, it's the return of Michael John LaChiusa's musical Hello Again. The Transport Group has staged it — rather unnecessarily in my view — in a Soho loft. I can't say it's site-specific because that would imply the show takes place in a specific location, and it doesn't. There's enough good moments to make this worthy, though, especially if you like LaChiusa's score (and I do).

The Comedy of Errors

There's some serious mayhem happening at BAM -- I'm talking about the Propeller Company's staging of The Comedy of Errors. I absolutely loved it, though you may want to think twice if the prospect of a Looney Tunes version of Shakespeare makes you shudder. Me, I see so much "respectable" Shakespeare that I'm more than happy to see people go at it with imagination and mad skillz.

Priscilla Queen of the Desert

I have a few reservations but overall I had a swell time at Priscilla Queen of the Desert -- the musical that just won't give up trying to entertain you. The "MacArthur Park" number alone is worth the price of admission. "Someone left the cake out in the rain": Oh yes they did!

Arcadia

Arcadia is, for many, Tom Stoppard's masterpiece. A revival opened again on Broadway last night and, well, I'm not part of the fans. Talking about intellectual matters doesn't automatically make one deep.

Cactus Flower

I'm a big fan of farce but when it's mishandled, it's just painful. So don't bother with the revival of Barillet and Grédy's Cactus Flower currently at the Westside Theatre. My pan's here.

Peter and the Starcatcher

Who would have thought a Disney Theatricals project would ever end up at New York Theatre Workshop? Yet Peter and the Starcatcher is on E. 4th St., and it's doing great business. I found the show a bit too manic but still worthy. My review's here.

SWAN!!!

With a title in all-caps followed by three exclamation marks, you know SWAN!!! isn't going to be your regular stage version of Black Swan. I previewed the show -- which stars Jack Ferver, Jenn Harris and Randy Harrison, among others -- in today's Post.

The Method Gun

Rude Mechs' latest show, The Method Gun, is currently at Dance Theater Workshop (which places more emphasis on the "Theater" part of its name in this case). I've liked the company's work in the past, but this piece about a fictional acting teacher felt half-baked to me.

That Championship Season

Wow, is the revival of That Championship Season bad! Wild horses could not have kept the Sheila in her seat: She was out like a flash at intermission. Not only is the play creaky, but the acting is seriously underwhelming. At Broadway prices, there's no excuse.

Skellig

A stage adaptation of David Almond's YA novel Skellig has just started a run at the New Victory Theatre. Not among the best things I've seen at the New Vic — one of my favorite NY houses — but still, a perfectly fine show if you want to take a kid out without insulting their (or your) intelligence. Thataway for my review.

Good People

I'd hated David Lindsay-Abaire's Rabbit Hole but I loved his new play, Good People (reviewed in today's paper). Color me stunned, especially since the show is at Manhattan Theatre Club's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre -- a house I'd been considering cursed because I never seem to like anything there. Yay!

Beautiful Burnout

The Black Watch team returns to St. Ann's Warehouse with Beautiful Burnout, a play about boxing set to Underworld tunes. I liked it quite a bit, despite the fact that the story is completely predictable — but isn't it the case with all boxing stories anyway?

Timon of Athens

A good, pared-down production of Shakespeare's ill-loved Timon of Athens is at the Public until Sunday -- and costs a meager $15. My review's here.

The Hallway Trilogy

Adam Rapp goes two for three in his new Hallway Trilogy at the Rattlestick. Rapp's one of my favorite American playwrights so I'm always happy to see his work. My review's here.

As a side note, I spent all of Sunday at or near the Rattlestick and on one of the breaks I finally went to Taïm for the first time. Its reputation is richly deserved.

Vieux Carré

The Wooster Group revives Tennessee Williams' Vieux Carré -- which had played Broadway for a total of 17 performances back in 1977. I enjoyed it more than the last two Wooster shows I caught, "Hamlet" and North Atlantic, but still felt it petered out halfway through. May we have a case of diminishing returns here?

The Diary of a Madman

Geoffrey Rush lets it rip in The Diary of a Madman at BAM. You've got less than a month left to see him. In the meantime, my review's here.

Interviewing the Audience

I was blissfully off the grid for the past few days, so here's a belated link to my review of Interviewing the Audience at the Vineyard.

Black Tie

I found A.R. Gurney's latest play, Black Tie, oddly defensive. For instance, the idea of WASPs being mocked and/or made uncomfortable by Jewish comics (Jackie Mason is name-dropped, and the show refers to a made-up comedian named Seymour Schwartz) feels so…dated — to put it mildly.

Thataway for my review.

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

Yep, most of the critics decided enough was enough and wrote about Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark today — which was the opening date at one point.

Amazingly, my take-down is one of the kindest reviews out there.

Lost in the Stars

Encores! is presenting a very good concert version of Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson's Lost in the Stars through the weekend. I caught in on Thursday (review here) and highly recommend it.

Three Sisters

It looks like I'm going to be the minority opinion on this one: I didn't care for the Three Sisters production at CSC. It's a great cast on paper, but there's no life on stage. That's pushing Chekhov's theme a bit far.

Gruesome Playground Injuries + The Whipping Man

Double-barrel attack in the Post today, with a pair of reviews from big off-Broadway houses.

First off is Gruesome Playground Injuries, starring Pablo Schreiber and Jennifer Carpenter, at Second Stage. I've been a Schreiber fan since the second season of The Wire, where he played Nick Sobotka, and he doesn't disappoint here. I hear he's now in the new FX series Lights Out, so gotta check that one out.

Then we have The Whipping Man at MTC. Good performance by André Braugher but the play is so maddeningly earnest...

The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore

The Roundabout's revival of Tennessee Williams' The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore gently goes off the rails. Or, more accurately, it never gets on the rails. My review's here.

What the Public Wants

Arnold Bennett's What the Public Wants is about a tabloid magnate who ... I'll say no more! Just know that the play was written in 1909 and is freakishly prescient. My review of the Mint company's revival is thataway.

The Uberbowl

The closest I get to American football is Friday Night Lights, which the Sheila and I have just started watching. (Yeah, we're years behind. Whatevs.) But I'm looking forward to the Uberbowl at Joe's Pub on February 6. At last, a Super Bowl party for those of us who don't know their tight ends from their running backs. You can read all about it in my preview here.

And now, back to the Australian Open, and wondering if Maria Riesch will prevail over Lindsey Vonn.

The New York Idea

David Auburn does a "gut renovation" of the 1906 play The New York Idea. Alas, the production lacks zip. My review's here.

The Misanthrope

The Pearl company's production of Molière's The Misanthrope gets a lukewarm review today.

The Walk Across America for Mother Earth

I'm bummed to report that Taylor Mac's new show, The Walk Across America for Mother Earth, is a total misfire. Something unexpected did happen the night I went, so head over to my review for more details.

Room 17B

The Parallel Exit company delivers a neat little evening of physical comedy with Room 17B, now playing at 59E59. My review's here.

ScreenPlay

Satire is hard. Hollywood satire harder still. Scott Brooks couldn't pull it off in ScreenPlay at 59E59. My pan's here.

John Gabriel Borkman

Alan Rickman, Fiona Shaw and Lindsay Duncan rock BAM's Harvey Theatre in John Gabriel Borkman, a semi-obscure play by Ibsen (my review's here).

The on-stage blizzard at the end hit a little too close to home -- there were still banks of snow outside the theater when I saw the show last week -- but you could also argue the real storm is the one happening on Fiona Shaw's face. What a great performance!

Other Desert Cities

The second of today's two reviews is Jon Robin Baitz's Other Desert Cities, which is crackling at Lincoln Center. The play's very good and the cast will make your head explode -- Stockard Channing gives her best performance in years.

The Importance of Being Earnest

The first of today's two reviews is the Roundabout revival of The Importance of Being Earnest at the American Airlines. I know, I know: period piece plus Roundabout usually equals yawns, but this one's fun.

Blood from a Stone

Today's review is of Blood from a Stone, a new drama by rookie Tommy Nohilly, presented by the New Group. Ethan Hawke, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Natasha Lyonne, etc. Good people, not-so-good play.

Green Eyes

Lord no, not the Coldplay song: Today's review is of a long-lost Tennessee Williams one-act play from 1970 called Green Eyes. It's not going to make us reconsider his latter-years output, but it's an interesting show because it's staged in an actual hotel room.

A Small Fire

Today's review is of Adam Bock's new show, A Small Fire, at Playwrights Horizons. A good cast led by Michele Pawk and Reed Birney, but the play doesn't add up to all that much. Watch for the talkbacks featuring Oliver Sacks! (Just kidding -- though they'd make sense.)

Dracula

First review of the new year and first pan: Dracula opened last night. Oh my, it's bad.

My stage debut

To the wild clamoring of strictly no one, I will make my stage debut in the January installment of Project Shaw, 1912's Androcles and the Lion — yes, I'm starting off with no less than a play by George Bernard Shaw!

Much to my relief, I only have six lines. More fun is the fact that the cast is entirely made up of theater wags. You've seen their bylines, now come hear their lines.

Tickets are $25 and you can get them here.

Coil festival

I open the new year with a preview of the upcoming Coil festival, organized by PS 122. It happens at the same time as the Public's Under the Radar fest, so those interested in theater's outer limits are going to be busy for the next two weeks.

Best of 2010

At last, my top ten list is out in today's Post! You can find it here. I've also started doing a brief list of some of my fave moments and performances. The first part, comedy, is here. I'll do the more somber stuff today, as well as a list of some of the worst stuff I saw all year.

Three Pianos

The year concludes with Three Pianos at NY Theatre Workshop (my review's here). A zany/loving whirlwind tour of Schubert's Winterreise song cycle, the piece seriously extends its welcome: It clocked in at nearly 2hrs 15 the night I saw it. Not a problem in itself, but one when the creators/cast run out of ideas.

Completely unrelated: watched Johnnie To's Vengeance last night. Glorious. The movie stars French-Belgian rocker Johnny Halliday (who's good), but actor-wise the big draw is Anthony Wong, whom HK-action fiends know from his turn in Infernal Affairs.

Donny and Marie: A Broadway Christmas

Yes yes yes: I saw Donny and Marie Osmond at the Marquis and lived to tell the tale. A good time was had by all, and there were enough references to Dancing with the Stars to make me happy.

Let it also be said that until January 2, there's at least one place in New York where it's safe to wear your floor-length furs.

Hysteria

Today's review is of Hysteria by the Inspector Sands company.

Haunted

Today's review is of Haunted, by Edna O'Brien. It stars Brenda Blethyn, who alone is well worth the trip to 59E59 Theaters.

Before going in, I let myself be tempted by a couple of macarons at a place across the street. They were tasty enough, but at $2.25 a pop — a small pop — you think twice about going back. I also wonder why American macaron stores feel they need to offer so many crazy flavors (there's a lot more than indicated on the online menu). I'd be happier with 5-6 impeccable ones.

The Great Game: Afghanistan

This past Saturday, I attended yet another marathon play — it's really been the season for those events. This time around I started up at 11:30am and left just after 10pm. In between there was The Great Game: Afghanistan (my review here).

The best thing about seeing a show at the NYU Skirball Center is that the food options in the area are excellent. During the lunch break, I went to to François Payard's new bakery on W. Houston. Well worth it, even if the coffee tasted slightly burnt. Note to self: Clearly you don't go there for the coffee.

Pass the Blutwurst, Bitte

John Kelly brings back his 1980s piece about Egon Schiele, Pass the Blutwurst, Bitte. It's at La MaMa, and while I have mixed feelings about it, the show's certainly an interesting artifact — from downtown in the 1980s, if not Vienna in the 1910s.

On French TV series

For many years — decades, even — French writers and directors thought of television as the ugly stepchild of cinema. There were few connections between the two fields: No filmmaker would consider working for the small screen. Which isn't to say that there weren't good shows, but even the best were considered inferior to movies. This is pretty crazy, as we had some good home-grown TV. I remember avidly watching miniseries like La Poupée sanglante , Les Rois maudits (the original, not the remake), and series like Les Nouvelles aventures de Vidocq (ah, the saucy Danièle Lebrun, my childhood crush), Arsène Lupin and Chéri-Bibi.

Things began to change in the early 1990s, when the French-German ARTE channel started drawing film directors to work on miniseries and films that often also played in cinemas at the same time as they were broadcast. André Téchiné's Wild Reeds, for instance, started off as a 60-minute made-for-ARTE movie.

But this was all pretty arty. The latest development has been the marked improvement of commercial French series — especially the ones produced by Canal Plus — and most of them influenced by HBO. Thanks to my family's busy DVR recorder, I've been able to watch quite a few. My favorites so far have been Engrenages, a great procedural that wrapped its third season in June, and Pigalle, entirely shot docu-style on location. Appeal to IFC: Show them in the US!

I had mixed feelings about Braquo, about a cop with ethical issues played by Jean-Hughes Anglade, but watched the whole first season anyway. And I haven't been very far with Mafiosa, even though it takes place in Corsica.

Right now I'm in the middle of Maison close, which takes place in a high-end Parisian brothel in 1871, right after the Commune. It's pretty good so far, even though some of the aesthetic choices are slightly cheesy. Playing George Jackson's "If I Could Open Up My Heart" while two prostitutes put on a sapphic show for a client's benefit was the equivalent of a runny brie. Still, there's good stuff in there. I even like the sour lesbian madame hopelessly in love with her star employee. It's a cliché character straight out of the 1950s, and nobody in the US would dare show someone like this now. That's something I regret, in a twisted way, as it only adds to the pulpy ambiance. Here's the start of the first episode.

Looking at Christmas

Today's review is of Steven Banks' new play Looking at Christmas, playing at the Flea.