An eye on Kristina

My preview of Kristina is in today's New York Post. Benny and Björn4 ever!

What Benny and Björn think of Lady Gaga

As I mentioned earlier today, last week I got to meet two of my heroes. Check out my blog at the New York Post to see what Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus think of Lady Gaga. It's the first installment in a series of posts centering on the stuff that won't make it to the print preview about their show at Carnegie Hall. Still to come: Benny talks about the stylistic links between Abba, Chess and Kristina.

Be still my heart

I've done hundreds of interviews over the years, but last week one almost sent me over the edge. Yes, I finally got to talk to Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus -- the men behind Abba and Chess. I have to admit I struggled to keep it together when I saw them enter the rehearsal studio where the media circus was taking place.

They were in town to present a concert version of their 1995 musical Kristina från Duvemåla (simply Kristina in the English version) at Carnegie Hall this Wednesday and Thursday. Look for my preview in the Post, and I will put a lot of extra stuff on my blog over there -- which has a new URL, by the way, so bookmark it stat.

Is life worth living? Don't answer that

I'm a big fan of the Mint Theater and its mission to revive forgotten plays, but this time they kind of wrecked their latest discovery, Lennox Robinson's Is Life Worth Living? More on the misfire in today's Post.

High and low

Ooh boy, this past weekend I experienced quite very different shows, as you can see in my two Post reviews today: from the good (Ivo van Hove's staging of La Voix Humaine) to the inept (Daniel Goldfarb's The Retributionists).

At the latter, there was quite an exodus at intermission, which tells you something — and it's not good. The former took place as part of the Dutch-run New Island Festival, out on Governors Island. I have to admit I'd never been there, and I was enchanted by my little trip.

The location certainly added to my enjoyment of La Voix Humaine, but it's a safe bet to say that no setting, no matter how exotic, could have helped The Retributionists. It's an embarrassment for everybody involved.

Hooray for Oohrah!

In today's paper, I review Bekah Brunstetter's Oohrah!, currently running at the Atlantic 2, on W. 16th St. It's a happy surprise, especially considering the play's potentially lethal premise -- Iraq vet comes home to North Carolina, things don't go well, etc.

News from Ireland

My review of the omnibus show Spinning the Times, made up of five monologues by five playwrights, is up at the Post today.

Pets, not animal companions

My preview of the Pet Shop Boys' New York shows is in today's Post.

It'd be preposterous to introduce the Boys' music at this point — or even focus on their latest album since the tour is more of a career retro — so I decided to zero in on their stagecraft. If a band can bring together pop heads and show-tune queens, it's this one. Appropriately, their current Pandemonium tour is staged by an opera and theater designer and choreographed by someone with two new shows on Broadway this season.

Devil boys from beyond the Fringe

At last, old-school camp at the Fringe Festival! Buddy Thomas' Devil Boys from Beyond (reviewed in today's Post) is a shameless hoot. Bravo!

As a frumpy, horny hausfrau, Everett Quinton is sensational, but the rest of the cast is topnotch. And the cheapest tricks are milked for all they're worth -- I laughed every single time the pink inflatable mattress that serves as a door opened and closed with a whooosh sound effect. This could transfer to a small Off-Broadway house as is.

His Lameness

Daniel MacIvor's His Greatness at the Cherry Lane Theatre, New York Post, August 26.

Much more fun: The phone rang at 8:20am this morning and what I heard when I picked up was, "Hello, this is Neil Tennant from Pet Shop Boys." No, I don't know him — I was supposed to interview him for a preview of next week's PSB shows. Still, it's a great way to start the day. More when the piece comes out, obviously.

It's Greek to her

My review of The Bacchae is in today's Post. It's pretty amazing to see how director JoAnne Akalaitis could make such a gory story all nice and smooth. Well, except at the end, that is, but nobody could smooth out that end. Still, Anthony Mackie (the next Mr. Vincentelli, though he doesn't know it yet) is wonderful as always.

Uneventful

More Fringe Festival action with John Clancy's The Event, reviewed in today's Post. What's worse: a perfectly adequate but bland show or one that's horrid but perversely entertaining?

The Bronx is up and Wall Street's down

My love for film scorer Elmer Bernstein led me to How Now, Dow Jones, the 1967 musical he wrote and that's being redone at the Fringe. Review in today's Post.

Spend the summer with Georges Simenon

I've mentioned before that I regularly listen to French public radio via podcast. Of the various units of Radio France, I'm partial to France Inter and to France Culture. The former has particularly good talk shows and political satirists during the year but I'm not so keen on its summer schedule. The latter, on the other hand, can be stuffy during the year but really comes alive in July and August.

Last year, I raved about that the 16 hours France Culture dedicated to François Truffaut. This year, they're doing the same thing to Georges Simenon, with five distinct parts, each one centered around a location important to the writer: Liège, Paris, France, America, Switzerland. The whole thing should run about 17 hours.

Go to this site, which lists all the France Culture podcasts, and scroll down to "Simenon" to subscribe.

And while you're there, you might also check out "Conversation avec Losey" (Positif boss Michel Ciment chats with Joseph Losey in the late ’70s) and "Paroles d'actrices" (hour-long interviews with contemporary French actresses).

It's not alright, da

Fathers and sons duke it out in a double bill of After Luke and When I Was God at the Irish Rep. Review in today's Post, of course.

Slipping away

Daniel Talbott's Slipping at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, New York Post, August 5.

Escort service

Yesterday I strayed from the theater to preview Escort's forthcoming show in Prospect Park. It's tomorrow, and I'll certainly be there as Escort is one of my favorite live bands and it plays rarely. Plus the evening's second half consists of a screening of Prince's Purple Rain, which I haven't seen since it came out 25 years ago. Ayee!!!

Ballroom blitz

I already liked Maksim Chmerkovskiy on Dancing with the Stars, but after seeing him in Burn the Floor on Broadway (reviewed in today's Post), he's graduated to official crush. Still, as much as I like Maks, my head might have exploded if it had been Tony or Mark -- or, er, Lacey -- gyrating a few feet away instead.

Drum & bugle madness

I'm a latecomer to drum & bugle, but boy do I love it! Busby Berkeley-type choreography + marching band = win.

In today's Post, I preview the Music in Motion event that's taking place at Giants Stadium tomorrow, featuring seven top corps. I'll be there, of course. I'm particularly looking forward to the Holy Name Cadets, whose routine is set to a West Side Story medley.

New York's Amoralists

In today's Post, I profile the Amoralists, a newish NY company whose play, The Pied Pipers of the Lower East Side, returns to PS 122 until August 17. It's very exciting to find a new local voice that balances full-on actor physicality with great social, philosophical and political concerns. Highly recommended.