Cat and Hats

While I haven’t been seeing much theater lately, I’ve been reading quite a bit about it. My favorite source continues to be The New Yorker and you folks either working for Henley Street or planning on going to see their production of The Seagull might want to read this review of the current Broadway production. I’ve probably rambled on wistfully before about the first production of The Seagull I ever saw about 7-8 years ago which also was the first time I saw Erin Thomas on stage. She was magnificent as Nina and, if I’m remembering correctly, Justin Dray was a pretty kick-ass Konstantin. The only thing I can’t remember is the name of the winery where this production was staged. Can anyone help me out?

Last week’s issue had a review of the all-black cast for “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” To be honest, I can’t get really excited about it being an all-black cast – after all, TheatreVirginia did that years ago. I can, however, get excited about it being a cast with James Earl Jones, Terrence Howard, and Phylicia Rashad. The TVA production had Tamara Tunie as Maggie and she was awesome. But I can’t for the life of me remember who played Brick. There’s no question that Tennessee Williams wrote something transcendent with “Cat” but in my opinion this is a play singular in its dependency on the lead actors’ charisma. Brick in particular can have as little personality as his name if played by the wrong actor.

I hope everyone saw the picture of Robyn O’Neill and read her quotes in yesterday’s Weekend section. I can’t believe the Miles hat was from 15 years ago!