Shows For Days

Shows For Days is playing at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre located at 150 West 65th Street. It runs two hours twenty minutes with one intermission. The show closes on August 23, 2015.

Douglas Carter Beane is the playwright. He won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical and a Tony Award nomination for Best book of a Musical in 2007 for Xanadu.

Jerry Zaks is the director. He won four Tony Awards for Guys and Dolls (1992), Six Degrees of Separation (1991), Lend Me a Tenor (1989) and The House of Blue Leaves (1986). Jerry was nominated for three Tony Awards for A Funny Thing Happen on the Way To The Forum (1996), Smokey Joe’s Café (1995) and Anything Goes (1988).

Patti Lupone won two Tony Awards for Gypsy (2008) and Evita (1980). She was nominated for four Tony Awards for Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (2011), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2006), Anything Goes (1988) and The Robber Bridegroom (1976). She won two Laurence Olivier Awards in 1995 for Les Miserables and The Cradle Will Rock and was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Sunset Boulevard (1993). She was an inductee into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2006. Patti won two Grammy Awards.

Michael Urie is known for his portrayal of Marc St. James in Ugly Betty in the ABC television drama Ugly Betty.

The place is the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater and Reading Pa. The time is the present and May-October 1973.

Car (Michael Urie) is addressing the audience. He tells them where on the stage things happened. There are different color markers on the floor of the stage. In the back wall are different props such as chairs, table’s, sofa, etc. Car moves some of them around to the different markers. He explains how he became a playwright, discovering his sexuality and tidbits of his adult life.

When he takes off his glasses and jacket he becomes 14 year Car. He shows us how he got involved with the local community acting group in Reading, Pa. Wondering into the building where the theatre was he was put to work right away by Sid (Dales Soules) painting the floor.

The group has gotten the building for a year. Buildings around them are being demolished.

Irene (Patti Lupone) is in charge of the group. She emphasizes she is Jewish. The other actors are Maria ( Zoe Winters), Damien (Jordon Dean) and Clive (Lance Coadie Williams). They are losing money, struggling to survive.

When Irene finds out the nearby college is going to do Broadway shows she has to outdo them. She asks Sid and Clive to help her. Sid and Clive are gay. Sid’s former girlfriend got married and is working for the governor. Clive is African American. He lover is rich and influential. Both ask favors of their friends or hint they will expose them. The acting group gets a new theater and a grant from the state.

What happens go see this light hearted but delightful play.

Michael Urie and Dale Soules do an outstanding job. The cast works well together.

Michael must be tired after the show since he pulls furniture around the stage all night.

Warning: Depending on which side of the stage you may be sitting there is a bit of nudity but------. Well be surprised.

Review by Rozanna Radakovich

Photos by Annazor.

To read a candid interview with the cast, scroll down to the left for recent photos. Click on recent photos for this and other shows.