'Magic/Bird' on Broadway: What did the critics think?

"Magic/Bird," the new play by Eric Simonson that opened this week on Broadway, tells the story of the rivalry and off-court relationship between two of basketball's greatest players -- Larry Bird and Earvin "Magic" Johnson.

A basketball-themed play, at the Longacre Theatre, may seem like an odd fit for Broadway, where financial success is still defined by the mega-musical likes of "Wicked" and "The Lion King." But the modest success of "Lombardi" in 2010 proved that a sports play could find its audience amid the theatrical razzle-dazzle of New York.

Simonson also happened to pen "Lombardi" and he was brought on board "Magic/Bird" by some of the same producers. Tug Coker and Kevin Daniels play Bird and Johnson, respectively. Their athletic rivalry pitted Bird's Boston Celtics against Johnson's Los Angeles Lakers.

Johnson, now one of the new owners of the Los Angeles Dodgers, was in New York this week for the play's opening. He and Bird appeared Wednesday on "Late Night with David Letterman."

How did critics -- a group of people not known for their sports enthusiasm -- react to the play? Their response so far has been less than enthusiastic, to say the least.

Arts on TV: Julius Shulman; Billy Childs Jazz Chamber Ensemble

Movie: “Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman” (2008) 6 and 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Sundance: Narrated by Dustin Hoffman. Photographer Julius Shulman helps bring architecture's Modernist movement to the forefront and collaborates with architect Richard Neutra and others on many important projects.

“SoCal Insider With Rick Reiff” 1 p.m. Thursday; 7 p.m. Friday; 11:30 a.m. Sunday, KOCE; noon Wednesday, KOCE: Opera legend Placido Domingo. 

“Exploring the Arts With Gloria Greer” 6:30 p.m. Thursday, KVCR: Jackie Autry's Private Collection.

“Open Call” 9 p.m. Thursday, KCET: Colburn School Orchestra. Hosted by mezzo-soprano opera singer Suzanna Guzman.

“Orchestra Kids 2011” 10:30 p.m. Thursday, KCET: Behind the scenes with the All Schools Elementary Honor Orchestra as it prepares for its annual concert in renowned Schoenberg Concert Hall in UCLA.

“SoCal Connected” 9 p.m. Friday; 6 p.m. Saturday; 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday, KCET: Herbie Hancock: All That's Jazz: Correspondent Michael Okwu shares what it was like to spend time with jazz artist Herbie Hancock.

“Santa Monica On Stage” 8 p.m. Friday, City TV Channel 16, Santa Monica: Barbara Bain ("Why We Have A Body"). Writer Rex Pickett and director Amelia Mulkey ("Sideways, The Play").

“Art in the Twenty-First Century” 10 p.m. Friday, KOCE: Change: Artists Ai Weiwei, El Anatsui and Catherine Opie. (Season Premiere)

“Dudu Fisher: In Concert From Israel” 1:30 p.m. Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday; 8 p.m. Wednesday, KCET: Dudu Fisher performs Broadway tunes and Israeli songs. 

“Laguna Beach Live Presents: Billy Childs Jazz Chamber Ensemble With Calder Quartet” 11 p.m. Saturday, KOCE: The Jazz Chamber Ensemble is a synthesis of jazz and classical chamber music.

“My Generation” 10 p.m. Monday, KLCS: Opera singer Denyce Graves; Cheech Marin.

“Independent Lens” 11 p.m. Sunday, KOCE: When the Drum Is Beating: Haiti's past and present is explored through the music of the country's oldest and best-known band.

“Grand Canyon Serenade” 5 a.m. Tuesday, KVCR: A visual tour of the Grand Canyon is set to classical music by Tchaikovsky, Brahms and Dvorak.

-- Compiled by Ed Stockly

Photo: Billy Childs. Credit: Javiera Estrada 

Rex Reed eviscerates Broadway's 'Evita' starring Ricky Martin

There are negative reviews, and then there is the kind of critical assassination practiced by Rex Reed, the veteran uber-critic whose current vulture perch is at the New York Observer. Once a powerful critical presence, Reed has long since been co-opted by the very cultural scene he once dissected, which has turned him into a Capote-esque shadow of his former self.

But in a review this week of Broadway's "Evita," Reed proves that he still has some bite left. The critic tears apart the revival production, starring Ricky Martin, with a gleeful ferocity that is a rare sight in today's rather genteel critical atmosphere.

"Can nothing be done, once and for all, to get rid of 'Evita?'" he writes. "Here it is again, worse than ever and revived on Broadway for no logical reason except to cash in on Ricky Martin's fame as a pop star."

Reed describes the production as "sprawling, overproduced, clumsily directed and strangely emotionless."  He writes that Andrew Lloyd Webber's music is "derivative" and that Tim Rice's lyrics are "repetitive," reducing the story of Eva Peron to a "second-rate operetta."

Britain's Globe caught in conflict over Israeli theater company

 

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London is in the middle of a political skirmish as a group of British cultural figures is demanding that the company disinvite an Israeli theater organization from appearing at an upcoming festival.

In a recent letter to Britain's Guardian, the group is asking that the Globe withdraw its invitation to Israel's National Theatre, Habima, which is scheduled to perform a Hebrew-language version of Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" at the Globe to Globe festival in May.

Among the letter's signatories are Emma Thompson, Mike Leigh, Mark Rylance, Caryl Churchill, Miriam Margolyes and Harriet Walter. The group claims that Habima "has a shameful record of involvement" with Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories. 

The Globe to Globe festival is part of London's Cultural Olympiad, which will coincide with the Summer Games. The Globe is planning to host a number of Shakespearean productions, each performed in a different language.

Mike Daisey plans his next theater production

Mike Daisey, the New York theater performer who got into trouble earlier this year when it was revealed that he fabricated elements of his play about tech giant Apple, has already begun planning his next stage production.

Daisey will team with the Cape Cod Theatre Project to produce a new work scheduled to debut this summer in Massachusetts. The untitled production will feature Daisey and will be directed by his frequent collaborator, Jean-Michele Gregory. No details about the production have been released.

The Cape Cod Theatre Project presents staged readings and workshop productions of plays. The company helped Daisey develop the very production that eventually landed him in hot water, "The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs."

'The Lion King' surpasses 'Phantom of the Opera' as box-office champ

 
"The Lion King" has dethroned "The Phantom of the Opera" as Broadway's all-time box-office champion. The Disney musical, based on the popular animated movie, has grossed a total of $853.8 million since opening on Broadway in 1997.

The gross figure, which represents Broadway box-office receipts only and not worldwide revenue, was confirmed by a spokeswoman at Disney Theatrical Productions. She said the figure has not been adjusted for inflation.

"Phantom" has grossed approximately $853.1 million since opening in 1988.

The crowning of "The Lion King" as Broadway's new box-office leader comes with a caveat, however. The Disney musical has benefited from higher ticket prices than "Phantom."

Figures provided by the Broadway League show that the average ticket price for "The Lion King" was recently $155.09, compared with a recent average ticket price for "Phantom" of $98.97.

Theater review: 'The Bungler' at A Noise Within

Just think of “The Bungler” as a bromance in brocade. A Noise Within’s fluid, effervescent staging of Molière’s 1655 comedy of mishaps feels like a hybrid of “Two and a Half Men” and Judd Apatow’s stoner comedies. Two guys. One’s clueless. And the hot girl is out of reach.

Lélie (Michael A. Newcomer), our Seth Rogen stand-in, falls head over ribboned heels for Célie (Emily Kosloski), the slim-shouldered chattel of grumpy old Trufaldin (William Dennis Hunt). Lélie enlists his ever-resourceful servant, Mascarille (the excellent JD Cullum) in the quest for Célie, then manages to hinder his wingman’s efforts at every (and I mean every) turn.

This sitcom-worthy premise spins into something buoyant and diverting in director Julia Rodriguez-Elliott’s stylish (and stylistically coherent) production. From the center of John Iacovelli’s set, colored lights stretch out over the audience, and a circus mood pervades.

Ricky Martin and 'Evita' on Broadway: What did the critics think?

Broadway's eyes were on pop star Ricky Martin Thursday night as a revival of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Evita" opened at New York's Marquis Theatre.

The musical based on the life of Eva Perón, the Argentinian actress turned major political player, has created its fair share of fame. The 1979 Broadway debut launched Patti LuPone's career, and the 1996 movie version helped to reinvent another pop singer, Madonna.

This time around, "Evita" boasts the star quality of the '90s pop heartthrob (and his hip-swiveling moves) as the show's truth-telling narrator, Che Guevara. Argentine actress Elena Roger plays the title role.

The first reviews from New York were mixed: Some critics felt the heat in this retelling of the fiery first lady's life and death (or at least in some of the performances), while others were lukewarm toward the show and its actors. 

Val Kilmer wants to make his Mark (Twain)

Few actors own a role the way Hal Holbrook owns Mark Twain. The Tony- and Emmy-winning actor, who recently turned 87, has played the humorist in his one-man stage play “Mark Twain Tonight!” since 1954, logging thousands of performances and many more miles traveling with the show.
 
But longevity doesn't necessarily guarantee that you have an exclusive monopoly on a part. A relative newbie to the Twain game, Val Kilmer recently launched his own one-man play, “Citizen Twain,” running in a workshop production at the Masonic Lodge at the Hollywood Forever cemetery through Wednesday.
 
Kilmer said in an interview that the play is a warm-up for a movie he wants to make about the contentious relationship between Twain and Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science. (Kilmer is a lifelong member of the Church of Christ, Scientist.) In the play, Kilmer plays Twain as a ghostly apparition who returns from the dead. The words he speaks are a mix of Kilmer's own jokey, surreal writing — “Welcome to the Batman Forever Cemetery,” he says by way of introduction — and selections from Twain's essays, articles and novels. The actor also performs a song or two.

GRAPHIC: Twain vs. Twain

“It's not a plot-driven play,” Kilmer explained in a recent interview in Santa Monica. “Twain himself sometimes wrote as if from the great beyond. It's really a character study.”

Injured stuntman takes legal action against Broadway's 'Spider-Man'

The web of legal woes grows for "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark." 

A "Spidey" stuntman has filed court papers seeking information about the death-defying stunts performed in the Broadway mega-musical -- a legal move that could mark the prelude to a lawsuit.

Richard Kobak claims he was injured while performing the show's many aerial acrobatics, and the production was slow to take action to fix safety equipment.

In an affidavit filed with the New York Supreme Court, Kobak claims in one such incident he was left with whiplash, a concussion and herniated discs in his back after an airborne stunt gone wrong slammed him face-first into a wall.

The accident-prone production, which opened in June, has seen plenty of crash landings. About a half dozen performers were injured during the rehearsals and previews.

This is not the only legal action for the production. Julie Taymor, the show’s original director and co-creator, is suing producers for copyright issues. Producers have countersued the ousted director for breach of contract. 

Despite the troubled backstory, the production, which was $70 million in the making, has done well at the box office -- often ranking among Broadway’s top-selling shows. And the Tonys could boost the show’s onstage presence now that it’s eligible for awards.

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Julie Taymor claims 'Spider-Man' producers engaged in fraud

--Jamie Wetherbe

Photo: Reeve Carney as Spider-Man in the Broadway musical. Credit: Jacob Cohl