Tag: August: Osage County

"Superior Donuts" Eyes Broadway

Superior Donuts, Tracy Letts’ followup to his Pulitzer and Tony winning juggernaut August: Osage County looks to be coming to Broadway this fall, as per Playbill. The play premiered at Steppenwolf last summer starring Michael McKean with direction from Tina Landau. There has been no official announcement but it appears the light comedy will be brought into NY with star and director intact, with the assistance of producer Steve Traxler.

Meanwhile, August: Osage County continues at the Music Box Theatre. On May 26, Phylicia Rashad takes over the role of Violet Weston, while the definitive Amy Morton returns to deliver her powerhouse act two curtain line/warcry.

Amy Morton, Amy Morton, Amy Morton

Amy Morton, the Tony-nominated powerhouse who gave what I think was the greatest performance of any I saw last season, returns to the Broadway company of August: Osage County on May 26. Phylicia Rashad will be donning the teal pajamas of Violet Weston on that same day. Morton left the NY production in October 12, taking a well-deserved rest before shipping off to London for the National Theatre production that opened in November.

Estelle Parsons to Headline National Tour of "August: Osage County"

In an interview with Playbill a couple months ago, Parsons expressed a hope that producers would offer her the August: Osage County national tour. Well, here she is world:

TRACY LETTS’ 2008 TONY AWARD AND PULITZER PRIZE WINNING PLAY
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY
STARRING ACADEMY AWARD WINNER ESTELLE PARSONS
TO OPEN NATIONAL TOUR IN DENVER

August: Osage County, the 2008 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play that tells the bitingly funny and sensationally entertaining tale of the Weston family of Pawhuska, Oklahoma, starring Academy Award winner Estelle Parsons in the role of the family matriarch, Violet, will launch its national tour, in Denver, CO on July 24th, 2009. Following two weeks at Denver’s Ellie Caukins Opera House (7/24-8/8), the show will play San Francisco’s Curran Theatre from August 11 – September 6, 2009.

Subsequent engagements will be announced shortly.Ms. Parsons is currently appearing in the show on Broadway where The New York Times recently raved, “Estelle Parsons gives a superb performance…sends chills down your spine. It may prove to be a crowning moment in an illustrious career.” Ms. Parsons joined the company in June, 2008.

Estelle Parsons first foray into the business began when she was hired by “The Today Show,” first as a production assistant, then staff writer, which eventually led her to become the first female television network political news reporter.Estelle began acting and appeared in her first stage performance on Broadway in Happy Hunting. Since then, Estelle has gone on to either star in or direct over 25 productions. Most notably, she has been nominated for the Tony Award for her performances in The Seven Descents of Myrtle, And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little, Miss Margarida’s Way and Mornings at Seven.

Estelle’s first film role was in Ladybug, Ladybug. Her performance in Bonnie and Clyde garnered an Academy Award and she was nominated again the following year for her work in Rachel, Rachel. Other film performances include Don’t Drink the Water, I Walk the Line , I Never Sang for My Father, Watermelon Man , For Pete’s Sake , Dick Tracy, Boys on the Side and Looking for Richard.

On television, Estelle appeared in “All in the Family” and as the mother of “Roseanne” on the hit sitcom. Recently, she has appeared in the HBO television mini-series “Empire Falls” and has directed various productions of the Oscar Wilde play Salome, all of which starred Al Pacino. She also appears in the documentary Salomaybe? that was directed by Mr. Pacino.

In addition to teaching acting at Columbia and Yale, Estelle Parsons served as the Artistic Director of the Actors’ Studio between 1996 and 2001.

Written by 2008 Pulitzer Prize-winner Tracy Letts (Superior Donuts, Man From Nebraska, Killer Joe, Bug), this grand and gripping new play tells the story of the Westons, a large extended clan that comes together at their rural Oklahoma homestead after the alcoholic patriarch disappears. Forced to confront unspoken truths and astonishing secrets, the family must also contend with Violet, a pill-popping, deeply unsettled woman at the center of the storm.

Directed by 2008 Tony Award-winner Anna D. Shapiro, August: Osage County is a rare theatrical event: a large-scale work filled with 13 unforgettable characters, a powerful tragicomedy told with unflinching honesty and the unforgettable breakthrough of a major American playwright. August: Osage County premiered and was produced at Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago in 2007.

Nominated for seven Tony Awards including Best Play and Best Director, and the recipient of Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and New York Drama Critics Circle Awards, including Best Play, Best Director and Best Scenic Design, August: Osage County opened at the Imperial Theatre Broadway on December 4, 2007, to wide critical acclaim. The New York Times called August: Osage County “The most exciting new American play Broadway has seen in years,” and it was voted The #1 Play of the Year by Time, The Associated Press, Entertainment Weekly, and TimeOut New York. After a sold-out engagement at the Imperial Theatre, the show re-opened at the Music Box Theatre on April 29, 2008 and will reach its 500th performance on February 3, 2009.

The show, which the London critics hailed as “the must-see play of the year – possibly a lifetime,” opened to rave reviews at The National Theatre on November 26, 2008, where it plays for a limited eight-week engagement featuring members of the original Broadway company.

The show’s creative team includes Tony Award winner Todd Rosenthal (sets), Ana Kuzmanic (costumes), Ann G. Wrightson (lights), Richard Woodbury (sound) and David Singer (original music).

August: Osage County is produced by Jeffrey Richards, Jean Doumanian, Steve Traxler and Jerry Frankel.

Elizabeth Ashley Joins "August" Cast

Currently starring in LCT’s limited engagement of Dividing the Estate at the Booth, the Tony-winner will be packing her bags and heading across the street to the Music Box to play Mattie Fae Aiken in the Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning August: Osage County starting February 3. I know when I saw Amy Morton’s last performance back in October I said I was done; however, Ashley’s presence is enough for me to consider making a fifth trip to see those pillars of dysfunction, the Weston family.

Quote of the Day: August in London

“Vulnerable, angry and thoroughly transfixing, [Amy] Morton has forged one of the great theatrical performances of the modern era. Like the rest of this remarkable show, it stares out from the stage with surety and terror.”

– Chris Jones, in his review of the London transfer of August: Osage County in the Chicago Tribune’s Theatre Loop

“You know you’re in for a lively evening when a play about a family reunion includes a fight director among the team. And how satisfying that he’s called Chuck, too.”

– Christopher Hart in the Sunday Times

“Maybe Letts invites comparisons, a tad too obviously, with other canonical greats: Eugene O’Neill, Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee. But what’s really joyous is his emergent Chekhovian talent for weaving a broad tapestry, depicting a whole extended household. He combines that with pin-sharp detailing which rings painfully true. Amy Morton’s Barbara is unforgettable, howling with grief, then distractedly brushing her hair.”

– Kate Bassett in the Independent

“Watching manipulative, mischievous Dunagan, or bruised, angry Morton or brassy Rondi Reed or any of Anna Shapiro’s terrific ensemble, you ruefully ask an obvious question. Could a British cast bring such commitment and conviction to this subversive take on Oklahoma!? Surely not.”

– Benedict Nightingale in the Times

Quote of the Day

“And that audience! Omigod! You know what’s great? The audience is a palpable part of the evening — which is what you’re always hoping for. As an actor in the theatre, you want the audience to be vitally, dynamically involved — and they are with this. It’s not realistic. It’s not naturalistic. It’s just pure theatre…. The very first night I thought, ‘Wow! This is like a wall of security — this audience energy. It’s fabulous.’ Every performance is different. That’s why it might be possible to play it forever, whereas with ordinary plays four months is about as long as I can take it without sorta doubling back on ‘What am I doing here?’ I’m hoping they’ll invite me to do the tour, because I love to tour. That’s the plan in my head. It’s starting in August 2009 in San Francisco. I just would really love to tour with it to see how it is in other cities. I love exploring.”

“Deanna said to me, ‘Y’know, I’m only leaving because they won’t let me do six a week.’ So I immediately called the producers and my agent and said, ‘What am I, some kind of lamb being led to the slaughter here that I’m expected to do eight when the woman who has been doing it says she can only do six?’ But she’s a very different person than me and probably not quite as strong. I have a 50 percent strain of Swedish peasant blood, not to mention that the other half is Old New England.”

– Estelle Parsons in a new article for Playbill

"Suck it, Rose’s Turn!"

The hiatus was brief, I am fully recharged (for now) and it’s all thanks to some vampire killing I witnessed last evening.

Sunday was another two-a-day for me. I went to August: Osage County for my fourth and possibly final dinner engagement with the Weston clan, which was also the final performances for Jim True-Frost and original cast members Troy West, Sally Murphy and Amy Morton (who for me was the reason to see the show so many times). There isn’t much to add to what I’ve said about the play – it remains one of the most vibrant, unnerving productions currently playing in New York. Though, one of the biggest gasps of this audience was new to me – the older crowd seemed agog at the incredibly rapid pace with which Estelle Parsons climbed two flights of stairs at the end of the third act. Long may the show run. (I say I’m done…but if anyone wants to fly me to England and put me up for a week, I’ll more than gladly see the show again!)

With little time to spare, I ducked of the Music Box and crossed Broadway to get over to the Lyceum for the closing performance of [title of show]. Excuse me, I meant to say the [title of show] pep rally, which is how the cast and creative team decided to view the end of their run. I was supposed to go with a good friend of mine who really wanted to see the show. I picked up tickets on a whim last Wednesday and all seemed set. Until I got out of August at 6:25 to discover a voicemail from my friend informing me he was stuck in traffic near Reading, Pennsylvania, and that he wasn’t going to make it.

So at 6:30 I’m calling the few numbers I have in my cell phone looking for someone I know who would just want to take the ticket. After twenty minutes of dead ends, I got a call back from Sarah, who is always up for shenanigans, especially theatre related. Besides, from a personal perspective I wanted to extend the ticket to someone I knew before I handed it over to a stranger.

There’s always an intensity and energy surrounding a big performance. However, I don’t think there are many that could compare with the pep rally last evening. First off, it was a wonderful sight to see the Lyceum packed to the hilt. (Though the balcony usher was a rather bizarre fellow, I’m guessing they don’t get too many people up in the rafters at this flop-prone house). There was intense screaming for Larry as he made his way to the keyboard. Then a full house standing ovation for Jeff and Hunter as they made their first appearance. The show was a mess of energy – an mutual admiration society between stage and audience. Unlike some closings, this didn’t feel really have the usual tinge of melancholy. Yes it was sad that the show was closing prematurely, but there was a celebratory feeling and one that this wasn’t the end of the road. For Jeff Bowen, Hunter Bell, Heidi Blickenstaff and Susan Blackwell (and Larry Pressgrove), it’s certainly a new beginning. I can’t wait to see what they come up with next.

I witnessed the longest mid-show standing ovation I’ve ever seen in the theatre for “Nine People’s Favorite Thing.” I’ve been to opening nights, closing nights, post-award performances, one night concerts and have witnessed the phenomenon (and this includes the Madame Rose of both Bernadette Peters and Patti LuPone). The Routledge went on for three minutes and fifteen seconds (topping the previous s/o for Heidi’s “A Way Back to Then” just moments prior) and will remain one of the most extraordinary theatregoing experiences I’ve ever had. The title of my post was my facetious verbal response to the ovation.

My appreciation of this show seems to have surprised many who thought I wouldn’t like it. It felt as though I was watching a show put on friends. Not just kindness being polite either I might add, I felt that they had something relevant to say and said it with idiosyncratic charm and heart. I wish the show could have run longer, but I’m glad they had the opportunity. Anyhow, it was the sparkplug I needed to slay a few vampires of my own and become nine people’s favorite thing.

Yet even more "August" casting news

It was announced this evening that two-time Tony winner John Cullum will be taking over the role of Beverly Weston for a limited one week, 8 performance run while Michael McGuire takes a vacation. Talk about ideal casting, even if only for a week. Though with McGuire’s pending departure from the NY to go to London, perhaps Cullum will be taking over the role on a more permanent basis…?