"I think this will make you
forget Mr. Monk," Shalhoub
slyly smiled. "It's very different.
Much, much darker." City
Beat
The
Scene is now available on DVD (because
I have a friend who has a friend
who snuck in a camera and recorded
it.) Under the circumstances it's
rather well done, but not professional
quality. If you decide to order
don't expect perfection. This play
is unedited. It contains strong
language and adult situations. Viewer
discretion is advised.
Use
the "buy now" button above
to pay by credit card with Paypal
or email
me for more information.
$12.00 (includes postage)
`The
Scene' Dissects Life in Manhattan
By
MICHAEL KUCHWARA, AP Drama
Critic
Thursday, January 11, 2007
(01-11) 15:03 PST NEW YORK,
(AP) --
"It's
the only true pleasure left
in the world, trashing other
people — especially
when they have something you
want," says the morose,
jealous actor whose life is
unraveling in "The Scene,"
Theresa Rebeck's stiletto-sharp
dissection of four residents
of that peculiar island known
as Manhattan. |
|
We
are in a trendy environment
where ambition is all and
the quest to succeed permeates
the lives of Rebeck's driven
characters. The play, which
opened Thursday at off-Broadway's
Second Stage Theatre, takes
what is basically a domestic
comedy of infidelity and filters
it through Rebeck's keen and
often quite funny look at
people who work in show business
— or want to work in
show business.
Charlie,
a middle-aged actor, was once
employed in the biz —
and that's the problem. His
promising past has stretched
into a barren present and
what looks like will be a
bleak future. As played by
the sublimely hangdog Tony
Shalhoub, he's a man in a
perpetual funk.
|
|
After
one particularly brutal humiliation
— at the hands of an
old friend who has written
a television pilot —
Charlie explodes in an expletive-filled
rage that the marvelous Shalhoub
delivers with the bravura
of an opera singer belting
out a high C.
|
His
verbal conflagration is witnessed
by the daffy yet sexy Clea,
a seemingly bubble-headed
young woman from Ohio who's
newly arrived in New York,
but wise in the ways of attracting
men. Anna Camp, in one of
the season's most delightful
performances, plays her with
voracious self-absorption.
She's canny and winning at
the same time, a difficult
combination to pull off, but
Camp does it with ease. |
Sooner
rather than later, the two
are in bed, despite Charlie
being married to Stella, an
extremely competent career
woman who books guests on
an unnamed talk show. Efficiency
is all, much to the detriment
of her husband's self-esteem.
Stella is the play's least
convincing character, a role
that Patricia Heaton (best
known for her role on television's
"Everybody Loves Raymond")
can't quite bring to life.
She is a woman trapped in
a job she does superbly despite
her loathing for it.
|
|
| Completing
the play's quartet of players
is Lewis, Charlie's honorable
best friend portrayed by the
excellent Christopher Evan Welch.
He is one of those rare actors
who can convey a lot with just
a soulful glance or a one-word
response to a difficult, complex
question. |
 |
Lewis,
of course, has always pined
for Stella, which adds another
layer of anxiety — and
a smidgen of poignancy —
to the mostly brittle proceedings.
He is the most likable person
on stage, a man whose feelings
extend beyond himself. |
Rebeck's
often raucous dialogue is pungent
and tough, ricocheting among the
characters as if it were a high-speed
tennis ball. Director Rebecca Taichman
and her four performers make sure
the ball is never dropped.
Other
Praise for Tony's Performance
Shalhoub
is superb going through the various
moods of frustration, dejection,
sarcasm and desperation. Wolf
Entertainment Guide
Mr.
Shalhoub, whose role as the gentle
obsessive-compulsive on “Monk”
doesn’t allow much in the
way of actorly extroversion, clearly
relishes the chance to cut loose.
His captivatingly raw performance
is rich in physical comedy —
a gymnastic sex scene that practically
puts Charlie in traction is priceless
— and in seething arias of
vituperation freely expressed. In
moments of anguished silence, Mr.
Shalhoub also communicates the pathos
in the character’s susceptibility
to the promise of escape from his
thwarted life, even if self-assertion
comes at the price of self-destruction.
NY
TIMES
The
carefully calibrated histrionics
by Shalhoub are a wonder to watch.
Theatermania
The
character who engages us on a more
emotional level and makes The Scene
rise above its slickness and often
predictable plot developments is
Tony Shalhoub as Charlie, the down
and out middle-aged, angst and anger
riddled actor whose marriage Clea
destroys without a flicker of conscience....
Shalhoub's passion mixed with the
awkwardness of a man too old and
out of practice to keep up with
an uninhibited twenty-two year old's
energies is a rioutous bit of physical
comedy. Curtain
Up
The
main figure in any work simply has
to be compelling, and you can’t
take your eyes off the annoying,
dyspeptic narcissist magnificently
played by Tony Shalhoub in The Scene.
Time
Out New York
The
most nuanced character by far is
Charlie, who gives voice to the
play's most incisive sentiments.
Humanized by Shalhoub's rumpled
charm, oddly skewed line readings
and the disappointment etched deep
into his face, his dilemma becomes
surprisingly immediate despite the
character's weakness. A smart, talented
man worn down by his own failings
and by watching undeserving others
advance, Charlie's appalled by the
rules of success, by the empty values
being endorsed all around him. But
he can't resist making a fumbled
bid to embrace them with Clea, the
embodiment of everything he scorns.
Variety
Tony
Shalhoub's big rant in the first
act is classic. What an incredible
actor. This Yale trained TV star's
defection from the stage is a crime.
NY1
In
a role that takes him from bilious
braying to pathetically plastered
to poetically crazed, the star of
television's "Monk" shows
his range and depth. Rebeck has
given him yards of spiky speeches,
and reaches her high point in the
final scene. Connecticut
Stage
The
Scene is utterly delightful in its
comedic performances, and its slowly
unraveling plot is thought-provoking
and gut-wrenching. The latter owes
more to Shaloub’s approach
toward his character, whom the audience
always favors — even when
he’s committed adultery and
seeks solace in the bottom of a
vodka bottle. When Shaloub finally
reaches enlightenment, it is heartbreaking
to watch — but at least he
has a heart (and soul) to break.
Show
Business Weekly
|
