The producer is stupid. The playwright is terrible. The director is crazy. The lead actress is a has-been. And the critic is vicious.
That's the state of Broadway, as told in Terrence McNally's "It's Only a Play," which opened Thursday at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre and features Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, Stockard Channing and Megan Lullally.
The critic in question is a real one: Ben Brantley, chief theater critic of The New York Times, whose name is mentioned several times in the production as the cast waits anxiously for reviews of the play they just premiered.
In this interview, Brantley said he enjoyed the play, although he thought it was too long with too much name-dropping. And he liked the acting. “I thought Nathan Lane was terrific and I considered it an honor to have my name yelled aloud in horror by someone of the stature of Mr. Lane,” he said.
Brantley said the play didn’t make him feel differently about his work in any way, and he agreed with the play’s portrayal of Broadway as a place for revivals, Disney productions or plays imported from London.
“Broadway hasn’t been the most exciting spot in town for a long time, for 30 or 40 years,” he said. But Brantley said even though the play makes fun of Broadway, it also shows affection for the old institution.
Brantley also recommends:
"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time": “It’s quite extraordinary,” he said. “It asks you to see the world through the eyes of an autistic, 15-year-old mathematical genius.”
“Scenes From a Marriage”: “I loved it, and I hadn’t expected to.”
“The Old Man and the Old Moon”: “It’s quite a journey, you do go to the moon.”
