"Theater Is, Of Course, A Reflection Of Life"

In the two-and-a-half years since I met Andrew, he and I have attended a remarkable number of theater performances, on a wide range of themes, by a wide range of authors, in a wide range of venues.

I am almost startled at the number of theater performances Andrew and I have attended: 48 different theater events, if my tally is correct, in the thirty months since February 2006. This is more than I realized.

In order, we have attended performances of:

The Adam Guettel-Craig Lucas musical, “The Light In The Piazza”, at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, Lincoln Center, New York

William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, at The Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis

Brian Friel’s “Faith Healer”, at the Booth Theatre, New York

John Patrick Shanley’s “Doubt”, at the Walter Kerr Theatre, New York

The Marc Shaiman-Scott Wittman-Mark O’Donnell-Thomas Meehan musical, “Hairspray”, at the Neil Simon Theatre, New York

Alan Bennett’s “The History Boys”, at the Broadhurst Theatre, New York

Tennessee Williams’s “Die Katze Auf Dem Heissen Blechdach” [“Cat On A Hot Tin Roof”], in German, at the Thalia Theater, Hamburg

Michael Frayn’s “Noises Off”, at The English Theatre Of Hamburg, Hamburg

Tennessee Williams’s “The Glass Menagerie”, at The Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis

Herb Gardner’s “A Thousand Clowns”, at Minneapolis Theatre Garage, Minneapolis

Jean Giraudoux’s “The Madwoman Of Chaillot”, at Theater In The Round, Minneapolis

The Jule Styne-Bob Merrill-Isobel Lennart musical, “Funny Girl”, at Bloomington Civic Theater, Bloomington

George Bernard Shaw’s “Major Barbara”, at The Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis

The Sherman Edwards-Peter Stone musical, “1776”, at The Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis

Noel Coward’s “Private Lives”, at The Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis

Stephen Mallatratt’s “The Woman In Black”, at the Fortune Theatre, London

Clifford Odets’s “Awake And Sing!”, at the Almeida Theatre, London

Roger Crane’s “The Last Confession”, at Theatre Royal Haymarket, London

David Storey’s “In Celebration”, at The Duke Of York’s Theatre, London

Ronald Harwood’s “The Dresser”, at Theater In The Round, Minneapolis

David Mamet’s “Speed The Plow”, at Jungle Theater, Minneapolis

William Shakespeare’s “King Lear”, performed by The Royal Shakespeare Company, at The Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis

Anton Chekhov’s “The Seagull”, performed by The Royal Shakespeare Company, at The Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis

Alan Stanford’s stage adaptation of the Charlotte Bronte novel, “Jane Eyre”, at The Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis

John Pielmeier’s “Agnes Of God”, at Park Square Theater, Saint Paul

Brian Friel’s “The Home Place”, at The Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis

The Stephen Sondheim-Hugh Wheeler musical, “Sweeney Todd”, The National Touring Company version of the 2005 Broadway production, at the State Theater, Minneapolis

Tracy Letts’s “August: Osage County”, at the Imperial Theatre, New York

The Harvey Schmidt-Tom Jones musical, “The Fantasticks”, at Bloomington Civic Theater, Bloomington

William Shakespeare’s “Henry V”, at Theater In The Round, Minneapolis

The Frederick Loewe-Alan Jay Lerner musical, “My Fair Lady”, The National Touring Company version of the 2001 National Theatre Of Britain production, at the Orpheum Theater, Minneapolis

Wendy Wasserstein’s “Third”, at The Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis

The Lisa Lambert-Greg Morrison-Bob Martin-Don McKellar musical, “The Drowsy Chaperone”, The National Touring Company version of the 2006 Broadway production, at The Ordway Center, Saint Paul

Samuel Taylor’s “Sabrina Fair”, at Theater In The Round, Minneapolis

David Lindsay-Abaire’s “Rabbit Hole”, at Jungle Theater, Minneapolis

The Richard Adler-Jerry Ross-George Abbott musical, “The Pajama Game”, at Bloomington Civic Theater, Bloomington

Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey Into Night”, at Theater In The Round, Minneapolis

Mary Chase’s “Harvey”, at Theater In The Round, Minneapolis

William Gillette’s “Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure”, at Park Square Theater, Saint Paul

Thomas Kilroy’s “The Secret Fall Of Constance Wilde”, at The Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis

Nikolai Gogol’s “The Government Inspector”, at The Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis

Michael Frayn’s “Afterlife”, at The National Theatre, London

Enid Bagnold’s “The Chalk Garden”, at Donmar Warehouse, London

Somerset Maugham’s “The Circle”, at Chichester Festival Theatre, Chichester

Ronald Harwood’s “Taking Sides”, at Chichester Festival Theatre, Chichester

Simon McBurney’s “A Disappearing Number”, at Theatre Royal, Plymouth

Alan Bennett’s “Enjoy”, performed by The Peter Hall Company, at Theatre Royal, Bath

William Shakespeare’s “The Merchant Of Venice”, performed by The Royal Shakespeare Company, at The Courtyard Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon

This is a pretty diverse list. I wish it included a play or two by Henrik Ibsen and Tom Stoppard, two of my favorite playwrights, but Andrew and I have not had an opportunity to attend any Ibsen or Stoppard plays in the last thirty months.

The most impressive production, of all the 48 productions we have seen, was The Royal Shakespeare Company production of Chekhov’s “The Seagull”, performed in Minneapolis as part of the RSC guest stint in the Twin Cities. The RSC production of “The Seagull” was so brilliant that it made me re-think the play.

Also memorable were Alan Bennett’s “The History Boys” on Broadway, Brian Friel’s “The Home Place” at The Guthrie Theater, and Enid Bagnold’s “The Chalk Garden” at Donmar Warehouse in London. These three were memorable, not because of the plays themselves, which were not particularly strong, but because of the exceptional productions they received.

In the 48 productions we have attended, I have seen eleven stage actors who were indisputably “stars”, even if they were not well-matched to the roles they performed. I had never seen a “star” onstage in my life until I saw Ralph Fiennes in “Faith Healer”—but, from that night forward, I knew what a star was.

The other ten “stars” I have seen, in order, were Eileen Atkins, Harriet Harris, Stockard Channing, David Suchet, Michael Jayston, Ian McKellan, Simon Jones, Margaret Tyzack, Penelope Wilton and Susan Hampshire.

I have seen a few other “big names” on stage, but those other “big names” were not “stars”, at least not on the afternoons or evenings I caught their performances.

However, I believe I should at least mention Georgia Engel, who was enchanting in a small part in “The Drowsy Chaperone”.

Boston is not a theater town, so Andrew and I will not have the opportunity to continue our theater-going at the same pace over the next three years.

We won’t mind.