F for metaphors- A+ for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

The  thrillingly staged  New York production of  The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is about a 15-year-old autistic savant.  One of his quirks is an absolute  belief in truth-telling which to his thinking turns even a metaphor into a lie. And so he  explains why  he feels  his teacher's example of metaphors into untruths:

 He was the apple of her eye. (Christopher:  imagining an apple in someone’s eye doesn’t have
anything to do with liking someone a lot and it makes you forget
what the person was talking about.a pig is not like a day)
They had a skeleton in the cupboard. (Christopher: People do not have skeletons in their cupboards)
 He was the apple of her eye. (Christopher:  imagining an apple in someone’s eye doesn’t have
anything to do with liking someone a lot and it makes you forget hat the person was talking about.

But  though comparison  phrases  don't  get  a  good  review from Christopher,  our review of  Adam Sharp's  performance and this  unusual    play  is  an A-plis.

To read all about it www.curtainup.com/curiousincidentbway14.html

Icebound's dying matriarch is tight-mouthed ad a bear trap

 A family of selfish, greedy, mean-spirited rural New Englanders are the core of Icebound.  This  play by Owen Gould Davis, Jr. that received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1923 is being given a  fine revival at the tiny Metropolitan Playhouse.  As  the play opens  the family is gathered at the deathbed  of  its  wealthy matriarch, eager to  claim their share of her estate, but without a clue as to 
 A family of selfish, greedy, mean-spirited rural New Englanders are the core of Icebound.  This  play by Owen Gould Davis, Jr. that received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1923 is being given a  fine revival at the tiny Metropolitan Playhouse.  As  the play opens  the family is gathered at the deathbed  of  its  wealthy matriarch, eager to  claim their share of her estate, but without a clue as to  what to expect. 

As  her eldest son explains   she's as tight-mouthed as a bear trap.

Here's a link to the full review   www.curtainup.com/icebound14.html

a simile trom #ivo Van Hove's latest at #New York Theatre Workshop

Ivo van Hove's   ingenious  stage concept  for Ingmar Bergman's   classic film about  the difficulties of  marriage,  stays true to the original  plot,  which includes  a  touching scene in  the female half of the troubled couple's  law office  where  a long married woman  insists  on a divorce even  though  it's probably too late for her to find love.    She sums up her reasoning with the following simile:

I think I’m capable of love, but it’s all sealed off from me, like it’s in a locked room.

To  read my review of  this  unusual production    here's  a  
link: www.curtainup.com/scenesfromamarriageny14.html

A simile from A.R. Gurney's notes for #The Waysside Motor Inn

In its own way reading a play can be as interesting   as seeing it,  especially if  the playwright hasn't abandoned   notes as so many modern  ones have.   This was not the case  with  A. R. Gurney's  1977  play  The Wayside Motor Inn, the first of the three  presented as part of his  2014  Residency One  at the  Signature Theater Center.    The playwright undertook   a complicated   concept  in that  he  assembled   five  vignettes  and  five  pairs of   characters for  a  ight in a motel outside of Boston.  Since  the rooms all look exactly alike,   all ten actors  commingle their  stories on one set.  


Mr. Gurney's   script notes    detail  exactly  how he wants to have the audience see the first character on stage,  a traveling salesman,  settle into his room:  "From his inside pocket, he takes his address book and ballpoint pen and places them by his briefcase. Then he opens his suitcase, takes out a partially used bottle of bourbon, and places it by the ice. Then he puts his suitcase on the rack over the closet.    He then  sums  "these instruction   up with  this simile: 

He is like a hunter staking down his campsite at the end of the day.

 For more about the play,  read  my review
www.curtainup.com/waysidemotorinn14.html

A simile from #Renee Fleming's stage debut at WTF

Tony winning playwright Joe Di Pietro has adapted  Garson Kanin's  last play (a flop) to serve  as  opera star Renee Fleming's  stage debut.   She does just fine,  and Di Pietro and director  Katherine Marshall have   permeated  this new version  with  lots  of  musical  snippets for Fleming,  as well  as  Douglas Sills her director husband. Not having seen  the original,  I don't know  if this simile  in which  the  middle aged diva  retorts to her  philandering husband's  complaint about spending too much money on clothes as follows:

Your public stares at the back of your head.
        Mine drinks all this in, like a fine burgundy

To read my detailed overview with  images from the premiere production at Williamstown Theatre Festival, click this link:  www.curtainup.com/livingonlovewtf14.html

She wore her intelligence like an apron

MayaAngelou  wore her intelligence like an apron, and her creativity like a pair of work shoes.
--Harvey Fierstein  on hearing about the  poet/playwright/performer's  death

Linda Lavin's latest monster mom arrives like some terrible hurricane

The  world premiere  of Nicky Silver's  play Too Much Sun  was written especially for Linda Lavin.    Like   Rita Lyons  of   Silver's last play for  Lavin,   Audrey Langham of Too Much Sun is a flamboyant, razor-tongued survivor  who is  as needy as she is   funny.
Audrey,  unlike  the once married Rita,  is  a much married, successful actress.  However, she is no more  content and, in fact, on the verge of a nervous breakdown, having lost her passion for acting as well as  all her money She therefore walks out  on the play she's to star in and  arrives  unannounced at her estranged  daughter's  house.

The  daughter's  reacts to  her mother's    sudden  visit and  shocking revelation about  her  financial status with this simile for  the mother's  unexpected  arrival:       

And then you show up, without warning, like some terrible
hurricane, and drop this bomb on me.

 Here's a link to my review of the play: 
www.curtainup.com/toomuchsun14.html