Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor has announced the three productions planned for the 2018 Summer Season. The first will be the World Premiere of FELLOW TRAVELERS, (May 29 – June 17), a new play that examines the relationship between legendary theater artists Arthur Miller and Elia Kazan and their close relationship to Marilyn Monroe. The show examines how the politics of the McCarthy era affected the friendship between the two and their work.
The second will be FROST/NIXON (June 26 – July 22), by Peter Morgan. The third production is the musical EVITA, (July 31 – August 26) by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. I have to say, I love the selection and given the current political climate right now these plays couldn’t be more relevant. I think I’ve seen Evita more than any other Broadway show, Lupone, Rogers and others. One of my favorite numbers is “A New Argentina” which is the end of the first act. If you’ve only seen the movie, take a minute and watch this highlight from the 1980 Tony Awards with Patti Lupone as Eva Peron.
It’s a great piece of theatre which I think was overly modulated and homogenized for the movie. So homogenized in fact I still refer to the cheesy celluloid version as “Velveeta.”
Now from the don’t say I didn’t tell you department! East Hampton Village Beach passes for the Summer of ’18 are almost gone! According to agents at village hall only about 200 of the 3100 permits still remain. If you can’t make it out here you can go online andtake your chances and mail in your application. Click here for the details. Just remember if you don’t have a pass some select beaches will be selling daily passes, so you won’t be totally out of luck. But here is a better idea, you can get a bike and pedal there AND save about $40 by skipping the SoulCycle class. But what fun would that be? Nobody will get to see how good you look in your new Lululemon outfit!
So today is now something everyone is calling “CyberMonday.” It’s the day that retailers are promoting as the next best thing for the economy since “Black Friday.” It’s the day where America forgets about heading to the mall and instead logs onto their computers and shops! What a nice thing, right?! No fighting over parking or dealing with store employees who are trying to work scanners or fixing there mistakes as they wait for a manager with a “key!” Instead you just go online click a button and voila! Let’s just hope you don’t have a problem. Everyone keeps talking about scam websites. Also, what if it doesn’t fit or its defective!? Yikes, the next thing you know you’re on the phone with “Tiffany” in Mumbai and the problem just got worse!
One last thing! I saw the new musical WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN. It’s been eviscerated by the critics but you know what? It was actually a really enjoyable show! Patti LuPone, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Sheree Renee Scott headline a quirky, ambitious and fun show. I loved the movie version and I think the show, (although the music is lacking) is a worthy follow up. I thought BILLY ELLIOT was awful and it won the TONY! Once again, what do I know.