"Tell me everything that happened, tell me everything you saw. They had lights inside their eyes, they had lights inside their eyes." ~stars

I first heard that song on Chuck, and I was reminded of it today because I saw the movie Like Crazy (which I enjoyed, by the way) and this song played during the credits.

I had a busy a Broadway week. I saw a show on Thursday, two on Saturday, and one Sunday. So I've been busy. Here are my reviews.

Venus in Fur
WOW, Nina Arianda is spectacular. Can I just talk about her for a minute? She made her Broadway debut last season in Born Yesterday and stole the show (from some pretty talented veteran actors onstage with her). She was nominated for a Tony and lost to Frances McDormand, but I thought she deserved to win. In her second Broadway performance, she is a complete tour-de-force. Venus in Fur is about two hours long with no intermission and features only two actors (Ms. Arianda and Hugh Dancy, whom I'll get to in a minute), who are both onstage the entire time, and I couldn't take my eyes off her for those two hours. She is currently giving one of the best performances I've ever seen (and I've seen a LOT). Seriously, this is one of those performances that are impossible to forget. She plays an actress, and she switches between her role and the role her character is playing so effortlessly and beautifully that it's a revelation to watch. The play flies by because she just grabs you from her first entrance and doesn't let you go. If she doesn't win the Tony this year I will be disappointed. She carries the show. Hugh Dancy (Mr. Claire Danes) is also giving a strong performace (even though Ms. Arianda overshadows him). He's a talented actor, and he doesn't disappoint here. The two have great chemistry together. The play is interesting and ambiguous, and it has it's imperfections, but it works because of the acting (I can't imagine anyone else playing Vonda). I can't wait to see what Nina Arianda does next, because based on her first two Broadway appearances, she's a true star.

Other Desert Cities
Nicole got me tickets for this show for my birthday, and I was really excited to see it, largely because I'm a big Rachel Griffiths fan (from Six Feet Under, Brothers & Sisters, and Muriel's Wedding). The play was written by Jon Robin Baitz (creator of Brothers & Sisters) and features features a stellar cast made up of Rachel Griffiths, Stockard Channing, Judith Light, Stacy Keach, and Thomas Sadoski. Our seats were in the front row, and because the stage is so low it was the absolute perfect place to sit. This is the best play I've seen this season. It premiered last season off-Broadway (with a highly praised sold-out run) and transferred to Broadway this month (with Ms. Griffiths and Ms. Light joining the cast). Here's the New York Times review of the original production (it's a rave). I'm so glad I was able to see this play. It's a complex, beautifully written portrait of a family. The actors pour their hearts into it; everyone onstage is crying by the end (real crying). Rachel Griffiths has a devestating meltdown onstage and you can see, hear, and feel her pain (and somehow, five minutes later, she's grinning like crazy during the curtain call). This is a lovely play.

Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway
This show is the new hot ticket of the season, and I definitely understand why. It's Hugh Jackman's solo show. There aren't very many multi-talented leading men left, but Hugh Jackman is one of them. He can sing, he can dance, he can charm the pants off of an audience. He's so charismatic that it's a joy to sit and let him entertain you for two hours. The show includes a wide variety of songs, including numbers from the musicals Oklahoma!, Carousel, The Music Man (he sings all eight parts of "Rock Island" at once, even rapping part of it, and it's amazing), Guys and Dolls, Singing in the Rain, and Easter Parade, as well as songs like "Mack the Knife" and my personal favorite, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." There's a New York medley as well. He interacts with the audience and is just wonderful. I hope they film this one (I suspect they might). It's two hours of escapist fun.

We Live Here
Nicole and I saw this because we were interested to see Zoe Kazan's writing skills (she's an actress whom we've seen act in many plays). The play isn't bad. I had a hard time liking the characters, though, which meant I didn't care enough about them to really be invested in what happened to them. The dialogue is realistic and a couple scenes resonated with me, but overall it needs more work. Kazan has promise, though.

Overall it was a fabulous week of theatre.
I should probably write a Duran Duran review as well. Later this week.