Elsewhere in the area, the season looks, at best, uncertain.
At the Charles Playhouse in Boston, where productions range from dreadful to very good, the upcoming season is a mixed blessing. On the good side are O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh (opens September 25) and the American premiere of Britisher Edward Bond's latest, Passage to the Deep North. Reduced-rate subscription tickets are available.
THE THEATRE COMPANY of Boston opens this week with two one-act plays that collectively make up probably the funniest evening of theatre currently running in New York. The plays are Adaptation, Elaine May's version of the game of life as viewed from the perspective of a TV quiz show, and Next, Terrence McNally's sketch about a 48-year-old man undergoing a humiliating draft physical. Two actresses near and dear to the hearts of Cambridge theatregoers, Susan Channing and Joan Tolentino, will be in the cast.
These one-acters will be followed by Harold Pinter's Basement and Mao-Box-Mao, Edward Albee's latest and weirdest piece of work.
The Craft Theatre on Brookline Avenue has also opened with one-acters, Martin Duberman's Metaphors and Terrence McNally's Tour and Sweet Eros, the latter having much nudity. Mr. McNally, by the way, is a young Cafe La Mama playwright who is crazy and vulgar and generally wonderful. It's nice to see his work being done all over the place.
Following the one-acters at the Craft will be the first Boston production of Dale Wasserman's dramatization of the Kesey novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. This play was first performed on Broadway about six years ago, and flopped-presumably because this was before anyone much had heard of Kesey. The play got creditable reviews, particularly considering that it was before its time, and the Craft's decision to revive it at this time is both inspired and fortunate.
At Brandeis, surely the best university theatre around, two productions have been set for the first term. The first of these is the World Premiere of a new play, Hannalore, by Jere Admire. Admire is an ex-Broadway musical chorus dancer (He did over a thousand performances as the dancing gorilla in Cabaret ) turned dramatic actor (His first serious role was as Emory in the national company of Boys in the Band, seen here last spring) turned playwright. His play will be followed by the Sophocles Antigone.
SINCE the upcoming Broadway season is the weakest in years, it is not surprising that bookings are sparse and unexciting at the legitimate theatres downtown, which depend on Broadway for productions.
The Wilbur opens with The Price. This is Arthur Miller's most recent play, featuring the cast that closed in it on Broadway last season. If you like Miller, you'll find The Price close to his best work, and Harold Gary gives an astounding performance as a very old Jewish furniture dealer.
Following The Price into the Wilbur will be Angela (October 13), a new comedy by the idiot who wrote Never Too Late. This pre-Broadway tryout will star Geraldine Page, God help her.
And while no one at the Wilbur will admit it yet, Variety reports that an unlimited run of a duplicate of the Broadway Hair will open there in February.
The Colonial has opened with a David Merrick tryout, The Penny Wars, written by Elliott Baker and directed by a beautiful actress-comedian named Barbara Harris. Two fine actors, George Voskovec and Kim Hunter, head the cast-but the Boston notices and rampant trade gossip indicate the show is in serious pre-Broadway trouble.
December will bring the new Neil Simon play to the Colonial. Titled The Last of the Red Hot Lovers, it is the story of a seafood restaurant entrepreneur and a trio of mistresses. The middleaged hero will be played by James Coco, who made a splash last season in the New York production of Next. The director is Robert Moore, who contributed the dazzling staging accountable for much of the success of New York's current Boys in the Band and Promises, Promises.
Like the Colonial, the Shubert has only two bookings so far, a return engagement of the road company of Fiddler on the Roof (November 17), which broke all Boston box office records last spring, and the Pearl Bailey-all black Hello, Dolly! (January 12). Fiddler, if you go for musicals, is probably the best ever and this particular production is as good as any you will see.
Information on House productions and Agassiz muscial were not available as the CRIMSON went to press. Keep a look out for what these organizations are doing and pray.
Oh, and I hope you like movies, too.