Cast List (with nomination possibilities out of 10)
NY TIMES REVIEW EXCERPTS: THEATER REVIEW; Sheridan's Malaprop And Friends By CHARLES ISHERWOOD : As personified by Dana Ivey, an actress of blissfully well-honed comic instincts, Mrs. Malaprop is indeed the main event in Mark Lamos's plumply upholstered production, which opened last night at the Vivian Beaumont. Resolutely fighting off scene-stealing attempts by supporting players -- primarily her bouncing, powdered bosom and her preposterous bonnets -- Ms. Ivey's Mrs. Malaprop parades imperiously through Sheridan's sentimental comedy about romantic complications at the seashore, dispensing glittering gems of inanity: ''She's as headstrong as an allegory on the banks of the Nile!'' ''He is the very pineapple of politeness!'' Mrs. M and her gloriously disordered vocabulary are, without a doubt, the life of this party, but the festivities may not be all you'd hoped for (a familiar sensation at this time of year, when celebrations proliferate). Despite a largely zesty cast and a first-class production from Lincoln Center Theater, the uncomfortable truth is Sheridan's comedy is one of those approved-and-certified classics that require unexpected reserves of patience and fortitude. Intermittently adorable, it is also, and not infrequently, tedious. The production's eye-filling visual assets may be an attempt to retain the audience's rapt attention through some of the more laborious passages. Jess Goldstein's riotously colored costumes artfully marry period propriety with a touch of absurdist artifice. The centerpiece of John Lee Beatty's set is a big wedding cake of Georgian facades. As lighted by Peter Kaczorowski, they give the play the fanciful look of a Gainsborough painting on steroids. Mr. Lamos could conceivably improve the general circulation in front of that wedding cake. Perhaps it's his experience as an opera director that explains why the production seems to proceed like a farce played at the stately pace of Handel. Laughs arrive, but they must be patiently awaited. And in the end you may find that the stockpile of delighted smiles you expected to dispense remains largely undiminished, and many of those guffaws you were anticipating went unguffawed.------------------- ----------------------- ------------------- TONY AWARDS HAVEN OPINION: A nod is sure for Best Revival, win is unlikely as right now the prize looks like a lock for "12 Angry Men", nods are likely for set, costumes, and lighting, possible for direction. Ivey has a shot at Best Actress, and an almost guaranteed nomination.
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