"House of Mirth" and Edith Wharton's New York

We saw a preview performance last night of Edith Wharton's adaptation of her best-selling novel House of Mirth at the Metropolitan Playhouse and we urge you to go. Wharton was the most adept chronicler of New York's social set in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and she and playwright Clyde Fitch did a masterful job of taking the varied settings and situations of the novel and figuring out how to make them work on stage. As always, the cast and direction at the Metropolitan Playhouse are top notch, especially Amanda Jones as Lily Bart.

Of course, we'd love it if the performance you came to see is this Sunday, April 29, at 3:00pm. Following that matinee, we'll be joining director Alex Roe for a talk back with the audience where we'll be discussing the world of the play and the New York in which Edith Wharton lived and worked.

You can buy tickets for that performance at this link:  http://metropolitanplayhouse.org/HOM8. The show officially opens on Friday and runs through May 20.

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You can also read more about Edith Wharton's New York in

Inside the Apple: A Streetwise History of New York City

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Theater Talk Back: "House of Mirth" at the Metropolitan Playhouse on Sunday, April 29, at 3:00pm

Photo by Jacob J. Goldberg

On Sunday, April 29, we will be appearing at the Metropolitan Playhouse in the East Village to do a post-show talk-back following the 3:00pm performance of Edith Wharton's House of Mirth. 

Wharton published the novel The House of Mirth in 1905 to great acclaim and it launched her into the top ranks of American writers, selling 140,000 copies in just three months. It tells the story of Lily Bart, a socially conscious young woman looking for love in Gilded Age New York. In 1906, Wharton joined with prolific playwright Clive Fitch to create a stage adaptation of the work, which premiered at the Knickerbocker Theatre in October of that year. (The Knickerbocker is long gone, but it was the first Broadway house to have an illuminated, rotating electric sign.)

After the Metropolitan's performance, we will be talking about Edith Wharton's New York and the role it played in shaping her writing; her New York works include classics such as House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence, as well as lesser-known titles such as The Custom of the Country and Old New York.

We'll being copies of our own book, Inside the Apple, for sale and signing.

To purchase tickets to House of Mirth, please go to the Metropolitan Playhouse's website at http://metropolitanplayhouse.org/houseofmirth

"One-Third of a Nation" at Metropolitan Playhouse

As any New Yorker knows, one of the greatest challenges of living in the city is making the rent. And it probably comes as no surprise that this has been the case for a very long time. The Metropolitan Playhouse—a wonderful, small theater company in the East Village that is dedicated to exploring the forgotten nooks and crannies of the American theatrical canon—has just started performances of the WPA-era play One-Third of a Nation, an exploration of landlords and tenants throughout New York’s history. On Sunday, May 22, we will be joining the Metropolitan for a talkback and Q&A after the 3:00 p.m. matinee. We hope you can join us for this fascinating look at New York's past.

One-Third of a Nation was written in 1938 by Arthur Arent as part of the Federal Theatre Project’s “Living Newspaper” unit. The Living Newspaper was designed to create jobs for out-of-work journalists, actors, and other theater professionals by telling stories that were “ripped from the headlines.” Their first production, Ethiopia, began rehearsals in 1936, but was never allowed to open. Government censors told them they couldn’t depict living people—like Italian dictator Benito Mussolini—and the production was scrapped. Their next work, Triple-A Plowed Under, focused on the hardscrabble lives of Dust Bowl farmers; Injunction Granted skewered the rich; and Power—in a shift that would also affect One-Third of a Nation—was written to overtly support New Deal policies (in this case, the creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority).

Then came One-Third of a Nation, a probing look at the nation’s housing crisis. Though the narrator reminds the audience early on that this isn’t a specifically New York story, the action takes place exclusively in the city, beginning with a devastating tenement fire at 397 Madison Street, then taking the audience on a multimedia journey through the city’s housing history. The play was the Living Newspaper's biggest success and versions were produced around the country. (The poster, above, is from a touring production from 1939.) It was also turned into a film in 1939 with Sylvia Sidney, though the melodrama produced by Hollywood did away with most of the plot and all of the Living Newspaper's innovative staging.

The Living Newspaper was known for its experimental staging--including the use of projections, film, and off-stage characters heard through loudspeakers--that were cutting edge in the 1930s. The plays also featured dozens of characters (One-Third of Nation has over 100 speaking parts) in order to keep as many indigent actors employed as possible. In this current production, Metropolitan deftly divides the roles between just 13 actors.

We hope you can join us on May 22nd at 3:00 p.m. The play costs just $20 ($15 for students/seniors) and it is a small space, so reserve your seat today at http://www.metropolitanplayhouse.org/onethirdtickets.

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Read more about WPA-era New York in
Inside the Apple: A Streetwise History of New York City.

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The Drunkard at Metropolitan Playhouse

Now through October 17, you have the opportunity to see one of the most famous plays of the 19th century, The Drunkard, which is being performed at the Metropolitan Playhouse. Nimbly directed by Frank Kuhn, the play tells the story of Edward Middleton, a well-off country squire who falls prey to the evils of drink, moves to New York City, and nearly loses everything. It is a fascinating glimpse into the mid-19th-century temperance movement, and also a chance for modern audiences to experience a real antebellum melodrama, complete with a villain who comes as close to mustache-twirling as you'll see on the stage today.

Written in 1844, the play was a vehicle for its author, W.H. Smith, who played the lead. It premiered in Boston and ran for 144 performances--then the longest running play in American history. P.T. Barnum, himself a strong believer in temperance, saw the show and imported it to New York (changing the setting of play in the process) and it ran for 100 performances at his American Museum, which stood near today's City Hall Park.


The energetic cast imbues this production with humor and real feeling--you never feel like you are sitting in a history lesson. It's well worth the journey to the East Village to see this fascinating slice of New York from 150 years ago.


More about the play, including ticket information, can be found at http://www.metropolitanplayhouse.org/

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Read more about P.T. Barnum's New York in

Inside the Apple: A Streetwise History of New York City.

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Or, to subscribe via email, follow this link.
Also, you can now follow us on Twitter.

The Contrast by Royall Tyler at the Metropolitan Playhouse

The Metropolitan Playhouse, one of the best small theaters dedicated to perpetuating America’s theatrical heritage, is back with a great new production of Royall Tyler’s The Contrast. Written in 1787, it was the first play performed in the new republic by a professional acting troupe. Set in post-Revolutionary War New York, it provides a fascinating (if exaggerated) glimpse into the city’s residents and their love/hate relationship with Great Britain’s fashions and mores.

Born in Boston, Tyler had served in the Continental Army and after the war was part of the Massachusetts troops that put down Shays Rebellion. On a visit to New York, Tyler saw Sheridan’s School for Scandal and was inspired to write an American version. The play premiered on April 16, 1787, at the John Street Theater (New York’s only theater) and was enough of a success that it was repeated multiple times.

Like many comedies of manners, the story revolves around a love triangle: three women (Charlotte, Letitia, and Maria) are all in love with Mister Dimple, the local fop, who spends his time reading Chesterfield* and practicing bowing in a mirror. Dimple, the audience finds out early on, is from an old New York Dutch family named Van Dumpling; his name change is an affectation following a grand tour of Europe.

The play contains many other New York references, from walks on the “Mall” (perhaps the fashionable end of Lower Broadway) to excursions to the Battery. More importantly, it illustrates that in the decade after America’s victory in the Revolution, New York was caught between forging a distinct American identity and taking its cultural cues from Europe.

At the Metropolitan Playhouse, director Alex Roe makes the very smart decision to eschew the costumes in this costume drama. Instead, the talented company dressed in tank tops, pants, and skirts pantomimes when necessary but mostly just allows the audience to concentrate on the words – which are often hysterical. Particularly funny is the relationship between two servants: Jessamy, who works for (and apes) Billy Dimple, and Jonathan, a clownish Yankee, who serves a former Continental army colonel.

The play opens on Friday, October 9 and runs through November 1. The run time is a little more than 2-1/2 hours with one intermission. Tickets are $20 (with discounts for students and seniors); for more information, please visit http://www.metropolitanplayhouse.org.

* In the 1740s and 50s, the Earl of Chesterfield wrote a series of letters to his son instructing him on manners, decorum, and how to go about finding a rich patron.