catapult magazine

How about we just finish this top five topic off.
I guess these could be plays you’ve read, seen or participated in. For the most part mine are all of the above.

1. Waiting for Godot
2. Hamlet
3. Antigone
4. The Iceman Cometh
5. A Raisin in the Sun

Again some others: Macbeth, Winter’s Tale, No Exit, Bald Soprano, Medea, Good Person of Setzuan, Death of a Salesman

I can’t rank my favorite plays, but my top choices are Antony and Cleopatra, anything by Oscar Wilde, A Doll’s House, King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing …

Hmm. Looking back, I stick to the same stuff when it comes to theatre. How boring.

Norbert – Winter’s Tale? The ending really annoyed me, although the woman in the glass case idea was cool to see acted out. It’s the one Shakespeare play that I walked away not liking much.

My favorite monologue is in that play. Leontes talking to Camillo about his wife.

Have you not seen Camillo? But that’s past doubt. You have or your eyeglass is thicker than a cuckold’s horn… and so on.

I have Simon to thank for that one. By the way, where’s he been? I haven’t seen him here in awhile. Jason, go give him a sporty and encouraging pat on the butt.

You got it. Actually it’s so strange that you would bring up that monologue. I’m doing it for grad school auditions in two days! Weird. I also have Simon to thank for the recommendation.

I can’t think of a top five right now. Gimme some time. Endgame is up there. And Godot. And Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. And Angels in America.

The Iceman Cometh

Oleanna

King Lear

Equus

The Bald Soprano

Espresso, by Lucia Frangione, playing at Pacific Theatre until February 22; get your tickets now! (I’m actually halfway serious. This is a good good good play.)

The Glass Menagerie. Speshul.

It’s not on my top 5, but Winter’s Tale is cool. I loves it. I think the fairy tale-ish parts of the story can be used in any way—cynically, childishly, honestly, whatever.

Question: it seems to me that, in theatre, the truly great plays usually get their due in time. In music, it seems, such is rarely the case. I haven’t really thought about this much, I just thought I’d throw it out there. Agree? Disagree?

Interesting question Adam. I guess I would disagree…tentatively. To me it seems that a historical perspective highlights the best art regardless of format. Visual art is probably the most obvious of the media. Literature and theater follow this pattern as well. Will King or Hijuelos go down with names like Eliot or Dumas? I’m not sure. In twenty years I think we’ll have a better idea. I think music follows this as well though. Blues and Jazz have been gaining respect in the larger musical world haven’t they? Pop music on a smaller level is a decent identifier as well.
Hmmm. Interesting question

Hamlet
Lear
Crucible
Les Miserables (sorry, but it really is amazing that it manages to capture the spirit and story of a honking big novel)
Tempest

Runners up:
Jesus Hopped the A Train
Godspell
Lugnasa

Awfully hard to pick five, but I’ll try to throw my two cents in and just go with some of my favorites…

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
Richard II (highly underrated)
Equus
The Three Sisters
M. Butterfly