Pulling Apart Pulitzer Prize-Winning Dramas

Description The Pulitzer website describes the show as "a   nuanced, beautifully written play about a retired police officer faced with eviction that uses dark comedy to confront questions of life and death."  It is essential to recognize the play is a dark comedy, otherwise, you are going to be left awkwardly trying to discern what commentary this show offers. Check out a trailer for the show here .    Characters Walter "Pops" Washington (retired police officer, widow of Delores) Junior (Pops' son) Lulu (Junior's girlfriend) Owaldo (Junior's friend) Detective O'Connor (former coworker of Pops) Lieutenant Caro (recent fiance of O'Connor) Church Lady (worker at the church) Pops is the clear protagonist of the show. He mourns the loss of his wife, Delores. His hurt is noticed through his blatant denial: he sits in his wife's wheelchair; he still has the Christmas tree up from the year she died (it is needless, but lit-- a striking...

Description Playbill.com provides this synopsis of the play: " A feminist art historian and her friends, male and female, gay and straight, mature from the 1960s to the 1980s as they search for political, professional and personal fulfillment, in Wendy Wasserstein's Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play." The protagonist of Wasserstein's personal play is Heidi Holland. Heidi has two complex relationships with men in the play. Her closest friend, Peter Patrone, eventually confides in Heidi about his homosexuality as he becomes New York's top pediatrician. Scoop Rosenbaum consistently challenges Heidi about her satisfaction in life as he discusses his marriage and life choices. Both Peter and Scoop help Heidi to realize that she is ultimately unhappy.   Doesn't this sound like a comedy? Probably not. However, Wasserstein threads humor, biting dialogue, and sentimental speeches into the play quite evenly. The show doesn't necessarily have a centr...

Description Eugene O'Neill penned this semi-autobiographical play in 1940, but it was not produced until 1956 after his death. The show initially was performed in Sweden, where his work flourished; the play quickly traveled to NYC to gain its popularity. O'Neill is best know for this play in particular as it has solidified its place in the canon. Characters: James Tyrone (the husband and father) Mary Cavan Tyrone (the wife and mother) James Tyrone, Jr. (the older son often referred to as Jamie) Edmund Tyrone (the younger son) Cathleen (girl who helps the Tyrones) The show is split into 4 acts. The most recent Broadway revival of the show lasted 4 hours!! I am no mathematician, but that means each act was, on average, an hour long . . . The setting is the Tyrone family's house in August of 1912. I use the term "house" because there is an ongoing debate in the play regarding the place not being a true "home." All members of the Tyrone family st...

Description The Pulitzer website summarizes Hamilton as "a landmark American musical about the gifted and self-destructive founding father whose story becomes both contemporary and irresistible."  What excites me the most about Hamilton , I think, is that it was Lin-Manuel Miranda's first major musical after he penned a stage-version of Bring It On. I mean, c'mon! In 2009, Miranda performed a demo at the White House during "An Evening of Poetry, Music, and the Spoken Word." Watch the now-cherished clip here . Seven years later the show catapulted into the global spotlight. I remember seeing headlines about it on the front page of papers in London when I went on a short trip.  The musical chronicles Alexander Hamilton's life. The catch, of course, is that the genre of music is predominantly Hip-Hop. Additionally, the historic figures are portrayed by individuals from non-white descent. The show not only reveals the romantic and tragic life of Hami...

Description Well, I have just now discovered that The Pulitzer Prize website includes a one-sentence summary of each show to explain the content/reason for its victory. Here is the description for Next to Normal : " A powerful rock musical that grapples with mental illness in a suburban family and expands the scope of subject matter for musicals." That is all true, but I will expand a tad. The show centers around Diana Goodman's bout with bipolar 1 disorder. She is haunted by the ghost of her son, Gabe. Her husband, Dan, supports Diana as best he can and struggles to come to terms with their son's death. Diana's daughter, Natalie, is constantly aggravated by her deceased brother's ability to pervade her life--she tries to cope with her piano-playing; her cries for attention are often unheard, although she gains the interest of pot-loving Henry (there is really no other way to say it). Diana attempts to take control of her mental health through visiting her...

Description I know I shouldn't do this, but I'm going to . . . The Wikipedia page for Rent succinctly summarizes the show better than I ever could: " . . . loosely based on  Giacomo Puccini 's  opera   La Bohème . It tells the story of a group of impoverished young artists struggling to survive and create a life in  New York City 's  East Village  in the thriving days of  Bohemian   Alphabet City , under the shadow of  HIV/AIDS . The show deals with a variety of themes such as homelessness, drug addiction, love, sexuality, disease, and death." My summary of the show in 10 words?  90's. NY. Rent-payers. Drugs. AIDS. Homelessness. Disease. Seasons of Love.   Candid Reaction You mean to tell me that "Seasons of Love" is the opener of Rent ?  What am I listening to during "Over the Moon"? That one threw me for a loop.  The music of this show is impeccable in its ability to set a(n) mood/tone/atmosphere.  ...

Description After Stephen Sondheim dominated the '70s on Broadway and reshaped American musical theater, he penned a flop titled Merrily We Roll Along (although it has garnered a cult-following with its narrative innovation-- a predecessor to The Last Five Years , perhaps?). His "rebound musical" after Merrily  started Off-Broadway with its unconventional plotline. James Lapine and Sondheim were discussing Georges Seurat's famous " A Sunday on the Island of La Grande Jatte ," the enormous painting heralded for its excellence in pointillism (AKA divisionism AKA chromoluminarism), when Lapine made the observation that the only person not pictured was the painter himself. The pair began to imagine who Seurat was and what conflicts Seurat faced in his lifetime as a visionary artist in the late 19th century. Hence, Sunday in the Park with George was created. Act One starts with these words: " White, a blank page or canvas. The challenge: bring order to t...

Description 17 dancers contend for spots on a Broadway chorus line. The show takes place at an audition in New York. The setting is a simple, empty stage with one white line running across the floor. Throughout the audition, the audience peers into most of the individual dancers' histories. In so doing, the audience understands how the dancers' lives have been informed psychologically. Topics such as identity, purpose, passion, sexism and sexuality are all addressed in the show. One of the main characters, Cassie, discusses her desire to return to the chorus although she has been identified as a soloist throughout her career. The value of chorus roles are questioned by the audition director, but she defends the pride of chorus members. By the end of the show, the entire company appears in matching costumes. Suddenly, all of the individual actors are unidentifiable by the audience. The show contains iconic numbers such as "I Hope I Get It," "At the Ballet,...