This Month in Theater: November 2009

THE LILY'S REVENGE
Taylor Mac has proven himself to be one of New York's more adventurous playwright/performers.  This could be his masterstroke.  In a five-part, five-hour spectacular, with more than 40 performers and musicians, and six collaborating directors, Mac theatrically unfolds the fantasy tale of a flower on a quest to become a man, only to find himself at the center of a revolution of flowers, intent on destroying their oppressor -- the God of Nostalgia.  Almost every type of theater, from Noh to puppetry, from vaudeville to dance, will be represented.
HERE Arts Center, 145 Sixth Ave., (212) 352-3101. Oct. 29-Nov. 22.
 
IDIOT SAVANT
The prolific writer/director Richard Foreman, maker of 50 plays since 1968, moves  to the Public Theater for his latest philosophical comedy.  Playing the title role is Wooster Group co-founder and two time Academy Award nominee, Willem Dafoe, who leads five other actors (two women and three men; all the men play slaves) in this avant-merriment, which includes a game of interspecies golf with a Giant Duck. Fore!
Public Theater, 425 Lafayette St., (212) 967-7555. Previews Oct. 27, opens Nov. 4-Dec. 13.
 
THE UNDERSTUDY
Julie White's wisecracking was so well-timed and pure in The Little Dog Laughed that it won her a well-deserved Tony.  Here she plays a put-upon stage manager in a new backstage comedy by Theresa Rebeck, directed by Scott Ellis, in which she has to deal with two male actors, Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Justin Kirk (both with regular TV series roles), one of whom plays the titular character, a theater person that the audience rarely sees.  Put your money on White's character to be the one still standing when the smoke clears.
Laura Pels Theater, Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theater, 111 W. 46th St., (212) 719-3100. Previews Oct. 9, opens Nov. 5-Jan. 3, 2010.
 

THE STARRY MESSENGER
It's good to have writer/director Kenneth Lonergan back doing live theater.  His This Is Our Youth and Lobby Hero were both Drama Desk nominees before he turned to making movies.  In this one, Matthew Broderick plays a married astronomy teacher at the Hayden Planetarium, who meets a single mom, played by Oscar nominee Catalina Sandino Moreno; six other actors round out the cast. 
The New Group at Theatre Row, 410 W. 42nd St., (212) 279-4200. Previews Oct. 24, opens Nov. 16-Dec. 12.
 
THE LATE CHRISTOPHER BEAN
This is a rarely seen 1930s comedy play by Sidney Howard (who was the 1940 Oscar winner  for his adaptation of Gone With the Wind), directed by Jean Thompson, about a painter's early work, traced to a country doctor's house by those of the "art world" who see money to be made.  It's a case of Yankee practicality vs. New York art world sophistication.
Beckett Theater, 410 W. 42nd St., (212) 279-4200. Previews Nov. 1, opens Nov. 11.

Image from Idiot Savant by Joan Marcus.