Marvin's Tip Sheet

November 19, 2009

This issue is a bit early, as I am leaving town for Thanksgiving.  Best holiday wishes to all.

As you know, Charles Dickens toured extensively presenting dramatic readings of his work.  Now you can hear his great-great-grandson, Gerald Charles Dickens, carrying on this tradition with a reading of (what else?) A Christmas Carol in the suitable gothic surroundings of the Park Avenue Christian Church Dec. 4th and 5th, for four performances only.  Tix. $25.  1010 Park Avenue.  Tel. 212-868-4444.

And if you’ve had quite enough of old Scrooge, GNOBS productions is mounting a Christmas Carol for contemporary times, a proudly pro-Capitalist defense of the old rascal entitled God Bless You, Mister Scrooge!  “Who says all New York theater is leftist?” their (red) flyer proudly asks.  Dec. 3rd -20th at La Tea Theater, Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center, 107 Suffolk. Tix $10.   Tel 866-811-4111.

Discount tix are available for the revival of Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing at Walkerspace, 48 Walk Street  thru Nov. 23rd.  Tix. $13 with code TOM.  Tel 212-868-4444.

59 East 59 theatres are in the midst of their annual Brits Off Broadway festival.  The headline event is the world premiere of a new Alan Aycjkbourn play, My Wonderful Day, running thru Dec. 13th.  Tix $60.  Also upcoming is a oneman show, Merrick, the Elephant Man from the 2009 Edinsburg Fringe, tix $25, Nov. 24th-Dec. 13th and Wolves at the Window, a collection of tales by the great Edwardian satirist, Saki., thru Dec. 6th, tix. $35.  59 East 59 St.  Tel. 212-279-4200.

The next production at the innovative Foundry Theatre will be an intriguing double bill of the Myopia, “an epic burlesque of tradic proportion,” written and performed by the inimitable David Greenspan, along with Plays by Gertrude Stein.  Jan. 6th-Feb. 7th.  Tix. $40. Altantic Stage 2, 330 West 16 St.  Tel. 212-777-1444.

Carson McCullers’ novel the Heart is a Lonely Hunter , adapted for the stage by Rebecca Gilman, will be presented by the Acting Company at the New York theatre Worshop thu Dec. 20th.  Tix $40 if ordered by Dec. 3rd with the code THDML22.  79 East 4th St.  Tel. 212-947-8844.

If you cannot get enough of Horton Foote, the Signature Theatre should fulfill your fondest desires with its production of all nine plays of Foote’s rural epic, The Orphans’ Home Cycle.  The three plays in Part I, “The Story of a Childhood,” are now running and will continue thru March 6th.  Part !!, “The Story of a Marriage” will be added at the beginning of December, and Part III, “the Story of a Family,” will follow in January.  There will be five marathon performances of the entire cycle in January and February.  Tix. $20 per production.  553 West 42 St.  Tel 212-244-7529.