The Bennies!

Last night, I saw No Exit at the Imago Theater here in Portland, and realized that it would be the last show (the last of 18) that I would see on my trip. So here today, for you all, I will recount them all and pick favorites in arbitrary fields.

DC

• Picture of Dorian Gray
• Black Pearl Sings
• Ferdinand the Bull
• Measure for Measure

New York

• Next to Normal
• The 39 Steps
• Eye of God

Boston

• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
• The Long and Winding Road
• 2.5 Minute Ride

Chicago

• Heroes
• Death of a Salesman
• The Man who was Thursday

San Francisco

• Tommy
• November

Portland

• Orphee
• Fiction
• No Exit

Best Actor: George in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Best Actress: Linda in Fiction
Best Supporting Actor: The valet in No Exit
Best Supporting Actress: The little person in Measure for Measure
Best Production: Heroes (chalk this one up to Stoppard's script and two great performers)
Worst Everything Else: Measure for Measure was unpolished, Eye of God was a mess, The Long and Winding Road was meandering (relish the pun), Death of a Salesman was a devastating disappointment, Tommy was lifeless, November was two-dimensional, and Orphee was in French

Trend of mortality in theater

Plays in which a major character dies: 5/18 (Picture of Dorian Gray, Eye of God, Death of a Salesman, Orphee, Fiction)
Plays in which a major character kills someone: 5/18 (Picture of Dorian Gray, The 39 Steps, Eye of God, Tommy, Orphee)
Plays in which a major character struggles with mortality: 14/18 (Picture of Dorian Gray, Ferdinand the Bull, Measure for Measure, Next to Normal, The 39 Steps, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Long and Winding Road, 2.5 Minute Ride, Heroes, Death of a Salesman, The Man who was Thursday, Orphee, Fiction, No Exit)
Plays in which a minor character dies: 6/18 (Picture of Dorian Gray, Measure for Measure, The 39 Steps, Eye of God, Tommy, Orphee)
Plays in which an unseen character dies: 5/18 (Picture of Dorian Gray, Black Pearl Sings, Measure for Measure, The Long and Winding Road, Heroes)
Plays featuring suicide: 6/18 (Picture of Dorian Gray, Next to Normal, Eye of God, Death of a Salesman, Orphee, No Exit)

The number of plays not appearing in any of the previous categories: 1. November by David Mamet, which does feature two dead turkeys, a stereotype of an American Indian threatening to kill the president, and a woman with a very bad cold.


Some shows with unique takes on mortality

• Ferdinand the Bull: Yes, even in children's theatre we see bull fighters who just want to dance and bulls who just want to plant flowers struggle with death and murder.
• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?: George and Martha's imaginary boy-child gets "killed" coming home from school at the age of twenty. Apparently a stand-in for the real child they could never have.
  
• Next to Normal: Manic-depressive mother cannot accept that her (now 18-year-old) son has been dead since he was an infant. Not totally unlike George and Martha's case, in fact...
  
• The Long and Winding Road: 60-year-old Maureen McGovern struggles with being 60, including detailing the deaths of her father, and various friends who contracted AIDS.
  
• Orphee: Features movement back and forth through life and the afterlife. All one needs are special gloves and a mirror.
• No Exit: Everyone's already dead.

Listen to: Bishop Allen. You can visit their website, here, and download a handful of their songs for free. Yesterday, as I left the Imago theater where I saw No Exit, I stumbled across a venue where they were performing so I saw them on a whim. Fun fun band.

Click Click Click Click - Bishop Allen
Corazon - Bishop Allen
Like Castanets - Bishop Allen

Rock over Portland, rock on Seattle
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