A DREAM OUT OF TIME
 |
| Sam Levene, Ruth Manning, Clara Heller. |
"In Lieu of Reviews"
Reviews of live theatre being impossible during these days of the pandemic, THEATRE'S LEITER SIDE
is pleased to provide instead accounts of previous theatre
seasons--encompassing the years 1970-1975-for theatre-hungry readers. If you'd
like to know the background on how this previously unpublished series came to
be and what its relationship is to my three The Encyclopedia of the New
York Stage volumes (covering every New York play, musical, revue, and
revival between 1920 and 1950), please check the prefaces to any of the entries
beginning with the letter “A.” See the list at the end of the current entry.
 |
| Zina Jasper, James J. Sloyan. |
note: this entry is one step out of alphabetical order and should precede the previous entry, Dreyfus in Rehearsal.
A DREAM OUT OF TIME [Drama/Family/Jews/Politics] A: Irv Bauer; D: Paul Aaron; S/L: David F. Segal; C: Joseph G. Aulisi; P: Harvey and Clara Klingeman; T: Promenade Theatre (OB); 11/8/70-1/24/71 (49)
A DREAM OUT OF TIME [Drama/Family/Jews/Politics] A: Irv Bauer; D: Paul Aaron; S/L: David F. Segal; C: Joseph G. Aulisi; P: Harvey and Clara Klingeman; T: Promenade Theatre (OB); 11/8/70-1/24/71 (49)
Clive Barnes was one of the only
reviewers who liked this homely Jewish family drama about Mike (James J.
Sloyan), a young, radical writer who returns to his New York home from an
extended stay in Paris with an idealistic dream about the future of America and
his role in that dream. The play contrasts his youthful radicalism with his
old-fashioned immigrant family’s more complacent attitude, thus providing
another variation of the traditional generation-gap story.
Barnes thought Bauer had the promise
of a young Arthur Miller. He saw clichés in the writing, but these were
outweighed by the positive elements of emotional sincerity. James Davis,
however, shuddered at what he considered an “overblown and pretentious” play.
Richard Watts was bored by the verbose, flat dialogue and a play “totally
lacking in dramatic life,” while Martin Gottfried was tuned off by the
confused, aimless style, poor casting, and “unprofessional production.”
Veteran star Sam Levene, who received
mostly good reviews, was appearing Off Broadway for the first time in his long
career. Watts said of him that “he triumphs over his irritating role” as the
immigrant father, but Gottfried countered with: “Sam Levene is an actor who
insists on doing every production the same way and getting as much attention as
possible.”
Philip Bruns, who later gained success on the TV series, "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman," had a role in the play.
Previous Entries:
Abelard and Heloise
Absurd Person
Singular
AC/DC
“Acrobats”
and “Line”
The Advertisement/
All My Sons
All Over
All Over Town
All the Girls Came
Out to Play
Alpha Beta
L’Amante
Anglais
Ambassador
American Gothics
Amphitryon
And Miss Reardon
Drinks a Little
And They Put
Handcuffs on the Flowers
And Whose Little
Boy Are You?
Anna K.
Anne of Green
Gables
Antigone
Antiques
Any Resemblance to Persons Living or Dead
Applause
Ari
As You Like It
Augusta
The Au Pair Man
Baba Goya [Nourish the Beast]
The Ballad of Johnny Pot
Barbary Shore
The Bar that Never Closes
The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel
The Beauty Part
The Beggar’s Opera
Behold! Cometh the Vanderkellens
Be Kind to People Week
Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill
Bette Midler’s Clams on a Half-Shell Revue
Black Girl
Black Light Theatre of Prague
Black Picture Show
Black Sunlight
The Black Terror
Black Visions
Les Blancs
Blasts and Bravos: An Evening with H,L.
Mencken
Blood
Bluebeard
Blue Boys
Bob and Ray—The Two and Only
Boesman and Lena
The Boy Who Came to Leave
Bread
A Breeze from the Gulf
Brief Lives
Brother Gorski
Brothers
Bullshot Crummond
Bunraku
The Burnt Flower Bed
Butley
Button, Button
Buy Bonds, Buster
The Cage
Camille
Candide (1)
Candide (2)
The Candyapple
Captain Brassbound’s Conversion
The Caretaker
La Carpa de los Raquichis
The Carpenters
The Castro Complex
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
The Changing Room
Charles Abbott and Son
Charley’s Aunt
Charlie Was Here and Now He’s Gone
Chemin de Fer
The Cherry Orchard
The Chickencoop Chinaman
The Children
Children! Children!
Children in the Rain
Children of the Wind
The Children’s Mass
A Chorus Line
The Chronicle of Henry VI: Part 1, Part
II,
The Circle
Clarence Darrow
Cold Feet
Conditions of Agreement
Coney Island Cycle
The Constant Wife
The Contractor
The Contrast
The Constant Wife
The Country Girl
Crazy Now
The Creation of the
World and Other Business
Creeps
The Crucible
Crystal and Fox
Cyrano
Dames at Sea
The Dance of Death
Dance wi’Me/Dance with
Me
A Day in the Life of
Just about Everyone
Dear Nobody
Dear Oscar
The
Desert Song
Diamond
Studs
Different
Times
The Dirtiest
Show in Town
The
Divorce of Judy and Jane
Do It
Again!
Doctor Jazz
A Doll’s
House (2)
Don Juan
Don
Juan in Hell
Don’t
Bother Me, I Can’t Cope
Don’t
Call Back
Don’t
Play Us Cheap!
Drat!
The
Dream on Monkey Mountain