05.27.07

DINNER THEATER

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Puzzle by Patrick Berry, edited by Will Shortz

Punned titles of theater plays provide eight long entries across the grid of this Sunday crossword entitled DINNER THEATER (which itself becomes an equivoque):

BAREFOOTINTHEPORK (23A Play about tenderizing meat with one’s toes?), pork = park.

THEMERCHANTOFVENISON (31A Musical drama about a butcher who sells deer meat?), venison = Venice.

THEBURGERSOPERA (40A Musical play set at McDonald’s?), burger’s = beggar’s.

WURSTSIDESTORY (59A Musical drama that tells the tale of a sausage casing?), wurst = west.

PORGYANDBISQUE (64A Musical drama about a man eating soup?), bisque = Bess.

ABIESIRISHROAST (85A Play about a guy ordering beer from Dublin?), roast = rose.

CHITLINSOFALESSERGOD (91A Play about swine intestines that are semi divine?), chitins = children.

AHAMFORALLSEASONS (106A Play about meat that’s good to eat anytime?), ham = man.

Barefoot in the Park starred Robert Redford and Jane Fonda in the Broadway production and in the film. This play is perhaps one of the true mainstays of dinner theater and summer stock.

The Merchant of Venice is not generally considered, nor can I recall or find reference to its being a musical drama, although an opera exists from the Shakespeare play. Even though the play makes infamous reference to a pound of flesh, not in the Poconos or anywhere else in dinner theater will you see this old chestnut!

The Beggar’s Opera was the basis for The Three Penny Opera, both of which occupy a place somewhere between opera and operetta. You'll probably not see this one in a dinner theater either!

West Side Story does make it into the dinner theater and summer stock circuit a lot, but the Leonard Bernstein work is performed at opera houses throughout the world. It could be done as a revue for dinner theater with the plot cut out and a ship-cruise type medley of singers.

Porgy and Bess is rarely seen in a dinner theater setting or summer stock for that matter, and is mainly a work performed by opera companies, even though Ira Gershwin intended it for theater, its premiere having taken place on Broadway. It would take a twelve-course meal to get through this one!

Abie’s Irish Rose is a war-horse of summer stock and is frequently done tongue-in-cheek at dinner theaters. This entry is also a war-horse of crossword puzzles, clued backwards and forwards, upside down and from every possible angle. Patrick Berry pays tribute to this old reliable by the entry NICHOLS (20A Anne who wrote "Abie's Irish Rose") -- so it's due is done!

Children of a Lesser God was performed originally at a Broadway theater, is not often seen in summer stock and rarely in dinner theater -- the film had a modest success and Marlee Matlin got an Oscar for her performance as, well, pretty much herself.

A Man for All Seasons is a brilliant drama and as the pun indicates, an opportunity for a “ham” performance, but Paul Scofield in both the play and in the film gave an excellent and subtle performance. This entry is the best of the lot, as a ham can be both an actor and a dinner. However, one is unlikely to see the play in a dinner theater setting.

Other food-related entries in this construction are FALLOWDEER (17D Popular quarry for British hunters), FISHERY (80A Business with net gains), HIHO (12A Old cracker brand), ADE (57D Drink suffix) FASTS (80A Diets drastically), MAWS (39A Gullets), NUTMEG (72A Mulling spice), and RAGU (113A Brand name with an accent on its last letter). One could include TRACHEA (5A Breathing tube) (think Heimlich Manuever), ELK (26A Beast with a bugling call) (Eskimo food), AORTA (94D Main line) (think clogged from you know what...), SOT (112A Elbow-bender) (lots of those at dinner theaters!), PLAX (19A Pfizer product used before brushing the teeth), and FLOSS (93D Line at the dentist's office?) which one should do when all is said and done!

Theater-related entries include the aforementioned NICHOLS there's GEDDES (52A Actress Barbara Bel _____), wonderful in Hitchcock's "Vertigo", and it's also interesting to note her father was a stage designer turned industrial designer, Norman Bel Geddes. SARAH (3D "The Terminator" heroine), PLATT (2D Oliver of "The West Wing"), ELTON (10D Mr. _____, scheming vicar in "Emma"), ALESSANDRO (16D Composer Scarlatti), REGAN (32D Possessed girl in "The Exorcist") (yuck, green vomit! -- I'd prefer the clue to be "one of three Lear daughters" or words of that ilk), which brings up YACK (68D Talk, talk, talk: Var.), so I'll stop right here and let you pick at the rest of this theatrical refection -- ah, rhymes with confection!

For today's cartoon, go to The Crossword Puzzle Illustrated.

Click here for original post with illustrations and puzzle grid.