September is Dust

September flew by with nary a post from your truly.

Although I loved Simon Stephens' "Heisenberg" last year at MTC, his earlier play "On The Shores of the Wide World" now playing at The Atlantic Theatre Company is not in the same league.  That two character play was structurally tight and marvelously acted by Mary-Louise Parker and Denis Arndt. The problem with the Atlantic production may be that Neil Pepe, who has a history of directing Mamet, Guare and other specifically American playwrights, isn't able to capture the rhythms of this British playwright.  But he also has a sprawling multi-character landscape to cover. This lack of capture extends to the unevenness of the Manchester accents by the American cast, who are otherwise faultless.  The one stand-out performance comes from Tedra Milla's Sarah, the hyperactive girlfriend of Alex, the young man at the center of the play. Milla was excellent as #47 in Sarah DeLappe's "The Wolves" last year and she will appear in it again in the Lincoln Center revival of that play later this fall.  My other quibble with the play is the title which takes its name from a sonnet by Keats and really has nothing to do with anything except that I expect the playwright liked the sonnet and found a way to force it into the play. The play would have been more aptly titled "Manchester."

"Mary Jane" at NYTW is a powerful play about a single woman coping with raising a severely disabled child. Written by Amy Herzog whose previous play "4,000 Miles" at Lincoln Center was a bit wobbly, and directed by Anne Kauffman, the play is a complicated puzzle of connecting pieces.  Carrie Coon is heart-breaking as Mary Jane but each of the supporting cast delivers multiple jewel-like performances. The play will tear you apart but also give you hope in humanity.

The Elevator  Repair Service production of "Measure for Measure" at the Public is as unusual as what one expects from them.  They take classic works and twist them around, stand them on their heads and just generally have fun with them.  It would be hard to measure up to their seven hour reading of The Great Gatsby, "Gatz," and this doesn't, but I forgive them.  They make Shakespeare contemporary even if their line readings are sometimes hard to understand.  The essence of the play remains and it's a rollicking good time. A shout out to Scott Shepherd who was the narrator (reader?) in "Gatz" and here plays The Duke. 

Further downtown at The Flea's new theatre is "Inanimate."  Courtney Ulrich directs a dextrous young cast, who all come out of The Flea's acting program.  Nick Robideau's adventurous and somewhat experimental play is about a young woman who loves inanimate objects.  Apparently this is a thing.    Lacy Allen makes Erica's proclivity for inanimate objects believable and the supporting cast plays multiple roles from the Dunkin' Donuts neon sign that she is in love with and an Oxo can opener to the actual human beings in her life who love her.

The revivals of "Cafe Muller" and "The Rite of Spring" presented by the Tanztheatre Wuppertal Pina Bausch at the BAM Opera House is missing Pina (who died two years ago) and the humor the company that she amassed over the years brought to her work.  While I am happy that her work continues to live on, the young dancers in these revivals, many of whom probably never worked with her, are lacking the quirkiness and humor necessary to take the works to the next level.

I'd also like to mention Bill T. Jones excellent "Letter to My Nephew" at BAM Harvey, a dance piece that delivers on a visceral level.  Jones is an angry gay, black man as well as a citizen of the world.  "Letter to My Nephew" addresses racism, homophobia, gentrification, natural disasters and the recent killings in Las Vegas through dance, song and multi-media projections. The dancing is exquisite.  The message is powerful. A brave piece.

I was disappointed in Maira Kalman and John Heginbotham's multi-media "The Principles of Uncertainty" based on her blog of the same name for The New Yorker at BAM Fisher.  Too much Dance Heginbotham, too little Maira Kalman.

But it was Matthew Aucoin's opera "Crossing" at the BAM Opera House that almost made me want to weep at it's awfulness.  Directed by Diane Paulus, "Crossing" is based on Walt Whitman's diaries from his time nursing soldiers during the Civil War. The theme of the opera comes from Whitman's poem "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry": "What is it, then, between us?"  Whitman's sexuality is widely speculated about and Aucoin takes the opportunity to create a love story between middle-aged Whitman and one of the wounded young soldiers.  Instead of leading us to a greater understanding of Whitman and his sexuallity, he comes across as a creepy pedophile.  The music I can't comment on, not having enough understanding of opera.