Director Sarna Lapine knocks it out of the Park with the current production of her father James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim's "Sunday in the Park with George." Jake Gyllenhaal as both Seurat and his probable great-grandson George proves again that he has the chops to be a Broadway star and he doesn't look half bad in the process. He's more youthful and sexy than Mandy Patinkin was in the original production although he doesn't have quite the vocal prowess of the master. Annaleigh Ashford is his match as both Seurat's model and aging granddaughter (young George's grandmother), not as vulnerable as Bernadette Peters was but with her gorgeous vocals she makes Dot and Marie her own. The production is visually luscious, even the contemporary light sculptures created by George add rather than the distract from the pointillism. The shifting tableau on the Ile de la Grande Jatte is voluptuous and the musical repetition of the "Sunday" is intoxicating.
"Escaped Alone" at BAM is the latest oeuvre from the great British playwright Caryl Churchill. Four women of a bit more than a certain age sit in a garden making small talk. The veteran British actresses chew the scenery to our delight and one, Linda Bassett, steps out periodically to describe her apocryphal imaginings that seem to come straight out of P.D. James "Children of Men." But the small talk is not just small talk. The other three actresses, Debroah Findlay, Kika Markham and June Watson all have their private moments in which they disclose their personal hells and one of the women is a murderer... And so the afternoon passes.
Will Eno's "Wakey, Wakey" at Signature is a tour-de-force for the actor Michael Emerson with echoes of Beckett's "Waiting for Godot." A man is in a room alone. A man is waiting to die. A man wants a connection. January Lavoy provides some comfort, or perhaps not, as the hospice nurse who arrives to keep him company. There is much talk but also silences that carry more weight than any words. The play is a profound meditation on what life is to the dying. I could have done with all the flash and bang and balloons at the end of the play though.
"The Moors," a new play by Jen Silverman produced by The Playwrights Realm at the Duke, is a must! It's a wacked-out tale of a family strongly resembling the Brontes ... and a dog ... and a Moor Hen. It pushes just about every boundary: time, space, believability. Tightly directed by Mike Donohue and featuring an talented and versatile cast this gothic tale is both hilarious and macabre. I have to cite the Set Designer Dane Laffry for his bizaare design. I wasn't familiar with the playwright before but I will be watching eagerly for her next play.
Unfortunately the less said about "The Light Years" a new play by Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen at Playwrights Horizons the better. That's all.
