Two shows not to miss while they are still on are The Public Theatre's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park featuring the incomparable Annaleigh Ashford as Helena. If you have to wait on line all day in the park it will be worth your while but there are a couple of other options. The Public Theatre also has a line downtown which you can get to at 11am and still score tickets or you can try your hand at the on-line lottery (which is what I did). I know, you're saying "ANOTHER "Midsummer Night's Dream?" I've only seen it a million times already," but don't! Annaleigh Ashford brings new juice to the play which in this case would be more appropriately titled "All About Helena" or "Helena's Dream." From the moment she hits the stage she owns it, every inch of it.This is not to take away from the performances of the rest of the stellar cast but they are merely her supporting players here. A side note is that I loved the use of elderly actors as Titania's fairies, especially the diminunative 88-year-old Vinie Burrows whom I last saw in "Sumara" at The Soho Rep. I mind-checked her name because she made the otherwise baffling and directionless "Sumara" watchable. The director is Lear DeBessonet, one to watch if you're not already familiar with her name from the recent production of Suzan-Lori Parks' "Venus" as Signature and her various productions of Shakepeare as the Founder of Public Works at the Public Theatre.
The other show you should be buying tickets for RIGHT THIS MINUTE is the PTP/NYC production of Tom Stoppard's "Arcadia" at the Atlantic Theatre. I went not expecting much after having been so in love with the Broadway production several years ago that I begged another ticket and went twice. That production had a stellar cast, including Billy Crudup, Margaret Colin and Raul Esparza, and directed by David Leveaux it would be hard to beat. But I loved this smaller intimate production four floors underground at the Atlantic with it's no-name cast, directed by an in-house director Cheryl Faraone. The play straddles two time periods, 1809 and present at Sidley Park, a large country house in Derbyshire, England and revolves around a mystery. Intrigued? And let's hear it for all the unsung actors and directors of the theatre world who are doing strong work and will never get the recognition they deserve. I had been prepared to leave at intermission (it is a long play) but I was so engaged that after the break I couldn't wait to take my seat again. Let me give a special shout-out to several of the actors: Andrew William Smith as Septimus Hodge, a tutor and a great friend of Byron, Jonathan Tindle as Ezra Chater, a "poet," Megan Byrne as Lady Croom of the 1809 cast; Stephanie Janssen as the historical author Hannah, Jackson Prince as Valentine Coverly, an heir to the estate and a mathematical genius and Alex Draper as the recklessly ambitious academic Bernard Nightingale in the present day cast.
And there is a tortoise...
Less captivating is "The Fulfillment Center" at MTC. Directed by Abe Koogler, this is the second play I have seen by Daniel Aukin. I was blown away by "The Kill Floor" with Marin Ireland at the Claire Tow black box theatre at Lincoln Center a year or so ago. Taking place (for the most part) in an abattoir, the play was much more timely than the recent Pulitzer Prize winning Lynn Nottage play "Sweat," which dealt with some of the similar themes and felt old and regurgitated IMHO. Although the cast of "Fulfillment Center" is uniformly excellent (Eboni Booth, Bobby Moreno, Frederick Weller and the great New York mainstay Deirdre O'Connell) the play, which takes place in a shipping facility in New Mexico, a trailer park and a characterless apartment, lacks the immediacy of "The Kill Floor." The story is similar though, characters pushing to move on, to move up and to have some meaning in their lives. Worth seeing, still.
The very disappointing "Pipeline" by Dominique Morisseau and directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz at Lincoln Center is one to safely miss. Blaine-Cruz directed the deadly Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' "War" at the Claire Tow and Alice Birch's excruciatingly awful "Revolt, She Said" at Soho Rep so either she just chooses bad material or she is doing an injustice to these works. It will be certainly something for me to think about before I buy another ticket to a play she has directed. "Pipeline" an angry play about a black teen who has lashed out at his private school teacher in a moment of frustration and rage and looks to loose everything. But it is as much about his divorced, ostensively single-parent mother who teaches in a large inner-city public high school in Detroit. Karen Pittman gives a high pitched unmodulated performance as Nia, the lonely and unhappy mother, desperate to understand her son and do what is right for him, The stand-out performance comes from Tasha Lawrence as Laurie, a veteran white colleague of Nia's, who lashes out in anger at the futility of their job. Morisseau wrote the play as a tribute to her own mother who taught for 40 years in Highland Park, Michigan. The allusions to Richard Wright's Bigger Thomas in Native son are apt but the overuse of the the Gwendolyn Brooks poems is tiresome and lazy.
Saturday, August 5, 2017
Tuesday, July 4, 2017
Mixed Bag
I had the opportunity to see John Guare's "Six Degrees of Separation" on Broadway shortly before it closed. Having seen the original at Lincoln Center with the incomparable Stockard Channing for whom the part of Ouisa was written, I did not expect a whole lot. But, although it would be unfair to compare the performance of Allison Janney to Channing's, the cast which includes John Benjamin Hickey and Corey Hawkins is outstanding and kudos to director Trip Cullman for making the play new. The premise of the play, which spawned the now-famous 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon', is a young black man insinuating himself into the lives of a WASP family on the Upper East Side by posing as a friend of their children from Harvard and, coincidentally, the son of Sidney Poitier. How easily they choose to be duped! How attractive fame and celebrity are. And how tragic ultimately for the young man, because, after all, this really just creates a small ripple in their lives. It's a play about aspiration and ultimately very sad.
Benjamin Millepied's L.A. Dance Project at the Joyce was probably the most exciting theatre I saw this month. And it's dance!!! Plus, added bonus, Natalie Portman (or "Portwood" as my dance mad neighbor in Row C called her) was in the house. Just joking. I didn't even see her. The most impressive of the four pieces performed in the program I saw was Justin's Peck's Murder Ballads. Peck is the hot new choreography talent from the New York City Ballet. Here he uses the dancers' virtuosity completely and the colorful casual clothing and backdrop tamp it down and and draw us in and make us feel that it is no big deal. This was followed by Merce Cunningham's Minevent with music by John Cage and performed in full view by Adam Tendler. I'm not a huge fan of Merce but this work, despite the very unflattering unitards, was a wonder of synchronicity. After the intermission we were treated to In Silence We Speak and Orpheus Highway, both choreographed by Millepied. Although my seat mate was back for a second time to see In Silence We Speak, a moving mother-daughter duet, I was stunned by Orpheus Highway and Millepied's use of mixed media, dancers on the screen in the California desert with the same dancers live mimicking their moves, all to The Triple Quartet by Steve Reich, performed, again live, by PUBLIQuartet. A super shout out to Millepied for not just providing inventive choreography but for choosing to work with a superbly trained group of dancers of all different body types.
"War Paint" at the Nederlander Theatre might have been more accurately title "Battle of the Divas." And this is indeed the only reason to visit this new musical about the rivalry between Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden starring Patti Lupone and Christine Ebersole. The new musical from the Scott Frankel and Michael Korie ("Grey Gardens") and directed by Michael Greif("Dean Evan Hansen") fails to deliver. The music is wan and story feels stretched beyond interest. But those voices! I suppose I would be happy to hear either of these divas sing the phone book.
The premise of "Cost of Living" by Martyna Majok at The Manhattan Theatre Club is intriguing and holds ones attention, particularly the performances of two disabled actors. Where it failed for me was that the play ends with a focus on the two non-disabled characters which I felt was a betrayal of the play's promise. I was so much more interested in the quadriplegic Ani and John (and need to point out that the actors playing these roles, Katy Sullivan and Gregg Mozgala, although disabled, are not quadriplegics). Ani, a victim of a car accident who has lost not just her legs but the ability to use her other limbs is full of rage. John, who was presumably born a quad has learned to embrace life, albeit with advantage that being from money provides. Although I felt cheated by the ending, Victor Williams as Eddie does give a tour-de-force performance. Jo Bonney direction is impeccable except in the casting of Jolly Abraham as Jess who overacts and overacts and overacts. Have I stressed that enough?
The Roundabout's "Napoli, Brooklyn" is the not the work of an exciting new playwright to watch, as advertised. Sorry. The play by Meghan Kennedy is pretty standard kitchen-sink drama about an Italian family in Brooklyn, Park Slope apparently, in 1960. Throw in two immigrant parents from Napoli, three rebellious daughters (well, two to be exact), a hammy Irish butcher, a black co-worker, a little lesbianism, domestic violence and a plane crash and voila! You get the idea.... We really didn't need to see this again. It feels like we've been air-lifted back to 1960 and stale ideas. What could have possibly drawn the great Gordon Edelstein to direct a play whose most interesting and intriguing aspect is the picture on the front of the program? Stick to the classics, Gordon!
Benjamin Millepied's L.A. Dance Project at the Joyce was probably the most exciting theatre I saw this month. And it's dance!!! Plus, added bonus, Natalie Portman (or "Portwood" as my dance mad neighbor in Row C called her) was in the house. Just joking. I didn't even see her. The most impressive of the four pieces performed in the program I saw was Justin's Peck's Murder Ballads. Peck is the hot new choreography talent from the New York City Ballet. Here he uses the dancers' virtuosity completely and the colorful casual clothing and backdrop tamp it down and and draw us in and make us feel that it is no big deal. This was followed by Merce Cunningham's Minevent with music by John Cage and performed in full view by Adam Tendler. I'm not a huge fan of Merce but this work, despite the very unflattering unitards, was a wonder of synchronicity. After the intermission we were treated to In Silence We Speak and Orpheus Highway, both choreographed by Millepied. Although my seat mate was back for a second time to see In Silence We Speak, a moving mother-daughter duet, I was stunned by Orpheus Highway and Millepied's use of mixed media, dancers on the screen in the California desert with the same dancers live mimicking their moves, all to The Triple Quartet by Steve Reich, performed, again live, by PUBLIQuartet. A super shout out to Millepied for not just providing inventive choreography but for choosing to work with a superbly trained group of dancers of all different body types.
"War Paint" at the Nederlander Theatre might have been more accurately title "Battle of the Divas." And this is indeed the only reason to visit this new musical about the rivalry between Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden starring Patti Lupone and Christine Ebersole. The new musical from the Scott Frankel and Michael Korie ("Grey Gardens") and directed by Michael Greif("Dean Evan Hansen") fails to deliver. The music is wan and story feels stretched beyond interest. But those voices! I suppose I would be happy to hear either of these divas sing the phone book.
The premise of "Cost of Living" by Martyna Majok at The Manhattan Theatre Club is intriguing and holds ones attention, particularly the performances of two disabled actors. Where it failed for me was that the play ends with a focus on the two non-disabled characters which I felt was a betrayal of the play's promise. I was so much more interested in the quadriplegic Ani and John (and need to point out that the actors playing these roles, Katy Sullivan and Gregg Mozgala, although disabled, are not quadriplegics). Ani, a victim of a car accident who has lost not just her legs but the ability to use her other limbs is full of rage. John, who was presumably born a quad has learned to embrace life, albeit with advantage that being from money provides. Although I felt cheated by the ending, Victor Williams as Eddie does give a tour-de-force performance. Jo Bonney direction is impeccable except in the casting of Jolly Abraham as Jess who overacts and overacts and overacts. Have I stressed that enough?
The Roundabout's "Napoli, Brooklyn" is the not the work of an exciting new playwright to watch, as advertised. Sorry. The play by Meghan Kennedy is pretty standard kitchen-sink drama about an Italian family in Brooklyn, Park Slope apparently, in 1960. Throw in two immigrant parents from Napoli, three rebellious daughters (well, two to be exact), a hammy Irish butcher, a black co-worker, a little lesbianism, domestic violence and a plane crash and voila! You get the idea.... We really didn't need to see this again. It feels like we've been air-lifted back to 1960 and stale ideas. What could have possibly drawn the great Gordon Edelstein to direct a play whose most interesting and intriguing aspect is the picture on the front of the program? Stick to the classics, Gordon!
Tuesday, May 23, 2017
Home and Abroad
Such a lot to blog on!
"Indecent," the new musical on Broadway written by Paula Vogel and directed by Rebecca Taichman is a masterful ensemble retelling of Sholem Asch's "God of Vengeance" from early in the 20th Century. The Bohemian play about two Jewish women who fall in love was shocking in it's time but did not prevent it from becoming a huge success in Europe and on the Lower East Side and Greenwich Village. However when it moved to Broadway the actors were locked up for indecency. It's hard to even imagine that happening today. The current ensemble can fear not.
Currently on the stage at the National Theatre in London, "Consent" is a smart play about the ramifications of rape in and out of a marriage. The play by Nina Raines, who wrote "Tribes" which had a run at the Barrow Street Theatre in 2012, addresses marriage, rape and the legal system in Britain. There are two couples and a friend who experience the vicissitudes of marriage to different ends. Three of the characters are lawyers hence the legal angle. The play is a dance of shifting perspectives and longings and unhappiness. Roger Michell has deftly directed the cast which includes Ben Chaplan and Anna Maxwell Martin as the unhappy couple at the center.
Meanwhile at Le Theatre du Rond Point in Paris, the Argentine actress of a certain age Marilu Marini is a tour de force in La Journee d'Une Reveuse (Et Autres Moments) a one-woman show that combines two of her countryman Copi's texts. Copi, the nom de plume of the outrageous and profane Argentine artist, writer and playwright Raul Damonte Botana, spent his whole career in Paris where he died of Aids in 1987. He was for years a cartoonist for Le Nouvel Observateur but he was also also a playwright whose work was most influenced by Beckett. The most unusual and satisfying thing about this production that explores his life is that he is portrayed by a 71 year-old woman who was his close friend and it works. In her portrayal we might forget for moment here and there that Copi was a man but Copi would most likely have been pleased with this.
The Irish playwright Enda Walsh's "Arlington" at St. Ann's Warehouse starts off brilliantly but stalls about a third of the way in. I'm hooked on Charlie Murphy, the British actress who embodies Isla, a young woman condemned to live her days alone in a room in a tower somewhere in the future and who's every movement is monitored by an unseen ( to her) man. Her movements are at once awkward and voluptuous. She gorgeous to behold. We know there will be a bad end but we can almost believe that she can seduce her way out. And so she does... but she is so crippled by her existence in that room that she cannot get far. Unfortunately we lose interest when she leaves the stage. Even though the dancer who embodies her in the second section is technically a marvel, she is not "her" and this section doesn't add anything to the play. Walsh should have left the play to Charlie Murphy.
Suzan-Lori Parks' "Venus" at the Signature Theatre was a bit of a disappointment for me. I keep waiting for her to top, or even match, the brilliant "Father Comes Home From The War (Parts 1,2 and 3)." This story of the Venus Hottentot, embodied here by the excellent Zainab Jah, who was brought to England from South Africa with the promise of great wealth but became a freak show attraction and later a scientific subject because of her enormous buttocks, fails to gel. The bodysuit, however, is perfection and the theatrical device of having the actress climb into it at the beginning of the play eases any possible embarrassment the audience might have in ogling her "naked" body. I did a little research afterward and discovered that Parks has taken great liberties with the story which seems to me to be another kind of exploitation. Judge for yourself.
Another disappointment, for me at least, is Kate Hamill's "Vanity Fair" at the Pearl Theatre. Don't be duped into thinking that this is a Bedlam production, the company that produced her brilliant "Sense and Sensibility, even though the style of the production is very like Bedlam and several of the performers overlap. I wait with baited breath for her "Pride and Prejudice" which Bedlam will produce next year. The performances with Hamill as Becky Sharp are excellent but Thackeray's tale is too dark for the light treatment given here by Eric Tucker. I would however like to single out the Joey Parsons who plays Becky's friend Amelia. Watch for her...
"Indecent," the new musical on Broadway written by Paula Vogel and directed by Rebecca Taichman is a masterful ensemble retelling of Sholem Asch's "God of Vengeance" from early in the 20th Century. The Bohemian play about two Jewish women who fall in love was shocking in it's time but did not prevent it from becoming a huge success in Europe and on the Lower East Side and Greenwich Village. However when it moved to Broadway the actors were locked up for indecency. It's hard to even imagine that happening today. The current ensemble can fear not.
Currently on the stage at the National Theatre in London, "Consent" is a smart play about the ramifications of rape in and out of a marriage. The play by Nina Raines, who wrote "Tribes" which had a run at the Barrow Street Theatre in 2012, addresses marriage, rape and the legal system in Britain. There are two couples and a friend who experience the vicissitudes of marriage to different ends. Three of the characters are lawyers hence the legal angle. The play is a dance of shifting perspectives and longings and unhappiness. Roger Michell has deftly directed the cast which includes Ben Chaplan and Anna Maxwell Martin as the unhappy couple at the center.
Meanwhile at Le Theatre du Rond Point in Paris, the Argentine actress of a certain age Marilu Marini is a tour de force in La Journee d'Une Reveuse (Et Autres Moments) a one-woman show that combines two of her countryman Copi's texts. Copi, the nom de plume of the outrageous and profane Argentine artist, writer and playwright Raul Damonte Botana, spent his whole career in Paris where he died of Aids in 1987. He was for years a cartoonist for Le Nouvel Observateur but he was also also a playwright whose work was most influenced by Beckett. The most unusual and satisfying thing about this production that explores his life is that he is portrayed by a 71 year-old woman who was his close friend and it works. In her portrayal we might forget for moment here and there that Copi was a man but Copi would most likely have been pleased with this.
The Irish playwright Enda Walsh's "Arlington" at St. Ann's Warehouse starts off brilliantly but stalls about a third of the way in. I'm hooked on Charlie Murphy, the British actress who embodies Isla, a young woman condemned to live her days alone in a room in a tower somewhere in the future and who's every movement is monitored by an unseen ( to her) man. Her movements are at once awkward and voluptuous. She gorgeous to behold. We know there will be a bad end but we can almost believe that she can seduce her way out. And so she does... but she is so crippled by her existence in that room that she cannot get far. Unfortunately we lose interest when she leaves the stage. Even though the dancer who embodies her in the second section is technically a marvel, she is not "her" and this section doesn't add anything to the play. Walsh should have left the play to Charlie Murphy.
Suzan-Lori Parks' "Venus" at the Signature Theatre was a bit of a disappointment for me. I keep waiting for her to top, or even match, the brilliant "Father Comes Home From The War (Parts 1,2 and 3)." This story of the Venus Hottentot, embodied here by the excellent Zainab Jah, who was brought to England from South Africa with the promise of great wealth but became a freak show attraction and later a scientific subject because of her enormous buttocks, fails to gel. The bodysuit, however, is perfection and the theatrical device of having the actress climb into it at the beginning of the play eases any possible embarrassment the audience might have in ogling her "naked" body. I did a little research afterward and discovered that Parks has taken great liberties with the story which seems to me to be another kind of exploitation. Judge for yourself.
Another disappointment, for me at least, is Kate Hamill's "Vanity Fair" at the Pearl Theatre. Don't be duped into thinking that this is a Bedlam production, the company that produced her brilliant "Sense and Sensibility, even though the style of the production is very like Bedlam and several of the performers overlap. I wait with baited breath for her "Pride and Prejudice" which Bedlam will produce next year. The performances with Hamill as Becky Sharp are excellent but Thackeray's tale is too dark for the light treatment given here by Eric Tucker. I would however like to single out the Joey Parsons who plays Becky's friend Amelia. Watch for her...
Tuesday, April 18, 2017
A Great Month for Theatre
"The Hairy Ape" is magnificent. If you love your O'Neill there is still time to make it to Richard Jones' sublime production at the Park Avenue Armory. The WPA inspired set is glorious. The play opens with the actors in a frozen tableau as the set on a circular loop moves into view. This "devise" of freezing the action to create a tableau is used judiciously throughout the play and always to dramatic effect. In addition to theatre, Jones has done operas which have certainly taught him how to direct on the grand visual scale necessary for a production in the vast space of the Armory. The Designer Stewart Laing, Choreographer Aletta Collins, Lighting Designer Mimi Jordan Sherin and Composer and Sound Designer Sarah Angliss must be acknowledged because it is only with the meshing of their contributions that the production achieves a certain majesty. The performances are outstanding, especially those of Bobby Cannavale as The Yank and David Constabile as Paddy. The exception is Catherine Combs who shrieks her way through the role of Mildred. "The Hairy Ape" is especially relevant in this time when there is such a disparity between the rich and the poor. The Yank's inability to understand this and ultimate descent into madness will rip you apart.
You have, however, a couple of months to see "A Doll's House Part 2" in it's limited run at the Golden Theatre. This is the third play I have seen by the very hot young playwright Lucas Hnath. "The Christians" at Playwrights Horizons was dull. "Red Speedo" at NYTW was marginally better but third time's a charm and this play directed by the omnipresent Sam Gold is pretty perfect . Nora returns home 15 years after she walks out on Torvald and her children in Ibsen's "A Doll's House." My only quibble would be that it would make more sense for it to be 20-25 years later given Laurie Metcalf's age but theatre is all about the suspension of belief, isn't it? Metcalf is outstanding. She owns the stage and her comic timing is impeccable. Hers is a selfish, narcissistic and devious Nora, not the takeaway from Ibsen's play, that of strong woman finally breaking free from the constraints of an unhappy marriage. And it is delightful to see Chris Cooper return to the stage after over two decades acting the heavy in film and flex his comic muscle as Torvald, a decent, caring man who wants to do right by Nora. This is not Ibsen's Torvald. But this is not Ibsen's "A Doll's House." Jayne Houdyshell, as ever, delivers as the faithful housekeeper who raised Nora's children and Condola Rashad as Nora's barely-grown daughter holds her own with Laurie Metcalf, an achievement in itself.
Richard Maxwell's "Samara," the latest offering from The Soho Rep is trickier. With music and narration by Steve Earle, the play takes place in an indeterminate, possibly futuristic terrain. The performances are uneven and the play gets lost in it's attempts to be profound. I admit it left me baffled even as I was hypnotized by the mysterious ending, stage plunged into darkness, smoke rising and the melodious voice of Steve Earle leading us into some oblique landscape in our minds. Sarah Benson has made some unusual and interesting casting choices but the 14 year old actor Jasper Newell as The Messenger was not one of them. His is a flat, disconnected performance that drains the energy from his interactions with the other actors. The trans actor Becca Blackwell as Manan and Paul Lazar a veteran of the Wooster Group as The Drunk fare better and Vinie Burrows, an African-American actress well into her 80's is outstanding as Agnes a sort of Mother Courage character. I came away wanting to see her in that Brechtian role. Is anyone out there listening?
I'm not a fan of one-man/woman plays and "Cry Havoc," conceived and acted by Stephan Wolfert and directed by Eric Tucker, both members of the outstanding Bedlam Theatre Company, didn't do a whole lot to change my mind. While I found the way in which Wolfert is able to connect his experience as a soldier and a vet to Shakespeare's Richard III, Henry V and, most interestingly, Lady Percy, Hotspur's wife, well-conceived, I grew a-weary about an hour in. And I wish I had not stayed past the intermission for the audience focus group. I'm sure it's different every night but on the night I attended it was more of a group therapy session. I appreciate Wolfert's desire to make audience members aware of the many ways in which we respond to and are connected to veterans but I think the play itself sends that message.
You have, however, a couple of months to see "A Doll's House Part 2" in it's limited run at the Golden Theatre. This is the third play I have seen by the very hot young playwright Lucas Hnath. "The Christians" at Playwrights Horizons was dull. "Red Speedo" at NYTW was marginally better but third time's a charm and this play directed by the omnipresent Sam Gold is pretty perfect . Nora returns home 15 years after she walks out on Torvald and her children in Ibsen's "A Doll's House." My only quibble would be that it would make more sense for it to be 20-25 years later given Laurie Metcalf's age but theatre is all about the suspension of belief, isn't it? Metcalf is outstanding. She owns the stage and her comic timing is impeccable. Hers is a selfish, narcissistic and devious Nora, not the takeaway from Ibsen's play, that of strong woman finally breaking free from the constraints of an unhappy marriage. And it is delightful to see Chris Cooper return to the stage after over two decades acting the heavy in film and flex his comic muscle as Torvald, a decent, caring man who wants to do right by Nora. This is not Ibsen's Torvald. But this is not Ibsen's "A Doll's House." Jayne Houdyshell, as ever, delivers as the faithful housekeeper who raised Nora's children and Condola Rashad as Nora's barely-grown daughter holds her own with Laurie Metcalf, an achievement in itself.
Richard Maxwell's "Samara," the latest offering from The Soho Rep is trickier. With music and narration by Steve Earle, the play takes place in an indeterminate, possibly futuristic terrain. The performances are uneven and the play gets lost in it's attempts to be profound. I admit it left me baffled even as I was hypnotized by the mysterious ending, stage plunged into darkness, smoke rising and the melodious voice of Steve Earle leading us into some oblique landscape in our minds. Sarah Benson has made some unusual and interesting casting choices but the 14 year old actor Jasper Newell as The Messenger was not one of them. His is a flat, disconnected performance that drains the energy from his interactions with the other actors. The trans actor Becca Blackwell as Manan and Paul Lazar a veteran of the Wooster Group as The Drunk fare better and Vinie Burrows, an African-American actress well into her 80's is outstanding as Agnes a sort of Mother Courage character. I came away wanting to see her in that Brechtian role. Is anyone out there listening?
I'm not a fan of one-man/woman plays and "Cry Havoc," conceived and acted by Stephan Wolfert and directed by Eric Tucker, both members of the outstanding Bedlam Theatre Company, didn't do a whole lot to change my mind. While I found the way in which Wolfert is able to connect his experience as a soldier and a vet to Shakespeare's Richard III, Henry V and, most interestingly, Lady Percy, Hotspur's wife, well-conceived, I grew a-weary about an hour in. And I wish I had not stayed past the intermission for the audience focus group. I'm sure it's different every night but on the night I attended it was more of a group therapy session. I appreciate Wolfert's desire to make audience members aware of the many ways in which we respond to and are connected to veterans but I think the play itself sends that message.
Saturday, April 1, 2017
March Madness
You may already have missed Ars Nova's production of "Sundown, Yellow Moon" by Rachel Bond, one of their playwrights-in-residence. Anne Kauffman who also directed the excellent "A Life" at Playwright's Horizons last year directed. The story of bi-racial fraternal twins who return to the small Tennessee college town where they grew up to attend to their divorced father who has been suspended from his teaching job does not address race as one would perhaps expect. Instead it's about finding and/or losing one's direction in life and the connections that hold us together. All the performances are outstanding, particularly those of Eboni Booth as Joey, a lonely single academic, and Lilli Cooper as her twin Ray, a gay singer-songwriter. Peter Friedman is moving as the desperately unhappy father and Greg Keller gives a beautifully nuanced performance as a married poet with whom Joey falls in love. The music by The Bengsons helps carry along the action of the play. I look forward to seeing more work from Ms. Bond.
Lynn Nottage's "Sweat" at Studio 54 is dull and unoriginal. I felt like I had seen this play many times before. I am surprised that The Public moved this play to Broadway after a limited run downtown. Perhaps this was based on the reception of "Ruined," Nottage's previous play at the MTC. Which I saw. Which I liked. "Sweat" takes place in a working-class town in Pennsylvania in 2000 where factory workers are soon to be losing their jobs. Much of the play takes place in a bar. It is framed by the story of two young men getting out of prison in 2008 for a crime that it not disclosed until the very end of the play. It is the story of friendships, falling-outs and loss of livelihood with a dose of racism and xenophobia thrown in. There's nothing particularly revelatory about the ending. If one hasn't figured it all out about mid-way through the play then perhaps one was asleep. The play is such a clunky vehicle that it would be unfair to criticize the acting or direction so I'll do them the courtesy of not naming names.
"887" is Robert Lepage's newest brilliant phantasm to arrive at BAM. For me, nothing Lepage has done has measured up to "The Far Side of the Moon," his 2000 play about an encounter between the architect Frank Lloyd Wright and the Greek-Armenian philopher and spiritual teach Georgi I. Gurdjieff which continues to be my gold standard for his work. In "887" he tackles memory, specifically his own. 887 is the number of his childhood home in Quebec. He asks why we remember certain things and not others, what triggers memory, why do we remember meaningless events and details and forget important ones? He addresses the historical and social reality that shaped his identity. For over two hours he stands on a dark stage and leads us through his memories with the help of illuminated houses, tiny cars, sounds .... We are rapt.
Kneehigh's "946: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips" is a very well-performed
'panto" but lacks the sophistication of their "Brief Encounter." This WW2 story of a 12 year old girl who loses her cat, the Tips of the title, and two black American soldiers who try to help her find it is lively and fun. The actors all play multiple roles and are dizzying in their acrobatic abilities. And, yes, she does find Tips. Emma Rice, as always, proves herself to be an adept director but I wish there had been something more for the adults in the audience.
"Oslo" at Lincoln Center is a wannabe Tom Stoppard/David Hare political play about the 1993 Israeli/Palestinian Peace Agreement. It's not half bad and at close to three hours that's saying a lot.
Not a great play by any means but well-acted by Jennifer Ehle and Jefferson Mays among others and informative. As directed by the ubiquitous Bartlett Sher, the J.T. Rogers play is a solid and intelligent but derivative, as stated above. It's the acting is what keeps the play afloat. In addition to the always excellent Ehle and Mays, Anthony Azizi is a stand-out at Ahmed Qurie, negotiating peace for Arafat, and Michael Aronov brings enormous exuberance to his portrayal of the Israeli negotiator Uri Savir. These two apparently became lifelong friends even if the the peace deal they managed to forge did not last.
Lynn Nottage's "Sweat" at Studio 54 is dull and unoriginal. I felt like I had seen this play many times before. I am surprised that The Public moved this play to Broadway after a limited run downtown. Perhaps this was based on the reception of "Ruined," Nottage's previous play at the MTC. Which I saw. Which I liked. "Sweat" takes place in a working-class town in Pennsylvania in 2000 where factory workers are soon to be losing their jobs. Much of the play takes place in a bar. It is framed by the story of two young men getting out of prison in 2008 for a crime that it not disclosed until the very end of the play. It is the story of friendships, falling-outs and loss of livelihood with a dose of racism and xenophobia thrown in. There's nothing particularly revelatory about the ending. If one hasn't figured it all out about mid-way through the play then perhaps one was asleep. The play is such a clunky vehicle that it would be unfair to criticize the acting or direction so I'll do them the courtesy of not naming names.
"887" is Robert Lepage's newest brilliant phantasm to arrive at BAM. For me, nothing Lepage has done has measured up to "The Far Side of the Moon," his 2000 play about an encounter between the architect Frank Lloyd Wright and the Greek-Armenian philopher and spiritual teach Georgi I. Gurdjieff which continues to be my gold standard for his work. In "887" he tackles memory, specifically his own. 887 is the number of his childhood home in Quebec. He asks why we remember certain things and not others, what triggers memory, why do we remember meaningless events and details and forget important ones? He addresses the historical and social reality that shaped his identity. For over two hours he stands on a dark stage and leads us through his memories with the help of illuminated houses, tiny cars, sounds .... We are rapt.
Kneehigh's "946: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips" is a very well-performed
'panto" but lacks the sophistication of their "Brief Encounter." This WW2 story of a 12 year old girl who loses her cat, the Tips of the title, and two black American soldiers who try to help her find it is lively and fun. The actors all play multiple roles and are dizzying in their acrobatic abilities. And, yes, she does find Tips. Emma Rice, as always, proves herself to be an adept director but I wish there had been something more for the adults in the audience.
"Oslo" at Lincoln Center is a wannabe Tom Stoppard/David Hare political play about the 1993 Israeli/Palestinian Peace Agreement. It's not half bad and at close to three hours that's saying a lot.
Not a great play by any means but well-acted by Jennifer Ehle and Jefferson Mays among others and informative. As directed by the ubiquitous Bartlett Sher, the J.T. Rogers play is a solid and intelligent but derivative, as stated above. It's the acting is what keeps the play afloat. In addition to the always excellent Ehle and Mays, Anthony Azizi is a stand-out at Ahmed Qurie, negotiating peace for Arafat, and Michael Aronov brings enormous exuberance to his portrayal of the Israeli negotiator Uri Savir. These two apparently became lifelong friends even if the the peace deal they managed to forge did not last.
Monday, March 6, 2017
February just got a lot brighter...
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.
"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.
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
February, Halftime
One enters "The Object Lesson" at NYTW into what seems to be someone's attic or garage full to bursting with boxes of a lifetime of junk and are expected to wander around for the first 15-20 minutes of the play "exploring" what is in the boxes. At a certain point audience members are guided to sit among the boxes and the actor/creator Geoff Sobelle appears dragging somewhat larger boxes which he proceeds to unbox to find a chair, a table, a lamp and various other set pieces. He settles into his comfortable chair and opens with a one-sided telephone conversation which is played back to us at a later point when we get to hear the other side. Too clever by half! This might be fine except that he repeats the exercise later in the play. He tells stories of important times in his life triggered by objects that he finds in various boxes and at times chooses audience members to participate, much to their discomfort. He is primarily a mime(ugh) and the play ends with him opening a box that contains his life. He pulls object after object out of the "bottomless" box for about 20 minutes but it feels like several lifetimes. The play is ostensibly directed by David Neumann but it's not evident that he had much of a hand in the production which involves a lot of self-indulgent navel gazing. The whole thing is like a bad acting exercise.
Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins has redeemed himself in my book with "Everybody" at The Signature Theatre. Jacobs-Jenkins last play, at LTC, "War" was unwatchable and before that "Gloria" at the Vineyard theatre was just bland. Both plays followed on the heels of "An Octoroon" at Soho Rep where he played with theatrical form and race to brilliant effect. Perhaps his talent lies in his mastery of being able to rework old texts. "Everyman" is a morality tale from the Middle Ages, dull even in its time, I expect, and a tick off the list of important plays to study for a student of theatre history. A sinner (read "everyman") is going to hell but he is given the opportunity to bring someone along with him if he can find anyone willing to do so. It's no surprise that he exits the world alone but "Everybody" brings the action into the present day with a cast that swaps out the title role on a nightly basis. It's hard to single out particular actors because they are almost all Everybody in the program but MaryLouise Burke is stellar as the befuddled Devil. And once again Lila Neugebauer ("The Wolves") proves invaluable as a director.
As directed by Mark Dornfor-May, the South Africa Isango Ensemble and the Young Vic bring vitality to A Man of Good Hope at BAM, a true story of one man's journey across the continent of Africa, from Somalia to Ethiopia to South Africa. There is much heartbreak along the way but there is music and dancing and even joy. There are even similarities to "Everybody," a young man looking for companionship along the road to his fate which in this case is his rosy dream of what his life as an immigrant will be like in the United States. The story as too linear for my taste but overall a job well done.
"Bull in a China Shop" at the Claire Tow Theatre at Lincoln Center is a yawn. The playwright Bryna Turner brings nothing new to the table in this pedestrian tale of President Woolley of Mount Holoyoke (the "Bull") and her lover and fellow academician, Marks, at the turn of the century, a revolutionary time for women's rights in this country. The director Lee Sunday Evans brought some punch to the recent [Porto] at The Bushwick Starr but this new play seems very tired. There is nothing interesting or fresh about the storytelling nor the story of same sex love in academia. If you want to see a similar story but one that really holds up over time, check out Lillian Hellman's "The Children's Hour."
And, lastly, Marin Ireland brings life to "On The Exhale" an hour-long monologue by Martin Zimmerman at The Roundabout from an academic who is obsessed with the recent gun massacres on school campuses and her personal safety. When her 7-year-old son is instead the victim of such an incident, she becomes equally obsessed with the gun that killed him. The writing is nothing special but Marin Ireland, directed by Leigh Silverman, gives a nuanced and terrifying performance.
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