NEWSical

It's not really that good, but it's light hearted, silly, and delivers what it promises - entertainment.  It's not really a musical, nor is it a play - it's really just like an extended SNL skit.  If you remember the Forbidden Broadway properties - this is no different - scathing and silly riffs on popular culture, news and politics.  It's like they're making fun of Entertainment Tonight.

The cast seems to ebb and flow and as a matter of principle I was not happy that there was no Playbill.  NO PLAYBILL?  How do I know who the actors are?  Well, I suspect it is partially because the producers are cheap and that the cast and material changes so frequently that they could never be able to keep up.  The songs are like little ditties - i assume adaptable to whatever the news (lyrics) of the day are.

The cast I saw included the surprisingly fit Mark West, and the devilishly handsome Taylor Crousore. Listed in the credits is Christine Pedi, whom I was looking forward to see but was no where to be found. I assume that Susan Mosher and Carly Sakolove were the other two women but really have no way to verify this BECAUSE I HAD NO PLAYBILL.  I suppose the skits and songs are flexible enough to re-arrange the show on a regular basis.

The ensemble is OK.  In various combinations they did their schtick, but I think even the performers know who their audience is and how utterly unimportant it is to be good.  For the price of a TDF ticket it was well worth the 75 minutes of humor.  Much more and even a tourist might be disappointed.

Othello

It's a hoity-toity theatre event.  The East Village.  New York Theatre Workshop.  Shakespeare reimagined.  Sam Gold directed.  Stars.  The audience physically contained in a plywood encased barracks crafted in what once was the theatre. Stark lighting.  Extremely uncomfortable wooden seating - especially for a daunting 3+ hour runtime.  A trend that is much like the "actors are musicians on stage the whole time" we experienced a few years back.

By any measure, this one is a limousine liberal's wet dream.  And if you really like Shakespeare, it is unclear if you will even appreciate this production.  I can only say this from reading reviews and blogs by people who both love and revere the man.   I, for one, do not like Shakespeare much.  At intermission I left.  There was no love lost - just 90 minutes of my life.

Clearly this is a serious work.  Clearly Shakespeare is powerful stuff.  Much of that was lost on me.  I was bored to tears.  Nobody talks like this.  Nobody speaks in research paper paragraph monologues. Throw in Daniel Craig (Lago) and David Oyelowo (Othello).  They sold out the run before they even spoke a word earlier this season.  The acting I saw was absolutely top notch.  Creatively, the juxtaposition of the language with the plywood barracks and modern military outfits and street clothes was mostly jarring.  This is not your grandfather's classic Shakespeare.  Most of those who were interested by just hearing about it will love it. I doubt this will turn any undecided voters into Shakespeare lovers.

Save your ass.  Save your evening.  Read about it in the Arts & Leisure section of the NY Times.

Love Love Love

One of the things I most enjoyed about Mike Bartlett's play is the ease at which he gets the audience just before he slides the knife in.  Biting, cunning, humorous, and genuinely quite an accurate indictment he makes of the Baby Boomer generation (with a dash of Millennial choke-on-this thrown in).


Three acts.  Three different times. One family.  Husband and wife meet at 19 yo kids in London in Act I.  Idealistic, free-thinking, oxford types -break the mold 60's is the time. We watch them rebel against authority, their parents, and ultimately themselves (the brothers).  When we slide into Act II, we are in the 80's.  Free thinkers all grown up - still smart, still entitled, and still thinking they are on top of the world - but now they have their own kids... their own problems... their own demons - yes - we see them generally neglect their children, fight, drink, smoke, and act exactly like the ME generation they were.  Clearly the family if affected.  We learn just how much at the end of Act II,   

As we glide into Act III we are now in the 90's - although they seem to have taken some liberties with an iPad and cell phones (i think that is the millennial mixture thrown in just to stir the pot even more). Parents are still assholes.  Funny, but assholes.  Kids are still damaged - some more than others although the parents wouldn't even notice because that would be admitting to something they don't want to deal with.  The younger generation drives this act - and we start to see the millennial whine and complain about their awful parents who have it all and they have none.
This ensemble cast is superb Richard Armitage (Kenneth, father), Alex Hurt (Henry, brother), Amy Ryan (Sandra, wife), Zoe Kazan (Rose, daughter), Ben Rosenfeld (Jamie, son),  Sets, divine and period appropriate (Derek McLane).  Michael Mayer must have had so much fun directing this one - letting some lines hang - and pounding others down our throats.

If you don't think enough wine was poured in Act II and III - just top yourself off before you head over to the Laura Pels off-Broadway house for Roundabout Theatre Company.

Ride The Cyclone

I did not see this show in Chicago  or elsewhere, however after reviewing the photos and old new articles and reviews, it is evident to me just how much a show grows as it steps through it's maturation process by moving from out of town to an off-Broadway theater.  Ride the Cyclone has done this by moving to MCC and the Lucile Lortel Theatre.

Ironically, the show is set in a carnival like atmosphere.  The soothsaying head in a booth, the roller coaster, the amusement park freak-show feel - all parts of the show that fit in the Lortel quite nicely - it's a total dump and has been for years.

Brooke Maxwell and Jacob Richmond have penned quite the musical with a message and a heart.  I must admit, it seemed geared for adolescents.  It felt a little like a NYMF show.  However, the show was executed so well and so crisply, I could have imagined being in a Broadway theatre.  Moving cities, upgrading costumes, enhancing the set have all done this show a huge favor although I suspect the bones of this show were always solid.

The cast, as you would expect, is all kids.  Talented kids.  Very good looking kids dripping with pent up sexual and vocal energies.  You get to "meet" each one of them as they spin the dial of the slot machine of life - a clever expository device that fits nicely into the carney atmosphere.  Frankly the only "adult" (over 25) on the stage the entire time is The Amazing Karnak (Karl Hamilton) who is the illuminated head and hands in the booth with his crystal ball.  You only see his real face at the curtain call but his voice is one that could read you the phone book and you'd be mesmerized.

Being a show of teenage angst, relationships and friendships along with a twisted story of a purgatory-like experience for these kids, makes this show perfectly positioned to capture the hearts of a millennial audience.  Mischa Bachinski (Gus Halpert) and his Russian accent and crotch grabbing rap number drips with sexuality (shirt off doesn't hurt).  Noel Gruber (Kholby Wardell) is absolutely divine as an adorable gay student but even more so as his cheap french whore persona deep down inside. (Kholby is Canadian so now I want to marry him!) Ricky Potts (Alex Wyse) is cute, absolutely adorable and surprisingly powerful in his alternate (and sexy) persona too.

One would never think a show about 6 dead teenagers would be so fun, uplifting, and entertaining, but given the macabre nature of the material, one has to look beyond the obvious and dream a little along side these youngsters.  It doesn't help that the fortune teller (Karnak) has quite the dark sense of humor.  If you need an exhilarating experience in the theatre, head over to the Lortel and go for a wild ride with Cyclone!

In Transit

We have a new incarnation of a show I saw off-Broadway in 2010 at 59E59 Theater.  It really does take time to stew, to mature, and frankly to get the funds to mount an attack on Broadway.  Of course you have to be good, but there was never any doubt even when I saw this show back 6 years ago that it was a keeper.   Penned by a group of tremendously talented singers and artists - this a-capella musical  may not contain the solution to solving world hunger or climate change - but it does most assuredly entertain.  Are the stories fluffy, probably.  Are they stereotypical, likely.  But for sure, they are fun, they are mostly real, and definitely New York stories.

The subway.  The bowels all New Yorkers hate and equally need.  They're dirty, they're crowded, and they are what brings us all together gets us where we are going - both literally and figuratively.  This time around I am fairly sure the main components of the story have remained but without a video tape to watch the prior performance and only memory to go on, I'd say it was basically tightened, honed, and amp'd up just a bit for the Broadway.  There's still a gay couple, Trent (Justin Guarini) and Steven (Telly Leung) with a wedding problem, an actress, Jane (Margo Seibert) looking for her big break, a spot-on subway clerk, Althea, behind the glass (Moya Angela), a wall street guy , Nate, who made a little email mistake trying to make a change (James Snyder), and of course a beat-boxer extraordinaire, Boxman, (Steven "Heaven" Cantor).

All the sounds you hear come from someone's vocal cords - no instruments, all vocals.  Subway seats fly on and fly off - actors parade back and forth on a narrow stage close up to the audience to reveal their stories in the round and up a flight of stairs on a platform above the tracks. Choreographed by Kathleen Marshall, the movements are brisk, crisp, and keep the show's train moving forward. Love is lost, then found again.  Friends and enemies are made and the zany antics of the subway are ever present.

This incarnation of the show is zippy, toe-tapping, touching, and upbeat with a heartwarming message.  Some might say sappy, others would just say fun.  Head over to Circle in the Square and head Deep Beneath the City in more ways than one.

The Babylon Line

Richard Greenberg has penned yet another fascinating character study - this time 1960's Long Island - Levittown, specifically.  There's quite a storied history to Levittown and apparently now a few of its residents too.

The Babylon Line is a memory play - which may make some uncomfortable - especially when you get to the end and have to reflect back on what version of his memories was the true version.


A terrific ensemble cast of characters - and characters, they were indeed.  Leading the class is the New York City frustrated writer Aaron Port (Josh Radnor).  His suburban students include a trio of gossipy Jewish housewives - the indomitable Frieda Cohan (Randy Graff), slightly ditzy Anna Cantor (Maddie Corman), and struggling writer Midge Braverman (Julie Halston).  But it also includes a war-vet Jack Hassenpflug (Frank Wood) and off-beat local boy Marc Adams (Michael Oberholtzer).  Not to be left out is the out-of-place in Levittown, off-beat, Joan Dellamond (Elizabeth Reaser).

Mr. Greenberg certainly knows how to tell a story - and what a tangled web he does weave way out on the Babylon Line once a week in Levittown!  Sassy housewives, off-beat interlopers, and a writing class that was likely second choice on many of the attendees lists.  Once we get into the class the story develops and envelops you (mostly through the lighting) in to the lives, both current as past, of these delicious and mysterious characters.

It was not lost on this audience member that Mr. Greenberg slyly linked one of the housewives to another character in one of his other plays that was recently on Broadway - Our Mother's Brief Affair.  Tough, tender, interesting, a bit of Long Island history, and a generally magical evening in the theatre.  Could Mr. Greenberg nip and tuck in a few scenes, sure.  Did it matter, not very much.  What is the true story? I'll leave it up to you to decide.

Rancho Viejo

Where do I start?  It was Awful, with a capital 'A'.  Underlined 3 times.  No, it was not the too-late-to-leave notice given by the director (Daniel Aukin)before the show started that the SET was incomplete (it was their fourth preview and i was not aware that they should be BUILDING sets at this point (maybe changing the color of a wall or moving a potted plant.).  No, it was not the fact that the play was 3 hours 15 minutes.  (August Osage County was just as long and was Amazing, with a capital 'A').  What was it, you ask?  THE MATERIAL.  Dan LeFranc has written some excellent pieces for the theater.  One of my favorites is The Big Meal.  Unfortunately, Rancho Viejo comes from some deep, dark, mysterious place that should never have been explored.

The characters are uninteresting, and mysteriously underdeveloped (too many questions about where they came from and how they got to be the way they are and why they even socialize).  I do realize they are all caricatures,  exaggerations of aspects and elements of people we see everyday - exaggerated to the point of farce I might note.  The dialogue is stilted, slow, and awkward.  The conversations are "slit-your-wrists" banal and insipid.  I get it, these people are trapped, lost, insignificant, and human. They are wondering about life.  But did they have to be so damn boring and last for 3 hours??

Now, despite the deep deficit in the material, the actors were magnificent.  Pete (Mark Blum) and Mary (Mare Winningham) were the chief weirdos, carrying the story, well, not forward, but at least from 8 O'clock to 11 o'clock.  Such awkwardness.  Such sadness and mystery.  Patti (Julia Duffy) stole the show with her looks and glances and her so clearly inappropriate comments.  Husband, Gary (Mark Zeisler) was Mister loudmouth obnoxious straight man.  Enough said.  Suzanne (Lusia Strus) drank more wine and had more one-liners than a night at a comedy festival.  Hubby Leon (Tyrone Mitchell Henderson) was possibly the most normal (and youngest) spouse in the bunch.  Mike (Bill Buell) and Anita (Ruth Aguilar) were the comic relief although note to playwright and director - when you write whole monologues in Spanish (not just one of those "you-get-the-idea" dialogues, you lose the audience.  The absolutely adorable (even more-so with his shirt off) yet entirely creepy Tate (Ethan Dubin) was a complete mystery to me from start to finish.  No clue what we were supposed to get from this bizarre character who had almost nothing to do with these people.  And for the record, do we really need a dog (Mochi played by Marti) in the show?  Yes, it was cute.  No it was not necessary and everyone could hear the dog trainer/coach off stage snapping and issuing commands.

I'm not entirely clear, because we got no actual confirmation what part of the set was incomplete, but I think they should light the living room, which is used over and over differently (color/hue), to make it seem like it's not the same damn sectional sofa and pillows in the same damn house the entire time. At least change out the pillow colors or something. (Matt Frey, Dane Laffrey)

If you think my review is bad so far, wait till you hear about Act III.  No set to speak of. (Seriously you need to be finished with your set by the 4th preview).  A bizarre scene on the beach that was out of left field.  Modern dance.  A Cactus.  Fog.  Coyotes.  A straight jacket.  A shirtless boy. Surgery for a hole in the eyeball.  More teeth-brushing everywhere but the bathroom.  Many of the guns pulled out in Act I and II remained un-used.  Limited resolution.  More questions.  Little hope.

Save yourself from eternal damnation and stay home.

The Band's Visit

This Atlantic show was supposed to be a Hal Prince directed musical.  Schedules conflicted and alas, we have a David Cromer directed, Itmar Moses penned, adaptation of the Eran Kolirin screenplay.   I have to say, I expected a lot more from Mr. Moses based on his previous works.  However, I must temper that by saying that this is not Mr. Moses' original work - it is an adaptation of what I imagine is a fairly vacuous and empty movie itself.  Think indie flick.    Perhaps the big screen brings something magical to this story - I would not know, as I have not seen it.  But I can tell you that the stage does nothing for this rather banal, slow, and fairly pointless and somewhat empty show. Music and Lyrics by David Yazbek are at times sublime and at others baffling but overall, his melody and tone hits it right given the off-beat material.

My thought immediately following the end of the show was "what a waste of a role for both Tony Shalhoub and even more so for John Cariani.  "Monk" (Shalhoub) as he is known by his adoring TV fans has a rather reserved leading part with little fat to chew on.  Mr. Cariani just rolled off a hit Broadway musical, Something Rotten and while actors must exercise their range, the part he plays here is dumbfoundingly bizare and odd.  The plot centers around an Egyptian ceremonial orchestra (in fully military style uniforms) visiting Israel for a concert but get diverted to the wrong town in the middle of nowhere (because the same town exists spelled with a "P" and a "V" (foreign accents, mishap, oops) and have to spend the night with the locals.  Not much ensues.

Kudos for casting many ethnic actors and providing a platform for mildly exploring the topic of inter-ethnic conflict and tension - but only mildly as this is really not the focus of the play.  I will say, however, that a feeling of uncomfortability permeated the air throughout the evening all the way to the very (predictable) theatrical ending.

Perhaps Mr. Prince would have made different theatrical decisions?  We'll never know.  The stage was as vacuous and empty as the material and most of the performances save a few.  It's a good thing a delicious pan of Paella was awaiting me after the show to cure my hunger.

This Day Forward

Upon a bit of reflection this was not the Nicky Silver play I expected.  However, that is not to say that I didn't enjoy it or it wasn't good.  I think Mr. Silver tried some new things here.  At it's core it is him - a broken, very broken, family.  However, I think he tried something new with Act I which may or may not have been successful.  Certainly Act 2 was a Nicky Silver play indeed.

In Act 1 we meet Irene and Martin - two young newlyweds in 1958.  I think this is where Mr. Silver's signature style clashed with the time.  Nicky Silver writes plays for today - not yesterday and his style has to be modified to exist in the past.  His characters had to be too much farce and not enough meat.  They have to be like caricatures to exist.  The devilishly handsomely and hunky young Andrew Burnap (Donald the bellhop) was too mean, too quick to explode, and too much a cartoon.  Michael Crane (Martin) and Holley Fein (young Irene) were too stilted and seemed to cover the same dialogue ground over and over - we got the point the first time.  Joe Tippett, the other blue eyed dreamboat (Emil) was a bit too exaggerated - I guess so that you got the point that he was different from Martin.  It wasn't as believable as it could have been,  June Gable (Melka/older Irene) was by far the best actress on the stage.  With a funny schtick in Act I and a serious and still amusing and convincing part in Act II.

Structurally, Mr. Silver has a great idea - 1958 and fast forward to 2004 two generations living the consequence of what we saw in Act 1.  He cleverly disguised the "here's what happened since" in all the dialogue and conversations.  Francesca Faridany (Shella) is spot on as the neurotic, pill popping, exasperated daughter in Act II.

Mr. Burnap and Mr Crane are now a couple (Mr. Burnap is even more dreamy).  Ms Gable takes the role of older Irene and Mr. Tippett and Ms. Fain make a cameo appearance at the end.  Act II is by far the more biting, acerbic, and serious of the two acts and judging from the audience reaction - the more successful and satisfying of the two as well.

The sets, which are usually not a Vineyard hallmark, were absolutely fantastic in both acts - Kudos Allen Moyer.  I happened to see the play on its first preview - which I only learned after it was over - and commented to myself that I would never have guessed - performances were already spiffy.  They have some things to work on of course but nothing to dash my full throated endorsement of yet another gem playing over at the Vineyard Theatre on West 15th.

Notes From the Field

While they have cut the inappropriate sub-title from the playbill, they have not cut it from the marketing material.  While this play touches on education is is absolutely not about "doing time in education" as its previous title and marketing might suggest.

Another one-woman show, Notes From The Field, is helmed by the indomitable Anna Deavere Smith.  The show is less of a theatrical production, but rather a lecture on race, racial inequality, and discrimination.  I am happy to have seen it, but, once again, quite disappointed that a subscription theatre company choose to represent it as a play in its season.

The show as described by video headlines projected in the theatre before the show starts is quite literally a patchwork of interviews that Ms. Deavere Smith conducted with various people in doing research on the prison population, education system, and police violence.  The show, when it covered the prison system and the education system, really hit high notes.  However, Ms. Deveare Smith seemed to have a need to highlight police brutality and the recent headline stories like Freedy Grey and Shakira (the girl who was flipped out of her chair by a police officer in a high school classroom).  When it focused on these headlines it strayed from its core message and ended up in sensationalism-land not really connecting these stories to eduction quite as much.

The video projections were superb and filled the stage with live video/news clips (Elaine McCarthy). However, the disjointed panels onto which they were projected were a poor choice as they text and sub-titles that usually accompanied the video was often un-readable and chopped up (Riccardo Hernandez).  Ms. Deavere Smith is clearly intelligent and passionate about her research.  She becomes the characters she interviewed - including both voices and mannerisms.  Each scene's title is projected on the proscenium and it was always a line or phrase spoken by the character at some point during the interview.  She closes the show with a quite moving and decidedly accurate portrayal of the legendary US Representative John Lewis.

While once again, I am happy to have seen such an intelligent and moving performance, I do not consider this to be a play that I would have wanted to see.  It was more like a 92nd Street Y performance.  I also wish the emphasis on education was stronger and the sensational racial headlines were less.  An all too liberal white (haired and skinned) audience ate it up and I'm sure on tour in the right northern and northwestern blue states it might be equally successful.  I doubt the places it is most needed and relevant to are on the tour list - and that is a depressing thought.

Sell/Buy/Date

In another one-woman show coup - the indomitable Sarah Jones brings her cadre of characters to life in a creative, clever new show Sell/Buy/Date.

Mrs. Jones brings a wide variety of characters to the stage to tell the story in her unique and special way.  Telling the story of sex workers from a future point (2050-ish) in time reflecting on the past back to the "early days" of 2020 - her entertaining angle brings a fresh and clever perspective to an age old issue - we know it as prostitution.

Ms. Jones' characters all have accents, mannerisms, and voices that she flawlessly and seamlessly blends in and out of as they are brought to the stage in her advanced computer program BERT.  She is a college professor with a bit of a mysterious past.  All will be revealed in the show.

The set is appropriately modern (Dane Laffrey).  Lighting (Eric Southern) and sound (Bray Poor) are appropriately crisp and modern.

Ms. Jones has a unique voice and that voice delivers a potent message via all her shows.

Falsettos

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a revival of a much loved show now playing again on Broadway after a long rest.  Falsettos, a book by James Lapine with music and lyrics by William Finn returns to Broadway with great fanfare.  The show is actually two shorter plays, March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland combined into one musical.  It seems that in a rush to the stage with the subject matter, Mr. Lapine threw it all together without much thought as to what would look like.  It's cute, tender, and touching - yes.  However, the requisite "he's dying from AIDS" storyline seems a bit disjointed, sloppy, and thrown on the stage in a rush to get it before the public.

Marvin seems a bit mis-cast (Christian Borle).  He's a bit older, he was (tragically) married and has a kid - it was the generation for such nonsense i suppose.   Wizzer (Andrew Rannells) is younger, sexier, and quite clearly gets around as it were.  Even the name of the character seems a bit dated, to be honest.  The performance I attended was quite unique in the fact that both Stephanie J. Block (Trina) and her understudy Courtney Balan (Trina).  A second understudy Stephanie Umoh (Trina) with a mere 2 hours of rehearsal time went on - script in hand.  I was nervous for the first 15 minutes but soon realized she was not going to miss a note, a step, or a line.  In fact she was fantastic.

I sort of wish the entire show was as rewarding as watching an actor really executing her craft with aplomb.  I still do not really know exactly what the falsettos are or were or represent.  Bizarre to say the least.  I think the best character and actor on stage was perhaps Mendel (Brandon Uranowitz).  By far he seems to be comfortable in his own shoes in this show.

While I enjoyed the overall performance, it left me with a feeling of being incomplete, unexplained at times, and disjointed.  The actors seemed mostly mis-cast and the lack of set (mostly a geometric block of shapes that fit together to all sorts of un-identified formations) did not do the production and favors.  I don't see this one lasting very long.  But stranger things have happened.

Tick, Tick... Boom!

In what I believe is the first off-Broadway revival since its original 2001 incarnation, Keen Company has brought back Jonathan Larson's pre-rent work, Tick, Tick...Boom! in a magnificent, relevant, and energetic production over at the Acorn Theater on Theatre Row.

Only a 3-hander, this production has cast an amazing trio of actors with tremendous chemistry both vocally and as a true ensemble.  Nick Blaemire (Jonathan), George Salazar (Michael), and Ciara Renee (Susan) bring the auto-biographical work of the late Mr. Larson roaring to life.  Mr. Blaemire is nebbishy enthusiastic about his uber geeky and artistic and anxiety filled role as Jonathan.  Mr. Salazar is cast as the foil to Jonathan's artistic life - a former self-described "good but not good enough" actor and best friend.  Ms. Renee bring powerful vocals, beauty, and general-sexy to the role of Susan. All 3 run the stage for just under 2 hours with nothing but a few sips of water wandering through Mr. Larson's part Broadway, part ballad, part rock and roll lyrics and musical performances.  Of special note, Mr. Blaemire actually plays the piano very well - (i just hate it when the actors fake it).

This show was written pre-Rent but is generally auto-biographical in terms of where Mr. Larson was in his life.  I almost wished Jonathan would have tinkered on the keyboard with a tune from Rent just to really tie the two shows together.  Rent, as well, was somewhat auto-biographical in terms of Mr. Larson's life but it was conceived with other people and after this show was written.

The show if not nearly as famous as the aforementioned Rent - nor is it as theatrical or heavy a story. There are not, as in Rent, people parading through New York City or crashing weddings.  This story is a bit smaller in scope and perhaps more personal in nature.  Mr. Larson died suddenly before Rent could be brought to the stage and it is such a shame as we will never know how much more we could have heard from this very talented man.  For now, we will just have to enjoy the beauty of his works such as this through the very talented cast that puts him back on the stage 8 shows a week.

Vietgone

Now playing over at the Manhattan Theatre Club's Stage I at City Center is a remarkable tale - the other side of the proverbial coin - a story about the Vietnam War - told through the eyes of young South Vietnamese refugees.  Even during war - love blooms.

Qui Nguyen (playwright) has penned a journey through the crazy 70's and the Vietnam War.  America is the savior - taking in refugees even while racism abounds.  In Mr. Nguyen's eyes, America is far from perfect - and he actually nails the stereotypical types throughout the south and west.  Raymond Lee (Quang) and Jennifer Ikeda (Tong) are are young, spunky, sexy, refugee lovers searching for peace in their new homeland.  John Hoche, the adorable and sexy Paco Tolson, and Samantha Quan (a plethora of characters each) fill in the comedy, friendship, and family from many angles.

A bit too zany at times (it was the 70's after all) and a bit too long and drawn out in others - this play has a future if tightened and given a general tune up.  Several rap numbers fit well in the Asian genre and the lyrics are quite powerful.  Plenty of potty mouth language to go around.  Mr. Lee's sexy physique is a must for this leading man - both shirt on and shirt off.

The story of the actual South Vietnamese is one we Americans rarely consider. What were they fighting for?  Who were they?   Why did America help and why did it fail?   Not all of these questions get answered in the play but the last 10 minutes of the play will bring the entire piece to a crescendo close.

Nat Turner in Jerusalem

A well acted, heavy two hander (well really 3 but it's only two actors) is playing down at New York Theater Workshop.  Nat Turner in Jerusalem (Virginia, not Israel) is a fictional attempt at documenting the final days of the life of real life Nat Turner.

Mr. Turner is infamous for leading a slave/free black rebellion throughout the south where dozens of innocent women, children, and others were brutally killed.  Mr. Turner was ultimately captured and jailed and executed - as were many of the rebellion participants.

What makes his story unique and controversial is that Mr. Turner looked upon his rebellion as a "just war" against whites.  His murderous rampage was sanctioned, according to him, by God himself.  This play attempts to explore Thomas Gray's (Rowan Vickers) attempt to extract the story and background from Nat Turner (Phillip James Brannon) while in jail before his execution.   What plays out instead if Mr. Turner trying to convince Mr Gray to believe and to understand his point of view.  There is also a guard in the prison played equally well by Mr. Vickers and I think the point of casting the same actor for a totally different role was to demonstrate the "every-white-man" concept.

Ultimately Mr. Gray's notes were published (and copy protected) and many believe he embellished the story.  Regardless of the embellishment or not, the interaction between Mr. Turner and Mr. Gray was at times mesmerizing and at other times preachy.   What did stand out is that the conflicts that took place in the 1800's are not all that different from the conflicts and struggles today.  The circumstances may be different but the roots remain the same.

One begins to wonder if what Mr. Turner was able to execute might possibly be repeated at some point today.

Set simple, lighting a bit spotty, theatre configuration innovative, thoughts of a repeat - scary.

A Life

A powerful, humbling new play, A Life,  by Adam Bock is now playing over at Playwrights Horizons.  Mr. Bock explores life through a lonely, gay, introverted, quirky, and obsessive character, Nate Martin (David Hyde Pierce).  Not only does he explore his literal life, he explores the fleeting nature of life through his death.

Nate Martin is a complicated man yet at the same time, he's every man.  Frustrations, disappointments, plans, hopes, loves, dreams fill his life.  In the blink of an eye, things could change - and do.  About half of the play is spent watching Nate's body prepared for a funeral.  Life goes on around him, we hear his thoughts, and realize that it is all fleeting.

Nate is into astrology - the stars and planets and what they say about you and how they might explain your life.  To be honest, I'm not sure if that theme was meant to represent religion and its role in the human experience or possibly something more specific to Nate's belief system.  I do know there were no planetary realignments when he died so perhaps it just represents something that in the end, like everything else, is meaningless.

A touching, honest, and sad first scene; A shocking next turn of events with a dash of today's culture of inappropriateness thrown in just to make you shrug your shoulders; and a touching and brutally honest eulogy seen at the funeral capped most specifically by the thoughts from his mostly estranged sister (he was gay and from Minnesota and her comments were dripping with mid-western values and a complete lack of understanding, disappointment, and ultimately and ironically the same loneliness).

There's a funeral joke told by his best friend Curtis (Brad Heberlee) that you can't help but laugh at and at the same time makes you cringe.  Perfectly placed and such great acting around the uncomfortable nature of the whole affair.

Heisenberg

It just goes to show you that not every work by great writers is a hit.  The writer of Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time (Simon Stephens) wrote a shorter bit that deals with relationships and quirky people.  It belongs on an off-Broadway stage.  Unfortunately, the casting of a star has pushed the work, inappropriately, to Broadway.

Mary-Louise Parker's (Georgie Burns) star power is to blame. She and Denis Arndt (Alex Priest) do a fine job of acting for 80 minutes on a stage jammed with more stage seating to pump up the ticket revenues.  There really is no purpose to the on-stage seating.  But that is just the problem, once again.  Show me the star and I'll show you and over-priced, too short runtime show.

Now, the material - relationships, age, quirky people and lots of broken dreams, promises, and lives.  It's not a happy story for the most part.  However, in 80 minutes you barely get the chance to evaluate these characters, where they are going, and what their motivations are.  It's too brief and you're left guessing at the tidbits of facts they spill out in the dialogue.

Heisenberg (the one that I looked up) was some sort of physicist.  His uncertainty principle or maybe other aspects of his research are what the play is named after I believe.  He's never mentioned in the play - it's one of those "why did they name it this?" titles.  His principle is about not being able to tell where moving parts are going or how they are going to get there - - much like the 2 characters in this play.

Well in summary, I couldn't tell where the play was going or why it even started in the first place.

The Front Page

The stellar cast in this what's old is new again production far outshines the material itself.  Director Jack O'Brien is forced to fill almost 3 hours (including 2 intermissions) with action.  The problem is, the characters are big, the acting is big, the set is big - the cast is big - but the material just doesn't measure up.

Just look at this cast:  Nathan Lane (Walter Burns), John Slattery (Hiddy Johnson), Jefferson Mays (Bensinger), John Goodman (Sherrif Hartman), Robert Morse (Mr. Pincus), Dann Florek (The Mayor), Holland Taylor (Mrs. Grant), Sherie Rene Scott (Mollie Malloy), Micah Stock (Woodenshoes Eichorn), Dylan Baker (McCue), David Pittu (Schwartz), Christopher McDonald (Murphy) plus about 9 other supporting minor characters!  Just take that cast in. Wowza.

Now as for the material - it's a 3 act play - unfortunately.  Act I should be scrapped.  It's useless and unentertaining and mostly unnecessary background material that could be established in about 15 minutes.  Act II gets off to a good start, bogs down in the middle and goes out with a "BANG".  Act III picks up the action but drags it out in the end to a very un-dramatic ending.  In a nutshell, the material stinks and should be re-writtin/adapted.

Theatrically speaking - the comedy was top notch - the assemblage of such fine actors above are able to pull off the physical and over the top comedy.  Nathan Lane is at the top of the bill.  Unfortunately, he doesn't appear on stage until the end of Act II.  Interestingly, twice when Jefferson Mays entered the stage, he got entrance applause which you could tell was because the audience mistook him for Mr. Lane (as did I).  Everyone recognized John Slattery and he gave a top notch performance - as he was really the lead despite sharing the bill with Mr. Lane.  Too much newsroom chatter and nonsense.  Not enough Holland Taylor and Dylan Baker (with a strange agent).  There was just enough time of the uber-dreamy Micah Stock - but someone has to decide what to do with that accent he puts on.  It's all over the map.

This huge cast must be a big expense - and it's a big theater with tiny seats so hopefully the star power will boost the ticket revenues.  But it's an uphill battle these days.   I saw it on a previews discount and was pleased at the value.  Full price ticket to even this show would be a disappointment unless you're just a star-stalker who just sees anything with someone.