Lazarus

New York Theater Workshop is known for its bold, interpretive, and artistic productions.  This latest installment is no different.  Based on a 1963 novel, The Man Who Fell to Earth, by Walter Tevis and a subsequent 1976 movie by Nicholas Roeg (and a 1987 television adaption which differed with the original material), this musical by David Bowie (music) and Enda Walsh (Book) is a bizarre, fantastical, and imaginative look in to the mind of a man.

Make no bones about it - this production, by its very nature, is bizarre.  Very bizarre.  It's like Clockwork Orange meets Next to Normal.  The play itself has always been discordant, imaginative, and vague.  It's the nature of dreams, insanity, and mental illness.  Helmed by hot Belgian experimental "it" director, Ivo van Hove, this particular production adds potent, strong, and lavish music to the equation.  The combination is magical.  Throw in a dazzling special effects of a large media screen and magnificent projections and you find yourself immersed in an evening of pure fantasy.

Mr. Newton is the center of our attention - A Mad, deranged, dreamer played by the indomitable  Michael C. Hall.  With the rage and angst of a madman he owned the role from the first maddening minute to the last.  His maid, Elly (Cristin Meloti), was the perfect malleable, innocent companion. Valentine, an incarnation of the devil perhaps, a madman at the very least was played to the hilt by the Michael Esper. A cast of other interlopers contributed to the mesmerizing, magical, and fantastic evening in the theater.  Perhaps the most talented and poignant performers on the whole stage was Sophia Anne Caruso (Girl).  She is perhaps vocal perfection.

And let's not forget the incredible band behind the glass wall,  They rocked.  As a result, we rocked.

Violet

Originally produced for a brief run at Playwrights Horizons in 1997, Violet is seeing a new incarnation at Roundabout's American Airlines Theatre with a star as bright as the moon in a dark night sky, Sutton Foster.

The original production did not run very long, which is not surprising.  This incarnation seems to be doing a bit better despite the sparse sets and limited choreography.

Make no mistake, Sutton Foster, Broadway's darling, brings innocence with power to the production.  Her supporting cast is tremendously talented and also cannot be ignored either.  As a matter of fact, her co-star, Joshua Henry, has, what one might say, is "the num-bah" of the entire show, bringing the audience nearly to it's feet early on.

However, despite my high level of engagement and enjoyment, I was not moved to put this show any where near the winning slot for Best Musical.  Most noticeably, the show has what I would call the Encores! staging model (indeed, the show transferred from Encores! after it's summer 2013 run there).  While semi-staging and limited choreography work for a one-night- only run at NY City Center, it certainly has no place on a permanent Broadway stage where you are paying, literally, for a creative team to choreograph, build sets, and move the actors beyond a small rectangle in from of an orchestra/band taking up way to much space on the stage.

Significant financial considerations aside (clearly Roundabout is poor these days and can't afford to do what it used to do - or they've just become a sellout to cheap entertaining shows at the lowest cost), the show packs a powerful message about finding out who you are inside and seeing beyond the surface.   This applies aptly to both Mr. Henry (Flick) and Ms Foster (Violet).

Emmerson Steele (Young Violet) is a treasure to behold, blending perfectly with Ms Foster and the entire aesthetic.  I saw the understudy for Monty (Austin Lesch) and I'm happy to report his performance (and handsome looks) was magnificent.  Alexander Gemignani was also perfectly cast as the fuzzy bear-like mountain-man father of Violet.

Best Musical, I hope not.  But certainly a show worth seeing with a delightful score and performances as good as they get.