Hadestown

Like many of the productions at New York Theatre Workshop, Hadestown is a superbly interpretive and entertaining work of story told through music.  With a musical score by Anais Mitchel and directed and co-developed by Rachel Chavkin, the show is a remarkable story re-telling with fantastic music, song, and dance.  I purposely say re-telling because this is effectively the Greek myth of Eurydice and Orpheus and Persephone and Hades. With folky tunes, upbeat rhythms and even an Andrews sisters trio (representing the Greek chorus of Fate) the entire production was absorbing and astounding.

Performed in a de-constructed theater reconstructed to be a bleacher theater in the round, the show effectively uses lighting, smoke, and the round stage with it's platforms and entrances/exits as an entire canvas to weave the story.

Damon Daunno (Orpheus) and Nablyah Be (Eurydice) are the young lovers with the voices of angels.  Amber Gray (Persephone) and Patrick Page (Hades) are strong willed, bold, and vocal powerhouses.  Ms. Gray has perhaps "the number" of the show and Mr. Page's booming low bass personifies Hades himself.  Chris Sullivan (Hermes) infuses the show with his sharp and potent persona as the narrator of the tale.

One need not know much about Greek mythology to enjoy or understand the show.  It's an ageless tale of love, innocence, lust, and wonder.  It's good vs. evil.  Seasons represent life.  Hades is tempting. Can love triumph?   You'll have to stick around till the very end to find out.

Nice Work If You Can Get It

As director and choreographer, Kathleen Marshall helms this delicious and tuneful musical comedy at the Imperial Theatre this spring.

The concept - cobble together some of the best George and Ira Gershwin tunes in a new book by Joe DePietro and cast some wonderful singers and dancers, stitch up some magnificent costumes (Martin Pakledinaz) design and build some divine sets (Derek McLane) and light them with elegance and charm (Peter Kaczorowski) and mic the actors/singers perfectly (Brian Ronan).

Take all these wonderful ingredients and pour in a little bleach - - yes bleach.  That's a sure way to ruin an entire show!  The bleach in this case is Matthew Broderick.  He's completely mis-cast.  Is he funny? Yes.  Can he carry a tune? Certainly.   But this role requires a dashing, young man who can dance.  Matthew is neither a dancer nor dashing.  So poor was this casting faux-pax by Binder Casting (Jay Binder and Jack Bowdan) that it just about ruins the entire show!

Kelli O'Hara is divine, pitch-perfect, and deliciously innocent as bootlegger Billie Bendix.  Michael McGrath is broodingly devilish as Cookie McGee.  Judy Kaye is solidly and supremely hysterical as Dutchess Estonia Dulworth and Estelle Parsons is superb and commanding in her portrayal of Millicent Winter.   The ensemble dancers were crisp, handsome and pretty, elegant, and never missed a step - or a note!  With all this goodness - how could it all go wrong?  I'll tell you how.  Cast a stiff, non-dancing, not-extremely handsome oaf in a role that is central to the plot.  Ms. O'Hara appears to be dancing on egg-shells around him on the many occasions they are required to tango.  Ms. Parsons appears to easily dominate her stiff son's character leaving us to wonder why she would even bother.  And one wonders why the powerhouse Mr. McGrath didn't just conk his new "boss" over the head with a bottle of that gin instead of faking his butler duties with him.

This is a lesson in just how to take a charming, delightful, and delicious show and ruin the entire presentation with just one stroke of the casting pen.  Truth be told, I left the theatre humming many of the familiar tunes.  I really loved the silly, romantic comedy book, but just couldn't get over the awful casting choice that Ms. Marshall either bought into or was forced to accept.  Mr. Broderick stood out like a sore thumb surrounded by all the talent on the stage.  If a real charming actor who could dance was actually cast in this role, this show might be considered the knock-out hit of the season.  Instead, it's more like a bottle of gin during prohibition - destined to be smashed in the gutter by a cop.

Lombardi

Who knew a story about a football legend would be so well acted, well executed, and well received by the audience?   I resisted for a long time.  I don't like football - heck I knew neither anything about Vince Lombardi before I entered the theater nor what team he even coached.  Well, let me tell you right here, right now - this show is engaging, informative and entertaining well beyond each of its 89 minutes.

I couldn't believe how well Dan Lauria takes on the persona of Vince Lombardi - the voice, the walk, the stature, the attitude, and smallest of actions and mannerisms.  Judith Light masters the strong, smart, stalwart woman behind the man, Marie Lombardi and Keith Nobbs takes on the young, hungry, naive sports reporter from New York City, Michael McCormick, sent to Green Bay to interview Lombardi for a piece in Look Magazine.  So well executed was this production, I see Tony nods at least for Mr. Lauria as best leading actor - if not also for Light and Nobbs for best supporting actors and possibly for best play for the work by Eric Simonson which was based on the book When Pride Still Mattered:  A Life of Vince Lombardi by David Maraniss.

The pace was brisk, the humor sharp and the drama poignant.  Even for a New Year's Day performance, the audience was engaged and the actors were firing on all cylinders.  In a mere 89 mere minutes we were transported to 1960's Green Bay, Wisconsin to observe Mr. Lombardi, his family and players and learn what made this great American football coach tick.  Touchdown Broadway!