For Peter Pan on Her 70th Birthday

Sarah Ruhl has a tender, touching new play running over at Playwrights Horizons.  For Peter Pan on her 70th Birthday is a story about death and dying, family (the Catholic version of one),  different political opinions, and growing up.  Tie in a memory of Peter Pan and you have quite a nice evening in the theatre.

The show is billed as 90 minutes no intermission- but there are, nonetheless, two distinct acts.  Kathleen Chalfant (Ann), Daniel Jenkins (John), Keith Reddin (Michael), David Chandler (Jim), and Lisa Emery (Wendy) are all siblings and their father, Ron Crawford, is dying - literally - on stage.  As a minor point - i would have thought the kids names would be more standard Catholic fare such as Mary, John, etc... but I imagine there is a reason for everything.  As he is dying, there are questions (is he in pain), there is conflict (give him more morphine?) and plenty of cordial and comforting family memories being discussed.  Fast forward - dad dies and the family is gathered around the dining table (a wake of sorts) to discuss their father, life in general, and a dose of politics which reveals the divisions and differences among the family members.  Something common to many families, especially the large Catholic ones from Davenport, Iowa.

The play opens up with a memory played in front of the curtain (Kathleen Chalfant).  After the wake at the dining room table, we really see Act II take shape as Ann becomes Peter Pan and the siblings are the children.  This all stems from her beliefs in god, her life choices, and her general unwillingness to grow up.  Yes, indeed Ms. Chalfant, a limber 72 years young does fly and it as delightful as it seems.  The entire second act around the literal Peter Pan theme is designed to enhance her don't want to grow up because that means I'm going to die soon" outlook.

A generally entertaining, tender, down-to-earth play with just a dash of fun and a healthy dose of heart.

Oslo

It's official - I just saw the Tony award winning play of the year.  Oslo, a new docu-play by J.T. Rogers being presented at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre at Lincoln Center is a bold, crackling, and humorous new play about the back-channel peace negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis in the early 1990's told with humor, charm, heart, and brutal honesty.

Jefferson Mays (Terje Rod-Larsen) and Jennifer Ehle (Mona Juul) headline the cast as the brains behind the entire idea and operation - an effort in secret to get the two parties to a secret negotiating table Norway where they could exchange real ideas, thoughts, and feelings - not the tried and failed methods of public posturing sponsored by the Americans and others for years.

The cast of characters is broad - heads of state, secretaries of state, foreign ministers, and negotiators - and even a housekeeper and butler.  Top notch performances were turned in by Michael Arnov (Uri Savir - Israeli) and Anthony Azizi (Ahmed Qurie - Palestinian).  Even a worthy Shimon Peres (Daniel Orestes) graced the stage.

The play sweeps through 3 hours before you know it.  Act I is a clever flashback to the origins of the talks that ends where it started - and sets up Act II - the actual peace negotiations.  At times tense, at others humorous, the play effortlessly glides between the two states often and sometimes unexpectedly.  The play sweeps past the accords, reveals video of the actual signing and hand shaking at the White House among all the parties and goes on to provide you with an abbreviated version of events that occurred post-accord all the way up to today.  Jefferson Mays ends the play on an uncertain yet positive and hopeful note.

Award winning performances, direction, and dialogue all combine to make this sleeper that moved upstairs from the Mitzi Newhouse Theater (off-Broadway) a hit that will inform, entertain, and remind us all just how far we've come and how much work is yet ahead.

Benefactors

Michael Frayn's play, Benefactors, is a gripping, poignant, and dramatic new work now playing off-Broadway at Theatre Row on 42nd Street.  You might recognize another of his hit-plays, Noises Off, which has played on and off-Broadway multiple times.  The 4 actors, Vivienne Benesch, Daniel Jenkins, Stephen Baker Turner, and Deanne Lorette, each give superb performances and seem to be perfectly cast in their roles.

Is the play a scosche too long? Probably.  Could that be easily fixed?  Certainly.  I'm not worried one bit.  What I am worried about is the title itself.  After you hear the dialogue and absorb the subject matter, it seemed to me, and a few others leaving the theatre, that the title was a bit deceptive in two ways: First, it drove me to think that the entire play there was some invisible character that was going to pop out of the woodwork who would be a plausible explanation for the mounting conflict we were watching unfold on stage.  No such luck.   Second, it had no direct connection to the play unfolding before my eyes.  It was only after the play upon reflection that I properly determined what it was supposed to represent.  Mr. Frayn, how about the obvious - Basuto Road.  Innocuous.  Mysterious.  Has a powerful, dramatic, and ominous tone to it, no?  After the obvious, I'm sure there are some other equally appropriate lines from the play that could have been turned into the show's title.   The choice of Benefactors served only to un-focus my attention to the story because I was constantly distracted in trying to figure out - who is the mystery man behind the story that is the "Benefactor"?  When are we going to meet him?  When will the plot be resolved?   It moved my focus away from the brilliantly crafted character study being performed.  

Title aside, the play is thought provoking, intelligent, well acted and well-structured.  Kudos to the director, Carl Forsman for what appeared to me to be quite snappy staging with a subtle story-telling aspect cleverly built into the delivery of the dialogue.

Love Child

Mary Poppins

It's a good idea to go see what a whole lotta cash can buy! Let me start off first by saying that I don't like the idea of Disney on Broadway. It's commercial and popular. Just look at the lines outside the New Amsterdam Theater - mostly tourists who are more than willing to drop $110 a ticket (discount, what's that?) for the chance to see "the show" of the season. And let's not forget that they all buy their 3 year old kids a soda in a souviner cup and a bag of chips for $20 - both of which are shockingly allowed in the theater during the performance! I spent the first 30 minutes thinking something was wrong with the sound system. No, it was just all those moron parents letting their stupid kids eat the potato chips (crinkle, crinkle crinkle x 500) during the performance!

Well, back to my original thought - It's a good idea to see what a whole lotta cash can buy. Disney has it and this show flaunts it. The sets (and there are more than I've seen in a long time) are opulent. The fly space (the space above and around the visible stage) in the New Amsterdam seems to be one of the best in the industry - allowing for huge backdrops and sets to come and go effortlessly. There's a doll house cut-away and an upstairs bedroom that alternatively raise and lower along with a rooftop and a park. The actors float around the stage, climb the proscenium, walk upside down and fly out into the audience - all effortlessly and magically.

What else can money buy? Costumes (an endless colorful supply of them); Lights (all sorts of colors and sizes); Special effects (rain, flying birds, stars); and let's not forget the magical effect of Mary and Bert flying all over the place - floating like birds and sliding up the staircase.

Disney money can buy a lot of things that many productions can't afford, but I have to admit, I was transported to #17 Cherry Tree Lane. It does work. But let's not forget - a large cast, a terrific score and the dark interpretation of the P.L Travers stories are also part of the formula of success. Ashley Brown and Gaven Lee certainly do dazzle and delight. They, along with the rest of the cast, really do seem like they are having fun from curtain to curtain. I'd believe it if they told me they all worked for free (OK, well sort of).

So, while I thoroughly enjoyed the performance and revel fondly in the memories while perusing my Showbill (what's that all about?) back at home, it does worry me that all those people who saw it (and loved it too, I'm sure) will just expect the next show they see to be bigger and better. How disappointed they will be when they go see Spring Awakening or Grey Gardens and find out there's only one set per act and people don't fly.

What is all that money buying us in the long run?

Big River