By the Way, Meet Vera Stark

Lynn Nottage has penned a unique and clever work now being performed at Second Stage Theatre.   The play takes place in two distinct parts - Act I in 1933 and Act II 1973/2003 involving the same cast - some playing the same characters and others taking on new roles.  The work itself is a film-within-a-play and a TV-show-flashback within-a-lecture within a play.  Yes - all that and I promise you'll never get confused.  It's all done with perfection!

Act I all by itself is simply enchanting.  A small and funny dramady all in itself, it introduces us to the characters, provides background and setting (Hollywood 1933).  It then sets the stage for the future possibilities for the main character, Vera Stark (Sanaa Lathan) as she embarks on her life's journey.

Act II is where the real meat of the intrigue and playwright's message lies.  Act II brings us forward almost 70 years with looks back at what became of Vera and her hallmark film debut, The Belle of New Orleans.

The sets are charming and the costumes period-perfect.  I loved the way they orchestrated the scene changes - making the stage look like a Hollywood sound stage exposing the construct of the sets and leaving all the pieces of the sets exposed to the audience at different times.

Ms. Lathan is pitch perfect in her delivery and timing.  Stephanie J. Block is marvelous as the young Hollywood star, Gloria Mitchell.  It was a pleasure to see the ever-handsome Daniel Breaker perform both of his charmer roles.   Karen Olivo gives a hysterical performance as Anne Mae in Act I and a slightly more serious one as poet, rapper, lesbian, feminist, Afua Assata Ejobo.  Kimberly Herbert Gregory charms us as Lottie in Act I and provides some over the top commentary as the intellectual Carmen Levy-Green in Act II.

No spoilers here, but I'll just say Ms. Nottage's message is brilliant.  If you think about it you'll realize that maybe you shouldn't believe everything some seemingly intelligent and educated people tell you.  Just think about Vera.  You'll understand what I'm saying after you see it.

West Side Story

Arthur Laurents is still at it.  The Broadway revival of West Side Story is on its way to the great white way.   I caught it in Washington DC at the National Theatre on its out of town tryout.  (As if there were a chance it wouldn't come!)  There's a rich history to this show - the creative team (Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Jerome Robbins), the original Broadway production, the movie, and the legacy of being a turning-point in the American musical.

As with everything being revived - it's hard, especially in this instant multi-media world, to recreate the classic original.  It's got to be different, fresh, and new.  While some may argue this is about the evolving art - I argue that a classic is a classic.  Why must everything be "updated"?  Why can't people be happy with a classic re-presented?  I have mixed feelings about this production.  It certainly was a tremendously enjoyable evening of theatre. But it didn't knock me out of the park.   Keep in mind that this is a review of an pre-broadway production.  Improvements and changes are likely and, one hopes, would turn this production into a smash hit.

Matt Cavanaugh (A Catered Affair, Grey Gardens) takes the helm as Tony.  Let's get one thing out of the way - he's gorgeous and has the voice of an angel.  But it seems I've recently attended a spate of mis-cast leads in musicals.  Folks, it's a musical.  Cast someone who can dance!  Karen Olivo (In the Heights) takes on the role of Anita.  She had big shoes to fill (Chita Rivera on B'way, Rita Moreno in film).  It seems those shoes do indeed fit quite nicely.  I think her challenge as she grows into the role will be to exude even more sexuality, toss her hair around a little more, whip that dress around a little more and work on the clarity of her Spanish so that the audience will be able to comprehend it. Newcomer Cody Green (TV - Step up and Dance) is Riff.  Yes, he's HOT, HOT, HOT.  Acting doesn't seem to bother him, dancing is above average, and singing is not a challenge.  Finally a trash TV guy who actually has talent on Broadway!  Look for more good things from Cody.  Two of the leads are foreign talent - Joseffina Scalgione as Maria and George Akram as Bernardo.  She hails from Argentina (Hairspray in Argentina) and he hails from Venezuela and is a relative unknown up to now.  Look out for good things to come from these two!  

There's also a whole host of chorus boys (Jets and Sharks) as well as chorus girls.  There are too many to mention - except to say someone was wise enough to cast incredible dancers in these roles.  What may have been lacking in the acting department at times was more than made up in the dancing department.  The outstanding ballet skills were front and center from the curtain up - Prologue and Jets Song followed by Dance at the Gym followed by America all they way thru The Rumble.  Bravo!

Curtis Holbrook (Xanadu, All Shook Up, Boy from Oz) is one of my favorites.  He's absolutely adorable, dances at the top of his game, and has been honing his acting chops these past few years in some solid Broadway productions.   (Would asking him out on a date here be in appropriate?!)

Let me say right here that I'm not a fan of some of the "new ideas" brought to the show. Dialogue and songs completely in Spanish, for one.   It was distracting.  I appreciate the blending of cultures concept - but at the same time I wanted to know what they were saying!  Doesn't everyone want to sing along in his head to I feel Pretty?  Sort of hard in this production as they were completely in Spanish.  I heard a rumor that Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the updated Spanish lyrics.   Not a deal-breaker for me, but I wonder how many bus-loads of tourists on big white buses will be unhappy and start whispering to each other "what did she say?" throughout the show!   The melding of languages was not as distracting during the dialogue - because it seemed to have been done by "peppering" rather than paragraphs of dialogue in a row.   

Arthur Laurents came out early on and said this would be a ground breaking production.  To paraphrase what he said is to say that he felt portraying all of the kids as killers would not have been possible back in time of the original production.  But this time around - he has built in an intense anger and pent up frustration in each of the gang members.   Each, in his own way, coming to the boiling point and showing that anger in the dance, dialogue and song.  This was, to me, one of the most successful of the changes to the show.  I did overhear several audience members wondering why there were so many "pauses" during the dramatic scenes.  Fear not, nobody forgot any lines.  The "pregnant pause" is a device to raise the tension and drama.  This reaction might indicate to the director that it was used a bit too much for the average audience member.  You decide.

I am a bit perplexed at the need to have a "Kiddo" character sing Somewhere in Act II.  Great for the kid who sang it (there are actually two of them cast and they alternate) but it seemed a bit awkward.  All I could surmise is that it represented a look back to how they all "could have been".  I saw Nicholas Barasch - and he was absolutely adorable and had the voice of a young male soprano angel.   It just seemed thrust on the audience unnecessarily and without any real explanation or basis in the plot.

With all the artistic and interpretive updates  I think it also had the effect of making one musical number stick out even more than perhaps it did in the past.   Gee Officer Krupke has always been a classic Broadway show-tune.   I was half expecting a total re-imagination of the music and presentation of it.  I guess maybe they ran out of time on that one.

One final observation.  I felt I was somehow deprived of the full musical orchestration.  While I did not see the original production or revivals - it somehow felt to me that music was cut.  I left feeling that i somehow did not get Leonard Bernstein's full musical assault on the ears.

There's still some chemistry to work out.  It's not fully there yet. A few scene/set changes seemed awkward, and Act II seems rushed and disorganized.  All these, one would hope, are addressed in the "out of town tryout" notes and fixed before it gets to Broadway.  I believe it's going into the Palace Theatre.  Don't be fooled into Balcony seating there.  Those seats are an abomination!  Some of them don't have a full view of the stage.

In The Heights

A fresh, new musical chock-full of rhythm, heart, and Latin soul. Lin-Manuel Miranda conceived this musical in 2005 while still in college and worked dogged days and nights to bring his dream to the Broadway stage. Young, fresh talent is exactly what Broadway needs more of.

So what's different about this show? A whole lot and not so much at all is the answer. At it's core - it's a traditional musical in structure and content - Man has a dream, falls in love, struggles to overcome adversity, bittersweet triumph results and he gets the girl. There are two leading couples, one set of parents, one grandmother, a chorus of friends and neighbors, and a whole lot of dancing. So what's, different? It's 100% Latino. It takes place today on a corner in Washington Heights (hence the title). It's about modern immigrant struggles - non-stop and in-your-face. West Side Story may have been the first - but Lin-Manuel Miranda has brought a contemporary twist to the presentation that seems to draw in the adults as well as throngs of young kids.

The recipe for success: A dash of rap and a heaping spoonful of Latin rhythm and dance give this show a constant true-to- life feeling of Washington Heights. Everyone can relate to the little bodega on the corner and the larger than life figures that inhabit the neighborhood near the A-train at 181st Street. Add a pinch of cross-cultural (read, intra-Latino prejudice) family drama and a splash of economic hardship to the picture and you have a potent cocktail the audience consumes with delight.

Part of the success here is the audience's willingness to cheer the underdog, the new guy, a presentation of a new culture on stage - upbeat Latin flair layered into a traditional musical structure. Virtually a total cast of authentic and talented Latinos of all types dominate the stage from grandmother to kids. Of special note - Olga Merediz (Abuela Claudia) and Eliseo Roman (Piragua Guy) - two characters who completely surprise and entertain. The elders on the stage, Priscilla Lopez (Camila) and Carlos Gomez (Kevin) bring the struggle of the "old ways" into the picture. Robin De Jesus (Sonny) brings a sketch of today's youth and a dash of comedy to the story. Christopher Jackson (Benny) and Karyn Rodriguez (Vanessa) draw you into the heat of their youthful attraction while Lin-Manuel Miranda (Usnavi) and Karyn Rodriguez (Vanessa) struggle to find their love for each other.

When this show transferred to Broadway this season - a few eyebrows were raised. It was not a sellout off-Broadway. Was the musical score too homogeneously Latin ? Could it make it in a big, mainstream theater? I, myself, didn't think it would last. But after seeing it, I find myself in the unenviable position of eating crow. In The Heights proves itself as a stunningly contemporary and powerful presentation with a fresh young cast who put a new Latin spin on the age old problems of life.

Miracle Brothers

Dear Andy Karl,

Seems that your buddy, Tyler Maynard got the better end of the stick! He, too, jumped the Alter Boyz ensemble smash hit to take the leading roll in a less-well-known off broadway production. The difference? A well written, significantly better scored new musical - with a Brazilian beat and some meat on its bones!

Make sure you read the program beforehand, unless you're Brazilian or at least a Brazilian history buff. Once you get the basic (and odd) premise down, it's all about love - in this case the love between two brothers - or half brothers, to be exact. Not a brand new concept, but its certainly unique - especially with the added twist of the Brazilian folklore.

Dolphins, Portals, Slaves, Pirates, two mothers, and two sons - both with green eyes - all in one heck of an enjoyable show in the Rain Forest. If nothing else, you'll leave Miracle Brothers having enjoyed the good looking, scantily-clad cast and tapping your your toes to the funky Brazilian beats.

Brooklyn

Rent

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent_(musical)