Death Takes a Holiday

The Roundabout Theatre Company has done it again.  A powerhouse cast, a delightful and lightly operatic score atop a simple and enchanting book are just a few of the rewards that are awaiting audiences at the Laura Pels Theatre this summer.   Death Takes A Holiday is a "breathtaking new musical" inspired by the 1934 romantic drama (play) of the same name.   Elegantly, simply, and ingeniously directed by Doug Hughes, the musical sweeps you off your feet, effortlessly glides thru its paces bringing you on a brief and entertaining journey the Villa Felicita on a lake in Northern Italy in the late summer of 1921.

What makes the journey so effortless and so incredibly enchanting is most certainly due to the cast of characters - which includes, on such a small stage, a plethora of veteran Broadway talent in addition to some fresh, young blood - all perfectly cast in their roles.   Jill Paice (Grazia) pulls you into her heart with her song from the very first moment and refuses to let you go the entire show. Kevin Earley (Prince Nikolai Sirki/Death) quietly sneaks into the picture and sweeps you off your feet.  His flawless vocals packed a punch and quite literally blew the roof off the house.  Of note, Mr. Earley stepped into the role shortly after the original lead, Julian Ovenden, stepped out due to an ongoing throat illness.  The very fortuitous Mr. Earley played the opening night and has done so every night since.

This production doesn't stop with just two top-notch leads.  Supporting these two incredible actors is a cast of other immeasurable talent including:  Michael Siberry (Duke Vittorio) and Rebecc Luker (Dutches Stephanie), Matt Cavanaugh (Major Fenton),  Mara Davi (Alice) and Alexandra Socha (Daisy), Max Von Essen (Corrado) and Linda Balgord (Contessa Evangelina).

The comparison to the juggernaut, Phantom of the Opera, is inevitable, but this show succeeds without all the weight and unnecessary baggage that Phantom brings along with it.  Operatic, yes, oppressive, no.  Hughes injects the story with dashes of comedy, a modern sense of love, family, and frivolity.  A fine example of this clever infusion is the character of Fidele - played to its maximum effect by a quirky and adorable Don Stephenson.

The story, quite simply, is a love story.  Death takes on a human (and quite handsome) role to find out what all this living and loving nonsense is all about.  He, quite literally, takes a holiday from the his daily grim tasks.  As you would expect, he falls in love and what happens next is... well... I think you know.   While Death might be eternal - you only have a limited time to catch it on Broadway - playing now thru September 4th.

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.

A Catered Affair

The iconic Harvey Fierstein has penned a beautiful book for this new musical - originally a 1956 motion picture written by Gore Vidal and turned into a teleplay by Paddy Chayefsky. For the trivia buffs in all of us, the movie starred Bette Davis, Ernest Borgnine, and Debbie Reynolds.

At its core, the story here remains the same. It's a tale that sadly sums up an entire generation of teenagers of the post WWI generation. The ones that got married way too early because they "had to". It's the story of regrets, of dreams forgone, and of the desire for your children to have a better experience.

Highlights: The lovely and talented Faith Price (Noises Off, Guys and Dolls) and newcomer, Leslie Kritzer (Legally Blonde). A dramatic mother-daughter duo that will bring tears to your eyes.

Neutral: Tom Wopat - dramatic portrayal of the father was convincing and skilled, yet his singing just isn't up to the same level as his acting.

Problematic: Harvey Firestein - OK, so he's written a beautiful, poetic, and touching dramatic work for the musical theater stage. Yes, there's a gay uncle who's funny and poignant and if that's all the part was, it would be perfect for him. But the part requires singing and it just pains me to hear him attempt singing. It's a musical. If this show was possibly billed as a "Play with Music", perhaps it would be acceptable. Music and singing, in that case, would not be the focus. His stage presence, artful acting and comedic timing just could not convince me to overlook the musical deficit.

It was a mistake for Harvey take a role. Writing the part would have been enough for me to leave the theater saying, "That Harvey, he's a genius with a pen". Re-cast with powerhouse talents equal to those of Faith Prince, this show has the capacity to be a Broadway juggernaut much like it's predecessor at the Walter Kerr, Grey Gardens. As-is, it's still a poignant musical drama written by a talented iconic figure, but fails to deliver on its full potential.

Grey Gardens

Grey Gardens is Christine Ebersole's show to shine in. And boy-oh-boy - did she ever! This recent transfer to Broadway is the story of Edith Bouvier Beale, her daughter, Edie, and their extreme relationship. The show is filled with wealthy family drama, the back-story of their connections to the Kennedy Clan, their extreme transformation with age, and of course a good dose of music - something Edith herself used to fill the many voids in her life.

Act I portrays the gay days (taken both literally and figuratively!) of the family in 1941 at the Beale Summer House - Grey Gardens - out in the Hamptons. This is the time period that young Edie meets and almost marries a young Joe Kennedy. Christine plays Mother Edith - the strong willed, powerful, yet extremely vulnerable matriarch of the Beale Family (while her husband is off fooling around on Wall Street and cheating on his wife). Kudos go out to John McMartin who plays a wonderfully entertaining Father to Edith - Major Bouvier.

In Act II Christine transforms herself into her own daughter - and Mary Louise Wilson takes over as her aging Mother in 1974 - - in what can only be described as the extreme decline of Grey Gardens. She is a recluse, the house is falling apart and they are both quite eccentric and have become locally infamous for the squalor they live in - - So much so that Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis actually made several public statements on the situation of her aunt and cousin.

The quick witted and sharp tongued Ebersole tears thru both acts with gusto. Showing us at first her desire as Edith to impress and entertain - and then later her personal struggle as Edie with having her life "ruined" by her mother. In the end - she's not strong (or sane) enough to leave - despite her regrets, anger, and desire to do so.

The feelings of gaiety and lyrical music turn to hopelessness, desperation, and squalor in a mere 3 hours on Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theater on West 48th.