1984

George Orwell's dystopian novel brought to the stage - first in London on the West End, now on Broadway.  The technology and video employed was magnificent.  The direction was crisp, artistic, and suspenseful - after all you're supposed to be kept off-balance the entire time.  The acting, too, had strong moments for each of the 3 stars - Reed Birney, Tom Sturridge, and Olivia Wilde.

However, the story, laid bare on a stage had the tendency to be entirely too shocking.  Reading the book you can imagine what you like.  Watching the play you have no choice but to absorb whatever they throw your way.  Since I don't make it a habit of wincing and throwing my attention away to the side like I might when watching TV or a movie, my assessment with this play is that it is entirely too graphic and gritty.   It's one thing to watch an ISIS video on TV or an episode of 24 or the news... violence is everywhere.... but in the theatre it just seems a bit too much to electrocute someone downstage front and center and think we are going to enjoy it.

No matter the play, I enjoyed my first trip to Broadway's newest house - The Hudson Theatre - and hope that future plays will be less violent and more enjoyable.

Aubergine

In what can be described as a somber, quiet, and delicious entree, Julia Cho's new play, Aubergine, has made its debut over at Playwrights Horizons.  It's about food, memories, family, and death.  Yes, you read that correctly - death.

I hope this won't come as a spoiler given the somber mood of the play, but yes, there is a death.  It's ever-present during most of the play - an old man dying in a bed on stage.

Say what you will, but Ms. Cho's linkage of food and the memories it evokes gels nicely throughout the play and resonates a message that despite the discord and frustrations of families and daily life that we should cherish the "good stuff" always.  On Ms. Cho's stage that good stuff is food.

Ray (Tim Kang) is the young (allegedly only) son of his (unnamed character) father (Steven Park).  Father is dying.  Except for a few flashbacks and funny, touching memories, he is virtually dead in his dining room in a hospital bed the entire play.  His caregiver, Lucien, (Michael Potts) is a wise, calm, ethereal man who seems to know about death and dying as it is his life's profession as a hospice caregiver.  Ray's Uncle (his father's long absent brother), Lucien, (Joseph Steven Yang) arrives from Korea to mourn his brother and say his peace.  Cornelia (Sue Jean Kim) is Ray's on-again-off-again quirky girlfriend.  Perhaps one of the most interesting interlopers in this tale is the book-ended character, Diane (Jessica Love) who opens and then closes the play.  She weaves an overly self-indulgent tale in the beginning and appears in the end to tie it all together.

Ms. Cho's storytelling ability is fantastic.  The mood is both somber and recognizable.  Her characters are mostly real - although we would all like to think we are a bit more prepared for a parent to die than perhaps Ray was - but I suspect there is a bit of Ray in all of us.

You will leave the theatre with a sense of finality, a sense of mortality, and possibly a little bit of a renewed sense of life and purpose.  Bravo Ms. Cho.

Who knew the power of Pastrami?

The Book of Mormon

Previews just started on what I firmly believe is going to be the best new musical of the season!  Without a doubt, a clever, intelligent, and completely irreverent book written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone of South Park fame and Robert Lopez of the Tony Award winning Avenue Q fame.   Did I mention it's irreverent?  In 2 1/2 short hours they manage to skewer the entire Mormon religion, all the while your gut is busting from all the laugh out loud moments.  Behind it all there's a message about religion, humanity, faith and community. Now how awesome is that?!

As you would suspect, the story is about the required mission that all young Mormon boys must take when they turn 18 - in this story - Elder Cunningham (Josh Gad) and Elder Price (Andrew Rannells) and their wild trip to Uganda in Africa.  Did I mention the play is irreverent?  To take a quote from another show, "Fasten your seat belts, it's gonna be a bumpy night".  By the time they meet up with Elder McKinley (Rory O'Malley) and a village of Ugandans including Nabulung (Nikki M. James), Mafala Hatambi (Michael Potts) - your side is already throbbing from the infectious laughter.  The entire ensemble cast is divided into two - the local Mormon mission and the local African villagers.

The other adorably handsome boys at the mission never fail to entertain and delight - filling both acts with rousing, big-Broadway dance numbers - including some rousing tap with shiny pink sequin vests (yes, it's occasionally more than your basic black and white outfits for these boys).  The local Ugandan villagers start us off with a great African inspired number titled Fuck God - and the temperature in the theatre heats up from there.  When the two groups meet up it's double the singing, dancing, dream sequences and insults all around.  I mean, seriously, there's a lot to laugh about when it comes to Mormons!

No spoiler alert needed here - I won't give away Matt, Trey, Robert or the ever-brilliant choreographer, Casey Nicholaw's, big-Broadway secrets.  If you want to see a deliciously entertaining new Broadway musical chock full of blasphemous humor, adorably handsome Mormon boys and an African village filled with AIDS - get your tickets for this Book today.  Did I mention it's irreverent?

WATCH THIS SHORT VIDEO FOR MORE BACKGROUND ON THE SHOW:

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.