All New People

 Zack Braff's new play, All New People, feels more like an episode of Scrubs than an evening in the theatre.   Don't get me wrong - it was pretty good - certainly well acted - but the comedy reminded me something for a TV set rather than a stage.  

The substance of the play is a nicely packaged story about an air traffic controller interrupted in the act of killing himself in a beach house during the sparsely populated winter season on Long Beach Island, New Jersey.

Braff certainly has an ear for comedy, but I'm thinking it's misplaced on the stage.  With the introduction (or perhaps i should say abrupt interruptions) of movie-quality back story video projected on a large white wall, Braff and director, Peter DuBois, confuse you.  The scenes were not just video clips.  They were actual scenes in the play - indispensable to the story.  Seemed to me like the entire play could have been packaged up for a movie.  And for the record, I wouldn't be surprised it it's not already been optioned.

If this sounds cool to you, I recommend you see it.  It's entertaining.  And for actors, he's got a decent lineup.   The adorable Justin Bartha (Charlie), the off-beat David Wilson Barnes (Myron), the hysterically quirky Anna Camp (Kim) and brilliantly dizzy Krysten Ritter (Emma) are entertaining, wacky, and lovable all rolled up in one.

Sitcom or drama - you decide, but just know you're paying a tad bit more than you would for a movie.  You'll have to decide for yourself if the price differential is worth it.

Yes We Can

Down Payment Productions' play, Yes We Can, a new New York Play, by Daniella Shoshaun, is indeed chock full of issues.  Perhaps, dare I say, even too many.  Ten actors enthusiastically take the well lit and well crafted black box theatre stage at WalkerSpace and take us on a journey - a journey not only of the diverse people of New York City, but the ideas, hopes, dreams, frustrations, inequality, and discrimination they face on a daily basis.

Performed in short vignettes that overlap and intertwine, Yes We Can, in a few instances, cleverly takes one actor and transforms that actor, mid-dialogue, into a diametrically opposite character.  Hence, a Rabbi (Duane Cooper) instantly changes into a black evangelical priest.   A crusty, middle aged Jewish lesbian (Judith Dry) becomes a crazed black ghetto kidnapper.  The action, however, centers around a woman (Makeda Declet) who is "accused" of being black on a bus (that's her version of the story).  Her "accuser" (Ronald Washington), a self-assured black man himself, fields her rebuff and is mystified yet energized and intrigued by the response and sets out on a mission to meet her and confront her further about it.  At the same time, she sets out about the city crossing paths with her friends and others trying to make sense of it all.  I'm going to take a guess that the role of "black woman" was intentionally cast as a very black woman - so we would be smacked in the face with the contradiction and irony of the entire scenario.  

Rounding out the cast of New Yorkers is a very funny white girl nanny (Gina Marie Jamieson) taking on the issue of immigrants, low paying jobs and class warfare, an Indian mother (Meera Rohit Kumbhani) taking on heritage, culture, and class issues,  Jesus (Jeffrey Omura) taking on the issues of well, I think you can figure that one out,  a black nanny (Jehan O. Young) and her young white client (Stephen Stout) taking on class and love at the same time, and an Asian man who owns a bodega (Dax Valdes) endlessly struggling to make it against all odds.  Outside of these characters, we also cross paths with a plastic masked gang of kids, a gospel choir, a gay couple, a group of Latino nannies in the park, a local organic-Nazi farmer, and a few other random city folk young and old.   

The play's dialogue is certainly intelligent and witty, and points out through humor and irony that to those less fortunate or newer to this country or to those that have been struggling to "arrive" that just about anything is possible here if we stick to it.  Set on the eve of the election of Barak Obama as president of the United States, Yes We Can shows us anything is possible.  While I doubt we're headed toward any Pulitzer prize here, it's still nice to see a fresh, young, ambitious and idealistic work on the stage.  Congratulations,  Daniella Shoshan.  You've arrived.

Unnatural Acts

"Fasten your seatbelts, ladies and gentlemen.  Prepare to be mezmerized, electrified, and transported to another time and place for the next two hours" is what the pre-show announcement should proclaim.  Director and co-conceiver, Tony Speciale, has amassed a mightly arsenel of high drama in this haunting play presented at the Classic Stage Company, Unnatural Acts,  filling it with intergue, evidence, tension, speculation, passion, and betrayal.   

The play, inspired by the true story of the Secret Court of 1920 at Harvard University that attempted to rid the institution of "homosexualism" after the suicide of one of its students, Cyril Wilcox, opens on an elegantly, warmly and purposefully lit, darkly-hewn wooden-clad stage where we meet each of the very handsome and well clothed upper-crust Harvard boys attached to the scandal and begin our journey into their intricate, delicately balanced lives filled with intelect, innuendo, pride, double-talk, and deeply-guarded secrets and we follow them to their ultimate demise by play's end.  Each of the elvevn young actors brings an etherial and haunting presence to the stage under what I can only categorize as the superb directorial and choreographical choices of Mr. Speciale.  Actors Jess Burkle, Joe Cumutte, Frank De Julio, Roe Hartrampf, Roderick Hill, Max Jenkins, Brad Koed, Jerry Marsini, Devin Norick, Will Rogers, and Nick Westrate form a perfect union, an ensemble cast in the truest sense of the word.  Amplifying thier fine performances was lighting and lighting effects by Natalie Robin and sound design and the subtle and supremely effective sound effects by Christian Frederickson. 

I am torn between screaming from the mountain top that this play, cast intact, should be moved to Broadway and the thought that a Broadway house would most surely destroy the intimacy and power of the show.  Unnatural Acts is a an evening of compelling, well-written, well-acted, well-directed story-telling that lured me in, captured and held my attention, and, most importantly, kept me thinking about it and discussing it long afterwards.  Now that's powerful theatre!

Desperate Writers

A wholesale waste of time at the Union Square Theatre.  The house was virtually empty.  I knew this wasn't going to be a good sign.  It only got worse from there.

Written as a complete farce, it pits two desperate writers against three alleged "power-producers" in Hollywood.  Throw in some over-the-top, completely unnecessary characters on top of the bad writing and flat out dumb plot and you've got the formula for the complete mess that wasted about 90 minutes of an otherwise decent Saturday afternoon.    I've seen farce before, and for it to work, it has to be funny.  This was just crap.   Two otherwise normal writers are so desperate to sell a script that they kidnap some producers, lock them in a cage and force them to listen to their script.  On top of the already farcical plot - the script that they are trying to sell pure garbage too.  It was like double torture listening to them read the script of a bad play IN a bad play!

The actors all came with game faces on - full of energy and some even with some good comedic delivery Jim Stanek (David) was a stand-out.  But in the end the material was just so plain old dumb nothing could save it.  Think tiny bucket on the deck of the Titanic.  Wasted effort.   But my congrats to some of the fine character acting on stage.

Upon closer examination of the program at home, I realized that one of the writers of the play itself, Catherine Schreiber, was actually also one of the main characters performing too - one of the producer characters!  Now isn't that the pot playing the kettle?!  While I admire the effort of all the writers and actors involved (none of this is easy by any stretch of the imagination), I really don't even think this material was of the caliber of something like Saturday Night Live - where this farcical stuff is most at home.

Disappointed to say the least.  At least I got some delicious strawberries at the Farmer's Market in Union Square on the way home.  Barely a consolation.

The People In The Picture

Too Cliche?  Maybe.  Another installment in the "thou shalt never forget" series?  Perhaps.  Delightfully entertaining?  Absolutely.   In any other season, I think this show would be receiving above average acclaim.  Well, at least it would be receiving reviews that said "if you clean up Act I and speed up the dying old lady scene in Act II - you're got a hit on your hands."  But alas, strong competition this season has placed this possibly underrated show on the back burner.   It's either that or we're just tired of the the genre.  You decide.

Donna Murphy (Bubbie/Raizel) is sublime.  Clearly the star of the show.  Clearly the mistress of character acting.    I can't say anyone else in the cast was a stand-out, but they were a strong ensemble and put Bubbie on a golden pedestal the entire evening as she seamlessly slid between her younger self in 1935-1946 Warsaw, Poland and her older self in New York circa 1977   Overwrought with Yiddish and old Jewish humor, perhaps, but that's the story, for heaven's sake.  I have a few friends who actually saw it early in the run.  They got very bored during Act I and left.  They never found out who, exactly the people in the picture are.  Alas, the story is about the title of the show and Act II cleverly reveals all.

Sets by Riccardo Hernandez  - a decent job at recycling previous Roundabout materials.  And heaven knows, the Roundabout must have invested a boatload in the video projection equipment for Sunday in the Park with George and Brief Encounter - so why not drag it out again.  But since there's money at the Roundabout - it's always a top notch, class-act.  Costume and lighting - up to the usually high Roundabout quality too.

So who are the people in the picture?  I won't spoil it - you'll have to get your own ticket and let the divine Donna Murphy tell you herself.   Tape recorders, at least in the audience, not allowed.

Side Effects

Michael Weller wrote two plays back to back in 2007.  I saw Fifty Words at the Lortel then and just this week, the follow-up play, Side Effects, in the same (dumpy) theater.  I must say there's more to the idea then the reality of the link between the two plays.  They really aren't connected at all, except for the infamous phone call.  I thought there would be more.  But alas,  that doesn't detract from this or the prior play in any way at all.

This time around, Joely Richardson (Melinda Metz) and Cotter Smith (Hugh Metz) take the helm as the power couple for entire 100 minutes.  Like Weller's last play, children and others are only spoken about, never seen or heard.  Mr. Smith was last seen in similar conservative fatherly roles in Next Fall on Broadway and Kin off-Broadway at Playwrights horizons.  Ms. Richardson was last seen in in season 6 of Nip/Tuck and The Tudors.  In case didn't make the connection - she's the sister of the late Natasha Richardson and daughter of Vanessa Redgrave and Tony Richardson.  I must say that she bears a striking resemblance both visually and vocally to another fan favorite, Julie White.  Perhaps that was amplified by the role - one in which I could very easily picture Ms. White also.

This play, as the prior one, is an emotional roller-coaster dealing with issues such as marriage, fidelity, mental illness, and family.   Mr. Smith, again, plays an exceptional tightly-wound, politically-aspiring and conspiring, conservative, mid-western, husband.  Ms. Richardson does a magnificent job playing bat-shit-crazy (perhaps a perfect replacement for Edie Falco in House of Blue Leaves - another bat-shit-crazy role?).  Just one note to director David Auburn - shorten up that last scene - too long and unnecessarily repetitive. We were only there 100 minutes and didn't need to revisit all the issues and problems again before wrapping it up.  Other than that - I think I've written more than fifty words on this one but catching a performance of this one will leave you with little side effects other than having experienced an enjoyable evening of theatre at a relatively decent price.

Next Thing You Know

Joshua Salzman and Ryan Cunningham take a walk down Twenty-Something Lane with their fresh, new gen-X musical.  Well, of course they do, the are twenty-something themselves and if I had to guess, wrote from many a personal experience.  The subject matter and title, Next Thing you Know, comes from that age-old phrase we all know - "Last time I checked, I was young and having a blast on my 23rd birthday and .... here it comes... next thing i know, I'm 30 and need to grow up".  That about sums up the story line here.  Fear not, tho, it's light, fresh, honest, fun and while never over indulging.  Salzman and Cunningham even turn a hangover into something to chuckle at.

Needless to say, a cast of good looking (drop dead gorgeous in the case of Heath Calvert, but I digress...) actors helm the spacious performance floor (not exactly a traditional stage) in CAP21 Theatre Company's brand-spankin' new expanded space on West 18th Street.  Lauren Blackman (Lisa), Heath Calvert (Luke), Adam Kantor (Darren) and Lauren Molina (Waverly) enthusiastically take on their respective tortured young souls - singing and drowning their sorrows in booze in the Sullivan Street Tavern and surrounding neighborhood.  It's not hard at all to imagine these young denizens as the actual characters - good looking (did i mention that Heath with his shirt off is jaw-droppingly handsome?), smart, creative, young urbanites searching for love, connection, and meaning in their lives.

Besides Heath's drop dead good looks and flawless body (OK, Adam I really thought you were cute too), I was especially entertained by the music and lyrics.  Well written, well constructed, catchy and fun - a little pop (OK, maybe a lot) and a few ballads and lite Broadway styled numbers thrown in for good measure too. I believe this is Joshua and Ryan's second trip down the aisle in musical theatre composition.  I'm thoroughly impressed and sincerely hope that we will hear more from them very soon.   In the meantime - catch a bus, subway or cab over to CAP21 and catch a slice of your quickly vanishing youth performed nightly on stage before it's too late and ... next thing you know....

The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures

Tony Kusher's much anticipated new work is fantastically engrossing, scintillatingly intellectual, and mentally exhausting - all at the same time.   From minute 1 to minute 210 (that's 3 and 1/2 hours, folks) you are on the edge of your seat absorbing every word, watching every movement, and processing, processing, processing.  Make no mistake, this is a heady play.  It's not for everyone, but certainly for those who are up for the mental gymnastics that it sponsors.  See it before it's too late.  Run.  Don't Walk.

What is this play about, you ask?   Well, there are so many layers here, it's hard to convey.  It's literally about a man's decision to kill himself before Alzheimer's gets him.  Adding a few more layers - it's a play about politics, relationships, marriage, economics, labor, sexuality, religion, suicide, and sex - just to list a few.  I'm not kidding.  There are others.   But let me try to boil it down to something simpler.  It's about family and struggle.  That's it. Family - all the good, all the bad and everything in-between.  It's also about struggle - in the family, among the family, outside the family and everything in and around the family.  There are really two kinds of families - the ones that look on the outside to be perfect, but are really a big mess on the inside - and the ones who look (and act) like a hot mess on the outside, but at the end of the day nothing, and i mean nothing, could tear them apart.  Gus Marcantonio and his family are the most definitely the latter.  A mess so hot they make August Osage County's Weston family look like dry ice.

The cast is superb - a better ensemble cast than any I have ever seen.  They seemed like an actual family rather than individual actors simply cast in the roles.  The performances were sublime.  At times there were 7 or 8 family members on stage and every single one of them was talking (arguing, more likely) at the same time and you could still follow the argument, the thoughts, and the scene.  And when a play lasts over 3 and 1/2 hours, you bet they were damn good if I'm using such superlatives.  Each and every actor brought his game to the stage.  (Michael Esper apparently brought his game and a rockin' hot bod, puppy dog eyes, and boyish smile to accompany it... but i digress).  Kudos in no particular order or preference to each performer in the cast:  Michael Christofer (Gus), Linda Eamond (Empty), Michael Esper (Eli), K. Todd Freeman (Paul), Hettienne Park (Sooze), Steven Pasquale (V), Molly Price (Shelle), Matt Servitto (Adam), Danielle Skraastad (Maeve), Stephen Spinella (Pill), and Brenda Wehle (Clio).

I don't pretend to know all the layers Mr. Kushner has written into the play.  Heck, I don't even know much about Karl Marx, but that's not what's needed to understand this play.  Listen carefully and absorb the feelings, emotions, the feelings and tones, the over arching them of family, struggle, and identity will reveal themselves to you as the minutes tick away into hours on Gus' (and your) watch.

Now. Here. This.

Lab productions don't and shouldn't get reviews.  What they should get is encouragement and word of mouth.  Here are some words and they came out of my mouth.

Genuine.
Personal.
Honest.
Poignant.
Witty.
Clever.
Full of Heart.

If you get the chance to get a ticket to the show over the next few weeks at the Vineyard Theatre, don't hesitate for one minute.  Hunter, Susan, Heidi, and Jeff and are back again.  (And if Jeff Bowen isn't Miriam Webster's definition of absolutely adorable, i don't know what is).

The Sphinx Winx

When I first googled this show to see what the heck it was all about, I came across a few articles that listed the cast and creatives - nothing unusual.   Then I noticed the name Philip Capice.  I thought to myself, isn't that odd?  That's the name of the guy who's name used to get splashed on the screen as Executive Producer at the end of every Dallas episode - you know - when something juicy was going to happen in the last 5 minutes and they left you hanging until next week.  Well... turns out it's the same guy!  Who'd a thunk?

After a bit more digging - it turns out he passed away in late 2009 but that he had actually co-written the book and lyrics and directed the original show while a senior at Dickenson College in 1952!  Amazing!  He, in fact, was the one who had the idea to shoot JR in the infamous season finale.  Leave it to a campy musical theatre guy to come up with the best idea on television in March of 1980!   And now... back to our show...

The show is pure musical theatre camp.  And I mean that in the best way possible.  It draws on the entire genre to both make fun of itself and to make light of a version of a story that we all know - that of Cleopatra, Caesar, and Mark Antony.   In many ways, similar to the Drowsy Chaperone of today penned by Bob Martin.  It is not, of course, intended to be a history lesson (gosh, maybe we'd be in a better place if it were!).  It's a celebration of burlesque, variety show, farce, comedy, and musical theatre all rolled up in one big ball of fun!  Don't go expecting to be impressed by the techniques of the actors, depth of the story, or purpose of the book - just go and enjoy exactly what the director intended - you having a good laugh at some entertaining actors telling a classic story with a little (ok, a lot of) embellishment having what appears to be a whole lot fun in the process.

Erika Amato takes the helm as the divine, demanding, and ever-dramatic Cleopatra.   Bruce Sabath hams it up as the tax revenue bungling emperor, Caesar... and a German doctor (German... in ancient Egypt - funny, no?).  Rebecca Riker assumes the role of a beautiful slave that Mark Antony falls for (over Cleopatra, mind you) - but her best moments were as Enobarbus,  Caesar's Sarah Palin-looking and speaking lawyer. (You Betcha!)  Bret Shuford takes a dual role as an English message courier and the handsome (um, very handsome) Mark Antony.  And I must say that Mark Antony must have had the sexiest legs on the planet if the dashing Bret is any indication... but I digress.   Ryan Williams opens, runs, and closes the show with some of the most hysterical character acting I have seen on stage in a long time.  Summoning his inner Paul Lynn, he aptly played Cleopatra's over-the-top Soothsayer.

Kudos to the director, Matthew Hamel who seems to have pulled off a delightful, updated rendition of an old book and to the actors who made it all look so easy!  Now, if only we got to see more of those Bret Shuford, um... i mean Mark Antony... legs...

The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World

Let's get one thing perfectly clear - the music of the real-life group, The Shaggs, is confoundedly awful.  Yes, awful.  If you don't believe me, take a listen.

The other thing that needs to be made clearer is that this new musical is based on a very true story.  Yes, true.  I make the point of saying this because nowhere in the playbill (nor the script) is this emphasized except for the standard place below the title of the show on the official credits page (I don't know what else to call that page where it displays the names of producers who are presenting the show, staring the actors, supported by the production and creative staff).  At intermission, I encountered many a patron who were wondering where this story came from.  "It's based on a true story" I told them.  They all looked puzzled.  (Note to self:  mention this in my blog).

There's a lot of good going on in this production.  First, let's give a hearty round of applause for Playwrights Horizons and New York Theatre Workshop for investing time and money in two fine creatives - Joy Gregory and Gunnar Madsen (Book, Lyrics and Music).  It is obvious that a great deal of personal care, research and pain-staking effort has gone into presenting this not-so-kind story to the world.  Second, you can't leave the theatre without acknowledging the fine performances  - both acting and vocals - that the entire cast delivers.  But... (you knew there was one of these coming, right?)

But... unless I missed something, (and over the 2 hours and 30 minutes it was entirely possible) the show is really a one-trick pony - how The Shaggs came to be and the incredible (some would say disturbing) story behind them.  Did we really need to explore this topic for over 2 1/2 hours?  Time may heal all wounds, but did we really need to heal so much on this single topic?  Time is the enemy of this show.  Time should be used more wisely.   While I'm not saying every show on the planet has to be cut to 90 minutes with no intermission, this show would certainly be a good candidate to try it out on.  Over and over we revisited the same topics - defining family, loyalty, personal identity, and freedom.  Make no mistake, the show is not filled with joy or happiness.   The superb story telling, fine acting, and (when applicable) great music would be served well by shortening the pain-cycle just a bit.

The parents, Austin and Annie Wiggin, are played by two tremendously talented actors - Peter Friedman and Annie Golden.  Mr. Freidman's life-long angst, eternal hope, and haunting fears were palpable from start to finish and Ms. Hood's loneliness, longing, and sadness were nothing short of award winning.  The 3 daughters, The Shaggs, are played by strikingly similar faces to the the real life girls, Sarah Sokolovic (Betty), Emily Walton (Helen), and Jamey Hood (Dot).  Each of them transforms into the individual character that each girl inhabited and brought it to a vivid, often disturbing, life on stage.  A fine supporting cast includes an off-Broadway and New York stage debut by a fresh-faced Cory Michael Smith along side Broadway veterans Kevin Cahoon and the ever-versatile Steve Routman.


If there's any up-side to the painfully long run-time, it's that it provided the opportunity for many moments of glory on stage.  Annie's Ordinary Day brought on goose-bumps, Dot's Don't Say Nothing Bad About My Dad cut like a razor and the Act I closer by the company, Destiny, was a powerhouse.

So, should you go see this show?  Although still in previews and time factor aside, this show's story telling capacity is supreme and it's designed for anyone who loves storytelling and theatre all wrapped up in one.  You'll not only get entertained, but you may learn a few things along the way too.   Kudos to the producers, bravo to the performers, and a polite nudge to the obviously talented creatives to tighten things up a bit.  Despite the mildly disturbing nature of the material, it's certainly well worth the price of admission.

The Best Is Yet To Come: The Music of Cy Coleman

OK, so we won't call this theatre, exactly.  It's one of those delicious treats that visits a stage every now and again - a musical review, an homage to a great one, a thoroughly entertaining evening that involves a little toe tapping, finger snapping, head bobbing, and a whole lotta feelin' good.  Ironically, the last show I saw at Theatre A at 59E59 was also a great musical pastiche of another genre - In Transit.  I think everyone would recognize at least one, if not two or more musical numbers that Cy Coleman penned.  They've been performed by the best - Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Barbra Streisand, Shirley Bassey, Steve & Eddie, Perry Como, Dione Warwick, Lena Horne, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Liza, just to name a few!  Maybe these few will ring some bells - The Best is Yet to Come, Witchraft, Big Spender, and If My Friends Could See Me Now.

Director, David Zippel, along with musical director, conductor, pianist, and performer extraordinaire, Billy Stritch, has compiled an intelligent, thoughtful, and melodious arc through Cy Coleman's best works.  Of course, all that would be an academic exercise were it not for the classy, elegant band led by Stritch along with the other 5 uber-enthusiastic and talented performers of all ages that all held court on the supper-club styled stage.

Lillias White blew the roof off the joint with her stylized and sultry vocals in The Oldest Profession and Don't Ask a Lady.  Sally Mayes convinced us all that Nobody Does it Like Me. Rachel York ushered out Spring with a little Come Summer and The Doodling Song.  Billy Stritch, himself, captured our attention with It amazes Me and Some Kind of Music while Howard McGillin charmed us with You Fascinate Me So and With Every Breath I Take.  Of course, I was completely charmed and mesmerized by just about every move David Burnham made - but I figure that everyone else at least enjoyed his rendition of Witchcraft and I've Got Your Number.  I could say more but that would just be shameless flirting (who me?).

So get your fingers, toes and head all synchronized and pop over to 59E59 Theaters and put your tochas in a seat and enjoy an evening or afternoon of sheer musical entertainment.  There is no way you could leave this theater without a smile on your face. Cy Coleman was one of the greats and this production showcases the best-of-the-best performing his best.

The 2011 ITBA Theater Awards!

The 2011 Patrick Lee ITBA Award Winners:

OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY MUSICAL
Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson

OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY PLAY
Jerusalem

OUTSTANDING BROADWAY MUSICAL REVIVAL
Anything Goes

OUTSTANDING BROADWAY PLAY REVIVAL
The Normal Heart

OUTSTANDING NEW OFF-BROADWAY PLAY
The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity

OUTSTANDING NEW OFF-BROADWAY MUSICAL
The Kid

OUTSTANDING OFF-BROADWAY REVIVAL (PLAY OR MUSICAL)
Angels in America, Part 1: Millennium Approaches

OUTSTANDING SOLO SHOW/PERFORMANCE (ALL VENUE CATEGORIES)
Michael Shannon, Mistakes Were Made

CITATIONS FOR OUTSTANDING OFF-OFF BROADWAY SHOW
Feeder: A Love Story
Invasion!
The Caucasian Chalk Circle
Belarus Free Theater's Discover Love
Black Watch
ReWrite

UNIQUE OFF-OFF BROADWAY EXPERIENCE
Sleep No More

OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE
The Scottsboro Boys

CITATIONS FOR EXCELLENCE BY INDIVIDUAL PERFORMERS
Nina Arianda, Born Yesterday
Laura Benanti, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Reed Birney, A Small Fire
Christian Borle, Peter and the Starcatcher
Norbert Leo Butz, Catch Me If You Can
Bobby Cannavale, The Motherfucker with the Hat
Colman Domingo, The Scottsboro Boys
Sutton Foster, Anything Goes
Josh Gad, The Book of Mormon
Hamish Linklater, School for Lies
Joe Mantello, The Normal Heart
Arian Moayed, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo
Lily Rabe, The Merchant of Venice
Mark Rylance, Jerusalem
Michael Shannon, Mistakes Were Made
Benjamin Walker, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson

CITATION FOR EXCELLENCE IN OFF-OFF BROADWAY THEATRE
La Mama

The ITBA, is comprised of bloggers who regularly see live performances in all its forms in New York City and beyond. Members are in New York, Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis, and London. For further information and a list of our members, visit our website. If you are interested in learning more about the ITBA, email info@theaterbloggers.com. To invite the members of the ITBA to your show or event, please send an email to invite@theaterbloggers.com.

Mock Your World - The Songs of Andrew Byrne

An evening of sheer musical hilarity and pure naughty fun!  Andrew Byrne has penned a new and fresh (and I'd say better) version of a prior musical parody, Forbidden Broadway.  Unlike Mr. Alessandrini's prior show which mocks Broadway shows directly - Mr. Byrne's little gem pokes fun at the ups and downs and general lifestyle of a Broadway stage actor/dancer using the same musical parody technique.  Sure it's naughty, but I wouldn't call it a Burlesque show at all.  You might turn a few shades of light pink during any number of the riotously entertaining numbers but that's part of what makes the show great.

The four songsters who alternatively run the stage, Lisa Rothauser, Robby Sharpe (um, adorable beyond belief), Marya Grandy and Bart Shatto, hit all the highs and lows (notes and otherwise) that an actor with a Broadway career just might encounter with charisma, energy and conviction.  (Did I mention that Robby is uber-adorable?).

I promise you will leave with a great big smile on your face.  Don't miss these creative animals at the Rockwood Music Hall or wherever they land next.

Follies

Although a fully staged production, it appeared to me to be nothing more than an enhanced concert version of Stephen Sondheim's luxurious score at the Eisenhower Theater at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC.  The construction of the show is quite cumbersome to begin with - old people enter, begin to reminisce, younger versions of their characters appear in the dialogue, one by one they all have "moments" in the spotlight.  The story struggles to keep moving forward because we are constantly having to look back at how it all started to understand why we are where we are.  Then come 4 fantasy follies numbers that chop up the 2nd act and finally back to a quick wrap-up in reality.

All the stars on stage seemed as if they rehearsed alone in a room and for the first time stepped foot on stage together.  No chemistry.   No palpable feeling they were coming back to revisit memories.  Just actors singing songs and saying lines.  Perhaps you were one of the early and loud-clappers that sat next to me?  By this I mean the throngs of freaks who were there to burst out into applause 8 seconds before everyone else and before the songs were over just because Bernadette Peters was somewhere near the stage and may have hit a note that sounded marginally good.   With that said, most of the performances were pretty good.  But we still have the first problem - no chemistry.  Without that, the show is just a pastiche of concertized Broadway numbers under a rose colored spotlight.

Bernadette Peters (Sally) and Jan Maxwell (Phyllis) were OK.  Not great, but OK.  Linda Lavin, however, knocked Hattie out of the park - Broadway Baby was her number to deliver and was honestly the best number of the entire show.  Elaine Paige, on the other hand, was terrible.  I'm Still Here should be a rousing, crowd stirring number by the time it's finished.  She's got the right first name for the song - but a Stritch, she is not.  Ron Raines (Benjamin) and Danny Burstein (Buddy) seemed oddly miscast although Ron's vocals were in fine form.  Mr. Burstein only seemed to hit it out the park when he was in his sweet spot - character acting - performing his follies number - Buddy's Blues.

Overall, the show was disappointing, although to see any of these actors perform is a treat.  This production just didn't seem to pull it all together.  Regret.  It was both the theme of the show and my evening as well.

The School for Lies

One thing that is not a lie is that this show is one of the best off-Broadway productions that I have seen in a very long time.   I'm not very high-brow, so I went in thinking Moliere + The Misanthrope = big snooze-fest.   Surprisingly, I came out energized, entertained, engaged, and ecstatic!  A cast of wall-flowers this was not.  Strong, confident, talented, and bold are all adjectives that can only start to describe this cast.  David Ives has penned a modern, witty, and extremely intelligent take based on this old gem and Walter Bobbie has taken the directorial reigns with panache and style like no other could.

The ensemble cast lead by the stunningly beautiful daughter of Merryl Streep,  Mamie Gummer (Celimene/Ivory Gown) and dashingly handsome Hamish Linklater (Frank/Black Frock) incessantly worked the meanings, double entendre, and sheer comedy out of every (very) poetic line.  Hoon Lee (Philante/Maroon Frock), Frank Harts (Clitander/Purple Frock), Rick Holmes (Oronte/Yellow Frock), and Matthew Maher (Acaste/Green Frock) charm the pants off you, each in his own endearing, imperfect way.  Jenn Gambatese (Elainte/Blue Gown) and Allison Frasier (Arsinoe/Purple Gown) each tussle with Ms. Gummer for the affections of her men men and the chance to unseat her as queen of the castle.  And last, but certainly not least, Steven Boyer (Dubois/Basque/Brown Frocks) provided regular intervals of a little Shakespearian humor.  (I prefer that to Monty Python, but truth be told, it could fit).  Canapé anyone?.  Truth be told, the language is lofty, but if you follow the humor and witty repartee, the rhymed couplets (or is it iambic pentameter?) start to complete themselves in your head just as they roll off the tongues of the talented actors on stage.   I had a little trouble with the very Elizabethan names of the characters but if you focus on the boldly colored and elegantly designed costume for each character, you'll do just fine.

Speaking of a stage - the elegant costumes were made only more so by the simple, clean ivory-colored stage floor and walls.  Pure white lighting served to highlight the fine detail on the masterful costumes and left your focus on the lofty comedic performances.

I bring this to you not as gossip.  I, too, am merely reporting.

The Normal Heart

The life-story of Larry Kramer, AIDS activist, author and playwright, finally makes it to Broadway - a late, but welcome addition to the spring season.  Having had several off-Broadway runs, most recently in 2004 staring Raul Esparza, this incarnation puts a Tony award winning director, Joe Mantello, in the leading acting role.  Directed by Joel Grey (who's kinda busy with Anything Goes) and George C. Wolfe, the production takes on a brisk rhythm, maintains it's level of anger at or just below the boiling point, and serves to educate us all, once again, as to the political, social, and medical roots of this plague called AIDS.

Mantello shows off his superb acting chops as Ned Weeks, the central character of of this 1980's real-life drama, for which a Tony nomination is certainly due for his outstanding performance.  I took notice on several occasions that with both eyes firmly on the scene in front of him, a third, unseen eye in his brain was feeding him all sorts of instructions for little gestures, movements and pauses in dialogue that only a keen director would want to see an actor give.  The ensemble cast that supports him; Luke MacFarlane, Patrick Breen, Wayne Alan Wilcox, Ellen Barkin, Lee Pace, John Benjamin Hickey, Mark Harelick, Jim Parsons, and Richard Topol; is equally talented and in lock step with Mantello's energy, passion, emotion, and intensity.  A true ensemble cast at its best.

I recall seeing the 2004 production at the Public Theatre, but as with all shows that are re-staged and re-presented - this version in 2011 seemed to pack a bigger punch, emphasize the explosive emotional nature of the story and focus less on the back story and friendships and founding of GMHC.

The play is always performed, as far as I know, without scenery and this production was no exception.  The words and headlines in white-on-white on the back and side walls of the stage were effective in communicating unspoken dialogue and both the lack of audio (the performers were not mic'd) and the inclusion of audio at each scene change were both powerful and subtly effective tools which served to amplify the impact of the overall performance.

Mr. Kramer was, and still is, a complex and confrontational human being.  This is his story, his life's work and and it certainly deserves the fine production that Ms. Roth and her partners have given it.

The House of Blue Leaves

John Guare just had a grand Broadway run with latest work, A Free Man of Color.  Now he's back on Broadway with one if his his first works, The House of Blue Leaves.   Despite the 40 years in-between the creation of the two, his style remains remarkably similar.  While Blue Leaves is substantially less grand and not quite the epic of an era that was Free Man, it still tells a wild and crazy tale in the characteristically Guare-like story-telling style.

Taking the helm in this 2nd Broadway revival are a divine Edie Falco (Bananas), a slightly bristling Jennifer Jason Leigh (Bunny), and an enthusiastic Ben Stiller (Artie).  Supporting this fine leading cast are the always sublime Allison Pill (Corinna), and uber-adorable Thomas Sadowski (Billy).  It's interesting to note that Mr. Stiller is not new to the production, having played the son, Ronnie, in the first Tony award winning (Best Play)  Broadway run in 1986.  Anecdotally, his mother, Anne Meara, played in the original 1971 off-Broadway run in also.

I didn't see that production in 1986 (staring John Mahoney, Stockard Channing, Swoosie Kurtz, Danny Aiello, Julie Hagerty and Ben Stiller - and later Christine Baranski and Patricia Clarkson), but it seems to me the current revival's cast is somewhat different.  I've asked a few people who have seen both and the two adjectives that are repeatedly used are related to temperature and energy.  According to my "experts" polled - the current cast has less warmth, less love, is more mechanical, detached, and, dare I say, "crazy".  In a way it makes sense to me.  Isn't that the general state of who we are in 2011 vs 1971?  The actors are simply reflecting our current norms and general state of sensational being.   The show, after all, is about a bat-shit-crazy family in Queens that starts out crazy and ends up 3 levels crazier.   It's part farce, part comedy, and part family drama.   Some may call it honesty, and some may call it drama, but the interactions between the characters (mostly between Stiller and Falco) can jump from moderately funny to mildly offensive and mean-spirited in a heartbeat.  I found the audience unable to discern between the two and prone to laugh at some of the most inappropriate points in the dialogue unfolding on stage.

Overall the show is a powerhouse - - of both drama and comedy.  It was written mainstream pre-terrorism, but rings as true today in that sense as it did the say it debuted.   While it's not my general cup of tea, I did enjoy the significant performances - - and it frankly left me wishing I could have compared all the performance casts.  But alas, live theatre is just that - live.  You can't press rewind.  That's something Artie probably wishes he could do too.

Picked

Upfront I will recognize the fine performances by all the actors - Mark Blum, Tom Lipinski, Michael Stahl-David, Liz Stauber, and even Donna Hanover too!   The fine acting notwithstanding - the playwright, Christopher Shinn, has a creative failure on his hands.

The plot sold on the Vineyard Theatre website sounds enticing, but it never develops.  For two acts over two hours all you get is a frustrating tease.  Will it go in this direction? (No.) Will it go in that direction? (No again.)  Is the obvious homo-erotic tension between the two actors going anywhere?  (Nope.)  The brain scan stuff had great potential.  As with much, it was introduced but we never saw the results of it - i.e. the movie-within-the-play.  (Teased again.).  The actors seem to make substantial life-decisions yet we never really understand where they come from or a complete context.  Contradiction after contradiction; Dead end after dead end.  Don't get me wrong, I understand that Mr. Shinn was going for the ethereal, the psychological, the intangible questions about why we get "picked" and how "getting picked" affects our perception of ourselves as well as how others perceive us and how that affects us and the effects of the constant over-analysis of "why".  Yes, I get that and see where it could have fit in your play.  Main problem being - you didn't translate that into a discrete, linear, comprehensible plot.

The actors, despite all this mismatched, undeveloped work deserved a hearty round of applause.  I think they were as confused as the entire audience as to why they were there.  I found myself speaking with about 6 different theater-going couples out front of the theatre and not one of us had a good word to say.   Why on earth did the Vineyard present this play was the question of the hour.  That, too, like many of our questions about the play, remains unanswered.  If you have options, don't pick this one.

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.

Sister Act

If you're in the mood for a night of good, clean, innocent fun - Sister Act at the Broadway Theatre has just what you've been looking for.  By the way, don't run out and rent the movie.  Cheri and Bill Steinkellner along with Douglas Carter Beane have adapted the original TouchTone motion picture quite a bit for the stage.

So - what's the result?  Fun, frivolity, glitz, glamour along with dancing, singing, high-kicking, sequin wearing nuns!  How could you go wrong?!  The stained glass sets on the cavernous stage are magnificently grand (kudos Klara Zieglerova) and the colorful and sharp lighting is equally sublime (kudos Natash Katz).

In the staring role, Patina Miller (Deloris Van Cartier) and Victoria Clark (Mother Superior) never fail to delight.  Ms. Miller gives it all she's got and Ms. Clark never fails to entertain with her quick wit and sublime vocals.   Surrounding these two fine actors is an equally fine cast of nuns, gangsters, and police officers.   The two nuns you'd most likely recognize are Sister Mary Patrick (Sara Bolt) and Sister Mary Robert (Marla Mindelle) - literally channeling the identical side-kick characters in the film, Kathy Najimy and Wendy Makkena.

Filling in the supporting roles, Fred Applegate does a magnificent deadpan with Monsignor O'Hara and Audrie Neenan takes on the aging Sister Mary Lazarus with chutzpa.  Relative newcomer, Chester Gregory (Eddie Souther) has a few surprises up his sleeves (and pant legs), oozes that awkward, charming sensitivity, and and never fails to delight - especially when those surprises are revealed.

This show lives up to its bold expectations.  You'll leave the theatre with a big, old-fashioned smile on your face.  After seeing nuns in glitzy habits singing and dancing all night long - the only thing that could top it is the star coming out at the end in the fabulous dress she always wanted.

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.