Bright Star

It's always a bright day on Broadway when brave souls pen a new musical.  These brave souls are famous in their own right - none other than Steve Martin and Edie Brickell.    This would seem to be a match made in heaven.  Mr. Martin and Ms. Brickell both lay claim to the music and the story - while Mr. Martin penned the actual book, Ms. Brickell penned the lyrics.  It all makes sense so far.  What, perhaps, this duo lacks is experience in writing for a Broadway stage.

The music has Ms. Brickell's stamp all over it. No doubt she influenced the overall sound and tones.  The music was fantastically written and there were the requisite show tune type songs and love songs/ballads spread throughout the entire show.  While there were way too many banjos for my taste on the Broadway stage, (it's not a country music festival after all), the overall theme supported them.

Whether this was director Walter Bobbie's idea or simply embedded in the core book by the creators, the idea of placing the orchestra (more a band) on stage in a floating house-like structure that spun around and traversed back and forth across the stage was a brilliant tie-in to the plot and served the actors well allowing them to treat it like a house with doors at times. This major centerpiece aside, sets (Eugene Lee) seemed to get a low budget allocation which was disappointing.  I hope that building a model train and track at the top of the proscenium didn't take too much of the funds.  Cute idea for a toy store, but not for a Broadway show that only ran the train 3 times by my count.

The leads of this show - all 4 of them - Carmen Cusack (Alice), Paul Alexander Nolan (Jimmy) and A.J. Shively (Billy),  Hannah Elless (Margo) were strong, talented each in their own way, and tremendously entertaining.  Michael Mulheren (Mayor) turned in yet another remarkable performance as a strong yet tragic figure with a booming voice. And lastly, I suspect Mr. Martin had a strong hand in character Daryl Ames played to perfection by Jeff Blumenkrantz who just about stole the show!

Despite the solid casting, this show is one that has two branches that collide further down the line.  Act I is incredibly important to set this up and Mr. Martin and Ms. Brickell need to do something to better establish both story lines.  I was caught off-guard trying to figure out where the second story line came from.  After some mental calisthenics, I sorted out what I thought was going on - and as soon as I did, I figured out where it was ultimately all going to end up.  Trouble is, I think I missed a chuck of the exposition in Act I trying to figure this confusing point out.

Act II was significantly better than Act I - higher energy, musically, and story-wise.  What started out as a confusing story with two branches became crystal clear and the proverbial (and literal) train began to barrel down the tracks.  Bringing the band out of the floating house for the entre-act was a brilliant and well received move - as the music is certainly one of the bright stars of Bright Star.

Overall, the confusion generated in Act I couldn't be forgotten, but Bright Star is a solid, heartwarming story that has to be told in about 2 hours.  I'm sure the musical has been ripped apart from head to toe since it's birth, but a bit more work is needed to turn this into a Broadway hit.  Make no mistake, the cast and crew were absolutely ready for their first Broadway performance and none of the criticism here is reflective of their top notch performances. The names of the creatives will propel an audience to buy tickets and perhaps enjoy.  Ironing out the confusion will spur the Tony nominators into action turning this show into a big hit.

Familiar

Playwright, Danai Gurira, can have it any way she likes, but she will get some friendly advice here.  She's penned a terrific story, Familiar, about the emotional struggles of an African family who moved to America.  How far does assimilation go?  Does it include religion? What about traditions?  And by the tenor of the dialogue one suspects that much of the assimilation may just be superficial to some - a pathway to a better life but the strong ties to tribalism and roots may never go away - especially for those left behind who may simply scoff at the Western way of life.

The story revolves around a typical family (read dysfunctional):  A baby sister (Ito Aghayere) who is idealistic, nomadic, lost, and stumbling through an artistic life (read as - in America you need to work, sister); an older stronger sister (Roslyn Ruff) who has placed Jesus and her skinny liberal white fiancee (Joby Earle) at the center of her world; a pro-western mom (Tamara Tunie); and her quiet, hen-pecked husband (Harold Surratt).  Enter stage right, an older sister (Myra Lucretia Taylor) here from Zimbabwe for the wedding to preside over an African marriage tradition and you have a powder-keg on your hands.

Ms Tunie plays her role with impeccable skill, demeanor, and poise.  Ms. Taylor is a powerful foil to the entire family.  Mr. Joby and his brother (Joe Tippett) play a polar opposite brother-bother team that lays bare stereotypical American archetypes. Quite frankly, Mr. Tippett and Ms. Tunie take the top slots in this play among an already great cast of actors.

Ms Gurira needs to tighten this leaky ship, however.  Too long.  Far too many un-explored paths dropped on us and never quite explained.  Sons of the youngest sister (Melanie Nicholls-King)?  A dress brought in and tossed aside?  Struggles of Chris's brother never fully explored (although his pitch-perfect portrayal of the classic fuck-up son was brilliant!)?  Why did mom has such a visceral reaction to her sister arriving from Africa without fully knowing the reason?  There is certainly a twist in this plot - but it comes far too late in the action.  Remove a lot of useless chatter and exposition and bring the twist up forward.  Shorten Act I and get this ship at just under 2 hours.  Exquisite sets by Clint Ramos and superb lighting by Tyler Micoleau.

A very entertaining look at a not-so-familiar problem within the context of family, which is an all-too-familiar problem.

Prodigal Son

In likely his most personal work, John Patrick Shanley bring us his own coming of age tale in a touching, moving story of his years in attendance at a small private school in New Hampshire. "Do you remember 15?",  he innocently asks at the beginning of the play - only to circle back to that same line at the very end to emphasize the quality and clarity of his own memories. Indeed Mr. Shanley does remember quite well.


Sharing the stage are both veteran stage actors as well as a new, fresh face who himself might be destined for greatness.  Robert Sean Leonard (Alan Hoffman) and Chris McGarry (Carl Schmitt) deliver solid performances but it is Timothee Chalamet, a 20 year old, fresh-faced talent who has the run of the stage the entirety of the performance.  Aptly cast at his delicate age, Mr. Chalamet seems to have already mastered the art of dialogue, humor, and on-stage charm that only a young boy can.

One has to presume that most of what is told on stage indeed occurred in some form in Mr. Shanley's life.  In true form, the entire story was not laid bare.  Hints of story lines not explored only added to the mystery.  Much of the play is exposition - as it likely should be.  But for a play without much of a twist or gotcha moment, it tended to drag at points.  Regardless of whether it did occur or not, was it really necessary to include the Catholic-isms of the New Hampshire schoolmaster?  Did we need to explore the professor's attraction?  Couldn't that be left to his likely abusive family in the Bronx?  We really never did find out what was so anathema about the prospect of going back to the Bronx but one can assume.  Might a rational person assume an overlap with Doubt here?

Overall, learning about a living, breathing person is a bit awkward.  He could be sitting right next to you during the performance.  Awkwardness aside, this top notch cast turns out an excellent story which will linger with you - just like it has for the real life author.  And for the author and director to be watching his life story told back to him - that must just be mind-blowing.

Hughie

The bad ones are easy to write.  The worse they are the easier it is.  This one is simple.  Do not pay Broadway prices (the box office lists the ticket prices for REGULAR seats - $25 to $149!).  Folks this is a two person show that lasts 60 minutes!  You pay the same price for a 2.5 Hour musical with 25 cast members, an orchestra, and multiple sets!  This is a RIP OFF of grand proportions.

Forest Whitaker enters the elegantly designed set (clearly some money was spent on this) and he rambles for 60 minutes.  Then the show ends.  This is all.  I didn't have a clue why we were watching him, why he was there, and frankly was bored and disgusted at his pointless babbling.  He's supposed to be a drunk and he recounts the ups and downs of the dead guy who used to helm the front desk of the hotel, (the play's namesake), Hughie.  The new hotel clerk is "played" (i use quotes because the 14 words he uttered were such a waste) by Frank Wood. 

Dumb, Expensive, Meaningless.  This was my waste of a Wednesday night at the Theatre.

Smart People

Second Stage has chosen to present likely the most self-absorbed, un-interesting, and indulgent play by what can only be described as a bitter, angry, ivy-leaguer stuck in academia-land with no real connection to the real world where us normal folk live.

With a "smart" connection to racism that likely nobody except a few in the theater might even appreciate, we get Barak Obama's election thrown in our face even tho it has nothing to do directly with the story of the four unrelated characters.  But of course it was there because everything in this playwright's universe probably revolves around Barak Obama and his historic presidency. It is central to the quintessential millennial's storyline.

One would expect that the actors on the stage might have salvaged the material.  Unfortunately, there wasn't a stage actor anywhere to be found.  TV-land has invaded all four of the characters.  Overall the actors were too loud, too flat, and seemed to be playing to the cameras as they are used to.   It didn't help that the structure of the play was vignette-like often promoting the short burst messages.  I was ready for commercials to roll at some points.

The playwright... oh sorry... the author (she's too good to be a playwright i suppose), Lydia R. Diamond likely identifies closely with this over privileged academic bubble fantasy she portrays as real life.  The truth of the matter is that each of the characters exudes stereotype to the point I wanted to vomit.  The power-Asian academic who secretly loves to shop and screw (Anne Son), the top-of-his-class African American doctor (Mahershala Ali) who still can't get ahead due to his race and associated anger, the over-privileged white professor (Joshua Jackson) who never spent a day in the real world, and finally the broke, idealistic, young, pretty black actress (Tessa Thompson) who smokes and screws the doctor because she might just get her MRS.  And while I am now delighted to know that Mr. Jackson is well endowed, the locker room scene was totally gratuitous and completely derivative.  I suspect it may eventually get cut.

Do yourself a favor and skip Smart People.  You'll save a shoe that you otherwise would want to throw at these over-priveledged loser-characters who think they have a purpose in life you see on stage.

a Man and his Prostate

Over at the cozy stage at the Metropolitan Room, where we usually hear them crooning away into the night, this past weekend saw a giant of TV and Movies get back in the saddle and give a "test run" of a new one man show that seems tailor made for him.  The indomitable and known to be curmudgeonly Ed Asner dives into a role that only a man of his age can.

Written by but performed by Mr. Asner, is the tale of an older gentleman and his bodily functions or lack thereof in the pee department.   It's about the prostate, young man.  You don't know anything about it, but you will.  Trust me.

Although not disclosed except in the very fine print, this is presumably Mr. Weinberger's story, not Mr. Asner's.  But you sure as heck wouldn't know by listening to him weave his tale seated in a simple director's chair on a bare stage dressed in traditional Florida retiree garb.  After all these years, Mr. Asner still has it.  Nobody can tell a story like that big old bear, Ed.  Not much has changed since his days on Mary Tyler Moore.  He's a hard hearted yet totally lovable lunk.

With slides loaded in the deck to project at various points and his cane in hand to point out the finer details of an anatomy diagram (yes, this one isn't for the kids),  Mr. Asner takes you on a journey to Italy and back - less a few bladder stones, of course.

Lovable, Curmudgeonly, Cantankerous, Tender, and Honest - Mr. Asner has it all.  And you'll leave rooting for him and his penis too.

Noises Off

In what might be the most anticipated production of the season, Roundabout's 50th Anniversary, Noises Off hits the boards this week at the American Airlines Theatre.

I saw the last NYC incarnation of this gem 14 years ago - Click Here - with Peter Gallagher, Patti Lupone, Katie Finneran, TR Knight, Faith Prince, and Edward Hibbert.  Needless to say I have fond and vivid memories of the hilarity that ensued.  Of course when I saw the show for the first time I had no idea what was going to happen - this time around, I sort of knew what was going to play out.

This time around, the indomitable Andrea Martin (Dotty) brought her physical comedy to the stage.  Campbell Scott (Lloyd Dallas), tackles the prickly and frustrated director. David Furr (Garry Lejeune), Megan Hilty (Brooke Ashton), Kate Jennings Grant (Belinda Blair), and Jeremy Shamos (Frederick Fellows) tackle the interlopers.  Tracy Chimo (Poppy Norton-Taylor) and Rob McClure (Tim Allgood) tackle the stage crew roles and Daniel Davis (Selsdon) is the bungling alcoholic burglar.

Anyone who knows anything about Nothing On (the play within the play) knows it is a physical comedy inside the physical comedy Noises Off - Three progressively "worse" acts repeated with disastrously funny consequences.  Timing is more than half the battle and tuning the characters just right is the rest.  I'd say they did a great job at the first part - the timing and physicality was nifty. The set (Derek McLane) was quite literally exactly what I remembered it to be - as if they pulled it out of storage.  What the production lacked, I thought, was a sense of mad-cap pace and hilarity.  It was almost very deliberate and plodding.  Certainly Ms. Martin had moments of glory - mostly in Act I as she labored over the sardines and later when she got tangled in the phone cord.  I remember TR Knight having a bigger part than Mr. McClure - and I don't know why.   Ms. Hilty delivered those stilted and quite literally memorized lines perfectly - and by perfectly I mean at just about the most incorrect time and always mugging to the audience like her character is supposed to.   This time around Mr. Scott walked around the entire theater including the mezzanine with his booming director's voice and I don't remember Mr. Gallagher doing the same except for right down front.  There were plenty of stars in this production although none of them shone overly brightly.  There was plenty of talent and great timing in this production, but nothing transported me.  That could be a bit of the 2nd time around syndrome, or it just might possibly be that the production seemed a bit more farcical and deliberately physical than it needed to be.

In the end, it doesn't much matter.  The family behind me had no idea what was going to happen and half my fun was listening to their reactions in Act 2.  I enjoyed this production but not quite as much as I enjoyed my first one.

Skeleton Crew

Doing what they do best, The Atlantic Theater Company is beginning a run of what might be the most compelling and culturally relevant play of the season.

Written by Dominique Morisseau, Skeleton Crew gives us a glimpse into challenges of very blue collar workers at a car manufacturing plant in Detroit.

Life is tough.   Life makes you tough.  Who is your family and to what extreme will you go to protect them and their livelihood?   These tough, poignant, and in-your-face questions are all asked and answered by the suburb actors on stage.  Lynda Gravatt (Faye) is the stalwart veteran of the plant.  Jason Dirden (Dez) is the young wild-child, Nikiya Mathis (Shanita) is a young expecting mother with a lot of pride in what she makes, and Wendell B. Franklin (Reggie) is the plant manager torn between the white collar world he now lives and the blue collar world he grew up in.  This ensemble was as tight, on-point, and incredibly credible.

Between the rumors of the plant closing, thefts at the plant, a pregnancy, homelessness, and a gun, to say where there's smoke there is fire is the understatement of the year.   Sparks fly.  Pride is always in the way.  Tempers flair.  This riveting piece is most assuredly best performed in an intimate black box theater where emotions are high and contained.

Fiddler on the Roof

Over at the gorgeous Broadway Theatre we have another revival of a beloved classic.  I've seen a prior revival - the Alfred Molina production last in NYC. This time around we have Bartlett Sher led revival staring the usually indomitable Danny Burstein (Tevye).

Of course, a revival usually has to add its own take on the style or material.  This revival (in one of the most opulent theaters on Broadway, by the way) choose to employ relatively minimalist sets (most flew in and out) and few props on quite a large empty stage which was alternatively lit up bright for the company and focus spot lit for individual characters.  There was a large hole downstage that supposedly allowed the orchestra and the lush Jerry Bock score waft into the cavernous theater.  Unfortunately that hole served no purpose since the orchestra sounded like it was a rag time band stuffed in a tight box with a microphone that artificially amplified it throughout the theater.   (As a side note, the very cavernous Broadway Theatre curtained off the rear mezzanine to reduce the size of the actual seated theater.  It struck me that I have seen shows here before when the entire theater was full - and this revival clearly new it just couldn't draw such a large audience from the start).

Now as for the classic tale - Mr. Sher chose to begin and end the show with Danny (presumably Tevye's contemporary heir) in a modern blood red winter jacket reading a story from a book which is presumably Tevye and His Daughters which is the actual basis for this play.  Now, not a word was changed but the feel for the opening was flat, uninteresting, as he was literally reading the book to us as he started the tale of this famed musical which leads to the opening number, Tradition.  Interesting choice, but it didn't capture me.   As we get further into the show Mr. Burstein continued to fail at capturing my imagination.  He was too nice, too nebbish, to tentative.  and generally not a bold Tevye.  A great voice, but not deep and booming.  He certainly had moments of brilliance but they were few and far between.  His wife, Goldie, (Jessica Hecht) was equally unsatisfying.  She was too mean, too stern, and not likable,  When we got all the way to Do you Love Me, I was relatively certain that the answer was "No".  Of course the company filled in the blanks along the way - plenty of dancing, hand clapping and foot stomping in classic style.   However, Tevye's Dream and the entire scene seemed to me to be an odd pastiche of monsters straight out of Lord of the Rings.  Of special note (mostly because nobody else earned it), Motel the tailor (Adam Kantor) was a bright spot to the evening having energy, commitment to the part, and a great stage presence as well as a voice anyone would be jealous of.  The 5 daughters, Tzeitel (Alexandra Silber), Hodel (Samantha Massell), Chava (Melanie Moore), Shprintze (Jenny Rose Baker), and Bielke (Hayley Feinstein) were all competent yet bland.   Yes, I felt their betrayals, but just wasn't sold on the consequences.  Even Yenta the matchmaker (Alix Korey) felt too Brooklyn Jewish - which meant she got the audience laughs but wasn't as true to the character as she could be.  Oye!

The only star this evening in the theatre was Jerry Bock's score itself - lush and lovely as ever, we know more of these tunes than almost any other musical out there - Tradition, Matchmaker, Matchmaker, If I were a Rich Man, To Life, Sunrise Sunset, Do You Love Me, and Anatevka.  I felt this show eerily resembled the happening of today in the world with the Syrian refugee crisis and similar societal events.  With the show opening and closing the way it did, perhaps that was what Mr. Sher was going for.  I'm glad I had a really cheap ticket.  It minimized the length of my utter disappointment in this production.

Our Mother's Brief Affair

Hot off the press, Richard Greenberg's tender relatively new work hits Broadway's nail square on the head.  An almost perfect fit for the subscription theater crowd.  An old Jewish mother losing her memories and her two distant, yet loving children tango back and forth seamlessly through the present and past memories and try to bring meaning and definition to their lives, each in their own way.

Linda Lavin (Anna) is the matriarch.  Staunch, ignored, marginalized, Jewish, and mildly bitter.  Greg Keller (Seth) is an obituary writer - lonely, preppy yet schleppy, nebbish, and gay. Kate Arrington (Abby) is the less than happy, hippie, gentle, and lesbian.  Ms. Lavin is the perfect choice to play a Jewish mother lording over her children in a loving yet authoritative and sarcastic sort of way.  Mr.  Greenberg seems well skilled at constructing the damaged, delicate, off-balance, and less than perfect family.   His language is rich and often the choice of words is argued over and debated in the dialogue.  It's smart and swift.  His ability to effortlessly sail through the story-telling is large.  Sometimes it's too large and we get bogged down - such as the latter half of Act II.

It turns out that Anna has indeed had what the title suggests - a brief affair.  Her children may or may not have been aware of it but they are grappling with it now. Her son is having the most difficulty coming to grips with the reality of the beans his mother is spilling.  The affair is quite a shocker.  Well, it's a shocker only after they employ a theatrical device to turn up the lights break the 4th wall and have the two children explain to the audience what their mother just admitted to.  I doubt many people would simply recognize the name David Greenglass.  The use of this abrupt device - is used to a lesser extent throughout the show - as this is really a memory play, a story told by the two children intermixed with flashback scenes from their life.

Tender, tough, heartbreaking, funny, and warm all at the same time.  In the end, the message is summed up by Anna to her son by explaining all she ever wanted was to be remembered.

School of Rock

I may likely have had the most fun at what I perceived as the least anticipated show of the season.  (Ok, The Color Purple may be the actual show at that rung of the ladder, but I digress).   I was indeed 'schooled' by the best on a Monday nite.

Sure, the movie was dumb.  I can't really say the adapted book for this musical was superior in any way.  I was pleasantly surprised that the music by Andrew Lloyd Webber himself was catchy, upbeat, toe-tappin', and appropriate for the raucous riot that occurs onstage 8 shows a week at the Winter Garden Theater.  I wasn't surprised by talented kids on stage - I expected it.  And my expectations were indeed surpassed.  The talented kids were played like a well tuned Fender by none other than the abundantly talented and uber-energetic Alex Brightman (Dewey). He ran that stage from the first minute to the last with what seemed like endless enthusiasm and boundless charisma.  The story is essentially him and the school kids.


Of course, this is a musical so we have to have other characters. If you want to sell tickets, these other characters must also have songs.  It was a thrill to see Sierra Boggess (Rosalie) on stage, but what a waste she was at the same time.  Of course she had to have a song.  Of course it ran the show longer than it should have run.  Of course this was repeated over the course of a few of the parents and teachers.  In a movie we would not have wasted so much time just to balance out the tickets and justify the lead equity contracts.  But again, I digress.

Parents and teachers were all fine, unmemorable, and frankly could give anyone their "big break" on Broadway and I hope it does.  The show is a big ball of fun and everyone on the stage looks like this is afternoon playtime, not a stressful performance.  Mr. Brightman and these kids are the stars and deserve all the credit to the fun of the evening under the swift direction of Laurence Connor.  Sloppy and abrupt scene changes and a book like Swiss cheese will all be ignored.  Class dismissed.

The Humans

The wonderfully talented writer, Stephen Karam, has penned yet another potent work now on stage at Roundabout's Laura Pels Theater.  The Humans is a bare bones expose of the titular condition translated to us via the Blake Family.

Erik Burke (Reed Birney) and Deidre Blake (Jane Houdyshell) are the staunchly middle class parents who raised their kids and go to church.  They seem to be finding the dream slipping away day by day.  Aimee Blake (Cassie Beck) and Brigid Blake (Sara Steele) are their two daughters who seemingly have done better than their parents' generation - college for both and Aimee being a lawyer in Philadelphia.  Brigid is, however, a struggling composer just out of school with a mountain of student loan debt.  Brigid is hosting Thanksgiving in her newly obtained apartment in Chinatown - a byproduct of her and her boyfriend Richard Saad (Arian Moayed) deciding to move in together to save money on the way to seeing if they can make it as a couple.  Mother Blake is, of course, not happy about this arrangement.  You're supposed to get married first.  Accompanying them is Erik's Mother (Lauren Klein) who is completely taken by Alzheimer's.  She's in a wheelchair and is really much out of it.  We learn they really can't afford to put her anywhere for care which makes the disease even more sad for all involved.

As Brigid over-compensates and leads the conversation and tour of her city and neighborhood, we learn more and more about each family member.  Aimee has ulcerative colitis and may be losing her job as a lawyer.  Mom and Dad have worked for the same places with little wage increases over the past few decades.  Brigid is still learning how to "live" with her new boyfriend - what they share, what they say, and what they don't.  It's really a slice-of-life type of a play with the family's dirty laundry being exposed here and there.  Funny, poignant, and sad.  Mr. Birney and Ms. Houdyshell might just be the finest actors on the stage today.  Neither one seems to be able to utter an insincere or unintentional word.  Ms. Steele is annoying and endearing all at the same time.  It's a family,  warts and all.  It's a dumpy New York City apartment Chinatown, warts and all.   It's Thanksgiving, warts and all.

We do learn that Dad has something to tell everyone.  I assumed it was the big C. But it's a twist that you will not expect.  Like many families who don't really talk to each other and ignore most of the not-so-nice things - the Burke's are no different.  The play progresses with light bulbs burning out until we end is total darkness.  A darkness I liken to the lost nature of the entire family and families in general - all bubbly and sparkly on the outside, not so much on the inside.

Lazarus

New York Theater Workshop is known for its bold, interpretive, and artistic productions.  This latest installment is no different.  Based on a 1963 novel, The Man Who Fell to Earth, by Walter Tevis and a subsequent 1976 movie by Nicholas Roeg (and a 1987 television adaption which differed with the original material), this musical by David Bowie (music) and Enda Walsh (Book) is a bizarre, fantastical, and imaginative look in to the mind of a man.

Make no bones about it - this production, by its very nature, is bizarre.  Very bizarre.  It's like Clockwork Orange meets Next to Normal.  The play itself has always been discordant, imaginative, and vague.  It's the nature of dreams, insanity, and mental illness.  Helmed by hot Belgian experimental "it" director, Ivo van Hove, this particular production adds potent, strong, and lavish music to the equation.  The combination is magical.  Throw in a dazzling special effects of a large media screen and magnificent projections and you find yourself immersed in an evening of pure fantasy.

Mr. Newton is the center of our attention - A Mad, deranged, dreamer played by the indomitable  Michael C. Hall.  With the rage and angst of a madman he owned the role from the first maddening minute to the last.  His maid, Elly (Cristin Meloti), was the perfect malleable, innocent companion. Valentine, an incarnation of the devil perhaps, a madman at the very least was played to the hilt by the Michael Esper. A cast of other interlopers contributed to the mesmerizing, magical, and fantastic evening in the theater.  Perhaps the most talented and poignant performers on the whole stage was Sophia Anne Caruso (Girl).  She is perhaps vocal perfection.

And let's not forget the incredible band behind the glass wall,  They rocked.  As a result, we rocked.

These Paper Bullets

Now rockin' the stage over at the Linda Gross Theater of The Atlantic Theater Company is a play with music that has more effervescence than some musicals.  The title and origins of the show are a bit stuffy being from Yale Reparatory Theater and all.... but that doesn't stop director Jackson Gay from dazzling the audience with his spinning disk stage and scenery (i get it, just like a record, right?) upon which the boys and their fans strut their stuff.


What have we got going on here, you ask?  It's Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing updated to London 1964 and involves a boy band that very closely (*wink wink*) resembles the Beatles.    The Quartos - which in my opinion should be the name of the play - are cute, rebellious, young and horny. (what boy bands aren't?).  Music by Billie Joe Armstrong and orchestrations by Tom Kitt are sure to please.

Don't get me wrong - it's super-smart - although I will admit I have never read Much Ado About Nothing - so much of it was lost on me.  Meanwhile the music has an all-too-familiar sound to it and kept the toes-a-tapping'.   The uber adorable and sexy boys of The Quartos - Ben (Justin Kirk), Claude (Bryan Fenkart), Balth (Lucas Papaelias), and Pedro (James Barry) - croon the night away and take you back a few decades to a more innocent time.

Sub plots develop around the love and revenge story - one might say a few too many however.  Scotland Yard detectives investigating "What is wrong with the youth of our Country" provide some entertaining interludes following the boys - including the incredibly adorable multi-character actor Christopher Geary.  The women who are the object of affection and scorn include Bea (Nicole Parker), Higgie (Arianna Venturi), and Ulcie (Keira Naughton).

Yes, I believe the characters have similar names to the play by the Bard and it's all wrapped in a hip backbeat that will make you smile despite the unnecessarily long tun time (please trim this up, Rolin Jones).  A two hour runtime will likely be the sweetest spot you can find.

Marjorie Prime

Jordan Harrison has penned a compelling futuristic tale where artificial intelligence may just keep us company, attempt to provide comfort, and companionship in our elder years.   But he cleverly explores the depth, substance, and satisfaction this fascinating technology might bring to us - or not give to us, as the case may be.

Lois Smith (Marjorie), an aging mother losing her memories brings in a holographic tool (practically played by an actor, however)  - her husband, Walter, dashingly handsome in his 30's (the dashingly handsome Noah Bean) - to be with her and trigger her memories and provide companionship.   But it seems there is one major flaw - this prime (as it is referred to - Walter 'Prime') only knows what it has been told about the person it is becoming.  Is this a true and complete history?  Might be be whitewashing the past to paint the picture we want to see?

As the play progresses into the future and we see the deaths of other characters, each remaining person is presented with a "prime" of the departed individual. As the final character remains, Stephen Root (Jon)  - we come to see that this technology may not solve all problems or provide complete comfort and satisfaction.  In the final scene, quite brilliantly written, acted, and staged we end up seeing all the primes having a very stilted conversation going round and round on a small turntable around a kitchen table - after all - they only have things to talk about that they were told.  Their existence, indeed, is as stilted and incomplete as the conversation they are having.

Thérèse Raquin

Now playing over at Studio 54 - Cousins marrying, murder, ghosts, an overbearing mother, sex, a stroke, and a double poisoning.   Just your average evening in the theatre for the talented cast of Roundabout's latest production of Therese Raquin

Making quite a substantial Broadway debut is the delightful Keira Knightley (Therese Raquin).  The ensemble generously supporting the titular character includes the stalwart Judith Light (Madame Raquin) and adorably obnoxious Gabriel Ebert (Camille Raquin) as the adopted family of Therese - her father died and her aunt and aunt's son became her family at an early age.  Rounding out the ensemble is the hunky and handsome suitor, Laurant (Matt Ryan).


What we have here is a twisted and overbearing mother who raised a weak, obnoxious, nelly-boy son and married her off to his first cousin who was raised in the same household because her father died at an early age.   Locked in a loveless (and sexless) marriage, the heat turns up when the obnoxious nelly-boy's best friend finds himself intensely drawn to Therese - - that's when the sparks (and sex) fly.  Laurent, Therese,  and Camille all go out on a boat (yes there is a real lake on the stage). Laurent knocks the weak Camille off the boat and he drowns.  After a few months, the two can finally be together - but will Camille haunt them from the grave?  Is the guilt of killing Madame Raquin's only son too much to bare?  When Madame Raquin accidentally finds out (a note for the director here - i thought this part of the show was not as clear as it could have been as we do not actually see her overhear something) will she expose the two for the murderers they are?

On a different note, I suspect this play is based on a bit more detailed source material (novel 1867, play1873) .  However when translating to this stage it seems the the character of Suzanne (Mary Wiseman) must have been more developed in the source material because her character on stage was incomplete.  Did we need to know she had a suitor (happy) and then her father chased the man away (grumpy)?  I saw no purpose to this story line. Perhaps the book elaborates.

Sets by Beowulf Boritt were magnificent - some flying in, a literal lake on stage, one hovering in mid air.  The actors were not mic'd as far as I could tell and it seemed very appropriate.  Sound (Josh Schmidt) , however was ingeniously integrated with tones and ambient sounds during and between scenes.  To find out how all this resolves, head over to Studio 54 and catch these fine actors practicing their craft.  Just don't expect time to pass quickly.

A View From the Bridge

BAM!  What is playing over at the Lyceum Theatre just may be some of the best theatre of the decade.  This is no joke.  The Young Vic Production (straight from the UK) of Arthur Miller's A View From The Bridge is setting the oldest theatre in Manhattan's stage on fire and leaving audiences stunned night after night.

Belgian experimental Director Ivo Van Hove's minimalist production is ominous and eerily powerful.  The sparse and tiny stage (made tiny mostly by adding 70 stadium style seats on either side of the stage where the wings used to be is part of the reason).  The innovative staging is reminiscent of a cage match where the actors, all barefoot by the way, engage in a brawl for two hours. Jan Verswayveld's set and mechanical box that raises and lowers around the set are a simple and brilliant idea.  Tom Gibbons' sounds reverberate and persist throughout the show adding drama and mystery to the already potent situation.

The mostly-Brit cast does an upstanding job at putting on their Brooklyn-eese.  Even when they slip on a word here or there, you never really mind that much because the tension they are all adept at creating and maintaining is masterful.  Complain if you will about two brothers straight off the boat from Italy who don't have an Italian accent whatsoever.  I don't think this production is much about authenticity, but rather a trimmed down version of the story with a singular focus of intensity, mystery,  and drama.  Mark Strong (Eddie), Phoebe Fox (Catherine), Nicoa Walker (Beatrice) form the core Red Hook, Brooklyn family, torn by traditions and a desire to grow and be successful in America.  The extremely hunky and dashing Russell Tovey (Rudolpho) and svelte Michael Zegan (Marco) are the mysterious interloper illegal immigrants from Italy.  Michael Gould (Alfieri) plays the "Greek Chorus" or narrator by lurking most of the show around the outside of the ring explaining what is going to happen.  When he steps in the ring as a participant in the battle, he, too, removes his shoes.

This production is nothing short of pure brilliance.  The 140 or so people in the stage seating, by far, saw an entirely different play than the people out in the standard theater seats.  Those in the balcony quite possibly didn't even see portions of the play.  Regardless, the bloodbath on W45th will leave you shaken.