Wednesday, June 25, 2014

"Fly By Night"


Fly by Night
 
 
Adam Chanler-Beret and Patti Murin (photo: Joan Marcus)


Fate, karma, destiny, magic and music are some of the key elements of a bittersweet love story whose supposition is that we are all locked and interlocked in a metaphysically programmed universe. It is more than six degrees that find the characters in "Fly By Night" meeting, loving, leaving and wondering what to make of it all, as they find themselves in relationships over which they appear to have little or no control. What are the forces behind the energy and synergy of our lives and behind our moves and our motives and how do we know when to listen and whether or not to obey?

Sounds weird enough, but this new and often enough wondrous musical, as conceived and written by by Kim Rosenstock  and collaborators Will Connolly and Michael Mitnick at the Playwrights Horizons has captured, at least during its first half, a delightful confluence of cause and effect as it happens to a group of people before, during and after all the lights went out along the northeast corridor in 1965.

Despite notes of sadness and melancholy, there is also a joyously mystical aspect to the musical, ably directed by Carolyn Cantor, in which a young man Harold (Adam Chanler-Beret) who makes sandwiches in a deli finds himself also making difficult choices when it comes to the two women in his life. It was easy enough for him to fall for pretty, perky and blonde Daphne (Patti Murin) who has left her small town in South Dakota and recently settled in New York with the hopes of a stage career.  

Strumming away on the guitar left to him by his recently deceased mother, Harold not only also aspires to be a song-writer and performer but also hopes to be an inspiration to Daphne, that is until he meets Miriam (Allison Case) her astronomy nerd of a sister who has come to New York to be supportive. For Harold, there is something compelling about Miriam and her abstract notions of stars and such,  just as Daphne finds herself being intrigued by a self-absorbed dilettante playwright Joey Storms (Bryce Ryness) who sees her potential and wants to star her in his new play.


The musical moves back and forth in time as we are led from location to location and incident to incident by means of an omnipresent observer/ narrator (delightfully played by Henry Stram) who keeps more than just tabs on the lovers as he also delightfully assumes some minor roles.  We are also watching to see just how Harold's "La Traviata" obsessed father (Peter Friedman), who continues to grieve with an old Victrola in his hands over the loss of his wife, might find his future, just as we wonder what the future holds for the disgruntled deli owner Crabble (Michael McCormick).

Somehow just as the lovers begin to make choices that are made to seem predestined, the musical, especially during the second half, seems to lose its focus and grip on telling the story, but rather devolves and get bogged down by protracted musical and narrative reveries. Aside from a score that is pleasant enough, there is a cloying repetition of a theme song that does not help us keep the faith. I also had the feeling that the musical had said all it had to say and to sing in its first act. Despite splendid acting from the ensemble, Act II becomes tedious and tiresome and undermines the whimsy, charm and metaphysical impulses that otherwise ground this ambitious little musical.

I liked seeing the band centered on the stage and seeing how creatively director Cantor uses the abstract setting (by David Korins) to enable these searching souls to finally gaze at a heaven filled with stars, thanks to the lovely lighting by Jeff Croiter.

"Fly By Night" (through June 29, 2014) at Playwrights Horizons, Mainstage Theater, 416 West 42nd Street
For tickets ($75.00 - $9500) call 212-279-4200 or phnyc.org.

"Just Jim Dale'






Just Jim Dale 
Jim Dale (photo: Joan Marcus)




Any entertainer with a multi-faceted, sixty-year-spanning career (and still counting) in show-business will surely have plenty of memories, anecdotes, and associations up his sleeve and at the ready to help tell his remarkable story. Jim Dale, with the help of director Richard Malby, Jr., has put together a warmly winning one-hundred minute show in which Dale's regales the audience with the highlights of his life upon (and sometimes off)  the stage, with the on-stage accompaniment of pianist Mark York.

What some of us remember and some of us don't is almost irrelevant as the British Music Hall-trained and inspired Dale goes through the paces and postures of a master guide and exemplar of the music hall style, one that has served over the decades to define many of the entertainment greats in vaudeville, film, stage and TV. Chatter, patter and dance are mixed and mingled with jokes as the British- born performer recalls his awkward start upon the music hall stage doing a bit of singing, impersonations and pratfalls for laughs.

Lyric-writing was not out of the reach of the talented, lanky and nimble Dale, who reminds us that he wrote the lyrics to the hit theme song for the film "Georgie Girl," as well as a wonderfully silly ditty "Dicka Dum Dum" for which he encourages the audience into a sing-a-long. Doing the complete final depressing monologue from Noel Coward's "Fumed Oak," however, is probably not as good or as effective an idea to augment his program as is doing the opening scene as the agitated school teacher from the hit play in which he starred  "Joe Egg." More effective and jolly indeed are his clowning and motor-mouthed delivery of famous quotes from Shakespeare, a send-up in part of his similarly tongue-twisting "There's a Sucker Born Every Minute" from "Barnum," the Broadway musical that catapulted him to stardom.

Those of us at a certain age will treasure Dale's appearances on the stage as in "Barnum," and in the 1997 revival of "Candide." Others could very well be more acquainted with Dale as the many voices in the "Harry Potter" audio books , as exemplified in a humorous segment in a recording studio . Even as his personal life, as bookended with "The Colors of My Life" (from "Barnum") is poignantly shared, it remains for his close-out with Irving Berlin's "Let Me Sing and I'm Happy," to make us realize just how many colors of Jim Dale's life have we had the pleasure to share.

What is so astonishing to me is that as soon as we assume that Dale has taken a longer than necessary leave of absence from the stage, he pops up to serve and in some instances save a play as he did as Mr. Peachum in a misguided 2006 revival of  "Threepenny Opera," and in rescuing a languid 2012 revival of Athol Fugard's "Road to Mecca."  What's next Mr. Dale? We are waiting.

"Just Jim Dale" (through August, 10, 2014)  at  the Laura Pels Theatre at Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre 111 W. 46th Street
For tickets ($79) at boxoffice or call  212 - 719 - 1300

"City of Conversation"



"City of Conversation"

The City of Conversation

Kristin Bush and Jan Maxwell (photo: Stephanie Berger)

Anthony Guardina's "The City of Conversation" is a good play with a fine plot and chock full of enlivening dialogue. It has been well-directed by Doug Hughes, excellently cast and handsomely produced, in this instance by the Lincoln Center Theater.

Topical, timely, as well as smart and snappy, it traverses three decades of political and social intercourse, estrangement and reconciliation between familial adversaries. As played out within the elegant living room of Washington D.C. liberal-leaning hostess Hester Ferris (Jan Maxwell), the varyingly disparate aspects of liberal vs conservative agendas are brought to the fore when Hester's son Colin (Michael Simpson) brings home his bride to be Anna Fitzgerald (Kristin Bush) for approval.

Anna may be savvy and smart when it comes to her own right-leaning political posturing, but her scheme to manipulate Colin's career serves as a call-to-arms for Hester. This, when her future daughter-in-law's true intentions are revealed during a dinner party for a conservative Kentucky senator  George Malonee (John Aylward) and his wife  Carolyn (Barbara Garrick) .

Hester's plan is to not only win the senator's support for Teddy Kennedy as a presidential nominee, but also to give a boost to her married lover Senator Chandler Harris (Kevin O'Rourke) whom she would like to see as VP on the ticket. At the same time, Anna has plans to boost her own career by ingratiating herself to the senator with her own skillfully introduced conservative views. The war is on.

Into the mix is Hester's widowed sister Jean (Beth Dixon) who seems to be in service to Hester, a role that implies more than we are told, but one that Dixon discharges with a gracious sense of humor. Politicking at dinner parties given by D.C.'s well-heeled and quietly influential was the custom for decades, but is now long gone. Guardina's play is set in the midst of its decline from 1987 - to 2009 as we observe family ties and unities becomes knotted in tension and dissention. A feel-good resolve that is just a little too queasily predictable is the only detour in the plot.


"The City of Conversation" is the first important play of the new season and I hope it isn't forgotten. Certainly Maxwell's vibrant performance is the play's stunning  and unforgettable centerpiece, as we see her not only age credibly, but also progress mindfully in her determination to be true to herself and in what she believes at the risk of losing her son's love and loyalty.  

The play is a class act and helped in no small way by designer John Lee Beatty's handsome living room setting, costume designer Catherine Zuber's period-perfect couture, and the expert lighting by Tyler Micoleau. It was nice to learn from the program that the title was inspired  by Henry James's observation that Washington was "a city of conversation." This fine new play should certainly inspire some lively dinner conversation.

"The City of Conversation" (through July 6, 2014) at the Mitzi Newhouse Theatre,  
For tickets ($77.00 to $87.00) go to box-office, or Telecharge.com or www.lct.org   

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

"Much Ado About Nothing" at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park (through July 6, 2014)

Lily Rabe and Hamish Linklater
 
L. Rabe and H. Linklater
(Photo: Joan Marcus)



Although early press performances were interrupted with rain,  the weather was glorious on Sunday evening June 15th (Father's Day) and the day before the official opening night. All the better for us to enjoy to its fullest a most glorious/lovely-to-look- at, as well as to listen-to production of Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing." 

The set as designed by John Lee Beatty was in itself an artistic and bountiful eye-full, as the terraced Sicilian villa was in full bloom not only with an orange grove, but also with fully ripened red and yellow peppers and tomatoes on the vine in a foreground vegetable garden, perfect on one occasion for some mischievous trampling. The ornate villa even had its magical qualities, as its gated entrance would only open in response to music, beautifully composed by David Yazbek.

More importantly, the attractive company responded with unbounded enthusiasm to the direction of Jack O'Brien.  He and his star-studded cast has certainly made the most of  the Bard's most operatic-like and melodramatic comedy.  Renowned for the superficial fencing/sparring that sparks the volatile relationship between Beatrice and Benedick, "Much Ado...," however, offers considerable more ado and certainly more poignancy to the secondary lovers Hero and Claudio. 

This production sets the two pairs to fend for love and respect while cavorting in the beautiful costumes designed by Jane Greenwood. This production is even more appealing for its casting of a real life couple, Hamish Linklater as Benedict and Lily Rabe as Beatrice.  It's worth noting that Linklater and Rabe are following in the footsteps of other romantically attached or married portrayers of B & B like Maggie Smith and Robert Stephens (for NET TV in 1965) and Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh (I think they were still married then) in the ebullient 1993 film version. Also memorable was the pairing of married couple Sherman Howard and Donna Bullock for the Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey in 2003.

As you may recall the plot, the lusty Claudio, here played in full chauvinist bloom by Jack Cutmore-Scott  falsely denounces his demure bride-to-be Hero (winningly played by the very pretty Ismenia Mendes) as a wanton on their wedding day. It takes more than a few contrivances - bordering on the tragic - before their ultimate reuniting. On the other hand, Hero's sharp-tongued cousin Beatrice and the unsentimental, eternal bachelor Benedick verbally joust on their way to love under the watchful eyes of the in-laws and a pompous, illiterate constable. 

Rabe, who brought an unexpected vibrancy to Portia in the Public Theater's acclaimed "The Merchant of Venice," uses her crisply brittle voice to delightful effect, and she is as feisty a romantic adversary as one could want this side of a shrew. For all the mouthed put-downs, and the fearless forays with the unflappable Benedick, Rabe (even if her tones and or her temperament are even close to dulcet),  manages to remain a thoroughly engaging as well as comical lady of rare and noble bearing. 

Rabe serves as a mocking catalyst for Linklater's more clueless immaturity as the susceptibly vain Benedict. His facetious behavior seems to have no bounds. Nevertheless, he finally figures out how to work his undeniable  charm to confirm him as a most desirable "young lord of Padua." That it takes almost three hours for either of Beatrice's and Benedick's "noble strain" to emerge makes the wait all the more breathless. There is, in fact, no escape from the prescribed tomfoolery and romantic clashes that Linklater and the unceasingly spirited Rabe dish out.
  
If it is true that Shakespeare wrote "Much Ado..." after he finished the histories and wanted to lighten up his canon, he must assuredly be smiling down upon these two undoubtedly mature contrarians. Linklater and Rabe have captured and contrived not only all the lightness, but also the audacious and shadowed ironies that sizzle within B. and B.'s magnetic skirmishes as well as with their breezy bickering.

With every ounce of imbecility intact, John Pankow gets his share of laughs as the  illiterate and idiotic Constable Dogberry, as do his equally imbecilic subordinate watchers (David Manis, Matt Bittner, Alex Breaux) who may indeed be "shallow fools," but they do bring the truth to light.
  
As the heinous troublemaker Don John, Pedro Pascal is effective putting a quietly sinister slant on his covert villainy. Brian Stokes Mitchell is genial in his role as the erudite Don Pedro and also generous in lending his splendid singing voice in a harmonic duet. Making the most of their small roles as Hero's gentlewomen are a spunky Kathryn Meisle and a vivacious Zoe Winters. They are part of a fine company that is all for making much ado. 

Free tickets are distributed two per person at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park beginning at 12 pm on the day of each performance.


"Butler" at the New Jersey Repertory Company (through July 13,2014)


Left to Right: John G. Williams & Ames Adamson (Photo Credit: SuzAnne Barabas).

Former Massachusetts attorney Benjamin Butler (Ames Adamson) may be insecure and ill-prepared to assume his role of Major General in 1861 at the start of the Civil War. And he also doubts if he is up to meeting the unexpected challenge he is faced with at Fort Monroe in Virginia where he is newly in command. The war has barely begun and Butler must decide if he is obliged to disobey the law of the land wherein a slave must be returned to their owner. He ponders this with resolve when confronted by Shepard Mallory (John G. Williams) a runaway slave who has asked for sanctuary at this strategic post.

Butler is an excellent and engrossing play laced with humor by playwright Richard Strand. It is comprised of a series of blistering confrontations primarily between Butler and the unexpectedly literate and erudite Mallory. Although it is charged with socio-political inquiry, it is also fueled by its amusingly discharged discourse between the authoritarian general and the fervently argumentative slave who is making his plea to be conscripted into the Union Army. It becomes more of a major issue when Butler's refusal to return the slave could mean his court-martial and a certain death sentence for the slave.

The dilemma reaches a peak when Butler is visited by an arrogant Confederate Major Cary (David Stiller) who, acting under authority of the slave's owner, demands his return. Under Butler's command is Lt. Kelly (Benjamin Sterling), who generally confounded by his superior's decisions.To read the complete review please go to: http://curtainup.com/butlernj14.html

"Grease" at the Paper Mill Playhouse (through June 29,2014)


Grease
Left ot Rt. Matt Wood, Bobby Conte Thornton, Taylor Louderman (Photo Credit: Jerry Dalia)

It's a well established fact that a critic's endorsement of a show is no guarantee of its success or popularity. My personal response to Grease for the past forty-two years has been one of tolerance. That the Paper Mill Playhouse has chosen to close the season that commemorated its 75th anniversary as one of the outstanding regional theaters in the country with this apparently widely adored popular 50s rock 'n' roll gives me pause to ask myself "What I may have been overlooking?" In a word . . . nothing.

Daniel Goldstein has directed this production with verve and the choreography by Joann M. Hunter has the required vitality — just about all the surface embellishments that make me realize that the show is not likely to ever get any better no matter what is done to it. The colorfully mobile settings based on the 2007 Broadway revival by Derek McLane and the period-perfect costumes based on those by Martin Pakledinaz for the same production are first rate. The current cast is attractive, but possibly not as youthful looking as one might hope, .considering that not one looks even close to being a teenager.

There is no denying that the Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey musical somehow found its way into the hearts of many, even as it made its way into American musical theater history. This, mostly by right of its original record-breaking Broadway run (February 14, 1972 - April 13, 1980) of 3,388 performances, a record that would stand until it was overtaken by A Chorus Line! in 1980.To read the complete review please go to: http://curtainup.com/greasenj14.html

"The Tempest" at The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey (through June 22, 2014)


The Tempest
Sherman Howard as Prospero
Photo: Jerry Dalia

William Shakespeare's The Tempest is the play that launched Bonnie J. Monte as artistic director of the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey in 1991. After twenty-three years of contemplating and considering the many ways there are to interpret the Bard's fantastical tale of forgiveness and reconciliation (based on her director's notes), she has returned to it with renewed appreciation for its complexity and for the play's aim to "please" (quoting Prospero).

With commendable if not startling results, Monte's vision and perspective is above all both personal and pleasing. Only Bardologists and others who have seen the play numerous times can say whether or not she has approached it with a new or previously unexplored insight. For the rest of us, it is a visually arresting production that doesn't attempt to either awe us with special effects or embroider its psychological subtext. Nevertheless, the aura of magic and mysticism looms over it as impressively commandeered by Sherman Howard's tempestuously tempered performance as Prospero. To read the complete review please go to: http://curtainup.com/tempestnj14.html