"Admit One" (at the New Jersey Repertory Theatre through February 16, 2016)

Ames Adamson and Catherine LeFrere
(photo: SuzAnne Barabas)


If I have to admit one thing about Wendy Yondorf's facetious comedy Admit One, it is how much it has been calibrated by its director Karen Carpenter (Love, Loss and What I Wore) to keep audiences at the New Jersey Repertory Company in Long Branch laughing at a situation that is, in reality, far from funny. Yes, I know that is what black comedy is all about, but this one isn't black. It is just blah. But that isn't how the opening night well-wishers reacted at the performance that I attended. They responded with gales of laughter to all the lame jokes about New Jersey, even a groaner at the expense of Governor Christie.

What I could see was how deliberately and desperately the play's two fine actors Ames Adamson and Catherine LeFrere were resolved to play off each other like seasoned vaudevillians and stay the course in a distended discourse. Yondorf's glib script focuses primarily on to what extent do stretching ethics and breeching morality take a parent in an attempt to both put the pressure on, as well as pull the wool over the eyes of a presumably intractable admission officer for a prestigious University. For more information and read my complete review please go to CurtainUp.com    http://curtainup.com/admit1nj14.html

"Fences" (at the McCarter Theatre, Princeton through February 9, 2014)

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Esau Pritchett as Troy Maxson
(photo: T. Charles Erickson)



It is quite probable that any one of the plays by the late dramatic chronicler of the African-American experience in the 20th century August Wilson will seem even better than the last time you saw it. That means that no matter if you have already seen the 1987 Pulitzer Prize-winner Fences either during its original Broadway run or during its last Broadway revival in 2010, the production now at the McCarter Theatre Center under the direction of Phylicia Rashad, reaffirms it as one of Wilson's best. It has also proven to be his most popular and successful. It is the second (it followed Ma Rainey's Black Bottom ) in the cycle of 10 plays with each dramatizing an episode during every decade.

This unashamedly melodramatic play is certainly among the more emotionally stirring, although I find myself thinking this about every Wilson play right after I see it. Returning to the McCarter. Rashad is no stranger to the Wilson canon whether as a director (many regional productions) or as an actor (she played 285 year-old Aunt Ester in the McCarter'sGem of the Ocean in 2005). She has a firm grip on the content and context of this play that comes to the McCarter following an engagement at the Long Wharf Theater in Connecticut. To read my complete review and get more information please go to CurtainUp.com: http://curtainup.com/fencesnj14.html

"Machinal" (Roundabout Theatre Company at the American Airlines Theatre)

Machinal

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Rebecca Hall (photo: Joan Marcus)




It isn’t very likely that Broadway audiences would see a revival of Sophie Treadwell’s (1885 – 1970) multi-character-many-scenes melodramatic expressionistic 1928 play “Machinal” if it were not for the resources of a non-profit theater as is the Roundabout Theatre Company. British director Lindsey Turner is the guiding force behind this spectacularly staged production that features more set changes than do many musicals as well as accommodating a cast of seventeen. Tragic in its scope and demanding in presentation, “Machinal” remains a seminal and specific look at the repression and the retaliation of a vulnerable woman. 
 
Except for the Off-Broadway revival directed by a young Michael Grief for the Public Theater in 1990 (remembered by me at the time as a revelation), “Machinal” (pronounced on the current radio ads as “Mashinal” and in print as “Mock-en-all”) is a stunning evocation of the downward spiraling of an emotionally fragile woman victimized by the life she led and by the circumstances that make her feel it is intolerable.

Not a very pretty picture to frame within lots of highly stylized prose, but Treadwell, who is renowned as one of America’s most prominent playwrights of the first half of the twentieth century, used the very real and shocking Snyder-Gray suburban murder trial of the era as the basis for her riveting play. In it, we see how the indiscretion of a “young woman” (Rebecca Hall), becomes the catalyst to her (not a spoiler) death in the electric chair.

Hall, who is making her Broadway debut after a notable career on the London stage, is unnervingly brilliant as the young conflicted wife and mother who feels trapped and desperate having to live in a constant state of anxiety and despair. We observe her from the very beginning at her wits end escaping from the crush of subway riders, then coping with routine in the shadow of her hovering, needy mother (Suzanne Bertish) and later marking time in the light of an unhappy marriage to her boss (Michael Cumpsty). This union, however, never fully reveals the cause of her pervasive unrest.

What prompts the woman’s increasingly hyper-neurotic behavior and what eventually triggers the psychotic act that will determine her fate are aspects of her personality that are threaded through the play like the accumulation of clues in a mystery. The play segues engrossingly from the beginning where the “Young Woman” appears to be not only overwhelmed by the mechanized and dehumanizing office work, (shades of Elmer Rice’s “The Adding Machine”) but also by the evidently sincere if mechanically romantic attention of her cold, no-nonsense boss. Cumpsty, as he recently did with his splendid performance in the Roundabout’s production of “The Winslow Boy,” affirms his stature as one of our most admirably versatile actors as the clueless “Husband.”

An impulsive and reckless decision to have an affair with a handsome, transient she picks up in a bar provides us with a different perspective of the woman. It is the scene in his hotel room in which we can see her beginning to become aware of her own power and to also feel an identity that has been kept under wraps. Morgan Spector is excellent as the accommodating lover who is both baffled and amused by her.
It is the heightened internal feminine perspective that is exposed and considered so atypical in its time. 

At first, the calculated cadence of the speech as well as the mechanical order of daily life takes on a feeling of science-fiction, but it soon evolves into a kind of purist naturalism. The final scenes are a bit of a drudge as the trial segues slowly to the moment of execution, but we are never out of the grip of a melodrama that spoke to its age even as it continues to be a voice for the repressed of all ages.

There is great theatricality in the physical production as devised by set designer Es Devlin whose turntable becomes a remarkable vehicle, under the atmospheric lighting by Jane Cox, for a large cast to traverse through the plays’ nine episodes and multiple locations. Like the play, it is a triumph of execution with no pun intended.
“Machinal”  (through March 2, 2014) (Tickets are available by calling 212.719.1300, online at www.roundabouttheatre.org or at the American Airlines Box Office (227 West 42nd Street). Tickets prices range from $52-$127.00.

"Loot" (at the Lucille Lortel Theatre)

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Rocco Sisto, Nick Westrate, Ryan Garbayo (photo: Rahav Segev)

A revival of Joe Orton’s “Loot” almost always stirs up our expectations for a rollicking good time. The resurrection of that infamous dead body that is known to maintain a steady and laugh-inducing presence in this now classic farce is being commendably attended to by the talented folk from the Red Bull Theater. Their production is currently on view at the Lucille Lortel Theatre where the corpus delicti has been delectably given due respect. “Loot” may appear a farce, but it is in dead earnest about uncovering the corruptness, the callousness, and the capriciousness of people who often claim to be in the good graces of society.

Perhaps director Jesse Berger doesn’t trust the dead earnestness of the play and felt he needed to treat like a burlesque spoof or old English music hall skit. But this is not a distraction that harms one of the funniest and most sardonic satires in 20^th century play literature. If some of the shock and surprise of the text is lost by actors encouraged to bits of audience pandering, the plot, nevertheless, meanders unimpeded in its own brilliantly skewed maze.

There is also enough of what remains innately and hilarious sinister in the play to make you laugh even when you realize what could have been. There is this tantalizing nurse who, though she may not believe in euthanasia, does believe in murder. Her ninth victim, a Mrs. McLeary, has recently succumbed. The burial of the recently deceased is, however, hampered by the fact that Mrs. McLeary’s wayward son and his pal, an undertaker with a flair for the macabre, have temporarily taken possession of the coffin.

Where else could they stash the “loot” from their recent robbery? A bereaved, unsuspecting husband stands by as a police inspector pretending to be a fact finder from the Metropolitan water board bursts onto the scene to rearrange the facts in a manner that would be rivaled only by Inspector Clousot.

The author, himself, murdered at the age of 34 in 1967, had only moderate success with his plays. Although his first play “Entertaining Mr. Sloan,” was a commercial failure on Broadway, it has been periodically revived. Orton’s last play “What The Butler Saw,” was posthumously produced Off-Broadway and won the Obie Award for Best Off-Broadway Foreign Play of the year.  

Formidably wallowing in enough diabolical thoughts and deeds to make your nerves tingle, Orton’s matter-of-factly perverse characters are also lamentably persuasive. The cast is well chosen, but at the performance that I attended were just settling into the perversity of their characters’ personalities.

Deliberately telegraphing the jokes behind her lines, the blonde and shapely Rebecca Brooksher is certainly amusing as Fay, the mercenary serial murderess nurse. As Truscott the inept yet vicious police inspector, Rocco Sisto deploys comical ingenuity glaring, squinting, and rotating his eyes as he twists every one of his inquiries into a circle of incomprehensible deductions. As the widower who becomes increasingly submerged in a convoluted predicament, Jarlath Conroy has a respectable go at his task of turning from forlorn dumbfoundedness into a state of unhinged stupefaction. Hardly subtle is the spirited bi-sexual interplay that propels the action and the relationship of the undertaker Dennis (Ryan Garbayo) and Hal (Nick Westrate) the amoral loose-tongued son who always feels compelled to tell the truth.

Set designer Narell Sissons created a proper interior of a British middle class home, its hideous, flowered wallpaper making a notable nod to British interior design taste in its time. If there are a few lapses that keep the performances and the staging from extracting all the hyper reality-rooted lunacy embedded within “Loot,” the play continues to be a fantastically deranged and topsy-turvy marauding of our senses, a dazzlingly written black comedy that brings to the surface more than it buries.

“Loot” (through February 9, 2014) Performances are Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at 7:30pm, Thursday and Friday evenings at 8pm, Saturdays at 2pm & 8pm, and Sunday matinees at 3pm at the Lucille Lortel Theater (121 Christopher Street, between Bleecker & Hudson Streets).  Single tickets are on sale now (from only $25). Matador Club members have access to half-price tickets along with other perks. Memberships and single tickets may be purchased online at www.redbulltheater.com or by phone at (212) 352-3101. 

"Beautiful - The Carol King Musical" (at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre)

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Jessie Mueller as King (photo: Joan Marcus)

There may be some really good reason why this musical about the life and career of iconic popular Brooklyn-born songstress Carol King is not titled “A Natural Woman.” That would not only be more apt a description, but it also would not require the current title to add the identifying “The Carol King Musical. But let’s not worry about an unfortunate misnomer when there are other issues at stake in this otherwise snappily-staged, briskly-paced, entertaining jukebox musical. It is framed with a credibility-stretching book that focuses almost unexpectedly on the astounding career and extensive canon of two song-writing couples. They are: King and her first husband, lyricist collaborator Gerry Goffin, and that of Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann.

With effortless efficiency, the latter couple also composed hit after hit and shared a long-time friendship as well as a professional camaraderie with King and Goffin during the 1960s and beyond. So why don’t they share top billing? It is, after all, a two-for-one or more accurately a four for one bio musical…no not exactly like “Jersey Boys,” but perhaps in a lesser way it is.  

Although spotlighting the progression of hits within a sympathetically commemorative, if also amusingly cliché-fed book by Douglas McGrath, there is the warmly ingratiating performance by Jessie Mueller, not to mention the parade of hit tunes that are winningly performed with flashy production values. King’s life is seen in flashback following a brief glance at her in pretentiously folksy attire in concert at Carnegie Hall in 1971 in the wake of her hugely successful pop soft rock album “Tapestry.” That concert and the album were the validation of her meteoric rise to solo stardom following a decade as a team player with Goffin whom she met while at college.

Getting pregnant and married when she was sixteen was no obstacle to her drive and ambition or to her ability to achieve early success grinding out hit after hit for music publisher/entrepreneur Don Kirshner, played with no peculiar quirks or devious designs on controlling his stable of recording artists by a convivial Jeb Brown. It was probably enough to dramatize the reckless, irresponsible and self-absorbed Goffin as the only real turbulence in King’s early life. Jake Epstein is believable as that neurotic, unfaithful, womanizer. Although his bout with a nervous breakdown surfaces briefly, drugs were also probably an issue but not considered among his failings. That the King-Goffin marriage is text book for too-young-to-know-better portion of the story, it is offset by the charming interplay between Anika Larsen as lyricist Weil and Jarrod Spector as composer Mann. I’m sure I won’t be the only one to see how the two couples have been textured and tempered to fit into a kind of Lucy-Desi-Ethel-Fred-styled relationship. Blonde and perky Larsen is terrific as the flippantly independent Weil. The boyish Spector is equally appealing as Mann, a dependent hypochondriac. Liz Larsen is amusing as Carol’s practical mother Genie Klein.

If we didn’t know that the script was based on fact, the progression of then-we-wrote hits and then-we-did events play out as breezily as they do in any number of preposterously plotted musicals from the 1930s. There is no fault to be found in the way director Marc Bruni has grounded the surprisingly unsurprising details of the plot as they transpire within Derek McLane’s tiered erector-setting and under the dazzling lighting provided by Peter Kaczorowsky. The musical numbers are fun as we get vivid re-enactments of such renowned groups as The Drifters and The Shirelles, The Righteous Brothers and even Little Eva, who was originally hired by King to be a baby-sitter but quickly took off to become a recording star with “The Loco-Motion,” a notable highlight of this musical.

Alejo Vietti’s period costumes are spot-on and are as much a visual pleasure as is the supporting cast, most of whom are barely recognizable in their get-ups in portraying the various groups as well as characters. Without differentiating the King-Goffin from the Weil-Mann songbook, audiences will not be hard-pressed to respond favorably to the mix of more than two dozen songs. They include “Some Kind of Wonderful,” “Take Good Care of My Baby,” “Will You Love Me, Tomorrow,” “He’s Sure the Boy I Love,” “Walkin’ in the Rain,” and “Uptown.” This is a show that will undoubtedly make many in the audience feel the glow of a “Natural Woman.” A comparison to the other juke-box bio “Jersey Boys,” is inevitable. But let’s not compare it with that phenomenon, but rather take a cue from Weil’s song that “Happy Days are Here Again.”

“Beautiful – The Carol King Musical”

Stephen Sondheim Theater, 124 W. 43^rd Street

Ticket prices for the Broadway Premiere of Beautiful range from $75 - $152. Beautiful plays the following schedule: Tuesdays – Thursdays at 7:00 PM, Wednesdays at 2:00 PM, Fridays at 8:00 PM, Saturdays at 2:00 PM & 8:00 PM, and Sundays at 3:00 PM. For more information, visit www.beautifulonbroadway.com.

"The Ten (and probably more) Best of the Year 2013 plus a couple of stinkers

It was an easy decision to avoid putting my/the Ten Best Plays/Musicals/Theater Experiences in alphabetical order…also too much thinking involved to put them in order of preference. How I arrived at my list was, however, easy as I simply referred back to my own barely legible calendar which led me to either my reviews, or to wife/theater-companion LucyAnn’s brilliantly conceived, artistically designed and organized scrapbook of programs, photos, and comments…not that they influenced me at all…ahem. You may notice that I consider some of the twofers as a one….don’t ask.

“Fun Home” and “Good Person of Szechwan” 

Sydney Lucas and Michael Cerveris (photo by Joan Marcus) in "Fun Home" 



Lisa Kron and Taylor Mac in "Good Person of Szechwan" (photo by Carol Rosegg)

Two musicals at the Public Theater that were produced virtually together, back to back or side by side as it were truly outstanding and unforgettable: “Fun Home,” has a wonderfully invigorating score by Jeanine Tesori and a sensitive/engrossing book by Lisa Kron for which director Sam Gold and a sterling cast (with three terrific actresses who played Alison Bechdel at three stages of her growing up) that also included Michael Cerveris and Judy Kuhn gave us a heartfelt look into the formative years of the renowned Lesbian graphic artist. I am sure that Bertolt Brecht is actually doing cartwheels in his grave in praise of the Foundry Theater’s audaciously performed, hilariously and poignantly (what a combination) re-imagined musical version of his trenchant political satire “Good Person of Szechwan.” It wasn’t enough that multi-talented Kron wrote the book for “Fun Home” but she appeared as a major character in “Good Person,”…wow! If I were king of the forest, I would have moved both of these productions to Broadway for extended runs.

“King Richard III” and “Twelfth Night”

 

 Mark Rylance as Viola (above), as Richard (below)l

Talk about double headers: Call them the “Globe ” trotters, or anything you like, but the visiting Britishers from London’s renowned Shakespeare’s Globe Theater presented the Bard as he has never before been so delightfully honored. “King Richard III,” and “Twelfth Night” were both presented with an eye and ear for faithfulness to the time when they were first played. Led by Mark Rylance (in drag) in the comedy and as a comedic (don’t be upset) Richard, a superb company of players directed by Tim Carroll made this combo in repertory the seriously don’t miss theatrical event of the season. Playing at the Belasco Theater through February 1.

 “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder”

The Cast in “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” (photo credit: Joan Marcus)

It isn’t a prerequisite that you are a fan of the vintage British film comedy “Kind Hearts and Coronets,” (that catapulted Alec Guinness to stardom) to be thoroughly amused by the antics of a cast headed by Jefferson Mays (in the Guinness role) and Bryce Pinkham in “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder,” a buoyant musical comedy version with a very melodic score by Steven Lutvak and a sparkling book/adaptation by Robert L. Freedman that made every death a delight. At the Walter Kerr Theater. 

 “The Jacksonian”

Ed Harris and Bill Pullman in "The Jacksonian" (photo by Monique Carboni) 

The queen of Southern Gothic comedy Beth Henley was back in top form with “The Jacksonian,” a funny and still scarily macabre play about a young girl who witnesses her dentist father spiraling out of normalcy (to put it mildly) after he is kicked out of his home by his nutty (to put it succinctly) wife to take up residency in a seedy hotel. Awesome, creepy and off-the-wall performances by Ed Harris, Glenne Headly, Bill Pullman, Amy Madigan and Juliet Brett (what an ensemble) were prompted by director Robert Falls. For certain it was the best and most lingering nightmare of the year.

“Passion”

Melissa Errico and Ryan Silverman
(photo by Joan Marcus) in "Passion"

This discomforting romantic chamber opera by Stephen Sondheim is in some ways a challenge, but in more ways further proof that an uncompromisingly serious score by one of the American Theater’s most extraordinary composers can thrill a conventional traditional theater audience with its dramatically melodic content: the seduction of a handsome soldier by a homely and sickly woman. The Classic Stage Company’s stunning revival was designed and directed by John Doyle. Judy Kuhn as the homely Fosca made life difficult for the gorgeous Melissa Errico, and good-looking Ryan Silverman.

 “Kinky Boots”

Billy Porter and several of The Angels (photo by Matthew Murray) in "Kinky Boots"

For “Kinky Boots” Cindy Lauper wrote a terrific score, Harvey Fierstein wrote an excellent book and director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell brilliantly assembled all the elements. Derived from a minor British film comedy about a failing shoe factory that discovers that designing fetish footwear is the key to success, it had heart and soles and it won (stole???) the Best Musical Tony last spring away from that annoying little British twerp “Matilda.” Still playing at the Al Hirschfeld Theater. 

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"The Nance"

 

Nathan Lane as "The Nance"

I suspect that Nathan Lane is simply not capable of being in a play or musical that doesn’t get on my best list. With that said, the incomparable Lane played the title role in Douglas Carter Beane’s socio-political play about an unhappy man who becomes a victim of Mayor LaGuardia’s morality stand and harsh crackdown on open homosexuality in the entertainment field, specifically burlesque in New York during the mid 1930s. Maybe not a great play, but certainly a damn good one, as lavishly produced and splendidly directed by Jack O’Brien for Lincoln Center Theater. A strong dose of political activism was woven into a touching gay romance.

“Buyer and Cellar"

Michael Urie in "Buyer and Cellar" (photo by Sandra Coudert)

 

This is a wittily written (Jonathan Tolins) terrifically acted one-person (Michael Urie) play about a young gay out-of-work actor who finds a temporary job as a shopkeeper in entertainment icon Barbra Streisand’s underground mall. Opening to rave reviews for the originality of the play’s premise as well as for Urie’s engaging performance, “Buyer and Cellar” has extended its run so many times, it seems to have become a permanent fixture (like a tchotchka in Streisand's home) at the Barrow Street Theater. The combination of the endearing Urie’s battery of chit-chat about himself and also about La Streisand and her meticulously cared for collectables will have you laughing aloud. Playing at the Barrow Street Theater, 27 Barrow Street. 

"Here Lies Love"

Ruthie Ann Miles in "Here Lies Love" (photo by Joan Marcus)

No kinky boots for Imelda Marcos, the former first lady and present congresswoman of the Philippines whose huge collection of shoes have no place in this swirling, whirling musical tableau during which the audience follows the action and musical numbers all performed on platforms kept in almost constant motion by a strong body of stage-hands. Within a great space, the audience swayed, danced, and responded to the pulsating score by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim and the passionate story about a woman consumed by love, politics, adoration, and fame. It was a lot to deal with but it was a thrilling adventure in interactive theater. Dressed in colorful costumes, the talented company made a spectacle of themselves and of the era they evoked. And everyone at the Public Theater had a good time…adding to the great season for the Public Theater.

As I said, I can’t limit myself to ten, so here is the rest of the best, none of which are still running…except in my mind.

"reasons to be happy"

 

Josh Hamilton and Jenna Fisher in "reasons to be happy" 
 (photo by Joan Marcus)

Neil LaBute made his long over-due Broadway debut (he was already famed for a commendable/sizable body of work that found a following/success Off-Broadway and London) with this trenchant play whose title (although written out in lower case) not too subtly refers to his lower-case characters trapped by circumstance and economics, but not by their desire for a better life.

“The Flick”

 Louisa Krause and Aaron Clifton Moten in "The Flick" (photo Joan Marcus) 

Annie Baker’s play about a small group of young employees at a neighborhood movie house caused a mild furor among the subscribers when it opened at Playwrights Horizons. Many, however, including me were immediately absorbed by their particular obsessions, deeply personal problems and their relationship to one another over the course of three hours. This play, under Sam Gold’s compliant direction, tried the patience of many but I found it outstanding as well as mesmerizing. 

“The Patron Saint of Sea Monsters” 

Laura  Heisler and Rob Campbell in "Patron Saint of Sea Monsters" (photo by Joan Marcus)

It was difficult to make complete sense of everything or anyone in Marlane Meyer’s wacky and bruising play in which the line between human and animal behavior of the characters is as blurred as is the play’s various themes that seem to waver between the spiritually metaphysical and the brutally realistic. It’s all about what happens when a young woman returns to her roots to set up a medical clinic somewhere in the Midwest in the middle of a jungle and rekindles relationships….not too easily. Another head-spinner imaginatively staged and directed by Lisa Peterson for the evidently adventurous (we hope) Playwrights Horizons crowd. 

 “The Mutilated”

Penny Arcade and Mink Stole in "The Mutilated" 

Wouldn’t Tennessee Williams be delighted to know that his deliriously wacky one-act comedy about the unlikely bond between a feisty, down-on-her-luck, over-the-hill prostitute and a reclusive, love-starved and “mutilated” woman of wealth would reappear in a vibrantly comedic production directed with flair and finesse by Cosmin Chivu? Amidst the playing and singing by a jazz band Tin Pan, and the meandering of an intriguing supporting cast, the leads (both notable “Underground” stars) Penny Arcade and Mink Stole won our hearts with their poignantly funny performances. Williams may have been stoned when he wrote this, as he probably was when he wrote the provocative “The Two Character Play” that was also well received earlier this season.

How could I sign off without sharing what I considered to be the worst theater experiences of the year? Allow me to just list a few of them that reached the nadir with no more than a graphic word or more … but I want to be able to (years from now) look back and say with pride, “I’m glad I don’t remember (therefore no photos) that dog at all.”

“Clive” – With no intermission, there was no way to bail on this boring updating of Brecht’s “Baal.”

“Breakfast at Tiffany’s” – Not again? Now about that cat….

“Matilda” – (Okay be shocked) What the devil were they singing about…couldn’t hear one word clearly.

“Far From Heaven” - Not far enough

“The Explorers Club” – Proving even a farce can be unfunny.