"Icebound" Opened 09/26/14 at Metropolitan Playhouse, 220 East 4th Street (through 10/19/14)

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Olivia Killingsworth & Quinlan Corbett(Photo: Jacob J. Goldberg) 

A family of selfish, greedy, mean-spirited rural New Englanders are the core of Icebound the play by Owen Gould Davis, Jr. that received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1923. It is a fine, if not extraordinary play, in which dissension is created among the family awaiting the impending death of the matriarch and dealing the unexpected and unwelcome return of the estranged black sheep.

This play was another leg up for Davis following his 1921 success on Broadway with Detour which was revived two years ago by the Metropolitan Playhouse).

Davis, who was officially done in 1923 with writing the hundreds of pot-boiling melodramas that had brought him great success and prosperity on the touring circuit, paints an almost Eugene O'Neillianesque portrait of swarming rural New England malcontents. High anxiety rules the roost, as the vultures sit around, gripe at each other and pretend to mourn even as they await hearing the contents of the will to be read by family friend and confidante Judge John Bradford (Rob Skolits).

Well-acted and simply staged with the audience (the theater accommodates only fifty-one) seated on three sides of the rather small performing area, Icebound has no difficulty under Alex Roe's direction in securing our immediate involvement with its emotionally charged characters. Written in the days when having twelve characters inhabit a plot was no big deal, director Roe commendably empowers each of the actors to make their own distinctive mark, especially as they are often all seen together.To read the complete review originally posted on 09/27/14 please go to http://curtainup.com/icebound14.html

"Wittenberg" opened 09/13/14 at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey (through 09/28/14)

Photo:Jerry Dalia Jordan Coughtry as Hamlet (Photo: Jerry Dalia)

Of course the title of David Davalos's play rings a bell. But if you are thinking of the University in Springfield, Ohio you are a little off the mark. Although it is the American cousin of Wittenberg University in Germany that is famous as Professor/Theologian Martin Luther's bully pulpit for his Ninety-Five Theses and principally the birthplace of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. It is also famed in fiction as the University where Shakespeare's Hamlet and Horatio studied and is the setting for this audaciously funny and intellectually stimulating satire in which we see Luther and his fellow professor, the controversial philosopher Doctor Faustus at loggerheads as to which course of study the senior student Hamlet will choose as his major.

Buddies despite their on-going and stimulating disputations, Faustus and Luther will also be enjoying each other's company as well as the lager at the local pub where Faustus has a gig singing a little rock to his own guitar accompaniment. How could Hamlet not have had his head spinning with doubt and uncertainty when coming into contact with these men of intellect and consequence within such a confluence of new thought?

There are lots of dazzling and dizzying words dispensed in Davalos's enjoyable play. It's set in 1517 Germany and brings together fiction, fact and fable.

The splendid cast for this Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey production does Davalos's s text justice and creates characters who will keep you intoxicated by their blather and laughing with their bluster.

There are shades of Tom Stoppard by way of Monty Python lurking behind the characters, but they have a way of inviting us into their own and very iconic spheres of study. The plot seems primarily committed to the stimulating oral battles between Luther and Faustus. Whether or not they actually serve to influence or change the mind of the already and recognizably befuddled, but inquisitive and also naive student Hamlet is left for us to ponder. The play is brilliantly twisty and laced with brainy twaddle as it moves from one almost absurdist situation to the next. What fun when a little escapist sex in the form of The Eternal Feminine in invited to participate.To read the complete review originally posted on 09/14/14 please go to http://curtainup.com/wittenbergnj.html

"Dinner With The Boys" Opened 09/12/14 at the New Jersey Repertory Company, 179 Broadway, Long Branch, NJ. (through 10/05/14)

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Left to Right: Richard Zavaglia, Ray Abruzzo, Dan Lauria (photo credit: Suzanne Barabas)



In Dan Lauria's Grand Guignol-ish comedy Dinner With The Boys a pair of Brooklyn-based professional hit-men — Charlie (Dan Lauria) and Dominic (Richard Zavaglia) — have been sequestered by their mob boss Big Anthony, Jr. (Ray Abruzzo) to remain in semi-seclusion in a house somewhere in the wilds of New Jersey. Living together for the past six months as preliminary punishment for not completing a "hit" as instructed, these two inglorious anti-heroes have established a routine of housekeeping, gardening, shopping, cooking and reminiscing about the good old days as they await phase two of their fate. Their past has been marked with enough "hits" between them to keep their dinner conversations lively comprised primarily of the preparation of food and of their most memorable killings, as described with gruesome detail.

Listening to Charlie and Dominic trade off stories as they also consider the options that these "good-fellas" have or don't have, one might initially get the impression that there is more to their relationship than simply the preparation of food and figuring out who did what to whom, when and why. But Lauria's skill as an actor and now as a playwright gives him an edge in a role that is designed to show him off. He is full of surprises in a performance that builds up a nice head of comedic steam and is nicely balanced with the more conservatively nuanced Zavaglia.

Fine teamwork is at the root of Charlie and Dom's long-time attachment to each and is the pleasures they recall of their past rub-outs. Exposition plays a large part as does our unwittingly surrendered affection for the motor-mouthed Charlie and Dom.

Big Anthony, Jr.'s arrival, which is expected by one of the "boys" and unexpected by the other, puts them into survival mode: a concerted effort that has been well calculated by Lauria to insure plenty of uneasy laughs as well as many full out guffaws. There are also some chills in store for those who may not have a taste for blood and the macabre. When Charlie and Dominic also finding themselves welcoming mob accountant "The Uncle Sid" (Morris "Moe" Rosenbaum) and unseen others, it is time to put all their culinary skills to work.To read the complete review originally posted 09/13/14 please go to http://curtainup.com/dinnerwiththeboysnj14.html

"Antony & Cleopatra" Opened 09/12/14 at the Berlind Theatre at the McCarter Theatre Center, 91 University Place, Princeton, NJ (through 10/05/14)

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Nicole Ari Parker and Esau Pritchett


Cleopatra was, to put it kindly, not especially well-known for her deeds, but rather for being simply well-known (in the biblical sense). Even if we don't see her "doing it" or even talking about "doing it," she is the embodiment of physical love and desire in Shakespeare's Antony & Cleopatra.

Funnily, there are no passionate love scenes, save a kiss and a little cuddling in this somewhat action-less play about love. As such, it puts unusual demands upon the two actors who share title billing.

Antony has the easier time of it being a liar and remarkably constant from first to last. But Cleo, an actress through and through who knows that he knows it, is changeable and yet a charmer from first to last.

What is evident from start to last is that Esau Pritchett or Nicole Ari Parker are having fun with their roles and a significant boost to the intruding languor that mars so much of this post-modernist production under the direction of Emily Mann.To read the complete review originally posted on 09/12/14 please go to http://curtainup.com/antonyandcleopatranj14.html

"This Is Our Youth" Opened 09/11/14 at the Cort Theatre, 138 W. 48th Street (through 01/04/14)

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L-R: Kieran Culkin & Michael Cera (Photo: Brigitte Lacombe)



Kenneth Lonergan's play This Is Our Youth garnered enthusiastic reviews during its original limited run Off Broadway in 1996. A revival two years later, again Off Broadway, affirmed it as an insightful, gutsy, street-smart contemporary drama. It isn't a surprise that the recent Steppenwolf production with its starry cast would provide reason enough for a Broadway production.

Eighteen years have now elapsed since New York audiences got their first glimpse into the pathetic, wasteful and misguided lives of a trio of post-teens — two young men and one woman— the indolent spoiled and rich children on Manhattan's upper West Side. I expect that many will be able to judge for themselves exactly how close or how far they are today from the social, political, and economic issues that conspired to make Lonergan's comically irresponsible, emotionally at-sea characters who they are.

The environment of these crude, rude, sexually active, drug dealing and taking characters is one that is rather more familiarly and nostalgically depicted in the mid-20th century works of J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. However, the specific environment changed drastically enough by 1982, the time of the play and the time of the Reagan administration. By then the disillusionment with one's family, the country's politics, and the stigma of casually dropping out of college had sent the young on an even more unsettling downward spiral.

A universe away from Salinger and the quaint rebukes of the "phony" life that prompted alienation from the likes of Holden, the characters of This Is Our Youth are hell-bent on self-destruction. They attempt, mostly in ways that make us laugh uneasily, to turn the world they have inherited on its ear. Nothing about the plot is especially novel, but the wise, often wacky, street talk will prick up your ears as you observe some outrageously rationalized, comical, anti-social antics.

Lonergan, who would follow up his acclaim for This Is Our Youth with such laudable plays as The Waverly Gallery , Lobby Hero and the excellent film You Can Count On Me , need not be concerned that the topicality and the timeliness of his portrait of unfocused and misguided youth, even if it seems just a bit less shocking or even alarming in the light of things as they are today. He should be pleased with the casting of the play's three significant roles, as well as the well-focused direction by Anna d. Shapiro (August: Osage County , Of Mice and Men ).To read the complete review posted originally on 09/12/14 please go to http://curtainup.com/thisisouryouthny14.html

"Janice Underwater" at Premiere Stages in Kean University's Zella Fry Theatre, 1000 Morris Avenue, Union, NJ. (through 09/21/14)

Susan Louise O'Connor (L) and Amy Staats (R)
Photo credit: Mike Peters


Janice (Amy Staats) is a single, thirty-two year old visual artist who has just lost her job and may not be able to continue paying the rent on her apartment. But that's not the real reason she feels she is not only underwater but also under siege. Tormented by the fear she may have inherited the genes that bring on mental illness, she finds herself recklessly testing the boundaries of rational behavior.

Tom Matthew Wolfe has written an absorbing play that poses many complex predicaments for its unstrung heroine. It also provides some provocative insights into the way we cope with mental illness.

Janice is almost used to her recurring visions and the protracted visitations by her paranoid schizophrenic mother Theresa (Susan Louise O'Conner) whom she hasn't seen in twenty years. She is also contending with her feelings of guilt for not being attentive enough to her sixty-year-old Alzheimer-afflicted father Michael (Daren Kelly), a retired policeman. Her sense of guilt also extends to not sharing part of the burden of taking care of her father with her brother Jimmy (Ryan Barry), a police officer who has remained living the lonely life in the family home that had (we are told) been set afire by Theresa who no longer lives there.

But what is it that is driving Janice to unrealistically pursue a relationship with Paul (Eddie Boroevich), the superintendent of her building, an Iraq War veteran whom we can see is suffering from severe depression and symptoms related to PTSD? The answer to that last question is at the heart of Wolfe's issue-focused but essentially character-driven play in which we see how the often irrational, anxiety-driven Janice decide to take the genetic test that will confirm or deny her being a candidate for mental illness. To read the complete review posted on 09/06/14 please go to http://curtainup.com/janiceunderwaternj14.html

"My Manana Comes" at the The Playwrights Realm at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater, 416 West 42nd Street (through 09/20/14)

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Left to right Jose Joaquin Perez, Jason Bowen, Brian Qjuijada, Reza Salazar (Photo: Matthew Murphy)

Perhaps as important as is my positive response to Elizabeth Irwin's play My Manana Comes — super charged with the chaos, conflicts and camaraderie among the busboys at an upscale, upper East Side French restaurant— is acknowledging the commendable on-going mission of an organization called The Playwrights Realm . Irwin is this year's recipient of their Page One Program , dedicated to supporting an up and coming playwright for one year with "a sweep of services to aid in the advancement of their career. These include a competitive stipend, health insurance, travel/professional development funds, a full Off-Broadway production, readings of script(s) in development, theatre tickets and midtown office space."

Under the artistic direction of Katherine Kovner, The Playwright's Realm also provides (as it states) more than just the "development of one play as it provides a comprehensive tool kit a playwright can use to build his or her entire career." CurtainUp reviewed last year's recipient The Hatmaker's Wife http://curtainup.com/hatmaker13.html.

The action, or rather the activities that keep the four busboys in My Manana Comes in constant motion could easily be reconceived as a ballet as they criss-cross, swerve, dodge each other and maneuver their way around the kitchen. Delivering the dishes with panache through the swinging doors to the unseen waiters beyond is as impressive as the characters that have been created by four terrific actors, under the direction of Chay Yew.

Except for the African-American Peter, the three Mexicans are inclined toward motor-mouthed discourse, a perfectly comprehensible mixture of Spanish and English. Looking spiffy in their all-black uniforms (designed by Moria Sine Clinton), they enjoy exchanging compliments as well as ribbing each other's idiosyncrasies. We can see why buoying up each other's spirits is necessary and how it eases the stress of their job, the long hours and pitiful pay.To read the complete review originally posted 09/04/14 please go to http://curtainup.com/mymanana14.html

And I And Silence at the Signature Theatre (though 09/14/14)

 
 Left - Right: Samantha Soule and Right Rachel Nicks (Photo Credit: Matthew Murphy)


It is my hope that anyone who is not already familiar with playwright Naomi Wallace (One Flea Spare, The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek, Things of Dry Hours) will make it a point to discover this imaginative multi award-winning writer. In And I And Silence being produced as part of the Signature Theater Residency One series, two young women, one black, one white, meet in prison. They bond in an extraordinary and even humorous manner, and cultivate an impassioned closeness that they discover is all that they have left to rely on with the extreme hardship and despair that follows them after their release from prison.

I suspect that you will also be in awe (as I was) of the sheer beauty of the text , in part poetic and lyrical and in part salty, earthy prose. This tough, tender and tragic story is set in the decade spanning the 1950s in a city in the US. Commendably it satisfies more than one's need to be simply captivated by a good story and good acting. To read the complete review originally posted 08/26/14  please go to http://curtainup.com/andiandsilenceny14.html