"Sylvia" Cort Theatre, 138 Wst 48th Street From 10/02/15 Opened 10/27/15; closing1/27/16

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Robert Sella, Annaleigh Ashford, Matthew Broderick


A Tony award-winner last season for You Can't Take It With You, Annaleigh Ashford is the prettiest, most cunning, cute, coquettish little flirt ever to be picked up in Central Park. She is no dog, but yes she is. . . actually a dog in A.R. Gurney's whimsical 1995 comedy Sylvia, a wonderful revival of which has opened at the Cort Theatre. As the abandoned mongrel affixed with the name Sylvia, Ashford uses her agility to twist, turn, leap and curl her body in more endearing and amusing ways than those she effected as the Sycamore family's klutzy ballerina in You Can't Take It With You.

Greg (Matthew Broderick) is the man who brings Sylvia back to his Manhattan apartment and where they develop instant crushes on each other. So starts a true and touching romance. It is easy to see why Sylvia has been a staple of regional and community theaters since its premiere. It is not only a delightful fantasy, but also a psychologically persuasive look at one man's mid-life crisis.

Sylvia's savior, the middle aged man that she thinks of as God, is played with an air of nebbish-like vulnerability by Broderick, a master of that facade. If this is a role that seems tailor-made for Broderick it is because Greg is also one of those susceptible-to-unqualified-affection characters with whom Broderick seems to be most in tune. We can certainly see in his face and unassuming demeanor how ripe he is for the attentions of an adoring, straggly-haired blonde who snuggles, sniffs and smooches with unstoppable vigor, Greg is easily seduced, and so are we.

Blinded by his immediate love for Sylvia, Greg brings her home to his New York apartment. Their romance is thwarted, or at least stunted, by his wife Kate, a woman whose apathy is immediately apparent. She is played by a terrific Julie White, whose talent and versatility have earned her a trunk load of awards and nominations.

Kate has an agenda that doesn't include Sylvia. Although she is attractive and intelligent, she is unwilling to compromise their carefully plotted now-that-the-children-are-gone middle years for a stray dog. . . that she calls Saliva.

Hardly a ménage-a-trois in the conventional sense, Gurney invests this unconventional love story with plenty of humorous dog-eared incidents and dialogue. Necessarily intrusive, but laugh-getting and certainly scene-stealing is the triple role-playing by Robert Sella. All four actors have been put through their paws and paces with a controlling leash by director Daniel Sullivan.To read the entire review please go to:

http://www.curtainup.com/sylviabway15.html

Dames at Sea The Helen Hayes Theatre, 240 West 42nd Street From 09/24/15 Opened 10/22/15

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John Bolton and Mara Davi

Let's pretend it is 1933 and you are sitting in your neighborhood theater or better yet in a grand old move palace. The house lights dim, the traveler curtains part and the movie begins flashing the Warner Brothers studio's logo. Then the credits appear on the screen with the names and faces of the film's stars, in black and white of course. But now we switch to color. That's the way the glorious, glittering and colorful revival of Dames at Sea begins. The classic all talking, all dancing, all singing, all sassy pastiche of the 1930 film musicals is back and worthy of a twenty-one gun salute.

This is the show that first catapulted Bernadette Peters to stardom Off-Broadway 47 years ago. It's been a long wait for those time-stepping dames and fleet-footed tars to get their act together. They have and are now back where they belong as they rehearse for a mini-spectacular (maxi in our minds) show on the deck of a battleship, actually on the stage of the wonderfully intimate Helen Hayes Theatre.

You may have fond memories of the original, the Off-Broadway revival in 1985, or perhaps have only heard about those legendary Dames at Sea . You only need to know that it is time for you to get in step with this terrific company for (as one of the many joyous numbers tells us) a "Choo Choo Honeymoon."

The principal creative force behind this revival, actually its first production on Broadway is Randy Skinner. He has beautifully and imaginatively recreated that delicate balance of parody and reverence that made these "dames" such a delight originally. But he has added just enough more exuberant dancing and production values to make it now the most irresistible musical in town.To read the entire review please go to:

<a  href="http://www.curtainup.com/damesatsea.html">curtainup.com </a>

"Old Times" Roundabout Theatre Company at the American Airlines Theatre, 227 West 42nd Street From 09/17/15 Opened 10/06/15 Ends 11/29/15

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Clive Owen, Kelly Reilly, Eve Best (Photo: Joan Marcus)

There is plenty of mystery, and it isn't just the plot, surrounding this revival of Harold Pinter's Old Times. Most mysterious is the need for the kind of pretentious, if also a bit distracting, production enhancements that envelope its second revival at the Roundabout.

The 1984 revival starred Marsha Mason, Anthony Hopkins and Jane Alexander. This one heralds the Broadway debuts of film and stage actor Clive Owen and of Kelly Reilly and also boasts the return of Tony-nominated Eve Best. All appear to have their work cut out competing with this production's overwhelming aural and visual effects.

Once the audience gets used to the pre-curtain bombardment of eerie, pulsating sound/music contributions of Clive Goodwin and Thom Yorke, the curtain rises on a set that is as surreal as it is suspiciously in an abstracted location Amid the flashing of blinding strobe lights, a huge backdrop of concentric circles appears that will blink periodically on a loop. Impressive, as far as it goes...and it does go on. Then there is the spacious very open interior part of the setting designed by Christine Jones in which an opaque monolithic figure resembling a large vertical ice cube stands as its center piece— make that a portal —in an otherwise smartly/minimally furnished living room.

It's good to report, however, that all that high-tech framing doesn't reduce the glow from the actors. Neither does it significantly diminish the suspense in a play that has intrigued audiences since it first opened on Broadway in 1971.To read the entire review please go to:

<a  href="http://www.curtainup.com/oldtimes.html">curtainup.com </a>

"Before Your Very Eyes" at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street From 10/17/15 Opened 10/26/15 Ends 11/29/15

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Before Your Very Eyes--Gob Squad & Campo (Phile Deprez)

A mixture of joy, sorrow, laughter and tears is an almost assured response from the audience as seven child actors ages 9 to 14, pretend to see themselves maturing through progressive stages of life from the present to old age and death. We see them as they encounter accidents, relationships, illness, and even the experience of dying in the remarkably affecting theatrical project Before Your Very Eyes now at the Public Theater.

We first encounter the young actors enjoying each other's company and playing games in a cheerful playroom. Blind Man's Bluff has them chasing each other around the room, then playing jacks on the floor and cards at a table, while a boy shows how expert he is with a hula hoop. Their activities take place behind large one-sided mirrors. Framing the room are two huge video screens. A female voice is heard and we see her instructions projected above. The group, as well as each child, responds to her precise directions and gentle commands.

During the course of their fast-forward trip through life, they apply their own makeup and wigs, and dress up in sometimes ghoulish and sometimes funnily appropriate attire as they affect behavior and mannerisms that they imagine will be them in the future. We also get to see them on the screens as their current selves, friends to the end, ask their future selves questions. This is in realistic child-speak, the result of the young actors' improvisational rehearsal/workshops. To read the entire review please go to:

<a  href="http://www.curtainup.com/beforeyourveryeyes.html">curtainup.com </a>

Boogie Stomp! The Electra Theatre, 300 West 43rd Street From 09/25/15 Opened 10/16/15 Ends 11/28/15

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L. to R. Bob Baldori and Arthur Migliazza (photo credit: Rebecca Scheckman)

Two extraordinary pianists, Bob Baldori and Arthur Migliazza, provide all the jivey music, the snappy commentary and the wonderfully playful fun in their hugely entertaining concert Boogie Stomp! Masters of their brand of keyboard artistry, namely playing/interpreting of Boogie Woogie, the Blues, and Ragtime, they notably bring two lifetimes of love and dedication to this totally American genre. Their love for this music is evident in every note they play, every song they sing and every comment they make.

Baldori could use a little help picking out some nice looking clothes to wear (that Hawaiian shirt and skin tight jeans are pathetic), but once he gets to tickling those keys and on occasion playing his harmonica with awesome virtuosity, our attention is strictly on the music. He's been playing the piano since he was 3, and also wrote and directed an award winning documentary, also titled Boogie Stomp!

Baldori's amazing career recording and performing with such jazz and blues luminaries as Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley among many others can be summed up simply by saying he is a truly terrific one-of-a-kind musician. He not only serves as primary narrator (the excellent text is credited to John Campana) of the history of the blues with which has been so closely identified, but fills the room with his enthusiasm and exuberant playing. To read the entire review please go to:

<a  href="http://www.curtainup.com/boogiestomp">curtainup.com </a>

"The Gin Game"

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Cicely Tyson and James Earl Jones
(photo: Joan Marcus)

“The Gin Game”

The always great 84 year-old James Earl Jones and the ever grand 91 year-old Cicely Tyson have found a perfect vehicle and are playing their roles to the hilt. In many ways old age is to youth what theater is to life. In the theatre where dramatic events are put on stage with an intensified and magnified vision to produce only that which is intrinsic and essential, fine plays and their players illuminate life rather than recreate it. Advancing years also intensify our idiosyncrasies and bring into sharp relief those oddities and behavioral characteristics that were the bases of our once slightly more modulated personalities. Be assured that Jones and Tyson are pros in full command of their art even as they put their idiosyncratic characters in extra sharp relief.

In D. L. Coburn’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1977 play The Gin Game is having a joyous revival at the Golden Theatre. This is the same theatre where it originally played with Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy under the direction of Mike Nichols. Julie Harris and Charles Durning also starred to acclaim a 1997 revival.

  

A ramshackle home for the aged is the place where two elderly people reach out desperately to each other for solace and friendship. In this setting, they become helplessly deadlocked by their own frustrations and insecurities into a vicious and destructive power play. Fonsia (Tyson)  and Weller (Jones) are the two forgotten souls who proceed toward an unexpectedly unhappy conclusion to their relationship as a result of their systematic exposing of the other’s weaknesses and fears.

Meeting in the home’s neglected and unused back porch each day to play gin rummy, these prisoners of old age use this battleground for their personal war games. These games become as frightening and menacing as anything the Pentagon could conjure up. More than just a well-written play, The Gin Game is a splendid vehicle for these two exceptional actors who have mastered the art of how to keep us constantly engrossed in a highly charged gin game.

Under the excellent direction of Leonard Foglia, Tyson and Jones create so many entertaining moments with their own wonderfully contrasted personalities that I could never have believed a gin game could be so engrossing. Before Fonsia comes into Weller’s life, Weller has managed to find his peace playing solitaire. He would have rather played gin, but anything was better than being bored by the visiting do-gooders and the other inmates who were either too ill or too uninteresting for him to be bothered. 

As Fonsia, Tyson initially affects an unsteady walk, a sense of apprehension and nervousness when she first encounters Weller soon after she has settled in the home. As Weller, Jones is obviously big and imposing figure but he is also on his best behavior as he loses little time in recruiting Fonsia to duty at the card table. But you also won’t take your eyes of her as she is cornered into the game. Will she be the perfect foil to Wellers’ ego? You guessed it. Fonsia wins game after game after game. While she apologizes and demurely at first insists, it’s just beginners’ luck, Heller, who started out with some noble attempts at good sportsmanship, begins to change his attitude and his cool. Tensions mount as Weller’s bridled restraint becomes more violent in exact ratio to Fonsia’s self-righteousness. Out of this stressful duel, a strange need and understanding arises between the two that, for a while, looks like it will overcome this constant tug of war.

The mood changes as Weller and Fonsia reveal their past hurts and bare their souls to each other. But just as in life, their desire to be winners aggravates both Weller’s pent-up fury and Fonsia’s impulse to retaliate against his bullying. Tyson, who won the Tony for Best Actress in a Play for her performance in The Trip to Bountiful, is a pleasure to watch first as a quivering lost soul looking for support when she enters, but then again as she becomes more secure, then slightly arrogant and finally defiant. I don’t know how many times that Tyson said “gin,” but believe me, you’ll be amazed the variety of ways it can be said. With so many variations on “gin” from Tyson, it was no small feat for Jones to have as many, both comical an angry, reactions to that powerful word.

A multi-Tony winner, Jones showed his flair for comedy in last season’s revival of You Can’t Take It With You,” and is simply terrific. I’m no expert card-player but both performers brought a whole new meaning to gin rummy and what it takes to play the game of life successfully. Also impressive is the Riccardo Hernandez’s set design with its broken down furniture and forgotten relics in a heap suggesting what the old folks in that home have in their future. Simon Saltzman

“The Gin Game” Opened October 14 at the Golden Theater, 252 West 45th Street. Closing January 10, 2016

Tickets are available by calling Telecharge.com at 212-239-6200 or 800-447-7400 or online at Telecharge.com.