Author: Joe

Augustin Daly was a preeminent theater manager, critic, and playwright from the latter part of the 19th Century.   He built and opened Daly’s Theater in 1879 after a fire destroyed the company’s original New York home.  In 1893, he opened a London theater as well.  Of the nearly 100 works credited to his name, nearly all were adaptations.  A Marriage Contract, or Grass vs. Granite, was first produced in 1892 based on a German play whose title is loosely translated as “big city atmosphere.”  Here the setting was transported from Berlin to New York and was originally called A Test Case, or Grass vs. Granite.

The play opens in the big metropolis and a city slicker rascal named Robert Fleming is attempting to persuade business magnate Jessekiah Pognip to give his blessing for his daughter’s hand in marriage.  In today’s vernacular:  he’s a “player” and one of a sketchy list of suitors.  He is quickly rejected by the father and another man, the bumbling Nathaniel Grinnell, gives it a shot but is too late to the punch.  For Ned to marry young Sabina Pognip, there needs to be a marriage contract.  Robert is forced to choose between big city excitement (granite) and the teensy country town of East Lemons (grass).

A Marriage Contract is a funny play.  Written 125 years ago, it still can elicit laughs through clever wordplay and is firmly planted in situation comedy land.  Robert may have taken ill with “influenza provincialis” when the small town boredom of East Lemons and its nosy busybodies become too stifling to bear.  Then there is the philandering friend Ned Jessamine (Nick Giedris) who is married to Juno (Jennifer Reddish) who tries not to see “what’s going on.”  Will the couples settle down and figure out their relationships?  Will country life have any shot of competing with the big city?  Will a champagne party cause a scandalous ruckus?  Is the maid really called a “saucy minx” for singing while dusting?

Metropolitan Playhouse specializes in plays from America’s literary past and I enjoyed A Marriage Contract.  The Director Alex Roe effectively stages the play in their small, intimate space and keeps the action (and clowning) moving along.  Amazingly, there is not a whiff of mothballs here, the play is still funny despite its age.  Our two suitors were excellent.  Trevor St. John-Gilbert (Robert) and Tyler Kent (Nathaniel) inhabited their characters exceptionally well.  Both performances are of the period yet come across as freshly contemporary century-old stereotypes energetically painted in three dimensions.  With the exception of one cringingly awful performance (in a very minor part), the cast is good. (I saw the third preview).  Greatness might be achieved by ratcheting up this broad comedy a notch or two.  Overall, A Marriage Contract is a welcome discovery.

www.metropolitanplayhouse.org

For Black History Month, Theater for the New City decided to remount a production of Josh: The Black Babe Ruth.  Written by Michael A. Jones, the play is based on the life of Josh Gibson, the second Negro Leagues player to be elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.  He was known as the “Black Babe Ruth” due to his home run proficiency.  He tragically died at the age of 35 from complications related to a brain tumor which may have been linked to drug usage.  In this play, we chart the course from the family migration from Georgia to Pittsburgh through his career to his death.

This play comes across as a series of vignettes rather than a traditional story arc.  Satchel Paige, who preceded Josh Gibson into the Hall of Fame, looms large as both men try to break into the all-white major leagues.  In addition to the career storyline, there is domestic drama about his wife, whom he never sees while traveling, and a mistress.  The temptress is portrayed as a bar hopping, drug taking, bad influence party girl.  Connecting all of this is the Guitar Man who strums and sings songs of the period such as Louis Jordan’s “Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby.”  Images of the players, the baseball league and the Jim Crow south are projected on the wall during transitions.  One is a sign announcing an upcoming Klan meeting to discuss opposition to “communism and integration.”  Pictures of lynchings are also featured.

This is a small off-off Broadway house and this production can be commended for very good performances by all of the actors.  David Roberts takes us through the mindset of Josh from brash bravado to the self-destructive breakdown.  As Satchel, Daniel Danielson is appropriately larger than life with the charisma of the famously entertaining pitcher.   The smaller role of Josh’s wife Hattie is played by Daphne Danielle.  Her scene trying to find her husband at the bar through questioning the audience members elicited deserved end of scene applause.

Josh: The Black Babe Ruth is not a great play and the production is paced a little slowly between scenes.  The projected images are very powerful but their intensity competes with rather than enhances the words.  However, for an inexpensive $18 ticket price, this is a live, well-acted biography and rewarding addition to the mirrors we must face on historical American race discrimination.

www.theaterforthenewcity.net

In the New Kensington suburb of Pittsburgh, Pete lives in his apartment which is decorated in the finest man cave fashion.  The walls are brown paneling.  A Steelers helmet for wall art.  A string of Planet of the Apes lights.  Empty beer cans in a case by the door.  The couch is red.  An old folding chair.  Incredible Hulk videos placed under the television.  Since Pete Rex is being performed in the tiny Theater C at 59E59, there is a lot of detail to see as you enter this very intimate space.  The setting gives a strong sense of the people we are about to meet.

The play opens with Pete (Greg Cerere) and his best bud Bo (Simon Winheld) in the midst of Madden Tuesday.  The competition is well underway and Bo now wants to play Gronk.  For those not in the know, Madden is the popular long running football videogame series and Gronkowski is a tight end for the New England Patriots.  Madden Tuesday is apparently a standing weekly man cave date.  Pete’s ex-girlfriend Julie (Rosie Sowa) comes by with some disturbing news.

The boys have not been watching television and do not know that dinosaurs are loose in New Kensington and starting to eat people.  Julie grabbed what little food there was left in the supermarket, namely Zebra Cakes, and ran right over.  Pete loves these plastic wrapped Little Debbie brand things.  Meanwhile, the dinosaurs are approaching, the noise is increasing, the overhead light is trembling and things are getting mighty scary.

Is Pete Rex is about escaped dinosaurs terrorizing a small town?  Well, Pete has always been fascinated by dinosaurs and wanted to be a paleontologist.  The mood here is Jurassic-level emotional drama, although the dinosaurs do get to eat a bit in the process.  Alexander V. Thompson’s play covers much territory from man child relationships to crisis management to jealousy to mental stability.  The cast is game and the director (Brad Raimondo) reasonably steers an overabundance of styles including melodrama, absurdity, comedy, horror, ridiculousness and poignancy.  That’s a lot to handle and Pete Rex cannot survive the onslaught.  A nicely written ending wraps up a serious yet wildly overcooked play.

www.dreamscapetheatre.org

www.59e59.org