Author: Joe

Theater critic based in New York City. This website contains reviews "from my seat" to share my experiences and thoughts to hopefully inspire you to see a play, musical or theater company you may not have known about.
About This Reviewer - Posted on

2017 Theater Year From My Seat

I started my blog in May, committed to recording my thoughts and opinions on the pieces I have seen but without giving away too much information should you decide to invest your time and money.  In the process, I have found that this exercise has greatly improved my recall of those theatergoing experiences.  So why not summarize and highlight my favorites for my year (not necessarily aligned with actual opening dates for the sticklers out there)….

In 2017, I attended 134 productions, 29 of which were on Broadway and the rest were largely in New York.  I did see 7 productions in other cities including Berkeley (CA), Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis and San Francisco.

Best of the “Not Broadway“ Category

Company of the Year – Mint Theater

Three exceptionally good productions from this troupe that specialize in reviving lost plays.  This year, we were treated to Yours Unfaithfully (Miles Malleson), The Lucky Ones (A.A. Milne) and The Suitcase Under the Bed (Teresa Deevy).  Very few misfires from this company and I have been a loyal follower for about ten years.  A great opportunity to see what issues and ideas playwrights brought to the table often nearly a century ago.

theaterreviewsfrommyseat/theluckyones

theaterreviewsfrommyseat/thesuitcaseunderthebed

The Top Ten Best of 2017

In the arbitrary group of off, off-off and out-of-town plays and musicals, these were my favorites this year.  They are listed in the order in which I saw them.  Comments are included only for those whose viewing predates this blog (the rest are linked to the original post).

Picnic (Transport Group)

William Inge’s Pulitzer Prize winning 1953 potboiler of a young, virile drifter who happens onto a small Kansas town.  Exceptional staging and superb acting adding to the immediacy of 85 audience members sitting right in front of the action at the Judson Gym.

The Skin of Our Teeth (Theater for a New Audience)

A revival of another Pulitzer Prize winning play from 1942 by Thornton Wilder (Our Town).  Over three acts we meet a New Jersey family faced with an impending Ice Age, a trip to the Atlantic City boardwalk and the aftermath of war.  Mesmerizing production of a crazy, entertaining play which must have blown audiences away back in the day.

Sundown, Yellow Moon (Ars Nova, WP Theater)

In a small southern college town, the kids come to visit their cranky father in this evocative study of family communication and the lack thereof by Rachel Bonds.  With original songs by the Bengsons (Hundred Days), this was easily one of the best stage designs of the year.

theaterreviewsfrommyseat/hundreddays

Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Stephen Sondheim’s macabre musical masterpiece, still running downtown.  I saw this three times, including taking lucky out-of-town visitors.  My comments on the third visit:

theaterreviewsfrommyseat/sweeneytodd

The View Upstairs (Culture Project)

Based on a true, but largely forgotten event, this musical was about a gay bar in  1973 New Orleans.  32 people were killed by an arsonist.  A celebration of love and a meditation on hate, this one was oddly funny and irredeemably sad.  And still relevant, even more sadly.

Oh My Sweet Land (The Play Company)

theaterreviewsfrommyseat/ohmysweetland

Tiny Beautiful Things (Public Theater)

theaterreviewsfrommyseat/tinybeautifulthings

People, Places & Things (St. Ann’s Warehouse)

theaterreviewsfrommyseat/peopleplacesthings

The Wolves (Lincoln Center)

theaterreviewsfrommyseat/thewolves

The Royale (Aurora Theater Company, Berkeley, CA)

theaterreviewsfrommyseat/theroyaleberkeley

Honorable Mentions

Rachael Lily Rosenbloom … and don’t you ever forget it!  (54 Below)

54 Below staged a one night mini-concert of this famed 1973 Broadway musical flop which closed before it opened.  In a nutshell:  this was written for Bette Midler who passed on it.  Plot:  Rachael’s  journey from a Brooklyn fishmonger to fame as a Hollywood gossip columnist to an Oscar nomination followed by a nervous breakdown.  A mixture of disco and Broadway show tunes, this was a fantastically hilarious and entertaining evening.  Trivia buffs:  book, music and lyrics by Paul Jabara (later famous for Donna Summer’s Last Dance, Barbra Streisand’s The Main Event and The Weather Girls’ It’s Raining Men.  And in the Bette Midler part:  Ellen Greene who later landed the role of a lifetime in Little Shop of Horrors.

Georama:  An American Panorama Told on Three Miles of Canvas (New York Musical Festival)

theaterreviewsfrommyseat/NYMFpart7

Worst of the Year

Winner(?) – Peter Pan (Bedlam)

theaterreviewsfrommyseat/peterpan

Runners Up:

Joan of Arc:  Into the Fire (Public Theater)

After seeing Talking Heads front man David Byrne’s awesome musical Here Lies Love about Imelda Marcos, I made sure I had tickets to his next effort.  A colossal fail, both idiotic and boring.

Her Portmanteau (New York Theater Workshop)

A double bill with the play Sojourners by Mfoniso Udofia, this was an exploration of Nigerian traditions clashing with American life.  Two chapters of a nine part saga that I will never see.

Refugia (Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis)

theaterreviewsfrommyseat/refugia

Measure for Measure (Elevator Repair Service, Public Theater)

theaterreviewsfrommyseat/measureformeasure

Best of the Broadway Category

Broadway Plays

Winner – Indecent 

theaterreviewsfrommyseat/indecent

Runners Up:

Sweat

Pulitzer Prize winning play by Lynn Nottage about the collapse of industry jobs in Reading, PA and its effects on the citizens of the town.

Jitney

One of the ten American century cycle plays by August Wilson and a beauty of a story which takes place in an early 1970s unlicensed cab dispatch office.  I am not finished seeing all ten yet and look forward to finishing the list.

A Doll’s House, Part 2

theaterreviewsfrommyseat/adollshousepart2

1984

theaterreviewsfrommyseat/1984

Honorable Mention

The Glass Menagerie

A hugely controversial Sally Field led production which frankly had more haters than admirers.  Laura was played by Madison Ferris, a visably disabled actress, which threw the play’s words into a much harsher context.  The scene with Finn Wittrock as the Gentleman Caller was riveting and perhaps my favorite pairing I’ve ever seen.  I cannot explain how both were not nominated for Tony Awards.  Yes it deconstructed a classic and yes it was a bit of a mess but we were talking about this production for months afterward.  Isn’t that vital theater?  I think so.

Broadway Musicals

Winner:  The Band’s Visit

theaterreviewsfrommyseat/thebandsvisit

Runners Up:

Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812

The Ars Nova hit I first saw in its original incarnation back in 2012 finally made it to Broadway with Josh Groban in a sumptuous, beautifully sung version.

Come From Away

Ridiculously well-directed by Christopher Ashley who won a Tony for his efforts, this tale of strangers whose planes were diverted to a tiny town in Newfoundland on 9/11 is a master class in storytelling.  Twelve people playing multitudes of characters on a grim day in American history based on original interviews.

Sunday in the Park with George

Jake Gyllenhaal and Annaleigh Ashford as Seurat and Dot.  Both excelled in another extraordinary revival of this Sondheim musical from 1984.  In this outing, the Chromolume has finally been decoded and we get what the big deal was all about !  Following the superb Daniel Evans/Jenna Russell version from 2008, I believe Sunday is a confirmed masterpiece in which technology has finally caught up with the show.

Groundhog Day

theaterreviewsfrommyseat/groundhogday

Honorable Mention

SpongeBob SquarePants

theaterreviewsfrommyseat/spongebobsquarepants

Worst of the Year

Play:  Marvin’s Room

theaterreviewfrommyseat/marvinsroom

Musical:  A Bronx Tale

theaterreviewsfrommyseat/abronxtale

And, finally, yes I did see Hamilton in Chicago this year.  I pulled it from contention on this list because it’s my blog and the show does not need any more accolades!

theaterreviewsfrommyseat/hamiltonchicago

Next up in 2018:  Farinelli and the King with Mark Rylance followed by the revival of Once on This Island and 54 Below’s concert staging of The Drowsy Chaperone.  Happy New Year!

 

About This Reviewer - Posted on

The Dead, 1904 (Irish Repertory Theater)

Heaps of praise have been lavished on this short story by James Joyce written as the final piece in his 1914 collection, Dubliners.  Last year, Irish Rep adapted The Dead into an immersive theater piece.  The play is performed at the American Irish Historical Society in their sumptuous Fifth Avenue digs across the street from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Audience members arrive at once was a private mansion to join the partygoers for a bit of music, conversation and then dinner in the dining room.  Seemed like a fun idea to join an Irish clan in the early 1900s for a home holiday reception the week before Christmas.

First, the dinner option.  Regular tickets were $150 with some wine, whiskey and port served along the way.  About a dozen of us were in this category.  While you sit a little away from the action (when you are not standing, which is a lot of the time), there was no problem seeing the play.  For $300, dinner is included and you sit around the center table facing the action.  At the $1,000 level, you are at the center table amongst the actors.  The meal looked perfectly adequate, if rushed.  Not much else happens.

A few characters are late, one may or may not be drunk when he gets there. Thankfully he arrives a little tipsy.  Many sing, some dance.  Minor flirtations.  A hint of political differences.  After dinner, the audience is escorted to one of the visiting couples bed chambers to hear about Gretta’s lost love (Melissa Gilbert, Little House on the Prairie).  What follows is a brooding meditation from Gabriel (Rufus Collins) after she falls asleep.  Interior monologues may work on the page but not here.  The scene drags an already slow evening into immersive boredom.  While there are certainly worse holiday offerings in New York right now, this is a fairly expensive and  skippable option.

www.irishrep.org

About This Reviewer - Posted on

BLKS (Steppenwolf Theater Company, Chicago)

Consider this improbable yet entertaining question:  what comedies would Neil Simon write if he was a new black lesbian playwright emerging today?  Written by Aziza Barnes, BLKS is about women in their twenties going about everyday life.  They are black.  Some straight, some gay.  They go to work.  They have relationships in various states of disrepair.  They go to the clubs.  They are dreaming and searching and dealing.  And one of them is undergoing a “pussy apocalypse.”  Some of this absurdity is laugh out loud funny.

The aforementioned disaster opens the play when one of our characters discovers she has a mole on her clitoris.  I do not lie.  A friend who lives with her declares, “when you find a mole on your clit, it’s definitely a day drinking day.”  The bottle appears and situation comedy via Brooklyn ensues.  Another friend soon appears to join them as she’s also having a bad day.  Turns out she discovered her boyfriend has been cheating with a woman who drinks red wine with her Popeye’s fried chicken.  We are in the land of big, broad comedy  used as therapy to laugh through life’s misadventures.

Of course the play has its more serious moments and they feel a bit contrived.  Too much happens over the course of one night and the messaging moments can feel heavy handed.   Suspending disbelief, which is what we normally do with situation comedies, is the way to go.  The cast here is excellent.  The opening scene of Act II between our smart gal June (Leea Ayers), her new suitor from the club, Justin  (Namir Smallwood) and her medically traumatized roommate (Nora Carroll) is the definition of farce.  I have never been to Steppenwolf before but I’ve seen  their work and their troupe on the New York stage.  BLKS was my pick while I was visiting Chicago.  Funny stuff from a great new voice.

www.steppenwolf.org

About This Reviewer - Posted on

Hundred Days (New York Theater Workshop)

Perhaps Hundred Days is best described as an ethereal, fragile, therapeutic, ultimately joyous musical autobiography.  Staged as a concert with intermittent dialogue, this show was created by and stars the Bengson’s with Sarah Gancher who also contributed to the book.  Shaun Bengson is a soft-spoken musician probably best described as an introvert.  Abagail Bengson is also a musician who had some major unexplained family implosion when she was a teenager.  While a much bigger personality than her husband, she is also the more fragile; a worrisome type.  The two meet in their early twenties and get married in three weeks.  Ten years later, they tell us their very intimate and quite moving story in song.

The title refers to a philosophical question: what would you do if you knew the love of your life only had one hundred days left to live?   That’s the kind of tension in Abagail’s mind.  How could she go on?  The music is sort of indie-rock meets folk pop and is performed by six talented people, including the Bengson’s.  All of them sing, play instruments and are used effectively without getting in the way of our central couple.  The staging by Anne Kauffman is beautifully austere, complementary to the story and has almost dreamlike imagery.  Movement is credited to Sonya Tayeh.

Mrs. Bengson’s singing voice is a combination of so many things that it is hard to describe – rocker, banshee, yodeler, folk singer and siren.  Given the character she plays is herself, the whole effect is somewhat unforgettable.  Very intimate reenacted conversations where the Bengson’s discuss life, dreams and fears rounds this concert to a fully satisfying piece of storytelling.  At the end, we are told that the last song of this memorable show is actually the first song they wrote together.  Based on what came before, we completely understand why it was written.

www.nytw.org

About This Reviewer - Posted on

Twelfth Night, or What You Will (Classic Stage Company and Fiasco Theater)

The combination of a previously can’t-miss-whatever-they-do Fiasco Theater troupe with the 50th Anniversary year of the Classic Stage Company was a key reason for my purchasing a subscription this year.  Two Shakespeare classics were on stage this fall, As You Like It and now Twelfth Night.  Neither was good.

Twelfth Night is a gender bending comedy believed to have been written for a twelfth night’s entertainment to close the Christmas season.  A comedy, the play also supports musical interludes which would have been expected at that time.  I have seen other versions of this play, on Broadway with Mark Rylance in 2014 and in a two part off-off Broadway mash up by Bedlam.  Familiarity with the play helped me understand what was going here but it did not relieve me from my boredom.  A guy two seats down leaned forward towards the end of Act II, elbows on knees, face in hands, seemingly exasperated.  An elderly lady left early and looked so fragile that a cast member helped walk her to the exit.  It wasn’t just me.

The balance between comedy and drama here was off.  The comedic scenes were, while better, a little too improv for my tastes.  You could see and hear the cast sitting in the background laughing harder than the audience.  There are some nice singing voices in the mix but the songs had the effect of slowing the play down.  Clowning, musicality and cleverness got in the way of storytelling, not normally something I’d expect from this group. Their outstanding take on Cymbeline put Fiasco on the map in 2011.  This one’s not the choice to introduce yourself to this company.

www.classicstage.org

www.fiascotheater.com

theaterreviewsfrommyseat/asyoulikeit

About This Reviewer - Posted on

Desperate Measures (York Theater Company)

A “bed trick” borrowed from Shakespeare’s Measure to Measure.  A western setting.  In jail, a murderer with less than a full deck is introduced in “The Ballad of Johnny Blood.”  It’s the 1800s, “somewhere out west.”  Some ladies see themselves best suited for the convent.  Others feel the draw of the saloon and the oldest profession.  Add in a drunken priest losing his religion.  The Sheriff is handsome and a great guy, we reckon.  Governor von Richterhenkenpflichgetruber (Nick Wyman, terrific) is in charge and possibly corrupt.  So far so good !

A pile of fun songs nicely sung by talented cast.  A book, however, which can’t quite nail the Shakesperean rhyming thing.  Though you will hear Nietzsche rhymed with peachy.  A missed opportunity for greatness but plenty to enjoy.  I’ll pretend not to notice the elderly ladies who find a darkened theater the most natural place to go purse diving slowly and thoroughly, only to crinkle their wrappers and smackingly enjoy their treats more wetly and louder than you’d supposed was even remotely decorous.  Seriously, it was annoying.

Back to our western, the “let’s put on a show” Desperate Measures.  This new musical is almost unbelievably old school.  Circa 1945, perhaps.  She’s a nun-to-be, he’s a kind hearted Sheriff.   Unfortunately we fall a touch short on chemistry (or possibly direction).  If these roles had been played by Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster,  there might be musical comedy heaven created with this material.

Conor Ryan is dimwitted Johnny Blood and also a gifted comedic actor and outstanding singer, notably in “Good to be Alive.”  Lauren Molina (Sweeney Todd, Rock of Ages) strips to “It’s Getting Hot in Here” and generally plays it big and Shirley Temple-flavored Mae West brassy.  These two knock the show’s best number “Just for You” out of the park.  At that moment Desperate Measures, the timeless (old?) musical, shines.

www.yorktheater.org

About This Reviewer - Posted on

Today is My Birthday (Page 73 Productions)

The stated mission for Page 73 is to develop and produce new work by early career playwrights who have yet to be produced and recognized in New York City.  I decided to go see Today is My Birthday since one of the actresses, Nadine Malouf, performed Oh My Sweet Land in our kitchen this past September.  I was rewarded with a high quality production and an interesting conceit.

Emily (Jennifer Ikeda) has returned home to Hawaii from her stint trying journalism in New York City.  (Hana Hou! Bruddah Chris!)  She is not necessarily happy to be home; her big dreams thwarted.  Why is she home?  Mom is crazy, Dad is a nerd.  NYC best friend Halima has issues with her kids and husband.  A hometown theater friend gets her to try a gig as a call in radio guest.  There’s an ex-lover.  While none of this may sound particularly special, the structure of the play with all of the characters talking (but not face to face) adds a dimension of detachment that is quite entertaining.

The entire play is told through a series of phone calls, voice mails and other conversations which are meant to reflect the impersonal nature of today’s millennials.  The entire theater space has been converted into a recording studio with a wall of glass rooms above the so-so tropical furniture setting.    The sound man is clearly visible in one  corner and his contributions are a critical piece of this play.  The direction by Kip Fagan is very impressive.  All of the many scenes and multiple character changes are clear and cleverly presented.

When Today is My Birthday is funny, the play shines most brightly.  The Z100ish radio show with DJ Loki (Jonathan Brooks) and DJ Solange (Malouf) is spot on hilarious,  both loud and ridiculous.  When Emily calls her mother (Emily Kuroda) and father (Ron Domingo), they are fighting but you cannot intentionally make out the words in the background.  Every actor surrounding our central character plays between three and six roles.  The cast displayed very strong acting chops.

If there are any quibbles here, well let’s get them out in the open.  The title, Today is My Birthday, makes little sense.  Our central gal, Emily, is nowhere near as interesting as any of the characters that surround her.  Perhaps that’s an intentional self-absorbed millennial trait?  She’s not really likable but to me that is ok.  But this off-off Broadway production surprises and delights so often that quibbles become insignificant.  Although Today is My Birthday is a little overlong, it’s very enjoyable if a tad dated.  These millennials would text not simply call and leave messages.  Quibbles from a non-millennial, sorry.

www.page73.org

theaterreviewsfromyseat/ohmysweetland

About This Reviewer - Posted on

SpongeBob SquarePants

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?  I remember the first episode which aired in 1999.  Initially it was hard to believe this simplistic and bizarre tomfoolery was going to become an enormous hit.  (The episode I remember most fondly was “ripped pants.”)  It is even harder to imagine SpongeBob SquarePants as a Broadway musical.  Put down your flying carpet Aladdin with your in-your-face entertainment, there’s a new watery wonderland in town.  If you have ever desired to see a cartoon completely transformed into a spectacular visual treat, then this show is for you.

Since SpongeBob has been assembled by earnestly embracing its tone and thematic sensibility, there could be difficulty for some people who don’t know the source material.  Unfamiliarity with the TV show probably hurts one’s ability to see how phenomenally these characters have been rendered on stage.  Ethan Slater has the title role.  He is an eternally optimistic, quite bendable sponge.  A powerhouse who holds the whole show together, he is superb.  No bulky sponge costume needed, just this actor with plaid paints, a shirt and a tie.  I repeat, he is superb, nailing every moment (or is that better described as fully absorbed?)  Danny Skinner plays his BFF Patrick, the starfish with intellectual shortcomings yet a heart of gold.  His casting is also ideal.  (The males are stronger presences and performers in this show overall, as in the series.)

The show is not without a few shortcomings.  The music is sort of a jukebox collection by artists as diverse as Cyndi Lauper, Aerosmith, John Legend, Lady Antebellum and They Might Be Giants.  The staging and choreography, however, are so fantastic, so inventive, so smile-inducing,  it doesn’t really matter which songs are the better ones.  Tina Landau directed this psychedelic masterpiece which is amazingly one hundred percent faithful to the spirit and tone of the series.  Christopher Gatelli brilliantly turned the whiny Squidward (Gavin Lee, awesome) into a tap dancing, show stopping octopus.  The costumes and set design by David Zinn are creative,  colorful and effortlessly cheeky. Pool noodles as undersea fauna! 

What’s the best part of this aquatic dreamscape?  I’d have to see it again to figure that out, there are so many choices to consider.    As said before, and worth repeating, the visuals are stunning.  Adding to the fun is a noise supplying sound board as part of the orchestra.  SpongeBob SquarePants is a fully realized cartoon brought magnificently to three dimensional life.  If cartoons and fun are not your cup of tea, too bad for you.  For the rest of us, it is time for “Bikini Bottom Day.”  A truly unforgettable spectacle.

www.spongebobbroadway.com

About This Reviewer - Posted on

The Last Match (Roundabout Theater Company)

Upon entering the theater, the US Open stadium tennis court is in full view.  A blue hardcourt playing surface.  The huge lighting fixture at the top.  Scoreboards on both sides.  And somehow, both the inner stadium wall and a large open sky.  Not a literal translation but theatrical and perfectly rendered for the play which follows.  I open the Playbill and see that the set designer is Tim Mackabee, who I just praised this past week for his outstanding work on Describe the Night.  I look forward to what he does next, he’s that good.

The Last Match takes place over the course of a semi-final men’s tennis game at the US Open.  Tim is the reigning American golden boy of tennis but having a slump year at age 30.  Sergei is the up and coming new Russian player.  A whole match ensues over ninety minutes.  The players mime the points and communicate their thoughts.  In between (and there is a lot of in between), there are flashbacks and asides involving both of their love interests.  Tim is married to ex-tennis pro, Mallory.  Sergei’s girlfriend, who eschews French fries for her figure, is Galinda.  Both ladies spend time in the player’s boxes during the match.

As fair disclosure, I am a tennis fan who attended the Australian Open last January.  So I probably have a natural affinity for this material.  Frankly, as described above, it is hard to imagine an exciting game of make believe tennis.  Improbably, that is exactly what happens.  Foot fault.  Line drive to one’s players head.  Aces and double faults.  Passing shots and emotions.  The zeal to devote one’s existence to a sport.  The support structure that is needed.  The hunger to get to the top ten.  The panic of aging and falling from the pinnacle.  The need to go to the diner for a grilled cheese and bacon sandwich while in NYC.  It’s all there.

An entertaining play that zips along with plenty to say, The Last Match is performed by a company of four actors who seem to naturally inhabit their characters.  At the performance I saw, Tim was played by understudy JD Taylor (Sundown, Yellow Moon).  He was excellent.  His nemesis, Sergei, embodied by Alex Mickiewicz (Long Days Journey Into Night), is the flashier role.  He’s the new bad boy with plenty of quips to go along with the thick accent.  He was also excellent and very funny.  This play was written by Anna Ziegler, best known for the West End’s Photograph 51 starring Nicole Kidman.  The Last Match is a nice example of a really good evening at the theater.

www.roundabouttheatre.org

theaterreviewsfrommyseat/describethenight

About This Reviewer - Posted on

Who’s Holiday

Titus McCall submitted his review for Who’s Holiday on the New York Theater Guide website.  He concluded:

Why was this written? Why was that done?
It doesn’t seem fittin’, ‘Cause this show’s no fun.
Boo-WHO.

I laughed out loud.  Then the New York Times weighed in with a more positive view:  “the show belongs to the evergreen subgenre of holiday offerings that proffer to dirty up Christmas while ultimately reveling in its spirit.”  Wow.  Despite being impressed by the word evergreen as an adjective for subgenre, I had to know.  Which review was right?

I attended Who’s Holiday to hear them play their pantookas.

I hoped it would make me laugh something Bazookas.

(Get It?   Bazooka Joe?)

If you thought that joke was lame, so is this show.

Cindy Lou Who, impregnated, now a trailer trash ho.

Despite the extraordinary presence of Lesli Margherita (Matilda, Dames At Sea, NYMF’s Matthew McConaughey vs. the Devil) as the older, cocktail swilling, cigarette smoking, drug taking Cindy … you get the picture.  On the plus side, the set was nearly perfect.  That’s not enough to recommend this underbaked comedy with its ill-advised, dreadfully dull poignancy at the end.  Boo Who indeed.  As far from evergreen as the metal trees in A Charlie Brown Christmas.

www.whosholiday.com

www.newyorktheatreguide.com

theaterreviewsfromyseat/NYMFmatthewmcconaughey