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.
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Sunset Boulevard

I saw the original production of Sunset Boulevard with Glenn Close as Norma Desmond back in 1995.  She won a Tony for the role and I remember thinking she did a fine job in a show I recall as being “just ok” with a couple of good songs and a really big set.  So I had no special interest in reliving the experience until the reviews for Ms. Close came out when the show opened in February.  The NY Times’ critic Ben Brantley’s highly dramatic “one of the great stage performances of this century” among other glowing reviews influenced my decision to go.

The verdict.  The show remains “just ok” for me.  Is it musical comedy or a darker musical noir?  Who can say for sure but they both don’t coexist successfully for me.  Glenn Close, on the other hand, completely killed.  Not only was the character fully realized – scary, tragic, fragile and driven – but she knocked each of her big songs clear out of the park.  I know Ms. Close couldn’t be nominated for a Tony in the same role again but she was clearly the best performance by an actress on Broadway this year.  (Admittedly, to be 100% certain, I have a couple of performances still to see… but the chances of a bad call here are nil.)

The main reasons to see this show is Ms. Close and the orchestra which lushly performed the gorgeous melodies contained in the score.  While I liked Fred Johanson as Max, I did not warm to either Michael Xavier (as screenwriter Joe Gillis) or Siobhan Dillon (Betty Schaeffer).  I wanted significantly more noir shades from Joe and a lot less standard issue ingénue in the part of Betty.  Perhaps lighting that made sense for this show might have helped them.  I will say that they sang “Too Much in Love to Care” beautifully though.

sunsetboulevardthemusical.com

 

 

 

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Unsung Heroes (Alive & Kickin, Minneapolis)

Alive & Kickin is a troupe composed of seniors who sing together periodically throughout the year in private concerts for a variety of senior focused organizations and fundraisers.  In addition, they put on an original full length theatrical show annually that runs for a couple of weeks.  The cast members range in age from 65 to 92.    I was in Minneapolis to see my partner’s father in this year’s show entitled Unsung Heroes.

Wow, this one sort of blew me away.  The show is constructed around voice over stories for each members’ selected unsung hero.  There are the type of heroes you would expect – family members, teachers – as well as the types that surprise – the little red cabin that was the bedrock for one woman as she travelled through the seasons of her life.  The stories were deeply felt and, alternatively, very dramatic, funny or heartfelt.

The songs which followed the stories ranged from Broadway to rap to rock to inspirational ballads, performed individually, or in groups of many different sizes and configurations.  What made this evening extra special was that these intimate and personal stories were staged so beautifully.  The cast was all in white amidst a handful of white pillars, candelabras and drapes.  They remain seated onstage throughout the performance, standing and rearranging as the night progresses.  Everyone was bathed in a beautiful white light as their pre-recorded unsung hero stories played prior to their musical numbers.  The effect was a hauntingly elegant and almost ghost-like atmosphere, fitting for conjuring up stories of heroes and memories from their lives.  The lighting was superb overall and enhanced the moods of the numbers from the Bojangles-inspired duet “I Hope You Dance” to the rock belting of Aerosmith’s “Dream On.”

Michael Matthew Ferrell is the Founder and Artistic Director of Alive & Kicking.  As I understand, the members created their Unsung Hero stories and then Mr. Ferrell uses that information to shape the song selections for the show.  The quality and depth of realness presented here – plus a healthy sprinkling of fun and variety sustained over three hours – point to a huge talent.  And it that weren’t enough, Mr. Ferrell performs and leads the troupe in a fantastic white kilt.

I understand there is a senior themed dance show currently named “Half Time” planning for a Broadway run, directed by Jerry Mitchell.  Jerry, we will be watching you.  If you can manage at least half of the emotional storytelling and visual theatricality developed for ‘Unsung Heroes” in your show, then I will expect a big hit.

aliveandkickinmn.org

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Refugia (Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis)

Visiting Minneapolis for a family event (see next post), I decided to finally see  a performance at the renowned Guthrie Theater.  The piece is Refugia, a meditation of sorts on displaced people, climate and other stuff.  This was developed by The Moving Company, which emerged in 2009 from the Tony Award winning Theater de la Jeune Lune, presumably known for its visually rich style combining clown, mime, dance and opera.  I can firmly report that all of that is present in Refugia.  At intermission, my partner ran into a local theater friend from high school who perhaps said it best:  “it’s very Jeune Lune.”  He and his companions were planning to skip Act II and go to the bar.  Enough said but I’ll add a little more.

When entering the theater, the set is a magnificent airline hanger or warehouse or industrial complex.  Expectations are raised to a grand scale.  What follows cannot begin to match the surroundings.  The vignettes are a hodgepodge of simplistic, one dimensional storytelling, combined with unrealized attempts at slapstick farce and pretentious operatic seriousness.  Plus there is an tribal painted African woman dancing with a polar bear.  While watching the Syrian refugee section, I kept thinking about the intense Oscar nominated documentaries this year instead of this basic dialogue.  On the plus side, there were a few moments when the piece seemed to be approaching lift off, only to jarringly morph into something stupid.  I did enjoy everything Rendah Heywood did with her roles.  However, having sat through this three hour contrivance, I understand why the bar option was chosen.

Watch the great documentary shorts on the Syrian refugee crisis instead:  4.1 Miles, The White Helmets and Wantani:  My Homeland.

guthrietheater.org

 

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Indecent

Indecent is the true story of a Yiddish play, God of Vengeance, which was written in 1907.  Following the play’s successes in Europe, it is translated into English, opens on Broadway in 1923 where the entire cast is arrested for indecency.  At the core, a lesbian relationship.  Dreamlike staging and imagery only add to the thought provoking frankness of the characters’ Jewish heritage at that particular moment when both immigration restrictions and anti-Semitism prevailed.  I loved how the story proceeded along, with pieces of the original play interspersed with the history of the actors and the musical interludes which firmly establish a mood and a people.  The payoff by the end is both glorious and riveting.  The cast is uniformly excellent, especially Katrina Lenk and Adina Verson as the ladies at the center of the controversy.  Go see this.  It speaks to the importance of theater and history in helping us shape the direction of the world we want to live in.

indecentbroadway.com

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The Antipodes (Signature Theater)

After seeing her Pulitzer Prize winning play, The Flick, and then John, the ghost story of a play written for Georgia Engel, I signed right up for Annie Baker’s next in her Signature Theater residency entitled The Antipodes.  From my seat, this play is not close to the heights achieved by those other works.  However, The Antipodes is far from boring.  The play takes place in a conference room of a company that aggressively flaunts its self-satisfied hipness by its founder and millionaire, Sandy (well played by Will Patton).  The basic premise is that the assembled group will brainstorm stories in search of their next new idea.

And then brainstormed stories emerge.  Some are interesting, some are not.  The characters also ponder the number of stories in existence.  In between, Sandy’s assistant (a perfect Nicole Rodenburg) comes in to take food orders.  Everything proceeds along by a solid cast but the going is a bit long, like a meeting that seemingly won’t end because there is no real agenda.  It’s one of those plays that makes me wonder whether I am smart enough to truly “get it.”  That said, the conference room setting and feeling of being in a company meeting felt authentic to someone who has spent countless hours in such group dynamics.  I  would recommend The Antipodes for Annie Baker enthusiasts – as long as you remember that those conference room meetings can be a bit tedious at times.

signaturetheater.org

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The Lucky One (Mint Theater)

I started attending productions by the Mint Theater Company in 2007 with The Return of the Prodigal.  The Mint “finds and produces worthwhile plays from the past that have been lost or forgotten.”  I have seen all but one of the last twenty seven plays produced by this outstanding company in the last decade.  I will post more about the Mint Theater eventually but suffice it to say for now that the play selections are usually excellent and the production values and casts worth your time and money.

Having a strong interest in exploring historical themes, people and situations places the Mint right in the center of my theatrical runway.  A. A. Milne’s The Lucky One originally premiered in New York in 1922, before his Christopher Robin and Winnie-the-Pooh stories made him a worldwide celebrity.  Mr. Milne was a very successful and prolific playwright, having three comedies on Broadway in the 1921-1922 season prior to this play.

The Lucky One tells a commonly charted family story about the antagonism and rivalry between the two Farringdon brothers, played by Robert David Grant (Gerald) and Ari Brand (outstanding as Bob).  These characters talk about golf and life at their country house and naturally one of the brothers is the luckier of the two.  While The Lucky One may be a century old, sibling jealousies and confrontations still resonate even if the setting is quaintly old fashioned.  Overall, good performances and a worthwhile play from the reliable Mint Theater Company.

minttheater.org

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Hello, Dolly!

I saw Hello, Dolly! on May 31st and purchased my ticket last October when the Bette Midler as Dolly Levi frenzy was in full bloom.  As a result, my seats were fantastic (and very expensive).  Further, I am happy to report that the show is fun.  If you go to see Hello, Dolly! primarily to watch Bette ham it up and hoof it around the stage while playing Dolly for laughs, laughs, laughs, then you will be smiling while basking in the audience lovefest for every second Ms. Midler is on the stage.  If, like me, you were looking for a great revival of Hello, Dolly! with the character of Dolly Levi fully explored with all her humor plus her vulnerability and pathos, then you’re likely to be a tad disappointed, despite the grand proceedings.  Sadly, Ms. Midler’s singing voice was not quite up to the task at hand either.

Surrounding Ms. Midler are a slew of excellent performances notably by David Hyde Pierce as Horace Vandergelder, Gavin Creel as Cornelius Hackl and Kate Baldwin as Irene Malloy.  Having seen a number of Ms. Baldwin’s recent stage appearances, this one was my favorite.  As usual, her voice is outstanding but I loved her character which felt truly different (and spot on) than the other types she has played.  A big thank you to Taylor Trensch (Barnaby Tucker) and Beanie Feldstein (Minnie Fay), who were hilarious and memorable in their roles.  The only real miss was the normally funny Jennifer Simard as Ernestina, in an odd characterization that did not work for me.

It’s Hello, Dolly!  The waiters dance!  We get to put on our Sunday clothes!  We watch Bette descend the staircase!  We have a great time!  If only this Hello, Dolly! was a truly great revival.  Oh well.  Perhaps we dream next of Annaleigh Ashford as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl…..

hellodollyonbroadway.com

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War Paint

War Paint tells the fascinating stories of Helena Rubenstein and Elizabeth Arden, two women who created and ruled the cosmetics industry for much of the 20th Century.  They were the only women of their time to have companies named after them.  A great history with big characters require grand performers and we are in luck.  Both Patti Lupone (Rubenstein) and Christine Ebersole (Arden) deliver.  Yay!

The reviews I read before seeing this show were fairly mixed about the show even if they loved the stars.  And, yes, Ms. Ebersole has the best song with “Pink.”  From my seat, I saw a show that was beautiful to look at, a story that was very interesting with intensely executed performances by the leading ladies.  The show is essentially two separate stories bound together by their commonality of time, industry, gender and success.  A solid score and book whose only (but not insignificant) flaw was the one dimensional male characters in their lives.  I guess we need to let the ladies go off stage for a moment or two, but the relatively brief filler time was well below par.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed War Paint.  If you are looking for big performances and a set design that effortlessly draws you into the world of these cosmetic titans, then run to see “War Paint.”  You will then be rewarded by the costumes which are fabulous throughout.  A parade of fashions and styles from the 1930s to the 1960s.  And those hats !  It’s always a pleasure to sit through a show, understand what the creative team was attempting to do and be rewarded with a truly enjoyable night of theater.

warpaintmusical.com

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The Golden Apple (Encores!)

The Golden Apple is exactly the kind of show that makes the Encores! series so much fun.  Each show runs only five performances and generally lands somewhere along the spectrum between a concert staging and fuller production with sets, costumes and choreography.  The first two offerings this year were Cabin in the Sky (1940) and Cole Porter’s The New Yorkers (1930).  The latter was a bathtub gin frolic with gorgeous gals, ridiculous sexist humor, a speakeasy owning gangster, assorted vaudevillian types and the song “I Happen to like New York.”  Huge fun and the leads, Scarlett Strallen and Tam Mutu, were period perfect and superb.

Yesterday, I saw the last performance of this season’s final show, The Golden Apple.  As with many Encores! shows, the entertainment factor is not only revisiting the show itself but its history as well.  Apparently The Golden Apple was the first musical to open Off Broadway and then transfer to Broadway, where it was short-lived.  It was also the first Off Broadway musical to win the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical.  If that’s not enticing enough, the original star was Kaye Ballard and the source material for the story is from the Iliad and the Odyssey but reset in Washington State.  Enough said!

The major reason to revisit this cult favorite was the music which sounded beautiful as performed by the Encores! exceptional and large orchestra, a treat in this age of scaled down musicals.  I would describe the sound as Americana.  This piece is a sung through, operatic style show and the singing was excellent.  The plot propels wildly from soldiers returning from the war in Spain to a bake-off with a golden apple prize to Helen being wooed away in a hot air balloon to be then pursued by Ulysses, all in the first act.  The story is wildly overstuffed and I was not quite sure why it seemed both adventurous and tedious at the same time.

Mikaela Bennett (Penelope) made her professional debut with this production and her duet with Ryan Silverman (Ulysses) to close the show was a highlight.  I have become a big fan of Mr. Silverman’s after seeing his performances as Terry in the Broadway revival of Side Show and the Irish Rep production of Finian’s Rainbow earlier this season.  Lastly, Lindsay Mendez, so good in Significant Other, was fun as Helen who sings the show’s famous “Lazy Afternoon.”  I look forward to following each of their careers.

But I don’t expect to see The Golden Apple again.  Interesting choices from the Encores! series this year.   Keep ’em coming, please.

nycitycenter.org

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A Doll’s House, Part 2

I still have never seen A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen.  I am vaguely aware of the general story and its famously shocking ending when first produced in 1879.  Therefore, in a crowded spring season for Broadway, Part 2 was not near the top of my must-see list.  Then I noticed the playwright was Lucas Hnath.  In 2015, “The Christians” (Playwrights Horizon) was one of my favorite plays that year.  Later that same season, I saw “Red Speedo” at New York Theater Workshop in a visually arresting production.  I loved them both for their thought-provoking characters and storylines so I took the plunge.

Along with her co-stars, Jayne Houdyshell, Chris Cooper and Condola Rashad, Laurie Metcalf leads us through this quasi-sequel as Nora.  While the play is definitely a Part 2 to A Doll’s House, it arrives over a century later.  The dialogue is often hilarious as the play ingeniously weaves us through a series of moral complexities.  Every character is rich, three dimensional and fully embodied in these wonderful performances.

Even more importantly, the play’s plot flows effortlessly and believably.  The director, Sam Gold, has effectively realized the combination of classic with contemporary.  All of the actors spar against each other and themselves on a minimalistic perfect set.  The audience is rewarded by revisiting a classic and its characters but with the freshness and spin enabled by crisp, modern dialogue plus the analytical passage of time.  Is marriage a good or bad thing?A Doll’s House, Part 2 firmly puts the spotlight on that debate.  And this playwright lets us decide, if that’s even possible.

Leaving the theater, I overheard two older men griping about this production.  They complained that the direction was all wrong and took the easy road by playing for laughs rather than being serious.  Ibsen this is not.  It’s Hnath and it’s genius.  Wherever he goes next, I’m all in.

dollshousepart2