Category: Broadway Reviews

Charles Fuller won a Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1982 for A Soldier’s Play which was originally staged Off-Broadway by the Negro Ensemble Company.  That cast included Adolph Caesar, Denzel Washington, David Alan Grier and Samuel L. Jackson.  Mr. Caesar was Oscar nominated in the film adaptation A Soldier’s Story which received additional nominations for Best Picture and Screenplay.  That’s quite the pedigree which precedes this first Broadway production.

David Alan Grier returns to this story now in the pivotal role of Sergeant Vernon C. Waters.  At the start of the play he is drunk and laughing.  He yells, “they still hate you.”  He is shot to death.  What follows is a police procedural to determine the killer or killers.

A Soldier’s Play is set in Fort Neal, Louisiana in 1944 near the end of the second world war.  This is a segregated fort.  The enlisted black men are under the watch of a white Captain (Jerry O’Connell).  They complain about the menial jobs they are given.  A comment is made about being “lucky enough to get shipped out of this hellhole to the war.”  Outside the base, the Ku Klux Klan looms but racism is omnipresent within as well.

The assumption is that the sergeant was murdered by the KKK deep in the heart of the Jim Crow south.  A black officer, Captain Richard Davenport (Blair Underwood), has been assigned to this investigation.  Naturally the presiding white officer objects and attempts to derail the process.  In a series of interviews and flashbacks, the captain will get to the bottom of the mystery.

As staged by director Kenny Leon, this play captured my attention from start to finish.  The ensemble work of the entire cast breathed palpable life into this production.  While the play may seem dated as compared to this year’s mind-blowing Slave Play by Jeremy O. Harris, there are obvious reasons it remains relevant.  Racism is hardly a historical footnote in America.  Injustice lives and breathes in our government, in the prison-industrial complex and in the deeply rooted attitudes of countless millions.

What drives this play is not simply conflict between black and white men.  There is a very fine scene when Captain Davenport interviews two white men (Nate Mann and Lee Aaron Rosen) who were on guard the evening of the murder.  Their disgust at having to answer to a black man is not surprising but the effectiveness of how this new territory plays out is tightly wrought drama.

The soul of this play lies within the enlisted men.  They have an easy camaraderie in the barracks and on their winning baseball team.  Their black superior officer, Sergeant Waters, treats them like garbage.  Waters’ racism is a complicated blend of self-loathing and aspirational whiteness.  He has begun to climb the white man’s ladder and has definite ideas for his children’s future.

Mr. Grier is utterly convincing in this juicy role.  Everyone on the stage has a reason to dislike him either from their inbred racism or their hatred of his condemnation of his own kind.  His murder has many suspects.  The police procedural part of this play is somewhat old-fashioned but completely entertaining.

Blair Underwood is terrific as the investigating captain.  He is a black man with power.  He wears his pride on his sleeve.  His nuanced performance hinted at the battle scars he must have encountered on his rise.  He does not back down ever.  That skill had to be mastered.  Unlike the white captain who runs the fort, he had to be exceptional to get as far as he did.  That comparison registers nicely.  (The matinee idol torso flash which opens the second act is the only misstep.)

A Soldier’s Play is not a masterpiece but it is a very good drama.  This cast is excellent across the board most notably the grunts.  Nnamdi Asomugha was a standout as Private First Class Melvin Peterson but each actor created a completely formed character.  That makes for entertaining drama.  The subject matter remains pertinent nearly forty years later.

The Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of A Soldier’s Play is running at the American Airlines Theatre through March 15, 2020.

www.roundabouttheatre.org

Hundreds of lanterns are hung throughout the entire Lyceum Theatre for this production of A Christmas Carol.  Jack Thorne (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) has adapted Charles Dickens’ holiday staple and those lights will be needed to guide the audience through the darkness.  This tale of Ebenezer Scrooge is bleak (in a good way) and ultimately redemptive, if a trifle overbaked.

Campbell Scott is a wonderful Scrooge, full of anger and greed.  The clever set design by Rob Howell has boxes submerged in the floor.  When pulled out, they stack and create furniture but also represent the safe deposit boxes in which to hoard money.  Scrooge believes that “taking on a debt is a kindness.”  At his own funeral, Scrooge sees his nephew Fred (Brandon Gill) remarking “my uncle was unable to find joy in the most basic of things.”  He adds a disarming coda.  “He was a tragedy.”

This version of A Christmas Carol lays its darkness on heavily.  When redemption finally happens, the contrast is striking.  There is much to enjoy in this retelling staged by the inventive director Matthew Warchus (Matilda, The Norman Conquests, Boeing, Boeing).  There are head scratching misses, however, which detract from the story’s power.

Two excellent actresses, Andrea Martin and LaChanze, play the Ghosts of Christmas Past and Present.  Their performances are so oddball that they seem jokey.  LaChanze delivers hers in a Caribbean accent wearing sunglasses.  Any weight of drama is stripped away.  Chris Hoch’s Marley is uneventful except for the surfeit of chains.  Thankfully Mr. Scott is grounded and effective watching the scenes unfolding in front of his eyes.

There are genuinely touching moments such as a view into Young Ebenezer’s boyhood (Dan Piering) playing with toys.  His late in life visit to Belle is a triumphant expression of raw emotions.  Sarah Hunt is magnificent in the part of the girlfriend who got away.  Tears visibly stream off her face as the two reflect on their pasts and presents.  Audience members could be heard sniffling.  It is one of the finest scenes on Broadway this year.

Other particularly positive aspects of this production are the performances of Dashiell Eaves as Bob Cratchit and Rachel Prather as Scrooge’s sister, Little Fan.  She doubles as the guide through Christmas Future in the far better second act.  The celebration of the spirit of Christmas is gloriously realized in an audience participation preparation of the feast.  That creative idea goes on way too long, however, and it becomes awkward to watch the forced frivolity.

The nice touches and quieter moments are where this production makes its mark.  There are multiple times the cast performs Christmas carols on hand-held bells.  That effect grounds this tale in the past and is sweetly nostalgic.  The set offers a bunch of surprises.  Other than the hideous ghost outfits of patchwork, the costumes are transportive.

At the end of the day, A Christmas Carol must have a great Scrooge to be successful.  Campbell Scott delivers that performance.  His transformation to joy is effectively realized and shocking from what came before.  This version has some flaws for sure but can be recommend for an abundance of creative innovation and visual flourishes.  The ghosts matter less in this retelling.  That makes the living and breathing among us even more important to consider.  Who wants to hear “he was a tragedy” at their own funeral?

A Christmas Carol is running through January 5, 2020.

www.achristmascarol.com

Matthew Lopez has written the two part epic The Inheritance with inspiration from E. M. Forster’s Howard’s End.  That novel addressed social conventions, codes of conduct and relationships in England at the start of the 20th Century.  This play has updated the action to New York City from 2015 to 2018.  The story being told is about gay men.  The ambition of the writing is staggering.

Fascinatingly, Mr. Forster is a character at the start of this drama.  He advises a group that they can use his novel to loosely create their own story and even change the words.  This young generation of gay men are fairly critical of him.  He wrote Maurice in 1913 about a homosexual relationship.  That work was not published until after his death in 1971.  The obvious comparison being made is how much more accepting the world is today.  The other view is simply cowardice.

Are things truly better?  What social conventions have changed?  Which still oppress?  Eric Glass and Toby Darling are engaged to be married.  Toby is writing a play called “Lover Boy.”  Eric has befriended an older gay man who lives in their apartment building.  Walter Poole has been with his billionaire Republican partner for eons.  In a significant nod to Howard’s End, the name Henry Wilcox is used for the wealthy man.  These two older men also own a country house which similarly plays a central thematic role as in the novel.

The Inheritance is so boldly conceived that it has attempted a broad update of the 1991 masterwork Angels in America to the present day.  Tony Kushner’s play memorably covered the AIDS crisis in the latter stages of the 20th Century.  With treatments and preventive options now widely available (to at least those with the means), gay life and culture has moved on from the past.  The play celebrates much of that freedom wittily.  A sideline about whether camp should be over is winningly funny.

As you might expect, the young are not so free and not so happy as it might first appear.  Their gay baggage weighs them down and some much more than others.  The familiar and omnipresent family rejection lingers.  These are not new revelations.  Thoughts of finding one’s own family are a central theme of mainstream topical gay entertainments such as Ru Paul’s Drag Race.  Mr. Lopez’s play does, however, shine a bright light on the responsibility question and necessity of effective community building and support.

The direction by Steven Daldry on an impressively spare set (Bob Crowley) is energetic and fast paced.  The final scene at the end of the first half is mesmerizing theater and completely unforgettable.  The second part is nowhere near as tight as the first half.  There are many plot lines to wrap up and the strain is evident as the grinders of a soap opera finale churn.

At that point, a female character is introduced who is played by Lois Smith.  That scene is quiet and reflective which nicely guides this story to a satisfying conclusion.

The acting ensemble is stellar across the board.  Kyle Soller grounds this whole play in the central role of Eric who realizes that “to fall in love is to make an appointment with heartbreak.”  His solar energy sunbeam of a boyfriend, the brilliantly named Toby Darling, is played perfectly by Andrew Burnap.  The role is complicated, unsympathetic, joyously alive and emotionally moving at the same time.

John Benjamin Hickey commands all the gravitas needed to portray the conservative Wilcox.  Paul Hilton is memorable as the moral compass in the crucial dual role of Walter Poole and Morgan (E. M. Forster).  There are many Broadway debuts in this production and everyone succeeds at the highest level.  In the dual social climber roles of Adam and Leo, Samuel H. Levine was notably superb.

I elected to see The Inheritance on a single day with a dinner break.  That is a long commitment.  I highly recommend Part I.  Then take a few days off and let that half sink in.  There is a lot to process.  A little distance may also help Part II seem less clunky and heavy handed.  The scope of this production is immense.  Serious theater patrons should be impressed.  The gay community should be thrilled by the thoughtful discussions.  As Mr. Kushner advised years ago, “there is more great work to be done.”

www.theinheritanceplay.com

When I first saw David Cromer’s production of The Band’s Visit off-Broadway, I was enraptured by the quietly heartbreaking beauty of its story.  This musical transferred to Broadway and remained an intimate, very focused, purposefully unadorned show.  When you have outstanding material, letting it stand on its own can be a perfect strategy.  The Sound Inside is a great play by Adam Rapp.  Once again Mr. Cromer has mounted an exceptional production which thrills as it travels along a mysterious path.

Mary-Louise Parker portrays Bella, a creative writing professor at Yale.  She has written two short story collections and “an underappreciated novel.”  In her opening scene, Bella communicates directly to the audience.  She jots notes down on her pad as important details need to be written down.  Diagnosed with Stage 2 cancer and living alone, the story appears to be a bleak one.

The creative team’s design for this play never lets visual surroundings get in the way of the words.  Alexander Woodward’s Scenic Design and Heather Gilbert’s Lighting Design are completely in sync with the tone of the play as it has been staged.  Walking outside, there is a darkened hint of a tree which emerges in the background.  Bella’s office is cold and sparse.  Everything is grays and blacks.  Where will this two character play go?

Bella has a student in her freshman writing class.  Christopher is, without any doubt, an oddball.  He does not use Twitter and refuses to schedule his teacher meetings online.  Fighting against everything and everyone that is the Yale stereotype, is he an eighteen year old literary genius in the making?  Why so moody?  And so rude?

Christopher seems to respect Bella, however, and is presently writing his own novel despite his freshman course load.  The manuscript is obviously autobiographical fiction.  His protagonist is named Christopher.  He admits that the story is somewhat writing itself – or at least the characters are in charge.  Bella utters a single line which I wish I heard while struggling through creative fiction writing in college.  She tells him, “if your protagonist is leading you then you’ll likely stay ahead of your reader.”

The Sound Inside is a fascinating and complex tale in both storyline and structure.  Lovers of fiction and the process by which it is formed have much to savor in this ninety minute dialogue between two practitioners of the craft.  The balance between what is real and what is fictional on stage is where this play stays ahead of the listener.  Mr. Rapp has created a tightly wrought tale which seems, however, to meander very casually and organically.  The prose is often gorgeous.

I have long been a fan of Mary-Louise Parker and her impressive stage career.  Her major theatrical achievements include Prelude to a Kiss, Proof, Heisenberg and How I Learned to Drive.  Her performance in this play is flawless.  Will Hochman has the difficult task of keeping pace with her in a two character study.  He was excellent.

There is an important scene between the two where you start to wonder if a romantic angle may develop (the plot considers many different forks though the literary forest).  The lighting is warmer than the rest of the play.  The depth of the writing and these two actors pull you into this critical moment.  You are watching two people in a living room and the large Broadway house disappears.  Everyone who participated in this production made that magic happen.

The Sound Inside by Adam Rapp is unquestionably one of the best plays of this season.  The production is every bit as good as the writing.  This is Broadway at its absolute finest. Listen to the sound inside your head and do your best to see this before it closes.

The Sound Inside is running until January 12, 2020 at Studio 54.

www.soundinsidebroadway.com

In 2014, All the Way won a Tony Award for Best Play.  Robert Schenkkan masterfully chronicled LBJ’s ascendance to the presidency from JFK’s assassination through the passage of the Civil Rights Act and a triumphant landslide reelection over Barry Goldwater in 1964.  The Great Society is a sequel which covers his second, less fondly remembered, term in office.

Brian Cox (HBO’s Succession) portrays Lyndon Baines Johnson in this version.  Brian Cranston won a Tony for his earlier profile of this down home Texan and masterful political manipulator.  He was able to showcase the glory years as well as the man’s craftiness.  Mr. Cox presides over a time of race riots and Vietnam.  The mood is definitely darker and LBJ is edgier and much less self-assured.

The 36th President of the United States is, however, far from timid during this period.  Mr. Cox opens the play with some commentary intended to underscore the man’s outlook.  On bull riding, LBJ ponders “why would I do that?”  The fairly obvious analogy being drawn is how brilliantly LBJ rode the bulls of Washington to move his agenda forward.

In 1965, LBJ is straddling the fence between securing poverty bills or voting rights.  Vietnam looms as a small thorn which will metastasize shortly.  He is managed by General William Westmoreland (Brian Dykstra) to increase the number of American troops.  “I don’t want to be the president who lost Asia.”

All during this time, America is embroiled in enormous social conflicts.  The murder of Jimmie Lee Jackson (Christopher Livingston) leads to the Selma marches and police violence.  One of the organizers asks an unanswerable question: “how can LBJ send troops to Vietnam but not to South Alabama?”  This play has a plethora of historical drama at its disposal.  Therein lies the problem.

The Great Society is overstuffed with facts and characters.  All the material is interesting especially if you are a history buff.  There is a Spark Notes sketchiness to this play, however, which makes fascinating figures such as Martin Luther King (Grantham Coleman) and Hubert Humphrey (Richard Thomas) look like like unremarkable sidekicks in LBJ’s bombastic solar system.  No one in his orbit emerges as a three dimensional person.

Projections add additional facts and photographs to emphasize what is being dutifully dramatized on stage.  David Korins’ benign set design appears to suggest a courtroom with jury boxes.  I attempted to determine why certain characters were seated on stage at various times.  All of my theories lead nowhere.  Different people just watch as LBJ summons them in and spews them out.  The master manipulation is super fun and uneventful at the same time.

Not that there isn’t a reason to consider the significance of LBJ’s socially progressive agenda in light of current events.  The Supreme Court just weakened the impact of the Voting Rights Act.  Large swaths of American citizens do not understand the phrase “Black Lives Matter” and its import.  Hard hitting dialogue registers and forces you to sit up in your seat.  The federal government leaves “black children in the streets to starve” as they kill “yellow children with jelly bombs.”

This play remembers that civil rights was not simply a north versus south story.  Chicagoans held protests with signs which read “Who Needs Niggers” and “Negroes Go Back To Africa.”  The scene recreating this event is presented so artificially that it generates no emotion on the stage or off.  The subject matter is never boring but the direction by Bill Rauch is not helpful.

Many actors have multiple roles.  The storytelling is not confusing but it is very basic.  I saw a group of high school aged young adults in the theater.  This play gives a nicely detailed recap of LBJ, the war in Vietnam, our country’s racial tensions and the often disheartening compromises required to make legislation happen.  Nothing is new but the overview could bring some needed backdrop to the next generation.

The most memorable performance comes from David Garrison as the unctuous racist George Wallace and Tricky Dick Nixon.  (The wiretapping surveillance of Nixon by LBJ was a particularly interesting factoid.)  Bryce Pinkham is a fine Bobby Kennedy, refreshingly portrayed as a real wheeling and dealing politician rather than an iconic demigod.

As the man himself, Brian Cox plays LBJ a tad smaller than ideal.  Mr. Cranston was a firebrand in his depiction.  Mr. Cox is naturally covering the tougher years when this leader ran into a wall and his political career died.  That weariness is beautifully realized before it’s time for another scene.  And another.  And another.

I enjoyed sitting through The Great Society despite its many flaws.  The play is too long and crammed with too many scenes which are only mildly interesting.  The documentary tone and brisk pacing saps this incredibly rich story of needed depth.  Any drama which makes you focus on an eighteen month period where troops in Vietnam grew from 24,000 to 375,000 young men is worth thinking about.  Any drama which makes you understand how power corrupts is worth a listen.  This one is for people who want a quick overview of a tumultuous period in American history.