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Thoroughly Modern Millie (The Actors Fund Benefit Concert)

Legendary Broadway stories about the understudy taking on the lead role are usually the stuff of fantasy entertainment.  In the musical 42nd Street, the iconic line is: “You’re going out there a youngster, but you’ve got to come back a star!”  In 2002, Broadway had a real life “star is born” moment.  Thoroughly Modern Millie opened with an unknown Sutton Foster in the lead, originally cast as the understudy but elevated to the starring role during the pre-Broadway out of town run.  After instant fame and a Tony Award for Best Actress, what followed was an incredible string of on stage successes including The Drowsy Chaperone, Shrek, Anything Goes and Violet.

The Actors Fund announced a one night benefit concert for this show reuniting most of the original cast, so I had my chance to finally catch this piece.  (The original New York Times review was so negative, I skipped the show the first time around.  Thankfully, the internet encourages alternative voices.  After reading Ben Brantley’s remarks now, they just sound mean-spirited and bitchy.)  In this staged concert version, the audience was filled to overflowing with industry types.  The result was possibly the loudest sustained applause and the most standing ovations I have ever witnessed.  These people knew the show, loved the score and adored the actors.  The environment was an extremely memorable combination of celebration and reunion, with a dash of Broadway magic.

So how does Millie hold up?  In the 1920s, Millie leaves Kansas for New York as a modern gal to snag a wealthy husband (ideally a boss).  She gets a room at a hotel for women (run by a former actress turned infamous white slave trader).  Naturally Millie falls in love with a handsome but poor schlep named Jimmy (who has the invaluable skill of knowing the location of the “juice joints”).  It’s all silly pastiche, expertly put over by a committed and talented cast.

Not all the songs and sections in Thoroughly Modern Millie are Grade A, but there are enough of them to make you smile, laugh and enjoy big Broadway fun.  Harriet Harris’ Chinese dragon lady won her a Tony and she was truly hilarious.  The choreography was inspired, particularly the typewriter tap dancing effect.  Both Gavin Creel (Jimmy) and perfect caricaturist Marc Kudisch (the boss) showed why they were Tony nominated for their performances.

When Ms. Foster belts out “Gimme Gimme that thing called love” near the end of the show, this concert and its audience erupted into a frenzy of love and support, quite fitting for a charity event.  Founded in 1882, the Actors Fund is a national human services organization meeting the needs facing the unique challenges for people with a life in the arts.  Services include emergency financial assistance, affordable housing, health care and more.  A worthwhile cause and a memorable evening that can only happen in New York.  It’s what keeps the Millie’s coming here year after year.

www.actorsfund.org more.

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Hey, Look Me Over! (Encores!)

For Encore’s 25th anniversary, the first entry this year is not an underappreciated or forgotten musical.  Instead, selections from nine shows which have not yet been picked for a seven performance revisit.  Lucille Ball’s Wildcat from 1960 about a rugged gal who dreams of striking oil, famous for the song “Hey, Look Me Over!” titles this collection.  A Hungarian immigrant engineering professor helps guide a football team in 1962’s All American, book by Mel Brooks.  The 1957 Lena Horne calypso flavored vehicle Jamaica.  A pair of Jerry Herman shows, Milk and Honey (1961) and Mack & Mabel (1974) wrap up the first act.

Bob Martin, the Man in Chair from The Drowsy Chaperone, is on hand to add humor between segments, thankfully.  We then plow on to the second half with an opening overture from Jule Styne’s Subways Are  For Sleeping (1961).  The 1960 Frank Loesser flop Greenwillow about a magical town where the eldest men must heed the “call to wander” leaving their women and children behind waiting for a return.  Sail Away, a 1961 Noel Coward show centering on a brash, bold American divorcee working as a hostess on a British cruise ship.  Finally, the crowd pleasing George M! from 1968 wraps things up with “Give My Regards to Broadway” and some much needed tap dancing to liven up the proceedings.

Hey, Look Me Over! is entertaining in an analytical way for aficionados of musical theater.  The hypothesis:  despite their flaws, are these shows worth revisiting.  The conclusion:  mostly not.  With a talented cast and a sumptuous orchestra there are high points.  Reed Birney and Judy Kuhn singing “Once Upon a Time” from All American.  Clifton Duncan’s soaring vocals in “Never Will I Marry” from Greenwillow.  And the show which felt most revivable, Mack & Mabel, about Mack Sennett and the silent movie era.  “Movies Were Movies” and “Look What Happened to Mabel” were beautifully performed by Douglas Sills and Alexandra Socha.  However, a jukebox of flops, near misses or dated minor successes does not scream out for an encore in this moderately entertaining compilation.

www.nycitycenter.org

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Jimmy Titanic (Irish Repertory Theatre)

From Boston’s Tír Na Theatre Company comes Jimmy Titanic, performed by its Artistic Director Colin Hamell.  The setting is Heaven in 2012, long after the Titanic has sunk.  Jimmy is one of the Irish lads who worked on building the ship in Belfast and, unfortunately, was on that doomed first voyage.  Why the last name Titanic you ask?  Well, apparently in heaven there’s a great deal of celebrity associated with famous disaster deaths.  So adopting the name Titanic affords you the chance to dance with an 800 year old bubonic plaque victim.  I kid you not.

Written by Bernard McMullan, Jimmy Titanic is a play with characters ranging from the bowels of the ship to the first class deck.  We travel from the offices of the New York Times to the Mayor of Belfast, then brief encounters with heaven.  God, Peter and an effete Gabriel all make appearances.  For the record, God is sort of a chain smoking godfather type and a bit crusty.  One man plays all of these characters jumping from Jimmy and his bestie to Mr. Astor, throwing in assorted Titanic facts along the way.  The tone frequently and abruptly changes from silly to serious so that the play is never grounded in anything other than an acting exercise.  And, therefore, Jimmy Titanic hits the proverbial iceberg.

www.irishrep.org

www.tirnatheatre.com

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Dungeon (Ars Nova)

Hit the Lights! Theater Company was selected to be a 2018 company-in-residence at Ars Nova, a major incubator of young talents beginning their careers.  Using found materials, they specialize in “transforming ordinary objects into something extraordinary.”  The company is composed of six multidisciplinary artists including puppeteers, actors, musicians, vocalists, artisans and “everything in between.”  Dungeon successfully played the Cincinnati and Minnesota Fringe Festivals (audience and critics pick, respectively).  Given a One Night Stand performance at Ars Nova, I decided to check them out.

Using screen puppets, hand puppets, actors, lights, a screen, sheets and a bass and violin, Dungeon is described as a story of a young man who falls into the unknown to rescue the thing he holds most dear.  I felt this was a version of Alice falling down the rabbit hole,  with scary images and darkness.  Odd monsters, spooky looking trees and the search ensues.  This is definitely fear-is-fun territory, played for laughs with some quality imagery.  There is a large amount of interesting puppetry (and its evolution) to be found around town these days.  To be at the next level, like Manual Cinema for example, I would say that the storytelling in Dungeon needs to be clearer.  A fun, high energy company to watch as they develop in residence.

www.arsnovanyc.com

www.hitthelights.org

www.manualcinema.com

theaterreviewsfrommyseat/mementosmori/manualcinema

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Hangmen (Atlantic Theater Company)

Martin McDonagh is currently nominated for two Academy Awards as the writer and co-producer of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. As a playwright, his resume includes The Beauty Queen of Leenane, The Cripple of Inishmaan, and The Pillowman.  Given Mr. McDonagh’s track record and this play’s title, it’s a safe bet that Hangmen will be at least ominous in tone.  By the end, this dark comedy lands firmly in inky black territory, at night, without the benefit of any moonlight while wearing an eye mask.  Hangmen is fantastic.

Set in the mid-1960s in Lancashire, England, the play is first about a man named Harry (Mark Addy) who hangs other men sentenced to death.  He is considered the second best executioner in the land after Albert (Maxwell Caulfield).  While Albert has more hangings to his credit, they were Nazis, so those deaths have “an asterisk” when comparing body count.  The opening scene shows one such episode in a gallows with a boy protesting his innocence.  Two years later, hanging has since been abolished.  Harry, his wife and daughter now own a pub filled with assorted characters.  One day, a wily stranger appears.

Hangmen is mesmerizing, combining terrifying thoughts and ideas with a liberal dose of comedy.  The play sheds a light on attitudes back in the 1960s while also exaggerating the relentless desire for celebrity, no matter what the cost.  The entire cast is superb throughout.  Each character is distinct and realistic, yet theatrical.  The words are even better, eliciting a “wow” from my mouth on numerous occasions.  Hangmen is another triumph for the Atlantic Theater Company.

www.atlantictheater.org

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⊂PORTO⊃ (WP Theater)

In the very funny, very smart ⊂PORTO⊃, Kate Benson has a lot to say.  Not only is she the playwright, she is also the narrator, commentator, thought-bubble maker and humorist playing the ⊂ ⊃ of the title.  Porto is our main character, a single woman in Brooklyn, living life but filled with all the standard, almost required, anxieties of today.  The play begins in darkness listening to musings from ⊂ ⊃ about the making of sausage casings.  Stay with me, please.

When the curtain opens, we are in a hipster bar with foie gras sausages on the menu.  Delicious or revolting animal abuse?  The smarmy bartender (Noel Joseph Allain) thinks one thing and Porto’s friend Dry Sac (Leah Karpel, perfect) is clearly, and drunkenly, on the other side of the argument.  Dry Sac doesn’t eat very much, “just olives and bitterness.”  How we think about ourselves and others, and what we think and why, is the terrain we travel in this play, primarily from a woman’s perspective.  The journey is rich, complex, silly, recognizable, witty and awkward, like life itself.

⊂Porto> is structured with our playwright’s voice walking us through yet also commenting on the action and scene changes.  This is my second Kate Benson play, the first being A Beautiful Day in November on the Banks of the Greatest of the Great Lakes.  Also very funny, that play used sports commentators narrating the action of a family Thanksgiving.  If we are keeping score, Ms. Benson is 2-0 with WP Theater.  Both plays were splendidly directed by Lee Sunday Evans to not only coax out the humor but also the humanity of the characters. 

A coproduction with The Bushwick Starr and in association with New Georges, WP Theater has mounted an outstanding production in all facets.  The set design, lighting, direction and casting are all excellent.  These actors fully inhabit their roles, yet the audience has the luxury of filling in the details with people we know or stereotypes we winkingly know about.  Julia Sirna-Frest plays Porto in an exquisite match of character and performer.  You want to see what happens to her long after this plays ends.

WP Theater focuses on promoting female artists. Mission accomplished with this outstanding play and this production.  If you want to try off-Broadway, this is a great opportunity to see what all the fuss is all about.  Approachable, offbeat, clever, smart, thoughtful and hilarious, ⊂Porto⊃ is just about perfect theater.  Oh, did I forget to mention the ending?  Extraordinarily memorable.

www.wptheater.org

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Hallelujah, Baby! (York Theatre Company)

I am currently reading an exceptional book, The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson.  Equal parts harrowing and historical, three individual’s memories and countless research contextualizes the massive movement from 1915 through 1970 by black citizens escaping the Jim Crow south.  Unrelatedly, I received an email from the York Theater Company about its Musicals in Mufti series (Indian word for “in street clothes,” here meaning without the benefit of a full production).  The first show this year was going to be Hallelujah, Baby! directed by my childhood friend Gerry McIntyre.  I didn’t really know much about the show other than it made Leslie Uggams a star so I decided to go check it out.  Who knew escaping Jim Crow could be packaged as musical comedy (albeit with an edge)?

Hallelujah, Baby! covers the civil rights movement from 1910 through the 1960s (although an update brought it to the present).  Georgina (Stephanie Umoh, charming) is a young woman living in the south longing for a better life.  Her mother is a maid (Vivian Reed, Bubbling Brown Sugar, still a colossal force of nature).  Georgina longs for a better life and “My Own Morning.”  While reading a serious book about this period, I luckily got to experience a 1967 musical comedy covering essentially the same story arc.  The show has quite the pedigree.  Composed by Jule Styne (Funny Girl, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes) with a book by Arthur Laurents (Gypsy, West Side Story) and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green (On the Town, On the Twentieth Century), Hallelujah, Baby! won a pile of Tonys including Best Musical and Best Actress.

Now in its 24th year, the York Theatre’s Musicals in Mufti series curates rarely produced or originally underappreciated gems.  One week of rehearsals and one week of performances with scripts in hand, the audience gets to experience the heart of a show.  For me, it was considering this big Broadway musical dabbling in civil rights during the tumultuous 1960s.  Although naturally a tad dated, Hallelujah, Baby! is filled with excellent songs.  The structure of following an outwardly ageless 25 year old woman (and her two male suitors) through different eras was a clever conceit.

A full production would offer the chance to really delineate the periods, costumes and styles.  In the meantime, we have this excellent short-lived off-Broadway study.  As evidenced by our recent news cycle, the struggle to completely escape Jim Crow is sadly not over.  Putting the show in historical perspective:  this story was told by a creative team of white people in the 1960s.  Fifty years later, Lin-Manuel Miranda has given us Hamilton.  Where will we be in 2060?  While this year’s Mufti series is a celebration of three Jule Styne shows, this entertaining production of Hallelujah, Baby! is also a rare opportunity to look back half a century and consider the Broadway community’s commentary on social issues and American history.  That’s a pretty big payoff for seeing a Gerry Mac show!  Next up in the Mufti series:  Bar Mitzvah Boy and Subways are for Sleeping.

www/yorktheatre.org

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Fire and Air (Classic Stage Company)

The Ballets Russes and its impresario, Sergei Diaghilev, is the subject matter for Terrence McNally’s latest play, Fire and Air.  He is the winner of four Tony Awards for the plays Love! Valour! Compassion! and Master Class and his musical books for Kiss of the Spider Woman and Ragtime.  So Mr. McNally has covered demanding artists, gay relationships and period pieces before.  The Classic Stage Company is presenting the world premiere of Fire and Air, with direction and scenic design by John Doyle (Broadway’s Sweeney Todd, The Visit, The Color Purple).

Legendary for its influence on art and dance from 1909 – 1929, Sergei Diaghilev galvanized the Paris art scene and engaged his talented circle of Russian èmigrès.  A super mogul, artists who secured Diaghilev’s approval were poised to take on a near-cult like following.  In 1912, Vaslav Nijinski (James Cusati-Moyer) choreographed and performed the controversial and erotic ballet, The Afternoon of a Faun, to widespread acclaim.  Nijinski and Diaghilev were lovers but when the young protégé married while on tour in 1913, he was dropped by the company.  This relationship and the outsized personalities of these two individuals serve as the basis for Act I.  The second Act explores the relationship with the next protégé, Leonide Massine (Jay Armstrong Johnson, superb).

Watching a play about an older Artistic Director playing Svengali to young men is more disturbing in our current climate of #MeToo.  So why is this play never more than interesting?  Douglas Hodge (La Cage Aux Folles) plays the driven Diaghilev not as dandyish, haughty and aristocratic as I might have imagined him.  In addition to the two dancers, there are three associates/friends (John Glover, Marin Mazzie and four-time Academy Award nominee Marsha Mason) who really don’t have enough to do.  That they sit on stage now and then for no discernible reason just distracts from this small character play.  For me, the subject matter was far more fascinating than the performances (fine), the play (good, if sketchy) and the staging (underwhelming).  Fire and Air is timely though and a thought-provoking piece of a historically significant and influential artistic period.

www.classicstage.org

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Cardinal (Second Stage Theater)

When dialogue is stilted, the responsibility to bring it to life falls to the actors and the director.  When that does not successfully happen, the result is Cardinal.  The playwright Greg Pierce is commenting on current economic conditions in America like last year’s Pulitzer Prize winning Sweat.  In this effort, a small city in upstate New York has an abandoned factory, a declining population and few prospects.  Lydia Lensky (Anna Chlumsky) returns home with some big ideas for the mayor.  Like other successful tourist destinations around the world, they could paint downtown a single color (got a deal on cardinal red) and the tourists will follow.

While immigrants were a cause of concern to the townspeople of Sweat, here the energy is focused on the Chinese.  The tour buses arrive and the imbalance of economic power is on display.  Our young mayor (Adam Pally) gets to stomp his feet in a petulant rage while getting entangled with Lydia.  A soap opera storyline ensues which is completely unbelievable, exacerbated by a lack of chemistry between the leads (or was that the directorial intent)?  The Chinese mogul and his son (Eugene Young, excellent) want to invest more in the town.  The bakery owner and her autistic son are not happy with the changes.

Kate Whoriskey directed this play (and also Sweat).  Hard to say why this play feels so clumsy and unfocused.  The bludgeoning use of the red color of the title?  The buildings are painted red, the mayor’s bedsheets are ridiculously red and there is an eye-rolling conversation at the end of the play where Lydia sees a cardinal.  Truly.  Or maybe the problem is the overstuffed plot venturing from rom-com to something darker and then back again.  The topper:  crocheted monkeys for sale at the bakery representing a happier time for America’s past.  Or is that satire?  Cardinal is not the reason to start taking up bird-watching.  Or crocheting.  Or theater.

www.2st.com

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El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom (Two River Theater, Red Bank, NJ)

A superhero play by Matt Barbot, El Coquí Espectacular is set in Brooklyn.  Our hero is an aspiring, out-of-work comic book writer named Alex (Bradley James Tejeda, terrific).  In his everyday life, he lives at home with his mother and brother, who works for a vile soda company peddling sugar to Latinos.  This is the “Bottle of Doom” of the title.  Naturally, our Puerto Rican superhero has a costume (handmade), is a vigilant neighborhood crime fighter (well, trying) and, in the process, becomes a famous celebrity in the community.

As is required in comics, we have a diabolical villain named El Chupacabra, apparently named after a legendary creature who sucks the blood of goats and was first purported to be seen in Puerto Rico.  None of this is in the play but it certainly explains the spines on the costume!  El Chupacabra is played with hilarious evil relish by Gabriel Diego Hernández.  There is also the female photographer who encounters our hero and a mom who is tough, a little batty but with a heart of gold.  Much of this entertainment is great fun, if slightly leaning toward children’s theater.  The messages and themes are fairly simplistic, which admittedly can be appropriate for comics but adds extra weight to the serious moments.  Thankfully the townsfolk, denoted by the cast wearing bright green glasses, jump in to make us laugh at the exaggerated parody.

The production values of El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom were incredibly good.  This was my first excursion to Two River Theater and the venue is impressive. The scenic designer Arnulfo Maldonado and the rest of the largely New York based production team have created a colorful and creative comic book storyboard which impressively enhances the action.  Overall, this play is high quality fun.

www.tworivertheater.org