Appropriate

The setting is a former plantation home in southeast Arkansas.  A family has gathered to deal with the estate of their deceased father.  Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins riveting play Appropriate considers the multiple definitions of that word.  The emphasis, however, is to take something for one’s own, typically without the owner’s permission.

Disrepair and old age have marred the former grandeur of this home.  This family’s long history is evidenced by the graveyard of slaves on the property.  Getting us to reflect on our current comprehension of America’s centuries long oppression for profit is only one level of this complex and fascinating study.  The family itself is a combustible mess of anger, disappointment, feuds and regret.

Toni (Sarah Paulson) is the elder sister who is the self-appointed leader of the three siblings.  She is organizing the estate sale.  Her sullen teenager Rhys (Graham Campbell) is with her.  Brother Franz (Michael Esper) arrives to get the job done quickly so her can return home with his wife Rachel (Natalie Gold) and two children.  The youngest brother Bo (Corey Stoll), a colossal screw up and shameful embarrassment, shows up after a long period of incommunicado.

Cue the hoarding clutter that must be sorted out.  I do not mean simply the overstuffed odds and ends that must be organized and sold off.   There is a pile of emotional baggage rattling through this house and, in particular, through a very tautly wound Toni.  The number one child and primary person who attempted to keep things under control is struggling mightily with the money grabbers jumping on a potential financial bandwagon.  Where were they all these years?

Discovered objects lead to discussions, notably about the family history ensconced in a deep south plantation where there is no doubt slavery was a major factor in the family fortune.  That economic glory is obviously long passed but the legacy of their past is a newly uncovered mirror.  Peering in is not easy nor can the three agree on what they see in the reflection.

Was their father a racist or just an inheritor from a long line of people who prospered owning human beings?  The latter is what the three from the current generation seem to be at the outset.  What makes Appropriate so bitingly good is the wildly erratic moral compass this family uses to move through this experience.

Adding to that are seismic underlying familial tensions which come to the surface and sting.  The siblings (and one spouse) go at each other like any family with deep seated animosity and steely protective barriers.  Young Bo seems to be the most docile but his story is troubled and dark with a different maltreatment on his resume.

Bo arrives at the mansion with his hippy-dippy sage wielding girlfriend River (Elle Fanning).  Their intent is not clear.  Their motives are questioned and both are ridiculed.  Knives are out as this family cuts into barely healed wounds.  Amazingly, on top of these expressed minefields, the family tries to come to terms with their white ancestry from the period.

The play contains harrowing monologues and gut wrenching revelations.  There are plot enhancing bombs which explode.  The cast is, to a person, flawless in presenting these recognizably flawed individuals.  Director Lila Neugebauer steers the play beautifully so that everyone is believably realistic yet theatrical.

There is a meaningful balance between bitterness and belly laughs in this play. We may recognize the dialogue from our own personal consideration of this American story.  Mr. Jabob-Jenkins encourages us to glimpse our own personal reflections into the family mirror.  I saw my mother telling me when I was a child that not all slaves had it so bad.  Many worked in the homes not in the fields, she noted.  Was that appropriate to tell a child?  In how many “modern” American homes has this been said?  It certainly explains her coming out of the racist closet made fashionable in the Trump era.

Does Appropriate have a resolution?  Does America?  Pair this one with Purlie Victorious (which I did over two successive evenings) for an immersive education in what schools are gleefully eliminating from their curriculum.  History, like death, is often hard to face.  Theater needs to challenge as well as entertain.  This play embraces the cobwebs and, perhaps if we are lucky, takes another step in the direction of healing.

Appropriate is being presented by Second Stage at the Hayes Theater through March 3, 2024.  Please note that seat discomfort in this theater is guaranteed and, as usual, other patrons were notably complaining out loud.  Not exactly sure I understand why this situation has not yet been addressed.

www.2st.com

Purlie Victorious:  A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch

Last night I was watching The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.  One of his guests was Ruby Bridges.  She was the first African American to attend an all-white Louisiana elementary school in 1960 during the desegregation crisis.  U.S. Marshalls had to escort her in.  No one would sit in class with her so she studied alone with a white teacher imported from Boston.  A year later in 1961 Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch premiered on Broadway.  A tale of two cities, indeed.

Ms. Bridges became even more famous when depicted in a Norman Rockwell painting entitled The Problem We All Live With.  Sixty years later and the problem is still here.  Some progress has been made of course but backward motion is getting traction.  As it does again and again.  We are still fighting the Civil War and current conservative leadership is hell bent on restoring the doctrine of white supremacy.  In this environment, Purlie has been superbly revived and remains a vital piece of theatrical genius.

Ossie Davis wrote and starred in this broad satire of the Jim Crow south set in “the recent past”.  The plot centers around the titular character who returns home to the cotton planting country.  His Aunt Bee passed away and there is a $500 inheritance.  Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee (Jay O’ Sanders) has held onto the funds.  Purlie Victorious Judson (Leslie Odom, Jr., excellent) wants the cash to buy the community church and preach freedom to the cotton pickers.

Purlie is nothing if not filled with wild notions whether factually sound or fictionally embellished.  He returns home with Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins, a devout admirer of his.  She agrees to impersonate the deceased Aunt Bee to collect the cash from Master.  Forced to act high above her station, she awkwardly approaches the task.  Kara Young’s scene is one of the funniest likely to seen on Broadway this year.

Purlie’s brother Gitlow (Billy Eugene Jones, especially first-rate) and sister-in-law Missy (Heather Alicia Simms) are on board to help.  Gitlow is the character navigating the white agenda while working with his clan to accomplish the mission.  As in all brash comedies things go awry and the fallout leads to crises.

What makes Ossie Davis’ play so remarkable is that the humor never flags.  The subject matter includes all the racial strife prevalent in America, a brandishing bull whip and local police with dubious interpretations of the law.  My first trip to Louisiana was in the late 1980’s auditing a jeans factory.  The good ol’ boys would sit in their office drinking beer all afternoon while the factory workers (primarily black) toiled away.  When I saw these southern lawmen onstage I immediately recalled the dimwits I encountered all those years ago.

Charlie Cotchipee is the young son of his entitled landowning racist father.  Mr. Davis wisely gives him the moral ability to see right and wrong.  He plays a crucial role in the plot and Noah Robbins nicely inhabits the nervous yet determined and intelligent boy.  Trivia buffs may want to know Alan Alda was the original Charlie on Broadway.

There are memorable lines and monologues throughout.  The cast is as terrific across the board as one would hope.  The creative team, notably Derek McLane’s pitch perfect set design, makes this story come to life but never lets realism overwhelm the satire.

Director Kenny Leon has staged this play with pedal to the metal.  A three act play has been reformed into a single act.  As a result, we hop on the speeding train and let the brilliantly subversive tone wash over us.  I guffawed and howled.  Underneath, however, the darkness defiantly insists on its due and, from my seat, hit some nerves.

Is Purlie victorious after all this time?  I’d have to say not really despite being turned into a 1970 hit musical .  The play successfully ran on Broadway for 261 performances and was never revived until now.  Perhaps the Jim Crow entertainment industry (and its safe craving consuming public) is to blame.  For everyone else, this production breaks open a phenomenal time capsule unearthed from a galvanizing historical decade in American history.  Go and laugh you ass off.

Purlie Victorious is running at The Music Box until February 4, 2023.  I’ve added Gone With the Days! to my movie watch list.  This 1963 filming of the play includes performances from many of the original cast members including Ossie Davis and his wife Ruby Dee.

www.purlievictorious.com

My first encounter with Yann Martel’s magical story Life of Pi was listening to an audiobook on a long family trek to Williamsburg for Thanksgiving.  A thirteen hour tale was so memorable that I can still hear narrator Vikas Adams’ pronunciation of the tiger character’s name “Richard Parker”.  That was followed years later by Director Ang Lee’s extraordinary film.

This play was developed in England, transferred to the West End and won the Olivier for Best Play.  A transfer to Broadway resulted in a Tony nomination for the play and wins for the technical designs.  I was going to skip a visit to this one but decided to jump on board given the accolades.

I am sorry to report that this production does not satisfy in the storytelling department.  The three main parts of the book are reorganized so the original mystery of survival is assured.  The play does capture some of the philosophical elements but they are not the central purpose.  As a result the story can often seem confusing (as happened with the one person with me who experienced this classic for the first time).

A family who owns a zoo in Pondicherry, India decides to emigrate to Canada with their animals in tow.  They board a cargo ship which meets with disaster.  The family’s son Pi manages to board a lifeboat.  The only other survivors are a hyena, an orangutan and the Richard Parker, the tiger.  The adventure involves this uncomfortable cohabitation.

The visuals are indeed impressive.  The set transformation from Indian marketplace to cargo ship was effortless and superbly executed.  The animals are all puppets and up to three humans manipulate them including hunching over as the tiger’s torso.  The movement is a feast for the eyes.

Also noteworthy are finely tuned performances especially by Hiran Abeysekera in the title role.  This tale is a marathon at sea.  The staging is physically demanding and the storytelling has a great deal of wit in addition to the underlying drama.  The performance was excellent from start to finish.

All that said – and there’s much good news about the production – this effort lacks clarity and depth.  Perhaps I am too familiar with the brilliance of Mr. Martel’s original.  The relativity of truth theme does come across nicely but the play seems adapted for people who already know the story.  Yes there is magical realism on display but the glorious musings on life and humanity have to be filled in from memory since they are sketchily drawn here.  Fans of eye-popping spectacle will definitely be entertained.

Life of Pi is running on Broadway through July 23, 2023.

www.lifeofpibway.com

A drama critic once wrote “there isn’t anything the matter with Levant that a few miracles wouldn’t cure”.  Good Night, Oscar is a play about a man I knew nothing about.  He was (and is now) a fascinating and complex personality.

Oscar Levant was many things, most notably an accomplished concert pianist.  A composer, conductor, author, television host and actor were some of his many sidelines.  He portrayed a piano player in many films including An American in Paris.  He played himself in the fictionalized screen biography of George Gershwin titled Rhapsody in Blue.

Doug Wright’s play takes place in the spring of 1958 in the latter stages of his career.  Oscar is scheduled to be a guest on The Tonight Show with Jack Paar.  Famous for his eccentric and erratic behavior there is concern whether he will show up.  Xavier Cougat is mentioned as the emergency backup.  We are clearly in dated, early television land here.

There is a long (long!) wait as Jack and others set the stage for Oscar’s eventual arrival, literally, from the looney bin.  His wife had him committed but this outing is a short break.  Sean Hayes enters as Mr. Levant and the stagnant play erupts into a “can’t take your eyes off him” freak show.

Mr. Parr is thrilled knowing Oscar will be a great guest, spilling the tea in modern vernacular.  Preshow antics will introduce this neurotic and sad person.  How does he describe himself?  “I’m controversial.  People dislike me or they hate me”.  Zingers fly from the mouth of an excruciatingly acerbic and tightly wound insecure artistic talent.

I did not use the word genius purposefully.  His many anxieties include the realization he was no George Gershwin.  That personal torture haunts him and is used to great effect in the storytelling.  An extended late on camera scene demonstrates the heights of his ardor and the depths of his angst.  The moment can easily be named scene of the year on Broadway this year.  The unflinching audience watched Mr. Hayes in breathless awe.

Everything else in this production is a mixed bag.  The aforementioned set up drags until the main course is served.  John Zdrojeski’s take on George Gershwin was interestingly dapper, a “cooler than me” imagined nightmare from Mr. Levant’s highly strung imagination.  Alex Wyse was amusing as the backstage handler who is no match for the wits of this wildly unhinged guest star.

The main reason to see Good Night, Oscar is for Sean Hayes’s remarkable performance.  Rachel Hauck’s set design nicely invokes the era and also the ghosts looming inside the mania.  The buildup to the television interview is long in a play containing some cardboard characters.  The payoff, however, is spectacular.

www.goodnightoscar.com