Broadway Blogs - Inked Baby: Pregnant By Design and More...

While there are laws restricting the tattooing of minors, the unseen infant title character in Christina Anderson's Inked Baby has the unfortunate honor to be indelibly marked even before birth.  The play's premiere production at Playwrights Horizons' Peter Jay Sharp Theater is honored with a fine cast and some truly captivating moments provided by both the playwright and director Kate Whoriskey.  But once the very human story is firmly established, the plot takes a twist that - while certainly based on realistic situations - abruptly changes the mood of the piece into something akin to sci-fi mystery.  The awkward clashing of the two worlds of the play reduces what is no doubt meant to be a pivotal scene into the kind of silliness that, at least on the night I attended, draws loud giggles from a good part of the audience.

But that opening scene is a knockout.  Big, blue-collar nice guy Greer (Damon Gupton) takes off his pajama top as he prepares for a quick sexual encounter with his kittenish sister-in-law Lena (Angela Lewis) who nervously reveals herself in sexy black lingerie.  They know they have 45 minutes until Greer's wife, Gloria (LaChanze) returns home.

It's not what you think.

After two unsuccessful pregnancies it has become clear that Gloria cannot carry a baby to term.  Having spent most of their savings on medical treatments, leaving them unable to afford artificial insemination, the couple has asked Lena to have sex with Greer and give birth to a child who will be raised as theirs.  Having been recently laid off, Lena's severance package will pay for medical expenses.

Yes, I know.  It sounds like the kind of situation that any playgoer will tell you is going to lead to trouble, or at least to an eighty minute intermissionless drama, but the wonderfully honest and detailed work by Gupton and Lewis make you believe every moment as he fights his sexual attraction for his wife's sister out of loyalty to his spouse (though he knows he must get aroused somehow) and she tries to get him in the mood without feeling disrespectful to the person they both love.  The staging of their eventual tryst is surprising, emotionally revealing and seriously hot.

Though not clearly stated, if seems as though Lena got impregnated on the first try, so we don't get a look at the interesting complications that no doubt would arise if the two had to make a series of attempts.  But there's plenty of the expected tension as the serious-minded Gloria strictly monitors Lena's health habits and vents frustration over missing the usual experiences of having a baby.  Being financially supported by the couple for the nine month use of her body, Lena spends a lot of time shooting the breeze with her animated, Langston Hughes quoting friend Ky (an amusing Nikkole Salter).

Then it gets weird.  In a cartoonishly mysterious scene Ky is called to the office of a medical assistant (Nana Mensah) to undergo some nutty procedure.  I won't reveal what we eventually find out about why so many people in a certain part of town are being called in for similar examinations, or what physically changes are occurring to them, but this underwritten plot detour is far less interesting than Gloria's feeling of loneliness which drive her into the arms of tattoo artist Odlum (Che Ayende), allowing LaChanze to add more interesting textures to her portrayal.

Because the playwright specifies that all the characters are Black American, there's a strong suggestion that she means to address a certain racially based political and social issue in her companion plot.  But her work in Inked Baby is far stronger, and frequently exceptional, when the characters deal with issues that have nothing to do with skin color.

Photos by Joan Marcus:  Top:  LaChanze and Angela Lewis; Bottom:  Nana Mensah and Nikkole Salter

Tony Award winners Joan Allen and Jeremy Irons star in the world premiere of Michael Jacobs' Impressionism, directed by Tony Award winner Jack O'Brien. Impressionism is the story of a world traveling photojournalist and a New York gallery owner who discover each other and also that there might be an art to repairing broken lives.

Joe Dziemianowicz, NY Daily News: "Even the talented Jeremy Irons and Joan Allen and director Jack O'Brien, who have five Tonys among them, aren't able to breathe charm or art into this pale drama by Michael Jacobs, which is both obscure and simplistic."

Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter: "Bottom Line: Jeremy Irons and Joan Allen shine in this problematic, metaphor-ridden play."

Malcolm Johnson, Hartford Courant: "Now that it has opened, it is easy to see why the initial unveiling of "Impressionism" was postponed. Despite a solid cast headed by Jeremy Irons, Joan Allen and Marsha Mason, this new American play by Michael Jacobs too often feels like an art history quiz."

David Sheward, Backstage: "This disappointing evening is a surprise, as the production is directed by the normally masterful Jack O'Brien, whose marathon stagings of The Coast of Utopia and Henry IV flew by. With Impressionism, 100 intermissionless minutes seem like endless hours. At least you can play Guess the Artist as several beautiful impressionist classics are shown during the scene changes. Thanks to Elaine J. McCarthy for her projection design. Save your money and visit the Met instead."

David Rooney, Variety: "In that jewel among teen movies, "Clueless," Alicia Silverstone's character uses the term "a full-on Monet" to describe an overstyled classmate. "It's like a painting, see?" she explains. "From far away, it's OK, but up close, it's a big old mess." From a distance, "Impressionism" must have looked pretty good to its platoon of producers, with a top director, two distinguished lead actors long absent from the New York stage and a plot about mid-life love to speak directly to the prime Broadway play demographic. But did no one get up close enough to read Michael Jacobs' pretentious bore of a script?"

Michael Kuchwara, Associated Press: "'Impressionism' is an elaborate if awkward romance _ positively brimming with self-importance _ and showcased in a setting that includes a parade of gorgeous photographic reproductions of famous paintings. As a play, it never reaches the lofty level of its ambition despite a starry cast that includes Jeremy Irons and Joan Allen as a pair of wounded artistic types who are attracted to each other. Eventually."

Linda Winer, Newsday: "'Impressionism' manages what would seem to be impossible. It makes bores out of two unconscionably attractive and intelligent actors and wastes the sporting efforts of Marsha Mason, André de Shields and an underemployed quartet of less-celebrated talents."

Elysa Gardner, USA Today: "Both lead actors seem stumped by their awkwardly, sentimentally drawn roles, as does their estimable director, Jack O'Brien. Irons manages to bring redeeming grace to the performance, speaking his lines with a knowing gentleness and exuding an easy, rumpled charm. Allen's readings, in contrast, seem breathless and strained, as though she is struggling to force more genuine life and nuance into Katharine."

Ben Brantley, New York Times: " I've concluded that even if I were to back up all the way to the Hudson River, with half-open eyes fixed on the stage where Mr. Irons and Ms. Allen labor so valiantly, "Impressionism" still wouldn't look credible. I mean this both in terms of its plot and as a proposition that would entice some very talented people and a vast army of producers."

More to come as they come in...