Elizabeth Bradley

It could be observed in terms of the physical production that nothing succeeds like excess. The drop dead gorgeous costumes are by Linda Cho. It is a good thing that the Russian court ensemble featured in the opening of the musical are brought back multiple times in ghostly re-enactments because we needed more than one look at them. This excellent ensemble variously deployed as members of the Ballet Russe, White Russian society and revolutionary thugs execute choreography by Peggy Hickey that is always mood and period appropriate. Alexander Dodge's set creates a multi-purpose gracious framing for extensive projections by Aaron Rhyne. But here once again neither a subtle nor consistent aesthetic applies. Some of the visuals are alluringly abstract while others are hyper realistic. Acres of saturated red backdrop places us in the revolution, in case we had any doubt. Snow falls and stars twinkle and flowers bloom in the eventual spring so copiously it is as though we have detoured to Oz. In aural complement, it often feels as though the show is scored like a film, such as when a chorus helpfully underpins a tense moment with a drawn gun.

What world are we in? Who is this show for? These strike me as the central problems with this adaptation and production. There are 'nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more' references intended presumably to keep adult theatergoers interested. For example, Veruca proclaims to Russian Dad at one point, 'Buy me North Korea!' But the tonal handling of the surreal so essential to Dahl is neither consistent nor secure. If Charlie is meant to be the incorruptible anchor of our journey, what do we make of this exchange? Wonka to Charlie, 'Do you like seeing children maimed?' To which Charlie responds, 'No, but - I love seeing how chocolate is made.' It seems even Charlie has his price.

A new play based on real events, 'Indecent'...finds the writer in both familiar and exemplary form...Telling a tale that spans many decades against the backdrop of history on two continents is an ambitious assignment. Taichman uses almost every Brechtian device at her disposal (supertitles, direct address narration, musical scoring and cabaret interludes among them,) creating some beautiful stage pictures along the way...Cumulatively, the many elements of the staging affords us the scope to think as well as feel. Vogel and Taichman provide the audience with many signposts to navigate and much to ponder, so much so that we can become preoccupied with tracking the morphing of the characters, as opposed to investing emotionally in their singular inner lives.

Leaving Lincoln Center on a beautiful spring Sunday afternoon after a performance of 'Oslo,' I was surprisingly engulfed by an uneasy disquiet. My reaction, I should hasten to make clear, is not one that will likely be shared by many who go to see Bartlett Sher's crystalline production of a fine new American play by J.T. Rogers - though I expect other minds will be similarly concentrated by the issues the play raises. Is the fault in myself, I mused, or in the stars? (Here I decidedly am not referring to the ones on the stage but rather those through which fifty-nine U.S. missiles cruised toward a single target in Syria last week.)