Early on in Lisa Kron's politically-charged romantic comedy/drama, In The Wake, audiences are reminded of a scene that traditionally takes place in many American households every fourth Thursday of November. While the rest of the family is ready to sit down to Thanksgiving dinner, there's one person pleading to keep the television on for just a little longer, obsessed with the score and loudly complaining about the officiating. Only this time it's Thanksgiving Day, 2000 and Kron's central character, Ellen (Marin Ireland), isn't concerned with a football game, but is jumping up and down in front of the MSNBC broadcast, wildly cheering for a come-from-behind Al Gore victory in the contested presidential election. While nothing is mentioned of Ellen's bloodline family, she seems to have appointed herself as the liberal heart of a cozy family of friends. She lives as a couple with schoolteacher Danny (Michael Chernus, as a loveable, laid back lug), who begrudgingly puts up with her hesitancy to commit to marriage. Her best friend, Danny's sister Kayla (Susan Pourfar), an aspiring political writer who juggles four survival jobs, lives in the same building, along with her wife, Laurie (Danielle Skraastad). When she's in the country, international human rights aid worker Judy (Deirdre O'Connell, terrific as the wry voice of well-reasoned fatalism) is a frequent guest. Kron's entertaining gathering of smart, funny people of varied degrees of left-wingedness is staged with the best kind of sitcom snappiness by Leigh Silverman. In lesser hands, Ellen would be difficult to sympathize with, but while I can't exactly say they'd love her in Houston, Kron draws her out as an innocent idealist whose passion for saving the world stagnates her ability to fully relate to individuals. Ireland, possessing a unique ability to communicate perkiness and intelligence in the same wide-eyed expression, offers a portrayal that is funny, sweet and painfully foolish. She's especially funny in a scene where Judy's young niece (Miriam F. Glover), makes an offhand remark disapproving of homosexuals, followed by her story of how President Bush made her feel safe on 9/11; the humor of Ireland's reaction is that you can see how Ellen is carefully trying not to discourage the child from expressing herself, while still attempting to change her mind. In recent seasons New York has seen a plethora of what might be called anti-Bush theatre. And while his administration is the shadow looming over In The Wake, the play is a refreshingly genuine self-examination from the opposing side. Photos by Joan Marcus: Top: Marin Ireland and Michael Chernus; Bottom: Marin Ireland and Jenny Bacon. Click here to follow Michael Dale on Twitter.
Posted on: Friday, November 05, 2010 @ 12:48 AM Posted by: Michael Dale
"If you're lucky enough to have two smash hit shows, the traffic of the world goes through your dressing room." The grosses are out for the week ending 10/31/2010 and we've got them all right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section. Up for the week was: THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS (8.7%), DRIVING MISS DAISY (1.7%), BRIEF ENCOUNTER (1.5%), WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN (1.0%), THE MERCHANT OF VENICE (0.7%), WICKED (0.1%), Down for the week was: COLIN QUINN: LONG STORY SHORT (-39.6%), LA CAGE AUX FOLLES (-23.3%), MEMPHIS (-18.2%), RAIN: A TRIBUTE TO THE BEATTLES ON BROADWAY (-16.5%), MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET (-14.3%), NEXT TO NORMAL (-14.2%), MAMMA MIA! (-12.5%), LA BETE (-12.3%), A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC (-11.6%), AMERICAN IDIOT (-11.3%), PROMISES, PROMISES (-11.2%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (-10.4%), TIME STANDS STILL (-10.1%), BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON (-9.4%), ROCK OF AGES (-9.3%), A FREE MAN OF COLOR (-9.1%), CHICAGO (-8.4%), BILLY ELLIOT: THE MUSICAL (-7.4%), A LIFE IN THE THEATRE (-7.2%), MARY POPPINS (-6.5%), IN THE HEIGHTS (-6.3%), MRS. WARREN'S PROFESSION (-5.9%), THE LION KING (-5.2%), WEST SIDE STORY (-4.2%), LOMBARDI (-3.9%), THE PITMEN PAINTERS (-3.7%), FELA! (-3.5%), JERSEY BOYS (-3.0%), THE ADDAMS FAMILY (-0.1%),
Posted on: Monday, November 01, 2010 @ 06:05 PM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback
Three quarters of a century before a Frank Rich review had the power to close a Broadway show on opening night, New York City Police Commissioner William McAdoo accomplished the same feat with his pan of the 1905 American premiere of George Bernard Shaw's, Mrs. Warren's Profession. The next morning there was a sign on the theatre door saying future performances of the play "will be abandoned," and inside the company had begun rehearing an emergency production of Shaw's Candida. Written in 1893, Mrs. Warren's Profession didn't even make it past the British censor until 1902, using the loophole of being presented privately in a members-only club. But 21st Century audiences who, given the play's reputation, might expect to see girls in pink tights or the occasional exposed ankle, may be surprised to learn that the play actually takes a negative view of the title character's livelihood. It was Shaw's insistence that society's treatment of women, especially wives, was what drove them into the field that so shocked and angered the authorities. Vivie's rejection of traditional femininity in favor of whisky, smokes and a passion for numbers is played with a humorously geeky appeal by Sally Hawkins, and despite the character's distaste for sentiment, her independence is partnered with warmth and spirit. She effectively makes the transition into realistic horror as Vivie gradually discovers that the upbringing that helped her establish a life as a free-thinking and independent woman was financed by a profession she believes to be disgracefully abusive towards her sex. Though Shaw never has anyone refer to the profession by name, Mrs. Warren defends it as a suitable alternative for less-advantaged women whose only other options might be the abuses of factory work or the chains of marriage. Cherry Jones plays the title role with a smooth and secure combination of haughtiness and naughtiness that suggests a blend of Margaret Dumont and Mae West, but when confronted by her daughter for the choices she made, we see the self-preserving grit and determination that made her the success she's become. While Shaw's politics might be easily spotted on the sleeves of his leading ladies, the eventual clash between mother and daughter sets off theatrical sparks with exciting immediacy. Mrs. Warren's Profession may no longer shock, but Hawkins, Jones and Hughes still provide plenty of electricity. Photos by Joan Marcus: Top: Sally Hawkins and Cherry Jones; Bottom: Cherry Jones and Edward Hibbert. Click here to follow Michael Dale on Twitter.
Posted on: Sunday, October 31, 2010 @ 04:22 PM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback
Abigail Grotke... a real-life person named Abigail Grotke... has been collecting vintage books on relationship advice for 25 years, amassing over a thousand volumes published from 1822 to 1978, with titles such as The Unfair Sex, She Cooks to Conquer, How to Get a Teen-Age Boy and What To Do With Him When You Get Him and A Virtuous Woman: Sex Life in Relation to the Christian Life. In her archival website, Miss Abigail's Time Warp Advice, questions like, "Is a man abnormal if he likes art and dislikes sports," are answered by quoting the wisdom of experts like Fred Brown and Rudolf T. Kempton, authors of 1950's Sex Questions and Answers: A Guide to Happy Marriage ("Every normal man has a bit of woman in him and every woman contains some of the male in her personality."). Playwrights Sarah Saltzberg and Ken Davenport (who also produces and directs) offer a promising initial setup. The theatre audience is attending a seminar on improving their love lives hosted by Miss Abigail herself. As played by Eve Plumb, styled in a knock-off version of smart and corporate by Abbi Stern, Miss Abigail has an appropriately "rehearsed" quality to her presentation, making the character's cheeriness and positive attitude realistically stilted. But while Grotke explains on her site that her interest in these books began in college when she came across The Art of Dating in a thrift store - sparking her passion for retro pop culture - the Miss Abigail of the play confides that these books helped her through an awkward adolescence and that she firmly believes that today's divorce rate wouldn't be so high if people followed the advice given in the days when people truly committed to their vows and, "Fidelity was more than an investment firm." We get a lesson in the proper way to kiss (and of course are encouraged to practice with the person sitting next to us), the best non-threatening technique for letting the attractive person you spot in a café know that the seat next to you is empty (audience members are brought on stage for that one) and, in the game "Love, Lust or Stalking," we call out which category best describes certain behaviors. Before the show even begins we get pink cards to write down our own personal relationship questions, which are answered later in the evening. I'm assuming that questions relating to Ms. Plumb's television career are sent straight to the shredder as my inquiry, "Which are the best women to date; youngest sisters, middle sisters or eldest sisters?" wasn't selected. There's a bit of a running gag involving Miss Abigail's strapping young assistant, Paco (a very engaging Manuel Herrara) who has trouble expressing the crush he has on his boss, a scenario no-doubt devised to have women in the audience anticipating the eventual final clinch. Miss Abigail's Guide to Dating, Mating, & Marriage is certainly presented as a "girls' night out" kind of show, best enjoyed as part of an evening that involves plenty of cocktails. But even as mindless fun, the show doesn't work nearly as well as pouring out some drinks and checking out Abigail Grotke's web site. Photos by Carol Rosegg: Top: Eve Plumb; Bottom: Manuel Herrara and Eve Plumb. Click here to follow Michael Dale on Twitter.
Posted on: Friday, October 29, 2010 @ 03:23 PM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback
"The arts have always been an important ingredient to the health of a nation." The grosses are out for the week ending 10/24/2010 and we've got them all right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section. Up for the week was: BRIEF ENCOUNTER (11.9%), LOMBARDI (11.2%), DRIVING MISS DAISY (5.7%), LA CAGE AUX FOLLES (4.3%), THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS (3.2%), THE PITMEN PAINTERS (2.7%), IN THE HEIGHTS (2.6%), WEST SIDE STORY (1.7%), NEXT TO NORMAL (1.5%), AMERICAN IDIOT (1.0%), BILLY ELLIOT: THE MUSICAL (0.5%), MRS. WARREN'S PROFESSION (0.4%), Down for the week was: A LIFE IN THE THEATRE (-19.1%), MAMMA MIA! (-9.6%), BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON (-8.4%), LA BETE (-6.9%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (-6.6%), MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET (-6.5%), A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC (-6.3%), CHICAGO (-5.0%), TIME STANDS STILL (-4.6%), PROMISES, PROMISES (-4.3%), MARY POPPINS (-2.9%), JERSEY BOYS (-1.2%), MEMPHIS (-0.8%), THE ADDAMS FAMILY (-0.7%), WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN (-0.6%), ROCK OF AGES (-0.3%), FELA! (-0.2%), WICKED (-0.1%),
Posted on: Monday, October 25, 2010 @ 05:32 PM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback
Perhaps not content with merely being the best comic actress on the New York stage, Jan Maxwell follows her hilarious turns in last season's revivals of The Royal Family and Lend Me A Tenor by refreshing her dramatic chops a with a riveting, edge of your seat performance in John Doyle's senses-tingling production of Arthur Kopit's 1978 drama, Wings. Through internal speeches, Maxwell, despite sitting in a chair for most of the play, responds with the confused and crazed ferocity of a wild animal suddenly caged, as Emily lashes out anger and fear that cannot be communicated by her still and silent body. Later, her subtle expressions communicate the embarrassment and suspicion she feels as two calm-voiced doctors (Adam Heller and Michael Warner) place common items in front of her and ask questions like, "Which of these do you use to brush your teeth," as part of her believes she survived a plane crash behind enemy lines and in now in a prison camp. Kopit wrote a play that simply demands no less than an exceptionally detailed performance and Maxwell's masterful maneuvering through Emily's numerous and quickly-changing emotions is completely captivating from start to finish. Like her character's mid-air strolls, her performance is a courageous feat; hitting emotional extremes with frightful realism. She must be seen. Photos by Joan Marcus: Top: Jan Maxwell; Bottom: Michael Warner, Jan Maxwell and Adam Heller. Click here to follow Michael Dale on Twitter.
Posted on: Monday, October 25, 2010 @ 02:16 AM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback
"Let's see if we can do this without a microphone," peeped Jo Sullivan Loesser, as she prepared to fill the 1,495-seat Town Hall with "Somebody, Somewhere," which she introduced in the 1956 original Broadway production of The Most Happy Fella. While the age of the widow of the great Frank Loesser is a fact you'll not find via Google, let's just say she's a few decades beyond the point where audiences would expect to hear such lovely, expressive and, yes, loud soprano tones from an unamplified voice. The house, still and silent for those few minutes of bliss, finally erupted with appreciative cheers for the brief reminder of a time when all Broadway musicals were sung that way. Broadway Originals, the traditional Sunday afternoon finale to Town Hall's annual Broadway Cabaret Festival, was quite dominated by the ladies this year, particularly older ladies showing they still have the voices, acting skills and stage savvy to delight a crowd of musical theatre lovers. Carole Demas, for example, recreated her role as Grease's original Sandy with a charming, "It's Raining on Prom Night." When she removed the bulky bath robe she wore for the number, the 70-year-old actress not only revealed a knockout figure in a slinky black dress, but a knockout belt for her reprise of "Sandra Dee." Lucie Arnaz, happily danced about to the title tune from They're Playing Our Song, before telling how she caught the recent L.A. Reprise concert staging of the show and was disappointed that her character's 11 o'clock number, "I Still Believe In Love," was replaced with another song. With rumors flying of that production's possible move to Broadway, Arnaz's heartfelt rendering of the song's defiantly optimistic sentiment was a convincing argument for putting it back in. After a rousing, "Nobody Does It Like Me," which she introduced in Seesaw, Michele Lee, who directed the concert, told the audience how director Michael Bennett wasn't happy with the finale song she sang as Gittel Mosca, the Bronx dancer who got burned too many times by love, but who nevertheless was willing to give it another go. As she explained, the star shared a cab to the theatre with composer Cy Coleman on the day before the opening, and he let her know that he and lyricist Dorothy Fields had a new finale for her. Lee then held up a cassette tape player to the microphone and let the audience hear a bit of Coleman singing and playing the demo he gave her of, "I'm Way Ahead," a soliloquy of mending a broken heart that might be called, "Gittel's Turn," before a thrilling recreation of that demanding musical scene. Though the concert generally sticks to the theme of having performers sing numbers from roles they originated on Broadway (or sang as an original cast member of a Broadway revival), creator/writer/host Scott Siegel jumped at the opportunity to include Marilyn Maye in the program as a sort of Broadway Pre-Original. As explained in her latest cabaret show down at The Metropolitan Room, during the 60s Maye was contracted to RCA Records and was often assigned to record songs from upcoming Broadway shows in hopes of scoring a hit before opening night. The zesty 82-year-old's medley of "Step To The Rear," "Sherry," "I'll Never Fall In Love Again" and "Cabaret," Broadway standards that she originated on vinyl, was a wonderful crowd-pleaser. The impressive collection of talent taking the stage throughout the swift-moving three-hour show included many faces not seen on Broadway in a while, as well as more recent favorites: Loni Ackerman ("Men" from So Long, 174th Street), Maureen Silliman ("Diary of a Homecoming Queen" from Is There Life After High School and the title song from I Remember Mama), Stephanie D'Abruzzo ("There's a Fine, Fine Line" from Avenue Q), Sarah Uriarte Berry ("The Joy You Feel" from The Light In The Piazza), Christiane Noll ("Back to Before" from Ragtime), Nancy Opel ("It's a Privilege to Pee" from Urinetown) and Christa Moore ("Dancing All The Time" from Big and a medley of Louise's musical moments from Gypsy). And yes, the guys did have a voice this year. Two, actually. John Tartaglia may excel at puppetry, but his "solo" performance of Avenue Q's "Purpose" showed him to be a very engaging performer, even while empty-handed. Tom Wopat reinterpreted his Annie Get Your Gun number, "My Defenses Are Down" in a breezy light jazz arrangement, but returned completely in character to reprise his anguished demand for appreciation from A Catered Affair, "I Stayed." A new feature for this year's concert had performers stepping out to tell little anecdotes about being in their original productions. Some were humorous, like Stephanie D'Abruzzo telling of a backstage visit from Lauren Bacall, who said she couldn't wait for the Avenue Q cast album to come out so she could sing along to "It Sucks To Be Me." But two of the afternoon's most touching moments were associated with a pair of the country's most vulnerable periods. Though Michele Lee wasn't an original cast member of How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, she came in very early in the run to replace the pregnant Bonnie Scott and played Rosemary at the show's first performance after President Kennedy was assassinated. She recalled a moment late in the second act when her character, alone on stage, sang a slow, sincere reprise of "I Believe In You." While singing of, "the cool, clear eyes of a seeker of wisdom and truth," and of hearing, "the sound of good, solid judgment whenever you talk," she felt a connection with the audience as the Loesser lyric brought to everyone's mind the image of their fallen leader. Similarly, Nancy Opel told of Urinetown's first performance after 9/11 before a sparsely filled house. Afterwards, it seemed to her that the whole audience was waiting for the cast at the stage door. It seemed the producers had given free tickets to grounded airline workers, many of whom wanted to tell the actors that before that night they didn't think they'd ever be able to laugh again. Click here to follow Michael Dale on Twitter.
Posted on: Sunday, October 24, 2010 @ 02:00 PM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback
Nick Ut of the Associated Press won a Pulitzer Prize for his photograph of nine-year-old Kim Phúc, a horrified Vietnamese girl, running naked on a road after being severely burned in a napalm attack. It became an iconic image that helped sway sympathies toward removing American troops from Southeast Asia. But at the moment Ut's camera clicked, would the frightened child have preferred that the stranger standing directly in her path had instead handed her his shirt to wear? Being a writer, James (Brian d'Arcy James), her partner both professionally and romantically, cannot utilize the luxury of emotional detachment when describing the scenes that Sarah captures. When the play opens in their Williamsburg loft (their occupancy predates the hipsters), the couple is returning from a near-disastrous assignment in Iraq where, while James was hospitalized with a nervous breakdown, Sarah was severely wounded by a bomb. Eric Bogosian and Christina Ricci give excellent support as a secondary couple, Richard and Mandy, whose scenes help bring out some of Sarah and James' history and their feelings about what lies ahead. He's a gregarious photo editor and longtime friend who has a sincere love for both of them, but also appreciates their value in his career. Margulies provides some very funny exchanges as Richard defends his new relationship with the decades-younger, Mandy, a character who is first recognized as a typical ditz, but whose simple and cheery view of the world doesn't look so dumb by the time the play has ended. She's especially touching when Mandy gets emotional over the events of a TV nature show and succeeds at the difficult task of realistically crying while, at least at the performance I attended, audience members are laughing at the character's naiveté. In its limited run, Time Stands Still was one of last season's best new plays and among the most satisfying evenings on Broadway. Its return open run, with Ricci's replacement of Alicia Silverstone the only cast change and the three returning actors giving even richer performances, is bound to be among this season's cream as well. Photos by Joan Marcus: Top: Laura Linney and Brian d'Arcy James; Bottom: Eric Bogosian and Christina Ricci. Click here to follow Michael Dale on Twitter.
Posted on: Monday, October 18, 2010 @ 11:49 PM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback
"I'm leaving the screen because I don't think I am very good in the pictures and I have this beautiful dream that I'm elegant on the stage." The grosses are out for the week ending 10/17/2010 and we've got them all right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section. Up for the week was: MAMMA MIA! (5.9%), THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS (3.9%), THE ADDAMS FAMILY (1.7%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1.1%), WICKED (1.0%), JERSEY BOYS (0.4%), WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN (0.3%), BILLY ELLIOT: THE MUSICAL (0.2%), WEST SIDE STORY (0.1%), Down for the week was: LA BETE (-16.1%), A LIFE IN THE THEATRE (-11.3%), TIME STANDS STILL (-10.5%), FELA! (-5.3%), NEXT TO NORMAL (-4.8%), THE LION KING (-4.7%), ROCK OF AGES (-4.5%), BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON (-4.2%), THE PITMEN PAINTERS (-4.0%), BRIEF ENCOUNTER (-3.8%), CHICAGO (-3.7%), DRIVING MISS DAISY (-3.3%), LOMBARDI (-3.1%), A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC (-2.9%), LA CAGE AUX FOLLES (-2.7%), IN THE HEIGHTS (-2.6%), MARY POPPINS (-2.6%), AMERICAN IDIOT (-2.3%), MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET (-0.7%), MEMPHIS (-0.6%), MRS. WARREN'S PROFESSION (-0.2%),
Posted on: Monday, October 18, 2010 @ 05:23 PM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback
Their instructor, Robert Lyon (Ian Kelly) soon sees that a traditional lecture and slide show will never do for them, so instead he starts assigning the gentlemen to pick up brushes and start painting, with the group discussing each member's work. Not only do they start sensing the notion that art's value is subjective, emotional and personal, but, with the help of a wealthy patron (Philippa Wilson), they also enjoy a collective celebrity in Britain's art scene while still going about their duties in the mines. But director Max Roberts' lean and crisp production, which originated in Newcastle in 2007 and comes to Broadway, with its very good original company, by way of London's National, reasonably gets through the didactic patches, making The Pitmen Painters, for the most part, a feel-good charmer that realistically celebrates unexpected human creativity. Photos by Joan Marcus: Top: Christopher Connel, Brian Lonsdale, Deka Walmsley, Michael Hodgson and David Whitaker; Bottom: Christopher Connel, Michael Hodgson, Deka Walmsley and David Whitaker. Click here to follow Michael Dale on Twitter.
Posted on: Sunday, October 17, 2010 @ 02:14 AM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback
For decades, the great and not-so-great vocal artists of cabarets and nightclubs have put their own personal spins on the songs of the sumptuous Noel Coward catalogue; changing a tempo here, adjusting a rhythm there. Similarly, adaptor/director Emma Rice makes a marvelous party out of her theatrical riff on Coward's bitter sweet one-act romance, Still Life, by way of the play's 1945 film version, Brief Encounter. The happy result is a stage play where characters occasionally dissolve into glorious black and white screen images or evolve into musical hall entertainers singing commentary on the tense and understated love story. What gives the production its interesting kick is that Rice keeps the central characters in an intimate world where visuals speak louder than words (dialogue is at a minimum) while they're surrounded by broader characters played with spotlight-hogging pizzazz as they occasionally halt the proceedings to sing a ditty or two like "Mad About The Boy," "Any Little Fish" or "A Room With a View." With her hip-swiveling allure, Annette McLaughlin threatens to walk away with the show as the frisky manager of the café enjoying madcap hijinks with the genial stationmaster (Joseph Alessi), while the perky Dorothy Atkinson and the gangly Gabriel Ebert shyly experience youthful attraction. While morals of the day (at least in film entertainment) make the ending more than obvious (though no less enchanting in Rice's captivating staging) those who are wiping their tears by curtain call can have a good cheer-up from the company's rousing little post-show musical performance held across from the theatre's bar. Plan to stay an extra twenty minutes. You'll won't want to leave. Photos by Joan Marcus: Top: Hannah Yelland and Tristan Sturrock; Bottom: Annette McLaughlin and Joseph Alessi. Click here to follow Michael Dale on Twitter.
Posted on: Thursday, October 14, 2010 @ 12:45 AM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback
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In several speeches directed to the audience, the East Village activist reveals herself as a person who fears blind spots that can affect the country as a whole ("We're in the broken car and we're broken and we're, like, listening to the radio and... I don't know, sort of idly chatting about, 'hmm, what if this car crashes.' And not registering that it's already happened.") while being unaware of their existence in her personal life. Over the next five years we see her ranting against the George W. Bush administration (key moments of which are projected on the proscenium by Alexander V. Nichols), unaware how her "having it all" idealism parallels what she sees as the self-serving policies of the president.
But Ellen puts her own happy lifestyle in danger when she falls into a romance with filmmaker, Amy (an appealingly cool and low-key Jenny Bacon) and can't decide who she wants to non-commit to while both partners, aware of the situation, await her decision as she shuttles back and forth between them. (A flaw of the play is that her relationship with Amy is fully seen as mature and sensual while we never get a sense of Ellen and Danny as lovers.) Meanwhile, the rest of her gang are also making life-changing decisions which Ellen only sees in respect to how they change her own comfort zone.
"The whole play, to my personal view, is revolting, indecent and nauseating where it is not boring," wrote McAdoo in his official report the next morning, noting, "That the audience last night did not hiss the play off the stage or engage in mob demonstrations against it was due I think to the fact that the audience was not a representative one. Even in the galleries seats sold as high as $5, and in the afternoon $35 was asked for one seat in the orchestra. There was nothing during the evening that could really be called applause. Some young women present, from foolish bravado, applauded a little at certain points; but as the dialogue grew stronger and ranker, even this ceased. I think the play is distinctly against public morals, and decency, and utterly discreditable to the managers and those taking part in it. If artfully and cleverly acted, so much the worse."
Doug Hughes' sturdy revival reunites the director with his Doubt star, Cherry Jones, in the title role but the play really revolves around Mrs. Warren's daughter, Vivie. A Cambridge grad, very pleased with her life as an actuary in a firm she co-owns, Vivie is perfectly content to remain single so as not to subject herself to Victorian laws that would make her thoroughly dependant on a husband. Of course, her current suitors aren't exactly prizes; the young and irresponsible Frank (Adam Driver), son of a clergyman (Michael Siberry) with a not completely holy past, is after her money, and her mother's sleazy older business partner, Sir George Crofts (Mark Harelik), is basically looking for a young babe for the last years of his life in exchange for a fat inheritance. The fact that Vivie has rarely seen her mother and has no idea who her father is makes her a bit suspicious of any of mom's male acquaintances of a certain age; all except Mr. Praed, the only sympathetic guy in the bunch, whose preference for platonic relationships with women was certainly taken by those in the know as code for "homosexual" a hundred years ago. Hughes uses a more contemporary code by having the role played by Edward Hibbert, an actor most known for playing cultured characters of pronounced affectations which are presumed to telegraph their sexuality.
But while her site provides an amusing look at the social mores of past generations (or at least the mores that were considered acceptable for print), the Off-Broadway show it inspires, named after her compilation book, 
And that's when the play refuses to acknowledge the big pink elephant it just let into the room. These books all come from a time when limited career opportunities and a shameful view of divorce led women to marry early and keep themselves locked into unhappy marriages no matter what. By ignoring that dark historical fact, the 90-minute evening settles into being a blandly-humored affair that tries to get as much mileage as possible out of audience participation.
Just a bit over an hour long, Wings is light on character but heavy on emotion, beginning with the moment that Emily Stilson, a former aerial daredevil who would thrill crowds by walking on airplane wings, suddenly suffers a stroke. Doyle's designers Scott Pask (set), Peter Nigrini (projections), Jane Cox (lights) and Bray Poor (sound) plunge her into a nightmarishly abstract collage of sight and sound, where the reality of medical personnel rushing to save her quickly flashes into disembodied voices speaking gibberish and back again to real life.
Eventually she's able to converse with a sympathetic therapist, Amy (January LaVoy), though she doesn't realize that her mind often can't distinguish between real words and nonsense syllables. It's not until she sees the struggle of a fellow stroke victim (Teagle Bougere) in a group therapy session that the prideful Emily begins to realize how she must appear to the world.
Sarah (Laura Linney), the central character of Donald Margulies' thoughtful, provocative and funny 
As Sarah heals and James takes on more domestic projects, their wartime experiences start severely shading the future of their relationship, with the tough, outspoken Sarah's obsession for getting back to work conflicting with the nurturing James' concern for her safely. Under Dan Sullivan's sharp and textured direction, the superb Linney and James make the slow crumble of their relationship heartbreaking to watch; increased by the fact that Margulies has also made them a smart and clever couple with plenty of amusing give-and-take that makes them seem so right for each other.
As Lee Hall's 
Even if the story of a chance to elevate one's self from a dangerous, working-class life through art sounds a bit too much like Billy Elliot, Hall's other current Broadway offering, The Pitmen Painters is a far superior piece with a strong emotional pull; its heart pumping primarily from the sensitive Oliver Kilbourn (the excellent Christopher Connel), the most talented of the bunch, who is timid about this new world that is not only accepting him but is offering an opportunity to become a benefactor's fully-supported resident painter. Though there is much of the expected fish-out-of-water humor, especially when the boys first encounter modern art, Hall also develops a good deal of empathy as their skills, as well as competitiveness, develop. Since this is a British play, issues of class and labor threaten to bog down the darker second act with its heavy-handed presentation; the time might be better spent showing the early artistic progress of the group (they seem too good too soon) and exploring more of their day-to-day lives in the mines.
Set primarily in and around a suburban train station café, Brief Encounter offers the tale of Laura, (Hannah Yelland), a bored wife and mother who, by chance, meets a handsome stranger in a trench coat (Tristan Sturrock), also married. Though they pretend to be simply striking up a friendship, emotions are swept away by a romance filled with crashing waves, chugging locomotives and fizzy champagne toasts (Simon Baker contributes the excellent and detailed sound design).
Proving once more that Noel Coward wrote sexier scenes for clothed people that most playwrights could with naked ones, the evening's steamy highlight comes in a moment where Yelland and Sturrock, alone together at last, finally reach the "will we or won't we" point. With the company singing Stu Barker's soft ukulele arrangement of "Go Slow, Johnny" in the background, the tension is elegantly unbearable.
About Michael: After 20-odd years singing, dancing and acting in
dinner theatres, summer stocks and the ever-popular
audience participation murder mysteries (try
improvising with audiences after they?ve had two hours
of open bar), Michael Dale segued his theatrical
ambitions into playwriting. The buildings which once
housed the 5 Off-Off Broadway plays he penned have all
been destroyed or turned into a Starbucks, but his
name remains the answer to the trivia question, "Who
wrote the official play of Babe Ruth's 100th
Birthday?" He served as Artistic Director for The
Play's The Thing Theatre Company, helping to bring
free live theatre to underserved communities, and
dabbled a bit in stage managing and in directing
cabaret shows before answering the call (it was an
email, actually) to become BroadwayWorld.com's first
Chief Theatre Critic. While not attending shows
Michael can be seen at Shea Stadium pleading for the
Mets to stop imploding. Likes: Strong book musicals
and ambitious new works. Dislikes: Unprepared
celebrities making their stage acting debuts by
starring on Broadway and weak bullpens.
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