Call me envious, but the genre of plays that feature smart, educated, financially well-off characters screwing up their lives under the knowing smirks of the maid serves as a kind of comfort food for me. And while the discomfort in class, racial and gender issues experienced by the LeVay family in Lydia R. Diamond's funny and quite heated family drama, Stick Fly, may seem a bit too familiar at times, director Kenny Leon and his terrific ensemble help deliver a lively evening. Tracie Thoms is an endearing bundle of scattered energy - as fiercely intelligent as she is socially awkward - as Taylor, a grad-student entomologist (the title refers to a method of observing flying insects by attaching them to sticks) raised by a college professor mother who struggled to get her to school after they were abandoned for a new wife and family by her father, a famous author. Taylor is nervous from the outset about meeting the family of her new fiancé, Kent - nicknamed Spoon - (Dulé Hill), a promising writer, but she has no idea how much she's in for. She's intimidated by Spoon's neurosurgeon dad, Joe (an excellent Ruben Santiago-Hudson); the type that can switch from casual and loving to coldly judgmental in a flash. She feels guilty about being served by Cheryl (Condola Rashad), the young college-bound daughter of the family maid who's filling in for her ailing mom (The moments between Thoms and the multi-layered Rashad give the play its thickest tension.) and she explodes with anger in a discussion involving race relations with Kimber (Rosie Benton), the white girlfriend of Spoon's older brother Harold, aka Flip (Mekhi Phifer), a successful plastic surgeon and dad's favorite. But the privileged Kimber, who studies racial inequities in our education system, is skilled at keeping herself from seeming the outsider in such situations. The various conflicts and squabbles that emerge, as well as the big kicker, are more entertaining than emotionally involving, and some scenes come off a bit too melodramatically compared with the others, but Stick Fly is continually funny and the issues brought up regarding class distinctions among black families are not common Broadway fare. The big name above the title on the Cort Theatre's marquee belongs to only one of the play's twenty-one producers, singer-songwriter Alicia Keys, who also composed the instrumentals played between scenes; a collection of jazz/R&B vamps that provide the occasional breather. Some of them go on for quite a spell - the opening vamp was repeated so many times before anything happened that it was getting comical - but Leon smoothly glides the action in and out of the attractive licks. Photos by Richard Termine: Top: Ruben Santiago-Hudson and Tracie Thoms; Bottom: Rosie Benton, Condola Rashad and Mekhi Phifer. Click here to follow Michael Dale on Twitter. Click here for Michael Dale's Twitterized theatre reviews.
Posted on: Sunday, December 18, 2011 @ 04:27 AM Posted by: Michael Dale
While you probably wouldn't expect period recordings of "Let's Do It" and "St. Louis Woman" to be part of the pre-show soundtrack for a family friendly production of Snow White, director/choreographer Austin McCormick's Company XIV has never been a group to provide the expected. Jeff Takacs, who penned the text, also plays the ringmaster-type narrator who advises, "The gold you will see is just gilt. The kingdom and forest is plastic and steel. But the dancing feet are real." But despite its phoniness, Zane Pihlstrom's set, highlighted by a silvery tree and a crystal chandelier, makes a lovely environment, enhanced by Olivera Gajic's costumes which has most of the company - men and women - dressed in corsets and primarily utilizes a palate of black, white and red. Snow White is played by the petite aerialist Gracie White, who performs striking acrobatic feats on a pair of hanging silk cloths and on a circular hoop suspended in air. (There are no dwarves in this telling and Snow spends much of her time lounging in the forest.) When the prince (Joseph McEachern) arrives, he is performing tricks on the ground inside a spinning hoop. Ensemble member Sam Hilbelink also impressively partakes in the silk climbing and tumbling. The varied recorded score uses classical, jazz and folk themes, with beautiful soprano tones sung live by Lauren-Michelle. Takacs' text warns against the dangers of vanity, both in the queen's determination to kill Snow White for the sin of being fairer than her, and in Snow White's innocent susceptibility to the promise of becoming more beautiful. The queen nearly kills her three times, once by luring her with a slimming corset (which she intends to suffocate her with) and the next time with a poisoned comb. The inspiration for using a poisoned apple comes from the knowledge that the ingénue had been pretty much starving herself with little to eat during the winter months. "Like nicotine and drink, children," the narrator warns," beauty to the vain only intensifies its thirst for more." Photos by Steven Schreiber: Top: Gracie White and Laura Careless; Bottom: Laura Careless and Davon Rainey. Click here to follow Michael Dale on Twitter. Click here for Michael Dale's Twitterized theatre reviews.
Posted on: Friday, December 16, 2011 @ 05:09 AM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback
"We began this production with the simplest and most time-honored of theatrical practices," writes New York Shakespeare Festival Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis. "We were looking for the next great role for Jay O. Sanders." But gifting an actor with a chance to play the title role in Titus Andronicus is not exactly the same as offering him Hamlet or Macbeth. This infrequently produced Shakespeare piece is believed to be the bard's first tragedy; a troublesome early work where the playwright was writing in the style of the day's popular "revenge plays," which excited audiences with plenty of on-stage violence. The complicated plot involving a fight for the emperorship of ancient Rome isn't easy to follow and serves mostly as a table setting for a parade of violent actions (beheadings, behandings, rape, cannibalism and the like) that highlight the evening. The play begins with Sanders' Titus, a Roman general, returning from victory over the Goths, bringing along as prisoners Tamora, their queen (Stephanie Roth Haberle), and her sons Demetrius (William Jackson Harper), Chiron (Patrick Carroll) and Alarbus (Frank Dolce). Titus' son Lucius (Rob Campbell) insists that Alarbus, the oldest, be sacrificed in retribution for the deaths of so many Roman warriors. Dolce, however, is actually a young actor, making his being named the oldest a bit confusing. Also confusing is that he additionally appears as sons of Lucius and Titus. Sanders makes a feast out of Titus, starting as a gregariously triumphant leader who becomes unbearably sorrowful to see what has become of his daughter (lovely, delicate work by Ikeda) and gradually turns furiously mad. Haberle's Tamora is a worthy adversary, taking subtle delight in the torturing of her enemies, with Jones' Aaron a crafty comrade. Costume designer Cait O'Conner dresses the cast in a contemporary assortment of military wear, business suits and and women's wear and, at the start of the production, set designer Brett J. Banakis has place a neatly-stacked pile of plywood panels center stage. At first, a panel is removed from the stack and placed elsewhere for each dead body but by the second half the practice is abandoned. They're also used to display simple, ritualistic-looking drawings and words. Battle emblems, if you will. While both the play and the production have their quirks, the evening - if this is the right word - always entertains. And at only $15 for all tickets, the Public LAB series once again provides an affordable opportunity to see high quality theatre professionals at work. Photos by Joan Marcus: Top: Jay O. Sanders and Jennifer Ikeda; Bottom: Stephanie Roth Haberle and Ron Cephas Jones. Click here to follow Michael Dale on Twitter. Click here for Michael Dale's Twitterized theatre reviews.
Posted on: Thursday, December 15, 2011 @ 05:27 AM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback
The new musical inspired by the careers of Depression-era outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow begins with stars Jeremy Jordan and Laura Osnes, as the infamous title duo, sitting dead from multiple bullet wounds in the front seat of a Ford. I resisted the temptation to give them entrance applause. This is, by my count, the third musical about the Barrow gang to hit town in the past six years and getting viewers exciting over a telling of the adventures of a pair of thieving murderers is not an easy task. I missed Hunter Foster and Rick Crom's Bonnie & Clyde: A Folktale, which is said to be a satiric look at celebrity, but I did enjoy much of Michael Aman, Oscar E. Moore and Dana P. Rowe's The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde, that, while making no excuses for the actions of the protagonists, depicted them as a pair of initially inept kids trying to learn how to rob people with a minimal amount of panic who grow naively excited for their growing celebrity until matters escalate way beyond what they can handle. While Jordan and Osnes are both fine individually, there is little sexual or romantic chemistry between them; a fault of the material and not director/choreographer Jeff Calhoun's staging. Melissa van der Schyff submits the most sympathetic turn of the evening as Clyde's religious sister-in-law, Blanche, who gets caught up in the escapade while trying to protect her dunderheaded husband (Claybourne Elder). Tobin Ost's unit set of wooden fencing serves as a screen for Aaron Rhyne's projections of newspaper headlines, wanted posters and photos, which threaten to upstage the live action when revealing the famous pics taken of the couple in Joplin; the front-page images that seduced a country with their sexy fearlessness. The musical's final moment, where the couple reprises "Dyin' Ain't So Bad," is likewise overshadowed by film footage of their actual dead bodies taken five minutes after they were gunned down. The authors of Bonnie and Clyde offer nothing as vivid and revealing as real life. Photos by Nathan Johnson: Top: Laura Osnes and Jeremy Jordan; Bottom: Melissa van der Schyff, Claybourne Elder, Jeremy Jordan and Laura Osnes. ********************************* Just call me The Critic Who Came For Appetizers. Shortly into the second act of what seemed to be shaping up as a very enjoyable mounting of the Kaufman and Hart comedy classic, The Man Who Came To Dinner, by the Peccadillo Theater Company, an announcement was made that the performance would have to be halted because of a suspected gas leak in the building. It turned out not to be so, but unfortunately the play couldn't continue and my schedule doesn't allow for me to make a return visit before the production's final performance on December 18th. I wasn't able to see any of Cady Huffman's performance as bombshell actress Lorraine Sheldon, but director Dan Wackermann's large ensemble was merrily rolling along, particularly Amy Landon as Whiteside's loyal secretary, Jay Stratton as the charming local journalist who wins her heart and Kristine Nevins as the stony-faced nurse. Photo of Jim Brochu and Cady Huffman by Carol Rosegg. Click here to follow Michael Dale on Twitter. Click here for Michael Dale's Twitterized theatre reviews.
Posted on: Tuesday, December 13, 2011 @ 09:32 PM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback
"What, when drunk, one sees in other women, one sees in Garbo sober." The grosses are out for the week ending 12/11/2011 and we've got them all right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section. Up for the week was: MARY POPPINS (13.0%), LYSISTRATA JONES (11.7%), THE MOUNTAINTOP (9.1%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (9.0%), GODSPELL (8.4%), BILLY ELLIOT: THE MUSICAL (7.5%), MEMPHIS (7.3%), HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING (7.2%), SPIDER-MAN TURN OFF THE DARK (6.9%), FOLLIES (6.8%), JERSEY BOYS (6.8%), ANYTHING GOES (6.6%), WICKED (6.1%), THE ADDAMS FAMILY (5.6%), CHICAGO (5.4%), ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER (4.7%), THE LION KING (4.1%), MAMMA MIA! (4.0%), SISTER ACT (3.3%), OTHER DESERT CITIES (2.9%), WAR HORSE (2.5%), STICK FLY (2.4%), SEMINAR (1.5%), PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT (0.7%), VENUS IN FUR (0.3%), HUGH JACKMAN, BACK ON BROADWAY (0.1%), Down for the week was: PRIVATE LIVES (-11.2%), BONNIE AND CLYDE (-8.8%), RELATIVELY SPEAKING (-6.5%), CHINGLISH (-3.0%), ROCK OF AGES (-1.3%), AN EVENING WITH PATTI LUPONE AND MANDY PATINKIN (-1.1%),
Posted on: Monday, December 12, 2011 @ 03:38 PM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback
For many Americans - okay, white suburban middle classers into traditional gender roles - the 1950s was an idyllic time when the country could rest easily with our post-war status as the world's super-power before the internal unrest of the 60s began exposing the ugly imperfections. For stressed out, caffeinated 21st Century urbanites, a trip to the world depicted in period sitcoms like Father Knows Best and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet or the nostalgic recreation, Happy Days, might offer a welcome mental vacation to a less-complicated era of structured roles and lower expectations. Or perhaps even a permanent lifestyle change. But in between scenes from their marriage, the audience is introduced to what seems like a much happier couple. Dean (Trent Dawson) and Ellen (Jeanine Serralles) are spokespeople for the Society of Dynamic Obsolescence, an organization that runs a gated community where people can voluntarily live the rest of their lives in a re-creation of 1955's middle-American suburbia. As potential residents, Dean and Ellen present us with an orientation outlining what to expect. "In the '50s you have to go places," Dean explains. "You have to talk to people. You pick up the phone to make a call and there's an operator on the other end and you say "Good morning." Or say you want to find something out, you go down to the library and Miss Wilkes looks it up in the Dewey Decimals. There's a separate store for meat, and fish, and fruit, and a gent behind each counter who knows your name." "Here are some things you've never heard of," instructs Ellen: "Hummus. Baba Ganoush. Falafel. Focaccia Ciabatta Whole grain bread... What you get is salt." Director Anne Kauffman conveys a tone that mixes dark comedy with tongue-in-cheek wholesome fantasy, but while the humor of the play is spot-on - including a climactic moment that is horrifying to the characters but hilarious to the audience - the Katha/Ryu story is a bit undercooked, as is the game-changing subplot involving Dean and Ellen which is introduced in second act. But until the rather fuzzy ending, the terrific cast makes this one percolate. Ireland gives another one of her tremendously detailed performances in a role that finds humor in the notion that an intelligent woman who has achieved success in a highly competitive business can find joy and serenity in a lifestyle where advanced thinking is not required. Serralles is very funny as her instructor, pushing the belief that women can find a certain power in being a man's arm piece. Dawson displays an Eisenhower-era, smooth professional warmth and Kim counters with a more casual, hipster cool. Photos by Joan Marcus: Top: Marin Ireland and Peter Kim; Bottom: Marin Ireland. Click here to follow Michael Dale on Twitter. Click here for Michael Dale's Twitterized theatre reviews.
Posted on: Thursday, December 08, 2011 @ 05:37 PM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback
No matter how early you enter the house for New York Theatre Workshop's production of Once, the play is already well underway. Most of the thirteen-member ensemble, all of whom play musical instruments, seem to have long been gathered inside designer Bob Crowley's cozy Dublin pub, playing traditional folk songs, dancing a bit and singing their hearts out. The festive mood resembles the kind of improvised jam session you might luckily stumble upon some night and never want to leave, especially since audience members are welcome to join them on stage, purchase a drink or two and linger a while. I say "play" purposefully. Though Once is being pushed as a musical (Enda Walsh's beautifully written adaptation of John Carney's 2006 screenplay is credited as the book), it's really a play that happens to use a lot of songs as a realistic part of the plot The simple, bittersweet love story has a guitar-playing singer, simply referred to as "Guy" (Steve Kazee) ready to give up on music after a bad break-up, until he meets a somewhat intriguing Czech pianist called "Girl" (Cristin Milioti) who encourages him to not only keep playing, but to take out a loan, get a band together and make a studio demo recording. Though the two grow attracted to each other, each has baggage that would have to be dealt with before a relationship could be considered. But when the music does take over, it's given a ravishing treatment. Players not involved with scenes remain on stage with their instruments, joining in at points to give the impression that the pre-show party has never ended. Music supervisor Martin Lowe keeps their collection of mandolins, fiddles, guitars and the like conveying the feel of an impromptu jam. If someone is inspired to dance, choreographer Steven Hoggett's movements are done with the same sense of improvised realism. It comes off so naturally that an isolated moment where the cast moves in unison rings false. Milioti, who has been doing some excellent work in non-musical Off-Broadway plays, may be giving her breakout performance here; revealing Girl as an emotionally fragile young woman who can be forceful and comically direct with others but painfully timid about herself. She worries about having a cold exterior when she bottles up the love she's fearful of expressing. Kazee gives Guy a sturdy exterior to protect a wounded soul; the kind of man who can only share the many textures of his heart through his music. Hours (maybe minutes) before Once opened Tuesday night, it was announced that the production has secured a Broadway theatre to move to later this season. Hopefully, the entrancing intimacy of the play can be retained in the larger space. Photos by Joan Marcus: Top: Steve Kazee and Cristin Milioti; Bottom: Steve Kazee and Company. Click here to follow Michael Dale on Twitter. Click here for Michael Dale's Twitterized theatre reviews.
Posted on: Wednesday, December 07, 2011 @ 03:28 AM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback
"Being on Broadway is the modern equivalent of being a monk. I sleep a lot, eat a lot and rest a lot." -- Hugh Jackman The grosses are out for the week ending 12/4/2011 and we've got them all right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section. Up for the week was: ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER (16.3%), BONNIE AND CLYDE (11.6%), OTHER DESERT CITIES (11.0%), STICK FLY (6.3%), ROCK OF AGES (4.7%), SEMINAR (3.6%), SISTER ACT (3.1%), PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT (2.3%), VENUS IN FUR (2.2%), PRIVATE LIVES (0.8%), RELATIVELY SPEAKING (0.2%), Down for the week was: MARY POPPINS (-26.7%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (-25.8%), HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING (-22.3%), CHICAGO (-19.7%), SPIDER-MAN TURN OFF THE DARK (-14.8%), GODSPELL (-12.0%), BILLY ELLIOT: THE MUSICAL (-11.3%), LYSISTRATA JONES (-11.0%), THE ADDAMS FAMILY (-10.6%), MAMMA MIA! (-10.3%), AN EVENING WITH PATTI LUPONE AND MANDY PATINKIN (-9.1%), WICKED (-8.2%), ANYTHING GOES (-6.5%), THE LION KING (-4.1%), CHINGLISH (-3.0%), JERSEY BOYS (-2.8%), MEMPHIS (-2.7%), WAR HORSE (-2.5%), THE MOUNTAINTOP (-1.6%), HUGH JACKMAN, BACK ON BROADWAY (-0.2%),
Posted on: Monday, December 05, 2011 @ 04:44 PM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback
Whether it's historic Off-Broadway theatres being replaced by chain stores and condos after their rents are tripled or beloved long-time Coney Island businesses facing eviction if they don't conform to the bland, antiseptic vision of new planners, New Yorkers are very familiar with the culture vs. commerce issues Anton Chekhov was writing about in The Cherry Orchard. John Christopher Jones' perfectly serviceable new translation cuts out the role of the beggar and clocks in at a quick, for this play, two hours and fifteen minutes (including one intermission). And while director Andrei Belgrader's production contains many fine contributions from his ensemble, there are also some oddball directorial choices and clashes of styles that keep the evening from gelling into a satisfactory whole. By contrast, John Turturro's Lopakhin seems to have arrived at Madame Ranevskaya's via the L train. His initial soft-spokeness - perhaps an attempt to fit in with those from a higher class - comes off as a bit too soft but by the time Lopakhin is celebrating his action that resolves the cherry orchard issue the man is roaring with self-satisfaction and dancing in defiant victory around the room. Unfortunately, Belgrader also has him ripping open a chair, sending its feathers flying through the air; some staying airborne long after the moment is over and causing distraction as they slowly make their way onto the floor, or into the audience. There's some lovely work by Juliet Rylance as Varya, the daughter who would marry Lopakhin if he would just step up and ask her, subtly indicating her growing distain for the man while acknowledging that the wealthy merchant could bring her a better life, and by Alvin Epstein as Fiers, the aged footman with a sentimental view of the past. Katherine Waterston's Anya has a contemporary nerdy feel, but she's frequently inaudible. As the clumsy clerk, Yepikhodov, Michael Urie is made to look a bit like a circus clown, with his short-hemmed trousers revealing colorful mismatched socks and the squeakiness of his shoes sounding like helium leaking from a rubber hose. While the director has Turturro speaking some of his lines out to the audience, Roberta Maxwell's unappealingly hardnosed Charlotta, the governess raised by circus performers, smashes through the fourth wall to involve audience members in her antics; rewarding one "lucky" guest with a half-eaten pickle. Photos by Carol Rosegg: Top: Dianne Wiest; Bottom: John Turturro and Juliet Rylance. Click here to follow Michael Dale on Twitter. Click here for Michael Dale's Twitterized theatre reviews.
Posted on: Monday, December 05, 2011 @ 01:23 PM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback
Jacques Brel is dead and buried and entombed in French Polynesia and the Zipper Theatre, home of the very satisfying revival of Jacques Brel is Alive and Living in Paris several seasons back is now a beloved memory, but the producers of that mounting have been keeping the 'ol carousel madly turning for nearly a year now with regular presentations of Jacques Brel Returns, up at The Triad. The Belgian-born Brel first gained international attention in 1957 with "Quand on a que l'amour" ("If We Only Have Love") and, until his death in 1978, earned great acclaim for composing both captivating melodies and catchy tunes with story-telling lyrics that poetically expounded on love, life, war and class. The original Jacques Brel..., a long-running revue of his songs with English translations by Americans Eric Blau and Mort Shuman, opened in 1968 at the historic Village Gate on Bleecker Street, which is now a CVS Pharmacy. (Thank you, NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission.) His material requires strong acting and character work from its vocalists and on the evening I attended the 4-member company included two outstanding actor/singers, Robert Cuccioli and Natascia Diaz. Though Cuccioli is best known for his Tony-nominated turn playing the title characters in Jekyll & Hyde, Brel offers comic and dramatic musical scenes far worthier of his talents. He's hilarious in "Jackie", appearing as a disillusioned straight-lace longing for a taste of the trashier side of life, and "Girls and Dogs," singing mock-poetics in tribute to canine unconditional love. He can move you to tears with "Song For Old Lovers," dance a jaunty lick in "Funeral Tango" and roar with dramatic abandon in "Amsterdam," giving the first act a breathless button. Like Cuccioli, Diaz was a member of the original Zipper cast, but she was regulated to more youthful material while chanteuse Gay Marshall was given the dramatic highlights. On this night, though, Diaz's entrancingly smoky voice and bearing of emotionally tattered elegance tore through the painful pleas of "Marieke" and embraced "Ne Me Quitte Pas" with fragile stillness. Her sardonic take on "The Bulls," about Sunday matadors and the women who cheer them on, displayed some dandy comic chops and her loving rendition of "The Old Folks" was warm and tender. Broadway vet Jim Stanek took on the younger male roles, giving a zippy neurotic energy to "Madeleine," the catchy tune about a fellow who keeps optimistic while being perpetually stood up, playing "The Statue," where a dead soldier mocks those who visit his memorial, for its dark comic anger and effectively reliving the nightmare of a virgin soldier having his first sexual experience in an army whorehouse in "Next." Young Ereni Sevasti displays a strong belt and expressive phrasing in selections like "My Childhood" and "My Death," and a charming nerdiness as "Timid Frieda." Jacques Brel Returns does not play a regular schedule, so check The Triad's web site for dates and casts. *********************************** The age limit for being a member of the Boy Scouts of America is 18 years and if Jay Armstrong Johnson and Gideon Glick looked reasonably close to that age, or if their roles were recast and written as characters that were closer to, perhaps, 16, Thomas Higgins' Wild Animals You Should Know might exude more much needed seriously-minded tension. Instead the play tends to teeter between stale melodrama and homoerotic silliness. As each remains in his bedroom in their suburban homes, Matthew tells Jacob that he can see out his window into a nearby house where their scoutmaster, Rodney (John Behlmann), is staring at him and then kissing another man; a sight that inspires him to set out to expose the guy by claiming inappropriate behavior on an upcoming camping trip. (Since the state where the play takes place is never specified, it's not clear if Rodney could be accused of attempting statutory rape of a minor, and, if Matthew is the age of consent, the issue of if his alleged actions could constitute sexual harassment is never put into play.) Matthew's twisted reason for exposing Rodney as gay would have been more effective if Higgins had revealed it from the start instead of saving it for a late discovery, but, despite the Boy Scouts' reputation for homo-intolerance, the conceit doesn't ring true since Jacob seems to be an accepted member of the organization while being openly gay. Director Tripp Cullman does his usual quality work with a very good ensemble, but there's little of interest for them to play and what might have been a dark drama of sexual predation turns out to be a big tease. Photos by Joan Marcus: Top: Jay Armstrong Johnson, John Behlmann, and Gideon Glick; Bottom: Patrick Breen and Alice Ripley. Click here to follow Michael Dale on Twitter. Click here for Michael Dale's Twitterized theatre reviews.
Posted on: Sunday, December 04, 2011 @ 04:31 AM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback
"Because of Mozart, it's all over after the age of seven." The grosses are out for the week ending 11/27/2011 and we've got them all right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section. Up for the week was: MARY POPPINS (28.4%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (27.6%), CHICAGO (22.6%), HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING (19.3%), SPIDER-MAN TURN OFF THE DARK (15.4%), MAMMA MIA! (14.8%), THE ADDAMS FAMILY (10.8%), BILLY ELLIOT: THE MUSICAL (8.6%), CHINGLISH (8.4%), MEMPHIS (8.2%), WICKED (8.0%), LYSISTRATA JONES (7.1%), JERSEY BOYS (2.8%), ANYTHING GOES (1.8%), THE LION KING (1.6%), WAR HORSE (0.7%), BONNIE AND CLYDE (0.3%), HUGH JACKMAN, BACK ON BROADWAY (0.1%), Down for the week was: GODSPELL (-19.2%), PRIVATE LIVES (-13.8%), ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER (-13.5%), OTHER DESERT CITIES (-12.7%), STICK FLY (-9.5%), PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT (-7.5%), RELATIVELY SPEAKING (-7.5%), MAN AND BOY (-6.8%), FOLLIES (-5.5%), SISTER ACT (-5.4%), AN EVENING WITH PATTI LUPONE AND MANDY PATINKIN (-4.8%), SEMINAR (-3.4%), ROCK OF AGES (-0.7%), THE MOUNTAINTOP (-0.7%),
Posted on: Monday, November 28, 2011 @ 03:37 PM Posted by: Michael Dale | Leave Feedback
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The setting is the living room of the old-money LeVay's summer home in Martha's Vineyard. (The unique situation that would explain how they, a black family, would have had this home for generations is only hinted at, and it isn't pretty.) David Gallo's wonderfully detailed set displays classic hominess, but abstract touches allow us to see it through a jauntier eye. A valuable art collection is painted onto a wall, rather than having realistic individual props. The same wall is sliced open at an angle (as is a sculpture set at a table) to provide a peek into the kitchen.
To make matters worse, Taylor and Flip had a brief past together years ago; a situation that was barely a blip on Flip's radar but tugged at Taylor's abandonment issues. And to make matters a little suspect, the expected arrival of Spoon and Flip's mom doesn't seem to be coming.
Making their home in an unnoticeable building on an unnoticeable block in a residential section of Brooklyn, Company XIV has been enthralling those in the know with their multimedia theatre/dance pieces that lean toward an elegant eroticism. Remarkably, they manage to engage in a dark and subtly sexual telling of the Grimm tale without being inappropriate for children. The young ones in the audience the evening I attended were quiet and attentive throughout the performance and seemed very enthused while applauding at the conclusion.
The red is worn with dazzling presence by Laura Careless, who acts and dances the evil queen with captivating confidence and expression. There are times McCormick has her moving her body with lightning-fast physicality, only matched when she's paired with ensemble dancer Davon Rainey. Corey Tatarczuk's projections place nightmare mirror images of her on the floor, to which she reacts with pained madness as they taunt her with the news that she is not the fairest of all. The story has her delving into French, Spanish and Russian characters, which she does with comic brio, but her bravura moment is saved for the end, when the queen is fitted for freshly-molded iron shoes that send her wildly dancing to ease the pain of her scorched feet.
The versatile, bear-like character actor he writes of has been offering memorable supporting performances on New York stages for over thirty years; from classical comic roles like Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night to more contemporary fare, like his essay of a liberal lawyer disillusioned with the Democratic Party in Richard Nelson's Apple Family trilogy. An Off-Broadway fixture, he was last seen on Broadway giving an uproariously funny turn as Pygmalion's Alfred P. Doolittle.
Tamora maneuvers herself to marry the new emperor, Saturnine (Jacob Fishel), while maintaining an affair with her servant, Aaron (Ron Cephas Jones), who convinces Demetrius and Chiron to rape Titus' daughter, Lavinia (Jennifer Ikeda), cutting off her tongue and hands for good measure. And so it goes until the wild final bloodbath where director Michael Sexton has the company splashing bags and buckets filled with the red stuff all over each other. The sight is more carnival-like than grotesque.
But the pair does deserve a hand for their efforts, as do many of the artists involved in trying to bring life into this bloodless material. Composer Frank Wildhorn's past musicals have earned him a reputation as being a target for critical venom, but in 
In the new one, Menchell spends way too much time digging into "what made them do it" without coming up with an interesting answer. A young Bonnie (Kelsey Fowler) dreams of a life like movie star Clara Bow and her Clyde counterpart (Talon Ackerman) is inspired to shoot his way out of poverty from tales of Billy the Kid. When they meet as adults, Clyde is a petty thief who, as the book tells it, becomes a hardened criminal from being regularly raped in prison; but still, the author only shows him killing people who already have a gun pointed at him. (In the second act, he sings to his younger self the survival lesson of never being afraid to shoot someone who might be willing to shoot you first.) Bonnie pretty much grows into a "stand by your man" hanger-on who claims an inability to change her life, singing "You Love Who You Love."
So, while I won't be posting a formal review, I did want to express some admiration for what I saw of Drama Desk winner Jim Brochu's performance as Sheridan Whiteside, the insufferable celebrity houseguest (""He would have his mother burned at a stake if that was the only way he could light his cigarette!") who has an unexpectedly extended stay at the home of an Ohio family after suffering a fractured hip by slipping on a patch of ice. The interruption occurred just as Brochu was starting to reveal the softer side of the bitingly sarcastic curmudgeon. Though his character is confined to a wheelchair, Brochu is a seasoned physical comic who fills silent pauses with a myriad of facial expressions that add to the script's cleverness.
That's the clever set-up for Jordan Harrison's very funny comedy of manners 
A chance meeting between Katha and Dean spurs her interest in their six-month trial period and she convinces Ryu that it's worth a shot. Of course, being a mixed-race couple (she's white and he's of Japanese decent), they must relocate to a more tolerant section of the community. Being assigned a role where he spent the war years in a Japanese-American internment camp, Ryu is given an entry-level position in a box factory where he finds satisfaction in performing his simple repetitive task well above the expected pace. Katha grabs a cookbook and dives right into her role as homemaker. It seems that not having choices agrees with them so much that they feel comfortable with the idea of trying again to have a baby, but would it be wrong to raise a child in this environment?
Though patrons are gently scooted back to their seats near showtime, the causal off-the-cuffness continues for a bit but before we realize it's happening, director John Tiffany and lighting designer Natasha Katz have seamlessly brought us into the storytelling aspect of the play without ever letting go of the atmosphere of that friendly neighborhood bar.
The score by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova (who starred in the film) is an attractive collection of Irish folk/rock selections (including Oscar-winner, "Falling Slowly") that, in context, were written by the characters who sing them and the tricky part of having them presented is that, although some may be inspired by events in the story, they're never specific enough to keep the plot moving. This creates a few slow spots in act one, but Walsh and Tiffany generally do a fine job of making sure every musical moment is about something, even if it's not fully expressed in the lyrics. By the second act, Walsh's outstanding scene work has fully become the emotional guts of the piece, so much so that many of the numbers are completed without applause buttons because the characters' reactions to the songs become more important than the audience's. If you do insist on calling Once a musical, it's a rare musical where the spoken moments are the most memorable; particularly at a point late in the story where a climactic scene is played in its entirety for startling effect with just one sentence.
His 1904 comedy, which was interpreted by original director Constantin Stanislavski as a tragedy, has naïve Russian aristocrat Madame Ranevskaya about to lose her estate due to the hard financial times that have hit landowners since the emancipation of the serfs. Successful businessman Lopakhin, who grew up as a peasant on the estate, proposes a plan to ward off an eviction by cutting down the property's historic cherry orchard and renting the land for summer cottages. Ranevskaya thinks the plan unspeakably vulgar, but she has nothing better in mind, leaving her brother, Gaev, and her daughters, Anya and Varya - as well as those whose lives revolve around the doings of the estate - to either consider or completely ignore the inevitable drastic changes.
Dianne Wiest's Ranevskaya may not offer a traditional noble bearing, but her sweet fragility is touching; her indecision about her financial choices shown to be a result of distraction by thoughts of her unfaithful lover back in Paris and her deceased son. The plummy-voiced Daniel Davis scores highly as Gaev, making his aristocratic air a mask for insecurities and his habit of breaking into billiards lingo a security blanket.
This is a condensed version of the show, featuring a revolving cast made up primarily of veterans of that Zipper production, but presented on a smaller cabaret space that wouldn't hold director Gordon Greenberg's staging, so the selections, mostly solos, are generally sung downstage center directly out at the audience, with music director Rick Hip-Flores at piano.
As the evening begins, Johnson's buff and blonde Matthew is performing a web cam strip tease for Glick's nerdy and awkward Jacob; perhaps as a returned favor because, as we later learn, Jacob is really good at doing something that Matthew's girlfriend won't do.
Meanwhile, Matthew's mom (Alice Ripley in a small role) is pushing her husband (Patrick Breen) - fighting thoughts of inadequacy for being unemployed - to get more involved with their son's activities, resulting in his chaperoning of the weekend campout along with the beer guzzling Larry (Daniel Stewart Sherman). A father and son confrontation results in the two characters actually roaring at each other in an embarrassing display of symbolism.
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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