Bathsheba Doran's THE MYSTERY OF LOVE AND SEX is both a comedy of manners and a twenty-first century coming out play. The central characters are two intensely close childhood friends, Charlotte (Gayle Rankin) and Jonny (Mamoudou Athe). These two are an odd couple: Charlotte is the voluble daughter of Howard (Tony Shaloub), a Jewish author of best-selling detective stories, and Luncinda (Diane Lane), his Gentile Southern belle wife; Jonny is a buttoned-up, devout Black Baptist raised by a very religious single mother. Since he was nine, Charlotte's home has been a second home for Jonny. When we first meet them, Charlotte and Jonny are hosting a simple dinner for her parents in her college dorm room. While Lucinda is all charm, Howard not so subtly asserts his dominance. He is also concerned about Charlotte's friendship with Jonny turning into marriage. We soon see that things are not what they seem. When Charlotte tries not very subtly to turn their relationship into one that is sexual and romantic, Jonny holds on to his virginity, claiming that he's waiting for the right Christian girl. Soon both Charlotte and Jonny discover that as much as they love each other as friends, their desires are for their own sex. Neither finds coming out easy. Charlotte gives up her first girl friend because"This is not who I am." Jonny's first sexual affair is with a man he doesn't even like. Their own friendship is strained by Charlotte's resentment of Jonny's inability to be honest with her. The ruptures in their relationship form the basic action of the play. We also see Charlotte's parents' love and support of their daughter as their own marriage falls apart.
At the heart of Doran's play is the issue of the relationship/conflict between love and sex. There is not doubt of the intense love Charlotte and Jonny feel for each other, but can that survive without a sexual component? Can they love their sexual partners with the same intensity that they love each other, Can Howard and Lucinda's marriage survive without sexual satisfaction? At some point in the play, each of our young protagonists rips off all her/his clothes and offers his naked body to the other. What does that nakedness mean? In Charlotte's case it is offering her body for sex as a means of turning her friendship into something else, but it is also a lie as her sexual desire goes in another direction. Offering her body to Jonny is a way of avoiding what her body is telling her. When Jonny later strips before Charlotte, he is trying to communicate that he is no longer hiding anything from her, but does a naked body really denote honesty? Does it denote anything beyond the body itself? THE MYSTERY OF LOVE AND SEX is a comedy of manners for our time that raises a number of pertinent questions. I do have some reservations. Do kids now still have such problems coming out, particularly with liberal parents like Charlotte's? Why is it that Charlotte and Jonny seem to be so detached from their peer group who would probably offer them support? Nonetheless this is a very well crafted play, both serious and funny.
Sam Gold has given the play a minimalist but highly effective production and the cast couldn't be better. Rankin and Athe are fine young actors. Jonny is a young man who hides his emotions, but Athe allows us to see the turbulence and fear underneath. He's a magnetic actor. Tony Shaloub is, as always magnificent, capturing Howard's charm and his tendency to bully while remaining sympathetic. Diane Lane is vivacious.
Immensely enjoyable. The play also seemed timely as some backward states try to enshrine prejudice against gay people, especially gay couples.
THE MYSTERY OF LOVE AND SEX. Mitzi Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center Theater. April 1, 2015.
Thursday, 2 April 2015
Wednesday, 1 April 2015
Doug Wright's POSTERITY at the Atlantic Theater Company
Is it possible to write a play about real people without a lot of clunky exposition, particularly now when we can't assume that an audience has much in the way of cultural literacy? Doug Wright's POSTERITY imagines a series of meetings between an aging Henrik Ibsen, who was well aware of his cultural celebrity, and a volatile younger sculptor assigned to create a bust of the great playwright. The sculptor, Gustav Vigeland (Hamish Linklater) thinks this sort of assignment is beneath him even when the subject is Norway's most famous citizen, and Ibsen (John Noble) thinks that having a marble bust of himself in a public park is an insult to his importance. Vigeland takes the job because it may lead to funding for the giant sculpture garden he wants to create in Frogner Park. Both men rightfully see themselves as geniuses, set above the ordinary people, particularly the bureaucrats they have to deal with and the rigid social conventions of their native land. There are only three other charters in POSTERITY: the lawyer who is the go-between between Vigeland and Ibsen (Henry Schram), a young would-be artist who serves as Vigeland's apprentice and model (Mickey Theis) and a middle-aged housekeeper who also serves as a model (Dale Soules).
One's response to POSTERITY may be based on his/her level of interest in Ibsen and the courage and ego it takes to be a great artist. We live in an age in which people want their artists to be likable. Opera singers on Met broadcasts have to be able to sound like they're on a late night talk show. No temperament allowed. Ibsen and Vigeland would have sneered at pleasing the masses in that way. They lived in an age when artists were revered, set apart from ordinary mortals. They weren't expected to be nice. The play is also a meditation on human limitations -- how our bodies and minds ultimately fail us no matter how great we may be. Ibsen is at the end of his life, trapped in a feeble body. More than his characters, he looks back with regret at his human failings. Vigeland is constantly frustrated at having to beg for the funding to create his works.
I found the play fascinating. Yes, some of the exposition is awkward, but the confrontations between Ibsen and Vigeland were exciting. Of course, the acting helped. I have never been a fan of John Noble on television. He has always struck me as a shameless ham. Of course, the roles he has been given on shows like FRINGE encouraged that kind of hamming. What one gets from him in POSTERITY is old school "grand" acting that is perfect for the "Grand", if failing Ibsen. Noble's style contrasts effectively with Hamish Linklater's more "method" approach toward Vigeland. Like method actors of the 1950s, Linklater tends to act through in a lot of verbal and physical tics. Both men engage in different forms of what years ago on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE Jon Lovitz called "ACTING!!!" Nonetheless it's fun to watch two rather extreme actors go at each other. The supporting cast is, as usual at the Atlantic, made up of very good ensemble actors: Henry Scram as the lawyer, Dales Soules as the housekeeper/model and Mickey Theis as the frustrated apprentice. Doug Wright has directed his own work effectively. The production is well paced. Derek McLane's set presents a convincing sculptor's studio. Just once, however, I'd like to see a set at the Atlantic that isn't dark colored.
Henrik Ibsen was one of the most important figures in 19th century intellectual, artistic and theatre history. POSTERITY may not totally do him justice, but it is an absorbing, highly enjoyable play.
POSTERITY. Atlantic Theatre Company, March 31, 2018.
One's response to POSTERITY may be based on his/her level of interest in Ibsen and the courage and ego it takes to be a great artist. We live in an age in which people want their artists to be likable. Opera singers on Met broadcasts have to be able to sound like they're on a late night talk show. No temperament allowed. Ibsen and Vigeland would have sneered at pleasing the masses in that way. They lived in an age when artists were revered, set apart from ordinary mortals. They weren't expected to be nice. The play is also a meditation on human limitations -- how our bodies and minds ultimately fail us no matter how great we may be. Ibsen is at the end of his life, trapped in a feeble body. More than his characters, he looks back with regret at his human failings. Vigeland is constantly frustrated at having to beg for the funding to create his works.
I found the play fascinating. Yes, some of the exposition is awkward, but the confrontations between Ibsen and Vigeland were exciting. Of course, the acting helped. I have never been a fan of John Noble on television. He has always struck me as a shameless ham. Of course, the roles he has been given on shows like FRINGE encouraged that kind of hamming. What one gets from him in POSTERITY is old school "grand" acting that is perfect for the "Grand", if failing Ibsen. Noble's style contrasts effectively with Hamish Linklater's more "method" approach toward Vigeland. Like method actors of the 1950s, Linklater tends to act through in a lot of verbal and physical tics. Both men engage in different forms of what years ago on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE Jon Lovitz called "ACTING!!!" Nonetheless it's fun to watch two rather extreme actors go at each other. The supporting cast is, as usual at the Atlantic, made up of very good ensemble actors: Henry Scram as the lawyer, Dales Soules as the housekeeper/model and Mickey Theis as the frustrated apprentice. Doug Wright has directed his own work effectively. The production is well paced. Derek McLane's set presents a convincing sculptor's studio. Just once, however, I'd like to see a set at the Atlantic that isn't dark colored.
Henrik Ibsen was one of the most important figures in 19th century intellectual, artistic and theatre history. POSTERITY may not totally do him justice, but it is an absorbing, highly enjoyable play.
POSTERITY. Atlantic Theatre Company, March 31, 2018.
Thursday, 19 March 2015
HAND TO GOD by Robert Askins on Broadway
In Robert Askins' hilarious, unsettling HAND TO GOD we see libidos run amok in a Texas church basement. A previously prim mother engages in s&m with a baffled, adoring teenager while her sweet, shy son comes under the evil spell of a puppet he has created. A minister's behavior toward a young widow becomes more than pastoral. Is a hand puppet to blame? We know from Tyrone, the puppet's, opening speech that he is an advocate of self-centered, anti-social behavior unfettered by social norms, but he also believes that people tend to blame someone or something else for their anti-social behavior, as in "The devil made me do it." Perhaps Tyrone is merely an excuse for the bad behavior he seems to generate on poor young Jason (the brilliant Steven Boyer) and the people around him. Whatever the case, chaos and some horrifying acts of violence ensue.
I sat through HAND TO GOD in awe of the imagination that could conceive of this dark but entertaining play. The director, who bears the unlikely name of Moritz von Steulpnagel, and his cast have wisely gone all the way with the play's possibilities. Graphic puppet sex that makes the goings on in AVENUE Q seem like "The Muppet Show." The climatic violence is both funny and scary. Beowulf Borritt has created another of his ingenious settings, moving us quickly and effectively around the church. Kudos, too, to the fight director, Robert Westley, and the creator of those puppets, Marie Johanna, Ekhougen. They seem to take on a life of their own.
The cast is terrific, once one accepts that grown ups are playing adolescents. Steven Boyer has the most difficult role as meek Jason and his puppet alter-ego, Tyrone. His performance alone is worth the price of admission. He should be up for a Tony. Geneva Carr transforms before our eyes from sweet sitcom Mom to a fury. Michael Oberholtzer makes the most of his part as her dim, lovelorn teenage prey. The ever-reliable Marc Kudish is perfect as Pastor Greg, who is clearly out of his depth,
I'm not sure everyone in my Wednesday matinee audience knew what to make of HAND TO GOD. It's raunchier, rawer and more cynical than the usual Broadway fare. Perhaps it belongs OFf-Broadway, where it has already had critical and commercial success. I loved it and wish it well.
HAND TO GOD. Booth Theatre. March 18, 2015.
I sat through HAND TO GOD in awe of the imagination that could conceive of this dark but entertaining play. The director, who bears the unlikely name of Moritz von Steulpnagel, and his cast have wisely gone all the way with the play's possibilities. Graphic puppet sex that makes the goings on in AVENUE Q seem like "The Muppet Show." The climatic violence is both funny and scary. Beowulf Borritt has created another of his ingenious settings, moving us quickly and effectively around the church. Kudos, too, to the fight director, Robert Westley, and the creator of those puppets, Marie Johanna, Ekhougen. They seem to take on a life of their own.
The cast is terrific, once one accepts that grown ups are playing adolescents. Steven Boyer has the most difficult role as meek Jason and his puppet alter-ego, Tyrone. His performance alone is worth the price of admission. He should be up for a Tony. Geneva Carr transforms before our eyes from sweet sitcom Mom to a fury. Michael Oberholtzer makes the most of his part as her dim, lovelorn teenage prey. The ever-reliable Marc Kudish is perfect as Pastor Greg, who is clearly out of his depth,
I'm not sure everyone in my Wednesday matinee audience knew what to make of HAND TO GOD. It's raunchier, rawer and more cynical than the usual Broadway fare. Perhaps it belongs OFf-Broadway, where it has already had critical and commercial success. I loved it and wish it well.
HAND TO GOD. Booth Theatre. March 18, 2015.
Wednesday, 18 March 2015
Lin-Manuel Miranda's HAMILTON at the Public Theatre
The Public Theatre has certainly been the place to see new musicals over the past year or so. Gabriel Kahane's FEBRUARY HOUSE, Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori's FUN HOME (about to open on Broadway), the underrated THE FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, and now HAMILTON (also Broadway bound), which tops them all in terms of ambition and quality of score and production. HAMILTON is on that short list of musical milestones -- shows that keep the best of the past but rethink what a musical can do and how it can do it. I'd put it with COMPANY, WEST SIDE STORY and SHOW BOAT.
The major innovation is musical. Lin-Manuel Miranda has found a way to use rap and hip hop to tell a story. To put it mildly, I'm not a fan of rap, but here even more than in Miranda's IN THE HEIGHTS, I was convinced that rap works in the context of musical theatre. It becomes the new vehicle for the patter song. It's no surprise that one number quotes Gilbert and Sullivan. Another lyric quotes Oscar Hammerstein. There's no doubt Miranda is staking his claim to an important place in the history of musical theatre. You can't possibly pick up all the words in HAMILTON's raps first time through -- they go by much too fast. Rap isn't the only element of the score. There's jazz, rock, pop and some beautiful ballads. Like all good theatre composers, MIranda is out to demonstrate his virtuosity and versatility. As composer and lyricist, he proves he's one of the best, certainly the best working now
A musical biography of Alexander Hamilton is an odd choice for any composer-lyricist-librettist, particularly one working in such contemporary musical idioms. The clash between subject matter and style is, however, one of the most fascinating aspects of HAMILTON. Miranda has done his research on Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr and the politics of the period. Like many creators of musicals about historical figures, a central subject is the desire for public recognition, for acclaim. You could call the show ALEXANDER HAMILTON SUPERSTAR with Aaron Burr as a kind of Judas figure, burning with envy but also a kind of grudging attraction to his nemesis. They both want "my shot" at power and fame. The three women in Hamilton's life are less important but give the musical variety.
The production (direction Thomas Kail, choreography Andy Blankenbuehler) never stops moving. An ensemble seems to be dancing through every scene. If the performers aren't moving, the revolving stage is. The lighting is constantly changing on the effective unit set. Sometimes I yearned for a little less movement, but the visual swirling gives on a sense of history as out of the control of the individuals involved. The beautiful period costumes (Paul Tazewell) underscore the constant merger between past and present in the show.
Of course, a notable aspect of HAMILTON is the multi-racial cast. This show about an "immigrant bastard", as Burr calls him, is cast almost entirely with a non-white cast. Lafayette's line, "Immigrants get the job done," is one of the show's subtexts. America is less and less a pure white country and has always been a nation of immigrants. Of the leads, the white King George stands out.
I might add that King George (Jonathan Groff) stands out in other ways. He doesn't seem to be a part of the ensemble. This makes him seem tangential and perhaps unnecessary. I couldn't help wondering why a star like Jonathan Groff would even take the part. By the way, he's really too young to play it. It's odd casting. Everyone else is terrific, particularly Leslie Odom, Jr., a born musical star, who gives Aaron Burr amazing intensity.
HAMILTON demands repeated viewings, I look forward to see how it fits in a Broadway house.
Five stars, at least.
HAMILTON. Public THeatre. March 17, 2015.
The major innovation is musical. Lin-Manuel Miranda has found a way to use rap and hip hop to tell a story. To put it mildly, I'm not a fan of rap, but here even more than in Miranda's IN THE HEIGHTS, I was convinced that rap works in the context of musical theatre. It becomes the new vehicle for the patter song. It's no surprise that one number quotes Gilbert and Sullivan. Another lyric quotes Oscar Hammerstein. There's no doubt Miranda is staking his claim to an important place in the history of musical theatre. You can't possibly pick up all the words in HAMILTON's raps first time through -- they go by much too fast. Rap isn't the only element of the score. There's jazz, rock, pop and some beautiful ballads. Like all good theatre composers, MIranda is out to demonstrate his virtuosity and versatility. As composer and lyricist, he proves he's one of the best, certainly the best working now
A musical biography of Alexander Hamilton is an odd choice for any composer-lyricist-librettist, particularly one working in such contemporary musical idioms. The clash between subject matter and style is, however, one of the most fascinating aspects of HAMILTON. Miranda has done his research on Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr and the politics of the period. Like many creators of musicals about historical figures, a central subject is the desire for public recognition, for acclaim. You could call the show ALEXANDER HAMILTON SUPERSTAR with Aaron Burr as a kind of Judas figure, burning with envy but also a kind of grudging attraction to his nemesis. They both want "my shot" at power and fame. The three women in Hamilton's life are less important but give the musical variety.
The production (direction Thomas Kail, choreography Andy Blankenbuehler) never stops moving. An ensemble seems to be dancing through every scene. If the performers aren't moving, the revolving stage is. The lighting is constantly changing on the effective unit set. Sometimes I yearned for a little less movement, but the visual swirling gives on a sense of history as out of the control of the individuals involved. The beautiful period costumes (Paul Tazewell) underscore the constant merger between past and present in the show.
Of course, a notable aspect of HAMILTON is the multi-racial cast. This show about an "immigrant bastard", as Burr calls him, is cast almost entirely with a non-white cast. Lafayette's line, "Immigrants get the job done," is one of the show's subtexts. America is less and less a pure white country and has always been a nation of immigrants. Of the leads, the white King George stands out.
I might add that King George (Jonathan Groff) stands out in other ways. He doesn't seem to be a part of the ensemble. This makes him seem tangential and perhaps unnecessary. I couldn't help wondering why a star like Jonathan Groff would even take the part. By the way, he's really too young to play it. It's odd casting. Everyone else is terrific, particularly Leslie Odom, Jr., a born musical star, who gives Aaron Burr amazing intensity.
HAMILTON demands repeated viewings, I look forward to see how it fits in a Broadway house.
Five stars, at least.
HAMILTON. Public THeatre. March 17, 2015.
Monday, 16 February 2015
NEVERMORE: THE IMAGINARY LIFE AND MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF EDGAR ALLAN POE BY JONATHAN CHRISTENSON AT NEW WORLD STAGES
I must admit that I went to NEVERMORE at the behest of my husband and that, for the first few minutes, I thought I was watching the sort of parody of Off-Broadway experimental musicals one saw in movies a generation ago. A group of actors in bizarre make-up and costumes sang a weird, tuneless song while performing strange quasi-choreography. Part of me wanted to laugh while another part dreaded the next two hours. Very quickly I got sucked into the world of this almost through sung, constantly rhymed fictional biography of the brilliant, doomed 19th century poet and fiction writer.
On one hand, NEVERMORE offers a straighforward, simplified, fictionalized biography of Poe from birth to death. However, it presents this story in a style befitting Poe's writings.The show is insistently metatheatrical. Poe's mother as an actress and his life began in the theatre. It is also constantly bizarre, almost haunted, a perfect analogue for Poe's haunted, obsessive imagination. His world is constantly colored by disease, particularly tuberculosis, and death. The writer is always impoverished and becomes an alcoholic. Six actors surround Poe and play the various men and women in his life while also serving as narrators and chorus. There are also some quite scary puppets. One feels the insistence of rhyme and metre in the speech and songs, analogous to the insistence of these qualities in Poe's verse. Some of the ballads are haunting and beautiful. If you are willing to surrender to this show, as I was after a few minutes, it is a totally absorbing experience.
NEVERMORE came out of a small theatre in the Canadian Rockies and many of the performers have been with the show since its birth. The show's author-composer-lyricist, Jonathan Christenson, also directs the fluid, dreamlike production (choreography by Laura Krewski). The bizarre costumes and simple sets were designed by Bretta Gerecke. Scott Shpeley gives a powerful performance as Edgar. He has an expressive face and a slightly creepy high singing voice and is magnetic in this demanding role. It's the kind of performance that used to launch a career.
One would hope that there is a place for an excellent, truly original theatre piece like NEVERMORE. Alas, the show is doing very poor business. Perhaps the show should have been mounted by one of the non-profits rather than attempt a commercial run in the large, impersonal auditorium at New World Stages. NEVERMORE is one in a string of commercial musicals that have foundered recently. The original, inventive IF/THEN eeked through a year thanks to Idina Menzel's celebrity. The excellent THE LAST SHIP failed commercially even after Sting joined the cast. THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, with a gorgeous score and two knockout star performances by Kelli O'Hara and Stephen Pasquale, failed at the box office. The enjoyable, well reviewed, if far too loud HONEYMOON IN VEGAS isn't doing well, nor is the brilliant revival of ON THE TOWN. If audiences aren't willing to be adventurous, what chance is there for the future of the musical beyond Disney-like kiddie shows? Sad.
NEVERMORE. New World Stages. February 13, 2015.
On one hand, NEVERMORE offers a straighforward, simplified, fictionalized biography of Poe from birth to death. However, it presents this story in a style befitting Poe's writings.The show is insistently metatheatrical. Poe's mother as an actress and his life began in the theatre. It is also constantly bizarre, almost haunted, a perfect analogue for Poe's haunted, obsessive imagination. His world is constantly colored by disease, particularly tuberculosis, and death. The writer is always impoverished and becomes an alcoholic. Six actors surround Poe and play the various men and women in his life while also serving as narrators and chorus. There are also some quite scary puppets. One feels the insistence of rhyme and metre in the speech and songs, analogous to the insistence of these qualities in Poe's verse. Some of the ballads are haunting and beautiful. If you are willing to surrender to this show, as I was after a few minutes, it is a totally absorbing experience.
NEVERMORE came out of a small theatre in the Canadian Rockies and many of the performers have been with the show since its birth. The show's author-composer-lyricist, Jonathan Christenson, also directs the fluid, dreamlike production (choreography by Laura Krewski). The bizarre costumes and simple sets were designed by Bretta Gerecke. Scott Shpeley gives a powerful performance as Edgar. He has an expressive face and a slightly creepy high singing voice and is magnetic in this demanding role. It's the kind of performance that used to launch a career.
One would hope that there is a place for an excellent, truly original theatre piece like NEVERMORE. Alas, the show is doing very poor business. Perhaps the show should have been mounted by one of the non-profits rather than attempt a commercial run in the large, impersonal auditorium at New World Stages. NEVERMORE is one in a string of commercial musicals that have foundered recently. The original, inventive IF/THEN eeked through a year thanks to Idina Menzel's celebrity. The excellent THE LAST SHIP failed commercially even after Sting joined the cast. THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, with a gorgeous score and two knockout star performances by Kelli O'Hara and Stephen Pasquale, failed at the box office. The enjoyable, well reviewed, if far too loud HONEYMOON IN VEGAS isn't doing well, nor is the brilliant revival of ON THE TOWN. If audiences aren't willing to be adventurous, what chance is there for the future of the musical beyond Disney-like kiddie shows? Sad.
NEVERMORE. New World Stages. February 13, 2015.
THE WORLD OF EXTREME HAPPINESS by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig at Manhattan Theatre Club
THE WORLD OF EXTREME HAPPINESS is a dramatically vivid, touching, feminist rendition of he sad tale of peasants who move to the cities for the Chinese equivalent of the American dream of fortune. Sunny, powerfully portrayed by Jennifer Lim, was an unwanted child. In a country with a one-child policy, peasant females are placed in the trash as soon as they are born. Daughters are worthless. In a moment of sentiment, Sunny was rescued by her father, who has more love for his pigeons, a reminder of his brother who was killed by the state for political insurrection. As a teenager, Sunny moves to the city where she works cleaning bathrooms in a factory to support herself and her father and younger brother who remain in the countryside (her mother died giving birth to her son). To her father, she is never more than a commodity. Her brother, who adores her, has his own dreams of success. Through a friend, Sunny is introduced to a self-help guru (supposedly these are very popular in China), and tries to use his advice to move into a better job. She is illiterate, which makes advancement difficult.
Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig's play traces Sunny's rise and fall. In the process, we watch the hopes of the other women in the play dashed by a brutal system that remains sexist. The play is a bit too schematic. One has the sense that characters' fates are determined by Cowhig's political agenda. The play is saved, however, by Cowhig's ability to write vivid characters and her ability to leaven her sad tale with a good deal of humor. She is also aided by Eric Ting's sensitive direction and an excellent ensemble. The five fine actors and actresses who support Ms. Lim play multiple roles so effectively that there seems to be a much larger cast. It's worth the price of admission to witness Jennifer Lim's performance. She's a radiant actress, perhaps too refined for an illiterate peasant, but constantly fascinating to watch. There are a few moments in which her face is also projected onto a screen and one thinks that Lim could be -- should be -- a movie star.
There are moments in which it is difficult to sustain one's suspension of disbelief, but THE WORLD OF EXTREME HAPPINESS is well worth seeing.
THE WORLD OF EXTREME HAPPINESS, Manhattan Theatre Club Stage I. February 15, 2015.
Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig's play traces Sunny's rise and fall. In the process, we watch the hopes of the other women in the play dashed by a brutal system that remains sexist. The play is a bit too schematic. One has the sense that characters' fates are determined by Cowhig's political agenda. The play is saved, however, by Cowhig's ability to write vivid characters and her ability to leaven her sad tale with a good deal of humor. She is also aided by Eric Ting's sensitive direction and an excellent ensemble. The five fine actors and actresses who support Ms. Lim play multiple roles so effectively that there seems to be a much larger cast. It's worth the price of admission to witness Jennifer Lim's performance. She's a radiant actress, perhaps too refined for an illiterate peasant, but constantly fascinating to watch. There are a few moments in which her face is also projected onto a screen and one thinks that Lim could be -- should be -- a movie star.
There are moments in which it is difficult to sustain one's suspension of disbelief, but THE WORLD OF EXTREME HAPPINESS is well worth seeing.
THE WORLD OF EXTREME HAPPINESS, Manhattan Theatre Club Stage I. February 15, 2015.
Monday, 5 January 2015
Moira Buffini's adaptation of Nicolai Erdman's DYING FOR IT at the Atlantic Theater Company
Actually, DYING FOR IT is a free adaptation of Nicolai Erdman's 1930 play, THE SUICIDE. Erdman's work was banned by Stalin's government and was not seen in Russia until 1990. I don't know the original, so don't know what is Erdman and what is the work of British playwright Moira Buffini. DYING FOR IT was first produced at the Almeida Theatre in London. The British seem to love twentieth century Russian plays. The National has produced a lot of Gorki's work in the past decade. Erdman's comedy reminds me of Gorki's work.
The story of DYING FOR IT is a simple one. It is 1930 and Semyon (Joey Slotnick) is out of work and living in a ramshackle apartment building (great multi-level set by Walt Spangler) with his wife, his mother-in-law (the always wonderful Mary Beth Peil) and various other tenants. Hungry, frustrated and nagged at by his wife and mother-in-law, Semyon contemplates suicide. Somehow word leaks out of his intention and a variety of craven souls including a political idealist, a poet, an orthodox priest and a very romantic female urge him to include their causes in his suicide note. All of them are representatives of what's left of the bourgeoisie. Though constructed as a farce (lots of doors in the set), the play is amusing but not laugh-out-loud funny.
DYING FOR IT is a big show for a small theater.-- a cast of twelve and original music played on violin and accordion. Neil Pepe has directed it competently, but the production is a bit heavy-handed. It's not clear from Pepe's production exactly why DYING FOR IT is being produced. Given the current economic inequality in the US, the play could be presented as a commentary on current conditions rather than a piece of theater history. Pepe hasn't quite decided whether to present the comedy realistically or as farce. The cast of veteran character actors is uniformly fine.
The full house yesterday afternoon found the play mildly amusing.
DYING FOR IT. Atlantic Theater Company Mainstage. January 4, 2014.
The story of DYING FOR IT is a simple one. It is 1930 and Semyon (Joey Slotnick) is out of work and living in a ramshackle apartment building (great multi-level set by Walt Spangler) with his wife, his mother-in-law (the always wonderful Mary Beth Peil) and various other tenants. Hungry, frustrated and nagged at by his wife and mother-in-law, Semyon contemplates suicide. Somehow word leaks out of his intention and a variety of craven souls including a political idealist, a poet, an orthodox priest and a very romantic female urge him to include their causes in his suicide note. All of them are representatives of what's left of the bourgeoisie. Though constructed as a farce (lots of doors in the set), the play is amusing but not laugh-out-loud funny.
DYING FOR IT is a big show for a small theater.-- a cast of twelve and original music played on violin and accordion. Neil Pepe has directed it competently, but the production is a bit heavy-handed. It's not clear from Pepe's production exactly why DYING FOR IT is being produced. Given the current economic inequality in the US, the play could be presented as a commentary on current conditions rather than a piece of theater history. Pepe hasn't quite decided whether to present the comedy realistically or as farce. The cast of veteran character actors is uniformly fine.
The full house yesterday afternoon found the play mildly amusing.
DYING FOR IT. Atlantic Theater Company Mainstage. January 4, 2014.
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