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.
Thursday, 19 March 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.
Monday, 29 December 2014
MY TEN BEST OF 2014
It has been an extraordinary year for new American plays. I have had to cheat and add a long Honorable Mention list. In no particular order, here are my Ten (well, actually 11) Best New York productions of 2014:
APPROPRIATE and AN OCTOROON. These two very different plays demonstrate the unique talent of Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins. APPROPRIATE, produced at the Signature, focused on a white family in an old Southern plantation home discovering the shameful aspect of their inheritance. AN OCTOROON, produced at Soho Rep, was a dizzying revision of Dion Boucicault's nineteenth-century hit. Don't miss it when it comes to Brooklyn this Spring.
BOOTYCANDY (Playwrights Horizons). Robert O'Hara's hilarious series of sketches on growing up gay and Black.
OUR LADY OF KIBEHO (Signature). Katori Hall's absorbing play about a teenage girl who has a vision of the Virgin Mary in Rwanda shortly before the horrors that took place in that country. Michael Greif gave this captivating play a brilliant production.
FUN HOME (Public). The best new musical of 2014. Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori's adaptation of the classic graphic novel has three actresses playing the central character at three ages. Michael Cerveris is heartbreaking as her closeted gay father. Great score.
THE INVISIBLE HAND (New York Theatre Workshop). The mix of American capitalism and Islamic terrorism set off a powerful chain reaction in Ayed Akhtar's provocative, intelligent play.
THE FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE (Public). A great score by Michael Friedman, a good book by Itimar Moses, a vivid production by Daniel Aukin and a winning star turn from Adam Chanler-Berat made this story of the friendship of two boys in Brooklyn in the 1970s one of the best musicals of the year.
THE REALISTIC JONESES (Broadway). I'm not sure that Will Eno's oddball dark comedy about communication in marriage belonged in a big Broadway theatre, but it's a fascinating play. Great performances by Marisa Tomei, Tracey Letts and Michael C. Hall.
THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY (Broadway). The most ravishingly beautiful Broadway score in years; a well-crafted book; simple, but effective staging and grand performances from Kelli O'Hara and Steven Pasquale.
AND HONORABLE MENTION TO:
THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT TIME. I don't put this in this year's Top Ten because it is a British import and I included it last year. It's the one Broadway show that should be on everyone's must see list.
MOTHERS AND SONS (Broadway). Terrence McNally's most recent look at where gay men -- at least upper-middle-class urban gay men -- are now. The premise is a bit shaky, but the writing is beautiful.
ON THE TOWN and SIDE SHOW. Two great revivals. John Rando and Joshua Bergasse's production of the Leonard Bernstein classic ON THE TOWN is sheer magic from beginning to end. Even the dated comic scenes take on new life in this production. Bill Condon's rethinking of SIDE SHOW gives the show more coherence and emotional power than the original and Henry Krieger's score -- hardly Bernstein, but still one of the best of the past twenty years, is beautifully sung.
Conor McPherson's sad but riveting THE NIGHT ALIVE (Atlantic), Stephen Adley Guirgis's BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY (Atlantic) and Susan Lori Parks FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS (Public).
And the fabulous production of Ionesco's THE KILLERS at Theatre for a New Audience.
AND
THE MOST IMPRESSIVE PERFORMANCES IN 2014
AUDRA McDONALD in LADY DAY AT EMERSON'S BAR AND GRILL
T.R. KNIGHT in POCATELLO
KELLI O'HARA AND STEVEN PASQUALE in THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY
QUINCY TYLER BERNSTEIN in GRAND CONCOURSE
TYNE DALY in MOTHERS AND SONS
MICHAEL SHANNON in THE KILLERS
GIDEON GLICK in THE FEW
APPROPRIATE and AN OCTOROON. These two very different plays demonstrate the unique talent of Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins. APPROPRIATE, produced at the Signature, focused on a white family in an old Southern plantation home discovering the shameful aspect of their inheritance. AN OCTOROON, produced at Soho Rep, was a dizzying revision of Dion Boucicault's nineteenth-century hit. Don't miss it when it comes to Brooklyn this Spring.
BOOTYCANDY (Playwrights Horizons). Robert O'Hara's hilarious series of sketches on growing up gay and Black.
OUR LADY OF KIBEHO (Signature). Katori Hall's absorbing play about a teenage girl who has a vision of the Virgin Mary in Rwanda shortly before the horrors that took place in that country. Michael Greif gave this captivating play a brilliant production.
FUN HOME (Public). The best new musical of 2014. Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori's adaptation of the classic graphic novel has three actresses playing the central character at three ages. Michael Cerveris is heartbreaking as her closeted gay father. Great score.
THE INVISIBLE HAND (New York Theatre Workshop). The mix of American capitalism and Islamic terrorism set off a powerful chain reaction in Ayed Akhtar's provocative, intelligent play.
THE FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE (Public). A great score by Michael Friedman, a good book by Itimar Moses, a vivid production by Daniel Aukin and a winning star turn from Adam Chanler-Berat made this story of the friendship of two boys in Brooklyn in the 1970s one of the best musicals of the year.
THE REALISTIC JONESES (Broadway). I'm not sure that Will Eno's oddball dark comedy about communication in marriage belonged in a big Broadway theatre, but it's a fascinating play. Great performances by Marisa Tomei, Tracey Letts and Michael C. Hall.
THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY (Broadway). The most ravishingly beautiful Broadway score in years; a well-crafted book; simple, but effective staging and grand performances from Kelli O'Hara and Steven Pasquale.
AND HONORABLE MENTION TO:
THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT TIME. I don't put this in this year's Top Ten because it is a British import and I included it last year. It's the one Broadway show that should be on everyone's must see list.
MOTHERS AND SONS (Broadway). Terrence McNally's most recent look at where gay men -- at least upper-middle-class urban gay men -- are now. The premise is a bit shaky, but the writing is beautiful.
ON THE TOWN and SIDE SHOW. Two great revivals. John Rando and Joshua Bergasse's production of the Leonard Bernstein classic ON THE TOWN is sheer magic from beginning to end. Even the dated comic scenes take on new life in this production. Bill Condon's rethinking of SIDE SHOW gives the show more coherence and emotional power than the original and Henry Krieger's score -- hardly Bernstein, but still one of the best of the past twenty years, is beautifully sung.
Conor McPherson's sad but riveting THE NIGHT ALIVE (Atlantic), Stephen Adley Guirgis's BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY (Atlantic) and Susan Lori Parks FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS (Public).
And the fabulous production of Ionesco's THE KILLERS at Theatre for a New Audience.
AND
THE MOST IMPRESSIVE PERFORMANCES IN 2014
AUDRA McDONALD in LADY DAY AT EMERSON'S BAR AND GRILL
T.R. KNIGHT in POCATELLO
KELLI O'HARA AND STEVEN PASQUALE in THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY
QUINCY TYLER BERNSTEIN in GRAND CONCOURSE
TYNE DALY in MOTHERS AND SONS
MICHAEL SHANNON in THE KILLERS
GIDEON GLICK in THE FEW
POCATELLO by Samuel D. Hunter at Playwrights Horizons
As I look back on my theatergoing in 2014, two of the best performances I have seen were in plays by Samuel D. Hunter: Gideon Glick's kinetic performance in as a teenager looking for a home in THE FEW at Rattlestick and T.R. Knight's total immersion into the lonely, desperate central character in POCATELLO. Hunter is an actors' playwright. He's also a theatrical poet whose terrain is the loneliness, anger and despair people can feel in twenty-first century America. His plays are set in the area in which he grew up, the towns and highways of Idaho.
The setting for POCATELLO, convincingly designed by Lauren Helpern, is one of those chain faux-Italian restaurants that offer large salads in plastic bowls and endless breadsticks. Within this restaurant, a group of people try to maintain a fantasy of family. Eddie (T.R. Knight), the manager, has invited his mother and his older brother and his wife who are visiting from St. Paul, to dinner. Eddie has been making a futile attempt to keep this failing restaurant afloat. His father owned a diner and killed himself when the business failed. Like everything else in this town, the restaurant Eddie manages is owned by a corporation, but Eddie cannot stand the idea of failing as his father did. He hasn't informed his workers that the restaurant is abut to shut down. Eddie wants and needs a sense of love and protection from his family, but they have moved on emotionally and geographically. His mother decided to distance herself from Eddie when she discovered he was gay. She feared that her closeness to him was a contributing factor. His brother can't stand being back in the town where his father killed himself. We see Eddie's panic mount as his behavior gets more and more erratic. A romantic would say that Eddie needs a boyfriend, a partner, but we don't see much sign that love and marriage make people happy in the land of chain restaurants and box stores. At a neighboring table we see the family of Troy (Danny Wolohan), one of Eddie's waiters. Troy's father is suffering from dementia and has been placed in the county home. He still suffers from losing the hardware store he once owned -- it has been replaced by a Home Depot. Troy's wife, who falls on and off the wagon, isn't quite ready to settle for a compromised life. Their seventeen-year-old daughter is obsessed with the poisons in everyone's food, water and air. Max (Cameron Scoggins), another waiter, has a drug problem.
POCATELLO is a better written twenty-first century version of Eugene O'Neill's THE ICEMAN COMETH, but here there are no pipe dreams to stave off bleak reality. Yet, unlike O'Neill's lumbering play, POCATELLO doesn't feel bleak -- and it's half as long!. Hunter clearly loves all of his characters and he has the gift, through his graceful language, of making us care for them. Here are people who lead lives of quiet and not so quiet desperation, but there is grace and sometimes humor in the way they deal with the grayness of their lives. Only poor Eddie can't find a way to move on. He keeps trying to go back to the past, but that is impossible.
Under Davis McCallum's superb direction, the ten member cast are truly an ensemble, performing as if they have acted together for years and all totally convincing. At the center, T.R. Knight gives a beautifully nuanced performance, moving from sweetness and control to terror to heartbreak. His performance alone is reason to see POCATELLO, but it is only one of the play's many treasures.
Don't miss it!
POCATELLO. Playwrights Horizons. December 28, 2014.
The setting for POCATELLO, convincingly designed by Lauren Helpern, is one of those chain faux-Italian restaurants that offer large salads in plastic bowls and endless breadsticks. Within this restaurant, a group of people try to maintain a fantasy of family. Eddie (T.R. Knight), the manager, has invited his mother and his older brother and his wife who are visiting from St. Paul, to dinner. Eddie has been making a futile attempt to keep this failing restaurant afloat. His father owned a diner and killed himself when the business failed. Like everything else in this town, the restaurant Eddie manages is owned by a corporation, but Eddie cannot stand the idea of failing as his father did. He hasn't informed his workers that the restaurant is abut to shut down. Eddie wants and needs a sense of love and protection from his family, but they have moved on emotionally and geographically. His mother decided to distance herself from Eddie when she discovered he was gay. She feared that her closeness to him was a contributing factor. His brother can't stand being back in the town where his father killed himself. We see Eddie's panic mount as his behavior gets more and more erratic. A romantic would say that Eddie needs a boyfriend, a partner, but we don't see much sign that love and marriage make people happy in the land of chain restaurants and box stores. At a neighboring table we see the family of Troy (Danny Wolohan), one of Eddie's waiters. Troy's father is suffering from dementia and has been placed in the county home. He still suffers from losing the hardware store he once owned -- it has been replaced by a Home Depot. Troy's wife, who falls on and off the wagon, isn't quite ready to settle for a compromised life. Their seventeen-year-old daughter is obsessed with the poisons in everyone's food, water and air. Max (Cameron Scoggins), another waiter, has a drug problem.
POCATELLO is a better written twenty-first century version of Eugene O'Neill's THE ICEMAN COMETH, but here there are no pipe dreams to stave off bleak reality. Yet, unlike O'Neill's lumbering play, POCATELLO doesn't feel bleak -- and it's half as long!. Hunter clearly loves all of his characters and he has the gift, through his graceful language, of making us care for them. Here are people who lead lives of quiet and not so quiet desperation, but there is grace and sometimes humor in the way they deal with the grayness of their lives. Only poor Eddie can't find a way to move on. He keeps trying to go back to the past, but that is impossible.
Under Davis McCallum's superb direction, the ten member cast are truly an ensemble, performing as if they have acted together for years and all totally convincing. At the center, T.R. Knight gives a beautifully nuanced performance, moving from sweetness and control to terror to heartbreak. His performance alone is reason to see POCATELLO, but it is only one of the play's many treasures.
Don't miss it!
POCATELLO. Playwrights Horizons. December 28, 2014.
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