2017 in Review

Gotham Playgoer in 2017 

Excellent (A)

Hello Dolly!

Jitney

Sweeney Todd

Very Good (A-)

Derren Brown: Secret

A Doll’s House, Part 2

The Hairy Ape 

Invincible 

The Liar 

The Little Foxes

Mary Jane

A Parallelogram

School Girls 

Torch Song

Good (B+)

Come from Away 

Cost of Living

Describe the Night

The Government Inspector

Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train

Junk

Kim’s Convenience

Once on This Island

Pacific Overtures

The Price 

Prince of Broadway

The Profane

Small World

Summer Shorts A

Terms of My Surrender

(B)

Bright Colors & Bold Patterns

Fucking A

Gently Down the Stream

If I Forget

Iphigenia in Splott

Latin History for Morons

Of Human Bondage

On the Exhale

Pipeline

Rotterdam

Sunset Boulevard

Time and the Conways

(B-)

Baghdaddy  

Groundhog Day

How To Transcend a Happy Marriage

Linda

Marvin’s Room

The Parisian Woman

Pride and Prejudice

Significant Other

Six Degrees of Separation

Sojourners & Her Portmanteau

Summer Shorts B

The Treasurer

Too Heavy for Your Pocket

Fair (C+)

After the Blast

Bella: An American Tall Tale

Inanimate

M. Butterfly

The Children

Harry Clarke

The Rape of the Sabine Women…

(C)

Bandstand

Charm

The Glass Menagerie

Hundred Days

In the Blood

Kid Victory

The Last Match

Man from Nebraska

The Moors

The Play That Goes Wrong

The Suitcase under the Bed

20th Century Blues

War Paint

Yen

(C-)

Animal

The Antipodes

Bull in a China Shop

Can You Forgive Her

Everybody

Fulfillment Center

The Gospel According to…

My Eyes Went Dark

The Portuguese Kid

The Traveling Lady

Poor (D+)

The End of Longing

Evening at the Talk House

The Light Years 

On the Shore of the Wide World

(D)

Ernest Shackleton Loves Me 

For Peter Pan on Her 70th Birthday

Illyria

The Mother of Invention 

Office Hour

The Penitent

(D-)

Wakey, Wakey

Abominable (F)

All the Fine Boys

The Children

C+

Manhattan Theatre Club has brought this highly praised Royal Court Theatre production of Olivier award-winning playwright Lucy Kirkwood’s dystopian drama to Broadway. After a Fukushima-like disaster has rendered their home uninhabitable, retired nuclear engineers Robin (Ron Cook) and Hazel (Deborah Findlay; Top Girls) have retreated to a cottage on the English coast where they strive to maintain a semblance of normalcy. When they receive a surprise visit from Rose (Francesca Annis), who worked with them at the nuclear plant down the road almost 40 years ago, they are puzzled by the reasons for her visit. Is she there to rekindle an adulterous affair with Robin or does she have a more ominous purpose? Why does the childless Rose express so much interest in their children? All will eventually be revealed but at a pace that was much too glacial for my taste. I found the changes of tone from humor to drama to a dance number and back irritating. The three actors are superb but the relationship of their characters seemed trivial next to the larger theme of their obligation to future generations. If seeing fine British actors in their prime is enough for you, you will enjoy yourself. If you need a spare, tightly-knit, well-integrated piece, you won’t.  Miriam Buether (A Doll’s House, Part 2) designed the set and costumes. James Macdonald (Top Girls, Cloud Nine) directed. Running time: one hour 45 minutes; no intermission.

Describe the Night

B+

Atlantic Theater Company is presenting the New York premiere of Rajiv Joseph’s (Guards at the Taj, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo) play that blends fact and fiction, realism and surrealism in an intricate story covering the period between 1920 and 2010 in Russia, Poland and East Germany. With only eight characters, it may not qualify as an epic but it is certainly an ambitious and complex work. Four of the leading characters are based on historical figures: famed Russian writer Isaac Babel (Danny Burstein), Soviet Secret Police chief Nikolai Yezhov (Zach Grenier), Yezhov’s wife Yevgenia (Tina Benko) and an ambitious young KGB agent nicknamed Vova (Max Gordon Moore). Babel and Yezhov meet in Poland in 1920 and become unlikely friends. Sparks fly when Babel meets Yevgenia. We also meet Feliks (Stephen Stocking), a car rental agent, and Mariya (Nadia Bowers; The Farnsworth Invention), a journalist, who are witnesses to the mysterious plane crash in 2010 that wiped out most of the Polish government. Mrs. Petrovna (Bowers again) is Mariya’s landlady. Urzula (Rebecca Naomi Jones; Marie and Rosetta, Big Love) is a young East German singer who wants to escape to the West in 1989. The playwright follows the basic facts of the relationship between Babel and the Yezhovs fairly closely up to 1940, but puts his own fantastical spin on the Yezhovs’ fate. The story jumps around in time and place and challenges the audience to follow along. There are scenes that are quite dramatic, others that are very funny and a few that don’t have much impact but are necessary to connect the dots. The title of the play comes from Babel’s direction to himself in his writing journal. The travels of this journal over 90 years form the backbone of the play. To say more about the plot would risk spoiling the pleasure of discovery. Zach Grenier (33 Variations, Storefront Church), Tina Benko (The Crucible, Scenes from a Marriage) and Max Gordon Moore (Indecent, Man from Nebraska) are a pleasure to watch. While I admire Danny Burstein (Fiddler on the Roof, Golden Boy) for his willingness to take risks, he seems miscast here. The main design feature of the set by Tim Mackabee (The Penitent, Guards at the Taj) remains unused for most of the play. The period costumes by Amy Clark (Chaplin) are excellent. Giovanna Sardelli (Animals out of Paper) directs with a sure hand. While I found the play intellectually satisfying, it did not engage me fully at the emotional level. The characters seem more like pieces of a puzzle than individuals worthy of empathy. Nevertheless, it offers a stimulating theatrical experience. Running time: two hours 55 minutes including two intermissions.

Hundred Days

C

Even though it received favorable reviews when it was presented at the Under the Radar Festival last winter, I would not have seen this show if it had not turned up on my New York Theatre Workshop subscription. Taste in music is very personal and I thought it very unlikely that the folk-punk genre would strike a chord with me. Alas, I was right. Although The Bengsons (Iphigenia in Aulis), singer/songwriters Abigail and Shaun, who composed the music and perform it along with the other four musicians in their band — Colette Alexander, Jo Lampert, Dani Markham and Reggie D. White — are appealing and talented performers, the format of the work is unsatisfactory. The book they wrote with Sarah Gancher is basically a song cycle interrupted by dialog. At a crucial point in the evening there is a long stretch of dialog where I would have expected music to carry the emotional thrust, as if they mistrusted the expressive power of their music to get the job done. To my senior ears, the music was much too loud and percussive and the lyrics were occasionally hard to decipher. The somewhat confusing story involves Abigail’s recurring dream since adolescence that she will meet the man of her dreams, but he will soon die, leading to the idea that they must live as if they only have 100 days to share. The scenic design by Kris Stone and Andrew Hungersford involves about 100 old-fashioned twisted yellow incandescent bulbs that go up and down plus a few vertical fluorescent bulbs that do the same. The costumes by Sydney Gallas are appropriately punk. Anne Kauffmann (Mary Jane, Marvin’s Room) directed. The audience reaction was rather subdued. Running time: 80 minutes, no intermission.

Pride and Prejudice

B-

I wish I could say that Kate Hamill’s latest adaptation of a Jane Austen novel was as successful as her delightful version of Sense & Sensibility at the Gym at Judson last year. While the present work offers many pleasures, it lacks the air of lighthearted effortlessness that made that work so enjoyable. Instead, we get a frenetic pastiche of slapstick comedy, anachronisms and crossdressing that tries much too hard to entertain. This production originated at the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival where I can see it working much better outdoors on a warm summer night. Five of the hard-working cast of eight play multiple roles. Mark Bedard (Fashion for Men) is a standout in all three of his roles — Mr. Collins, Ms. Bingley and Mr. Wickham. Amelia Pedlow (The Liar, The Heir Apparent), a lovely Jane, also plays Miss DeBourgh. John Tufts makes a strong impression as both Bingley and Mary. Chris Thorn is fine both as Mr. Bennet and Charlotte Lucas. Kimberly Chatterjee (The Christians) is strong as Lydia and Lady Catherine. Nance Williamson is an amusing Mrs. Bennet. Jason O’Connell (Sense & Sensibility) is a nuanced Mr. Darcy. Surprisingly Kate Hamill’s (Sense & Sensibility) Lizzy is disappointing; she comes across mainly as a sourpuss. Some of the anachronisms were jarring for me, e.g. dancing to music from Star Wars. The  audience appeared to be having a good time. If you are not measuring it against Hamill’s earlier work, you probably will too. In John McDermott’s (Sense & Sensibility) set design, the stage is stripped down to brick walls and lined with period chairs, tables, a piano and, for no apparent reason, a gramophone. The costumes, by Tracy Christensen (Sunset Boulevard), look appropriate for summer stock. Amanda Dehnert’s brisk direction includes a bit of audience participation. Running time 2 1/2 hours including intermission.

The Parisian Woman

B-

Uma Thurman makes her Broadway debut in the lead role of Chloe in Beau Willimon’s (Farragut North, “House of Cards”) political drama set in contemporary Washington. The play was inspired by La Parisienne, an 1885 French play by Henry Becque. Chloe is married to Tom (Josh Lucas; Corpus Christi, “Sweet Home Alabama”), a prominent tax lawyer who is hoping for an appointment to the federal bench. Peter (Marton Csokas; The Little Foxes at NYTW) is an influential businessman who is besotted with Chloe. Jeanette (Blair Brown; Copenhagen, James Joyce's The Dead) is about to become chair of the Federal Reserve Board. Her daughter Rebecca (Phillipa Soo; Hamilton, Amelie), fresh out of Harvard Law, has ambitions for a career in politics. Chloe may not have a career, but pulling the strings of the other four characters is a full-time job. Deep character portrayal is not the play’s strength. Playing out a somewhat intricate plot while springing an occasional surprise is where the pleasure lies. There are scattered references to life under the Trump administration that go for an easy laugh. The actors are well-cast. Ms. Thurman seems perfectly comfortable onstage; that her character does not come across as more charismatic is probably a problem in the writing. Mr. Csokas’s Peter is a hoot. Blair Brown never disappoints. Mr. Lucas and Ms Soo are fine, but don’t get that much opportunity to show their mettle. The scenic design by Derek McLane (Beautiful, The Price) features three different attractive sets. A high-tech electronic curtain descends between scenes. Jane Greenwood’s (The Little Foxes) costumes suit their characters well. Pam MacKinnon (Amelie, The Qualms) directs with assurance. Running time: one hour 40 minutes; no intermission.

20th Century Blues

C

Add another play to the list of this season’s productions featuring female ensembles (although this one does have a small part for a man). This dramedy, by playwright Susan Miller, winner of two Obies, a Blackburn Prize and a Guggenheim fellowship, introduces us to four 60-something friends who bonded 40 years ago when they spent a night in jail together after a protest. Since then, they have had an annual reunion to schmooze and pose for a group photograph taken by Danny (Polly Draper; Closer, Brooklyn Boy). Danny is the only one who is coming into her own at this stage of life; she has been chosen for a retrospective at MoMA with an associated TED talk. Mac (Franchelle Stewart Dorn; 'Tis Pity She's a Whore) is an investigative journalist who has just been bought out by her newspaper and feels adrift in the world of new media. She is also an African-American lesbian with a drinking problem. Gabby (Kathryn Grody; Fishing, A Model Apartment) is a veterinarian from Boston and breast cancer survivor, who is so terrified of being unable to function independently as a widow that she secretly rehearses even though her husband is in perfect health. Sil (Ellen Parker; Aunt Dan and Lemon, House and Garden) is a real estate broker who was left in dire straits by her ex and is about to have a facelift so she will not offend her clients with the appearance of age. When Danny tells her friends that she wants to use their pictures taken over 40 years in her retrospective, they do not rush to sign the necessary releases. We also meet Danny’s mother Bess (Beth Dixon; Major Barbara) who suffers from dementia and her adoptive son Simon (Charles Socarides; Sons of the Prophet) who is trying to summon the courage to meet his biological mother. I personally felt that the play would have been stronger without Simon and, perhaps, even without Bess. The interaction of the four friends could easily have provided enough material to hold our interest. The level of the writing is uneven, incisive one moment and clunky the next. Something that may sound silly but bothered me is that the group pictures did not include Danny, which seemed to undercut the idea of their bond. The topic of feelings of invisibility and obsolescence for mature women is one worthy of our attention. The treatment it gets from Ms. Miller is just good enough that I was left wishing it had been better. The actors work well together. Ms. Parker seemed a bit lethargic, but that may have been how the role was written. Beowulf Boritt (Act One) has given Danny a studio spacious enough to inspire real estate envy. Jennifer von Mayrhauser’s (Disgraced, Linda) costumes make an important contribution to defining the characters. Emily Mann, artistic director of McCarter Theatre, directed. The play is at Signature Center, but is not a Signature Theatre production. Running time: one hour 40 minutes; no intermission.

M. Butterfly

C+

Since I did not see either the original 1988 Broadway production or the 1993 film, I approached this revival, directed by Julie Taymor, without preconceptions. Although I had read the mostly negative reviews and the criticisms of David Henry Hwang’s revised script, I was prepared to enjoy the production on its own terms and, to some extent, I did. Clive Owen (Old Times), whose natural charm makes him an unconventional choice to play the socially awkward Rene Gallimard, carries it off well. In the key scene where Song Liling (Jin Ha; Troilus and Cressida) enchants him by performing an aria from Madama Butterfly, he is undermined by unfortunate makeup that makes him look like a drag queen; in later scenes he is much more believable as a woman. Incidentally, he is an exceptional dancer in one of the Chinese opera scenes, all of which are quite colorful and energetic. The secondary roles are competently filled by Enid Graham (Bull in a China Shop) as Rene’s wife Agnes, Murray Bartlett (HBO’s “Looking”) as Pinkerton/Marc, Michael Countryman (Six Degrees of Separation) as Sharpless/Toulon/Judge, Clea Alsip (The Way We Get By) as Pinup Girl/Renee, and Celeste Den (Chinglish) as Comrade Chin. The set design by Paul Steinberg with large movable panels that slide and swivel is eye-catching at first but grows tiresome quickly. Constance Hoffman’s costumes are excellent. The complex story of sexual fantasy, self-delusion, the blindness of love, espionage, Western imperialism, and the Chinese cultural revolution remains fascinating even though the playwright’s revisions to bring it closer to actual events may have added too much information at the cost of mystery. There are occasional moments, particularly at the trial, when it becomes too much like a geopolitical lecture. Nevertheless, there is much to admire. Running time: two hours 20 minutes including intermission.

School Girls; or, The African Mean Girls Play

A-

One of the hallmarks of the current season has been the proliferation of fine plays with all-female ensembles. First we had the excellent Mary Jane at New York Theatre Workshop. A revival of The Wolves is currently in previews at Lincoln Center Theater. And now MCC Theater has brought us this delightful play by Jocelyn Bioh (In the Blood; Men on Boats), marking her New York debut as playwright. Set in a girls’ boarding school in central Ghana in 1986, it introduces us to four students who are members of a clique led by mean girl Paulina Sarpong (Maameyaa Boafo) who intends to be the school’s contestant in the upcoming Miss Ghana pageant. During the early scenes, we get an amusing look at how Paulina reigns over her subjects — cousins Gitty (Paige Gilbert) and Mercy (Mirirai Sithole), the bookish Ama (Nike Kadri; The Death of the Last Black Man...) and the food-addicted Nana (Abena Mensah-Bonsu). There are hilarious examples of their misunderstanding of American culture, e.g. that White Castle is an elegant restaurant. Paulina’s plans are endangered by the arrival of a new student Ericka Boafo (Nabiyah Be; Hadestown), recently relocated from Ohio, who has looks, charm and talent to spare. The rivalry between the two girls is paralleled by the tense relationship between no-nonsense headmistress Francis (Myra Lucretia Taylor; Nine, Familiar) and the stylish Westernized pageant recruiter Eloise Amponsah (Zainab Jah; Eclipsed), herself a former Miss Ghana, who had tangled as classmates in the past. There’s a nice bonus for the recruiter and a substantial gift for the school that yields the winning contestant. Bioh overlays the well-worn conventions of teen-age cliques and beauty pageant competition with an additional ingredient: colorism — the belief even within the black community that, when it comes to skin color, lighter is better. Eloise favors Ericka over Paulina because she is the fairer and thereby "more commercial" of the two. How far will Paulina go to prevent Ericka’s selection? How far will Eloise go to thwart Paulina? Why is Paulina so mean? What secrets is Ericka hiding? Will all their efforts have any meaningful impact anyway? Has anything changed since 1986? Come, find out and be entertained. The actors are all wonderful. Director Rebecca Taichman (Indecent, Time and the Conways) has demonstrated her usual sure but deft hand. Arnulfo Maldonado’s (Charm) schoolhouse set is perfect from the perforated windows to the corrugated ceiling and tropical fans. Dede M. Ayite’s (The Royale, Bella) costumes, especially for the pageant, are delightful. Running time: one hour 12 minutes.

Once On This Island

B+

I recall being underwhelmed when I saw this Lynn Ahrens-Stephen Flaherty musical back in 1991. Although it was nominated for several Tonys, it did not win any. Nevertheless, it ran for 489 performances and apparently developed quite a following. Now it is back on Broadway at Circle in the Square where its previews have been selling out with an audience skewing decades younger than the usual Broadway demographic. I decided to give it a second try. I suggest you arrive fifteen minutes early to watch the actors cleaning up the set representing their Caribbean island after it has been hit by a storm. When the play actually begins, the islanders tell a frightened young girl the story of Ti Moune (a radiant Hailey Kilgore), who had been rescued as a child from a tree by her adoptive parents Tonton Julian (Phillip Boykin) and Mama Euralie (Kenita R. Miller). When Daniel Beauxhomme (Isaac Powell), a son of the light-skinned ruling class, is severely injured in an auto accident in their village, she is the only one who will help him. She nurses him and falls in love with him. The gods take a keen interest in island life. We meet Agwe (Quentin Earl Darrington), god of the sea; Papa Ge (in a gender-bender, played — excellently, I might add, by a woman — Merle Dandridge); Asaka (Alex Newell), goddess of the earth; and Erzulie (Lea Salonga), goddess of love. Papa Ge and Erzulie make a bet whether death or love will be stronger when love is put to the test by betrayal. The ensemble is strong. The dance numbers by Camille A. Brown were the highlights for me. It is hard to believe that there are only four musicians because the sound is not skimpy at all. Dane Laffrey’s set design provides a visual feast and Clint Ramos’s costumes, particularly those for the deities, are superb. Michael Arden’s direction is assured. While I will never count it among my favorite musicals, I do have a new respect for it as a well-crafted work that creates a vivid world and offers some creative storytelling along with some appealing music and spirited dancing. Running time: 90 minutes, no intermission.

Bright Colors and Bold Patterns

B

If you don’t like gay-themed plays or one-person shows or are offended by rough language, drinking and drug taking, you can stop reading here. This play is not for you. If you’re still with me, you might enjoy this piece, which was a Times Critic's Pick when it ran very briefly at Barrow St. Theatre last year and is now having an encore run at Soho Playhouse. Drew Droege, who wrote and performs the work, plays Gerry, a bitchy 40-ish gay man in Palm Springs for the weekend to attend the wedding of his friend Josh to Brennan, a dull man he detests. Gerry is sharing a house with his former roommate Dwayne, Dwayne’s young new boyfriend Mack, whom he has not previously met, and Dwayne’s old boyfriend Neil, whom he loathes. We never actually see the three housemates, but Gerry converses with them so convincingly that they are vivid presences. For the first hour of the play, Gerry’s motormouth, fueled by booze and coke, is on a nonstop rant. Among his many grievances is the notation on the wedding invitation not to wear bright colors or bold patterns as if it were part of a larger campaign to stamp out gay culture. During the last 20 minutes, Gerry finally slows down and becomes more contemplative. He expresses the fear that greater acceptance of gays may bring with it greater pressure for conformity. The play occasionally sags and is overloaded with pop cultural references, many of which escaped me. Nevertheless, it is a real tour de force for Drew Droege and for me it was worthwhile just to see him perform. Dara Wishingrad’s poolside set looked cramped on the small stage. The ubiquitous Michael Urie (Torch Song, The Government Inspector) directed. Running time: 80 minutes; no intermission.

Office Hour

D

Since there’s a warning sign at the theater entrance, it’s no spoiler to advise you that there are gunshots in Julia Cho’s (Aubergine) new play at the Public Theater. The playwright takes the 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech as her inspiration and turns it into what is basically a set of variations on gun violence for no good reason that I could find. The English department at an unnamed university does not know how to deal with Dennis (Ki Hong Lee), a troubled Korean-American writing student who hides behind sunglasses and a hoodie, never speaks and whose writings are so violently perverse that the other students are afraid to come to class. In the first scene we meet three instructors — David (Greg Keller; Animal, Belleville), who flunked Dennis and is convinced that Dennis is responsible for anonymous negative reviews against him; Genevieve (Adeola Role; Eclipsed), a ringer for Nikki Giovanni who warned against the real-life shooter-to-be and threatened to resign if he were not removed from her class; and Gina (Sue Jean Kim; Aubergine, The End of Longing), his new instructor, who David and Genevieve think might be able to draw Dennis out and get him to seek help because of their shared Asian-American background. The bulk of the play consists of Dennis’s visit to Gina’s office hour, seen in several versions, all of which end badly, with an escalating level of violence. If the playwright’s intention was to show how easily we become desensitized to repetitive violence, she did succeed at that. Unfortunately I thought the main effect of the play was to trivialize an important topic. The actors are fine, although Ki Hong Lee does not fit the description of Dennis as extremely unattractive. Takeshi Kata’s (The Profane) office set has the right look and mysteriously emerges from the dark, no doubt a very expensive effect. Kaye Voyce’s (After the Blast) costumes befit the characters well. Bray Poor’s sound design is alarmingly effective. Neel Keller (Forever) directed. Running time: 90 minutes, no intermission.

Illyria

D

I fear that playwright Richard Nelson is in danger of becoming a victim of self-parody. He seems to have succumbed to a one-size-fits-all solution to every dramatic problem: drag out a large table, some food and a bunch of actors and let the conversation begin. This worked out very well in the Apple family plays and somewhat less well in the Gabriel family plays, but he has definitely hit the point of diminishing returns in his latest effort for the Public Theater. Allegedly meant as a tribute to Joseph Papp and the other founders of the New York Shakespeare Festival as they struggled for survival during the summer of 1958, it sheds little light or heat. We meet Festival producer Papp (John Magaro; The Front Page), his actress wife Peggy (Kristen Connolly), press agent Merle Dubuskey (Fran Kranz), director Stuart Vaughan (John Sanders; Groundhog Day), his wife Gladys (Emma Duncan) who is Papp’s assistant; musician/composer David Amram (Blake DeLong), stage manager John Robertson (Max Woertendyke) and actresss Colleen Dewhurst (Rosie Benton). Not seen but frequently heard of is her husband, actor George C. Scott. Mary Bennett (Naian Gonzalez Norvind; How To Transcend a Happy Marriage) is a young actress auditioning for a role. Bernie Gersten (Will Brill; Act One), a stage manager, is a long-time friend of Papp’s. Vaughan, who has been cutting back his work with the Festival for more lucrative work elsewhere, is one of the few characters who comes across with any vividness. Most of the others, who, if you Google them, were fascinating people, are virtual ciphers here. We hear about fights with Robert Moses, the imminent destruction of Carnegie Hall, the razing of a neighborhood to build Lincoln Center, the fallout from testifying before HUAC, but these are mostly fleeting references. At the end of the long first scene, I was hopeful; by the end of the second, considerably less so. The rambling third scene squandered whatever positive feelings I had left for the play. Interestingly, what I feared most proved to be a non-issue: there were many complaints about difficulty hearing the actors. I was going to get a listening device but the line was so long I gave up and did without. From the far end of the sixth row, I had no problem hearing. If only there had been more worth listening to. The set design which mainly involved well-worn tables and chairs was by Susan Hilferty (who also designed the costumes) and Jason Ardizzone-West. The playwright directed. Running time: one hour 50 minutes; no intermission.

Harry Clarke

C+

Vineyard Theatre opens its 35th season with the world premiere of this solo play by David Cale. Billy Crudup (No Man’s Land, Arcadia, The Pillowman) plays Philip Brugglestein of South Bend, Indiana, who, since the age of eight, has taken refuge from bullies including his father by assuming the alternate persona of an Englishman, accent and all. When his father dies under questionable circumstances, he sells the family home and moves to New York to start a new life as an Englishman. One day when he is in his thirties, he decides to follow a man he chooses at random. Crudup also portrays the man, his mother, his sister and a few other characters. It’s an interesting idea, but Cale doesn’t handle the story particularly well. A few salacious scenes are thrown in just to spice things up, even though they have little bearing on the main plot. The saving grace, to the extent there is one, is Mr. Crudup’s performance. He is good with accents and even gets to sing a little. I’m not sure whether director Leigh Silverman (Chinglish, Sweet Charity) could have done anything more to hide the weaknesses in the script. The simple set by Alexander Dodge (A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder) features a wooden chair and side table on a wooden deck with a background brightly lit by Alan C. Edwards. Kaye Voyce’s costume does not call attention to itself. To me, the play came across as a pale, rather clumsy imitation of Patricia Highsmith’s “The Talented Mr. Ripley.” Running time: one hour 20 minutes; no interimssion.

Junk

B+

Lincoln Center Theater has pulled out all the stops for its production of Ayad Akhtar’s (Disgraced, The Invisible Hand) look back at the world of finance in 1985. The size of the cast — 23 — and the sleek set by John Lee Beatty with modules that pop out as needed to facilitate smooth scene changes suggest that no corners were cut here. This is appropriate to the play’s theme. Robert Merkin (Stephen Pasquale; The Bridges of Madison County, Far From Heaven), the central character, is loosely based on Michael Milken, who turned the financial world upside down with his unsentimental application of the logic of globalism to corporate America, which often made companies worth more if they were dismembered and their unprofitable manufacturing operations closed irrespective of the number of jobs lost. The play follows the attempted hostile takeover of Everson Steel by a company backed by Merkin, who has discovered that Thomas Everson, Jr. (Rick Holmes; Hapgood, Matilda) has been cooking the books to hide the fact that profits from their pharmaceutical division have been used to hide the losses of their steel mills. When Israel Peterman (Matthew Rauch), whose company Merkin has selected to acquire Everson, and Merkin meet with Everson and his lawyer Maximilian Cizik (Henry Stram; The Cruiclble), it does not go well. The not so subtle anti-Semitism of the white-shoe financial powers versus the Jews who are threatening their status quo is an underlying theme. Some of the other characters we meet are an ambitious journalist Judy Chen (Teresa Avia Lim); Merkin’s loyal attorney Raul Rivera (Matthew Saldivar; Act One, Honeymon in Vegas), Murray Lefkowitz (Ethan Phillips), an investor with a nervous wife; Jacqueline Blount (Ito Aghayere), a lawyer who plays both sides against each other; Leo Tesler (Michael Siberry; When the Rain Stops Falling), an older investor with a taste for Judy and a distaste for “junk”; Boris Pronsky (Joey Slotnick; The Front Page), a shady middleman that Merkin’s wife Amy (Miriam Silverman; A Delicate Ship) begs him not to do business with; and Giuseppe Addesso (Charlie Semine), the N.Y. district attorney who is running for mayor. Virtually every character is corrupted by money at some point along the way. The lack of anyone sympathetic to root for is a problem for me. It is basically an ensemble piece with too many characters for any of them to be developed in much depth. If you are too young to remember the rise and fall of Milken, you may learn something new. Otherwise, your level of engagement may depend on your interest in finance and the economy. There’s more here to engage the intellect than the emotions. I thought Lucy Prebble’s play Enron was far superior. Catherine Zuber’s (Oslo, The King and I) costumes befit their characters. Doug Hughes (The City of Conversation, The Father) skillfully keeps the many strands under control. Running time: two hours 20 minutes including intermission.

Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train

B+

What a valuable service Signature Theatre’s Residency Program performs by giving us the opportunity to look back at the early works of leading contemporary playwrights to see how their talent has grown. This 2000 drama by Stephen Adly Guirgis contains the promising elements of his later plays (The Motherfucker with the Hat, Between Riverside and Crazy), but they are not yet as masterfully controlled. The black humor and marvelous urban patois are present, but are not well-blended with the long monologues and debates about morality, religion and justice. Most of the action takes place in the outdoor recreation area where prisoners under protective custody at Rikers Island are let out of their cells for an hour once a day. We meet Angel Cruz (Sean Carvajal), a 30-year-old bike messenger who is on trial for the death of the preacher of a cult-like church whom he blames for stealing his lifelong best friend. In the adjoining cage is Lucius Jenkins (Edi Gathegi), a charismatic serial killer who is awaiting extradition to Florida where he will be executed. Lucius has found God and been reborn. Although he takes responsibility for his actions, he still fears execution. We meet two guards. The first, Charlie D’Amico (Erick Betancourt), is soon fired for doing a variety of favors for Lucius. His replacement, Valdez (Ricardo Chavira), is not likely to show anyone a kindness. Angel is hostile to Mary Jane Hanrahan (Stephanie DiMaggio), the public defender who has been assigned his case. We learn enough about her background to understand why she became a public defender and why she might find Angel sympathetic despite his verbal abuse. Lucius, on the other hand, begins relentlessly haranguing Angel to take responsibility for the death he inadvertently caused. A cloud of implacability hangs overhead with no infraction, however minor, likely to go unpunished. The actors, particularly Carvajal and Gathegi, are marvelous. The set design by Riccardo Hernandez (Indecent) is appropriately bleak as are the costumes by Dede M. Ayite (The Royale). The direction by Mark Brokaw (Heisenberg, The Lyons) is assured and mostly succeeds in making the monologues flow into the rest of play. If you have a low tolerance for rough language or the description of violent events, you might be uncomfortable. Running time: two hours 10 minutes including intermission.

After the Blast

C+

This new play by Zoe Kazan (We Live Here) at LCT3’s Claire Tow Theater is, as its title suggests, set after a thermonuclear apocalypse that has driven a few of the best and brightest survivors underground where they live in a tightly controlled community devoted to preserving a remnant of humanity and working toward healing the surface of the planet for an eventual return. Their difficult lives are eased by vaping THC or ‘sim’-ing,  i.e., enjoying simulations of former pleasures via chips implanted in their brains. Oliver (William Jackson Harper; Placebo), an important scientist, and his wife Anna (Cristin Milioti; Once) have been turned down four times for permission to have a baby because Anna could not pass the Mental Health Evaluation (MHE) due to her depression. Oliver brings home a helper robot, allegedly for Anna to train to help blind children, and, by her good works, raise her score on the MHE. She at first resists, but then gives in. She names the robot Arthur and grows quite attached to him. It’s easy to see why; he’s a charmer. Oliver and Anna have friends Carrie (Eboni Booth; Fulfillment Center) and Patrick (Ben Horner; Fucking A), who don’t get much chance to make an impression. David Pegram, Will Connolly and Teresa Yenque also have small roles. Oliver’s attempts to do right by his wife backfire. Almost every scene runs on too long, particularly in the first act. The play eventually just runs out of steam and ends rather abruptly which is a shame because it contains much of interest. The premise is fascinating, the cast is appealing, the set by Daniel Zimmerman (Suicide, Inc.) is both functional and attractive and the costumes by Kaye Voyce (4000 Miles, Luce) are subtly futuristic. I could not find a credit for the robot operator which seems an unfortunate omission. Director Lila Neugebauer (The Wolves, The Antipodes), who seems to work best with ensembles, doesn’t seem at the top of her form here. Running time: two hours 30 minutes including intermission.

Torch Song

A-

I was worried about seeing Second Stage’s revival of Harvey Fierstein’s award winning play for a  couple of reasons. First, I was afraid that a script that seemed so fresh and daring in 1982 might seem merely tired and dated today. Secondly, I feared that Fierstein's indelible performance in the original might prevent me from appreciating Michael Urie. Fortunately I needn’t have worried on either count. I had forgotten how ahead of his time Fierstein was in his treatment of long-term gay relationships and gay adoption and how forcefully he dealt with the importance of living an authentic life. As to Urie (Buyer and Cellar; The Government Inspector), he has made Arnold Beckoff, the Jewish drag queen from Brooklyn,  his own. It’s a different Arnold from Fierstein’s, but an equally valid one. He knows how to get the laughs without straining for them. It helps that he is supported by an excellent cast: Ward Horton as Ed, the bisexual teacher Arnold has an off-and-on affair with; Roxanna Hope Radja as Laurel, Ed’s long-suffering girlfriend; Michael Rosen (On the Town) as Alan, the young model Arnold takes up with after Ed; Jack DiFalco (Marvin’s Room) as David, the gay teenager Arnold is foster parenting; and Mercedes Ruehl (Lost in Yonkers, Other People’s Money) as Arnold’s mother [a role originated by Estelle Getty]. The first act, “International Stud,” set in 1971, is named after a Village gay bar with a notorious backroom where a key scene takes place. The second act “Fugue in a Nursery,” set three years later, is formally clever but lacks emotional punch. The final act “Widows and Children First,” set in 1980, is the longest and most dramatic. In my opinion, it could use a bit of a trim. The direction by Moises Kaufman has many grace notes throughout. The scenic design by David Zinn captures the period, as do the costumes by Clint Ramos. I was happy to find the play alive and kicking and still able to provide an entertaining evening. Running time: two hours 45 mintues including intermission.

The Portuguese Kid

C-

This alleged romantic comedy by John Patrick Shanley (Outside Mullingar, Doubt) at Manhattan Theatre Club is about as buoyant as a lead balloon and as original as a Trump joke, of which, alas, there are a few. Jason Alexander (Broadway Bound, Jerome Robbins’ Broadway) plays Barry Dragonetti, a second-rate lawyer in Providence, RI who employs his overbearing mother (Mary Testa; The Government Inspector, Xanadu) as his receptionist. Twice-widowed Atalanta Lagana (Sherie Renee Scott; Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Front Page), who has known Barry since she rescued him from a Portuguese mugger when they were teenagers, wants him to sell her house, if they can agree on his commission. Barry has recently married a despondent young beauty Patty (Aimee Carrero; What Rhymes with America) who had been cruelly jilted by her boyfriend Freddie Imbrossi (Pico Alexander; What I Did Last Summer, Punk Rock). Atalanta’s latest boy toy, it turns out, is of course, none other than Freddie. Even the dimmest wit can figure out how this will turn out. That would be fine if the process of getting there were amusing or surprising. It isn’t. There are some funny one-liners, but far fewer hits than misses. Scott was the only one who appeared to be having a good time. The others acted as if they wished they were somewhere else. I know I did. The revolving sets by John Lee Beatty and the costumes by William Ivey Long were up to their usual high standards. I wish I could say the same about the efforts of the playwright, who also directed. If your requirements for mindless entertainment are very modest, they may be met. Running time: one hour 45 minutes; no interimssion.

The Last Match

C

This new play by Anna Ziegler (A Delicate Ship, Boy) at Roundabout’s Laura Pels Theatre is nominally about tennis. The two main characters are Tim Porter (Wilson Bethel), a 34-year-old American six-time U.S. Open winner [talk about artistic license!] who has been having a bad year and is rumored to be considering retirement, and Sergei Sergeyev (Alex Mickiewicz), a hot-tempered young Russian who has yet to break into the top ten. The action of the play takes place when they meet for the semifinals of the U.S. Open. Their play is frequently interrupted by soliloquies and memory scenes involving their significant others, i.e. Tim’s wife Mallory (Zoe Winters; The Harvest) and Sergei’s girlfriend Galina (Natalia Payne; Me, Myself & I). Tennis may be at the forefront, but it is there to illustrate the clash of career and family, ambition and fulfillment, selfishness and altruism, as well as the corrosiveness of celebrity and the fickleness of the crowd. Each character has something tragic in his or her past. In one case, the tragedy threatens to overwhelm the main event. The concept of the match as a platform for backstories is an interesting one, but I didn’t think it was handled particularly well. I found much of the material a bit trite. The ending may be appropriate, but it doesn’t satisfy. The cast perform well, although I can’t vouch for the verisimilitude of the tennis strokes. The set by Tim Mackabee (Vietgone) is attractive. Bradley King’s colored lights are prettier than they are functional. Gaye Taylor Upchurch’s (Animal) direction is fluid. If you don’t know anything about tennis scoring, you may find yourself adrift. Running time: 95 minutes; no interimssion.

Too Heavy for Your Pocket

B-

Roundabout Underground is presenting this flawed but interesting work by promising young playwright Jiréh Breon Holder. It is set in a poor rural black enclave of Nashville in 1961. We meet two young couples who have a very close friendship. The husbands have been best friends since they were ten and the wives are almost like sisters. Sally-Mae Carter (Nneka Okafor; Our Lady of Kibeho), about to graduate from beauty school, is pregnant. Her husband Tony (Hampton Fluker) has a past that includes philandering and gambling, but has been stirred by impending fatherhood to become a better man. Evelyn Bardon (Eboni Flowers) is a nightclub singer. Her husband Bowzie (Brandon Gill; Bella), intelligent but aimless, has just been accepted to Fisk University. Evelyn and Bowzie seem to be a most unlikely couple. During the long first act, we get to know the characters and the underlying problems in each marriage. When Bowzie decides to quit college and become a Freedom Rider, his decision puts a strain on all their relationships. The second act, while more dramatic, was also more disjointed. Some of the developments seemed forced and others seemed unlikely. The ending is rather flat. If you don’t already know about the Freedom Riders, you won’t get much background here. The actors are strong and quite plausible in their roles. Ms. Flowers has a lovely voice. The set by Reid Thompson (A Delicate Ship) features walls of wooden slats all around the theater and, for reasons I did not grasp, a grass floor throughout. The costumes by Valérie Thérèse Bart (Vanity Fair) are apt. Director Margot Bordelon (A Delicate Ship) would do well to tighten up the first act. All in all, it was a worthwhile but not wholly satisfactory experience. Running time: two hours ten minutes including intermission.

Small World

B+

This two-hander at 59E59 Theaters had a successful run at Penguin Rep Theatre in Stony Point two years ago. In it, playwright Frederick Stroppel presents three encounters between composer Igor Stravinsky and animator Walt Disney. The first, in 1939, actually took place when Disney invited Stravinsky to see a rough cut of the “Rite of Spring” section of “Fantasia.” Stravinsky is horrified at Disney’s turning his evocation of pagan Russia into a story about dinosaurs and volcanoes. Nor is he pleased that the film includes a shot of Stokowski, his enemy. The two men argue their respective views of the proper role of the artist in society. The playwright imagines that they meet again two years later. After the lukewarm reception to “Fantasia” Disney has lost his self-confidence and Stravinsky has gone Hollywood. He unsuccessfully pitches Disney the idea for a film, which turns out to be the germ of his opera “The Rake’s Progress.” The two meet for a final time in the afterworld, where their differences seem less important. The dialogue is witty and does not condescend to the audience.  The views of both men get their due. Stephen D’Ambrose (August: Osage County) is marvelous as Stravinsky and Mark Shanahan (The 39 Steps) makes a fine Disney. Patricia E. Doherty’s (Southern Comfort) period costumes are a delight and the set by James J. Fenton (Southern Comfort) is elegant. Joe Brancato’s (Daniel’s Husband) direction is fluid. My only quibble is about the length. At 75 minutes without intermission, it seems either too short or too long. Some of the ideas are merely mentioned rather than developed. On the other hand, it occasionally seems a bit stretched out, particularly in the middle scene. I think it would be even better as a one-hour play on a double-bill. As it happens, this is the second comedy of ideas I saw this week in which famous figures argue their philosophies in the afterworld. The contrast is striking. This play manages to avoid all the pitfalls that the other (The Gospel According to Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens, and Count Leo Tolstoy: Discord) falls into. Ends on October 7.

Theater Reviews: A Second Chance

I am surprised that The Public Theater has brought back its production of Tiny Beautiful Things, which got decidedly mixed reviews last Fall. Here’s what I had to say then:

https://gotham-playgoer.blogspot.com/2016/12/tiny-beautiful-things-c.html

Just for fun, here’s actual signage I saw a month ago at Signature Center, where the show was apparently rehearsing.

On the brighter side, Lincoln Center Theater is bringing The Wolves back to town. Here’s my review:

https://gotham-playgoer.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-wolves.html