Saturday, July 28, 2018

The House That Will Not Stand

C+

After runs in Berkeley, New Haven, Chicago and London, this play by Marcus Gardley (“The Chi”) has arrived at New York Theatre Workshop. The playwright set himself an ambitious challenge, taking characters and situations from Garcia Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba and overlaying them with a story about the status of black women in New Orleans shortly after the Louisiana Purchase. Once again there is a house of women in mourning with a fierce mother ruling over frustrated daughters —Agnès (Nedra McClyde; Marvin’s Room), Odette (Joniece Abbott-Pratt; u/s Eclipsed) and Maude Lynn (Juliana Canfield; “Succession”)— with an iron hand. There is someone hidden away in the attic, this time the mother’s possibly mad sister, Marie Josephine (Michelle Wilson; Sweat). And there is rivalry among the daughters over a man. The corpse lying surrounded by flowers in the parlor is the father of the three daughters, but not the husband of their mother Beartrice (Lynda Gravatt; Skeleton Crew). He is Lazare Albans, a married wealthy white man whose long-term common-law relationship with Beartrice made her the wealthiest free woman of color in New Orleans, with a fine house to show for it. The institution that permitted such interracial relationships, called plaçage, had been common throughout the French and Spanish Caribbean, but was now threatened by United States laws. Makeda (Harriet D. Foy; Amelie), the house servant who looks after mother and daughters, is a slave who has been promised her freedom upon her master’s demise. We also meet La Veuve (Marie Thomas; Don’t Bother Me I Can’t Cope), a neighbor with a longtime grudge against Beartrice. Two of the daughters want to attend the masked ball where quadroons and prospective white beaus meet and arrange relationships, but Beartrice is unalterably opposed as she considers plaçage little better than slavery, especially under new US laws. She is also confronted with a threat to retaining her house and her social position. Melodrama ensues. The play is stuffed, perhaps overstuffed, with issues — racism, skin colorism, class consciousness, empowering women, slavery, voodoo, ghosts, insanity, honoring African roots. It’s a lot to juggle and the playwright occasionally missteps. The dialogue is sometimes comic, sometimes poetic. The quality of the acting is frustratingly uneven. Ms. Foy gives an electric performance as Makeda. The usually reliable Ms. Gravatt repeatedly stumbled over her lines. Ms. Thomas is wickedly funny. The actresses playing the daughters and the aunt imbue each with individuality. Adam Rigg’s (Actually) set design of an elegant southern home with tall shuttered windows and crystal chandeliers is quite attractive, as are the period costumes by Montana Levi Blanco (Fairview, Red Speedo). Lileana Blain-Cruz’s (Pipeline, War) direction shows a comfortable grip on the material. While I found it sporadically involving, I left somewhat baffled and disappointed. The reaction from most of the audience was extremely enthusiastic. Running time: two hours ten minutes including intermission.

Thursday, July 26, 2018

Fiddler on the Roof (in Yiddish)

A-


I greatly enjoyed the Broadway revival of this classic American musical directed by Bartlett Sher two years ago. In spite of that — or perhaps because of it — I wasn’t sure I was ready to see another Fiddler, even one in Yiddish. But then I remembered how much I liked National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene’s production of The Golden Bride that same year and was curious to see what they would do with Fiddler in a 1966 translation by Israel actor and director Shraga Friedman that had never been performed in the US. I am very glad that I decided to buy a ticket. Although it may lack Broadway polish, Folksbiene’s version, now running until October 25 at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, has a purity and emotional accessibility that makes up for its modest production values. The cast of 26 mostly young actors, almost none of whom knew Yiddish, have learned their lessons well. The singers have excellent voices and the dancers are absolutely first-rate. Staś Kmieć works wonders staging the Robbins-inspired dances and just moving the large cast around on a small stage. The score sounds great in an orchestration by Don Walker adapted by Larry Blank for 12 musicians led by Zalmen Mlotek. Steven Skybell (Pal Joey, Wicked) plays Tevye more as an everyman than a larger-than-life figure, which I think works very well. Jennifer Babiak’s Golde (Fiddler on Broadway) is slightly bland; she would benefit from makeup to make her look older. The roles of the three elder daughters —Tsaytl (Rachel Zatcoff; The Phantom of the Opera), Hodl (Stephanie Lynne Mason; The Sorceress) and Khave (Rosie Jo Neddy) — and their respective suitors — Motl (Ben Liebert; Wicked, Little Shop of Horrors) , Pertshik (Daniel Kahn; Amerike - The Golden Land) and Fyedke (Cameron Johnson; The Golden Bride) — are all very well performed. I was afraid that Jackie Hoffman (On the Town, Hairspray) might overwhelm the role of Yente, but fortunately she gives what is for her a restrained performance. Beowulf Boritt’s (Act One, The Scotttsboro Boys) set consists mainly of a series of hanging fabric panels with the word “Torah” in Yiddish on the central one, with simple props moved in as needed. The orchestra is seated behind the panels. Ann Hould-Ward’s (Beauty and the Beast, Into the Woods) costumes deliberately stick to a very limited color palette. Only the Christians get a dash of bright color. The multitalented Joel Grey (Cabaret, The Normal Heart), whose gifts seem undimmed by age, directs with complete assurance. I think the creators — Jerry Bock (music), Sheldon Harnick (lyrics) and Joseph Stein (book) — would have approved. The production has excellent surtitles in both English and Russian. My rudimentary knowledge of Yiddish required me to consult them more often than I had expected, but it was not really an impediment to my enjoyment. Running time: 3 hours including intermission. 

Tuesday, July 24, 2018

The New One

A-


First the good news: comedian Mike Birbiglia is back in town with a new solo performance piece at the Cherry Lane Theatre. Ever since seeing Sleepwalk with Me in 2009, I have been hooked on his brand of humor: good-natured, self-deprecating, unflinchingly honest and thoroughly grounded in life. To reveal too much about the story behind the present piece would spoil some of the pleasure, so I will merely say that the unifying theme is a look at Birbiglia’s experience of married life, couched in the story of his sofa (sorry for the pun; sometimes I just can’t resist.) The long opening sequence is virtually a love letter to his favorite sofa for all the pleasure it has given him. As Birbiglia is wont to do, he will return to the sofa motif more than once as he shares his ups and downs en route to a satisfying climax. To consider him merely a stand-up comedian would be to shortchange his enormous skill as a storyteller. Beowulf Boritt (Act One, The Scottsboro Boys) has designed a simple set of slat wood panels over brick that extend through the auditorium. The stage is bare except for a stool and a Persian rug, but there is a startling transformation about an hour in. Aaron Copp’s (My Girlfriend's Boyfriend, Thank God for Jokes) lighting is effective. His usual director Seth Barrish (My Girlfriend's Boyfriend, Thank God for Jokesonce again shows his flair for the material. Each time I see a new Birbiglia show, I am fearful that it could not possibly be as good as the previous one. Each time I am happy to find that my worries were groundless. My only quibble is that I think trimming out five or ten minutes would have improved the piece. Running time: 85 minutes, no intermission.

So what’s the bad news? Apparently, Birbiglia has developed quite a following. Despite the absence of any advertising that I could see, the entire run was virtually sold out before previews began. I heard about it only by chance. As I write this, there are a few scattered seats available until the end of July. Check the website (https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/991581/1530417600000) for possible changes. If you are not lucky enough to snag a seat, treat yourself to a consolation prize and watch one of his previous pieces on Netflix.

Saturday, July 21, 2018

Straight White Men

B-
Young Jean Lee's family drama with comic overtones was first presented at the Public Theater a few years ago. Its move to Second Stage’s Helen Hayes Theater, with a star-studded new cast, a new creative team and two new characters, marks the first time a female Asian-American playwright has been produced on Broadway. The performance gets off to a very bad start: the theater is filled with the sound of ear-splitting hip-hop accompnied by colored lights flashing on the tinsel curtain. Two non-binary “persons in charge” dressed in festive metallic costumes, trans woman Kate Bornstein and Native-American trans man Ty Defoe, step before the curtain to give a brief lecture on the need for greater acceptance of gender fluidity and diversity. They add that the music was deliberately intended to make most of the audience uncomfortable. The two appear briefly between scenes and at play’s end for no apparent reason. I do not think that their contribution to the play merits their inclusion. When the play proper begins, we are in the family room of a retired, widowed Midwestern engineer Ed (Stephen Payne; Of Mice and Men) whose 40-ish eldest son Matt (Paul Schneider; “Bright Star”) has moved back in with him. Matt’s two younger brothers. Jake (Josh Charles; The Antipodes, “The Good Wife”) and Drew (Armie Hammer; “Call Me by Your Name”), have come home for a family Christmas. Jake is a prosperous banker, recently divorced from his African-American wife. Drew is a successful author and college professor. Although Matt was the brightest and most idealistic of the three and had a Harvard education, he has never found his purpose in life, still has huge college debts, and is presently working in a temp job at a social service organization. The three brothers revert to adolescence with much competitive horseplay. They play a board game called “Privilege” that their late mother had adapted from a Monopoly set to teach them positive values. As they enjoy their Chinese takeout Christmas dinner, Ed relates that, unlike his sons, he always felt the course of his life was laid out for him with a clearly delineated path. Jake and Drew become upset when Matt suddenly begins weeping during dinner. While they deeply care for him, they feel that Matt’s lack of achievement is a betrayal of the advantages he has enjoyed. Their competing diagnoses of his problem and their misguided attempts to shape him up provide both humor and pathos. The play ends on an ambiguous note. The ensemble acting is terrific; while the actors look nothing alike, they show a real chemistry. Payne, a late replacement for Denis Arndt who in turn was a replacement for Tom Skerritt, looks uncannily like Skerritt. The scenic design by Todd Rosenthal (August: Osage County) is appropriately generic. Suttirat Larlarb’s (Of Mice and Men) costumes are spot-on, especially the Christmas pajamas. Faye Driscoll’s choreography and Thomas Schall’s fight direction add a lot to the production. Anna D. Shapiro (August: Osage County, This Is Our Youth) directs with assurance. The title promises too much; the characters are a very specific, atypical subset of straight white maledom. While the play offers much to enjoy, it does not go that deeply into the questions it raises and the ending provides no satisfactory resolution. Running time: 90 minutes; no intermission.

Friday, July 20, 2018

The Damned

C


The ever-provocative Park Avenue Armory is currently hosting a limited run of avant-garde director Ivo van Hove’s adaptation of the masterful 1969 Visconti screenplay, direct from the Comédie Française. If I may quote myself, in my review of Dead Poets Society two seasons ago, I said: “While there have been many films that were turned into successful musicals, adapting a movie for the stage without musicalizing it doesn’t seem to add any value.” Nothing I saw tonight changed my opinion. What van Hove has done here is particularly perplexing — the production makes such extensive use of video on a large screen that it comes across as neither fish nor fowl. I will confess that, with the exception of View from the Bridge, I have found van Hove’s work overblown, sensationalistic, indulgent and overpraised. As expected, there was gratuitous nudity, violence, depravity and effects included for their shock value. What I did not expect was the lugubrious pace and the confused storytelling. We observe the corrosive effect of the rise of Nazism on a Krupp-like family. With few exceptions, they are an unlikable bunch, driven by ambition and the desire for revenge. The patriarch Joachim (Didier Sandre) disdains the Nazis for their low class origins. His brutish second son Konstantin (Denis Podalydès) is an avid Nazi with a sensitive son, Gunther (Clément Hervieu-Léger). Sophie (Elsa Lepoivre), the widow of the first son, who was killed in the Great War, is a cold manipulator. She has a longtime lover Friedrich (Guillaume Gallienne) whom she has not married because he is not a nobleman. Her son Martin (Christophe Montenez) is gender fluid with a special interest in little girls. He also has mother issues, to put it mildly. Wolf von Aschenbach (Eric Génovèse) is a Nazi cousin who knows how to pit his relatives against each other. The only sympathetic adult characters are Joachim’s daughter Elisabeth (Adeline d’Hermy) and her principled husband Herbert (Loïc Corbery). The set design by Jan Versweyveld features a large orange platform with dressing tables on one side and six ominous coffins on the other. Their role in the play is a shocker. One of the highlights is the Night of the Long Knives. Van Hove’s version makes clever use of video but runs on far too long after it has made its point. If you are a van Hove completist or are eager for a chance to see fine French actors, you might find the evening worthwhile. If not, I suggest renting the movie with a superb cast that includes Dirk Bogarde, Ingrid Thulin, Charlotte Rampling and Helmut Berger. Running time: two hours, ten minutes; no intermission. In French with English surtitles.

Tuesday, July 17, 2018

The Originalist

B+


Since Justice Antonin Scalia was the most relentlessly conservative figure on the Supreme Court, whose scathing opinions were anathema to liberals, I was initially reluctant to devote an evening to a play about him. However, my curiosity was piqued by the fact that Ruth Bader Ginsburg considered him her closest friend on the court. Furthermore, John Strand’s play, commissioned by Arena Stage in 2015 as part of its ambitious initiative to produce 25 new plays about American history, was so well received that is was brought back to Washington for an encore run after being staged in Sarasota, Chicago and Pasadena. It has finally reached New York in a production at 59E59 Theater A. The key to the play’s warm reception is a remarkable performance by Edward Gero as Scalia. He not only has an uncanny resemblance to the late justice, but builds a rounded believable version of him. The story is based on Scalia’s custom of hiring a liberal as one of his four clerks to serve as his intellectual sparring partner. In the play, he chooses Cat (British actress Tracy Ifeachor), a flaming African-American liberal, as a clerk for the 2012-13 session. Without giving up their views, the two gradually grow closer together as the year progresses. Scalia charges Cat with the job of researching his dissent on the Windsor same-sex marriage case. To gin up the drama a bit, the playwright has Scalia bring on board Brad (Brett Mack), the smarmy privileged Harvard Law classmate she beat out for the clerkship, to assist her with the dissent. Brad knows something about Cat that he thinks Scalia doesn’t. The play could hardly be more timely with its mention of Roe v. Wade and growing polarization. While generally well crafted, the play occasionally becomes more didactic than dramatic. The set design by Misha Kachman makes effective use of a square parquet stage, a massive desk, a few chairs, a red velvet curtain and four chandeliers. The costumes by Joseph P. Salasovich are apt. Molly Smith, Arena Stage’s artistic director, keeps things moving briskly. I was more comfortable when I thought that Justice Scalia was a monster; learning that he had a human side was discomfiting but ultimately rewarding. Running time: one hour 50 minutes; no intermission. NOTE: Each audience member is presented with a copy of the Constitution at the exit.

Saturday, July 7, 2018

Fairview

B-

It is difficult to review Jackie Sibblies Drury’s provocative new play at Soho Rep for two reasons. First, to say very much about it without spoiling the experience is problematic. Secondly, as someone who is not African-American, my very right to comment is challenged by the play itself. Nevertheless, I will proceed. Upon arrival in the theater, we are greeted with a generic upper-middle-class living-dining room done in peachy cream walls, beige furniture, a light wood dining set and off-white carpeting. It could easily be the set of a family tv show, especially since it is completely surrounded by a black frame. One by one, we meet the members of the African-American Frazier family — Beverly (Heather Alicia Simms; Barbecue), the stressed-out hostess of a milestone birthday party for her mother, who is resting upstairs; Dayton (Charles Browning), her easygoing loving husband; Jasmine (Roslyn Ruff; All the Way, Familiar), Beverly’s acerbic sister; and Keisha (Mayaa Boateng), Beverly and Dayton’s daughter, a high-achieving high school senior with a vague feeling that something is holding her back. Beverly’s brother had also been expected for the party, but his flight has been delayed. Beverly is unhappy that Keisha’s friend Erica will be stopping by to drop off something for Keisha. The first third of the play progresses much like a retro sitcom of no racial specificity unless family members breaking out in dance frequently is supposed to suggest some racial proclivity. The first scene ends abruptly with a blackout. Now we are getting into “spoiler” territory. When the lights come up, an all-white stage crew is restoring the set to its original condition. When the actors reappear, the first scene is repeated except that we don’t hear the onstage actors. Instead we hear the conversation of four apparently white people who are discussing what race they would choose to be if they could change their race. Jimbo (Luke Robertson; Neva) is a bit of a bully. Suze (Hannah Cabell; The Father, The Moors) is offended by the question. Mack (Jed Resnick; Avenue Q), possibly gay, wants to be a black woman because of their fierceness. Bets (Natalia Payne; The Last Match), who has a European accent, deplores the American obsession with race. The device of the overlaid conversation is clever, but seeing the entire first scene again seems excessive. In the final third of the play, the previously unseen white characters join the others on stage, bringing their expectations with them. Some of the plot developments and the ensuing mayhem, while fun to watch, seem partially unearned. The play takes a final abrupt turn with one of the characters making a request of the white audience members. Apparently, at some performances, this has stimulated some lively interaction between actor and audience, but at my performance, there was no such interaction and less than half the people complied. It seemed a flat, disappointing ending for a provocative play. The cast is very good. Mimi Lien’s (An Octoroon) set and Montana Levi Bianco’s (In the Blood) costumes are spot on. Amith Chandrashaker’s (Cardinal) lighting is very effective. Ryan Courtney’s props are delightfully excessive. Raja Feather Kelly’s choroeography is a treat. Director Sarah Benson (An Octoroon, In the Blood) maintains a firm grip. To some extent, I feel the playwright lost control of her material. Nevertheless, I will be eager to see her next work. Running time: one hour 45 minutes; no intermission.