The Cradle Will Rock

C+

One wonders whether Marc Blitzstein’s 1937 musical about greed, corruption and anti-unionism in Steeltown, USA would have survived until today if not for the headline-grabbing circumstances of its birth. After the Federal Theater Project pulled the plug four days before it was supposed to open, producer John Houseman and director Orson Welles found a vacant theater where they presented it with the composer playing the piano onstage while the actors performed from locations in the audience. Now CSC is presenting a revival that gives it the minimalist John Doyle (The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Carmen Jones) treatment with nine of the ten actors playing more than one role and four of them — Ken Barnett (Fun Home), Benjamin Eakely (She Loves Me), Ian Lowe (Nikolai & the Others) and Kara Mikula (Allegro) —  taking turns as pianist. Doyle’s simple design has an upright piano and assorted metal drums and barrels along one of the shorter walls of the theater. Wires from all around the theater lead to a telephone pole on this wall. The audience is seated along the other three walls with no one more than five rows from the stage. Doyle has assembled an excellent cast, led by Tony Yazbeck (On the Town, The Beast in the Jungle) as labor leader Larry Foreman and as Harry Druggist. Lara Pulver (Gypsy, West End) as The Moll and Sally Ann Triplett (Carrie, The Last Ship) as Mrs. Mister are standouts, but all the others — Eddie Cooper (The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui), David Garrison (I Do! I Do!, Wicked), Rema Webb (Escape to Margaritaville) and the four listed above as pianists — are also very good. Ann Hould-Ward's (The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Carmen Jones) monochromatic costumes are apt. Even though the story, very much a product of its time, comes across as dated, the underlying themes remain all too relevant today. For me the weakest link was Blitzstein’s music which sounded like Weill on an off day. If you want to see an historic period piece, you may well enjoy it. I found myself wishing that Doyle had just recreated the original, with the actors performing from the audience. Running time: 85 minutes, no intermission.

NOTE: CSC no longer hands out paper programs. I urge you to go their website in advance to download the program and either print it or download it to your smartphone. Also, be aware that seats in Row A are armless.

The Lehman Trilogy

B+

Stefano Massimi’s epic tale of family, faith and finance has undergone major transformation since it first appeared as a radio play in Italy in 2012. First adapted for the stage for a French production, it then appeared in Milan in a version with a large cast. Ben Power, Deputy Artisitic Director of the National Theatre, has cleverly adapted it for an English version with just three actors. But what actors! Simon Russell Beale (Bluebird, Jumpers), Adam Godley (Anything Goes) and Ben Miles (Wolf Hall) give commanding performances in multiple roles of varying ages, genders and social status. One rarely has the opportunity to witness acting at such a consistently fine level. Director Sam Mendes (The Ferryman) deploys his actors well. The set by Es Devlin (Girls and Boys, Machinal) features a giant revolving glass cube furnished like a modern corporate office filled with creatively used bankers boxes. The curved back wall displays a panorama of evocative projections by Luke Halls (Miss Saigon) that, in the third and final act, literally become dizzying. Costume designer Katrina Lindsay (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) dresses the three Lehman brothers in black mid-19th-century garb that they wear throughout the evening. The transformations between roles are accomplished by gesture and voice, without benefit of costume change. The proceedings have piano accompaniment by Candida Caldicot that I found less than compelling. The story cover 164 years from the arrival of Henry Lehman in America to the collapse of the family-founded financial giant in 2008. The story-telling technique makes heavy use of third-person narration, which I find a bit distancing. The play provides a varied series of vignettes that give insight either into the family dynamic or the development of American capitalism or, sometimes, both. The difference in the mourning period accorded each brother traces the “progress” of family and firm. I find the length of the play problematic; it is either too long to hold our close attention or too short to do justice to both the personal and financial stories. I would be curious to know what was cut from the 5-hour Milan version. While I would call this production at Park Avenue Armory a “must-see” for lovers of serious theater, I have to say that I admired it more than I enjoyed it. Running time: 3 hours 25 minutes, including 2 intermissions.

Nantucket Sleigh Ride

C

Can the creative team that brought us House of Blue Leaves and Six Degrees of Separation — playwright John Guare, director Jerry Zaks and Lincoln Center Theater — strike gold a third time? Judging from the new absurdist memory play, now at the Mitzi E. Newhouse, the answer is “No.” Despite the best efforts of a first-rate cast, an ingenious set, great costumes and smooth direction, this quirky play never really takes off. There are several amusing moments, but they don’t lead anywhere. The convoluted plot involves Edmund Gowery (John Larroquette; The Best Man, How To Succeed in Business without Really Trying), a playwright turned venture capitalist who is having an affair with his agent Gilbert’s  (Jordan Gelber; Sunday in the Park with George) wife Antonia (Tina Benko; The Crucible, Describe the Night). One day, his secretary (Stacey Sargeant; Wild Goose Dreams) allows entry to Lilac (Grace Rex; Life and Limb) and Poe (Adam Chanler Berat; Next to Normal, The Fortress of Solitude), a confrontational sister and brother bearing a book he autographed 35 years before on Nantucket. Their memories of that summer are blank and they demand that he tell them what occurred. It being August, his therapist Dr. Harbinger (Douglas Sills; The Scarlet Pimpernel, War Paint) is unavailable for advice. And so begins a flashback of a few days on the island that summer, where he meets the two annoying siblings whose parents are Schuyler (Sills again), a child psychoanalyst, and Elsie (Clea Alsip;  M. Butterfly, The Way We Get By), the daughter of a famous author of children’s books. He also meets McPhee (Will Swenson; Waitress, Jerry Springer: The Opera), who is either Elsie’s lover or her stalker. The absent Elsie has allegedly been traumatized by Gowery’s brusk refusal to come to the island the previous year to see an amateur production of his sole play, “The Internal Structure of Stars.” A running joke is that everyone he meets on Nantucket, including the police officer (Sargeant again) who accuses him of running a child pornography ring from the house he owns but has never visited, was involved in the production of Gowery’s play. Gowery is excited at the possibility of writing the screenplay for Roman Polanski’s remake of Hitchcock’s “Suspicion” starring Jane Fonda and Robert Redford. Or is it a Disney adaptation of Elsie’s father’s children’s books also to be directed by Polanski? A cryogenic Walt Disney (Sills again) makes a strong pitch to Poe and Lilac. Gowery’s #2 girlfriend Alice (Benko again) refuses him a crucial favor. Jorge Luis Borges (German Jaramillo; Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter) pops up now and then with a quotation for every occasion. Chaos ensues as the various plot strands bump against each other without satisfactory resolution. David Gallo’s (Jitney, The Drowsy Chaperone) three-tiered set is a treat and Emily Rebholz’s (Indecent, Dear Evan Hansen) costumes are a hoot. While the play is intermittently amusing, there is little point to it.  While I was grateful for the chance to see John Larroquette, Douglas Sills and Will Swenson onstage together, I left disappointed. Running time: one hour 50 minutes including intermission.

Do You Feel Anger?

C

After a well-received run at last year’s Humana Festival, Mara Nelson-Greenberg’s absurdist comedy about the deranged staff of a debt collection agency and the hapless empathy coach who has brought in to work with them has arrived in New York at Vineyard Theatre. We meet Sofia (Tiffany Villarin; Teenage Dick), whose confidence that she can shape people up is soon put to the test. Jon (Greg Keller; The Amateurs, Belleville), the office manager, wants to think of himself as a nice guy, but we soon see that is a delusion. Eva (Megan Hill; Eddie and Dave), the sole remaining female employee, claims that she has been mugged in the break room with regularity. She can’t remember the name of the boyfriend she just broke up with and is given to oversharing with customers on four-hour phone calls. Janie, the other female employee, went to the bathroom several days ago and has not been seen since. Howie (Justin Long; Seminar) is obsessed with the idea of unreciprocated oral sex and has fearsome temper tantrums. Jordan (Ugo Chukwu; What To Send Up When It Goes Down) has no sense of propriety and fancies himself a poet. We also meet Sofia’s mother (Jeanne Sakata) via pleading phone messages to her daughter that go unanswered. The final character is an old man (Tom Aulino; On the Town) who has a very funny scene which has little bearing on the play and should probably be eliminated. The exercises Sofia uses to teach empathy often lead to hilarious situations. Each employee gets at least one scenery-chewing moment. Cumulatively it’s a bit like a string of very funny SNL sketches. The actors really give it their all, particularly Mr. Long and Ms. Hill. Greg Keller is a master at playing someone who is just slightly “off.” Will Sofia succeed or will they wear her down? It’s a close race. Late in the play, the set by Laura Jellinek (Marvin's Room, Oklahoma!) makes a showy transformation leading to a final scene that I found muddled and unsatisfactory. The costumes by Emilio Sosa (On Your Feet!) are appropriate to each character. The lighting by Marie Yokoyama (Daybreak) is a bit hyperactive. The direction by Margot Bordelon (Eddie and Dave) is smooth. If there is a message here, I would guess it is something about the sorry state of women office workers. Some of the play’s moments are so funny that it might be tempting to overlook the flaws that, for me, ultimately led to disappointment. Running time: 90 minutes; no intermission.

White Noise

B+
Since seeing Suzan-Lori Parks’s Father Comes Home From the War (Parts 1, 2 and 3) over four years ago, I have been eagerly awaiting her return to the Public Theater. The wait is finally over. However, instead of the next installment of that epic work, we have an entirely new play which takes a highly original and provocative look at interracial relations in today’s America. In it we meet four 30-ish adults, two white, two black, who have been friends since college. Leo (Daveed Diggs; Hamilton) is a black artist with insomnia and artist’s block. Ralph (Thomas Sadoski; Other Desert Cities) is an emblem of white privilege who inherited a fortune from his abusive father, but is stymied as an unpublished assistant professor. Misha (Sheria Irving; While I Yet Live) makes blackness work for her with a streaming internet show “Ask a Black.” Dawn (Zoë Winters; The Last Match, Red Speedo) is a white do-gooder whose altruism is problematic. When the play opens, Leo and Dawn are a couple, as are Ralph and Misha. We learn that back in college, Leo was paired with Misha and Ralph with Dawn. There’s also another relationship hiding out of sight. After becoming a victim of police violence, Leo makes a shocking proposal to Ralph which you may have difficulty buying into. I will not reveal it, because it would reduce the impact of discovery. I hope you can suspend your disbelief because the ramifications of their agreement are the basis for the rest of the play. Parks’s writing combines humor, drama, pathos and polemic. The actors are superb. Diggs and Sadoski are a formidable combination. The ingenious set by Clint Ramos (Wild Goose Dreams, Barbecue) contains a major surprise. The costumes by Toni-Leslie James (Come from Away, Jitney) help to develop each character. Oskar Eustis’s direction is fluid. The play could use some judicious trimming and a stronger ending. Nevertheless, it stands out as one of the most original, thought-provoking plays I have seen in quite a while. Running time: 3 hours 10 minutes, including intermission.

The Cake

C+

After successful productions in L.A. and the Berkshires, Bekah Brunstetter’s (“This Is Us”) comedy with serious overtones has landed in New York at Manhattan Theatre Club’s Stage I. Those expecting a serious look at the legal ramifications of denying a wedding cake to a same sex couple won’t find it here; there is no lawsuit involved. What we get instead is a sympathetic look at a Southern woman whose religious beliefs are out of sync with her loving personality. The bake shop owner, Della, superbly played by Debra Jo Rupp (Becoming Dr. Ruth), is a woman of a certain age in a childless stale marriage who hopes to validate her life by appearing in a televised national bake-off. In baking as in life, Della seeks success by closely adhering to the rules. When Jen (Genevieve Angelson; Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike), the daughter of her late best friend, returns from Brooklyn to plan a hometown wedding, Della is thrilled until she learns that Jen’s intended is a woman, Macy (Marinda Anderson; The Treasurer, Miss You Like Hell) , a journalist with inflexible views on just about any subject. The fact that Macy is African-American doesn’t seem to be a problem. When Della claims to be too busy to bake their wedding cake, Jen is crushed. While Jen may have escaped to Brooklyn, she has not been able to shake deeply ingrained feelings of shame about being a lesbian. In a subplot, Della tries unsuccessfully to rekindle the spark in her marriage with the help of lots of butter cream. Later, when her husband Tim (Dan Daily; Days To Come) finally sees the light, he tries to reciprocate with a heap of mashed potatoes. You will either find these scenes hilarious or gross. The play is interspersed with several droll imaginary interchanges between Della and George (Daily again), the unseen host of the TV series. Will Della be able to overcome her religious strictures to bake the cake? The ending seemed a bit facile. The production is greatly enhanced by an amazing set by John Lee Beatty (Doubt, Proof, Good People) with three revolving sections. The shelves of brightly colored cakes certainly made my mouth water. Tom Broecker’s (Our Mother’s Brief Affair) costumes and Tommy Kurzman’s wigs also make a substantial contribution. Lynne Meadow’s (Linda, Of Good Stock) direction is seamless. The play is entertaining but doesn’t really have much depth. Running time: 90 minutes, no intermission.

Fleabag

C-

When Phoebe Waller-Bridge performed this one-hour one-woman show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2013, it was a smash hit. When it moved on to London, she was nominated for an Olivier award. As a result of the show’s success, it was adapted for television as a six-episode series which garnered her a BAFTA award. Since then she has won further acclaim as the writer and show-runner for “Killing Eve.” Since I had greatly enjoyed both the television version of “Fleabag” and “Killing Eve,” I was eager to see Ms. Waller-Bridge live when the stage version finally arrived in New York for a limited run. Apparently I was not alone, because the entire run at Soho Playhouse is sold out. When the lights dimmed for the show to begin, the audience roared before the star even appeared. Although I did not have much trouble with the British accent, I still missed a good part of what she said during the first several minutes. She spoke rapidly, swallowed the ends of her sentences and performed without amplification. The uncompromising character that she has created is a troubled young Londoner who is sexually compulsive and not very sympathetic. What we see of her in one short hour is no match for the extended look we get in the TV series. Onstage we don’t really get a sense of why she is the way she is. The monologue is often graphically raunchy and Ms. Waller-Bridge can be quite funny. Nevertheless, the experience somehow did not stir me nearly as much as the TV series did. Most of the audience seemed to be having a wonderful time but I was quite disappointed. If you were unable to get a ticket, don’t despair. Watch the TV version on Amazon Prime. You’ll have a better time and save $200. Plus you’ll get to see Olivia Colman too. Running time: one hour, no intermission.

The Mother

C+

Atlantic Theater Company is presenting the New York premiere of Florian Zeller’s drama about a middle-age woman with a severe case of empty-nest syndrome. You may remember another play by Zeller from a few seasons back, The Father starring Frank Langella as an older man sinking into dementia. The current play, actually written four years before The Father, is, in my opinion, considerably less artful. (The third part of the trilogy, The Son, just opened in London to enthusiastic reviews.) In both plays there are scenes presented in multiple variations. In The Father, everything was presented from the title character’s point of view, and charted his decline. In the current play, the motivation for the variations is less clear and the result is less involving. Fortunately, the woman who loves her son too much and her husband too little is played by Isabelle Huppert (“Elle,” Medea) , always a compelling presence. Chris Noth (Farragut North, The Best Man) is effective as her perplexed husband. The Son struggling for independence is well-played by Justice Smith (Yen). Odessa Young (Days of Rage) is also fine as The Girl. I think that Trip Cullman’s (Lobby Hero, Days of Rage) direction veers toward the gimmicky and values style over substance. Does the scenic design by Mark Wendland (Six Degrees of Separation) really benefit from a modern white sectional that seats 14 and sinks into the floor between scenes? Should there be a ridiculous number of prescription bottles scattered below it? Is there a point to placing Ms. Huppert on that sofa reading a book for 15 minutes before the play begins? The costumes by Anita Yavich (Fool for Love, The Legend of Georgia McBride) are apt. There are a few dramatic moments along the way, but there is an abstracted distancing feel to the production that dulls their impact. While I was happy to have the opportunity to see Ms. Huppert and, to a lesser extent, Mr. Noth, I was disappointed that the play never approached the quality of The Father. Running time: one hour 20 minutes, no intermission.