Seared

B+

After a run last year in Williamstown, Theresa Rebeck’s (Seminar, Downstairs) entertaining comedy set in the kitchen of a tiny Park Slope restaurant has made it to New York in a first-rate production at MCC’s Frankel Theater. If you are a foodie, you will enjoy seeing Harry (Raul Esparza; Company, The Normal Heart), the brilliant but difficult chef, at work. Harry fancies himself a food artist unconcerned with critical acclaim or commercial success. To the great frustration of his partner Mike (David Mason; Trick or Treat) who funded the restaurant and runs the front of the house, Harry refuses to capitalize on a mention in New York magazine praising his scallop dish. Since the quality scallops he insists on are hard to come by in quantity, Harry refuses to make the dish a regular offering. When an attractive, rather mysterious consultant, Emily (Krysta Rodriguez; First Date, The Addams Family), visits the restaurant one night, she bends Mike’s ear with ideas for improving the restaurant. Mike is sold, but Harry is not. Much of the action consists of shouting matches over implementing Emily’s ideas. The relationship that develops between Harry and Emily is not completely hostile. Meanwhile, the restaurant’s sole waiter, Rodney (W. Tré Davis; Zooman and the Sign), quietly observes everything. When Emily persuades Harry to come up with a new signature dish, he develops one based on wild salmon, which is even harder to obtain than quality scallops. The first six minutes of the second act, with a jazz background but no dialogue, present Harry working on his new seared salmon dish. Depending on your interest in cooking, you will either be fascinated or bored. In any case, it is a virtuoso scene for Esparza. The simmering conflicts come to a boil when a major food critic arrives for a visit. The outcome was a surprise, at least for me. Rebeck writes actor-friendly roles. Everyone gets a chance to shine, Mason somewhat less than the others because his role is less fully developed. Esparza makes the most of a role that fits him well. Rodriguez is so much fun to watch that I was willing to overlook the fact that Emily’s motivation is never satisfactorily explained. Tim Mackabee’s (The Last Match, Vietgone) kitchen is wonderfully detailed. Tilly Grimes’s (Underground Railroad Game) costumes are apt. Moritz von Stuelpnagel (Bernhardt/Hamlet, Hand to God), directs with precision. If you don’t mind a lot of shouting and aren’t too concerned about credibility, you are likely to have an enjoyable experience. I did. Running time: two hours ten minutes including intermission. 

Bella Bella

B

Harvey Fierstein (La Cage aux Folles, Kinky Boots) has written an affectionate tribute to larger-than-life New York politician Bella Abzug, whose many breakthroughs for women and efforts for the marginalized are not often spoken of today. Set on the night of the 1976 NY Democratic senatorial primary, pitting her against five opponents including Daniel Moynihan, this solo piece at Manhattan Theatre Club's Stage I shows Bella locked in the bathroom of a guest room (not a suite, she complains!) at the Summit Hotel, where she awaits the election results. The bathtub is piled high with campaign signs. On the other side of the door are her family, campaign staff and close friends. Downstairs in the ballroom hundreds are waiting for her to appear. What follows is an entertaining, informative look at highlights of her career and life story. I had thought I was generally familiar with her career, but I learned several things. I didn’t know that she defended a black man accused of raping a white woman in Mississippi. Nor did I know that New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger overruled his editorial board and withdrew their Abzug endorsement in the senatorial primary. The material includes lots of enjoyable anecdotes and several very funny one-liners. So far, so good. My problem with the show is Fierstein’s decision to play the role of Bella. It seems ironic that a play about female empowerment casts a man as Bella. From what I have read, several actresses (if one is allowed to use that word these days) turned down the role because of schedule conflicts. The producers were eager to do the show now to get a jump on a forthcoming documentary about Bella. Fierstein (Hairspray, Torch Song Trilogy) wisely does not try to impersonate Abzug. He wears a black shirt and slacks, but no makeup or wig. Only the big red hat he wears at the beginning and end of the play and the nail polish on his toes signal female. Harvey also has a big personality and a rough charm, so his version of Bella essentially works, but I found myself wishing that they had waited for a worthy actress to play the role. The production is first-rate with a set by John Lee Beatty (Doubt, Proof) that surrounds the playing area with the facade of the hotel and performs a clever transformation. Rita Ryack (Casa Valentina) did not have much of a costuming challenge. Kimberly Senior’s (Disgraced), direction is assured, never letting the pace lag. I wish the Playbill had included a few notes on her career and a Yiddish glossary. All in all, it’s an enjoyable production that might have been even better with a different Bella. Running time: 90 minutes; no intermission.

Power Strip

B

Sylvia Khoury’s timely new play at LCT3’s Claire Tow Theater is a gripping drama about Yasmin (Gina Shihabi; Dance Nation), a young Syrian woman at a refugee camp on Lesbos. In observing her tragic experience, we get a microcosm of the enormous refugee problem and the terrible human cost of the Syrian civil war on those who have fled their homeland. To escape the worst problems of the camp, Yasmin has chosen to stay in an olive grove outside the gates, where a power strip brings her the warmth of an electric heater and a charge for her phone. We soon learn why she is so mistrustful when Khaled (Darius Homayoun), a young man newly arrived at the camp with a sick mother, tries to steal her heater while she sleeps. Through flashbacks, we meet her fiancé Peter (Ali Lopez-Sohaili) and learn the awful circumstances that led her to flee Syria. We also meet Abdullah (Peter Ganim; Oslo), an older man who has suffered great loss, who turns to Yasmin for comfort. The story is never less than absorbing but makes an unfortunate turn toward melodrama at the end. The underlying feminist subtext pokes out a bit awkwardly at times. Ms. Shihabi makes a powerful impression. The appropriately drab set by Arnulfo Maldonado (School Girls; A Strange Loop) is marred by excessive use of dry ice. The costumes by Dede Ayite (Slave Play, School Girls) are appropriate. Tyne Rafaeli’s (Usual Girts, I Was Most Alive with You) direction is occasionally a bit slack. The playwright successfully made me care about Yasmin and, through her, the many others she represents. The play offers a suspenseful, occasionally uncomfortable experience but a worthwhile one. Running time: 90 minutes, no intermission.

Soft Power

C

I had high hopes for this collaboration by two Tony winners – playwright David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly, Yellow Face, Chinglish) and composer/lyricist Jeanine Tesori (Fun Home, Caroline or Change, Violet) – now at the Public Theater. Alas, working together does not seem to have brought out their best efforts. The concept of a musical within a play that deals with US-China relations, the state of the union, the status of Asian-Americans in our society, the colonialist subtext of The King and I, the 2016 election as seen by the loser, cultural misunderstanding and the conflict between saving face and following one’s heart is certainly ambitious. We meet Xue Xing (the impressive Conrad Ricamora; The King and I, Here Lies Love), a married Chinese film producer sent to the US to recruit DHH (Francis Jue; Wild Goose Dreams, Yellow Face), the leading Chinese-American playwright, to adapt a popular Chinese film as a musical. Alyse Alan Louis (Amelie, Disaster!) plays Xue Xing’s American girlfriend Zoe. DHH is stabbed on the street in a possible hate crime. In his fever dream after the stabbing, we meet Hillary Clinton, as played by the impressive Ms. Louis. There is an over-the-top musical number at a Hillary rally set in a luxurious McDonald’s. In another number, Hillary scarfs down pizza and ice cream while singing about her loss. Xing and Hillary discover a mutual attraction. Until intermission, things were relatively coherent. Alas, in the second act, things go off the rails. A panel of experts 50 years in the future is discussing the film that we have allegedly been watching. Our president threatens war with China and Xing attempts to avert it. The satire becomes even more heavy handed and the play loses energy. The production team is first-rate: the gold and red set by Clint Ramos (Wild Goose Dreams, Barbecue) is beautiful, the elaborate costumes by Anita Yavich (Chilglish, The Legend of Georgia McBride) are gorgeous, the wigs by Tom Watson (Wicked, My Fair Lady) are excellent. The lively choreography by Sam Pinkleton (Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812) pays tribute to several genres of dance and is superbly performed by the talented ensemble of ten. The music, performed by an orchestra of over 20, is more than serviceable but less than memorable. Although there are many moments along the way to enjoy, particularly in the first act, they are eventually done in by an incoherent book. Even a fever dream needs some logic. Director Leigh Silverman (The Lifespan of a Fact, Chinglish), has not figured out how to pull it all together. It was a fascinating disappointment. Running time: two hours 20 minutes including intermission.

The Sound Inside

B-

I was of two minds about seeing this Lincoln Center Theater import from Williamstown, now at Studio 54. One the one hand, I have long been a fan of Mary Louise Parker (How I Learned To Drive, Prelude to a Kiss, Proof, Heisenberg) and rarely pass up the opportunity to see her onstage. On the other hand, my previous experience with plays by Adam Rapp (Red Light Winter; The Hallway Trilogy; Dreams of Flying, Dreams of Falling) has not been positive; somehow our sensibilities do not align. This dark (literally and figuratively) two-hander charts the course of a fraught relationship between Bella, a 50-ish, rather solitary writing professor at Yale, recently diagnosed with advanced cancer, and Christopher (Will Hochman; Dead Poets Society), a talented, rebellious freshman working on his first novel. Their initially contentious office-hour meetings develop into something more congenial as Bella encourages him with his nascent novel. Eventually, each asks the other for an important favor. I suspect that any guesses you have about how things will turn out will be wrong. In addition to the articulate dialogue, there are long passages of well-wrought narration, mostly by Bella. Director David Cromer (The Band’s Visit, Tribes, Our Town) clearly has an affinity for this material. The minimalist set design by Alexander Woodward, with locations emerging from the murk as needed, is quite effective, thanks in part to sensitive lighting by Heather Gilbert. While there was much about the production to admire, especially the fine acting, I ultimately found it a bit contrived and manipulative. The many literary allusions will be catnip to those who catch them. The gloomy subject matter may be a trigger for those who have had recent family tragedy. Running time: one hour 40 minutes; no intermission.

The Wrong Man

C

The first clue that perhaps this was not the right show for me was that I had never heard of Ross Golan (2016 BMI Pop Songwriter of the Year), who wrote the book, music and lyrics for this new musical at MCC Theater. What started as a single song in 2005 about a man unjustly convicted of a murder in Reno has been developed into a concept album, an animated film and now a 90-minute sung-through musical. Since there is no dialogue, one must hang closely on every word of the lyrics to extract the story, a task that I occasionally found difficult. There is little back story or character development. The music itself sounded monotonous to my uneducated ear and the rap-style rhymes were often awkward (e.g. Reno rhymed with Evil). On the plus side, the three lead roles — Duran (Ryan Vasquez; Hamilton), the Sunday alternate for Joshua Henry (Carousel); Marianna (Ciara Renée; Big Fish) and The Man in Black (Anoop Desai on Sundays) — are performed by superb singing actors. They are supported by an ensemble of six whose performance of Travis Wall’s (“So You Think You Can Dance”) exciting choreography is a major strength of the piece. The set by Rachel Hauck (Hadestown) is a mostly empty stage flanked by bleachers on two sides. Chairs and benches are moved around as needed. The musicians are seated at the back of the stage with a plastic shield over the percussion. The main visual element is the lighting design by Betsy Adams (Daphne’s Dive) featuring wall-to-wall rows of colored LED lights that flash in various colors and combinations. Perhaps they are meant to remind us of the bright lights of Reno, but I found them distracting. The monotone costumes by Jennifer Moeller (Sweat) & Kristin Isola (A Walk in the Woods) are in shades of grey. The reason for the repeated donning and doffing of jackets escaped me. Attempting to replicate the magic they worked in Hamilton are director Thomas Kail and music arranger and orchestrator Alex Lacamoire. Most of the people around me seemed to be having a very good time. I envied them. Running time: 90 minutes, no intermission.

NOTE: Once again the possible use of color-blind casting puzzled me. I had assumed that the casting of a black actor as Duran was at least partially intended to illustrate how unfairly blacks are treated by our deeply flawed justice system. The casting of a white actor as his alternate made that theory seem less plausible.