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.

Mary Jane

A-

No, it has nothing to do with marijuana. I’m not sure why Amy Herzog (4000 Miles, Belleville) chose that name for her title character, but anyone expecting her new play at New York Theatre Workshop to be a cannabis-related story will be disappointed. Everyone else should be stirred by this compassionate portrait of a young woman who must deal every day with one of life’s great tragedies, caring for a child who has been severely impaired since his premature birth. Alex, now two, cannot speak, hold his head up or eat solid food. His father could not deal with it and left. Fortunately the audience is spared the grief of seeing Alex. What we do see is several moments in the life of Mary Jane (a superb Carrie Coon; Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, "The Leftovers") during which she interacts with various women: her super, Ruthie (Brenda Wehle; The Crucible); her conscientious visiting nurse Sherry (Liza Colon-Zayas; Between Riverside and Crazy); Brianne (Susan Pourfar; Tribes), the mother of a newly diagnosed child who turns to Mary Jane for advice about what to expect; Sherry’s college-age niece Amelia (Danaya Esperanza); Dr. Toros (Colon-Zayas again), Alex’s physician; Chaya (Pourfar), a Hasidic mother of seven; Kat (Esperanza), a music therapist; and Tenkei (Wehle), a Buddhist nun. Herzog captures the heroic nature of Mary Jane’s daily struggle without placing her on a pedestal. Coon’s naturalistic portrayal is immensely powerful. The other actors are strong as well. There are flashes of humor, but one does not expect a happy ending. The low-key final scene initially disappointed me, but, on further reflection, I decided that its tentativeness supported the play’s honesty. Laura Jellinek’s realistic set design of a cluttered apartment in Queens converts effortlessly to another completely different setting. Emily Rebholz’s costumes look appropriately lived-in. Anne Kauffman (Belleville, Marjorie Prime, Detroit, The Nether) directs with her usual skill. It was a heartbreaking, but also uplifting experience. Running time: one hour 40 minutes; no intermission.

Marvin's Room

B-

I do not mean to denigrate Scott McPherson’s award-winning play when I say that a significant reason for the acclaim it received in the early 1990’s was because it was seen as a metaphor for the AIDS crisis. The playwright made this connection explicit in a program note for the 1990 Hartford production. The tragic death of both McPherson and his lover, at the age of 33, drew still more attention to the play. While the scourge of AIDS is far from over, it is no longer the death sentence it was then and the crisis has mostly receded from public view. When I learned that Roundabout Theatre was reviving the play and giving it a Broadway debut, I was very curious to see how well it would stand up unsupported by the context of the early 90’s. The answer, for me at least, is pretty well. Roundabout has assembled a strong cast. Lili Taylor (The Library) is quietly powerful as Bessie, the sister who pulled up her roots in Ohio two decades prior to move to Florida to care for her father Marvin, whose ailments include cancer, multiple strokes and diabetes. Marvin (Carman Lacivita) is visible only as a sihouette, but his cries and gurgles are occasionally heard. The household also includes her dotty Aunt Ruth (a fine Celia Weston) who has recently had wires implanted in her brain to control debilitating back pain. A running gag is that her device opens the garage door whenever she uses it. A crisis develops when Bessie is diagnosed with leukemia by inept Dr. Wally (Triney Sandoval; Important Hats of the Twentieth Century), whose shtick is almost vaudevillian. When a bone marrow transplant is deemed her best option, she contacts her long-estranged sister Lee (a terrific Janeane Garololo [Russian Transport] in her Broadway debut) who, when their father had his first stroke, made the decision not to let his problems interfere with her life. We first meet her conferring with Dr. Charlotte (Nedra McClyde; A Life), the psychiatrist at the youth facility where her sullen 17-year-old son Hank (Jack DiFalco) has been confined for setting fire to the family home. Hank’s younger brother Charlie (Luca Padovan) loves to read but does poorly in school. Lee and her two sons travel to Florida to be tested as possible matches for Bessie. Except for a farcical scene between the sisters and the director of a retirement home (also McClyde), the second act lacks the absurdist humor of the first. Even a visit to Disney World turns somber. The ending, while hardly happy, is somewhat comforting. To quote McPherson’s program note, “At times, even an unbelievably harsh fate is transcended by a simple act of love, by caring for another.” While Roundabout should be praised for bringing this play to a new generation, I wish they had chosen to mount it in one of their smaller venues. It’s an intimate story that seems a bit lost in the vastness of the American Airlines Theatre. The casting is strong. Taylor and Garofolo are plausible as sisters. Jack DiFalco, while promising,  needs to work harder to project his voice; during a critical scene, only half of what he said was audible from the fourth row. Laura Jellinek’s (The Antipodes, A Life) set has a long curving back wall of decorative concrete blocks on which green palms are very faintly projected to suggest Florida. Glass block is used for a partition that revolves with part of the set as well as for the window of Marvin’s room. A gigantic revolving carousel roof descends and an enormous figure of Captain Hook appears for the Disney World scene. A much simpler set would have served the play better. Jessica Pabst’s (Cost of Living) costumes are unobtrusive, except for one humorously spangly number for Ruth. Anne Kauffman’s (A Life, Marjorie Prime) direction captures both the play's absurdity and its compassion. Seeing the play again was a reminder of how tragic it was to lose a promising young playwright who might have had an important place in American theater. Running time: 2 hours 20 minutes including intermission.

A Life *** B+

Adam Bock’s bold new play at Playwrights Horizons defied my expectations. Even the scenic design turned out to be surprising. The problem for a reviewer is that it is difficult to say much about the production without spoiling the experience. David Hyde Pierce plays Nate Martin, a middle-aged gay man living in Manhattan. The latest in a long series of lovers has left him a month before the play begins. In the past, Nate has turned to astrology for guidance. His supportive best friend Curtis (Brad Heberlee) and he enjoy ogling hot men in Central Park. We also meet Nate’s sister Lori (Lynne McCollough) and two other women, Jocelyn (Marinda Anderson) and Allison (Nedra McClyde). About halfway through the play, events take a most unexpected turn. There is a long scene virtually without dialogue that tests the audience’s mettle. The remainder of the play follows the likely consequences of that scene. It is bracing in its conception, but likely to be disturbing for single people living alone in New York. Pierce does well in a challenging role (even though he seemed a bit old for the part). Heberlee is quite strong and the three women are all fine. Laura Jellinek finds an ingenious solution to presenting three different locations. Jessica Pabst costumed each character suitably. Director Anne Kauffman has wisely chosen to let the play breathe without rushing through difficult moments. Even though I found it unnerving, I was glad to experience it. Running time: 80 minutes, no intermission.

Smokefall **

“The greatest act of courage is to love” or so say two characters in Noah Haidle’s absurdist family dramedy at MCC Theater. We see how four generations of a Grand Rapids family grapple with this challenge. In the first act, we meet Violet (Robin Tunney), accidentally pregnant, on the verge of giving birth to male twins any day. Her 14-year-old daughter Beauty (Taylor Richardson), whose daily diet includes bark, dirt and paint, announced three years ago that she had nothing more to say and hasn’t spoken since. Her husband Daniel (Brian Hutchison) secretly feels overwhelmed and, as we learn from the narrator Footnote (Zachary Quinto), is about to abandon his family. The colonel (Tom Bloom), her father, has been sliding into dementia since the death of his wife. The first act ends with an attention-grabbing scene in which the two fetuses (Hutchinson and Quinto), dressed as vaudevillians, sing Sondheim, philosophize and express their fears of leaving the womb. If I had left at intermission, I would have been content. Unfortunately, the second act heads off in directions that I found unsatisfactory, jumping forward and flashing back in time and mixing characters from different time periods in the same scene. There is one particularly confusing actor doubling and another character who does not age for 75 years, all to little discernible purpose. Mimi Lien’s scenic design employs a lot of pressed wood. Asta Bennie Hostetter’s costumes are wonderful, especially the ones for the twin fetuses. When presented in Chicago, the play was such a success that the Goodman Theater moved it from its small stage to its mainstage to ecstatic reviews. Although the current production has the same director, Anne Kauffman, something seems to have been lost on the trip east. The New York cast, entirely new, seems competent so I am not sure they are to blame. I wish the play had been able to maintain the promise of its first act. Running time: one hour 40 minutes including intermission.

Marjorie Prime ***

As a Pulitzer finalist and the basis for an upcoming film with Jon Hamm and Geena Davis, this futuristic family drama by Jordan Harrison (Maple and Vine) arrives at Playwrights Horizons with the burden of high expectations. Set in the not-too-distant future, it depicts a world that includes primes, creations of artificial intelligence in the guise of avatars of deceased loved ones, whose purpose is to provide therapy for the living, whether it be the preservation of fading memories for the demented, closure for unresolved relationships or balm for raw grief. Marjorie (the wonderful Lois Smith) is an 85-year-old woman who is rapidly losing the memories of a lifetime. Against the wishes of her prickly daughter Tess (a superb Lisa Emery), her son-in-law Jon (an ultimately touching Stephen Root) has provided her with Walter (Noah Bean), a prime modeled on her late husband when he was 30. Walter only learns what he hears, which raises the ethical question of whether we have the right to curate someone’s memories. Should Walter be kept ignorant of a family tragedy that happened 40 or so years prior so that he cannot cause Marjorie to recall it? We follow the family through the next few years, which turn out to be difficult ones. To say much more would lead into “spoiler” territory. The plot is intriguing, but a bit schematic. I wish the family’s long-ago tragedy were not based on something that has become a dramatic cliche. Nevertheless, there is much to admire. The actors are uniformly wonderful. The final scene is both a satisfying and unexpected one, filled with humanity. Laura Jelinek’s set all in aqua and white has an exaggerated spaciousness that I assume is deliberate. Jessica Pabst’s costumes do not call attention to themselves. Anne Kauffman’s direction is uncluttered and assured. Running time: 80 minutes, no intermission.

Buzzer **

I had high hopes for Tracey Scott Wilson’s play, newly arrived at the Public Theater after productions in Minneapolis and Chicago. The premise of an interracial couple moving into a gentrifying neighborhood with an addict friend in tow seemed promising. Jackson (Grantham Coleman) is an African-American from the ‘hood who got a scholarship to Exeter, went on to Harvard and Harvard Law and is now a successful lawyer. Don (Michael Stahl-David), a privileged white who has been his close friend since Exeter, is now an oft-relapsed addict. Jackson has been an intensely loyal friend who has taken Don in after each failed attempt at rehab. Jackson’s seemingly implausible decision to move back to the neighborhood he escaped from is motivated by a desire to return as victor. Jackson’s longtime live-in girlfriend Suzy (Tessa Ferrer, who bears an uncanny resemblance to the young Sandra Bullock), teaches school in a low-income area. She is not keen on moving to the old ‘hood and is definitely against allowing Don to move in with them while he once again attempts to get his act together. Jackson moves ahead on both fronts anyway. It does not turn out well for them. The apartment's broken buzzer is a metaphor. Although the play touches on race, class, codependency, gentrification and betrayal, it doesn’t shed much light on any of these topics. Don has by far the showiest role and Stall-David makes the most of it. Ferrer is an appropriately edgy Suzy. Coleman seemed a bit underpowered as Jackson, but the problem may be in the writing. Laura Jellinek’s attractive set suggests the appeal of the apartment and opens up to reveal the building’s lobby. Clint Ramos’s costumes were appropriate. The end of the play seemed rushed, but I don’t know whether the fault lies with director Anne Kauffmann or with the playwright. Running time: 90 minutes, no intermission.

The Nether **

After a highly acclaimed London run that included a West End transfer, Jennifer Haley’s mashup of a police procedural and a sci-fi story is now having its New York premiere in an MCC production at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. The Nether is what the internet has become in the near future, an online medium where virtual reality is the main attraction. Since trees have disappeared in the real world, even the sight of an online forest can offer comfort. Schools have been largely supplanted by interactive educational games. As on the internet, porn is an important part of The Nether. As the play opens Detective Morris (Merritt Wever) is interviewing Sims (Frank Wood), a man she suspects of operating a virtual realm called The Hideaway, a Victorian estate where avatars of pedophiles can anonymously have their way with children. One issue raised is whether, since the “children” are actually avatars of adults, there is anything immoral about it. The detective is also questioning Doyle (Peter Friedman), a school teacher in his 60’s who frequents The Hideaway, offering him immunity if he will provide evidence to nail Sims. We also meet Woodnut (Ben Rosenfield), an undercover agent sent to gather evidence, and, most notably, Iris (Sophia Anne Caruso), a nine-year old at The Hideaway, much favored both by “guests” and Papa (Sims’s avatar). There are some surprising developments. It all sounds more interesting than it turns out to be. After reading the ecstatic London reviews, I feel that the problem is a deeply flawed production. The set, by Laura Jellinek, concentrates on the drab interrogation room and merely gives us hints of The Hideaway’s charms, whereas in London the scenic design went to great lengths to show its seductive beauty. Another weakness, at least for me, is Wever’s performance, which I found monotonously off-putting. To see Peter Friedman and Frank Wood is, as always, a pleasure. Rosenfield is quite effective and Caruso is amazing. Jessica Pabst's costumes are excellent. Anne Kauffman’s direction did not pull things together for me. A botched opportunity. Most memorable line: “Don’t tell me that you never fucked an elf!” Running time: 75 minutes, no intermission.

Your Mother's Copy of the Kama Sutra **

Playwrights Horizons describes this new play by Kirk Lynn as a "tough-love comedy." So that's what it is? I never would have guessed with all the phony baloney goings on. I could barely get past the play's ridiculous premise -- that Carla (Zoe Sophia Garcia) will not marry Reggie (Chris Stack) unless he agrees to reenact their respective sexual histories "on" each other before they wed. She also does not want Reggie's ex, Tony (short for Antoinette, played by Rebecca Henderson), to be their best man. Got that? Alternating with scenes of these three adults are other ones involving three teenagers -- awkwardly intense Bernie (short for Bernadette, played by Ismenia Mendes);  Sean (Maxx Brawer), a shy boy who has a crush on her; and Cole (Will Pullen), a friend with suspect motives who suggests that Sean use a date-rape drug on her. The party they attend does not turn out well for them. The relationship between the two sets of characters is not revealed until the second act, which takes places 20 years after some, but not all, of the action in act one. The tough love comes then when we learn that it is hard to be a single parent with a teenager. The play is a literal mess as well as a figurative one -- the stage is regularly littered with clothes, books, beer cans, the contents of a purse, etc. for reasons that escaped me. Why two of the three females have boys' nicknames was also a mystery. Any relation the titillating title has to the play is faint and forced. What I was left with was a craving for lasagna, which is mentioned several times during the play. Laura Jellinek's set is appropriately dreary. Emily Rebholz's costumes are apt. Anne Kauffman, whose direction I have enjoyed twice before, does not shine here. Running time: 2 hours 20 minutes including intermission.

Somewhere Fun *

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I am sorry to report that Jenny Schwartz's surrealist comedy now at the Vineyard Theatre is not on the level of her well-regarded "God's Ear" of a few years back. After a promising, delightful first act, it goes off the rails and spins its wheels for two more acts. Although it's always a pleasure to see Kathleen Chalfant (despite the fact her role here not so cleverly recalls her part in "Wit"), the biggest treat here is Kate Mulgrew, who has a brilliant monologue (dialogue if you count the few words her friend is able to get in) before her character melts into a puddle on the street. Chalfant plays Evelyn Armstrong, who is dying of anal cancer. Mulgrew is Rosemary Rappaport, a long-lost friend she runs into on Madison Avenue. Rosemary' estranged son Benjamin (Greg Keller, recently of "Belleville") was a childhood friend of Evelyn's daughter Beatrice (Brooke Bloom), who lost her face to a Dalmatian. Rosemary's real estate client Cecilia (Mary Shulz) is a widow looking for love on the internet. Richard Bekins is T, Evelyn's emotionally distant husband. Maria Elena Ramirez is Lolita, her health care aide. Griffin Birney and Makenna Ballard appear as the young Benjamin and Bernice. Schwartz's clever word play grew tedious after a while. I would have left happy if the play ended after the first act, but my good feelings had evaporated long before the play finally ended. Marsha Ginsberg's set is simple and uncluttered and Jessica Pabst's costumes are fine. I don't know what more director Anne Kauffman could have done to whip the play into a coherent whole. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes, including two short intermissions.

Belleville ***

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I have extremely mixed feelings concerning Amy Herzog's thriller about the unraveling of a codependent relationship. On the one hand, the production values of this New York Theatre Workshop production are superb -- the acting (by Maria Dizza and Greg Keller as the couple and Pascale Armand and Phillip James Brannon as the landlords of their Parisian flat), direction (by Anne Kauffman), set design (by Julia C. Lee), costumes (by Mark Nagle) and sound design (by Robert Kaplowitz). As in her previous work, Herzog excels at creating vivid characters and capturing the twisted patterns of communications in close relationships. Also admirable is the way she builds a feeling of menace and paranoia. On the other hand, I found the big reveal about what underlies the current situation disconcertingly implausible and the denouement (annoyingly in French) unnecessary. Although Annie Baker seems to be the current darling of the lemming critics, I'll stick with Amy Herzog even at less than her best. Running time: one hour, 40 minutes; no intermission.

Detroit ****

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With widely acclaimed runs in Chicago and London as well as nominations for both the Pulitzer and Blackburn Prizes, Lisa D'Amour's play arrives in New York with expectations high. Instead of Broadway, where it was originally destined, it has ended up at Playwrights Horizons, a more suitable home. The action takes place in two adjacent houses in a Levittown-like suburb that is showing the effects of changing times. Mary (Amy Ryan) and Ben (David Schwimmer) invite their new neighbors Sharon (Sarah Sokolovic) and Kenny (Darren Pettie) over for a backyard barbecue. Ben, laid off from his bank job, is home all day working on an internet-based business start-up while Mary works as a paralegal. Although stung by the Great Recession, they have thus far successfully hung onto their middle-class life. Kenny works in a warehouse and Sharon, in a call center; they recently met in rehab. They are virtually penniless and are making, at best, a half-hearted effort to better their lives. The two couples have very different world views and would never have become friends if proximity had not intervened. A series of mishaps plagues their get-togethers and their relationship eventually spins into chaos. The awkward final scene introduces a new character, Frank (John Cullum), to put events into historical perspective. Each character has at least one highly charged monologue. The women's parts are developed much more fully than the men's. Schwimmer seems to play the same character whatever he is in. Pettie is fine and the two actresses are excellent. Cullum is mostly wasted. The revolving set by Louisa Thompson is perfect. Kaye Voyce's costumes are fine. Anne Kauffman's direction gets over the play's lumpy spots fairly well. The theme of the loss of neighborliness in a declining America is not particularly original. The play has many flaws, but also many virtues, including lots of energy. D'Amour has an original voice and I look forward to her future work. Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes without intermission.

Slowgirl ***

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LCT3 inaugurates its new Claire Tow Theater, built atop the Vivian Beaumont, with this new play by Greg Pierce. Becky (Sarah Steele) is a 17-year-old extrovert who leaves no unfiltered thought go unspoken. Sterling (Zeljko Ivanek) is her reclusive uncle who lives in a remote home in the Costa Rican jungle. Becky, fleeing the horrible consequences of a cruel prank against a developmentally challenged classmate, is visiting him for a week. Several years earlier, Sterling fled the United States for reasons that are gradually revealed. Although they had not seen each other in nine years, their shared alienation forges a bond as the week progresses. There are some awkward plot points and too many long pregnant pauses, but the play held my interest. Steele, who had impressed me in Russian Transport earlier this season, is quite good. Ivanek is fine in a much less showy role. The sets by Rachel Hauck are evocative, effective and technically impressive. Emily Rebholz's costumes are appropriate to the characters. Anne Kauffman's direction could use a little more energy. Running time: 95 minutes without intermission.

The Claire Tow Theater is a welcome addition to the local theater scene. A simple but elegant black box with 131 comfortable red plush seats, it has a lovely terrace overlooking the newly green roof of the Beaumont. All tickets are only $20.

WIth LCT3, Lincoln Center Theater is "reaching out to younger and more ethnically diverse audiences."  I assume their decision not to market Slowgirl to LCT members was part of this plan. Judging from this afternoon's audience, they are not reaching that goal. I was shocked that the theater was half-empty. I think they need a new marketing plan.