Primary Trust

 B+

Eboni Booth’s (Paris, “Julia”) new play at Roundabout’s Laura Pels Theatre has much to recommend it, including a superb cast, a wonderful set, lovely musical accompaniment and sensitive direction. My reservations about it originate with the script, which takes a long time to reveal where it is leading us and is sparing with its dramatic moments. The acting could not be better. William Jackson Harper (After the Blast, “The Good Place”), playing Kenneth, a 38-year-old loner whose hard-won stability is suddenly undermined when the job he has held for 20 years disappears, is so likeable and vivid that he immediately draws us in. Eric Berryman (Toni Stone) makes a believable person out of Kenneth’s longtime imaginary friend Bert. The always excellent Jay O. Sanders (Uncle Vanya, Rhinebeck Panorama) makes the most out of three roles, Kenneth’s past employer, his new employer and a snooty waiter in a white tablecloth restaurant. April Matthis (Toni Stone, The Piano Lesson) plays Corrina, a waiter at Kenneth’s favorite bar who tries to befriend him, as well as other waitpersons and bank customers whom she convincingly inhabits. Luke Wygodny (Hundred Days), on keyboard, guitar and cello, provides unobtrusive but welcome music to support the action. Marsha Ginsberg’s (English) delightful set presents miniature versions of the buildings surrounding the town square of Cranberry, NY. A feature of Qween Jean’s (Black No More) costumes is the use of changing shoes to represent different social roles. Knud Adams (English) directs with sensitivity. One problem that I had was that Harper made Kenneth such a sympathetic character that it was difficult to realize how troubled he really was. A minor annoyance was the overuse of a service desk bell to punctuate scenes. The excellence of the acting makes it well worth seeing. Running time: 95 minutes; no intermission.

 

Toni Stone

C+

It’s an interesting coincidence that “Toni Stone” and “A Strange Loop” have arrived in New York within a few weeks of each other because in some ways they form a pair of bookends. Both shows have a talented all-black ensemble that includes one woman and several men, with the men playing a variety of characters of diverse age, race and gender. Both have protagonists who are surrounded by unsupportive people. Both shows are enhanced by first-rate choreography. Both have lead actors who are giving a memorable performance. However, while the hero of “A Strange Loop” has trouble finding a clear goal, the title character in “Toni Stone,” a Roundabout commission, knows exactly what she wants — to be a professional baseball player. Based on a biography by Martha Ackmann, the show depicts moments in her interesting life from childhood in the Twin Cities to her years with the Indianapolis Clowns, the Negro League team where she replaced Hank Aaron. Playwright Lydia R. Diamond (Smart People, Stick Fly) tells Stone’s story out of sequence. At the beginning, she is already with the Clowns. The backward and forward movement from that point does not always make clear what period we are observing. The other actors play her teammates as well as her priest, a racist coach, a friendly prostitute and her much older suitor, among others. The play vividly captures what it was like to be a Negro League ballplayer in the racist 1950’s when the league was struggling to hold onto an audience as its best players were hired away by major league teams. Its biggest flaw is that there is far more telling than showing. There are many long monologues, particularly in the first act, that slow the momentum. Fortunately, after intermission the pace picks up and the anecdotes, while sometimes only loosely connected, are more interesting. The impressive April Matthis (Fairview, Antlia Pneumatica) makes Stone a sympathetic character. The supporting cast — Eric Berryman (The B-Side), Harry Blanks (Jitney), Phillip James Brannon (JUNK, Log Cabin), Daniel J. Bryant, Jonathan Burke (Choir Boy), Toney Goins, Kenn E. Head and Ezra Knight (Mean Girls) — is uniformly strong. A stylized baseball scene choreographed by Camille A. Brown (Choir Boy, Once on This Island) is a knockout. The set by Riccardo Hernandez (Frankie & Johnny…, Indecent) is dominated by five banks of stadium lights that extend into the auditorium and three sections of bleacher seats. Dede Ayite’s (By the Way, Meet Vera Stark; BLKS) costumes are apt. The lighting design by Allen Lee Hughes (Intimate Apparel, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolff) was a bit hyperactive. Pam MacKinnon’s (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolff, Clybourne Park) direction is assured. As social history, I found the play informative; as theater, it was less than compelling. If you are a baseball fan or a history buff, you are more likely to enjoy it. Running time: two hours 15 minutes including intermission.

Signature Plays **

On paper it must have seemed like a good idea to present a triple bill of revived short works by playwrights who were in Signature Theatre’s Legacy program. For someone like me who has a limited tolerance for absurdist theater, the results were not gratifying. Yesterday’s avant garde often seems quaint or just annoying today. 

Edward Albee’s “The Sandbox” at least offered a bit of drollery and a chance to see three fine actors — Alison Fraser, Frank Wood and Phyllis Somerville as Mommy, Daddy and Grandma, respectively— and hunky Ryan-James Hatanaka as The Young Man. Melody Giron played the cello. 

Maria Irene Fornes’s “Drowning” is a strange tale of unrequited love in which the three characters — Pea (Mikeah Ernest Jennings), Roe (Sahr Ngaujah) and Stephen (Wood again) — are dressed like humans but inexplicably wear grotesque masks that make them look more like sea lions. 

The longest and most complex work is Adrienne Kennedy’s “Funnyhouse of a Negro,” a surrealistic look at racial identity and racism through the mind of Sarah (Crystal Dickinson), a mixed-race graduate student on the Upper West Side. Except for her landlady (Fraser) and her boyfriend (Nicholas Bruder), all the characters represent aspects of Sarah’s inner conflict. They include Queen Victoria Regina (April Matthis), the Duchess of Hapsburg (January LaVoy), Patrice Lumumba (Ngaujah), Jesus (Jennings), and Sarah’s mother (Pia Glenn.) The short scenes are punctuated by blackouts. Along about the tenth one, I began praying that the next would be the last. While I can appreciate the impact the play must have had when new, it just didn’t work for me now.

The production values are first-rate with sets by Mimi Lien, costumes by Kaye Voyce and lighting by Mark Barton. Lila Neugebauer directed. Running time: 2 hours 10 minutes including two intermissions.

Antlia Pneumatica **

After three previous disappointments (Mr. Burns, Ipheginia in Aulis at CSC and 10 out of 12) I did not have high hopes for Anne Washburn’s new play now at Playwrights Horizons. Alas, my low expectations were met. This reunion of 40-somethings to bury a college friend is only superficially similar to “The Big Chill.” It has a major gimmick and a few minor ones, none of which worked for me. Nina (Annie Parisse) and Liz (April Matthis) are sisters from California who have chosen their family’s vacation ranch in the Texas hill country as the site of the memorial service for Sean, their friend from college days in Austin. Ula (Maria Striar) and Len (Nat DeWolf) are friends who have come for the ceremony. Adrian (Rob Campbell), Nina’s former lover with whom she has been out of touch for 14 years, is an unexpected arrival. We also hear the offstage voices of Nina’s children Casey (Skylar Dunn) and Wally (Azhy Robertson). Late in the play, another friend Bama (Crystal Finn) arrives with a story that casts all that has transpired in a new light. We watch the preparations for the feast. We hear snippets of conversations from offstage. A few scenes are performed in near total darkness. The sequence of events is deliberately muddled. All this might have involved me more if the characters had been more interesting. They are clearly individuated, but insufficiently developed. The big reveal was a meager payoff for the long, slow, talky buildup. Rachel Hauck's rustic set is attractive, as are Jessica Pabst's costumes. Ken Rus Schmoll (The Invisible Hand) directs with a sure hand. Washburn is greatly admired by many in the theatrical community. I wish I could see what they see. Running time: 1 hour 50 minutes without intermission.

NOTE: Antlia Pneumatica (The Air Pump) is the name of an obscure constellation, one of several named for scientific instruments by French astronomer Lacalle.

Fondly, Collette Richland *

The first thing you should know about this collaboration between Elevator Repair Service  (Gatz, The Select, Arguendo and The Sound and the Fury) and playwright Sibyl Kempson is that at least one-fourth of the audience did not return after intermission. If coherence and intelligibility are among your requirements for a theatrical experience, this new play at New York Theatre Workshop is definitely not for you. It has plenty of interesting characters, a clever set by David Zinn, Inspired costumes by Jacob A. Climer and Zinn and an intricate sound design by Ben Williams, assisted by Gavin Price. Unfortunately these strong points are overwhelmed by the lack of a discernible narrative arc and an unfortunate tendency to pile on the surreal and the ridiculous beyond what the play can bear. The plot, to the extent that one exists, involves a middle age couple Fritz (Vin Knight) and Mabrel (Laurena Allan) FItzhubert whose supper is interrupted by the arrival of Local Representative Wheatsun (Greig Sergeant). They show him a tiny door within the house that eventually leads them to a Grand Hotel in the Alps populated by a motley array of guests and staff. Once there, things grow increasingly incomprehensible. Nativism and ancient Rome are somehow involved. The terrific cast seem to be having a wonderful time. Notable are Mike Iveson as a priest who narrates the first part of the play while playing the piano and later plays a hotel waiter, April Matthis as the title character (a radio show host) and Fritz’s sister Dora, and Susie Sokol as a Cat Butler (really!) and the hotel’s milkmaid. I will confess that I had several chuckles along the way, but became restless during the second act when the fun became increasingly labored. ERS founder John Collins directed. Perhaps ERS should rethink the idea of working with playwrights. They did far better when they started with an existing text. Running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes including intermission.

Iowa ***

Playwright Jenny Schwartz combines a quirky sensibility with a marvelous facility for language. Her characters speak in riffs and arias. When she is at her best (God’s Ear), the results are wonderful, but on an off-day (Somewhere Fun), they can be dreadful. While her new absurdist comedy with music, now in previews at Playwrights Horizons, does not reach the heights of “God’s Ear,” it has some very good moments. Becca (Jill Shackner) is a 14-year-old who must abruptly leave her high school to move to Iowa, where her mother Sandy’s (the hilarious Karen Quackenbush) Facebook fiancé Roger (Lee Sellars) lives. After an opening song by a child (Kolette Tetlow) whose identity is not immediately revealed, there are about 20 minutes before we hear the next song. Fortunately, this time is mostly filled by a virtually non-stop wacky monologue by Sandy. I was almost sorry when it ended and the music resumed. Early on we meet Becca’s sole friend Amanda (Carolina Sanchez), a misunderstood cheerleader (Annie McNamara), four versions of Nancy Drew including one who is African-American (April Matthis), Becca’s remote father Jim (Sellars again) and his pregnant girlfriend Liz (CIndy Cheung), Becca’s math teacher Mr. Hill, on whom she has a crush (Sellars once more) and a randy singing pony (Sellars yet again). The frequency and importance of the songs (music by Todd Almond, lyrics by Almond and Schwartz) picks up as the play progresses. A trio of piano, viola and bass produces a lovely sound soft enough to avoid the need to mic the singers. About 2/3 of the way through the play, Becca and Sandy reach Iowa. The mood abruptly shifts and, for me, the play lost much of its vitality. I did not care for the Iowa scenes, but they did not seriously diminish my appreciation for what came before. The scenic design by Dane Laffrey is simple but effective. Arnulfo Maldonado’s costumes are delightful. Ken Rus Schmoll’s direction is assured. Schwartz has an original voice and it was good to see her work again. Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes, no intermission.