Burn This

C

It took me only a few minutes to realize that this was not a play that I could feel emotionally invested in. While I have very much enjoyed other plays by Lanford Wilson (Fifth of July, Talley’s Folly, Balm in Gilead), this one just did not speak to me. Mourning was a very real thing in the gay community in 1987 with AIDS taking a heavy toll. For a gay playwright to write a play with gay characters, dancers no less, and never even obliquely mention AIDS is puzzling. To choose a freak boating accident off Fire Island to kill off Robbie, the gay character his two roommates are mourning, seemed like a copout. Furthermore, the role of Larry, the surviving gay roommate, while excellently played by Brandon Uranowitz (Falsettos, An American in Paris), is a tired cliche — the neutered, wisecracking, loyal gay sidekick. Also, for an ad man to be living with two dancers seemed a stretch. Anna (Kerri Russell, Fat Pig, “The Americans”), an emotionally restrained dancer trying to make the transition to choreographer, was Robbie’s dance partner. Her boyfriend Burton (David Furr; Noises Off, The Explorers Club) is an entitled, stolid, wealthy screenwriter of sci-fi films who both craves and fears writing a love story. As the play opens, Anna has just returned from Robbie’s funeral, where his large working-class family assumed she was Robbie’s girlfriend. They did not know or would not admit Robbie was gay and had never even seen him dance. The long first scene with Anna, Larry and Burton has several dead spots. The play wakes up when Pale, Robbie’s older brother, bangs on the door in the middle of the night. Fueled by coke and liquor, Pale rants about urban life and any other topic that fleetingly crosses his mind. Manager of a New Jersey restaurant, he has a wife and two children in Coral Gables. His claim to closeness to his late brother seems undermined by the statement that Robbie was only seven when the 19-year-old Pale left home.  As played by Adam Driver (Man and Boy, Look Back in Anger, “Girls”), Pale is larger than life — a crude, vibrant force of nature who overcomes Anna’s initial revulsion by sheer animal attraction. The key scene when their relationship turns from shared mourning to lust did not convince me. Driver is indisputably impressive, but I found his version of Pale unmodulated and too prone to reach for laughs. As Anna, Kerri Russell is the one who is pale. In her defense, I think her part is underwritten. In any case, I did not find myself caring very much about these people. When my attention lagged, I enjoyed the beauty of Natasha Katz’s (The Prom, Hello Dolly!) changing lighting of the panorama of lower Manhattan seen through the loft’s huge windows at various times of the day. It is hard to imagine that Derek McLane’s (American Son, The Parisian Woman) huge loft ever existed at an affordable rent; it is probably a 7- or 8-figure condo today. Clint Ramos’s (Eclipsed, Once on This Island) costumes are very good at enhancing character. If there are hidden depths in the script, director Michael Mayer (Head Over Heels, Spring Awakening) did not find them. At two hours 40 minutes including intermission, it’s a long slog.

Prince of Broadway

B+

While there are many things I could find fault with about this revue of musical highlights from Hal Prince’s long career, the important thing is that I enjoyed it a lot. When I get the chance to hear over 30 songs, mostly from shows I greatly enjoyed, performed by talented actors backed by a 16-piece orchestra, I am not about to grumble over what could have been better. Some have criticized the very concept of the show, pointing out that it is in no way an artistic biography of Prince. I’ll grant that the total information contained in the narration by the actors who take turns impersonating Prince amounts to less than in his one-page program note in Playbill. Nor does the show make clear what Prince’s unique contribution was to the material selected. Some have groused that stripping songs of their context diminishes them. That might be a problem for people unfamiliar with the shows they were plucked from, but clearly it was no problem for an audience of Manhattan Theatre Club subscribers. There are shows I wish they had included more of and others I wish they had used less of. One could question why they chose to include numbers from shows that have been so recently revived (Fiddler on the Roof and She Loves Me) and two that are currently running (Phantom of the Opera and Sweeney Todd). On the other hand, omitting them would have deprived us of the pleasure of Chuck Cooper’s Tevye and Karen Ziemba’s Mrs. Lovett. Despite all the nits one can pick, the bottom line is that I found the show thoroughly entertaining. The cast of nine is wonderful. In addition to the six whose work I have enjoyed in the past (Chuck Cooper, Emily Skinner, Brandon Uranowitz, Michael Xavier, Tony Yazbeck and Karen Ziemba), there are three talented newcomers (Janet Dacal, Bryonha Marie Parham and Kaley Ann Voorhees). The modular set by Beowulf Boritt ranges from the minimalist (a couch) for A Little Night Music to an elaborate pop-art backdrop for It’s a Bird… It’s a Plane… It’s Superman. William Ivey Long’s attractive costumes supply a lot of the context. Choreographer Susan Stroman, who also co-directed, created a vigorous tap number for Yazbeck’s Buddy in Follies. Jason Robert Brown not only wrote the clever overture which contains fragments of 17 songs but provided the excellent musical arrangements and the closing number. David Thompson is credited with the book, such as it is. Prince himself gets the director credit. If you are a fan of musicals, by all means go. There’s something here for everyone. Running time: 2 1/2 hours including intermission.

An American in Paris ****

The just-ended Broadway season blessed dance lovers with two productions featuring dance in a central role. The season started with a wonderful revival of On the Town and ended with this stylish adaptation of the Oscar-winning 1951 film starring Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron. In his first outing as director, choreographer Christopher Wheeldon does himself proud. It doesn’t hurt that he has wonderful Gershwin music to work with, as well as a pair of talented leads. Robert Fairchild, a principal with the New York City Ballet, is simply marvelous as Jerry Mulligan, the GI who stayed in Paris to become an artist. In addition to his impeccable dance skills, he is a natural actor with matinee looks and a pleasant voice. Leanne Cope, a Caron look-alike from the Royal Ballet, would also be a triple-threat if her singing voice were more expressive. The supporting cast is strong — Brandon Uranowitz as the expat composer Adam Hochberg, Max von Essen as Henri Baurel, Lise’s somewhat ambivalent fiancé, and Jill Paice as Milo Davenport, the American heiress who has her eye on Jerry. Each gets at least one chance to shine. Veanne Cox does her best with the cardboard role of Henri’s uptight mother. Bob Crowley’s costumes are excellent and his fluid set design, complimented by wonderful projections by 59 Productions, are amazing. However, the incessant motion of the sets and projections in the early scenes almost made me dizzy. The ambitious — perhaps overambitious — book by Craig Lucas moves the action back to 1945 when Paris is just emerging from the Nazi occupation. To me, the attempt to add gravitas to the plot was misguided and less than successful. My only other disappointment is that there was less Gershwin music than I hoped for. I missed “Embraceable You,” “Nice Work if You Can Get It” and “Our Love Is Here To Stay.” Despite these reservations, I had a wonderful time and highly recommend the show, especially to dance lovers. Running time: 2 hours, 35 minutes including intermission.