The Secret Life of Bees

B+

When it was announced that Atlantic Theater Company would present a musical adaptation of Sue Monk Kidd’s 2001 best-selling novel with a book by Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage (Sweat, Ruined), music by Tony winner Duncan Sheik (Spring Awakening), and direction by Tony winner Sam Gold (A Doll’s House, Part 2; Fun Home), the news created great excitement and high expectations. I am pleased to report that these expectations have mostly been met. The producers have splurged on a cast of 13 and nine musicians, a rare number for off-Broadway. Musically, the results are very rich. The songs are mostly strong and are given first-rate presentation by gorgeous voices and strong arrangements. The lyrics by Susan Birkenhead (Jelly’s Last Jam) are effective in creating the characters. During the first act, I felt the book did a good job of capturing the novel’s essence. The troubled background of opposition to civil rights in the 1960s South is skillfully blended into the book. However, after intermission it seemed like the creative team realized they had too much material to cover and began a rush to wrap things up that shortchanged important elements of the novel and left out the fate of an important character. While “Fifty-Five Fairlane” is a delightful song that Zachary sings about his beloved car, there is no such car in the novel (he drives an old truck) and the time the song takes could have been better spent on something more relevant such as the back story of the madonna statue. Somehow, the occasional outbursts of violence seemed more shocking in the context of a musical. Elizabeth Teeter (The Crucible) makes a solid impression as the young heroine Lily. LaChanze (The Color Purple), Eisa Davis (Luck of the Irish) and Anastacia McCleskey (Waitress) bring the three Boatwright sisters August, June and May vividly to life. Saycon Sengbloh (Eclipsed, Fela!) is spunky but sympathetic as Rosaleen, Lily’s fellow fugitive. Nathaniel Stampley (The Color Purple) is earnest as June’s long-suffering suitor Neil. Manoel Felciano (Sweeney Todd) is properly menacing as Lily’s abusive father T-Ray. As Zachary, Brett Gray is quietly appealing. As other members of The Daughters of Mary, the group of women who venerate the black madonna statue in the Boatwrights’ living room, Romelda Teron Benjamin (Brooklyn), Vita E. Cleveland and Jai’len Christine Li Josey (SpongeBob SquarePants) add beautiful voices to the ensemble. Joe Cassidy (Waitress) and Matt DeAngelis (Hair) are fine in several small roles. The set by Mimi Lien (True West, Fairview) is simple and uncluttered with brick walls, a polished wood floor and scattered votive candles. Dede Ayite’s (American Son, BLKS) costumes befit the characters well. Sam Gold’s direction is assured. Although I had some reservations about the book, I nevertheless found the production worthwhile.) Running time: two hour 20 minutes including intermission.

Kings

B-

Playwright Sarah Burgess, who had her Public Theater debut with Dry Powder,  a dark comedy about a private equity firm, is back with a new play that gives us a look at the corrosive effect of money on American politics as seen from the viewpoint of two lobbyists, a new congresswoman and a veteran senator. The well-connected Lauren (Aya Cash; The Light Years, The Other Place) used to work for Texas Sen. John McDowell (Zach Grenier; Describe the Night, 33 Variations) and now lobbies him. Kate (Gillian Jacobs; “Community”), a less successful lobbyist whose client list consists mostly of minor medical associations, is Lauren’s frenemy. Rep. Sydney Millsap (Eisa Davis; Passing Strange, Preludes), an African-American Gold Star widow from Dallas who has surprisingly won her seat in a special election, hasn’t yet learned how the influence-peddling game works and doesn’t want to. On the positive side, the play captures the soul-sucking tedium of spending hours on the phone calling potential donors and hosting a seemingly endless round of fundraising events. The example of lobbying against a bill to eliminate carried interest is timely. The illustration of the depths to which unidentified deep-pocketed donors will go to get their way is ugly if not shocking. I was relieved that there is no specific mention of the current occupant of the White House. The portrayal of three strong women characters is appealing. On the negative side, characters often seem more like contrivances than flesh and blood people and the tone occasionally veers toward the pedantic. The political maneuvering onstage offers no surprises to anyone who follows the news regularly, but in today’s climate, it is almost comforting for its predictability and familiarity. The play is intelligent and reasonably entertaining, but seems a bit repetitive. The significance of the title eluded me. The actors are all strong. The decision to stage the play with the audience on two sides is problematic. The scenic design by Anna Louizos (In the Heights, School of Rock) features four bar stools and two tables that are reconfigured with annoying frequency and occasionally revolve. Paula Tazewell’s (Hamilton, The Color Purple) costumes suit their characters well. Thomas Kail (Hamilton, Dry Powder) directed. Warning: You may have a craving for fajitas afterwards. Running time: one hour 45 minutes; no intermission.

Preludes ***

The creative team that brought us Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 — author/composer Dave Malloy, director Rachel Chavkin, set designer Mimi Lien, costume designer Paloma Young, lighting designer Bradley King, sound designer Matt Hubbs and music director Or Matias — have reunited at LCT3's Claire Tow Theater for another production based on Russian history. In 1900 the 27-year-old composer Sergei Rachmaninoff consulted a Moscow hypnotherapist, Nikolai Dahl, for a cure to the three-year writer’s block that followed the poor reception of his first symphony. Their daily sessions were successful and Rachmaninoff returned to composition in a blaze of glory with his Second Piano Concerto. Malloy and Chavkin have taken this incident as the basis of their new musical. There are interesting embellishments. The character of the composer has been divided between two actors, Rach (the wonderful Gabriel Ebert) and Rachmaninoff the pianist (Or Matias). Dahl, with a change of gender that opens more musical possibilities, is charmingly portrayed by Eisa Davis. The composer’s fiancee Natalya is played by Nikki M. James, whose voice is glorious. The play’s conceit that opera star Chaliapin (well played and sung by Joseph Keckler) is the composer’s close friend adds a sonorous Russian bass to the mix. We also meet Chekhov, Tchaikovsky, Tolstoy, Glazunov and Tsar Nicholas II, all played with élan by Chris Sarandon. The music includes pure Rachmaninoff, adaptations by Malloy, original songs by Malloy, and a dash of Bach, Beethoven and Mussorgsky. Deliberate anachronisms punctuate the dialogue. The wonderfully cluttered set includes a modern refrigerator filled with pop-top cans of beverage. A character drinks from a Zabar’s mug. The men wear period costumes, the women are mainly in modern dress. If you go expecting another Natasha… , you will be disappointed. The broad scope of Tolstoy’s novel and that play’s nightclub setting lent themselves to a theatricality that is not inherent in the story of a composer’s writer’s block. Also, the play takes a long time to build up steam and is quite uneven. More time in workshops might have produced a better result. Nevertheless, there is lots to admire including the fine cast. I give the creative team credit for their ambitious efforts. Running time: 2 hours, 5 minutes including a short break midway.

The Call ***

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There is much to admire in Tanya Barfield's new play at Playwrights Horizons. The characters are vividly drawn and excellently realized by a fine cast, the dialog is lively and convincingly authentic, and the premise is promising. Annie (Kerry Butler) and Peter (Kelly AuCoin) are a white couple who, after a long battle against infertility that has left Annie depressed, decide to adopt an African baby. Their best friends, a black lesbian couple Rebecca (Eisa Davis) and Drea (Crystal A. Davidson), have mixed feelings about their decision. Peter had been a close friend of Rebecca's older brother, who died after a trip he and Peter made to Africa. The circumstances of his death are a topic usually avoided, but that come out late in the play. Peter and Annie have a new neighbor from Africa, Alemu (Russell G. Jones), whose perpetual smile masks survivor guilt. When they get a picture of the girl they are planning to adopt, they think she looks considerably older than her alleged age, which sets off new doubts in Annie. Unfortunately, the play spins its wheels a bit in act two and the various strands do not blend very successfully. Nevertheless, it is a worthy effort that I was glad to see. Rachel Hauck's set and Emily Rebholz's costumes are effectively understated. Leigh Silverman's direction is assured. Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes including intermission. Note: It's merciful that there is an intermission, because the semi-upholstered seats in the Peter J. Sharp Theater become very uncomfortable after a while. And why would anyone build a theater in this day and age without staggering the seats?

Luck of the Irish **

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Ownership of a house in a formerly all-white neighborhood is the focus of a play that takes place in two time frames -- the present and 50 years ago. That may sound like "Clybourne Park II," but it turns out to be something quite different. Playwright Kirsten Greenidge and director Rebecca Taichman, who had a solid success together with "Milk Like Sugar" at Playwrights Horizons in 2011 are teamed once again in this latest production of LCT3 at the Claire Tow Theater. Did lightning strike twice? Not quite. The new play lacks the clear focus and intensity of their earlier collaboration. Two sisters, the married Hannah (Marsha Stephanie Blake) and her single sister Nessa (Carra Patterson) have inherited the home which their recently deceased grandparents Rex (Victor Williams) and Lucy (Eisa Davis) Taylor purchased 50 years back. A young impoverished Irish Catholic couple Joe (Dashiell Eaves) and Patty Ann (Amanda Quaid) Donovan are enlisted as "ghost buyers" who, for a fee, are to make the purchase and then sign the title over to the Taylors. In what seemed to me an implausible development, the Taylors move into the home before the title has been signed over to them. Hannah and her laid-back husband Rich (Frank Harts) are now living in the house with their unseen son Miles, who has ADHD, and whose problems at school Hannah sees as racially based. She stubbornly wants to keep the house although her sister wants to sell it. Out of the blue, the elderly Mr. Donovan (now played by Robert Hogan) shows up to tell the sisters that the title was never signed over to their grandparents and his wife now wants the house. Eventually, his wife (now played by Jenny O'Hara) shows up, title in hand. I won't say more about the outcome. The first act is burdened with too much shouting -- parents shouting at misbehaving children, shouting spouses, shouting siblings. The dialog between shouts is often banal. However, this is one of the rare plays that improves in the second act. There is a lovely scene between Lucy and Joe and a powerful scene between Lucy and Patty Ann. The elderly Patty Ann has a fine speech near the end. Surprisingly, at least for me, the Donovans -- both the young and old versions -- came across as more sympathetic than any of the black characters. Lucy is an intriguing creation -- beautiful, refined, well-traveled, well-read and well-dressed (and superbly played by Davis), but is too much of a stereotype turned inside out. Joe, as portrayed by both Eaves and Hogan, had more humanity than all the others. There were a few things that puzzled me. Why does the playwright bring up the mysterious deal broker John, whom we never meet and whose existence seemed superfluous? Why have the sisters been raised by their grandparents? Mimi Lien, whose set for "Dance and the Railroad" I greatly admired, has created another attractive minimalist set. Oana Botez's costumes, especially for Lucy, are a treat. Taichman's direction is fluid and assured. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes including intermission.