By the Way, Meet Vera Stark

B+

I was surprised when Signature Theatre announced they were reviving Lynn Nottage’s (Ruined, Sweat) comedy as part of her residency because it is less than eight years since it was seen in New York at Second Stage. Since I rated it one of my ten favorite plays of 2011 (https://gotham-playgoer.blogspot.com/2011/05/by-way-meet-vera-stark.html), I was happy to have a chance to see it again. This new production makes a good case for its strengths without managing to minimize its flaws. 

Vera Stark (Jessica Frances Dukes; Bootycandy, Is God Is) is a young black actress who is surviving in Hollywood in 1933 by serving as the maid of an insecure aging ingenue Gloria Mitchell (Jenni Barber; Wicked, The Nance) who is emotionally dependent on her. Gloria, who is known for her dying scenes, is out to capture the role of the octoroon title character in “Belle of New Orleans.” Vera would love to get the part of Tillie, her maid, but Gloria seems reluctant to put in a good word for her. Vera lives with two roommates, the buxom Lottie McBride (Heather Alicia Simms; Fabulation, Fairview), who is eating her way to mammy roles, and the voluptuous, light-skinned Anna Mae Simpkins (Carra Patterson; Jitney, Wit), who is “passing” as a Brazilian sexpot. While waiting outside the soundstage for Gloria, Vera meets Leroy Barksdale (Warner Miller; The Old Settler), a musician supporting himself as a chauffeur. When Gloria throws a party for studio mogul Mr. Slasvick (David Turner; The Invention of Love, In My Life) and the film’s German director Maxmillian Von Oster (Manoel Felciano; Sweeney Todd, Amelie) , she engages Lottie to help Vera serve. Van Oster’s date is none other than Anna Mae, complete with thick Brazilian Portuguese accent, and his driver turns out to be Leroy.  It soon becomes clear that the mogul and the director do not share the same vision for the film. The party scene is hilarious, especially when Vera and Lottie attempt to portray the rapidly changing conceptions of their desired roles. As the first act ends, we do not know the fate of the proposed film. 

The first act is so entertaining that the shift of gears after intermission comes as somewhat of a letdown. We are now in 2003 at a colloquium devoted to the topic “What Happened to Vera Stark?” The three bloviating panelists, played by Mr. Miller, Ms. Simms and Ms. Patterson, are little more than caricatures who interpret Vera’s career according to each one’s politico-socio-cultural bent. We do get to see the delicious final scene of “Belle of New Orleans” which contains a few amusing surprises. We also get excerpts from Vera’s appearance on a 1973 talk show, after which she disappeared from sight. After a “successful” career playing a series of maids, Vera has been reduced to a two-week run on the Vegas strip. The interview scene is actually performed live, which makes for the awkward situation that the actors must freeze in place each time the interview is interrupted by a return to the panelists. The talk show host (Mr. Turner) is a blithering idiot and his other guest is a spaced-out British rock musician (Mr. Feliciano) whose inclusion is of dubious benefit. Things get interesting when Gloria makes a surprise appearance. We get a final outtake from the film that casts the relationship between Vera and Gloria in a new light. 

The actors are all very good, although I did occasionally wish director Kamilah Forbes (Between the World and Me) had asked them not to play things quite so broadly. The revolving set by Clint Ramos (Appropriate, Eclipsed) is a treat, especially Gloria’s glamorous living room and the gaudy TV show set. The period costumes by Dede M. Ayite (American Son, School Girls) are wonderful. Katherine Freer (Cellular Songs) is credited for projection design; if that includes the projected film, kudos to her.

While the satirization of Hollywood in the 30’s is hardly subtle, it is both entertaining and enlightening. Despite its second-act problems, the show is well worth seeing. Running time: two hours 20 minutes including intermission.

Fabulation, or The Re-Education of Undine

C

As the first installment of Lynn Nottage’s residency, Signature Theatre has revived this work from 2004. Theatergoers who know her only from serious plays such as Pulitzer prizewinners Ruined or Sweat may be surprised to see something in a lighter mode. Undine Barnes Calles (Cherise Boothe; Milk Like Sugar) is the invented persona of Sharona Watkins, who grew up in the Brooklyn projects, won a scholarship to Dartmouth, broke off all contact with her family who, she said, had died tragically in a fire, and for 14 years has run a successful PR firm catering to nouveau riche African-Americans. Two years ago she married Hervé (Ian Lassiter; Junk), a sexy Argentinian. When we meet her, she is yelling at her assistant Stephie (Mayaa Boateng; Fairview) for being unable to find a celebrity to attend the Fallopian Blockage benefit she is planning. Imperious in her gold lamé outfit at her teak desk, Undine is clearly ripe for a comeuppance. In short order, her husband absconds with all her money, she becomes the subject of an FBI investigation, she finds out she is pregnant, she is forced to move back home to the family she rejected and she ends up in jail after being mistaken for a drug addict. We next see her in a drug rehab group session where a college professor (Dashiell Eaves; A Time To Kill) is waxing rhapsodic over the pleasures of cocaine. Guy (Lassiter again) is a security guard in the group who takes a shine to her. We see their first date at a BBQ restaurant. A scene of her frustrating visit to a social services office is a bit heavy-handed. Undine’s attempts to become a better human being are not completely convincing and the second act flounders a bit. Truth is Undine, with her droll asides, is much more entertaining company than Sharona. Ms. Boothe is excellent and is supported by a strong ensemble of seven (Heather Alicia Simms; Fairview; Nikiya Mathis, Skeleton Crew; J. Bernard Calloway, Memphis; Marcus Callender, plus the three actors already mentioned) who play multiple roles. Some of the costumes by Montana Levi Blanco (In the Blood, Fairview) and wigs by Cookie Jordan (Once on This Island) are delightfully outlandish. Adam Rigg’s (The House That Will Not Stand) set converts effortlessly to a variety of locales. Director Lileana Blain-Cruz (Red Speedo, War) keeps things moving. It is sporadically entertaining but the satire misses as often as it hits. Running time: one hour 55 minutes including intermission. 

Fairview

B-

It is difficult to review Jackie Sibblies Drury’s provocative new play at Soho Rep for two reasons. First, to say very much about it without spoiling the experience is problematic. Secondly, as someone who is not African-American, my very right to comment is challenged by the play itself. Nevertheless, I will proceed. Upon arrival in the theater, we are greeted with a generic upper-middle-class living-dining room done in peachy cream walls, beige furniture, a light wood dining set and off-white carpeting. It could easily be the set of a family tv show, especially since it is completely surrounded by a black frame. One by one, we meet the members of the African-American Frazier family — Beverly (Heather Alicia Simms; Barbecue), the stressed-out hostess of a milestone birthday party for her mother, who is resting upstairs; Dayton (Charles Browning), her easygoing loving husband; Jasmine (Roslyn Ruff; All the Way, Familiar), Beverly’s acerbic sister; and Keisha (Mayaa Boateng), Beverly and Dayton’s daughter, a high-achieving high school senior with a vague feeling that something is holding her back. Beverly’s brother had also been expected for the party, but his flight has been delayed. Beverly is unhappy that Keisha’s friend Erica will be stopping by to drop off something for Keisha. The first third of the play progresses much like a retro sitcom of no racial specificity unless family members breaking out in dance frequently is supposed to suggest some racial proclivity. The first scene ends abruptly with a blackout. Now we are getting into “spoiler” territory. When the lights come up, an all-white stage crew is restoring the set to its original condition. When the actors reappear, the first scene is repeated except that we don’t hear the onstage actors. Instead we hear the conversation of four apparently white people who are discussing what race they would choose to be if they could change their race. Jimbo (Luke Robertson; Neva) is a bit of a bully. Suze (Hannah Cabell; The Father, The Moors) is offended by the question. Mack (Jed Resnick; Avenue Q), possibly gay, wants to be a black woman because of their fierceness. Bets (Natalia Payne; The Last Match), who has a European accent, deplores the American obsession with race. The device of the overlaid conversation is clever, but seeing the entire first scene again seems excessive. In the final third of the play, the previously unseen white characters join the others on stage, bringing their expectations with them. Some of the plot developments and the ensuing mayhem, while fun to watch, seem partially unearned. The play takes a final abrupt turn with one of the characters making a request of the white audience members. Apparently, at some performances, this has stimulated some lively interaction between actor and audience, but at my performance, there was no such interaction and less than half the people complied. It seemed a flat, disappointing ending for a provocative play. The cast is very good. Mimi Lien’s (An Octoroon) set and Montana Levi Bianco’s (In the Blood) costumes are spot on. Amith Chandrashaker’s (Cardinal) lighting is very effective. Ryan Courtney’s props are delightfully excessive. Raja Feather Kelly’s choroeography is a treat. Director Sarah Benson (An Octoroon, In the Blood) maintains a firm grip. To some extent, I feel the playwright lost control of her material. Nevertheless, I will be eager to see her next work. Running time: one hour 45 minutes; no intermission.

Barbecue ****

Robert O’Hara’s raunchy and raucous new play at the Public Theater is full of surprises. It’s a challenge to describe the play in any detail without giving something away and spoiling the fun. Suffice to say that in the first act an extremely dysfunctional family lures their crack-addicted sister to a barbecue in her favorite park so they can perform an intervention. All is not what it seems. In the second act we move backward and forward in time to discover what preceded and followed the action of the first act. I wish I could be more specific, but to tell more might ruin your experience. The playwright skewers several cliches and pop cultural icons along the way. The talented cast of ten (Becky Ann Baker, Marc Damon Johnson, Arden Myrin, Paul Niebanck, Tamberla Perry, Constance Shulman, Heather Alicia Simms, Samantha Soule, Benja Kay Thomas and Kim Wayans) attack their roles with gusto (Perry, in particular). Clint Ramos’s set captures the feel of a picnic pavilion in a verdant park. Paul Tazewell’s costumes are delightful. O'Hara's inventiveness does not flag. Happily, he chose not to direct his own work this time (his direction of “Bootycandy” did it no favors.) Kent Cash handles the assignment admirably. While the satire is far from subtle, the play is so entertaining that I didn’t mind the heavy-handedness. The audience was demonstratively enthusiastic. It's not for everyone, especially those with an aversion to profanity and vulgarity. Running time: one hour 50 minutes including intermission.