Nantucket Sleigh Ride

C

Can the creative team that brought us House of Blue Leaves and Six Degrees of Separation — playwright John Guare, director Jerry Zaks and Lincoln Center Theater — strike gold a third time? Judging from the new absurdist memory play, now at the Mitzi E. Newhouse, the answer is “No.” Despite the best efforts of a first-rate cast, an ingenious set, great costumes and smooth direction, this quirky play never really takes off. There are several amusing moments, but they don’t lead anywhere. The convoluted plot involves Edmund Gowery (John Larroquette; The Best Man, How To Succeed in Business without Really Trying), a playwright turned venture capitalist who is having an affair with his agent Gilbert’s  (Jordan Gelber; Sunday in the Park with George) wife Antonia (Tina Benko; The Crucible, Describe the Night). One day, his secretary (Stacey Sargeant; Wild Goose Dreams) allows entry to Lilac (Grace Rex; Life and Limb) and Poe (Adam Chanler Berat; Next to Normal, The Fortress of Solitude), a confrontational sister and brother bearing a book he autographed 35 years before on Nantucket. Their memories of that summer are blank and they demand that he tell them what occurred. It being August, his therapist Dr. Harbinger (Douglas Sills; The Scarlet Pimpernel, War Paint) is unavailable for advice. And so begins a flashback of a few days on the island that summer, where he meets the two annoying siblings whose parents are Schuyler (Sills again), a child psychoanalyst, and Elsie (Clea Alsip;  M. Butterfly, The Way We Get By), the daughter of a famous author of children’s books. He also meets McPhee (Will Swenson; Waitress, Jerry Springer: The Opera), who is either Elsie’s lover or her stalker. The absent Elsie has allegedly been traumatized by Gowery’s brusk refusal to come to the island the previous year to see an amateur production of his sole play, “The Internal Structure of Stars.” A running joke is that everyone he meets on Nantucket, including the police officer (Sargeant again) who accuses him of running a child pornography ring from the house he owns but has never visited, was involved in the production of Gowery’s play. Gowery is excited at the possibility of writing the screenplay for Roman Polanski’s remake of Hitchcock’s “Suspicion” starring Jane Fonda and Robert Redford. Or is it a Disney adaptation of Elsie’s father’s children’s books also to be directed by Polanski? A cryogenic Walt Disney (Sills again) makes a strong pitch to Poe and Lilac. Gowery’s #2 girlfriend Alice (Benko again) refuses him a crucial favor. Jorge Luis Borges (German Jaramillo; Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter) pops up now and then with a quotation for every occasion. Chaos ensues as the various plot strands bump against each other without satisfactory resolution. David Gallo’s (Jitney, The Drowsy Chaperone) three-tiered set is a treat and Emily Rebholz’s (Indecent, Dear Evan Hansen) costumes are a hoot. While the play is intermittently amusing, there is little point to it.  While I was grateful for the chance to see John Larroquette, Douglas Sills and Will Swenson onstage together, I left disappointed. Running time: one hour 50 minutes including intermission.

Hello, Dolly!

A

Rankled by the relentless hype that placed Bette Midler’s return to Broadway musicals after 50 years right up there with the Second Coming, I resisted getting a ticket for the current revival of this warhorse. Could a show that I remembered as little more than a trite vehicle for superannuated divas possibly be worth the huge chunk of change a ticket cost? The answer is an emphatic “yes.” First of all, the role of Dolly Gallagher Levi fits Ms. Midler like a glove. She captures Dolly’s energy, determination, vulnerability and humor effortlessly. Her voice is still a pleasure to hear and her dancing ain’t bad either. At her first appearance, which brought the house down, I was surprised how tiny she is. Despite her size, she is a towering figure. With her name on the marquee, the producers probably could have gotten by with an otherwise unexceptional production. Fortunately, they did not. They cast the show profligately, splurged on lavish costumes and sets, excellent choreography, a large orchestra, and a topnotch director (Jerry Zaks.) David Hyde Pierce is delightful as Horace Vandergelder. In the ingenue roles, Gavin Creel is an outstanding Cornelius Hackl and Kate Baldwin is a lovely Irene Molloy. Taylor Trensch and Beanie Feldstein are charming as second bananas Barnaby Tucker and Minnie Fay. Melanie Moore is appropriately annoying as Horace’s niece Ermengarde and Will Burton is fine as her suitor Ambrose Kemper. Jennifer Simard is hilarious as Ernestina. Designer Santo Loquasto has outdone himself: the many backdrops resemble beautiful hand-tinted 19th-century prints, the tram and train are wonderful, and the costumes are a show all by themselves. Warren Carlyle’s choreography pays homage to Gower Champion’s without slavishly following it. Michael Stewart’s book is much tighter and funnier than I remembered. The millinery shop scene and the Harmonia Gardens scenes are real knee-slappers. Jerry Herman’s sturdy songs hold up very well. They don’t make shows like this anymore. For sheer entertainment, it is hard to beat. Running time: 2 hours 40 minutes including intermission.

Shows for Days ***

Douglas Carter Beane’s comedic memoir, now in previews at Lincoln Center Theater’s Mitizi E. Newhouse Theater, recounts the events of the year the playwright turned 15 in a suburb of Reading, Pennsylvania and joined a local community theater where he discovered his place in the world and first experienced sex and unrequited love. His story is not particularly original or well-told and he panders shamelessly to an audience largely composed of gays and Jews.  The second act is a mess with plot developments that are downright implausible. However, if you forget about the plot and sit back to enjoy an almost nonstop series of hilarious one-liners, you will have a very good time. It helps tremendously that the young Beane, known here as Car, is played by the always-appealing Michael Urie (Buyer & Cellar) and that the theater’s artistic director Irene is the iconic Patti LuPone. We also meet Sid, the theater’s lesbian co-founder and manager (a wonderful Dale Soules); Clive, the company’s flamboyantly gay lead actor (a delightful Lance Coadie Williams); Damien, a handsome actor/waiter who is bisexual (Jordan Dean); and Maria, the young actress (Zoë Winters) whose role is notably underwritten. John Lee Beatty’s set combines an open stage with a back wall over-cluttered with props. The costumes by William Ivey Long are a good part of the fun. Jerry Zaks’s direction does not aim for subtlety.  The opportunity to see Urie, LuPone and a fine supporting cast keeping the zingers flying went a long way, at least for me, to overcome the play’s weaknesses. Running time: 2 hours 10 minutes including intermission.