Here There Are Blueberries

A- 

I was going to skip seeing this co-production of New York Theatre Workshop and Tectonic Theater Project, because its focus is a peek at the daily lives of the people who ran Auschwitz, a topic that sounded too similar to that of the excellent film “The Zone of Interest,” which I had recently seen. That would have been a shame. Although both concentrate on the perpetrators rather than the victims of the Holocaust, their effect is quite different and the present work has larger ambitions. In the manner of his earlier work for Tectonic The Laramie Project, Moises Kaufman, who conceived, co-wrote (with Amanda Gronich) and directed the play, employs documentary techniques that emphasize interviews and research to tell the story. 60 years after the end of WWII, the archivists at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum receive a letter from an anonymous retired US Army officer inquiring whether they would like to see an album that he has had in his possession all those years. (After his death, several passports with different identities were found in his home. Who he was and why he kept the album secret for so long would be an interesting story in itself.) The album, while fascinating, raises questions of whether the museum should acquire anything that features the Nazis rather than their victims. The young archivist who receives the album, Rebecca Erbelding (Elizabeth Stahlmann) receives permission to study the album in her spare time. Eventually it is discovered that the album belonged to Karl Hocker, adjutant to commandant Richard Baer. The vacation lodge pictured where the Nazi officers and the attractive young female radio operators enjoy their leisure time is actually in a remote section of the Auschwitz property. Many of the officers in the album are identified, resulting in a dire awakening for their descendants who did not know the extent of their involvement in the extermination program. Ironically, two of the characters who receive the fullest treatment are the chief doctor’s son Tilman Taube (Jonathan Raviv) who pursues the truth and tries to recruit others to do the same, and  the commandant’s grandson Rainer Hoss (Charlie Thurston), whose life is nearly ruined by his discovery.  The only prisoner we hear from is Lili Jacob (Stahlmann again), who uncannily is the person to find another album that records the day of her arrival and has pictures of herself and her family. The banality of evil is a pervasive theme throughout. The opening is surprising. An ad for Leica featuring a spotlit camera morphs into a Leica commercial and a discussion of the importance of photography becoming accessible to the masses. Later, both the power and limitations of photography as an information source are addressed. The production is greatly enhanced by Derek McLane’s set, David Lander’s lighting and David Bengali’s projection design. Dede Ayite’s costumes do not call attention to themselves. The cast of eight are all strong, with Stahlmann and Kathleen Chalfant standing out. The many strands are intricately knit into a series of short scenes. The result is consistently interesting, but never as gripping as Tectonic’s masterpiece The Laramie Project. Some critics have criticized it – unfairly, in my opinion – for not addressing current events in Gaza. I found it a worthwhile contribution to our understanding of the events of its time. Running time: 90 minutes.

 

Novenas for a Lost Hospital

B-

Rattlestick Playwrights Theater is presenting the world premiere of this ambitious environmental piece by Cusi Cram celebrating the 161 years of St. Vincent’s Hospital in Greenwich Village and mourning its closure to make way for expensive condominiums. The evening begins in the courtyard of St. John’s-in-the-Village Church with a prologue that combines ritual ablution, chants, instrumental music and dance. The audience then moves next door to the Rattlestick space which has been configured with pews on three sides surrounding an array of hospital privacy screens displaying moments from the hospital’s long history. Each attendee receives an electric votive candle for use later in the evening. During the play proper, we meet Elizabeth Seton (Kathleen Chalfant), who founded the order that opened the hospital, two nuns who served there during the early years and an early surgeon. We also meet two nurses and a doctor from the hospital’s later years when it became a major care center for AIDS patients, as well as Lazarus (Ken Barnett), a patient who miraculously survives two near-death experiences, and JB (Justin Genna), a talented choreographer, who meet in the AIDS ward and become a couple. There are assorted other characters from various periods in the hospital’s history. The play draws parallels between the hospital’s role in the cholera epidemic of the 1840s and during the AIDS crisis. There are recriminations over the series of terrible decisions that led to the hospital’s closure and a lament over the impermanence of all things in New York City. The evening concludes with a ceremonial march past the new condos to the nearby NYC Aids Memorial where the votive candles are deposited. It’s a noble attempt to pay tribute to an important part of local history. The narrative is perhaps too ambitious in the number of stories it tells and runs a bit too long. The story of Pierre Toussaint (Alvin Keith), a freed slave who becomes an important NYC philanthropist, while fascinating, does not seem to be integral to the hospital’s history. Nevertheless, it all makes for an unusual evening and is to be commended for offering something different. Furthermore, it’s always a treat to see Ms. Chalfant onstage. I am not sure how much interest it holds for those who do not live in the Village and those who were not touched directly or indirectly by the AIDS crisis. Rattlestick artistic director Daniella Topol directed. Running time: two hours 20 minutes.

For Peter Pan on Her 70th Birthday

D

Among my many quirks is a longtime inexplicable aversion to Peter Pan and anything or anyone closely related to it, Mary Martin included. Therefore, I probably should have skipped the Playwrights Horizons production of this play based on Sarah Ruhl’s memories of growing up in a large Irish Catholic family in Iowa. However, since I have enjoyed some of her plays (Stage Kiss, The Oldest Boy, In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play) and have been a keen admirer of both Kathleen Chalfant (Wit) and Lisa Emery (Marjorie Prime, Six Degrees of Separation), I decided to take a chance on it. Big mistake. The play is structured as three long scenes. After a charming monologue by Chalfant in front of the curtain, we move to the hospital room where five middle-aged siblings played by Chalfant, Daniel Jenkins, Keith Reddin, David Chandler and Emery have gathered for the impending death of their father (Ron Crawford). Because Chalfant’s relative age reads older, it took me a while to realize that she was their sister and not their mother. The excruciating death scene seemed interminable, even without the long pauses that director Les Waters has inserted. The long middle scene presents the five siblings sitting around a table drinking Irish whiskey and reminiscing. Whenever sharp political differences threaten to intrude, younger sister Wendy (Emery) restores the peace. This scene also has a fantastical element which I will not divulge. In the long final scene, the siblings have been transported to Neverland as Peter Pan, Wendy, the Lost Boys and Captain Hook. Allusions to reluctant adulthood and mortality abound. Also, there’s a well-staged sword fight and some neat flying. The acting is strong. The set by David Zinn opens up nicely for the final scene. Kristopher Castle’s costumes are apt. Since the play clearly has deep personal meaning for Ruhl and was written as a gift to her mother, who actually played Peter Pan in her youth, it pains me to be so negative about it. Nevertheless, at no point did the play really engage me. Running time: 90 minutes, no intermission. It seemed much longer.

Tales from Red Vienna ***

Although far from flawless, this new play by David Grimm is the most interesting thing I have seen at Manhattan Theatre Club so far this season. It presents a vivid cross-section of Viennese life right after World War I. Austria has lost its empire, the socialists are in control in Vienna, the resentful aristocrats have lost their titles and the Jews are, as so often, convenient scapegoats. Helena Altman (Nina Arianda) is a war widow forced to take extreme measures to survive. Edda Schmidt (Kathleen Chalfant) is her loyal longtime housekeeper. "Mutzi" von Fessendorf (Tina Benko) is a haughty self-centered childhood friend who has ulterior motives for introducing Helena to Bela Hoyos (Michael Esper), a handsome Hungarian socialist journalist. Rudy Zuckermaier (Michael Goldsmith) is a young Jewish grocery deliveryman with a crush on Helena. Karl Hupka (Lucas Hall) is a mysterious figure about whom I dare not say more.  In this era of 90-minute plays sans intermission, it is a novelty to see a play with three acts and two intermissions. The play starts with a gripping scene that certainly gets your attention. The rest of the first act plays out well, but the second act is considerably weaker with an abrupt turn to melodrama. For me, the final act did not provide a satisfactory resolution. Why then, you may ask, am I giving it three stars? The two main reasons are Arianda and Chalfant, who are among our finest stage actresses. It is always a privilege to see them in action. Also, I credit the play for its ambitions, even though it doesn't fully realize them. Esper needs to turn up the volume a bit and Benko needs to tone things down a smidgen. With over two weeks until opening night, I suspect that everything will be more polished by then. John Lee Beatty's set design is appropriately oppressive and Anita Yavich's costumes are very good. Kate Whoriskey's direction does not call attention to itself. Running time: 2 hours 25 minutes including 2 intermissions.

Somewhere Fun *

(Please click on the title to see the complete review.)
I am sorry to report that Jenny Schwartz's surrealist comedy now at the Vineyard Theatre is not on the level of her well-regarded "God's Ear" of a few years back. After a promising, delightful first act, it goes off the rails and spins its wheels for two more acts. Although it's always a pleasure to see Kathleen Chalfant (despite the fact her role here not so cleverly recalls her part in "Wit"), the biggest treat here is Kate Mulgrew, who has a brilliant monologue (dialogue if you count the few words her friend is able to get in) before her character melts into a puddle on the street. Chalfant plays Evelyn Armstrong, who is dying of anal cancer. Mulgrew is Rosemary Rappaport, a long-lost friend she runs into on Madison Avenue. Rosemary' estranged son Benjamin (Greg Keller, recently of "Belleville") was a childhood friend of Evelyn's daughter Beatrice (Brooke Bloom), who lost her face to a Dalmatian. Rosemary's real estate client Cecilia (Mary Shulz) is a widow looking for love on the internet. Richard Bekins is T, Evelyn's emotionally distant husband. Maria Elena Ramirez is Lolita, her health care aide. Griffin Birney and Makenna Ballard appear as the young Benjamin and Bernice. Schwartz's clever word play grew tedious after a while. I would have left happy if the play ended after the first act, but my good feelings had evaporated long before the play finally ended. Marsha Ginsberg's set is simple and uncluttered and Jessica Pabst's costumes are fine. I don't know what more director Anne Kauffman could have done to whip the play into a coherent whole. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes, including two short intermissions.

Painting Churches ***

(Please click on the title to see the full review.)
It is a rare opportunity to see two such fine actors as Kathleen Chalfant and John Cunningham on a New York stage. For me that is reason enough to catch the Keen Company's revival of Tina Howe's 1976 play. In it we meet the Churches -- Gardner (Cunningham), a prize-winning poet now sinking into senility and his wife Fanny (Chalfant), whose constricted life now revolves around caring for her husband. Straitened circumstances have forced them to sell their Beacon Hill townhouse to move to their cottage on Cape Cod. Their daughter Mags (Kate Turnbull), an instructor at Pratt, who has just been promised a solo show at Castelli Gallery, returns to Boston for a rare visit, allegedly to help them pack, but really to paint their portrait. Fanny is a fascinating mixture of imperiousness, cruelty, tenderness, compassion, depression and bravery, all memorably captured by Chalfant's performance. She has a powerful monologue that is the high point of the play. Cunningham lets us see the patrician he was through the impaired man he has become. They vividly convey the togetherness gradually acquired over many years. Unfortunately, their strengths accentuate Turnbull's inadequate performance as Mags. She is far too strident and lacks nuance, which upsets the play's balance. Despite any flaws, the performances by Chalfant and Cunningham provide strong incentive to attend. Beowulf Boritt's set cleverly suggests the outlines of a Beacon Hill living room. Carl Forsman directed. Running time: 2 hours, including intermission.