Becky Nurse of Salem

C

When a MacArthur Fellow playwright (Sarah Ruhl) and a Tony-winning director (Rebecca Taichman) return to Lincoln Center Theater, scene of two of their earlier successes (The Oldest Boy, How To Transcend a Marriage), with a new play starring Tony winner (Deirdre O’Connell), expectations are going to be high. I regret to report that at the preview I saw today Ruhl’s odd dark comedy not only did not meet my expectations, but did not even engage my interest. Becky Nurse, a descendant of Rebecca Nurse, who was hanged as a witch in 1692, is a 62-year-old woman who works as a tour guide at Salem’s Museum of Witchcraft. She is someone who goes through life shooting herself in the foot. Her failure to stick to the script for the museum tour gets her fired by the museum’s uptight director Shelby (Tina Benko). Her teen-aged granddaughter Gail (Alicia Crowder) whom she has been raising, is currently hospitalized for depression. Gail’s mother died from an opioid overdose and grandma is secretly addicted too. Becky’s only friend seems to be noble barkeep Bob (Bernard White), who had been her high school boyfriend but married someone else. Becky disapproves of Gail’s new friend Stan (Julian Sanchez), a Wiccan who introduces Becky to a modern witch (Candy Buckley) for help solving her problems. Complications arise. Becky goes to jail and has visions of the original Salem trials. Thomas Jay Ryan doubles as jailer and judge. The game actors are committed to their roles. Riccardo Hernandez's minimalist set has rolling modules that efficiently set the scene. I could have done without the jail-cell toilet. Emily Rebholz's costumes are apt.The script mixes a look at Salem’s complicated relationship to its history, a response to Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, a nod to the mania of Trumpism, a superficial exploration of witchcraft and a cautionary tale about opioid addiction. The mix does not blend well. I was left wondering what the point was. On the plus side, it provides employment for a lot of talented people. Running time: two hours, five minutes including intermission.

This Flat Earth

C+

Ever since I saw Milk Like Sugar in 2011, I have found almost every play that Tony-winner Rebecca Taichman has directed in New York, including Stage Kiss, The Oldest Boy, Familiar, Indecent, How To Transcend a Happy Marriage, Time and the Conways, and School Girls to be a worthwhile experience. Furthermore, the two plays by Lindsey Ferrentino that I had seen — Ugly Lies the Bone and Amy (or Andy) and the Orphans — showed great promise. Therefore, I approached this timely play, now in previews at Playwrights Horizons, with high expectations. I was disappointed. From the very first moment, I didn’t buy into it. Julie (Ella Kennedy Davis) is a 12-year-old with symptoms of PTSD after surviving a shooting at her school. Even for someone who can’t afford a cellphone, she seems remarkably naive and uninformed. Would someone her age really believe that she could save her allowance for a trip to Japan to get a boob job or be shocked to learn that there had been other school shootings? Her mother died in childbirth, so she has been raised by her good-natured but feckless father Dan (Lucas Papaelias; Once), a failed comedian forced to take a low-paying job at the water works. Her shy best friend Zander (Ian Saint-Germain) really wants to be her boyfriend. Their upstairs neighbor Cloris (Lynda Gravatt; Skeleton Crew, King Hedley II) is a retired cellist who likes to play LPs of the classical music she can no longer perform. That music is played by an offstage cellist (Christine H. Kim). Lisa (Cassie Beck; The Humans, The Whale), the grieving mother of a murdered girl, is trying to find a way to get on with her life. The fact that Dan has bought his daughter clothes that Lisa has donated to Goodwill illustrates the difference in the economic situation of the two families. To give Julie a chance at a better education, Dan has bent the rules. When Lisa inadvertently discovers his misstep, there is a crisis. Julie must face the reality that adults are not really able to fix everything. She bonds with Cloris, who has a long poetic monologue predicting Julie’s future. The topics of gun violence and income inequality could hardly be more relevant and the idea that music has the power to comfort is appealing. Somehow, it just did not come together for me. The level of acting varies, with Cassie Beck and Lynda Gravatt standing out. Dane Laffrey’s (Rancho Viejo, The Christians) awkward two-level set is deliberately sparsely furnished. Paloma Young’s (Time and the Conways, Lobby Hero) costumes are apt. Rebecca Taichman’s direction hits all the right notes, but the play itself needs a tuning. Running time: 90 minutes, no intermission.

School Girls; or, The African Mean Girls Play

A-

One of the hallmarks of the current season has been the proliferation of fine plays with all-female ensembles. First we had the excellent Mary Jane at New York Theatre Workshop. A revival of The Wolves is currently in previews at Lincoln Center Theater. And now MCC Theater has brought us this delightful play by Jocelyn Bioh (In the Blood; Men on Boats), marking her New York debut as playwright. Set in a girls’ boarding school in central Ghana in 1986, it introduces us to four students who are members of a clique led by mean girl Paulina Sarpong (Maameyaa Boafo) who intends to be the school’s contestant in the upcoming Miss Ghana pageant. During the early scenes, we get an amusing look at how Paulina reigns over her subjects — cousins Gitty (Paige Gilbert) and Mercy (Mirirai Sithole), the bookish Ama (Nike Kadri; The Death of the Last Black Man...) and the food-addicted Nana (Abena Mensah-Bonsu). There are hilarious examples of their misunderstanding of American culture, e.g. that White Castle is an elegant restaurant. Paulina’s plans are endangered by the arrival of a new student Ericka Boafo (Nabiyah Be; Hadestown), recently relocated from Ohio, who has looks, charm and talent to spare. The rivalry between the two girls is paralleled by the tense relationship between no-nonsense headmistress Francis (Myra Lucretia Taylor; Nine, Familiar) and the stylish Westernized pageant recruiter Eloise Amponsah (Zainab Jah; Eclipsed), herself a former Miss Ghana, who had tangled as classmates in the past. There’s a nice bonus for the recruiter and a substantial gift for the school that yields the winning contestant. Bioh overlays the well-worn conventions of teen-age cliques and beauty pageant competition with an additional ingredient: colorism — the belief even within the black community that, when it comes to skin color, lighter is better. Eloise favors Ericka over Paulina because she is the fairer and thereby "more commercial" of the two. How far will Paulina go to prevent Ericka’s selection? How far will Eloise go to thwart Paulina? Why is Paulina so mean? What secrets is Ericka hiding? Will all their efforts have any meaningful impact anyway? Has anything changed since 1986? Come, find out and be entertained. The actors are all wonderful. Director Rebecca Taichman (Indecent, Time and the Conways) has demonstrated her usual sure but deft hand. Arnulfo Maldonado’s (Charm) schoolhouse set is perfect from the perforated windows to the corrugated ceiling and tropical fans. Dede M. Ayite’s (The Royale, Bella) costumes, especially for the pageant, are delightful. Running time: one hour 12 minutes.

Time and the Conways

B

Every once in a while, Roundabout Theatre Company surprises me by taking a chance on the revival of a neglected play, e.g. Machinal. To open their current season, they have revived this complex J.B. Priestley (An Inspector Calls) family drama that has not been seen in New York since 1938. Furthermore, they have given it a topnotch production with a superb cast, sensitive direction and a marvelous set design. In it we meet the Conway family — a widowed mother in a provincial British town (a fine Elizabeth McGovern, lately of Downton Abbey) and her six grown children. Hazel (lovely Anna Camp; All New People) is the town beauty. Carol (Anna Baryshnikov) is the youngest and sweetest. Alan (the always excellent Gabriel Ebert; Therese Raquin, Casa Valentina) is the eldest and most likely to be ignored. Madge (a fine Brooke Bloom; Cloud 9) is a budding Socialist. Kay (Charlotte Parry; The Winslow Boy) is a would-be novelist. Robin (Matthew James Thomas; Pippin, Spider-Man), just back from the Air Force, is the apple of his mother’s eye. Among the guests at Kay’s 21st birthday party are Gerald (Alfredo Narciso; Tiny Beautiful Things), a family friend and solicitor; Joan (a radiant Cara Ricketts), a neighbor; and Ernest (Steven Boyer; Hand of God), an awkward businessman newly arrived in town. Don’t be put off by the first act, the weakest of the three, which introduces the characters in the context of an interminable offstage game of charades at Kay’s party. There is general optimism since the Great War has ended and the future looks bright, both for the family as well as the country. In this production, there is no intermission between the first two acts. This is a wise choice as it provides a reason for a breathtaking set change, in which Neil Patel’s classic drawing room is replaced by something more ethereal. In the second act things get much more interesting. We are suddenly in 1937, when we see the many ways that things have not turned out as hoped for almost all of the characters. The disappointments of this rather smug family reflect the disillusionment in the world at large as the promise of peace and prosperity have faded. After intermission, Act III brings us back to Kay’s 21st birthday party in 1919 immediately after the moment we left it. We discover the seeds of many of the developments we witnessed in Act II. It’s an unconventional structure that has an emotional payoff even though it leaves some of our questions unanswered. The play explores the idea that the past, present and future are all taking place simultaneously, but you need not subscribe to that theory to enjoy the play. The cast is uniformly strong, although I do wish Ms. Camp smiled less. I admire Ms. McGovern’s bravery in portraying so unattractive a character. Paloma Young’s costumes are appealing, except for one hideous ball gown. Tony-award winning director Rebecca Taichman (Indecent) negotiates the play’s complexities smoothly. I felt that the production was probably better than the play deserved, that when you strip away the play’s gimmicks, there isn’t enough substance there. Nevertheless, I was grateful for the opportunity to see it in this splendid production. Running time: 2 hours 25 minutes including intermission.

How To Transcend a Happy Marriage

B-

In case the bird-headed huntress featured on James McMullan’s wonderful poster for Sarah Ruhl’s new play at Lincoln Center Theater is insufficient warning to expect something unusual, the dead goat hanging upside down over the living room set should surely do the job. An attractive young woman removes it from the hook and carries it off before the play proper begins. A fortyish couple, George (Marisa Tomei) [was it really necessary for the playwright to name the female lead George?] and Paul (Oscar Metwally) are having dinner at the suburban home of their closest friends, Jane (Robin Weigert) and Michael (Brian Hutchison). Jane mentions Pip (Lena Hall), a temp in her office who is both polyamorous and hunts her own meat. They are all intrigued and decide to invite Pip and her two live-in lovers, Freddie (David McElwee) and David (Austin Smith) for a New Year’s Eve party. The party proceeds rather well as they discover such common interests as Pythagoras and Shakespeare. They move on to a karaoke session that spins out of control. Their revels are interrupted by the untimely arrival home of the hosts’ 16-year-old daughter Jenna (Naian Gonzalez Norvind.) The dialogue is smart, funny and sexy, the actors have achieved a fine ensemble and the direction is seamless, once again demonstrating how well-attuned Rebecca Taichman (The Oldest Boy) is to Ruhl’s sensibility. The set design by David Zine and costumes by Susan Hilferty are first-rate. While the first act is nearly perfect, the play has serious second-act problems. An attempt by Pip to teach George to hunt deer has unfortunate consequences. In the scene that follows, there is a sudden introduction of possibly magical events, which, to me, weakens rather than strengthens the play. Freddie and David become mere plot contrivances. Worst of all, we are forced to question or even invalidate what we have seen with our own eyes in the first act. The play partially recovers its footing, but not soon enough to restore all the positive feelings it generated before intermission. While I have no problem with magical realism, I don't feel it works here. The points that I thought Ruhl wanted to make about the limits or limitlessness of love and the difficulties of parent and child to acknowledge each other’s sexuality do not need magical embellishment. It’s a flawed play with a very enjoyable first act. Running time: one hour 50 minutes including intermission.

Indecent ***

Borrowing from “Shuffle Along,” I could say that “Indecent” might well be subtitled  “The Making of the Broadway Sensation of 1923 and All That Followed.” Pulitzer-winner Paula Vogel has written a complex, ambitious work, “created by” herself and director Rebecca Taichman, about the rocky history of “God of Vengeance,” Sholem Asch’s controversial 1907 play. The melodramatic story of a Jewish brothel owner whose daughter falls in love with one of his prostitutes, the play’s second act contains the notorious “rain scene” that shows the tender love between the two women. The depiction of Jews as pimps and prostitutes and the desecration of a torah in the final scene made the play problematic. After a striking opening image, the present play takes us from Asch’s play’s raucous first reading at a Warsaw salon for Yiddish writers through its success in several European capitals to its move to the Bowery, then on to Greenwich Village. To secure an English-language production on Broadway, the producer, much to the devoted cast’s dismay, excised the rain scene. Nevertheless, inflamed by condemnation by the rabbi of Temple Emmanuel, the city closed the play down after one performance and successfully tried the cast and producer for obscenity. Asch neither protested the play’s mutilation nor attended the trial to defend the loyal cast. Allegedly, he had just returned from a mission to Eastern Europe and was too traumatized by what he saw there to care much about what happened to his play. The transformative power of his play on the devoted cast who perform it for so many years is in stark contrast with Asch’s loss of interest in it. I fear that the present play attempts to tell too many stories at once: the importance of Yiddish literature and especially Yiddish theater, the bonds within a theater troupe, the positive presentation of lesbianism, the fear of encouraging anti-Semitism, the difficulties of assimilation, fragments of Asch’s long career and the tragic loss of a Yiddish audience. The playwright posits a final performance of Asch’s play in an attic in the Lodz Ghetto. The entire cast is superb: Richard Topol is Lemml, the stage manager. The other actors — Katrina Lenk, Mimi Lieber, Max Gordon Moore, Tom Nelis, Steven Rattazzi and Adina Verson — all play multiple roles and succeed in making us care about characters that are not that fully developed. The production is greatly enhanced by a trio of klezmer musicians and choreography by David Dorfman. The set by Riccardo Hernandez is simple but effective and Emily Rebholz’s costumes are appropriate. While there is much to admire in this production at Vineyard Theatre, the many elements did not cohere as well as I would have liked. Perhaps my expectations were too high because of my high regard for the previous work of both the playwright and the director. Running time: one hour 45 minutes; no intermission. NOTE: Do not get front row seats because the stage is very high.

Familiar ***

This lively, overstuffed new play by Danai Gurira (Eclipsed) now in previews at Playwrights Horizons runs the gamut from sitcom to high drama in its two plus hours. The action takes place in real time late in the afternoon before the rehearsal dinner for the wedding of the Chinyamwira family’s 34-year-old daughter Tendi (Roslyn Ruff). Tendi and her Caucasian fiancé Chris (Joby Earle) are members of a charismatic Christian church who have vowed premarital abstinence. Tendi’s parents Donald (Harold Surratt), a successful attorney, and Marvelous (Tamara Tunie), a scientist/professor who has assimilated to American ways with a vengeance, left Zimbabwe over 30 years ago and are living the good life in a suburb of Minneapolis. Clint Ramos’s finely detailed two-level set presents a house worthy of a home design magazine, sure to evoke real estate envy in the heart of every New Yorker. Tendi’s younger sister, Nyasha (Ito Aghayere), a singer/songwriter/feng shui consultant based in New York has just returned from a trip to Zimbabwe to get in touch with her roots, but her family doesn't express much interest in her trip. Margaret (Melanie Nichols-King), Marvelous’s depressed younger sister with a drinking problem might well have wandered in from a production of “A Delicate Balance.” A crisis develops when Marvelous’s elder sister Anne (Myra Lucretia Taylor) arrives unexpectedly from Zimbabwe, determined to perform roora, an ancient bridal price ritual, over the strenuous objection of Marvelous. Sibling rivalry is strong in both generations of sisters. When he learns that the roora ceremony requires the groom to have an intermediary, Chris hurriedly recruits his slacker younger brother Brad (Joe Tippett), with hilarious results. During the second act, the mood gradually darkens and the revelation of a shocking family secret changes everything. The play’s many extremely funny moments make the darkward turn all the more unsettling. Director Rebecca Taichman has nimbly steered the actors through the change of tone. The strong ensemble acting succeeds in making the specific seem universal. Susan Hilferty's costumes contribute greatly to the production. The humanity and good humor went a long way toward making me willing to overlook some of the holes in the plot. It’s far from perfect, but well worth seeing. Running time: 2 hours 15 minutes including intermission.

The Oldest Boy ****

Lincoln Center Theater is presenting the world premiere of this fascinating work by Sarah Ruhl, one of our most versatile and interesting playwrights. Her plays are so varied that it is difficult to find a common denominator other than flashes of her intelligence and humor. The present work almost has the aura of a fairy tale. An American woman identified only as Mother (a superb Celia Keenan-Bolger) is married to a Tibetan refugee (James Yaegashi) who owns a restaurant in an unnamed American city. Each of them has broken an engagement to marry. One day two Tibetan Buddhist monks (Jon Norman Schneider and James Saito) pay an unexpected visit. They think that the family’s three-year old son may be the reincarnation of an important Buddhist teacher. When the son (Ernest Abuba) passes their tests, they are convinced that he is indeed their late teacher reborn and ask to take him back to India, their home in exile, to be educated in their monastery. I will say no more about the outcome. Rebecca Taichman, who has directed many of Ruhl’s previous plays, once again demonstrates her affinity for Ruhl’s sensibility. It is hard to imagine a better production. The sets by Mimi Lien, the gorgeous costumes by Anita Yavich, the evocative lighting by Japhy Weideman, the sound design by Darron L. West, the puppetry by Matt Acheson, the choreography by Barney O’Hanlon and Taichman’s skillful direction combined to weave an almost hypnotic spell over me. It was a stimulating experience. Running time: 2 hours including intermission.

Stage Kiss ***

Sarah Ruhl’s delightful backstage comedy, now in previews at Playwrights Horizons, is at heart a love letter to theater and actors. Along with loads of hilarity, there is an exploration of how permeable the border between art and life is and how hard it sometimes is to tell which is imitating which. The premise is that an actress (Jessica Hecht) making a return to the stage after a long time off for childrearing is cast in the revival of a short-lived period drams from the 30’s about a woman whose dying wish is to see her old lover again. The actor playing her long lost lover is none other than her real-life former lover (Dominic Fumusa) from whom she split acrimoniously 20 years prior. When they are forced to kiss on stage eight times a week, their affair is rekindled. For most of the play’s first hour, I was doubled over with laughter. In the opening audition from hell, Hecht demonstrates that she can be a first-class comedienne; her mannered style, which I have often found so annoying, serves her well here. The audition is followed by several funny rehearsal scenes and, finally, by opening night. Fumusa has a scene on crutches that is a comic triumph. The revelation for me was Michael Cyril Creighton, who at various points plays the butler, the understudy, the doctor and, in the second act, a pimp; he is wickedly funny in all his guises. The rest of the supporting cast (Todd Almond, Clea Alsip, Emma Galvin, Daniel Jenkins and Patrick Kerr) are fine too. At intermission, I feared that Ruhl would be unable to maintain so high a level for another act. To some extent, my fears were justified. Act Two explores the consequences of their rekindled affair and throws in another audition and a scene from another play-within-a-play. Although there are a few extremely funny scenes, the resolution is a bit anticlimactic. Neil Patel’s scenic design is excellent, as are Susan Hilferty’s costumes. She dresses Hecht in a gown that is an absolute knockout. Rebecca Taichman’s direction skillfully manages the abrupt changes of tone. I wish the second act had been as wonderful as the first, but I am grateful for the first hour, which is one of the most entertaining I have spent in a theater. Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes including intermission.

Luck of the Irish **

(Please click on the title to see the complete review.)
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.