Downstate

 A-

Once again Playwrights Horizons is presenting an important work by Pulitzer Prize winner Bruce Norris (The Pain and the Itch, Clybourne Park, The Qualms), who reminds us why he is one of our most provocative playwrights. This time out, Norris tackles a thorny issue that gets little attention – our system for isolating sex offenders who have served their time but are placed on a registry that severely limits their life options, often forever. Because of residency restrictions designed to restrict their contact with children, they often end up in group homes in areas that don’t want them with neighbors who demonstrate their opposition by harassing them in a variety of ways, some violent. We meet four such men in a church-sponsored home in downstate Illinois. Fred (Francis Guinan), a seemingly kindly man in his seventies confined to a mobility scooter, is a former piano teacher who molested two young male students. Dee (K. Todd Freeman), a former dancer, had a two-year relationship with a 14-year-old Lost Boy in a touring version of Peter Pan. The religious Felix (Eddie Torres), who molested his young daughter, avoids the others and prays a lot. Gio (Glenn Davis), a younger man whose crime was “merely” statutory rape of a girl who lied about her age, is a Level One offender, whose name will be removed from the registry in a matter of months. He resents being thrown together with Level Three offenders whose registration will be permanent. Ivy (Susanna Guzman) is the tough overworked parole officer who checks on them weekly. On the day the action takes place, Fred is visited by Andy (Tim Hopper), one of the boys he molested 30 years ago, and Andy’s wife Em (Sally Murphy). Andy is there to confront Fred and get him to sign a document listing all his crimes against Andy, including one he denies. Their visit does not yield the results he wants. Ivy has bad news for the four – the local jurisdiction has expanded their no-go zone, which will eliminate access to their supermarket and bus stop. She has worse news for Felix, who has been caught going to the library and using the internet. We also meet Effie (Gabi Samels), Gio’s young co-worker at Staples, a character whose inclusion in the play seems unwarranted to me. Andy has conveniently left his cellphone behind, which gives him an excuse to return without his wife. The second meeting between Andy and Fred becomes explosive. In addition, there is a tragic development which I thought had been telegraphed rather clumsily. The play raises many uncomfortable questions about punishment, forgiveness and victimhood that we are left to ponder. The production’s greatest strength is the high level of the acting. The entire ensemble is outstanding. Todd Rosenthal’s set is appropriately grim and Clint Ramos’s costumes are apt. Pam MacKinnon, who has directed other Norris successes, seems to have a special affinity for his work. If you seek a thought-provoking evening, look no further. Running time: two hours 30 minutes including intermission.

What Do We Need To Talk About?

A-

Little did I imagine when I penned my last review exactly two months ago that it might well be the final one. Fortunately, I’m still here but live theater in New York isn’t. When it will return and which theaters will survive are questions that will probably not be answered for a long time. As March and April slipped by, the list of theatrical evenings I had looked forward to in vain grew longer and longer: Company, The Minutes, The Siblings, Sanctuary City, 72 Miles To Go, Nollywood Dreams, Caroline or Change, Intimate Apparel, Selling Kabul, Flying over Sunset, The Visitor, Take Me Out and How I Learned To Drive. Although several worthwhile filmed productions were made available either on television or online, they were not live theater. Leave it to Richard Nelson to come up with something original that bridges the gap between recorded and live. Tonight the Public Theater presented on their website the premiere and sole performance of Nelson's timely postscript to his four plays about the Apple family of Rhinebeck, What Do We Need To Talk About? When we meet the four Apple siblings — Barbara (Maryann Plunkett), Richard (Jay O. Sanders), Marian (Laila Robins), Jane (Sally Murphy) and Jane’s partner Tim (Stephen Kunken) — they are just starting a Zoom session. Richard is temporarily living with Barbara who has just returned from a near-fatal hospital stay. Tim is in isolation in the guest bedroom of the home he shares with Jane, who is too frightened to go shopping for groceries. Marian has dressed up for the call. For the next 70 minutes, we watch and listen as they talk about life today and tell each other stories. It is very much like observing them sitting around the kitchen table in the previous plays, but with the major advantage that you don’t have to struggle to hear them. If you haven’t seen the earlier plays, the details of their conversations will probably mean less to you, but I think the work can stand on its own merits. What a pleasure it is to be reunited with these sympathetic characters. Watching it sliced two ways, reminding us of what we are missing while holding out hope for what might lie ahead. It will only be available until May 4, so don’t delay.

Linda Vista

B-

Tracy Letts’s 2017 comedy with dark overtones has arrived at Second Stage’s Helen Hayes Theater after a detour from Chicago to LA, with most of its original Steppenwolf cast intact. It’s his most entertaining, most commercial play since August: Osage County, but that is not entirely a compliment. While it has many hilarious and incisive moments, the whole somehow seems less than the sum of its parts. Dick Wheeler (Ian Barford; The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time), 50 years old and almost divorced, is a mess. He is bright, funny, opinionated, bitter and self-defeating. His list of dislikes is endless. Years ago he was a news photographer in Chicago, but he gave it up when he felt he lacked sufficient talent, moved to Southern California to be near his wife’s family and took a job as a camera repairman. When first seen, he is moving into a generic San Diego apartment with the help of his friend Paul (Jim True-Frost; August: Osage County). The beautiful view promised by the apartment’s (and the play’s) title is a stretch; if you crane your neck, you can see a sliver of ocean. Wheeler, as he prefers to be called, has known Paul and his wife Margaret (Sally Murphy; August: Osage County) since college. In fact, he actually dated her before Paul. The two of them conspire to get Wheeler to meet a female friend of theirs, Jules Ish (Cora Vander Broek), who is a life coach with a degree in happiness. They double date for an evening of karaoke, during which Jules sees through his abrasiveness to his underlying vulnerability. They end up in the sack, in what has to be the funniest sex scene I have seen on stage or film. Their budding affair is complicated by a late night knock on the door by Wheeler’s attractive young possibly pregnant neighbor Minnie (Chantal Thuy), whose abusive boyfriend has kicked her out. Wheeler invites her to spend the night on his couch. As they say, complications ensue. Another strand of the plot involves Wheeler's life at work where Anita (Caroline Neff; Airline Highway) the attractive young woman he works with, must daily endure the totally inappropriate behavior of their creepy boss Michael (Troy West; August: Osage County). On the positive side, the dialogue is snappy and the actors are uniformly strong, especially Barford and Vander Broek. Todd Rosenthal’s (August: Osage County) scenic design features a smoothly revolving set under a diorama of San Diego’s waterfront skyline. Laura Bauer’s (Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune) costumes really help define the characters. Dexter Bullard’s (Grace, Bug) direction is seamless. There is much to enjoy—a little too much; several of the scenes could use judicious trimming. The female characters would benefit from sharper definition. When it was all over, I wondered whether this character study of a difficult man really merited almost three hours. Be forewarned that there’s lots of nudity and strong language. I am glad I saw it but wish that there were more point to it. Running time: two hours 45 minutes including intermission.

Admissions

A-

The double-edged title of this provocative new play by Joshua Harmon (Bad Jews, Significant Other) at Lincoln Center Theater refers not only to choosing college students but to acknowledging the gap between behavior and ideals. The setting is Hillcrest School, a New Hampshire prep school where Sherri Rosen-Mason (Jessica Hecht; The Price, The Assembled Parties) is dean of admissions, her husband Bill Mason (Andrew Garman; The Christians, The Moors) is headmaster and their son Charlie Luther Mason (Ben Edelman; Significant Other) is a bright senior. Sherri is proud that in her 15 years on her job she has tripled minority enrollment. In the first scene, she harshly berates Roberta (Ann McDonough; Dinner at Eight, What I Did Last Summer), a drolly passive-aggressive, older, long-time employee responsible for publishing the school bulletin for not including enough photos of minority students. We next meet her close friend Ginnie Peters (Sally Murphy; A Man of No Importance, LCT’s Carousel), a white woman married to a biracial man and mother of the unseen Perry, Charlie’s best friend since early childhood. When Yale accepts Perry but places Charlie on the deferred list, Charlie is humiliated. The 15-minute rant he delivers about the disadvantaged status of the white male besieged by affirmative action and feminism is the play’s dramatic highlight. Bill is horrified that his son has not absorbed the liberal values on which he was raised and calls him a spoiled brat. Sherri casts aside her professional views and behaves like any sympathetic mother. Her friendship with Ginnie is put to the test when Sherri does not rebuke her son for saying that Perry’s acceptance was racially motivated. Later, Charlie reflects on his situation and decides to pursue a sacrificial course of action more in accord with his parents’ values. Instead of pleasing them, this infuriates them and they do all they can to undermine his decision. Harmon has cleverly plotted the proceedings to show how noble intentions can be overruled when personal advantage is threatened. The dialogue is sharp and the balance between satire and realism is mostly successful. A few scenes run a bit longer than necessary. The cast brings the characters vividly to life vividly. Jessica Hecht avoids the mannerisms that sometimes mar her performances. Ben Edelman shows great promise. Ann McDonough is a delight. Riccardo Hernandez’s (Parade, Indecent) set combines Sherri’s office and home. The location of her desk right in the center with her home furniture around the edges suggests that her job is central to her life. I was sitting in the front row and the presence of actors shouting less than two feet away was a bit startling. Toni-Leslie James’s (Come from Away, Jitney) costumes are apt. Director Daniel Aukin (Bad Jews, 4000 Miles, Fulfillment Center) shows a real affinity for Harmon’s work, which, to me, has been improving with each new play. Running time: one hour 40 minutes; no intermission.

The Threepenny Opera **

Literally from the very first note, I felt that something was amiss with the new Atlantic Theater production of this Brecht-Weill classic. Although the seven musicians were visible onstage, the sound was coming from a spot somewhere over my head. The decision to amplify the music in a theater ot this size seems both unnecessary and wrongheaded. It creates an artificial gap between the musicians and the actors and diminishes any sense of intimacy. Furthermore, the production lacks both a clear unifying vision and a strong sense of time and place. It rarely engaged me at any level. In the past, I have not been a fan of Martha Clarke and her direction and choreography here do nothing to change my mind. On the plus side,  there are abundant vocal treats; both Laura Osnes as Polly and Sally Murphy as Jenny sing beautifully. It's a pleasure to see and hear Mary Beth Peil as Mrs. Peachum and Michael Park is a fine Macheath. F. Murray Abraham is adequate as Mr. Peachum. Robert Israel's set is dark and dreary. Donna Zakowska's costumes fared better. The whole came across to me as considerably less than the sum of its parts. In the long production annals of the show, this production will be remembered, if at all, as the one that featured an English bulldog in a key role. Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes including intermission.

Regular Singing ***

The fourth and final installment in Richard Nelson's saga about the Apple family of Rhinebeck, New York brings the series to a satisfying conclusion. I confess that I approached this one with a bit of trepidation, because, by the end of the third play, the pleasure of the Apple family's company was wearing a bit thin for me. In addition, two members of the superb original cast (Shuler Hensley and J. Smith-Cameron) were unavailable for the final play and I was uncomfortable about seeing new actors in their roles. Like the three previous plays, the action or, more accurately, the conversation is set on a day significant for American history. "That Hopey Changey Thing" was set on Election Night 2010; "Sweet and Sad" on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and "Sorry"on Election Day 2012. (I suggest you use the search box near the top right to read my reviews of the three previous plays.) This time the occasion is the 50th anniversary of JFK's assassination. The Apple siblings -- Barbara (Maryann Plunkett), a spinster schoolteacher; Marian (Laila Robins), also a teacher, whose marriage collapsed after her daughter's suicide and who now lives with Barbara; Jane (Sally Murphy, replacing Smith-Cameron), a writer who has recently moved to Rhinebeck with partner Tim (Stephen Kunken, replacing Hensley), an actor/waiter; and Richard (Jay O. Sanders), an attorney who has fled his failed marriage in New York for a job in the Cuomo administration in Albany -- and their Uncle Benjamin (John Devries), a former actor whose failing memory has landed him in an assisted living home, have gathered at Barbara's house, where Marian's ex-husband Adam lies dying upstairs. As they go over Adam's detailed plans for his funeral, they discuss many things, from the state of the country to their personal demons. There is no action in the usual sense, but there are occasional moments of great pathos. Murphy seemed a bit young to play Jane and was barely audible at times. Kunken, always a fine actor, fit in well as Tim. The four returning actors are as excellent as we have come to expect. It was a real pleasure to spend time with them again. Nelson as director serves his own material well. For one of the Public Theater's Lab productions, the modest set and costumes by Susan Hilferty are commensurate with the low ticket price. At one hour, 50 minutes without intermission, the play could use some judicious trimming.