Hundred Days

C

Even though it received favorable reviews when it was presented at the Under the Radar Festival last winter, I would not have seen this show if it had not turned up on my New York Theatre Workshop subscription. Taste in music is very personal and I thought it very unlikely that the folk-punk genre would strike a chord with me. Alas, I was right. Although The Bengsons (Iphigenia in Aulis), singer/songwriters Abigail and Shaun, who composed the music and perform it along with the other four musicians in their band — Colette Alexander, Jo Lampert, Dani Markham and Reggie D. White — are appealing and talented performers, the format of the work is unsatisfactory. The book they wrote with Sarah Gancher is basically a song cycle interrupted by dialog. At a crucial point in the evening there is a long stretch of dialog where I would have expected music to carry the emotional thrust, as if they mistrusted the expressive power of their music to get the job done. To my senior ears, the music was much too loud and percussive and the lyrics were occasionally hard to decipher. The somewhat confusing story involves Abigail’s recurring dream since adolescence that she will meet the man of her dreams, but he will soon die, leading to the idea that they must live as if they only have 100 days to share. The scenic design by Kris Stone and Andrew Hungersford involves about 100 old-fashioned twisted yellow incandescent bulbs that go up and down plus a few vertical fluorescent bulbs that do the same. The costumes by Sydney Gallas are appropriately punk. Anne Kauffmann (Mary Jane, Marvin’s Room) directed. The audience reaction was rather subdued. Running time: 80 minutes, no intermission.

Pride and Prejudice

B-

I wish I could say that Kate Hamill’s latest adaptation of a Jane Austen novel was as successful as her delightful version of Sense & Sensibility at the Gym at Judson last year. While the present work offers many pleasures, it lacks the air of lighthearted effortlessness that made that work so enjoyable. Instead, we get a frenetic pastiche of slapstick comedy, anachronisms and crossdressing that tries much too hard to entertain. This production originated at the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival where I can see it working much better outdoors on a warm summer night. Five of the hard-working cast of eight play multiple roles. Mark Bedard (Fashion for Men) is a standout in all three of his roles — Mr. Collins, Ms. Bingley and Mr. Wickham. Amelia Pedlow (The Liar, The Heir Apparent), a lovely Jane, also plays Miss DeBourgh. John Tufts makes a strong impression as both Bingley and Mary. Chris Thorn is fine both as Mr. Bennet and Charlotte Lucas. Kimberly Chatterjee (The Christians) is strong as Lydia and Lady Catherine. Nance Williamson is an amusing Mrs. Bennet. Jason O’Connell (Sense & Sensibility) is a nuanced Mr. Darcy. Surprisingly Kate Hamill’s (Sense & Sensibility) Lizzy is disappointing; she comes across mainly as a sourpuss. Some of the anachronisms were jarring for me, e.g. dancing to music from Star Wars. The  audience appeared to be having a good time. If you are not measuring it against Hamill’s earlier work, you probably will too. In John McDermott’s (Sense & Sensibility) set design, the stage is stripped down to brick walls and lined with period chairs, tables, a piano and, for no apparent reason, a gramophone. The costumes, by Tracy Christensen (Sunset Boulevard), look appropriate for summer stock. Amanda Dehnert’s brisk direction includes a bit of audience participation. Running time 2 1/2 hours including intermission.

The Parisian Woman

B-

Uma Thurman makes her Broadway debut in the lead role of Chloe in Beau Willimon’s (Farragut North, “House of Cards”) political drama set in contemporary Washington. The play was inspired by La Parisienne, an 1885 French play by Henry Becque. Chloe is married to Tom (Josh Lucas; Corpus Christi, “Sweet Home Alabama”), a prominent tax lawyer who is hoping for an appointment to the federal bench. Peter (Marton Csokas; The Little Foxes at NYTW) is an influential businessman who is besotted with Chloe. Jeanette (Blair Brown; Copenhagen, James Joyce's The Dead) is about to become chair of the Federal Reserve Board. Her daughter Rebecca (Phillipa Soo; Hamilton, Amelie), fresh out of Harvard Law, has ambitions for a career in politics. Chloe may not have a career, but pulling the strings of the other four characters is a full-time job. Deep character portrayal is not the play’s strength. Playing out a somewhat intricate plot while springing an occasional surprise is where the pleasure lies. There are scattered references to life under the Trump administration that go for an easy laugh. The actors are well-cast. Ms. Thurman seems perfectly comfortable onstage; that her character does not come across as more charismatic is probably a problem in the writing. Mr. Csokas’s Peter is a hoot. Blair Brown never disappoints. Mr. Lucas and Ms Soo are fine, but don’t get that much opportunity to show their mettle. The scenic design by Derek McLane (Beautiful, The Price) features three different attractive sets. A high-tech electronic curtain descends between scenes. Jane Greenwood’s (The Little Foxes) costumes suit their characters well. Pam MacKinnon (Amelie, The Qualms) directs with assurance. Running time: one hour 40 minutes; no intermission.

20th Century Blues

C

Add another play to the list of this season’s productions featuring female ensembles (although this one does have a small part for a man). This dramedy, by playwright Susan Miller, winner of two Obies, a Blackburn Prize and a Guggenheim fellowship, introduces us to four 60-something friends who bonded 40 years ago when they spent a night in jail together after a protest. Since then, they have had an annual reunion to schmooze and pose for a group photograph taken by Danny (Polly Draper; Closer, Brooklyn Boy). Danny is the only one who is coming into her own at this stage of life; she has been chosen for a retrospective at MoMA with an associated TED talk. Mac (Franchelle Stewart Dorn; 'Tis Pity She's a Whore) is an investigative journalist who has just been bought out by her newspaper and feels adrift in the world of new media. She is also an African-American lesbian with a drinking problem. Gabby (Kathryn Grody; Fishing, A Model Apartment) is a veterinarian from Boston and breast cancer survivor, who is so terrified of being unable to function independently as a widow that she secretly rehearses even though her husband is in perfect health. Sil (Ellen Parker; Aunt Dan and Lemon, House and Garden) is a real estate broker who was left in dire straits by her ex and is about to have a facelift so she will not offend her clients with the appearance of age. When Danny tells her friends that she wants to use their pictures taken over 40 years in her retrospective, they do not rush to sign the necessary releases. We also meet Danny’s mother Bess (Beth Dixon; Major Barbara) who suffers from dementia and her adoptive son Simon (Charles Socarides; Sons of the Prophet) who is trying to summon the courage to meet his biological mother. I personally felt that the play would have been stronger without Simon and, perhaps, even without Bess. The interaction of the four friends could easily have provided enough material to hold our interest. The level of the writing is uneven, incisive one moment and clunky the next. Something that may sound silly but bothered me is that the group pictures did not include Danny, which seemed to undercut the idea of their bond. The topic of feelings of invisibility and obsolescence for mature women is one worthy of our attention. The treatment it gets from Ms. Miller is just good enough that I was left wishing it had been better. The actors work well together. Ms. Parker seemed a bit lethargic, but that may have been how the role was written. Beowulf Boritt (Act One) has given Danny a studio spacious enough to inspire real estate envy. Jennifer von Mayrhauser’s (Disgraced, Linda) costumes make an important contribution to defining the characters. Emily Mann, artistic director of McCarter Theatre, directed. The play is at Signature Center, but is not a Signature Theatre production. Running time: one hour 40 minutes; no intermission.

M. Butterfly

C+

Since I did not see either the original 1988 Broadway production or the 1993 film, I approached this revival, directed by Julie Taymor, without preconceptions. Although I had read the mostly negative reviews and the criticisms of David Henry Hwang’s revised script, I was prepared to enjoy the production on its own terms and, to some extent, I did. Clive Owen (Old Times), whose natural charm makes him an unconventional choice to play the socially awkward Rene Gallimard, carries it off well. In the key scene where Song Liling (Jin Ha; Troilus and Cressida) enchants him by performing an aria from Madama Butterfly, he is undermined by unfortunate makeup that makes him look like a drag queen; in later scenes he is much more believable as a woman. Incidentally, he is an exceptional dancer in one of the Chinese opera scenes, all of which are quite colorful and energetic. The secondary roles are competently filled by Enid Graham (Bull in a China Shop) as Rene’s wife Agnes, Murray Bartlett (HBO’s “Looking”) as Pinkerton/Marc, Michael Countryman (Six Degrees of Separation) as Sharpless/Toulon/Judge, Clea Alsip (The Way We Get By) as Pinup Girl/Renee, and Celeste Den (Chinglish) as Comrade Chin. The set design by Paul Steinberg with large movable panels that slide and swivel is eye-catching at first but grows tiresome quickly. Constance Hoffman’s costumes are excellent. The complex story of sexual fantasy, self-delusion, the blindness of love, espionage, Western imperialism, and the Chinese cultural revolution remains fascinating even though the playwright’s revisions to bring it closer to actual events may have added too much information at the cost of mystery. There are occasional moments, particularly at the trial, when it becomes too much like a geopolitical lecture. Nevertheless, there is much to admire. Running time: two hours 20 minutes including 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.

Once On This Island

B+

I recall being underwhelmed when I saw this Lynn Ahrens-Stephen Flaherty musical back in 1991. Although it was nominated for several Tonys, it did not win any. Nevertheless, it ran for 489 performances and apparently developed quite a following. Now it is back on Broadway at Circle in the Square where its previews have been selling out with an audience skewing decades younger than the usual Broadway demographic. I decided to give it a second try. I suggest you arrive fifteen minutes early to watch the actors cleaning up the set representing their Caribbean island after it has been hit by a storm. When the play actually begins, the islanders tell a frightened young girl the story of Ti Moune (a radiant Hailey Kilgore), who had been rescued as a child from a tree by her adoptive parents Tonton Julian (Phillip Boykin) and Mama Euralie (Kenita R. Miller). When Daniel Beauxhomme (Isaac Powell), a son of the light-skinned ruling class, is severely injured in an auto accident in their village, she is the only one who will help him. She nurses him and falls in love with him. The gods take a keen interest in island life. We meet Agwe (Quentin Earl Darrington), god of the sea; Papa Ge (in a gender-bender, played — excellently, I might add, by a woman — Merle Dandridge); Asaka (Alex Newell), goddess of the earth; and Erzulie (Lea Salonga), goddess of love. Papa Ge and Erzulie make a bet whether death or love will be stronger when love is put to the test by betrayal. The ensemble is strong. The dance numbers by Camille A. Brown were the highlights for me. It is hard to believe that there are only four musicians because the sound is not skimpy at all. Dane Laffrey’s set design provides a visual feast and Clint Ramos’s costumes, particularly those for the deities, are superb. Michael Arden’s direction is assured. While I will never count it among my favorite musicals, I do have a new respect for it as a well-crafted work that creates a vivid world and offers some creative storytelling along with some appealing music and spirited dancing. Running time: 90 minutes, no intermission.