Two's a Crowd

C

If you are seeking light summer entertainment and aren’t too fussy, you might enjoy this fluffy, dated comedy with music starring longtime comedian Rita Rudner, now at 59E59 Theater A. The intermittently funny book is by Rudner and her husband Martin Bergman, who also directed, and the serviceable music and rather leaden lyrics are by Jason Feddy, who also serves as singer and guitarist. Rudner plays Wendy, a 60-ish wedding planner from Cleveland who has come to Vegas to distract herself from her husband’s recent infidelities. Robert Yacko plays Tom, a recently widowed contractor, also from Cleveland, who is in Vegas to forget his sorrows by playing in a poker tournament. A computer glitch puts them in the same room in a completely booked hotel. They instantly dislike each other but, of course, get past their first impressions. We also meet Louise, the assistant manager, and Lili, the chambermaid, both played to the hilt by Kelly Holden Bashar. Brian Lohmann plays a few roles, including Wendy’s husband Gus. The hoary plot has few surprises. There are two types of songs, those sung by the actors which, during the first act, stop the action and contribute little, and short songs sung by Feddy between scenes. As of intermission, I would have said that the show would have been better off without music, but that changed during the second act when the songs were much more artfully integrated into the action. Lohmann, as Gus, gets a lively number that was the evening’s musical highlight. The dialogue has many snappy lines, as one would expect from Rudner. On the more serious side, there are some observations about the difficulty of being a woman over 60 today and even a few detours into the philosophy of Marcus Aurelius. The shamelessly tasteless final song provides an appropriate ending for an uneven evening that is not quite ready for New York. Nevertheless, it was fun to see Rudner, who is looking very good indeed. I think I would have enjoyed an hour of her stand-up more than this show.

Running time: one hour 50 minutes including intermission.

Question: Is there any theater in New York that attracts a more homogeneous audience than 59E59 Theaters? I could count the number of people too young for Medicare on one hand. In my many visits there, I don’t think I have ever seen a person of color.

The Rolling Stone

B+

Lincoln Center Theater is presenting the American premiere of this gripping drama by young British playwright Chris Urch (Land of Our Fathers) that won several prizes when it was staged in the U.K. The title comes from the name of a Kampala tabloid that, in 2010, published the names, addresses and photos of 100 Ugandan men suspected of homosexuality, thereby subjecting them to vigilante mobs and long prison sentences. Denbe (Ato Blankson-Wood; Hair, Slave Play) is an 18-year old student who is carrying on a secret affair with Sam (Robert Gilbert; Julius Caesar), a mixed-race Northern Irish/Ugandan doctor who recently arrived in town. Denbe’s sister Wummie (Latoya Edwards; School Girls, Miss You Like Hell) is a year younger but in the same grade as Denbe. Both are studying for an exam to qualify for medical school. Their older brother Joe (James Udom; Miss Julie, The Winter’s Tale) has just been chosen pastor of their church after his predecessor abruptly resigned under suspicion of embezzlement. Mama (Myra Lucretia Taylor; Nine, Familiar) is a neighbor devoted to the church who lent her influence in favor of Joe's selection. She has a daughter Naome (Adenike Thomas; Freedom Train) who has mysteriously not spoken for six months and hopes that Pastor Joe can cure her. The siblings are shocked to learn that their recently deceased father left them only debts. The church cannot afford a salary for Joe until his builds up the congregation. Joe declares that one of his siblings must give up the dream of medical school to support the family. When Sam’s phone disappears and his apartment walls are defaced with anti-gay graffiti, he and Denbe go into panic mode fearing that they will be outed. Although they love their brother, Joe and Wummie have zero tolerance for homosexuality. The pace of the first act is a bit slow. There are a series of gripping confrontations in the second act that, unfortunately, lead to a rather unsatisfactory ending. The actors are very strong, especially Mr. Blankson-Wood as Denbe and Ms. Taylor as Mama. The role of Sam is underwritten, leaving his motivation a bit unclear. Arnulfo Maldonado’s (Bull in a China Shop, Sugar in Our Wounds) scenic design has a bare circular stage with a striking backdrop of wire and fabric inspired by the art of El Anatsui. Dede Ayite’s (Secret Life of Bees, Toni Stone) costumes, especially for Denbe and Mama, go a long way toward establishing the characters. Director Saheem Ali’s (Passage, Fireflies) direction is assured. It’s by no means a perfect play but the superb acting and the issues raised make it well worth seeing. Running time: one hour 55 minutes including intermission. NOTE: The play does not address the fact that the anti-homosexual campaigns in Africa have largely been fomented and financed by American evangelicals.

Here is a link to an interesting article about the playwright:

https://www.audreyjournal.com.au/arts/chris-urch-writing-the-rolling-stone/

Mojada

B+

This season’s mini-trend of reinterpreting classic works continues with this New York premiere by MacArthur Genius award winner Luis Alfaro, whose Oedipus El Rey was a hit at the Public last year. Alfaro has once again superimposed a story about the Latino immigrant experience onto a Greek tragedy, this time Euripides’s Medea. The play originated in Chicago in 2013 and has played in Portland and Los Angeles with revisions en route that changed the location to the city of performance. The current version at The Public Theater is set in Queens’s Corona neighborhood in the backyard of the decrepit house where Medea (Sabina Zuñiga Varela) lives with her lover Jason (Alex Hernandez; Kingdom Come), their 10-year old son Acan (Benjamin Luis McCracken) and Medea’s lifelong family servant Tita (Socorro Santiago; Unfinished Women), who is our narrator and chorus. Medea is a skilled seamstress doing piecework at home because she is too afraid to leave the house. Jason is a construction worker with a Cuban emigre boss Pilar (Ada Maris; Bang Bang Blues) whose primary interest in him is not his work skills. Luisa (Vanessa Aspillaga; Anna in the Tropics), a food cart vendor who fled Puerto Rico with her husband after a hurricane wiped them out, provides comic relief. Jason is eager for Acan to assimilate as rapidly as possible while Medea wants him to honor old ways. There are lengthy flashbacks, for me the strongest parts of the play, that recollect the family’s horrific experiences getting from their Mexican home to New York. If you are familiar with the Medea story, you may find the ways Alfaro foreshadows the climax a bit clumsy. The incorporation of elements of Michoacan folk healing traditions works fairly well. He very skillfully weaves into the story the experience of undocumented immigrants in today’s America. A few references are right out of the headlines. The acting is mostly strong; however, I found the depiction of Pilar a bit unmodulated. I also thought that Hernandez’s portrayal of Jason showed him too thoroughly assimilated. Cynic that I am, I have a hunch he was chosen more for his good looks and physique than his acting chops. Arnulfo Maldonado’s (A Strange Loop) scenic design offers no clue that the location is New York. Haydee Zelibeth’s (Playing Hot) costumes are very effective in establishing character. Mikhail Fiksel’s sound design (We’re Only Alive for a Short Amount of Time) contributes a lot to the production. Director Chay Yew’s (Oedipus El Rey) direction is fluid. Even though the contemporary and ancient elements don’t always fit together seamlessly, the overall effect is very strong. Running time: one hour 45 minutes; no intermission. 

NOTE: The Public Theater has an annoying habit of hiding valuable information pertinent to the production in obscure locations in the Playbill. In this instance, there is a worthwhile article “Immigration & the Perils of the Journey” that is hidden several pages after the list of Public contributors. When you attend the Public, you would do well to give the Playbill a thorough once-over before curtain time.  By the way, “mojada” is a derogatory term corresponding to “wetback.”

Moscow, Moscow, Moscow, Moscow, Moscow, Moscow

B-

Poor Chekhov! Playwrights just can’t seem to resist putting their own stamp on his plays. Last month we got an encore run of Life Sucks., Aaron Posner’s quirky riff on Uncle Vanya. Now MCC Theater is presenting the New York premiere of Halley Feiffer’s (The Pain of My Belligerence, I’m Gonna Pray for You So Hard) deconstruction of Three Sisters, which played at Wiiliamstown Theatre Festival two summers ago. Of the two adaptations, Feiffer’s is by far the more entertaining and is probably the truer to Chekhov. Feiffer gives us the original characters in exaggerated versions who leave no thought unsaid. The dialogue is anachronistic, coarse and often very funny. Feiffer daringly makes each sister so unsympathetic in her opening monologue that it is not easy to win our sympathy; she mostly succeeds at meeting this challenge. This production dials up the volume with provocative casting involving bending gender, changing race and introducing dwarfism. Somehow it works, probably because the actors are so convincing in their roles. Rebecca Henderson’s (The Wayside Motor Inn) Olga raises self-deprecation to an art form. Chris Perfetti (The Low Road) is so persuasive as Masha that it seems completely unremarkable for the role to be played by a man. Tavi Gevinson (This Is Our Youth, Days of Rage) captures both Irina’s allure and her aimlessness. As their feckless brother Andrey, Greg Hildreth (The Robber Bridegroom) is appropriately conflicted. Sas Goldberg (Significant Other) smoothly accomplishes the transformation of Natasha from target of scorn to tyrant. Steven Boyer (Hand to God, Time and the Conways) is tender and pathetic as Irina’s suitor Tuzenbach. Casting Solyony with a dwarf, the excellent Matthew Jeffers (Light Shining in Buckinghamshire), makes the universal scorn he receives even more uncomfortable. Alfredo Narciso (Time and the Conways) makes Vershinin both sexy and pitiful. As Masha’s husband Kulygin, Ryan Spahn (Gloria) is appropriately irritating. Ray Anthony Thomas (Jitney) brings pathos to the role of Dr. Chebutykin. Ako (God Said This) makes a strong impression as the family’s ancient servant Anfisa. As minor civil servant Ferapont, Gene Jones (The Trip to Bountiful) is aptly bumbling. The humor of the first act is less in evidence after intermission. By the end, we are more saddened than amused. Director Trip Cullman (Choir Boy, Lobby Hero), Feiffer’s frequent collaborator, shows great affinity for her sensibility. The production shows off MCC’s black box theater to great advantage. With the audience sitting on facing sides of the raised stage platform, no one is more than four rows from the actors. The key visual element of Mark Wendland’s (The Pain of My Belligerence) scenic design is a large illuminated “Moscow” sign over a diorama of the city at one end of the auditorium. Paloma Young’s (Peter and the Starcatcher) costumes mix period gowns with modern tee shirts and hoodies. I was frequently entertained along the way, but when it was over I had to ask myself what the point was. I don’t see what contribution Feiffer has made to the appreciation of Chekhov. I would like to declare a hundred-year moratorium on adapting or deconstructing his works. Running time: 2 hours including intermission. NOTE: I strongly urge you to brush up on Three Sisters before attending.

We're Only Alive for a Short Amount of Time

B

Don’t let the lengthy and unhelpful title of David Cale’s latest performance piece at The Public Theater deter you from seeing it. Cale (The Total Bent, Harry Clarke) serves as playwright, lyricist, co-composer (with Matthew Dean Marsh), and performer of this autobiographical monologue interspersed with songs that retells moments from his formative years in Luton, “the ugliest city in England.” His alcoholic father and thwarted mother constantly fought, leading the young David to take refuge in breeding tropical birds and listening to pop music, while his younger brother Simon mostly stayed in his room building model airplanes. Their shady grandfather did business with the notorious Kray twins. Cale dreamed of escaping to America to become a singer before he reached 21. A shocking event when he was 16 changed all their lives. Without any change of costume, Cale convincingly transforms into each family member. Despite the sensational nature of some of the material, Cale, rather remarkably, maintains his calm demeanor. He is a masterful storyteller. His songs impressed me less; they sometimes did not seem to arise organically from the moment and the lyrics were often annoyingly repetitive. The music was well-played by an ensemble of six behind a scrim. The set by Kevin Depinet is a black square with a stool and a mic, unadorned except for antique birdcages that disappear into the ceiling and, during an episode about Simon, are briefly replaced by model airplanes. Director Robert Falls (The Jacksonian, Shining City) shows a talent for this material. For me, the piece was most affecting as a touching love letter to Cale’s late mother. I was surprised that the Anspacher Theater was far from full for the performance I attended. Running time: 90 minutes, no intermission.

The Mountains Look Different

B-

Jonathan Bank, Mint Theater Company’s artistic director and excavator of neglected plays, has unearthed yet another play that was a hit in Dublin but never made to America. This time it is an 1948 melodrama by Micheal mac Liammoir, co-founder of the illustrious Gate Theater, about Bairbre (Brenda Meaney; Indian Ink, Incognito), a woman from the west of Ireland who returns home, newly married, after 13 hard years in London. Her naive husband Tom (Jesse Pennington; Uncle Vanya, Bootycandy), whom she truly seems to love, is unaware that, having no skill for domestic work, she was forced to support herself as a prostitute. Tom’s crusty father Martin (Con Horgan; The Beauty Queen of Leenane), a farmer, takes an immediate dislike to Bairbre and claims to have met her before. The bad blood between the two of them escalates to a dangerous level. The action is set on St. John’s Eve, a pre-Christian fertility invocation marked by building bonfires. We also meet Bairbre’s uncle Matthew Conroy (Paul O’Brien; Is Life Worth Living?); Bartley (Daniel Marconi), Martin’s impudent servant; Bridin (McKenna Quigley Harrington), a young girl; Maire (Cynthia Mace; Skintight), an old woman with a troubled grandson, Batty Wallace (Liam Forde; Much Ado about Nothing); and a priest (Ciaran Byrne; The Dead 1904). After a solid first act, things go somewhat awry after intermission. The introduction of four new characters late in the play dissipates the claustrophobia that was building up. The drama rapidly turns into melodrama. The strongest reason to see the play is the riveting performance by Ms. Meaney. One feels her pain. The other two principals do not fare as well. Mr. Horgan is insufficiently menacing as Martin. Mr. Pennington does not seem to have a grasp of Tom’s character; his movements are strangely crablike and he barely opens his mouth when he speaks. Vicki R. Davis’s (The Suitcase under the Bed) opening set of a stone farmhouse exterior with a mountain vista in the background turns around to reveal the main room of the farmhouse. Andrea Varga’s (The Suitcase under the Bed) costumes fit the characters very well. The lighting design by Christian DeAngelis (Hinkle Wakes) is an asset to the production. Director Aidan Redmond’s direction seemed choppy at times. The play is an interesting curiosity but not a must-see. Running time: two hours including intermission.

NOTE: The program contains an extended note on the life of the author that make him seem worthy of his own biographical drama. In addition to co-founding the Gate, he was esteemed as an actor, playwright, set designer and painter. He and Gate co-founder Hilton Edwards were prominent as a gay couple long before that was fashionable or even legal. Finally, 12 years after his death, it was revealed that the ultra-Irish mac Liammoir was actually Alfred Willmore, an Englishman whose love of things Irish led him to transform himself into an Irishman. 

Toni Stone

C+

It’s an interesting coincidence that “Toni Stone” and “A Strange Loop” have arrived in New York within a few weeks of each other because in some ways they form a pair of bookends. Both shows have a talented all-black ensemble that includes one woman and several men, with the men playing a variety of characters of diverse age, race and gender. Both have protagonists who are surrounded by unsupportive people. Both shows are enhanced by first-rate choreography. Both have lead actors who are giving a memorable performance. However, while the hero of “A Strange Loop” has trouble finding a clear goal, the title character in “Toni Stone,” a Roundabout commission, knows exactly what she wants — to be a professional baseball player. Based on a biography by Martha Ackmann, the show depicts moments in her interesting life from childhood in the Twin Cities to her years with the Indianapolis Clowns, the Negro League team where she replaced Hank Aaron. Playwright Lydia R. Diamond (Smart People, Stick Fly) tells Stone’s story out of sequence. At the beginning, she is already with the Clowns. The backward and forward movement from that point does not always make clear what period we are observing. The other actors play her teammates as well as her priest, a racist coach, a friendly prostitute and her much older suitor, among others. The play vividly captures what it was like to be a Negro League ballplayer in the racist 1950’s when the league was struggling to hold onto an audience as its best players were hired away by major league teams. Its biggest flaw is that there is far more telling than showing. There are many long monologues, particularly in the first act, that slow the momentum. Fortunately, after intermission the pace picks up and the anecdotes, while sometimes only loosely connected, are more interesting. The impressive April Matthis (Fairview, Antlia Pneumatica) makes Stone a sympathetic character. The supporting cast — Eric Berryman (The B-Side), Harry Blanks (Jitney), Phillip James Brannon (JUNK, Log Cabin), Daniel J. Bryant, Jonathan Burke (Choir Boy), Toney Goins, Kenn E. Head and Ezra Knight (Mean Girls) — is uniformly strong. A stylized baseball scene choreographed by Camille A. Brown (Choir Boy, Once on This Island) is a knockout. The set by Riccardo Hernandez (Frankie & Johnny…, Indecent) is dominated by five banks of stadium lights that extend into the auditorium and three sections of bleacher seats. Dede Ayite’s (By the Way, Meet Vera Stark; BLKS) costumes are apt. The lighting design by Allen Lee Hughes (Intimate Apparel, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolff) was a bit hyperactive. Pam MacKinnon’s (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolff, Clybourne Park) direction is assured. As social history, I found the play informative; as theater, it was less than compelling. If you are a baseball fan or a history buff, you are more likely to enjoy it. Running time: two hours 15 minutes including intermission.