Impressionism

"Impressionism" at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, March 7, 2009

Lots of stars returning to their Broadway roots this Spring. This venture includes Jeremy Irons and Joan Allen in a new pilot play by Michael Jacobs.

I'm a big fan of both actors and was excited to get to see them onstage.

I wish I'd known more about the playwright beforehand. Mr. Jabobs' background includes NY theatre in the late 70s and early 80s, before seemingly settling into Burbank where he "created, produced or developed 14 series including...'My Two Dads' [and] 'Charles in Charge' " among others.

There are some great one-liners tossed about as Mr. Irons' Thomas Buckle, the realist photographer works in the Chelsea art Gallery of Ms. Allen's Katherine Keenan (though it's never clear why he's working there).

If I thought Jane Fonda was looking good at 71, Joan Allen looks nowhere near 52, which actually undercuts the final moments of the play since you've forgotten the age difference between the two of them is not really that significant. Mr. Irons, in his defense, is still wiry and slim, and ever-so-charming.

The play is a bit of a trifle, as we slog back and forth through time watching Ms. Allen's character devolve from the freest of spirited 6 year old, to a painfully inhibited 30-something to a closed book pushing 50. Parallels and analogies are all over the place from an aqua-tint print she associates with her own mother, to a little boy who dies from AIDS in Africa. The message seems to be: We are all wounded, but is it from reality or our impression of reality? (And on a side note, with as much furor over production costs, was it really necessary for the playbill insert with the scene listing to be full-color card stock?)

I did like some of Scott Pasks set choices: Mr. Irons' desk a stark white Parsons Table, compared to Ms. Allen's French antique, and a faux proscenium that looks like a blank canvas.

Director Jack O'Brien appears to have taken a page from Trevor Nunn's staging of last season's "Rock 'n' Roll" with overly long transitions using projections of impressionist art whose subjects hint toward the plot to come. He's also created some visual hindrances by using these same framed screens to dangle between the actors looking at the paintings and the audience. Seated in the right mezzanine, my view was not terribly blocked, but I can imagine someone paying over $100 might feel differently about this theatrical choice.

Uncle Vanya

"Uncle Vanya" at Classic Stage Company, January 22, 2009

(photo: Joan Marcus)

Chekhov remains ever present in the NY theatre, with this revival following closely on the heels of "The Seagull" on Broadway, and "The Cherry Orchard" coming to BAM.

First observation: There's a lot of set crammed by Santo Loquasto into CSC's thrust stage, but he certainly has captured the feeling of rural Russia.

Denis O'Hare's Vanya comes across pretty well in spite of (because of?) his usual manic shtick. Peter Sarsgaard fares better in this bit of Chekhov than in the last ("Seagull") but not by much. Maggie Gyllenhaal, long and languid, gives a lovely and effortless performance.

It's Mamie Gummer who really gives the knockout performance of the evening as Sofya, twisting in pain over unrequited love for the doctor.

Carol Rocamora's translation avoids most of the anachronism I felt in the recent "Hedda Gabler" at Roundabout. Direct Austin Pendleton did find ways to muddy things up from time to time, most notably playing one scene onstage and another offstage concurrently.

33 Variations

"33 Variations" at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre, February 12, 2009

(photo: Joan Marcus)

Moises Kaufman's latest outing on Broadway brings Jane Fonda back to the Rialto for the first time since the 1960s.

Let's get to the important stuff:

• She looks GREAT. (whoever has done her work earned every penny!)
• She's pretty darn good in the role.
• Colin Hanks is adorable.
• LOVED Derek McLane's set.
  

Ms. Fonda's character, Dr. Katherine Brandt, is a musicologist on a quest to find out why Beethoven spent so many years writing the 33 Variations on a Waltz by Anton Diabelli. Oh, and she has Lou Gehrig's disease, so it's a life quest. Interpolate this with flashbacks to Beethoven writing the piece along with a dysfunctional relationship with her daughter. It works most of the time. Mr Kaufman has a somewhat dubious achievement during one scene when three separate moments are intertwined into an oral fugue. Dubious in that during this fugue, it is made clear that Beethoven was not very adept in this musical form. Mr. Kaufman, who also directed, seemed to be floundering in it himself.

Nonetheless, it's a compelling evening. For some reason, I kept thinking back to last season's "Farnsworth Invention," but I'm not sure why. Maybe it was the documentarian feel that both plays seem to possess.

Music In The Air

"Music In The Air" presented by Encores! at New York City Center, February 7, 2009

(photo: Joan Marcus)

With music by Jerome Kern, book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, this is a lovely piece that straddles the line between operetta and musical comedy. There are so many moments that foretell of the brilliance to come in future Hammerstein shows. There's a bit of design brilliance already present with the use of diegetic music throughout. From the playbill, Rob Berman describes this as "...meaning that when the characters sing, it is because they are actually singing in the reality of the story."

We also get a preview of a technique Mr. Hammerstein used so beautifully later in "Carousel" where the dialogue is rhymed and spoken in meter.

Kristin Chenoweth is back at the top of her form as the reigning Prima Donna, Frieda Hatzfield. Douglas Sills does his best to keep up, and occasionally gets there as Bruno Mahler, the playwright. Sierra Boggess was lovely as Sieglinde, the ingenue.

Mr. Berman kept close attention to the score and led a thoroughly enjoyable evening. It's this type of show that make Encores! worthwhile.

The Third Story

"The Third Story" presented by MCC Theater at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, January 20, 2009

(photo: Joan Marcus)

Charles Busch's latest effort starring himself and Kathleen Turner.

Guess who's the better diva?

The story is an interesting premise with clunky execution. To paraphrase Ms. Turner's character of Peg, it takes three attempts for a writer to create a story that will work get completed - the third story, hence the title. We get all three stories here, told as a fourth and it sometimes felt like at least two too many. The comedy is broad, as it were, with an able cast.

I did see a preview, which was prior to Ms Turner's injury, and (apparently) prior to her feeling totally comfortable being off-book. Sarah Rafferty as Verna/Princess Vasilia seemed desperately in search of Rachel York, yet only found her on occasion. Jennifer Van Dyck impressed as Dr. Constance Hudson and Scott Parkinson made a perfectly gooey Zygote.

David Gallo's sepia-toned sets and deco-eclectic furnishings provided the proper mood. Gregory Gales costumes were mostly spot-on. (What were those pajamas Ms. Turner was wearing?)

Hedda Gabler

"Hedda Gabler" presented by Roundabout Theatre Company at the American Airlines Theatre, January 8, 2009

Ibsen's great heroine...in a new adaptation that is both literal and anachronistic at the same time.

Here's another one I had really high hopes for, although I'll admit to having a few feelings of wariness about it. I'm a big Mary Louise Parker fan - "Weeds"? Love her, all the way back to "Longtime Companion." "Proof" blew me away - what an amazing tour-de-force performance!

Then I hear that the Roundabout is producing "Hedda Gabler" which I found a bit curious after the fairly recent and most excellent production featuring Cate Blanchett at BAM.

Disclaimer: I did see a fairly early preview, so there may be some issues that resolve themselves before opening.

Director Ian Rickson, coming off a lovely (if partly miscast) "Seagull" starts out with some eerie mood music and the first of several bizarrre "furniture ballets" which never really seem to indicate anything about the play or move the story along. The static and irregular staging became difficult to follow, particularly in a slow passage before Hedda shoves Lovborg's hand up her dress as she shoves her tongue down his throat. If that sentence sounds jarring, imagine that same response when you see it performed.

And don't get me started on fumbling lines.

Ms. Parker fully commits to her role, but here our Hedda is so disdainful and contemptuous of everyone around her, it's hard to imagine what has earned her such reverence and respect. She insults, dismisses, stalks and plots with total disregard for those around her. It isn't until Act II that she even touches her husband with anything nearing tenderness. Michael Cerveris' Jorgen Tesman bows and scrapes to the point of humiliation - not one of his finer performances.

Christopher Shinn's adaptation comes up short on subtlety and long on sarcasm. I think others have done better with this material. Hildegard Bechtler's tall and heavy set creates more viewing problems than it solves, moving some action so far to stage right that much of the audience can't see what's going on, as well as a small dark room upstage center that distracts more than it hides. Ann Roth's costumes are an eclectic mix of period and Art Nouveau.

I really wanted it to be good - I really did.

Star watch: Annie Parisse in the audience.

The American Plan

"The American Plan" presented by Manhattan Theatre Club at the Biltmore Theatre, January 8, 2009

Richard Greenberg's latest outing on the Rialto is a revival of his fractured fairy tale of sorts, set in a Catskills resort area in 1960.

The princess, Lili Adler (Lily Rabe) sits on a dock watching the social games going on across the lake at the all-inclusive and exclusive resort. Her callow and flawed prince, Nick Lockridge (Kieran Campion) climbs from his swim across the lake onto the dock to join her, apparently unaware that the property is not part of the hotel.

Lili's widowed mother Eva (Mercedes Ruehl), controls the ample purse strings left from her father's death, and the accusations quickly begin. "She murdered him, my father, you know." Eva enjoys her notoriety among the summer guests who refer to her as the Duchess or Czarina ("One should always have a population one can be superior to!"). Rounding out the household is Olivia (Brenda Pressley), the maid.

Seeing such a damsel in distress, Nick is soon enthralled to save her despite already being engaged to a social climber at the hotel, but has motives of his own. Family fortune lost, mother dead, his father was killed when cleaning his gun. Lili forces Nick's loyalty when she starts a rumor that he has an STD. This ends the engagement, not because the fiance' is disgusted, but because she fears she may have been the one to give it to him.

Eva, after some research of her own, learns some of Nick's secrets and rather than use them to get rid of the boy, she lures him into her own trap masked in goodwill. After Gil Harbison (Austin Lysy), another hotel visitor, wanders onto the property several week later, the plot thickens with some not unexpected Greenberg plot twists over who is telling the truth and when.

The story moves well enough at the lakeside, but Mr. Greenberg has tacked on an epilogue of sorts which takes place ten years later in the Adler's NYC apartment. Eva has died and Nick turns up to see Lili - it was never really clear why he came, nor were the protests heard outside her window given so much attention. Their cause was never stated, presumably Columbia students protesting the Vietnam war, but who knows?

As Lili, Ms. Rabe captures the manic child who can't escape the safe, if cloying, clutches of her domineering mother. Mr Campion, who makes his first entrance in only bathing trunks (thankfully!), masks his character a bit too much, leaving his performance slightly lacking. Ms. Pressley avoids the stereotype of household staff (unlike those in "Dividing The Estate"), in a slightly underwritten role.

It is Ms. Ruehl who commands every moment she is on stage. Though the German accent tended to obscure her lines, the character was always clear. She's the monster who suspects she may be a monster, enough so to tell other that possibility exists, but in the end fulfills the foregone conclusion without admitting the truth.

Jonathan Fensom, whose WWI trenches for last year's "Journey's End" evoked such cool dampness has put a nice spin on this revolving set, a tilting dock on a glassy black floor. He has also repeated the use of a traveling curtain for changes, quite similar to his design for "Faith Healer" from 2006. Mark McCullough's lighting completes the effect nicely.

Director David Grindley, who sat silently in the back of the orchestra section as cell phones and pagers continuously sounded during both acts, could work a bit on the pace. The show opens in two weeks, so time remains to tighten up scenes and get all the lines down cold.

I would hope that Manhattan Theatre Club might invest a bit of the Dentyne money to toss out some of the offending cell phone using ticket-holders, since the company sponsored the pre-show announcements and program stuffers. Shame on the offenders and shame on MTC for their inaction afterwards!

All My Sons

"All My Sons" at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, January 3, 2009

Arthur Miller's classic, nearing the end of its limited run and featuring the stunt-casting of Katie Holmes gets the Greek tragedy treatment in this uneven revival.

John Lithgow opens the show literally reading the stage direction from the script with the full cast standing behind him. It's an uninteresting choice of direction that didn't feel particularly fresh or unique, something one might have expected from this third revival on the Rialto. Simon McBurney directs with very broad strokes, aiming for the highest theatricality, but only getting there with some remarkable stagecraft. The storm sequence felt so real, I expected the wind to blow my hair back as rain fell on my cheek. Kudos to Christopher Shutt and Carolyn Downing's sound design. The highly-stylized train sequence was also impressive, but ultimately distracted from the realism with which the rest of the play was performed.

As for the performances, Mr. Lithgow is in his ever-fine form as Joe Keller, the flawed father whose overturned conviction for selling substandard parts to the military during WWII resulting in the deaths of 21 aviators tortures the remaining family and friends who surround him.

Dianne Wiest approaches Wagnerian form as his wife Kate. She doesn't quite get to the "Don't speak...don't...speak...no, don't...speak" theatricality that defined her brilliance in Woody Allen's Bullets Over Broadway, but she gets close as she rails in denial over her missing son Larry, who disappeared during a regular mission during the war and has never been recovered.

Patrick Wilson, playing Larry's older brother Chris seemed a bit too attractive for the role of one overshadowed by a sibling. Mr. Wilson struggles for gravitas and insecurity as a young man trying to move on with life by starting a new life with Anne, his brother's sweetheart. At least he meets the requirement of at least one shirtless scene per show.

As Anne, Ms. Holmes is lovely to look at and does exceed the low standard set by other television and film actors who have trod the boards such as Ashley Judd. She claws to approach the bar set for her by the rest of the cast, but never quite makes it, wavering between the self-conscious and amateurish. Still, her voice seems to have suffered from the strain of 8 shows per week, sounding gravelly and hoarse as she substitutes poor technique for emotional delivery.

It also bothered me that she spent so much time speaking while facing upstage. Note that she was not alone in this type of action. Much of the rest of the cast seemed to have been directed this way as well. (Had the original plan been to have onstage seating like Equus, Xanadu, Spring Awakening, and Inherit The Wind?)

The use of mixed media on the back wall creating ghostly images of the war, the family house profile and a disappearing window to Larry's old room distracted more than it added to Tom Pye's scenic design.

Star watch: Jim Norton (The Seafarer, Port Authority) in the mezzanine near me.

Dividing the Estate

"Dividing the Estate" at the Booth Theatre, January 1, 2009

(photo by Joan Marcus)

Horton Foote's version of a Tennessee Williams premise left a bit of a disappointing legacy for me, despite what should have been an excellent cast.

I had decided to see this show mostly to see Elizabeth Ashley. Much to my disappointment, Miss Ashley (or Ahsley, as it was spelled on the notice) was out for this performance and her role was played by less than impressive Jill Tanner. It's got to be terrifically difficult to serve as an understudy on a Broadway show, and I don't mean to diminish Ms. Tanner's efforts. However, minimum requirements when stepping in are to know ALL of the lines as well as NOT throwing away ALL of the jokes. Sadly, Ms. Tanner failed on both counts.

I found the plot relatively predictable, telegraphing character deaths in short order. I also found several characters to be severely one-dimensional, either by script, direction or performance. It was sometimes difficult to tell which was most at fault.

There were one or two bright spots. Penny Fuller as Lucille turns in a lovely performance as the widowed daughter fighting for her son's legacy. Hallie Foote's portrayal of Lucille's sister, the greedy and selfish Mary Jo took until the second act for me to find any note of character shading. The rest of the cast fell victim to either stereotype (in the case of the house staff roles) or wooden delivery (in the case of Devon Abner, Maggie Lacey, Nicole Lawrence and Jenny Dare Paulin).

Jeff Cowie's set works hard to cram in the plethora of features required by the script, but doing so ultimately compromised the grand, but fading elegance of the family manse.

Director Michael Wilson provides a meandering pace giving room to allow the mouse I saw crossing the house left aisle to upstage the entire first act. (Really, a mouse in the aisle!)

Pal Joey

"Pal Joey" presented by Roundabout Theatre Company at Studio 54, December 2, 2008

In its first Broadway revival since 1976, the Roundabout has assembled a fairly impressive cast and creative team of the Rodgers and Hart classic. With a new book by Richard Greenberg (who either left much of Mr. Hart's original zingers, or significantly studied up on his Noel Coward) the story has been streamlined a bit (farewell Melba Snyder), maintaining the sophistication that is the hallmark of Rodgers and Hart. I did question the new subplot for Mike, the club manager (Robert Clohessy), though it works overall.

As Joey, Peggy Sawyer Matthew Risch has leapt from the chorus to land above the title, replacing Christian Hoff. (Mr. Hoff withdrew as the result of a "foot injury.") Mr. Risch, dark and handsome, is a talented dancer and acquits himself well in the book scenes. Stockard Channing returns to Broadway for the first time since 1999's revival of "Lion In Winter" (also courtesy of the Roundabout). Her Vera is classy, though a bit breathless in song (perhaps she's strapped in a bit too tightly in William Ivey Long's gorgeous gowns?).

For me, it's Martha Plimpton who steals the show as Gladys Bumps. Mr. Greenberg's rewrite has tossed "Zip" her way in Act II - who knew she could sing? She's well on her way to a Bea Arthur-baritone. I can't wait to see what she'll do next.

Ms. Plimpton and Ms. Channing both owe a debt to Graciela Danielle for choreography that swirls the company around each (a la Faith Prince in "Guys and Dolls"). The choreography is excellent overall, but the ballet ending Act I did feel a bit creaky from time to time. Paul Gemignani maintains his standard of excellence with the 16 piece orchestra, though there were times when singers suffered as a result, particularly Mr. Risch and Jenny Fellner as Linda English.

Scott Pask's creative set did feel either a bit over designed or underused. The El train scaffold begged for more attention than just to create extra shadows in Paul Gallo's excellent lighting.

Mr. Mantello should be proud of his work here, creatively staged with fine performances from all.

UPDATE: John Lahr offers a nice analysis with some valuable comparisons between the original book by John O'Hara and the new book by Richard Greenberg. Check it out here.