Playwrights Horizons Discount Offer - After the Revolution

Order by November 9 with code ARGR and tickets are only:

·        $40* (reg. $55) for the first week of performances Oct. 21 – Oct. 28

·        $45 (reg. $55) for all performances Oct. 29 – Nov. 28

HOW TO ORDER:

·        Order online at www.playwrightshorizons.org. Use code APGR.

·        Call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 (Noon-8pm daily)

·        Present a printout of this blog post to the Ticket Central box office at 416 West 42^nd Street (Noon-8pm daily).

*A limited number of $40 discounted tickets will be available for purchase. Subject to availability. Valid only in select rows.

The Divine Sister

"The Divine Sister" at the Soho Playhouse, September 20, 2010

Charles Busch returns to the NY stage with his latest effort, leading his mash-up tale of nuns in a Pittsburgh convent.  The Divine Sister plumbs the borders of The Sound of Music, Agnes of God, Doubt, Song of Bernadette, and Nunsense wrapped up in  a strong dose of Where Angels Go Trouble Follows. 

The jokes are broader than the Hudson, and the "broads" are among the widest Mr. Busch has written to date.

The absurd plot, of a convent/school in early 1960s Pittsburgh on financial skids includes a new member, Sister Walburga (Alison Fraser), imported from Germany to help with fund-raising )or does she have a plan of her own??).  Mother Superior (Mr. Busch) and her BFF and second in command, Sister Acacius (Julie Halston) have decided to approach the rich Jewish, agnostic widow, Mrs. Levinson (Jennifer Van Dyck) to donate her home to the order until a new school can be built.  One problem facing the order is that the postulant Agnes (Amy Rutberg) has a tendency toward miracles, healings and stigmata-ism, bringing unwanted publicity.  Like any good catholic story, there are multiple mother-child relationships hidden behind secret adoptions, accented by occasion musical numbers dubbed as badly as any Italian western out there, and a couple of flashback scenes to Mother Superior's previous life as a crime reporter in the 1940s.  Plots twist and all is revealed to a comic effect only conceivable by Mr. Busch  - a lost book of the bible, the Gospel of Saint Gladys which tells the story of the Jesus' sister Joyce - the titular Divine Sister.  Brilliant!

As the Mother Superior, Mr. Busch is in his highest Rosalind Russell form - an Auntie Mame in a habit.  Ms. Halston has a bit more stretching to do but pulls it off as Sister Acacius, MS' closest ally and confidant.  Ms. Fraser is all but unintelligible as the overly accented Teutonic sister.  Her attempted seduction of Sister Acacius is hysterical.  When Acacius talks about spending time with her husband (Jesus, y'know?) before bed, Walburga suggests luridly, "Perhaps ze sree of us should get togezzer sometime."

Director Carl Andress manages to keep the larger than life performances within the confines of the small Soho Playhouse stage, but one can tell that was not an easy job.  He never shies away from a bawdy choice, or bathroom humor - Noel Coward, this ain't.

The Divine Sister is on an open-ended run, but don't wait to see it.

Orlando

"Orlando" at Classic Stage Company, September 21, 2010

(photo by Joan Marcus)

Virginia Woolf's tale of an Elizabethan nobleman, who lives as a man until age 30, then wakes from a 6 month coma to find he has become a woman who lives another 370 years without aging comes to Classic Stage Company care of Sarah Ruhl.  It's an aggressive challenge to take on a work that Ms. Ruhl herself describes as "...language...so exquisite it would have seemed like a terrible bastardization to just leave the narration behind and make up dialog."  Despite the over theatricality of the novel's premise, that quality doesn't guarantee great theatre.  Ms. Ruhl, in apparent deference to Ms. Woolf's erudition, gives us an evening that is part acting, part exposition where the characters recite their activities in third person more often that portraying a role.  In the end, it feels more like a writing exercise than a play.

The performers are, however, committed fully and this eclectic cast does their best to rise to the challenge.  Francesca Faridany gives a true image of Orlando as a callow youth, carrying the discomfort through the transformation from man to woman, though the full nudity that ends Act 1 seemed completely gratuitous when a mere revelation of the curve of her breast and hip could have communicated the transformation equally.  The three-man ensemble of David Greenspan, Tom Nelis and Howard Overshown ebb and flow in their effectiveness portraying the various characters both male and female including Queen Elizabeth (Mr. Greenspan) and the man Orlando eventually marries (Mr. Nelis).

Visually, the production is excellent.  Allen Moyer's lush green lawn platform, accented with gilt chairs and an oversized ceiling mirror reflects Christopher Akerlind's thoughtful lighting.  I particularly liked Anita Yavich's costume concept which suggested the various periods of history in a timeless white palette, accented by simple add-ons (or not so simple for Queen Elizabeth).

Director Rebecca Taichman, a frequent collaborator with Ms. Ruhl tries to play along, bringing in some clumsily executed choreography from Annie Parsons, but the results are less than successful.

"Orlando" runs through October 17, 2010

American Idiot

"American Idiot" at the St. James Theatre, September 12, 2010

Green Day comes to Broadway with this staging based on their 2004 album of the same title, broadening the original concept into a story of three friends, Johnny (John Gallagher, Jr.), Will (Michael Esper) and Tunny (Start Sands) who plan to abandon their small-town, suburban upbringing for the bright lights of the big city.  Will gets shot down before the trip begins when he learns his girlfriend is pregnant.  Johnny and Tunny make the trek, but Tunny joins the military in the aftermath of September 11 and ends up in Iraq.  Johnny falls victim to the lure of drugs under the spell of his dealer, St. Jimmy (Tony Vincent).

Each in their own way become the American Idiot they so much long to avoid, by the poor choices they make in their lives.  Will's marriage disintegrates before his eyes as he refuses to grow up and accept the responsibility he's put upon himself to raise a family.  Tunny, severely wounded in a roadside bombing, falls for a military nurse.  An aerial effect works nicely to convey the drug-induced dream sequence as he recovers from his injury.  Johnny falls in love with the oddly described Whatsername (Rebecca Naomi Jones) only to fall more seriously under his own drug addiction.

In the end, all three end up back in their small town to heal their wounds and try to figure out how to grow up.

Mr. Gallagher gives his role much more than the script does, a testament to his talent.  Mr. Esper's Will has the least to do of the three, other than sit on the couch and crack open another beer.  Mr. Sands finds a nice humanity in his character's conflicted spirit.  Mr. Vincent's St. Jimmy, a cross between the devil and the Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang slinks about and vamps it up for everything he's worth - a relative highlight of the evening.

Director Michael Mayer, well-acquainted with the rock musical concept keeps things moving, but has little to work with from his own thinly drafted book.  Steven Hoggett's "choreography" looks more like a suburban "broadway bound" beginner dance class.

The band is terrific, however, and the voices and visuals are good.  It's anything but a traditional musical, but it could stand a few more characteristics of one to strengthen the storytelling.

Cabfare for the Common Man

"Cabfare for the Common Man" at The Crowne Theatre at The Producer Club, September 16-18, 2010

I'll be appearing in the last act of the first half, a piece called "Passed Hordes" with the lovely and talented Sandy Trullinger, directed by the lovely and talented Brad Caswell, courtesy of Sweet & Tart Productions.  Tickets available at www.theatermania.com.

Bring your friends and neighbors!

NY International Fringe Festival, 2010

New York International Fringe Festival, August 2010

I managed to get to three offerings in this year's Fringe, Rites of Privacy, 3boys,  and Open Heart.

True to Fringe form, they were all very different, both in premise and quality.

Rites of Privacy, at the Here Arts Center, August 28, 2010

Written and performed by David Rhodes, this one-act series of confessions patches together a range of tales, personal to Mr. Rhodes and a number of seemingly created characters.  One isn't sure if the various tales are people Mr. Rhodes knew or not.  Among them are a Jew who escaped the Holocaust, a southern matron who allows her abusive husband to die and a particularly upsetting doctor who performs an abortion on herself.  Mr. Rhodes slides into each character easily enough and masters sufficient mannerisms to keep them from running together, but his own confession at the end didn't feel particularly revelatory.  I find his title misleading in that there were no tales of secret habits or practices.  All were tales of past events - - confessions.

Director Charles Loffredo keeps the pace up, but seems as unsure of the point as I was.  Greg Emetaz' projections add a bit of cinematic atmosphere, but it's not enough to carry the show.

3boys, at the 4th Street Theatre, August 28, 2010

I didn't really realize that this show was about dogs I arrived to find two of the actors tumbling about the stage like puppies.  Or at least one was tumbling about.  The other was more like a bored babysitter.  Zip (Patrick Horn) is the newest addition to the household, joining Lee (Alex Engquist and Comet (Matt Brown).  Who knew that creatures of the emotional equivalent of a 4 year old knew such worry?  Comet is sad and angry though I was never really clear as to why.  Maybe it was having been put out for stud.  Lee wants Comet to be happy again.  Zip just wants to play with the ball.

Becca Schollberg's script plumbs the depths of canine angst, going well beyond any anthropomorphizing ever attempted by Disney.  These are woeful pups.  Mr. Engquist comes off the strongest of the three, but it's a fairly low threshold.  Director Madeleine Rose M. Parsigan pulls emotion from the three on occasion, but it comes across like an acting exercise a la Viola Spolin.

Open Heart at LAMAMA, August 29, 2010

Crediting Anna Deveare Smith, playwright Joe Salvatore has continued his work in "the verbatim interview theatre process" with Open Heart, an exploration of monogamy among gay male couples.  This verbatim process, similar to the work of Moises Kaufman in The Laramie Project, and Doug Wright in I Am My Own Wife, pulls the text directly from recorded interviews.  The stories from these interviews get woven into an interesting picture of how gay men from small towns and big cities deal with the issue of monogamy in a committed relationship.  With all the political furor surrounding same sex marriage of late, Mr. Salvatore manages to present multiple perspectives without showing favor for any one.

Mr. Salvatore directs his work and has assembled quite the capable cast of five to create  the fifteen men sharing their views and experiences, including Chris Bresky, Stephen Donovan, Daryl Embry, Nick Lewis and Karl O'Brian Williams.  Mr. Bresky was excellent, moving smoothly from a 50ish man from Queens to a stammering Irishman.  Pace was brisk and the staging very clever, making excellent use of Blake McCarty's projections.

Of the three plays above, Open Heart was the one to have seen.  Mr. Salvatore would do well to contact David Drake about producing a run in Provincetown next summer.

Canned Ham

"Canned Ham" at The Art House, Provincetown, MA, August 15, 2010

Like every good actor in New York, Tom Judson has written a one-man show based on his life as an actor in New York.  He does have a good gimmick, particularly suited for this summer run in Provincetown, that he spent a number of years as a gay adult film star under the suitably butch name of Gus Mattox.

There are elements of Mr. Judson's story with a sad, but familiar note - his lover fell victim to AIDS in the mid-90s.  This becomes part of his road to porn.

The script itself, is still a work in process as Mr. Judson has published on his own blog promoting the show, Canned Ham.  Mr. Judson, remarkably handsome as you can see here, is a capable actor and a talented musician (which you can't see here).  The story provides an opportunity to demonstrate his skill one a number of instruments from the accordion to the clarinet, sometimes simultaneously.  In this, he seems to be trying just a bit too hard.  Moments described of significant pain come across occasionally glib, whether from him not wanting to make the audience too sad, or just spilling all the words out to get to the next line.

Nonetheless, there are plenty of laughs and he certainly enjoys that part the most.  This is when he is the most charming.

Credit to William Ivey Long for selecting the jockstrap and wifebeater.  Credit also to David Drake for producing this engagement.  It's excellent summer fare at the "gay national park" that is Provincetown.

Canned Ham runs Sundays and Mondays through September 6, 2010.

The Pied Pipers of the Lower East Side

"The Pied Pipers of the Lower East Side" presented by The Amoralists Theatre Company at PS 122, July 31, 2010

(photo: Larry Cobra)

Returning to the NYC stage after an earlier successful run, The Pied Pipers of the Lower East Side tells a tale of a poly-amorous foursome led by an ersatz Che Guevera wannabe, Billy (James Kautz).  His housemates/lovers include Wyatt (Matthew Pilieci), Dawn (Mandy Nicole Moore) and Dear (Sarah Lemp).  Dear and Wyatt run a vegan restaurant on the street level of the building in exchange for free rent of the apartment.  Dawn was accumulated by the three others when living on the street, singing songs for tips.  She continues this as the group's only source of cash.  Billy's brother Evan (Nick Lawson) turns up for a visit, bringing an added level of chaos to the proceedings.

The story is ultimately a bit of Rent retold when their landlord/benefactor Donovan (Malcom Madera) shows up to announce he's sold the building.  They have 2 weeks to move out.  Presented in three (long) acts, playwright (and director) Derek Ahonen hedges his bets as to whether this play is a political statement, demonstrated by Billy's revolutionary and communistic tenets of equality and freedom from class structure.  Or is it a farce?  The plot includes ridiculous encounters, such as Evan's first meeting of Dear, Dawn and Wyatt as the latter three exit a shower menage a' trois naked, Wyatt fully erect.  Or is it a satire?  Billy talks at length of a revolutionary group in Mexico, in which his involvement made him an assassination target.

Since I'm not sure after an almost three-hour performance, the weakness is in the writing.

The performances are fully committed and admirable.  Mr. Kautz' addicted and alcoholic Billy is as manic and earnest as any pseudo-revolutionary I might imagine.  Mr. Pilieci's Wyatt is long on passion (as it were) but maybe just a bit short on brains.  Ms. Lemp's Dear is the coolest head among the four, trying to mother her lovers into well-meaning actions.

Mr. Ahonen's direction keeps things moving, though his own script drags the pace from time to time.  I could almost smell Al Schatz's stale LES apartment, piled up with its collected detritus and trash.


The Pied Pipers of the Lower East Side closed on August 9.

A Little Night Music (revisit)

"A Little Night Music" at the Walter Kerr Theatre, July 30, 2010

(photo: Joan Marcus)

With an impressive pair of replacements, I returned to see ALNM.  I'm so glad I did.  As much as I enjoyed the original cast (review: here), it is so nice to see how a change of actor can enhance a show.

Taking on the mantle of Madame Armfeldt from Angela Lansbury, Elaine Stritch gives a two-level performance, though perhaps unintentionally.  It reminded me a bit of when I saw the revival of "Nine" a few years ago and Eartha Kitt had taken over the role of Liliane LeFleur from Chita Rivera.  Then, Ms. Kitt as Ms. LeFleur was dreadful, BUT Ms. Kitt as "Eartha Kitt as Liliane Lefleur" was fabulous.  The effect is similar here with Ms. Stritch.  Her classic deadpan line readings don't quite deliver the sophistication one expects from Mme Armfeldt, but taking the performance as a whole, she does make a success of it.  There were a few bumpy moments along the way in "Liaisons" but only the truest fans who have the score memorized would have realized it.

Replacing Catherine Zeta Jones, Bernadette Peters as Desiree performs as though she's studied the role for years.  Her Desiree is quite a bit more world-weary than her predecessor.  She sees that not only is her beauty on the brink, so is her time to fill the rest of her life.  Ms. Peters does all this without coming across as jaded or cynical, but still hopeful that her chance exists.  At the moment when she thinks all is lost, the classic "Send In The Clowns," she sings through tears with heart-breaking emotion.  It is a masterful performance.

The rest of the cast remains strong overall. A few notes: Miss Mallory's Anne has taken on something of an odd drawl in her speech that feels a bit anachronistic at times, but her performance has grown during the run.  Miss Davie, too, has grown, finding nuance at opportune moments.


Miss Peters and Miss Stritch are on contract through November.  It will be interesting to see if the producers can come up with another pair of replacements this interesting when the time comes.

Banana Shpeel

"Banana Shpeel" presented by Cirque du Soleil at the Beacon Theatre, May 23, 2010

Cirque du Soleil, having turned the concept of circus on its head, creating a international brand and establishing permanent productions around the world, has finally opened its production of Banana Shpeel for an open-ended run at the gloriously restored Beacon Theater on the upper west side in New York.  Cirque has, of course, visited New York regularly with its traveling productions.  Given the opportunity to attract the tourist dollar, it's easy to see the advantage of a site-specific production here.

Cirque's productions all follow the same general concept of various acts of contortion, juggling, and acrobatics interspersed with a running clown theme, accompanied by ethereal, new age-style music and singers.  For NY, they took what might have been an interesting concept of a vaudeville theme to form the arc of this production.  Vaudeville has been dead for a long time, and it's dead for a reason.  Writer and director David Shiner is unable to revive it in the not funny framework he has created.  As production problems leaked to the press earlier this year, several show doctors reportedly came through to fix the issues. 

Based on what I sat through this afternoon, this piece is DOA.  Cirque seems to have made the mistake of forgetting what the do well and throwing away a lot of time and money on what they don't.  I get the idea of trying to create a "Broadway-style" version for NY.  But, I don't get why they didn't realize it isn't going to work.  The actual acts are up to Cirque's usual standards: interesting and unique, impeccably performed by visually attractive artists.

Further, the show is billed as "family-friendly," with which I must disagree based on a handful of off-color lines including, "...open a can of shut the f*** up,"  bleeped perhaps, but fully recognizable nonetheless.  The clown wearing the trenchcoat and only red briefs underneath is flasher-perv creepy, not comic relief. The Cirque website says, "This show is not recommended for children under eight years old. Children under the age of five are not permitted in the theater."  Apparently, no one told the staff at the Beacon.  I saw plenty of kids under 8 and heard what sounded like at least one infant in the audience.

One more gripe about the Beacon staff - inexplicably, the entire audience was forced to exit the building through a single back door onto Amsterdam Avenue.

Still, I like the idea of a presence for Cirque in New York, much in the sense of the permanent productions in Las Vegas and Orlando.  Hopefully they will be back with something that works next time.  As my friend R quipped, "Cirque has slipped on its own Banana Shpeel."

Banana Shpeel is scheduled to run through August 29.