Once

"Once" at Jacobs Theatre, March 8, 14 and 28, 2012

(Photos: Joan Marcus)

It's been a couple of years since I've seen a show multiple times.  The last was Lincoln Center's sweeping revival of South Pacific, which I saw once in previews, once mid-run, and the closing performance. The beauty and romance of that show is very different from Once, based on the 2006 movie of the same title.

After a successful run off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop, Once has moved uptown for what I hope will be a lengthy run. It brings its own sense of romance, intimate and touching, while hunkered down in a Dublin pub.  Each of its characters are searching for his or her respective place in the world.

Leading the quest are the generically, yet conspicuously named Guy (Steve Kazee) and Girl (Cristin Milioti).  He, a vaccuum repairman and frustrated musician, is foundering after having his heart broken by a recently emigrated girlfriend; she, by an estranged husband who has returned to their native Czech Republic.  She encounters Guy at the pub and is immediately drawn to him, sensing his despair, and manages to turn him to his music to resolve his pain.  The spark between them smolders slowly as each convinces themselves of reasons to stay apart.  She sees his departed girlfriend as first love unresolved, which would forever be a barrier between them.

Sharing his musical instincts, Girl convinces Guy to record a demo album, take it to New York, get his girlfriend back and live happily ever after. She arranges the financing and the backup musicians, mostly her ragtag Czech housemates to make the recording.  I'll skip the rest to avoid a spoil.

Mr. Kazee finds himself in an most suitable role for his talent, far exceeding his performance in 2007's 110 in the Shade.  As Guy, he hesitates and demures at Girl's initial bossy insistence that he pursue both his music and his lost love.  When he sings, his broken heart virtually pounds with raw and visceral emotion.  We clearly see him struggle as the songs he wrote for one woman take on another meaning as he recognizes his feelings for a potential new love.  It's a powerful, honest performance.

Ms. Milioti's captures the direct, no-nonsensibilty of the Czech emigre. After hearing his music, she says, "You are like Mendelssohn, except you are alive...and Irish."  She is surprised to be caught up in her feelings for Guy, yet pushes him away for what she believes is his own good.  Her most touching moment comes when Guy asks her how to ask in Czech if she still loves her husband.  After he parrots her words to repeat the question, she answers, also in Czech which he won't understand, "I love you."

The book for Once, by Enda Walsh, expands the backstories and provides clearer exposition unfolding this story.  Director John Tiffany's delicate direction woven with Steven Hoggett's movement balance an otherwise eclectic mix of characters into a cohesive ensemble. The mostly diegetic score, has been expanded from the original movie, by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova.  Bob Crowley's scenic and costume design clearly delineates character and settings, working seamlessly with Natasha Katz' lighting.  The twinkling light effect for the hillside scene is quite clever.

I have to say, though I liked the original movie, it didn't move me like the stage version.  I think the heightened theatricality, combined with Mr. Kazee's and Ms. Milioti's tender performances are what generates the passion in the theatre.

Jasmine Guy Syndrome

"The Country Girl" at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, April 11, 2008

It looked like a dream team: Frances McDormand, Morgan Freeman, Peter Gallagher under the able direction of Mike Nichols in a revival of Clifford Odets' 1950 classic backstage drama.

The piece certainly has pedigree. It won a Tony for Uta Hagen's Georgie in the original, and one for Jason Robards' Frank in the 1972 revival, not to mention the Oscar for Grace Kelly in the 1954 movie version. In its current outing on the Rialto, it seems that the third time is not the charm. I'll try to keep in mind that this was an early preview, but if a production is selling seats at full fare, they should be ready.

The story follows that of Frank Elgin (Mr. Freeman), an aging actor with a teeny, tiny drinking problem. He's playing a walk-on role in a new play when the director Bernie Dodds (Mr. Gallagher) loses his leading actor. Producer Phil Cook (Chip Zien) wants to call in a named star, but Bernie thinks Frank can finally make his mark, based on a performance Bernie saw Frank give 20 years before. Skeptical of his skills and ability to stay dry, Frank accepts the role after talking it over with his long-suffering wife Georgie (Ms. McDormand). Through painful rehearsals, difficulty learning lines, and a drinking relapse during the Boston tryout, Frank pulls through and is a triumph. The drama lies in Frank's obfuscation of his own reality, blaming Georgie and creating a fictitious backstory of insecurity and weakness for her to explain why he drinks and cannot leave her.

Of the three leads, Mr. Gallagher's Bernie comes off the most successfully. There were one or two line stumbles, but it could have been the result of others' stumbling with their own lines as the cause. Ms. McDormand has some great moments as well, but she also suffers from the real weakness in the cast, Mr. Freeman. In her scenes with Mr. Gallagher, the energy returns and their chemistry is quite good together.

The title of this post goes back to the preview I saw of Richard Greenberg's play, "The Violet Hour" at Manhattan Theatre club's inaugural performance at the Biltmore. In it, Ms. Guy played a Josephine Baker-like character. Every time she walked on, it was as if someone had suddenly vacuumed every bit of energy out of the building. She was replaced in her role during previews by Robin Miles, "due to illness" and did not return to the play.

Mr. Freeman suffers a similar fate, but not quite to the same painful result. His trademark sardonic delivery works for some scenes, but the role of Frank needs a significantly larger range of emotions. Perhaps it is art imitating life, or vice versa, but Mr. Freeman struggled frequently with lines, even using the wrong character names at times (for example, referring to Mr. Gallagher's character as Frank, and then corrected by Ms. McDormand). It's difficult to say what caused the lack of chemistry between him and Ms. McDormand, but I never saw any inkling of what drew, and kept, the two characters together.

I also have to question the color-blind casting here. Mr. Freeman is the only role cast with a "minority" similar to the recent revival of "Come Back, Little Sheba" with Epatha Merkerson. In her case, the argument could be made for casting as such without needing to address it in the text of the script. Here it only seems to add to the lack of chemistry found between Ms. McDormand and Mr. Freeman.

Tim Hatley's strongly skewed perspective sets reached back to a similar concept he used in "Private Lives" in 2002. Natasha Katz' lighting complemented nicely. Albert Wolsky's costumes were spot-on to the 1950 setting.

I'm not sure what Mr. Nichols might have done to improve the situation, other than recast Mr. Freeman. I can say for certain that he was still around during previews. There was a technical glitch during the change between scenes 2 and 3, resulting in about a 30 minute delay (broken winch). Mr. Nichols addressed the audience over the PA, thanking us for our patience and graciousness. Perhaps his closing comment summed things up: "If you have drugs, do them." He gets fine performances out of the rest of the cast and keeps things moving, but he just didn't seem able to reach Mr. Freeman.

Starwatch: Actor Sam Rockwell in the audience. (He's not very tall!)

Утес и крен

"Rock 'n' Roll" at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, November 7, 2007

The very prolific Tom Stoppard is back on Broadway with another transfer from London's West End of Rock 'n' Roll. In it, he tracks the downward spiral of the Soviet empire beginning with the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 until the fall of the Iron Curtain, tying it together with the growth of rock music. This staging by Trevor Nunn, however, feels more like a screenplay than a live stage event. Clocking in at nearly 3 hours, the more-than-just-very-long first act spends much of the time on exposition. Once things start happening in Act II, it's a bit more compelling, but still a bit heady. In his last Broadway outing, last season's Coast of Utopia trilogy, each show had a page of program notes to accompany the performance.

Rock 'n' Roll has an 8-page insert, and still spends the first hour setting up the show.

Brian Cox as Max Morrow, the die-hard communist Cambridge professor, flails and blusters over the inability of the masses to rise above capitalism. Mr. Cox wears Max's convictions as an ever-increasing weight, which ends up leaving him metaphorically and literally lame after a broken leg late in life.

Sinead Cusack takes on the roles of Max's wife Eleanor, dying of breast cancer, then later as their grown daughter Esme. Her Eleanor, a professor of classics with a penchant for Sapphic poetry, rages against her own dying, betrayed by her own body while her mind can't comprehend how this has happened to her. Her Esme, an aging flower child, never feels that she compared to her mother's accomplishments in life and work.

Rufus Sewell, as Jan, the Czech grad student who returns to his country following the invasion suffers under the weight of the new regime. Sent primarily to spy on Professor Morrow, his interest was more in how to use the Communists for his own ends - education, culture, travel.

Robert Jones' revolving set serves the proceedings very nicely, effectively lit by Howard Harrison. Emma Ryott's costumes are benignly appropriate, matching the periods from the 60s to the 90s.

Mr. Nunn's staging separated scenes with rather lengthy musical interludes, projecting song/album titles, artist/performer and studio information with a focus on music by Pink Floyd and the Plastic People of the Universe. Tightening up these transitions could cut a bit of the length of the play.

And Now, For Something Completely Different

"Frost/Nixon" at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, April 5, 2007

In what is shaping up as a great season for straight plays on Broadway, the latest export from London has arrived, Peter Morgan's "Frost/Nixon."

Having only heard of the excellent reviews from the London production, I was anxious to see the retelling of how the interviews David Frost conducted with former President Richard Nixon came to be. I vaguely remember when the interviews aired in the 1970s. At the time, I had little interest in the subject. Mr. Morgan has done a splendid job of transforming these events into a lively evening of theatre. (Spoiler alert - is that possible with an historically-based play?)

As David Frost, the ever-talented Michael Sheen brings all the champagne dreams of a talk-show host trying to morph himself into a serious journalist. His Frost is living life in the fast lane, and understandably, is reluctant to give all of that up. He's a man wanting to have his cake and eat it too! To paraphrase a fellow blogger, there's a reason why the title is Frost/Nixon and not Nixon/Frost. Early on, Frost's goal was scoop Mike Wallace who was the pre-eminent master of the "get" interview at the time. Risking everything from personal reputation to personal fortune, Frost beat him.

But this is not meant to slight Frank Langella's performance as Richard Nixon in any way. Taking on such a formidable historical figure is fraught with possibilities, both good and bad. I do think Mr. Morgan's version of Mr. Nixon comes off a bit buffoonish at times, but remember, it's only a play and meant to be entertaining. Mr. Langella, in a similar fashion to Anthony Hopkins' dead-on portrayal of Richard Nixon, doesn't stoop to impersonate or mimic the trademark images - the ski-slope nose, the flapping jowls. He does alter his voice a bit, which when I closed my eyes sounded more like Walter Cronkite than Nixon, but it's still effective as he matches the timbre and pattern of the late President's speech habits. He captures the Nixon who was trying to re-brand himself after his disgrace, and regain his place of respect among the retired heads of state. From that end, he did achieve a certain level of success, reminding the viewers that aside from the Watergate scandal, his presidency was quite successful in several areas.

Mr. Morgan provides very interesting drama between Frost and Nixon once the interviews are actually underway. In the first three sessions Mr. Nixon maintains full control, driving the conversation to his own advantage, hardly allowing Frost to get a word in, edgewise. On the eve of the final taping, Frost receives a disarming phone call from Nixon. It's here that we see how clearly each man is trying to rise above his current reputation and how important success in this interview is to achieve that. During this call, Nixon effectively tosses down the gauntlet at Frost, Nixon feeling he is well on his way to his own salvation at Frost's expense. It is this period when Frost's assistants/advisers find previously unexplored transcripts of the White House telephone tapes revealing Nixon's foreknowledge of the break-in.

It is here when Nixon states: "When the President does it, it's not illegal." This was the fatal flaw in Nixon's administration - that he felt he was above the law. (I can't help wondering if our current administration has bothered to look at recent history in order to avoid making the mistakes of the past. Somehow I doubt it.)

The interaction in the final session is riveting. Now I want to find the original recordings and see them to compare!

Director Michael Grandage shows a firm and clever hand in this production. He updates the cheesy TV aura of the 1970s, matching it to the intensity and pace of the play. Christopher Oram's sets and costumes capture the shag and polyester gabardine days of the period, nicely enhanced by Neil Austins lighting.