Macbeth

The National Theater of Scotland's production of "Macbeth" at Ethel Barrymore Theatre, May 20, 2013

Alan Cumming returns to the Great White Way, reprising his one-man production of the Scottish Play following last summer's visit during the Lincoln Center Festival.

Under the direction of Once director John Tiffany and Andrew Goldberg, it's another riff on Marat/Sade with inmates putting on the play.  Mr. Cumming appears to have arrived after an undisclosed traumatic event, bloodied and confused.  His caretakers (Jenny Sterlin and Brendan Titley) tend his wounds, collect his clothes and tissue from a cheek swab and under his fingernails.  It's something of a next step compared to the 2008 Broadway revival with Patrick Stewart perhaps, but I'm equally unconvinced of this concept as well.

For a festival production, it makes a certain amount of sense, a bravura performance carried by a solo actor for a specific occasion.  It's a bit of a stretch to liken that to a limited run on Broadway, in my humble opinion.  Had this been a smash with audiences and critics, one could count on seeing it extend.  It is selling relatively well, but at a strong discount.

Nonetheless, the upside is that the tale is told in an intermissionless hour and 45 minutes.  Once the audience attunes to Mr. Cumming's variations in accent and transitions, the salient elements of the plot come through.  He bounds about the asylum basement ward, collecting conveniently placed flotsam and jetsam to assist: an upholstered wheelchair for the king's throne, a filthy and tattered baby doll as Malcolm, a ragged blanket for a uniform.  The caretakers fill in for minor characters on occasion. His multiple characterizations do find separation, but most merely float on the surface.  The end result is a shout of "watch me ACT!" Fans of Mr. Cumming will be enthralled.

Messrs Tiffany and Goldberg have employed some clever use of surveillance cameras and video screens, particularly to convey Macbeth's visions of Banquo's ghost. Fans of Mr. Cumming will be enthralled.

Macbeth runs through July 14.  Tickets available here.

Arcadia

"Arcadia" at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, February 28, 2011

I've got to say, after my last two exposures to the work of Tom Stoppard, I had some hesitations about seeing this revival of his 1993 Arcadia.  Its Broadway debut in 1995 included Billy Crudup, who returns in a new role this time around.  Mr. Stoppard's skill for construction is at its height here in a double tale of scholars in the same English estate separated by two centuries.  The two-thirds of Coast of Utopia and Rock 'n' Roll were overwhelming in intellectual concepts and history.  Stoppard's structure in Arcadia reveals plot points bit by bit, illuminating from one time period to the other and exposing how the foibles of human interaction distort reality.

In 1809, the Coverly's are wealthy, hosting friends and scholars like Lord Byron.  200 years later, scholars are scouring the estate library, still owned by the Coverly's, for evidence that Byron actually was there, and how he figured into the history of the family.   Parallels spring immediately as scholars in both eras have achieved some notoriety for severe reviews of works by past and present occupants of the estate.  1809's tutor Septimus Hodge (Tom Riley) has decimated the work of would-be poet Ezra Chater (David Turner) and others.  Currently, Bernard Nightingale (Billy Crudup) has made similar short work of with writings of Hannah Jarvis (Lia Williams) and then turns up at the estate to continue his own research on Byron.

The parallels continue as attractions heat up between Nightingale and Jarvis, and Hodge and his employer, Lady Croom (Margaret Colin), followed by the men's dalliances with others.  I'd attempt to give more plot, but it only gets more confusing to explain without seeing the play yourself.  Read more about it here.

Director David Levaux has assembled a capable, if slightly uneven, cast for this revival.  Mr. Crudup and Ms. Colin are the stronger among this cast.  Mr. Crudup fully captures the effete British academia of Nightingale without pushing him into stereotype or femininity. Ms. Colin gives us a woman of nobility who, though intelligent, is nowhere near the scholar her daughter might become.  Ms. Williams gets a bit lost in Hannah's fury from time to time, but manages to remain aloof without losing sympathy.  Raul Esparza as Valentine Coverly captures the accent, but occasionally gets tripped up in the words.

Hildegard Bechtler's simply furnished, white-washed set fills the two time periods simultaneously behind a beautiful Fragonard-esque act curtain.  Given the theoretical questions about science and knowledge the play explores, the lack of color, including a white upstage scrim allow focus to remain on the story and subjects.  Gregory Gale's period costumes convey household position nicely.

Arcadia is schedule for a limited run through June 19.

Race

"Race" at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, February 25, 2010

(Photo by Robert J. Saferstein)

David Mamet's latest effort in provocation is now running on Broadway in the form of Race.  The story swirls around the law firm hired by a very rich, white man to defend him against charges of rape, leveled by an African American woman.

The defendant, Charles (Richard Thomas) has already fired his attorney once and is shopping his case around.  Law partners Jack Lawson (James Spader) and Henry Brown (David Alan Grier) get roped into taking the case when their clerk Susan (Kerry Washington) mistakenly gets copies of the indictment and police reports from the district attorney, constructively making them the attorneys of record before they've had a chance to actually make a decision on it.  Mr. Mamet metes out plot twists and revelations a bit obviously at times, but manages to keep the tension high as the white and African American characters examine and expound upon their own views of race in contemporary society.  Mr. Mamet has toned down the volume of f-bombs, but plugs in the n-word as a substitute.

Mr. Thomas plays Charles so simpy and passive that I fully expected one of the plot twists to be that Charles is gay. (he's not, btw)  Beyond that, Mr. Thomas suffers from "Jasmine Guy Syndrome," his presence practically sucking all the energy out of the theatre as he makes his entrance. (so named by a similar situation in Richard Greenberg's The Violet Hour from which Miss Guy resigned due to "health issues" during previews in 2003).

As Susan, Ms. Washington wavers between capable and self-conscious.  Sometimes she gets the "Mamet patter" and sometimes she doesn't.  Mr. Grier fares better, but doesn't have much to do, other than prompt tension among the characters onstage with him. 

It is Mr. Spader, making an impressive Broadway debut as Jack, who carries the weight of the evening.  He certainly has experience playing a clever lawyer from his years on TV's "Boston Legal" and it shows.  He also adapts well to the language and rhythm of Mr. Mamet's writing.

Santo Loquasto's law library spills the story forward on the raked stage, serviceably, if unexceptionally lighted by Brian MacDevitt.

It's a better entry to this year's play season than last fall's "Oleanna" but there are similarities to "Speed The Plow" which keep this play from feeling wholly original, particularly a woman in a subservient position who may or may not be working from her own agenda.  Still, it's at least another new play, versus yet another revival.

Exit The King

"Exit The King" at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, March 8, 2009

(photo: Jason Bell)

Think "Lear" by Albee, this 1960s absurdist work of Romanian playwright Eugene Ionesco brings another set of stars back to Broadway with Geoffrey Rush as King Berenger and Susan Sarandon as Queen Marguerite. Lauren Ambrose and Andrea Martin round out the leads as Queen Marie and Juliette the maid, respectively.

Absurd is certainly the word for this tale of a king whose time to die finally arrives after he's allowed his country to shrink into ruin. Mr. Rush and director Neil Armfield have adapted their new translation with several bits of unnecessary profanity, a significant amount of both broad humor and some lovely pathos.

The incipient death of the king has his new wife Marie in pieces, while the old wife Marguerite forces all to face a reality that has been avoided for all of his reign.

Mr. Rush delivers a smashing performance as a clown made king (all the way down to his pajamas and exaggerated makeup), from pratfalls to the terror of realizing his impending death. Ms. Sarandon cuts quite the fine figure taking the role of responsibility to end the King's reign in hopes that the country can revive again. She has a heart-breaking speech that leads the King in his path to death, rather a reverse-Eurydice progression as she convinces him to let go of the invisible burden he carries. Ms. Ambrose commits fully to this role (as she does to every role I've seen her perform), giving everything she can to fill out her two-dimensional part, devoted to her husband and in full-voice denial of his demise.

Dale Ferguson's rotting set and cartoonish costumes are spot-on.

Strange Bedfellows

"November" at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, January 5, 2008

David Mamet's latest play "November" has begun performances with Nathan Lane playing an incumbent president on the verge of losing his re-election bid. The jokes begin early with plenty of less-than-veiled references to the current situation in US politics. (Spoiler Alert)

Taking place late in the week before election day, there's an unpopular war in Iraq, instigated by this now unpopular (and presumably Republican) President Charles Smith (Mr. Lane). His Chief of Staff, Archer Brown (Dylan Baker) quickly summarizes the source of his issues, "You've f****d up everything you've touched."

President Smith's unseen campaign director Barry has already given up the ship and headed to Nantucket to ride out the aftermath. His head speech writer, Clarice Bernstein (Laurie Metcalf) has just returned from adopting a Chinese girl with her partner, their new child and the flu. Smith demands her presence despite her illness in a last-ditch effort to save his legacy. A Representative of the National Association of Turkey By-Products Manufacturers (Ethan Philips) has arrived with two turkeys in tow for Smith to provide the annual "pardon" for this year's Thanksgiving at a press conference to be held the next day. Seizing on the opportunity, Smith demands the Turkey Association to increase their donation from $50,000 to $200,000,000. When they balk, he attempts to discredit the consumption of turkey at the original Thanksgiving in favor of tuna ("Isn't the Indian word for codfish pronounced "toona?"). He then insults the head of one of the Indian nations, after declining the chief's request for the island of Nantucket on which the Indians would build a 2000 bed hotel and gambling casino in exchange for endorsing the "toona" story.

Clarice drafts a quite moving speech in her feverish state, then demands that Smith marry her to her partner before she gives him the speech to deliver, during the press conference when he pardons the turkeys. Her plea unwittingly convinces Smith to try to win the election using the money from the Turkey Association.

So there it is, gay marriage, the war in Iraq, Native American relations and a threat of bird flu all peppered with enough racial and politically incorrect insults to make you think it was by Mel Brooks, except for the missing bathroom humor. There are plenty of funny moments in this evening of one-liners (Smith: "I always thought I'd do something memorable. I assumed it would be getting impeached."), and the energy of the production is good. Mr. Mamet's use of the "f" word as his go-to adjective is as faithful as ever in this play, though he hasn't matched the 12.5% penetration high water mark he set early in his career with "American Buffalo." Still, it felt a bit like a sitcom love-child of NBC and HBO, dragged out in 2-act form. Some trimming would be in order to the tune of about 25 minutes plus the intermission.

Mr. Lane is in his most Gleason-esque form here, rubber-faced and chewing up the remarkably beautiful Oval Office set by Scott Pask. He's got all the great tricks at hand, telephone calls and asides. Mr. Baker is suitably obsequious, playing straight man to Mr. Lane's antics. Ms. Metcalf's Clarice is passionate and real, despite some of the stereotypical dialogue provided by Mr. Mamet.

Joe Mantello directs, keeping the play moving appropriately apace.

Band! Ten-Hut! Mark Time Mark!

"Company" at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, February 7, 2007

John Doyle strikes again with a stripped down, streamlined staging of Sondheim's "Company." In the same vein as last year's "Sweeney Todd," Doyle has tossed the pit orchestra onto the stage as the responsibility of the actors. Where it worked well with the concept of asylum inmates putting on a show, here it looks like the child of musical theatre and marching band. For those of you who thought "Blast" from several years ago, an indoor staging of drum and bugle corps-style performance event was that bizarro-child - you were wrong.

Unfortunately, this is not a love-child. Rather it's turned out to be the bastard child. My real fear is that Mr. Doyle has set a new formula by which producers will look to control the costs associated with producing musical theatre. What's next, Annie accompanying herself on the glockenspiel?

Aside from the close-order-drill staging, there are some very nice performances on view.

Raul Esparza gives us a very detached and emotionally-unavailable Bobby who's really anxious to change his life. He orbits the lives of his friends and vice-versa, making an occasional foray into their relationships as the naturally stumble along. The measure of time is contrived around Bobby's birthday, turning 35 as the show begins. We follow Bobby through the next year during a series of vignettes as he spends time with each of the five couples that make up his social world:

• Sarah and Harry: uber-competitive, they seem to enjoy the fights and nitpicking more than the make-up sex.
• Joanne and Larry: a little older; she, married for the #th time, a bit jaded and not quite ready to believe she's found the one who really loves her for who she is.
• Susan and Peter: a bit too sweet and polished on the surface, so after their divorce they continue to stay together for the kids.
• Jenny and David: traveling through life on pure momentum, hiding things that the other already knows anyway.
• Amy and Paul: not yet married; she, frenetic and manic - he, calming and stalwart.

The score survives the Doyle treatment quite nicely, I must say. Not sure how to divide that credit between Mr. Sondheim and Mary-Mitchell Campbell who supervised the music and orchestrated this production.

A couple of standouts:

• Barbara Walsh as Joanne - it's tough to rise out of the ashes of Elaine Strich. Congratulations to her for making this role her own.
• Heather Laws as Amy - I think every good patter song deserves an encore. Gilbert and Sullivan knew this. Why doesn't everyone else?
• Kelly Jeane Grant as Kathy - brings a full fledged performance to what otherwise would be a mere 2-dimensional featured role.
• Elizabeth Stanley as April - a thinking man's blond bimbo.

David Gallo's set, open and thoughtful, supports Mr. Doyle's vision for this production most effectively. A central column evokes a Soho loft, as well as the "I" of Bobby's life as a single man. The diamond-shaped wooden floor on which it rests is surrounded by a track of darker wood which serves as a runway for the five couples to orbit Bobby. The rest of the set fades away in glossy black with acrylic tiered boxes/platforms. The acrylic boxes are an especially effective metaphor to me, portraying the artificial pedestals on which Bobby views his friends, as well as the three women (Marta, April and Kathy) we meet in his life. It is Thomas C. Hase's lighting that is the key to the set's ultimate success. Ann Hould-Ward's mostly-black costuming flatters each cast member without distraction, but doesn't add much either. I did have a bit of trouble with Amy in a black wedding dress and veil - seemed a bit strong even for her in spite of her fear of the commitment she's about to make. I think with the occasional shades of grey and white that were already there, a white (or at least grey) veil might have softened the impact.

Mr. Doyle is a talented man with a definite vision. I sure would like to see him interpret something like "A Little Night Music" on a full budget, leaving the orchestra in the pit.

(Star-watch: Susan Stroman in the house. With her hair down, I almost didn't recognize her - no ponytail through a black baseball cap.)