Ghetto Klown

"Ghetto Klown" at the Lyceum Theatre, March 3, 2011

John Leguizamo returns to Broadway with another biographical show, taking us from his childhood to the present.  Much feels like a retread from previous efforts, though we get a bit more about his parents this time around, including the contentious relationship with his emotionally detached and dismissive father and his self-centered mother. 

He points an accusing finger at both to blame them for his own early, unsuccessful marriage, and again over his later troubles in his second marriage.  In his defense, he points the finger at himself as well, but there is still an overall whine in his message.

He also blows his own horn as the opportunities present themselves, including his work with Lee Strasberg at the Actor's Studio, along with his complete filmography.

Yet, there are still plenty of laughs.  Mr. Leguizamo is still quite the clown, claiming to have returned "home to Broadway" after recounting several films that haven't led to him as a Hollywood leading man.

The only thing that appears to bring him home to Broadway is the chance to pick up some cash.

Ghetto Klown is scheduled for a limited run through May 15.

Looped

"Looped" at the Lyceum Theatre, February 24, 2010

Tallulah Bankhead is the center of Matthew Lombardo's play about a recording session to correct one line from Ms. Bankhead's final movie as it goes through its final editing stage in 1965.

At this late stage in her life (Ms. Bankhead died in 1968), she has ruined her career with drugs, alcohol and sex.  Her film has all signs of being a flop and the creative team has all but abandoned the project. Left to handle the recording session is the film editor Danny (Brian Hutchison).  Tallulah (Valerie Harper) shows up several hours late and already drunk.  What follows is two acts of cat and mouse as Tallulah chases Danny's secrets down and drags them out.  Along the way are a multitude of one-liners and quips, some of which are pretty funny, but eventually they get very predictable.

As Tallulah, Ms. Harper achieves a respectable impersonation, but doesn't seem to have the material to really reveal anything about her that we didn't already know.  She swears like a sailor, drinks like a fish and smokes like a chimney, yet still sees her only value in her sexuality, which she foists like a weapon.

Mr. Hutchison suffers under his poorly written role, having to play straight man setting up the endless bon mots for Ms. Harper.  The back story Mr. Lombardo has created for Steve is particularly contrived, with a couple of revelations telegraphed early on.  As Steve, the sound engineer, Michael Mulheren floats through with little to do other than set up a few of the jokes along the way.

Mr. Lombardo based this play on the tape from the actual recording session, some 45 minutes' worth.  He seems to have reached a little too far in stretching the piece out into two full acts.  The flashback of Tallulah's failed and only performance of "A Streetcar Named Desire" in Florida takes up a good bit of time to poor effect.  Sadly, he reverts Tallulah to no more than a wannabe Mame Dennis as she wanders about the pieces of Steve's life she has tossed to the floor.  The only line missing as she attempts to pull him back together is "Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death."

Director Rob Ruggiero keeps things moving, but can't get the performances to rise much above the two-dimensional writing.  There are some laughs to be found, but the piece is not really ready for Broadway.

In the Next Room (or the vibrator play)

"In The Next Room or the vibrator play" presented by Lincoln Center Theatre at the Lyceum Theatre, December 5, 2009

(photo: uncredited from Theatremania.com)

Sarah Ruhl's first play on the Great White Way
Is a story of people, not so long ago.
Dr. Givings' new treatments are the talk of the day.
(He treats ladies' "hysteria," you know.)

The treatment releases congestion, you see,
not the head but the womb, with electricity
through a smooth knob that vibrates, applied for three minutes,
she gets her release, then sings like the linnets.

Mrs. G, with inadequate milk for her child
Seeks a wet nurse to help the babe thrive.
Maid Elizabeth, mourning the loss of her own
Needs the cash and a way to survive.

She works for the Daldry's, Mrs. D. suffers so
And her Mr. has brought her to give it a go.
"Such an anguish for me" blindly moans Mr. D.
Then he finally adds, "And for her, of course, too."

Hearing moans from her husband's professional room,
Mrs. G. wants to know how it works.
Mrs. D. sneaks her in for a try and "kaboom!"
A new sensory world starts to perk.

Mr. Irving arrives, having just been jilted
With his own hysteria, raging in throes.
Dr. G. has an implement, sadness is tilted
And Irving feels better, (He's "artistic" you know).

Laura Benanti continues to show a lovely range of acting skill.  This is her first non-singing lead on Broadway and she carries it nicely. Her Mrs. Givings is eager and unsophisticated, guileless and unfiltered, with a tendency to speak of less than appropriate subjects in the height of the Victorian era.  Michael Cerveris is consistently stiff as the ever-proper Dr. Givings, careful to shield his wife from everything a proper lady of the era should not see.  Maria Dizzia's Mrs. Daldry is a woman whose treatments awaken more than just sexual pleasure.  Her responses to the treatments are quite funny.  She shares a lovely moment with Dr. Givings' assistant Annie (Wendy Rich Stetson) after an intimate "manual" treatment when the machine is insufficient.

Quincy Tyler Bernstine's Elizabeth is appropriately shy, demurring from the attention afforded by both Mrs. Givings and the artist Leo Irving (Chandler Williams) who wants to paint her while she is nursing the baby. Her second act monologue about losing her own child is quite touching.  Mr. Williams' Irving struts like a rooster, attempting to regain his composure after his first treatment.  Dr. Givings explains, "Hysteria is rare in a man." He adds, "But then again, he is an artist."

Director Les Waters smooths over the occasional anachronism with a gentle hand, eliciting some very nice moments as mentioned above.  He truly rises to the occasion with the revelations in the lovely final scene between Dr. and Mrs. Givings.

Annie Smart's period set captures the candy store colors of the period, perfectly tufted and tasseled. David Zinn's gorgeous costumes transport delightfully.

I was charmed and thoroughly entertained by this play.  I found it a marked improvement over Ms. Ruhl's previous efforts in NY in the last couple of years, Eurydice and Clean House.  There is a natural feminist angle, a usual feature of Ms. Ruhl's work, but delivered with more ease this time.  She enlightens Dr. Givings with a marked self-awareness of his gender, "What men do not observe because their intellect would prevent the seeing would fill many books."

Summer 2008 Recap

Ok, ok.

I was a little busy over the summer and only posted about myself. (Isn't a certain level of narcissism required to be an actor/blogger?)

Anyway...

It was not as if I didn't see anything. There were several, but I didn't find any to be particularly outstanding.

Marriage of Bette and Boo (Roundabout at the Laura Pels) June 14, 2008
Christopher Durang's version of Albee, but funnier. Nice turns by Julie Hagerty and Victoria Clark and Zoe Lister-Jones.

Some Americans Abroad (Second Stage Theatre) July 5, 2008
American academia can act stereotypically British - who knew?

Damn Yankees (Encores!) July 13, 2008
I love me some Cheyenne Jackson. I really need to get back and see Xanadu with him in the cast. Sean Hayes can play the piano, too!

[title of show] (Lyceum Theatre) July 19, 2008
The little show that could - now has! The set looked a bit too "set-like," but otherwise they've stayed true to their vision.

Impressing the Czar - Royal Ballet of Flanders (Rose Theatre - Lincoln Center Festival) July 19, 2008
I've never been a big fan of contemporary ballet, and this piece did tend to drag after the first act, but it's a splendid production and marvelously visual. Go Jessica Teague!

South Pacific (Lincoln Center Theater at the Vivian Beaumont) August 2, 2008
I stood in line for cancellations and boy, was it worth it!! Kelli O'Hara continues to refine and shade her performance. Matthew Morrison was in excellent voice and Paulo Szot is still as hot as ever!

Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy (Broadway Theatre) August 5, 2008
Definitely geared for an audience of children, it's homogenized Cirque for pre-teen and tweens.

Spring Awakening (Eugene O'Neill Theatre) August 8, 2008
My fourth time seeing the show. Several understudies performing, but the piece is holding up very nicely.

The Lisbon Traviata (The Center) August 11, 2008
Gay comedy turns into operatic tragedy in the last scene, though the tone is more Lucia than Violetta.

A Tale of Two Cities (Al Hirschfeld Theatre) August 25, 2008
Where to start on this train wreck? I could borrow from Mr. Alessandrini "I know I've seen this show before." Or, "At the end of the play you're another year older." The show is 20 years in the making which might date its inspiration (not to mention writing and musical styling) to another little piece based on a large 19th Century novel which features a French revolution.

The Tempest (Classic Stage Company) September 4, 2008
Prospero as Shylock via Mandy Patinkin (when he wasn't repeating pages of dialog after being distracted by cell phones). Stark Sands adds beefcake to his talent as a lovely Ferdinand. Elizabeth Waterston, willowy and equally lovely as Miranda. Costumes were only flattering on the pretty people. Production was otherwise kinda flat.

Not a stellar summer, but heaven knows it could have been worse!

Something Bloody This Way Comes

"MacBeth" at the Lyceum Theatre, April 1, 2008

(Photo: Manuel Harlan)

Transferring to Broadway after a sold-out run at the Brooklyn Academy of Music last month, this British import has lodged at the Lyceum for a limited run.

With Patrick Stewart in the title role, it's no wonder the attraction to this unusual production. The plot is still a bit stupefying in operatic proportions, and Rupert Goold's placement in a quasi-Stalinist era kitchen doesn't really add much for me.

Mr. Stewart gets to play quite a bizarre range of moods, from fearful and hesitant before his ascent to the Scottish throne, to an almost Caligula-like impetuousness. In the end, he's so resigned to his fate and such a victim of bad luck that he can't even kill himself.

I found Kate Fleetwood's Lady MacBeth to be the more interesting interpretation. At her first entrance, she's young and glamorous, as well as a power hungry climber, pushing her husband well beyond his comfort and, likely, his sense of right and wrong to his first act of assassinating the current King Duncan (Byron Jennings). Almost as quickly as the deed is done, she begins her disintegration into insanity. By the time we get through Banquo's ghostly appearance, she's well on her way to her very effective mad scene.

Other standouts include Christopher Patrick Nolan's porter, Seyton. Greasy and profane, he oozes foreshadows of MacBeth's fall that is yet to come. Michael Feast's MacDuff smacked a bit too detached in early scenes, but rose to the moment when he learns the fate of his wife and children.

I did like the treatment of the witches first as nurses, then as housemaids. The rap version of "Double Double Toil and Trouble" felt a bit more comic than might have been intended.

The staging also seemed to take on a totally different feel toward the end of the first act (Banquo's ghostly appearance). What had been relatively straightforward staging and use of the space before suddenly felt much more conceptual and abstract. Duncan's murder happens off-stage, then suddenly we get a very stylized murder of Banquo on a train. I hadn't remembered from senior English class that his murder lined up so closely with that of Rasputin (poisoned, stabbed and shot - the only act missing was dropping him in the river.).

Despite the pre-show hype, discount tickets seem to be readily available. It's worth the visit.

Auntie Mark

"Is He Dead?" at the Lyceum Theatre, November 9, 2007

A "long lost" farce written by Mark Twain in 1898, but never performed was found in a file cabinet in a library at the University of California-Berkeley.

I'm always curious about "newly discovered" works by long-dead authors. Sadly, sometimes we discover the reason that the work was never published was because it wasn't very good, or wasn't very original as is the case with Is He Dead?

Granted, a new play by Mark Twain is bound to sell some tickets purely for the curiosity factor. Who could blame a producer for putting up a show like that? Too, the production assembles a particularly talented cast, including Norbert Leo Butz, John McMartin, Marylouise Burke and David Pittu. I was also curious to see that the play has been adapted by David Ives for this production, so it's difficult to tell which of the stale/predictable jokes belong to Mr. Twain and and which belong to Mr. Ives. To tell the truth, there are many which belong to Brandon Thomas, the author of Charley's Aunt from which this play pulls much of its humor source.

Briefly, a talented painter in Paris is financially struggling and fakes his own death to reap the benefits as his widowed sister. Toss in a couple of oddball artist sidekicks (1 Irish, 1 German, 1 American), a love interest and her poverty-stricken father and sister, two doting old maids and an evil financier and you have a classic 19th century melodramatic farce. I overheard a gentleman down the row from me comment that putting a man in a dress is one of the lowest forms of humor - and he's right.

But as I mentioned above, it is a terrific cast - and I did see only their second preview. Still, I think Mr. Twain realized there was no silk purse to be made from this sow's ear.

Mr. Butz, as Jean-Francois Millet (who was an actual painter of the time), pulls out all the stops. I did think he became remarkably comfortable in the dress very quickly in the first act. Dancing at any opportunity, I think he would have rather it were a musical (which is not a bad idea). There could be some opportunities in a musical version that would differentiate the piece from Mr. Thomas' work. Mr. Butz is engaging and entertaining as ever with a bright intensity that makes you think he believes the play is better than it is.

Byron Jennings as the evil financier, Bastien Andre, sneers and leers with the best of them. How thoughtful of Paul Huntley to provide him with a Snidley Whiplash mustache to twirl on cue. He's having a grand time.

Michael McGrath shuffles along as Millet's side-kick, Agamemnon "Chicago" Buckner, greasing the path for the deception. John McMartin's Papa Leroux doesn't manage to get past the second dimension of the script, but is entertaining nonetheless. The other performers I mentioned earlier, David Pittu and Marylouise Burke both turn in respectable performances, rising a bit above the material.

Director Michael Blakemore has taken no stance of subtletly or finesse in his handling of cast and script. The jokes are broad and the humor is physical. Peter J. Davison's contrasting sets serve nicely, as do Martin Pakledinaz' excellent costumes.

It's not a bad play, it's just not very original. It is, however, a suitable substitute for Charley's Aunt for any community or school theatre group looking to do a light period piece.

Contest the Will

"Inherit The Wind" at the Lyceum Theatre, March 17, 2007

Another revival of the Jerome Lawrence/Robert E. Lee play begins previews on Monday March 19, 2007 for a 16-week engagement. I was fortunate to be invited to one of the final dress rehearsals for what should have been a momentous evening of theatre. Two-time Tony winners each, Brian Dennehy and Christopher Plummer take up the roles of Matthew Harrison Brady and Henry Drummond, respectively. (Spoiler Alert)

I think that was director Doug Hughes' first mistake. We saw this kind of thing last year with "The Odd Couple" where the two leads were in the wrong roles. It's no wonder that Mr. Plummer preferred the role of Drummond. There's much more there to work with as an actor. Mr. Dennehy, some 10 years junior to Mr. Plummer, exudes a lasting strength and power in a role of a man who is losing exactly that long before he arrives on the scene.

As Drummond, Mr. Plummer reminds us why he has earned his reputation as one of the finest actors of our time. Even with the trembling hands and unsteadiness on his feet, his talent and skill distract us from the fact that Drummond is the younger man without detriment to the character. His presence is magnetic and his Drummond is nuanced and thoughtful.

As Brady, Mr. Dennehy gives us the beginnings of the shuffling steps of an old man, but never really reveals his inner weakness. There were a couple of exchanges with Mr. Plummer that appeared to be missed cues during the Act II courtroom scene, but I couldn't tell who had dropped the line. (According to an unsubstantiated and unverifiable grape vine, one of the two actors apparently showed up at the first rehearsal already off-book, causing a bit of tension early on in this production.) Ultimately it is Mr. Dennehy's own physical strength and bearing that undercuts his performance. His breakdown on the witness stand lacked the crumpling that foreshadows his final disintegration after the verdict is given.

Others in the cast included Denis O'Hare as E. K. Hornbeck, the journalist from Baltimore. Mr. O'Hare's Hornbeck is merely annoying in this production. He winks, he clicks, he snaps, he points, he nudges, but in the end he throws away his chance to give us a fully formed character. I don't think it helps much that Mr. Hughes has given him a man in a gorilla suit to play off instead of the organ grinder's monkey. His first entrance, embellished by his suit and straw hat by Santo Loquasto, made me wonder if he weren't supposed to be Harold Hill (which might be an interesting career choice for Mr. O'Hare).

Miscast as well is Byron Jennings as Reverend Brown. He cuts a fine figure in his white linen suit, but never seems to believe what he's saying. If this production does manage to extend, I'd love to see him take on the role of Henry Drummond. That could be some exciting theatre.

Bertram Cates, the accused is played by Ben Walker, looking a bit buff in his henley t-shirt for a schoolteacher in the 20s. His Bert is fresh-faced but not quite as callow as I'd think he could be.

As Rachel Brown, Maggie Lacey (thanks, Cameron) is blandly pretty and blandly portrayed. She manages some nice waterworks during her cross-examination scene, but that's a skill any good actor should have. Her expression is fairly blank across the rest of her performance. I never got a sense of chemistry between Rachel and Bert, so I didn't get where her concern for him came from. Was it the injustice she was witnessing? Was it love? (Turns out it was the latter, but we don't really know this until the end of the show.)

Santo Loquasto seems to have taken a note from Christine Jones on how to increase your audience size. 60-70 lucky audience members will get to sit on the stage during every performance. I can't imagine that to be enjoyable. You'll have your coats and bags checked and won't get a playbill until after the show is over. All this and your view of the actors' backs is occasionally blocked by scenery. Mr. Loquasto has done a nice job with the costumes, lots of linen and cotton to help suffer the heat of the summertime setting.

Mr. Hughes seems in search of a new concept for presenting this play, but hasn't yet found it. There was a bit of "operafication," a term I use to describe how some directors feel the need to fill unscripted moments with business, music or other odds and ends. (A recent and particularly bad example of this was NYC Opera's "Pirates of Penzance.") Pre-curtain, a gospel quartet enters and begins a series of hymns and songs, presumably to set the mood. The quartet returns from time to time, as well as inciting the entire cast to sing in a scene or two. While it did help set the mood and period, I didn't find it terribly successful in the end. It was pretty obvious to me that Mr. Hughes (nor anyone on stage, for that matter) had never been to a southern tent meeting. The prayer vigil scene lacked the kind of passion only a southern Baptist closed mind can produce.

Speaking of southern, where were the accents? Mr. Jennings sounded like a Presbyterian from Massachusetts.