The (Curious Case of the) Watson Intelligence

The (Curious Case of the) Watson Intelligence, at Playwrights Horizons, November 16, 2013

Madeleine George's gimmicky new play, a riff on sidekicks named Watson and their roles in history (real and fictionalized), is Playwrights Horizons' latest commission to reach their main stage.

The concept has merit, four Watsons all played by the same actor (John Ellison Conlee) flanked by three Mr. and Mrs. Merricks (David Costabile and Amanda Quaid), covering Sherlock Holmes' doctor friend, Alexander Graham Bell's assistant Thomas Watson, a computer repairman dweeb Josh Watson, and a fictional computer successor to IBM's 2011 Watson (a contestant on television's Jeopardy!). 

Ms. George spent a great deal of time trying to add intricacy in blending the story lines, but in the second act, things begin to unravel. After carefully allowing for proper costume changes, the transitions no longer allow the visual to match the script.  She also falls prey to a gratuitous nude scene at the top of Act 2 and an absurd and superfluous overuse of the word "preternatural."

This three-hander bounces about from sub-plot to sub-plot in increasingly frenetic jumps.  Initially, each scene is introduced with a shadowy variation on the line "Mr. Watson - come here - I want you," the delivered inflection of which intends to foreshadow the nature of the following interaction. After all the stumbling around, Bell's infamous quote becomes an odd moral of the play about one person's commitment to another, be they spouse, co-worker, whatever in a rambling speech from Ms. Quaid's contemporary Mrs. Merrick.  (Yeah, I was confused, too.) 

Director Leigh Silverman has assembled a talented cast to take on this effort.  Mr. Conlee's brings his four Watsons as much delineation as he can, though it is the artificial Watson's pleasant dead-pan that rang the truest.  Ms. Quaid fares a bit better in the writing of her Mrs. Merrick variations, the most contemporary being a brilliant computer engineer who conceived, built and programmed the artificial-intelligence Watson with the purpose of gathering input from users to help in medical diagnoses. Oddly, given a play's "free-pass" in the suspension of disbelief, Ms. George decides not to name the new computer Watson.  (Why not Dr. Watson, or Watson MD??)  Mr. Costabile gets the juiciest speeches from a political diatribe at the beginning when his account Merrick is running for local Auditor, to a Holmesian villain inventing weapons of death. Overall, the performances are consistent, but the flaws in the book hold back both the cast and director. 

Louisa Thompson's set is serviceable and sufficiently lit by Mark Barton. Anita Yavich does her best with costumes, but the script interferes with successful changes more than once.

The...Watson Intelligence runs through December 29.  See my previous post for discount ticket information.

Playwrights Horizons Discount - The (Curious Case of the) Watson Intelligence

"The (Curious Case of the) Watson Intelligence" at Playwrights Horizons

DISCOUNT TICKETS TO THE (CURIOUS CASE OF THE) WATSON INTELLIGENCE for YOUR READERS:

Regular run:  Nov 15-Dec 29
Tues-Wed at 7, Thu-Fri at 8, Sat at 2:30 & 8, Sun at 2:30 & 7:30

Order by Dec. 2 with the code WATBLOG and tickets are $45 (reg. $70) for all performances Nov 15-Dec 29

Online  www.ticketcentral.com/playwrightshorizons/online/

Call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 Noon to 8PM daily
In Person: Ticket Central Box Office, 416 W. 42nd Street between 9th & 10th Avenues

PH Mainstage Theater, 416 West 42nd Street between 9th & 10th Avenues

All That Fall

"All That Fall" at 59E59 Theatre, November 10, 2013

(Photo by Carol Rosegg)

All was gray - the afternoon, the audience, and for the most part, the somewhat starry cast, featuring Eileen Atkins and Michael Gambon, arrives from London (mostly) in this minimally staged radio play by Samuel Beckett, directed by Trevor Nunn. 

The story, being Beckett, is a bit nihilist, about an older woman of questionable health making her way to meet her blind husband at the train station.  We shuffle along with Mrs. Rooney (Ms. Atkins) as she encounters a menu of rural British characters, the dung peddler Christy (Ruairi Conaghan) on his cart, the retired Mr. Tyler (Frank Grimes) on his bike, the Clerk of the Racecourse Mr. Slocum (Trevor Cooper) in his car, each in advancing means of transportation, but none speeding the dreary tale along.  The aptly named Miss Fitt (Catherine Cusack), a protestant zealot gives Mrs Rooney the final bit of assistance upon arrival at the station.

After much consternation about the late arrival of Mr. Rooney's (Mr. Gambon) train, he finally appears slightly worse for wear, but tight-lipped about the cause of the delay.  I won't spoil the source, but there's an obscure plot moment near the end that suggests his part in it.

Performances are generally even, with Ms. Atkins bearing the majority of the spoken burden.  Her characterization is, as one would certainly expect, spot on, mumbling, grumbling, beseeching and complaining in every interaction.  Mr. Gambon arrives prepared to deliver to a full Broadway house, filling every inch of the theatre and then some.  Despite this overbalance, he still turns in a well-crafted performance.  The supporting roles are capably executed as well.

Mr. Nunn seems to have had little to do given the strength of his leading couple (both on book), other than lay out their traffic pattern and arrange the supporting roles around them.  Paul Groothuis' sound design distracts as much as it adds, featuring dragging footfalls for Mrs. Rooney that sound more like a spirit's presence in a mediocre haunted house.  The set, as it is, features suspended microphones which go largely ignored in a black room. 

Still Ms. Atkins and Mr. Gambon are the justifiable draw, evoking the ennui, frustration and anger of losing one's power in the world by remaining in it for so long.

This limited engagement of All That Fall runs through December 8.  Find tickets here.

The Old Friends

"The Old Friends" at The Pershing Square Signature Center, October 17, 2013

(Photo by Joan Marcus)

Horton Foote was a prolific playwright.  The Old Friends is actually a sequel to his second full-length play, Only the Heart first produced in 1942.  It took nearly 20 years to get the first exploratory production of TOF, and another 20 before Signature Theatre produced a reading.  This 2002 event inspired Mr. Foote to write the version currently on stage at the Signature.

I would love to say that this "new" work from the late Mr. Foote rises as a crowning achievement on a lifetime of good work.  Sometimes, there are reasons a play takes so long to make it to the stage.  Renowned playwrights from Shakespeare to Tennessee Williams wrote plays late in their careers that failed to achieve the same level of mastery as works form their primes (Cymbeline, anyone?).

Nonetheless, TOF tells us of the Borden/Prices and their titular old friends Gertrude (Betty Buckley) and Gaynor Ratliff and his brother Howard (Cotter Smith).  Gaynor has mercifully died before the play begins and escapes the indignities both caused and suffered by his now filthy rich widow and the almost-as-well-off Borden-Prices.  Also dead as the play begins, is Sybil's (Hallie Foote) husband Hugo who has left her penniless, much like her mother-in-law Mamie Borden (Lois Smith). 

Sybil's sister-in-law Julia (Veanne Cox) and her husband Albert Price (Adam LeFevre) have grudgingly taken Mamie in after forcing her to sign over her remaining assets.  Sybil and her husband had planned to retire nearby, but with him gone and leaving her destitute, Julia is less than pleased with the prospect of supporting another widow. Toss into the mix a cloudy history of Sybil's father losing everything to Getrude's father, and selling the rest to Julia's father and you've got a Russian tragedy in the making.  

My biggest complaint is with the play's uneven story-telling.  Characters get dragged down with paragraphs of dull exposition, much of it repeated by various characters.  It's only when the action picks up with the plot at hand that things get interesting.

The cast is excellent.  Ms. Buckley dominates as the brutish, selfish Gertrude. Her rants are the highlights of the evening, the funniest of which is one ending in the mating call of the southern belle, "I'm drunk!"  Ms. Smith matches that bravura with her usual understated intensity (though she did seem a bit shaky on her lines in a couple of spots).  Ms. Foote's Sybil strives for a quiet dignity, but sometimes comes off as merely mousy.  Mr. Smith's Howard spends most of the play as kind to the point of spineless.  Even when he finally stands up for himself, Howard remains an apology of a role.

Director Michael Wilson keeps things apace, but probably could have cut 10-15 minutes in redundant exposition.  Production values are excellent, particularly David C. Woolard's costumes.

The Old Friends closed on October 20 after a two-week extension.

Playwrights Horizons discount - "The Patron Saint of Sea Monsters"

"The Patron Saint of Sea Monsters" at Playwrights Horizons

Discount tickets to The Patron Saint of Sea Monsters for my readers (both of you):

Regular run:  Oct 18-Dec 1
Tues 7, Wed-Fri at 8, Sat at 2:30 & 8, Sun at 2:30 & 7:30

Order by Nov. 5 and use the code SAINTBLOG
$40 (reg. $60) for all performances Oct. 18-Dec. 1

Online  https://www.ticketcentral.com/playwrightshorizons/online/default.asp?doWork::WScontent::loadArticle=Load&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::article_id=D0D7E210-A98C-4C65-A44B-2355AAD20268

Call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 Noon to 8PM daily
In Person: Ticket Central Box Office, 416 W. 42nd Street between 9th & 10th Avenues

The Silver Cord

"The Silver Cord" presented by  Peccadillo Theater Company at the Theatre at St. Clement's, June 8, 2013

(Photo by Carol Rosegg)

A tradition of restorative productions is a sometimes unwieldy proposition.  Peccadillo Theater Company continues its residence at the Theatre at St. Clement's with a revival of the 1927 The Silver Cord by Sidney Howard (who won a posthumous Oscar for the screenplay of "Gone With The Wind).  The Silver Cord was something of a hit in its original run, telling the story of how a sociopathic moher interferes in the relationships of her two sons. 
There are obvious factors to support its revival: small cast, minimal costume and set changes.  Before staging this full production, Peccadillo conducted a reading of the play with Charles Busch as the mother. 

If only they had been able to sign him for this run.

Mrs. Phelps' (Dale Carman) two sons David (Thomas Matthew Kelley) and Robert (Wilson Bridges) dote on and adore their widowed mother, who makes the Dance Moms look like Donna Reed.  Robert is engaged to Hester (Caroline Kaplan) and David has already married Christina (Victoria Mack) during his European grand tour.  David arrives home shortly after his honeymoon and mother is out to maintain her claim of dominance over both sons' lives and relationships.  What ensues is a series of uncomfortable manipulation and self-aggrandizing ploys to drive the new women from their lives.

Despite a lovely, if awkward set (Harry Feiner), the ill-humored melodrama stumbles through two and a half hours of actors desperate to make sense of this creaky and uncomfortable play. 
Some find more success than others.  Costume designer Gail Cooper-Hecht manages to evoke the era on a typical off-Broadway tight budget.

Ms. Mack's Christina achieves a level of balance between the stilted language and manner of the period, and any relevance one might find in the dated situation. Ms. Kaplan's Hester also maintains a level of humanity as she sees herself becoming the forerunner of the Stepford Wives.  Messrs. Kelley and Bridges don't find much beyond the two-dimensional pages from which their characters spring.  Mr. Carman fails to channel his inner Lady Bracknell and leaves us with a Mrs. Phelps who is annoying at best, and forgettable at worst.

One can find some blame for all this in the dated and apparently untouched script from Mr. Howard.  The balance of blame falls to director Dan Wackerman for not bringing any sense of relevance to the dysfunctional family presented.  I won't dignify the scene in David's bedroom with any further description than to say, "ugh."

The Silver Cord runs through July 14.  Tickets are available here.

WORKING

"WORKING" presented by Prospect Theater Company at 59E59 Theatre, December 12, 2012

(photo: Richard Termine)

Prospect Theater Company presents a new re-working of the 1978 musical based on Studs Terkel's book, with two new songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda. 

The streamlined cast of six replaces the seventeen from the original Broadway production, slicing and dicing the remains into a tight 65 intermissionless minutes. 

Director Gordon Greenberg has assembled a talented and capable cast to portray the 25 stories, including Marie-France Arcilla, Joe Cassidy, Donna Lynne Champlin, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Nehal Joshi and Kenita R. Miller. 

Some moments stand out more than others: Ms. Champlin's Rose Hoffman, an aging and out of step teacher who sadly reflects on the degradation of respect for her role in the lives of children over her 45 years in the classroom with Nobody Tells Me How.  She gives another clever moment as the waitress Delores Dante in It's an Art responding to the question, "just a waitress?"  Mr. Johnson gets a nice turn as well as pervy UPS delivery man, Conrad Swibel.
The juxtaposition of Ms. Miller's hooker to Ms. Champlin's high society fundraiser points up how the two roles are more similar than different.

My father always said, "if it were fun, they wouldn't call it 'work'," and for the most part he was right.  Still, of the 25 working stories, there are remarkably few that really expressed any joy.  As much time as we spend working, an uplifting evening of work stories and songs would have more appeal.

WORKING runs through December 30.  Tickets here.

Jackie Hoffman's A Chanukah Charol

"Jackie Hoffman's A Chanukah Charol" at New World Stages, December 8, 2012

Jackie Hoffman's kvetching continues with her new show at New World Stages.  "A Chanukah Charol" is her riff on Patrick Stewart's one-man "A Christmas Carol" retelling her trials and tribulations as an actress in New York.

The mood starts with pre-curtain music of a klezmer band playing Christmas carols. She opens by portraying Mr. Stewart as the narrator of her tale, and she gives a pretty good impersonation. 

Then, she moves into a mix of her ongoing existential career crisis that she's not Victoria Clark or Gertrude Lawrence, along with some new reminiscences of holiday gatherings with her family.  Her Jacob Marley is Molly Picon, telling of incipient visits from the requisite three ghosts, past present and future. The cleverest turn of the three is using Shelley Winters as the Ghost of Chanukah Present.

I've seen just about all of her annual appearances at Joe's Pub and have to say that as much as I liked the concept of this show, I missed her songs that have been part of her cabaret series.  At 75 minutes, it's a small commitment for a bit of fun, Hoffman-style.

"A Chanukah Charol" runs through December 29.  Tickets here.

Falling

"Falling" at Minetta Lane Theatre, October 14, 2012

(photo: Carol Rosegg)

There's an intense situation happening at Minetta Lane Theatre, courtesy of Deanna Jent's new play making its New York premiere.

18 year old Josh (Daniel Everidge) suffers with fairly extreme autism.  Being over 6 feet tall, weighing well over 200 pounds combined with his occasionally aggressive and violent behavior sets the stakes pretty high. Tami (Julia Murney) and Bill (Daniel Pearce) work very hard to keep their son under control by emphasizing a calm and steady daily routine.  Little sister Lisa (Jacey Powers) just wants it all to go away, but what 14 year old wouldn't?  When Grammy Sue (Celia Howard) visits, bible in hand, she gets a frightening lesson in the reality of her son's family dynamics.  One particularly violent episode sets up Tami to imagine how life with her family might have been different (though its set up could have been a little more clear).

The 75 minute production moves well under the hand of director Lori Adams, handling all the ups and downs of a day in Josh's life.  The life is at times shocking, at time mundane, which makes it ever more real.  She draws excellent performances from her cast.

Most notable is Mr. Everidge, the mercurial, autistic giant among his caretakers.  His Josh is an emotional 2 year old in the body of a full grown man, completely unfiltered and uninhibited.  Ms. Murney's Tami verges on exhaustion from the effort it takes to keep herself and her family on track.  She struggles a bit in the moments of vulnerability but overall captures the drive to move forward.

John Stark has created a realistic setting for this stressed family, punctuated with the requisite child-friendly elements that would help manage a child like Josh. Tristan Raine's costumes and Julie Mack's lighting support without drawing attention to themselves.

Falling is on an open-ended run.  Get tickets here.

Ten Chimneys

"Ten Chimneys" presented by The Peccadillo Theater Company at the Theatre at St. Clement's , September 29, 2012

(photo: Carol Rosegg)

I was excited to see this play billed as a peek into the backstage lives of Alfred Lunt and Lynne Fontanne, who ruled the English and American stages before, during and after WWII.  It seemed great fodder for a clever and glittering evening.

Instead, playwright Jeffery Hatcher brings us a bit of theatre history as Alfred and Lynnie prepare for the 1938 revival of Chekov's The Seagull.  Had he done only that, it still could have been that evening of sophisticated for which I had hoped.

What we get is a plodding adaptation of Chekov's The Seagull overlaid onto that preparation.  One can't deny that the parallels existed: Miss Fontanne/Arkadina, the aging actress, Mr. Lunt/Trigorin, a bit younger and the love of Fontanne/Arkadina's life, Uta Hagen/Nina, the upcoming starlet, and so on.

The notion that Chekov referred to some of his plays as comedies is generally a dubious concept when compared to the western idea of what comedy means.  Mr. Hatcher writes in the same ambivalent manner, even giving Miss Fontanne a line about Chekov's  comedies that rang closer to home than he might have intended, "When the Russians say comedy, they don't mean funny."  Sadly, neither does Mr. Hatcher, leaving the audience with a mopey melodrama, punched up with an occasional laugh line.

The very talented cast never overcomes the weakness in the script. And, if you're looking for a clever tie-in to the play's title, keep looking because I could identify one.

Having admired Mr. Jennings' performances in several divergent stage appearances over the last several years, I was a bit disappointed in his interpretation as Alfred.  Gentlemen of that period, certainly his close friend Noel Coward, exhibited a sophistication which might appear fey to less wordly eyes.  Here, Mr. Jennings fails to walk that fine line and falls to feminine caricature.  Carolyn McCormick fares no better as Lynne.  Even in the rehearsal scenes where such a large persona should fill the theatre, she never takes command of the stage, minimizing her performance with focus only on her fellow actors.  Her diction is also lacking, tossing away a significant number of lines for such a skilled character.  As the young Uta, Julia Bray gives merely a bland portrayal of the actress about to burst onto Broadway and impact acting for her generation and beyond.

Director Dan Wackerman shares some of the responsibility for their performances, not finding a better pace or approach to shore up the flaws in the script.  There was enough history to keep me there for the second act, but I did notice more empty seats after intermission than before.

Ten Chimneys runs through October 27.  Tickets are available through www.ThePeccadillo.com or by calling OvationTix at 212-352-3101.

Triass Parq, The Musical

"Triassic Park, The Musical"at Soho Playhouse, June 23, 2012

(Looking back, I found this post never got published.)

If you're looking for a bit of cool summer froth, head downtown.

Mixing the metaphors of Gregory Maguire (Wicked), Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis (Urinetown), and Douglas Carter Beane (Lysistrata Jones), creators Marshall Pailet, Bryce Norbitz and Stephen Wargo spin the tale that "...is not Jurassic Park..." from the perspective of the dinosaurs.

Silliness abounds alongside cartoonish concepts of religious foundations as our cast of three Velociraptors, two T-Rexes and a "Mime-a-saurus" recount Michael Crichton's story of creation, fatal flaws and chaos. (In their world, they refer to their creator as Lab instead of God, setting off a series of nonsequiturs that could be funny with a bit more refinement.)  And, since all the dinosaurs were created female so there would be no offspring, all the characters are played as women.

Spoiler alert.

Leading the charge is Morgan Freeman (a very funny and very white Lee Seymour) as the narrator, providing exposition and spoilers ( "It's the frog DNA!") as the evening progresses.  Velociraptor of Faith (a most hunky Wade McCollum), Velociraptor of Innocence (an awkwardly androgynous Alex Wise), BFFs T-Rex 1 (a belting Shelley Thomas) and T-Rex 2 ( hot pink-lidded Claire Neumann) who speak in unison, Mime-a-saurus (an also hunky Brandon Espinoza), and the exiled Velociraptor of Science (a very funny Lindsay Nicole Chambers) round out the cast as they invent creationism for themselves to explain where they came from and how their world works.

Once the frog DNA surfaces with T-Rex 2's spontaneous genital metamorphosis from female to male.  Faith sees it as a demon that should be outcast.  Innocence doesn't understand Faith's unwillingness to accept change as natural.  She learns then about the existence of Science who lives outside the fence in exile.  Further revelations abound along with an under-used goat puppet.

Production values are clever, sets by Cite Hevner, costumes by Dina Perez and lights by Jen Schriever

Wrap all this up in a pop score by Mr. Pailet and run it in 85 minutes, and you get a show full of laughs and energy.

Triassic Parq, The Musical runs through August 5.  Get tickets here

Rapture, Blister, Burn

"Rapture, Blister, Burn" at Playwrights Horizons, May 26, 2012

Pulitzer prize nominee Gina Gionfriddo returns Off-Broadway with a sharp look at feminism, presented in a semi-scholarly love triangle.  Catherine (Amy Brennerman) has returned to take care of her mother (Beth Dixon) after a heart attack, also in the same town where her college ex-boyfriend Don (Lee Tergesen) now serves as a dean at a local liberal arts college and is married to Catherine's college roommate Gwen (Kelley Overbey). 

In college, Catherine chose a life of academia and has published several high profile books on popular culture and the role of women.  Gwen never finished her degree, taking the path of wife and mother, instead.  Don, once with great scholarly potential and a desire to teach, has fallen into the path of inertia, working only as hard as he needs to, to make ends meet.  His position as dean pays better than teaching, yet requires less mental engagement to get the job done. 

Catherine's arrival at home finds her at loose ends, thinking that her mother's heart attack signals her end sooner than later.  With no other life partner, she's looking for something to hold onto.  Don offers her a job teaching at the college.  Her first class is a seminar studying concepts put forth by Betty Friedan and Phyllis Schlafly, among others.

It's an interesting exploration as Catherine reconsiders her own life through the lens of Friedan and Schlafly, with color commentary from her mother.  Ms. Gionfriddo walks a fine line between story and women's studies. Director Peter DuBois maintains this compelling tale with a lot of laughs even though most of the plot points are well-telegraphed early on.  Even when you see it coming, the major plot twist still works.

Ms. Brennerman's Catherine stumbles and flounders through her reconciliation of deciding where her life will go next.  The term "honest" keeps coming to mind as I think about her performance.  Ms. Overbey's Gwen has mastered the art of passive aggressive, wielding her successful abstention from alcohol like a weapon.  Mr. Tergesen's Don is not quite so well-drawn, filling in more as a foil for the women around him.  Virginia Kull (recently seen in Assistance at PH), fills up her role as Avery , Don and Gwen's "Generation Now" babysitter, who finds much of the Friedan/Schlafly arguments inane in the 21st century with the self-righteous assurance of a 21 year old.

Alexander Dodge fits a lot of scenery onto the modest PH stage, borrowing a bit of shingled siding from Allen Moyer's set from Grey Gardens.

See this one while you can.

Rapture, Blister, Burn runs through June 24.  See my earlier post for discount ticket information.

Assistance

"Assistance" at Playwrights Horizons, February 9, 2012

Traveling familiar ground, the latest offering at the very consistent Playwrights Horizons is Leslye Headland's Assistance, about the struggling underclass of capitalist serfs, suffering at the hands of an unseen tyrant.  In this case the invisible antagonist is Daniel Weisinger, a highly volatile agent/representative (Barry Diller-like, perhaps?) in an unnamed industry, who wields fear, loathing and admiration from a series of put-upon administrative assistants.  At the top of the play, Vince, a slick and smarmy Lucas Near-Verbrugghe, celebrates the last day of his sentence before stepping up into a coveted "director" role (also undefined).  Following him up the corporate ladder is Nick, a likable Michael Esper, who takes on the part of chief torturer among the cadre of assistants.  Advancement comes at a high price.  Even Vince has to knuckle under to Daniel vagaries in his last moments as servant.

The "new meat" in the office is Nora, a sympathetic Virginia Kull, transferring over from the Siberia that is the "Canal Street office."  Like many before and after her, she's set her sights on duplicating, if not exceeding, the heights of fame and fortune achieved by her idolized boss.  It's a quick trip to disillusionment and jaded cynicism for her, as she takes her own lumps, as well as those belonging to others.  Beleaguered Justin, a very strong Bobby Steggert, spends most of the evening on the other end of the telephone, but shows up in Act II, after a typical "Daniel rant" lands him with a broken foot.

Heather (Sue Jean Kim) and Jenny, a very funny Amy Rosoff, round out the later victims, each getting a chance to take focus during funny, if distracting, monologues.  The relationship ups and downs between and among them aren't really surprising ("Nick & Nora" really?), as they try to maintain sanity while working for a lunatic.

Like I said, the terrain is quite familiar after "The Devil Wears Prada."  But this time, we don't get the benefit of seeing the villain in action.  The result is an extended sit-com, and could have easily filled a 30-minute slot with the same effect.

Director Trip Cullman moves things quickly, enhancing the sit-comish feel to the super-slick dialogue.  Jenny's final monologue does offer some interesting and unexpected quirks, but it's a long time coming.  David Korins' set succinctly and cleverly captures the essence of a hip, NYC office space.

Assistance runs through March 7.  See discount information in a previous post, along with a link to purchase tickets.

"Psycho Therapy" at Cherry Lane Theatre, February 6, 2012

In its return to regular programming for the 2011-2012 season, Cherry Lane Theatre brings us Frank Strausser's new comedy.  It's a bit fluffy, and could easily have been adapted into an episode of Frasier.  Actually, that might have been a better idea.

In this intermissionless, 90 minute, four-hander, we meet early-middle-aged Lily (Angelica Page), torn between the good-on-paper Philip (Laurence Lau) and the much younger and significantly richer Dorian (Jeffrey Carlson), all during couples therapy with psychologist Nancy (Jan Leslie Harding). Neuroses abound, from Nancy's chocolate fetish, to Lily's inability to choose, to Philip's fear of commitment to Dorian's fear of being alone.

Performances are generally even, but hampered by the two-dimensional writing.  For some unexplored reason, Lily is incapable of standing by a choice for more than three minutes, absurdly flip-flopping between the guys multiple times within a scene.  Ms. Harding's Nancy is the only performance that reaches for a third dimension as she flails over raising a teenaged daughter.

Whoever directed (unlisted in the playbill) pulls for the physical laughs instead of trying to mine the script, though that's a fairly shallow resource.

Production values are excellent; a gorgeous set by Michael V. Moore and solid lighting by Jeff Croiter.  If the script had met the bar set by these elements, it could have been a great night at the theatre.  Instead, it's an evening of little substance, but a couple of laughs.

Psycho Therapy runs through February 25.  Get tickets here.

Post updated 02/08/2012

Outside People

"Outside People" at Vineyard Theatre, January 7, 2012

Playwright Zayd Dohrn brings another tale of a stranger in a strange land to the NY stage with his Outside People.

It's an earnest and awkward effort, much like its main character, Malcolm (Matt Dellapina), a recent college graduate with no job or direction in his life.  His former roommate David, (Nelson Lee) has returned to his native China to start his own business.  He flies Malcolm over to work for his company as repayment for Malcolm's kindness to his when they were students.

David arranges a date for Malcolm upon his arrival with Xiao Mei (Li Jun Li), whose murky connection to David clears up a little obviously as the true nature of David's business is revealed.

Mr. Dohrn treads very similar ground to this season's Chinglish on Broadway, but without the laughs or the interesting characters.  Also similar to Chinglish are several scenes in Chinese, yet the audience doesn't get the benefit of super-title translations at the Vineyard.  The tone certainly come through with the tone of voice and inflection, but it's a particularly frustrating experience if there are audience members who actually do understand Chinese. Ultimately, Mr. Dohrn cuts through several old stereotypes while managing to support some new ones.

The cast does their best to give depth to their characters, but the writing is a little thin for them to accomplish much.  Director Evan Cabnet continues the trend of music loudly underscoring scene changes completed by the cast with no originality in sight.  Ben Stanton's combination set borrows a bit from Allen Moyers' 2006 design for Little Dog Laughed.

In the end, it's an unremarkable production performed by competent actors.  Outside People runs through January 29.  Get tickets here.

The Cherry Orchard

"The Cherry Orchard" at Classic Stage Company, December 2, 2012

(photo: Carol Rosegg)

Classic Stage puts up The Cherry Orchard, the last production of its Chekhov Initiative, that included The Seagull, Uncle Vanya and Three Sisters in a new and very casual translation by John Christopher Jones.

Mr. Jones reportedly worked directly with the cast during rehearsals to make the vocabulary choices for their respective characters.  It had to have been great fun for the actors, but the result ends up straddling the border of anachronism and "huh?"  It was my first time seeing this play and I can't help but wonder there's something about Chekov that never makes it through translation.

Still, director Orlando Pabotoy manages to massage the tragic material into some laughs, though they range from clever to uncomfortable.  Beyond that, it still has plenty of dull moments as the dysfunctional family watches their legacy waste away.

Mr. Chekov spins a standard Russian tale of waning fortunes and prideful nobles falling on hard times. Ranevskaya (Dianne Wiest) dithers, giggles and lives in the past, covering her fear of a future of which she can't grasp control.  Lopakhin, a blustering John Tuturro, the former-peasant-made-good, presents the solution, but Ranevskaya can't bring herself to act on his advice.  Daughter Varya the cast-aside homebody, is a consistently engaging Julie Rylance. Katherine Waterston is the favorite, dewy-eyed daughter Anya.  Their uncle Gaev (Daniel Davis) also teeters on the edge of reality.  The more interesting moments come from Michael Urie's Epikhodov, who nearly needs an ER visit as the master of disaster desperately in love with servant Dunyasha (Elisabeth Waterston).  Her eyes fall (quite understandably) for Yasha, another peasant-now-servant (a very sexy Slate Holmgren), whose interest beyond pleasure is living in Ranevskaya's trail of dribbling cash.  With a couple of other archetypes tossed in, the plot is as Russian as they come.

Pacing, however, was a different issue, and it was leaden this night, pushing the few laughs farther between.

Santo Loquasto's white set creates a sepia tone for this family who lives in the past.  I will say that his gauze act curtain around the thrust stage created some difficulty for the audience to get to their seats.  Marco Piemontese continues the finely detailed work for Ms. Wiest's gowns, but phones in a bit for some of the supporting roles.


The Cherry Orchard runs through December 30.  Tickets here.

A "Burning" Quandry

I can't call it a review I have to write about today, though it is about a new play I attended over the weekend.

Let's put some things on the table first, stipulations, if you will:

• Getting a new play produced, particularly in New York, particularly by a company of the reputation of The New Group, is an incredible feat of effort.
• Provocative topics and situations are excellent fodder for playwrights looking to get attention to their work (see The Submission).
• "Downtown NYC" is a great place to exercise those skills.

A few more things to stipulate:

• I've seen a lot of lousy theatre in New York and have walked out on the full range, from multi-million dollar Broadway to dusty, uncomfortable black-box off-off-off Bway productions.  
• I've even performed in a couple of the latter types.

As a member of the ITBA, I see frequent invitations to attend and review theatre of all sorts in the city, as mentioned above, Broadway to black-box, off-off-off Broadway productions.  I don't see everything, but I was excited to see the invitation from The New Group for their production of the world premiere of Burning by up-and-coming playwright Thomas Bradshaw.  I've seen a couple of other productions from this company and looked forward to this.  The premise sounded interesting.  The director has made a name for himself.

This play was the first time I've ever walked out despite having been invited to write a review.

I consulted with a few associates about what to do and received a range of responses, two of which I'll paraphrase:

• "don't write a review of a show of which you only saw Act 1" 
• "write about what you did see, then explain why you left"
• "write a 'non-review', discussing the circumstances and your decision to leave early"

As you can see, I've opted for the third suggestion.

Producers offer tickets to reviewers like me to get the word out about their shows.  I have never had a publicist make any requests or qualifications about what I write, other than holding a post until the show officially opens.  As a result, I generally believe my obligation to include seeing the entire show.

Maybe I've been lucky so far.  Maybe I've been in more tolerant moods when I saw shows I didn't like.  Maybe I've just had nothing better to do on those occasions, but until this weekend, I've never walked out of a show I've been invited to review.

I mentioned having performed in dismal shows produced in less-than-stellar facilities.  I've also been in shows when a critic left at intermission and stated that in his review.  As an actor, that really hurts.  I know that pain.

Still, here's the summary I sent to my associates when I asked their advice on how to proceed:

Tonight I attended a performance of a play following a solicitation to the ITBA.  I say attended - actually I left at intermission.

This particular play, with an interesting premise, was produced by a reputable company of notable pedigree, with a notable director.  The actors are skilled and the production values are excellent.  The playwright has an interesting resume, and appears to be in an early and successful phase of career.

But the play itself is the problem.  From the complete lack of compelling (let alone likable) characters, to the unclear shifts in time periods, to the absurd (and not in the Albee style) dialog and reprehensible actions of some characters, to the gratuitous nudity and simulated sex acts, I found no artistic merit in the literary effort.   

I am dumbfounded, not even that someone wrote it, but that others read it and said "hey gang, let's spend the cash to put on this show!"

So, dear readers (both of you), what advice would you offer?

Burning runs through December 17.  Click here for tickets.

Milk Like Sugar

"Milk Like Sugar" at Playwrights Horizons, October 21, 2011

A few years ago, there were news reports of unhappy high school girls who formed pacts to all get pregnant and drop out of school.  Playwright Kirsten Greenidge has written this concept into the premise of Milk Like Sugar, in which Talisha (Cherise Boothe), Margie (Nikiya Mathis) and Annie (Angela Lewis) are planning their gift list for their shared baby shower including Coach diaper bags and better cellphones.  Margie is already pregnant. Talisha has plans in place.  Only Annie seems to be dragging her feet even though Talisha has picked out a partner for her as well, Malik (J. Mallory-McCree).

As the play opens, the girls have turned up at a tattoo parlor after hours for Annie to get free ink from an uncertified tattooist.  This only one in a continuing series of bad decisions.  Annie's mother Myrna (Tonya Pinkins), cleans offices to support her family.  She fancies herself a writer,  but doesn't seem to understand why she can't use the computers in the offices she cleans.

Ms. Greenidge seems to surf the story on the backs of stereotypes, from the materialistic, frighteningly misinformed, teen girls (Margie says: "Annie, you should get a red tattoo, cuz Malik's phone is red!"), to the sensitive, poet-type Malik trying to escape his ill mother, to the jaded and bitter mother whose life potential ended with her own teenage pregnancy.  Even the tattooist is a misunderstood artist.  Ms. Greenidge also overworks a flame motif from Annie's tattoo to one of the many heavy-handed scene transitions with overstated symbolism. 

Better served might have been the ladybug nursery rhyme that felt much more organic to the proceedings.  It certainly would have made a better title than the line pulled from one of Annie's later monologues when she recounts the image of powdered milk in a cupboard as a hungry child.  About the only scene that really played truthfully was Margie's traumatic first visit to the doctor and the reality check that followed.

Director Rebecca Taichman, who directed Classic Stage's recent Orlando, keeps things moving once the scenes start, but pushes too hard with the choreographed transitions and seems no more at home in the 21st century than she did in the 16th.

Production values are well up to Playwrights' standards with sets by Mimi Lien and lighting by Justin Townsend.  Toni-Leslie James has some fun with the girls' costumes, particularly Margie's penchant for monochromatic outfits.

Milk Like Sugar runs through November 20, 2011.  Tickets are available here.

Playwrights Horizons - Discount on "Milk Like Sugar"

The good folks at Playwrights Horizons have made the following offer.

DISCOUNT TICKETS TO MILK LIKE SUGAR for BLOG READERS:

Order by October 25 and use the code MILKGR
$35 (reg. $55) for Fri, Sat, and Sun evenings, Oct. 14-16; Oct 21-23
$40 (reg. $55) for all other performances Oct. 13-Nov 20

Online: www.TicketCentral.com<http://www.ticketcentral.com/>
Call: (212) 279-4200 Noon to 8PM daily
In Person: Ticket Central Box Office, 416 W. 42nd Street

Lemon Sky

"Lemon Sky" presented by the Keen Company at the Theatre Row, September 24, 2011

(photo by Richard Termine)

My experience with the Keen Company has usually been very good - solid productions and strong scripts.  This production is a tribute to the late Lanford Wilson in this autobiographical play.  This is the first time they have missed the mark for me.

17 year old Alan (Keith Nobbs) has traveled west to live with Douglas (Kevin Kilner) his estranged father who has remarried and has two sons by his second wife Ronnie (Kellie Overbey).  Douglas is eager to make up for lost time, and Alan is at first receptive, but as time passes,  Doug's old habits resurface.  Complicating the matter are the two foster daughters, Penny (Amie Tedesco) and Carol (Alyssa May Gold), who bring in needed cash to the household budget with their monthly state allocation.

Director Jonathan Silverstein has some strong actors among the uneven cast, but doesn't maximize their strengths.  Mr. Nobbs, last seen in a similar part as narrator/character in Broadway's Lombardi admirably carries much of the load, sharing lots of exposition in direct-address monologues, then quickly stepping into a scene as a confused high school graduate in the early 70s trying to figure out what his life will be. Ms. Overbey also steps up to an underwritten role.

Scenic designer Bill Clark makes excellent use of space for the California suburban ranch house setting, complemented by Josh Bradford's unobtrusive lighting.

Mr. Wilson has many other better-remembered titles in his canon.  Other than the autobiographical nature of this play, it's unclear what drew Keen Company to select it.

I'm hopeful for better results with their next production.

Lemon Sky runs through October 22.