He Wrote Some Other Good Things

"Echoes" presented by Doubtless Dreamers at the 440 Studios, December 7, 2006

N. Richard Nash wrote a couple of good plays and films during his long career, from "The Rainmaker" to its musical version "110 in the Shade," working with Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt of "The Fantasticks" as well as collaborating with Kander and Ebb on "The Happy Time." A new revival of "110 in the Shade has been announced for the 2007 Broadway season presented by the Roundabout Theatre at Studio 54. It was also the Roundabout that last revived "The Rainmaker" starring Woody Harrelson, in 1999.

He also wrote "Echoes" in 1973, a cryptic sketch about two patients in a mental hospital. My conjecture is that he going for something like "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" from 10 years before, but didn't find a very good twist on the concept. It does not appear to have ever been given a major production. Having seen it, I understand why. The premise of two mentally ill patients who communicate well with each other, but cannot do so successfully with reality is a great idea for an acting exercise, one scene, maybe even a one-act. There's not enough here to justify a two-act evening. The imaginary world of these two require visualization of imaginary props and set pieces and makes the play much more affordable for a young company to produce. Again, a great acting exercise to hone up one's pantomime skills, but not 2 hours of great entertainment for an audience. There are a couple of other questions that I have about the premise that never get explained. First, is it customary in a mental ward to mix genders in a shared room? Particularly when we learn that he is married and has a child? Character reactions to major events also seem to be taken as a foregone conclusion - doesn't really gel with how I would expect a mentally ill person to respond. Things like that gnaw at me sometimes.

Craig Jessen and April Lowe have produced "Echoes" for themselves in a blackbox space also used during the annual NY Fringe Festival. The space works very well, with only two cots required on an otherwise empty stage. Mr. Jessen and Ms. Lowe are talented young actors. One can easily see the amount of effort and work that went into the staging of this production. As Tilda, Ms. Lowe carries the bulk of the heavy lifting since Mr. Jessen begins both acts while Sam is asleep. Paranoid and insecure, she spends her energy trying to make Sam (Mr. Jessen) happy in their cell. They go through their rituals of distraction and avoidance, but still run into their respective demons.

Fearing "The Person" their doctor (Kelly Morris) they withdraw and curl up every time he enters their cell. Mr. Morris has an equally difficult task of pantomiming speech. In the world Mr. Nash has created, the insane can only hear each other. It's a thankless role.

Mr. Jessen's Sam is a likeable guy, comforting and accomodating Tilda's insecurities. They've made a pact to NOT talk or listen to "The Person." They think they'll only be safe in their imaginary world of baseball and Christmas. Sam turns out to be either not as strong (or not as crazy) as Tilda and succumbs to the unheard words of his doctor. He clears his problems in a single (also pantomimed) conversation while Tilda rants and begs him not to. After promising to never leave Tilda, he does. She only whimpers and withdraws further.

From the program:

About Doubtless Dreamers

Our mission is to entertain audiences while also promoting compassion. By exploring stories and characters that run the gamut of the human experience, we hope to create more empathy in the world.

I wish them well on their journey.

Prime Perhaps, But Not Ideal

"The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" presented by the New Group at the Acorn Theatre, Theatre Row, December 6, 2006

I love Cynthia Nixon. I always have since one of her earliest film roles, that of a maid in "Amadeus." I can still see her sobbing at the end. Add to that her run in "Sex and the City" with my good friend Kristin Davis and it's like we're BFF (sort of).

Anyway, she's back onstage in NYC, this time as Jean Brodie, the Scottish teacher "in her prime." Much has already been written about the script and her performance. I won't spend so much time on the play itself, but will focus more on the production.

Scott Elliott, a founder of the New Group, has given what is probably a faithful restoration of the play, with a couple of nice touches, though the pacing felt a little indulgent. Act I ran about 10 minutes longer than the one hour sign posted in the theatre lobby. Placing the students in front of the proscenium in desks facing the stage provide a nice opportunity for Ms. Nixon to deliver her classroom lectures. He moves the story along pretty well making nice use of Derek McLane's single set. Jason Lyons integrated lighting is a key to that success.

The costumes were quite effective, although it appeared that Eric Becker had used up his budget by the time he got to the nun's habit. That only added to the flashback concept looking like an afterthought in this staging.

Ms. Nixon's Miss Brodie is manipulative from the outset. She presents a woman who fancies herself a modern Plato, when she's really more just a pied piper. This woman is one who worships form over function, heaping praise on Mussolini for the cleanliness of his city streets. (He's also established a nature conservancy program. Such vision and virtues can't possibly make a fascist a bad thing, can it?) Her results with the men in her life are not quite as successful. There were several mentions of her accent being difficult to understand. Perhaps because I attended late in the run, this issue had worked itself out. When Miss Brodie should sparkle, Ms. Nixon only glimmers. She does not struggle like Julianne Moore did in "The Vertical Hour," but she doesn't quite sweep you off your feet like Miss Brodie should. She is an accomplished actor, but there are times when skill can't overcome an ill-fitting role.

As the two men, Gordon Lowther (John Pankow) and Teddy Lloyd (Ritchie Coster) fall for her manipulations as well. Mr. Coster's Teddy gets the better material to work with and plays it well. Mr. Pankow's Gordon is somewhat of a departure from his obnoxious baseball fan "Twelve Angry Men." I'll echo other notices that have described his performance as "sweet."

Her girls, of an impressionable age, latch on to her for approval and guidance. Jenny (Halley Wegryn Gross) is the pretty one. Mary MacGregor (Betsy Hogg), who seems to have the only last name of the four girls, is the awkward one. Monica (Sarah Steele) is the emotional one. Sandy (Zoe Kazan) is the dependable one. Of the four, Ms. Kazan gives the standout performance. I did think her nude scene dragged on a little longer than necessary. Her inner struggle as to whether or not she should betray her teacher was thoughtful and effective. Ms. Gross' accent was completely unintelligible. Ms. Steele and Ms. Hogg were both appropriate to their respective roles.

Though not groundbreaking, this was a solid and respectable production. I look forward to Ms. Nixon's next stage outing. I hear that she's been studying voice - maybe a musical next time?

The Politics of a Broken Heart

"Heartbreak House" presented by the Roundabout Theatre at the American Airlines Theatre, December 5, 2006

George Bernard Shaw's tale of bohemians in disregard for the real world around them has taken up on 42nd St. in the Roundabout's latest revival. It's a star-studded cast of quite talented performers, including Broadway veterans Swoosie Kurtz, Philip Bosco and Byron Jennings.

I attended a pre-show discussion, during which I learned that the play has a subtitle "A Chekovian Fantasia in the Russian Style." It's too bad that the Roundabout left that line out of the playbill - it certainly helped me understand the evening's proceedings. Another bit I learned - that Shaw believed, like Brecht (Mother Courage), that was was primarily a capitalist movement - that only the rich benefit from a war.

(Another Shavian quote I hadn't heard before: "Games are for people who neither think, nor read.")

The play takes place at the residence of Captain Shotover (Philip Bosco), retired from the Royal Navy, where he discovers that his daughter Hezione Hushabye (Swoosie Kurtz) has invited a young woman, Ellie Dunn (Lily Rabe) to visit. After a bit of what seems like Wildean confusion (or is it that Wilde appeared to present Shavian confusion in his plays?), the captain's other daugher, Ariadne Utterword (Laila Robins) also arrives to visit for the first time in 23 years. Though time has been kind to Ariadne, no one seems to recognize her at first. Quickly resolved, Hezione's motives are soon revealed that she plans to stop the impending marriage of the young Miss Dunn to the industrious capitalist, Boss Mangan (Bill Camp), a peer and perceived salvation of Miss Dunn's father, Mazzini Dunn. Both Mr. Dunn and Lady Utterword's brother-in-law Randall (Gareth Saxe) arrive in short order to get things underway.

Everywhere one turns, a heart is broken, either already, or soon-to-be. Ellie has been wooed by another man who has stirred her passions (who turns out to be Hezione's husband, Hector Hushabye). Randall pines for his sister-in-law, following wherever she travels. Ariadne and Hector also strike a fire in each other, which of course, cannot be consummated. From all of this Ellie dubs the residence "Heartbreak House."

Hezione, known for her beautiful red hair and dressed in a greek-interpretive sheath of red, quickly appeals to Miss Dunn to give up her plans to wed and to find a younger, more suitable love match. Miss Dunn feels a debt of gratitude to Mr. Mangan for bailing her father's failed business, and thus her family, out of bankruptcy. Marrying him would provide her a life of comfort, free of the money worries she's always known. Besides, she says, "My mother married a very good man. She did not want me to do the same." As Hezione, Ms. Kurtz comes out with both barrels blasting. Her Hezione seems patterned after Roz Russell, with a little Mae West tossed in to give some edge. I'm not sure the role is suited for this kind of edge. She does look exquisite, with the fat, red sausage curls a-flying.

Lily Rabe, fresh from last season's revival of "Steel Magnolias" makes a lovely Ellie. An archetypical ingenue, Ms. Rabe carefully reveals that there is more to her Miss Dunn than meets anyones' eye.

Laila Robins nails the society flirtations and insecurities of a wife of a traveling government official. She demonstrates the art of politics being able to appear one way to some and another way to others. This paradox is carried through nicely in both of her asymmetrically designed costumes.

As for the gentlemen, Mr. Bosco makes his second visit to Heartbreak House with this production. In the last revival, he played the role of Boss Mangan, casting that can be easily underst00d and supported. His Captain Shotover, comes across like Henry Higgins minus the elocution lessons. Delivering his lines in small bursts of rapid-fire, he dashes on and offstage without acknowledgement. This is later explained in the play. He does have a couple of excellent lines:

• A man's interest in the world is only the excess of his interest in himself.
• Any man can rule with a stick in his hands.

In the second line above, Shaw leaves no opportunity to make his political theories known. How interesting that such a statement is still so relevant today.

As Hector Hushabye, Hezione's handsome husband, Byron Jenning delivers another solid and thoughtful performance. Hector has been courting Miss Dunn under a false name, and has roused her passion, though not enough to break her engagement. Hector is also a kept man, serving only to please Hezione, as she encourages him to raise passions wherever he goes. (She's quite the modern woman, no?)

As Ellie's father, John Christopher Jones presents a mild-mannered milquetoast of a man, even moreso than the story seems to support. Mr. Dunn, a "soldier of freedom," has been in love only once - with his wife. He's a poor businessman, having started one with an excellent potential, but didn't have the foresight to work through the ups and downs of its early phases. As a result, he's always lived from check to check, barely getting by and raising his family. Mr. Jones seemed to miss a couple of opportunities to sparkle a bit, first during Hezione's attempted seduction in Act I and again in his pajamas and robe in Act II.

As Boss Mangan, Bill Camp has the unfortunate task of having to appear as hypnotized during a long stretch. His Mangan is obtuse and forward, thinking that his forwardness is perceived as cleverness. During some of the more physical moments of humor, I was reminded of Alec Baldwin's self-concious acting from SNL.

Robin Lefevre, on his second Broadway outing has taken quite a broad stroke with this revival. Sets by John Lee Beatty invoke a ship, quite suitable to Capt. Shotover. Jane Greenwood's costumes are spot-on, from Hector's sheik's robes to the dinner attire of white tie and tails. Peter Kaczorowski has achieved a lighting designer's goal of being effective while not being noticeable.

Horizontal for 2.5 Hours

"The Vertical Hour" at the Music Box Theatre, November 29, 2006

Sam Mendes has brought David Hare's new play to New York. With it is an impressive performance by an actor who has demonstrated quite an impressive range of skills in many varying film roles over the past few years.

It's unfortunate that the sentence above does not describe Julianna Moore.

Mr. Hare's diatribe on US activities from Bosnia (basically none) to Iraq (overthrowing a sitting government) is the plot contrivance employed for what little plot he presents. Nadia Blye (Ms. Moore) is an instructor at Yale on the topic of political studies, following an early career as a war correspondent during the events in Bosnia following the fall of Yugoslavia. She is now engaged to Phillip (Andrew Scott), a physical therapist and British ex-pat, who has taken her to Wales to meet his father, Oliver (Bill Nighy). Oliver, a doctor, who has a cordial but strained relationship with his son, is intrigued by Nadia, but finds it necessary to challenge her belief structure.

The play opens with Ms. Moore counseling Dennis (Dan Bittner), a student who has turned in a less than acceptable essay, which evolves into his confession of love for her. He uses his three weeks of studying Freud to justify his behavior and his belief that "underneath" she has encouraged this from him. She quickly discounts any value in psychology, to which he replies "...[people of the world] know that reality is real, that it exists, but what they think of it is more important." Her response "are you talking about Americans?" Mr. Hare accurately points out that news is no longer the reporting of events, but of the reactions by those involved or not.

This topic surfaces again during a discussion with Mr. Nighy in the next scene. She had been summoned to visit the White House over circumstances in Irag. A proud American, she reported for duty and shared her opinions with the president. Mr. Nighy's Oliver responds "If the Prime Minister called me, I'd let the phone ring." Another pithy observation from Oliver when Nadia talks about America's responsibility to the rest of the world, "Don't forget. You're building an empire, we (Great Britain) just dismantled one."

The other plot in play is the competition between Phillip and Oliver. Phillip felt torn in his parents' loveless marriage, playing the peacekeeper until events finally drove them to separate. He sees Oliver as an unrepentant philanderer and a phony. He suspects Oliver will attempt to seduce Nadia, but despite these faults he goes through the motions in hopes of healing his emotional wounds.

Mr. Nighy's Oliver is an awkwardly charming man, smoothly uncomfortable in his own skin. His presence and performance are organic and real. It is this reality that brings the audience to care for him in spite of his faults and past misdeeds. He is the doctor Oliver defines as "someone who tells you the truth and stays till the end."

Mr. Scott is warm and needy as the son who has spent most of his life trying to differentiate himself from his father. His Phillip loves the silence that so unnerves Oliver, leaves Britain to live in the US and chooses a career as a physical therapist with multiple locations of wellness centers which include massage and personal training. He feels most successful when his father learns that his patients "...pay someone to send them out for a jog," a most ignoble use of one's time as a health professional. He wants to be calm, warm and safe. This is the man Nadia thinks she's looking for.

Alas, it is Ms. Moore who is out of her element here. She has proven herself a talented film actress, having moved from daytime television serials playing twin sisters (or was it half? cousins?) separated at birth and being kidnapped by a fiance who was secretly in love with her aunt on As the World Turns (unmentioned in her bio, BTW) to moving portrayals in the films Safe, The Hours, and End of the Affair. I had high hopes for her skills on stage. Her technical ability to merely project her lines seems to be her biggest weakness. Beyond that, when she says at a critical moment, "I've seen the results of western indifference" describing the genocide that went on in Bosnia, she's not believable. She speaks with neither the passion nor the numbed indifference of one emotionally beaten down by the events she describes. I won't blubber like Ben Brantley did over Ms. Roberts earlier this year, but she is quite beautiful onstage.

It appears that Mr. Mendes is the one who let her down here. There seems to be no assistance provided to her in interpreting her role with a spectrum of how real people speak, how painful memories can choke, how tension can stifle one's speech pattern. Though not to that extreme, some of her deliveries sounded reminded me of the porn film scenes from Boogie Nights. She does give an emotional outpouring during a cathartic moment with Mr. Nighy, but by then it's too little too late. Waterworks are an easy skill to summon from an actor's bag of tricks.

Mr. Hare, too, may share some of the blame. Nadia's character arc is telegraphed pretty openly from the first scene, and ends with no surprise in her "surprise" announcement in the final line of the play. Her references to psychological motives in the final scene don't ring true having discounted them so specifically in the opening scene. Nadia's issues are many, but none are really resolved during the course of the play, only exposed.

Scott Pask's sets, using a cinematic black aperture to reveal first Nadia's jewel-box, paneled, ivy-league office open to reveal a stoic oak on the lawn of Oliver's self-imposed, lonely residence of exile. The mismatch of tables and chairs on this lawn evoked the edwardian eclecticism of rural Wales, although it appeared a bit forced.

When Ms. Moore appeared in the first scene in a brown dress that faded her (and her red hair , believe it or not) into the wookwork of her office, I was hoping for some interesting costuming choices. I wish that Ann Roth had provided some.

It's an interesting play and Mr. Nighy is certainly well-worth seeing. I hope that Ms. Moore will try Broadway again in a role that suits her skills better.

Here's what Ben Brantley had to say in the NY Times. I'm unsure what show Clive Barnes saw, as reported here in the NY Post.

Maybe a Little More Evolution is in Order

"Jay Johnson: The Two and Only!" at the Helen Hayes Theatre, November 14, 2006

He seems like such a nice man, but I kept asking myself, "Why is this on Broadway?"

Jay Johnson, most notable for the roles of Chuck and Bob on the groundbreaking 1970's TV show "Soap," has evolved this performance over the past couple of years, its most recent installment at the Atlantic Theatre Company in 2004. Apparently the 10+ producers whose names appear above the title thought the show was worthy of Broadway.

The structure of the show is mechanical. He begins with some obscure history about ventriloquism, taking the audience back into ancient history with claims that the Oracles were ventriloquists. Fast forward to a book written a couple of hundred years ago by a Frenchman who concluded that ventriloquism was a mental disorder.

Once the actual ventriloquism starts, Mr. Johnson shows his significant talent for his art, (a bottle, a severed head). It's too bad he doesn't have more to say beyond the description of it as a difficult career choice. Certainly, the high points are when the dummies land the jokes, and there are several funny moments. When he speaks of his mentor, there is real emotion in his voice, but it's not really moving to the audience.

He parades a series of vehicles:

• a speaking snake who's afraid of snakes (1-joke)
• a vulture who feels a sense of death on the stage (more profound than was intended)
• a telephone conversation with imaginary friends (no jokes, despite the effort)
• his first custom-made partner, Squeaky (another almost-touching moment)
• Bob, from "Soap"
• Darwin, a monkey (the name? it just evolved)

Of these characters, we either don't get a chance to really know them or they stay beyond their welcome before they are folded up and packed away. I would have liked more time with Squeaky and Bob, given what we're told about how they entered and impacted Mr. Johnson's life.

The set, by Beowulf Boritt foreshadows a tale of a man on the road, living out of the numerous trunks and suitcases that litter the stage. We don't really get a "road story" in spite of this. Clifton Taylor's lighting is effective, but anticlimactic.

It is the direction by Murphy Cross and Paul Kreppel that is the most puzzling. One would expect much more visual interest from a dancer/choreographer like Ms. Murphy. Mr. Kreppel's resume is much more eclectic which should have provided a more interesting evening with such experience, as well.

In the end, what could have been a very entertaining evening was more like listening to someone look through his photo album.

To See Such a Sight

"The Little Dog Laughed" at the Cort Theatre, October 28, 2006

Second Stages has had pretty decent luck with transferring shows to Broadway, most recently "25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" which is still running at the Circle in the Square Theatre after picking up a couple of Tony Awards.

Now we have the transfer of "The Little Dog Laughed," a dull poke in the eye of Hollywood by Douglas Carter Beane. The premise is that Mitchell (Tom Everett Scott) an actor just on the verge of Hollywood mega-stardom is debating coming out of the closet. His agent Diane (Julie White), a lesbian herself, is totally and adamantly against it, seeing it as total career suicide. A new play has just opened off-Broadway that is catching lots and lots of buzz and interest from Hollywood as a new movie vehicle. She has come to NY to see it and has brought Mitchell along to see it as well, if it meets up to her expectations. It does and the chase is on. (Spoiler Alert!)

Mitchell, however, has hired a young hustler Alex (Johnny Galecki) to spend a little time while Diane is at the theatre. He stumbles through the whole "businessman-traveling, not-really-gay-just-curious" schtick. Alex responds in kind with the "only-in-it-for-the-money, have-a-girlfriend" reply that makes both closted men feel better about themselves. Alex almost makes a clean escape. Mitchell passes out drunk before the "deed" and just as Alex has emptied Mitchell's wallet, Mitchell stirs in his sleep and stirs something in Alex. They wake the next morning, hung over and uncomfortable, respectively. As they stumble through good-byes, a real passion ignites. Diane enters just as they've gotten naked and brings the proceedings to a halt. She dismisses Alex and chews out Mitchell over the indiscretion.

Alex meets up with his girlfriend Ellen (Ari Graynor), who has recently been dumped by her own sugar daddy, but she's retained custody of his AMEX gold card. They tumble into bed after making a pact that they won't let the other end up alone.

In an hilarious lunch scene with the playwright (unseen) Diane and Mitchell snare the movie rights. Mitchell and Alex continue to see each other after Diane returns to Hollywood to sell the picture. Ellen suspects that Alex and Mitchell have paired up and all seems relatively wrapped up until she discovers that she's pregnant with Alex's baby. Diane arrives back to NYC with a deal that will make everyone happy - it's a brilliant scene of manipulation.

Scott Ellis has directed this comedy with an economy of motion and scale. There haven't been significant changes in the production from the off-Broadway run, but it has tightened up in a couple of scenes.

Sets by Allen Moyer are also basically unchanged from the original production. Jeff Mahshie's costumes have also streamlined somewhat. Most of the cast spend their time wearing black and white, but Diane gets an early flash of color (red soles on some great high heels) and resolves the show in a striking red dress.

As Ellen, Ms. Graynor joins the cast as the only member who's appeared on Broadway. Her Ellen is a tiring party girl who's more ready to settle down that anyone might have realized, especially her. In a pretty good blond wig, she makes a nice contrast to the two dark-headed actors and Ms. White's red mane.

TomEverett Scott is also a new member to this production, making his Broadway debut. His Mitchell is a contradiction as he struggles with wanting happiness as well as a career that has no interest in supporting his sexual orientation. I really wanted to like him in this role, but had trouble doing so. He stumbled on a line or two, which is not a major sin, but he also seems to have lost that youthful optimism he has demonstrated in his film and TV roles. Mitchell is a brash young man. Mr. Scott looked just a little too tired and jaded for me. Maybe if he lost the facial stubble, he might appear more youthful. I also wonder if perhaps the way his character is written adds to this. The first scene with Alex has him already drunk with a cigarette when Alex arrives.

As Alex, Mr. Galecki nails the awkward, unsure and hesitating profile of a wandering young man. His Alex knows what he knows, but absolutely has no idea what he doesn't know. He finds in Mitchell someone he thinks he can help, or help fix. It's a classic dynamic that can draw two people together, but rarely will it keep them so. This debut is one to be proud of.

It's Julie White that walks away with this show, however. From her first moment as she describes an awards banquet where Mitchell gets his first major industry recognition, she grabs the audience by whatever appendage is available and doesn't let go until the curtain call. Her Diane is the composite of every agent/manager/producer you can imagine - cold, calculating, charming and ruthless, she plays the game because she's rewriting the rules and she goes along. There is not a line, moment or gesture that is wasted in this performance. She's been long overdue for a starring role on Broadway - let's hope there will be many more to follow this one.

Not so Black and White, Anymore

"Grey Gardens" at the Walter Kerr Theatre, October 24, 2006

After a four-month, sold out run off Broadway at Playwright's Horizon, "Grey Gardens" has transferred to Broadway, giving Christine Ebersole the exposure she deserves in her tour-de-force performance as both Edith Bouvier Beales, the mother and daughter.

Based on and extrapolating from the documentary of the same name by David and Albert Maysles in the early 1970's, Doug Wright has taken the tale of Edith and Little Edie Beale, relatives of Jackie Kennedy, who were found living in squalor, on their family estate - Grey Gardens in Easthampton, NY.

Act I finds Edith preparing to perform at the engagement party of daughter Little Edie to Joseph Kennedy, Jr. Edith's father, the Major is along to balance the presence of little cousins, Lee and Jackie Bouvier. Also present is the resident fop, George Gould Strong, Edith's accompanist, bon vivante, and ever so fey confidante. By the end of the act, the Beale women have been dealt major blows. Mr. Beale has wired to say that not only is he not attending the engagement party, but that he is divorcing Edith in Mexico. Edith's response is to sabotage the engagement, driving Mr. Kennedy out of Little Edie's life. The act ends as Little Edie packs a suitcase and flees the house as Edith greets the party guests with one of the songs she has prepared to perform.

Act II picks up in 1972, the period during which the documentary was filmed. Little Edie, now 56, lives with Edith in the house which is overrun with cats, raccoons and garbage. A neighbor boy, Jerry, has taken an interest in the two and shows up regularly to help out, and enjoy the fun of watching these two eccentric and bizarre women.

Mr. Wright has used artistic license to create the events in Act I. It is known that efforts to join the Bouviers and the Kennedys had been underway long before Jackie and Jack got together. Both families saw the advantages that would be afforded to both sides, so a proposed union between Little Edie and Joseph, Jr. might have been considered.

To turn this story into a musical seems the bigger challenge, in my view. The Maysles' documentary presents a pitiful scenario of two women on and near the end of a downward spiral, caught between pride and poverty on the edge of insanity. Scott Frankel has done an masterful job of capturing the diverse moods and feelings in the two acts. I had the fortune to crash the cast talk-back after the performance and asked Mr. Frankel about the first act score. As I watched the show, the overall sense I got was a Kern/Porter/Gershwin/Rodgers feeling, which would suit Edith's musical tastes. Edith was famous (infamous?) for performing extensively at her own high-society parties, and did make several records in the 30's and 40's. I asked Mr. Frankel if he had a single composer of the era in mind. He confirmed the Porter/Gershwin/Kern flavor was his intent. Michael Korie's lyrics match the styles and integrate song into story beautifully.

The opening number "The Girl Who Has Everything" evokes the Kern/Lehar era as it reveals Edith in rehearsal for the engagement party. A quick segue way into "The Five Fifteen" gives just the right level of exposition and sets the excitement for the evening's party.

Joe appears after Edith and Little Edie have had their first go-round about the musical plans for the party in "Mother Darling." They escape to the terrace where he shares his family's ambitions, "Going Places."

The Major enters next and takes young Lee and Jackie outdoors for a little golf lesson and grandfatherly advice, "Marry Well." It is here that his influence becomes apparent as a driving force among these Bouvier women.

As Little Edie in Act 1, Erin Davie softens the role originated by Sara Guettelfinger, and instills sympathy with her fragile performance. Her Edie sees spinsterhood looming in her future and is desparate to avoid it, as well as escape from the passive/aggressive destructive treatment she gets from her mother. Her "Mother Darling" is much more of a plea than a demand for Edith to allow the party to occur naturally, without Edith's usual "impromptu" vocal performance that has become standard fare at a Grey Gardens event. She has her own ambitions for a performing career, sharing it with Joe during their duet "Going Places." Unfortunately, Joe's (or the Kennedys') plans do not include a working wife, particularly working in show business.

Matt Cavenaugh has grown nicely in his role as Joe Kennedy, Jr. He has managed to nail down the flat and nasal Massachussetts drawl so strongly identified with that clan. His role has been modified, but to the advantage of the story. Off-Broadway, Joe was used more as a stock juvenile role. Now his character has some depth and helps bring the story along. In Act II, Mr. Cavenaugh plays Jerry, the neighbor boy who stops by to lend a hand. He transitions between roles nicely.

John McMartin as Major Bouvier also benefits from the changes to Act I. His Major may have retired to enjoy his family and free time, but he still wields a firm hand with daughter Edith. When Little Edie finds her opportunity to let him know that Edith plans to sing at the party, he puts his foot down and as he speaks to Edith, we get a taste of how Mr. Beale speaks to Little Edie. His number "Marry Well" sung to little Jackie and Lee foreshadows the profitable unions those two will achieve as adults. When Little Edie joins the number late, you already get the sense that for all her efforts, she will not have the same fortune.

As George Gould Strong, Bob Stillman fulfills the role of Edith's accompanist, best friend and confidante. His Gould is another stock character, the dandy, but he keeps from suffering the stereotype. He knows his position in the household is tenuous and since he truly cares about Edith, he is quick to offer to leave Grey Gardens to return to NYC and make his own way. She won't hear of it.

It is Christine Ebersole who is the heart and soul of this production. As Edith, she coos, cajoles, threatens, berates and pleads her way through the party preparations. She demonstrates in "The Five Fifteen" that she has entertained enough to let the minor details of flowers, food and chairs take care of themselves while she rehearses her songs. Her dysfunctional relationship with Little Edie appears early in their duet, "Mother Darling." It is when Mr. Beale's telegram arrives for Little Edie that she sees just how desperate her situation is. She betrays Little Edie to Joe with the tale of an embarrassing swimsuit accident which Little Edie suffered through, sabotaging the engagement. Knowing Little Edie will have no other option but to stay, Edith's final song of the act, "Will You?" becomes a plea for forgiveness.

Mary Louise Wilson reappears in Act II as Edith, after the very brief Prologue that began the show. You quickly sense the how the years have worn on her. Her first song “The Cake I Had” is both proud and rueful, as she explains why she did some of the things she did which have landed her in her present state. Her Edith is still just as competitive with Little Edie as ever. When they talk about Jerry, she is quick to squelch Little Edie’s misplaced ideas that he is sexually interested in the younger Beale woman. While her concept may be right, it is only partially so. She sings “Jerry Likes My Corn” and you think she feels Jerry is more interested in her.

With all the style and confidence displayed in Act I, Ms. Ebersole's Little Edie in Act II has become a shell of what she might have been. Unconfident, no self-esteem and bordering on lunacy, Little Edie can only focus on things she knows - working with what few clothes she has left, trying to carry any sense of style her poverty will afford. The stress of the intervening years has made her bald and she has taken to wearing cardigan sweaters on her head, buttoned under her chin and tied with a brooch to serve as "hair." The verge of paranoia hangs over her Edie, but one can still see the trapped young woman desperate to escape this twisted jail her life has become. Opening Act II with “The Revolutionary Costume for Today,” is the first of many quotes from the documentary that are expanded upon in this act. When Edie works up the courage to actually leave Grey Gardens, she sings longingly of what she’s missed in “Around the World.” Suitcase in hand at the edge of the property, it is Edith’s call to Edie that she is compelled to answer, and seals her own fate to remain there. A reprise of “Will You?” is now again a plea for forgiveness, but from each woman to the other.

Director Michael Grief has refined his efforts with the streamlining of both acts. Three new songs were added to Act I, with a new reprise in Act II. The changes to both book and score have cleared up both motivations and reactions to the pivotal events instigated by Mr. Beale's telegram. Having now seen the original documentary between these two productions, He has really captured not only the reality of the events in Act II, but also has managed to look into the minds of the two women as well. He has lifted events from the documentary and translated them to the stage with grace and truth. When Little Edie shows Jerry her marching song, the soldiers she sees in her mind appear and dance along with her.

Sets by Allen Moyer are unchanged from the earlier production, but sitting in the mezzanine for this show, I now understood the intentions behind the design. The main stage area slides forward and back to make room for various changes downstage, such as a lovers’ bench for Joe and Little Edie, or the terrace steps for Edith’s number which closes Act I. During Act II, as Little Edie stands frozen with her suitcase contemplating her departure, she is below a gap in the stage that separates her from the house. As Edith calls to her, her voice closes the gap and Edie crosses back to her old life.

I saw the Playwright's production last spring and enjoyed it, but felt it was more an evening of two one-act musicals, only connected by common character names.

When I learned that the show was going to transfer, I was hopeful that the creative team would have (and take) the opportunity to make the changes necessary to give the audience a more cohesive evening at the theatre.

I'm so happy they have - and beautifully so!

Resist the Temptation

"Ascension" Red Light District production at The Lion Theatre on Theatre Row, Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Look at the picture. Isn't he pretty?

That was the highlight of this overwraught and poorly written knockoff of "Doubt" with a twist in the wrong direction. (Spoiler Alert)

Father Cal (Stephen Hope) is accused by Agnes (Lucy McMichael) of molesting her son Lorenzo (Brandon Ruckdashel) when he was an adolescent. Shortly after she leaves her blackmail terms, Lorenzo, now a young adult, shows up. His story is slightly different from Mom's and leaves poor Father Cal equally threatened. Seems Father Cal is about to leapfrog from pastor to bishop, and a sex scandal is the last thing he needs in his life.

Seems each character has their own agenda, murky as those agendas may be. Agnes turns out to be schizophrenic, Lorenzo a sociopath, and Father Cal is just overly ambitious.

Edmund De Santis' script has some interesting potential, playing off the not-so-current wave of sexual abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church over the past few years. It turns out that Father Cal is indeed physically innocent of Agnes' charges. Lorenzo has been carrying a torch for the padre since he was an altar boy. Father Cal thought he'd dodged the bullet of Lorenzo when he turned away from the boy before anything could happen between them.

Now that Lorenzo has returned in the flesh, quite literally, he seduces Father Cal, fulfilling Agnes' accusations, but now with much less weight. Even after the seduction is complete and Lorenzo has left, the plot twists continue with Father Cal pulling a few rabbits out of his own hat.

Mr. De Santis has created a complicated series of plot twists that I suppose were meant to be clever, but the result is a convoluted and confusing story line, which I'm not sure I understand even now. Just about everything presented gets contradicted. I don't know which were true in the end, and I'm not sure I care.

Marc Geller has directed this piece with only one eye open. If he had opened the other, he might have seen a way to instill a little more reality in the production.

As Father Cal, Mr. Hope is the hardest working man in NY theatre. He's giving everything he has and then some to try to instill some level of realism or credibility into this play. His physicalization: quivers, shakes, fumes, and even a pretty believable asthma attack on more than one occasion shows an actor who knows his craft.

Ms. McMichael seems to have much less to work with, both from her material and her skill. Her only expression throughout the show is like she smells rotten fish. Even when her character switches from one personality to the other, it's only her words that give any signal of the shift. And for all the anger in her lines, there's rarely any of it in her voice.

Mr. Ruckdashel is surely pretty, though. His diction isn't bad, but most of his lines sound like he's reading from his script. His Lorenzo doesn't give us the kind of calculating, scheming, desperate young man that his lines would portray.

Aaron Mastin's set, with its red walls and floor and cross-shaped mullions in the skylight strive to evoke the spirit intended, but the large, somewhat eroticized painting of Christ on the cross seems out of place for Father Cal's office in his private quarters. There were several references to the attractive physique portrayed in the painting, but I think a small three-dimensional crucifix would have served the proceedings better.

Costumes by Dennis Ballard are perfectly serviceable. Of course, we get to see both Father Cal and Lorenzo in and out of costume, so we know exactly what he was given to work with.

Other reviewers seemed to have found much more depth in this production. I didn't see it.

A Dead Bird

"Swan Lake" Conservatory Theatre, St. Petersburg, Russia, October 2, 2006

The Conservatory Theatre is part of the school where Tchaikovsky studied and taught. Imagine how many of his compositions debuted in that hall! We arrived to find the entrance and lobby in well-preserved condition. To our horror, the interior of the house had been butchered in what looked like a mid-twentieth century Soviet renovation. Just dreadful!!

The act curtain seemed based on an older more classic design with fringe and other passementerie - very much at odds with the severe and bland appearance of the house.

Hopes for a true Russian ballet in the best sense were dashed as the curtain went up to reveal one of the ugliest Swan Lake sets I've ever seen. Programs were not included with admission, so I will not be able to accuse identify either designers or dancers by name.

Act I brought out the cast in a mish-mash of costumes. Blue was the apparent theme, however, no two garments managed to share the same shade - anywhere! Our guide on the bus had prepared us for the choreography originally set by Marius Petipa. (On occasion a ballet director will have the artistic need to make some modifications to original choreography to suit either a particular dancer, or perhaps make new interpretive choices. This is typically noted in a program as "Choreography after..." ) Not recognizing a single move in Act I, I commented that the evening's choreography was "after Petipa and Ivanov were dead and spinning in their respective graves."

Prince Sigfried's only connection to his character was his age. Incapable of acting and merely acquainted with the steps, he created a vaccuum of performance energy every moment he spent on stage.

Our Odette/Odile, performed without an iota of emotion. Technically weak, she did manage one or two very nice penche' arabesques.

Von Rothbart was one of the largest dancers I've seen on a stage. Credit him for at least trying to bring some interest to this tired and under-rehearsed prduction. Only the female corps de ballet offered any visual interest and they were spotty at best. When the swans entered wearing romantic tutus, I immediately longed for the opera gloves and chest hair sported by Ballet Trockadero De Monte Carlo. Say what you will about the Trocks, their Swan Lake Act I, Scene 2 was far superior to what we were forced to endure - those boys can dance!

Adding final insult to final injury, this production chose the "happy ending" instead of the traditional tragic end. I had to look around to make sure I was really in Russia!

If this performance is representative of the quality of dance instruction at the Conservatory, their administration needs to find new artistic direction.

Cirque Du Kit-Kat-Klub

"Absinthe" at the Spiegeltent at Pier 17. September 20, 2006

With a very European sensibility, "Absinthe" is a cabaret-style variety show featuring a bizarre range of acts. Here's some info about the venue:

Saunter through the gently lit, European style beer garden. Drift on through the beautifully crafted art deco doors and discover a place filled with flirtatious laughter, exhilarating live performances, swirling lighting, and lush billowing velvet.

These gleaming mirrors have reflected loves, laughter, entertainment and spectacles from all over Europe for the last 100 years.

From their beginnings in Belgium at the turn of the last century, these iconic tents have been traveling the world as part of arts festivals and fairs. The famous and the infamous have performed in these haloed halls. Made from finest teak and beveled mirrors, and looked after
lovingly by a small band of owners, these exceptional venues have never failed to enthrall, delight, surprise and seduce.

For more information on the venue, click here.

On with the show...

The pre-show music consists of recorded military marches, which oddly adds to the retro ambience of the tented space. A round platform in the middle of the circular arrangement of folding chairs serves as the stage. Before the houselights dim, a striking and zaftig young woman in a black bustier and skirt enters and seat herself on top of the piano beside the stage. A man enters in a dark suit and bowler hat, begins to play the piano and she sings. Clearly not American, it's difficult to determine whether she's German, S. American, Italian, who knows what? (She's later introduced as Irish.) She is Camille. Earthy and unapologetically sensual, she whirls round and round in a carousel song (Jacques Brel, I think) - and almost makes you feel as if the round tent in which you sit is also spinning.

Following is an acrobatic pair of Englishmen (in dark suits and bowler hats) who go through an amazing series of presses and balances. They are a mismatched pair, size-wise, one taller, one shorter. The pair have a certain Laurel and Hardy quality, the tall one serious and dead-pan, the smaller one all child-like smiles. The suits come off during the act revealing sculpted forms in Union Jack briefs - I think we have a hit!

Next is a scantily clad woman swinging on a trapeze bar. She had some nice moves and was much stronger than one might have guessed from her appearance.

Soon we are introduced to Miss Behave, another Euro curiosity who seems to have neither a uvula nor a gag-reflex. Wearing a 1940's cut dress with a hobble skirt - in red latex, no less - she explains her act during her second appearance describing it as "...not so much 'wow!' but 'why?'..." Her feats include a cute bit with a pair of scissors, a rose stem dropped through her pierced tongue then putting out a lit cigar with same said tongue. Maximum shock effect comes with a bizarre finaletto involving a table leg.

The next act was an inexplicable sound effects guy, whose only note from the director appeared to be "make it a little more creepily sexual from time to time." Skilled - yes, attractive - no. The act had no narrative to justify its presence, nor did it add anything to the proceedings.

Continuing on the creepy track, Rubberman - Captain Frodo! From Norway (I believe) this is the evening's contortionist. Forcing his body through not one, but two, tennis rackets (unstrung, of course and one 2" smaller in diameter than the other), he was quite funny and engaging. Full of pratfalls, at one point he has one foot on the ground, the other leg is pinned to his torso with the larger racket and the smaller racket is just past his head with one arm through and the other just above the shoulder. As he then bends over to pick up the microphone he's just dropped, he gives a leer to the crowd and says "I know what you're wondering. And, yes, I can!" I'm not sure that his spill all the way off the platform was intended.

After the intermission, Camille returns in an hilarious number "In These Shoes?" followed by Capt Frodo. This time, he stacks successively smaller cans while standing atop them, and ends by sitting on a vegetable-size can with both ankles behind his head. It is during this pose that he challenges the audience with "If you think there's something strange that you'd like to try, you'd be amazed at how you can make a living at it."

A Russian hula hoop performer is next, followed by a final song from Camille "Falling In Love Again" sung a capella in German - lovely!

The grand finale - and grand indeed! Well, how to describe it? In one of the more "Cirque-like" acts of the evening, a bathtub full of water is brought onto the stage. Two ropes/straps are lowered from above. David, wearing only blue jeans, gets in the tub, then wraps, lifts and swings himself around for 5-10 minutes. It's a clinical description, I know, but was it HOT! David is German, dark and smooth. The front row did receive some protection from the spray with some plastic sheeting.

In all, it was a most engaging evening - one I'm glad I didn't miss!