Cirque du Soleil - "Quidam"

"Quidam" presented by Cirque du Soleil at Barclay's Center, July 25, 2013

In a tentless production, Cirque returns to NY with the long-running Quidam for a short stint at the Barclay's Center in Brooklyn.

Quidam, which means "anonymous passerby" originally opened in 1996, converting to its current format for arena staging in 2010 (thanks, Wikipedia!).

When I first discovered Cirque years ago, I was a huge fan, anxiously waiting to find out when the next tour would be performing nearby.  After the third or fourth production, however, my enthusiasm waned.  Perhaps the novelty had worn off compared to the ticket price.

The various acts are ostensibly connected with a through-line story of Zoe, "...bored yet curious, and she longs for the fun and excitement she believes lie just beyond her reach."  Based on how the ensemble moves from white-hooded oompa-loompas to dirty ragged eastern Euro ghetto residents, I failed to connect the fun and excitement.  The most intriguing aspect I found was the aerial rigging system created for this arena version which allows performers to fly in from behind the stage, or remain suspended for extended periods of time.

Of the elements, the ensemble acts fared best in an impressive double-dutch rope jumping segment early in Act 1, and a tumbling/balancing/acrobatic piece at the end described as a Banquine.  The hand balancing, aerial silks, aerial ropes and hoops acts were all merely interesting.  Even the balancing pair, stripped to their skivvies lacked enough sensuality to raise it to truly remarkable.  More disappointing was the clown routine, which I'm pretty sure I had seen in another Cirque production along the way.

On a related note, this was my first visit to the Barclay's Center.  Subway transportation to and from is particularly easy and the facility is quite impressive.

This stop on the tour ends on July 28. 

The Comedy of Errors

"The Comedy of Error" presented by The Public Theater at Delacorte Theater, June 2, 2013

(photo by Joan Marcus)


The first of the Public Theater's presentations of Shakespeare in the Park is Shakespeare's take on Plautus' Menaechmi, complicated with an extra set of twins separated as small children.  There's no adaptation credit given in the playbill, but one might presume that dramaturg Robert Blacker was pivotal in the streamlining of the book down to a 90 minute one-act.  The result is a farce set in a 1940s Ephesus, complete with a jitterbugging, lindy hopping chorus gathered around the jukebox - - Shakespeare meets Guy and Dolls. 

Director Daniel Sullivan focuses his energies around Hamish Linklater and Jesse Tyler Ferguson as they take on the dual roles of Antipholus and Dromio, respectively.  Mr. Linklater achieves the greater success in creating two distinct characters around the long-lost brothers.  Mr. Ferguson comes in a close second.  Heidi Schreck also manages to find her way as Luciana.  Skip Suddeth brings us a Tony Soprano-style Duke.  The rest of the cast is serviceable if unremarkable, except for Emily Bergl's gasp-worthy pratfall as Adriana.

The pace is good.  The costumes colorful and sets work nicely.  There are plenty of laughs. It's a good night in Central Park.

Tickets are free, distributed the day of each show at the Delacorte box office in Central Park.  The Comedy of Errors runs through June 30.

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.

2013 Tony Awards - my predictions

Just under the wire, here are my predictions:

Best Play *	Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Best Musical *	Matilda The Musical
Best Revival of a Play *	The Trip to Bountiful
Best Revival of a Musical *	Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella
Best Book of a Musical *	Kinky Boots - Harvey Fierstein
Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) *	Kinky Boots - Music and Lyrics: Cyndi Lauper
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play *	Tom Hanks - Lucky Guy
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play *	Cicely Tyson - The Trip to Bountiful
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical *	Billy Porter - Kinky Boots
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical *	Stephanie J. Block - The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play *	Tony Shalhoub- Golden Boy
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play *	Judith Light - The Assembled Parties
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical *	Gabriel Ebert - Matilda The Musical
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical *	Andrea Martin - Pippin
Best Direction of a Play *	Nicholas Martin - Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Best Direction of a Musical *	Matthew Warchus - Matilda The Musical
Best Choreography *	Peter Darling - Matilda The Musical
Best Orchestrations *	Danny Troob - Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella
Best Scenic Design of a Play *	John Lee Beatty - The Nance
Best Scenic Design of a Musical *	Rob Howell- Matilda The Musical
Best Costume Design of a Play *	Ann Roth - The Nance
Best Costume Design of a Musical *	William Ivey Long - Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella
Best Lighting Design of a Play *	Donald Holder - Golden Boy
Best Lighting Design of a Musical *	Hugh Vanstone - Matilda The Musical
Best Sound Design of a Play *	Leon Rothenberg - The Nance
Best Sound Design of a Musical *	Peter Hylenski - Motown The Musical

Macbeth

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

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

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

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

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

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

Macbeth runs through July 14.  Tickets available here.

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.

Heresy

"Heresy" at The Flea, October 13, 2012

(photo: Hunter Canning)

In a new world premiere, the prolific A. R. Gurney returns to The Flea with an overwrought story set in the near future.  Mary (Annette O'Toole) and Joseph (Steve Mellor) have come to Homeland Security because their protesting  and unseen son, Chris, has been taken into custody during the latest crackdown. It is here that they must put their case before Pontius Pilate (Reg E. Cathey).

Get it?

They ask to meet with their old college pal Pontius ("don't call me Ponty, it's reductive."), since he's the Prefect of the Bureau and might have information or connections to help.  Recording all these events is a uniformed intern, Mark (Tommy Crawford), pedantically contributing bible-like references.

Phyllis, Mrs. Pilate (Kathy Najimy) turns up with her husband for the interview since they all attended college together.  The drinks fly but little happens of consequence until Chris' college buddy Pedro (Danny Rivera) enters to keep the painful analogy on track.

Sadly, there's not much to recommend in Mr. Gurney's work beyond the opportunity for Kathy Najimy fans to get a quick fix.  She's having a great time in the two-dimensional character she's been given, gad about as the other characters drop the most recent, if ill-placed pop-culture references including the current presidential campaign.  Subtletly is not a word this play will evoke. All it raised for me were a few cheap laughs.

Director Jim Simpson seems helpless with the script as well.  He corners Ms. O'Toole into little more than one angry tirade after another and does less with the rest of the cast.

Production values are strong. Kate Foster's red, white and blue set evokes the corrupt bureaucracy, though Brian Aldous' lighting has little opportunity in the static, room setting. 

Heresy runs through November 4.  Get tickets here.

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

"Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" at the Booth Theatre, October 11, 2012

Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre returns to Broadway with the revival of Edward Albee's play about the battle that is marriage.

It hasn't been all that long since the last Rialto revival with Kathleen Turner and Bill Irwin, so I was interested to see what this new production has to offer.  What we get is a solid retelling of the play, much like last season's revival of Death of a Salesman, proving again what a well-made play it is.  Beyond that, there's not much unique in this production.

One thing I did notice, was that Amy Morton's Martha has acceded some of the power to Tracy Letts' George right from the start.  Even though she brays and intimidates, it doesn't land with the same vitriol one usually experiences.  With that opportunity, Mr. Letts' George is now free to wield his sarcasm like a sword, slashing at Martha and their guests.

Speaking of, this Nick (Madison Dirks) and Honey (Carrie Coon), fall right in line behind whoever is spewing the venom.  Mr. Dirks captures the requisite loose athletic demeanor of Nick's football past.  Ms. Coon gives a nice turn as the besotted Honey, though not quite as fragile as other interpretations.

Director Pam MacKinnon keeps things moving fairly well, though there were a couple of slow spots in Act II as the party games transition from "humiliate the husband" to "get the guests."

Todd Rosenthal's large living room set captures the academic environment, but went a little overboard with the stacks of books literally everywhere.

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf is on an open-ended run.  Tickets here.