At the top of the show Cariou tells us that he made his Broadway debut in the Stratford Connecticut Shakespeare Festival’s transfer of "Henry V" in 1969 and six months later in the spring of 1970 appeared at the Palace Theatre in the new musical" Applause." Ever since then, he has had the idea to combine Shakespeare and song with “tunes that either support the text or are the antithesis.” The evening proceeds to pair Shakespeare and song thematically, like the opening sequence which offers Orsino’s “If music be the food of love, play on” from "Twelfth Night," followed by Sondheim’s “Love, I Hear” from "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" and Rodgers and Hart’s “Falling in Love with Love,” from "The Boys from Syracuse," based on Shakespeare’s "The Comedy of Errors." [more]
Schwend’s dialogue is realistic, believable, and true to life, as are the characters. As a play, however, it is a bit of a downer as we watch Amber become wearier without any relief in sight. Aside from Chris who is always putting everything off until tomorrow, Amber’s mother (who has been conned into liking him as a good father) is always begrudging about helping out though she lives down the block and doesn’t have anything else to do. The atmosphere and the characters are real, but each scene is just more and more of the same which becomes depressing and tiresome – just like Amber’s life. There is also the question of where the money comes from to buy all of the items that are carried in the door – unless the family is living on credit card debt which is never mentioned. This is also the sort of play where we hear a get deal about the children Janie, Max and Sammy, but the author manages to keep them off stage all evening. [more]
Nevertheless, Wills’ production is continually taking us by surprise both by his casting and his choices. His transgendered characters are played by transgendered actors. Moran’s Wilder and Angelos’ Ellen look a great deal like their counterparts, while Blankson-Wood and Heleringer as Spencer and Duncan, respectively, are a hoot as young entitled gay men who have totally bought into the capitalist system. “Mizz June” and Gentili, who are themselves transgendered icons, bring an air of authenticity to their roles as the colorful and outspoken Marsha and Sylvia. [more]
Cast as the curious playwright Rich, actor Jeffrey C. Wolf is the central focus of the evening. Wolf narrates the play by way of a series of monologues, which preface interviews with various members of the Tea Party or other pertinent political figures. Carrying the show on his back, Wolf is an agreeable narrator with an infectious curiosity. At times the play navigates deeply into American History, and when he dives into a fact or number heavy-preamble, his pace is cognizant of the fact that the audience is best assumed unfamiliar with it. Thanks to this, exposition regarding past political events is well-received and easily digestible. [more]
So begins a remarkable comedy-drama of two very opposite teenagers who shouldn’t have met and wouldn’t have if Anthony had not chosen the reclusive, mysterious Caroline for his partner. The play makes use of opposites, beginning with the theme of the poem, love and death, and in Whitman’s typical fashion, everything in between. But Caroline and Anthony are also opposites in every possible way: pessimistic/optimistic, sedentary/athletic, closed minded/open minded, white/black, friendless/popular, careless student/straight A student. They appear to have nothing in common, but by the end of the play they are drawn to each other through the magical words of Whitman and Leaves of Grass. Ultimately, Caroline and Anthony have revealed their dreams, fears and true selves to each other and to us. [more]
Ms. Udofia’s dialogue is richly expressive and she renders the four characters with depth and detail. The relationships between the characters are fully explored and their interactions where they voice their hopes and desires are often poignant. This is most particularly felt in the growing camaraderie between Abasiama and Moxie. [more]
Robert Langdon Lloyd’s eloquent performance as the blind prophet Tiresias energizes what had been a stilted presentation of this small-scale production of "The Burial at Thebes." Before Mr. Lloyd’s commanding midway appearance there had been a good deal of static expositional recitation and declaiming with only slight dramatic sparks. [more]
Both teenagers are desperate for our approval and understanding of their lives and what they did, unlike the tabloids which have apparently had headlines branding them as monsters. Listening to their sides of their stories, we are initially conned into a false sense of security – always a dangerous thing to do in a Philip Ridley play. By the end, we discover these are damaged youth we would not want to know personally, but we understand their motives entirely from their point of view. [more]
A Dream of Red Pavilions is set in 18th century China during the reign of Emperor Qianlong. The framing story which gives the plot its mythic quality involves a stone and a flower that are reborn as cousins, the rich scion Baoyu and sickly Daiyu, who fall in eternal love. Like" The Forsyte Saga" or "Downton Abbey," the social context depicted is the rise and fall of an aristocratic family. Beginning with the birth of Baoyu, the oldest son on whom the Jia family’s future fortunes rest, the play which takes place in 30 short scenes follows the affairs of these nobles and their servants over 20 years until Baoyu’s young adulthood. [more]
Director Lordi-Kirkham has unaccountable staged the play as though it were a radio play or a reading, making it more talky and static than it needs to be. While the text is faithful to the Russian novella with some trimming to reduce the number of characters, the use of both a narrator and much of the narration from the novel makes this seem like an interior monologue rather than a play. Unfortunately, the actors playing the twenty somethings who are given the most stage time do not have the technique necessary to bring off this psychological drama. At two hours and 10 minutes with no intermission, this is a long evening in the theater. [more]
Brendan (NBC’s "Blindspot") Gall’s sexy and seductive new thriller, "Wide Awake Hearts," thrusts audiences into a challenging game of cat and mouse, as they are left to decipher the story of four friends in a case of art imitating life. An actor, director, writer and actress are faced with the intricacies of dealing with relationships, infused with passion and threats of infidelity, as they are in the process of creating a movie dealing with these very themes. [more]
The collaborative script is by the One Idiot troupe’s writers that include Jon Bershad, Aaron Burdette, Allie Kokesh, Kristy Lopez-Bernal, Nathan Min and Katelyn Trela. It’s a smart mash-up of plot points and characters that those familiar with Williams’ play will recognize and those who aren’t would still find funny due to the franticly goofy presentation. The writing is also characterized by an abundance of vulgarity and scatological humor that is relatively tame rather then being offensive. [more]
Joe Casey is a charming actor. He exudes a “playboy” vibe which goes hand-in-hand with the character of Michael whose vices range from women to booze and back again. Casey shows an understanding of a man who is largely misunderstood and actually well-intentioned. Steph Van Vlack plays the role of Donna. Nearing 50 and a divorcée with a child, Donna is conflicted in light of the fact that she—a woman of her age—is engaging in an apparent “one night stand.” Among other things, this is also a character deeply disturbed that she’s actually considering sleeping with the child she used to babysit for all those years ago. Van Vlack brings a necessary uncertainty to the character. Playing a woman of certain age, Van Vlack’s performance indicates that Donna still has deep insecurities and still has quite a bit to learn about relationships. [more]
This Grand Guignol concept is sensationally realized by the striking physical production. John Gromada’s chilling sound design configures his spooky original score with its dominant organ along with bomb blasts and other sound effects for very effective results. Cameron Anderson’s scenic design is a dazzling haunted house affair with the stage wall covered in tiny bones and skulls, a ladder and ramp for the creature to scamper on, and manor-style furnishings. Hellish red hues are prominent features of Jesse Klug’s eerie lighting design. [more]
The opening one is British author Lexi Wolfe’s delightfully wistful "Stand Up for Oneself." It’s a Chekhovian romantic comedy with clipped Noel Coward-style dialogue taking place in the room of a house where a party is going on. Lucas, a 42-year-old morose music professor sits alone drinking with his cane nearby when the free-spirited 26-year-old Lila enters. There is flirtation and revelations. Sensitively directed by John Pierson, the play’s very fine writing is boosted by the wonderfully detailed and effecting performances of Alicia Smith and Mark Ryan Anderson. [more]
Asner’s appearance in "A Man and His Prostate" is a delightfully thrilling opportunity to experience his considerable talents live. He vividly grouses, grimaces, and perfectly lands every joke with his monumental comic timing. The seriousness of the play is also conveyed when he skillfully tones his performance down to recite medical facts and to express the fears of the ramifications of the character’s condition and prognosis. Sitting raised above the audience at times he looks and sounds like a sage. [more]
Directed by Danya Taymor, 'In Quietness" excels in its exploration of intimacy. When dialogue is being spoken between two actors at a time, there are moments of silence that are loaded with implication. It is a credit to the director that more character development happens with nothing being said at all rather than when a character is speaking. Kristen Robinson’s set design is efficient enough—the whole stage is made to look like the inside of a chapel—though it is made much more effective by intelligent lighting design by Masha Tsimring and Caitlyn Rappaport. [more]
Director Laura Lindow’s staging is a thrilling exhibition of pure stagecraft using very simple elements. The expressive actors are choreographed at times often in arresting tableaux especially a scene depicting drug addiction. There are powerful sequences visualizing violent clashes, flashbacks, fast-forwards and fantasies. A quite poignant one involves the complications of using the telephone in prison to keep in touch with loved ones. The pace is fast and vibrantly conveys the emotions of the characters’ situations. [more]
The interpretations are also open to question. Although she should be demure before her sexual awakening, Sara Topham plays Beatrice as experienced and sophisticated which allows her nowhere to take her character. While the beauty and the beast theme is much in evidence, Manoel Felciano’s make-up as the ugly De Flores fails to make him the monstrous embodiment of the play’s description. Christian Coulson’s Alsemero is described by his friend Jasperino as asexual and he seems to have taken this as the basis for his character. As a result he is extremely bland, as is John Skelley’s Alonzo, so that we never see what Beatrice is supposed to see in these men. [more]
The personable Mr. Mitchell is the evening’s host and starts off the show by explaining the format. The six performers then go through the theater asking audience members for missing words that they then write in their scripts. After obtaining this material they then go onstage to sit in chairs with music stands on which they place their scripts and read from. For just over thirty minutes, they enact this silly and entertaining murder investigation with often funny results. [more]
Jerry Mayer’s "2 Across" will remind of a great many other romantic comedies but in the hands of Andrea McArdle and Kip Gilman, it is a charming light-hearted evening in the theater. At least half way through the 90 minute encounter you will be rooting for this seemingly mismatched couple to get together – if not long before. Brought together by a love of the daily crossword puzzle, this warm and wise comedy covers a great many topics that engage couples to day. [more]
Directed by Daisy Walker, "How Alfo Learned to Love" is chock full of Italian-American stereotypes. The characters are just heightened enough that the gimmick works, but there is also a lot of heart behind this story. Walker has brought to life a group of characters who are quirky and lovable, and in the end it really feels like a family affair. All of this is contingent on Thom’s performance as Alfo whose character arc is fleshed out and brimming with variety. This redemption story about learning to love is a rollicking good time. Backed by strong performances and direction, a slick and consistent pace, and an entertaining script which sticks to a winning formula, nary a soul is likely to leave this theater without a smile. [more]
Playwright Jordan Harrison is a graduate of the Brown University M.F.A. program and the recipient of several prestigious awards such as a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Kesselring Prize. On a technical level "Marjorie Prime" is expertly constructed and contains serviceable dialogue that propels the plot, but in totality it never rises above the level of an academic contrivance. The premise is a familiar but promising one, but in execution it is flat. The exposition and setup never really become emotionally involving and the closing revelations are consciously sensationalistic. [more]
Besides playing Boyce, Gwyther depicts other British soldiers as well as Germans. It is an exhilarating display of rapid vocal and physical transformations subtly giving each brief characterization a fleeting depth. With his angular features, intense eyes, expressive voice, and limber physicality, his performance is a superb display of riveting solo theater acting. [more]
The Peccadillo Theater Company’s "A Wilder Christmas" is a gentle and genteel evening of theater: two early Thornton Wilder one-act plays, directed with an attention to detail and a leisurely sense of timing by Dan Wackerman, the company’s artistic director. "The Long Christmas Dinner" (1931) and "Pullman Car Hiawatha" (1930) together make for a rich sampling of Wilder’s familiar themes of family and the unavoidable specter of death (which, in Wilder, is only the beginning of another journey). These themes were perfected in his 1938 masterpiece, "Our Town," including the conceit of a godlike Greek chorus in the form of a Stage Manager who explains and even supervises the action. [more]
While C.S. Lewis’ famous theological allegory, "The Great Divorce," is written as a series of conversations, you might not expect that it would be suitable for stage dramatization as a religious treatise. However, the Michael McLean and Brian Watkins adaptation for Fellowship of the Performing Arts turns this into a high provocative and theatrical evening. Under the assured direction of Bill Castellino, three extremely talented actors (Christa Scott-Reed, Joel Rainwater, and Michael Frederic) play 19 characters among them, making them distinct and fully dimensional. The remarkable projections by Jeffrey Cady and the evocative original music and sound design by John Gromada make this a treat for the ear and eye as well as the mind.
[more]
Marko Mandič is an award-winning acclaimed classical actor from Slovenia who has worked several times with Mr. Buljan. His talent, charisma, and physicality justify that acclaim as witnessed here by his performance in the title role. Vocally expressive and emotionally volatile, he is truly naked through most of the play’s second half and unselfconsciously performs heroically even through the most awkward sequences. These include the incident with the watermelon and later painting his genitals black to match those of the actor playing Orestes who doesn’t display his. [more]
Victor Morales enters and introduces himself and notes that we are at Dixon Place. Mr. Morales who created this piece is stocky, bald, bespectacled, and possessed of a quirky everyman presence. For just under an hour, he delivers an amusing lecture with serious overtones enhanced by the illustrative projections. [more]
Every member of this trio has experienced love and loss, and this show explores what it truly means to be human. Moments of drama exemplify the character’s toughest challenges, and their individual approaches to solving them. The strength of a woman as the leader of a household is brought to the surface, as these women have been let down by the men in their lives. The bond they share ultimately proves that true happiness can be found whether you achieve your personal goals and dreams or find something beautiful within yourself. [more]
The legendary stage actress Kathleen Chalfant is appearing in her second one-woman show, a follow-up to her “Mrs. Dalloway” in The Party, from the Virginia Woolf stories in 1993. This time she plays Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 79-year-old matriarch of the most famous political family in 20th century America. It is July 1969 and we meet her in the tasteful living room of her Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, home (designed by Anya Klepikov) one week after her youngest son Teddy’s tragic accident at Chappaquiddick. The premise of "Rose, The Kennedy Story as Told by the Woman Who Lived It All" is that we are members of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Knight of the Redeemer visiting from Dublin. We are invited to stay until Teddy comes back from sailing which he has been doing since the previous day. Her husband Joe, Sr., who has had a stroke eight years before is being cared for in an upstairs bedroom. [more]
Author Jane Martin has taken the familiar dramatic staple of a love story between two clashing opposites and rendered it compellingly here. There are plot twists, witty dialogue and violent incidents all with a tone-combining sweetness and melancholy. Jake is a depressive riddled with self-doubt and Deborah’s devoutness complicates her personal emotions. [more]