Review of "Assassins"

A musical about Presidential assassins and would-be assailants is the highly unusual, somewhat creepy, premise for a full-fledged musical.  Yet, in 1990 Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman created such a show called, aptly, Assassins, which is receiving a spirited and passionate production at Yale Rep through April 8th.

 

The cast of Assassins, book by John Weidman, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, directed by James Bundy.
Photo by Carol Rosegg, 2017.

The production features an impressive ensemble cast, who bring to life the irrationality and disturbed state of each person.  Librettist Weidman mashes up groups of characters as well as scrutinizing their individual foibles and beliefs.  He tries to get into the soul of each person through probing vignettes that examine their backstory.  He is successful in creating three-dimensional characters, most mentally ill, hold unfounded grudges or are deranged nationalists.  The rogue’s gallery includes John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln; Charles Guiteau, the assassin of President James Garfield; Lee Harvey Oswald, who shot John F. Kennedy; and John Hinckley, who attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan.   

The score by Stephen Sondheim echoes the time-period reflected by each Presidential era.  The songs explore the human condition and failed dreams of the protagonists.  Passionately sung with urgent and probing lyrics and melodies this is the work of a mature artist at the peak of his craft.

 

P. J. Griffith, Julia Murney, Stephen DeRosa, and Robert Lenzi in Assassins, book by John Weidman, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, directed by James Bundy.
Photo by Carol Rosegg, 2017.

The acting troupe is outstanding.  Each person thoroughly embodies their character, mostly with chilling effectiveness.  While every member is superb, standouts include Stephen DeRosa as the delusional Charles Guiteau; Dylan Frederick as the Balladeer, who comments on the proceedings and as the languid and unsure assassin Lee Harvey Oswald; Richard R. Henry as the unbalanced Nixon hater Samuel Byck; Robert Lenzi as the self-important, courtly John Wilkes Booth; Lauren Molina as the Charles Manson loving Lynnete "Squeaky" Fromme; and Julia Murney as a pathetic and distressed Sara Jane Moore.

Director James Bundy plays on the theme of the carnival setting by injecting menace, the unknown and even humor into the production.  He is keenly attuned to the desperation and torment of the characters, weaving their stories together in a socio-pathetic interpretive dance.  The strength, however, of the show is when the focus is on the individual assailant and their inner turmoil. 

Assassins, a chance to see the rarely revived Weidman/Sondheim collaboration, playing at Yale Rep through April 8^th.

Review of "The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey"

For a one-person show to be successful an actor needs to be a gifted raconteur with an interesting and engaging story to tell.  James Lecesne, the playwright and performer in the captivating and thoughtful Hartford Stage production of The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey meets these essential criteria.

Lecesne, who had a successful Off-Broadway run with the show, has crafted a tale that, on the surface, recounts a missing person investigation in a small, fictional New Jersey shore town.  However, the real importance of the play is more about differences and acceptance. 

 

James Lecesne as Detective Chuck DeSantis in "The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey."

The actor portrays Chuck DeSantis, a local detective, who begins to look into what happened to the individual, a 14-year-old named Leonard Pelkey.  Through interviews with many denizens of the town we learn about the fate of the young man, a gay teenager in a town that’s not very welcoming of such residents.  As the investigation progresses we begin to grasp the effect Pelkey, young and quirky, had on people and how his actions could inspire others in unknowing ways.  This, in essence, is the meaning of the show’s title as Lecesne states in the program:  “each of us brings a particular brightness to every situation, and regardless of whether other people notice it or not, it’s still there.  We shine no matter what.”

The 80 minute, intermission-less production, is told with humor and pathos.  Lecesne, the playwright, has created a multitude of colorful, well-etched characters, each with his or her own personality and idiosyncracies.  They include a 16-year-old high school girl, a madam of the local hair salon, a bird watching wife of a Mafioso boss, and an elderly Germanic clock repair man.  As an actor, Lecesne gives a multi-faceted, layered performance. 

 

James Lecesne, portraying one of the characters in "The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey."

Director Tony Speciale, who was also at the helm of the original Off-Broadway production of the show, lets the stories speak for themselves.  Many times Lecesne, in one of his guises, is simply sitting in a chair or standing erect giving us insight to the missing youth.  The director successfully manages the transformation between characters with a quick spin by the actor or change of facial expression and intonation of voice.  He also satisfactorily incorporates Designer Aaron Rhyne's projections to amplify the storyline of the production.  Sometime scenes extend a bit too long but, overall, the show keeps the audience in rapt attention.

The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey, entertaining and engrossing, playing at Hartford Stage through April 23^rd.

Review of "Next to Normal"

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The best musical in Connecticut right now is playing at Theaterworks.  Next to Normal, the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning show, is receiving a spirited and impassioned production at their downtown Hartford venue.  The show centers on a mother with a bi-polar disorder triggered by the death of an infant son and how her family struggles with this paralyzing condition.

The portrayal of a household at the precipice and how each member copes with their inner tensions, angst, and personal crises is riveting theater. Brian Yorkey’s libretto draws you into their individual despair, their setbacks, and small victories. It is a musical where the audience is connected to the energy and emotionally involved with the characters portrayed on stage.

The raw energy and urgency of the rock-infused score by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey amplifies the edginess and distress on stage. The music and lyrics convey the hurt, desperation, and even hope by the characters. The songs are powered by a tight, six-piece band under the first-rate musical supervision of Adam Souza.

Each member of the six-person company brings a strong intelligence and sensitivity to their role.  Their individual singing voices steadily handle the varied score, whether powerful rockers or tender ballads.  Leading the cast is Broadway and musical theater veteran Christiane Noll.  Her performance as Diana, the troubled mother at the center of the story, is heartfelt and shattering. David Harris, who seems to have found a home within the Connecticut musical theater community the past few years (Les Miserables at CT Rep and Anything Goes at Goodspeed), does a superb job with his portrayal of Donna’s husband, Dan.  He imbues the role with an undercurrent of frustration and helplessness as he seeks to support his beleaguered wife.  John Carboza gives an anguished, mournful rendering to Gabe, the deceased son.  Maya Keleher, making her professional theater debut, comes off as a polished actress in the role of the daughter Natalie.  Nick Sacks is satisfying as Natalie’s funky boyfriend Henry and J.D. Daw delivers a solid performance playing two different psychologists,

Director Rob Ruggiero coaxes heart-wrenching performances from each actor as he slowly builds the emotional level of the show to its ultimate climax.

Working with set designer Wilson Chin and lighting designer John Lasiter, the scenes nimbly and seamlessly meld into each other without disrupting the flow of the story.  Sometimes, when all the characters are on stage, the production can appear crowded, which can be distracting to the audience, but this is a minor issue.  Overall, Ruggiero, one of the best musical theater directors in the state, has a firm and skillful handle on the show.

Wilson Chin’s set design, banks of shelving chock full of with lamps and household knick knacks, is somewhat busy.  However, it is an apt metaphor for the clutterness within Donna’s consciousness and the luminousity she is searching for within her life.  His placement of a center doorway provides an opening into her mind, which only the departed son can enter and leave.

John Lasiter’s lighting design is outstanding as it helps shape the many moods swirling around the show and also helps designate scene changes within the production.

Next to Normal, a compelling and absorbing musical drama, extended through May 7^th.

Review of "Significant Other"

Four very close college friends, still together in their late 20’s, gather to celebrate at a New York City club the engagement of one of their own.  Kiki, somewhat untamed and sloshingly drunk, is having the time of her life with her best pals.   She is the first among the four to tie the knot in playwright Joshua Harmon’s funny, touching, and bittersweet meditation on the true meaning of friendship as millennials age and take the next step in their lives.  The bond between the diverse group could only be forged during the collegiate years.  They are Vanessa, now a book editor, who nonchalantly fixates on death; Laura a school teacher; and Jordan, a gay man working in an advertising agency with Kiki.  Slowly, each of his female buddies becomes involved with the man of her dreams.  Each time an engagement is announced and a wedding celebrated Jordan feels more removed and alone.  His forays into dating and relationships go nowhere and his only solace are conversations with his elderly grandmother.  In the end, Jordan is literally by himself on stage as he, and we, ponder his future.

 

Gideon Glick, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Sas Goldberg and Lindsay Mendez.  Photo by Joan Marcus.

Joshua Harmon has crafted a play full of honesty, comic, and heart wrenching moments.  There is a genuine quality to the storyline and the individuals portrayed.  Harmon has developed characters you may know or experiences your college graduated children may be facing.  You quickly become drawn into the ups and downs of their lives.  I don’t remember a time in the theater where, at two critical moments, the audience both collectively sighed and gasped.   We care about the ramifications unfolding before us.

 

Gideon Glick.  Photo by Joan Marcus.

The ensemble cast is led by the superb performance of Gideon Glick as Jordan Berman.  He is the focus of our attention during the show as he works through the emotions of losing, one-by-one, his dearest friends.  The actor is lively, spontaneous, and vulnerable.   Lindsay Mendez’s Laura is the soulmate of Jordan.  The two are peas in a pod, sharing moments and experiences.  She instills a realism and sincerity into her character, showing compassion and empathy for Jordan’s travails.  Rebecca Naomi Jones as Vanessa and Sas Goldberg as Kiki are spunky, somewhat over-the-top as they add some spice to the more melancholy moments in the production. Both John Behlmann and Luke Smith, playing multiple roles, give their characters an appealing and agreeable assortment of distinctive looks.  The theater veteran Barbara Barrie’s portrayal of Helene is understated and provides balance to the more destabilized and shifting lifestyles of the other cast members.

 

Luke Smith, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Gideon Glick, Sas Goldberg and John Behlmann.  Photo by Joan Marcus.

Director Trip Cullum brings a fresh and very real perspective to the production.  He has created an atmosphere where the performers come across as authentic in their feelings and actions.  He does a superb job with movement on the small Booth Theater stage.  He skillfully maneuvers the actors within scenes that morph into different segments of the story, all the time keeping the narrative flow unimpeded.  His intermittent use of players within the shadows adds a voyeuristic and humorous touch to the show.  He also imbues the actors with quirkiness and exuberance, primarily in the club and celebratory scenes.

Scenic Designer Mark Wendland has presented a multi-leveled set that, with minimal changes, and subtle lighting effects by Designer Japhy Weideman, effectively combines the claustrophobic nature of New York City living—at work, home and play.

Significant Other, amusing and heartbreaking as it explores relationships and friendships.

Review of "Sunset Boulevard"

There are two reasons to see the revival of Sunset Boulevard on Broadway.  First, is the luminous performance of Glenn Close as Norma Desmond, recreating her Tony Award winning role from 23 years ago.  Close, older now, but lacking none of her vitality, totally embodies the character of the aged, fading silent movie star.  This is one of those defining theatrical performances that should not be missed.

The second reason is the 20 plus member orchestra, women in black gowns, men in tuxedos, seated on stage, an unheard of number of musicians in today’s Broadway.  The lush, full sound envelopes The Palace Theatre unlike any other show on Broadway.  While the score is not top tier Andrew Lloyd Webber there are a number of defining songs – “With One Look,” “The Perfect Year,” and “As If We Never Said Goodbye” – that receive a captivating and heavenly sound.

Sunset Boulevard, based on the 1950 Billy Wilder film, “revolves around Norma Desmond, a faded star of the silent screen era, living in the past in her decaying mansion on the fabled Los Angeles street. When young screenwriter Joe Gillis accidentally crosses her path, she sees in him an opportunity to make her comeback to the big screen. Romance and tragedy follow.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunset_Boulevard_(musical)).  Librettists Don Black and Christopher Hampton stick closely to the movie plot, making sure to provide Ms. Close with enough star turns, which is fine since the show sags somewhat when she is not on stage..

For this limited run Scenic Designer James Noone has created a starker production design then during the original run, with a series of stairways and interconnecting catwalks filling up the stage.  This forces us to focus on the actors as opposed to the opulence and decay within Norma Desmond’s world.  Costume Designer Tracy Christensen has pulled out all the stops with her extravagant, sometimes garish outfits for the character.  All are showstoppers.

The main supporting cast members are mostly effective in their roles without outshining for one moment the star of the show.  Michael Xavier gives screenwriter Joe Gillis the requisite down-on-his-luck, sarcastic edge, but he comes across as too much of a cad, no matter what the circumstance or situation.  Siobhan Dillion’s portrayal of Besty Schaeffer finely toes the line of hard-driving career girl with spunk and a heaping dash of insecurity.  Fred Johanson as Nora Desmond’s manservant and one-time director, Max Von Mayerling, needs to provide more variation to his characterization.  He comes across a bit wooden and one-dimensional.

The score, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton, has a sumptuousness and grandeur quality made more impressive with the overly large on-stage orchestra.  As stated earlier, the musical has a number of signature songs delivered in a stirring and sophisticated fashion by Ms. Close.  Overall, though, the score is not one of the composing team’s strongest efforts.

Director Lonny Price smartly keeps Glenn Close center stage as much as possible.  When she is not the focus the production slips, waiting for her poise, worldliness, and energy to take hold.  All of this comes together in the dazzling Act II scene at the Paramount Studio backlot and the actress’s rendition of “As If We Never Said Goodbye.”  Her brilliance does overshadow the secondary characters in the musical and the show would have benefitted more fully if Price was able to give each of them an added dimension.    His inclusion of the on-stage orchestra adds a unique and satisfying element to the production.  The car chase through the LA canyon is an inspired piece of stagecraft.

Sunset Boulevard, catch it for Glenn Close’s thrilling, once in a lifetime performance.

Review of "Wakey, Wakey"

A man lies helpless, sprawled on the floor of an unadorned space.  Blackout.  The next moment the man is sitting in a wheelchair talking to us, the audience, about his impending death.  He is engaging, at times humorous, as well as reflective and distressed.  So, begins playwright and director Will Eno’s Wakey, Wakey, a meditation on one person’s eventual demise.  Michael Emerson, who embodies Guy, gives a powerful, multi-layered performance during this 75-minute production.  There is joy, sorrow, and warmth in what is, basically, a 60 minute monologue, interrupted only towards the end of the show by the introduction of Lisa (January LaVoy), a home health attendant.  Guy wants to entertain, tell some jokes, and live what is left of his life to the fullest while waiting for the inevitable to occur.  Ms. LaVoy is compassionate and understanding in her brief role as the aide to help Guy right up to the end. 

 

January LaVoy and Michael Emerson in Wakey, Wakey.

The script is ruminative and introspective and can become somewhat wearing with its philosophical ramblings and usage of playful projections.   Michael Emerson extracts all there is from the play but, in the end, there is not enough substantive dialogue and technique to carry the show to a fulfilling conclusion.  Will Eno, as director, lets loose a barrage of visuals to compensate, but they cannot make-up for the lack of a dramatic arc.

As the production concludes and Guy is wheeled off-stage a torrent of light (by Sound Designer David Lander), sound (Sound Designer Nevin Steinberg), and effects (Projection Designer Peter Negrini)  are unleashed, giving the audience a crescendo of death as envisioned by the now deceased character.  This focus on death’s finality is continued in the lobby of the Pershing Square Signature Center.  There, as theatergoers disperse, they will find an array of food and drink, simulating a Shiva call for a dearly departed friend or family member.

Wakey, Wakey, a thoughtful, sometimes compelling, but not fully satisfactory piece of theater.

Review of "Napoli, Brooklyn"

The Muscolino household is awash in domestic drama, economic difficulties, and cultural acclimation.  In playwright Meghan Kennedy’s down-to-earth, languid world premiere, Napoli, Brooklyn, at Long Wharf through March 12^th, nothing is matter-of-fact for this Italian-Catholic family.  Husband Nic (Jason Kolotouros) and wife Luda (Alyssa Bresnahan) were part of the wave of immigrants coming to American shores before World War II.  In the play, which takes place in the early 1960’s, they along with their three children Vita (Carolyn Braver), Tina (Christina Pumariega), and Francesca (Jordan DiNatale) struggle to navigate the changing times of that period.  As their lives, along with those of their friends and acquaintances, ebb and flow a cataclysmic event—the December 16, 1960 plane crash in Park Slope Brooklyn—changes individual and family destinies forever.

From left, Christina Pumariega, Alyssa Bresnahan, Jordyn DiNatale and Jason Kolotouros.

Author Kennedy’s semi-autobiographic play crafts, what seems like a life-altering story for each character.  The overall effect, while keeping our interest, comes across as slightly manufactured and illusory.  Can one family’s members really be dealing with so much all at once—marital turmoil, sexual awakening, a budding African-American friendship at work, and even a sister’s banishment to a convent—at one time?  The arc of the play purports to revolve around the immigrant experience and how the changing mores of the 1960’s affects the Muscolino clan.  Yet except for a shoe-horned religious element the assimilation and accompanying struggles of the first generation American off-spring and their old world parents doesn’t resonate strongly.

The cast does an admirable job conveying the emotions and feelings associated with their particular narrative.  For example, Tina’s budding relationship with Celia (Shrine Babb), an African-American colleague at work, rings true.  However, the characters can come across as lacking subtlety and depth.  The individual stories associated with each character are not fully integrated into the whole of the play.  Only Alyssa Bresnahan as Luda, who is the heart and soul of the family, manages to successfully insert herself into each vignette of the production.  She is loving and protective as she attempts to understand and cope with the new reality spreading around her.  Jason Kolotouros as Nic, is crass, authoritative, and threatening, yet manages a brief, sympathetic nod after undergoing a transformative experience, before reverting back to his intimidating and unnerved self.

From left, Christina Pumariega, Jordyn DiNatale and Carolyn Braver.

Carolyn Braver comes across, initially, as flippant in her portrayal of the eldest daughter Vita.  But once temporarily away from the semi-imprisonment of her cloistered life she reveals a more hardened edge.  Christina Pumariega’s Tina is unsophisticated, but lacks shading in her role.  Jordan DiNatale’s Francesca and Ryann Shane as Connie, the younger daughter’s best friend, are playful and immature, but come across as juvenile 13 year olds as opposed to the 17 year olds stated in the script.  Graham Winton as Albert Duffy, the neighborhood butcher and admirer of Luda, is amiable, yet prosaic.  Shrine Babb, in her short time on stage, gives the character of Celia Jones a more fully nuanced rendering.

Director Gordon Edelstein lets the story slowly develop as the characters and their stories slowly unfold.  Scenes can be touching and brutally honest, but the overall feel is too episodic.  There is a lack of depth to the actor’s portrayal of their roles, which deprives the characters of generating any sustained passion or poignancy.  Act If’s climax of a holiday meal meltdown comes across as somewhat forced and artificial due, however, more to the way scene is written by the author.  However, Edelstein’s handling of the Act I finale is flashy, explosive, and gripping. 

From left, Shirine Babb and Christina Pumariega.

Special kudos need to go to set designer Eugene Lee, Light Designer Ben Stanton, and Sound Designer Fitz Patton for the audience rousing plane crash sequence—a jolting cacophony of theatrical wizardry.

Napoli, Brooklyn, an unrealized slice of the immigrant experience, playing at the Long Wharf Theater until March 12^th.