Review of "The Good Boy"

One-person shows can be problematic fare.  Will it be too overindulgent?  Boring?  Or will the experience enrapture us through an actor’s intimate and personal journey?  Happily, The Good Boy, playing at the Abington Theatre Company through May 19^th, falls into the latter category.

On its simplest terms, The Good Boy is about a young lad growing up with his siblings in a household of deaf parents.  But the real thrust of the production, written and performed by Michael Bonnabel, is the affirmation of family ties and bonds.  No matter what happens during the show’s roughly two decades timeframe, the family is first and foremost.

Being part of a home with a mother and father that could not communicate with the outside world made the playwright’s circumstances different then his peers.  His yarns and vignettes open up a window most of us have never experienced.  How many six year olds have been dragged to a banker’s office to translate the finer points of a mortgage?  What little boy has been enlisted to describe a mother’s physical symptoms to a physician?  Yet, the basic adolescent pains, fears, triumphs, and heartaches that Bonnabel endured growing up is something that can resonate with all audience members. 

The stories of this biographical show, which also consists of self-written songs and a considerable amount of signing, are structured within a strong narrative thread, which provides a satisfying opening, middle, and end to the production.  The actor unfolds his many stories gradually, drawing us ever so close to his world so when the unthinkable happens there is an audible gasp within the small, Off-Broadway theater. 

Bonnabel, the actor, brings a warm and genuinely caring nature to his story.   Now mature, and more worldly, we feel his hurt from so long ago as well as his celebrations.  At some points during the 80 minute, intermission-less show, his dialogue spills out almost uncontrollably, tripping over a word or a phrase, but we forgo these slips as we await a story’s end or the beginning of another.

Director Darin Anthony, working with a staging space the size of a small New York City hotel room, keeps Bonnabel moving, almost prowling, around the tiny performance area.  The strength of the two collaborators, however, focuses more on the nuances associated with the performer’s speech patterns.  A pause here.  A rat-a-tat delivery there.  The intent, which succeeds triumphantly, culminates in a heartbreaking, but also uplifting, conclusion that has audience and performer in tears.

The Good Boy, playing at the Abington Theatre Company’s Dorothy Strelsin Theatre through Sunday, May 19^th.

Review of "Good News" at Goodspeed Opera House

Maybe my expectations were somewhat unreasonable since I was hoping for more from Good News, the first production of the season at the Goodspeed Opera House.  This type of show needs a continual dose of musical razz-ma-tazz to offset the silly, but fun, book.   Good News delivers, just not often enough.

The musical starts off in grand tap dancing style to the title number of the show, but then settles down to laying out the silly (did I mention fun) plot.  Football hero Tom Marlowe needs to pass his astronomy exam in order to play in the big game on Saturday.  His girlfriend, Pat, has big plans for the two of them at the post-game dance.  However, Tom is falling for his astronomy tutor, Connie, and Coach Johnson is looking to rekindle his romance with the Astronomy Professor whose class, coincidentally, Tom needs to pass.  Throw in some college hijinks; a flirtatious co-ed; her excitable, yet reticent target; and a not-so-surprising ending and you have the silly (I did say fun) storyline of the 1927 musical.

Good News has one sensational production number near the end of Act I with the high energy, high stepping “Varsity Drag.”  If Director/Choreographer Vince Pesce could have slipped in a few more of these moments into the musical, Good News would soar like a comet across the night lit sky.  Instead, the production is more akin to the brightness of some far off star. Vesce does add some nice flourishes to the show, but overall the musical doesn’t shine as brilliantly as it could.

This type of frothy concoction needs a strong, charismatic lead to quarterback the show.  Ross Lekites, as collegiate pigskin star Tom Marlowe, has the good looks, but not the magnetic appeal necessary to carry the musical.  In fact, it is the supporting cast that really makes a splash in the production as opposed to the main characters.  These include Tessa Faye as the full-of-life, Babe O’Day; Barry Shafrin as the object of Babe’s nonstop affection, Bobby Randall; Mark Zimmerman as the irascible and secretly love struck, Coach Johnson; and Beth Glover as the prim and proper, Professor Kenyon. 

The score of Good News by the team of B.G. DeSylva, Lew Brown, and Ray Henderson is a treasure trove of celebrated tunes including “Just Imagine,” “The Best Things in Life are Free,” “Lucky in Love,” “Button Up Your Overcoat,” and “Keep Your Sunny Side Up.”  The songs enliven the production just when it needs a good shot in the arm.

Good News, more like satisfactory news, now at the Goodspeed Opera House through June 22^nd.

Review National Tour of "Sister Act"

The national tour of Sister Act, the show based on the movie of the same name, is a highly polished, smooth-running musical.  Unlike the original Broadway production, I found the tour to be more complete and rewarding.  We are not talking about a great piece of musical theater, but a thoroughly gratifying and rewarding theatrical experience.

As I stated in my Broadway review, the general plot follows the movie storyline as would-be disco diva, Deloris Van Cartier (Ta’rea Campbell) witnesses a gangland slaying by her sleazy mobster boyfriend, Curtis Jackson, (Kingsley Leggs). Seeking protection from the police, she encounters officer Eddie Souther (E. Clayton Cornelious) who just happens to be a high school classmate that also, conveniently, had a huge crush on the threatened woman in his younger days. He whisks her away to a local convent to keep her out-of-sight and safe. At the convent a clash of cultures occur, primarily, between the exuberant and feisty Deloris and the dignified and restrained Mother Superior (divinely played by Hollis Resnik).

Van Cartier, told to keep a low profile, instead takes over the solemn, but rather pathetic, church choir turning it into a heavenly sensation. They become a media darling which, or course, leads the bad guys to the convent where, after a brief, chaotic chase through the hollowed grounds, the gangsters are caught and a happy ending prevails.

This Sister Act doesn’t overly focus on any one character.  Yes, Ta’rea Campbell is the star, but unlike the Broadway production this version plays more as an ensemble piece, which makes it a more satisfying show. 

Campbell has a good stage presence and a powerful voice, which gives the church choir numbers such distinction as they raise the rafters with passion and flair.  The scenes with the assemblage of cloistered nuns provide a continuous humorous thread throughout the production. Standouts among them include Florrie Bagel (Sister Mary Patrick), Diane J. Findlay (Sister Mary Lazarus), and Lael Van Keuren (Sister Mary Robert). Hollis Resnik, as the Mother Superior, gives a more measured performance. However, this allows the actress to deadpan her way through the musical, showing great comic timing with her slow burns and double takes and entendres. E. Clayton Cornelious gives a solid performance as policeman “Sweaty” Eddie Souther.  While initially lacking self-confidence he becomes more assured and resolute.  He also has a fine voice and some good dance moves.

The music from composer Alan Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater mirrors the show itself. While in the convent the score pulsates with high-octane and disco-inflected numbers such as “Raise Your Voice,” and “Sunday Morning Fever.” Otherwise, the songs are more routine and conventional.

The original book for the pre-Broadway productions of Sister Act, including the London run, was by television writers, Cheri and Bill Steinkellner, but the current version is now attributed more to Douglas Carter Beane. With the national tour the book seems more cohesive and uniform.

Director Jerry Zaks helms the production with comedic flair especially in the confines of the church.  At this point in its run, Sister Act hums along like a well-tuned engine that Zaks only needs to tinker with.

Sister Act, under the guidance and protection of the Lord, is a rollicking good time.

Review of "Matilda"

My expectations for the new Broadway musical, Matilda, were quite high what with all its pre-opening hype and pedigree of having swept London’s Olivier Awards (the equivalent of our Tony Awards) in 2012.  Fortunately, except for a bit of tedium in Act II, Matilda delivers an enchanting and magical theatrical experience to audiences both young and old. 

Based on the Roald Dahl children’s book, Matilda tells the story of young Matilda Wormwood, a precocious and highly intelligent young girl born into a family of lower class slackers.  Dad is a wheeler-dealer always looking for an easy score through one of his shady deals.  Mom, a loud-mouthed spendthrift, is only concerned about money and her next dance competition with partner Rudolfo.  Their perpetually dazed son, Michael, rounds out the dysfunctional household.  Matilda is continuously ignored and verbally assaulted by her uncaring and unresponsive parents especially in her desire to learn and read books.  Her parents treat her predilection for reading as if the Ebola virus had invaded their home.  For her mother, father, and brother the Telly (television) is the sole source of entertainment and information.  Matilda’s salvation is the local library where, in addition to consuming every book in sight, weaves a magical story of escapism for the librarian, Mrs. Phelps, as well as for her own sanity.

Finally of age to attend elementary school she is thrown into a nightmarish, crumbing institution, Crunchem Hall, overseen by the menacing and formidable principal, Mrs. Trunchbull who regards children as insignificant gnats.  Matlida’s liberation is her teacher, the sweet Miss Honey, who recognizes the young child’s intelligence and need to belong.  Together they eventually overcome the obstacles in both their lives to live, as they saying goes, happily ever after.

For a musical like Matilda to succeed the show needs a young girl with fortitude, presence and spunk.   This production doesn’t have one, but four juveniles who, in rotation during the week, play the adolescent Matilda.  On the night I saw the show Oona Laurence was in the lead and she was fearless throughout the production—singing, dancing, and performing like a certified professional.  It was rather extraordinary for such as small lass to anchor such a large-scale musical.

The real star of the show is Bertie Carvel as the monstrous headmistress, Miss Trunchbull.  He comes across as a combination of Richard III and Gru from the Despicable Me movie.  He is vindictive, loathsome, and horrid to the students under his watch.  Carvel doesn’t walk or strut across the stage, but rather glides.  He is the spark to Matilda.  His presence on stage is always great fun even as he trashes everyone and everything in his sight.

Gabriel Ebert and Lesli Margherita, as Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood, are vapid, self-centered irritants.  Their more over-the-top performances accentuate the plight of poor Matilda, trying to fit in, belong, and feel wanted.  Lauren Ward, a Sweet Polly Purebread type, meek at first finds her resolve towards the musical’s end.

Upon entering the Shubert Theatre, audience members are treated to Set Designer Rob Howell’s visually spellbinding set of colorful, vibrant scrabble-like tiles affixed to the walls of the stage from floor to ceiling.  They evoke a world of learning, both magical yet ominous.  His sets in the latter half of the show perfectly capture the Dickensian-themed nature of Crunchem Hall.

Roald Dahl’s story is dark and cheerless, with comedic thrusts.  Book writer Dennis Kelly faithfully adapts Dahl’s book to the musical theater stage.  There is whimsy, playfulness, and foreboding all wrapped up in a big Broadway musical.  Composer Tim Minchin’s score is mischievous, quirky, and very tuneful. 

The children in Choreographer Peter Darling’s large-scale production numbers come out with bursts of kinetic, nervous energy.  They almost attack the dance routines in a combative, rebellious manner.

Director Matthew Warchus always seems to have the perfect touch whether helming a comedy, drama, or a big, splashy musical.  In Matilda, he keeps the action flowing from scene to scene.  He allows his actors to shine, giving them their moment on stage as demonstrated by Bertie Carvel’s Miss Trunchbull.  I only wish he and librettist Dennis Kelly would have teased out the production a bit longer as the climatic scenes of enchantment, wonder, and comeuppance tumble out too quickly.

Matilda, family fare of a different type, settling in for a long run on Broadway.

Review of "Motown - The Musical"

Caution—anyone attending a performance of the new show, Motown – the Musical, be prepared for leg cramps from unceasing foot tapping to the Motown sound. 

Motown – The Musical, the lone jukebox production of the 2012-13 season, is rollicking, exuberant fun as a cavalcade of actors portrays Motown artists from the label’s beginnings through the early 1980’s.  The musical, like the long-running Jersey Boys, is built upon a wisp of a narrative thread.  Here, it chronicle’s how Berry Gordy built Motown records into a recording powerhouse during the first 25 years of its existence.  The book of the show, written by Gordy, serves not as a full-fledged history lesson, but more as a way to introduce the singers and musical groups that became part of the Motown family over this time-span.  Here’s Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, The Four Tops, The Temptations, Diana Ross and the Supremes, The Jackson 5, and many more.  They perform dozens of songs—some in their entirety, others short snippets—that we still listen and dance to today.

The show starts off with The Four Tops and Temptations in a flashy sing-off as they rehearse for the Motown 25 Years TV Special.  The stars of Motown past assemble for the gala, but Berry Gordy is in his home study, agitated and hurt, refusing to attend.  He harbors many hard feelings towards the performers he discovered and nurtured.  Many had deserted the label over the years for bigger contracts elsewhere.  Why should be attend even though it is about his legacy?  From there, the musical transports us back 25 years as Gordy begins his dream of building his own record company.  The show ends as it began—at the Motown 25 Year TV Special.

Gordy, as book writer, doesn’t pull his punches.  He comes off as madly driven to succeed, someone who can identify and cultivate talent, and a control freak.  The seamier side of the business is not spared as lawsuits and countersuits crop up in the latter part of the show.  But the episodic nature of the production serves, primarily, to introduce a plethora of musical numbers that leave the audience wanting more.  The songs incorporated into the show are too numerous to list.  Instead, let me focus on the actors that stood out in the show.  They include Valisia LeKae as Diana Ross.  From naïve teenager to adult superstar she truly embodied the soul of the talented diva.  Jibreel Mawry, as the young Michael Jackson, almost steals the show.  When The Jackson Five are first introduced, and Mawry begins belting out one of their hits, and putting on the moves, the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre rocks to its very foundation.  Other notables in the cast include Charl Brown as the silky smooth Smokey Robinson and Bryan Terrell Clark as the rebellious, sexy Marvin Gaye.

Brandon Victor Dixon gives a credible performance as the temperamental and intensely driven Berry Gordy.  He can be forceful, manipulative, and forgiving in the stretch of one scene. 

Motown – the Musical has an extremely large cast, which enhances the large production numbers, athletic and powerful, choreographed by Patricia Wilcox and Warren Adams.  While the large ensemble pieces are energetic and spirited the dance routines crafted for the various Motown artists are more satisfying.

David Korins’ sparse set design actually enhances the production, allowing us to focus on the performers.  Esosa’s costumes, on the other hand, are flamboyant, rich, and incredibly sequined. They truly give you a feel for that era’s over-the-top fashion statement.

Director Charles Randolph-Wright’s main function is to keep the storyline moving, not allowing it to bog down until the next song is presented.  He handles the assignment with aplomb, never allowing the almost three hour musical to seem heavy or unappealing.

Motown- the Musical—it will leave you with a smile on your face, some soul in your heart, and a twinkle in your toes.

Review of "Kinky Boots"

At last a new musical I can wholeheartedly recommend!  Kinky Boots, based on the 2005 movie, tells the story of young Charlie Price, next in line to inherit his family’s venerable shoe factory.  Being of the modern generation the twenty-something wants nothing to do with the family business and, instead, heads to London with his fiancée to start a life in the world of marketing.  Before they can set-up house Charlie’s dad passes away and the young man is back in Northampton, England as head of Price & Sons.  Unfortunately, he quickly realizes the firm is going broke, losing out to cheap, foreign shoe imports.  A chance encounter with Lola, a drag queen, inspires Charlie to ditch the stuffy men’s footwear and to manufacture wildly flamboyant boots for the niche market of drag queens, cross dressers, and others.  He recruits Lola to design glitzy, high-heeled boots as they scurry to save Price & Sons from oblivion.  Along the way Lola deals with his own self-worth and the backlash and narrow-mindedness from the more provincial employees.  At the same time he subtly and craftily inspires the staff, including Charlie, to face their own prejudices and preconceived notions.  Throw in a muddled romance or two and you have the storyline for the show.

There are a number of reasons that make Kinky Boots work.  First, there is the score by 80’s pop icon, Cyndi Lauper.  Making her Broadway debut as a composer, Lauper ‘s songs are buoyant, feisty, yet have a real Broadway traditional feel to them.  While there are heartfelt ballads, Lauper doesn’t neglect her rock roots, serving up a healthy dose of high-energy numbers.

Playwright Harvey Fierstein won a Tony Award for writing the libretto for another cross-dressing musical, La Cage Aux Folles.  In 1983, when that show opened, drag queens prancing on the stage and the backstage love story was considered a bit risqué and daring.  Fast forward thirty years and with the advent of reality television and changing social norms Kinky Boots is now more a La Cage Aux Folles lite.  While mirroring the film’s premise, Fierstein slowly and effectively paints a portrait of two individuals—Lola and Charlie--on the surface so different, but in reality so much the same.  The book writer also knows how to pull our heartstrings and by the time the first set of kinky boots rolls off the assembly line the audience is cheering.  My one quibble with the book is the way Charlie’s fiancée, Nicola, is integrated within the plot.  Her scenes seem more like an intrusion with the flow of the story.

The acting corps is led by Billy Porter as the gutsy, lust for life drag queen, Lola.  Porter embodies his over-the-top being, but also effectively shows the pain and anguish he has dealt with all his life.  When he begins work at the shoe factory he nimbly transforms himself into his more “true-to-form,” sedate self as he seeks to balance both sides of his persona. 

While Porter can be seen as the driving force of the production Stark Sands as Charlie provides a more contemplative, matter-of-fact counterpoint to Porter’s colorful Lola.  In a sense, the ying and yang of the two give Kinky Boots a satisfying symmetry.  Sands creditably portrays Charlie as a confused young man searching for his identity and place in the world to a more take charge, knowing individual by the musical’s finale.  Other notables in the cast include Annaleigh Ashford as the lovelorn Lauren who delivers a comic gem in “The History of Wrong Guys;” and Daniel Stewart Sherman as Don, a big lug of a man who eventually overcomes his boorish mindset.

Director-Choreographer Jerry Mitchell keeps the story flowing without too many wayward passages.  The sexual nature of the musical’s premise, while a central part of the show, is presented in a more family friendly matter.  He adroitly balances the more rousing nightclub numbers with Lola and his back-up performers, The Angels, as well as the Act I closing song, “Everybody Say Yeah,” with more intimate moments such as Charlie and Lola’s plaintive “I’m Not My Father’s Son.”

Kinky Boots, a winning musical to celebrate and applaud.

Review of "Hands on a Hard Body"

The premise for the new Broadway musical, Hands on a Hard Body, is rather unusual.  Based on a true story, the plot centers around ten individuals hoping to win a brand new red truck from a local automobile dealership.  In order to be the victor they need to keep one hand on the parked vehicle at all times.  Last hand on wins the grand prize.  After a rousing opening number, “Human Drama King of Thing,” the show settles into what I’ll call a self-confessional state.  One by one, in song or monologue, we learn about the men and women who believe winning the truck will be key to their salvation or at least a successful future.  What has brought each contestant to Longview, Texas in the eastern part of the state?  What is their personal story?  Their goals and hopes?  At first, we have sympathy and understanding.  The economy in 1990’s Texas, when the original competition took place, was dreadful with high unemployment and the immediate future bleak.  But the stories, self-examinations, and ruminations don’t resonate to a sufficiently high level for the audience to build a relation with each character.  In a musical like A Chorus Line the monologues by the dancer’s had the feeling of urgency and heartbreak.  You felt their desperation to land a spot in the chorus.  When one of the dancers was excused from the line you felt their pain and devastation.  In Hands on a Hard Body the majority of personal stories, initially poignant and despairing, lack the appeal that make you care when contestants start dropping out of the event.  Instead of gasps of disappointment emanating from the audience there is more a muted feeling of “too bad” or “tough luck” attitude towards the wayward individual.

The other significant obstacle hindering the production’s success goes back to the initial premise—ten people, center stage with virtually no other scenery or props, with one hand plastered to a truck.  For a Broadway musical this can be quite problematic as it precludes the opportunity for significant movement and musical staging.  This is not to mean the audience is simply watching a static stage.  Within the individual songs, many having a dream-like quality, the actors and actresses are freed from their real-world restriction.  This structure, along with an allotted break from their confinement, allows for some mobility and fluidity.  Choreographer, Sergio Trujillo (interestingly, listed as ‘musical stagings by’ as opposed to choreographer due to the lack of lively dance numbers) breathes some life into the production.  Still, as skilled and proficient as he is Trujillo can only generate one real show-stopping number towards the end of Act I.  The song, “Joy of the Lord,” starts slowly as Norma Valverde, played with religious zeal by Keala Settle begins, to laugh.  At first a slight giggle it slowly builds until her infectious outbursts animates the other players, allowing them to release their pent-up energies and frustrations on the very vehicle, which has entrapped them.  Soon the truck is being played like a large percussion instrument.  The exhilaration and spiritedness of the number is the highlight of the musical.  If they can get that performance on the Tony Award telecast Hands on a Hard Body will sell a lot of tickets.

The music and lyrics by Amanda Green and Trey Anastasio, frontman of the musical group Phish, combines country, gospel, Texas twang, the blues, and good old-fashioned rock ‘n roll.  As with most Broadway scores these days the songs are mostly serviceable within the confines of the show.   While a cut above what we’ve heard on the New York stage this season once outside the Brooks Atkinson Theatre it would be hard to remember a note.

Librettist Doug Wright tries to breathe some dramatic tension into the production.  Unfortunately, as I’ve stated, there is very little of a connection between audience and cast.  As contestants begin to fall from the wayside we should care, silently cheering for our favorites.  At intermission I prodded my friend for his choice to win the contest.  Of course, at the beginning of Act II his selection was the first to go.  Mine was next.  Were either of us upset or did we shift our allegiance to another?  No.  By the end of the musical, when the winning contestant is apparent there were no cheers or applause, but a quiet, ho-hum acceptance.  A side story on the survival of the car dealership sponsoring the challenge becomes tiresome and boring.

Director Neil Pepe seeks to focus our attention on the stories being told, but with moderate success.  The characters, somewhat quirky, slightly compelling just don’t command our full-blown attention.

Veteran performer Keith Carradine leads the group of ten actors tethered to the red truck.  As JD Drew, he is the oldest contestant, philosophical and determined;  Hunter Foster, is a bit manic in his portrayal of Benny Perkins, the seasoned veteran of such competitions;  the aforementioned Keala Settle, as the spiritual Norma Valverde, is the one character true to her convictions; and Allison Case and Jay Armstrong Johnson play a cute coupling, the closest you come to cheering for any contestant.

Hands on a Hard Body, a show that tries hard, but just doesn’t deliver the goods.