"Handle With Care"

Broadway legend, Carol Lawrence (Tony nominated for her role as Maria in the classic "West Side Story") is Edna in Jason Odell Williams' comedy-drama-romance "Handle With Care," at the Westside Theatre/Downstaits. Directed by Karen Carpenter, the play for an ensemble of four runs  through March 30, 2014. Photo by Doug Denoff.

It's easy enough to acknowledge that the heart is a delicate organ. 

In Jason Odell Williams' "Handle With Care," at the Westside Theatre through March 30th, a trip to America is meant to help heal a broken heart and revitalize an old flame. These longings of the heart lead to strange coincidences in this charming little dramedy.

Charlotte Cohn and Carol Lawrence in Jason Odell Williams' "Handle With Care," at the Westside Theatre/Downstairs, directed by Karen Carpenter. Photo by Doug Denoff.

Edna (Carol Lawrence, Tony-nominated for her role as Maria in "West Side Story") brings her granddaughter Ayelet (Charlotte Cohn) with her from their home in Israel on a quest in small-town America. While at a motel in Goodview, Virginia, Ayelet's beloved "safta" dies and she entrusts DHX to ship the body home. DHX may be reliable but shlubby Terrence (Sheffield Chastain) is decidedly not.

Charlotte Cohn, Jonathan Sale and Sheffield Chastain in
"Handle With Care." Photo by Doug Denoff.

"Handle With Care" opens with Ayelet name-calling Terrence in Hebrew over the loss of her grandmother's body. In desperation, Terrence calls in his boyhood buddy, Josh (Jonathan Sale) to interpret.
"You speak Jewish, don't you?," Terrence implores.

Cohn's Hebrew rant is wonderfully mellifluent. It has spice and plays beautifully off Chastain's naif dumbfoundedness.

As the play moves back and forth in seamless and well-placed flashbacks, the cast under Karen Carpenter's direction makes the most out of the situation. "Handle With Care" is a holiday romance, in all senses of the word-- love, adventure, with a touch of the supernatural-- and it is utterly enjoyable.

For more information about "Handle With Care," please visit http://www.handlewithcaretheplay.com/.

Family Matters in "Harbor"

Hold on  tight. Family can elicit many feelings-- not all of them Norman Rockwell images.

Paul Anthony Stewart as Ted, Randy Harrison as Kevin and Alexis Molnar as Lottie celebrate Lottie's birthday in Chad Beguelin's "Harbor," under the direction of Mark Lamos at Primary Stages at 59E59 Theaters through September 8th. Photo by Carol Rosegg.

In Chad Beguelin's "Harbor," playing at 59E59 Theaters in a Primary Stages production through September 8, love and kinship are complicated matters. Family has a bittersweet taste, as complex as bergamon, or one of the sharper mints. It is something of which we should be wary. There truly may not be a sacred bond holding one generation to the next, or even between siblings. 

Donna Adams (Erin Cummings) lives in a van with her fifteen-year old daughter Lottie (Alexis Molnar). Donna's brother, Kevin Adams-Weller lives in a glorious house in Sag Harbor with his husband, Ted (Paul Anthony Stewart). Donna, a one-woman wrecking crew, descends on the two men for what turns into a prolonged, life-altering stay. Lottie, who is "Asian-smart" as her mother puts it, is appalled but also enthralled by the sudden stability of her surroundings. 

Erin Cummings as Donna, Randy Harrison as Kevin, Paul Anthony Stewart as Ted and Alexis Molnar as Lottie in a scene from Chad Beguelin's "Harbor" at Primary Stages at 59E59 Theaters. Photo by Carol Rosegg.

Many "a brick of truth," Donna's favorite expression, gets dropped in "Harbor," and somehow, it seems like the "brick" to which she refers may not be a building material. If we think that comedy is meant to be funny, "Harbor" enlightens us. "Harbor" is that and poignant and bright and brittle.

The cast of four all give commendably brilliant performances under the guidance of director Mark Lamos.

Erin Cummings is chilling as the conniving and hapless Donna. Alexis Molnar matches her stroke for stroke as the savvy and befuddled Lottie. Paul Anthony Stewart, who gets a wonderful rant in the opening scenes, recognizes all the subtle nuances that make ted tick, even the things the man doesn't seem to know about himself. Boyish and unmoored, Randy Harrison depicts a Kevin who is malleable and unformed to a tee.

Ted and Kevin's beautiful and immaculate Sag Harbor house is lovingly designed by Andrew Jackness, with views of its outside projected on the side walls.

"Harbor" is as complex and complicated as the most intricate family ties which it portrays with elegance and grace.

For more information about "Harbor," please visit www.primarystages.org.

A Trip To "Neverland" In Long Pants

Bradford Cover as Sir Harry and Rachel Botchan as Kate in "The Twelve Pound Look" from  The Pearl's This Side Of Neverland. Photo by Al Foote III.

If it weren't for Walt Disney, the flying, Tinker Bell and Captain Hook, "Peter Pan" would be widely recognized as the adult fairytale it truly is. Children for the most part aren't that interested in not growing up.

Sean McNall as Charles and Rachel Botchan as Mrs. Page  in  "Rosalind" from  This Side of Neverland. Photo by Al Foote III.

In J.M. Barrie's two one-act plays, capping the 29th season of the Pearl Theatre Company as "This Side Of Neverland," and playing through May 19th, the tales are definitely for grown-ups.

J.M. Barrie (Sean McNall), narrating with a deep Scots brogue and a very merry twinkle, is the glue that binds "Rosalind" with "The Twelve Pound Look" in "This Side of Neverland." The Pianist (Carol Schultz) leads a mostly failed (through no fault of hers) audience sing-along to aid in the transition between the acts.

Extended to May 26th

Rachel Botchan as Kate and Vaishnavi Sharma as Lady Sims in "The Twelve Pound Look " from This Side Of Neverland at the Pearl Theatre. Photo by Al Foote III.

The production under J.R. Sullivan's direction strikes the charming note of Edwardian celebration. J.M. Barrie makes mischief in the neatly-drawn, sweetly satirical two parts of "This Side Of Neverland;"although the little plays feature adult-language and adult-situations, "This Side Of Neverland"gets its PG rating. Of course, youngsters will not appreciate its mature wit nor its intelligent wisdom..

Sean McNall as Charles in "Rosalind," the opening act of This Side Of Neverland. Photo by Al Foote III.

In the excellent small ensemble, Rachel Botchan is as delightful as Kate, the escaped wife in "The Twelve Pound Look," as she is as the aging-ageless ingenue in "Rosalind." Sean McNall is equally excellent in all the roles he undertakes, here as Barrie, and then as the boyish Charles, and the reserved slightly supercilious butler Tombes.

For more about The Pearl Theatre Company, and "This Side Of Neverland," please go to www.pearltheatre.org. 

Luck and Other Choices: The Winds of Change

There is an adage that luck is what you make it. Having advantages is not the same as being advantaged.

In "The Luck of the Irish," Kristen Greenidge's excellent new play at LCT3's new Claire Tow Theater that just closed March 10th, the well-educated middle class Taylors would seem to be ideal neighbors in a decent suburb of Boston, except for the redlining that keeps black families from buying in to the American dream. The Donovans, poor and uneducated have to ghost buy the property for them.

Patty Ann Donovan's (Amanda Quaid as the younger and Jenny O'Hara in 2012) mantra "There is an order to things..." is the whine of the overlooked. Dr. Taylor (Victor Williams) and his wife Lucy (the phenomenal Eisa Davis) are sophisticated people. Mrs. Taylor and Patty Ann's husband, Joe (Dashiell Eaves) are kindred spirits,dreamers lost in a love of words.

The winds of change that Joe foresees in the late 1950s do not serve the Taylor's granddaughters, Nessa Charles (Carra Patterson) and Hannah Davis (Marsha Stephanie Blake) and her husband Rich (Frank Harts), as they try to negotiate among their neighbors in 2012.

Change takes on a very different form in Annie Baker's "The Flick," at Playwrights Horizons through March 31st, when a movie theater in the Worcester environs changes hands.

Rose (Louisa Krause) with Sam (Matthew Maher) and Avery (Aaron Clifton Moten) in "The Flick" by Annie Baker. Photo by Joan Marcus

The new owner will take it from celluloid to digital-- the wave of the future, but one that has Avery (Aaron Clifton Moten) distressed.  The feel and look of film, as he points out, is meant to be on celluloid. His fellow employees are movie buffs also, but they are just working minimum wage jobs. Neither Sam (Matthew Maher) nor Rose (Louisa Krause) share his passion or intensity.

David Zinn's set for "The Flick" is very impressive.

There is nothing wrong wth "The Flick" that some prudent editing couldn't fix. Many of the pregnant pauses, slow takes and musical transitions, really belong on the cutting room floor.Sam Gold might have done more with his discretion in pacing the play better, Annie Baker could have been more concise.

Avery (Aaron Clifton Moten) is ever introspective in "The Flick" at Playwrights Horizons. Photo by Joan Marcus.

In "The Madrid,"  Liz Flahive's concise and tightly written new play at Manhattan Theatre Club's NY City Center Stage I through May 5th, on the other hand, the pacing and structure are really quite perfect. Change is something for which the main character in "The Madrid" yearns, and her family dread.

Edie Falco, as Martha, the mom gone missing, and Phoebe Strole as her daugher Satah. Photo by Joan Marcus

"The Madrid" offers an odd point of view, but one that calls for thinking and questioning. Martha (Edie Falco) is a kindergarten teacher who chooses to disappear. She moves to a somewhat derelict apartment near the lovely home she shared with her husband, John (John Ellison Conlee) and their daughter Sarah (Phoebe Strole). Her disappearance is no surprise to her mother, Rose (Frances Sternhagen) who undertakes some desperate measures to bring her back, nor to John. Sarah on the other hand is completely unmoored. She raises to the occasion, moving back to live with her dad, driving her grandmother around, and dealing with the ostreperous neighbors, Danny (Darrne Goldstein) and Becca (Heidi Schreck), who feels the loss of her friend keenly.

Martha, it seems, simply wants a timeout, from the responsibilities of her life. She likes the noise and quiet of her new life, but she misses Sarah.

John Ellison Conlee as the steady John, Phoebe Strole as Sarah, Frances Sternhagen as Rose. Photo by Joan Marcus.

For more information about LCT3, which will have another new production in April, visit lct.org
To get tickets and find out more about "The Flick,"  please visit playwrights horizons.org 
For more information about "The Madrid," go to http://www.manhattantheatreclub.com/