It Was Often Bleak at "February House"

Stanley Bahorek as Benjamin Britten,. Ken Barnett as Peter Pears, A.J. Shively as Chester Kallmann, Stephanie Hayes as Erica Mann, Kristen Sieh as Carson McCullers, and Erik Lochtefeld as W.H. Auden shivering at 7 Middagh. Photo © Joan Marcus.

In 1940, George Davis (Julian Fleisher), had a dream of creating a communal hothouse for brilliant talents in a ramshackle Victorian on a Brooklyn hill. Davis,having published a novel to some acclaim, went on to a very luminous career as an editor.

"February House," at The Public Theater through June 10th 17th, will appeal to lit. nerds and English majors. The musical by Gabriel Kahane (music and lyrics) and Seth Bockley (book), and direction by Davis McCallum, is based on Sherell Tippins non-fictional 2005 exploration of life at 7 Middagh Street, Brooklyn and the ragtag assortment of famous and accomplished intellectuals who resided there.

The group included Gypsy Rose Lee (Kacie Sheik) who worked on a best-selling murder mystery while boarding with George.

Kacie Sheik as Gypsy Rose Lee at 7 Middagh, Brooklyn. Photo © Joan Marcus.

Carson McCullers (Kristen Sieh), just 23 and fresh off the success of "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter," left her husband, Reeves (Ken Clark), and took up residence. W.H. Auden (Erik Lochtefeld), in a moment of abandon, took a room with his young protege, Chester Kallman (A.J. Shively.) Benjamin Britten (Stanley Bahorek) and his lover, the singer Peter Pears (Ken Barnett) reluctantly decided to join the experiment.

Auden worked with Britten and Pears on the opera "Paul Bunyon" at February House. Photo © Joan Marcus.

At "February House," Davis coaxed and coddled his charges. He exerted a flair for the dramatic and decorative, sometimes at the expense of the practical. Life at 7 Middagh Street was never dull, but often it was far from comfortable. There was plenty of booze, but not enough heat; frequent partying lead to missed deadlines.

George Davis' little experiment in communal artistry did not fare well. Gypsy Rose may have been the only one of his tenants to have produced a successful work while boarding with George. Erika Mann (Stephanie Hayes), Thomas Mann's daughter who was married to Auden, adds a little political gravitas to the house on the hill when she shows up. It is after all the middle of World War II.

A highlight of "February House" is the song "California," sung by the endearing Bengy and Peter; the score successfully blends the post-modern with California pop when the pair of resident Brits announce their departure for Hollywood.

The tone of the musical is often wistfully alegiac. Among the charms of this production, along with the cast of fine young performers, is the fact that the characters are both icons and ordinary folk.

"February House" is the first commissioned musical as part of The Public Theater's Musical Theater Initiative. To find out more, visit www.publictheater.org

Secrets and Evasions

Repressive regimes-- like the communism that the journalist and "Cold Warrior" Joseph Alsop detested or the equally unsavory home-grown witch-hunting of Joseph McCarthy-- breed secrecy and fear.

In David Auburn's "The Columnist," at MTC's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre extended to June 24th again through July 1st, Joe Alsop (John Lithgow) hides the open secret of his homosexuality in a marriage to his best friend's widow, Susan Mary Alsop (Margaret Colin.)

John Lithgow as Joseph Alsop with Margaret Colin as Susan Mary Alsop Photo © Joan Marcus.

A Visit To Bloomsbury and Beyond

A flair for the dramatic is a looked-for quality in theater. It is nearly an essential element for the artistic temperament.

Hollis McCarthy as Vanessa Bell and Christian Pedersen as George Mallory. Photo © Eric Johanson

In "Eternal Equinox," currently at 59E59 Theaters in a production brought over from the Grove Theater Center in California, through March 31st,the dramatic dwindles into the melodramatic.

Michael Gabriel Goodfriend as Duncan Grant and Hollis McCarthy as Vanessa Bell. Photo © Eric Johanson

The premise behind "Eternal Equinox" allows playwright Joyce Hokin Sachs to imagine a weekend encounter between George Mallory (Christian Pedersen),the Everest mountaineer, Duncan Grant (Michael Gabriel Goodfriend), the painter, set and costume designer, and Vanessa Bell (Hollis McCarthy), an artist in her own right, who was married to Clive Bell and sister to Virginia Woolf. Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell were both prominent members of the Bloomsbury Set, an influential group of writers, artists, philosophers who all worked or lived near Bloomsbury, London. (See Wikipedia for more.)

Michael Gabriel Goodfriend as Duncan Grant and Christian Pedersen as George Mallory. Photo © Eric Johanson

While professing that "there are all kinds of love," as George tells Vanessa, Joyce Hokin Sachs paints an almost cloyingly romantic view of the decidely unconventional relationship between her and Duncan, her one-time lover. Although he fathered a child, Anjelica, with Vanessa and lived with her for most of their lives, Duncan Grant was thoroughly homosexual in his tastes and appetites. "Eternal Equinox" shows them to be cloyingly affectionate, with Vanessa possessive, jealous, and competitive in love, in seeming contradiction to the openness of their Bohemian lifestyle.

George Mallory and Duncan Grant had been lovers at one time. Mallory and Vanessa Bell shared a romantic encounter as well. Their friendship makes an interesting backdrop to the story in "Eternal Equinox." Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of the cast, the story quickly grows tiresome.

Michael Gabriel Goodfriend as Duncan Grant and Hollis McCarthy as Vanessa Bell and Christian Pedersen as George Mallory. Photo © Eric Johanson

For a schedule of performances of "Eternal Equinox" please visit www.59e59.org.

Does it matter if Will's the author?

Does the film "Anonymous" have you pondering who wrote all the works ascribed to one William Shakespeare?

Photo by Gregory Costanzo From L to R: Sean McNall (Richard II), Jolly Abraham (Harry Percy), and Grant Goodman (Henry Bolingbroke)

Consider the argument irrelevant. Whoever wrote the sweeping tragedies, masterful histories, insightful comedies [and a handful of clunkers], left a worthy legacy. He wrote as an Elizabethan, aware of his time and its mores, with wit and a deft hand at characters great and small.

But more on that anon.... This theater season, there are a number of fine productions celebrating that legacy.

The Pearl Theatre Company at City Center's Stage II is tackling the poesy of "Richard II" through December 24th. It's an ambitious, if uneven effort, looking at the divine right and mortal plight of kings.

Photo by Gregory Costanzo From L to R: Sean McNall (Richard II) and Jolly Abraham (the Queen)

"Richard II" is about the tragedy and the dangers
of ruling unwisely. In the title role, Sean McNall portrays a monarch unhinged by the challenge to his absolute authority by his cousin Harry Bolingbroke (Grant Goodman).

Bolingbroke is a populist leader but sometimes Goodman's affect seems too modern for the verse play he inhabits. This Bolingbroke is definitely lean and hungry. Dan Kremer as John of Gaunt, Earl of Lancaster, Harry's aggrieved and grieving father is excellent.

Photo by Gregory Costanzo From L to R: Grant Goodman (Henry Bolingbroke) and Sean McNall (Richard)

Under JR Sullivan's direction, the cast handle the poetry as if it were prose. That is smoothly, and without any sense of awkwardness.

Photo by Gregory Costanzo From L to R: Bill Christ (Duke of York) and Carol Schultz (Duchess of York)

Elsewhere around town, at The Barrow Street Theatre, Fiasco Theater performs a completely modernized and raucous version of "Cymbelline" through January 1. Fiasco Theater has transformed one of Shakespeare's lesser works into an excellent entertainment.

Also downtown at The Public, "King Lear" has just ended its run with Sam Waterston in the title role leading a brand-name cast. "Titus Andronicus" begins performances on the 29th of November through December 18th at the Public Lab and features Jay O. Sanders as Titus.

Jay O. Sanders in Titus Andronicus, directed by Michael Sexton, a Public Lab production running at The Public Theater from November 29 through December 18. Photo credit: Joseph Moran)

Looking forward, there is the January 10, 2012 opening of The Bridge Project production of "Richard III" with Kevin Spacey as the titular monarch under the direction of Sam Mendes at BAM.

So, back to the question-- does it matter who wrote these plays? Is it realy of concern if they were writ by an unknown hand unwilling to take credit for an enduring body of English literature or by an actor named William Shakespeare?

Photo by Gregory Costanzo From L to R: Grant Goodman (Henry Bolingbroke) and Charlie Francis Murphy (Sir Pierce of Exton)


The canon is vast and eloquent. It lends itself to the spoofery of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) and the serious ministrations of actors and directors the world over. It has drawn the attention of your highschool English teacher and spawned rom-com plots for decades. The dramas attract filmed homages ranging from Kirosawa to Woody Allen.

In short, Shakespeare survives critical analyses and debates over who he was and what he may have been capable of doing. More importantly, all these centuries later, he offers deep and sustaining perceptions into our lives.


For more information about The Pearl's production of "Richard II", please visit www.pearltheatre.org.

To find out more about Fiasco's "Cymbelline" at
The Barrow Theatre, go to
www.barrowstreettheatre.com.

For a schedule of The Public Theatre's "Titus Andronicus", go to www.publictheater.org

For more information about BAM's "Richard III", please go to http://www.bam.org/

Intrigue in the setting sun of the British Empire

Long before George Orwell envisioned a world in which Big Brother would supplant our freedoms, he was in His Majesty's foreign service. There he saw the despotism with which his countryman lorded it over the natives.

In "Burmese Days," adapted and directed by (and featuring) Ryan Kiggell in an aya theatre world premiere production at 59E59 Theaters as part of Brits Off Broadway through December 4th, Orwell explores the intrigues and petty territorialism of a British Club in colonial Burma.

By 1934, the hot sun of the Empire had begun to set. Orwell's first novel, "Burmese Days," catches its last few rays before it fades as the inhabitants of Kyauktada squabble and drink.

The cast of six, featuring along with Kiggell, Charlotte Allam, Amerjit Deu, Zak Shukor, Elisa Terren, and Jamie Zubari in a variety of roles, relates the tale, and embodies characters (and critters) in the tropical land.

The political machinations and petty rivalries in this small provincial world are depicted with admirable exactitude. "Burmese Days" is an interesting theatrical work, that is both a play and a series of monologues and narrations.

For a performance schedule and more information, visit www.59e59.org or
BritsOffBroadway.com

Lessons in Fight: "Captain Ferguson's School for Balloon Warfare"

Obsessed with flight, possessing navigational skills and knowledge of the skies, and mathematical proficiency, Captain Ferguson devises a plan, on the eve of battle against the Germans in WWI, for a great dirigible attack.

"Captain Ferguson's School for Balloon Warfare," an Oracle Theatre production at 59E59 Theaters through September 4, is about zealous patriotism, heroics, and the single-minded futility of war.

David Nelson as Captain Ferguson gets ready to hoist his balloon. Photo © Alisha Spielmann  

In Isaac Rathbone’s “Captain Ferguson’s School for Balloon Warfare,” based on actual events, it is 1917 and U.S. Army Captain Thomas Ferguson has been asked to turn aerial balloons into a weapon against Kaiser Wilhelm. The character of Captain Ferguson is inspired by Captain Charles deForest Chandler, the first head of the Aeronautical Division, U.S. Signal Corps –later to become the United States Air Force.

The play is a one-man show with Captain Ferguson's monologue enlivened by
video projections and radio communications that add other voices to his story. These voices include his right hand man, Lieutenant Archibald Prentice, and three skeptical Generals.

"Have you realized," a General asks, "that these men are helpless, Ferguson?" However, having proven their usefulness in reconnaissance, Captain Ferguson also proposes to use the large canvas balloons to bombard the enemy line, and stubbornly ignores the challenge of his superiors.

David Nelson as Captain Ferguson answers the call. Photo © Alisha Spielmann  

David Nelson acquits himself well as the dedicated and sincere Ferguson, but the play is merely an exploration of a moment that ended in failure and not a full-blown theatrical creation.

Please go to 59 E 59 Theaters for more information on this and other offerings: www.59E59.org