"A Twist of Water" is a very Personal History Lesson

Rebuilding your home after a disaster is an act of faith that is emblematic of human resilience.

In "A Twist of Water," the Route 66 Theatre Company production playing at 59E59 Theaters through November 25th, the rebuilding is both symbolized by Chicago and extremely personal.

Noah (Stef Tovar) is left to care for the daughter, Jira (Felashay Pearson), he and his partner, Richard, adopted seventeen years ago. Jira and Noah miss Richard very much since his death in a car accident left them to their own devices.

Alex Hugh Brown as Liam and Stef Tovar as Noah in -at 59E59 Theaters. Photo by Carol Rosegg

Jira, angered by the loss, and a teenager, does not make Noah's task of fathering easy.Noah has an ally in fellow teacher Liam (Alex Hugh Brown), who runs interference for this loving family. "If I tell her," Noah says, "that we are all made up of moving water, and unearned hope, and risk... If I tell her she is the only home I require..." Jira's decision to seek out her birth mother, Tia (Lili-Anne Brown), adds to the friction between father and daughter. As Noah says, "Discovery is a wonderful and fearsome thing." 

Stef Tovar as Noah and Falashay Pearson as Jira in “A Twist  of Water” at 59E59 Theaters. Photo by Carol Rosegg

Catilin Parrish (story, playwright) and Erica Weiss (story, director) have collaborated on a very moving tale in "“A Twist  of Water.” They and the cast offer up some very powerful and deeply affecting lessons in love and history. 

 Lili-Anne Brown as Tia and Falashay Pearson as Jira in “A Twist  of Water” at 59E59 Theaters. Photo by Carol Rosegg

The scenic design, by Stephen Carmody, for “A Twist  of Water” is clever, making use of projections (by John Boesche with the assistance of Anna Henson) that help Noah as he unravels Chicago's history of building and rebuilding. This reviewer's fondness for architectural miniatures and models was particularly tickled by Carmody's decorative diorama of the city. 

“A Twist  of Water” is a beautiful and gripping work.

For more information about the Chicago based theatrical group, Route 66, visit www.route66theatre.org.  

For a schedule of performances, please visit www.59e59.org.  

Anxiety Looms On "A Summer Day"

Karen Allen, surrounded by memories, in "A Summer Day" at the Cherry Lane. Photo © Sandra Coudert

Angst, Scandanavian-style, made popular by Ingmar Bergman in our youth, and gently mocked by Woody Allen, is back in Jon Fosse's "A Summer Day."

"A Summer Day," at the Cherry Lane Theatre, through November 25th, is getting its first-time premiere  in New York City in this affectionate production by  Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. 

"A Summer Day,"  takes anxiety and sadness to the brink. By an informal count, the words "anxious" and "sad" were celebrated more than a dozen times in the text of Jon Fosse's play in director Sarah Cameron Sunde's translation. 

Melancholia,  bolstered by boredom, looks to be a Norwegian pasttime, seconded only by going out onto rough waters.

Samantha Soule with McCaleb Burnett in "A Summer Day." Photo © Sandra Coudert. 

Asle (McCaleb Burnett) likes it out there in his little boat. His wife (Karen Allen as Older Woman, and Samantha Soule as Younger Woman) finds it scary. As the play opens, the Older Woman stands at the window looking out at the pier. Her Older Friend (Pamela Shaw), visiting on this bright summer day, much as she had  on a much gloomier day years ago (Younger Friend, played by Maren Bush) when Asle went off to the water's edge. Never to return.

Abandoned in her lovely house, the Older Woman lives a desolate life reminiscing about that day and watching the bay.

Much of the tension in "A Summer Day" comes from waiting for the other shoe to drop. It never does. As Karen Allen's character narrates the story, we bait our breath for something unexpected to happen.

A long, somewhat tedious, yet oddly engrossing tone-poem of mourning and loss, "A Summer Day" is lovingly executed. 

For more information about "A Summer Day," and a schedule of performance, please visit www.rattlestick.org.

Love survives in " Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virgiinia Woolf"

It's a familiar scenario. Sometimes ringside seats come with that invitation to meet the senior
faculty.  

George (Tracy Letts) and Martha  (Amy Morton) are at it again in “Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” in a fiftieth anniversary revival through February 24th   at the Booth Theatre. Theirs is a combative love story.

Tracy Letts as George, Carrie Coon as Honey, Amy Morton as Martha being subdued by Madison Dirks as Nick and  in “Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? “ Photos by Michael Brosilow.

George and Martha duke it out in a battle royale over the course of one long and boozy night while Honey (Carrie Coon) and Nick (Madison Dirks) watch sometimes helplessly, sometimes actively. At first both Nick and Honey seem to be victims of the whirlwind that is Martha. While Honey seems oblivious, but Nick is an avid participant in the kind of games academics and battling marrieds play. 

"I would divorce you," Martha tells George, 'if you existed." Their huffing and puffing definitely blows this house down.  This is an epic production of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf."

 

Tracy Letts as George, Amy Morton as Martha and Madison Dirks as Nick and Carrie Coon as Honey in “Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? “ Photos by Michael Brosilow.

Edward Albee, whose plays have won him a great deal of recognition-- several Pulitzer, a couple of Tonys and one for Lifetime Achievement in The Theatre in 2005,--   has brought recriminations and vituperation to the level of art in  “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”.

In its inaugural production in 1962, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” won the Tony Award. This season, “Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” on Broadway  by way of Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company and directed by Pam MacKinnon, is on pace to once again grab some prizes.



For a more extended review of “Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” see http://www.vevlynspen.com/2012/11/edward-albees-whos-afraid-of-virginia.html

To find out more about “Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” visit http://virginiawoolfbroadway.com

ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE

Two very different civic-minded plays shed light on our societal woes. Both of them are more than slightly cynical about democracy and its discontents.

Actually there is a third, "Disgraced" but more on that later and below.

“Modern Terrorism, or They Who Want to Kill Us and How We Learn to Love Them,” at Second Stage Theatre through  November 4th, is a quirky and off-beat comedy tackling an extremely tricky subject.

“An Enemy of the People,” by Henrik Ibsen via adapter Rebecca Lenkiewicz, in a Manhattan Theater Club production at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre through November 11th, is a sincere diatribe.

Boyd Gaines as Dr. Thomas Stockmann and Richard Thomas as his brother, Mayor Peter Stockmann  in "An Enemy of the People." Photo by Joan Marcus.

Unlike “Modern Terrorism,” which, despite its silly premise and over-the-top slapstick and banter, is coherent, “An Enemy of the People” is a total muddle. The civic dialogue  “An Enemy of the People” purports to hold teeters between anti-populism and democratic idealism. 

  Nitya Vidyasagar as Yalda with Steven Boyer as Jerome Photo by Joan Marcus. 

Terrorists, of course, are scare-mongers bent on destruction through fear.  In “Modern Terrorism,” the terrorists are merely people who see the world differently than we do. There is a danger of underestimating one's enemy, of course. Or perhaps, it's disarming to look at the feared, reviled and frightening as ordinary folk. The cell in “Modern Terrorism,”  run by Qala (William Jackson Harper) are the Keystone Kops of terror.  As Jerome, the American who lives upstairs asks  "Why are you so hell-bent on destroying the US, when it's doing is so well on its own?  

William Jackson Harper as Qala with Utkarsh Ambudkar as Rahim
Photo by Joan Marcus from "Modern Terrorism."

Rahim (Utkarsh Ambudkar), the designated martyr, is chosen for his boyish naïveté.  He wants to fit in, and be "chill." Denied the chance to be just one of the gang in his college, he throws in with Qala and Yalda (Nitya Vidyasagar). Accustomed to not meeting expectations, Rahim accepts Qala's and Yalda's disappointment in him resignedly. 

While there is a clarity of vision and even some compassion in “Modern Terrorism,” “An Enemy of the People” lacks a compelling narrative. 

There is no subtlety in this “An Enemy of the People.” It's all silk-hatted villainy

and shouting. Bombast and bluster further muddle an already muddled and somewhat uninteresting, if timely, plot. Hints of the current debate about fracking are peeking out of
Lenkiewicz's adaptation. Mayor Peter Stockmann (Richard Thomas) has a perrenial smirk that stands in for mustache-twirling. The noise of its screaming is not the only thing that condenms  “An Enemy of the People.”

Producing this modernized version of Ibsen's play seeks to capitalize on the political silly season.  Dr. Thomas Stockmann (Boyd Gaines) is at odds with his  brother the Mayor. His desire to save the town in which he was born is overwhelmed by a cynicism. He calls  liberals and populists, those who rule and the majority who allow themselves to be ruled to the carpet.   If the honest man is alone, as Dr. Stockmann seems to think, is  democracy also on the carpet?

Photo by Erin Baiano. Karen Pittman, Erik Jensen, Heidi Armbruster and Aasif Mandvi in "Disgraced."

Unfortunately, even the usually superb Boyd Gaines is swallowed up in the noise and fury of 
"An Enemy of the People." The stand out in the cast is Gerry Bamman as the printer, Aslaksen, whose bourgeois interests overwhelm his sense of right.

In “Modern Terrorism,” the geo-political is seriously funny and darkly sad. The small cast are all excellent. Stephen Boyer's slacker Jerome, William Jackson Harper as Qala, the self-important leader are both wonderfully played. Utkarsh Ambudkar gives us a complicated and sweet Rahim. Nitya Vidyasagarplays Yalda as a young modern woman, whose disappointments fuel her anger.

Sometimes ethnic history is a minefield, and in "Disgraced," a new play by Ayad Akhtar, at LCT3's Claire Tow Theater  extended through December 2nd, the sensitive and even touchy matters of identity are explored in serious and unexpected ways. 

Amir (Aasif Mandvi) and Emily (Heidi Armbruster) are a happy and prosperous couple. He is a forceful and intelligent corporate attorney. He is uncomfortable with the fact that she paints intricate and delicate works based in the Islamic tradition.  In fact, Amir is uncomfortable with Islam. He is an apostate, bent on maintaining his place in the white man's world.  His nephew, Abe (Omar Maskati.) a devout follower of the Muslim faith, is the sole reminder of his past.  By distancing himself from his traditions and family history, Amir has gone adrift and become disaffected. Is there a tribal identity that will out no matter who we try to become?  

"Disgraced" traverses the divide in understanding in a compelling and smart script. Its a well-wrought study of the complications that befall family and friendship.

For more information about MTC's "An Enemy of the People," please visit http://www.manhattantheatreclub.com/.

Visit  http://www.2st.com/ to learn more about "Modern Terrorism..."

For a schedule and information about "Disgraced," visit http://www.lct.org/index_lct3.htm 

Seeing the future in "In The Summer Pavilion"

Photo by Gerry Goodstein: Ryan Barry in Paul David Young's "In The Summer Pavilion" at 59E59 Theaters.

The future lies before you like a summer sky when you're fresh out of college. There are endless possibilities for you and your closest friends.

In "In The Summer Pavilion," at 59E59 Theaters through November 3rd, those endless possibilities play out as alternate realities. 

Photo by Gerry Goodstein: Meena Dimian and Rachel Mewbron in Paul David Young's "In The Summer Pavilion."

Ben (Ryan Barry), Clarissa (Rachel Mewbron) and Nabile (Meena Dimian), friends just graduated from Princeton, come together like a sexy stew as "In The Summer Pavilion" begins their journey.

"Mr. Premonition here thinks he can see the future," Nabile says. Ben is wary. "You two, you're dangerous," he tells them.  Nabile answers him a little cryptically, "Take off your mask of sorrow and let the comedy play."  

Barry Ryan as Ben, Rachel Mewbron as Clarissa, and Meena Dimian as Nabile in "In The Summer Pavilion." Photo by  Gerry Goodstein.

In each scenario, Ben, Clarissa and Nabile pair off differently, as the play unfolds going forward seven years. There is a promise, unkept, of secrets being revealed. "A night full of adventure. Doors opening. Desires fulfilled. Secrets revealed," Nabile says. Alas, they are not, but several likely outcomes are. "Do you sometimes have the feeling that we've been here before?"  

Paul David Young's play is rich in imagery; it teases with snippets of poetic philosophizing, and offers a satisfying amount of adventure.     

"No, be a jerk. Say the uncomfortable thing. I'm ready for it now." Ben says. "I am young/ Unripened hope."

"In The Summer Pavilion" is an intriguing work. The acting under Kathy Gail MacGowan's direction is charming and natural. Everything-- sexuality, career paths, partners-- is up for grabs. All of it is an a wild ride. We should probably take Nabile' s advice and get out the Ouija board.

Bonus points for having the playwright, Paul David Young, in the audience. Young adapted  and 
directed his screenplay for  "In The Summer Pavilion," which is due to be released in 2013.

For more information about  "In The Summer Pavilion," visit  www.59e59.org.

"Don't Go Gentle"

We all know that the scales of justice are often out of balance. 

In Stephen Belber's "Don't Go Gentle," an MCC Theater world premiere at the Lucille Lortel through November 4th,  Lawrence (Michael Cristofer) looks to right that inequity. 

Photo by Joan Marcus. David Wilson Barnes as Ben, Jennifer Mudge as Amelia and Michael Cristofer as Lawrence.

Lawrence, a conservative judge who is sick with cancer, makes end of life assessments and adjustments. Lawrence is concerned over his legacy. In his eagerness to redress wrongs and "evolve" as he puts it, he over-corrects and crosses a line.

Encouraged by his daughter, Amelia (Jennifer Mudge) to give pro bono counsel, Lawrence offers his legal advice to Tanya (Angela Lewis.) Tanya and her teenage son, Rasheed (Maxx Brawer) are badly in need of Lawrence's aid. What starts out as a project to keep Lawrence active, ends by giving him a purpose.

Photo by Joan Marcus. David Wilson Barnes and Michael Cristofer in a scene from "Don't Go Gentle"

Lawrence's decisions rekindle the resentments his children, particularly his son, Ben (David Wilson Barnes) harbor from an unexceptional childhood.

Maxx Brawer, Angela Lewis with David Wilson Barnes in background, and Michael  Cristofer in a photo by Joan Marcus

The acting with Michael Cristofer in the lead, is superb. Newcomer, Maxx Brawer makes the most of Rasheed's gawky but inherent nobility and wisdom. Angela Lewis, David Wilson Barnes and Jennifer Mudge each deiiver little gems of characterization. 

Director Lucie Tiberghien understands and clarifies the moral dilemmas in Belber's wonderfully-written "Don't Go Gentle."  The pacing in each scene of the intermissionless production is perfect.

For more information on MCC Theater and "Don't Go Gentle," please visit www.mcctheater.org.

"North" celebrates the romance of flight and other delights

There is an exhilaration to flying above the clouds that is like no other sensation.

It is the romance of flight that anchors "North," at 59E59 Theaters in a for/word company production through October 28th. The characters in "North" are real, the story drawn from a wealth of printed materials.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Christina Ritter) was an accomplished and complicated woman. She was a writer, and mother, the daughter of an ambassador, and wife of a celebrity aviator. She was, also, a pilot in her own right. She and her husband Charles (Kalafatic Poole) suffered a very public and hideous loss when their first born was kidnapped and killed.

"North" is Anne's  story; it's style is narrative and suggestive. "This is not an adventure," Anne says, as she relates her meeting with the author/aviator Antoine Saint-Exupèry (Christopher Marlowe-Roche.) "And only in the most accidental and superficial sense can it even be called a flying story. Fundamentally," she ends, "it is simply a woman's story."

 "North," conceived by Christina Ritter and Jennifer Schlueter and written by Jennifer Schlueter, does not allow its thorough,  well-researched documentation to undermine the gentle lyricism of the play.

The spare set by Brad Steinmetz of three swings and a ladder shelf hints at the playful in tribute to St-Ex's imagination and Anne's desire to soar with him.

"North" exudes a giddy seriousness, illuminating the factual with a quiet emotional certitude.

For more information and tickets for "North,"please visit www.59e59.org.

Disquiet Contemplation in "HIM"

Nature can be both cruel and glorious.

The titular and unseen "HIM" in Daisy Foote's new play, in a Primary Stages production at 59E59 Theaters through October 28th, leaves volumes describing the pleasure he felt sitting on a mountaintop.

Hallie Foote as Pauline and Tim Hopper as Henry in "HIM" at Primary Stages. Photo by James Leynse.

Quiet contemplation is the antithesis of the hubbub of family life. In "HIM." his children see only a remote and withdrawn man. It's not entirely satisfying that so much of the story of "HIM" is pegged to this mysterious disconnection, to what was unknown or unknowable about their father. Nonetheless, there is so much humor  and humanity in "HIM" that the emotional characterizations ring true and clear.

The eldest, Pauline (Hallie Foote) harbors deep resentful hatred for the father she does not understand because of the poverty in which the family has lived. She is ambitious, acquisitive and envious of her better-off neighbors.

Adam LeFevre as Farley and Tim Hopper as Henry in "HIM." Photo by James Leynse.

"We don't have lives," she tells her brother Henry (Tim Hopper), "we have existences." Pauline's burdens which include caring for their retarded brother, Farley (Adam LeFevre), his girlfriend Louise (Adina Verson) and a failing family business are brightened by an unexpected inheritance. Meanwhile, looking for a glimmer of understanding of their father's legacy, Henry wonders, as he reads the journals his father left behind,  "What was he reaching for when he died?"

The small and accomplished cast, ably led by director Evan Yiounoulis, polish the jewel-like dialog in "HIM" to a fine sheen.

Primary Stages is celebrating the Foote Family Legacy this season. So far, they have given us Horton Foote's closely observed vignettes of life in "Harrison, TX" and his daughter Daisy's skillful look at a misappropriated legacy in "HIM." Hallie Foote, the other family treasure, has her deft and subtle acting to both productions.

For more information about Primary Stages and this production of "HIM," visit www.primarystages.org 

Apocalypse Now in "Through The Yellow Hour"

War is chaotic.

In "Through The Yellow Hour," at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater through October 28th, playwright and directorAdam Rapp visits an apocalypse on New York City.

Rapp is no stranger to the odd and allegorical. ("Dreams of Flying , Dreams of Falling" is one that comes to mind as a for instance.)

Photo © Sandra Coudert.
Alok Tewari, Danielle Slavick,
Hani Furstenberg, Matt Pilieci,
Vladimir Versailles, Brian Mendes,
and Joanne Tucker 

Everything in "Through The Yellow Hour" is site specific. The city has been attacked by the Egg Heads, who are systematically killing off the populaton. Ellen (Hani Furstenberg) is holed up in her East Village apartment, waiting for her husband Paul to return. She is the ultimate survivor, trading for foodstuffs and drugs through a network outside her well-fortified door. The first of the nightmares from outside creeps in through a window and ends as the Dead man (Brian Mendes), slumped on the floor for the rest of the play.


There is safety in Pennsylvania, as Maude (Danielle Slavick) tells her when she drops off her baby girl in exchange for a fix.    "There are barges you can get on. They’re traveling south along the shallows of Lake Erie," she says. When Ellen responds that her plans for escape are "risky," Maude says  "No riskier than staying here." Gunfire and the occasional explosion punctuate the dialogue, in "Through The Yellow Hour," like a soundtrack of terror, designed by Christian Frederickson. 

Hani Furstenberg as Ellen and Vladimir Versailles as Darius in Adam Rapp's "Through The Yellow Hour."
Photo © Sandra Coudert.

The end of times vision  in "Through The Yellow Hour" is further accentuated by the elaborately derelect sets by Andromache  Chalfant, and moody lighting of Keith Parham. This is a mesmerizing and puzzling drama, with a superb cast led by Hani Furstenberg.

For more information about "Through The Yellow Hour" and tickets, visit Rattlestick Playwrights Theater.

Something to look forward to

With seventy years of dance-making from which to choose, Paul Taylor Dance Company has many
highlights to celebrate.

"Company B" is a personal favorite. Photo by Paul B. Goode

The 2013 PTDC season, starting March 5th at the David H. Koch Theatre at Lincoln Center, gives us the world premiere of Taylor's 138th work and a New York premiere of "To Make Crops Grow," just as part of the festivities. Can't tell you what this pieces look like, but you know they will have all the pop and eclecticism for which Paul Taylor is famous.

On March 6th, the 25th anniversaries of "Speaking in Tongues" and "Brandenburgs" mean $5 seats for all! PTDC also brings back "Scudorama" on its 50th anniversary in this year's program. 

Photo by Paul B. Goode. "Scudorama" is set to music by Clarence Jackson.

See Taylor's take on the scandalous 1913 Stravinsky-Nijinsky collaboration, "Le Sacre Du Printemps." The Taylor version is "Le Sacre Du Printemps (The Rehearsal)" set to a two piano version of Stravinsky's music.  

Darkness in "Red Dog Howls"

Sometimes it seems like it's hard enough to know who we are when no one has deceived us about our identity.

Kathleen Chalfant as Rose and Alfredo Narciso as Michael in "Red Dog Howls." Photo by Joan Marcus. 

In "Red Dog Howls," an elegiac new play by Alexander Dinelaris, at New York Theatre Workshop through October 14th, a young writer stumbles onto a devastating family history.

After his father's death, Michael Kiriakos (Alfredo Narciso) follows the return address on letters left in a box under his father's bed to an apartment in Washington Heights. There he meets Rose Afratian (Kathleen Chalfant), the author of this unread correspondence.

Florencia Lozano as Gabriella Kiriakos and Alfredo Narciso as Michael Kiriakos in "Red Dog Howls." Photo by Joan Marcus.

With Rose as his guide on his journey to self-discovery, Michael neglects his pregnant wife, Gabriella (Florencia Lozano.) "There are some sins," Michael tells the audience as "Red Dog Howls" opens,  "from which we can never be absolved."

The disturbing and shocking in  "Red Dog Howls" is softened by the humanity of its characters. The astonishing Kathleen Chalfant reaches deep in to reveal a raw and  harrowing emotional energy.


Rehearsal Photo ©Stephanie Warren. Kathleen Chalfant,
Alfredo Narciso, and director Ken Rus Schmoll.







The Armenian Genocide of 1915 is a touchstone for a personal story of heritage-found in 
"Red Dog Howls." Dinelaris, along with his excellent cast, and with the aid of director Ken Rus Schmoll, paints an absorbing tale of great scope in short intermissionless ninety minutes.



For more information and tickets for "Red Dog Howls," visit http://www.nytw.org/.

Just Being Neighborly in "Detroit"

Neighbors used to be more than just the folks who live next door. They were the people with whom we shared a community, a way of life, a neighborhood.

As Lisa D'Amour's "Detroit," at Playwrights Horizons through October 28th, begins, the welcome mat is extended in that old-fashioned neighborly way.

John Cullum in "Detroit" in a photo by Jeremy Daniel. 

Ben (David Schwimmer) and Mary (Amy Ryan) invite the young couple who've moved in next door for a barbeque. Thanks to the friendship they develop with Ken (Darren Pettie) and Sharon (Sarah Sokolovic), their lives seem a little less lonely. Suburbia is an isolating environment, and the one we visit in "Detroit," thanks to the inspired set designs by Louisa Thompson, is nearly desolate.

Sarah Sokolovic, Darren Pettie, Amy Ryan  & David Schwimmer in a scene from "Detroit." Photo by Jeremy Daniel

Ken and Sharon are open about their lives and their addictions.  Ben, recently laid off, is building a website for the business he wants to start. Sharon works in a call center. The couples engage with each other, sharing their life stories as neighbors do, over the next several months.

But there is a dark side to each of them. Darren Pettie is especially creepy showing off his while Amy Ryan's Mary is so fragile that she can barely open the sliding door to the porch.  John Cullum's Frank comes in like a "deus ex machina" to tie up the loose ends for us, but by then, the damage has been done.

Photo by Jeremy Daniel.  Darren Pettie, Amy Ryan, David Schwimmer & Sarah Sokolovic.

The writing in "Detroit" is natural. The acting is uniformly excellent. Bring some chips, and join the party.

For more information about "Detroit," visit http://www.playwrightshorizons.org/now_playing.html.

He Really Is A Beast, Just Ask Mary Broome

Grace and gentility can attach to anyone in any station in life. It is not reserved for the well-born.

Such sentiments are mostly foreign to us in what we like to consider our egalitarian society, but they are fitting for a long lost English play from 1911 like"Mary Broome," revived by The Mint Theater Company through October 21st. In Allan Monkhouse's sharp comedy/drama, the titular servant has more class and sense than her masters.


The family gather in the parlor: Kristin Griffith as Mrs. Timbrell, Julie Jesnick as Sheila Ray, Katie Fabel as Ada Timbrell, Rod Brogan as Edgar Timbrell, Janie Brookshire as Mary Broome, Graeme Malcolm as Edward Timbrell, and Roderick Hill as Leonard Timbrell in Allan Monkhouse's "Mary Broome," at the Mint. Photo by Carol Rosegg.

Leonard Timbrell (Roderick Hill), the youngest in an affluent family and a ne'er do well , is the least likeable of many flawed characters in "Mary Broome." Leonard's mother, Mrs. Timbrell (Kristin Griffith) is the only one in the family who seems almost beyond reproach. 

Janie Brookshire, Roderick Hill and Kristin Griffith in a photo by Carol Rosegg.

Leonard has charmed and seduced the Timbrell's otherwise sensible parlor maid, Mary Broome (Janie Brookshire.) When his father, Edward (Graeme Malcolm) insists that they marry in exchange for a handsome stipend, Mary reluctantly, and against her better judgement, agrees.

Leonard's brother Edgar (Rod Brogan), his fiance Sheila (Julie Jesnick) and their sister Ada (Katie Fabel) are displeased at having a maid as an in-law. Mrs. Timbrell alone welcomes Mary whole-heartedly. She also hopes that Mary will have a salutory affect on her son.

Leonard's constant disclaimers that he is "a beast" become cloying, disingenuous and self-serving. He is a self-centered cad. Mary, and even his very forgiving mother, eventually catch on to his slippery lack of integrity. Roderick Hill, to his great credit, is not looking to be likeable.
In "Mary Broome," we have snobs and humbugs on the one hand, and a wastrel and bounder on the other, flanked by the women who sometimes find him endearing.

The excellent production, led by director Jonathan Bank, and with piquant sets by Roger Hanna, balances the comic with the serious briliantly. The cast are flawless, even if their characters are not.

The Mint, whose motto is "Lost Plays Found Here," has unearthed another gem.

For more information, and for tickets, visit http://minttheater.org/.





The Fabulous Andersons In A Tribute to The Dorseys

The joint is jumping, you better believe it!

Swing, swing, swing is in the air as the fabulous Andersons give a tribute to Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey at 59E59 Theaters through October 7th.  "The Anderson Twins Play The Fabulous Dorseys" is set to snippets from the film "The Fabulous Dorseys" with a charmingly cornball script by the brothers Will and Pete.

Pete Anderson, Jon-Erik Kellso, Kevin Dorn and Will Anderson in  "The Anderson Twins Play The Fabulous Dorseys" at 59E59 Theaters. Photo by Lynn Redmile.

The battles between siblings Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey are echoed on the bandstand by Pete and Will. The brothers Anderson, who also offer a standard Thursday night performance in the E-Bar at 59E59, talented musicians on the clarinet, sax and flute, are backed by their sextet in this cabaret production of "The Anderson Twins Play The Fabulous Dorseys."   

For more information and tickets, go to www.59e59.org.  

Greed Kills, Well, Not Really, in "Fly Me To The Moon"

Katie Tumelty and Tara Lynne O'Neill in Marie Jones' "Fly Me To The Moon." Photo by Vinnie Loughran

Fans of Hitchcock's "The Trouble With Harry" or "Waking Ned Divine" can take heart in Marie Jones' "Fly Me To The Moon."

Loretta Mackie (Tara Lynne O'Neill) and Francis Shields (Katie Tumelty) are community care workers, which translates roughly as nurses' aides, for Davy Magee, a lonely bloke who loves Sinatra tunes and needs round the clock assistance.

Katie Tumelty as Francis and Tara Lynne O'Neill as Loretta share a lighter moment after Davy's gone.
Photo by Vinnie Loughran  

Well-intentioned, overworked and underpaid, the two spend their days with their charge, running errands for him to  place the occasional bet with his bookmaker or pick up his government check. Francis, a bit of a self-centered schemer, left on her own when Loretta is late, takes Davy into the toilet from which he doesn't emerge.  It's Monday, the day Loretta picks up his check, Francis goes to the bookies for any winnings.  

And there-in lies the plot of "Fly Me To The Moon." Francis and Loretta get in deeper and deeper. "Well there is no turnin' back now is there?," Francis says. "You didn't tell her he was dad, so according to her [the nurse on the phone] Davy Magee is still alive. Why did you not tell her he was dead?" Loretta's answer: "I was scared." 

"Fly Me To The Moon" mines the thin terrain of this not entirely original premise. Katie Tumelty and Tara Lynne O'Neill exhibit well seasoned comic timing. Tara Lynne O'Neill's Loretta lets greed and need get the better of her good-nature. 

Loretta and Francis shift through Davy's few belongings. Photo by Vinnie Loughran.

For more information on "Fly Me To The Moon," visit www.59e59.org.