Protesting on Stage in "Theatre Uncut"

250 groups in 17 countries have put on "Theatre Uncut" productions.

Moving, intelligent, tightly-written, politically-inspired and inspiring art is not commonly to be found.

In "Theatre Uncut," in a Traverse Theatre Edinburgh production courtesy of The Carol Tambor Theatrical Foundation at the Clurman on Theatre Row through February 3rd, the emphasis is on art.

World-wide fiscal crises and budget cuts for social services are the impetus for "Theatre Uncut," an international movement of stage professionals, dubbing themselves "Theatre Uncutters."

"Theatre Uncut" are plays of protest.

The fantastic U.S. cast all volunteered their time, artistry and talent to perform the six short works on the program.

"In the Beginning" by Neil LaBute. Gia Crovatin and Victor Slezak  Photo by Allison Stock

As might be expected from Neil La Bute, his "In The Beginning" does not tow strictly to a line. He examines the Occupy Movement as it might play out in the living room of an occupier (Gia Crovatin and her well-heeled dad (Victor Slezak.) La Bute questions, and does not come up with any easy answers. "In The Beginning" is thought-provoking and not in the least polemical.

Not that any of the other excellent playlets are polemical.

In Clare Brennan's "Spine," Amy (Robyn Kerr) befriends a brilliantly dotty old lady whose library is appropriated from the stacks of all the closed libraries in the district.

"This situation," says Jack (Brian Hastert) in "Fragile" by David Greig, "is all fucked up and it has to stop." Greig addresses the financial issue in the prologue to his piece (read by Robyn Kerr.) For budgetary reasons, "Fragile," under the direction of Catrin Evans, written for two characters-- Jack and Caroline-- is performed by only one. The audience will cue Jack by reading Caroline's lines.

Tyler Moss in "The Birth of My Violence" by Marco Canale Photo by Allison Stock

"The Price" by Lena Kitsopoulou paints an absurdist tragi-comic picture from the Greek economic meltdown. A Man (Carter Gill) and his wife (Shannon Sullivan) argue over every drachma -- now in Euros-- of expenditure while shopping in a gulag-like supermarket.

The playbill suggests that one request the works for private reading but that would not be half as much fun as watching these superb actors.

Go see "Theatre Uncut" during its short stay. Enjoy the performances in these short offerings. Along with those actors already mentioned, there's Tyler Moss as a disaffected writer in Spain in Marco Canale's "The Birth of My Violence," directed by Cressida Brown, as are both "The Price" and "Spine." Lou (Ali Ewoldt) and Ama (Jessika Williams) are reluctant escapees in "The Breakout" by Anders Lustgarten, and directed by Emily Reutlinger, who also directed "In The Beginning."

The run at the Clurman is a preamble for the "Theatre Uncut 2013 week of international action" scheduled for November. 250 groups in 17 countries have put on this show case of protest everywhere from stages to kitchens.

"The idea began in the U.K. in October 2010, as the Coalition government announced the worst cuts to public spending," co-Artistic Directors Emma Callander and Hannah Price, say in the program notes," since WW2. Fast forward to 2013. Austerity is a buzzword."

To learn more about "Theatre Uncut" or to join the "Uncutters," go to www.theatreuncut.com or email getinvolved@theatreuncut.com. Tickets are available at the Clurman box office at Theatre Row on 42nd Street.

Love Goes Underground in "The Man Under"

L-R: Briana Pozner and Paul Bomba in THE MAN UNDER at 59E59 Theaters. 
Photo by Bitten By A Zebra Photography

Some of us need a jolt to come out of a deep funk.

In "Man Under," presented by Athena Theatre at 59E59 Theaters through February 17th, a depressed young man is enlivened by an odd encounter.

Jeff (Paul Bomba, also the author) walks around in a fog of grief, worrying his friends, Martin (Curran Connor) and Jennifer (Veronique Ory). Martin is thrilled to help Jeff find the girl he met on a subway platform and Jennifer wonders how exactly they are searching for this stranger. 

L-R: Briana Pozner, Paul Bomba and Curran Connor in THE MAN UNDER at 59E59 Theaters. 
Photo by Bitten By A Zebra Photography

When Jeff finds Lisa (Briana Pozner) standing next to him once again on a platform, she leads him on another merry chase through the subway tunnels. Lisa shares the art of dodging the third rail with Jeff. She is an adrenalin rush to Jeff. Her energy invigorates him and Lisa also inspires Jennifer to move on. Lisa is a troubled sprite. 

Exhilirated by the thrill ride Lisa takes him on, Jeff finds his lost peace.

A winsome cast perform with an easy naturalism in "Man Under."

L-R: Curran Connor, Veronique Ory and Paul Bomba in THE MAN UNDER at 59E59 Theaters. 
Photo by Bitten By A Zebra Photography

The small proscenimum stage (scenic design by Julia Noulin-Mérat) doubles as a comfy Brooklyn apartment and expands to an underground labyrinth of graffitti and danger. Charles Foster (lighting) and Jeremy S. Bloom (sound) take us into the subterranean world of the MTA in their excellent designs.

In the end, it seems that love and good sense triumph in "Man Under."

For more information about "Man Under," visit www.59e59.org.

In The Mood for Love?

With Valentine's Day approaching, many of us turn our thoughts to couplehood-- which includes love, of course, and often much more.

Cora Bissett as Helena with Matthew Pidgeon as Bob in "Midsummer [a play with songs]" by David Grieg, who also directs with songs by Gordon McIntyre. Costumes by Georgia McGuiness. at the Clurman. Photo by Douglas Robertson 

Each year, Carol Tambor heads to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe to sample the unusual and find the play she deems to be "Best of Edinburgh." The Carol Tambor Theatrical Foundation then presents the play thus designated to New York audiences. Last year the work was "Leo" (See review on these pages.)  This year, "Midsummer [a play with songs]"by David Grieg, who also directs, at Theatre Row's Clurman Theatre through January 26th, shares the Award with "Mies Julie," currently running at St. Ann's Warehouse.

"Midsummer [a play with songs]" is an early Valentine's gift from Ms Tambor to us. In "Midsummer [a play with songs]" romance is a by-product of a quest.  

Searching for meaning in booze, sex and bondage (it's a long story!), Helena (Cora Bissett) and Bob (Matthew Pidgeon) find something far more valuable-- friendship and ₤15,000.

When they meet, Bob is reading "Dostoyevsky... to cheer himself up." Despite his overtly intellectual endeavors, Bob is "a f****** underachiever." Their match-up is improbable. He is a low to mid level crook, and she's a swanky divorce lawyer.

Photo by Douglas Robertson. Helena (Cora Bissett) and Bob (Matthew Pidgeon) in "Midsummer [a play with songs]" by David Grieg, who also directs with songs by Gordon McIntyre. Costumes by Georgia McGuiness.

"Midsummer [a play with songs]" is not for everyone. Love and romance mingles with philosophical asides and silliness in this not strictly linear tale. Songs are interspersed with the narrative and dialogue. "And so-- when you see them -- the runners," Helena says, "weaving and glistening through the crowds-- you might think, 'look at them, the fools, they're trying to run away from death,' -- but they're not-- they're honestly not-- they're running towards something...."

The central bed is the all-purpose set, cleverly designed by Georgia McGuiness, which also has convenient storage for some of the props the actors need.

Photo by Douglas Robertson of Matthew Pidgeon as Bob and Cora Bissett as Helena in "Midsummer [a play with songs]" by David Grieg, who also directs with songs by Gordon McIntyre. Costumes by Georgia McGuiness. 

While you're in a romantic mood, take your sweetie to see "Perfect Catch," being reprised at Canal Park Playhouse on Saturdays and Sundays at 1pm and 4pm through February.

"Perfect Catch," billed as "Throw-mantic Comedy"  takes mime and juggling to Hollywood. Just watching
Jen Slaw and Michael Karas toss umbrellas to the soundtrack of "Singing In The Rain" is worth the price of admission.

To get tickets for "Midsummer [a play with songs]," visit www.telecharge.com. To learn more about "Perfect Catch," visit www.canalparkplayhouse.com

"In Acting Shakespeare"-- Tales From A Life

James Da Vita in a photo by Jacob J. Goldberg from "In Acting Shakespeare."

For those of us smitten with it, the theater is an uplifting and enriching experience.

James Da Vita's " In Acting Shakespeare," at The Pearl Theatre through February 3rd, stands on the shoulders of Sir Ian McKellan, on whose one man show his own is based, and Shakespeare, whose body of work inspired Da Vita to "a life in the theater."*

"And that , I think," Da Vita says, "was Shakespeare's true gift. He wrote us. He includes all of us in the question of what it is to be human." 
 
Da Vita, an undeniably smart man, wisely opens with Shakespeare's great villain Richard III. Contorting his boy into the deformed figure of the would-be King, Da Vita recites his honeyed and poisonous lines with a clarity and deep understanding. James Da Vita knows his Shakespeare!

James Da Vita in "In Acting Sharkespeare" in a photo by Jacob J. Goldberg.

In fact, the excerpts he plays out from the Bard's work, are the most entertaining sections of his memoire in tribute to his profession.Da Vita is a savvy theatrical technician.

Photo by Jacob J. Goldberg

 

Once a fisherman, the handsome and charismatic Da Vita went from gutting fish to hoisting petards. and writing plays and novels. He is now also the literary manager, and a core member, of American Players Theater in Wisconsin.

Shakespeare's legacy is of course undeniable and it apparently includes James Da Vita. His stage is  peopled with characters from Hotspur to Polonius, John Shakespeare and young Will himself. "In Acting Shakespeare" is about Da Vita's journey from unschooled Long Island boy to actor.

*"In Acting Shakespeare" borrows nothing from David Mamet.

To find out more about The Pearl Theatre Company, and "In Acting Shakespeare," please visit http://www.pearltheatre.org/. Next up at The Pearl, "Henry IV, Part I."

"The Other Place" Finds Itself On Broadway

For many productions these days, the transfer to Broadway seems to be accomplished with ease and run smoothly.

Helped by having some of the same crew on board, including director Joe Mantello, "The Other Place" made its move, with stops in the Nationaltheater Mannheim and on the West Coast along the way, to MTC's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, where it will play through February 24th, with its staging intact. 

Laurie Metcalf as Juliana. Photo by  Joan Marcus

That's more than can be said for award-winning playwright Sharr White's main character, a scientist in emotional and physical free-fall.  

"Not knowing who I am is oddly who I've become," Juliana Smithton (Laurie Metcalf, reprising her role off-Broadway) announces.

Her husband Ian's (Daniel Stern) frustration as she unravels is understable. His patience is admirable. 

(For a review of the world premiere MCC production at the Lucille Lortel in 2011, visit http://www.vevlynspen.com/2011/04/sorting-things-out-in-other-place.html.)

Metcalf is a fine dramatic actress, with celebrated comic timing. (Her three Emmys as Jackie in "Roseanne" attest to her comedic chops.) Juliana's acerbic accusations of Ian's infidelities, including one with her doctor who is also Ian's colleague (Zoe Perry), are both funny and devastating.

Zoe Perry (Metcalf's daughter) as her doctor with Laurie Metcalf
as Juliana. Photo by Joan Marcus.  

Ian and Juliana have suffered an unspeakable loss. In the throes of her illness, Juliana rubs salt in their wounds. Ian, as poignantly portrayed by Daniel Stern, exudes a measure of exasperation with his love for Juliana.

Zoe Perry stands out especially in her role as a stranger, (billed abstractly as The Woman), who comforts Juliana in the climatic scenes of "The Other Place." Rounding out the cast is John Schiappa once again comfortably and naturally taking on several roles in support of Juliana's story.

In the passion of the moment watching "The Other Place," it is easy to overlook the melodramatic coincidence that the drug Juliana has researched and brought to market is the treatment administered to her. "The Other Place" is a heartbreaking and thoroughly engrossing experience.

For more information about "The Other Place," visit http://www.manhattantheatreclub.com/

Side B was the beautiful "Tennessee Waltz"

Publicity photo of singer Patti Page pre-1978 from General Artists Corporation (management)

Clara Ann Fowler's "flip side" is Patti Page, the singer (and woman) she became through a series of happenstances.

"Flipside: The Patti Page Story," at 59E59 Theaters in a Front Page Productions/Square 1 Theatrics, in association with The University of Central Oklahoma, through December 30th, is a biography with music.

www.59e59.org

Greg White's script (he also directs the play) features 28 of the 111 Billboard hits Patti Page sang over the years. The popular singer was born in a small Oklahoma town in modest circumstances, and discovered under the pseudonym of a jingle singer for the Page Milk Company at KTUL radio in Tulsa.

In "Flipside...," her story as narrated by Clara Ann Fowler (Haley Jane Pierce) on the occasion of a 1965 tribute at KTUL for Miss Patti Page "The Singing Rage" (Lindise vanWinkle) with a sweet modesty and reserve. Clara will realize that hers is the voice of  Patti Page, and, as her daddy, Ben Fowler (Willy Welch) had told her, "'Let 'em hear your voice, Clara Ann. 'Cause there's so much for them to hear."

The modesty and down-hominess shrouds Patti Page's accomplishments as an innovative musician. For instance, her recording of "Confess" has doubled up her voice for two parts -- a technique born of necessity now known as overdubbing.  "We can't afford two voices,"   her manager Jack Rael (Justin Larman) says. She was to sing echoing herself on a number of hits after that one was produced.

On one occasion, by way of illustration, "Flipside..." cheats in taking advantage of the technique-- there are four Patti's singing in "With My Eyes Wide Open, I'm Dreaming," when Haley Jane Pierce and Lindsie van Winkle are joined by Jenny Rothmayer and Kassie Carroll in a Patti Page Quartet.
  
"Flipside..." makes the most of the sumptious array of gowns costume-designer Corey Martin has styled for it. Patti Page models a different one for each number.

There is a coda, a device not uncommon in the genre of biographical playwrighting,  in "Flipside...," which helps us catch up with the singer today. At 85, Miss Patti Page is still performing. In 1998, she won a Grammy for her  Live at Carnegie Hall: The 50th Anniversary Concert.

For more information abut "Flipside: The Patti Page Story," visit www.59e59.org

It was sad to hear that Patti Page died at the age of 85 on New Year's day 2013.

If Memory Serves... "The Good Mother" and "The Great God Pan"

If "the past is prologue," what follows for those who are stuck in the past?

In their latest work, playwrights Amy Herzog and Francine Volpe focus on protagonists who are diminished by their past.

In Volpe's "The Good Mother," at the New Group in the Acorn theater through December 22nd, personal history sets up a pattern of self-destruction and delusion.  Larissa (Gretchen Mol) is held back by an infantile crush on her teen counsellor, Joel (Mark Blum.) Larissa exerts her considerable allure to entangle the men in her life in webs of intrigue.

Mark Blum as Joel and Gretchen Mol as Larissa in "The Good Mother."  Photo by Monique Carboni.

Memory is a double-edged sword of nostalgia and dread in Herzog's "The Great God Pan," at Playwrights Horizons mainstage through  Januaray 6, 2013. It may be that Jamie (Jeremy Strong) is stymied by suppressed memories. Jamie has a middling career. He is not fully committed in his long-term relationship with Paige (Sarah Goldberg.) His mother, Cathy (Becky Ann Baker) worries that is not happy. Jamie is stumbling along with his life when he reunites with a boyhood friend, Frank (Keith Nobbs).Frank's unwelcome revelations make Jamie and his father, Doug (Peter Friedman) uneasy.

Jeremy Strong as Jamie with Sarah Goldberg as Paige in "The Great God Pan." Photo by Joan Marcus.

Keith Nobbs cuts a splendidly fierce goth-like figure. His Frank is straightforward and secure. Jeremy Strong's Jamie is appropriately listless and uncertain.

Keith Nobbs as Frank and Jeremy Strong as Jamie  in "The Great God Pan." Photo by Joan Marcus.

The pathologically self-absorbed Larissa in "The Good Mother," on the other hand, willfully provokes a series of incidents that unsettle her peace and comfort. She victimizes Angus (Eric Nelsen), Joel's troubled son, and leaves him bewildered. After a one-night stand, she calls upon the protective and equally befuddled Jonathan (Darren Goldstein) and then dismisses him.

Gretchen Mol as Larissa with Darren Goldstein as Jonathan in "The Good Mother." Photo by Monique Carboni.

Larissa is a temptress and a user. She doesn't seem to care that her schemes, like her troubled past, all seem to backfire. It's easy to see her triumphant smirk from ten rows back as she draws in the long-ago jilted Buddy (Alfredo Narciso.)

Fans of HBOs Boardwalk Empire will be happy to again see Gretchen Mol in person. She acquits herself brilliantly in this psychological thriller.

The many lingering questions Amy Herzog leaves unanswered in "The Great God Pan" are part of its dramatic power. Carolyn Cantor directs the superb cast in even and compelling performances. Volpe's "The Good Mother," under Scott Elliot's direction,  is satisfyingly complex. 

Larissa and Jamie are both hampered by their childhoods, and haunted by their pasts.

For more information about "The Good Mother," visit http://www.thenewgroup.org/. To learn more about "The Great God Pan," go to www.playwrightshorizons.org     

Odets "Golden Boy" Pulls No Punches

Certainly there were many precedents, like The Jazz Singer,  of disappointed fathers whose sons were determined to pervert their pure talent for commercial success. Clifford Odets, however, had a hand in turning the dilemma of choosing fame over art into a cliché.

Seth Numrich as Joe and Yvonne Strahovski as Lorna in "Golden Boy." Photo by Paul Kolnik 

In "Golden Boy," at the Belasco Theatre again for its 75th anniversary, staged by Lincoln Center Theaters, and running through January 20th, a boy forsakes music for the excitement of the boxing ring.

In the 1930s, and for many years thereafter, boxers exerted celebrity. The limelight, not fiddling under a street lamp for tips, is what Joe Bonaparte (Seth Numrich) seeks. The day when Joe decides to put on boxing gloves, his father (Tony Shalhoub) spends a small fortune on a violin for his 21st birthday.

If Joe needs convincing on the path to the fight game, he gets it from Lorna Moon (Yvonne Strahovski), the hard-boiled dame who falls for his sweetness while pushing him toward brutality.

Yvonne Strahovski as Lorna Moon and Danny Mastrogiorgio as Tom Moody. Photo by Paul Kolnik.

Tom Moody (Danny Mastrogiorgio), perhaps sensing their rivalry for Lorna's affections, doesn't much like the kid he's managing. Tom dubs Joe "the cock-eyed wonder" to the press and fans.

Anthony Crivello as Eddie Fuseli with Seth Numrich as Joe Bonaparte. Danny Bustein as Tokio in background.
Photo by Paul Kolnik.

The gangster, Eddie Fuseli (Anthony Crivello), on the other hand, like Joe's trainer, Tokio (Danny Burstein), is captivated by Joe. Fuseli buys a piece of the rising star, and then showers him with gifts of clothing. After a while, Joe begins to dress like his mentor. He takes on the trappings of oppulence, flashy clothes and a fast car. The one woman Joe wants is engaged to Tom Moody. The hubbub of Joe's life is very different from the quiet and peace he felt when he was a champion violin-player as a boy.

Tony Shalhoub as Mr. Bonaparte, Seth Numrich as Joe and Danny Burstein as his trainer, Tokio. Photo by Paul Kolnik.

Given Joe's outsized resentments and grandiosity, it's not hard to sympathize with his detractors, like Moody, or Roxy Gottlieb (Ned Eisenberg), the other member of the syndicate backing him. The press too don't like Joe. Even Joe says, "I don't like myself, past, present and future."    Joe is a discontented soul, out to "show 'em all."

Everything about the LCT production of "Golden Boy" is true to the period it represents, from the brilliant costumes by Catherine Zuber, to the dialect. In fact, as an example of the latter, Yvonne Strahovski, an Austrailian import making her LCT and Broadway debuts, is pitch-perfect as "the tramp from New Jersey."

Overseeing the harmonious presentation, director Bartlett Sher shows his sensitivity and appreciation for Odets's work in all facets of "Golden Boy."

Among the well-directed cast, Michael Aronov stands out as Siggie, Joe's brother-in-law, whose ambitions are homier and more down-to-earth that that of the "Golden Boy." Seth Numrich gives a nuanced performance that keeps him in balance between Joe's insecurity and his bravado. Danny Mastrogiorgio's Tom Moody is so completely natural it's as if he's living the part. Credit Tony Shalhoub for his restraint in underplaying Mr. Bonaparte whom he embues with a resolute strength and sadness.

In fact, there are very few missteps in this "Golden Boy." The only quibble brings us back to the beginning, that the story is by now so familiar that it mostly lacks dramatic surprise. And if it has become an mundane theme, we can lay some of that blame on Clifford Odets.

For more information about "Golden Boy," please visit www.lct.org. 

It's Ailey Season In The City

Dance is a sort of go-to during the holidays. For some of us New Yorkers, it's Ailey Season.

The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, at New York City Center through December 30th, is a sort of alt-Nutrcracker-- not that there is anything wrong with the profusion of Nutcrackers around town.

The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater company in "Revelations." Photo by Manny Herhandez. 

The uplifting, "Revelations," an Ailey-choreographed piece that has stopped the show all over the world since its creation in 1960, continues to be the crown-jewel of the AAADT.

Artisitic Director Emerita Judith Jamison in "Revelations" from the company archives.

 Going to church with Ailey is always a special privilege. At the performance we attended, the music was live, conducted by Nedra Olds-Neal, and the AAADT company was joined by Ailey II and Students of the Ailey School to make up a cast of 50.

Cast of 50 for "Revelations." Photo by Christopher Duggan.

Ailey's dancers are among those who can be entrusted to do justice to the Paul Taylor cannon. Indeed, Taylor directed them when they introduced his "Arden Court" to the repertory last season. AAADT's style meshes well with the work.

AAADT in Paul Taylor's "Arden Court." Photo by Paul Kolnik.

The pomp and circumstance of the music by William Boyce has a processional grace. The dancing is at once majestic and down-to-earth. The muscularity of motion is fluid and easy. For Taylor, dance is play for adults.

AAADT's rendering of "Arden Court" is joyful and fun. 

Robert Battle, who took over as the third Artistic Director in AAADT's history in 2011 from Judith Jamison,

does not want his choreography to dominate the repertory. His "Takedeme" offered a brief (at just 5 minutes) but powerful and amusing addition to AAADT programming.

Yannick Lebrun makes a leap in Robert Battle's "Takedeme" seem so easy.  Photo by Andrew Eccles.

 The score, "Speaking in Tongues II" by Sheila Chandra, scolds in jibberish. The dance is complex, based on Indian Kathak, and the dancer, Yanick Lebrun moved muscles he could not possibly have had in isolation.

The afternoon's highlight, however, was Garth Fagan's "From Before," (1978) which enters AAADT repertory as a company premiere this season. Set to "Path" by Trinindadian composer, Ralph MacDonald, the dance starts out with African inflections, moves on to the Caribbean, and from there becomes jazzy. The Fagan-costumed cast in silken unitards, their bodies sleek in vivid colors. The steps are as lively as the vibrant melodies and rhythms that accompany the movement.

AAADT in Garth Fagan's "From Before." Photo by Paul Kolnik. 

For more information about Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and a schedule of programming, visit http://www.alvinailey.org/citycenter 

Penny Fuller Sings of "13 Things..."

Virginia (Penny Fuller) is a widow in distress. It seems her husband Ed mortgaged away their life's assets to some shady characters, including his brother Frank and the local banker, Bob O'Klock, before his sudden death.

Musical Director Paul Greenwood plays the piano and Penny Fuller as Virginia sings in 13 Things About Ed Carpolotti. Photo by Carol Rosegg

In "13 Things About Ed Carpolotti," at 59E59 Theaters through December 30th, Virginia under siege hums, sings and narrates her tale.

Penny Fuller as Virginia in "13 Things..." Directed by Barry Kleinbort (book, music and lyrics). Photo by Carol Rosegg

 

The tension in "13 Things About Ed Carpolotti" builds as new creditors approach Virginia. "We're Gonna Be Fine," the not-entirely-convinced Virginia says and sings. Penny Fuller, backed by pianist and musical director, Paul Greenwood, is a delight. She voices each of the townsfolk she encounters. Her emotions flutter then overflow. "We're gonna be great... we're gonna be swell."

Penny Fuller is Virginia in "13 Things..." Photo by Carol Rosegg

The cafe seating is the showcase for a cabaret styled musical piece directed by Barry Kleinbort (book, music and lyrics), based on a play by Jeffrey Hatcher.

The humor is of the gentle gallows kind, the mood sentimental and sweet. "13 Things About Ed Carpolotti" proves to be a delightful little show.

For more information on "13 Things About Ed Carpolotti," visit www.59e59.org.

Pride in "Working"

Joe Cassidy in foreground with cast of "Working " at 59E59 Theaters in a Prospect Theater Company production.
Photo by Richard Termine.

For most people, work is more than a job. It's about more than collecting a paycheck. It's about making a contribution.

"Working A Musical," at 59E59 Theaters in a production by the Prospect Theater Company through December 30th, celebrates the dignity of the American workforce. The closing number,  Craig Carnelia's "Something To Point To," for instance, is a song of workers' pride in what they do.

Based on Studs Terkel's seminal series of interviews, "Working" was originally adapted by Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso, for a Chicago run at the Goodman Theatre in 1977 and moved to Broadway where it closed after just 24 post preview performances. It has been revised and performed many times since in Chicago and LA, Florida, New Haven and San Diego. The current revival, which also commemorates Terkel's centenary, adds two new songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda and has additional contributions to the book by director Gordon Greenberg.

Marie-France Arcilla with the cast behind her working in a factory to the James Taylor tune "Millwork."Photo by Richard Termine.
  

Songs in "Working" range from laments like Micki Grant's "Cleanin' Woman" and "If I Could've Been" and James Taylor's "Millwork" to anthems like Taylor's "Brother Trucker" those by Stephen Schwartz "All The Livelong Day,"or "Nobody Tells Me How" from Susan Birkenhead (lyrics) and Mary Rodgers  
(music) or Craig Carnelia's "The Mason."

"It's An Art," according to Delores Dante (Donna Lynne Champlin with cast  in background). Photo by Richard Termine.

If "Working" teaches us anything it's that "Nobody is just a waitress!" Donna Lynne Champlin is a show of her own as the wonderful Delores Dante. "I get intoxicated with giving service," Delores says as she shuttles plates and cups. "It becomes theatrical and I feel like... I'm on stage." For Delores, being a waitress -- well, in Schwartz's words, "It's An Art."  

Variety is the spice of this musical tribute to "what we do all day," as Terkel put it. Everyone gets to work in several settings.  In "Working," six hard-working actors portay 36 of Terkel's  industrious subjects. For instance, Joe Cassidy is credibly and movingly by turns an ironworker, hedge fund manager, a publicist, and a retiree.

Among the workers interviewed in "Working," there is a factory worker (Marie-France Arcilla), a sex worker (Kenita R. Miller), a stone mason (Nahal Joshi), a fireman and a UPS driver (Jay Armstrong Johnson), a nanny and a flight attendant (Marie-France again),  a cleaning lady (Kenita), a fast food worker (Nahal), and a school teacher (Donna Lynne). Each has his own story and song  in the vignettes that make up the show.

Nehal Joshi, Jay Armstrong Johnson, and Joe Cassidy with Marie-France Arcilla, Kenita R. Miller and Donna Lynne Champlin behind them in Taylor's "Brother Trucker."  Photo by Richard Termine.

Along with Donna Lynne Champlin's show-stopping contributions as Delores and then again as the school teacher, Rose Hoffman, there is also Joe Cassidy's poignant portrayal of the retiree, Joe Zutty in Carnelia's "Joe,"  neatly followed by "A Very Good Day" by Miranda and performed by Nehal Joshi as a elder-care worker, Utkarsh Trajillo and Marie-France Arcilla as the nanny, Theresa Liu. Kenita R. Miller's Kate Rushton, "Just A Housewife" (Carnelia),  and Maggie Holmes, "A Cleanin' Lady" (Grant) contrast with her buttomed-up project manager, Amanda McKenny, and her all-out prostitute Roberta Victor.  

The pace is fast, and the subject interesting.  In this economy, it sometimes feels like just having a job is a gift, but "Working" is about all the people who do the jobs--menial and meaningful-- and how they feel about what they accomplish each day.

For more information about "Working," visit www.59e59.org, please.

Doomed to repeat past mistakes in "The Good Mother"

If "the past is prologue," what follows for those who are stuck in the past?

In their latest work, playwrights Amy Herzog and Francine Volpe focus on protagonists who are diminished by their past. [More on Herzog's play after opening on December 18th.]

In Volpe's "The Good Mother," at the New Group in the Acorn theater through December 22nd, personal history sets up a pattern of self-destruction and delusion.  Larissa (Gretchen Mol) is held back by an infantile crush on her teen counsellor, Joel (Mark Blum.) Larissa exerts her considerable allure to entangle the men in her life in webs of intrigue.

Mark Blum as Joel and Gretchen Mol as Larissa in "The Good Mother."  Photo by Monique Carboni.

The pathologically self-absorbed Larissa in "The Good Mother," willfully provokes a series of incidents that unsettle her peace and comfort. She victimizes Angus (Eric Nelsen), Joel's troubled son, and leaves him bewildered. After a one-night stand, she calls upon the protective and equally befuddled Jonathan (Darren Goldstein) and then dismisses him.

Gretchen Mol as Larissa with Darren Goldstein as Jonathan in "The Good Mother." Photo by Monique Carboni.

Larissa is a temptress and a user. She doesn't seem to care that her schemes, like her troubled past, all seem to backfire. It's easy to see her triumphant smirk from ten rows back as she draws in the long-ago jilted Buddy (Alfredo Narciso.)

Fans of HBOs Boardwalk Empire will be happy to again see Gretchen Mol in person. She acquits herself brilliantly in this psychological thriller.

Carolyn Cantor directs the superb cast in even and compelling performances. Volpe's "The Good Mother," under Scott Elliot's direction,  is satisfyingly complex. 

For more information about "The Good Mother," visit http://www.thenewgroup.org/

A Holiday At War In "A Civil War Christmas"

War makes a mockery of the holiday spirit.

This is exactly what comes to mind as "A Civil War Christmas," at the New York Theatre Workshop through December 30th, begins to tell its story of the last Christmas eve of the Civil War.

Playwright Paula Vogel may have intended it to be a history lesson, but "A Civil War Christmas," is  in fact a mixture of pageant-- in the tradition of the season,-- minstrel show and music hall folly.

A wartime Christmas is most often wistful and nostalgic. The Civil War with its outsized carnage was especially harrowing. The country divided as it was was ground down and in a very low place. Christmas 1864 was anything but festive.  Much of "A Civil War Christmas," seems to trivialize its subject.

Sean Allan Krill, Sumaya Bouhbal, Antwayn Hopper, Bob Stillman,  Rachel Spencer Hewitt, and Alice Ripley in Paula Vogel's "A Civil War Christmas." Photo by Carol Rosegg. 

President Abe Lincoln (Bob Stillman) is forgetful and neglectful of his own safety, cartoonishly evading his security detail (Sean Allan Krill as Mr. Lamon.) The conspirators, who history has shown eventually succeeded in their assassination-- John Wilkes Booth (Sean Allan Krill, again), John Surratt (Chris Henry), and Lewis Payne (Alice Ripley)-- are bumbling whiners.As the First Lady, Mary Todd Lincoln (Alice Ripley-- everyone does multiple duty in this cast), comes across as a kind, erratic and silly woman.

Alice Ripley, Jonathan-David, Sean Allan Krill in in Paula Vogel's "A Civil War Christmas." Photo by Carol Rosegg.

There are notable exceptions to this paint-by-numbers approach to characterization in "A Civil War Christmas," of course.

The well-developed and astutely portrayed Decatur Bronson (K. Todd Freeman), fuelled by his fury at the Confederates who nabbed his wife, Rose (Amber Iman) off their porch, is valiant. Freeman's performance is strong and moving. His Sgt. Bronson, a Black soldier in the Union Army, has a fierce oft-sung mantra, "Take No Prisoners" in keeping with his nature.  Amber Iman lends credence to her roles as Rose, and as a mother, Hannah, searching for her little girl, Jessa (Sumaya Boulbah.)

K. Todd Freeman as Sgt Decatur Bronon with Amber Iman as his wife Rose  in  Paula Vogel's  "A Civil War Christmas." Photo by Carol Rosegg.

Songs,  (musical direction by Andrew Resnick, with supervision & arrangements by Daryl Waters, and incidental music also by Waters,) some traditional like the Negro hymn to freedom, "Follow The Drinking Gourd," some original and others originally built on Yuletide standards, and dance move the narrative along.

Working on a bare, wood-planked stage, the actors pluck props, instruments, and costumes out of the open "closet" that runs along the side. Despite the wealth of talent on display, -- most of the cast not only act, sing and dance, but also play a fiddle or guitar or drum-- all admirably -- and assisted by director Tina Landau, "A Civil War Christmas" feels amateurish. It is a sincere effort but unfortunately, "A Civil War Christmas" never delivers on its promising and heartfelt concept.

For more information about "A Civil War Christmas," please visit http://www.nytw.org/.

So so "...Jews"

Sometimes "bad" is a not so much a pejorative as a relative term.

Definitions of bad abound in "Bad Jews," Joshua Harmon's new play at the Roundabout's Underground Black Box Theatre at  the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre through December 30th.

Philip Ettinger as Jonah Haber, Tracee Chimo as his cousin Daphna Feygenbaum, and Molly Ranson as Melody
in "Bad Jews." Photo by Joan Marcus.

In "Bad Jews," the judge of who and what is bad is Daphna (Tracee Chimo), one of the cousins gathering in the family's Upper West Side studio after their grandfather's death.Daphna feels that her dedication to her Jewishness entitles her, of all the cousins, to inherit the Chai necklace he wore in commemoration of his survival during the  Holocaust.

Molly Ranson as Melody and Michael Zegen as Liam Haber in  "Bad Jews."  Photo by Joan Marcus.

Tracee Chimo- a weak link in Harvey, mordantly funny in Bachlorette-- is at the top of her game again in "Bad Jews." Daphna, as she plays her, finds all the soft spots and then pushes until the object of her probes is on the verge of strangling her. In   "Bad Jews," Daphna  browbeats not only her cousins, Jonah  (Philip Ettinger) and Liam Haber (Michael Zegen) but also Liam's non-Jewish girlfriend, Melody (Molly Ranson).

The weakness in "Bad Jews" is in the script, which relies too heavily on the knowing pause, and the obvious laugh-line. "Bad Jews" lacks  a substantial plot to carry it from "so so" to "ah-- very good!"

For more information on "Bad Jews," visit http://www.roundabouttheatre.org/.

The Vineyard Blossoms In Its 30th Year!

From the beginning, the Vineyard Theatre proved to be fertile ground for extended runs, Broadway transfers, and prize-winning productions.

Nicky Silver's "The Lyons," "The Scottsboro Boys," and "[title of show]" all went from their Vineyard runs to the Great White Way. "Avenue Q" moved to the John Golden Theatre where it won the 2004 Tony and now continues to enjoy success at New World Stages.

Ricky and Rod from "Avenue Q"

Paula Vogel's "How I Learned To Drive" premiered at the Vineyard, moved to the Century Theatre and then won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize. The Vineyard's dedication to new works has led to fruitful collaborations with writers like Becky Mode ("Fully Committed"), the team of John Kander and Fred Ebb (the above-mentioned "Scottsboro Boys," and "Flora The Red Menace"), and Nicky Silver (whose1993 "Pterodactyls" will enjoy a special member reading on December 10th).  

From the Broadway run of "The Scottsboro Boys"-- Joshua Henry and the cast. Photo by Paul Kolnik

This season's  opener, "Checkers" by Douglas McGrath, (just closed) featured top-notch work from a great cast under Terry Kinney's direction, led by Anthony LaPaglia as Richard Nixon and Kathryn Erbe as Pat Nixon.

The 30th anniversary will bring a New York premiere by Rajiv Joseph, "The North Pool"  followed by a world premiere of  "Somewhere Fun," by Jenny Schwartz. Members of The Vineyard Theatre will also witness special workshops and readings.

For more information on The Vineyard Theatre, please visit http://vineyardtheatre.org/