February 24th, 2009
   
Notes on LOVE STORIES (or But You Will Get Used To It) by Itamar Moses at The Flea Theater, performed by THE BATS:
1. Insider the casting process—awfully good acting and directing (by Michelle Tattenbaum)
2. Office worker rejected— virtuoso performance by Maren Langdon.
3. Film buff and girl who just started living together— the angst and foibles of young relationships.
4. Moses is a funny contemporary writer of romantic encounters and relationships, and the deconstruction of a scene we have just seen shows the trickyness of his theatrical thinking- really smart fun.
5. After play scene: A Pirandelloesque conversation between two actors.
6. Langdon brilliant as a Russian interpreter-- but—the room gets filled with smoke, and in this small theatre realism overcame comfort as I was distracted from the funny play by the smoke. Its theme was unrelated to the earlier scenes.
7. Another short play-- I think that here the author is too smart for himself and tries to show his intellectual insights and proficiency. He lost me in drivel about the skewed history of a couple provoked to silence.
So here, near the end, the show didn’t grow in intensity or interest-- it drooped. The monologue could have been left out with its logorrhea speculating on inner thoughts. Great— alienate the audience near the finish as we were trapped while the author’s boring remarks on writing are spoken by the poor actor I began to hate he was so long-winded. I hoped Itamar Moses is young and just didn’t know any better yet. He’s really a bright, funny guy.

So here we have five really good, totally believable actors who communicate emotions and thoughts like a Broadway cast: John Russo, Felipe Bonilla, Laurel Holland, Michael Micalizzi, and one with star potential, Maren Langdon-- not a weak link, and each gets to shine in the earlier sections of the show which are bright, smart, sophisticated and funny. Someone should have said “STOP, Itamar! You’ve got a good show-- quit when you’re ahead.
This is a terrific acting company, and I look forward to their next endeavor.

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com.

February 10th, 2009
   
Dan Burkarth, in his Noir play WHAT WOULD FRANKIE S. DO?,
gives an energetic performance as a classic club owner in debt who is confronted by deadly danger.

Richmond Shepard

lively-arts.com

2/09
THE THIRD STORY is a trip to the strange pseudo-noir fantasy world of Charles Busch, the master of fairy tale camp, and he, the writer, plays two roles: a Grande Diva and an old witch. His comic timing is impeccable— he’s a master. And there’s Kathleen Turner— a stylized full-blown Diva in a dominating role-- vocally she’s Tallulah Bankhead, physically she’s Harvey in “Hairspray.” She’s great. Sarah Rafferty, Jennifer Van Dyck and Scott Parkinson are all terrific strong farceurs, and Jonathan Walker is Raymond Chandler all the way. And the intricate fol-de-rol, mixing together the plots of three stories unfolding, is lots of fun as most of them play two characters. David Gallo’s set, Gregory Gale’s costumes and David Weiner’s lighting are all just right, and Carl Andress’s direction keeps it snappy. Fine performances, lots of fun. And then it began to wear a little. By intermission I was camped out, and cut out. I had
a great time, but an hour was enough for me.

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com.

Director Austin Pendleton has given us a soft, slow, naturalistic version of Anton Chekhov’s UNCLE VANYA, now at CSC Rep. in a clear new translation by Carol Rocamora. The cast communicates well, including a layered, moving performance by Mamie Gummer as the yearning Sofya and a believable Peter Sarsgard as the doctor. The theatre lights up when Maggie Gyllenhaal, Denis O’Hare and the antique George Morfogen take stage. Fighting the director’s intention to be real, is the intrusive, overbearing, monstrous two-level set, with poles that block view of the action, causing us to lose communication with moments of the play and crane our necks to see, by the usually brilliant designer Santo Loquasto. A Grande Bouffe. Sorry—the play is not about the set. It’s about the land being devastated rather than being preserved, and as the land becomes barren, so do the lives of the bored landowners and their unrequited love and suffering in the old
Russian style. (I think it’s about time for the peasants to revolt and make these leaches go to work.) Maggie is magnetic-- as restless as “Maggie the Cat,” and O’Hare is totally real as the basically nutless Vanya, and communicates beautifully. His “11:00 O’clock number” is splendid. The flow of the final scene, which starts off up on the platform, leaving half the audience without a view of the actors, is almost destroyed by the set, even though they come within view at the end. Of course you should see it-- it’s an intriguing conception of the classic play, and mostly, Pendleton’s languid vision and the fine acting keep us fully engaged.

February 06th, 2009
   
SPEED-THE-PLOW by David Mamet-- what a trip! Mamet’s scathing denunciation/exposition of the workings of the Hollywood jungle, where everyone is a whore and access is all, as performed by Raul Esparza, William H. Macy and Elisabeth Moss, is a gripping piece of theatricality. The snappy dialogue as twisted people fence for position in a depraved, insulated world of hypergreed is magnetic, and director Neil Pepe’s sense of timing is thrilling. Macy has the tiny bit of vulnerability to momentarily step aside from his character’s usual tunnel vision, Esparza will get a Tony nomination for his emotionally complex portrayal, and Moss is the first woman I’ve seen really fit the part of the woman smart and sexy enough to steer an upwardly mobile mogul from his anointed path. Scott Pask’s dual set and Brian MacDevitt lighting perfectly set the scene, and costumes by Laura Bauer, suggesting “The Transposed Heads,” are perfect. This is Great Theatre.

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com.

February 02nd, 2009
   
Micaela Leon is a spectacular performer. Her fascinating new show METROPOLIS— SONGS OF WEIMAR/BERLIN has this stunning performer in a long red dress that would make a Top Gun swerve for a glimpse. Everything this exquisite singer does will grab you and mesmerize you. She’s a gorgeous dynamo of song as her exploration of the music of 1920’s Berlin includes a history of the era. Lots of what she sings is in German. So What? She’s so fascinating that words don’t matter-- her beauty and presence fill the stage, and, of course, she does translate. It is perfectly staged by director Lena Koutrakos, and arrangements by Paul Trueblood are creative and fit her perfectly, and sensitive percussionist Philipp Gutbrod lifts the sound of the performance. Leon is dramatic, humorous, serious, hilarious, sad, and her movements and physicality take us far above other cabaret singers. Who needs to comprehend all the words with a performer as delightful as this? And she has a killer encore.

Her performance schedule is:
February 25- 7: pm. Wed- Chelsea Art Museum- Project Perpetuum: Gerd Baier & Philipp Gutbrod Chamber Jazz Duo, dancer Emma Desjardins- an evening of free impro and jazz
info at http://www.myspace.com/projectperpetuum

March 5 & 12-- "A Foreign Affair - Berlin & Hollywood": songs from Marlene Dietrich's Movies-- Cafe Sabarsky at the Neue Galerie

April 23 - May 3 "Weimar Noir" The Chrystoph Marten Salon
info at http://www.myspace.com/weimarnoir

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com.

February 01st, 2009
   
Virginia Wolfe wrote one play, FRESHWATER, to be performed one time by her friends and family for “a laughing evening.” The brilliant, innovative director Anne Bogart has now staged it, and, not being either on the stage myself having a good time, or part of a family in-group watching friends be foolish, it doesn’t quite work for me. They are trying for farce, but the actors mock the characters they are playing so all gestures are broad, all words recited. To be really funny, one has to be real in odd situations. As usual with Berlin, all of the stage pictures work-- in design and flow. There is a lovely love scene, and a great absurd punch line at the end, and I’m sure they all had a great time in 1935 when a bunch of compadres cavorted in the back yard as they mocked Tennyson and Art and Artists in general. The production is first rate: set and costumes by James Schuette, lighting by Brian H. Scott. All in all a somewhat amusing romp.

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com.

In LANSKY, by Richard Krevolin and Joseph Bologna, the charismatic and fascinating actor Mike Burstyn gives us an odd portrait of a Jewish gangster, Meyer Lansky, who was the brains, the money-manipulator, behind a lot of Mafia activities during prohibition. This is a tale of an immigrant family moving to America, of an anti-Nazi, anti-Bund fighter, a supporter of the State if Israel. It takes place in 1971 when the aged Lansky tried to be admitted to Israel as a citizen so he could die there. It’s a great performance of a gripping story, and by the end some of the real inner workings of Lansky’s psyche are revealed by this powerful actor. The settings are created mostly by Graham Kindred’s fine lighting, and Bologna’s direction is crisp and exciting— there’s not a dull moment in this compelling drama.

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com.

January 29th, 2009
   
Mary Louise Parker makes Christopher Shinn’s new adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s HEDDA GABLER the best, most exciting version of the show I have ever seen. Her every word, every gesture is fascinating, magnetic. Her essence is sensual, her beauty radiates, especially as gowned by designer Ann Roth. It’s a brilliant many-layered performance as she restlessly prowls the stage like a feral tiger imprisoned in a small cage. Parker has the proper qualities to turn all men’s knees to Jello, and this is what has been missing from some Heddas I’ve seen. The stage sparkles with her life force. The fine actor Michael Cerveris as her husband, Tessmanm, plays it a bit too oblivious, whiney and nerdy for me, as he breathily, cringingly delivers his lines-- it’s a stretch that these two could ever have been a match. Paul Sparks as the neurotic poet-lover is just fine in looks and delivery— I believe him. The weak link is the stiff, charmless Peter
Stormare as Judge Brack. There should be some possibility in this character that Hedda might have had a romantic interest in him. Uh uh. It’s just not there. He was really great though in “Fargo” putting someone into a woodchopper. The rest of the cast is excellent, including Helen Carey and Ana Reeder. Set by Hildegard Bechtler and lighting by Natasha Katz frame the play beautifully. Director Ian Rickson stages clearly, cleanly, and whoever thought of using the unmatchable Ms Parker in the lead had a stroke of genius.

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com.

In 1960 I found The Living Theatre, the premiere
Avant-garde theatre in this country at the time. They were performing Jack Gelber’s play THE CONNECTION. I worked there for three years, and it was quite a flashback to the past, theatrically and as a reality, to see the new production of that play resurrected and directed by Judith Malina. The play is a slice of sleazy life-- a real jump back to a cigarette-filled theatre with a bunch of doomed outcasts as they wait for their heroin connection-- plus a terrific jazz quartet. The scenes alternate between the junkies telling their stories and really good jazz numbers, led by sax-player Rene McLean, whose father Jackie was the sax-player in the 1960 production. Wow! What a trip! Jim Dunn’s set is so real that you are there, and Malina has given it all the proper flavor of the time. The moral of the play? Try your best not to be a junkie—it’s a miserable life.

THE LIVING THEATRE LIVES!!!

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com.

January 27th, 2009
   
THE AMERICAN PLAN by Richard Greenberg is a complex psychological drama played out against the background of summer in the Catskills in 1960. A borderline psychotic girl (the lovely Lily Rabe) whose mother (the vividly dynamic Mercedes Ruehl) is a treacherous, overprotecting controller, meets a handsome guy (Kieran Campion) who is a poor, gay New England aristocrat. It’s an engaging play with all the elements of a soap opera sprinkled with some interesting philosophical ideas and insights into human interaction. As in a soap, Greenberg has inserted coincidental happenings to cause conflicts, and by the end the destructiveness of imposing one’s will on another is strongly demonstrated when we jump ten years forward. I question the set by Jonathan Fensom which keeps a slanted wooden dock on a turntable as its centerpiece. It’s a bold idea, but to me it seems clumsy to have indoor and outdoor scenes played out in its proximity. Lighting by Mark
McCullough is just fine. With the good acting by the entire cast (including Brenda Pressley and Austin Lysy), and especially Ruehl whose presence crackles, some of the interesting ideas expressed, and lively direction by David Grindley, it is an enjoyable evening of Theatre.

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com.

January 20th, 2009
   
Ahh those crazy Brits-- how they love the 3 D’s in their Theatre: Depravity, Disfunction, Death. LEAVES OF GLASS by Philip Ridley, at the Peter J. Sharp Theatre on Theater Row, has all of them in abundance. There is no McDonough blood pouring off the edge of the stage, but there are ripped emotions, anguish, shreds of relationships pouring, bouncing, skittering, banging about. This is an English, naturalistic (though stylized) kitchen-sink drama about two brothers, the younger a demented artist (Euan Morton) and the elder a neurotic successful man, withdrawn yet aggressive (Victor Villar-Hauser). It’s a parade of familial conflicts filled with mental aberrations, with the strengthening of one coinciding with the deterioration of the other. And there is their complex, in denial mother (Alexa Kelly) and the lovely wife of the hesitant elder (Xanthe Elbrick). These are characters I wouldn’t want to spend time with performed by actors you’d
love to see perform. They are all brilliant— there is not a moment that is not totally believable in their work. Director Ludovica Villar-Hauser has kept this exposition-filled piece totally honest as we see that there is only one strength between the two brothers, and it jumps from one to the other in a juxtaposition of neuroses. There is a bit of depravity and a bunch of denial underlined by Kelly’s exquisite, complex performance. In the dramatic device employed by Ridley you might find a memory of Thomas Mann’s “The Transposed Heads” and Sam Shepard’s “True West.” Lighting by Doug Filomena and costumes by Christopher Lione create character and mood perfectly. The ending fulfills the English preference (not mine), but if you want to see great acting with impeccable direction, try LEAVES OF GLASS.

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com.

January 18th, 2009
   
I flew to Miami it attend the World Premiere of the new musical BOMBSHELLS— book, lyrics and music by Jeannette Hopkins— and found a terrific show with a powerful theme: communion among women. The original stories are in the book “Dish and Tell: Life, Love and Secrets” by the Miami Bombshells, a group of six women who met to interact and share their ongoing experiences. Hopkins took the tales and added sharp dialogue, lively original melodies, and lots of humor. The jokes range from chuckles to guffaws. The show has a good-looking cast of pro singers with voices that fill the theatre, and the material ranges from a number about what it means to be a stepmother to a hilarious one about sex toys to a very moving section in Act Two about the death of a parent. It has a great universality to it, and it’s all well staged by director David Arisco, with fine arrangements by Artie Butler. This is a first rate theme musical, and Hopkins is a
Broadway-level smart, funny, insightful song writer who can twist words with great originality and flair. It runs thru February 14th at The Miracle Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida-- 305/444-9293-- www.actorsplayhouse.org.

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com.

January 15th, 2009
   
THE HOUSEWIVES CANTATA, at The Triad on 72nd St. for one more performance on January 20th, is one of the most engaging theme cabaret shows you’ll find anywhere. This was written over thirty years ago, but the concerns of women are just as relevant today as ever. The delightfully smart, timeless lyrics are mostly by June Siegel, with some by Caroline Crippen, Charline Spektor and Mira J. Spektor who also wrote the lively melodies that fit the words perfectly. The three women in the show, Darcy Dunn, Anne Tolpegin and Lisa Yaeger are all Broadway-level real singers with real voices— what a pleasure! Top notch pianist Bob Goldstone lifts it all with great sensitivity. Mark Singer, a pleasant performer without the vocal power of the women, plays all the men. It is all cleverly staged by director Karen Carpenter. This charming musical review deserves a long run— it’s as good as it gets. 212/362-2590, www.triadnyc.com.

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com.

January 12th, 2009
   
WOMEN BEWARE WOMEN, a 400 year old play by Thomas Middleton, is being given a lushly-costumed production by a fine classical Theatre company, Red Bull Theater. Intrigue, Romance, Honor and Dishonor, Deception, Betrayal, Murder-- it’s a real soap opera of sin, and as a sample of its time it’s quite enjoyable, especially the pageantry in Act Two. The entire company is first rate, and I found Liv Rooth (a sort of Nichole Kidman who can sing), Kathryn Meisle, Alex Morf (ala Mozart in Amadeus) and Geraint Wyn Davies to be particularly outstanding. The play does not have the wit or bite of Shakespeare or even Marlowe, but this excellent production, adapted and directed by Jesse Berger, with set by David Barber and splendid costumes by Clint Ramos, takes us beyond the limits of the play, to a pleasurable theatrical experience.

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com.

January 08th, 2009
   
PARSONS DANCE at the Joyce (program B) has six numbers performed by a great company of superb modern dancers with an interspersing of jazz. Most of the pieces have literal titles with abstract content, and it is all perfectly lighted by Howell Binkley. Parsons has his own alphabet of movement, and it’s mostly open-armed, joyous, full of exuberance. Virtually all of it is on the beat, with little cross-timing of action and rhythm. Outstanding are Abby Silva in a duo and Miguel Quinones, a great solo dancer with a rippling body, moving in and out of light pools into the best use of strobe lighting I have ever seen— he flies without wires- never touching the ground. There is little humor in the concert, no profundity; it’s all lively and zippy, but within Parson’s limited vocabulary there are lovely adagios, terrific group synchros, and a fitting finale by the wonderful dancers.

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com.

January 08th, 2009
   
What a pleasure to see a musical with great songs. With music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart, PAL JOEY, just like in olden times, sends you out of the theatre humming it’s unforgettable songs like “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,” which is given a brilliant, stunning rendition by one of our finest actresses: Stockard Channing. Richard Greenberg’s book for the show, based on John O’Hara’s original book, gives us a lively view of a vanished time: the 1930’s depression, the morality of the time, and a sexy con man, Joey, trying to make it in Showbusiness. Matthew Risch, as Joey, is a great dancer, and choreographer Graciela Daniele starts him off with some dazzling footwork, and sprinkles samples of his agility and talent throughout the show. As the show progresses though, we find that he is missing a vital ingredient for this character: charm. For many women to be dazzled by him it would take amazing charisma, magnetism, sensuality, and a sense of sincerity as he plays his cons. It’s not there, so it’s really hard to identify with this solipsistic lout. Martha Plimpton shines as a cast-off love-- she’s a real singer, and her number “Zip” is a showstopper. Jenny Fellner is a sympathetic ingénue with a lovely voice and feminine grace, and the entire cast is first rate. Channing is magnetic throughout as the rich older woman seduced by Joey. The show is powerfully entertaining in the numbers, and they are spectacular. With a classic chorus of six beautiful girl singer-dancers and six good-looking boys performing as separate units to Daniele’s innovative zany choreography in the amazing costumes of William Ivey Long, which range from feathers, spangles, and headdresses to filmy black veiley to flowers— all with the flavor of an old Hollywood musical. The costumes go beyond costumes into surreal humor. It’s all on the terrific, flexible,
active set by Scott Pask. Director Joe Mantello has tied it all together with sensitivity, taste, and great timing.

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com.

January 08th, 2009
   
JAMES BARBOUR—THE HOLIDAY CONCERT at Sardi’s: Barbour is what a Broadway leading should sound like-- he has a great resonant baritone voice, and a warm friendly personality in his tales including a wonderful deconstruction of “Jingle Bells” and “The Twelve Days of Christmas” as never done before. But what we really came to hear is his thrilling voice that can crack an ice cube. I look forward to hearing his magnificent voice leading a Broadway musical again. Added pleasure in this show-- Mark Kudisch, another of Broadway’s most powerful leading men added his splendid voice and sense of humor in a guest set. What a show! Saturday nights thru February 28.

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com.

January 05th, 2009
   
THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES, written and directed by Roger Bean, is a cute pastiche of well-known romantic songs from the ‘50’s and 60’s performed by four terrific Broadway singers, and for we older folks, it’s a lot of fun hearing hits from our past sung so well. Act One is the High School Prom in 1958, and Act Two is ten years later. Unfortunately, in Act One, director Bean and choreographer Janet Miller give us caricatures in the flimsy plot, and try hard to be funny instead of recreating the real flavor of the time. It’s a bit forced and clumsy, and, for me, that cuts into the enjoyment of the really good singing of great old tunes. Act Two is more of a straight concert, and, aside from the awful costumes by Bobby Pearce (trying to be funny and not succeeding), it’s worth the visit. Set by Michael Carnahan and lighting by Jeremy Pivnick are quite effective. Farah Alvin (an Alice Ghostly) Beth Malone (a feisty June Allyson), Bets
Malone (a Betty Hutton) and Victoria Matlock (a Virginia O’Brien with a big smile) -- each gets to shine in solo turns, and all are indeed Marvelous.

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com.