"Him" Offers a Portrait of Complex Family Dynamics—Both On and Off the Stage

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Hallie Foote has been celebrated as the foremost interpreter of the plays by her late father Horton Foote and more recently of those by her younger sister Daisy.  But as I watched Daisy Foote’s latest play Him, now playing in a Primary Stages production at 59E59 Theaters, I couldn’t help wondering what it would be like to see some other actress in the part.
Like her father, Daisy Foote focuses on people who live in small towns but have big dreams. He set his plays in his native Texas.  She puts her in New Hampshire where she grew up. Family dynamics fuel the action in the works of both father and daughter.  
The title character in Him is the dying owner of his town’s failing general store. He is cared for by three middle-aged children who have never left home, are financially dependent on their father and desperate because business is so bad that their own cupboard is almost bare of food.  
The eldest is Pauline, a spinster who is haunted by the memory of the unborn child she either aborted or miscarried years earlier and by the feeling that life owes her more.  The middle brother Henry is a gay man who secretly yearns after a married drinking buddy.  And the youngest is Farley, a mentally impaired man-child.
After the unseen patriarch dies offstage early in the first act, the siblings discover that he had secretly bought parcels of land that are now extremely valuable. This legacy has the potential to change everything about the way they live—including their relationships with one another.
Comparisons between their situation and that of the dysfunctional family squabbling over property in Horton Footes’ Dividing the Estate are not only unavoidable (click here to see my review of that) but underscored by the presence of Hallie Foote who plays a similar character in both.
In fact, Hallie Foote’s portrayal of Him’s Pauline will be familiar to anyone who has seen her in almost any other play in which she’s appeared. There is the same slightly southern drawl to her voice, the same jittery nervousness in her mannerisms, the same deadpan affect.
The effect can be entertaining and Foote won a deserved Tony nomination for her humorous supporting turn in Dividing the Estate. But Pauline is the pivotal figure in Him and the role demands more subtle skills.
Alas, Evan Yinoulis’ straightforward direction is unable to push Foote into new territory or to bring out the nuances that would turn Pauline into a distinctive person. I sat there imagining what a more inventive actor like Elizabeth Marvel or Marin Ireland might have done with the role.
Other members of the cast fare better.  Tim Hopper’s Henry is particularly sympathetic and it’s great to see a gay man played as a regular guy without any clichéd affectations, which is the way most of the gay men I know are.
And Adam LeFevre does an equally nice job with Farley.  Actors tend to go overboard when playing the mentally disabled but LeFevre makes Farley a particular person with passions of his own, including a romance with a similarly impaired neighbor played by Adina Verson.
 The three main actors step out of their roles at moments during the play to deliver poetic monologs. It takes a while to figure out the connection between their recitations and the rest of the play. Both Daisy Foote and Yinoulis share the blame for that confusion but Him’s bigger problem cuts closer to home. 
By all accounts, the Footes are devoted to one another and nothing like the battling kin in the plays they put on (click here to read a piece about the sisters) and so I imagine that Hallie Foote will continue to perform the family's works even though it might be better— perhaps even for her—if she didn't.

It Would Be a Shame to Miss "Disgraced"

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It’s not easy to talk honestly about race.  And the fact that it’s no longer just a black-and-white issue in this country ups the degree of difficulty.  Still, many of today’s brightest young playwrights are taking up the challenge and the latest to shoulder it on is Ayad Akhtar, whose ambitious new play Disgraced opened at Lincoln Center’s still-new Claire Tow Theater on Monday night.
Its central character is Amir, who, like Akhtar, is Pakistani-American. Amir is also as assimilated as a guy can get. He’s Ivy League-educated and on the fast track to a partnership at a corporate law firm. He lives in a swanky Upper East Side apartment and is married to a WASPy blonde named Emily who has a promising art career. And his attitude towards Islam is determinedly casual, even a bit contemptuous. 
But the good life begins to unravel for Amir when, as a reluctant favor to his more religious nephew and his liberal wife, he pays a courtesy call on a jailed imam who has been accused of terrorist activities. 
The gesture causes the Jewish managing partners at his firm to doubt Amir’s loyalty. It unsettles the relationship with his friend Jory, an African-American woman who also works at the firm and whose husband Isaac is Emily’s art dealer. It strains his marriage.  But even more important, it causes Amir to question his identity as a Muslim in a post-9/11 America. 
All these issues collide in a liquor-fueled dinner party in which political correctness is abandoned, racial epithets exchanged and the rawest of emotions revealed.
That’s a lot to pack into a 90-minute play and I haven’t even gotten to the other problems in Amir and Emily’s marriage. Yet, despite a tendency towards some soapbox speechifying, Akhtar handles it all pretty well. 

That's because he's created credible characters who push beyond the usual stereotypes. The people in Disgraced are like most human beings, sometimes arrogant when they're right, defensive when they're not but most often stumbling through the murkiness inbetween those certainties.
Akhtar gets superb support from a five-member cast that is sensitively directed by Kimberly Senior.  Leading them is Aasif Mandvi who gives a kickass performance as Amir. 
Mandvi is probably best known for his satirical news reports on the “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” but he’s also an experienced stage actor with credits both off-Broadway and in the regional theaters (click here to read a Q&A with the actor) and he is outstanding in this complex role.
Kudos also must go to Erik Jensen, who stepped in at the very last minute to play Isaac when the actor originally cast got sick and had to drop out. Jensen had only been on the job three days when my friend Stan and I saw the show but he was not only off book but had already begun to turn Isaac into a distinctive character.
As we left the theater, Stan said he had enjoyed the play but he questioned whether people really talk like that, particularly about race.  I knew what he meant.  I’d felt much the same way after I saw The Submission (click here for my review) Clybourne Park (click for my review of it) and David Mamet’s defiantly named Race (and click for my review of this one) when I saw them.   
The truth of the matter is that despite all the rhetoric, we don’t really talk honestly about race.  Courageous plays like Disgraced remind us that we really need to find a way to do it. 

"An Enemy of the People" Fails to Win Me Over

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With just 10 days to go before the election and Romney steadily gaining on Obama, you probably don’t need anyone to tell you how disappointing idealism can sometimes be, how messy democracy often is, or how money always holds the power to corrupt. But just in case you need a reminder, the Manhattan Theatre Club is presenting a revival of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, now playing at The Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.
Ibsen was a true iconoclast, dedicated to punching holes in the hypocrisies of his day. In An Enemy of the People, which he wrote in 1882, he jabs at both sides when the the forces of morality line up against those of expediency. 
On the side of righteouness is Thomas Stockman, a doctor and public health official who discovers that the water in his town is contaminated and prepares a report detailing both the problem and a costly remedy that he thinks will be well received because it will keep people from becoming ill.
On the pragmatic side is his brother Peter, the town’s mayor who is determined to keep the doctor’s findings secret because the news will drive away the tourists who visit the baths in which the town has invested heavily and that are its main source of revenue.
This being Ibsen, An Enemy of the People is a talky play but the talk in this production has been updated by the British playwright Rebecca Lenkiewicz (click here to read an interview with her).   

Her adaptation makes for easier listening—and a shorter running time of just two hours—but my husband K and I found the 21st century colloquialisms, including a lot of non-deleted expletives, to be jarring in the mouths of 19th century characters.
The Stockman brothers are played by Boyd Gaines, usually one of my faves; and Richard Thomas, whose work I’ve also enjoyed in the past.  But both seem off their game in this production.   

Gaines plays Thomas as more of a petulant naïf than a man of burning conviction. Meanwhile Thomas turns Peter into a Snidely Whiplash, complete with cape, top hat and a sneering smile. 
The characterizations undermine the complexities that Ibsen created. And it’s hard to root for either side when the advocates are so unconvincing. 

In fact, the entire production has the air of a melodrama performed by a well-meaning but minor-league theater troupe, complete with overwrought emoting, conspicuous sound effects and dreary lighting. 
When that much is wrong, the buck has to stop at the desk of the director, who in this case is Doug Hughes. Even his idea of having actors sit in the front row in an effort to make the audience part of the play's climactic town meeting comes off as hokey.
In that final debate, the Stockman brothers compete for the support of the townspeople.  All I can say is that I hope life doesn’t imitate art on Nov. 6.

Surviving Sandy and Beyond

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Hurricane Sandy has done its considerable damage and is now gone. My husband K and I hunkered down and got through it with no problems at all, save for a few flickering lights during the worst hours on Monday, and we feel blessed for having done so. 
Meanwhile, most Broadway shows, forced to shut down when all public transportation in the city was halted on Sunday, are returning to the stage, starting with today’s matinees.  Still, it feels somehow off to chatter about the shows I’ve been seeing when so many people are still grappling with the storm’s devastating aftermath. 
Large parts of the city, including Lower Manhattan, where theaters like the Public and the Vineyard operate, are still without power. There’s no subway service anywhere because many of the tunnels are still filled with water. Thousands of people, including one venerable Broadway book writer, have had to evacuate their homes.  
So although I had a post ready for today, I’m going to save it. Instead, I want to refer you to a piece my friend Howard Sherman wrote about the lingering effect the storm may have on the theater community that we all love. Click here to read it.  
And, when you can, help the theater recover by going to see a show. 

This "Cyrano de Bergerac" Doesn't Cut It

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Nerds—even the homeliest ones—rule in today’s pop culture. They’re the stars of hit movies and TV shows. In real life, many are rich and envied. And the prettiest girls don’t even blink at hooking up with them. So maybe an old-fashioned romance like Cyrano de Bergerac in which the funny-looking guy ends up the loser has just outlived its time.
At least that’s what I found myself thinking as I watched the Roundabout Theatre Company’s pleasant but pallid revival of the play that is running at the American Airlines Theatre through Nov. 25.
The French poet and playwright Edmond Rostand wrote this paean to unrequited love in 1897. It played Broadway the very next year and there have been at least 15 major productions in the city since then—and that number doesn’t take into account the musical adaptations, including one composed by Victor Herbert.  
But Cyrano's popularity has been waning in recent years. The last time I saw it was back in 2007 when Kevin Kline played the title character who loves the beautiful Roxane but, believing that his big nose makes him too ugly to win her heart, helps a handsomer man woo her. 
Jennifer Garner, best known as the butt-kicking spy on the old ABC series "Alias", brought her fame and a contemporary approach to Roxane, playing her as a sword-wielding feminist. 
That production lasted just 56 performances. (Click here to read my review).
Now the British actor Douglas Hodge, who won a Tony for his portrayal of the cross-dressing Albin in the 2010 revival of La Cage Aux Folles, has climbed into the britches of a 17th century grenadier and donned Cyrano’s trademark feather-plumed hat. His Roxane is the French actress Clémence Poésy who is making her Broadway debut.
Call me heartless but I didn’t care what happened to either of them.   
Cyrano is supposed to have a swashbuckling swagger, which Hodge simply doesn’t have.  Hodge is a solid actor and he handles the play’s rhyming couplets and its low-humor moments well but his Cyrano is too meek and often gets lost in the crowd of soldiers onstage instead of commanding attention from them and from us theatergoers.
The only thing that really sets him apart is the ridiculously huge and fake-looking nose that’s been concocted for Hodge to wear.  Cyrano’s nose is obviously supposed to stand out but this snout is so outsized that seeing over it almost forces Hodge to cross his eyes.
Poésy’s Roxane seemed wimpy too.  And I’ve so totally forgotten Kyle Soller, who plays Christian, the dumb but good-looking guy who gets to get it on with Roxane, that I don’t even remember what he looks like.
Meanwhile, Jamie Lloyd’s direction is far too busy and messy (click here to read an interview with the director and his star).  Sure, it’s good for the members of the ensemble to play individual characters but Lloyd, a young Brit who spent the past three years as associate director at London’s Donmar Warehouse, should have found a way to rein in all the mugging.
But there is one saving grace: the performance by Patrick Page as Comte de Guiche, the vain nobleman who is also in love with Roxane (click here to read an interview in which the actor talks about his thoughts on love).  
The count is supposed to be the villain of the piece but Page has a plummy baritone voice and a winning stage presence. He’s not exactly a nerd but in the real world, Roxane would just ride off with him. Or at least that’s what I wanted to do.

theatre review WAR HORSE, Broadway, August 8

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A "blogger's night" on Broadway provided the opportunity for us to revisit last year's Tony winner for Best Play, War Horse.  Seeing a show a second time is usually a good way to notice things you might have missed the first time around, which in the case of a show like War Horse, that has a huge cast, a giant stage and is set over many years, is a huge plus.  However, seeing a show more than a year after it opened and with an almost completely new cast can sometimes be a negative if the new cast isn't up to the same level that the original cast was.   And, considering that the plot twists of the play along with the ending are already known when you make a second visit, that alone can make the second viewing less of a rewarding experience than the first.

I won't go into a complete overview of the plot of the show, since I did that already in my original review you can read here, but I'll simply state that this play shows the horrors of war and the effect it has on numerous people.  Focusing on a teenage boy Albert and the horse he loves, Joey and how they both end up in the middle of World War I, War Horse brings to life not only the impact that war has but also through the use of imaginative puppets Joey and several other horses and animals as well.   The play won six Tony Awards including Best Play as well as one for the Handspring Puppet Company who created Joey and Topthorn, the horse Joey befriends in the war.

Andrew Durand and "Joey"

While this is an ensemble show with even many of the supporting actors playing multiple parts it really is the part of Albert that sets the tone for the show.  He is a teenage boy in love with his horse and his country, if played too over the top it could bring down the dramatic thrust of the play, and if played too melodramatic it could threaten the emotional balance of the show.  Fortunately Andrew Durand perfectly plays the part, both the emotional teenage boy in act one, who loves his horse and hates the obstacles that get in his way of being with Joey and the slightly older boy who quickly becomes a man in act two when he is fighting for his country. 

Andy Murray as Albert's father was wonderful as the broken down man who drinks too much and gambles on the wrong things and the scenes that highlight both the struggles and love he has for his wife and his son are the emotional center of the play.  While I enjoyed David Lansbury as the German officer Muller who cares for Joey and Topthorn once they come under German ownership, I didn't think he had quite the stage presence of Peter Hermann who played that part originally.  Sanjit De Silva as the English officer who buys Joey and rides him into the war had the appropriate balance of compassion and power and his scenes with Albert were touching. 

Several original cast members are still with the show including Alyssa Bresnahan as Albert's mother, David Pegram as the soldier Albert becomes friends with and Kate Pfaffl as the Song Woman.   All three are giving richer performances then they did a year ago and the play is even better because of them.  Bresnahan in particular, who as the strong wife and mother who always has to take charge of the situation could become a caricature or stereotypical character but Bresnahan has a firm control of the part and her final moments in the show are especially memorable.

The staging by Tony winners Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris is highly effective and even in the large ensemble scenes is staged appropriately so your eye is drawn to the focus of the scene.  The creative elements of the show are even more memorable on a second viewing including the extremely rich lighting design by Paule Constable, the inventive set design by Rae Smith and clear sound design by Christopher Shutt, all three won Tony Awards for their work.

While the melodramatic moments of the play are slightly more apparent on a second viewing along with the fact that some of the scenes are a little slow going while still other plot points are somewhat brushed over, the magic of the show is still alive.  I once again was completely blown away with how you believe there are horses on the stage, you still see the three puppeteers controlling Joey and Tophorn, but somehow your mind ignores them and focuses instead on the majesty of the horses in front of you. 

So, War Horse is still a powerful, moving play and a rewarding and emotional theatrical experience filled with some of the most imaginative things you'll see on a Broadway stage.

Official Show Site

Montage of scenes from the Lincoln Center production:


Behind the scenes with Stephen James Anthony, one of the original ensemble members who now plays Albert's cousin in the show:


A brief behind the scenes clip of the puppeteers who bring Joey to life:

theatre review IF THERE IS I HAVEN'T FOUND IT YET, Off Broadway, September 22

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Nick Payne's new play If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet is having it's US premiere Off Broadway in a stellar production head lined by Jake Gyllenhaal who is making his NY stage debut.  Telling the modern day story of a family at the breaking point, Payne's play is not only one that accurately and effectively speaks to current headlines but when combined with an excellent set design and direction rises to an even higher level.

The threat of both teenage bullies and global warming have been hot topics in the news for the past few years.  Payne combines both of these headline makers to tell the story of a family with an overweight fifteen year old daughter, Anna, who has been bullied at the school where her mother works.   Anna's father is an environmentalist who is so concerned about the threat to the earth that he completely misses the threat that is making his daughter feel alone and the distance that is potentially breaking up his family.  When the father's younger estranged brother shows up out of the blue, Anna finds herself with someone who she believes finally understands her but he too has own troubles.  

Annie Funke and Jake Gyllenhaal

Set in London, If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet is both an interesting story of a family in crisis as well as one that shows how our preoccupation with various things can get in the way of us not only being able to properly communicate with each other but to also miss important issues that need immediate attention.  I found the play both completely realistic in the subject matter and the way that each character spoke differently from each other but also in how it takes modern issues and shows both the comical and dramatic sides of them.

The cast is simply excellent.  As the brooding, somewhat violent and outspoken Uncle, Gyllenhaal has the appropriate blend of intensity and compassion, especially when he realizes how lost Anna is and how her parents aren't giving her the direction and attention she needs.  Annie Funke as Anna is the girl we've all seen before, the overweight teenager who gets bullied for her weight, tries to be funny to overcome the hurt but is lost and all alone inside.  Funke is the one who has to keep her emotions at a fairly consistent and high level and to not let them get too melodramatic and the scenes she has with Gyllenhaal, who she basically sees as her "white knight" are both touching and heartbreaking.  The fact that she is holding her own with this powerhouse cast says a lot. 

Brian F. O'Byrne and Michelle Gomez

Brian F. O'Byrne is the father, and at first I didn't care that much for him, but I quickly realized that was the point, as he was perfectly playing the distant, self obsessed parent who is trying to "save" the wrong thing and in doing so tries as best as he can to stay away from the real issues at home.  There is a passion and intensity in O'Byrne's portrayal that makes you understand his devotion as well as his reluctance to deal with the issues at home. Michelle Gomez as the mother is also spot on in her portrayal of a woman who grew up and doesn't really know her place in the world anymore.   The frustration she exhibits, sometimes even with just a look or by simply being silent is perfect.  With a distant husband and a lost child she thinks the only thing she can do is to tell her daughter to stay the course while she focuses on overseeing the student production of War of the Worlds, a title not lost on the overall theme of the play.  Dysfunction is clearly at the center of this story and while all of these characters aren't perfect, all four actors have you rooting for them to overcome their obstacles and succeed.

Annie Funke and Jake Gyllenhaal

The play begins with an intense rainfall coming down into a trough at the front of the stage in a continual sheet of water.   This theatrical use of water is something that director Michael Longhurst and scenic designer Beowulf Boriff will use throughout the play to its fullest extent.  Anna's father is writing a book all about reducing carbon footprints and the impact of global warming.  So, the use of water is an interesting one it that it so clearly shows both the impact of the melting ice caps as well as literally showing how this one family is drowning from the issues that they are confronted with.   Subtle it might not be, but theatrical it is, and when a torrent of rain comes down like a tsunami toward an emotional event in the latter half of the show you can literally hear gasps in the audience.  Added to the use of water is the use of set pieces.  When the play begins there is a large mound of furniture in the center of the stage.  As each scene unfolds the actors will pull the required furniture from the mound and when the scene is over they will discard the props or furniture into the trough of water at the front of the stage.  I took this to show the disposable nature of the world as well as to show the rising water that will eventually take us over, as each time something is tossed in the trough, the water line gets higher and higher.   While the use of water might seem gimmicky, I found it refreshing in many ways, including the end result of it seeming like the water cleansed the four characters and has now allowed them to move on with their lives.

So, if you're looking to see an A list Hollywood star in an exceptional play that includes some very interesting theatrical moments and four excellent performances, don't miss If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet which is playing Off Broadway through November 25th.

Official Show Site

Interviews with the cast and creative team:


Highlights from the show and opening night interviews: