theatre review THE COMMON PURSUIT, Off Broadway, July 19

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There have been many plays and musicals that attempt to show how the hopes of youth become shattered with age, including one of my favorite musicals Merrily We Roll Along. Simon Gray's 1984 play The Common Pursuit is one whose message of shattered dreams slowly sneaks up on you.   The Off Broadway revival that just ended a three month run was fortunate to have a fairly consistent ensemble of actors playing the group of five men and one woman who meet at Cambridge with the plan to form a literary magazine that will challenge those around them.  The challenges of real life and the impact of society affect everyone but when they touch upon the ideas of youth it is even more shattering.  The main characters of the play are Stuart and Martin.  It is Stuart's idea to start the magazine and Martin, who desires a career in publishing, becomes the business man for the magazine.  The play follows their two lives, as well as the four other characters who are part of the magazine, over twenty years.   Over the years we see Stuart's struggles with getting funding for the magazine and how he eventually forms a publishing company with Martin's urging. While the other characters also have struggles of their own, mainly to do with career and relationship choices, it is really the relationship between Stuart and Martin who ground the play.  It is their struggles and the fact that Stuart is the more creative one and Martin the more business focused that also adds another layer to the play, the struggles between the creative and the commercial. 

Jacob Fishel, Josh Cooke, Lucas Near-Verbrugghe, Kieran Campion,
Kristen Bush and Tim McGeever

 These are characters who think they can change the world much as many college aged individuals believe. And while most of them are ambitious in their own ways with one hoping to be a theatre critic and another a philosophy professor, it is the struggle they all have and the devotion they have to each other that drives home the message of tarnished ideas and broken dreams.  I will admit that for the first act I wasn't taken that much by the play, but by the time the second act was half over I was completely focused on these friends and how life didn't always treat them the way they thought it would.   The final scene, which is a continuation of the first scene from twenty years ago, was extremely moving.  Now, I'm not certain if the reason I was taken by this scene and ultimately the play has something to do with the fact that the new cast recording of the recent concert production of Merrily We Roll Along, which as I stated above is all about broken dreams, just came out and I had just listened to if a few times or if it was the writing of Gray and the acting of this ensemble.  None the less, I ended up liking this play more than I thought I would.

Josh Cooke and Jacob Fishel

Josh Cooke as Stuart and Jacob Fishel as Martin are touching in their portrayals of the two main friends, one more loyal than the other.  Kristen Bush is Marigold, the girlfriend of Stuart who has one shocking scene and a future not exactly easy to see coming.  Tim McGeever as Humphry, the one who wants to be a philosophy professor, perfectly plays the grounding presence of the ensemble. Kieran Campion is the womanizing member, who ends up getting much more than he had originally hoped for and Lucas Near-Verbrugghe, who I'm not sure if he was just playing his part too broad for the rest of the cast or if he was trying to portray a character that he thought his friends would be drawn to.  Take for example his constant cough, which never seems to be real - I'm not sure if he's doing that to get their sympathy, or if he's just a bad actor when coughing on stage.Directed by Moisés Kaufman, I did appreciate Kaufman's light hand, especially in dealing with all of the somewhat heavy handed literary topics.  This ultimately made the play more accessible and helped with the impact of the outcomes of some of the group.  I especially liked the effective set design by Derek McLane that used a window as one of the main pieces used throughout to join the scenes, years and characters together.Clips from this production:

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:

cabaret review BARBARA COOK, McCarter, November 7

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Barbara Cook is arguably the Queen of the American Songbook.  I don't know any other performer who is able to master every nuance of every lyric in the songs they sing like Cook can.  Having just celebrated her 85th birthday, the only thing slowing Cook down now is the slight toll that age is starting to take on her body as her voice is just about as clear and perfect as it has ever been.  In fact if you shut your eyes during her concert you would have no idea the person singing was 85.  However, the cane she is using to get on and off stage and the fact that she sat down during almost the entire concert only makes you realize how lucky we are that she is still performing and that her voice is not only holding out but still very clear, pure and strong and exceedingly beautiful.

There is pure joy in her singing that shows that she truly loves to do what she does.  That that joy spills over into the audience throughout her shows and she says she has no plans to stop doing what she loves to do.  For the past decade or so Cook has performed a lot of Stephen Sondheim and Irving Berlin songs in her concerts so it was interesting and somewhat refreshing that Cook has now turned to highlighting some other composers.  Hoagy Carmichael and Cole Porter were all represented with Carmichael getting special attention.   The majority of the songs she sang at her McCarter concert can be found on Cook's latest recording "Loverman."

A jazzy and upbeat "Let's Fall in Love" started off the evening that showed the simple joy that she brings to a song.  A lovely pairing of "I Hadn't Anyone But You" and "It Had To Be You" showed two ways to sing about finding your true love with the ache and yearning for love on display in the first song and the upbeat declaration of it in the second.

Hoagy Carmichael's "The Nearness of You" received a lush interpretation from Cook that was followed by a fun and bouncy "Making Whoopee."  Carmichael's "Georgia, On My Mind" received an exemplary and very personal rendition from Cook considering she's from Atlanta.  The arrangement was rich and driving in parts but never got in the way of Cook's vocals that soared in several places.  Though she did say that singing the song is a little bit of a lie "as I couldn't wait to get out of there!"  Humor was actually present thought the show with Barbara telling stories of how her former musical arranger Wally Harper would always say "I love it when you talk dirty."  She also told about the time she was asked to replace Elaine Stitch that included a few blue words with her saying "now don't hate me for saying this" as well as a funny Bette Midler joke, both of which had the audience laughing out loud and Cook replying "I've become a sit down comic!"

A stunning pairing of "House of the Rising Sun" and "Bye, Bye Blackbird" showed two different sides to stories of "ladies of the night."  A very humorous collection of Country song titles that Cook found while searching You Tube one night like "If I Shot You When I Wanted, I'd Be Out By Now" introduced the funny song called "I Don't Want Love."  "When Sunny Gets Blue" received an exemplary rendition with Cook evoking a sultry, smokey jazz chanteuse and underscored with a stunning arrangement with a driving piano part.

The Billy Holiday hit "Lover Man" was given a lovely delivery by Cook and Cole Porter's "Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)" received another upbeat jazzed up rendition by Cook and her band.  A simply stunning "Here's To Life" had Cook making every lyric of this song about a person looking back at their life but not giving up just yet completely personal and relevant.  The concert ended with a rousing "I've Got Rhythm" that gave each member of Cook's quartet a chance to solo. This was followed by an un-miked Cook encoring with John Lennon's "Imagine" that was the perfect end to a lovely evening.

Musical Director/Pianist Ted Rosenthal provided appropriate but not overbearing arrangements and accompaniment along with Cello, Reeds and Percussion.

If you get a chance to see Cook in concert don't miss it.

Cook in concert singing "Why Did I Choose You?"


Cook and Vanessa Williams perform from Sondheim on Sondheim on The View:

theatre review VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE, Off Broadway, November 12

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Christopher Durang's latest play Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike just opened Off Broadway a few days ago and we caught a late preview of the show this past Sunday.  This was actually our second time seeing the show since we saw it's premiere at the McCarter theatre in September (review here.)

While the show hasn't changed since seeing it at the McCarter, the show plays much better at the Mitzi Newhouse Theatre then it did at McCarter.  And while the theatre at the McCarter is very intimate, the Newhouse is even more so, with the expansive set filling up the space and the action seemingly taking place just inches in front of you.  The action is so close to you that with the show set on the back porch of a house in the country of Bucks County, PA, audience members in the front row of the theatre had the "grass" of the house's backyard underneath their feet.

Kristine Nielsen, Sigourney Weaver and David Hyde Piece,

The show is just as funny as it was at the McCarter and the trio of leads is even more well tuned to their parts.  Kristine Nielsen still steals the show out from her A list co-stars Sigourney Weaver and David Hyde Piece, but Weaver and Pierce get plenty of moments to shine throughout the piece. Nielsen's insanely comical impression of Maggie Smith and her heart breaking performance during the phone call she gets in the second act are just two of the reasons to see this show.

Durang has crafted his most accessible play and like I said before, one that I think will have a healthy life after it's New York run.  I wouldn't be surprised with this starry cast if there is a movement to move the show to Broadway.  However, if that move were to happen the experience wouldn't be as good as it is now with the intimacy of the Newhouse Theatre.

Nothing much more to add from what I wrote in my previous review except to say that if you're looking for a night out where you will laugh a lot don't miss Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike playing at Lincoln Center's Mitzi Newhouse Theatre currently running through January 13th.

Official Show Site

Excerpts from the show:

The Hollyfelds - Title Stealers

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The Hollyfelds - Title Stealers
2012, The HollyfeldsDon’t get mewrong, The Hollyfelds are a band of incomparable musicians with an all-star atevery position.  But if the band iscomprised of all-stars, then it might be fair to say that they have twovocalists who at least get on the ballot for the Hall of Fame.  Kate Grigsby and Eryn Hoerig bring differenttimbres to the microphone that work wonderfully well on their own; but whenthose two voices combine the very angels cry in their beer.  The Hollyfelds continue to quietly buildtheir resume as one of the finest Indie country acts in music with their fourthalbum, Title Stealers.

Title Stealers opens with "18Years", a jailhouse love song involving half a lifetime spent in prisonfor another's crime. This incredibly catchy number feels like a Johnny Cashouttake with Loretta Lynn on vocals. "32nd Street" is a vibrantcountry rocker about the fickle nature of love. The ladies of the Hollyfeldsare in their best collective voice, blending their respective sounds perfectly.The Hollyfelds rip things up on the wonderfully dysfunctional "Kill YouFirst". Trying to get this time out of your head once you've heard isabout as impossible as standing still while it’s on.

The Hollyfelds take listeners out for a waltz in "You Can'tRemember", a melancholy song of unrequited love with a twist. Kate Grigsbyis in fine voice in a song with the feel of a classic country ballad and just ahint o modern edge. "My Poor Father" details the struggle betweenfather and son over his son's artistic tendencies. It's a classic struggle overchoosing the best path. The ladies of the Hollyfelds put on a vocal master classhere. "Handmade Paper" takes a sad story and turns it into a jauntycountry number that you'll find difficult to get out of your head. The chorushere is key - absolutely classic. "Without Cryin'" is well writtenand performed, but falls into an overindulgence of repetition toward the end,ostensibly to underline its point. This may work, but it feels like a weakturn.

The Hollyfelds right the ship with "Your Loving Girl", a classicthemes country love ballad about the day to day of two people in love. This isone of the finest pieces of songwriting that the Hollyfelds have produced todate. "We Both Know" has a bit of a pop/country feel, and exploresthe detritus of a relationship that was doomed from the start. Eryn Hoerig and KateGrigsby mesh their voices perfectly here. "Sins" is a wonderfully dark story song that is lyrically andmusically compelling. The Hollyfelds outdo themselves here with a tune thatshould be destined for great things. "Mama Got A DUI" is anentertaining honky-tonk romp that seems a likely love favorite. The Hollyfeldsclose out with "Thank You, Goodnight!” an erstwhile love song to theband's hometown of Denver, Colorado. It's a nice gentle closer that lamentschanges but still finds home in the familiar clubs, streets and record storesthey know and love.

TheHollyfelds play and sing from that place where those humbled by life live.  Small victories and human suffering color thesongs on Title Stealers, while theHollyfelds wrap their distinctive blend of classic country, pop and rock aroundthe amazing vocals of Eryn Hoerig and Kate Grigsby.  The Hollyfelds just seem to keep gettingbetter with time.Rating:           4.5 Stars(Out of 5)

Learn more atwww.thehollyfelds.com. 
 

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.

"Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" is Still Great

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Just about everyone who has seen it is saying that the new revival of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is not to be missed.  And they’re right.
This latest version of Edward Albee’s masterwork opened at the Booth Theatre  on Oct. 13, 50 years to the day that the original opened at the old Billy Rose Theater (now the Nederlander and home to Newsies). But there is nothing dated about Albee’s gimlet-eyed look at the desperate games unhappy people can play to keep themselves going.
Albee had been a success in the downtown theater scene but Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was his Broadway debut. His chronicle of a night in which two college professors and their wives drink oceans of alcohol, flirt with adultery and reveal the secrets that have kept their unhappy marriages together gob smacked the uptown crowd.
The New York Times declared that it “towers over the common run of contemporary plays.” But there were dissenters too.  “If Edward Albee is the white hope of the American theater, then our nation is in need of a strong detergent,” huffed one letter to the paper’s editor.
The play was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama but the board was apparently as prudish as the letter writer and awarded no prize that year. But the theater community knew what it had been given. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? took home four big Tonys for direction, best actor and best actress for Arthur Hill and Uta Hagen as the battling older couple George and Martha, and, of course, best play.
Four years later, Mike Nichols directed a movie version that starred Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, who won her second Oscar for her performance as the bitterly frustrated Martha. I was in my teens then but my mother took me to see it and while I won’t pretend that I understood everything I was seeing, I do remember being transfixed.
Director Pam McKinnon’s crackerjack production is the third Broadway revival.  The last, in 2005, which starred Kathleen Turner and Bill Irwin was so good that my husband K decided not to see this one because he didn’t want to taint the memory of such a great evening in the theater.
But this new production drew raves when it opened at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre in 2010 and later when it moved to Washington. So I decided to risk it and I had little trouble persuading my theatergoing buddy Bill to see it with me.  
And we were so glad we went. The play runs 3 hours and 15 minutes with two intermissions but the time flew by.
That’s in part because Albee’s play is often throw-you-head-back-and- laugh funny. But it’s also because McKinnon and her outstanding cast found new ways to unleash its devastating pain as well. 
Amy Morton, best known as the oldest daughter in August: Osage County, makes Martha less of a gorgon than others have.  Bill said he missed that harpyish streak in the character but Morton’s human-sized Martha seemed more like the college president’s daughter that Martha is—and more vulnerable. This Martha touched me in a way that others—even very good ones like Turner’s—didn’t.  (Click here to read an interview with Morton.)
Tracy Letts, who wrote August: Osage Country confirms how theatrically ambidextrous he is because, while, just as you'd expect one playwright to treat the work of another, he is totally faithful to the text, he's also managed to subtlety reimagine George. 
The wounds that Letts' George has suffered over the years throb right beneath the surface but over them he has grown a blister that numbs the pain just enough so that he's able to push ruthlessly ahead.  (Click here to read an interview with Letts.)
I also have to give a shout-out to Carrie Coon, who plays Honey, the puerile wife in the younger couple, and who may be the best onstage drunk I’ve ever seen. But everything about this production—Todd Rosenthal’s set, Nan Dibula-Jenkins’ costumes, Aileen Lee Hughes’ lighting and, of course, McKinnon's deft direction—works, the pieces adding up to a magnificent whole. 
There was silence for the first few seconds after the performance that Bill and I saw ended as those of us in the audience (dotted with celebrities including Stephen Sondheim and the movie actor Bradley Cooper, as I said, everyone who loves theater is trying to see this) pulled ourselves together and then erupted into applause, including opera-house bravos. 
After the show, Bill and I walked through Shubert Alley for a late dinner at Sardi’s.  As we were leaving the restaurant, I spotted my old friend the veteran publicist Irene Gandy having dinner with McKinnon.  I went over and when Irene introduced me, I put my palms together in a gesture of thanks and bowed. “I’ve been hungry for a nourishing evening in the theater,” I told McKinnon.  “Thank you so much for giving it to me.” 
And now here's what I want to tell you: go see it and be fulfilled too.