The Apiary

By Joseph Cervelli

About the only thing I really know concerning keeping bees was from the lovely book made into an equally beautiful film, "The Secret Life of Bees." Kate Douglas's oddly fascinating "The Apiary" at The Tony Kiser Theater presented by 2nd Stage presents bees in quite a different light. It is very easy to spoil what is happening in this play so will tread lightly on that.

At the very start Cece (an excellent Nimene Wureh in several roles) who worked in the apiary is in front of the stage giving a monologue about how important it is to express to the bees you are raising what is going on in your life. Not even so much how much you love taking care of them but having them feel that they are worthy of knowing about your everyday life. When she and her family stopped doing this the bees would no longer make honey. And worse yet, they later put a curse on the family for other reasons. She does give two other monologues one concerning the effect on the world of the demise of most of the bee population and the other more elliptical. 

It is twenty two years in the future and the scientists have created a synthetic apiary where the bees live in year round spring. While we don't see Cece working and she has basically left the lab, we hear from two of the three others now working in it briefly about her life. The issue is that bees are almost non existent now. The three scientists do their best housed in the basement of a facility to keep them alive. Gwen (Taylor Schilling) is the one in charge.  Gwen is angry with the lack of respect those in the hierarchy of the lab have for the work the three are doing.  While Schilling is good, I could have done with less shouting on her part. Pilar (a delightful Carmen M. Herlihy) has a complete love for the bees and seems that this is the most important thing in her rather mundane life. Zora (a fine April Matthis) is new and has a PhD in biochemistry. She worked in a high tech lab but decided to come here being a less corporate environment. She speaks about her adoration for bees since being a child. 

For a while in this 75 minute play not much really seems to happen until the three discover a decayed body on the floor of the lab. You shortly find out who the person was as and a controversal idea comes to Zora about how to save the bees and start a rejuvenation process. Extinction will no longer form into any equation. Zora convinces Pilar about her idea and she is excited to go along with it. Without delving any further you can imagine that experiments can go awry as it so happens here. 

There is also included a dancer (very effective Stephanie Crousillat) who portrays a bee in a glass booth within the apiary. Basically her function is to represent both the healthy and unhealthy bees as they go through various transformations. It does work very well even though it might sound a bit silly or stretching things too far. Not sure if it was the idea of the playwright or the always outstanding director Kate Whoriskey. 

I have admired Whoriskey's work for a very long time. I find she concentrates a great deal on characterization (think "Clyde's" and "Sweat") blending so succinctly into the story line. Here it is a tougher job for her because so much of what happenes has to do much more with the tale being told, yet again she proves her talents.

Walt Spangler has created a perfect sterile looking setting along with Jennifer Moller's varied costumes. 

Here is a play that will certainly divide audiences. It is a cautionary tale about medicine? Have we gone too far in experimentation? Is what the scientists do for the betterment or determiment of humanity. The questions are put forth. It is up to you to make that decision. 

Photos: Joan Marcus

Tickets are available at The Tony Kiser Theater 305 West 43rd Street.

"The Connector"

By Joseph Cervelli

With a too short run (only until March 17) I urge you to head to the captivating new musical "The Connector" at MCC Theater. With a compelling book by Jonathan Marc Sherman; a superb score by Jason Robert Brown and both skillfully conceived/directed by Daisy Prince it proves to be a chillingly prophetic work. So much of what transpires mirrors greatly on what is going on in our own country. What is truth? Can we play around with facts just to get a story written? Or worse can we say whatever we want and there will be those who don't check the validity of what is being said. Is the person in this case so definitive that their comments has to be true. These ideas are explored without hitting you over the head like a sledgehammer.

"The Connector" is a fictitious well respected magazine that was inaugurated back in 1946. It is now 1996 celebrating its fiftieth anniversary. The editor Conrad O'Brien (an excellent Scott Bakula) has announced that the publication has new corporate partners. He plans on retiring in the near future after a successful run as editor. There is great hope for the magazine to expand and continue for years to come. The opening number "The Whole World Changed"  has lyrics which in their way are foreboding: "The Facts Can Be Manipulated....We Are Not the Purveyors of Facts" convincingly sung by the forthright Conrad. Those lines set the stage for what we are going to witness for the one hour forty five minutes that you will be riveted to. 

Into the scene comes the seemingly pleasant Ethan Dobson (a thrilling Ben Levi Ross) who would like a job with the publication. He meets the copy editor Robin Martinez (a perfect Hannah Cruz.) While Robin feels a kind of attraction towards Ethan in the somewhat admiring "I'm Watching You" she slowly begins to have some doubts about this humble young man who becomes more than a little too sure of himself. 

Ethan's first story deals with his meeting in the West Village with the irreverent 70's style hippie Waldo (a very enjoyable Max Crumm) who is a genius scrabble player. Karla Puno Garcia does a great job of choreographing the lively number "Success" which becomes Ethan's focus in life. Success for him supersedes everything else. 

It is at this juncture we meet Mona Bland (a fine Mylinda Hull) whose name fits her demeanor in that she is a lonely person writing letters to the magazine that are first favorable concerning Dobson's reporting and then become critical.  She becomes far more prescient than you are led to believe. 

As Ethan becomes more self assured (think Harry Bogen from "I Can Get it For You Wholesale"), fact checker Muriel (an outstanding Jessica Molaskey) becomes more and more suspicious. Near the end of the musical she sings the poignant and highly personal "Proof" which nearly stops the show.

Sherman has done a terrific job of creating so many different characters yet having us concentrate on Ethan whose lively demeanor turns seductively over confident.  Ross just devours every moment he is on stage.

Bakula plays the editor of the paper with a quiet but determined demeanor,  and it is so great to hear his strong singing voice again.

Again, Brown has proven what a versatile composer he is.  From his exceptionally moving "The Last Five Years" to the breathtakingly beautiful score to "The Bridges of Madison County" he now delves as he did in "Honeymoon in Vegas" into a slightly jazzy one. From the honestly touching  “Proof" sung to perfection by Molaskey to Ross’s ferocity in “The Voice of My Generation" he is unbeatable. And what works so well in all his scores is establishing a perfect ballast intertwining the lyrics into the book.

And as I would expect the simple but effectively sleek, stylish set design by the expert Beowulf Borrit is splendid.

Daisy Prince's resonant direction moves steadily spending enough attention with each of the various characters. 

There could be an issue for some with Bakula's character not paying closer credence to when Ethan is asked for definite proof to substantiate the stories he wants to write about. Why is Conrad so quick to accept this? Could it be the story Ethan tells is so convincing or that before the editor finally retires he wants to go out receiving laurels for the stories he has chosen to  run. 

Despite that minor caveat everything clicks in this stirring new musical and the brilliant Ross says it all in the line from "The Voice of My Generation": "I Wasn't Planning to be the Voice of My Generation." Unfortunate that he was more concerned with his own importance rather than being truthful. 

Photos: Joan Marcus

Tickets are available at the Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space  511 West 52nd Street.