Animal--Woman on the Verge

     By Joseph Cervelli 

      No one can play a woman on the verge better than the brilliant actress Rebecca Hall whose performance of a woman convicted and executed for the murder of her husband in the recent “Machinal” was astonishing. In Clare Lizzimore’s fascinating but ultimately disappointing new play “Animal” at the Atlantic Theater Company she again proves how galvanising she someone going though the depths of emotional turmoil. 

Rachel (Hall)  dressed in gray sweats, a hoodie and a woolen cap which she only removes near the end of the play is meeting with her psychiatrist (Greg Keller. ) Her diagnosis is not revealed until the play’s too tidy and unsatisfying  conclusion ,although we find out that she was unable to work and wants the doctor to allow her to do so. He informs her she can return to employment whenever she feels like it and she seems to  have ambivalent feelings about his suggestion. She is not the ideal patient arguing with him and seeming to put up constant barriers. 

The scenes in her home become the most enigmatic which eventually get explained. She lives with her caring husband Tom (a very fine Morgan Spector) who seems to be at his wits end with her centrifugal force of behavioral changes. She can be sweet as is shown in some flashback (at least, one assumes they are) scenes with him and then become belligerent. Living with them is the Old Woman (a wonderful Kirstin Griffith) whom Tom calls his mother. She is in a wheelchair and only mumbles. While Tom is very caring to the woman and expects Rachel to be the same, when he is at work she is anything but. While not physically abusive she succumbs in an almost menacing way to the woman’s taunts by giving her cold soup and getting furious when she spills it all over herself. What are we to make of Rachel? The callousness is disturbing and at the same time she seems unable to control her behavior almost taking pleasure in being at odds with everyone. Her anger towards her husband also is unfounded although things are explained at the conclusion.  

A hunky young man Dan, (David Pegram) breaks into their apartment and instead of robbing her wants to kiss her and tries to coax her in his sexy manner to do more. She is taken by him and he seems to have a relaxing affect upon her in a way that she can escape the web of confusion she is in. Hall is such  an amazing actress that you never take your eyes off her as she almost begins to break through the margins that she feels surround her being. Of course, at the same time you are wondering why isn’t she calling for her husband who is in the other room. 

More of a conundrum is why when she visits the doctor another time he is played by a little girl (Fina Strazza). The dialogue between them never seems to add anything to the play and despite Gaye Taylor Unchurch’s capable direction that particular scene seems more foolish than meaningful.

The conclusion comes a bit too swiftly and tidy and for reasons I cannot get into not entirely believable. 

Still, we are blessed with seeing an actress on a nearly bare stage whose every word you will hang onto. You travel with her on this journey as she pulls you into her edgy world. 

Tickets are available at the Atlantic Theater Company/Stage 2 330 West 16th Street or by calling 866.811.4111. As of this date the limited engagement ends July 2. 

PHOTOS: AHRON FOSTER

Email: jcerv58957@aol.com

 Anastasia--The Delightful Film Comes to the Stage

       By Joseph Cervelli

If you are looking for a family musical you can do no wrong than with the overwhelmingly entertaining and exquisite to view “Anastasia” at the Broadhurst. 

Based on the hugely successful film the show opens with the revolution overthrowing and murdering the last of the Russian Czars with the exception  for the teenage Grand Duchess Anastasia (a sparkling Christy Altomare) and her grandmother the Dowager Empress (a regal Mary Beth Peil). Anastasia suffers from amnesia  and she becomes a street sweeper meeting up with two con men (Derek Klena and John Bolton) who are trying to pass off a young woman as the Tsarina to her grandmother now living in Paris for a large amount of money.  When they set their eyes on Anya who speaks French (the regal Russians we are told only spoke French) they feel they have a perfect match only to begin to think that she may indeed be the real thing. The three hitch onto a train (a truly fun filled scene)  with the anarchist Gleb (excellently played and sung by Ramin Karimloo) pursuing her unsure if he can fulfill his duty of killing off the last of the Romanov’s. You know right from the start that being family entertainment all is going to work out well for them as they arrive safely in Paris.  And  no spoiler alert that  she meets her grandmother who believes she is an imposter until she witnesses something that her granddaughter possess.

Altomare makes a radiant Anastasia and her rendition of the most familiar song from the film “Journey to the Past” is sung beautifully. 

Klena whom you know she will eventually fall in love with is dashing and Bolton (“A Christmas Story”) never fails to delight with his lovable antics. For some additional comic relief Caroline O’Connor makes for a daffy vaudevillian like performer as Countess Lily.

While Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens score may not  come close to their true masterpiece “Ragtime” it nevertheless is very pleasant and meets the criteria for the show. True that two numbers are reminiscent of “I Remember it Well” and “The Rain in Spain” but they blend in just fine. 

Linda Cho’s costumes are especially elegant and, perhaps, the biggest treat is the gorgeously stunning projections by Aaron Rhyne and equally good stets by Alexander Dodge resulting in “oohs” and “ahs” from the largely young audience. 

Again director Darko Tresnjak (“A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder”) proves what a marvel he is at seducing the audience (both adults and children) throughout his shows with his ingenuity and Terrence McNally’s book may have some syrupy moments here and there it remains faithful enough to the film. 

If you are looking for a more serious musical based on the young woman I would you suggest to listen to the stirringly dramatic score to the short lived “Anya.” However, for a show that will enchant not only the girls in the audience but even some the boys (I overhead one young man asking his friend if he was crying) “Anastasia” is among the best musicals of the season. 

PHOTOS: MATTHEW MURPHY

Tickets for “Anastasia” are available at the Broadhurst Theater 235 West 44th Street or by calling 212.239.6200.

Groundhog Day--Day In And Day In Again

        By Joseph Cervelli

While the film “Groundhog Day” still remains a cult classic you can count me among those who never saw what was so enticing about it, despite an enjoyably deadpanned Bill  Murray as an arrogant weatherman. Yet, the musical at the August Wilson Theater is a complete joy thanks mostly to the incomparable Andy Karl who recently gave a superb performance in the short lived musical “Rocky.” A few days before opening night Karl tore his ACL but was determined to open the show. I attended that performance and was amazed at his dexterity, for his character Phil Connors never stops moving. Forget the Energizer Bunny for Karl makes him look like a tortoise. But there is more to the role than just movement. 

Connors is a supercilious weatherman who has to reluctantly go to Punxsutaweny, Pa, once a year to report on weather the groundhog has seen his shadow. His middle name could be conceit for he feels nothing but scorn for the chummy residents and for covering what he considers to be a continually dumb assignment. What happens is that throughout the show he is stuck in time for each morning he finds himself waking up in his hotel room and going through all the motions of meeting the townspeople and reporting on the weather.,  The townspeople are a bit of a wacky but loving group of people along with Connors’ producer (Barrett Doss) whom you know will eventually become his love interest. I wish that Rebecca Faulkenberry who plays Nancy, Connors’ one night stand, would have had more to do. She has a lovely number “Playing Nancy” which opens the second act. As time passes Connors comes to realize how much he himself as missed in life and finds solace in the peacefulness of a small town with the person he loves. 

Danny Rubin’s book and along with Tim Minchin’s lyrics are filled with sardonic wit (could have done without the song about having an enema)  although I found the music catchier  in Minchin’s score to “Matilda.”

Matthew Warchus (“Matilda”) runs the show on high octane and it will be hard to forget the  inimitable miniature car chase. 

Thanks also to the inventive (love those upside down miniature houses running atop the proscenium) set design by Rob Howell (“Matilda.”)

The show as fun filled as it is still would not work half as well without Karl who while bringing a cynicism to the role still makes Connors likable. And his ultimate transformation which takes place over a series of repeated scenes but all slightly different is believable in a surprisingly tender manner. Hey, he deserves an award for getting out of bed and changing into clothes a multitude of times wearing that heavy knee brace.

PHOTOS: JOAN MARCUS

Tickets for “Groundhog Day” are available at the August Wilson Theater 245 West 52nd Street or by calling 877.250.2929.

The Little Foxes--The Ruthless Hubbard Family Returns

By Joseph Cervelli

Lillian Hellman’s venomously delicious 1939 play “The Little Foxes” is being royally revived at the Friedman Theater with two outstanding performers (Laura Linney and Cynthia Nixon) playing alternating roles as the carnivorous Regina Hubbard Giddens. They also change roles playing the sympathetic and maligned sister-in-law Birdie equally well. 

The conniving Regina and her two equally  manipulative brothers Oscar (Darren Goldstein) and Ben (Michael McKean) need to raise money to build a cotton mill in their town despite the fact it will destroy the town in various ways. Things don’t go quite well since Regina’s husband Horace (a tremendously good Richard Thomas) who is recuperating out of state returns and decides not to support this deal much to the anger and ultimate retribution of Regina. Not only is he concerned with the welfare of the townspeople but wants to undermine his deceitful and uncaring wife whom he realized long ago only  married him only for his money. 

Nixon plays the title role a bit more untraditional in that from her first scene you are really not quite sure how devious she is. She is more coquettish with a plastered on smile and appears to be meeker than Regina really is, and it works beautifully. So, when she proves her treacherous self it comes more of a surprise. However, she does play Birdie more traditionally as a fragile, almost doltish woman whose husband married her only for her family’s money and she is wonderfully touching. 

In Linney, you can almost see that double dealing quality from the onset. She plays the role more self assured and equally foxy. Yet, her Birdie is not as crushable as the way Nixon plays it. She appears to be more of an abused wife with a drinking problem. 

Both actresses are quite brilliant and not matter whom you see you will not be disappointed.

Thomas equally gives a superlative performance as the likable and quite ill Horace who is loved only by his devoted daughter Alexandra (Francesca Carpanini). The pivotal scene where he is struggling while walking up the staircase is done to perfection. 

Director Daniel Sullivan is the expert in directing family dramas and by no means has let us down with this one that calls out for his ability. 

There is not one false move or miscalculations in this revival which is one of the highlights of the season.

PHOTO: JOAN MARCUS

Tickets for “The Little Foxes” are available at The Samuel J. Friedman Theater 261 West 47th Street or calling 212.239.6200. The limited engagement ends June 4.

Amélie

By  Joseph Cervelli

If the creators of the hopeless new musical “Amélie” at the Walter Kerr Theater did not want to purposely strip the French film of the same title all of its enchantment they could not have done a better job. 

The fanciful movie with an utterly fetching Audrey Tautou in the title role has been turned into a charmlessly crass show with a tuneless score by Daniel Messé and both pedestrian and sometimes absurd lyrics by Messé and Nathan Tysen. What makes the musical even more of a failure is the undefinable book by the usually reliable Craig Lucas (“The Light in the Piazza.) Unless you are familiar with the film, and if not I strongly urge you to see it, you will most probably be completely lost here. 

The musical, as the play takes place in and around Paris, although this show is about as French as being in Brooklyn. We first meet the young Amélie (an inert Savvy Crawford) whose flights of fancy have her imagining her goldfish has become six feet tall personified by  one of the show’s character’s wearing a goldfish head.  Perhaps, an entire fish costume would have been more authentic. And her seeing a nun wearing an alligator head is more foolish than sweetly funny.  Her mean and  unpleasant parents (Manoel Feliciano and Alison Cimmet) believe she has a heart problem and homeschool her. Her heart is enlarged because of her caring and generosity for others. It’s not too long before her mother is killed by a suicide jumper who makes his plunge off Notre Dame. The grown Amélie (Philippa Soo) gets a job at a local cafe with a bunch of eccentric characters. While Soo was a delight in both “The Great Comet” and “Hamilton” she misses the mark here. Expressiveness is what marks the young waif like character so appealing. Amélie is anything but bland but there is a kind of sullen almost fixed look of bewilderment in the face of Soo which does not work and we never see the inner workings of Amélie.

Lucas is so very interested in incorporating everything from the film into the musical that instead of any lingering development we have fleeting episodic moments.  It does not help that these off beat characters who inhabit the cafe narrate a lot of the dialogue which lessens the overall affect.

So much feels rushed in Lucas’s mishmash of a book which has lost every bit of the sparkle of the film. There is a short lovely scene in which Amélie  who greatly admired Princess Diana sees herself as the late woman helping out children suffering from AIDS in Africa. Then with a sudden charge out of the door appears one of the ensemble impersonating  an obese Elton John singing to her in a blasting and grating voice. Amélie’s first good deed as a woman is trying to find the now grown man who left some childhood memorabilia in the apartment she now  lives in. It is done so haphazardly that it makes little sense. She spends time with an elderly painter (a very good Tony Sheldon) but there is little connection between them thanks to the rather hectic direction of the usually very fine director Pam MacKinnon. She like Lucas just want things to keep moving with no semblance of continuity of events. 

Adam Chanler-Berat is adequate as the offbeat Nino who collects discarded photos from a booth when he is not working in a sex shop.  To understand why Nino is obsessed with this odd desire you need to understand the reasoning of the“mysterious” man who is always taking the same photo. Of course, that is barely delved into.  And worse yet is the trick Amélie plays in the film on the dastardly green grocer which is never developed on stage. Is there any justification for him to insult the handicapped young employee when it goes no further. The fact that it seems to be played for laughs is worse is quite astounding. And don’t get me started on the now singing and  dancing gnome which is more ridiculous than funny. 

Most of David Zinn’s costumes are rather unappealing as is his set design although Peter Nigrini’s projections work quite well.

Making a musical out of a film which takes place all over Paris is not an easy achievement and all the various deeds that Amelie does is a monumental job for any creative team. But having a far better book, and  a score that is not only melodic but French sounding would help greatly. Nor is it an asset when lyrics, such as, “I met a plumber on the Metro with a toolbox. He was kinda bad but good in bed and fixed my leaky radiator.” Or how about, “Love is just another diagnosis like herpes, hepatitis, syphilis.”  What more is there to say other than this floundering  musical has all the effervescence of flat champagne. 

Tickets are available at the Walter Kerr Theater 219 West 48th Street or by calling 212.239.6200.

PHOTO CREDIT: JOAN MARCUS

How to Transcend a Happy Marriage

By Joseph Cervelli

According to the dictionary,  “transcend” means to go beyond the limits. In Sarah Ruhl’s bewildering new play “How to Transcend a Happy Marriage”  at the Mitzi Newhouse the two couples we are introduced to most definitely take that extra step. 

Ruhl is an adventurous, versatile and imaginative playwright as witnessed by two of her far superior plays “The Clean House” and “In the Next Room, or the vibrator play.” The first thing you notice as you enter the theater is a carcass of what appears to be a deer hanging over the living room in Jane (Robin Weigert) and Michael’s (Brian Hutchison) house.  A kind of avant garde art piece? Not quite. As soon as the play begins it is taken down and carted over the shoulder of one of the play’s characters. Food and sex take up a good deal of this play along with some surreal situations that occur in the bizarre second act.

Along with Jane and Michael are their best friends George (Marisa Tomei) and Paul (Omar Metwally) dining on cheese and wine. Jane starts to speak about the unusual temp (Lena Hall) in her office whom we later find out has three names Pip/Deborah/Diane.  She lives in a polyamorous relationship with two men David (Austin Smith) and Freddie (David McElwee).  Jane goes on to tell them that the temp will only eat fresh meat of an animal she has killed whether running wild or in capture.  You certainly  won’t find her at the local butcher. But what perks the interest of the two couples is the type of  relationship she is in. Questions are asked about her right from the onset and you know these four otherwise typical married people find this situation  more than a little inviting. So, Jane decides to Pip (as she is known to her two partners) and her two companions over for New Year’s Eve. 

First, Ruhl introduces the two young men. Freddie is a mathematician and we get to hear some less than stirring commentaries on the Pythagorean theory. While David who graduated from Harvard happily points out that he really does nothing. He serves some hash brownies for the couples which get them in the mood. Pip gets things going with her intensely sexual rendition of the classic “She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain.” I don’t think I can ever hear that song again without thinking of Pip’s sensual gyrations. As you can easily figure out, group sex will be on the menu.  While fully clothed they all become entangled with each other.  Well, let’s say they are all dressed until Michael and Jane’s teen daughter Jenna (Naian Gonzalez Norvind) arrives home early and sees her mother naked. Not exactly what a teen desires to witness. 

The second act plays out almost like another play entirely. George and Pip are hunting in the woods for deer when quite accidentally George shoots a dog and both she and Pip are put in jail. Although George is released, I won’t divulge what happens to Pip. Not that you might exactly believe it. Things in both households are in a turmoil. George and Paul’s home is hounded by animal rights activists and Jenna refuses to come home after witnessing what occurred.  It seems that what transpired in the first act is not all that accurate. What really happened and what George thought she was part of were quite different. It all is a bit of conjecture and a tease on Ruhl’s part. 

Even under Rebecca Taichman’s speedy direction and with very fine performances by all the actors--most especially Tomei and Hall--the play remains as elusive as Pip’s character. Is the metamorphosis in sexual mores that both couples go through helpful in dealing with life and raising children? Was there an instability and inadequacy in their marriages that needed further exploring? Is the symbol of eating animals that one kills a kind of cannibalistic pleasure? 

While the play is never boring there is a peculiarity to it that leaves you as an observer finding yourself pondering less than the playwright’s intentions. 

Tickets are available at the Mitzi Newhouse Theater 150 West 65th Street (Lincoln Center) or by calling 212.239.6200. The limited engagement as of this date is May 7.

PHOTO CREDIT: KYLE FROMAN

Email: jcerv58957@aol.com

The Glass Menagerie

      By Joseph Cervelli

The best production of Tennessee William’s masterpiece “The Glass Menagerie” that I have seen is the off Broadway one  from 2010 starring Judith Ivey as Amanda Wingfield and an incredible Patch Darragh as her son Tom who was the most realistic stand in for the playwright. A few years back there was a very good though slightly overrated revival starring Cherry Jones. So, why bring back another so soon?

Well, the current one playing a limited engagement at the Belasco Theater is a stunningly original one unlike any you have probably seen before and among the most effective. While all other productions  have been faithful to the play in every way this new one under the direction of the wildly imaginative director Sam Gold (“Othello”) is unforgettable. Yes, you do need to suspend your beliefs about of all “Menageries” you have seen and  it is easy to do that when Joe Mantello (Tom) informs you right from the start that “the scene is memory and is therefore nonrealistic.” Right there, you know that Gold approach is to paraphrase Tom’s famous line from the play, “tricks up in his pocket and things up his sleeve.”

The first thing you notice that  may startle you is that except for a kitchen table with some chairs and a cart with candles, a typewriter, etc. all props used in the play there is no other scenery. The back of the theater is shown prominently. When the actors enter the house lights fully on. Amanda (a memorable Sally Field)  is pushing her daughter Laura (Madison Ferris) in a wheelchair. No longer does the character appear to have just a slight limp for Ferris herself has muscular dystrophy. So, when the overbearing Amanda played with more of a hard edged attitude than I have seen beforeinforms her she only has a slight defect you might find yourself unintentionally laughing. But, we must remember as Tom strongly informs us that this is a memory play. The time period of the play  now is indeterminate. Originally it was 1937. While Mantello looks older than Fields or even his classmate Jim, the gentleman caller, (Finn Wittrock)  that works because many years have gone by. 

There is no photo of their dad (as in prior productions)  who left the family years ago but again it becomes a blank in the mind of Tom. 

With his cigarette almost constantly in his hands throughout the beginning of the play Tom indeed seems to be like a writer from that time period. Trying to write but hampered by his harridan of a mother Tom tries to show as much restraint towards her as possible but it is  not always easy. Mantello encompasses his character with annoyance toward his mother while his affection for his sister (watch as he massages her legs while Amanda is busy trying to see magazine subscriptions) is so beautifully realized. 

As Jim the handsome Wittrock is fully animated even more so than other gentleman callers but it works fine again probably in Tom’s mind he was there to bring some needed cheer to a household filled with solemnity. When he crashes into one of Laura’s most prized crystal figures the unicorn it still creates a stab to your heart. 

Gold has put an extra emphasis on Laura’s disability as she is walking on all fours trying to get to her wheelchair. You might find yourself thinking how indeed does she get around the city going to museums or movies when she was supposed to be at a business school. But again, we are seeing the family through Tom’s eyes. How much is actually real and how much is part of what he has remembered is up for conjecture. Ferris also gives very different interpretation of Laura than any other I have seen. Most emphasize the shy quality and kowtow to Amanda, but Ferris is much more emotionally fierce looking at her mother with a kind of disdain. What an original touch on Gold’s part.

All other Amanda’s were fading belles trying to recreate their youthful days going to parties and having their own gentleman callers.  But Field gives a more powerfully raw performance. Even when she is trying to charm Jim at the dinner she has prepared, that genteel manner is forced for that is not what she is really like. You feel the anger of abandonment of her husband and a loss of control on her part as Tom starts to seethe with frustration. 

If you let yourself get into a new frame of mind with this incredibly unusual production you will probably even begin to hear dialogue that you might not have heard before and find this one of the most heartbreaking productions you have encountered of what is arguably Williams’ finest play. 

Tickets are available at the Belasco Theater 111 West 44th Street or by calling 212.239.6200. The limited engagement ends July 2.

PHOTOS: JULIETA CERVANTES