The Glory of the World

The Glory of the World

Actors Theatre of Louisville

BAM Harvey Theatre

January 16, 2016

Photo courtesy of
Brooklyn Academy of Music

Sentiment leads to celebration, which leads to deep emotion, which leads to hurt feelings, which leads to anarchy… and it all stops for pizza.  That is the main action of Charles Mee’s The Glory of the World now playing at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) Harvey Theatre.  Direct from Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Humana Festival of New American Plays, this unique and original work directed by Les Waters is a celebration of the mysteries and complexities of our existence.

Photo courtesy of Actors Theatre of Louisville

The show begins when a solitary man silently enters, barefoot, and sits with his back to the audience in contemplation.  His thoughts are projected on the upstage walls of the set, which appears to be an empty warehouse.  As the man gets up to leave, the garage door upstage center opens and seventeen men walk downstage singing happy birthday to Thomas Merton (his 100^th).  He is toasted as a Buddhist, a Catholic, a Communist, a Bohemian, a monk… the list goes on and on throughout the play.  These men party with a sense of love, devotion, admiration, fierceness, and aggression that builds to an all-out brawl.  The action of one moment viscerally leads to another with a physicality that is humorous, musical, brutal, and metaphorical.  The amazing cast boldly commits with such a high level of vitality that you can’t help abandoning all thoughts and simply experience the journey of the moment.  Hence, the theme and purpose of the production, which is intuitively conceived, spiritedly constructed, and brilliantly delivered.  

Photo courtesy of Actors Theatre of Louisville

To have an original piece from the Human Festival presented in Brooklyn is a rare opportunity that needs to be taken advantage of.  The Glory of the World is an appropriate title for this production.  It runs at BAM Harvey Theatre through February 6th.  You have to experience it! 

Domenick Danza

Our Mother’s Brief Affair

Our Mother’s Brief Affair

Manhattan Theatre Club

At the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre

January 10, 2016

Photo courtesy of Manhattan Theatre Club

Our Mother’s Brief Affair is Richard Greenberg’s new play presently in previews at the Manhattan Theatre Club.  It stars Linda Lavin who delivers a strong performance as a woman in the final chapter of her life who shares her secrets with her adult children.  The script gradually builds momentum in Act I, then throws a curve right before intermission that begs for more detail.  Mr. Greenberg successfully follows through in Act II, however, the final scene, could use some edits and tightening in order to deliver the impact the script deserves.

Seth (played by Greg Keller) is speechless when his mother Anna (played by Linda Lavin) reveals, during a hospital stay, that she had a brief affair when he was a teen.  He immediately calls his twin sister, Abby (played by Kate Arrington), who flies to New York from California to assist him.  Even though the hospital stay proves to be another one of their mother’s overly dramatic incidents, the secrets she shares with them open up a side of her that neither of them knew before.  Seth questions how much is truth and how much is delusion, but Abby gives her the benefit of the doubt.  Either way, Anna has her moment and the healing has begun.

Gregg Keller & Linda Lavin
Photo courtesy of Manhattan Theatre Company

Mr. Greenberg crafts a script full of poetic detail that engages the emotions.  The opening scene is a respectful and humorous remembrance of a mother by her son.  Seth’s job as a writer of obituaries and someone who “frames” the lives of the dead serves as a metaphor for the themes of the play.  Mr. Greenberg shows this hand early on in the script, and skillfully builds on it throughout the play.  Some of the humor in the beginning of Act II is dark.  Perhaps if the pace of this section is heightened and the timing tightened, the laughs would come more readily.  Mr. Greenberg writes a tremendously poignant and personal monologue for Anna part way through Act II, which Ms. Lavin portrays flawlessly.  This is the strength and beauty of the play.  It is followed, unfortunately, by a clumsy final scene where everything is wrapped up too succinctly.  With some tweaking and editing of this scene before opening night, this play can deliver an impact on all three characters that will resonate with all audience members.

Each of the actors creates a realistic character that is multidimensional and likeable, which makes this production worth seeing.  Our Mother’s Brief Affair opens at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on January 20 and runs through March 6.  If you see it after the opening date, please post your comments here and let me know what you think about the final scene.

Domenick Danza

Dada Woof Papa Hot

Dada Woof Papa Hot

Lincoln Center Theater

At the Mitzi E. Newhouse

January 2, 2016

Photo courtesy of Lincoln Center Theater

Peter Parnell’s new play, Dada Woof Papa Hot, explores the change that takes place in the relationship of a married couple after they have children.  Is there enough time for everyone to get the right amount of love and attention they need?  What if the child bonds with one parent more than another?  What happens when one parent adapts more readily to parenthood and its challenges?  More importantly, are these concerns different for a gay couple as a straight couple?  Mr. Parnell successfully examines the fears, worries, joys, and letting-go that come with commitment to this life-long change.  There are laughter, tears, and strong understanding of what it means to settle in for the long haul. 

John Benjamin Hickey & Alex Hurt
Photo courtesy of Lincoln Center Theater

When Alan and Rob (played by John Benjamin Hickey and Patrick Breen) befriend another couple, Scott and Jason (played by Stephen Plunkett and Alex Hurt), they expect to bond over stories of their children, who just entered the same pre-K class.  The attraction between Rob and Jason heats up at the same time that Alan’s best friend Michael (played by John Pankow) admits to seeing another woman behind his wife’s back.  Each of these six characters honestly opens up about their relationships and how they have been different since the children came along.  It is through these six varied points of view (gay, straight, male, female, older, younger) that Mr. Parnell examines the pitfalls and benefits of raising a family.  Each character approaches their challenges differently, showing that when it comes to creating and building a family, there is no such thing as traditional.

John Benjamin Hickey & Patrick Breen
Photo courtesy of Lincoln Center Theater

The second to last scene of the play is the most honest and well-written.  It is between Rob and Allen, where they actually voice their fears and face their emotional blocks.  Surprisingly, Alan, who has been pretty steadfast and sure of himself throughout the play, is the one who gets emotional.  This admission allows Rob to express his disappointments.  It is through this confrontation that the underlying conflict of their relationship, which drives the action of the play, is able to resolve.

This play refreshingly discusses the change of values our society faces at this time in its evolution.  It does it with humor and heartfelt moments.  The dramatic twists and turns, however, are very much foreshadowed.  This does not make them any less climactic, just a little too predictable.

Domenick Danza

The Changeling

The Changeling

Red Bull Theater

Lucille Lortel Theatre

December 31, 2015

Photo courtesy of Red Bull Theater

The Changeling, the Renaissance tragedy set in Spain, is remounted by Red Bull Theatre and presently playing in the West Village at the Lucille Lortel Theatre.  Jesse Berger boldly directed this dark and graphic tale of love and murder.  If you enjoy well done, classic theatre set in the time period in which it was written, this production is for you.  The characters are all genuinely driven by their desire and swallowed up by the fate they initiate for themselves.

Sara Topham & Christian Coulson
Photo by Carol Rosegg
Courtesy of Red Bull Theater

When Beatrice-Joanna (played by Sara Topham) meets the noble Alsemero (played by Christian Coulson), they fall immediately in love.  She is so overtaken that she plots with her father’s servant, DeFlores (played by Manoel Felciano), to murder Alonzo (played by John Skelley), to whom her father has previously betrothed her.  Unbeknownst to Beatrice-Joanna, DeFlores sees this as an opportunity to bond himself to her and demand what his heart desires, her maidenhood and loyalty. 

Christopher McCann &Andrew Weems
Photo by Carol Rosegg
Courtesy of Red Bull Theater

The subplot of the play takes place in “a madhouse resembling Bedlam, or Bethlehem Hospital, the famous London institution for the incarceration and ‘cure’ of madmen and fools.”*  This setting adds disorder, chaos, and comic relief to the darkness of the main plot, while deepening the level of intrigue and lunacy.  Actors Bill Army, Phillipe Bowgen, Christopher McCann, Michelle Beck, and Andrew Weems realistically create this locale and level of mayhem.

The entire cast is superb.  Each character is clearly developed with a strong sense of setting and time period.  They all deliver the classic language, which is Red Bull’s specialty, with natural comfort and expertise.  The set, costumes, and lighting (by Marion Williams, Beth Goldenberg, and Peter West) create an authentic atmosphere.  Choreography, by Tracy Bersley, in the opening of the first and second act clearly and skillfully sets up the action and pace for what follows.

Photo by Carol Rosegg
Courtesy of red Bull Theater

This is my first experience with Red Bull Theater.  They are “dedicated to the presentation  of vital and imaginative productions of heightened language plays and to the development of new plays written in a similar vein.  With the Jacobean plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries as its cornerstone, Red Bull Theatre engages the intellect and imagination of today’s theatergoers through intimate and evocative staging of great classic stories.”*  If The Changeling is an example of the quality of their work, I look forward to seeing future productions.  It runs at the Lucille Lortel Theatre through January 24.  Check it out!

Domenick Danza

*These quotes come directly from Red Bull Theater’s program for The Changeling.