Fade

Fade

Primary Stages

Cherry Lane Theatre

January 28, 2017

Photo courtesy of Primary Stages

The Primary Stages' production of Tanya Saracho’s Fade is presently playing at the Cherry Lane Theatre.  Ms. Saracho’s script is skillfully crafted with strong dramatic action that builds to a startling ending.  At first the play makes a strong social statement about the need for Latinos to stay bonded in our present political environment.  Then it grows into a story of friendship, professional achievement, and duplicity.  Jerry Ruiz directs with clear vision, allowing this two character play to feel large and effectively communicate on multiple levels. 

When Chicago Novelist, Lucia (played by Annie Dow), takes a job in LA writing for a network TV show, she finds herself over her head and alone.  She befriends Abel (played by Eddie Martinez), a custodian at the studio offices.  Lucia thinks they have a lot in common because of their shared Mexican heritage, but Abel knows better.  They gradually become close, only to find how they truly are from different worlds.

Eddie Martinez and Annie Dow
Photo courtesy of Primary Stages

Annie Dow is extroverted and determined as Lucia.  Her character is comfortable with herself and eager to succeed.  She is an open book and easily talks about her worries and concerns.  Eddie Martinez plays Abel as guarded and private.  His character is sincere and knowledgeable of how he fits into his surroundings.  When he open up and reveals himself, it is with cautious trepidation.  His character’s growth is evident in the trust he builds with Lucia.  The arc of Lucia’s character is in how willing she becomes to achieve her professional goals at the expense of others.

Ms. Saracho juxtaposes her characters with skill and care, making a statement that affects the audience on a deep level.  The two actors’ portrayals ring true.  They keep the audience riveted throughout the action of the play, making you wonder what will happen next.

Playwright Tanya Saracho at the Cherry Lane Theatre
Photo courtesy of Primary Stages

The word “fade” has numerous definitions   The Miriam-Webster definition is to lose freshness, strength, or vitality.  In the Urban Dictionary is means to insult someone with blatant disregard for their feelings.  If you “fade” a gang member, you are decreasing the number of members in their gang and effectively “fading” their color.  In movies and television, “fade” means to gradually increase or decrease the visibility of a scene.  It can also mean (as in Guys & Dolls) to cover a crapshooter’s bet, or bet that the shooter will lose.  These numerous definitions are all thematically evident in Ms. Saracho’s writing, Mr. Ruiz’s direction, and Mr. Martinez and Ms. Dow’s performances.

Fade is playing at the Cherry Lane Theatre through March 5.  It is a strong production and well worth seeing.

Domenick Danza

The Tempest

The Tempest

Donmar Warehouse

St. Ann’s Warehouse

January 21, 2017

Photo courtesy of St. Ann's Warehouse

The Donmar Warehouse production of The Tempest is magnificent!  It is touring from London and playing at St. Ann’s Warehouse in DUMBO (Downtown Brooklyn).  The space is transformed into a women’s prison.  The theme of captivity and freedom rings out as you become viscerally connected to the experience.  The concept is solid.  The direction, by Phyllida Lloyd, is focused and effective.  The all-female ensemble is strong.  Harriet Walter is commanding as Prospero.

The play starts in the lobby.  A harsh, blaring sound is heard and the waiting audience is ordered to clear a path.  The actors are marched through the crowd, shackled and guarded.  The tone is immediately set before anyone has even entered the theatre.  Seating is in the round and assigned in “blocks.”  Guards are stationed at each block entrance.  The lighting is harsh.  There is another blaring sound and the ensemble of prisoners enters.  One steps forward and introduces herself.  She tells of her crime and how she has been imprisoned for thirty of her seventy-five year sentence.  She sits and writes in her journal… and becomes Prospero, imprisoned on his island, stripped of his Dukedom, and rearing his daughter, Miranda.  His mystical powers raise a mighty tempest that brings his plan for redemption and the reclamation of his title. 

Leah Harvey & Sheila Atim
Photo courtesy of St. Anne's Warehouse

Director Phyllida Lloyd states in the program notes that, “Shakespeare plays burn brightly when performed by a single gender.  Their veins become clearer.”  How true, especially with this phenomenal ensemble, boldly led by Harriet Walter.  Jade Anouka is haunting and dutiful as Ariel.  Sophie Stanton effectively portrays Caliban as wronged and misunderstood.  Leah Harvey is charming and adventurous as Miranda.  She is perfectly paired with Sheila Atim as Ferdinand.  Karen Dunbar and Jackie Clune are a comic and mischievous duo as Trinculo and Stefano.  Carolina Valdes, Martina Laird, Shiloh Coke, and Zainab Hasan are devious and noble as Antonio, Alonso, Sebastian, and Gonzola. 

Jade Anouka & the Ensemble
Photo courtesy of St. Anne's Warehouse

The theme of forgiveness as a means of achieving spiritual freedom, even if you physically remain imprisoned is clearly illustrated by Harriet Walter in the powerful ending of the play.  St. Anne’s Warehouse is the perfect venue for the technical needs of this outstanding production.  The Tempest runs through February 19.  You must experience it for yourself!

Domenick Danza

The Beauty Queen of Leenane

The Beauty Queen of Leenane

Druid

BAM Harvey Theater

January 14, 2017

Photo courtesy of Druid

The Druid production of the Beauty Queen of Leenane is playing at the BAM Harvey Theater through February 5.  It is directed by Garry Hines, who directed the original production twenty years ago.  Marie Mullen, who won the Tony Award in 1998 for playing Maureen, returns in the role of Mag, Maureen’s arduous mother.  The production, touring from Galway City in the West of Ireland, is not to be missed.  The play is powerful, and the performances are stellar.  

Aisling O'Sullivan & Marie Mullen
Photo courtesy of Druid

Maureen Folan (played by Aisling O’Sullivan) cares for her seventy year old mother, Mag (played by Marie Mullen).  The situation is stifling for Maureen.  Her mother is demanding and degrading.  When Maureen reconnects with an old school friend, Pato Dooley (played by Marty Rea), Mag pulls out all the stops to keep her daughter under her thumb.  The results are catastrophic and heart-rending.

Marty Rae & Aisling O'Sullivan
Photo courtesy of Druid

Aisling O’Sullivan delivers a powerful performance as Maureen.  As the play progresses, her shocking backstory is revealed.  Ms. O’Sullivan expands with each detail and builds a deeply rooted and truthful character.  Marie Mullen is brutal and absorbing as Mag Folan.  The bond these two women create between their characters drives the action toward its tragic climax.  Mary Rae is tender and honest as Pato Dooley, and Aaron Monaghan delivers the laughs as his brother, Ray Dooley.

The BAM Harvey Theater is the perfect venue for this “modern Irish classic,” produced by the company where it originated.  “This production toured to Ireland’s major cities before embarking on this coast-to-coast tour of prestigious US venues and will complete its extensive international run at the esteemed Hong Kong Arts Festival.”*  It is not to be missed.  Get your tickets right away!

Domenick Danza

* Quotes are from the BAM Harvey Theater program notes.

The Babylon Line

The Babylon Line

Lincoln Center Theatre

At the Mitzi E. Newhouse

December 31, 2016

Photo courtesy of Lincoln Center Theatre

Lincoln Center Theatre’s production of The Babylon Line is astounding.  Richard Greenberg’s script is prolific.  His characters are bold, honest, peculiar, and real. Director Terry Kinney finds just the right rhythm and flow for the play in order to keep the audience focused on the characters, their challenges, and their connections.

It is 1967 and Aaron Port (played by Josh Radnor) commutes on the Babylon Line to teach a creative writing adult education class in Levittown, Long Island.  His class is an eclectic mix of six students.  He is drawn to one student in particular, Joan Dellamond (played by Elizabeth Reaser).  She is a bit of an outcast, yet has a promising writing style with a unique voice.  The students in the class gradually open up in their writing, while the instructor remains separate and aloof.  The class comes to an end, yet their stories do not.

Photo courtesy of Lincoln Center Theatre

There are strong performances by the entire cast.  Josh Radnor is charming and allusive as Aaron Port.  Elizabeth Reaser has a quirkiness that is disturbing and off beat.  As the details of her character are revealed, the depth of these qualities hold true.  She grows and changes due to the connection to Josh Radnor’s’character.  Their honesty and relationship is riveting.  Randy Graff is commanding as Frieda Cohen.  Maddie Corman and Julie Halston join with her in creating a trio of Long Island housewives that are both funny and sad.  Perhaps the most amusing touch by Mr. Greenberg is when he builds Maddie Corman's character into the main character in his play Our Mother's Brief Affair.  Frank Wood and Michael Overholtzer are brilliantly underplayed and ever present.  These actors all create rich, realistic characters with the specific backstories in Mr. Greenberg’s script.  Their relationships keep the energy flowing throughout the play.

Photo courtesy of Lincoln Center Theatre

The set by Richard Hoover and costumes by Sarah J. Holden strongly establish the time period and location of the play.  Lighting by David Weiner and sound by Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen allow for a consistent tone and smooth transitions.  All of this supports Mr. Greenberg’s theme that the ending of a story is really the beginning.

The Babylon Line is playing at Lincoln Center Theatre at the Mitzi E. Newhouse through January 22.  Time is running out.  Get there before it closes.

Domenick Danza

The Encounter

The Encounter

Golden Theatre

December 30, 2016

Photo courtesy of The Encounter

The Encounter is a uniquely told story of one man’s adventure in the Amazon Rain Forest.  At the start of the show, Simon McBurney, who conceived, directed and performs the story, reveals the techniques he will be using throughout the performance.  He talks about how the brain creates a reality when it hears sound in specific ways.  He also talks about how realities are created by the documentation of memories, which result in the creation of a new reality based on how we view these records.  Thus the telling of the tale is framed, and the journey begins.

The storyteller (Simon McBurney) embarks on a journey deep into the Brazilian Amazon to follow the experience of a photographer who encountered a tribe of Mayoruna people.  His encounter is full of tribal rituals and new beginnings.  The storyteller plays a number of characters whose vocal qualities change electronically.  The audience experiences the encounter through headphones that transport the imagination.  As the program notes state, “Our ears, without asking, from a filter, help create a ‘normal’ reality, but one in which we hear ‘selectively.’  As with our ears, so it is with all our senses.  We see only what we want to see…”

Simon McBurney
Photo courtesy of The Encounter

The production is more than just an expertly done, high tech fabrication.  The theme of climate change and ancient beliefs about the earth as a living organism is profoundly delivered.  The production accentuates how great theatre is in the telling of the story, as it bring a unique experience and clear understanding of how technology effects the brain, our imagination, and therefore our reality.  

The limited run of The Encounter closes on January 8.  If you have not seen it yet, make the effort.

Domenick Danza