Harry Clarke

Harry Clarke

Vineyard Theater

October 28, 2017

 

Photo courtesy of Vineyard Theatre

Billy Crudup is starring in a one character play at Vineyard Theatre.  Written by David Cale, Harry Clarke is a psychological exploration of one man’s quest for acceptance and struggle with identity.  Director Leigh Silverman finds the significant moments of this ninety minute piece that allow the audience to laugh with the main character, empathize with his flaws, and feel shocked by his bold, threatening behavior.

Philip Brugglestein (played by Billy Crudup) was born in Evanston, IL and grew up in South Bend, IN.  He discovers at an early age that he is more comfortable with himself when speaking in a British accent.  After an abusive outburst by his father during his adolescence, an alter-ego emerges.  Harry Clarke is a bold Cockney who is not afraid to take risks and speak his mind.  A number of years later, while living in New York City, Harry Clarke re-emerges during a low period in Philip’s life.  This time he makes a deal with Philip.  Harry wants Philip to give over to him 100% for a three month trial period.  Philip agrees and embarks on the journey of no return.

Billy Crudup, Director Leigh Silverman, and Playwright David Cale
Photos courtesy of Vineyard Theatre

Billy Crudup is magnificent in this role.  He embodies numerous characters as he tells this alarming story.  The accent and vocal rhythm of each character is so distinct that you recognize them immediately.  The characters of Philip Brugglestein and Harry Clarke also have a distinguishing physicalization that visibly identifies them.  Mr. Crudup’s transitions are smooth and clear.  He is absorbing and engaging.  It is an enthralling performance.

Playwright David Cale has written an intriguing character.  He skillfully structures the telling of this story with unexpected reveals that hook the audience’s attention and peak their curiosity. 

Harry Clarke is playing at Vineyard Theatre through December 10.  If you are a Billy Crudup fan, you will love this show.  If you are not, you will definitely become one after seeing it.  

Domenick Danza

Junk

Junk

Lincoln Center Theater

at The Vivian Beaumont

October 21, 2017

 

Photo courtesy of Lincoln Center Theater

Ayad Akhtar’s new play Junk, produced by Lincoln Center Theater, tells the story of corporate buy outs, greed, and the loss of work ethic and professional integrity.  The powerhouse cast of twenty-three ignites Mr. Akhtar’s skillfully crafted dialogue with a fiery passion that keeps you on the edge of your seat.  The characters are so honest, flawed, cunning, and charming that you will find yourself buying what they are selling and, as with Mr. Akhtar’s other plays, find yourself questioning your own judgement and motivations.

The year is 1985.  Robert Merkin (played by Steven Pasquale) is in the business of taking over large corporations by creating debt and raising money to buy them out.  He sells junk bonds and makes millions for his clients, keeping a high percentage for himself.  Sometimes he bends the rules, sometimes he breaks the law.  When he decides to buy Everson Steel, the third generation owner, Thomas Everson Jr. (played by Rick Holmes), puts up a larger resistance than expected.  It becomes a fight of ethic vs. greed, and it is not until the very end that it becomes clear who suffers the greatest loss.

Steven Pasquale as Steven Merkin
Photo courtesy of Lincoln Center Theater

Steven Pasquale is driven as Robert Merkin.  He has a powerful presence that keeps the action moving, even when he is not on stage.  Rick Holmes portrays Thomas Everson Jr. as a determined fighter.  He has a lot at stake, both personally and financially.  Playwright Ayad Akhtar has masterfully crafted these two characters.  They are each compelled by selfish motives, yet compassionate and aware of the effect their actions have on those around them.  The consequences of their conflict are always in question.  The balance of egotism and empathy keeps the struggle between them riveting. 

Photo courtesy of Lincoln Center Theater

The brilliance of this play is the way Mr. Akhtar develops all the characters so that the audience gets to know their many sides.  From the Lincoln Center Theater program: “Junk is a fictionalize account suggested by events in the historical public record.  The characters in this play are dramatic concoctions, stitched together – at times – with details pulled from history but these characters are never anything other than fiction.”  Amazing performances are delivered by the entire cast, especially Teresa Avia Lim, Matthew Rauch, Henry Stram, Michael Siberry, Ito Aghayere, Miriam Silverman, and Joey Slotnick.

Experiencing this play will give you a new perspective on how greed is a driving force in the American economy, and how our own personal desires are a contributing factor in its downfall.  Junk is presently in previews at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, and runs through January 7.     

Domenick Danza

Jesus Hopped the A Train

Jesus Hopped the A Train

Signature Theatre

The Pershing Square Signature Center

October 14, 2017

 

Photo courtesy of Signature Theatre

“People think everything is replaceable.  Everything is not replaceable.  People believe they go through life accumulating things.  That is incorrect.  People go through life discarding things, tangible and intangible, replaceable and priceless,” says Corrections Officer Valdez (played by Ricardo Chavira) in Act I of Jesus Hopped the A Train.  Playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis’ brilliantly relates that statement to the value we put on not only human life, but our own existence.  This Signature Theatre production is spellbinding from the moment it begins, and intensely accelerates to a dramatic conclusion.

Edi Gathegi & Ricardo Chavira
Photo courtesy of Signature Theatre

When Angel Cruz (played by Sean Carvajal) is arrested for shooting a preacher in the ass, Mary Jane Hanrahan (played by Stephanie DiMaggio) is appointed his legal aid attorney.  He is verbally abusive to her at their first meeting.  When he openly admits doing the shooting, she explains it is in his best interest that she not represent him and that he not confess to his next appointed lawyer.  She is personally moved by the righteousness of his confession, and returns to visit him for the details of his story.  She decides to take his case when he reveals that the preacher he shot is a cult leader who brainwashed and stole his best friend.  When the preacher dies due to complications during surgery, Angel is charged with murder.  It is when Angel befriends serial killer Lucius Jenkins (played by Edi Gathegi) at Rikers that he begins to question his actions and sense of right and wrong.

Sean Carvajal
Photo courtesy of Signature Theatre

Before the play started there was an announcement that Sean Carvajal stepped into the role of Angel Cruz earlier in the week and will carry a script in his hand for a few scenes.  Script or no script, he is truly remarkable.  He is fully present in every moment.  He emotionally engages the audience with the plight of his character, pulling them into the dramatic action of the play.  The most powerful scene is between him and Stephanie DiMaggio during Act I.  They go head to head, both passionately seeking truth to believe in. Ms. DiMaggio is riveting.  She grabs your attention even before her scenes begin when she walks into place in the dark with a sever determination that skillfully drives the scene the minute the lights come up.  Edi Gathegi smoothly

Stephanie DiMaggio
Photo courtesy of Signature Theatre

charms his way into your heart, as every serial murderer should, blurring the line between good and evil, then clearly defining it as he entraps Angel Cruz in Act II.  

Each actor portrays the many layers of their characters with clarity and honestly.  They create moments that explode with urgency.  Mr. Guirgis’ dialogue is zealous and masterfully woven.  You MUST see this play.  Jesus Hopped the A Train is playing at The Pershing Square Signature Center through November 12.  Don’t miss it!

Domenick Danza

Crossing

Crossing

2017 BAM Next Wave Festival

October 8, 2017

 

Photo courtesy of 2017 BAM Next Wave Festival

The American Repertory Theater production of Crossing was part of the 2017 BAM Next Wave Festival.  This new opera, composed, written, and conducted by Matthew Aucoin, was inspired by Walt Whitman’s diary entries during the time he volunteered at a Civil War hospital.  It explores Whitman’s essential question, “What is it, then, between us?”  The production is majestic and relevant.  Director Diane Paulus keeps everything simple and concise, allowing the music to envelope the audience and the moments to be true and personal.

Photo courtesy of 2017 BAM Next Wave Festival

From the BAM program notes, written by Matthew Aucoin:  “So, in Crossing, the Walt Whitman who walks the stage is not that familiar poetic persona.  Rather, this is Whitman as I imagine he might have been to himself, starting from a midlife crisis which prompts his radical, heroic decision to drop everything and volunteer in the war hospitals.  Naturally, this Whitman is a fictional creation.  Crossing is a musical fantasia which imagines and realizes the many forces – generosity, insecurity, longing, selflessness, bravery, unfulfilled sexual desire, a need to escape his own life, a boundless kindness – that caused a man named Walter Whitman, Jr. to forge an indelible embodiment of the American spirit in his poetry.”

Ron Gilfry & Alexander Lewis
Photo courtesy of 2017 BAM Next Wave Festival

Ron Gilfry commands the stage as Walt Whitman.  Alexander Lewis creates intrigue in the character of John Wormley.  Davone Tines captures the audience’s attention when he tells the haunting background story of his character Freddie Stowes.

The projection design by Finn Ross brings depth and imagination to the emotional stories shared by the characters.  Jill Johnson’s choreography adds dimension to the realistic and somber hospital environment.

Crossing was presented at the BAM Next Wave Festival from October 3 – 8.  Keep your eyes peeled for additional live performances or video broadcasts.  It is well worth seeing. 

Domenick Danza

Whiskey Pants: The Mayor of Williamsburg

Whiskey Pants: The Mayor of Williamsburg

Mind the Art Entertainment

HERE Arts Center

October 7, 2017

 

Photo courtesy of Mind the Art Entertainment

You know you are in for something different when you walk into the theatre and are offered a shot of whiskey with your program.  Hence starts the Mind the Arts Entertainment production of Whiskey Pants: The Mayor of Williamsburg.  Christian De Gre has composed an intense score that creates a distinctive and compelling environment.  Book by Serrana Gay and lyrics by Joseph Reese Anderson weave a simple and intoxicating story line.  The cast is a powerful ensemble with fervent singing voices.

Chloe Fox & Tony Mowatt
Photo courtesy of Mind the Art Entertainment

The story opens in Williamsburg after “the event” as the day of the competition approaches.  The event caused all dreams to die and the escape by excessive whiskey drinking to begin.  The competition is how the Mayor of Williamsburg is chosen.  After heavy drinking, the one who remains standing is hailed “Whisky Pants,” the Mayor.  The present Mayor (played by Tony Mowatt) has reigned since the event took place.  His daughter (played by Michelle Ireton) is celebrating her sixteenth birthday.  Her innocent dreams are considered a problem by her father.  It is the arrival of a stranger (played by Charlie Tingen) that challenges everyone’s understanding of the power of their dreams.

The Cast of Whiskey Pants: The Mayor of Williamsburg
Photo courtesy of Mind the Art Entertainment

The production design by Ashley Solliman, Kate Marley, Christian De Gre, Brian Freeland, Christian Watanabe, R. Patrick Alberty, and Wes Shippee draws the audience into an obscure time and location.  This, juxtaposed by film images that start and end the show, evokes the turmoil and pain of the characters who are trapped in a mindset of escape and lack of belief in themselves and their dreams.  The pacing and staging keep the action flowing as the character progress on their journey toward a different perspective of their reality.

Whiskey Pants: The Mayor of Williamsburg is playing at HERE Arts Center (145 6^th Ave.) through October 28.  The concept is unique.  The performances are excellent.

Domenick Danza

Time and the Conways

Time and the Conways

Roundabout Theatre Company

American Airlines Theatre

September 30, 2017

 

Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

The Roundabout Theatre Company production of Time and the Conways poignantly gives pause to contemplate the concept of time.  Director Rebecca Taichman masterfully creates distinctive atmospheres in the three scenes of the play by varying the tone and pace.  She pulls the closing of each act to a poetic and sentimental ending.  The cast fluently evokes the time period and setting.  The design of the production (sets: Neil Patel; costumes: Paloma Young; lighting: Christopher Akerlind; sound: Matt Hubbs; hair & wig: Leah J. Loukas) transports the audience to a realistic location, then swiftly moves through time and space, creating the illusion of infinite dimension.

The year is 1919 and World War I has just ended.  The Conway family of Great Britain is celebrating the twenty-first birthday of Kay (played by Charlotte Parry).  The family matriarch (played by Elizabeth McGovern) is excited because her son Robin (played by Matthew James Thomas) has just returned from the air force.  Everyone is overly cheerful and highly optimistic.  In the next moment it is 1937.  The family fortune is diminished and everyone seems jaded and worn down my time… or is time an illusion?

The cast of Time and the Conways
Photos courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

Elizabeth McGovern is stately as Mrs. Conway, layering heart, warmth, and humor into genuine moments.  Charlotte Parry creates the lense from which the audience views and relates to the action.  The insight of her character is truthful and her distress is heartfelt.  Gabriel Ebert portrays Alan Conway with an open sense of honesty and acceptance.  Steven Boyer is cunning and sharp as Earnest Beevers.  His character unwraps to reveal a cruel and consuming dark side that jolts the family’s sense of unity.  Anna Baryshnikov is effervescent as Carol Conway.  Brook Bloom and Anna Camp show a strong and intriguing range in the maturing of the characters of Madge and Hazel.

Elizabeth McGovern
Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

In Act I the over the top optimism of the first scene is powerfully juxtaposed by the transparent harshness of the second.  Rebecca Taichman brilliantly changes the tone again in Act II as the characters are developed from a more realistic point of view.  This variation magnifies the theme of playwright J.B. Priestley by giving the audience a visceral understanding of how the dimension of time can overlap and recount an altered point of view.

Time and the Conways is running at the American Airlines Theatre through November 26.  It is a poignant period piece with a valuable message.  The performances are strong.  The production is poetic. 

Domenick Danza