Bobbie Clearly

Bobbie Clearly

Roundabout Theatre Company

Roundabout Underground

Black Box Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre

April 28, 2018

Photo courtesy of
Roundabout Theatre Company

Playwright Alex Lubischer makes powerful and poignant statements about compassion and forgiveness in his play Bobby Clearly, then presents you with the harsh reality that taking those actions do not make your experiences any less overwhelming.  His play is structured in such a way that the audience is constantly questioning and wanting to know more.  His characters are well developed and grow over the ten year span of the play’s events.  Director Will Davis finds every intimate moment for this amazing cast to connect truthfully to one another and the audience.  The staging choices are perfect, allowing every person in the black box theatre to be a part of the emotional journey of the characters.  

In 2006 a tragic event occurred that changed the lives of the people of Milton, Nebraska.  Teenager Bobby Clearly (played by Ethan Dubin) brutally murdered Casey Welch in a cornfield.  Officer Darla London (played by Constance Shulman) recounts her connection to Bobby as a young boy and the events leading up to the tragic night.  Casey’s mother, Jane Welch (played by Crystal Finn) decides to present a talent show in her daughter’s memory, which over the years becomes a fundraiser in support of a not-for-profit organization to assist families in crisis.  The community’s optimism and compassion move them forward, yet when Bobbie is released from prison, their forgiveness and healing are put to the test.

Constance Shulman as Officer Darla London
Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

The cast is a true ensemble, building relationships that grow over time and reflect honest responses to a tragic event.  Constance Shulman (as Officer Darla) opens and closes the play with monologues that frame the experiences of all the characters.  She becomes the through line that keeps the action moving.  With this character Mr. Lubischer successfully creates an objective observer to the action.  She is able to comment on and propel the action forward.  He brilliantly uses this character to the fullest capacity.

Ethan Dubin as Bobbie Clearly\
Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

Mr. Lubischer sets up the premise that the characters are all being interviewed for a documentary about Casey Welch and Bobbie Clearly.  This allows the characters to go back and forth from direct address monologues to present moment scenes.  Their reminiscence of fact ignites the dialogue scenes, revealing the emotional levels of the characters.  It is in this understanding that the story is told.  How much is denial?  How much is truth?  How honest is their forgiveness?  What is the capacity of their bond of compassion?  Mr. Lubischer takes these raw emotions to the breaking point in an unexpected climactic Act III.  He delivers a powerful punch in the final moments of his skillfully crafted play, leaving everyone deep in thought.

You only have one more week to see Bobbie Clearly.  It is playing at the Roundabout Underground Black Box at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre through May 6.  Try not to miss it!

Domenick Danza

St. Joan

St. Joan

Manhattan Theatre Club

Samuel J. Friedman Theatre

April 21, 2018

Photo courtesy of Manhattan Theatre Club

Condola Rashad is starring in George Bernard Shaw’s St. Joan at Manhattan Theatre Club.  Ms. Rashad lights up the stage and reveals the vulnerable levels of this iconic character.  Her scenes passionately inspire others to take action and are then followed by truthful moments of emotional depth.  Scenic design by Scott Pask minimally creates a gothic atmosphere that effectively depicts 15^th century England and France.  Director Daniel Sullivan finds the rhythmic humor in Shaw’s writing and allows it to surface when it is most needed and appreciated.

Adam Chandler-Berat & Condola Rashad
Photo courtesy of Manhattan Theatre Club

The year is 1429 and France has been at war with England for 90 years.  The Dauphin (played by Adam Chandler-Berat) has not been able to be crowned King of France due to the surrender and slaughter of French troops by England’s army.  A peasant girl, Joan (played by Condola Rashad), presents herself to the Dauphin as the messenger of God with the power and the ability to take back the French territory.  Joan wins over the Dauphin, the Archbishop (played by John Glover), and Dunois (played by Daniel Sunjata), who assists her in attacking the English army.  They are victorious and the Dauphin is subsequently crowned King Charles VII.  England captures Joan as she tries to win back Paris.  The Church finds her guilty of heresy.  Almost five hundred years later, she is canonized a saint by the same Church that burned her as a heretic.

Photo courtesy of Manhattan Theatre Club

There are strong performances by John Glover, Adam Chandler-Berat, Daniel Sunjata, and a full cast of commanding Broadway actors.  The scenes between the royal courts of England, France, and the Church are full of conflict as they debate Joan’s voices, actions, and victories.  They need to categorize her as a traitor, soldier, witch, or heretic in order to justify her capture and execution.  These scenes clearly define the risk involved in her taking action and propel the plot forward by revealing the political dangers, yet through them I found myself waiting for Condola Rashad’s next entrance.  Naturally, the actor cast in the role of Joan needs to carry the show, and Ms. Rashad is truly captivating.  She delivers a majestic and powerful performance.  

Condola Rashad as St. Joan
Photo courtesy of Manhattan Theatre Club

The final scene of George Bernard Shaw’s play takes place twenty-five years after Joan’s death when she is acquitted of her conviction of heresy in a posthumous retrial.  In this scene the characters who either followed or doubted Joan comment on the effect her presence had on their lives.  This is Mr. Shaw’s finest scene of the play.  It offers a chance for the audience to reflect on the historic and religious accounts in his writing.  Because of this scene the audience leaves with a more personal and impactful understanding of the significant facts and spiritual beliefs.

St. Joan is playing at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre through June 10.  Condola Rashad’s performance is not to be missed.

Domenick Danza

King Lear

King Lear

Royal Shakespeare Company

BAM Harvey Theatre

April 7, 2018

Photo courtesy of Brooklyn Academy of Music
& Royal Shakespeare Company

The Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of King Lear, now playing at Brooklyn Academy of Music, is not to be missed.  This phenomenal company of actors, under the direction of Gregory Doran, boldly tells this tragic tale of family loyalty and personal honor.  The events are clearly woven and build to a sweeping and passionate conclusion.  The set and costume design by Niki Turner is dark and majestic.  It satiates the expansive space of BAM’s Harvey Theatre with stark and stunning, emotion-filled shapes and images.

King Lear (played by Antony Sher) decides to divide his kingdom and distribute it to his three

Antony Sher as King Lear
Photo courtesy of Brooklyn Academy of Music
& Royal Shakespeare Company

daughters.  He first asks each of them to declare their love for him.  His eldest daughter, Goneril (played by Nia Gwynne) glibly professes words of loyalty and devotion.  His second daughter, Regan (played by Kelly Williams) cunningly tops her sister’s proclamation.  His youngest and favorite daughter, Cordelia (played by Mimi Ndiweni), seeing through the veil in her sisters’ sentiments, does not reply.  This breaks the heart of the king.  He immediately disowns her, sharing his kingdom between his two “loyal” daughters.  When the Earl of Kent (played by Antony Byrne) speaks in defense of Cordelia, he is banished.  Meanwhile, Edmund (played by Paapa Essiedu), the illegitimate son of the Earl of Gloucester (played by David Troughton), is plotting against his father and half-brother, Edgar (played by Oliver Johnstone).  When Goneril and Regan turn their backs on King Lear, he leaves the court out of contempt to them both.  While on his journey, he descends into madness as he faces his sadness, flaws, and wrong doings.  Edmund joins Goneril and Regan to gain power over the kingdom, as Cordelia finds her father and tries to nurse him back to health.  Unfortunately, they are all too steeped in dishonor to be redeemed.

Photo courtesy of Brooklyn Academy of Music

In King Lear William Shakespeare launches a highly complex plot with varieties and layers of family betrayal.  The play clearly illustrates powerful themes of how love and loyalty are deeper than mere words and trifling action.  The older characters (Lear and Gloucester) are easily swayed by declarations of loyalty from their children and followers.  Their dependents (Goneril, Regan, and Edgar) know how to manipulate this need to gain favor and power from their superiors.  The younger characters (Cordelia and Edmund) do not partake in duplicitous gesture, yet stand on their own integrity and speak from their hearts.  These family stories of love and betrayal are timeless and, although told through royalty, universal.  The fall from grace in the royal family makes the tragedy highly dramatic, but no less poignant.

This production is magnificently conceived and superbly delivered.  King Lear is playing at the BAM Harvey Theatre through April 29.  Go see it!

Domenick Danza

Travesties

Travesties

Roundabout Theatre Company

American Airlines Theatre

April 5, 2018

Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

Tom Stoppard’s Travesties is receiving a tremendous revival by Roundabout Theatre Company.  Director Patrick Marber is in sync with Mr. Stoppard’s rhythms and humor.  The cast magnificently delivers the bite in the sarcasm and the punch in the irony.  The political and social commentary is clear and relevant, and makes an even more impressive statement when you realize it was first performed in 1974.

Tom Hollander as Henry Carr
Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

Henry Carr (played by Tom Hollander) pieces together the stories from his younger days in 1918 after the war in Zurich, Switzerland.  First there was his acquaintance with Tristan Tzara (played by Seth Numrich), the Romanian radical free thinker who helped find the Dada movement.  Next was the meeting with James Joyce (played by Peter McDonald), while he was writing Ulysses.  Then there was his run-ins with Lenin (played by Dan Butler) at the local library.  The discourse over revolution, socialism, art for art’s sake, and art for social commentary commands the air when these characters collide.  The comedy rises when Gwendolyn (played by Scarlett Strallen) and Cecily (played by Sara Topham) mistake the identities of Henry and Tristan.  This parallels the plot of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Ernest, a play in which James Joyce convinces Henry to star in. 

Tom Hollander, Dan Butler, Patrick Kerr, Seth Numrich, & Patrick Marber
Photo courtesy of  Walter McBride, Broadway World,
& Roundabout Theatre Company 

Tom Hollander and Seth Numrich are mesmerizing as Henry Carr and Tristan Tzara.  Peter McDonald and Dan Butler boldly embody the characters of James Joyce and Lenin.  Patrick Kerr is underplayed perfection as Bennet, Henry Carr’s butler.  The entire cast works as a tight ensemble.  Their timing is impeccable.  Their physicalities are broad and energetic.  They bring light to Mr. Stoppard’s strong statements about art and humanity, which ring truthfully and vigorously.

The set design by Tim Hatley is full of surprises, allowing for numerous exit and entrance points and a wide variety of levels.  Lighting by Neil Austin is crisp and succinct, and greatly enhances the timing of the humor and the enthusiasm of the absurdity.

Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

From the Roundabout Theatre Company program notes:  “A travesty is a ‘debased, distorted, or grossly inferior imitation’ of something; can also be defined as an artistic imitation of something in a ridiculously inappropriate style; Travesties is a travesty of The Importance of Being Ernest and other literary sources; characters in Travesties are travesties of the real people they are based on.”  This production sharply focuses on these four statements, bringing valuable insight to the purpose of art and how our involvement in it makes us human

Travesties is running at the American Airlines Theatre through June 17. 

Domenick Danza

This Flat Earth

This Flat Earth

Playwrights Horizons

April 1, 2018

Photo courtesy of Playwrights Horizons

Lindsey Ferrantino’s This Flat Earth is a powerful, emotional, and timely look at the effect of gun violence and school shootings on adolescents.  The Playwrights Horizons production is stunning.  Director Rebecca Taichman rhythmically builds the action of the scenes to gradually peel back the truths and realities of the characters.  Her cast is magnificent, each finding the heart in the words of these well written characters.  The two level set by Dane Laffrey is slick and clean, keeping the transitions smooth and concise.

Ian Saint-Germain & Ella Kennedy Davis
Photo courtesy of Playwrights Horizons

Julie (played by Ella Kennedy Davis) and Zander (played by Ian Saint-Germain) are preparing to return to school after a shooting took the lives of some of their classmates.  Her father, Dan (played by Lucas Papaelias), helps Lisa (played by Cassie Beck) distribute the popcorn her daughter sold for a fundraiser for the school orchestra.  Lisa’s daughter, who played the cello, was killed in the school shooting.  When Julie and Zander see her, they are unable to look her in the eye.  Julie exhibits other signs of trauma, such as quick responses to loud noises and an emotional response to the sound of her upstairs neighbor, Cloris (played by Lynda Gravatt), playing recordings of cello music.  When Julie is forced to transfer schools, she confronts her trauma by asking simple and direct questions.  She gets answers to most of them, yet one remains unanswered and unresolved.

Lynda Gravatt, Lucas Papaelias, & Ella Kennedy Davis
Photo courtesy of Playwrights Horizons

The actors in this cast create vulnerable characters and honest relationships that are engaging on a deep emotional level.  Ella Kennedy Davis has the perfect balance of spunk and naiveté as Julie.  Ian Saint-Germain is open and sincere as Zander.  Their connection is genuine and delicate.  Lucas Papaelias portrays Dan as a concerned and caring father, focused on providing his daughter with the best structured environment he can.  His intentions are sincere and his shortcomings are real.  Cassie Beck’s Lisa is in the middle of an emotional breakdown due to the unfathomable and violent loss of her daughter.  She creates a true sense of empathy with the audience.  Lynda Gravatt’s portrayal of Cloris, the curmudgeony upstairs neighbor, is strong and grounded.  Her timing and interpretation of the play’s closing monologue is direct, poignant, and perfectly delivered.  Live music performed by cellist Christina H. Kim graciously enhances the production since, as the Cloris explains, the cello expresses the full range of human voice and emotion.  

Given recent events in Florida and the student protests across the country, the timing and relevance of this production is uncanny.  The glimpse into the thoughts of the two teenagers (Julie and Zander) and the pain of the victim’s mother (Lisa) offers a very personal insight that we do not see on news coverage of such events.  This play stops the noise of the protests and political rhetoric and allows us to grasp the emotional distress that comes from direct involvement with violent incidents.  Along with the characters, you question the reasons for their occurrence and understand the strength it takes to move past them.    

Playwright Lindsey Ferrantino
Photo courtesy of Playwrights Horizons

Lindsey Ferrantino has written a masterpiece, reflecting the vulnerability of human experience told through truthful relationships.  The only other play I have seen this season that achieves this with skill and grace is Amy and the Orphans, also written by Ms. Ferrantino.  She is a playwright to keep an eye on.  Her voice is honest, tender, and potent. 

This Flat Earth is playing at Playwrights Horizons through April 29.  You MUST see this play.  Get your tickets today! 

Domenick Danza