The Actors

 The Actors
Theatre Row
May 25, 2024 

Photo courtesy of The Actors

The Actors is an amusing comedy filled with poignant moments that touch the heart.  Playwright Ronnie Larsen sets up a peculiar premise, then skillfully explores every conceivable occurrence, making it fully believable and entertaining.  Director Stuart Meltzer allows the emotional moments of truth to land gently, then bounce back into the rhythmic comic timing.

Ronnie (played by Ronnie Larsen) misses his parents, who died a few years ago.  His desperation motivates him to start a project.  He hires actors to play his mother, Jean (played by Jeni Hacker), and his father, Clarence (played by Allen Lewis Rickman).  The plan is for them to visit Ronnie a few hours a week to improvise scenes from his childhood so he won’t feel so alone.  When the actor playing Clarence is thrown out of his apartment by his jealous girlfriend, he decides to move in with Ronnie, and become his full time Dad.  This motivates the actor playing Jean to recruit her real son (played by Gabriell Salgado) to play Ronnie’s brother Jay.  It’s more than Ronnie bargained for, yet part of him is happy for the company.  When Ronnie’s real brother Jay (played by Jason Guy) shows up unexpectedly, Ronnie is forced to face the truth. 

Gabriell Salgado, Allen Lewis Rickman,
Jeni Hacker, & Ronnie Lrsen
Photo courtesy of The Actors

Ronnie Larsen is truly at home playing the lead character.  The absurdity of his “project” is juxtaposed by the honesty of his grief over the loss of his parents.  He revels in the scenes he enacts with the actors playing his parents, yet he has complete control of the fact that they are totally fake.  It is the actors who get carried away, and Jeni Hacker, Allen Lewis Rickman, and Gabriell Salgado play the over the top situation with honest conviction. 

The Actors played numerous cities around the country, including Provo, Utah, and Miami, Florida.  The Off Broadway production is running at Theatre Row through June 1.  It is funny, touching, cleverly written, and delightfully performed.  Go see it! 

Domenick Danza

What Became of Us

 What Became of Us
Atlantic Stage 2 Theater
May 18, 2024 

Photo courtesy of Atlantic Theater Company

Shayan Lotfi’s play, What Became of Us, takes the audience on an intimate and emotional journey in the relationship between two siblings.  It is masterfully crafted, uniquely structured, and tenderly written.  The Atlantic Theatre Company production is beautifully directed by Jennifer Chang.  She allows the actor to discover precise moments to reveal their vulnerability.  The characters open their hearts to one another and the audience.  They grow and change over a lifetime of shared and distant experiences.

We first meet Q (played by Rosalind Chao), who tells of when her parents made the decision to immigrate from the old county.  She is a young girl, fascinated by the adventure they are about to embark upon.  She easily tells of her parents selling candies and snacks outside office buildings, then opening their own newsstand, then purchasing the corner store.  Her life changes when her brother, Z (played by BD Wong) is born.  She takes responsibility for his care.  He is everything to her, as she is everything to him. 

BD Wong & Rosalind Chao
Photo courtesy of Atlantic Theater Company

Q and Z continue to tell their stories, directly addressing the audience and referring to one another in the second person.  Their identities develop into their adolescent and teen years.  They become more independent of one another, yet are fully aware of each other’s feelings.  Q remains conservative and connected to her parents.  Z becomes rebellious and makes different choices.  When their parents are killed in a car accident, they find themselves full of unresolved emotions, causing resentment.  They separate.  Years go by without contact.  Z gets married and has a son, the “golden child.”  After six years, he asks his father why he has no other family.  This motivates Z to call his sister.  They re-unite with a different sense of themselves, and are able to connect on a new level. 

Rosalind Chao and BD Wong are phenomenal.  They are fully connected, even though all their dialogue is direct address.  This connection is inherent in everything they do and say.  It morphs as the characters grow and change.  These transitions are clearly mapped out in the writing.  During the first portion of the play, the characters start all their lines with “You…” as they tell the story of how and what the other character did, said, and felt.  All of their thoughts are consumed with the other’s point of view.  The second section, when the characters are estranged, their lines all start with “I” statements, as they share their own thoughts, isolated from anyone else.  In the third and final section, their lines start with “I” statements, followed by a sentence starting with “You...”  The characters have come to a place where their mutual feelings and perspectives mold and shape their experiences.  It doesn’t matter if they agree or are in conflict.  They are able to connect, share, and commune.  This is beautifully writing.  Rosalind Chao and BD Wong embrace these words, and deliver poignant performances. 

Tony Shalhoub, Shohren Aghdashloo, BD Wong, & Rosalind Chao
Photo courtesy of Atlantic Theater Company

What Became of Us is playing at Atlantic Stage 2 Theater.  There are two casts.  BD Wong and Rosalind Chao are performing through June 15.  Tony Shalhoub and Shohren Aghdashloo will step in from June 10 through June 29.  These casting decisions are aligned with Mr. Lotfi’s vision for his play.  His intention “has always been that the roles would alternate between separate parings of actors from different diasporic backgrounds.”  It is sure to be a different experience with the two different casts.  Get your tickets while they last.

Domenick Danza

The Heart of Rock and Roll

 The Heart of Rock and Roll
James Earl Jones Theatre
May 9, 2024 

Photo courtesy of The Heart of Rock and Roll

The Heart of Rock and Roll is an original stage musical inspired by the songs of Huey Lewis and the News.  It is the most fun night on Broadway this season.  It will take you back to a simpler time, the 1980s.  Director Gordon Greenberg delivers a tight, fast moving production.  The cast is excellent.  The choreography, by Lorin Latarro, is high energy and perfect for the time period.

Bobby Stivic (played by Corey Cott) is the lead singer for a rock band.  That’s what he does on the weekends.  His day job is in a carboard factory.  In an attempt to get promoted to an executive sales position, he makes a deal with a local store that loses the company a large sum of money.  When his boss, Chuck Stone (played by John Dossett), finds out, he fires him on the spot.  Bobby comes up with a plan to get back in the good graces of the company, and recruits his friend and HR Director, Roz (played by Tamika Lawrence) to help him.  He plans on pitching a deal to Otto Fjord (played by Orville Mendoza), a Swedish furniture designer opening a chain of stores in the US.  Bobby convinces Chuck Stone’s daughter, Cassandrea (played by McKenzie Kurtz), to  help him land the deal.  They are successful.  Bobby gets the executive sales position, which has the perk of working side by side with Cassandra.  When Bobby’s band gets a national tour and recording contract, he is torn.  To make things more complicated, Cassandra is being pursued by her old college boyfriend, Tucker (played by Billy Harrigan Tighe).  These two people, who spent most of their lives pleasing others, now have to make a decision for what is best for them. 

Corey Cott & McKenzie Kurtz
Photo courtesy of The Heart of Rock and Roll

Corey Cott and McKenzie Kurtz have amazing chemistry.  Their solos in both Act II are heartfelt and vocally powerful.  There are also strong performances by John Dossett, Josh Breckenridge, F. Michael Haynie, Zoe Jensen, Tamika Lawernce, Raymond J. Lee, John-Michae Lyles, Orville Mendoza, and Billy Harrigan Tighe.

Photo courtesy of The Heart of Rock and Roll

The creative team has done a brilliant job of keeping the style and humor consistent throughout the show.  If you want to laugh, hear Huey Lewis tunes, and be transported back to the 80s (for two and a half hours) go see this show.  

The Heart of Rock and Roll is playing at the James Earl Jones Theatre.  Don’t miss it! 

Domenick Danza

Here There Are Blueberries

 Here There Are Blueberries
Tectonic Theater Project
New York Theatre Workshop
May 4, 2024 

Photo courtesy of Tectonic Theater Project
& New York Theatre Workshop

“Who are we in the story?” is the question the audience is asked at the end of Here There Are Blueberries.  Conceived and directed by Moisés Kaufman, this Tectonic Theater Project production, presented in collaboration with New York Theatre Workshop, is a visceral experience with a timely message.  The piece chronicles the discovery, examination, and research of a collection of photos taken at Auschwitz.  The stories that are revealed from this historical artifact change the way we view the participants in the horrific events of World War II.  

Rebecca Erbelding, a curator at the Holocaust Memorial Museum (played by Elizabeth Stahlmann), receives a call from Peter Wirths (played by Grant James Varjas).  He claims he has an album of photographs that he believes were taken inside Auschwitz.  He asks if the museum would like to see them.  There is much doubt as to whether the photos were actually taken in the camp, since the Nazis destroyed all evidence of the atrocities.  When the album is received, Rebecca shares it with her colleagues.  They are amazed at what they see.  There are no photos of the prisoner, but numerous photos of officers and administrators inside the Auschwitz camp and surrounding areas.  The photos record their daily activities and leisurely pursuits.  The high ranking officers are easily identified.  The timeline of events and identities of the lesser known individuals take longer to piece together.  Once they do, they draw vital and shocking conclusions about the participants in the horrific events. 

Elizabeth Stahlmann as Rebecca Erbelding
Photo courtesy of Tectonic Theater Project
& New York Theatre Workship

Dialogue scenes are crafted from interviews, testimonies, and historic documents.  These are all
masterfully scripted by Moisés Kaufman and Amanda Gronich.  The cast works as a tight ensemble, playing numerous roles, including museum investigators, Holocaust survivors, present day family members of Nazi party members, and known Nazi officials.  There are outstanding performances by Scott Barrow, Nemuna Ceesay, Kathleen Chalfant, Jonathan Raviv, Erika Rose, Elizabeth Stahlmann, Charlie Thurston, and Grant James Varjas. 

Elizabeth Stahlmann & Kathleen Chalfant
Photo courtesy of Tectonic Theater Project
& New York Theatre Workshop

The process of investigating this photographic evidence is illuminated by the projection design of David Bengali.  These projections include reproductions of the artifacts from the authenticated photo album.  They are compiled in a way that highlight specific details in the images that lead researchers to ask more questions and dig deeper.  This design element illustrates the thought process of these experts, as they uncover facts and draw conclusions.

The power of this piece is multi-layered.  It tells how historians continually uncover truth that furthers our understanding of historic events.  It also makes us aware that valuable evidence that can give powerful insight into the past can be found anywhere and at any time.  Most importantly, in this time of turbulent unrest, hate, and fear, it informs us that horrific events are not initiated by monsters, but acted upon by humans who willfully participate due to their need to belong, and have an ability to block out the hurt and harm they see.  This piece urges us to be vehemently aware of who we are in the story. 

Here There are Blueberries is playing at New York Theatre Workshop through June 16.  Go see it, and find out the meaning of title. 

Domenick Danza