Cardinal

Cardinal

Second Stage Theater

Tony Kiser Theater

January 13, 2018

Photos courtesy of Second Stage Theater

If you paint the town red, literally paint all the buildings in the town red, it will attract people and improve the economy for long-time residents.  This is the premise for Greg Pierce’s new play Cardinal, now playing at Second Stage Theater.  His characters are realistic and multi-layered.  The conflicts that arise are compelling and engaging.  Director Kate Whoriskey keeps the action moving, building the tension through to the very end.

Lydia Lensky (played by Anna Chlumsky) pitches a brilliant idea to Jeff Torm (played by Adam Pally), the Mayor of her hometown.  She proposes that by painting all the downtown buildings red, cardinal actually, their dying upstate New York factory town will become a destination stop.  It passes the city vote and gets the attention of a Chinese businessman who compromises the integrity of the plan.  Townspeople are quickly displaced, and Lydia’s intention becomes questionable.

The Cast of Cardinal
Photo courtesy of Second Stage Theater

Adam Pally is charming and likeable as the gullible, young mayor who suffers from depression and obsessive behavior.  Anna Chlumsky is a driving force as Lydia.  The relationship they create is complex, intriguing, and believable.  It propels the action of the play.  Becky Ann Baker and Alex Hurt play two long-time, mother/son residents of the town.  Their pacing and connectedness create the atmosphere of what life in this small town has been for generations.  Their fears and resistance to change are truthful and clearly understood.  Stephen Park and Eugene Young play the father/son business partners who cash in on the red city.  They play their scenes with just the right balance of humor and determination.

The Second Stage Theater’s production of Cardinal is running at the Tony Kiser Theater through February 25.  The play offers a unique glimpse at how consequences can get out to hand when making decision for the wrong reasons.  It makes a strong statement about how our deepest fear often manifests itself when we choose to run from it.

 Domenick Danza

Peer Gynt

Peer Gynt

Classic Stage Company

May 22, 2016

Photo courtesy of Classic Stage Company

Peer Gynt, Henrik Ibsen’s five act play written in verse and loosely based on a Norwegian fairy tale, is presently in production at Classic Stage Company.  Ibsen’s script is said to “blend poetry with social satire and realistic scenes with surreal ones.”  This holds true in this production, especially the social commentary, which rings relevant to our present day political dilemma.  Directed and adapted by John Doyle, these moments are strongly focused, yet he has omitted the depth and expanse of the main character’s experiences on his journey by diminished the show to a mere one hour and fifty minutes without an intermission. 

Peer Gynt (played by Gabriel Ebert) longs for greatness.  To be specific, he yearns to be emperor.  He rides a wild stag and steals the virginity of the bride of a fellow townsperson.  He gains wealth and dubs himself a prophet.  He is told he has become an emperor, but only of himself.  This achievement is not enough for him.  In the final moments he realizes he has not been true to himself, and is therefore not able to receive the rewards he desires.

Gabriel Ebert as Peer Gynt
Photo courtesy of Classic Stage Company

The actors (Gabriel Ebert, Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Becky Ann Baker, Adam Heller, Jane Pfitsch, Dylan Baker, and George Abud) all do an amazing job creating true characters whose objectives are clearly and realistically motivated.  The final section of the play (Act 5 from Ibsen’s script) is powerful and provocative, yet outweighs the surface skimming of the previous sections.  The most memorable scene is when Peer Gynt peels an onion trying to find the center.  He compares each of the layers to an experience he had on his journey.  When he realizes there is no center to the onion, only continual layers, he feels a sense of despair.  His response offers an understanding that he was searching for something deeper all along.  The production, however, lacks the heightened sense of adventure and visceral connection needed to make that moment, and others like it, compelling and meaningful.

Peer Gynt runs at ClassicStage Company thought June 16.

Domenick Danza

Dear Elizabeth

Dear Elizabeth

WP (Women’s Project) Theater

November 14, 2015

Photo courtesy of WP Theater

I have read a number of Sarah Ruhl plays and have seen a few productions.  I find her unique writing style in the genre of magical realism to be captivating.  When I saw her name associated with the WP (Women’s Project) Theater’s Dear Elizabeth, I quickly grabbed a ticket.  The play is based on Words in Air: The Complete Correspondence Between Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell.  The play is sprinkled with works of these two poets as well as the point of view of Ms. Ruhl, making it a touching and personal theatrical experience. 

Becky Ann Baker & Peter Scolari

Very much set up like the Broadway production of Love Letters, the play has different well known Broadway and television actors stepping in every two weeks.  I was lucky to see Becky Ann Baker and Peter Scolari.  Their chemistry and energy created a believable account of the decades-long relationship between the two prolific poets.  Sarah Ruhl wrote in the program notes that "the silence between the letters fascinated me.”  It is in these interludes that Ms. Ruhl allows characters of Ms. Bishop and Mr. Lowell to reveal a deeper side of themselves.  She achieves this by skillfully arranging the writing of the letters so they are always “speaking in their own words.”

Playwright Sarah Ruhl

Watching the play made me think about how we do not take time to correspond anymore.  A quick email or an abbreviated text does not serve the same purpose or communicate the same level of thought as sitting down and putting a pen to paper.  The immediacy of email eliminates time spent to ponder and choose words with accuracy and care.  Letter writing has become a lost art and with that went the opportunity to have a record of our experiences, reflections, and relationships. 

Dear Elizabeth is playing at the WP Theater until December 5.  Check the website before getting tickets to see who is featured.  Cherry Jones will be in from November 16 through 21.  That is sure to be amazing.

Domenick Danza