Pass Over

Pass Over

August Wilson Theatre

August 11, 2021

Antionette Chinonye Nwandu’s play Pass Over is a brilliantly crafted piece of theatre.  There is no better way to reopen Broadway than with this masterwork, giving us all a chance to look at ourselves and “pass over’ into a hopeful post-pandemic existence.  Director Danya Taymor brings light to every essential moment in this production, allowing the audience to bathe in every one of Ms. Nwandu’s metaphors, and dive deeply into her superb writing.  

Photo courtsey of Pass Over

Moses (played by Jon Michael Hill) and Kitch (played by Namir Smallwood) rise to another morning on their street, imagining passing over to a different life.  They joke about their top ten list of things they’d have and do there.  When a white man (played by Gabriel Ebert) loses his way and finds himself on Moses and Kitch’s street, he offers them food and pleasant conversation.  Kitch is eager to partake, but Moses is skeptical, even though the food includes Moses’ number one favorite from his top ten list.  The mood abruptly shifts as the reality of the street returns.  A police officer (also played by Gabriel Ebert) enters and reminds the men of their place on the street.  When the next day begins, Moses is unwilling to play the top ten game.  He is driven to live up to his name and devise a plan to lead Kitch to the promised land. 

Jon Michael Hill & Namir Smallwood
Photo courtesy of Pass Over

Jon Michael Hill and Namir Smallwood maintain a tight, steady rhythm throughout the piece.  These
two skilled actors fill the repetition in the writing with rich subtext so it never has the same meaning.  Mr. Hill plays a strong leader and Mr. Smallwood his eager follower.  They do not leave the stage for ninety minute, and are mesmerizing for every second of that time.  When Gabriel Ebert enters, the rhythm shifts.  He lures the two characters and the audience down a very threatening path, and does not falter on his charm or timing as the mood darkens.  

Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu has written a play filled with stark reality, poetic dialogue, and bold metaphor.  She holds up a mirror that you cannot avoid looking in and seeing truth.  Pass Over is playing on Broadway at the August Wilson Theatre.  Get a ticket right away! 

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

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

Therese Raquin

Therese Raquin

Roundabout Theatre Company

Studio 54

December 26, 2015

Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

My colleague and fellow blogger, Dierdre Deloatch, texted me last week to say she saw Therese Raquin.  She highly recommended it.  Since I trust her more than the reviews, I immediately went on line to TDF to see if it was available.  I got a ticket for December 26 at 2:00, and prayed that Keira Knightly and Judith Light would both be in for the matinee.  They were, and I have to concur with Ms. Deloatch.  The show is dark and intense.  It is wonderfully conceived and directed.  All the performers are engaging and mesmerizing.

Matt Ryan, Judith Light, Keira Knightly, & Gabriel Ebert
Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

Adapted from the Emile Zola novel by Helen Edmundson, this tale of repression and servitude takes place in France in the year 1868.  Therese Raquin (played by Keira Knightly, making her Broadway debut) has been raised by Madame Raquin, her aunt (played by Judith Light).  Now that she is of age, Madame Raquin arranges for Therese to marry her son, Camille (played by Gabriel Ebert).  It is a loveless marriage based on the servitude that Therese has become accustomed to through her upbringing.  When Camille announces that he wishes to move the family to Paris for better opportunity, Therese sees the glimmer of a better life.  She quickly realizes that hope is futile, until her husband brings home an old friend, Laurent (played by Matt Ryan).

Keira Knightly & Matt Ryan
Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

The chemistry between Ms. Knightly and Mr. Ryan is electric.  When Laurent first enters the Raquin’s Paris residence, you can feel the magnetism between the two characters.  The action of two-thirds of the play hinges upon this attraction, and these two actors skillfully deliver with exuberance.  Therese speaks sporadically during Act I, yet Ms. Knightly has the ability to clearly and effortlessly communicate her thoughts through subtle body language, carefully gestures, and intimate glances.  Both Laurent and Therese undergo huge transformations in the second act.  Ms. Knightly and Mr. Ryan seamlessly take these leaps by captivating the audience until the climax of the play.  They motivate every change and communicate every thought.

Keira Knightly & Judith Light
Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

Judith Light is amazing as Madame Raquin, a role out of her physical type and age range, yet clearly not out of reach of her incredible talent and expertise.  The aging and infirmity of her character is impeccable and emotionally driven.  Gabriel Ebert is riveting as Camille.  He skillfully portrays his constrained upbringing through his narrow mindedness, condescending comments, and physical disability.

Gabriel Ebert, Matt Ryan, & Keira Knightly
Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

The production is magnificently directed by Evan Cabnet.  The pace is steady and even.  There are small moments throughout the play that entice the senses into a deep level of engagement and keep you riveted.  The set is breathtaking.  A river flows across the stage creating tranquility, disturbance, and fear – each of which reflects Therese’s emotion at different times in the play.  The expanse of space and light of the Raquin home by the river is sharply descended upon by the heavy, low-ceilinged Paris apartment.  Lamont’s attic, sky lit apartment literally hangs amid the stars.  This unbelievable design by Beowulf Boritt makes possible a visceral understanding of the underlying fire in the characters and keeps the plot of Ms. Edmundson’s commissioned and concise adaptation moving forward.

If you listened to the reviews of Therese Raquin, chances are you missed seeing this moving and enthralling Roundabout Theatre production.  If it makes you feel better, you are not alone.  The theatre, during Broadway’s busiest season, had a large number of empty seats.  Not to worry, there’s still time.  Therese Raquin plays as Studio 54 until January 3.  Run… now! 

  

Domenick Danza