Grey House

 
Grey House
Lyceum Theatre
June 2, 2023 

Photo courtesy of Grey House

You hear sound in the darkness.  Lights slowly come up on the interior of an old, rundown home.  Someone is sleeping on the couch.  You notice a second person, then a third.  They’re watching Road Runner cartoons on TV.  Your eyes search for more as the lights continue to illuminate the detail.  Your mind races with questions.  You are hooked.  You are engaged.  You are in Grey House.  Director Joe Mantello maintains this creepy atmosphere throughout the one hour and fifty minutes of the play.  Everything that occurs is intriguing and eerily disturbing.  

More sound in the darkness.  A car crash?  There is a pounding at the door.  Max (played by understudy Claire Karpen) and her husband Henry (played by Paul Sparks) stumble in.  They crashed their car on the snowy road and need help.  The house appears empty, but is not.  Raleigh (played by Laurie Metcalf) lives there with four daughters (played by Sophia Anne Caruso, Millicent Simmonds, Colby Kipnes, and Alyssa Emily Marvin) and one boy (played by Eamon Patrick O’Connell).  Raleigh helps Henry with his broken ankle, as the girls ominously hover.  The air is full of mystery and the refrigerator full of moonshine, but it’s The Ancient (played by Cyndi Coyne), who appears in the dead of night, who is most disconcerting. 

The cast of Grey House
Photo courtesy of Grey House

Your mind races with questions throughout the story, only to be followed by more questions every time a new plot element is introduced.  It’s not until the end that you start to connect the clues.  Once that connection is made, it all falls into place for a very satisfying conclusion.  Creepy, but satisfying. 

It is no easy feat to create a horror story live on stage.  Playwright Levi Holloway and this creative team have truly succeeded.  The performances are outstanding.  The cast creates a tension that never releases.  The set design by Scott Pask, lighting design by Natasha Katz, and sound design by Tom Gibbins blend magnificently to create an effect that keeps you on the edge of your seat, wanting more.  

Grey House is playing at the Lyceum Theatre.  

Domenick Danza

Hillary and Clinton

Hillary and Clinton

Golden Theatre

April 27, 2019

Photo courtesy of Hillary and Clinton

It is 2008 in New Hampshire and Hillary Clinton (played by Laurie Metcalf) is losing in the primary to Barack Obama (played by Peter Francis James).  She calls her husband, Bill (played by John Lithgow), to help her.  Her campaign manager, Mark (played by Zak Orth), is dead set against Bill Clinton’s help in the campaign.  Barack offers Hillary the position of running mate if she drops out of the race.  She wins New Hampshire, and makes the same offer to Barack.

In Hillary and Clinton Playwright Lucas Hnath has written a fictional account of these conversations in a highly successful effort to deliver a strong message.  By writing these well known, true characters, Mr. Hnath engages his audience on an emotional level right from the start.  He frames the play with an opening and closing monologue that broadens the magnitude of the spectrum already established by these characters, and puts into perspective his themes of winning vs. losing, personality vs. professional accomplishments, and right time vs. wrong time.

Laurie Metcalf as Hillary Clinton
Photo courtesy of Hillary and Clinton

If you think, as I did, that any production starring Laurie Metcalf and John Lithgow that is directed by Joe Mantello has got to be good, this show proves that point.  Joe Mantello shapes the action and layers in moments of honesty, humor, and irony.  Ms. Metcalf is riveting, as always.  Mr. Lithgow is simply remarkable.  Neither of them attempts an imitation of the people they portray.  They both create individual and genuine characters facing personal challenges while juggling monumental reality.  Equally strong performances are also delivered by Zak Orth and Peter Francis James.

Hillary and Clinton is playing at the Golden Theatre.  Go see this show!  You will be engaged on numerous levels and propelled into deep thought on more than just the subject matter.

Domenick Danza

The Glass Menagerie

The Glass Menagerie

Belasco Theatre

May 20, 2017

Photo courtesy of The Glass Menagerie

Tennessee Williams’ words ring powerfully clear and vigorous in Director Sam Gold’s stark and poignant interpretations of The Glass Menagerie.  It is truly breathtaking.  The bare stage magically lends itself to the illusion of memory that Mr. Williams poetically inspires.  The phenomenal cast draws you in and engages you on a profoundly emitonal level.

The stage is empty, except for a table and four orange chairs.  Tom (played by Joe Mantello) enters and tells us, “I have tricks in my pocket.  I have tricks up my sleeve.  But I am the opposite of a stage magician.  I give you truth in the peasant disguise of illusion.”  The truthful moments abound as Tom brings us deep into his intimate memory of the relationships and struggles between him and his mother, Amanda (played by Sally Field), and his sister, Laura (played by Madison Ferris).  He takes us back to the 1930’s “when the huge middles class of America was matriculating in a school for the blind.”  Amanda worries about Laura’s future.  She pays for her to go to business school, but due to Laura’s shy nature and social disability, she drops out.  Amanda convinces Tom to invite a friend from his factory job to dinner as a “Gentleman Caller” for Laura.  When Tom brings home Jim (played by Finn Wittrock), Laura is paralyzed with fear.  Jim charms her in a candle-lit scene that allows her to see herself truthfully.

Madison Ferris, Sally Field, & Joe Mantello
Photo courtesy of The Glass Menagerie

Joe Mantello’s portrayal of Tom is tender and troubled.  The love he feels for his sister and his mother is genuine, yet his need to escape the stagnation of his life in St. Louis is crushing.  The relationship between him and Sally Field’s Amanda is realistic in its fire and sensitivity.  These two actors are phenomenal in these roles.  The moment when Amada asks Tom to bring home a gentleman caller for his sister is heart stopping.  The scene between them when Tom explains how Laura is different than other girls is emotionally gripping.  Joe Mantello’s Tom is clearly his mother’s son, complete with a flair for the dramatics.  It is Tom’s need to break the intimate bond between these two characters that creates the main conflict of the play.  This is clearly defined and powerfully interpreted by these two stellar actors.  

Photo courtesy of The Glass Menagerie

Madison Ferris’ Laura is strong and stoic.  She uses her withdrawal as a means to find inner strength.  She is calm and resilient in the face of her mother’s disapproval and outlook.  Due to her physical disability, the care and patience she receives from her mother and brother become a driving force in the main conflict.  The continual provision of this care is of utmost importance to the both of them, yet their ability to maintain it is constantly in question.  The image used in the poster for this production, which is distinctly atypical, is perfectly chosen for Mr. Gold’s version of this play.  Instead of the usual representation of the fragility of Laura’s character, it symbolizes her strength and perseverance.

Photo courtesy of The Glass Menagerie

The description Tom gives of Jim as “the most realistic character in the play, being an emissary for a world of reality that we were somehow set apart from” is impeccably portrayed by Finn Wittrock.  He is energetic and optimistic, and turns the world of the play upside down.

Sam Gold made profound choices in his direction of this American classic that create a visceral experience beyond expectation.  The closing scene is hauntingly insightful.  Unfortunately, this astounding production ends its limited Broadway run on May 21. 

Domenick Danza

The Humans

The Humans

Roundabout Theatre Company

The Helen Hayes Theatre

January 31, 2016

Photo courtesy of The Humans

The Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of The Humans has moved to Broadway’s Helen Hayes Theatre.  The script, written by Stephen Karam, is brilliantly crafted with strong dramatic action that keeps the audience riveted.  Director Joe Mantello directed a seamless ninety minutes of action that enthralls, entertains, and excites.  The cast of five naturalistically delve into the underlying issues that bubble beneath the surface of continuous holiday conversation.  They then boomerang back with understanding that tenderly defines the family network that the play so aptly and realistically portrays. 

Brigid (played by Sarah Steele) invites her family for Thanksgiving dinner.  She has just moved into a new apartment in lower Manhattan that she shares with her boyfriend, Richard (played by Arian Moayed).  Her mother, Deirdre (played by Jayne Houdyshell), is constantly dropping remarks about Brigid and Richard not being married.  Her father, Erik (played by Reed Birney), has been having trouble sleeping and shares one of his disturbing nightmares.  Her sister, Aimee (played by Cassie Beck), is suffering from gastric colitis, has recently broken up with her longtime partner, and is being let go from her law firm.  Momo, her grandmother (played by Lauren Klein), is suffering from dementia and violent outbursts.  The “normal” family holiday stress drives the dinner conversation, revealing a few serious emotional scars.  The evening culminates in an announcement that shakes the foundation and security of this close family unit.

Sarah Steele, Arian Moayed, & Jayne Houdyshell
Photo courtesy of The Humans

This is a true ensemble piece with five strongly developed characters.  Each one carries a storyline of their own.  It is their careful and deliberate intertwining that makes the play engaging.  All the actors are fully committed and create a web of complex relationships that are realistic, truthful, and endearing.  The set, by David Zinn, is an ingenious split level design that effectively allows action to be viewed simultaneously.  The lighting, by Justin Townsend, and sound, by Fitz Patton, create an atmosphere of mystery and suspense that builds as the play reaches its climax.  

Photo courtesy of The Humans

The Humans is performed without an intermission.  There is no late seating and the notice in the program says, “If you leave your seat for any reason during the performance, you will not be permitted to return.”  Rightly so.  The action of this play should not be interrupted once it begins… and should not be missed.  Get a ticket today!

Domenick Danza

Airline Highway

Airline Highway

Manhattan Theatre Club

The Samuel J. Friedman Theatre

April 25, 2015

Photo courtesy of Airline Highway
& Manhattan Theatre Club

Airline Highway is a remarkable piece of theatre.  Originally produced at Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago this past winter, it is now presented on Broadway by the Manhattan Theatre Club.  The production is superbly directed by Joe Mantello, and you MUST experience it.  Each actor in this powerful ensemble serves up a skillfully flawless performance.  The play is impactful.  It pulls you into relationships with a bazaar array of characters that are linked to one another through hardship and bad luck.  The stage overflows with enticing moments, enthralling stories, and engaging conflicts.

Photo courtesy of Airline Highway
& Manhattan Theatre Club

Tanya (Julie White) is throwing a “living funeral” for Miss Ruby (Judith Roberts), and all of her extended family members living at the Hummingbird Motel on Airline Highway in New Orleans will be in attendance.  The Hummingbird is a derelict motel, and its residents are prostitutes, strippers, drug addicts, ex-cons, drunks, and other assorted vagabonds.  The conflict begins when Bait Boy (Joe Tippett), who escaped the dead end life of his once companions, returns for a last visit with Miss Ruby.  He has started a new life in Atlanta with his “sugar momma” and has returned in the company of his teen age “step daughter” Zoe (Carolyn Braver).  The intertwining of relationships and hard-edge conflict runs deep and dirty.  The New Orleans style celebration of life builds to a drunken row in Act II where everything gets ugly, raw, and real.

The script, by Lisa D’Amour, is phenomenal.  She creates an ensemble piece that truly amazes the senses and engulfs the imagination.  D’Amour provides a personal view into the background of each character through Zoe and her ongoing research for a high school sociology report.  She has been assigned to research and observe subcultures.  Throughout the play she interviews each character on how they came to live at the Hummingbird.  Her character becomes an ingenious devise through which the audience is able to begin processing the experience of the play and take in the deeper subjects and stronger moments.  By the time the report is presented at the end of the play, it has become a stunning documentation of an outsider’s insight into this subculture. 

Photo courtesy of Airline Highway & Manhattan Theatre Club

So much comes at the audience so fast, and still amazingly naturalistic, that I want to see it again, or read it, so I can analyze the themes and the messages in more detail.  The essence and value of life.  The economic divide.  The significance of subcultures in a society.  The non-stop and exhausting running when we cannot face the truth about ourselves.  These are all themes that this play explores.  They explode on the stage as the celebration escalates.  It is too much to take in at once, but let the journey begin by experiencing the perspective of this playwright and the insight of this tremendous production. 

Domenick Danza

On a personal note:  It was a great night for conversation with fellow audience members. 

Before the show I had a great conversation with the couple next to me.  They were Manhattan Theatre Club subscribers and had seen a good amount of theatre from this and last season to talk about.  He was a Pediatrician and his wife was a Consumer Report analyst (or researcher). They were originally from Texas and during intermission we discussed the various “subcultures” the play presented, how far we’ve come as a society, and how far we have yet to progress.  They were a pleasant addition to my night out. 

As I was leaving the theatre, I met another couple.  The wife was very disturbed by one line in the play.  One character talked about being “airlifted out”.  This woman was from New Orleans and took that line as a flippant reference to Hurricane Katrina survivors.  She was extremely upset.  Our conversation was short, but to the point.  I asked her what she was upset about because I felt the play treated all the characters and their lifestyles with tremendous dignity.  She agreed and told me that she felt the details in the script and production were extremely accurate. The Hummingbird Motel was based on a Motel in New Orleans.  Miss Ruby and the stripper act she performed in her hey-day was very true to style.   It was that one line that threw her emotionally.  

This play is a kaleidoscope and clearly needs to be processed and discussed.  Specific moments have different meaning for different people, and it is when you share and discuss your reactions that you will realize the richness and true impact of the text and performances.