Orlando

Orlando
Pershing Square Signature Center
Signature Theatre
April 27, 2024 

Photo courtesy of Signature Theatre

The Signature Theatre production of Sarah Ruhl’s Orlando is a fantastic romp through the centuries.  Adapted from the Virginia Woolf novel of the same title in 2000, Ms. Ruhl chose to tell this story through narration, most of which comes directly from the original novel.  She utilizes a chorus of six actors, playing gender fluid characters, to keep the action moving.  With Taylor Mac in the lead role, the humor becomes equally matched with truthful moments of discovery and conflict.

Orlando (played by Taylor Mac) wants to be a poet.  The Queen (played by Nathan Lee Graham) adopts him, and makes him her own.  When Orlando falls in love with a Russian Princess (played by Rad Pereira), they run off together, or rather skate down the frozen River Thames.  The Princess abandons Orlando, who then meets the Archduchess (played by Lisa Kron), and experiences lust.  He quickly tires of her, and proclaims he want to return home.  After retiring to his bed, he emerges a woman. 

The cast of Orlando
Photo courtesy of Signature Theatre

On the journey home, Orlando discovers both the freedom and limitations of being a woman.  She meets the Archduchess again, only to find that she is a man.  He pursues Orlando, but does not succeed at wooing her.  Centuries pass, and Orlando yearns to be wed.  She meets Marmaduke (played by TL Thompson).   After they fall in love, they discover they are both male and female simultaneously.  Centuries pass again, taking Orlando into the twentieth century.  The present moment is filled with confusion that leads to understanding and acceptance. 

TL Thompson & Taylor Mac
Photo courtesy of Signature Theatre

Will Davis stylistically directs this piece with a sharp eye on consistency, and a precise sense of timing, rhythm, and pace.  Scenic design by Arnulfo Maldonado creates a sparce, imaginative atmosphere that is heightened by Oana Botez’s costumes.  The stage is empty most of the time, with detailed set pieces rolled on as needed, and magnificent drops flown in.  The costumes are also pieced together in an impressionistic manner, creating the illusion of the numerous time periods, while allowing for fast changes.

Orlando is playing at the Pershing Square Signature Center through May 12. 

Domenick Danza

Fun Home

Fun Home

Circle in the Square

February 17, 2016

Photo courtesy of Fun Home

Fun Home is an emotional journey of growing up and facing life’s hidden truths. It is a tender and realistic view of the world at that time in life when certain truths that have been held back are brought out into the open.  It is the emotional triumph when you make sense of it all and are able to face life with hope and truer sense of yourself.  These are very big statements to make about a Broadway musical, yet to sit in the theatre and experience the lives of the characters unfold in a multi-dimensional manner is rare.  The story itself, based on the graphic novel by Alison Bechdel, is funny, honest, and moving.  The book and lyrics by Lisa Kron are bold and riveting.  The music by Jeanine Tesori engulfs and engages you in the dichotomy of both the whimsy and stark realities of the characters and situation.

Beth Malone & Micheal Cerveris
Photo courtesy of Fun Home

The main character, Alison (played by Beth Malone), tell us in the first scene that she and her dad (played by Michael Cerveris) are gay and that he killed himself by stepping out in front of a speeding truck.  That very tragic proclamation is quickly forgotten as you follow the playful antics of Alison (played by Gabriella Pizzolo as a child) and her two brothers (played by Zell Stelle Morrow and Oscar Williams).  She comes out while in college (played at that age by Lauren Patten) and begins to face the darker truths of her family life.  The fact that we simultaneously see Alison played by three actors at specific phases of her life combined with the amazing writing and emotional score allows the story to peel away and be revealed one layer at a time.   This gives the

Judy Kuhn & Sydney Lucas (original cast)
Photo courtesy of Fun Home

perspective of Alison’s memory a dominant role in the narrative as facts open up and then folds back in non-chronological order.   The most heart-rending moment is by Judy Kuhn as Alison’s mother in the song “Days and Days.”  It is a courageous confession of the disappointments in her marriage and the hopes for her daughter.  Ms. Kuhn delivers it flawlessly.

The set design by David Zinn and lighting design by Ben Stanton are phenomenal.  The flow from one moment to the next is conceived and conveyed brilliantly.  The design is in the scheme as set pieces and furniture rise up from beneath the floor, then descend to reappear on the other side of the stage.  They utilize the capacity

Photo courtesy of Fun Home

and technology of the space with carefully crafted expertise.

Everything you heard and read about Fun Home is true.  It is sure to be running for a long while, yet don’t put off seeing it.  It is a work of theatre that needs to be experienced first-hand. 

Domenick Danza