Flying Over Sunset

 Flying Over Sunset
Lincoln Center Theater
Vivian Beaumont Theater
November 28, 2021 

Photo courtesy of Lincoln Center Theater

Flying Over Sunset is a psychological exploration of three true to life characters from the mid-20^th century (Aldous Huxley, Clare Boothe Luce, and Cary Grant).  The events leading up to the story are true, yet the action of the play is fiction.  It is a known fact that Aldous Huxley, Clare Boothe Luce, and Cary Grant experimented with LSD.  Playwright/Director James Lapine springboards this actuality into a journey of profound discovery and deep insight.  Tom Kitt’s music and Michael Korie’s lyrics lure the audience further in by engaging their imaginations and amplifying their emotions.  

We first meet Aldous Huxley (played by Harry Hadden-Paton) when his is shopping at Rexall Drugs with his wife Maria (played by Laura Shoop).  She instructed their close friend Gerald Heard (played by Robert Sella) to let Aldous try LSD.  The drug takes effect while they are shopping, and everything in the store vividly comes to life for Aldous. 

Tony Yazbeck, Harry Hadden-Paton, & Carmen Cusack
Photo courtesy of Lincoln Center Theater

Cary Grant (played by Tony Yazbeck) makes an appointment with his wife’s therapist (played by Nehal Joshi) to request a dose of LSD.  While under the influence of the drug, he sees himself as a child (played by Atticus Ware) performing in vaudeville in England, dressed in girl’s clothing.  Cary faces buried memories from his childhood, including his father’s abuse and his mother’s abandonment.

Gerald visits his dear friend Clare Boothe Luce (played by Carmen Cusack) in the garden of her Connecticut home.  She asks him to gives her LSD.  While under the influence, she sees a vision of her deceased daughter and mother, both of whom died in tragic car accidents.  She is joyous and comforted by this vision. 

During a chance meeting at the Brown Derby in Los Angeles, Aldous Huxley, Clare Boothe Luce, and Cary Grant reveal the serious changes they are all facing.  They joke that the one thing they all have in common is their experimentation with LSD.  They decide to meet and, with Gerald as their guide, share an LSD trip.  This experience takes them in separate directions, yet bonds them in genuine moments of mutual need and earnest understanding. 

Robert Selia, Harry Hadden-Paton,
Carmen Cusack, & Tony Yazbeck
Photo courtesy of Lincoln Center Theater

This is truly an ensemble musical, as each character has a separate and strong story line that comes together in the end.  Carmen Cusack is vibrant as Clare Boothe Luce.  Her character oozes with charm and her singing is magical.  Harry Haddon-Paton has a strong presence as Aldous Huxley.  He does everything as a stiff upper lip Englishman with a high intellect.  Tony Yazbeck is smooth as Cary Grant.  He captures the image perfectly, and fills the character with the truths and challenges the man struggled with his whole life.  Atticus Ware is outstanding as Archie Leach, the young Cary Grant.  He and Mr. Yazbeck complement one another very well.

Robert Sella (as Gerald Heard) is the glue that brings all the characters and events of the story together.  His character is consistently present, and his performance is firmly grounded.  There are also strong performances by Laura Shoop, Nehal Joshi, Kanisha Marie Feliciano, Michelle Ragusa, and Emily Pynenburg.  

Michelle Dorrance’s choreography creates rhythms that give the show a driving pulse.  Her duets create strong relationships and viscerally move the plot forward.  The set, designed by Beowulf Boritt, makes this Lincoln Center Theater production visually stunning. 

Flying Over Sunset explores the hardships that separate us and the opportunities that can bring us together.  It is playing at the Vivian Beaumont Theater through February 6. 

Domenick Danza

Dr. Zhivago

Dr. Zhivago

The Broadway Theatre

April 10, 2015

Photo courtesy of Dr. Zhivago

Dr. Zhivago is presently in previews and set to open April 21.  The production has a lot going for it.  It is a sweeping, fast-paced show with a strong, bold score, amazing voices, a powerful leading man in the title role, set designs that skillfully utilize technology to create effective atmospheres, and a crisp lighting design.  With all of these effective elements in place, why does the production seem to fall short of the epic greatness it can achieve, and can it be cleaned up before opening?

All the performances are excellent.  Tam Mutu, as Yuri Zhivago, is vibrant and fierce.  He and Lara Lee Gaya, who plays his wife, Tonia Gromeko, create a tender and truthful relationship.  Kelli Barrett, as Lara Guishar, is willful and vocally superb.  Unfortunately, the chemistry between her and Tam Mutu is lacking.  Their visceral attraction needs to juxtapose the decisions they both have made in the past with the restrictions of the future in a crumbling society.  Without this zeal, the plot does not drive forward with the passion and complexity it needs.  In addition, Ms. Barrett’s gestures and facial expression appear relatively contemporary against the stoic façade of the other characters. 

Tam Mutu and Kelli Barrett
Photo courtesy of Dr. Zhivago

Other strong performances that need to be mentioned are Paul Alexander Nolan as Pasha Antipov, Tom Hewitt as Viktor Komarovsky, Jamie Jackson as Alexander Gromeko, and Jacqueline Antaramian as Anna Gromeko.  Most impressive were Jonah Halperin as Young Yuri, Sophia Gennusa as Young Lara, and Ava-Riley Miles as Young Tonia.  These three young actors appear in the opening scene and capture not only the essence of the struggle of their characters, but the full attention and genuine interest of the audience.

The music, by Lucy Simon, and lyrics by Michael Korie and Amy Powers, are sweeping and solid.  The songs transform the action of the scenes and allow the characters to reveal and discover themselves and therefore grow and move the story forward.  All the leads and the ensemble perform this score with amazing skill and clarity.  The song “Somewhere My Love” (Lara’s Theme from the movie) is sung and danced by a group of Nurses, Yuri, and Lara in the first act.  Maybe it was just familiarity, but the song seemed out of place with the boldness and broad strokes of the score. 

Photo courtesy of Dr. Zhivago

The sets, designed by Michael Scott-Mitchell, are epic and classic.  The design expands the limitations of the stage, creating numerous settings ranging from high ceilinged Russian estates to open battlefields.  Tall structures slide in and out and are illuminated and magnified by projections, computer images, smoke, and flame.  Piercing through all of this is a stunning lighting design by Howell Binkley, which focuses your eye on the characters and action, allowing for a more intimate connection within the scale of the production.  Among the lush and realistic setting, were scattered a few questionable images, such as faces of nurses and victims during the war scenes, intoxicating images of the character of Lara, and a portrait (photo) of Lara (the only blonde Russian who only wore blue).  Though effective in making a statement, these images were not consistent with the design of the show.  Another dubious set piece was the wall of chairs at the end of the first act.  Though visually enthralling, its symbolic representation was not palpable.

I have one thing to say to director Des McAnuff: Sightlines, Sightlines Sightlines!  That’s one thing, but said three times for effect.  The opening of the show set the pace for the entire evening.  I have not seen a better opening scene serving this purpose since his production of The Who’s Tommy.  However, since most of the opening was staged for the center section of the orchestra to see, and I was sitting house left (far left), I did not get the full effect.  The first act closing was powerful, but again, the visual effect was missed by anyone sitting orchestra right or left due to the fact that the ensemble was gathered on each side of the stage and the main characters were farther upstage center.  There was a writing table placed down stage right for the entire show.  I liked how this represented in the ever-present poet in the character of Uri Zhivago, yet from where I was sitting, it was constantly blocking anyone standing up stage center, which was the section of the stage where most of the action took place.  I don’t mean to sound like a begrudged TDF ticket holder, but when you cannot see the main action of the play from your eighth row orchestra seat because the ensemble or a prop is in the way, something is wrong with the staging.

Photo courtesy of Dr. Zhviago

The show is a resolute, epic journey that covers the first decades of the twentieth century in Russian history.  The historic events and political conflicts are clearly dramatized.  The first act ran one hour and twenty-five minutes.  The second act ran another hour and twenty minutes.  At no point was the running time an issue.  I definitely got my money’s worth.  I hope they can fix and fine time in the coming week before opening.  Please comment if you see the show after opening night and have a different point of view.

Domenick Danza