Thornton Wilder’s The Emporium

 Thornton Wilder’s The Emporium
Classic Stage Company
May 16, 2026 

Photo courtesy of Classic Stage Company

Classic Stage Company’s production of Thornton Wilder’s The Emporium is inspiring.  Kudos to playwright Kirk Lynn for uncovering this unfinished Thornton Wilder play and bringing it to fruition.  The play encompasses Mr. Wilder’s philosophical point of view.  It has the powerful images contained in The Skin or Our Teeth, and the poetic scope of Our Town.  Director Rob Melrose orchestrates the action, putting focus on the repeated motifs that culminate in a poignant message. 

John (played by Joe Tapper) wants to work at the Emporium.  It’s all he thinks about while growing up at the orphanage, and the reason why he runs away from the farm he works on after he is adopted.  It’s not until he gets to the city that he realizes how hard it is to get a job there.  He meets Laurencia (played by Cassia Thompson), who works at the Emporium.  She starts to tell John how to get a job there, but he cuts her off before she can finish.  He runs off to apply through an independent employment agency, and ends up working at Craigie’s Departmental Store.  It’s not as glamorous, but it’s steady work and offers immediate satisfaction.  Just as he is about to achieve a top-level position at Craigie’s, John realizes he longs for something more. 

Candy Buckley & Joe Tapper
Photo courtesy of Classic Stage Company

Joe Tapper is full of ambition and chutzpah as John.  He strives to achieve his ultimate goal and becomes smaller when he settles for less.  He and Cassia Thompson have natural chemistry.  Ms. Thompson portrays Laurencia as grounded and sure of herself.  As the action progresses, it becomes clear that the calm security she project can dissipate at any time.  When the action culminates in the final scene, these two characters are united in a full understanding of their journey, and these two actors play it beautifully.  

Candy Buckley, Partrick Kerr, Joe Tapper, Eva Kaminsky, & Mahira Kakkar
Photo courtesy of Classic Stage Company

Candy Buckley plays numerous characters.  She is Bernice, an employee at the Emporium.  She plays Mrs. Foster, the woman who runs the orphanage with her husband.  She plays the Farmer’s wife who adopts John.  She is the woman who runs the independent employment agency.  Her most uniquely comic role is Ermengarde, the daughter of the man who own Craigie’s Departmental Store.  Ms. Buckley creates distinct and bold characters in each of these roles.  Her energy establishes a throughline, connecting every scene and leading the audience to Mr. Wilder’s stunning conclusion.  

Eva Kaminsky, Derek Smith, Candy Buckley, & Mahria Kakkar
Photo courtesy of Classic Stage Company

Derek Smith also plays numerous roles, and always opposite Ms. Buckley.  They are wonderful
together.  Mr. Smith’s characters challenge John, constantly pushing him out of his comfort zone.  Their scenes build with urgency, propelling the action forward and forcing John to make decisions to face his true calling. 

There are also strong and enigmatic performances by Mahira Kakkar, Eva Kaminsky, and Patrick Kerr.  Their roles and purpose in the story are constantly shifting, until the final scene, where it all falls into place. 

Thornton Wilder’s The Emporium is playing at Classic Stage Company through June 7.  As in all Thronton Wilder’s plays, it contains a strong message of hope, which is something we all need to feel at this time.  It is certain to ring differently for each audience member.  Don’t miss it! 

Domenick Danza

Travesties

Travesties

Roundabout Theatre Company

American Airlines Theatre

April 5, 2018

Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

Tom Stoppard’s Travesties is receiving a tremendous revival by Roundabout Theatre Company.  Director Patrick Marber is in sync with Mr. Stoppard’s rhythms and humor.  The cast magnificently delivers the bite in the sarcasm and the punch in the irony.  The political and social commentary is clear and relevant, and makes an even more impressive statement when you realize it was first performed in 1974.

Tom Hollander as Henry Carr
Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

Henry Carr (played by Tom Hollander) pieces together the stories from his younger days in 1918 after the war in Zurich, Switzerland.  First there was his acquaintance with Tristan Tzara (played by Seth Numrich), the Romanian radical free thinker who helped find the Dada movement.  Next was the meeting with James Joyce (played by Peter McDonald), while he was writing Ulysses.  Then there was his run-ins with Lenin (played by Dan Butler) at the local library.  The discourse over revolution, socialism, art for art’s sake, and art for social commentary commands the air when these characters collide.  The comedy rises when Gwendolyn (played by Scarlett Strallen) and Cecily (played by Sara Topham) mistake the identities of Henry and Tristan.  This parallels the plot of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Ernest, a play in which James Joyce convinces Henry to star in. 

Tom Hollander, Dan Butler, Patrick Kerr, Seth Numrich, & Patrick Marber
Photo courtesy of  Walter McBride, Broadway World,
& Roundabout Theatre Company 

Tom Hollander and Seth Numrich are mesmerizing as Henry Carr and Tristan Tzara.  Peter McDonald and Dan Butler boldly embody the characters of James Joyce and Lenin.  Patrick Kerr is underplayed perfection as Bennet, Henry Carr’s butler.  The entire cast works as a tight ensemble.  Their timing is impeccable.  Their physicalities are broad and energetic.  They bring light to Mr. Stoppard’s strong statements about art and humanity, which ring truthfully and vigorously.

The set design by Tim Hatley is full of surprises, allowing for numerous exit and entrance points and a wide variety of levels.  Lighting by Neil Austin is crisp and succinct, and greatly enhances the timing of the humor and the enthusiasm of the absurdity.

Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

From the Roundabout Theatre Company program notes:  “A travesty is a ‘debased, distorted, or grossly inferior imitation’ of something; can also be defined as an artistic imitation of something in a ridiculously inappropriate style; Travesties is a travesty of The Importance of Being Ernest and other literary sources; characters in Travesties are travesties of the real people they are based on.”  This production sharply focuses on these four statements, bringing valuable insight to the purpose of art and how our involvement in it makes us human

Travesties is running at the American Airlines Theatre through June 17. 

Domenick Danza