Job

 Job
The Hayes Theater
September 18, 2024 

Photo courtesy of Job

Job is a riveting and mind blowing experience.  Playwright Max Wolf Friedlich continually turns the tables on his two characters.  They shift power from moment to moment.  The use of Chekhov’s gun and the ticking clock keep the audience on the edge of their seats for the full eighty minutes.  Director Michael Herwitz builds the action by focusing on the specific needs of the characters, while allowing the bigger story to organically unfold.

Jane (played by Sydney Lemmon) has her first session with Loyd (played by Peter Friedman).  She had an emotional breakdown while on the job, and is required to see a therapist if she wants to return to work.  When Jane pulls a gun on Loyd, her mental condition becomes questionable.  As rattled as this makes Loyd, he takes control of the situation.  Jane willingly opens up, knowing Loyd has the power to grant her what she wants.  As the session progresses, Loyd unravels Jane’s traumas and fears.  Jane purposely does a bit of probing of her own, causing Loyd to reveal a few details about himself that spark her paranoia.  Or is it his dark truth? 

Peter Friedman & Sydney Lemmon
Photo courtesy of Job

Peter Friedman and Sydney Lemmon are perfectly matched in these roles.  They are both strong, fully present, identifiable, and empathetic.  It is important that the audience become invested in both of these characters, or the impact of their revelations will have no meaning.  These two actors deliver genuine performances.  They skillfully build their relationship based on the urgent need embedded in the writing.  Mr. Friedlich crafted touching and realistic backstories for both characters.  He saves these details for the moment where they have heightened impact, then uses it to recharge the action.  Everything connects and surges forward with powerful intensity.

Job is playing at The Helen Hayes Theater through October 27.  Get a ticket! 

Domenick Danza

The Beast in the Jungle

The Beast in the Jungle

Vineyard Theatre

June 15, 2018

Photo courtesy of Vineyard Theatre

The Beast in the Jungle, with music by John Kander and book by David Thompson, is now running at Vineyard Theatre.  Inspired by the Henry James novella, this “dance play” tells the romantic and tragic story of the missed opportunities for love.  Director/Choreographer Susan Stroman skillfully weaves realistic narrative with ballet and stylized movement to emotionally engage the audience in this dark tale.

John Marcher (played by Peter Friedman) advises his nephew (played by Tony Yazbeck) that if he truly loves his girlfriend, who just broke up with him because he cannot commit, he needs to run back to her, get on his knees, and ask her to marry him.  John Marcher tells his nephew the story of when he met May Bertram (played by Irina Dvorovenko) in Naples, and fell instantly in love with her.  It was the beast within him that compelled him to run from her as the mutuality of their feelings began to flourish.  This beast reared its ugly head again when they met by chance twenty years later.  It is not until sharing his story with his nephew that John faces his inner demons and is able to release them.

Irina Dvorovenko & Tony Yazbeck
Photo courtesy of Vineyard Theatre

Peter Friedman beautifully takes the audience through John Marcher’s story, facing the truth in the climax of the play.  Tony Yazbeck plays the young John Marcher as the story of his early years is told through dance.  Mr. Yazbeck is vulnerable and charming in this role.  His physical characterization and dance skills are strong and charismatic.  His transformation superbly reflects Mr. Friedman’s character.  Irina Dvorovenko is a beautiful match to Mr. Yazbeck.  She is an amazing dancer.  They connect and build a genuine relationship that carries the action of the story forward.

Photo courtesy of Vineyard Theatre

Susan Stroman uses an ensemble of six women to play numerous roles and create the setting and atmosphere of a beach in Italy, and English garden, and a New York City art gallery.  These six phenomenal dancers appear out of the darkness and create smooth transitions throughout the show.  They create the “beast” with a few simple and well-choreographed effects that evoke powerful images representing the main character’s deep-seeded fear.

John Kander’s score is lush and romantic.  Ms. Stroman’s choreography utilizes his rhythms and enhances the passionate swell in his score.  The Beast in the Jungle has been extended at Vineyard Theatre through June 24.  It is beautiful storytelling. 

Domenick Danza

Hamlet

Hamlet

The Public Theater

August 11, 2017

 

Photo courtesy of The Public Theater

Sam Gold has directed a bare bones production of Hamlet at The Public Theater that is accessible, riveting, and engaging.  He incorporates humor and song to render this tale of power, revenge, and madness into a story of human emotion and frailty.  The cast of nine are all in modern dress and double on a few roles.  The action builds from one act to the next, erupting to its fatal climax and tragic conclusion.

It is reported to the grieving Prince Hamlet (played by Oscar Isaac) that the ghost of his father, the King, has been seen roaming in the dark of night.  Hamlet seeks out the specter, who reveals that he was murdered by his brother, Claudius (played by Ritchie Coster), who now wears the crown.  This builds on Hamlet’s despair, since Claudius has already married Hamlet's mother, Gertrude (played by Charlayne Woodard).  Hamlet is obligated to take revenge.  His plot is a slow one, delayed by his need for proof of Claudius’ deed and his mother’s participation, and his desire to separate from his love, Ophelia (played by Gayle Rankin).

Charlayne Woodard & Oscar Issac
Photo courtesy of The Public Theater

Oscar Isaac’s Hamlet carefully figures out his plan while purposefully keeping the other characters at arms distance with a convincing act of madness.  His soliloquies transport the audience into Hamlet’s deeper layers of thought and emotion.  His Hamlet grows over the course of the play, coming to terms with his grief and desolation, and becoming keenly focused on his choices for action.  Charlayne Woodard’s Gertrude slowly draws the conclusion that Claudius murdered her husband.  Her physicality transforms as the realization becomes clear.  You see it in her eyes, especially in the way she looks at Claudius.  These small moments play powerfully and flip the action at unexpected moments. 

Mr. Gold juxtaposes the intensity of Laertes’ need for retribution and the heightened emotion of Ophelia’s mad scene with the slow build of Hamlet’s well thought out plan of revenge and act of madness.  Both depictions ring true, and serve two purposes.  It frames Claudius’ suspicion of Hamlet throughout the course of the play and also offers a visceral insight into Hamlet’s character and thought process.  Mr. Gold also does a stunning job of double casting.  Ritchie Coster plays both Claudius and the Ghost of King Hamlet.  His Claudius is presuming and cunning.  His King Hamlet is haunting and consumed.  There are a few scenes where he switches roles on the spot, which impressively make a strong statement.  Peter Friedman is cast as both Polonius and a Grave Digger.  He is witty and authoritative as Polonius, then, shortly after his murder, successfully hits the comic timing of one of the Grave Diggers. 

Oscar Isaac & Gayle Rankin
Photo courtesy of The Public Theater

Anatol Yusef is bold as Laertes.  His character maintains his composure and strength, then becomes overwrought with emotion at the murder of his father and suicide of his sister.  Gayle Rankin plays Ophelia’s mad scene to the max, conjuring a deep level of compassion and empathy.  Keegan-Michael Key is warm and charming as Horatio.  He is the window with which the audience enters the story, and the final voice of reason at the end.

Hamlet is playing at The Public Theater through September 3.  It runs four hours with two intermissions.  The journey is rich, truthful, and well worth every second.       

Domenick Danza