72 Miles to Go…

72 Miles to Go…

Roundabout Theatre Company

Laura Pels Theatre

February 29, 2019

Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

72 Miles to Go… is the story of an American family.  Playwright Hilary Bettis writes characters you enjoy getting to know.  You care about their feelings throughout the ninety-minute play.  You grow with them over the course of the eight-year story.  You continue to hope for their well being after the show is over.

Eva (played by Jacqueline Guillén) is starting her senior year of high school.  She is worried that her brother, Aaron (played by Tyler Alvarez), will be picked on during his freshman year.  Aaron is upset that his older brother, Christian (played by Bobby Moreno), did not come home last night.  He is a bad driver.  They are all relieved when Christian shows up with a box of donuts for Aaron’s first day of high school and find out he spent the night at his girlfriend’s.  Their father, Billy (played by Triney Sandoval), wants to cook them all breakfast, but first they call their mother, Anita (played by Maria Elena Ramirez).  She was departed to Mexico.  She applied for re-entry and promises Eva that she will be home by graduation day.  When Anita’s application for re-entry is denied, Billy unsuccessfully attempts to smuggle her back home.  The consequences of this are felt by the all of them.  No matter what challenge they face, this family is held together by an indestructible bond of love.

Bobby Moreno & Tyler Alvarez
Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

Each scene builds to truthful, powerful moments between the characters, and this cast skillfully succeeds at delivering every one of them.  Their challenges are real and their troubles are great, yet these characters persevere.  Each actor builds their character on a foundation of hope and belief.  It drives every scene.  It keeps the audience connected and engaged.

Jo Bonney masterfully directs this touching and timely story that brings awareness to the facts and fears families face within our communities on a daily basis.  72 Miles to Go… is playing at Roundabout Theatre Company’s Laura Pels Theatre through May 3.

Domenick Danza

A Soldier’s Play

A Soldier’s Play

Roundabout Theatre Company

American Airlines Theatre

December 30, 2019

Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

Charles Fuller’s 1982 Pulitzer Prize winning A Soldier’s Play is having a glorious and well-deserved revival by Roundabout Theatre Company.  Kenny Leon directs a stellar cast, creating a strong ensemble who keeps the action moving at a searing pace.  The production is exceptionally conceived.  Set design by Derek McLane establishes the tone and tension of the location and keeps the scenes flowing smoothly.

The year is 1944 in Fort Neal, Louisiana, a segregated U.S. army base.  When Sergeant Vernon C. Waters (played by David Alan Grier) is murdered, the men in his unit believe it was committed by the local KKK.  The army sends Captain Richard Davenport (played by Blair Underwood) to investigate, and assign it low priority.  Captain Charles Taylor (played by Jerry O’Connell) tries to tell Captain Davenport that the locals will not respect a black man questioning them, especially if he is an officer.  Both men want to uncover the truth, but they have different ways of going about it.  As the investigation uncovers facts about the expectations and pressure Sergeant Waters place on the men in his unit, Captain Davenport has to face a brutal and unexpected reality.

Blair Underwood & Kenny Leon in rehearsal
Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

David Alan Grier is strong and determined as Sergeant Waters.  The flaws in his character are magnified by Mr. Grier’s stunning portrayal, giving clear insight into the playwright’s powerful message.  Blair Underwood and Jerry O’Connell clash heads with force and conviction, fueling the action and driving the plot forward.  There are equally strong performances by McKinley Belcher III, Rob Demery, Jared Grimes, Billy Eugene Jones, Nate Mann, and J. Alphonse Nicholson. 

The Ful Cast of A Soldier's Play
Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

Charles Fuller’s play is a brilliant telling of the search for truth no matter the outcome.  His characters are richly layered.  As they reveal their strengths and weaknesses, the plot builds to unexpected places.  His suspension of time keeps the action focused on the discovery of evidence and the piecing together of information.  It is an emotional journey driven by pride, honor, and injustice.

A Soldier’s Play is running at the American Airlines Theatre through March 1.  It is a riveting production.  You need to see it.  It will blow you away!

Domenick Danza

Kiss Me, Kate!

Kiss Me, Kate!

Roundabout Theatre Company

Studio 54

February 16, 2019

Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

The Roundabout Theatre Company revival of Kiss Me, Kate! is vibrant, jovial, and vivacious.  Kelli O’Hara and Will Chase make the well-known lead roles their own with a chemistry and style that rock the house.  Warren Carlyle’s choreography is sheer perfection.  Director Scott Ellis finds the right pace to keep the laughter flowing and the romantic moments touching and sentimental.

The story revolves around the out of town preview of a new musical version of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.  Actor/Director Fred Graham (played by Will Chase) is starring as Petruchio opposite his ex-wife and diva, Lilli Vanessi (played by Kelli O’Hara), as Kate.  The sparks fly between the two actors backstage as well as onstage when Lilli receives an opening night bouquet from Fred by mistake.  The flowers are meant for Lois (played by Stephanie Styles), who is playing Bianca.  When Bill Calhoun (played by Corbin Bleu) signs Fred Graham’s name to an IOU for a gambling debt, two gangsters (played by John Pankow and Lance Coadie Williams) come to the theatre to collect.  Fred turns this around in his favor by using these two hit men to keep Lilli from walking off the show.

Kelli O'Hara, Corbin Bleu, Stephanie Styles, & Will Chase
Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

Kelli O’Hara has an elegant and commanding presence.  Her rendition of “So in Love” is beautifully delivered.  Will Chase sings “Were Thine That Special Face,” and “Where is the Life that Late I Lead” with robust vigor.  Stephanie Styles brings down the house with “Always True to You in My Fashion,” including the well-deserved encores.  James T. Lane and the company open the second act with a magnificent “Too Darn Hot” that exuberantly lives up to its title.

This is the best of Cole Porter’s scores.  There are cuts and additions to the book and lyrics, made by Amanda Green, that keep the show running smoothly.  The addition of “From This Moment On” in the second act adds a new motivation for Lilli’s decision to return to Fred.  Changes in lyrics to the finale (both Shakespeare’s and Cole Porter’s) ring truthfully to the theme of the show, and add a message of gender equality.

Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

Kiss Me, Kate! is playing at Studio 54 through June 2.  Don’t miss this outstanding production of a classic musical.

Domenick Danza

True West

True West

Roundabout Theatre Company

American Airlines Theatre

December 28, 2018

Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Co.

In True West Sam Shepard explores the jealousy and competition between brothers by heightening the clashes and destroying all acceptable facades.  The Roundabout Theatre Company production is well conceived and executed.  Director James Macdonald creates a rhythm between the two main characters that establishes their relationship.  As the action develops and the tables turn, the truth of the sibling rivalry reveals itself and explodes to an out of control level.

Lee (played by Ethan Hawke) drops in on his brother, Austin (played by Paul Dano), who is house sitting for their mother (played by Marylouise Burke) while she is on vacation in Alaska.  Austin is focused on writing a screenplay, while Lee is looking for his next grift.  During a meeting Austin has with Saul Kimmer, the producer of his project (played by Gary Wilmes), Lee interrupts and steals his thunder.  When Saul jumps at a story idea pitched by Lee, the months of time and effort Austin put on his project is brought to an abrupt and frustrating end.  The brothers are forced to work together and inadvertently face years of deep seeded rage.

Ethan Hawke & Paul Dano
Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

Paul Dano and Ethan Hawke are perfectly matched in this production.  From the beginning of the play they are both driven by underlying emotion that clearly defines their early years of growing up together.  When the stakes are raised, they both reveal how far these suppressed emotions will take them.  In the final scene any remains of rational thinking is eviscerated and the sparks fly freely.  Mr. Dano’s and Mr. Hawke’s characters are impulsively driven.  Each scene contains unexpected turns that reveal their true selves.  Both men challenge themselves and deliver genuine performances.

True West is playing at the American Airlines Theatre through March 17.  Don’t miss this Sam Shepard scrutiny of family dynamics and brotherly rivalry.

Domenick Danza

Amy and the Orphans

Amy and the Orphans

Roundabout Theatre Company

The Laura Pels Theatre

February 4, 2018

Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

Lindsey Ferrantino’s new play Amy and the Orphans, presently in preview at Roundabout Theatre Company, is a bold telling of siblings facing the truth about their upbringing.  Ms. Ferrantino skillfully weaves humor into the unravelling of brutal facts, crafting a script that is masterfully structured.  Scott Ellis beautifully directs this phenomenal cast into finding moment after moment of honest revelation that builds to clear and painful understanding and acceptance.

When Jacob (played by Mark Blum) and Maggie’s (played by Debra Monk) father pass away, they fly to New York to make the necessary arrangements.  Before driving to their father’s home in Long island, they stop in Queens to pick up their sister Amy (played by Jamie Brewer).  Amy was born with Down syndrome, lives in a state funded residence, and has a job in a local movie theater.  There is much talk between Maggie and Jacob about their regular visits with Amy, but the reality is that they don’t know her very well.  They learn a lot about her in the few days they spend with her and her state appointed guardian, Kathy (played by Vanessa Aspillaga), including the truth about the years she spend in a “group home” in Staten Island.

Director Scott Ellis in rehearsal with Jamie Brewer, Debra Monk, and Mark Blum
Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

Diane Davis and Josh McDermitt deliver heart breaking performances as the parents of Amy, Maggie, and Jacob.  Their scenes take place at least fifty years prior to the main action of the play.  The turmoil in their decision to put Amy into a state funded hospital in Staten Island is stirring and powerful.  Their scenes are full of denial, humor, fear, love, and desperation.  These scenes accurately depict the limited knowledge of the time period about people with special needs.

Debra Monk and Mark Blum develop an honest and poignant sibling dynamic.  It reflects the idealism and naiveté of their generation and offers a vivid insight into the cause of their distance and inability to connect.  Jamie Brewer delivers an excellent performance as Amy.  She has a strong presence, and her character’s intentions are clearly portrayed.  Vanessa Aspillaga tells it like it is as Kathy.  She gives the audience a focused perspective on the themes and actions of Ms. Ferrantino’s brilliant writing.

The full company of Roundabout Theatre Company's production
of Amy and the Orphans
Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

Amy and the Orphans is a poignant and potent play.  It allows us to see how far we’ve come as a society on the education of people with disabilities, and how far we have yet to go in our understanding of individuals with special needs.  See this play!  It is running at the Laura Pels Theatre through April 22. 

Domenick Danza

Time and the Conways

Time and the Conways

Roundabout Theatre Company

American Airlines Theatre

September 30, 2017

 

Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

The Roundabout Theatre Company production of Time and the Conways poignantly gives pause to contemplate the concept of time.  Director Rebecca Taichman masterfully creates distinctive atmospheres in the three scenes of the play by varying the tone and pace.  She pulls the closing of each act to a poetic and sentimental ending.  The cast fluently evokes the time period and setting.  The design of the production (sets: Neil Patel; costumes: Paloma Young; lighting: Christopher Akerlind; sound: Matt Hubbs; hair & wig: Leah J. Loukas) transports the audience to a realistic location, then swiftly moves through time and space, creating the illusion of infinite dimension.

The year is 1919 and World War I has just ended.  The Conway family of Great Britain is celebrating the twenty-first birthday of Kay (played by Charlotte Parry).  The family matriarch (played by Elizabeth McGovern) is excited because her son Robin (played by Matthew James Thomas) has just returned from the air force.  Everyone is overly cheerful and highly optimistic.  In the next moment it is 1937.  The family fortune is diminished and everyone seems jaded and worn down my time… or is time an illusion?

The cast of Time and the Conways
Photos courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

Elizabeth McGovern is stately as Mrs. Conway, layering heart, warmth, and humor into genuine moments.  Charlotte Parry creates the lense from which the audience views and relates to the action.  The insight of her character is truthful and her distress is heartfelt.  Gabriel Ebert portrays Alan Conway with an open sense of honesty and acceptance.  Steven Boyer is cunning and sharp as Earnest Beevers.  His character unwraps to reveal a cruel and consuming dark side that jolts the family’s sense of unity.  Anna Baryshnikov is effervescent as Carol Conway.  Brook Bloom and Anna Camp show a strong and intriguing range in the maturing of the characters of Madge and Hazel.

Elizabeth McGovern
Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

In Act I the over the top optimism of the first scene is powerfully juxtaposed by the transparent harshness of the second.  Rebecca Taichman brilliantly changes the tone again in Act II as the characters are developed from a more realistic point of view.  This variation magnifies the theme of playwright J.B. Priestley by giving the audience a visceral understanding of how the dimension of time can overlap and recount an altered point of view.

Time and the Conways is running at the American Airlines Theatre through November 26.  It is a poignant period piece with a valuable message.  The performances are strong.  The production is poetic. 

Domenick Danza

Love, Love, Love

Love, Love, Love

Roundabout Theatre Company

The Laura Pels Theatre

October 1, 2016

Photo courtesy of
Roundabout Theatre Company

In Love, Love, Love, now playing at the Laura Pels Theatre, playwright Mike Bartlett takes his audience on a journey of ideals, compromises, and perseverance.  Director Michael Mayer keeps the action focused in this three act play that spans forty years.  The stellar cast in this Roundabout Theatre Company production is funny, jarring, and honest in their portrayals of flawed characters moving along in life, who never really give up on the dream.

It is 1967 in London and the Beatles are performing live on television.  Henry (played by Alex Hurt) invites his date to his flat for dinner.  His brother Kenneth (played by Richard Armitage) is saying with him while receiving grant money to go to Oxford, and is definitely cramping his style.  When Sandra (played by Amy Ryan) finds herself more interested in the non-conformist Kenneth that her conservative date, Henry, she does not hold back in making her move.  Fast forward twenty years to Act II where Kenneth and Sandra are married with two teenage children, Jamie (played by Ben Rosenfield) and Rose (played by Zoe Kazan).  The couple has clearly compromised on their rebellious ideals, but it is not until Act III that they face their shortcoming and the fact that “all you need is love.”

The cast of Love, Love, Love
Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

The maturity that Richard Armitage develops in his character from one act to the next (each a twenty year jump) is truthful and realistic.  He becomes resigned as the decades pass, yet retains his energy, sincerity, and optimism.  Amy Ryan enters with a roar in Act I and shocks you senseless.  She then does it again in Act II and Act III.  Her character ages gracefully, and never loses her brash demeanor.  Ben Rosenfield creates the character of Jamie in the spitting image of his father, Kenneth.  His posture, gesture, and expressions illustrate how it is much more than just genetics that make up a family.  Zoe Kazan delivers a strong performance as Rose.  Her character is the darkest member of the family.  She is touching and damaged, and clearly her mother’s daughter.

Love, Love, Love makes a strong statement of the effect the ideals of the baby boomer generation has on their adult children.  The characters are realistic, selfish, and true to their word.  You will definitely see yourself reflected in one aspect of their personalities or another.  The play is running at the Laura Pels Theatre through December 18.

Domenick Danza

Long Day’s Journey into Night

Long Day’s Journey into Night

Roundabout Theatre Company

American Airlines Theatre

April 16, 2016

Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night is presently in previews at the American Airlines Theatre.  The production has the high level of quality we have come to expect from Roundabout Theatre Company.  Under the bold direction of Jonathan Kent is a stellar cast lead by Jessica Lange and Gabriel Bryne.  Combine that with incredible sets and magnificent costumes and what you get is an event worthy of this American classic.

Act I opens with laughter as the Tyrone family start the day with breakfast, happy that Mary (played by Jessica Lange), has returned from a short absence.  As the morning progresses, their true family dynamic begins to surface.  Mary is clearly in denial about the possible illness of her younger son, Edmund (played by John Gallagher Jr.).  Her husband, James (played by Gabriel Bryne), freely voices his disappointment with their older son, Jamie (played by Michael Shannon), who responds with a palpable, cold indifference.  All three men look at Mary with concern that she is too quickly falling back to the problem that caused her previous absence.  In Act II the seriousness of Edmund’s illness and Mary’s drug addiction is revealed.  In Act III and Act IV we find out the source of the despair of each member of this family.  By the time the day’s journey ends, the level of their hopelessness is evident and overwhelming.

Gabriel Byrne & Jessica Lange
Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

Act III is when Jessica Lange rises up and commands the stage.  She illuminates Mary Tyrone’s past as she tells her maid (played by Colby Minifie) about her school days in the convent, the adoration of her father, and when she first met and fell in love with her husband.  We gain a sentimental insight into the idealistic beliefs and disillusioned life that causes her denial.  She heartbreakingly shares the events that brought her to addiction.  Her loneliness, suffering, and desperate need for relief from pain are deeply understood.  Just when you are convinced her husband is a self-centered miser, Gabriel Bryne imparts a truthful exposition of the experiences that triggered James Tyrone’s disappointments and motivate his behavior.  Michael Shannon stumbles in drunk during this scene and tears open Jamie’s defensive façade with a brutally honest confession to his brother.  The caring and compassionate side of his character is revealed and the need for his hard, outer shell is understood.  John Gallagher Jr.’s Edmund does not stop fighting back, yet carries a strong sense of victimized defeat.  It is in his authentic portrayal that Eugene O’Neill’s deeper themes are accurately represented.    

  

The cast of Long Day's Journey into Night
Jessica Lange, Gabriel Bryne, Michael Shannon, & John Gallagher, Jr.
Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

Roundabout Theatre’s production of Long Day’s Journey into Night runs through June 26 at the American Airline Theatre on 42^nd Street.  With a running time of four hours, including one fifteen minute intermission, it is definitely a long journey, yet with masterful performances that provoke and develop true human pathos from Eugene O’Neill’s dense text, it is a journey worth taking. 

Domenick Danza