Babe

 Babe
The New Group
Pershing Square Signature Center
December 14, 2024 

Photo courtesy of The New Group

The New Group production of Jessica Goldberg’s Babe delivers a powerful punch.  Director Scott Elliot gets to the heart of Ms. Goldberg’s writing.  The pace is steady.  The relationships are strong.  Set in the music industry, the audience gets a glimpse of power structure and how decisions are made.  There is a clear view of how far we’ve evolved over the past forty years, due to sensitivity training and the effort to eliminate toxic work environments.  We also get a clear sense of who pays the price.

Gus (played by Arliss Howard) and Abigail (played by Marisa Tomei) are interviewing Katherine (played by Gracie McGraw) for a position in their management office.  The walls are covered with gold records of the recording artists they represented.  Katherine is young, glib, and assertive.  Gus tells her what he and Abigail had to do back in the day to discover and develop individual artists who made a lasting impact.  At Abigail’s insistence, Katherine is offered the job, but does not rise to the challenge as easily as she anticipated.  After Gus aggressively puts her in her place, Abigail reaches out to her.  They bond over stories of Kat Wonder, a solo artist discovered by Gus.  She was a true friend to Abigail, and Katherine idolizes her.  When Katerine accuses Gus of sexual harassment, the tables turn.  Abigail’s loyalty is put to the test.  She faces the truth of the role she played as Gus’ partner.  Unfortunately, part of that becomes a liability. 

Arliss Howard & Marisa Tomei
Photo courtesy of The New Group

Marisa Tomei delivers a strong performance, physically transforming into the character of Abigail.  She shifts in age as scenes take place in the present as well as decades earlier.  In addition, the character is undergoing cancer treatment.  Ms. Tomei genuinely portrays this wide range of experiences.  It is a visceral performance.  Arliss Howard holds nothing back as Gus.  He is bold and direct.  The character’s confidence is evident in his masculine demeanor.  Gracie McGraw plays both Katherine and Kat Wonder.  She and Ms. Tomei seamlessly transition through these scenes.  They cross timelines and smoothly shift emotion.  Their physicality tells the full story, magnetizing the audience’s interest and intrigue. 

At first, this story is about making it in the music industry.  As events unfold and the past is revealed, the play becomes about power, who has it and how they hold onto it.  When accountability lands, it’s not always fair. 

Babe is playing at Pershing Square Signature Center through December 22.  The performances of this cast are worth seeing.    

Domenick Danza

The Seven Year Disappear

 The Seven Year Disappear
The New Group
Pershing Square Signature Center
The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre
February 24, 2024 

Photo courtesy of The New Group

Jordan Seavey’s The Seven Year Disappear is mind blowing.  The New Group production is masterfully conceived.  Director Scott Elliott found a style and pace for the play that viscerally conveys the nature of the relationship of the two main characters.  The ending delivers an unexpected satisfaction that leaves the audience in a state of amazement.

Miriam (played by Cynthia Nixon) is a performance artist.  She is managed by her son, Naphtali (played by Taylor Trensch).  He just got her a commission from MoMA.  She is thrilled, and gets to work right away.  Miriam disappears the day of the MoMA announcement.  Naphtali is in a state of panic.  He starts drinking again.  He hires an investigator.  He turns to his mother’s previous manager, Wolfgang, who has not heard from her.  Naphtali realizes the disappearance is all part of Miriam’s new piece.  He turns his back on the art world, and starts working on Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.  Seven years later, as he is getting his life together, Miriam returns, expecting Naphtali to be part of the final phase of her seven year project. 

Photo courtesy of The New Group

Cynthia Nixon and Taylor Trensch deliver fascinating performances.  In addition to Miriam, Ms. Nixon plays numerous roles (Wolfgang and other friends and connections of Naphtali).  Her transitions are seamless.  The style in which it is written demands you listen carefully in order to find out who these characters are and how they relate to Naphtali and the disappearance of his mother.  Ms. Nixon is bold, daring, and commanding in each of these roles.  She grabs your attention, spikes your curiosity, and lures you into the journey.  

Taylor Trensch & Cynthia Nixon
Photo courtesy of The New Group

The character of Naphtali is complicated.  He is lost and searching, more for himself than for his mother.  Mr. Trensch peels back layers one by one to reveal a vulnerable core.  You are as uncertain as he is as to the reality of his situation, upbringing, and future.  At the end, it all lands in a place of knowing and a sense of calm.

Playwright Jordan Seavey has crafted a unique piece of theatre.  The scenes are out of order, causing the audience to piece the events together.  The play is carefully structured to provide details that answer the questions as they flood your mind.  This continuous reveal creates a forward moving action that keeps you fully engaged in the characters and their story. 

The Seven Year Disappear is playing at Pershing Square Signature Center’s Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre through March 31.  It is mesmerizing and powerful.  Don’t miss it! 

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

The Spoils

The Spoils

The New Group

The Pershing Square Signature Center

May 31, 2015

Photo courtesy of The New Group

When I saw the listing on TDF for The Spoils, written by and starring Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network) and co-starring Kunal Nayyar (The Big Bang Theory), I knew I had to see it.  The play far exceeds any expectations that the advertised names create.  The script is intriguing and challenging.  The characters are full, real and complex.  The relationships are genuine, compelling and relatable.  The world of this play rings true on a personal level as well as holds strong relevance on a broader scale.  

In the opening scene, Kalyan (Kunal Nayyar) asks his girlfriend, Reshma (Annapurna Sriram) if she thinks it is better to tell someone a truth that will hurt their feelings and possibly destroy what they have that is going smoothly in their life, or leave well enough alone by withholding information.  As a playwright, Jesse Eisenberg explores this concept when the main character, Ben, who he portrays, does just that to the people to whom he is closely connected.  The term “closely connected” refers to Ben’s roommate Kalyan, his girlfriend Reshma, Ben’s grade school crush Sarah (Erin Darke), and her fiancé Ted (Michael Zegen).  Since Ben has managed to alienate himself from all social, professional, and creative contacts (he considers himself a filmmaker), these four characters are not necessarily defined by this term within his isolated existence.   It gets ugly and uncomfortable when Ben starts revealing some “truths” he has kept to himself.  What exactly is the truth and what purpose does it serve anyway? 

Jesse Eisenberg and Kunal Nayyar in The Spoils
Photo courtesy of The New Group

Scott Elliot’s directing is superb.  The two and a half hour play is tight and controlled.  Each of the five cast members is excellent.  They create authentic and realistic relationships based on genuine emotion, whether it’s compassion, generosity, jealousy, love, lust, loathing, or any strange and complex combination.  The depths of the characters are revealed throughout the play, but not fully exposed until the last moments.  Thank you Jesse Eisenberg for this prolific, unpredictable, and riveting journey of a play.

Michael Zegen, Jesse Eisenberg and Erin Darke in The Spoils
Phots courtesy of The New Group

On a personal note:  In the second act, Kalyan tells Ben about a job interview he went on which was unpleasant and humiliating.  His possible future employer berated his comments so that he felt like everything he said was the wrong answer.  Kalyan’s qualifications, education, and intelligence are clearly built up throughout the play.  The integrity of his interviewer is clearly questionable in the way he tells the story.  I had a similar experience last week.  Kalyan only had Ben to turn to, who filled up his head with “truths” that magnified the point of view of his interviewer.  Ben then continues to tear down Kalyan and illustrates how he created the alienated situation he thrives on.  I, on the other hand, was lucky enough to immediately call my friend Julia who gave me a more positive perspective.  A few questions come to mind:  Which “truth” is real?  Is it the one that serves you and keeps you moving forward with verve and self-confidence?  Or, is it the one that the person in power holds over you?  This brings up the basis of Ben and Kalyan’s relationship.  Ben kicks Kalyan when he is down in order to lift himself up.  Which “truth” is best for Ben and Kalyan to face? Will “truths” that Kalyan holds back from Ben affect him as deeply as the ones Ben reveals to Kalyan?  Does the question Kalyan asks in the opening of the play have a different answer based on the circumstances?  

Go see The New Group’s production of Jesse Eisenberg’s The Spoils at The Pershing Square Signature Center.  It runs through June 28.  The truth is… you’re gonna love it! 

 

 Domenick Danza