The Adding Machine

The Adding Machine
The New Group
The Theater at St. Clement’s
May 14, 2026 

Photo courtesy of The New Group

The New Group production of The Adding Machine is mesmerizing.  Playwright Thomas Bradshaw makes striking revisions to Elmer L. Rice’s landmark 1923 expressionist play.  Director Scott Elliott captures a crisp style, brisk pace, and machine-like rhythm that draws the audience in to the desperation and isolation of the characters.  The cast is riveting. 

Mr. Zero (played by Daphne Rubin-Vega) is stuck.  He has been in the same routine job and bland marriage for twenty-five years.  His wife, Mrs. Zero (played by Jennifer Tilly), expects more from him.  She nags him, but he shows her no emotion.  Mr. Zero bickers with his co-worker, Daisy (played by Sarita Choudhury), while they both fantasize about getting married if Mrs. Zero should die.  When Mr. Zero’s Boss (played by Michael Cyril Creighton) fires him and replaces him with an adding machine, Mr. Zero stabs him to death.  The action takes a sharp turn as Mr. Zero faces the afterlife. 

Jennifer Tilly & Daphne Rubin-Vega
Photo courtesy of The New Group

Jennifer Tilly opens the show with an extensive monologue to her husband while he is asleep.  It is brilliantly delivered.  Ms. Tilly is dark and funny.  She skillfully sets the tone and pace for the rest of the play.  Dahne Rubin-Vega has a grounded presence as Mr. Zero.  This character is complex and carries the most challenging sections of the story.  Ms. Rubin-Vega physically communicates clear subtext in the numerous scenes where she does not speak.  She delivers an outstanding performance.

Daphne Rubin-Vega, Michael Cyril Creighton, & Sarita Choudhury
Photo courtesy of The New Group

Michael Cyril Creighton plays numerous character roles throughout the play.  He is bold and funny.  He often acts as the narrator, glibly connecting the action from one scene to the next.  Sarita Choudhury is enigmatic as Daisy.  Her character has many layers.  Ms. Choudhury differentiates these traits, then unites them in Act II as she makes a daring decision.

The Adding Machine has been extended through May 17.  It is playing at The Theater at St. Clement’s, the new home of The New Group.  This production engages your intellect and challenges your thought process.  Get a ticket before it closes. 

Domenick Danza

Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice

Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice

The New Group

The Pershing Square Signature Center

March 7, 2019

Photo courtesy of The New Group

The New Group production of Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice is a nostalgic throwback to the time of free love and sexual liberation.  Jonathan Marc Sherman’s book explores the four title characters from the Columbia motion picture.  Duncan Sheik’s music captures the time period and surrounds the audience in a sublime and tranquil atmosphere.  Lyrics by Duncan Sheik and Amanda Green are a perfect balance intellectual and quirky.

When Bob (played by Joél Pérez) and his wife Carol (played by Jennifer Damiano) attend a therapeutic encounter weekend, they return fully in touch with their feelings.  Carol’s enlightenment becomes evident when Bob admits that he cheated on her and she does not feel jealous.  She in turn explores her sexual freedom by playing around with a tennis pro.  Their friends, Ted (played by Michael Zegen) and Alice (played by Ana Nogueira), find Bob and Carol’s sexual awakening a little startling.  Carol is very uptight, and Ted doesn’t push.  When Ted goes out of town for a convention, he follows Bob’s example and cheats on Alice.  She retaliates by suggesting the two couples sleep together.  This creates a surprising turnaround for all four of them.

Jennifer Damian, Joél Pérez, Ana Nogueira, & Michael Zegen
Photo courtesy of The New Group

Joél Pérez and Jennifer Damiano play the groovy, hip Bob and Carol with a flawless tongue-in-cheek humor.  Their timing is smooth and their connection is truthful.  Ana Nogueira is sharp and witty as Alice.  She and Michael Zegen play off one another very well.  The bickering between their characters is humorous, while their bond is genuine and strong.  Suzanne Vega plays the character of the Band Leader, transitioning the action with subtle humor and stylistic vocals. 

Scenic design by Derek McLane and costumes by Jeff Mahshie beautifully evoke the time period.  Director Scott Elliott pulls together every detail, creating genuine moments in this highly stylized environment.  Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice is playing at The Pershing Square Signature Center through March 22.

Domenick Danza

Evening at the Talk House

Evening at the Talk House

The New Group

The Pershing Square Signature Center

February 4, 2017

Photo courtesy of The New Group

Evening at the Talk House, by Wallace Shawn, is a haunting and disturbing theatrical encounter.  The New Group production, under the direction of Scott Elliott, engages the audience with a visceral and thought provoking experience.  The play starts off as an easy going reunion of old theatre buddies and gradually turns into a truthful revelation of the darker side of human survival.  What at first seems like a funny retelling of events quickly becomes honest confessions of the reality of these characters’ existence.

The play opens with an extended monologue by Robert (played by Matthew Broderick).  He tells of how he was recently contacted by Ted (played by John Epperson), who wrote the music for his play Midnight in a Clearing with Moon and Starts ten years earlier.  Ted and Robert plan a reunion of those involved in the original production at their old hang out, The Talk House.  While reminiscing, they welcome on uninvited guest, Dick (played by the playwright Wallace Shawn).  He is an old acquaintance of all involved, and an occasional boarder at The Talk House.  Dick was recently brutally beaten by a group of strangers.  Disturbing connections are uncovered as two guests confess they have been earning extra money “targeting,” which is when they quietly plan the murders of people who are out to “cause harm.”

The cast of The Talk House
photo courtesy of The New Group

The stellar cast is an amazingly strong ensemble.  Matthew Broderick, Jill Eikenberry, John Epperson, Larry Pine, Wallace Shawn, Claudia Shear, Annapurna Sriram, and Michael Tucker work tightly to create an open and welcoming environment with deep, hidden truths.  They mingle with the audience before the show begins, setting them up for a relaxing, nonchalant experience that abruptly transforms.  One of the most subtle and powerful effects is that the actors do not seem to be wearing microphones.  The air has a quiet calm that proficiently shifts from placid to eerie as the play evolves.

Playwright Wallace Shawn

Scott Elliot has directed this production with gradual shifts in mood and tone that, when juxtaposed against the jarring revelations in Mr. Shawn’s script, create effective discomfort and an element of disbelief.  As the story progresses and additional facts are revealed about mysterious and sudden deaths of people the characters know, you question how such realities can be occurring in this comfortable and warm environment.  You become more disturbed as you realize these are the truths of the world of the play, and you have been an intimate part of it.

Evening at the Talk House is playing at the Pershing Square Signature Center through March 12.

Domenick Danza