The Rose Tattoo

The Rose Tattoo

Roundabout Theatre Company

American Airlines Theatre

September 21, 2019

Photo courtesy of
Roundabout Theatre Company

Marisa Tomei is passionate and tempestuous in Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of The Rose Tattoo.  Director Trip Cullman finds the rhythms and longings in Tennessee Williams’ writing.  He builds the action of the play to the stunning realization for the main character as she releases the past and opens her heart.  The original music by Fitz Patton and Jason Michael Webb sets the perfect tone throughout the play.  The composition and vocals allow time to  process and absorb the events of the story, as they connect the poignant moments.

It is1950 in a small Gulf Coast town.  Serafina (played by Marisa Tomei) is a Sicilian woman, passionately in love with her husband.  Together they have one daughter, Rose (played by Ella Rubin).  Serafina wakes from a dream one night and envisions her husband’s rose tattoo on her breast.  At that moment she knows she has conceived a son.  When her husband does not return from work, the women of the town come to tell her he has been killed.  The shock causes her to lose the baby.  Three years pass.  Seraphina keeps her husband’s ashes in an urn on a shelf, and holds on tight to her daughter’s innocence.  She prays to the Blessed Mother for help and send a sign of how to handle her daughter’s growing up.  Alvaro Mangiacavallo (played by Emun Elliott), a truck driver passing through, winds up at her door.  He has the body of her husband and the face of a clown.  Is this the sign Serafina was praying for?  What will it take for her to open her heart again?

Marisa Tomei as Searfina
Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

Emun Elliott and Marisa Tomei have a powerful chemistry.  They find the humorous moments in Tennessee Williams writing, then dive deeply into the fire.  The second act is rich in emotion, discovery, pain, and joy.  Ella Rubin also shares a beautiful chemistry with her love interest, played by Burke Swanson.  She is bold and forthcoming, while he is reserved and respectful.  This plays out in wonderfully tender and sincere moments.

The entire ensemble works magnificently together to create a close-knit community.  The set design by Mark Wendland and lighting design by Ben Stanton evoke a warm, open, and run-down beach front home, complete with a stage covered in a foot of sand.

The Rose Tattoo is playing at the American Airline Theatre through December 8.  This production brings the poetry and passion of this Tennessee Williams work beautifully to life on a large scale.  The performances are magnificent!

Domenick Danza

Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow

Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow

The Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space

August 15, 2019

Photo courtesy of MCC Theater

Playwright Halley Feiffer takes a highly effective look at Chekhov’s Three Sister in her unconventional adaptation.  Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow is dark, zany, and poignant.  The characters are truthful and clear mirrors of Chekhov’s characters.  Their yearning and despair is viewed through a lens of absurdity, which makes their loneliness and desperation that much clearer and more identifiable.  Through succinct timing and a heightened style, director Tripp Cullman skillfully unifies this magnificent cast of twelve to engage and enlighten the audience through laughter and self-contemplation.

Chris Perfetti, Tavi Gevinson, & Rebecca Henderson
Photo courtesy of MCC Theater

We are in a house on the Russian countryside in 1900.  Olga (played by Rebecca Henderson) goes on and on about how unattractive she is.  Irina (played by Tavi Gevinson) is selfishly focused on the fact that it is her birthday.  Masha (played by Chris Perfetti) is absorbed in her book.  They all long to return to Moscow, but can’t… but don’t know why… so they are unhappy.  Very unhappy.  Their brother Andrey (played by Greg Hildreth) plays the violin and aspires to study science and achieve greatness, but instead falls in love with a local girl, Natasha (played by Sas Goldberg), who the sisters consider to be a low-class whore.  Tuzenback (played by Steven Boyer) is madly in love with Irina, but she doesn’t give him the time of day.  He introduces the family to Veshinin (played by Alfredo Narciso), who becomes attracted to dark and brooding Masha.  She madly reciprocates, even though she is stuck in a loveless marriage with closeted Kulygin (played by Ryan Spahn).  They all want more out of life, but can’t get it… but don’t know why… so they are unhappy… but we see and understand, and laugh at the absurdity of it all.

Steven Boyer & Matthew Jeffers
Photo courtesy of MCC Theater

This entire cast is truly phenomenal.  Out of tightly timed high comedy scenes come genuine moments of hurt and sorrow, that are then topped off with a laugh.  Each character is truthfully drawn, carrying sincere hurt in their hearts.  These actors portray them in such a way that we distance ourselves from them in order to get a more precise view of who they are, which causes us to connect even stronger.  The humor is raucous.  The timing takes us out of the moment, then plunges us back into the darkness of their pain.  The play is skillfully written.  The production is masterfully conceived and directed.

Greg Hildreth & Sas Goldberg
Photo courtesy of MCC Theater

If you have not seen MCC’s new space on 53^rd St. and 10^th Ave, check it out as soon as you can.  The space is sharp, and offers a great opportunity for this company to step up and stand out.  This production is a sure sign that they will be doing just that.  Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow is playing at The Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space through August 17.  Time is running out, so get your ticket before it’s too late.

Domenick Danza

Choir Boy

Choir Boy

Manhattan Theatre Club

The Samuel J. Friedman Theatre

December 22, 2018

Photo courtesy of Manhattan Theatre Club

In Tarell Alvin McCraney’s play Choir Boy, he explores the turmoil one young, black man faces to accept his homosexuality and carve out a place for himself in the world.  This Manhattan Theatre Club production is superbly directed by Trip Cullman with a gently touch and warm heart.  Mr. McCraney’s play is highlighted by acapella singing of gospel hymns and spirituals that illuminate the depth and drive of these well-written characters.  Movement by Camille A. Brown viscerally connects the audience to their need for unity and belonging. 

Photo courtesy of Manhattan Theatre Club

The Charles R. Drew Prep School for Boys is celebrating its 50^th year of providing excellence and tradition in the education of strong, ethical black men.  Pharus (played by Jeremy Pope) is confident in realizing his goal of leading the choir in his senior year and singing the school song at his own graduation.  Headmaster Marrow (played by Chuck Cooper) is supportive of his talents, while tactfully encouraging him to downplay his flamboyant behavior.  Bobby (played by J. Quinton Johnson) is constantly bullying Pharus, yet unable to bring him down.  Pharus is determined to achieve his goals, fit in, make his mother proud, and become a Drew graduate of distinction.  When he is caught in an intimate encounter with a fellow student, he is put on probation and forced to face his homosexuality.  He finds comfort and acceptance where he least expects it.

Jeremy Pope & Chuck Cooper
Photo courtesy of Manhattan Theatre Club

Jeremy Pope portrays Pharus with high integrity and strong determination.  As these qualities are put to the test during the action of the play, we see his sensitive and vulnerable side.  Mr. Pope blends all these qualities to deliver a truthful performance of a young man struggling with self-acceptance while challenged to create a respectful position in his community.  J. Quinton Johnson’s Bobby is a strong adversary to Mr. Pope’s Pharus.  He is boldly determined to keep the tradition and honor of Drew Prep free from homosexual influence.  John Clay III plays Pharus’ roommate Anthony.  His character is self-assured and secure.  He has an open heart, full of care and compassion for his good friend.  Caleb Eberhardt delivers a heart wrenching performance as David.  He is full of fear and doubt, due to monumental pressure from his family.

Photo courtesy of Manhattan Theatre Club

This is a cast of highly skilled actor/singers who become one when performing acapella.  The destruction of that unity as each character strives for honor, belonging, and respect is what makes Choir Boy a gripping story.  See it!  It is playing at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre through February 17.    

Domenick Danza

Days of Rage

Days of Rage

Second Stage Theater

Tony Kiser Theater

November 24, 2018

Photo courtesy of Second Stage Theater

What happened to the ideals of the youth of America?  Where is the revolutionary spirit that wasn’t afraid to stand up and protest against an unjust war?  Playwright Steven Levenson takes us back to that time with Days of Rage, now completing a successful run at Second Stage Theater.  It is 1969 in Ithaca, New York, and a handful of college dropouts form a collective to join the revolution for change in America.  Director Trip Cullman finds the perfect pace to tell this powerful and vital story, fueled by the angst of the time period.

While Jenny (played by Lauren Patten) is handing out leaflets and trying to motivate college students to join a protest in Chicago, she meets Hal (played by J. Alphonse Nicholson).  She tries to recruit him, until he reveals that his manager sent him out to ask her to move away from the front of their store before he calls the police.  She returns to the collective house she shares with Spence (played by Mike Faist) and Quinn (played by Odessa Young) to discuss the bleak outcome of their recruitment efforts and their financial difficulties.  The next day Hal tracks Jenny down to continue their political discussion and explore their personal connection.  Spence meets Peggy (played by Tavi Gevinson) who is eager to join the collective.  Spence is hesitant to bring her back to the house, but she has something they are in desperate need of, $2,000 cash.  After two of their friends who left the collective house are killed in a bombing attempt, the group is followed by men they believe to be FBI.  Their trust in one another and dedication toward their political beliefs are put into question.

Lauren Patten & Mike Faist
Photo courtesy of Second Stage Theater

All five of the actors are phenomenal.  Their chemistry is electric and their timing is impeccable.  Lauren Patten portrays Jenny's intensity with clear determination.  She is driven by the optimism of her ideals, yet torn by the changing focus and violent direction of the collective.  Mike Faist delivers some of the comic relief with brilliant timing and quick wit.  Odessa Young’s Quinn is dark and brooding, while Tavi Gevinson upsets the norm with rebellious blabber and a hidden secret.  J. Alphonse Nicholson is grounding and rational as Hal, offering the other characters a different perspective on the truth.

  

Odessa Young & Tavi Gevinson
Photo courtesy of Second Stage Theater

In the final scene Spence and Quinn offer a glimpse into the future as they prepare for the Chicago protest.  They see the world moving forward without much improvement and their rebellious efforts turning into fabled stories they pass onto the next generation.  Question: What purpose do their “days of rage” serve?  Answer: To raise a voice that incites action and keeps the world continually moving forward is a constant necessity, regardless of the outcome.

Days of Rage is a powerful play about the values of raising our voices and how the past propels into the future.  This extraordinary Second Stage Theater production closes on November 25.    

Domenick Danza