Caroline, or Change

One of the themes of the gorgeous and heart-breaking Caroline, or Change, the story of an African-American maid working for a Jewish family in the 1960s South, is that "change come fast, change come slow, but change come." Caroline, written by Tony Kushner with music by Jeanine Tesori, premiered in 2003. Unfortunately, in 2019, in the superb production currently playing at APAC in Queens, another one of its themes is that change is still terribly needed.

Lauren Singerman, LaDonna Burns
Photo: Michael R. Dekker

Caroline's life is tediously difficult. She spends far too much of it cleaning and doing the Gellmans' laundry in a hot room in the hot South. She has four kids, and she would do anything for them--such as continuing to do the Gellmans' laundry in that purgatory of a laundry room. Larry, her oldest, is in Vietnam, "wherever that is." Her next oldest, Emmie, has a mind of her own, which terrifies Caroline but also makes her proud.

Noah, the 8-year-old son of the Gellman family, is always sad, but he is comforted by what he perceives as his friendship with Caroline. Noah's mother died a few years back, and his father married her best friend Rose. Noah's father is wraith-like nonpresence, and Noah hates Rose, mostly for not being his dead mother. But he adores Caroline despite her anger and unwillingness to be nice to him. Rose, whose good-heartedness is unfortunately dwarfed by her cluelessness, also tries to befriend Caroline.

Noah tends to leave change in his pockets when he puts his pants in the hamper. Rose decides to teach him a lesson, and to "help" Caroline, by telling Caroline to keep whatever money she finds. In Kushner's brilliant hands, this small, weird decision turns that awful laundry room into a crucible in which Caroline's heart and soul are tested.

Caroline combines theatrical magic realism (the washer and dryer are personified) with hard-hitting reality (Caroline's ex-husband being refused employment after the war because he's black; bills that can't be paid; buses that never come). It has humor and warmth amid the heartbreak, and its deep sadness is mitigated for the audience by its deep beauty. Tesori's thrilling score utilizes the sounds of Motown, spirituals, blues, Motown, and klezmer, with perfectly chosen quotes from well-known songs (e.g., "America, the Beautiful"). Kushner's book and lyrics work on many levels, with wit, compassion, and great humanity.

Caroline is not an easy show to do. It requires a first-class cast and a director with a sure hand. In the APAC production, it has both, along with a small but excellent band and solid production values.

The role of Caroline demands a tour de force performance that ranges from subtlety to raw power. LaDonna Burns' performance is frighteningly good. Even while keeping Caroline as closed-off and angry as she needs to be, Burns provides a three-dimensional portrait of a complex woman who is a hero with a horribly limited battlefield and no parades or medals. (To further attest to Burns' outstanding talent, she was an amazing Stella in APAC's Follies, funny and likeable.)

The rest of the cast is also top-notch, really as good as you could ask for. My only complaint was that a couple of people didn't project that well, but all in all it was an extreme pleasure to hear the casts' glorious voices unmiked.

Caroline is directed by Dev Bondarin, of whom I am a great fan. Bondarin goes to the heart of a show, understands it on all levels, and honors the work by presenting it in its best light. I saw Caroline, or Change both Off-Broadway and on, and thanks to Bondarin and everyone else involved, this production is every bit as amazing.

Wendy Caster
(first row, press ticket)
Show-Score: 98

Best of 2018

In 2018, I saw 74 shows. Only nine of them were on Broadway; those prices, even when discounted, keep scaring me away. However, I've lost little by skipping Broadway shows (as much as I would have liked to see some of them). But Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway remain amazing, with OOB being particularly affordable.

Before making this list, I did a quick grading of the shows I saw. It was a good year: 27 rated A; 28 rated B; 7 rated C; and 12 rated D. I didn't rate any of them F, because I love and admire theatre and the people who make theatre happen.

This is not a top ten. It's a top 13, and I managed to actually include 18 shows. In cases where I reviewed the show, I've linked to the review. Oh, and I certainly understand that this is really a list of "shows I liked best of the shows I saw" and not truly a "best of" list. But calling these lists "best of" is the custom, and I'm going along with that.

The list is alphabetical.

A Chorus Line: It was a truly extraordinary experience to get to see a first-class production of this wonderful show in such an intimate setting. Kudos to the Gallery!

Follies (second viewing)

When I wrote my first review of  the fabulous APAC production of Follies, I was short on details. Then someone on the often-infuriating but also often-invaluable All That Chat asked for more details (shout out to lordofspeech), and I wrote a long answer to his post. Here it is, with a bit of polishing and updating.

I loved Tina Stafford. I thought she nailed Sally's complexity: yearning, angry, disappointed, hopeful, and sadly aware that she's at least a little silly. She wears her heart on her sleeve even though she knows it isn't a great idea. Her "In Buddy's Eyes" and "Losing My Mind" were both excellent. 

Follies

How much did I enjoy the APAC production of Follies? I've already purchased my ticket to see it again.

APAC (Astoria Performing Arts Center) has an excellent reputation and many awards, as well it should. Even with limited resources, APAC provides top-notch productions again and again. (See my review of Merrily We Roll Again here.)
How do they do it? I think a big part of the answer has to be Artistic Director Dev Bondarin.

Nailing "The Mirror Number":
Andrea McCullough, Victoria Bundonis,
Tina Stafford, LaDonna Burns,
Marcie Henderson, Denise DeMars,
Rusty Riegelman.
Photo: Michael Dekker

In this production, as the other shows she has directed, Bondarin honors and trusts the work. This Follies has plenty of flaws, as might be expected with an Off-Off-Broadway group choosing such an ambitious project, but that's okay: the important thing is that Bondarin has nailed the show's true Follies-ness. She is a smart director who eagerly serves the work, and this production is full of her smart decisions. The result is more excellent theatre than we the audience have any right to expect for a ticket price of $18! ($12 if you're a student or senior.)

So, yes, this isn't a star-studded production. The production values could be higher. Some performers aren't quite up to the task (though many others are quite good). But this Follies sings, it dances, it feels. It's Follies. If those two words have any meaning to you, make sure to catch this show. Tickets are available here. You'll rarely in your life get such value for your money.

Wendy Caster
(press ticket, 5th row)
Show-Score Score: 90

Cast: Denali Bennett, Victoria Bundonis, LaDonna Burns, Denise DeMars, Tia DeShazor, Susan Cohen DeStefano, Christine Donnelly, Andrea Dotto, Dan Entriken, Jonathan Fluck, Spencer Hansen, James Harter, Marcie Henderson, Greg Horton, Kathleen LaMagna, Andrea McCullough, Sharaé Moultrie, Ben Northrup, Rusty Riegelman, Bruce Sabath, Carolyn Seiff, Cliff Sellers, Lauren Alice Smith, Tina Stafford, Noah M. Virgile, Mandarin Wu.

Production Staff: Director: Dev Bondarin; Musical Director: James Higgins; Choreographer: Sara Brians; Set Design: Ann Beyersdorfer; Costume Design: Jennifer Jacob; Lighting Design: Annie Wiegand; Sound Design: Caroline Eng; Prop Design: Andrew Short; Production Manager: Annie Jacobs; Production Stage Manager: Jessica McIlquham; Assistant Stage Manager: Robert Peatman.

Merrily We Roll Along

The Astoria Performing Arts Center (APAC) is presenting an excellent production of Merrily We Roll Along, and you've got two more weekends to catch it. With a top ticket price of $18, it's quite a bargain.

Park, Bonino, Mosbacher, Rhodes-Devey, Horton

As you likely already know, Merrily was written by Stephen Sondheim and George Furth (based on the drama by Kaufman and Hart), is told backward, and was a huge flop when it opened on Broadway in the 1980s. It has since been rewritten in ways that both add to and take away from the original, but the basic story has remained the same: Franklin, Charley, and Mary are three best friends, artistic and ambitious, whose lives fly off into different trajectories that tear the friendship apart.