We Do The Same Thing Every Week

From the press release for We Do The Same Thing Every Week:

Dick and Jane are bored on a rainy Sunday afternoon. A six-foot tall cat shows up, and hijinks ensue. Later, elsewhere, Dick and Jane are bored on a rainy Sunday afternoon. A six-foot tall cat shows up, and hijinks ensue. Everywhere, space is a false vacuum waiting to decay. Try not to think about it while your boredom gnaws away at you. We Do the Same Thing Every Week is a one-act comedy about repetition, boredom, and the delicious, refreshing taste of Coca-Cola®.

I loved this show. I found it witty, surprising, silly, and appealingly bizarre. The writing, the directing, the acting, the puppets and puppeteering, and the design elements are all intelligent, beautifully executed, with a fabulous attention to detail. 

Jessica Nesi, Robert Leverett, Kate Budney,
Tora Nogami Alexander, Casey Worthington,
Justin Choi
Photo: HanJie Chow

I am not exactly sure what We Do the Same Thing Every Week is. My friend called it "Dr. Seuss meets Dr. Who," and that's a fabulous one-line description. And I'm sure it's full of themes and meanings and insights. 

But I don't want to analyze We Do the Same Thing Every Week. Having that volume of creativity and skill paraded in front of me for 90 minutes was a complete joy, and I just want to hold on to that experience. I hope you choose to experience it too.

(The show runs through May 17th. Information about tickets can be found here. Tickets are less than $32 including a fee, which is certainly a bargain!) (You could take 27 friends to see it with you for less than one ticket to the Denzel Washington-Jake Gyllenhal Othello!)

Wendy Caster

Glass. Kill. What If If Only. Imp.

Caryl Churchill is not in love with the sound of her own voice. (Many playwrights are, along with many people in every walk of life.) While Churchill has a tremendous amount to say, her writing is spare and suggestive. And with this spare language, practically gossamer, yet incredibly vivid, Churchill is entertaining, insightful, and compassionate. And political. Her brilliance lies lightly on the stage, yet it shines. 

Proof of Churchill's wisdom and skill is currently on display at the Public Theater through an evening of four one-act plays focusing on oh so many things, but mostly the challenges of being human. They are not overtly related to one another but full of echoes and emotional quotes, and the evening coheres into one multi-layered play.

Deidre O'Connell
Photo: Joan Marcus

The Public Theater website has a brief description of the plays:  "A girl made of glass." "Gods and murders." "A pack of ghosts." "And a secret in a bottle." Those descriptions are insufficient yet completely sufficient. The plot is not the point. Life is the point. 

Adelind Horan, Ayana Workman,
Sathya Sridharan, Japhet Balaban
Photo: Joan Marcus

James Macdonald, who frequently directs Churchill's plays, is a full partner in the brilliance of the works. The design elements are perfect for the plays and beautiful and impressive in themselves. Miriam Buether designed the scenery, Enver Chakartash designed the costumes, Isabella Byrd designed the lighting, and Bray Poor designed the sound. 

John Ellison Conlee, Adelind Horan,

Deirdre O’Connell
Photo by Joan Marcus

The cast includes Japhet Balaban, Ruby Blaut (alternating with Cec​ilia Ann Popp), John Ellison Conlee, Adelind Horan, Maddox Morfit-Tighe, Deirdre O'Connell, Sathya Sridharan, Junru Wang, and Ayana Workman. They’re all fabulous.  Special kudos to Deirdre O’Connell for her breathtaking performance as a god who is really annoyed at being blamed for human misbehavior, particularly since she doesn’t even exist. 

How lucky we are that Caryl Churchill is still writing. The first time her work blew me away was in 1979. Over 45 years later, she is still amazing and somehow always new.

Wendy Caster

Blind Injustice

That the American justice system is worse than broken--dangerous, dishonest, racist--is not news. Some innocent people have been coerced into confessing, others have accepted plea bargains rather than risking decades in prison, and still others have been convicted at trials based on corrupted evidence. Witnesses may lie to protect themselves; they may be forced by police to lie; or they may just be wrong. It has been estimated that 6% of the people in prison are innocent. With an estimated 1.8 million people incarcerated in the US, that comes to approximately 108,000 innocent people imprisoned.

Photo: Erin Baiano

As horrifying as those statistics are, they have the weakness of all statistics, which is that they do not contain emotions, or people, or families.

The brilliant opera Blind Injustice, which received its New York premiere last month in an electric MasterVoices production, is full of emotion and people and families. Based partially on the book of the same name and focusing on six innocent people who were exonerated after spending years or even decades in prison, the opera mixes fact and fiction, often using exonerated people's actual quotes in the vivid libretto by David Cote (dramaturgy by Robin Guarino). The exonerated people are Nancy Smith, Derrick Wheatt, Eugene Johnson, Laurese Glover, Clarence Elkins, and Rickey Jackson.

Photo: Erin Baiano

Scott Davenport Richards's extraordinary scores utilizes jazz, blues, and hip-hop to allow the full expression of emotion of the people depicted. There is something particularly satisfying in seeing these characters being able to express themselves full-voice, full-heart, and loud. I can't think of a better medium for telling this story.

Everyone involved with this production was at the top of their game. The volatile combination of feeling pain from the content and sheer pleasure at the artistry gives the audience the sort of emotional cognitive dissonance that may be felt at the very best art.

Photo: Erin Baiano

I found the audience response representative of this experience in a particular way: people gasped twice. The first time was when the 120 MasterVoices singers, seated in the section of the audience behind the stage, stood to sing. I knew that they were there, and I was thrilled. For the people who didn't realize that they were there, it must have felt magical. The second time they gasped was when one of the exonerees was asked how long he had been in prison, and he answered, "thirty-nine years."

I hope that Blind Injustice is picked up by opera companies everywhere. Audiences deserve to experience the artistry and need to hear the stories.

Wendy Caster

 

The Price

I am not a fan of Arthur Miller's. But I like to revisit works to see if I've missed something. Having recently reread Death of a Salesman and seen the The Village Theater Group production of The Price, I haven't changed my mind. In fact, watching The Price reminded me of how grateful I am for the relatively recent model of the 90-minute show, pared down and subtle, sleek and deep.

Janelle Farias Sando, Bill Barry
Photo: Joe Pacifico

Not all shows should be short. Some truly require and fill the time they take. Death of a Salesman is one. Purpose, currently on Broadway (see it!) is another. The Price is not. It is repetitive and blunt and repetitive and, oh yeah, repetitive as it shleps along its two acts. Paring the show down to 90 minutes could only help.

Mike Durkin
Photo: Joe Pacifico

Fitting snugly in the "adult children deal with the past" box, The Price centers around a crowded attic of stuff (nicely designed/assembled by the Village Theater Group). The main question is, how much is this all worth, financially and emotionally. The characters are two brothers--estranged, of course--and one's wife, along with Solomon, an antique/junk dealer who is going to buy everything in the attic. He is a real character, late 80s, Yiddish accent, tremendous presence but physically frail. He is comic relief, voice of reason, and plot device all is one. The four people interact in various combinations, and, yes, secrets are revealed and relationships are tested. Meanwhile, Solomon keeps trying to buy the items as cheaply as possible. 

This is an all-too-familiar play structure, but Miller did write it years before the gazillion other plays in which secrets are revealed and relationships are tested. There's a reason this structure has lasted; dysfunctional families are endlessly interesting to watch when the play is well-written. The Price provides some interesting scenes and interactions; if only there were fewer of them!

The Village Theater Group is a brand-new entity and well-worth watching I think. While I had complaints about this production (the pacing didn't help any), there was much to like and reasons for optimism for future productions. 

The main strength is the cast, in particular Bill Barry as the non-favorite son who has not made much of his life. (Miller's belief that being a police officer is a form of failure is a little offensive, though I buy that this family might feel that way.) Barry is excellent. The role is an emotional roller coaster, and he acts the dips and climbs and twists and turns with total believability. Everything he does is real, and the performance centers the play beautifully.

Mike Durkin is strongly effective as the dealer, as is Janelle Farias Sando as the wife. Cullen Wheeler, as the successful brother, is  miscast. He seems to come from a different reality. 

Other than the pacing, director Noelle McGrath gives the play a fair and thoughtful hearing. The design elements are all good.

It's 2025 and theatre has been "dying" for at least a hundred years. Yet, in a truly weird moment in history and in the midst of a terrible economy for the arts, co-founders Daniel J. Condon and Andrew Beregovoy have added a new theatre group to the mix. I wish them well. 

Wendy Caster

Garside's Career

In Garside's Career, written by Harold Brighouse before the first World War, Peter Garside is a skilled mechanic and avid Union member in 1914 Midlanton, England. He has just completed a university degree, an unusual achievement for a member of the working class. The Union and Garside's friends recruit him to run for Parliament, and why not? In addition to his degree, he possesses excellent oratory skills, prodigious energy, and much charisma. Garside wins, and off he goes to Parliament to fight for unions and the working man. Just one problem: his ambition and ego are every bit as big as his talent and charm.

Daniel Marconi and Amelia White

Photo: Maria Baranova

This is the Mint at its best, finding a worthy forgotten play and bringing it to life with top-notch direction, acting, and production values. In these days of shows being revised, rethought, and adapted (and occasionally destroyed), watching a thoughtful, respectful, excellent production of a smart, interesting, heartfelt play is a special treat. Thanks as always to the Mint for giving us so many of these special treats.

Sara Haider, Avery Whitted, Melissa Maxwell

Photo: Maria Baranova

Interestingly enough, Garside's Career represents a certain set of values in a way that undercuts those values, without, I think, meaning to do so. [here be spoilers] While clearly in favor of unions and fairness and hard work and being true to one's neighbors and friends, the play presents money and status as so seductive that Garside succumbs in about 30 seconds. He ends up in debt and neglects his role in Parliament to chase money. Eventually, the Union and his friends force him to resign from Parliament. He goes into a huge big-boy tantrum, furious at anyone who would interrupt his pity party. After a week of this, his old girlfriend, a solid, hard-working, unimaginative woman, reappears, ready to take him back. First she calls him on his shit, then she sets conditions. All she asks is that he give up everything that makes him him: ambition and ego, yes, but also talent and creativity. She wants him back in the world of mechanics, and, chastened, he agrees. So, he throws away everything he could do and be. Yes, he messed up, big time. But baby with the bathwater! With the support of his wife-to-be and the rest of the community, he might be able to learn to use his talents for good. More to the point, he will never stick to these agreements. Sooner or later, he will explode back into himself. Probably sooner. [end of spoilers]

The fact that I cared enough to argue  with a play that is over a century old shows the value of the Mint's work. Yesterday's plays have much to say to us today. And first-class productions are always welcome.

Wendy Caster

After Endgame

Photo by Josh Goleman. Design: Armistead Booker

When playing chess never move your pawn to F4 since it makes your king vulnerable and, as Kevin James Doyle advises, "If you're playing anyone even decent at chess, they're going to know you don't know what you're doing — and they're going to destroy you."

Doyle, a comedian, actor and chess instructor, starts After Endgame with this anecdote, a 70-minute conversation on chess, comedy and the deceptions present in life and the games we play. While knowledge of chess allows you to engage in a match before or after showtime on the boards that dot the tables surrounding the stage, the performance aims to amuse all, especially the neophytes.

Besides offering basic game strategies, Doyle entertains by interweaving the history of chess with his own experience as a teacher who’s completed more than 6,500 lessons with students as young as 3 and as old as 94. Jokes about why he can’t play a pedophile on “Law & Order” (What parent would hire Mr. Kevin as a chess teacher afterward?) are mixed with stories about master chess players such as American Paul Morphy to the 1956 Game of the Century that established a 13-year-old Bobby Fischer as an emerging presence when he sacrificed his Queen to beat the twice-his-age Donald Byrne.

Photo by Josh Goleman

Along the way, Doyle recounts what happened when a rich investor sponsored his trip to Singapore, where he taught chess to the local elite and their offspring as he sought financing for a chess-inspired business. The basement bar extends the lesson with a Chess Museum of sorts that features images of past games and champions that Doyle curated with director Cory Cavin and set designer Charles Matte.

After Endgame is playing at the SoHo Playhouse’s Huron Room (15 Vandam St., NYC) through March 8, and then on March 30 and 31 at The Lyric Hyperion (2105 Hyperion Ave., Los Angeles). [See the After Endgame trailer]

Cymbeline

The delightful NAATCO-Play on Shakespeare all-femme, all-Asian-American production of Shakespeare's Cymbeline only runs through Feb. 15. If you are a fan of first-class theatre that is beautifully directed, fabulously acted, well-designed, and extremely funny, go. Seriously, Go! Tickets run from $25 to $55. Who says theatre has to be expensive? (Click here for more information or to buy tickets.)

NAATCO's description of the show: 

In a world shattered by tyranny and poisoned by misogyny, Cymbeline tells the story of a young woman's flight from despair to heroism as she rediscovers her lost siblings and brings order to a kingdom ruled by chaos. Performed by an ensemble of eleven women, Cymbeline is a story of hope and rebirth in the unlikeliest of circumstances.

 

I just don't have the time right now to actually review the show, but I wanted this up asap. I hope you get to see it!

Wendy Caster

Mrs. Loman

Mrs. Loman, Barbara Cassady's sequel to Death of a Salesman, starts right after Willy's funeral. Linda Loman, her sons Biff and Happy, and next door neighbor Charley and his son Bernard gather at the Loman home to toast Willy. (The set was designed by Christopher & Justin Swader. The costumes were designed by Patricia Marjorie. Both are evocative and handsome.) They wonder why so few people came to the funeral. They wonder why Willy killed himself (and in that particular way). They wonder, Who was Willy? But while Arthur Miller wrote that attention must be paid to Willy, Cassady thinks that attention must be paid to Linda. It's a great idea, and Mrs. Loman, gracefully directed by Meghan Finn and boasting an excellent cast, mostly does it justice. 

 ​Photo: Mari Eimas-Dietrich

The plot hits a number of familiar points as Linda, with the help of her new friend Esther, has the sort of adventures that one might see in a movie starring Jane Fonda and/or Diane Keaton and/or Lily Tomlin and/or many other actresses over sixty. But Cassady and the terrific Monique Vukovic revitalize these tropes by providing a compelling, three-dimensional Linda, for whom these tropes are true adventures in a true life. And Linda is taking a philosophy course, and enjoying it, as she rethinks her life. 

The plotlines for Biff and Happy seem to me to be reasonable and interesting, if depressing, outgrowths of the characters' earlier lives as shown in Salesman. And Linda's responses underscore how she is growing into her own version of herself.

It is disappointing that Mrs. Loman gets in its own way. (Spoilers in this  paragraph.) Cassady has grafted onto the play an annoying contemporary female character who comments on the action and occasionally becomes involved in weird ways (helping Linda dress; snapping her fingers for lights to come on). She adds nothing that the play doesn't already say. It feels as though Cassady didn't trust her own work to tell the story and/or thought the play needed to be less traditional. But the traditional play is good, insightful, and evocative and doesn't need a gimmick, particularly an annoying one. (End of spoilers.)

I would love to see a rewritten version, with the schtick carved away and the story/play allowed to shine.

Wendy Caster

Gypsy

When the curtain came down on Act 1 of Gypsy, my friend Susan said, "She's so wrong and she's so good." Excellent summation!

I was one of those who greeted Audra's casting with, she's miscast, her voice is miscast. And I was also one of those who said, it's Audra, we gotta go. Having seen the show, I still think she is miscast, and her voice is definitely wrong for the show. But she was amazing. Mesmerizing. Honest, real, raw. In my pantheon of Roses I've seen in person (Angela, Tyne, Sally Mayes, Bernadette, Patti, and now Audra), I'd put her second only to Tyne. Her "Rose's Turn" was scalding, even ugly, and thrilling. 

Photo: Julieta Cervantes

Unfortunately, the rest of the production is mediocre. I don't expect a cast on Audra's level, but better singing and acting would be welcome. The performers are not helped by George C. Wolfe's anti-subtle direction. He has Rose's troupe perform so atrociously that no one would have booked them ever. Nor would T.T. Grantziger see promise in June, as both Junes screeched their way through the show. (After seeing this and Show/Boat: A River close together, I'm beginning to wonder if acting badly well is a lost art.)

In addition to his direction of the acting, I think Wolfe got a lot of the show wrong in tone and timing. And little-but-important moments are missed. For example, having Gypsy face the audience rather than a mirror when she says, "I'm a pretty girl, Mama" dissipates the impact. 

And why would anyone replace Jerome Robbins' choreography in this show (and in West Side Story)? Isn't that just saying that you want choreography that isn't as good, theatrical, or organic? Two of the best choreographed numbers in the history of musical theatre are from Gypsy. When the chorus of dancers grow from kids to young adults while dancing, using a strobe, it's theatricality at its best. Similarly, Robbins' choreography for Gypsy going from shy neophyte to star is smooth and evocative and impressive and meaningful. In this Gypsy, both numbers are, well, okay. (No insult to this choreographer, btw. Trying to replace something perfect is a thankless assignment.)

Interestingly, the mediocrity of this production allows Gypsy's few imperfections to come to the fore. The most important one is, I think, that there is too little opportunity to see Rose's charm in the first act. If there were an earlier song like "Together," it would be easier to see Rose as a person rather than a monster. (Though I must note that a huge chunk of the audience gasped a couple of times at Rose's behavior. I've never seen the show with so many first-timers. It was fun.)

But this production is about Audra! And she's amazing!

Wendy Caster

Show/Boat: A River

Based on both the reviews and word of mouth, I went into Target Margin's "re-envisioning" of Show Boat (here called Show/Boat: A River) with low expectations. Sadly, it lived down to them. 

Whatever the faults of Oscar Hammerstein II, he was a sincere man trying to make the world a better place. Show Boat was sympathetic to a mixed-race couple, depicted and criticized racism, and had an unprecedented cast of Black and White people working together. Remember, this was 1927, almost 100 years ago.

Show Boat can be seen as glass-half-full and it can be seen as glass-half-empty. Show/Boat: A River seems to see it as an empty glass--a broken empty glass. It's fine to re-envision or deconstruct or whatever, but without understanding where the piece comes from, acknowledging its strengths, and having a POV other than "we're better now than they were then," it's just a pointless mess. (One criticism I heard of the original show is that it keeps the Black people in the background of their own story. That's true, but if Hammerstein had put them in the foreground, the show wouldn't get produced--and people now would criticize him for cultural appropriation.) 

The solution of course is equal opportunities for Blacks, women, LGBT+ people, and so on. A friend once said that it doesn't matter if the best of each group finds a place; the goal is for all mediocre people to have the same opportunities as mediocre White men, including second and third chances. Although we've made progress, we still have far to go. 

I should mention that I find most of Hammerstein's depictions of race to be embarrassing, at best. I'm not a fan of his in general. But I still get it that he was ahead of his time. It seems churlish to dismiss him for only being on the first rung of racial consciousness when the vast majority of White people weren't even aware of the ladder! Re-envision, yes, but understand what you're re-envisioning. 

Show/Boat: A River did have moments of insight and legit criticism. But it came across as a high school production. It would have been nice if everyone in the cast could sing. And if the show didn't periodically rely on droning, high, thin, painful notes from guitar (I think) and clarinet. And if it truly had something original to say. (As Hammerstein did, flawed as it was.) 

It's interesting to consider what future generations will think we're doing wrong. We certainly don't have all the answers. 

Wendy Caster

Eureka Day

A built-in weakness in some comedies of ideas is that one side of an argument may simply be right. As someone who believes strongly in vaccines, I thought Eureka Day might have to wrestle with this weakness. But playwright Jonathan Spector, while not supporting the  anti-vax stance per se, does show how someone could legitimately and honestly see vaccines as dangerous and even deadly. He pulls this off in a context of good-hearted, super-woke people trying to keep safe the children of the Eureka Day School. (The illness in question is mumps. The show predates COVID.)

Bill Irwin, Thomas Middleditch, Amber Gray,
Jessica Hecht, Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz
Photo: Jeremy Daniel

While sensitively dealing with woke-ness, inclusivity, accidental racism, and other difficult topics, Eureka Day is also extremely, extremely funny. I've rarely been in an audience that laughed that loud for that long.

The cast is largely excellent, including Jessica Hecht, Amber Gray, Thomas Middleditch, and Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz. Only Bill Irwin disappoints, with a twitchy performance that lacks a specific character. The excellent direction by Anna D. Shapiro keeps the emotions, humor, timing, and characters in balance, while always providing clarity as to where our attention should be. 

Wendy Caster

Women Writing Musicals (book review)

 I reviewed Women Writing Musicals on Talkin' Broadway.

One of the stranger parts of aging is watching time go from "now" to "then" to "retro" to "no one on Jeopardy knows the answer." This is particularly a problem with theatre, where "now" can go to "then" almost instantly. It breaks my heart that few people know about, oh, Colleen Dewhurst, Lynn Thigpen, Michael Jeter, Elizabeth Swados, Myrna Lamb. Time passes so quickly and so much is lost along the way.

In the new book Women Writing Musicals, Jennifer Ashley Tepper and Applause Theatre & Cinema Books rescue one important part of theatre history: women writing musicals. And it is full of juicy info.

Read more 

Passion: Pass It On (TRU Benefit)

Last month I had the pleasure of attending the TRU (Theater Resources Unlimited) benefit. The TRU mission:

TRU was formed to promote a spirit of cooperation and support within the general theatre community by providing information and a variety of entertainment-related services and resources that strengthen the capacity of producing organizations, individuals producers, self-producing artists and other theater professionals.

TRU achieves its mission through 1) maintenance of a member network of producers and other industry professionals in the New York area; 2) linking members to valuable resources both within and beyond the theatrical community, 3) providing public forums for introducing and sharing information, including specific requests for help and support, 4) publishing a printed and electronic newsletter for services, discount offers and other programs of benefit to the membership, 5) providing educational opportunities (including TRU-sponsored events and competitive scholarships) on industry-related topics and training, and 6) serving as producer for selected events that provide practical opportunities to the membership and other theater professionals.

Cool, huh?

To be honest, I'm usually one of those people who go to benefits for the entertainment. And the entertainment was pretty wonderful: Norm Lewis singing "Summertime"; Nona Hendryx singing "Winds of Change"; and so on. 

But this benefit introduced me to two amazing women, and I am most grateful. I'd been pessimistic and misanthropic since the election, but these dynamic passionate women reminded me that humans can be incredible, and that they/we can work together to achieve beautiful things.

Susan E. Lee received the TRU Humanitarian Award. Lee works to make theatre more accessible and relevant to people of all ages. She advocates for arts in schools and creates opportunities for young people to actually experience theatre. This dry description fails to capture her passion and commitment to theatre. Her speech was charming.

Irene Gandy received the TRU Spirit of the Theater Award. Gandy has been a trail-blazer for decades in her role as publicist (she is the only black woman in the Association of Theatrical Press Agents and Managers with over 100 Broadway productions to her credit), producer, and Drama League Board member. Those are only some of her accomplishments, and again, they can't begin to do her justice. She is a magnificent, larger-than-life woman who to me epitomizes how uniquely wonderful theatre people can be. Her speech was great.

You can meet these women too, on TRU's YouTube page (click here), where you can also view videos on producing, important and fascinating theatre people and groups, marketing, and using theatre as a force for good.

Wendy Caster

Strike Up the Band

Last week, the wonderful MasterVoices presented the Gershwins' Strike Up the Band. In 1927, its book, about a war over cheese tariffs, was written by George F. Kaufman with a pretty satiric point of view. When that failed to sell tickets, Morrie Ryskin did a rewrite where the war was now over chocolate tariffs (and a dream sequence), the book leaned more toward romance and silly comedy, some new songs replaced some old songs, and the show was a hit.  

David Pittu, Victoria Clark, John Ellison Conlee
Photo: Toby Tenenbaum

Last week's version featured a book rewritten by Laurence Maslon (NYU arts professor) and Ted Sperling (MasterVoices conductor and director) and songs from both earlier versions. Songs included "The Man I Love" and "I've Got a Crush on You."

Strike Up the Band was a great deal of fun in terms of the book, and flat-out glorious in terms of the music and singing. Both the MasterVoices chorale and the MasterVoices orchestra soared, and the individual singers in the cast were fabulous. Perhaps my favorite part of the whole evening was a clarinet solo in the overture (reminiscent of the one at the start of Rhapsody in Blue) aced by Andrew Sterman.

MasterVoices stalwart Victoria Clark stole the show in a supporting role of a wealthy woman who wants to fix the world. She got one of the biggest laughs of the evening with a line that wasn't actually funny. And, of course, her voice was spectacular. Other impressive performers included Bryce Pinkham, Lissa deGuzman, David Pittu, John Ellison Conlee, and Shereen Ahmed. 

For information on the MasterVoices next shows and access to their new podcast, click here.  

Wendy Caster

Sump'n Like Wings

Lynn Riggs (1899-1954) wrote 30 plays, a few of which were produced on Broadway, along with screenplays and poetry. Nowadays he is known--when he is known at all--for having written Green Grow the Lilacs, which Rodgers and Hammerstein turned into Oklahoma!

A gay man and a Native American, Riggs had a strong sense of "otherness" and how it affected people's lives. He often wrote about Oklahoma, where he was born, in the early 1900s, and he was frank about the ways limited opportunity and frequent violence circumscribed the lives of many people, particularly women.

Joy Avigail Sudduth, Lukey Klein,
Julia Brothers, Mariah Lee
Photo: Maria Baranova 

In Sump'n Like Wings, currently being produced by the invaluable Mint Theatre, Riggs focuses on 16-year-old Willie, whose bitter mother is trying desperately to rein in her daughter's energy, desire, and anger. Willie's mother wants to protect Willie from the dangers of the world--i.e., men--but Willie is far from rein-in-able, and she breaks out of the role life has given her, at great cost.

This important theme is familiar from other Mint productions, including Becomes a Woman, by Betty Smith, and The King of Spain's Daughter, by Teresa Deevy. Unfortunately, Sump'n Like Wings is not at their level. It has one-dimensional characters, awkward dialogue, and weird plotting. On the other hand, it does do an excellent job of depicting the claustrophobia that results from women's legitimate fear of men. In the world of this play, fear of violence--particularly rape--runs women's lives. 

Riggs has little use for straight men. The one decent man in the play is a gentle bachelor who is described in the script as walking "about with quick nervous steps--like a bird," i.e., gay.

This production is not up to The Mint's usual standards. The acting is hampered by the dialect and accents used in the play, e.g.:

OSMENT: Well, she done it! I'm as shore of it as I'm shore of goin to heaven when I die—

CLOVIS: Well, I doan know about you and heaven—

MRS. CLOVIS: Pass me sump'n, fer heaven's sake!

And while, granted, the actors don't have a lot to work with, they rarely rise above the material. 

The overall result is an opportunity to catch a museum piece, but that's about all. I wish the Mint had done Green Grow the Lilacs instead, but perhaps they someday will.

Wendy Caster

Honor

What is honor? That's a particularly relevant question as we head into the election. Is honor reputation? Or is it something between a person and herself? What value does honor have? Do most people care about honor?

Dictionaries define honor as being the same as reputation (e.g., "high respect; great esteem," "good name") and as being more about ethics (e.g., "adherence to what is right," "integrity").* While these definitions are different, they are not mutually exclusive.

Altman, Hamilton, Blaylock
Photo: Marjorie Phillips Elliott

Honor, a one-act written and directed by T.J. Elliott and presented by Knowledge Workings Theater Company, utilizes both definitions, sometimes simultaneously, sometimes separately.

As the show starts, Ludwig Cade (John Blaylock), General Counsel of an unnamed company, and Ronnee Emerson (Alinca Hamilton), Associate General Counsel, are sitting in a conference room, waiting for Don Troy (Ed Altman), former VP and now "R&D Consultant." Don shows up, cheerful and obnoxious and full of himself. Ludwig says that they have two things to discuss, and before he can get any further, Don hijacks the conversation. When Ludwig is finally able to get the meeting back on track, they get to the subject at hand:

Ronnee (to Don): ... you will be very glad to hear that the investigation is concluded. (Consults paper) And we found no support for the accusations that you helped in any bullying of any employee.

Don: (Beat) The accusations against me were false? (Exhales) False accusations. That’s your verdict?

Ludwig: The investigators did not find them to be true.

Don: Which is generally the definition of false....

Ludwig: Unsupported and false are not synonyms…

We gradually learn the details of the situation, although there is disagreement as to their meaning. 

Don and Ronnee debate the meaning of honor at length, both evidencing an unusual (and unconvincing) familiarity with The Iliad and The Odyssey. They also debate the meaning of facts and how the world looks different and is different for White men and Black women (Ronnee is Black). Ludwig is more pragmatic and not interested in theoretical conversations.

Altman, Hamilton, Blaylock
Photo: Marjorie Phillips Elliott

This is a good set-up, with a lot of potential, and I'd say that this production achieves maybe 60% of that potential. First, the play itself needs to be better focused. While Don's many tangents are sometimes interesting and always help define his character, there are too many of them. Some of the actual useful information gets lost in the noise. I would also wish that the set-up be streamlined and that the rest of the play take its time a little more. 

The direction could also be better focused, as could the acting. The physical expression of the acting is sometimes neglected and sometimes just wrong. In particular, Ronnee is too casual in her physicality and her speech. Being a Black woman and a corporate lawyer generally requires a tremendous amount of care and some formality, along with a high emotional cost. 

While Don's speech and movement can certainly be justified, I would have found the play more compelling if he weren't so committed to being obnoxious. We are told that he is very popular, but we see little reason why. Ludwig feels like a third wheel and a bit generic. Also, Elliott has given Ludwig stomach problems; they might reflect character, but they come across as the playwright trying to get the character out of the room.

The strengths of the play lie in its situation, its embrace of ambiguity, and its recognition that people are, well, people. Complicated, self-focused, messy. As Ronnee says:

When did I realize that Martha Wilton was doing things for her own advantage? I realized it the same moment I realize that in everyone. The second they open their mouth. Everyone is always doing things for their own advantage.

And the way Hamilton says these lines reflects a strength of the play: not cynical, just real.

Wendy Caster

*Definitions from https://www.google.com/search?q=honor+def and https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/honor.

American Classical Orchestra 40th Anniversary Concert

The American Classical Orchestra (ACO), described by its founder/conductor as "our labor of love," utilizes period instruments to better produce classical pieces as the composers composed them. Their 40th Anniversary Concert included Mozart's Andante in C Major for Flute & Orchestra, with Sandra Miller as soloist. Miller is a founder of and principal flute for the ACO, and she was wonderful on the wooden period flute she used. 

Sandra Miller

The program also included Mozart's Andante from Serenade, K. 388, played by the woodwinds section, again with period instruments. I don't have the musical vocabulary to discuss in detail period instruments vs modern ones, but I do know that they are harder to play--and particularly harder to play loud enough to be heard in a good-sized auditorium. The piece was completely audible, present, and beautiful. I'm sure the superb acoustics of Alice Tully Hall enhanced the performance.

Thomas Crawford

The program ended with Beethoven's 7th Symphony, on which ACO did an okay job. The experience may have been injured by Crawford's prefatory remarks, which included snippets of the piece with explanations of how they were written and why they were notable. The remarks were interesting in themselves, but acted as spoilers. In addition, the performance lacked oomph. 

Wendy Caster

In Search of Elaina

Annette is winning at life. She has just negotiated a major promotion; her boyfriend Charles is attractive, considerate, and wealthy; their major life challenge is whether to stay in the Upper West Side or move to Greenwich Village. Then Annette receives a text: her high school boyfriend has been killed in a car accident. Her earlier life, which she has happily abandoned, comes flooding back. 

Garrett Richmond,  Aimée Fortier

Photo:  Al Foote III

Annette decides not to go to the memorial, in California, ostensibly because she'd have trouble getting back to New York in time for work on Monday. But Charles talks her into going back and then talks her into his coming along. He tells her, "I’d just like to see where you’re from." She answers, "I'm from here now!"

After a cross-country plane ride, followed by driving a long, snaking road up the side of a mountain, they are in the world of Annette's childhood: rural, poor, lacking resources and opportunity, battered by drug addiction. Annette's old friends greet her with differing levels of enthusiasm; she hasn't been in touch in ten years. And, to Charles's astonishment, they call her "Annie Rae."

Rachel Griesinger, Aimée Fortier

Photo:  Al Foote III

To describe what follows--culture clashes, drunken confidences, old wounds reopened, secrets revealed--sounds cliché, but in Kara Ayn Napolitano's exceptional new play, In Search of Elaina, everything is new, real, and earned. The play is well-served by excellent direction, by Joy Donze, and vivid, convincing acting. As Annette/ Annie Rae, Aimée Fortier moves seamlessly from being a sophisticated professional in her early 30s to a confused, yearning teenager and back again. The rest of the cast is also excellent: Greg Carere, Jamie Effros, Alexandra Gellner, Rachel Griesinger, Garrett Richmond, and Lee Tyler. It is a first-class production of a first-class play. 

(For tickets, click here.)

Wendy Caster

Attorney-Client

One is not supposed to focus so much on trees that you miss the forest, right? I get that. But what if they're really big, ugly, focus-grabbing trees?

I suspect that Client-Attorney, Alex Ladd's drama at Theater for the New City, is a solid, thoughtful play with a careful structure and something important to say. But I don't know for sure because the same repetitive, abrasive, and unpleasant music is played during every scene change. And there are a lot of scene changes. The music neither enhances nor complements the show. It does, however, interrupt the play's rhythms and knock the audience out of the world of the play and the characters. By the end of the show, I was sticking my fingers in my ears each time a scene ended. If I had been able to quietly consider what had just occurred before each scene change, this review would be much more useful. As it is, the deeply annoying music/tree made it impossible for me to fully appreciate the play/forest. 

The basic set-up of the play is that two young men, one White and rich (Joss Gyorkos), the other Black and poor (Lovell Adams-Gray), are arrested for a hit-and-run car accident in which a young woman is injured. The White man's father gets him the best defense that money can buy, with the attorney also played by Adams-Gray. The Black man ends up with a public defender (also played by Gyorkos), who does what he can to help him but is limited by a lack of resources and the built-in inequities of the justice system. The young men are pressured to behave in the ways their lawyers think best, which have little to do with who the young men are, what they want, and whether or not they are guilty. 

All of this is, of course, underlined and misshapen by systemic racism. This theme is more referred to than developed. That the white guy is rich and the black guy poor stacks the deck. And the constant costume changes (accompanied by that damn music), don't allow the impact of the show to build as it might. While switching off the roles might be fun for the actors, I suspect a four-person cast, with a more streamlined presentation, would be better for the play.

Adams-Gray, Gyorkos

Adams-Gray and Gyorkos acquit themselves pretty well, although Gyorkos's accent for the rich white guy is puzzling at best. The direction, by Pat Golden, has strengths and weaknesses. She has helped the actors develop well-differentiated characters, and that is certainly a plus. But she clearly feels a need to avoid a static stage picture, and has the characters--the white guy in particular--get up and walk around for no reason other than to have someone moving on stage. But the writing is sufficiently interesting to keep the audience's attention all by itself.

Please remember to take this review with a huge grain of salt. The music was so off-putting to me that I just couldn't give the show my full concentration. If the creators promised to remove the music, or replace it with much better, more varied music, I would actually like to give the play a second chance.

Wendy Caster 

The Ask

There's a little gem playing at the Wild Project through September 28th. One set, 80 minutes, with terrific and compassionate writing (Matthew Freeman), directing (Jessi D. Hill), and acting (Colleen Litchfield and Tony-nominated Betsy Aidem, both of whom were in Leopoldstadt on Broadway).

Aidem, Litchfield
Photo: Kent Meister

Tanner (the vivid and canny Litchfield), a nonbinary person who uses "they/their" pronouns, is a fund-raiser with the ACLU (where playwright Freeman worked for years) and they have come to the home of Greta (the compelling and wry Aidem), a long-time generous donor.

Greta wants to be heard, seriously heard. She feels abandoned by the ACLU on a personal and political level. She argues that the ACLU is suffering from mission creep by expanding the issues the organization addresses. In addition, as a liberal, second-generation feminist in a world of changing beliefs, customs, language, and even gender, she feels marginalized. She used to be the cool one.

Tanner  has to treat Greta with kid gloves, but they also want to be honest and not to disrespect their own being and beliefs. It's a tightrope for sure!

What makes this piece way better than it might have been is that Freeman doesn't fall into the simple equation of "rich oblivious person bad/hip nonbinary person good." Greta has legitimate points to make, and Freeman lets her make them. Tanner has legitimate points to make as well, and Freeman and Lichtfield let them make their arguments (and mostly keep their integrity), while trying to entice Greta to quintuple her donation. The debate/dance is fascinating and full of texture; I'm still thinking about it days later.

Aidem, Litchfield
Photo: Kent Meister

In the small space of the handsome set (designed by Craig Napoliello), Greta feels free to pace and wander. Tanner, a guest in Greta's house and in the less-powerful position, never leaves their chair. Greta sometimes feels like a predator stalking her prey, though she would never see herself that way. Greta wants to get her way, and also to be approved, liked, and sympathized with.  (In a funny/horrible moment, Greta asks nonbinary, nonwealthy, working-for-a-living Tanner if they have any idea how it feels to be marginalized.) Aidem manages to make Greta a genuinely sympathetic and even likeable character while never diminishing her vivid faults. It's a great performance.

As Tanner, Litchfield has perfected the meaningful squirm and the eloquent gesture. She gives an amazingly physical performance, brilliantly done. We can feel who Tanner is.

(It's worth taking a moment to point out that this fabulous female character and equally fabulous nonbinary character were written by a male playwright. Good writers can indeed write across gender, race, age, etc. In fact, it's what good writing is.)

If this show were on Broadway, both performers would be nominated for Tonys--and it would cost hundreds of dollars to see them. But at the Wild Project, they can be seen in an intimate space for a reasonable ticket price. It's excellent theatre; it's a bargain.

Wendy Caster