In A Dark Dark House

photo: Joan Marcus

There's so much that is right and strong in Neil Labute's new one-act that what goes wrong is especially frustrating. When the play is focused (as it is most of the time) on the damaged dynamic between the two brothers, it's engrossing and among Labute's most psychologically astute work. (This being Labute, you already know that theirs is an explosive, testosterone-pumped dynamic and that a heart-to-heart is unimaginable). As a dialoguist, Labute is in great form, rendering the brothers' pained, dysfunctional relationship with a cold, clear eye and a keenly tuned ear. The layers peel away incrementally until we see and well understand why these two men behave as they do with each other. But as a dramatist, Labute goes at least one plot twist too far in pursuit of moral anbiguity, and it's not credible. (And although we don't know the final twists until the play's last moments, we can feel that Labute is laying the path for them in the second of the play's three scenes, and we're the wrong kind of on edge.) The play is well worth seeing anyway, especially as this production serves it very well, with a compelling, hard-to-shake performance by Frederick Weller among its virtues.

Also blogged by: [David] [Aaron]

Passing Strange

Photo/Michal Daniel

It wasn't until Stew's compelling, forceful, gospel-like rock ballad "It's Alright," late in the first act, that I really woke up and started believing that the music could go right over my head and to my soul. Pretty much my only complaint with Passing Strange is that the first half feels as if it's dumbed itself down with cute lyrics and extra jokes so that the second half comes as more of an epiphany. Note to director Annie Dorsen: don't you dare hold Daniel Breaker back. Between the dancing lights, neon choreography, recessed musicians, and triple-cast actors, Stew sucker-punched me with his late, direct-to-the-audience monologue: the uneven tone just needs a little more work. All said and done? Don't pass this up.

[Read on] [Also blogged by: Patrick] [David]

The Second Tosca

photo: Neilson Barnard

Set backstage at Opera California, this new comedy by Tom Rowan (Kiss And Cry) is a warmly entertaining and sometimes surprising pleasure that will especially appeal to opera fans: the playwright gets even the little opera details right. The story mostly concerns an emerging singer, preparing to perform a single family matinee of Tosca, who has to sort out the personal and artistic demands of everyone hovering around her: the controlling husband (who happens to be her conductor), the visiting diva, the awestruck fan who wants her to sing his music, the hunky stage manager who wants to steal her away to the country. There's even a singing ghost wandering around to wrack the nerves. The play is overlong at over two and a half hours, and it spells a bit too much out for us, but it's always colorful and entertaining, especially because the playwright skillfully subverts our expectations about each character just when we think we know who they are. (I was caught by susprise, for instance, by the unselfishness in the grand diva's second act speech) Considering the limitations of the small playing area, director Kevin Newbury does a commendable job of staging the action and of moving things along. And the cast is for the most part terrific: I was especially delighted by Melissa Picarello, who renders the visiting diva's personal assistant with youthful energy and transparent ambitiousness, and by Carrington Vilmont, an absolute scene-stealer as our heroine's gay brother and business manager. He's screamingly funny at dry and deadpan.

Also blogged by: [Aaron]

You Can't Take It With You

Photo/Rod Goodman

Farce is hard, especially when it's bottled up with specific period-piece rhythms. Peter Jensen can't plead ignorance: he uses the era's music to choreograph interludes (which also miss the mark), but he doesn't get that rhythm into the whole play (the more successful second act hints at what's missing overall). As a result, these characters only have sparks of firecracker mirth, and like the fireworks in the show, they're not timed correctly. (Even then, they're derivative, not spontaneous.) This unevenness only exaggerates how the pieces are not fitting together. With the Sycamore clan, their quirks are complemented by the love they all share: but take away that necessary emotion, as in this production, and all that's left is unnecessary emoting.

[Read on] [Also blogged by: Patrick]

Eurydice

photo: Joan Marcus

Sarah Ruhl's quirky, boldly inventive reimagining of the enduring Orpheus and Eurydice myth focuses not so much on the story's lovers but on the girl and her father, who reunite in the underworld where only one remembers the other. Ruhl's variation on the story still honors what may be the myth's most powerful truth, that love is both strong enough to conquer death and delicate enough to turn on a single backward glance, and the writing is a fascinating mix of the fantastic and the simple. The play's been given an evocative, visually striking production which carefully balances the play's whimsy and poignancy: there's an appropriate, almost Alice In Wonderland feel to Eurydice's interactions with the Lord of the Underworld when he circles her on his bright red tricycle, and there's an elegant sensuality when Eurydice's father builds a house out of string to shelter her. The play is finally a bit too cutesy-wutesy, and its final plot points momentarily reduce the myth to a simple example of bad timing, but that doesn't seriously diminish the play's freshness and its capacity to seep into the subconscious. Recommended.

Romeo and Juliet

photo: Michal Daniel

This summer's first Shakespeare In The Park has only been up for a few nights as yet, so there's every reason to believe that the acting will improve during its five-week run. With more time, maybe Lauren Ambrose (as Juliet) will convince that she has fallen under first love's intoxicating spell, and maybe Oscar Isaac (as Romeo) will be able to convey the anguish of losing her. Maybe Austin Pendleton (Friar Laurence) will no longer have trouble with his lines, and maybe Christopher Evan Welch (Mercutio) will settle down and not push so hard. With purposefulness, maybe director Michael Greif can guide all the performances so these actors feel like an ensemble, and with luck, perhaps the set (a metal structure that rotates in a pool of shallow water and makes you think of a giant protractor) won't be noisy and distracting anymore. That's a lot of maybe's.