A Midsummer Night's Dream

photo: Michal Daniel

Well worth lining up for this (final) weekend, the Daniel Sullivan-directed ...Midsummer's... is easily one of the most entertaining productions of Shakespeare to grace Central Park in recent years. There are plenty of reasons why the production shouldn't come off as well as it does - the play's darker ruminations are breezed over, the set (mostly, a single gnarled tree) and the costumes (which riff on Edwardian England) don't work well together, in a handful of instances the dialogue has been turned into lyrics to inadvertently alienating effect. But none of that matters so much while basking in the glow of this charming production, which emphasizes all that is screwball in the comedy and which boasts a better, more unified ensemble than has become the Shakespeare In The Park norm. Here, the gals among the four central lovers are more emphasized than the guys, with Mireille Enos a strong, substantial Hermia and Martha Plimpton a strikingly resilient and passionate Helena. Although she flubs part of her first scene by racing through it, Laila Robins is a delight once her Titania is bewitched by love's spell and dewey-eyed over an ass-faced actor (played with gusto by Jay O. Sanders).

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Photo/Michal Daniel

To quote Shakespeare, Helena makes a heaven of hell. Martha Plimpton usually delivers (see The Coast of Utopia), so yes, I'll follow her, to "die upon the hand I love so well." Of course, there is no hell to be found in Daniel Sullivan's direction of A Midsummer Night's Dream, only magic. The First Fairy (Chelsea Bacon) does acrobatic burlesque with her tongue and body as she swings from branch to branch, easily purring her text, and Laila Robin's Titania plays footsie both with her words and her stockinged legs. Puck (Jon Michael Hill) is a magician who does slight of hand as much with his own spry self as with his multicolored cloths, and the faeries, creepy children straight out of Tim Burton's "innocence," give way to bucolic ditties in Oberon's (Keith David) deep dulcet tones. One never thinks "poor Bottom" in the light of such theatrical antics, much less Jay O. Sanders, who "brays" that role to great effect, nor does Sullivan dwell on the wild, unspoken violence: when it boils over, it is in stylized and greatly comic choreography, as Demetrius, Lysander, Helena, and Hermia all fly at one another in the name of love. The energy that Sullivan's achieved in this production is the true fairy dust that gives this Dream wings: reason and love, it's true, keep little company together.

[Also blogged by: Patrick]

Scarcity

****

Atlantic Stage

Jesse Eisenberg, the young actor who so brilliantly held his own against the likes of Jeff Daniels and Lara Linney in the film The Squid And The Whale , proves yet again with his intense multi-dimensional performance in Lucy Thurber's absorbing new drama, Scarcity, that there is no question we have a very special and confident actor here. With an awkward, quavering tone, his character slyly feels his way through this play figuring out just what he can and can't get away with as he is pulled in all directions by his mother, father, sister and teacher. Taking place in rural Massachusetts this play was all about the smart poor kid trying to find a way out of the drunken destitute environment he has been raised in. Happily the play works very well and Kristen Johnston and Michael T. Weiss as drunk mommy and drunk daddy crank out a couple of very impressive performances of their own. This is a recommender.

100 Saints You Should Know

David's already captured the joy of seeing Lois Smith on stage (although I'll add, in something good, because Surface to Air was awful). And Patrick's already pinpointed the "elegant gracefulness" and "prickly humor." I've got a lengthy preview up if you click "Read On" below, so rather than rehash how much I enjoyed 100 Saints You Should Know, I'd like to highlight a moment: Matthew (Jeremy Shamos) has just been told by Abby (Zoe Kazan) that it's alright to say "I don't know" (which he then does), and now stands in a hospital waiting room with Theresa (Janel Moloney), a professional maid who seeks salvation--and perhaps something more--from him. The two, on diverging paths to and from faith, stand in the stark glow of an overhanging light, and Matthew confesses why he's been forced from the rectory--he was caught with male nude photographs--and speaks of his yearning to be touched. In the quietest, most fragilely beautiful moment on stage this year, Theresa reaches out to him, lightly brushing his head as Matthew stares out, at--well, that (like the play's meaning) is for the audience to decide.

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

Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical

**

The Real Theatre Company

The electricity and vibe of a "be-in" was certainly conveyed in abundance by this posse of earnest young actors many of whom are "thrilled" to be making their New York debut. Unfortunately, due to karaoke-style singing, technical difficulties, and loose direction/choreography that gave our giant cast a little too much latitude thereby blurring focus, this was a little more footloose and fancy free than it probably should have been. But hey, it's Hair.... they're kids.... it's theater... I hope they had a blast. Congrats on your NYC debuts!

The Lady In Question

photo: David Rodgers

It's been fifteen years since Charles Busch first donned wigs and heels to star in his delightful spoof of 1940's suspense melodrama: ever since, some of us poor suckers have been starving to death for another taste of this deliciously kitschy bon-bon. Busch is Gertrude Garnet, a world-famous concert pianist who agrees to Mata-Hari a smitten SS officer while touring Bavaria: there's a big laugh when she extends her man-sized hands and says they are insured by Lloyd's of London. Every move Busch makes, both as playwright and as performer, reveals a deep understanding and affection for the high-style dramatics of the silver screen heroines of a long-gone era. Every lift of an eyebrow has an impact. Think of it as the kind of send-up that The Carol Burnett Show used to do, but better and just a little bit warped by flashes of raunchy naughtiness and the gently subversive texture of drag. The ensemble in this production (which includes Richard Kind, Julie Halston, Matt McGrath and Candy Buckley) is pitch-perfect individually and in tandem: everyone gets the style of the material and achieves it. This may be the best play that Busch has in his drag closet, and this production (at Bay Street Theatre, in Sag Harbor) is every bit as fun as the original one.