A Hard Heart

Photo/Carol Rosegg

Even though it's Melissa Friedman's subtle performance that gets me in Epic Theater Company's excellent production of Howard Barker's masterful play, A Hard Heart (somehow only just now receiving a NY premiere), I'm so glad to have at last seen Kathleen Chalfant on stage. All the actors, not just these two, work wonders with Barker's difficult Catastrophism (an unwieldy form of language that ever challenges the audience and the actors with its constant shifts and outbursts), and the outcome is one of those rare moments of synergy on stage. Everything about this show works, from the political messages about the cost of war and the greater cost of winning it (if we sacrifice what we are to survive, have we really survived?), to the emotional parallels between keeping one's heart closed and keeping one's borders closed. Riddler, the cold-hearted genius of the play, is as close to Barker as we'll see on stage, a woman who is never short of an innovative idea or a metaphor with which to mask it, a megalomaniac who enjoys the opportunity for fame that war brings her, and Chalfant, though brusque in this role, remains utterly human for those moments when she ceases to be unnervingly calm. The final flourish is that of Will Pomerantz's direction, which constantly finds ways to merge the steely exterior with the fleshy interior: action takes place in the aisles of the audience, the set itself is an impenetrable box that folds lightly in on itself to expose an gaping emptiness, &c., &c., the list of things that are simply right about this play go on and on. A Hard Heart is not at all a hard play to highly recommend: its heroes may find only tragedy in triumph, but may this remarkable ensemble find only success in their nightly suffering.

Humans Anonymous

There's a famous quote that goes "Comedy is getting what you wish for, tragedy is getting what you deserve." Humans Anonymous is certainly a comedy along those lines, one that follows Ellen as she at last breaks her curse of continually depressing dates by finding the man of her dreams (SmartyPants17) over the Internet. Sadly for her, what she actually deserves is the woman of her dreams, Jenny (not Lenny), a lovable klutz who, despite being turned down once the mistake is realized, sets out to win Ellen's heart (or to at least make her happier) by an anonymous admirer. She's abetted in this by Ellen's employee, Peter (who is tellingly also her best friend), who agrees that the best thing for Ellen may be the last thing she wants. Of course, Kate Hewlett's play began as a one-act for the Toronto Fringe, and the seams where it's been expanded are showing, most tellingly in the side plot with Arden and Gema, two lovable characters who just happen to be as awkward for the script as they are for society. And while the jokes are mostly wildly successful at keeping the momentum going, there are still more than a few that seem forced, no matter how much the actors manage to put behind them. But don't let this minor nitpicking encourage you to remain anonymous to the theater: this play is a riot with a human heart, and it showcases a lot of upcoming talents.

[Read on]

Speech And Debate

photo: Joan Marcus

Both enormously entertaining and thought-provokingly topical, this pithy dramedy is instantly one of my favorite shows of the year. The play (which depicts three misfit high schoolers who might or might not go public with a private sex scandal involving the school's drama teacher) is swift, smart and snappy: the playwright (Stephen Karam) has humorously and sensitively captured the ridiculous pathos of adolescence without condascending to the characters. He's set the teenagers (and two adult characters, both played by Susan Blackwell with zest and an eye for keen detail) in a dynamic story which emphasizes the peculiarity of our times, when the line between public and private information is indistinct. (He's also written, for the character played by an astonishing newcomer named Sarah Steele, the funniest monologue I've seen on stage since The Little Dog Laughed last season.) Each of the five pitch-perfect performances are marked by highly specific, quirky choices: everyone (under Jason Moore's direction) is taking bold chances with their characterizations that serve the play. Speech And Debate is the inaugural show at a new black box space under the Laura Pels Theatre, which the Roundabout intends to program exclusively with new plays by emerging writers. I've no idea how the plan will end up, but they've undoubtedly made a sensational start.

Also blogged by: [Aaron] and [David]

The Glorious Ones

photo: Joan Marcus

Seemingly intended as a valentine to the actors' life, the latest Ahrens-Flaherty musical (which concerns a 17th century commedia dell'arte troupe nearing the end of their run) is reasonably enjoyable entertainment with at least a handful of good songs (and at least two with overly generic lyrics that seem like cabaret-bait). But it's slight and ultimately unsatisfying for many reasons. For one thing, it lacks dramatic tension until almost halfway through its one hundred minutes, when we're made to understand that the public has lost its taste for the troupe's bawdy improvisational comedy and now demands more poetic entertainments. For another, we rarely get a sense of the troupe improvising anything, so we have to take that on faith: what we do see is the troupe's vulgarity, as if that's funny on its own. Although most of the members of the ensemble each get a chance to shine (the brightest among them is Julyana Soelistyo, who redeems her potentially precious character) the show is more than anything a sensational showcase for Marc Kudisch. As Flamino Scala, the troupe's charismatic and vainglorious leading man and leader, Kudisch is a complete joy to watch: everytime he throws open his arms and extolls the heaven of performing theatre for the people, we're swept up in Flamino's passion and romance. Kudisch is what's truly glorious about The Glorious Ones.

The Glorious Ones

Photo/Joan Marcus

I'm a sucker for commedia dell'arte: Lynn Ahrens could've written nothing more than the simple lazzis (sight gags) that John Kassir pantomimes as the flatulent Dottore or the deep-seated emotion of Natalie Venetia Belcon, as Columbina, and I would have cracked my way through this show. But with the addition of a subdued but rich score by Stephen Flaherty and the comic direction (and choreography) of Graciela Daniel, and thanks in no small part to the novel by Francine Prose from which this was adapted, The Glorious Ones is so much more than the crude "one hand on the crotch, one hand on the heart" that it sings about. Instead, it aspires to answer "What is life but the beauty of improvisation?" and seeks the heart of all artistic endeavors when the stubborn and narcissistic leader of the troupe, Flaminio Scala (Marc Kudisch), clashes with his surrogate son, the harlequin, Francesco Andreini (Jeremy Webb) over the presentation of their work. I couldn't say how historically accurate it all is, but the characters give a plausible rise and a real humanity to stock characters that generally just traipse around the stage with little thought or consequence to their pratfalls. Here, the falls are more serious, and they are well chronicled in the mournful "My Body Wasn't Why" or "I Was Here," just as they are earlier laughed about in the self-deprecating "The Comedy of Love" and foreboding "The Glorious Ones." Great art may love to fail, but it doesn't have to, and The Glorious Ones is a real hit.

August: Osage County

*****

Imperial

(now in previews)

I agree emphatically with Modern Fabulosity's rave of this "magnum opus". This intense, fiery, very funny, enormous play about an Oklahoma family falling apart is the best I have seen in years. Like seriously. The amazing Deanna Dugan, playing the drugged up matriarch, carefully stomps up and down the stairs in her pajamas and shreds all those who venture too close in this, the new great female role in American theatre. The three story house is loaded with sweaty relatives- each with baggage of their own- holding court on fold out couches and air-mattresses as they try and sort out the dilemma of "Where's Daddy?" and about 1000 other issues the clan is dealing with. This production was 3 hours and 20 minutes and there was not a single moment where I was watching the clock. This play needs to be seen and if Playwright Tracy Letts, Dugan and Amy Morton (the level headed drunk daughter) aren't at the very least nominated, then the Tonys are a lie.