The Savannah Disputation

Reviewed for Theatermainia.

The Expatriates

The Expatriates, playing as part of the Frigid Festival, aims to bring to life the vanished age of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald through a non-chronological sequence of scenes in the author's life among the literati and glitterati with whom he drank, wrote, and fornicated. Unfortunately, a wishy-washy Fitzgerald (Harrison Williams) and a hard-to-understand Zelda (Morgan Lindsey Tachco) left me underwhelmed, while strained staging and poor pacing prevented the script's sometimes evocative repartee from blooming. The versatile Jenny Bennett is amusing as Gertrude Stein, Isadora Duncan, and Dorothy Parker, but the gangly Preston Copley makes a colorless Ernest Hemingway; he'd probably be great in Jimmy Stewart roles, but doesn't make any sense as Papa H. Other small supporting turns score better, but with few sparks in its engine and no sure hand at the tiller the play veers off course before it can ever get a fix on its twinkling stars.

The Question House

What if there were a house in which only questions could be spoken? Does that sound, well, Jewish? What if I told you that the premise is that Harvey Krytz (Howard Green) had a rabbinical vision some 40 years ago, and has operated out of these mystical quarters ever since? Could it be that this show is pretty much just an extended comedy skit? Then again, if it's fresh, crisply paced, and doesn't overstay its welcome, what's wrong with an extended comedy skit? When you get right down to it, isn't it all about the fun playwright Tara Dairman has with the constant tension (and the humor) engendered by her conceit? Who'll slip up? Who'll escape from the Question House? Will we? Will you? Can you find time to see The Question House before the Frigid Festival ends on March 8?

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Mabou Mines DollHouse

Photo: Richard Termine

Mabou Mines DollHouse, adapted by Lee Breuer (who directed) and Maude Mitchell (who plays Nora) from Ibsen’s A Doll House, is a brilliant, thrilling, superb, eye-opening, thought-provoking, heart-breaking, entertaining night in the theatre. The concept of matching unusually short men with unusually tall women is only the starting point of a re-creation of Ibsen’s classic that supports and illuminates the original work by physicalizing the entrapment of late-19th-century women as they distort themselves, inside and out, in desperate attempts to fit into the emotional doll houses in which they must live. It also recognizes the price the men pay in keeping up what Breuer refers to in the program as “a meta-narrative playing out an illusion of male power," a price that he identifies as "the death of love." As this production unfolds, with more coups de theatre per half hour than most directors could be expected to produce in a lifetime, the funniest scenes can be the most chilling, and vice versa. The superb cast includes Maude Mitchell, Mark Povinelli, Janet Giradeau, Ricardo Luis Gil, and Hannah Kritzeck. The brilliant designers include Narelle Sissons (set), Mary Louise Geiger (lighting), Meganne George (costumes), and Jane Catherine Shaw (puppets). The piano accompaniment is beautifully performed by the marvelously deadpan Ning Yu.

La Sonnambula

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Photo: Brigitte Lacombe/Metropolitan Opera

The final dress rehearsal of La Sonnambula at the Metropolitan Opera was open to the public and free (people got in line up to four hours early for tickets). It’s not appropriate to review a dress rehearsal, since it’s not an actual performance and criticizing anything would be unfair. Not to worry—there was little to complain about in this delightful, gorgeously sung and produced confection. The plot is dumb (innocent girl sleepwalks into bed of mysterious count; boyfriend freaks out), but Mary Zimmerman’s show-within-a-show structure makes it more interesting. Bellini’s music is glorious, and the amazing cast, led by the wonderful Natalie Dessay as the sleepwalker, sings it gloriously.

This Beautiful City

Photo: Carol Pratt

Like disgraced evangelist Ted Haggard, who is the focal point if not the subject of the show, This Beautiful City rides high on a wave of infectious energy through the climax of its first act, then loses its way. The authors and cast traveled to Colorado Springs to interview some of its Evangelical citizens, both leaders and laypeople, along with members of the broader community. It's not the first time a theatrical piece has been created from collected or found materials. The subject matter here is pretty juicy, and as luck (or Satan) would have it, the story of Haggard's drug abuse and secret gay sex life broke just then, giving the visiting New Yorkers an unexpected dramatic turning point for their creation.

The show shares the high-spirited pop sensibility of Avenue Q, another enjoyable but less-than-great product of the Vineyard Theatre. The characters -- charismatic preachers and gay rights activists, believers and nonbelievers, militants and military, angry folk and scary folk -- are an extremely colorful assortment, and the cast of six has a grand time embodying them all. But interesting characters and a lone dramatic twist can take us only so far. In Act One we get to know and appreciate these people. After that, nothing really happens.

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