God of Carnage

In God of Carnage, by Yasmina Reza (Art), two couples get together to discuss, in a civilized manner, an incident between their 11-year-old sons that left one boy without his incisors. I saw an early preview, so some things are likely to change.

• Here is what will likely get even better: the performances of Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, Marcia Gay Harden, and James Gandolfini.
• Here is what will likely remain the same, unfortunately, since this play already had a successful run in London: characters who keep saying they're going to leave when you know they can't because then the play would end; unconvincing revelations of personality that seem like devices to keep the plot moving; echos of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf that only serve to emphasize God of Carnage's weaknesses; and a forced comparison to violence in Africa that attempts to give the play a weight it hasn't earned.
• And here's why much of this may not matter: the show has some very funny moments; the actors are so good that they frequently rise above the material; and much of the audience gave the show a standing O (unless they were standing for Tony Soprano, which is completely possible).

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?

Read the full review.

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.