Sondheim on Sondheim

Photo: Joan Marcus

I wouldn't have thought that a show called Sondheim on Sondheim could be boring, but despite its generous selection of songs, this exploration of the great man's music is remarkably bland. The main problem is that two of the three people listed over the title don't have the interpretive skills to do justice to the songs they sing (hint: neither of them is Barbara Cook). The five other performers range from blah to excellent, but even the better ones are often stymied by overdone direction and uncomfortable staging. For example, the fluid "Opening Doors" is here completely fractured as the performers are made to repeatedly, pointlessly, march up and down a revolving set of slippery stairs. (One performer, wearing heels, looked scared for her life--or at least her ankles--every time she had to take those stairs.) Sondheim on Sondheim comes across as a not-particularly-good evening of one of the variety shows that used to be on TV a million years ago, with some nice singing but often painful "witty banter." Other than occasional moments of excellence (mostly when Cook is on stage), the show's one redeeming feature is the extensive footage of Sondheim talking about his life and his work. Note: I saw this at a preview and it's possible that the show has been improved since then. (I certainly hope so.)

Short Takes: The Full-Disclosure Edition

The very funny Miracle on South Division Street, currently playing at the Seven Angels Theatre in Waterbury, Conn, focuses on the Nowaks, a mother and three adult child who believe that their family has been specially blessed. When certain information comes to light, the Nowaks must reconsider their definitions of family, identity, and miracles. This entertaining, touching, thought-provoking show was written by Tom Dudzick, author of Over the Tavern, Don't Talk to the Actors, and other wonderful plays. (Full disclosure: Tom is my brother-in-law.)

Last weekend, In the Light Theatre presented Adam Bock's relationship comedy, Swimming in the Shallows, in which Bock democratically demonstrates that gay, lesbian, and heterosexual couples all have their challenges and insanities and that most people are all just looking for meaning and love. Swimming in the Shallows is wry and much more surprising than my description would make you think (a shark figures prominently). As smoothly directed by Douglas Hall and well-performed by Laura DiCerto, Michael Edmund, Kathryn Gerhardt, Thomas Gibbons, Lisa Riegel, and Tony Travostino, Swimming in the Shallows was a delightful 90 or so minutes, and I wish the run had been longer than one week. This was the second In the Light Theatre production I've seen, and I look forward to the third. (Full disclosure: Kathy Gerhardt is my friend and Doug Hall directed the short film Second Glance, for which I wrote the screenplay.)

The Light in the Piazza

The excellent student production of The Light in the Piazza put on by the NYU Program in Vocal Performance ran just four performances, so too few people were able to experience it. I am grateful to have been one of them. Directed by William Wesbrooks, with music direction by Grant Wenaus, this production of The Light in the Piazza missed a lot of the humor of the show but was well-acted, smoothly directed, and beautifully sung. As Margaret, Melanie Field caught the character's fears and hopes for her unusual daughter, and her version of "Fable" was an exciting cap to a lovely evening. If you are in New York or plan to visit, I strongly suggest that you keep track of shows done at NYU, which are regularly worth seeing. The theatres are comfortable, the tickets are inexpensive, and the performers and musicians are wonderful. (Past productions include Assassins and Parade).

Langston in Harlem

Photo: Melinda Hall

When I read that Langston in Harlem features Langston Hughes's poetry set to music, I imagined a staid, respectful, good but quiet evening in the theatre. Boy, was I wrong! Langston in Harlem throbs, stomps, cries, and explodes--and still manages to honor the words of a great American poet. Often thrilling (though too long), Langston in Harlem takes us on an emotional tour of Hughes's life, including his writing, family, and friends, his love of his people, his slow acceptance of his homosexuality, his interest in communism, and his ambivalence about his success and the price paid for it. The jazz score by Walter Marks is flat-out wonderful, and the superb choreography by Byron Easley runs an amazing gamut from joy to anger. The cast is filled with prodigiously talented actors, singers, and dancers, including Jordan Barbour, Jonathan Burke, Francesca Harper, LaTrisa Harper, Dell Howlett, Krisha Marcano, Kenita Miller, Okieriete Onaodowan, Josh Tower, Gayle Turner, Glenn Turner, and C. Kelly Wright. Most importantly, Langston in Harlem transmits a strong sense of Hughes's talent, importance, and heart.

Some small criticisms: the mikes are obtrusive, especially in a small space where they aren't needed at all; many cigarettes are smoked and the smoke just hangs in the theatre; and late in the show the music takes a startling and distracting turn into a Broadway-type sound, as though John Kander had dropped in (I love Broadway musicals, and the song is question is good, but its sound just doesn't fit).

The Subject Was Roses

Reviewed for Theatermania.

Langston In Harlem

photo: Ben Hider

When I saw a workshop of this vibrant, original musical two years ago at The Public, it was clear that the show was special and that there would be a full production sooner rather than later. A loosely-shaped biography of Langston Hughes (Josh Tower) that sets his writings to a rich, original jazz-heavy score (by Walter Marks), the musical is formally unconventional and often spellbinding. It's a portrait of the poet etched mostly by his own words, with sophisticated, evocative music that honors rather than disturbs the rhythms of his poems. The book scenes (by Marks, along with director Kent Gash) are kept at a bare minimum - there's just enough dialogue to set the backdrop of the Harlem Renaissance (shout out to Kenita Miller, memorable as Zora Neale Hurston) and to move us through some of the events in Hughes' life that inspired his writings. If the book scenes and musicalized poems - among them "The Negro Mother", "Genius Child", and "Troubled Water" - form a biography of Hughes' artistic life more than his personal one, it's a small price to pay for the musical's multitude of pleasures.