The Play's the Thing

As you have read, lately I've been grappling with why plays are revived and when. So going into Lobby Hero , the Kenneth Lonergan play receiving a revival at the brand new Helen Hayes Theater (now owned and operated by Second Stage), I couldn't help but ask, "why?" Why revive this now, seventeen years after it ran at Playwrights Horizons? Why did Second Stage make it its maiden voyage on Broadway? Why did it attract stars like Michael Cera and Chris Evans? I'm still not really sure of the answers to those questions. Theater is a living, breathing organism. And the beauty of it is that plays and musicals can be revived over and over again, hopefully with new insight. No two productions will (or should) be alike. So I guess judging by that there's always a reason to revive a play, right? I honestly could've lived forever without seeing Lobby Hero on Broadway, or stage, ever again. It's a fine play that doesn't quite succeed as either a slice of l

Should we still be producing George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion in 2018? Well, if we went by Bedlam's current production at the Sheen Center, nah. The company, whose Hamlet is actually my favorite production of the play I've seen, typically does interesting, often subversive, work. It may not always be successful but they always seem to have a vision. However, they simply do not make a case for Pygmalion with their straight-forward production. I'm not going to mince words; Pygmalion is incredibly sexist. Uncomfortably so. It is not subversive in the least. There's no satire. Sure, you can argue it's a product of its time but it can stay in its time. I think it has endured because of the Lerner and Lowe musical version, My Fair Lady . Sure, Shaw is very esteemed (even if he did hate Shakespeare) and his work has endured on its own but I'm not so sure we need to see more productions of Pygmalion . Higgins' misogyny is reprehensible, and as a woman in 2

A note on last week's City Center's Encores! production of Maury Yeston's Grand Hotel. Encores! productions are always a mixed bag for me. There are reasons these shows won't get full, commercials productions, however in recent years, these things seem more like backers auditions, primed for transfer. Grand Hotel seemed like one of these; it was one of the most fully realized Encores' productions I've seen. Is it ready to transfer? No, not necessarily. For one, I don't think Josh Rhodes' direction lets the piece breathe at all. That's not all his fault; the limitations of the set certainly didn't help, and the action of the book happens at such breakneck speed. The book isn't very strong either; the drama and life-or-death stakes of the last third of the show are not developed and come out of nowhere. I hope, if there are commercial (or full production) prospects for Grand Hotel , the book is revised or re-written. I also wasn't c

Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale is incredibly important to me. I wrote a paper about it as an undergraduate that eventually went on to win a criticism award and helped me get accepted into grad school. I rank it as second behind Hamlet as my favorite Shakespeare play. And it's not done very often (I think, correct me if I'm wrong, the last major production in New York City was the Shakespeare in the Park production in 2010), so whenever this play is produced, I try to make a point of seeing it. As someone who loves Shakespeare's work, I am always happy to see a production that isn't Twelfth Night or King Lear or Macbeth . Do we need an excuse to just stage a play by the greatest writer in the history of English language? I certainly don't want to think so. But because there is so much misguided Shakespeare these days, I'm beginning to think maybe we do need a reason beyond, "this man was a genius, this play is brilliant. If we don't do them,

Full disclosure: jukebox musicals aren't my thing. I loved Rock of Ages and All Shook Up and had fun at Beautiful and On Your Feet but ultimately I think they're just a cheap attempt at a cash grab. And this has never been more apparent than at the new Jimmy Buffett jukebox show, Escape to Margaritaville . The creative team behind Margaritaville understand the product they have. They're not trying to make the greatest musical of all time. They are just trying to appeal to the Parrotheads, the people who go to the theater to have a good time. And look, there's nothing wrong with having fun. My favorite show of the season (so far) is Spongebob Squarepants . It's fun and funny and adorable but also smart and well-done. It's clear the creators of the show wanted to create the best show possible. With Margaritaville , this is not the case at all. The whole thing feels cheap and insulting. It's like a theme park show, something you'd see on a cruise ship

I've never seen someone as resentful of his own success and the medium he works in as Bruce Norris. Does he even like plays? Or people? Some consider him a satirist (hmm, I don't agree), some say he's just incredibly cynical (I guess). I say cheer up! You have a Pulitzer! And now you have a big, sprawling period play that's been given a top-notch production at The Public Theater! I'll say one thing about Norris: he's a very versatile playwright. And no play shows off his versatility more than his latest, The Low Road. It's definitely new territory for him style-wise but thematically, it feels similar to his other work. The Low Road skewers capitalism. It's protagonist, Jim, who is described by Artistic Director Oskar Eustis as "the anti-Candide," has a fleeting encounter with Adam Smith (who also narrates the piece) as a child that inspires his unwavering belief in capitalism and "the invisible hand." Jim staunchly believes that pe

There is much to like about Admissions : it's proof that playwright Joshua Harmon can be versatile in his subject matter and writing and the acting, lead by Jessica Hecht at her best, is uniformly excellent. The play grips you for 90 entertaining minutes. But it is yet another entry in the "let's be as timely and relevant as possible" catalog that has consumed the New York theater scene this season. And look, I have said multiple times that good theater should reflect the time in which it is written, and that is a product of what's happening in the world. However, between Relevance , Kings, and now Admissions, I am tired of every playwright standing on a soap box to prove he or she is the most with it, the most "woke," as the kids would say. Just write a play, just tell a story, let us find meaning. However, what Admissions also does right is engage the audience in a dialogue of ideas, and it left my boyfriend and I with much to discuss after the fi

David Rabe's latest play might be called Good for Otto but after sitting through the interminable three hours, I can assure you that what might be good for Otto is bad for everyone else in the theater. I'll admit, I've groaned a time or two after hearing that a show is close to or over three hours long. I mean, the greatest words in the English language are "90 minutes, no intermission" but some of my favorite plays ( Angels in America, Jerusalem , August: Osage County ) are over 180 minutes. Would I like to be in and out and home before 10? Sure. But when the play is engaging and well-written, it doesn't matter. I'd sit through six hours of Jerusalem . The problem with Good for Otto is that it could be 90 minutes, and should be. Characters and passages could easily be cut and the play wouldn't suffer for it. The current incarnation of it on stage at the Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theater tells me this play needed a bit more development, another worksh

The biggest sin of Sarah Burgess' Kings is that it's merely entertaining. You're probably wondering why that's even a sin. Of course, it's not. Lots of people go to the the theater to be entertained. I'm sure that's why Cats ran for twenty years. The problem with Kings is that it's masquerading as a deeper play when essentially everything Burgess has to say is right there on the surface. There's no there there. The whole thing is presented quite literally. The playwright highlights the fact that lobbyists are controlling American politics, that politicians can be bought for the right price, and that well, cash is king. All things we as the audience already know because we live in America in the present, where laws are made to benefit those greasing the palms of the people in power. Kings focuses on, or at least pretends to focus on, two female lobbyists, Lauren, who lobbies in finance and Kate, whose focus is healthcare, as they attempt to m

There's so much to celebrate about Lindsey Ferrentino's Amy and the Orphans. The play is not only one of the better things of the season but it manages to be funny, entertaining, well-acted, and a major victory for inclusion. Ferrentino's title character has Down Syndrome, and is played by Jamie Brewer, who also has the disease (as does her understudy, Eddie Barbanell. The play becomes Andy and the Orphans when he plays the role.) Amy is never the butt of a joke, never a punch line, and is never exploited, as writers and directors often tend to do when dealing with disabled actors or characters. But of course, that's Ferrentino's intention. Amy has been locked away in group homes (some terrible, some good) her entire life, with limited time spent with her own family. She has had to fend for herself but has developed into a strong individual with likes and dislikes, and even has a boyfriend and a job. Amy has clearly had to overcome a great deal in her life, and

Note to playwrights: keep the fourth wall up. I'm at a loss for words when it comes to Jordan Harrison's latest, The Amateurs. The play begins with a troupe of traveling players during the middle ages as they try to outrun the plague and survive. Oliver Butler's directs it broadly, like a sketch comedy, and the script, which is full of anachronisms,  is trying to be ironic for irony's sake. The players deal with more than just the plague; there's also homosexuality, unplanned pregnancy, and the desire to learn more about their roles in their biblical morality plays. There's not much plot, other than the death of one of the players, and there's certainly no conflict. Thirty minutes in I couldn't help but think, "where on earth is this going?" And then the fourth wall comes down. And a member of the cast, Michael Cyril Creighton, introduces himself as playwright Jordan Harrison (and then cheekily acknowledges that he is not in fact the Jord

Many theatrical events claim to be "timely," especially since the 2016 presidential election. There seems to be a competition to see what can be the most "culturally relevant." (Even Michael Kahn tried to shoehorn Trumpism into his Hamlet .) Regardless of its faults, JC Lee's Relevance , which just opened as part of MCC's season at The Lucille Lortel Theater, is one of the more timely, or should I say, relevant, plays I've seen lately but that doesn't mean it has anything particularly new to say. Lee does a terrific job highlighting some of the issues that have sprung up in the last five years or so in regards to social media, the idea of going viral, and how we reach people and create followings, or, as the internet would put it, our "brands." Yes, now that everyone has the internet at their fingertips, a camera, and the ability to create social media accounts, we all have a voice where we may not have in the past. We can all believe we