Full Article Text
Theater: Murder, Magic And Memories
in Four New Shows
A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE & MURDER *** 1/2
TWELFTH NIGHT *** 1/2
KING RICHARD THE THIRD ***
LIES MY FATHER TOLD ME **
A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE & MURDER *** 1/2
WALTER KERR THEATRE
Apparently, once a decade actor Jefferson Mays will find the role that's perfect for his
mercurial, shape-shifting talent and explode on the stage as one of our brightest stars. In2003, it was the one-man play I Am My Own Wife , which featured Mays in one of the
best performances I will ever see during a lifetime of theater-going. Now, it's the silly,light fluff of this musical spin on Kind Hearts & Coronets. I love Ealing comedies and Alec
Guinness as much as the next person, but that film in particular always felt like merely astunt to show off Guinness in multiple parts (all of them heirs to a grand title and all fatedto die hilariously awful deaths). It was amusing but lacked depth. The book by Robert L.Freedman and music by Steven Lutvak (they collaborated on the lyrics) work togetherhere to add some emotional resonance to the proceedings and that pays off dividends inAct Two.
But first we have the musical comedy playground of Act One. Our hero Monty Navarro
(Bryce Pinkham, a dead ringer for Rufus Sewell and delivering a career-making turn) isthe all but ignored member of the D'Ysquith family. His penniless, now-dead motherinforms him of his noble lineage via a trusted servant. Navarro, it turns out, is animprobable eighth in line for the wealth and power and estate of the D'Ysquiths. Hereaches out to them for a job, is spurned, and determines to knock them off one by oneuntil the title, the estate and the glory are his and his alone, sweet revenge for hisdisinherited mother and not a bad way to get on for himself.
It helps that the D'Ysquiths are immediately presented as awful or silly or awfully silly,
beginning with Lord Adalbert singing the dismissive "I Don't Understand The Poor." All ofthe fated-to-die D'Ysquiths (both male and female) are played by Mays with relish inrapid succession, often seemingly with one D'Ysquith speaking on stage left followed amoment later by another D'Ysquith popping up on stage right. (The dressers are JulianAndres Arango, Cat Dee, Amy Kaskeski and Tree Lonon and frankly they all deserve totake a bow at the end of the night, though if one of them works strictly with Mays they inparticular deserve a special Tony.)
That song is typically amusing and clever, a light ditty without a terribly strong melody
but like all the others here quite serviceable and fitting. And so the D'Ysquiths come andquickly go -- a fey bee keeper, a quivering and indifferent man of the cloth, a philanderer,an adventuress who embraces causes to get one up on her society friends and on and on.Our hero meets them and then devises a foolproof way to knock them off unless fateknocks them off conveniently for him. The funerals pile up, the list of heirs shrinks down
May 15, 2014
This is the print preview:
Back to normal view »
Posted: 11/22/2013 4:45 pm
and Monty Navarro looks set to be the last man standing.
This show calls to mind The Mystery Of Edwin Drood, among others, and frankly it's
almost astonishing this project began in America. (It should run in the West End for ages,
whatever its fate here.) Essentially, this is a pretty good musical given a great productionby all involved led by the excellent direction of Darko Tresnjak with choreography byPeggy Hickey that always delights.
The set design by Alexander Dodge artfully keeps the proceedings on a slightly off-kilter
air and constantly reminds us this is a story being told -- the conceit is that Monty iswriting his memoirs while in jail the night before he hears the verdict on whether he'll gofree or die...ironically, for one of the few D'Ysquith murders he didn't commit. Thisframing device (sorry!) makes all the murder and mayhem easy to enjoy. It's a stagewithin a stage and a ramp leads out into the audience, making this one of the mostintimate and fun musicals around.
The costumes (Linda Cho), the lighting (Philip S. Rosenberg) and the endlessly inventive
hair and wigs (Charles LaPointe) all combine to allow Mays to deliver his tour de force
turn as seemingly half the people on stage. The other half was cast exceptionally well byJay Binder and Jason Styres of Binder Casting. Every part is well sung, every actor well-
suited to their various turns.
Lisa O'Hare as Monty's first love Sibella -- who spurns him for a safer bet then regrets her
error as he rises in power and status -- is always good but gets better as the show goes on.
Lauren Worsham is a delight from the get-go as Phoebe D'Ysquith with a wonderful
operetta-like voice perfect for the Gilbert & Sullivan air the show is going for. Pinkham isa winning and strong-voiced lead throughout. I remember him from the acclaimedOrphans Home Cycle at Signature and here he is effortlessly holding the stage, sparring
with Mays and wooing two women (and the audience) at the same time. Obviously, all theaccolades will go to Mays but Pinkham should benefit with a wide-range of leading manpossibilities in the years to come.
At the end of the first act, I thought the show had settled into a pleasant if repetitive
rhythm: introduce another silly D'Ysquith, sing a ditty and then knock them off. It seemedGentleman's Guide would be a perfectly enjoyable trifle I could recommend heartily,
especially for Mays' antics.
But as so rarely happens in musicals, Act Two actually improved on things. Once they
dispensed with most of the D'Ysquiths, Freedman and Lutvak dug deeper and createdsome real emotional conflict for their hero. By far the best musical theater number of theevening was "I've Decided To Marry You" with Monty suddenly hosting both Sibella andPhoebe at his bachelor pad and desperately trying to keep both women apart. It's physicalcomedy, witty character development high drama (Monty seems in greater danger herethan during any of his crimes) and the most fun of the night.
That's followed by the best piece of comedy of the evening: a dinner party hosted by Lord
Adalbert D'Ysquith (Mays, natch) and Lady Eugenia (Joanna Glushak). They ride
roughshod over their guests, treat the servants like unloved dogs and literally hiss and
growl and spit at each other in a symphony of marital discord that is hilariously over thetop and very very funny.
The fact that Freedman and Lutvak delivered the evening's best moments when they
escaped the high concept set-up of this musical -- and that one high point was musicaland the other dramatic -- leads me to believe that this amusing evening of tomfoolery willlead to shows even richer and better in years to come from this team.
TWELFTH NIGHT *** 1/2
KING RICHARD THE THIRD ***
BELASCO THEATREI would go anywhere, pay any price to see actor Mark Rylance on the stage. If for nothing
else, his stewardship as the artistic director of Shakespeare's Globe from 1995 to 2005
would endear him to theater lovers forever. Now his triumphant return to the Globe with
dual productions of the comedy Twelfth Night and the tragedy King Richard The Third
done in repertory with an all-male company has traveled to Broadway. I grade Rylance on
a curve -- and not the nice one. I expect a transforming night of theater so I'm harder on
his shows than anyone else. By that rigorous standard, his Richard The Third is merely
solid and good. (I felt his buffoonish Richard didn't lead anywhere unexpected by the endof the show.) His Twelfth Night is lighter than air and delightful, with superlative
direction from Tim Carroll and an excellent cast.
I was lucky enough to see the shows back to back over two evenings and the pleasure of
seeing these actors in such varied surroundings can't be over-estimated. If you can, seeRichard The Third first and Twelfth Night second. If you can truly only see one, go for
the comedy. But you'd be a fool to miss Rylance and this company. And by all means,don't hesitate to grab the cheap seats for sitting on stage. The lower level in particular isgreat fun and the shows are performed in a way that makes those audience members feellike they're not missing a thing.
You won't find any modern settings for these plays. The costumes by Jenny Tiramani areperiod-exact, down to the pleasure of watching the actors get sewn into their outfits onstage before the show begins. Her set mimics the design of the Globe in London as muchas possible, with two doors for entrances and exits and a high perch above for themusicians playing period appropriate instruments. On both sides of the stage are two-tiered seating for about 30 audience members. (No trip to London, by the way, iscomplete without at least one trip to the Globe to see what's on offer.)
So no elaborate sets or high concept: they simply deliver the words of Shakespeare with
clarity and purpose, with men playing women as in Shakespeare's time, though they're not
playing "women" but characters who are women, which makes all the difference. Justassume anyone I don't mention is quite good, since the cast is so exceptional.
They are led by Rylance, who stutters and stammers and gets more laughs out of an "oh"
than anyone you're ever likely to see. His Olivia in Twelfth is a determined mourner who
finds herself besotted with the messenger boy of one of her many suitors. Little does sherealize that boy is a girl in disguise pining for her lost twin brother. When it's revealed
Olivia's would-be love has an identical twin brother, Rylance's leap for joy is hilarious. His
Richard in the tragedy is very entertaining, as Richard often is. He's buffoonish but fools
almost no one; everyone steps away from Richard and his withered hand in fear. But his
fall is too abrupt to be satisfying -- Richard is literally tripping over himself after gaining
power -- and that keeps this from being a Richard for the ages. Still, he's fascinating in
any role (oh, to have seen his Hamlet!) and this is no exception.
But he's far from the only pleasure. Samuel Barnett of The History Boys is so remarkably
good as the youthful, willful Viola in Twelfth and the wary, regal Queen Elizabeth in
Richard that I've half a mind to take Barnett in hand and insist he never tackle a trouser
role ever again. When he spars with Rylance during the scene where Richard is making a
play for Elizabeth's daughter, Barnett makes this dangerous dance both captivating and
devastating for a mother who wonders what she's just bargained away as she does what
she can to preserve her offspring one day more.
I never dreamt of seeing Stephen Fry onstage but here he is as Malvolio, taking a part
often mined purely for laughs and giving a dark edge to the rosy finale of Twelfth . Peter
Hamilton Dyer as Feste is one of the most engaging and weary-with-wisdom fools I haveseen. Like so many others, he also does admirably well in Richard as both Brackenbury
and Catesby. As Olivia's twin brother, Joseph Timms does well with the small role ofSebastian in Twelfth . But then he impresses fully as Lady Anne (and Grey) in Richard ,
especially in the wickedly awful scene where Richard woos her as she escorts to the gravethe body of the husband he slew.
For the exception that proves the rule, Liam Brennan simply didn't bring to life Orsino,
the Duke in love with the brooding Olivia. He delivers his lines clearly and directly andalways seems... to take... ages...to do so. Rudely, I was glad to see him knocked off inRichard , though there again his pleas with the assassins took forever to unfold. For
whatever reason, he didn't appeal. It's a small flaw in two otherwise good to greatproductions of Shakespeare that prove what a treasure the Globe and Rylance truly are.Miss him at your peril.
LIES MY FATHER TOLD ME **
BARUCH CENTER FOR PERFORMING ARTSLies My Father Told Me began as a short story dashed off by Ted Allan in mere hours,
became an Oscar-nominated film and then a novella and is now a new musical. Perhaps
stories of immigrant Jews in Canada are not thick on the ground the way they are in theUS because it gets revisited again and again, though perhaps that first attempt was thebest way to tell this particular tale.
It focuses on David (Alex Dreier), a little boy growing up in Montreal during the 1920s.
Adapted and directed by Bryna Wasserman with music, lyrics and orchestration by ElanKunin, the show quickly sets the scene with the opening number "Rags, Clothes, Bottles,"
the calling card of David's lovable grandfather Zaida (a very good Chuck Karel).
We meet little David, his older and wiser self as narrator (Joe Paparella), that religious
and indulgent grandfather, David's exhausted mother (Russell Arden Koplin), his irritable
father (Jonathan Raviv) desperate for a get-rich-quick idea and local figures like theprostitute, a bickering neighbor who complains about the stink of Zaida's horse, acommunist who spars amiably with the old man over politics and more. You get the idea:a warm, loving community where everyone doesn't always get along but they do get on,
even during hard times.
Unfortunately, that opening number is the high point of the show. This story is essentially
a static one. Once you meet everyone in the neighborhood, you know everything you everwill about them. The prostitute loves kids and won't take any guff. The nag complainsabout the nag. David's dad pleads with Zaida for money to back his latest business schemebut can't ever be bothered to put in the hard work to make them happen. Yes, thingshappen -- mainly Zaida getting sick and dying -- but nothing and certainly no one changeshere. The only surprise is how bitterly David views his father. True, the dad becomes nastyat the end when given full control over his family. But still it feels out of whack to view soscornfully the age-old tensions between a son-in-law who cares about money and has lostthe faith with a father-in-law who is rich in wisdom and family but never cared much formoney as an end to itself.
Just as the characters remain the same, the songs seem to repeat themselves as well.
Zaida sings "Magic Wings," "When Messiah Comes," "Zaida's Lullaby" and "Blessed," and
each one reinforces his sweet, religious outlook on life without revealing any more about
Zaida than what we already know or moving the story forward. And those are the bettersongs, thanks to Karel's rich portrayal of the best character in the show.
"I'm Not Leaving" (the comic defiance of the prostitute Edna, played nicely by Leisa
Mather) and "Bankrupt," in which little David excitedly runs around telling everyone his
father is bankrupt in innocent joy because it means he won't have to move, get the second
act off to a pretty good start. But even "I'm Not Leaving" simply repeats what we've
already been told several times about Edna. And a little cute goes a long way. The showends with "Lies," yet another song about the resentment of David toward his father, withnary a glimmer of empathy or a putting of things into perspective.
Dreier is very young and has a very demanding role and acquits himself decently, though
one is always aware of him mechanically hitting his mark, counting off before raising hishands at the end of a song, thinking "okay, now it's time to lean back into Zaida'sembrace" and other stage directions. He is by no means a problem with the show (the partis surely very hard to cast) but he's not exactly a strength either. Paparella has anexcellent voice as the older David but he's dressed apparently by his bubala to look as sex-less and non-threatening as possible. It doesn't help that he must spend most of the showlingering on the sides, watching the action with a wistful or angry look on his face.
The set design by John C. Dinning is impressive, as are the other tech elements like the
costumes by Izzy Fields and the lighting by Natalie Robin. The opening number effectivelyand vividly introduces us to David's world. Unfortunately, the story basically starts andends right there.
THE THEATER OF 2013 (on a four star scale)
The Other Place ** 1/2
Picnic * 1/2
Opus No. 7 ** 1/2
Deceit * 1/2
Life And Times Episodes 1-4 **
Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (w Scarlett Johansson) * 1/2
The Jamme r ***
Blood Play ** 1/2
Manilow On Broadway ** 1/2
Women Of Will ** 1/2
All In The Timing ***
Isaac's Eye ***
Bunnicula: A Rabbit Tale Of Musical Mystery ** 1/2
The Mnemonist Of Dutchess County * 1/2
Much Ado About Nothing ***
Really Really *
Parsifal at the Met *** 1/2
The Madrid * 1/2
The Wild Bride at St. Ann's ** 1/2
Passion at CSC *** 1/2
Carousel at Lincoln Center ***
The Revisionist **
Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella ***
Rock Of Ages * 1/2
Ann ** 1/2
Old Hats ***
The Flick ***
Detroit '67 ** 1/2
Howling Hilda reading * (Mary Testa ***)
Hit The Wall *
Breakfast At Tiffany's * 1/2
The Mound Builders at Signature *
Vanya And Sonia And Masha And Spike *** 1/2
Cirque Du Soleil's Totem ***
The Lying Lesson * 1/2
Hands On A Hardbody *
Kinky Boots **
Matilda The Musical *** 1/2
The Rascals: Once Upon A Dream ***
Motown: The Musical **
La Ruta ** 1/2
The Big Knife *
The Nance ***
The Assembled Parties ** 1/2
Jekyll & Hyde * 1/2
Thoroughly Modern Millie ** 1/2
Macbeth w Alan Cumming *
Orphans ** 1/2
The Testament Of Mary ** 1/2
The Drawer Boy **
The Trip To Bountiful ***
I'll Eat You Last ** 1/2
Pippin *
This Side Of Neverland ***
A Public Reading Of An Unproduced Screenplay About The Death Of Walt Disney ***
Natasha, Pierre And The Great Comet Of 1812 ***
Colin Quinn Unconstitutional ** 1/2
A Family For All Occasions *
The Weir *** 1/2
Disney's The Little Mermaid **
Far From Heaven **
The Caucasian Chalk Circle **
Somewhere Fun **
Venice no stars
Reasons To Be Happy **
STePz *** 1/2
The Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare In The Park) ***
Roadkill ** 1/2
Forever Tango ***
Monkey: Journey To The West ** 1/2
The Civilians: Be The Death Of Me ***
NYMF: Swiss Family Robinson **
NYMF: Dizzy Miss Lizzie's Roadside Revue Presents The Brontes * 1/2
NYMF: Mata Hari in 8 Bullets ***
NYMF: Life Could Be A Dream **
NYMF: Mother Divine **
NYMF: Julian Po ** 1/2
NYMF: Marry Harry **
NYMF: Gary Goldfarb: Master Escapist ** 1/2
NYMF: Castle Walk ***
NYMF: Crossing Swords ***
NYMF: Bend In The Road *** 1/2
NYMF: Homo The Musical no stars
NYMF: Volleygirls *** 1/2
Murder For Two **
Let it Be **
The Cheaters Club *
All The Faces Of The Moon *
Women Or Nothing ** 1/2
Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play * 1/2
You Never Can Tell ***
Romeo And Juliet *
Arguendo **
August Wilson's American Century Cycle ****
The Glass Menagerie ** 1/2
Lady Day * 1/2
Julius Caesar at St. Ann's Warehouse ****
Honeymoon In Vegas: The Musical ** 1/2
Bronx Bombers * 1/2
Romeo & Juliet at CSC * 1/2
A Night With Janis Joplin **
The Winslow Boy ***
Juno And The Paycock **
How I Learned To Drive **
Fun Home **
Two Boys at the Met **
Big Fish **
A Time To Kill * 1/2
Year Of The Rooster ***
The Snow Geese ** 1/2
A Midsummer Night's Dream ** 1/2
The Lady in Red Converses With Diablo ** 1/2
After Midnight ***
La Soiree ***
Nothing To Hide ** 1/2
The Patron Saint Of Sea Monsters **
Die Frau Ohne Schatten/The Woman Without A Shadow at the Met
Little Miss Sunshine **
Souvenir ** 1/2
A Gentleman's Guide To Love & Murder *** 1/2
Twelfth Night *** 1/2
King Richard The Third ***
Lies My Father Told Me **
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in Four New Shows
A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE & MURDER *** 1/2
TWELFTH NIGHT *** 1/2
KING RICHARD THE THIRD ***
LIES MY FATHER TOLD ME **
A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE & MURDER *** 1/2
WALTER KERR THEATRE
Apparently, once a decade actor Jefferson Mays will find the role that's perfect for his
mercurial, shape-shifting talent and explode on the stage as one of our brightest stars. In2003, it was the one-man play I Am My Own Wife , which featured Mays in one of the
best performances I will ever see during a lifetime of theater-going. Now, it's the silly,light fluff of this musical spin on Kind Hearts & Coronets. I love Ealing comedies and Alec
Guinness as much as the next person, but that film in particular always felt like merely astunt to show off Guinness in multiple parts (all of them heirs to a grand title and all fatedto die hilariously awful deaths). It was amusing but lacked depth. The book by Robert L.Freedman and music by Steven Lutvak (they collaborated on the lyrics) work togetherhere to add some emotional resonance to the proceedings and that pays off dividends inAct Two.
But first we have the musical comedy playground of Act One. Our hero Monty Navarro
(Bryce Pinkham, a dead ringer for Rufus Sewell and delivering a career-making turn) isthe all but ignored member of the D'Ysquith family. His penniless, now-dead motherinforms him of his noble lineage via a trusted servant. Navarro, it turns out, is animprobable eighth in line for the wealth and power and estate of the D'Ysquiths. Hereaches out to them for a job, is spurned, and determines to knock them off one by oneuntil the title, the estate and the glory are his and his alone, sweet revenge for hisdisinherited mother and not a bad way to get on for himself.
It helps that the D'Ysquiths are immediately presented as awful or silly or awfully silly,
beginning with Lord Adalbert singing the dismissive "I Don't Understand The Poor." All ofthe fated-to-die D'Ysquiths (both male and female) are played by Mays with relish inrapid succession, often seemingly with one D'Ysquith speaking on stage left followed amoment later by another D'Ysquith popping up on stage right. (The dressers are JulianAndres Arango, Cat Dee, Amy Kaskeski and Tree Lonon and frankly they all deserve totake a bow at the end of the night, though if one of them works strictly with Mays they inparticular deserve a special Tony.)
That song is typically amusing and clever, a light ditty without a terribly strong melody
but like all the others here quite serviceable and fitting. And so the D'Ysquiths come andquickly go -- a fey bee keeper, a quivering and indifferent man of the cloth, a philanderer,an adventuress who embraces causes to get one up on her society friends and on and on.Our hero meets them and then devises a foolproof way to knock them off unless fateknocks them off conveniently for him. The funerals pile up, the list of heirs shrinks down
May 15, 2014
This is the print preview:
Back to normal view »
Posted: 11/22/2013 4:45 pm
and Monty Navarro looks set to be the last man standing.
This show calls to mind The Mystery Of Edwin Drood, among others, and frankly it's
almost astonishing this project began in America. (It should run in the West End for ages,
whatever its fate here.) Essentially, this is a pretty good musical given a great productionby all involved led by the excellent direction of Darko Tresnjak with choreography byPeggy Hickey that always delights.
The set design by Alexander Dodge artfully keeps the proceedings on a slightly off-kilter
air and constantly reminds us this is a story being told -- the conceit is that Monty iswriting his memoirs while in jail the night before he hears the verdict on whether he'll gofree or die...ironically, for one of the few D'Ysquith murders he didn't commit. Thisframing device (sorry!) makes all the murder and mayhem easy to enjoy. It's a stagewithin a stage and a ramp leads out into the audience, making this one of the mostintimate and fun musicals around.
The costumes (Linda Cho), the lighting (Philip S. Rosenberg) and the endlessly inventive
hair and wigs (Charles LaPointe) all combine to allow Mays to deliver his tour de force
turn as seemingly half the people on stage. The other half was cast exceptionally well byJay Binder and Jason Styres of Binder Casting. Every part is well sung, every actor well-
suited to their various turns.
Lisa O'Hare as Monty's first love Sibella -- who spurns him for a safer bet then regrets her
error as he rises in power and status -- is always good but gets better as the show goes on.
Lauren Worsham is a delight from the get-go as Phoebe D'Ysquith with a wonderful
operetta-like voice perfect for the Gilbert & Sullivan air the show is going for. Pinkham isa winning and strong-voiced lead throughout. I remember him from the acclaimedOrphans Home Cycle at Signature and here he is effortlessly holding the stage, sparring
with Mays and wooing two women (and the audience) at the same time. Obviously, all theaccolades will go to Mays but Pinkham should benefit with a wide-range of leading manpossibilities in the years to come.
At the end of the first act, I thought the show had settled into a pleasant if repetitive
rhythm: introduce another silly D'Ysquith, sing a ditty and then knock them off. It seemedGentleman's Guide would be a perfectly enjoyable trifle I could recommend heartily,
especially for Mays' antics.
But as so rarely happens in musicals, Act Two actually improved on things. Once they
dispensed with most of the D'Ysquiths, Freedman and Lutvak dug deeper and createdsome real emotional conflict for their hero. By far the best musical theater number of theevening was "I've Decided To Marry You" with Monty suddenly hosting both Sibella andPhoebe at his bachelor pad and desperately trying to keep both women apart. It's physicalcomedy, witty character development high drama (Monty seems in greater danger herethan during any of his crimes) and the most fun of the night.
That's followed by the best piece of comedy of the evening: a dinner party hosted by Lord
Adalbert D'Ysquith (Mays, natch) and Lady Eugenia (Joanna Glushak). They ride
roughshod over their guests, treat the servants like unloved dogs and literally hiss and
growl and spit at each other in a symphony of marital discord that is hilariously over thetop and very very funny.
The fact that Freedman and Lutvak delivered the evening's best moments when they
escaped the high concept set-up of this musical -- and that one high point was musicaland the other dramatic -- leads me to believe that this amusing evening of tomfoolery willlead to shows even richer and better in years to come from this team.
TWELFTH NIGHT *** 1/2
KING RICHARD THE THIRD ***
BELASCO THEATREI would go anywhere, pay any price to see actor Mark Rylance on the stage. If for nothing
else, his stewardship as the artistic director of Shakespeare's Globe from 1995 to 2005
would endear him to theater lovers forever. Now his triumphant return to the Globe with
dual productions of the comedy Twelfth Night and the tragedy King Richard The Third
done in repertory with an all-male company has traveled to Broadway. I grade Rylance on
a curve -- and not the nice one. I expect a transforming night of theater so I'm harder on
his shows than anyone else. By that rigorous standard, his Richard The Third is merely
solid and good. (I felt his buffoonish Richard didn't lead anywhere unexpected by the endof the show.) His Twelfth Night is lighter than air and delightful, with superlative
direction from Tim Carroll and an excellent cast.
I was lucky enough to see the shows back to back over two evenings and the pleasure of
seeing these actors in such varied surroundings can't be over-estimated. If you can, seeRichard The Third first and Twelfth Night second. If you can truly only see one, go for
the comedy. But you'd be a fool to miss Rylance and this company. And by all means,don't hesitate to grab the cheap seats for sitting on stage. The lower level in particular isgreat fun and the shows are performed in a way that makes those audience members feellike they're not missing a thing.
You won't find any modern settings for these plays. The costumes by Jenny Tiramani areperiod-exact, down to the pleasure of watching the actors get sewn into their outfits onstage before the show begins. Her set mimics the design of the Globe in London as muchas possible, with two doors for entrances and exits and a high perch above for themusicians playing period appropriate instruments. On both sides of the stage are two-tiered seating for about 30 audience members. (No trip to London, by the way, iscomplete without at least one trip to the Globe to see what's on offer.)
So no elaborate sets or high concept: they simply deliver the words of Shakespeare with
clarity and purpose, with men playing women as in Shakespeare's time, though they're not
playing "women" but characters who are women, which makes all the difference. Justassume anyone I don't mention is quite good, since the cast is so exceptional.
They are led by Rylance, who stutters and stammers and gets more laughs out of an "oh"
than anyone you're ever likely to see. His Olivia in Twelfth is a determined mourner who
finds herself besotted with the messenger boy of one of her many suitors. Little does sherealize that boy is a girl in disguise pining for her lost twin brother. When it's revealed
Olivia's would-be love has an identical twin brother, Rylance's leap for joy is hilarious. His
Richard in the tragedy is very entertaining, as Richard often is. He's buffoonish but fools
almost no one; everyone steps away from Richard and his withered hand in fear. But his
fall is too abrupt to be satisfying -- Richard is literally tripping over himself after gaining
power -- and that keeps this from being a Richard for the ages. Still, he's fascinating in
any role (oh, to have seen his Hamlet!) and this is no exception.
But he's far from the only pleasure. Samuel Barnett of The History Boys is so remarkably
good as the youthful, willful Viola in Twelfth and the wary, regal Queen Elizabeth in
Richard that I've half a mind to take Barnett in hand and insist he never tackle a trouser
role ever again. When he spars with Rylance during the scene where Richard is making a
play for Elizabeth's daughter, Barnett makes this dangerous dance both captivating and
devastating for a mother who wonders what she's just bargained away as she does what
she can to preserve her offspring one day more.
I never dreamt of seeing Stephen Fry onstage but here he is as Malvolio, taking a part
often mined purely for laughs and giving a dark edge to the rosy finale of Twelfth . Peter
Hamilton Dyer as Feste is one of the most engaging and weary-with-wisdom fools I haveseen. Like so many others, he also does admirably well in Richard as both Brackenbury
and Catesby. As Olivia's twin brother, Joseph Timms does well with the small role ofSebastian in Twelfth . But then he impresses fully as Lady Anne (and Grey) in Richard ,
especially in the wickedly awful scene where Richard woos her as she escorts to the gravethe body of the husband he slew.
For the exception that proves the rule, Liam Brennan simply didn't bring to life Orsino,
the Duke in love with the brooding Olivia. He delivers his lines clearly and directly andalways seems... to take... ages...to do so. Rudely, I was glad to see him knocked off inRichard , though there again his pleas with the assassins took forever to unfold. For
whatever reason, he didn't appeal. It's a small flaw in two otherwise good to greatproductions of Shakespeare that prove what a treasure the Globe and Rylance truly are.Miss him at your peril.
LIES MY FATHER TOLD ME **
BARUCH CENTER FOR PERFORMING ARTSLies My Father Told Me began as a short story dashed off by Ted Allan in mere hours,
became an Oscar-nominated film and then a novella and is now a new musical. Perhaps
stories of immigrant Jews in Canada are not thick on the ground the way they are in theUS because it gets revisited again and again, though perhaps that first attempt was thebest way to tell this particular tale.
It focuses on David (Alex Dreier), a little boy growing up in Montreal during the 1920s.
Adapted and directed by Bryna Wasserman with music, lyrics and orchestration by ElanKunin, the show quickly sets the scene with the opening number "Rags, Clothes, Bottles,"
the calling card of David's lovable grandfather Zaida (a very good Chuck Karel).
We meet little David, his older and wiser self as narrator (Joe Paparella), that religious
and indulgent grandfather, David's exhausted mother (Russell Arden Koplin), his irritable
father (Jonathan Raviv) desperate for a get-rich-quick idea and local figures like theprostitute, a bickering neighbor who complains about the stink of Zaida's horse, acommunist who spars amiably with the old man over politics and more. You get the idea:a warm, loving community where everyone doesn't always get along but they do get on,
even during hard times.
Unfortunately, that opening number is the high point of the show. This story is essentially
a static one. Once you meet everyone in the neighborhood, you know everything you everwill about them. The prostitute loves kids and won't take any guff. The nag complainsabout the nag. David's dad pleads with Zaida for money to back his latest business schemebut can't ever be bothered to put in the hard work to make them happen. Yes, thingshappen -- mainly Zaida getting sick and dying -- but nothing and certainly no one changeshere. The only surprise is how bitterly David views his father. True, the dad becomes nastyat the end when given full control over his family. But still it feels out of whack to view soscornfully the age-old tensions between a son-in-law who cares about money and has lostthe faith with a father-in-law who is rich in wisdom and family but never cared much formoney as an end to itself.
Just as the characters remain the same, the songs seem to repeat themselves as well.
Zaida sings "Magic Wings," "When Messiah Comes," "Zaida's Lullaby" and "Blessed," and
each one reinforces his sweet, religious outlook on life without revealing any more about
Zaida than what we already know or moving the story forward. And those are the bettersongs, thanks to Karel's rich portrayal of the best character in the show.
"I'm Not Leaving" (the comic defiance of the prostitute Edna, played nicely by Leisa
Mather) and "Bankrupt," in which little David excitedly runs around telling everyone his
father is bankrupt in innocent joy because it means he won't have to move, get the second
act off to a pretty good start. But even "I'm Not Leaving" simply repeats what we've
already been told several times about Edna. And a little cute goes a long way. The showends with "Lies," yet another song about the resentment of David toward his father, withnary a glimmer of empathy or a putting of things into perspective.
Dreier is very young and has a very demanding role and acquits himself decently, though
one is always aware of him mechanically hitting his mark, counting off before raising hishands at the end of a song, thinking "okay, now it's time to lean back into Zaida'sembrace" and other stage directions. He is by no means a problem with the show (the partis surely very hard to cast) but he's not exactly a strength either. Paparella has anexcellent voice as the older David but he's dressed apparently by his bubala to look as sex-less and non-threatening as possible. It doesn't help that he must spend most of the showlingering on the sides, watching the action with a wistful or angry look on his face.
The set design by John C. Dinning is impressive, as are the other tech elements like the
costumes by Izzy Fields and the lighting by Natalie Robin. The opening number effectivelyand vividly introduces us to David's world. Unfortunately, the story basically starts andends right there.
THE THEATER OF 2013 (on a four star scale)
The Other Place ** 1/2
Picnic * 1/2
Opus No. 7 ** 1/2
Deceit * 1/2
Life And Times Episodes 1-4 **
Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (w Scarlett Johansson) * 1/2
The Jamme r ***
Blood Play ** 1/2
Manilow On Broadway ** 1/2
Women Of Will ** 1/2
All In The Timing ***
Isaac's Eye ***
Bunnicula: A Rabbit Tale Of Musical Mystery ** 1/2
The Mnemonist Of Dutchess County * 1/2
Much Ado About Nothing ***
Really Really *
Parsifal at the Met *** 1/2
The Madrid * 1/2
The Wild Bride at St. Ann's ** 1/2
Passion at CSC *** 1/2
Carousel at Lincoln Center ***
The Revisionist **
Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella ***
Rock Of Ages * 1/2
Ann ** 1/2
Old Hats ***
The Flick ***
Detroit '67 ** 1/2
Howling Hilda reading * (Mary Testa ***)
Hit The Wall *
Breakfast At Tiffany's * 1/2
The Mound Builders at Signature *
Vanya And Sonia And Masha And Spike *** 1/2
Cirque Du Soleil's Totem ***
The Lying Lesson * 1/2
Hands On A Hardbody *
Kinky Boots **
Matilda The Musical *** 1/2
The Rascals: Once Upon A Dream ***
Motown: The Musical **
La Ruta ** 1/2
The Big Knife *
The Nance ***
The Assembled Parties ** 1/2
Jekyll & Hyde * 1/2
Thoroughly Modern Millie ** 1/2
Macbeth w Alan Cumming *
Orphans ** 1/2
The Testament Of Mary ** 1/2
The Drawer Boy **
The Trip To Bountiful ***
I'll Eat You Last ** 1/2
Pippin *
This Side Of Neverland ***
A Public Reading Of An Unproduced Screenplay About The Death Of Walt Disney ***
Natasha, Pierre And The Great Comet Of 1812 ***
Colin Quinn Unconstitutional ** 1/2
A Family For All Occasions *
The Weir *** 1/2
Disney's The Little Mermaid **
Far From Heaven **
The Caucasian Chalk Circle **
Somewhere Fun **
Venice no stars
Reasons To Be Happy **
STePz *** 1/2
The Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare In The Park) ***
Roadkill ** 1/2
Forever Tango ***
Monkey: Journey To The West ** 1/2
The Civilians: Be The Death Of Me ***
NYMF: Swiss Family Robinson **
NYMF: Dizzy Miss Lizzie's Roadside Revue Presents The Brontes * 1/2
NYMF: Mata Hari in 8 Bullets ***
NYMF: Life Could Be A Dream **
NYMF: Mother Divine **
NYMF: Julian Po ** 1/2
NYMF: Marry Harry **
NYMF: Gary Goldfarb: Master Escapist ** 1/2
NYMF: Castle Walk ***
NYMF: Crossing Swords ***
NYMF: Bend In The Road *** 1/2
NYMF: Homo The Musical no stars
NYMF: Volleygirls *** 1/2
Murder For Two **
Let it Be **
The Cheaters Club *
All The Faces Of The Moon *
Women Or Nothing ** 1/2
Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play * 1/2
You Never Can Tell ***
Romeo And Juliet *
Arguendo **
August Wilson's American Century Cycle ****
The Glass Menagerie ** 1/2
Lady Day * 1/2
Julius Caesar at St. Ann's Warehouse ****
Honeymoon In Vegas: The Musical ** 1/2
Bronx Bombers * 1/2
Romeo & Juliet at CSC * 1/2
A Night With Janis Joplin **
The Winslow Boy ***
Juno And The Paycock **
How I Learned To Drive **
Fun Home **
Two Boys at the Met **
Big Fish **
A Time To Kill * 1/2
Year Of The Rooster ***
The Snow Geese ** 1/2
A Midsummer Night's Dream ** 1/2
The Lady in Red Converses With Diablo ** 1/2
After Midnight ***
La Soiree ***
Nothing To Hide ** 1/2
The Patron Saint Of Sea Monsters **
Die Frau Ohne Schatten/The Woman Without A Shadow at the Met
Little Miss Sunshine **
Souvenir ** 1/2
A Gentleman's Guide To Love & Murder *** 1/2
Twelfth Night *** 1/2
King Richard The Third ***
Lies My Father Told Me **
Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the founder and CEO of BookFilter, a book lover's
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