Recommended Theater

WAR HORSE  Send This Review to a Friend

If you were only to see one play this season, “War Horse’ should be the one, as you have never seen anything remotely like it. Adapted by Nick Stafford from a novel by Michael Morpurgo, the play is a story about a lad whose horse is sold by his father for use in the cavalry during World War I. Furious and grief stricken, the young man joins the army in hope of finding his horse. The plot has its charm and emotional potential, but the production, directed by Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris, is the star of this show, thanks largely to the horse puppetry. This is a case where not only the cast deserves praise, but plaudits are especially due the extraordinary team that makes the horses seem so lifelike.

LA CAGE AUX FOLLES (2010)  Send This Review to a Friend

Proven strong and movingly entertaining in the past, “La Cage Aux Folles” acquires new freshness in this re-imagined revival with lively staging and memorable performances. The biggest news is the magnificent Broadway debut by British actor Douglas Hodge in the role of Albin, the temperamental drag star of a French Riviera nightspot and the long-time, loving companion of George, the club’s impresario. The role of Albin has been impressively filled before, and there is no need for specific comparisons. Hodge makes the flamboyant part entirely his own with striking layers of all sorts of expertise. The performance sparkles with originality, whether in the emotional or hilarious moments. It is no exaggeration to say that Hodge’s interpretation stands as a monumental tour de force, first achieved in London and now gloriously transported to Broadway. But wait. Hodge is not the only revelation. Kelsey Grammer, known primarily for his television work, is superb as George, both in his MC role at the club and his relations with Albin under the emotional cloud of the pressures that the plot brings. There is a twinkle in his eyes and heart in his persona. Grammer and Hodge make the perfect combination, and the show, while immensely entertaining thanks to the durable music and lyrics by Jerry Herman and book by Harvey Fierstein, still packs its emotional wallop as a supportive cry for the right to be who you are and a slap at bigotry. A main attraction continues to be the “chorines” of Les Cagelles. In this paired down staging, there are only six male dancers in drag, but with the talent expressed by this group, six are all ones needs. The inventive direction by Terry Johnson and the refashioned choreography by Lynne Page make the most of the gifted cast, and also importantly, keep the contrived but nonetheless effective plot speeding along. But what one comes away with above all is the memory of Hodge’s unique, great performance. At the Longacre Theatre, 220 West 48th Street, $36.50-$132.50, with premium and table seating $251.50. Phone: 212-239-6200.

RED  Send This Review to a Friend

Once past the silly affectation of Alfred Molina as artist Mark Rothko having to sit in a chair regarding his paintings and with his back to the audience as it files into the theater, John Logan’s clever, poignant play “Red” begins to soar and live up to its advance reputation. Bristling with intelligent dialogue about the nature of an artist’s passionate struggle for expression and the quest for fulfillment within the trajectory of art history, “Red” becomes the vehicle for a great performance by Molina. From the moment we meet his Rothko, we are swept into the orbit of his dynamism, his arrogance masking inner self-doubt, his bullying personality and the wit he displays along with his all-consuming dedication to his work. The result is that this import of London’s Donmar Warehouse production makes for an hour and a half of exciting and original theater. As towering as Molina’s achievement is, the success can also be attributed in no small way to the performance by Eddie Redmayne as Ken, the assistant Rothko hires and in the play functions as a foil for Rothko’s harangues and pontificating about being an artist true to oneself. Ken is warned not to expect a father figure or a mentor and that the job is as a no-questions-asked obedient servant. But the playwright allows Ken to give as sharply as he gets. His speech accusing Rothko of thinking that nobody is good enough to look at his paintings is a high point. What keeps this two-character play from being a static discussion is the action injected under the direction of Michael Grandage. Set designer Christopher Oram has turned the stage into a large, very realistic looking artist’s studio, complete with its huge canvasses replicating Rothko’s work. We see the characters mixing paints and launching into the work itself. There are also moments when each stares out at the audience as if we were one of the paintings and the technique is attention-grabbing. Given the excitement Molina brings in portraying Rothko, it becomes immaterial as to what one thinks of Rothko’s art. It is the passion that goes into it that emerges powerfully The drama is there. The indelible portrait of the artist is there. The acting is super. All of which makes for astonishingly good theater. At the Golden Theatre, 252 West 45th Street, $25-$116.50. Phone: 212-239-6200.

A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE  Send This Review to a Friend

Having seen different versions of Arthur Milller’s play “A View from the Bridge,” I never considered it one of the playwright’s finest. It always seemed quite contrived no matter how well acted. Such reservations have been totally shattered by this new staging by Gregory Mosher. The production builds as a seamless, profound tragedy, a personal, moving tale of woe and destruction as well as a political statement in the context of the time in which it was written and in retrospect. There is magic on the stage as we are ushered into the home of a working class family in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn. The cast is so very believable each step of the way that all seems indelibly real, with each character as enacted deserving to be taken seriously. The brilliant acting is what cements this thrilling achievement. By now we know what a superb and versatile actor Liev Schreiber is, whether on stage or screen. But he outdoes even himself here with a great, mesmerizing performance as the conflicted, headed-for-tragedy Eddie Carbone, upset with unsatisfactory sexual relations with his wife, coveting his 17-year-old niece without wanting to admit it, fiercely jealous of the Italian immigrant with whom she falls in love. Schrieber convinces a macho worker on the docks who misguidedly sees femininity in his niece’s intended, and as a man with so much desperation mounting within him that he is driven to do something that goes against his ethical grain. Schrieber gets it all, sometimes with the most subtle speech tones, sometime with merely an expression, on occasion by lashing out, and all the while creating an everyman character given tragic status in Miller’s take on humanity. Movie actress Scarlett Johansson scores a coup with a moving, true-to-life portrayal of the niece, a performance that should solidly establish her stage credentials. Fine performances too by Jessica Hecht, Morgan Spector, Corey Stoll and Michael Cristofer as the lawyer-narrator. At the Cort Theatre, 138 West 48th Street. Phone: 212-239-6200.

A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (BAM)  Send This Review to a Friend

There are two stars of the Sydney Theatre Company’s production of “A Streetcar Named Desire” imported from Australia and being presented by the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). One is actress Cate Blanchett who is giving a performance so gripping that to see it is to remember it forever. The other star, the unseen one, is director Liv Ullmann, who seems to have poured everything she has learned as an actress and screen director into this tense, realistic but still poetic revival of the renowned Tennessee Williams work. Blanchett as Blanche DuBois, a role presenting a mighty challenge for any actress, dazzles with her multi-faceted interpretation. For starters she has a striking stage presence. In the course of the drama she is able to convey Blanche’s desperation, fragility, her fantasy about what she wishes life were like for her, the extent to which she can be haughty and confrontational, her scorn for the way her sister lives, her need to hide the past, her dependence on alcohol and, of course, her sexiness, The ending, when she has collapsed into a total breakdown, is heartbreaking. There’s not a hint of cliché in her portrayal. She makes the role her own, and she succeeds in achieving a balance between the earthiness and the poetry in Williams’s writing. And unlike with some screen actresses, there is not a problem of habitual underplaying for the camera impeding being forceful enough on a stage. Blanchett is effectively at home on both screen and stage. At the BAM Harvey Theater, 651 Fulton Street, $30-$95. Phone: 718-636-4100.

IN THE NEXT ROOM  Send This Review to a Friend

Man the vibrators. Or should we say woman the vibrators? The miraculous gadget that affords so much pleasure to so many is the vehicle that electrifies Sarah Ruhl’s extremely clever and mostly well-written satire on women’s repressed sexuality and male indifference set during the 1880s in a town, “perhaps Saratoga Springs.” With electricity coming into the world, Michael Cerveris as Dr. Givings has found a unique use for it, and the ladies he treats for the commonly diagnosed so-called hysteria are ecstatic. The central joke is that the doctor exhibits no idea that he is providing sexual pleasure and merely thinks that, using new-fangled electricity, he has discovered an instrument that applied beneath a woman’s underclothes to her down-there region relieves tension associated with hysteria. Nor do the women associate the treatments with sexual pleasure. But they sure like it and want more, and even better, the two key women in the play enjoy using the instrument on each other when the doctor isn’t around. Maria Dizzia is delightful as the “hysterical” Mrs. Daldry, whose husband, played by Thomas Jay Ryan, is a man without a clue of how to relate to his wife and leads her to the doctor imploring him to help. The sounds of the orgasmic pleasure she emits from the treatment intrigue the doctor’s wife as she listens to what goes on in the room next door to the family living room. She is dying for love and affection but her up-tight, very proper husband is totally oblivious to her longings. Laura Benanti, a thoroughly charming and wonderfully talented actress, gives a gem of a performance as Mrs. Givings, especially when she decides to see what all of the electrical fuss is about. For all the comedy, there is a tender undercurrent concerning the path to more marital closeness. Ruhl is a very savvy playwright. At the Lyceum Theatre, 149 West 45th Street. Phone: 212-239-6200

RAGTIME  Send This Review to a Friend

I was deeply impressed by “Ragtime” the first time around on Broadway in 1998, and with this less pageantry-like and more intimate form in the current revival stemming from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the grand musical emerges as a magnificent, deeply affecting work that deserves to take its place among the finest, most profound achievements of musical theater. It offers a great experience and comes as close as one probably can to paralleling on stage the spirit and rhythm of E.L. Doctorow’s immensely creative 1975 novel on which the show is based. The opening of “Ragtime” is brilliant, with a huge cast shaped into a pastiche of various strands of life as American moves between the 19th and 20th centuries. It is set to the music of Stephen Flaherty and the lyrics of Lynn Ahrens and we quickly get a portrait of the disparate elements of the burgeoning society—immigrants, African-Americans, Houdini, Evelyn Nesbit, Emma Goldman, an entire panorama all conveyed in song and movement. The opening is thrilling. And there is no letdown. With an impassioned book by Terrence McNally and great direction and choreography by Marcia Milgrom Dodge, “Ragtime” covers a huge amount of story-telling involving major and minor characters, impressive themes and tragic events, all the while smoothly integrated into the musical form energized by the ragtime undercurrent that symbolizes the beat of a changing, evolving America. A magnificent company of actors, singers and dancers brings the concept to vivid life, abetted by Derek McLane’s splendid multi-tiered scenic design, Santo Loquasto’s stunning array of costumes, James Moore’s musical direction, the 28-piece orchestra, and those who contributed lighting design, sound design, hair and wig design, orchestrations, vocal arrangements and all the other contributions that go into bringing off such a challenging undertaking. The most dynamic acting role is powerfully filled by Quentin Earl Darrington as Coalhouse Walker Jr., the African-American excited by dreams for the future, but all that changing to a violent revolt after he suffers from racial abuse and after his love Sarah, with whom he has a son, is brutally beaten to death. “Ragtime” is better viewed than described, a theater-going experience that would be a highlight of any season. At the Neil Simon Theatre, 250 West 52nd Street, $46.50-$126.50. Phone: 212-307-4100.

FINIAN'S RAINBOW (BROADWAY)  Send This Review to a Friend

I was captivated by the New York City Center Encores! staging of “Finian’s Rainbow,” and the good news is that it is even more joyous now that it has been transferred to Broadway. There have been a few cast changes, all to the good, and the thrust of the show is enhanced in this full production, fortunately still on a modest scale and avoiding the potential error of expanding a work to an outsized staging that might dwarf the charm inherent in the fabled work. “Finian’s Rainbow” has a glorious score by Burton Lane that harks back to the time when that had to be a key ingredient of a successful musical and when performers had to be able to sing. This is a musical not to be missed—a highlight of this season, as it would be in any other season. As I wrote after seeing the Encores! concert version, the creators of the 1947 Broadway musical clearly wanted to send a message about race, class and hope, but instead of mere polemics, they created an enduring work of art rich in music, lyrics and a mostly witty book. The work is enhanced by terrific songs, including “How Are Things in Glocca Morra?,” “Look to the Rainbow,” “Old Devil Moon,” “Something Sort of Grandish,” “If This Isn’t Love,” “Necessity,” “That Great Come-and-Get-It Day,” “When the Idle Poor Become the Idle Rich.” “The Begat” and “When I’m Not Near the One I Love.” What a yield for one show!

THE ROYAL FAMILY  Send This Review to a Friend

The curtain rises to reveal a startlingly gorgeous set designed by John Lee Beatty—a Manhattan East Fifties duplex so dazzling that a real estate broker who happened to be in the audience might think of selling it. This Manhattan Theatre Club revival of “The Royal Family” turns out to be every bit as classy. Veteran theatergoers will know that the vintage play by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber is a riff on the Barrymore acting clan, known instead as the Cavendish dynasty in the cleverly written play. The current revival has a dream cast and Doug Hughes directs with the flair that the lively work demands. Kaufman and Ferber had enormous wit at their command and it still shows. Catherine Zuber also deserves acknowledgement for her smashing costume design. Although very much of its time when staged in 1927 for giving audiences the special kick of knowing that it was spoofing the Barrymores, the play still resonates as an ode to the magic of theater for those bitten by the acting bug and subordinating nearly everything else to the glory of going out on stage, all the more so if they have achieved stardom. While the cast is mostly splendid, there are three standouts whose performances alone are reasons for savoring this production—Rosemary Harris as the aging head of the family Fanny, Jan Maxwell as the reigning star Julie and Reg Rogers as her brother, the flamboyant John Baryrmore-like movie star being pursued for Hollywood indiscretions. The pace of Hughes’s staging is swift, and Harris, Maxwell and Rogers all capture the fact that these family members have a tendency to act with each other at home as dramatically as if they are in a play. A neat tableau is struck for the curtain call, etching for us with the memory of what a fine and entertaining production this dip into nostalgia is. At the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, 261 West 47the Street, $57-$97. Phone: 212-239-6200.

SUPERIOR DONUTS  Send This Review to a Friend

Gifted playwright Tracy Letts builds a carefully constructed story filled with atmosphere and heightened by interesting characters with his “Superior Donuts,” presented by a flock of producers who have mounted this Steppenwolf Theatre Company production. Quite appropriately, the tale is set in Chicago, more specifically in a small donut shop, which is realistically captured by James Schuette’s ultra-authentic set design. The shop, which has just been defaced by unknown hoodlums, is run by Arthur Przybyszewski, still wearing a ponytail from his youthful days and living day to day in sort of a funk. His life has been plagued by emotional insecurities, which he reveals every now and then when the spotlight hits him and he addresses the audience. Michael McKean (“The Homecoming”) plays him so brilliantly that it doesn’t take long to become comfortable with him as a very believable and sympathetic character. Into his life storms Franco Wicks, a young African-American who talks his way into a job at the shop, and a bond begins to develop between him and Arthur. Jon Michael Hill, an actor with striking charisma, quickly makes Franco believable and amusing as well, for the playwright has given him some very funny lines. However, the situation with Franco is deadly serious. He is an aspiring writer and, hungering for approval, he presents Arthur with a book he has written, a compendium of different size notebooks. Arthur is deeply impressed upon reading it, and offers encouragement along with a warning that dreams usually remain unfulfilled. Arthur doesn’t know that Franco has gotten himself deep into gambling debts, and we see him threatened by goons demanding payment. While the plot certainly holds interest as good story telling, the characters come through effectively, including the supporting roles. Helped by Tina Landau’s direction that strikes a good balance between comedy and drama, Letts has given us a full-bodied play that is much different than his outstanding, award-winning “August: Osage County,” opens a window on different type characters in an urban environment and freshly explores hopes, challenges and life’s pitfalls, as well as expresses a heartwarming bond between a young man and his new-found mentor. The play’s ending is beautiful and meaningful, as you are advised to experience for yourself. “Superior Donuts” is a moving and entertaining accomplishment. At The Music Box Theatre, 239 West 45th Street. Phone: 212-239-6200.

  

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