There weren't too many good things about 2016, but there were a few stand-out theater productions in New York, so once again I'm compiling a list of the best shows I saw that opened in New York City this past year.
Remember, these are shows that opened in 2016, so I couldn't include Sense and Sensibility, The Woodsman, and some other great plays I saw this year. Here are my picks in reverse order:
10. Blackbird - David Harrower wrote Blackbird more than a decade ago, but the play didn't make its Broadway premiere until this past February. That's a sad commentary on the state of American theater, but better to arrive late than never. Jeff Daniels and Michelle Williams were excellent in this two-hander (or is it?) and the play kept audiences guessing right until the end.
9. Othello: The Remix - This hip-hop update of Shakespeare's tragedy re-imagines the story with a comic twist, but the Q Brothers manage to create a few touchingly dramatic moments as well. This show is still playing at the Westside Theater off-Broadway, and if you haven't seen it yet, get your tickets now! It's only running until January 15th, so you better act fast.
8. The Bacchae - The Faux-Real Theatre Company does some magnificent work re-imaging the Greek classics, and this year's production of The Bacchae at La Mama was no exception. The masks were excellently done, and the moments when they came on and off of the actors were especially powerful. Lynda White's puppets brought added excitement to Euripides' tragedy. Be sorry if you missed it!
7. The Humans - Stephen Karam's off-Broadway hit The Humans transferred to Broadway this year, winning a Tony Award for Best Play in the process. While the cast of The Bacchae was filled with young up-and-comers, this production features veteran actors Reed Birney and Jayne Houdyshell giving performances of a lifetime. The Humans is also closing January 15, so get your tickets if you haven't seen it yet!
6. The Place We Built - Kudos to The Flea for staging this play about a right-wing takeover in Hungary that seems scarily prescient of our own country's position today. Sarah Gancher's script gives a shocking account of recent events in Hungary told through the eyes of a young American filmmaker (played touchingly by Isabelle Pierre). The play's use of music also added tremendously to the performance. Particularly given recent events, we need more plays like this.
5. Widowers' Houses - The Actors Company Theatre is known for their quality revivals of classics, and this co-production they did with Gingold Theatrical Group earlier this year even surpassed expectations. George Bernard Shaw's first performed play doesn't get done much anymore, and this production proved what a shame that is. Widowers' Houses exposes not just the corruption of our economic system, but also how all of us are implicated. More than a hundred years after the play was written, it is still sadly relevant.
4. Puffs - Yes, this show has been around for a while, but it only opened off-Broadway this year, so I'm including it on the list. If you haven't seen it yet, Puffs tells the story of a certain boy wizard during seven increasingly eventful years at a magical school that shall not be named for copyright reasons. The brilliance of this play by Matt Cox is that instead of focusing on Harry and his friends, it gives us an account of three losers at the school who belong to the one house that perpetually comes in last. If you're a Potterhead and haven't seen it... where have you been! Get your tickets now!
3. Hadestown - New York Theatre Workshop's production of Hadestown has got to be the best new musical to come out of 2016. Based on a concept album by Anais Mitchell, the show tells the story of Orpheus and Eurydice against the background of Depression-era rural America. When Patrick Page as Hades asks the musical question "Why do we build the wall, my children?" chills will definitely run through your body. Though the brilliant production directed by Rachel Chavkin is closed, a cast album is being released, and I'm holding out hope that this show will eventually return, perhaps even on Broadway.
2. Butler - Richard Strand's comedy about the Civil War general Benjamin F. Butler has been making the rounds at regional theaters, but when New Jersey Repertory Company brought their production to 59E59, it was the first time New York City audiences got a chance to see the play. Ames Adamson was perfect as the title character in this comedy about how history-shaping decisions really get made. Strand proves that serious topics like war and slavery can be laughing matters after all. Though theater in New York City may be struggling, this production proves that in many places, regional theater is still going strong.
1. A Doll's House - My favorite production this year was Theatre for a New Audience's magnificent staging of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House. Starring Maggie Lacey and John Douglas Thompson, this play could not have asked for a better cast. Director Arin Arbus placed the audience on two sides of the stage, making sure that everyone had an intimate experience with the classic play. This rendition was funny, sexy, and ultimately heartbreaking. Thorvald and Nora's marriage made sense in this version, though that didn't mean it wasn't still doomed from the beginning. Make a note to check out TFANA's shows next year. They could be just as surprising!
Honorable mentions this year go to Mabou Mine's Imagining the Imaginary Invalid and Ivo van Hove's Broadway production of The Crucible. Hopefully 2017 will be a better year, for the theater and for the world!
Showing posts with label Arin Arbus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arin Arbus. Show all posts
Saturday, December 31, 2016
Thursday, May 26, 2016
The Father
Currently, August Strindberg's play The Father is running in rep with Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House at Theatre for a New Audience. This is an excellent opportunity to see two companion plays (both directed by Arin Arbus) back to back with an amazing cast.
Strindberg wrote The Father in 1887, eight years after A Doll's House (or A Doll House if you prefer that translation of the title). In part, it was a reaction to a number of Ibsen's plays, including Rosmersholm, which had come out the previous year. Being that the play concerns marriage, though, parallels with A Doll's House are most apparent.
TFANA's productions play up those parallels. John Douglas Thompson, who plays Thorwald in A Doll's House, is the title character in The Father, and Maggie Lacey, a superb Nora in Ibsen's drama, plays his wife Laura in The Father. Both plays feature physicians, and Nigel Gore admirably portrays both doctors. Similarly, Laurie Kennedy appears as a nanny in the two plays.
At one point, Strindberg's father asks, "Do you know Ibsen's Ghosts?" The audience, predictably, roars with laughter. I found myself ghosting that play while watching The Father. Strindberg's pastor (played by Jesse J. Perez) reminded me of Pastor Manders in Ghosts, and the title character's hovering between life and death at the end of the play is eerily similar to Oswald at the end of Ghosts.
While A Doll's House is performed with an intermission, TFANA is presenting all three acts of The Father straight through, with only a short pause as the stage is reset between acts. Also, this adaptation by David Greig takes some liberties, including making the final moment between Laura and her daughter more ambiguous than it is in the original text.
Though I preferred A Doll's House (which, honestly, is just a better play), both pieces are worth seeing, and they benefit from viewing them back to back. If you're interested in tickets, go to:
Theatre for a New Audience
Strindberg wrote The Father in 1887, eight years after A Doll's House (or A Doll House if you prefer that translation of the title). In part, it was a reaction to a number of Ibsen's plays, including Rosmersholm, which had come out the previous year. Being that the play concerns marriage, though, parallels with A Doll's House are most apparent.
TFANA's productions play up those parallels. John Douglas Thompson, who plays Thorwald in A Doll's House, is the title character in The Father, and Maggie Lacey, a superb Nora in Ibsen's drama, plays his wife Laura in The Father. Both plays feature physicians, and Nigel Gore admirably portrays both doctors. Similarly, Laurie Kennedy appears as a nanny in the two plays.
At one point, Strindberg's father asks, "Do you know Ibsen's Ghosts?" The audience, predictably, roars with laughter. I found myself ghosting that play while watching The Father. Strindberg's pastor (played by Jesse J. Perez) reminded me of Pastor Manders in Ghosts, and the title character's hovering between life and death at the end of the play is eerily similar to Oswald at the end of Ghosts.
While A Doll's House is performed with an intermission, TFANA is presenting all three acts of The Father straight through, with only a short pause as the stage is reset between acts. Also, this adaptation by David Greig takes some liberties, including making the final moment between Laura and her daughter more ambiguous than it is in the original text.
Though I preferred A Doll's House (which, honestly, is just a better play), both pieces are worth seeing, and they benefit from viewing them back to back. If you're interested in tickets, go to:
Theatre for a New Audience
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
A Doll's House
Last night I saw Theatre for a New Audience's stellar production of A Doll's House. This could easily be the best production of the classic play that New York audiences will have a chance to see in their lifetimes, so go now!
What's so great about it? Let's start with the cast. Nora is played by Maggie Lacey with buoyant energy and impeccable comic timing. Comedy? In Ibsen? YES! Those who know Norwegian have told me that Henrik Ibsen's plays are packed with humor, and Et dukkehjem (perhaps more accurately translated as A Doll House) is no exception. TFANA uses Thornton Wilder's adaptation, which deftly picks up on the comedy, giving Lacey plenty of opportunities to shine.
John Douglas Thompson, who memorably played Tamburlaine the Great at TFANA two years ago, is the most interesting Thorwald I've ever seen. Though Thompson is a bit older than I generally picture the character, his age added to the role. We immediately get the sense that this is a man at the peak of his career, more than ready to take over as president of the local bank. The fact that he is older than his wife does not excuse his behavior, but it does make his patronizing attitude toward her appear as something we might see today and not just a relic of the nineteenth century.
And what do you get when you put Lacey and Thompson on stage together? Not just funny Ibsen, but hot, sexy Ibsen! These two have incredible chemistry on stage. With the intense physical attraction they show for one another, we have no questions about why this seemingly mismatched pair married each other. The fact that both actors look fabulous in their costumes designed by Susan Hilferty doesn't hurt, either.
The entire cast is excellent, but Nigel Gore stands out as Doctor Rank, imbuing the character with a flippant gallows humor. Linda Powell and Jesse J. Perez are wonderful as Christina Linden and Nils Krogstad, and watching these two old flames reignite in the third act is a joy. This production also keeps the two children (played by the adorable Ruben Almash and Jayla Lavender Nicholas), who return to the stage for one last poignant tableau at the end of the play.
Director Arin Arbus has staged the play with the audience on two sides of the stage. This keeps the action intimate, no matter where you are in the audience, and prevents the characters from being crowded out by the excessive detail of a typical box set. During the final scene, the lights indicate a dawning new day, and at the same time, the audience becomes more more visible to one another. Gazing across the stage, we are confronted with our 21st-century counterparts on the other side.
It's time to stop acting out or childish fantasies and to see ourselves as we really are, Nora says as the end of the play. In those last moments, the play asks us to consider how much of our own lives are just acts and whether or not we a truly living, as we tell ourselves we are. If we accept the play's challenge and reflect upon our own self-imposed delusions, we might find that the nineteenth century isn't that far off after all.
A Doll's House is playing in repertory with August Strindberg's The Father. I'll be seeing that tonight. If you're interested in seeing them, check out:
Theatre for a New Audience
What's so great about it? Let's start with the cast. Nora is played by Maggie Lacey with buoyant energy and impeccable comic timing. Comedy? In Ibsen? YES! Those who know Norwegian have told me that Henrik Ibsen's plays are packed with humor, and Et dukkehjem (perhaps more accurately translated as A Doll House) is no exception. TFANA uses Thornton Wilder's adaptation, which deftly picks up on the comedy, giving Lacey plenty of opportunities to shine.
And what do you get when you put Lacey and Thompson on stage together? Not just funny Ibsen, but hot, sexy Ibsen! These two have incredible chemistry on stage. With the intense physical attraction they show for one another, we have no questions about why this seemingly mismatched pair married each other. The fact that both actors look fabulous in their costumes designed by Susan Hilferty doesn't hurt, either.
The entire cast is excellent, but Nigel Gore stands out as Doctor Rank, imbuing the character with a flippant gallows humor. Linda Powell and Jesse J. Perez are wonderful as Christina Linden and Nils Krogstad, and watching these two old flames reignite in the third act is a joy. This production also keeps the two children (played by the adorable Ruben Almash and Jayla Lavender Nicholas), who return to the stage for one last poignant tableau at the end of the play.
Director Arin Arbus has staged the play with the audience on two sides of the stage. This keeps the action intimate, no matter where you are in the audience, and prevents the characters from being crowded out by the excessive detail of a typical box set. During the final scene, the lights indicate a dawning new day, and at the same time, the audience becomes more more visible to one another. Gazing across the stage, we are confronted with our 21st-century counterparts on the other side.
It's time to stop acting out or childish fantasies and to see ourselves as we really are, Nora says as the end of the play. In those last moments, the play asks us to consider how much of our own lives are just acts and whether or not we a truly living, as we tell ourselves we are. If we accept the play's challenge and reflect upon our own self-imposed delusions, we might find that the nineteenth century isn't that far off after all.
A Doll's House is playing in repertory with August Strindberg's The Father. I'll be seeing that tonight. If you're interested in seeing them, check out:
Theatre for a New Audience
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)