Birthday Candles

Last week, I saw Roundabout's production of Noah Haidle's play Birthday Candles starring Debra Messing. The play follows the life of a Michigan woman one birthday at a time, as she progresses from being a teenager to being an elderly woman.

The piece is reminiscent of plays by Thornton Wilder in that it tries to universalize the human experience, and in particular the experience of the American Family. In many of Wilder's plays, however, like The Skin of Our Teeth, the universal is placed in dialogue with the political and the technological.

What makes Birthday Candles different is its total rejection of political and technological change. Generally, if a person lives for nearly a hundred years, that individual will see depressions, wars, protests, and the advent of new technologies like commercial airline travel, space exploration, and personal computers.

If Ernestine--the protagonist of Birthday Candles--experiences these things, they don't seem to affect her very much. She goes on baking cakes in the same oven her mother used, using the same methods, never changing much of anything. If the characters in The Skin of Our Teeth exist in a timeless New Jersey, it is still a New Jersey shaped by global events, to which the characters in Birthday Candles seem oblivious.

That isn't to say that it isn't a good play, but it feels oddly detached from the world around us. Even when basing a play on Greek myth, like with The Alcestiad, Wilder always engaged with the events going on around the globe while he was writing. Here we are, going through our own turbulent times, and the theatre on display on Broadway is currently taking a very different approach, at least in the case of Birthday Candles.

There are some very strong performances though, particularly by Susannah Flood, who played Dunyasha in Roundabout's previous production of The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov. In Birthday Candles, Flood plays both Ernestine's mother Alice, and her daughter Madeline, and later Ernie, another descendant of the ever-older Ernestine.

Birthday Candles is playing until May 29th, so get your tickets if you're interested in seeing it.

Best Productions of 2021

New York City theatre isn't completely back yet, especially with omicron scares cancelling shows right and left, but at least things are better than last year, when I had to write a list of the top 10 shows I did NOT get to see.

So now I'm back to my annual tradition of coming up with a list of the top shows I saw that opened this year in New York City. Obviously, my own adaptation of A Christmas Carol doesn't count, since it was in Trenton, and neither do virtual performances, though some of them were quite fun.

Here are my picks, in reverse order:

10. The Alcestiad - Magis Theatre Company lived up to its name with this magical outdoor production on Roosevelt Island this summer. Thornton Wilder's take on a Greek myth involving death and plague came alive with the ruins of a smallpox hospital providing the backdrop. It was a joy to behold.

9. King Lear - New York Classical Theatre decided to do William Shakespeare's most depressing tragedy this year, but with the happy ending rewritten by Nahum Tate. Once again, the outdoor setting added to the experience, though it also meant that my first two attempts to see the show were cancelled due to rain. The third time was a charm, and this show was nothing if not charming.

8. The Book of Moron - Robert Dubac's one-man show was closer to a stand-up comedy routine than your typical Off-Broadway fare, but it rose beyond simple jokes to become an engaging and thought-provoking piece of theatre. This was in part due to flawless direction by comedy legend Garry Shandling and a surprisingly innovative set designed by Melissa Burkhardt Moore. I'm glad I saw it.

7. Trouble in Mind - Alice Childress at last made it (posthumously) to Broadway with Roundabout's production of her most famous play, a backstage drama about actors rehearsing a dreadful script by a conveniently absent playwright. During intermission, I overheard one audience member say, "Chuck Cooper makes everything he's in even better." How true! Cooper's performance in the play is not to be missed, so if you haven't seen it yet, get your tickets. It's still playing, but only through January 9th!

6. Merry Wives - Jocelyn Bioh's adaptation of The Merry Wives of Windsor was the Public Theater's sole offering at the Delacorte this summer, but it was worth seeing, if for no reason other than Jacob Ming-Trent, who played the larger-than-life character of Falstaff. Bioh appropriately adjusted the text to make Shakespeare's comedy of rural life in England work when reset among African immigrants in contemporary Harlem. The sight of Ming-Trent as an overgrown man-child playing video games was not only a witty sight gag--it was amazingly appropriate for the character of Sir John Falstaff.

5. Flying Over Sunset - When James Lapine has a new play, it's usually worth seeing, and when it's got music by Tom Kitt and lyrics by Michael Korie, you definitely want to be there. This imagined meeting of Aldous Huxley, Clare Boothe Luce, and Carey Grant at a rented Malibu beach house where they go on LSD trips together delivers both soaring melodies and beautiful stage pictures. It also features innovative choreography by tap master Michelle Dorrance. Harry Hadden-Paton, Carmen Cusack, and Tony Yazbeck all provide stellar performances that go beyond mere impressions of celebrities. This show is still playing at Lincoln Center, so get your tickets while you can!

4. Mrs. Warren's Profession - Gingold Theatrical Group scored again with their production of Bernard Shaw's devastating comedy about capitalism and prostitution, which turn out to be pretty much the same thing in this play. Karen Ziemba was able to shine in the title role, even when sharing the stage with other acting stalwarts like Raphael Nash Thompson and Robert Cuccioli. The more challenging roles in the play, however, go to the younger performers playing Vivie and Frank. Nicole King made her Off-Broadway debut as Vivie Warren, a "New Woman" whose enigmatic intelligence Shaw explored but thankfully never tried to solve. She was complimented by David Lee Huynh as Vivie's caddish love interest, Frank. Director David Staller made certain this production was just as charming as GTG's 2019 offering, Caesar and Cleopatra.

3. The Disciple - Thirdwing is a relative newcomer to NYC theatre. Their productions--which are sometimes live, sometimes virtual, and sometimes both--can be hit or miss. The Female Genius, a series of filmed shorts by Rachel Carey, provided the basis for this full-length play about author and philosopher Ayn Rand and her devoted much younger lover, Nathaniel Branden. Unlike some other plays about sexual exploitation by the famous and powerful, The Disciple finds nuance, in part by flipping traditional gender politics on their head, and showing a woman who is willing to be just as selfish and brutal as any man. Maja Wampuszyc is perfect as Rand, and Cameron Darwin Bossert plays Branden with both humanity and humor. Alas, the in-person show came and went without much fanfare, but fortunately, you can still see a filmed scene from it streamed through Thirdwing's website.

2. The Alchemist - The funniest new play of 2021 was Ben Jonson's old Jacobean comedy The Alchemist, made new again in a brilliant adaptation by contemporary dramatist Jeffrey Hatcher. Red Bull Theater Company, which has been remarkably active online during the pandemic, thankfully returned to the live stage with this side-splitting production directed by Jesse Berger. The cast featured Jacob Ming-Trent--who was so hilarious as Falstaff in this summer's Merry Wives--as well as Manoel Feliciano, Reg Rogers, Teresa Avia Lim, Nathan Christopher, Carson Elrod, Allen Tedder, Louis Mustillo, and Jennifer Sanchez (who literally shimmered in a costume designed by Tilly Grimes). Jonson's play is hysterical, but its cast of 12 (plus assorted extras) makes it difficult to produce for a professional company. Hatcher did a great job getting to the core of the humor while also reducing the cast size and making the play feel topical for those of us living through the plague of the 21st century.

1. The Streets of New York - Of all the New York companies that took their work to the virtual world to keep theatre alive during the pandemic, none were more prolific and innovative than Irish Repertory Theatre, which experimented boldly with the online format, and frequently with great success. I intensely looked forward to their return to the live stage, though, and was greatly pleased when they announced that they would be performing Dion Boucicault's The Streets of New York, especially after they had done such a magnificent revival of the same author's comedy London Assurance. What I was not expecting was for the show to be a musical! Director Charlotte Moore provided a number of delightful songs to transform Boucicault's classic melodrama into a holiday treat. She couldn't have done it, however, without a delightful cast that includes Ben Jacoby, David Hess, Justin Keyes, Jordan Tyson, Ryan Vona, Delaney Westfall, and (most winningly) Amanda Jane Cooper. It's still playing until January 30th, so be sure to grab tickets.

That's my list! Honorable mentions go to Blackbird, Radium Girls, and The Overcoat. Let's hope the virus recedes soon, and we can have a more robust season in 2022!

The Alcestiad

Yesterday, I saw Thornton Wilder's rather wild play The Alcestiad on Roosevelt Island. The outdoor production by Magis Theatre Company is just what New York needs as we head towards the end of a long plague.

A plague, in fact does figure prominently in the work, though it doesn't make a appearance until the third part. The first act shows the princess Alcestis (played beautifully by Mae Roney) decide ultimately to marry young King Admetus, in spite of the fact that she feels called to something higher in life. We then flash forward in time, and a older Alcestis (now played by Margi Sharp Douglas), chooses to take her husband's place in death.

It is that second part that is famous to students of Greek drama, since Euripides dramatized it so effectively, but there was more to the myth, and Wilder wanted to explore what happened after the demigod Hercules brought the queen back from the realm of the dead. When a plague strikes, Alcestis is blamed, since her return from the underworld is the only rational cause people can see for the disaster. Characters stumble about the stage with their faces covered in cloth to protect them from disease. (Yup, been there, still doing that...) They also take any chance they can to blame the disease on some outside force that isn't their fault. (Also sounds familiar.)

Fortunately, the third part of The Alcestiad brings hope for those wearied by disease. A dying girl's call for help can be interpreted as an invitation to despair, but it can also be interpreted as a way forward, a plea to create a better world. All of this is aided by the production's setting, directly behind a decaying smallpox hospital in a park dedicated to the four freedoms heralded by FDR.

As the virus that has afflicted us for so long finally recedes, we begin to experience the first of these freedoms, the freedom of speech and expression, in the form of returning theatre. We can only hope that the other freedoms, freedom to worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear, will not be far behind.

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