Category Archives: Broadway
‘Pirates!’ Is a Riot With David Hyde Pierce, ARGH!
Pirates! The Penzance Musical Set in The Big Easy
The revival of Pirates of Penzance, the comedic operetta with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, has been transformed into Pirates! The Penzance Musical. Indeed, it has been hauled overseas from Penzance, England to New Orleans, Louisiana for a riotous update by Rupert Holmes with new orchestrations by Joseph Joubert and Daryl Waters. It is currently revving up exuberance and laughter at Roundabout’s Todd Haimes Theater.
Holmes attempts to spin the setting changes by having a “real” Gilbert (David Hyde Pierce, who also plays Major General Stanley), and Sullivan (Preston Truman Boyd, who also plays the sergeant of Police), take the audience into their confidence in the show’s prelude. They discuss why they brought the musical to premiere and tour US cities. Importantly, they relate their enchantment with post-Reconstruction New Orleans which inspired them to “pirate” the colorful flavor of the music in the French Quarter and adapt it to various songs in the musical. Indeed, all of the scenes take place in and around the atmospheric New Orleans (even a graveyard) that represents the varied ethnic and cultural ethos of the city.
This is where fantasy takes over and “reality” is dumped by the wayside. New Orleans (1880s) notoriously expanded white supremacy (the White League was the racist organization that benefited from the eventual Jim Crow legislation, Plessy v Ferguson) despite its multicultural population, after Reconstruction ended in 1877.
Nevertheless, as facts are stretched to fantasy, the casting of Major General Stanley’s daughters along a racial divide in contrast to the pirates must suspend one’s imagination into the realm of farce and pure entertainment. Actually, Holmes’ version would do well in a current MAGA South adverse to being aligned with “woke” or “critical race theory,” as it throws history out the window. However, the production makes New Orleans “historical” in its wonderful costuming (Linda Cho) and David Rockwell’s scenic design of the pirate ship that Karimloo makes his rope-swinging, spectacular entrance from.
As farce Holmes’ reworking is top notch for humor. His desire to update the musical and appeal to current audiences is understandable because Gilbert and Sullivan’s work (first brought to the US in 1878) is extraordinary, British ironic and extremely clever. It is especially appreciated if one is able to launch into the nooks and crannies of its brilliant and humorous lyrics. Though I was able to look at the script, for those who must rely on the ensemble to enunciate the lyrics, especially in the choral numbers, one loses much in the translation. However, the driving music and director Scott Ellis’ staging and frenetically paced action mitigates that loss.
In keeping with reimagining a New Orleans’ vibe that is more Southern down home than British witty, the production sports a different tenor than a superb but traditional revival produced at The Public Theater in 1981, starring Kevin Kline, Linda Ronstadt and Estelle Parsons. That Pirates of Penzance was gloriously captured on film in 1983. For a contrast, it would be delightful to revisit the film then see the Roundabout’s lighthearted production.
Maintaining the general plot of Gilbert and Sullivan’s 1878 operetta, “Pirates!” unfolds the story of the hapless and innocent Frederic (the excellent Nicholas Barasch). In the antiquated fashion of indentured servitude, Frederic is duty-bound by his deceased father to be the apprentice to the Pirate King (the gymnastically vigorous, organically funny and gorgeously voiced and appearanced Ramin Karimloo). Ironically, the Pirate King is derelict in his piracy (we discover why at the conclusion), as he incompetently leads his band of “spurious” pirates NOT to plunder, kill or steal.
Thus, residing with the pirates and following the dereliction of duty promoted by the Pirate King, Frederic eventually completes his service on his twenty-first birthday. It is then the Pirate King frees him so he can go ashore, join law abiding society and kill every pirate he was colleagues with during his long servitude. Of course, his freedom doesn’t go as planned because of a mathematical miscalculation, and the conflict turns in another direction teetering on debacle until it is righted.
Additionally, in between meting out justice, Frederic plans to find a bride, though marrying a younger woman will break Ruth’s heart because he promised to be with her for the rest of his life. But information enlightens him and makes Frederic change his promise to Ruth, especially after he meets the lovely Mabel (Samanta Williams) and they pledge their love for each other. However, as with a common Shakespearean theme, for Frederic and Mabel, “The course of true love never runs smoothly.” And it is in the kinks and gyrating turns that the comedy reaches its heights.
The comedy also is delivered with David Hyde Pierce’s exceptional performance of Major-General Stanley, which he acts with complete aplomb and authenticity. Pierce enunciates every word clearly and thus unrolls the stuffy, effete, sincere Major-General with dedicated determination. Considering Pierce is doing double time as Gilbert performing the Major-General, his ironic demeanor is the vehicle which is a natural for the British Gilbert’s stiff upper lip delivery. And it is hysterical. His is a really well-thought out performance as is Monsoon’s and Karimloo’s, which is memorable for his leaps over barrels, leaps onto tables and veritable sailing in the air during various numbers. Humorous as well, he is outrageously good as he pings the Pirate King’s vulnerability falling for the plight of the orphaned who into his sphere of influence.
To his credit, Holmes has put his imprint on Gilbert and Sullivan with this reinvention and has even tucked in numbers from other Gilbert and Sullivan operettas (HMS Pinafore, The Mikado and Iolanthe) to fill in and round out the characterizations and establish bridges seguing action from one sequence to the next. For characterization, in Act II, we learn more about the emotions of lovelorn and Frederic-spurned pirate wench Ruth (featuring the versatile talents of Jinkx Monsoon-two-time winner of “RuPaul’s Drag Race”). Bemoaning her fate away from her unrequited love interest Frederic, she sings “Alone and Yet Alive” with lyrics adapted from the song in The Mikado.
It is Holmes’ bold move to create empathy for Ruth, add coherence and deepen the emotion in the fun frolic. Jinkx Monsoon does a fine job in keeping balance with humor and pathos so we understand Ruth’s heart-felt loss, yet appreciate how she encourages herself to make the best without a particular “someone.”
Waters’ orchestrations and Joubert’s music direction strike various phrasings which are current New Orleans (not the setting of the post-Reconstruction town). These include blues, jazz, Creole notes and rhythms, Dixieland and much more. There is even an ersatz funeral New Orleans style music which is thrown in for good measure. And Mardi Gras season comes upon the pirates as they “let the good times roll.”
Finally, I enjoyed the washboard number at the end of Act I (“We Sail the Ocean Blue” from HMS Pinafore) for its cleverness and rhythmically united efforts by the entire cast. And the conclusion is a fantasy finale which uplifts the Trump, Musk, MAGA hated DEI lyrics “integrated” into “He Is an Englishman” from HMS Pinafore, which is a sardonic joke in itself, which I completely adored. This is in your face Broadway. If the Bill of Rights doesn’t apply, then nowhere on the globe and in the former British Empire or American is humanity safe. I completely appreciate Holmes’ sardonic and charming approach with a wit that Gilbert and Sullivan would have approved of.
I just loved this reimagining as a farce with fantastic elements, all with a point. See it.
Pirates! The Penzance Musical runs 2 hours, 15 minutes with one intermission until July 27 at the Todd Haimes Theater. roundabouttheatre.org.
‘Real Women Have Curves’ is a Sensational Adaptation With an Underlying Moral Imperative
Read Women Have Curves
Based on Josefina López’s titular play, and the 2002 HBO film adaptation starring America Ferrera, Real Women Have Curves, at the James Earl Jones Theater, is an exuberant, humorous, beautifully colorful fun-fest with underlying messages about past Republican immigration policies, discrimination, fat-shaming, Latinx cultural iconography, female empowerment, self-love, and making the American Dream one’s own. Delighting the audiences, the production also is vitally historic in reminding us of the great sacrifice those who seek a better life make when they leave their native country for an unwelcoming nation.
Though the musical is set in Los Angeles, 1987, it has tremendous currency during the debacle of the Trump administrations’ kidnapping, trafficking and incarceration of migrants in concentration camps out of the country, illegally without due process. This unlawful, brutal practice misnamed deportation (which mandates due process), is being noted as a crime against humanity by many groups, including the United Nations and The Hague. The musical’s themes and plot contrast between the past and the present, where the current derelict, corrupt administration would degrade the United States by violating the 5th amendment to the constitution.
The Tony-nominated score by Grammy® Award–winning singer-songwriter Joy Huerta (known as half of the pop duo Jesse & Joy), was written with Benjamin Velez. Both wrote the music and lyrics and are also responsible for orchestrations and arrangements. With the book by Lisa Loomer (Distracted) and Nell Benjamin (Mean Girls), music supervision by Nadia DiGiallonardo (Waitress), and choreography and direction by Tony® winner Sergio Trujillo (Ain’t Too Proud), these creatives have knocked it out of the ballpark. to make the show a winner.
Coupled with the superb performances and ensemble work by the cast, the ebullience is catching and it’s impossible not to hum along, or sway in one’s seat with many of the upbeat, message-filled numbers (“Make It Work,” “De Nada,” “Oy Muchacha,” “Adios Andres,” and “Real Women Have Curves.”). We feel immediate empathy with the likable, endearing and ironically humorous Mexican women of various ages, who dream of establishing themselves in prosperity despite the incredibly long work hours at two or three jobs, the social obstacles of being “the other” culturally, and the daily threat of being deported back to their own country, a dangerous prospect.
At the outset, we note the key conflict is between mother and daughter, 18-year-old Ana García (Tatianna Córdoba), and her mom, Carmen (Justina Machado). Ana was born in the United States and has constitutional birth-right citizenship. Her older sister Estela (Florencia Cuenca), was born in Mexico. To improve their situation, father Raul (Mauricio Mendoza), found work in Los Angles and eventually moved the three of them to Boyle Heights, and stayed with persistence and tolerance of discrimination. As they prospered, Carmen and Raul subsidized Estela’s dress business, all the while raising the younger Ana to adopt American ways, but never forget her heritage.
As the only American citizen, Ana excels in school, graduates with honors and as an aspiring journalist with a summer internship, applies to Columbia University where she receives an acceptance and full scholarship. At her internship with a local paper where she practices her journalism skills pro bono to gain valuable experience, she meets Henry (the superb Mason Reeves), and forms an adorable attachment. Aye, if Carmen knew about Columbia and Henry, she would hit the roof.
Of course Carmen, unsettled by their illegal status fears deportation and intends to keep the family together, just in case. Carmen’s plans are why Ana can never tell her mother about her great news that she has climbed the first rung of her dreams in her full-ride scholarship to Columbia in New York City. Now, it’s only a matter of going, regardless of Carmen’s stubbornness to keep Ana at home. When she finally does tell her, Carmen is beyond herself.
The chief reason why Carmen can’t let her go concerns their status. If they are picked up by INS, Ana’s birthright citizenship will possibly save them. The question becomes will Ana choose her dreams or put them on hold and stay with her family in support. However, if she waits, she may never get another opportunity like a free-ride to expensive Columbia again. Ana does tell sister Estela who encourages her; they agree behind Carmen’s back she should wait to tell Carmen.
In a second conflict which involves their prosperity in their business and their immigration status, Estela’s dress shop receives a fabulous order for 200 dresses. The order is from the well-connected, elite-looking, stylish Mrs. Wright (Claudia Mulet when I saw the production). Mrs. Wright gives the order under the condition that unless they are finished in three weeks, she won’t pay Estela and will take the dresses the dressmakers did finish. Thrilled to work with Mrs. Wright for her buyer contacts-a chance to increase their opportunities-Estela agrees to Mrs. Wright’s handshake contract, despite the fact that it is an onerous and shady arrangement. The dressmakers are thrilled and agree to work hard (“Make It Work”). Carmen suggests that Ana can help them get the job done and learn to sew.
However, as we find out into Act 2, Estela has taken a tremendous risk. A second question arises as the suspense increases. Will they be able to get the dresses in on time? As a further obstacle, while they are progressing, there is a loud explosion. Next door an illegal factory with undocumented workers is raided. In panic and fear, the dressmakers turn the lights off and remain in the darkness until there is quiet. It’s a moment of great tension for everyone.
After the lights are on and the danger passes, the 19-year-old Itzel (Aline Mayagoitia), from Guatemala has an asthma attack. Ana takes her to the roof to “breathe,” with a change of scene and humor to recoup. There they sing “If I Were a Bird.” It’s an important turning point in the musical as we empathize with the women, understanding the horror migrants live with to follow their dreams.
Every day Estela goes to the shop is a day they might be raided. The risks they take to survive and try to carve out a place for their families is fraught with struggle and sacrifice, but they persist. Seeing this from the perspective of the undocumented, though it was during the time of Republican President Ronald Reagan is historic. Reagan offered Amnesty as a path to citizenship, the antithesis of what current MAGA politicos and the Trurmp administration offer.
Instead, the current administration kidnaps and trafficks. It isn’t deportation, for deportation mandates due process first. The administration kidnaps and trafficks for the sole purpose of getting white supremacist votes. They sadistically enjoy the cruelty and brutality. Thus, the kidnapping, etc. without due process “shows” machismo as the MAGAS embrace hatred and discrimination against those of color. The Trump administration even supports death threats against judges who give migrants constitutional due process. Was this person inaugurated as he said he accepted his “oath?”
The INS raid in the musical is truly horrific. A hush fell over the audience as they “got it.” I couldn’t help but think how much more duress the migrants and the dreamer generations have experienced from the 1990s to today. Not only is there no path, citizenship is near impossible unless “extra” means are used to open the doors, as they were with Elon Musk and his brother and Melania Trump. All came here illegally.
As if to underscore the cruelty that has been exponentially increased during the present administration, making it unrecognizable as Republican, the announcement at the end of Act I is terrifying. The sweet, funny Itzel has been picked up by INS. In Act II when Ana tries to help her after she finally locates Itzel in a bleak detention center (Arnulfo Maldonado’s set design), where she is receiving due process. INS is willing to turn Itzel over to Ana if she will be her sponsor. It’s an impossibility. Though Ana’s an American citizen, she can do nothing without jeopardizing her family and the other women. It’s a Catch-22 situation, so she says good bye, is insulted by the guard and leaves Itzel to the unsympathetic and demeaning prison keepers.
After this difficult scene, Carmen announces she is “eating for two,” and is “pregnant.” But the women tell her it is menopause. The scene uplifts with unifying details women can empathize with as they mourn getting older. The ensemble riffs and joke, sharing their names for their “monthly;” Carmen’s is “Andres.” “Adios Andres,” an upbeat song with riotous lyrics helps bring them together to move on because there is nothing else they can do for Itzel without jeopardizing themselves. As they work on finishing the order, it gives rise to a terrific bonding song, “Real Women Have Curves.”
During the titular song, the women disrobe in order to encourage one another to love themselves and dispel the body shaming plasticity of the white culture’s mores to be television-ready thin (BMI 18), young, stylish, non-ethnic. Hispanic cultures find it hard to assimilate into the fat is hateful value, though Carmine beats up and body shames Ana for needing to lose weight, which obviously is a form of emotional abuse. And as we learn with the humorous “Real Women Have Curves,” and “Adios Andres,” extra pounds never stopped the women from enjoying their sexuality. When Ana puts aside her mother’s criticism of her weight, she establishes a budding relationship with fellow journalism intern Henry in a riotous scene (“Doin’ It Anyway”).
However, the beauty of the song “Real Women Have Curves” is the ensemble’s assertion that they are the normal ones and not the white culture’s anorexic leaning, surgery-enhanced women like Mrs. Wright. One after the other, the dressmakers stand singing in their underwear. This symbolizes gaining their power to throw off fat shaming. The audience went wild and perhaps some in the balcony joined them by tearing off their blouses/t-shirts. All this to express that a majority of the social culture is tired of the sickness/anorexia inducing emphasis of a fascist appearance ideal, now stoked with diabetes drugs, a different kind of “shooting up” from other drugs that previously addicted and decreased appetite and speeded up metabolism (cocaine).
The ensemble knocks it into the next galaxy with this number, beautifully staged and choreographed by director Sergio Trujillo. Afterward, the women become even more energized and Ana gains the confidence to approach Henry and be intimate with him in a later scene.
Meanwhile, the stakes are raised. Estela receives a call from Mrs. Wright who is pulling the contract because they lost a worker to INS. When Wright arrives, she attempts to take the dresses and pay Estela nothing. How does Mrs. Wright know they lost a worker? Mrs. Wright implies she knows much about their community. In other words, she has spies, has exploited undocumented worker factories and turns the situation cruelly to her advantage.
The character of Mrs. Wright, is a subtle counterpoint to the other characters. We learn she was also a migrant, but assimilated and internalized some of the worst of American “values”-the love of money and the necessity of adopting arrogance and branding herself a success. As Wright explains, she turned her back on her roots, changed her appearance to fit in with white women’s fascist and oppressive “can’t be too rich or too thin” mantra. They eat little and are on a constant diet. We learn at the conclusion that Mrs. Wright married up. We don’t know if he is older and uglier with money, but we do know she is ferociously determined and not averse to exploiting the illegal status of Estela and her undocumented dressmakers.
As a character foil, Mrs. Wright provides Ana’s most excellent ridicule. Ana stands up to her, using her power as a journalist. She traps her into keeping the date and time for delivery when Wright attempted to cut it short and steal from the women because they had no leverage. Ana shows she has leverage and uses her brilliance to force Mrs. Wright to uphold her end of the contract in a very funny, satisfying scene.
Perhaps most importantly as an understated conflict there is the tension of what it means to be from a different culture and have to assimilate in order to “get along.” How much must one adapt to the culture to fulfill one’s dreams? How much must one retain of one’s identity to gain one’s power but not be “too ethnic” to be a success?
Real Women Have Curves is just sensational in revealing these complex issues with humor, grace and power. It shines a beacon on all of Americans as migrants, some of whom have stupidly “forgotten” their heritage. Indeed, today, some like Mrs. Wright become lost in the process of “shedding” their unwanted ethnic identity, even to the point of “color-correcting” their appearance. In their self-loathing, they uplift artificiality, fashioning themselves into an AI generated, surgery-enhanced image. In such a culture with such warped values and “amnesia,” is it any wonder that the current political administration with an abundance of former plastic-looking TV personalities, with little qualifications or merit, support migrants and some green card holders being brutalized, kidnapped, trafficked and stripped of their basic human rights?
Look for the layers in Real Women Have Curves. From technicals to performances there is perfection and coherence: set design (Maldonado), Natasha Katz’s lighting design, the sensational costume design (Wilberth Gonzalez & Paloma Young), John Shivers’ sound design, Hana S. Kim’s video design, and Krystal Balleza & Will Vicari’s hair, wig & makeup design. Their collaboration with Trujillo’s vision of Lisa Loomer and Nell Benjamin’s book and Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez’ music and lyrics make this a must-see many times over.
Real Women Have Curves runs 2 hours 20 minutes with one intermission at the James Earl Jones Theater. realwomenhavecurvesbroadway.com.
‘Maybe Happy Ending,’ Breathtaking With Darren Criss, Helen J Shen
Maybe Happy Ending
“Memento Mori!” The Stoics created this phrase meaning “remember you must die.” Human beings can be incredibly oblivious to their own mortality, especially when they are young. Indeed, it gets worse as one ages in the attempt to forestall looking old to remain “forever young.” But what does that have to do with robots Oliver (Darren Criss) and Claire (Helen J Shen), simulated, digital human beings who run on technological parts and have operating systems, batteries, chargers, chips, etc.? As it turns out “memento mori” is the linchpin of Maybe Happy Ending, currently at the Belasco Theatre until January 2026.
As with all things, even with long-lived elements like tellurium-128, the second law of thermodynamics applies: all things move from order to chaos, entropy. Heat dissipates into cold. Things fall apart. Things come to an end. It’s irrevocable. And at this point there’s not a damn thing one can do but live life to the fullest, if memento mori..
It is Claire, an advanced Model 5 robot, who is sleek, beautiful, witty and programmed to understand most things, who essentially reminds Oliver that things come to an end.
But Oliver doesn’t really get it. Oliver is a less smoothly functioning and quirky-kinky-glitchy robot Model 3. The earlier, older model is more simplistic and durable, programmed to be upbeat, decorous, sweet. He is the perfect companion, friend, son, but unaware about the deeper, more painful qualities and attributes of human beings and the natural order of the known world and his place in it. Innocent, and cheerful, he doesn’t seem to understand the cycles of wheel and woe, peaks and valleys and the end of things, for example humans, relationships, devices, himself. But by the conclusion of this incredible heart-rending musical, Oliver learns about himself. He learns what he is capable of, guided by Claire’s empathy, wisdom and heart.
The year is 2064 on the outskirts of Seoul, Korea when we meet Oliver and Claire, Helperbots (think android servants), once hired out by their manufacturer to assist their human owners with daily tasks. However, a blip has occurred for Oliver and Claire whose existence and purpose has changed. Their antiquated operating systems can no longer be upgraded. Replacement parts are scarce or discontinued. The company has with consideration allowed them to spend their purposeless, remaining days in a retirement home in the Helperbot Yards until they come to the end of themselves.
The set design of their rooms at the Helperbot Yards is imagined cleverly by Dane Laffrey via bright lighting in their rooms (Ben Stanton’s design), surrounded by darkness. Neon tube sliding panels separate and feature Claire’s and Oliver’s rooms side by side, or in movement, like a split screen effect. The rooms are color coordinated. Claire’s belongings are pink and lavender with saturated lighting effects. Oliver’s room appointments are mostly neutral influenced by his owner with blue lighting effects. The colors ironically signify their genders, recalling an innocence that belies their knowledge and Claire’s deeper understanding of human beings. As they grow closer, the saturated lighting effects sometimes alternate.
Laffrey’s scenic and additional video design, along with Ben Stanton’s lighting design and George Reeve’s video design cohere perfectly with director Michael Arden’s vision and tone, effected by Hue Park’s book and lyrics and Will Aronson’s book, lyrics and music, which is sonorous, mellifluous and lovely.
Oliver appears Model 3 robotic with slicked down helmet-headed hair, (Craig Franklin Miller’s hair & wig design), obvious reddish lips and paste skin tone (Suki Tsujimoto) and a perfectly tailored, boyish outfit by Clint Ramos. Claire’s pleated skirt and white blouse are simple, and flowing in more natural colors as the later models were designed to appear real; her hair and make-up coordinate and appear natural. The vibrant color and Ramos’ costumes cohere with the color schemes, save Claire’s initial outfit, though she wears a colorful jacket when they travel.
The design features represent the robotic and real worlds stylized appropriately. The real world is dimly lit and in shadow; the natural setting is somber, subdued and minimal. There is no sense of futuristic design consonant with James’ preference of retro mirrored in his acoustic music taste. James and his son (both played by Marcus Choi) naturally. Likewise, singer Gil Brentley appears in fall toned period clothing of the 50s. Sometimes with a microphone, perhaps in a club where he once performed, Brentley sings four songs solo in simple lighting. Finally, the forest scene is magically lit, captivatingly stylized, romantic and “to die for,” which is the point.
Peter Hylenski’s sound design is balanced for Deborah Abramson (music supervision), and the songs are lyrical, the harmonies in the duets gorgeous. Both Criss and Shen have voices that convey the tone of light, love and beauty. The cool jazz numbers sung by the excellent Dez Duron as singer Gil Brentley are seamlessly mixed into the action as a counterpoint to it and commentary on it.
Of the two robots, Shen’s astute, ironic Claire is the more aware, having experienced poignant and hurtful events with her beloved owner who gave her up. We get to see this via amazing digital projections and a hologram (George Reeve’s video design), as Claire revisits memories to fill in the puzzle pieces of a mystery Oliver needs to have solved. Claire is canny, smoothly sophisticated and not easily duped. There is little that she can’t figure out. On the other hand, Oliver is oblivious about why he is where he is. Oliver believes that his beloved owner and friend James will be coming to take him to wherever he has gone so they may resume their relationship which makes both of them happy.
With Oliver’s first song, “World Within my Room,” Will Aronson and Hue Park establish the situation of his isolated living arrangement which he doesn’t mind, convinced James will come for him. He is contented in his own confined world with his friend, the plant HwaBoon, his jazz records, an old-fashioned record player, all given to him by James, a jazz aficionado who converted Oliver to love jazz too. Indeed, Oliver gets to enjoy monthly jazz magazines James has sent to him which Oliver receives via a mail chute. His only interaction over the years is a remote bot (a voice over), that interacts with him if he requests something i.e. a replacement part that has not yet been discontinued.
Twelve years go by, then there is an urgent knock that displaces Oliver and his contented isolation. Claire, who lives across the hall, needs a charge because the advanced Model 5s need charging more frequently or they freeze up, as Claire does, arm lifted in the midst of knocking. Oliver is too jarred by a live interaction intruding on his solipsistic existence to immediately answer the door. When he finally does relent, she is stationary, silent, frozen, and he must pick her up and carry her into his room to charge her up (literally and figuratively). Look for all of the double entendres, sly, winking humor, symbolism and metaphors about human existence, human love, human experience and forever love and happiness.
After Oliver “charges” Claire, she takes the lead, as the female model’s advanced assertiveness prompts her to. She queries him, and finding out about James, understands what has happened, but is empathetic enough to wisely counsel Oliver, sometimes with humorous snark about himself. Additionally, she dispels the competitiveness Oliver has about being the less sleek, smart and advanced model. However, she is less durable, a fault he continually throws in her face. Eventually, as Claire repeatedly returns to borrow his charger, one day she cleverly arranges to stop their routine, knowing the less flexible Oliver will freak out about it. Of course, she is correct, and when he begins to seek her out, their relationship faces a turning point and they are off and running to become more involved with each other’s wants, needs and hopes.
Claire and Oliver’s growing connection is a series of cataclysmic sequences that explode upon the audience’s consciousness. These are taken out of every romantic playbook of “boy meets girl” etc. However, it’s in reversal as Claire is the catalyst. Importantly, there is no equivalence because these robots can’t have emotions, can they? They’re weird, the situation is anomalous, but for the song (“Why Love?”) as a lyrical remembrance at the top of the musical, we don’t quite get it. We think, “OK, theirs is a peculiar and funny meet-up.” Importantly, though they look youthful, they are “discontinued,” seniors in a retirement home, useless, waiting to fall apart (think of “all the lonely people” whether in nursing homes or under sick-bed isolation).
Eventually, the realization hits the audience that they are looking at themselves. There will be an arrow strike into the heart and perhaps the tears or the discomfort will follow, if not at earlier junctures, yet, it will follow. The story and its incredibly coherent, metaphoric rendering in every technical and live-wired aspect (especially performances), by the creatives are designed to penetrate any cynical, hardened emotions and break your heart.
The parallel between Claire and Oliver’s story and variations of our own stings as does the song “Why Love?” sung gorgeously by Duron’s Gil Brantley. The song that James loved (he gave the Gil Brantley record to Oliver), opens the musical and concludes it, a question answering with the question. And we learn its meaning as we know it from our own lives and the journey of Claire and Oliver, as they get to know each other. The irony of these characters and their discoveries about themselves and each other is that we will more readily identify precisely because they are robots. By removing their “humanity,” the intensity of the parallels to human experience crystallizes. You “get it” in revelation, and by then, you are a goner.
Michael Arden’s shepherding of Criss and Shen ingeniously unfolds and stages their relationship dynamic throughout, moving from their box-like, enclosed, limited existence to a forest field, in a nighttime sky of fireflies (an achingly beautiful sequence lit exquisitely by Ben Stanton). Enlightened from their adventurous “road trip,” they go back home with a new, expansive perspective and realization of their deep connection to each other, a duplication of human experience which they can laugh at as robots, yet sorrow over, for it, and they are perishable.
The characters and situation are counterintuitive as are the incredible performances of Criss as the more authentically robotic and Shen’s more progressively human. But by the conclusion both have evolved to decide whether to remember their love or not, knowing there is no way around the second law of thermodynamics. Even robots die. But in this instance, the more durable Oliver will be around with the memories of their love a lot longer than Claire. A decision must be made.
Maybe Happy Ending is not a story about robot love. It is a story about us. Our humanity. Our mortality. Our inability to comprehend loss, and love, and relationships, and other human beings, and emotional pain, and hurt, and tolerance of these experiences, not having the first clue about what they truly are, as we are forced to go through them, sometimes kicking and screaming
If you don’t see Maybe Happy Ending, you are missing an incredible, theatrical event, taking a deep dive into your own humanity through identification with “robots” who just kill it. They will delight, entertain and wreck you emotionally. If that doesn’t appeal, then see it to appreciate its splendiferousness as a gobsmacking, award winning, uniquely, amazing musical.
Maybe Happy Ending runs 1 hour, 45 minutes with no intermission at the Belasco Theatre (111 West 44th Street) until January 2026. https://www.maybehappyending.com/
ENCHANTING, SPELLBINDING, HEART-STOPPING, MOVING, TOUCHING, OVERWHELMING, INTENSE, HEART-RENDING
Maybe Happy Ending runs with no intermission 1 hours 45 minutes. at the Belasco Theatre (131 West 44th Street). https://www.maybehappyending.com/
Jonathan Groff is Phenomenal in ‘Just in Time’
Oftentimes, singers have the gift of reconstituting songs and making them iconic, then become celebrated for doing it. One example is Bobby Darin (1936-1973), who took the droll, sluggish “Mack the Knife” from Kurt Weill’s Three Penny Opera, and with a jazzy, upbeat swing, gave it a reverential life of its own. A singer, songwriter, and actor, Darin ambitiously sang all music styles from swing to folk, from rock and roll to country music. He played three instruments, won two Grammy awards and a Golden Globe in a fifteen year period before he left this earth, only to win more awards posthumously. For his efforts, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1990) and the Songwriters Hall of Fame (1999).
The chronicle of his life manifested a candle burning at both ends to accomplish whatever he could in his short lifespan. Just in Time starring Jonathan Groff as Bobby Darin shines a spotlight on what made Darin a consummate performer, as he reinvented his career by adjusting to the times. Key to this production is Groff’s winning, adorable persona and uplifting and empathetic approach to portraying Darin’s mystique.
With an 11-piece band accompanying him and fine orchestrations by Andrew Resnick, this is an incredible show right out of the gate, though the book by Warren Light and Isaac Oliver based on an original concept by Ted Chapin cannot cover all of the salient information about Darin’s life for purists. However, it indeed is enough and a must-see. The exceptional Just in Time, developed and directed by Alex Timbers currently runs until November 30th at Circle in the Square.
To represent Darin’s ethos the production places the star in his favored venue, the nightclub. With set design by Derek McLane, Justin Townsend’s lighting design and Peter Hylenski sound design, Circle in the Square Theatre is transformed into both an exclusive nightclub and swank, intimate cabaret. There, Groff singularly portrays Darin’s trajectory in what has perhaps wrongly been limited as a “jukebox bio musical.”
The stunning sets around which Groff and the cast perform and enact more intimate scenes, open another aspect of the Darin persona. The immersive nightclub with two sections also converts to other settings with the use of a scrim and props. The floor area holds a cabaret-style seating arena where Groff and the others act amidst the patrons seated at tables. The multi-tiered stage of steps includes a dancing area banked on either side by the band, led by Andrew Resnick. Resnick plays piano, and supervises the music he has arranged which is vibrant, updated, resonant and heady.
Groff performs in both areas, but the showpiece numbers are on the higher levels where Darin’s Sirens dance, sing and perform with him in finely tuned, tightly choreographed numbers by Shannon Lewis. Darin’s glittering, alluring assistants include Valeria Yamin, Christine Cornish and Julia Grondin. Interestingly, theirs is an economy of movement as they surround Groff/Darin and join him with verve and style within the multi-levels of the set.
This design is exceptional and reflects the tenor of restraint, an ironic, perhaps meaningful limitation. Darin had severe health issues throughout his life and the knowledge that death was near, a terrible psychological/emotional/physical limitation, nevertheless spurred him on with a driving urgency. Darin pushed himself and everyone around him. He was about, “having a lot of living to do” because of his rheumatic heart. Despite his “mother’s” (the wonderful Michele Pawk), adjurations that the doctor told him nonsense that he would die in his teenage years, Darin took the doctor’s warnings “to heart.” He daily lived with death, and using the warning like a stoic’s “memento mori,” inspired himself to “live to the fullest.”
If anything, that is a theme of Just in Time. It is a riff on the idea that our time is limited and we must make the most of it with the gifts we have, as Bobby Darin did.
Just in Time originated as The Bobby Darin Story, a series of five concerts in 2018 at the 92nd Street Y, starring Groff as Darin. Since then its book and Timbers’ development and direction manifested a production with flowing, urgent forward momentum. Groff/Darin freezes the action with a “snap of his fingers” to add briskly paced narrative humor. These asides and direct addresses to the audience unfold Darin’s life story between upbeat club numbers dated for the time, but redirected for our time via Resnick’s arrangements. The entire production is set up as a series of night-club acts, and a stage performance to familiarize non fans with the man and his career.
However, before we discover Darin’s ambition and death-spur that propelled him, Groff is introduced as himself and assumes the relaxed, dressed to the nines (Catherine Zuber’s costume design), carefree, Groff-styled night-club persona. Groff twits the audience, making them his confidante, grounding it for his future direct addresses that will follow as a device that cycles through Darin’s life events briskly. These cover his childhood, the start of his career writing songs for Connie Frances, their relationship and break-up, his hits, the record company bosses, his revolutionary stylization of “Mack the Knife” and beyond to his relationship and marriage to Sandra Dee, its end, and his reinvention after he goes bankrupt.
As Groff zips and zags through the retrospective of Darin’s too brief life, we follow the whirlwind. Occasionally, we glimpse through the pull back of the curtain into his failing health, as Groff’s Darin initializes the stresses of his broken marriage and the revelation of a family secret that devastated him and most probably impacted his health.
In the opening set up of crooning songs “This Could be the Start of Something Big,” “Just in Time,” and lead in to the story of Darin’s life with the vamp of “Beyond the Sea,” Groff’s interpretations are sensational. Then, the audience is off and running with Groff’s self effacing line, “Whether you’re a fan of Bobby Darin, or one of the twelve people who watched “Mindhunter” – it doesn’t matter how I got you. All that matters is that you’re here and, tonight, you’re mine.”
And no joke, that’s the truth. We go with Groff down Darin’s memory lane, meeting his sweetheart that was not to be, Connie Francis (the sensational Gracie Lawrence), his “sister” always concerned for his health (Emily Bergl), his loving, show business influential “mother” (Michelle Pawk), and wife Sandra Dee (Erika Henningsen), among others who fill in various roles (Joe Barbara, Lance Roberts, Caesar Samayoa). As swiftly and smoothly as the first act spools, the second act covers his relationship with Sandra Dee, giving it short shrift, along with Darin’s political endeavor helping Bobby Kennedy’s presidential campaign. Darin was present at the Ambassador Hotel and suffered another devastation at Kennedy’s death.
The show concludes with Groff/Darin, back in the nightclub where he fits best after a few years of resettlement. As the final capstone song, the production ends with “Once in a Lifetime/That’s All” as Groff powerfully, forcefully pulls out all the stops and his closest family and friends give remarks upon learning of Darin’s death after open heart surgery. Groff concludes with poignant remarks, “Every breath we take is a gift we get to open. It isn’t enough. And yet, it is so much.” Groff back in his own skin, makeup off, in his own robust soul, passionately ends the gobsmacking evening with, “Thanks for spending this time with us. Goodnight. I love you.” And the audience gives love back with a resounding standing ovation.
Just in Time is a fabulous seduction, memorializing the life and times of Bobby Darin through Jonathan Groff’s being and perspective. To say he channels Darin limits the depth of the production. The separation between the men is always present and that is what makes this production rise above a “jukebox bio musical.” None of the songs are jukebox, but reformulated. None of the patter and narrative are crassly biographical, but more at symbolic and synoptic, like a review with song twists to elucidate the events and key turning points throughout Darin’s life. Time and effort have been taken to thoughtfully render the production’s success to a new crowd of Darin fans.
Just in Time runs 2 hours 25 minutes with one intermission at Circle in the Square. https://justintimebroadway.com/
‘Stranger Things: The First Shadow,’ Stunning, Thrilling, High Wired
Stranger Things: The First Shadow
The ordinary and extraordinary contrast in this theatrical prequel set around 27 years before the Duffer Brothers’ Netflix series Stranger Things begins. Kate Trefry wrote the two-act supernatural, sci-fi-thriller origin story of fearsome Henry Creel’s genesis of terror. The story was originated by the Duffer Brothers, Jack Thorne (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child), along with Kate Trefry. For those familiar with the series, no introduction is needed to the theatrical presentation currently at the Marquis Theatre. The production transferred from the West End in London to Broadway where it opened on April 22nd. For an example of some of what you’ll see on Broadway, albeit with a West End cast, except for the superb Louis McCartney who reprises his role as Henry Creel, check out the 2024 West End Trailer.
For those unfamiliar with the series, the production can stand alone, though audience members must remain quick-witted to follow the rapidly paced, brief, myriad scenes directed by Stephen Daldry and co-directed by Justin Martin to catch onto the macabre identities of the wicked paranormals that struggle to inhabit the otherwise hapless Henry Creel, a victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The plot development of Stranger Things: The First Shadow riffs off Season 4 of the Netflix series, which is set in 1986, and features the nefarious Vecna, the “evolved” Henry we are introduced to as a struggling victim in this Broadway production set in 1959.
However, there is another layer and flashback to WWII which is the phenomenally brilliant opening of this production. This event illuminates how all of the series’ horrific, paranormal folly began.
Trefry and the gobsmacking creative technical team take us back to a weird rumble in the space time continuum that happened in 1943 that we see live on the stage and surrounding us as photographers circle up and down the aisles of the theater to film an incalculable experiment. Trying to gain an advantage over Nazi Germany, scientists attempt to make a US battleship invisible as a new weapon to evade the German submarines patrolling the waters, yet have it capable of firing at and destroying German U boats. In the process the “invisibility” experiment fails and there is a devastating explosion which breaks into the multiverse fabric of time’s layers and results in the extraordinary and the unexplainable of “Stranger Things.”
It would seem all men onboard the U.S.S. Eldridge are lost. Hold that thought for later in Act II. One of them is alive and “the government” via mercenary scientist (conspiracy theorists will love this), Dr. Brenner (the frigid, android-like Alex Breaux), takes advantage of what happens to the body of the only remaining naval officer who survived the catastrophe. (Well, after all, the officer volunteered for the experiment-no liability lawsuits by “family” possible.)
This astounding feat of technical illusion at the top of the production is breathtaking and prepares the audience for more of the same at the directors’ fever-pitch pacing throughout. Awards will certainly go to the teams that create the supernatural horror-illusions. The visual-effects design is by Jamie Harrison and Chris Fisher (“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child”). The video design and visual effects are by the 59 company. Additionally, with Paul Arditti’s sound design and Jon Clark’s lighting, the production becomes an animated, frightening, “telekinetic” wonder.
After this terrifying, immersively staged flashback, we step forward to 1959 in boring, mundane Hawkins, Indiana, a contrasting setting and hopeful place of refuge. There, Henry moves with his parents Victor (T.R. Knight), Virginia (Rosie Benton) and younger sister Alice (Azalea Wolfe on Saturday evenings). Henry’s paranormal talents, apparently unwelcome yet alluring, have allowed him to harm someone in his previous high school during a macabre event. This prompted the “perfect” family to leave and seek peace elsewhere. However, the circumstance involving Henry upset his mother, Virginia. She counsels Henry to repeat when he becomes anxious, “It’s not real. I’m normal. I’m Henry Creel.”
Part of the enjoyment of the uncanny horribleness of it all is how Henry attempts to be “normal,” but founders miserably at it. He is so, so creepy and preternatural. McCartney is just too good as an embattled, “terrified of himself” Henry.
As an isolated and lonely individual who only feels comfortable playing his radio, Henry fortunately does meet someone in his current high school with whom he can share a bond. Patty Newby (Gabrielle Nevaeh), is adopted and is emotionally abused by her father, and insulted by the high school students. As an obvious outsider, she and Henry (McCartney’s shy, weird, strange, pale, electrically-wired persona is incredibly effected), find solace in one another. Henry uses his powers to help her imagine and then “dream-manifest” her mother, who she discovers is alive. On the other hand, Patty helps deter Henry from submitting to the encroaching evil forces by inspiring him with her affection and attention.
In a tie-in to the plot as pets are being killed and students become involved in investigating the “whodunit,” the play includes the youthful versions of the older TV characters familiar to fans of the series. Patty’s brother, Bob (Juan Carlos), is the pudgy brainiac and the founder of the Hawkins High A.V. Club, instrumental in locating the source energy where “something is going on,” and turns out to be Henry’s house where indeed, more than something is going on. The police chief’s son, James Hopper Jr. (the endearing, funny Burke Swanson), and the high-pitched, theatrical Joyce Maldonado (a frenetic Alison Jaye), also form a bond. Joyce is the director of the play that brings Henry and Patty together. Joyce and Hopper, Jr. join efforts with Bob to find the pet killer to get a $100 reward (a lot of money back in the day).
Additionally, the three help Patty discover what happened to her father, Principal Newby, after he went with Victor Creel to confirm his daughter Patty and Henry were “hanging out” (a “no-no”), at the Creel house. When Principal Newby grabs daughter Patty to take her home, the wicked being attempting to overtake Henry rises up and Vecna (what Henry evolves to later in the 4th series), thunders loudly, “She’s ours.”
As Henry struggles to reject the evil, the scene culminates with a bloody attack. Though Bob, Hopper, Jr. and Joyce believe that Victor Creel is the animal killer, we anticipate the growing malevolence is overtaking Henry, and Patty, who says she is not afraid, is in danger. This becomes especially so when the others and Patty discover her father, Principal Newby, has been savaged and no one knows quite what happened. However, after he is given “mouth-to-mouth” he proclaims, “Find the boy. Save the boy.” as his bloodied, vacant eyes stare out of blackened, emptied sockets. Like blind, prophet Tiresias out of Greek mythology, Principal Newby prophesies save Henry or doom them all. But save him from what? From whom?
Aware that her son needs help, her husband can’t deal with his PTSD from WWII traumas and a terrible murderous event he caused, Virginia calls up specialist Dr. Brenner. He will be the one to help Henry as the good doctor takes Henry away into his care and where he conducts interesting lab tests and experiments to divine his preternatural behavior. Little does Virginia realize what Dr Brenner’s help entails and how she just made the worst decision of what is left of her life, her daughter’s life and her family’s sanctity and safety. With Dr. Brenner’s introduction, the intermission comes and the audience is stunned and exhausted wondering how Act II can be whipped up with an even greater accelerent into chaos and frightfulness.
No need to wonder. The creative team pulls out all the stops for Act II to explode and technically materialize the creatures and the themes that grace the series. By then we understand that Henry no longer exists. Like many we see today in our culture and society, he has been completely subsumed by another identity altogether. And it isn’t kind, decent, loving or generous. It is a horrible, paranormal, deplorable.
This is an incredible production which resounds visually and aurally long after you have left the Marquis Theatre. Louis McCartney steals the show as Henry. You can’t take your eyes off him expecting the best or the worst. His performance is brilliantly conceived. Gabrielle Nevaeh as his second, for a time, is empathetic and we are happy to see that she makes it through to the end. The ensemble does a fine job of tossing the ball back and forth to the one with the greatest scenes to steal. And the effects are more than breathtaking, along with the superb set design (Miriam Buether), period costume design (Brigitte Reiffenstuel), and Daldry and Martin’s staging and direction. You will be wondering how the effects were achieved, but then you also wondered in the same way when you saw Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
Stranger Things: The First Shadow is a spectacle and in every way a credit to the series with a budget to prove it. It runs 2 hours 45 minutes with one intermission at the Marquis Theater on 46th St. between 7th and 8th. If you love the franchise don’t miss it. If you are not one for the macabre, the chill-thrill-shocker ride to hell and nightmares, see it anyway. It is a phenomenon for the technical skill displayed. As such productions like this don’t come around very often and should be appreciated for the artistry and skill to employ digital wizardry more easily accomplished in the film and TV medium than in its conversion to theatrical stagecraft. strangerthingsonstage.com.
‘Old Friends’ the Fabulous Sondheim Revue with Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga
Who doesn’t adore Stephen Sondheim’s mastery of the Broadway musical, mentored to him by lyricist and playwright Oscar Hammerstein II? I am loathe to admit I am late to the Sondheim party, not being familiar with all of his musicals. However, the marvelous Old Friends revue, currently running at Manhattan Theatre Club’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre is a superb opportunity for fans old and new to celebrate Stephen Sondheim’s genius and rediscover some of his greatest songs. But don’t wait too long to get down to the Friedman. Old Friends is in a limited engagement which ends June 15th unless it receives an extension.
Who better to give tribute to Sondheim’s genius than friends who starred in Sondheim’s productions? In the current revue these include some of the cast who were most recently in the Los Angeles production of Old Friends in its North American premiere (February 13 through March 9, 2025). They reprized their roles in the Broadway transfer in March which opened on April 8th. Additionally, Peters and Salonga reprized their roles from London’s West End where Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends played in a limited engagement at the Gielgud Theater until January 6, 2024. The history of how this production evolved is fascinating. See below snippets from the West End production to get an idea of what you’ll be seeing on Broadway.
With their voices, power and humor Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga are perfect celebrants of the Sondheim cannon. Cameron Mackintosh wasn’t the first to come up with a revue of Sondheim’s songs. That was Hal Prince’s “Side by Side by Sondheim” in 1976. Then Cameron Mackintosh convinced Stephen Sondheim an update of his music was needed and created “Putting It Together” in 1993. “Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends” is the third revue and the first one in over 30 years in the US after its run in London.
Following the typical format of revues Old Friends doesn’t stray too far, and for some, that will be a joy. However, what makes this production special is not the selection of songs (41), but who brings out new interpretations amidst a backdrop of various suggestive sets alluding to the shows, i.e. Sweeney Todd, West Side Story, Into the Woods, Sundays in the Park With George, Follies (thanks to Matt Kinley’s scenic design) and George Reeve’s projection design. Vitally, there is a segue into clips of “the man” himself and photographs which strike the heart and make one want to read everything that’s out there about Stephen Sondheim.
Jill Parker’s costume design is clever and thoughtful. For example she features Bernadette Peters in a red cape, ready to fend off Jacob Dickey’s wolf with perky ears, giving both performers the fuel to be humorous and endearing in “Hello LIttle Girl” from Into the Woods. Peters makes the most of her comedic funny bone when warranted. She is imminently watchable and mesmerizing. Though the production features Parker’s sleek and front slit gowns-a-glitter, silk jackets and tuxedos, whether show-inspired costumes or concert level TV variety show type costumes, they give off a sheen and a comfort level of old-fashioned nostalgic glamour that is soothing in these rough times heading for what many fear will be a tariff-created depression.
The production holds the emphasis on songs from “Sweeney Todd,” “Company,” “Follies” and “Into the Woods.” Actually ‘”Sweeney Todd” has the largest song selection and the most elaborate looking set design even down to the pies, oven, and barber’s chair where Sweeney slits a fellow’s throat. Stefan Musch’s wig, hair, and make-up design along with Parker’s costumes for Sweeney Todd are appropriately period grotesque making Jeremy Secomb a scary Sweeney and Lea Salonga a crazily macabre Mrs. Lovett. They do a bang up job albeit with a malevolent twist and accent on horror in “A Little Priest” that is less comical than I’ve seen performed in the latest revival in 2023, starring Josh Groban. However, considering the song is without the context, it works well by itself.
With direction and musical staging by Matthew Bourne the segues between songs run smoothly and the numbers in front of an elaborate show curtain with arches of light and lighted graduated steps when the curtain opens to see the 14-piece orchestra, provide the set for Bourne and choreographer Stephen Mear to stage the glamorous portion of the revue. With original orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick, Stephen Metcalfe’s musical arrangements soar with harmonic lyricism. Warren Letton’s lighting design and Mick Potter’s sound design are near perfect enhancing the overall technical aspect of the production.
Performing with song and dance in front of the curtain provides the time for set changes. Songs from Company, and Merrily We Roll Along are featured simply with the highlights on the performer. For example Peters and Salonga sing “Side by Side,” as the show opener with a quick segue to full stage as the curtain opens for “Comedy Tonight” by the two stars, Jason Peycooke, Gavin Lee and the Company wearing shimmering Roman-style drapes over gowns and tuxedos.
Particularly strong numbers involve the 17 cast members singing and dancing the songs “Company,” “Into the Woods,” “Comedy Tonight,” and of course “Sunday” from Sundays in the Park with George, whose scrim of the painting appears as the set piece to close Act I before the intermission. Seeing Georges Seurat’s painting is always a stunning visual effect.
Wonderful interpretations of “Send in the Clowns” by Peters,”Ladies Who Lunch,” by Beth Leavel, “I’m Still Here,” by Bonnie Langford (who does an amazing split to conclude the kick line number), and “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” by Salonga prove the power of the music in the specific instrument and personality of the performer. “Being Alive,” then “Side by Side” as the finale are superb capstones to conclude the joyous and heartfelt evening that is a tribute to the greatness of Stephen Sondheim. Now I’m going online to order his biography by Meryle Secrest.
Old Friends runs at The Samuel J. Friedman, 2 hours and 45 minutes, including a 15-minute intermission. https://sondheimoldfriends.com/
‘Smash,’ Fabulous Send up of a Musical Comedy About Marilyn Monroe
Smash
Chatting with two theater critics beforehand, who referenced the 2012 NBC television series also called “Smash,” I was initially distracted. The TV series set in the present revolved around two aspiring actresses who compete for the role of Marilyn Monroe in a Broadway-bound musical called “Bombshell,” about Marilyn Monroe. Apparently, the TV series which devolved into a musical soap opera, lasted two seasons then was cancelled. Since I never saw the series, I tried to ignore the critics’ comments. I fastened my seat belt and settled in to watch the revamped production in its current run at the Imperial Theatre with tickets on sale through January 4, 2026.
I had no reason to”fasten my seat belt.” Smash is a winner. Superbly directed by Susan Stroman, a master of comedic pacing and the quick flip of one-liners, Smash is a resounding must see, retaining little of the TV show with the same title. I adored it and belly-laughed my way through the end of Act I and throughout Act II.
Into the first act when Ivy Lynn (the grand Robyn Hurder), introduces her Method Acting coach, Susan Proctor (the wonderfully funny Kristine Nielsen channeling Actors Studio Paula Strasberg), I embraced the sharp, ironic and often hysterical, theater-referenced send-ups. The book by Bob Martin & Rick Elice is clever and riotous, pushing the true angst of putting on a big Broadway musical and spending millions to make it a success. Martin and Elice’s jokes and the characterizations of Nielsen’s Susan Proctor and director Nigel, the LOL on point Brooks Ashmanskas (The Prom), who tweaks the gay tropes with aplomb, work. Both actors’ portrayals lift the arc of the musical’s development with irresistible comedic riffs shepherded by Stroman’s precise timing.
The music had me at the opening with the vibrant fantasy number, “Let Me Be Your Star,” sung by Robyn Hurder, whose lustrous voice introduces Marilyn and her fandom which the creators attempt to envision with fully costumed performers singing for their musical, “Bombshell,” the Marilyn Monroe story. Then, the scene shifts to the rehearsal room where we meet the creative team who imagined the previous number and scene. Ashmanskas’ director/choreographer Nigel humorously bumps heads with writer/lyricist/composer-husband and wife team Tracy (Krysta Rodriguez) and Jerry (John Behlmann).
Also present, is his associate director and Nigel’s right arm, the golden voiced Chloe (Bella Coppola). She runs interference and puts out fires, even covering for Ivy Lynn and understudy Karen (Caroline Bowman), during an audience invited presentation. Why Ivy Lynn and Karen can’t go on is hysterical.
The music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman, and the choreography by Joshua Bergasse are upgraded from the TV series with a curated selection of songs to align with the comedic flourishes. The musical numbers and dances cohere perfectly because the performers rehearse for their show “Bombshell.” With music supervision by Stephen Oremus, an 18-piece orchestra charges the score with vibrant dynamism. Featured are some of Shaiman’s brassiest tunes, orchestrated by Doug Besterman. Lyricist Wittman seals the humor and advances the plot. All provide grist for Bergasse’s choreography. Hurder manages this seamlessly as she sings, breathes heartily and dances while the male dancers whip and flip Ivy as Marilyn around. Of course, all smile with effortless abandon despite their exertions.
Importantly, Martin and Elice’s book sports farcical, riotous moments. These build to a wonderful crescendo by the conclusion. By then we realize we’ve come full circle and have been delighted by this send up of the wild ride these creatives went through to induce the belly-laughing “flop,” we’re standing, cheering and applauding. It’s the perfect ironic twist.
Indeed, once the audience understands the difference in tone from the TV series, largely due to Nielsen’s Proctor (she’s dressed in black mourning {Marilyn?} from head to foot), and Ashmanskas’ Nigel, Smash becomes a runaway train of hilarity. This comedy about unintentionally making a musical flop (unlike the willful intent in The Producers), smartly walks the balance beam by giving the insider’s scoop why “Bombshell” probably never finds a home on Broadway. One of the reasons involves too many chefs trying to make a Michelin starred dish without really understanding how the ingredients meld.
Nielsen’s Proctor dominates Ivy Lynn to the point of transforming the sweet, beloved actress into the “difficult,” “tortured soul” of diva Marilyn. The extremes this conceit reaches is beyond funny and grounded in truth which makes it even more humorous. Without giving too much away, there is a marvelous unity of the book, music and Hurder’s performance encouraged by Nielsen’s Marilyn-obsessed Proctor. We see before our eyes the gradual fulfillment (Proctor’s intention), of “Marilyn,” from superficial, bubbly, sparkly “sex bomb,” to soulful, deep, living woman produced by “the Method.” Of course to accomplish this, the entire production as a comedy is upended. This drives Nigel, Tracy and Jerry into sustained panic mode, exasperation and further LOL behavior especially in their self-soothing coping behaviors.
Furthermore, Producer Anita (Jacqueline B. Arnold), forced to hire Gen Z internet influencer publicist Scott (Nicholas Matos), to get $1 million of the $20 million needed to fund the show, mistakenly allows him to get out of hand, inviting over 100 influencers to Chloe’s serendipitous cover performance. The influencers create tremendous controversy which is what Broadway musical producers usually give their “eye teeth” for. Publicity sells tickets. But this controversy “backfires” and creates such an updraft, even Chloe can’t put the conflagration out. The hullabaloo is uproarious.
The arguments created by the influencers and their followers (in a very funny segment thanks to S. Katy Tucker’s video and projection design), cause huge problems among the actresses and forward momentum of “Bombshell.” Karen, Ivy Lynn’s friend and long time understudy, who has been waiting for a break for six years, watches Chloe become famous overnight for her cover. Diva Ivy Lynn who IS Marilyn is so “over the moon” jealous and threatened, she breaks up her close friendship with Karen and turns on cast and creatives, prompted by Nielsen’s Proctor who keeps up Ivy Lynn’s energy with a weird combination of mysterious white pills and even weirder “Method” tips.
Thus, the musical “Bombshell” becomes exactly what the creatives swore it would never become and someone must be sacrificed. Who stays and who leaves and what happens turns into some of the finest comedy about how not to put on a Broadway flop. Just great!
Smash is too much fun not to see. What makes it a hit are the superb singing, acting and dancing by an expert ensemble, phenomenal direction and the coherence of every element from book to music, to the choreography to the technical aspects. Finally, the show’s nonsensical sensible is brilliant.
Praise goes to those not mentioned before with Beowulf Boritt’s flexible, appropriate set design, Ken Billington’s “smashing” lighting design, Brian Ronan’s sound design, Charles G. LaPointe’s hair and wig design, and John Delude II’s makeup design.
Smash runs 2 hours, 30 minutes, including one intermission at the Imperial Theatre (249 West 45th street). https://smashbroadway.com/
‘Boop! The Musical’ is a Dazzling Spectacle. I’m a Fan!
Boop! The Musical
If you need an uplift and who doesn’t listening to the news these days, Boop! The Musical is your vehicle of delight. Currently running at the Broadhurst Theatre, Boop! is pure joyous spectacle, a Broadway extravaganza with clever twists, and a wink to the best of the past, and a thematic nod to the present.
The cast sings and dances to a variety of song genres (from jazz, to pop, to blues), and Jerry Mitchell shows his razzle dazzle choreography and staging with abandon. There is just too much to praise. The glittering kick line is bar none. The nine principals are spot on with their humorous portrayals and exquisite vocals. Boop! is a welcome send up of the fanciful, historical cartooning of yesteryear, in a mesmerizing update that shines talented brilliance at every artistic level of this blazing production
What’s not to love if you enjoy an adorable story and salient themes reinforcing “girl power,” with the additional intention to pay homage to old Hollywood, and the Jazz-age, and depression era cartoons of Fleischer Studios? Importantly, the production is a throwback to old-fashioned Broadway musicals, where most songs are memorable with a beginning, middle and end. In its song variety and hot, superlatively executed dance numbers Boop! delivers.
Directed and choreographed by Tony Award®–winner Jerry Mitchell (Kinky Boots), Boop! features music by 16-time Grammy®-winning composer David Foster and lyrics by Tony-nominated Susan Birkenhead.
The cartoony, “tongue-in-cheek” book by Bob Martin (The Prom), brings to life the iconic, historic cartoon character and current meme Betty Boop (the sensational Jasmine Amy Rogers in her Broadway debut). Betty has been a symbol of charm and empowerment for almost a century, and Rogers channels her believably to the minutest gesture, giggle and batting of her eye lashes. Importantly, Betty has an identifiable problem to solve in her personal life. As the reluctant super-star, she eventually must choose between two worlds, fiction and reality. Mustn’t we all? The show is incredibly, ironically, thematically current.
Martin presents the thrust of Boop! as fun, family fare. Going deeper as one should, the irony in Boop! as a farce, emphasizes that this is a cartoon within a cartoon, with the simplicity of a fairy-tale.
Thus, the plot develops as follows. Betty works so very hard for Fleischer Studios, portraying women’s greatness in every job imaginable (“A Little Versatility”), which actually is maverick considering her original 1930s context. And there are vicissitudes and annoyances: the publicity grind and the slimy men who harass her for her “favors and charms.” Exhausted by overwork and untoward publicity, Betty has a moment of self-reflection, something more of us need to practice. She realizes she needs a vacation from her life as a cute, celebrity cartoon with no “real” identity to discover for herself. Above all, she wishes her life was less celebrated (“Ordinary Day), so a respite from cartoonland in a venue where she won’t be recognized and judged would be just fine.
Grampy, (the lovable, powerfully voice Stephen DeRosa), her guardian and roommate, reminds her the current “world” she lives in can’t qualify because she’s a globally recognized star. However, he does suggest a tenable place to go since he went there years before, fell in love, then left. Grampy tells her reality is the place for a grand vacation. It’s much more adventurous, unscripted and serendipitous than cartoonland. (I love the irony.) Of course, this is a family show with no untoward or frightening elements like ICE (Triple Canopy) agents kidnapping folks. So when the winning, charismatic Betty lands in the present at the Javitz Center’s funscape Comic Con, having been jettisoned there by Grampy’s DIY time machine, all works out swimmingly.
In this magical atmosphere and vibrant New York City fantasia, Betty fits right in with a host of rainbow-hued fans dressed as their favorite characters from comic books. Though she is recognizable, she tries to hide her cartoon identity. Nevertheless, she is gobsmacked by reality’s wild beauty (“Color”). At Comic Con, she meets her destiny which becomes tied up with two individuals. First, is her future love interest, dreamy, blue-eyed, politically correct to a fault Dwayne (the boyish Ainsley Melham who sports an amazing voice). Along with Dwayne, she befriends the cute, clever Trisha, a forever Boop fan, who she can’t fool when she tells Tricia her name is Betsy. As Tricia, Angelica Hale is the perfect sidekick teen with an exceptional voice.
Meanwhile, Grampy discovers Betty is gone when her bosses drop by looking for her. He divines she left for reality. The key conflict, of course, is to get her to return (“Get Her Back”). But to do that Grampy must take Betty’s cutie, white dog Pudgy, a marionette operated by the wonderful puppeteer Phillip Huber. The imperative is to jump in his time machine, set it for reality and find her. With energetic multi-tasking Grampy will locate her without GPS, while reuniting with his former love Valentina (the stalwart Faith Prince), for comfort and companionship during his quest. The quaint Grampy hero, love story, sub-plot with astrophysicist Valentina gives an extra pop of reality to the fantastic.
As Betty goes home with Tricia to stay, she meets Tricia’s family, her brother, the blue-eyed Dwayne, and her Aunt Carol (the terrific Anastacia McCleskey). She discovers that Dwayne’s love of jazz (“I Speak Jazz”), dovetails with her strengths singing and dancing. Finally feeling comfortable, Betty confides her real identity to Tricia, who breaks through the cartoon character’s confusion about herself with the upbeat “Portrait of Betty.”
Betty’s adventures in reality continue when Tricia and Dwayne take her on a tour of the city and to Times Square, where the dancers join them for the continuous party that goes on there in a great number, “My New York.” Whether in cartoonland or New York City’s reality, Betty is light, laughter and healing. In an interesting counterpoint, Dwayne sings about her in realityland in contrast with Betty’s studio bosses who sing about missing her (“Sunlight”). Thus, the conflict about which world she will select to live in intensifies, for both realms will certainly draw her with those who give her love and appreciation.
If Boop! is too ridiculously fantastic and purposeless for some, they are missing the point of depression-era entertainment and entertainment today. Even in the most despairing of places and times, the imagination takes flight and the fictional fantastic gets one though the horrors that life can bring.
Though the underbelly of darkness is rarely seen in the production, it does shows up. And the enemy is a modern one. The dark villain comes in the form of a grinning, perfectly coiffed, narcissistic politician, Raymond Demarest, who is running for the office of New York City mayor. Erich Bergen is terrific in a hysterical, nuanced, full-of-himself portrayal. The corrupt, money-hungry, and exploitive Demarest is offset by his hard-working, clever, organized campaign manager, Tricia’s Aunt Carol. Carol efficiently, competently runs his campaign and life. And eventually, her efforts pay off where Demarest’s dereliction and corruption receive its due reward.
As Act One sets forth the problem. Act Two answers it for Betty, her friends and family. Boop! even justly disposes of the villain in the process of ironing out all difficulties. Would the same occur in “real” real life USA with a certain criminal felon, as happens to Demarest. The riotous Bergen makes the most of the villain’s just comeuppance, intuiting the audience’s real wishes as they watch him tripping away, all smiles in his orange jump suit. Just great!
The shimmery white and grey-toned two-dimensional Boop world is cleverly created by David Rockwell to represent Boop’s artificial universe in a snazzy scenic design that contrasts perfectly with the real world of living color. Rockwell’s suggested black, and white, multi-patterned lines and squiggly designs reflect the Boop cartoon. Other cartoon characters peek out from the curtain following the same design. Betty’s materialization in the beautifully eye-popping, gloriously colorful, real world of New York City with the accompanying song and dance numbers seal the deal.
Whether in cartoonland or reality, the costumes by Gregg Barnes are ingenious and gorgeously appropriate. The costume design in a set of two-sided costumes which reveal the contrast of the alternating grey vs. color worlds, shows maximum creative brilliance. The same must be said for the other designers whose collaborative efforts contribute to the show’s gobsmacking effect. These include Philip S. Rosenberg (lighting design), Gareth Owen (sound design), Finn Ross (projection design), Sabana Majeed (hair & wig design), Michael Clifton (make-up design), Skylar Fox (illusions design).
Mitchell and the creatives have outdone themselves. “Professional” is a partially accurate descriptor. Amazing, phenomenal, superlative, genius seems more INCLUSIVE and PRECISE. In every aspect the designs cohere with the director’s vision. Above all Daryl Waters’ music supervision (with additional arrangements), is integral to making this extraordinary production what it is. And the cast? Beyond!
See Boop! two or three times to escape for the purpose of rejuvenation. Then go right back out there and work, march, resist, protest the current villainy, taking the wisdom manifest in this production, having learned persistence from a silly, ridiculous, cartoon character with a century of staying power.
Boop! the Musical runs 2 hours 30 minutes with one intermission at the Broadhurst Theatre (235 West 44th Street). https://boopthemusical.com/?gad_source=1
‘Purpose’ Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins’ Riotous Play, Directed by Phylicia Rashad
In Purpose, Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins’ satiric family expose directed by Phylicia Rashad, we meet a patriarchal Black American civil rights icon, Solomon “Sonny Jasper (Harry Lennix), who is forced to confront his disappointments and foibles as his family gathers to celebrate the homecoming of his eldest son and namesake, Solomon “Junior” Jasper (Glenn Davis). Navigating the audience through treacherous familial waters with asides and intermittent, pointed narration, the youngest son Nazareth “Naz” Jasper (Jon Michael Hill), explores his family’s complicated legacy as he attempts to confront issues about his own identity and future.
Currently running at the Hayes Theater until July 6th, this ferocious, edgy and sardonic send up of Black American political and religious hypocrisy resonates with dramatic power. Its superlative performances and Rashad’s fine direction, make it a must-see. Importantly, in typical Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins style, the tour de force with jokes-a-plenty raises questions. It prompts us to reflect upon our own life intentions, as we examine the Jasper family’s dynamic through the acute perspective of the endearing, sensitive, vulnerable and authentic Naz. Hill is just terrific in a role which requires heavy lifting throughout.
As the play opens we note the subject matter and foundation upon which Jacobs-Jenkins’ moralistically satiric drama rests, namely the Jaspers (think along the lines of Jesse Jackson), whose heritage boasts of leaders in civil rights, congress and the protestant church. Todd Rosenthal’s lovely, well-appointed, Jasper family home represents prosperity, upward mobility and the success of the celebrated Black political elite. Solomon Jasper was Martin Luther King, Jr.’s heir apparent in the civil rights movement.
However, among other questions the play asks is, what happened to the substance and efficacy of the movement, considering the current “state of the union” under MAGA Party president Donald Trump, whose cabinet has no Black American member? What are the legacies of the Jasper’s faith? What is the heritage of their former Black radicalism, which Naz calls into question throughout the play, as the evening explodes into tragicomedy in front of unintended witness Aziza Houston (Kara Young)? As a result of the evening with the Jaspes, Aziza is horrified to see her civil rights icons, Solomon and Claudine, smashing her respect for them to smithereens during the family imbroglio in Act I.
Via an intriguing flashback/flashpresent device, Naz exposes and illustrates how the family’s shining history becomes obliterated by circumstances in the present “state of the family union,” which has not lived up to their patriarch’s illustrious expectations. Ultimately, Solomon Jasper, too, may be counted as not living up to his own personal expectations, a fact revealed by the conclusion of the second act, which further adds to his hypocrisy for giving Naz a hard time about his sexually, abstemious, personal choices..
With increasing intensity, the upheavals occur by the end of the first act and augment into further revelations and complications well into the second, until the wounds exposed are too great to ignore. Naz’s final synopsis and soulful, poignant comments solidify at the conclusion bringing this family retrospective together. His questioning wisdom leaves us as he is left, wondering what is the trajectory of this once august Jasper legacy, which Naz has chosen not to perpetuate. Not going into politics or the church, Naz selected a career in photography where he communes with nature’s beauty and peace.
Jacobs-Jenkins’ work is filled with contrasts: truth and lies, health and sickness, moral uprightness and moral turpitude. In fact the contrast of the outer image of the Jasper calm and sanctity versus the inner corruption and turmoil becomes evident with Jacobs-Jenkins’ character interactions throughout, heightened by Naz’s confidential asides.
Additionally, this contrast of superficial versus soul depth is superbly factored in by Rashad and Todd Rosenthal’s collaboration on set design. Initially, all is peaceful in their gorgeous home set up by matriarch Claudine Jasper (the excellent Latanya Richardson Jackson). The home’s beauty belies any roiling undercurrents beneath the family’s solid, upright probity. Perfection is their manufactured brand, which Aziza has bought hook, line and sinker as a Jasper fan.
To continue with the Jaspers’ “brand,” the inviting great room boasts a comfortable and lovely open layout-living room and dining room-backed by a curved staircase to the second level of bedrooms off the landing. The dark peach-colored walls are beautifully emphasized with white trim molding. The cherry wood furniture and cream colored sofa color-coordinate with the walls. The sofa is accented with appropriate pillows. Interspersed among furniture pieces are obvious antique heirlooms. Indeed, all is perfect with matching table runners and dining room tablecloth and napkins and dinnerware tastefully selected for its enhancing effect.
Prominently featured is the Jasper family heritage and legacy, a large portrait of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. proudly displayed on the first level, and a lesser portrait of political/cultural heir apparent, Solomon “Sonny” Jasper on the second floor landing. Surrounding the Sonny Jasper portrait are framed photos chronicling the civil rights warriors and family, shining their historical significance. When Aziza first arrives and is welcomed desperately by Claudine who fears Naz’s not bringing any woman home means he is gay, Aziza is gobsmacked by the house. Seeing the portraits and Solomon Jasper, she realizes who Naz really is. She is over the moon slathering blandishments to Sonny. Thrilled, she can’t help but take selfies with the Jaspers to send to her mom, a mutual fan. Naz is beyond humiliated and surreptitiously pleads with her to leave.
What does Naz know about his family that he fears Aziza will discover? If Aziza doesn’t leave quickly, his mother’s hospitality to divine who Aziza is will make sure she stays. Indeed, Jackson’s Claudine never fails in her intentions.
Against the storied backdrop of their illustrious past that Aziza worships, the garish present unfolds at dinner. It is the celebration of Junior’s homecoming and reunion with the family since his thirty month prison stay for embezzling campaign funds. Junior’s behavior is one of the gravest disappointments that Sonny holds against his son. For him it is unforgivable that his namesake who was to take his place has tarnished the Jasper name with corruption.
Thus, when Junior presents a birthday gift to Claudine, of the letters she wrote to him in prison in a lovely book, Sonny scoffs, especially after reading a particularly mundane letter. (Lennix’s reading of a sample letter is hysterical). Then, Sonny questions Junior who wants to exploit their family name and go on tour with the book of Claudine’s letters, and Claudine, lifting up the hellishness of his imprisonment like a martyr.
Ironically, bitterly, humorously, Sonny airs his disgust that Junior would present himself as a Nelson Mandella, as if Junior’s prison experience was in any way equivalent to the horrors of imprisonment used as a tool of oppression and racism throughout US history. Sonny is especially livid because Junior’s crimes ripped off his father and Blacks who supported him. Additionally, the time Junior did was easy because Sonny used his influence to get Junior into “a minimum security playground.” Though it is revealed that Junior has bi-polar disorder, (the scene when Glenn Davis manifests this is superb), Sonny lacks empathy for Junior. He dismisses his illness and says he got caught where other politicians don’t get caught because Junior is stupid.
At dinner the dour Morgan (Alana Arenas), Junior’s wife, sits quietly at first. After Junior uplifts Claudine, Morgan claims neither he nor the Jaspers helped her through Junior’s mental breakdown. Nor does he acknowledge her visiting him through the prison experience with a present. Morgan rips into him and the family. They are “hucksters,” who don’t care about her and “have no sense of responsibility or remorse.” Listening to the Jasper’s accountants, Morgan signed their joint tax returns that implicated her in tax fraud with Junior. She has lost her career and will have to do time in prison for an error that she was ignorant about, trusting the family to not mislead her.
Thus, the artifice gradually peels away, shaped by the characters’ ever increasing digs at each other and Naz’s humorous perspective. To top it off, despite her promise to Naz that she will keep quiet, Aziza reveals how she trusts Naz to be the sperm donor for their child. This piece of information is a stick of dynamite for this religious family who chaffs at unmarried young people sleeping together. Then, when Claudine and Morgan go head to head and Morgan calls the family’s “honesty” into question and accuses Sonny of having “his fiftyleven other kids scattered all over this damn country,” Claudine loses it and gets violent.
Ironically, the act ends with the patriarch blaming Claudine, “I have let you build this house on a foundation of self-deceit.” Sonny loudly declares the time is now for “redemption” and a “new era in this family – a new era of truth! Truth!”
Act II indicates how that “truth” is to come about, as Naz and Aziza argue about why she broke her promise to him. Abashedly, Naz disavows the violence that spilled out between his mother and Morgan. Meanwhile, the verbal and emotional violence has always been an undercurrent in the family that has never confronted their issues. In other words, the dissembling, the lies and the deceit have augmented until “enough is enough.” Aziza, caught up in the fray rethinks what she has seen and no longer has any wish to have Naz’s child from their “illustrious” DNA. Additionally, she has learned not to lionize any other civil rights icon or celebrity easily, again. Celebrities, like the Jaspers, are not saviors or worthy to be made into icons. They have clay feet if you see them up close and personal.
Though the first act sails smoothly, the second act digresses in part with Naz’s extensive dialogue and explanations, which might have been slimmed down. Nevertheless, as we learn about each family member’s complications, the intensity shifts. Though there is less humor, there is incredible poignancy and each of the actors have their moments to shine. Not only do we note the profound aspects of character complexity, we understand the difficulty of attempting to maintain an oversized legacy of greatness when one is an imperfect human being. Indeed, the one who comes out best appears to be Naz, until the conclusion. It is then we understand how the family has impacted him and in response, he has sent himself spinning into his own chaos, which he will have to unravel for himself. So do we all as we deal with our own legacy, heritage and family dysfunction.
Purpose is brilliant, if a tad unwieldy. However, the ensemble cracks sharply like lightening. Rashad has a deep understanding of Jacobs-Jenkins’ themes, dynamic characters, prickly relationships and the sub rosa levels of meaning in the interactions. The pace is lively despite the playwright’s wordiness and keeps the audience engaged.
Kudos to the creative team including those not already mentioned: Dede Ayite (costume design), Amith Chandrashaker (lighting design), Nikiya Mathis (hair & wig design), and Bob Milburn & Michael Bodeen (sound design). Purpose runs two hours fifty minutes with one intermission at the Helen Hayes Theater on 44th between 7th and 8th. https://purposeonbroadway.com/
‘Glengarry Glen Ross’ Starring Kieran Culkin, Bob Odenkirk, Bill Burr
Glengarry Glen Ross
Glengarry Glen Ross, David Mamet’s Pulitzer-prize winning treatise on rapacious, capitalist indecency is currently in its third revival at the spacious Palace Theatre on Broadway. Because of audience enthusiasm for a celebrity bro-fest, starring Kieran Culkin (Succession), Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul), comedian Bill Burr, who is making his Broadway debut, and clever ironist Michael McKean of the cult hit This is Spinal Tap, Glengarry Glenn Ross has been extended two weeks until June 28th. Judging by the jeers and raucous laughter at the characters’ non-stop, insulting, verbal sword play, the production directed by Patrick Marber (Closer) is a success.
With scenic design by Scott Pask, Mamet’s timeless, horrifically current, two-act drama divides between an unbusy Chinese restaurant in the first act, and in the second act, the robbery-devastated, real estate office where the characters attempt unsuccessfully to make “a living” and deliver their finalized sales contracts. The brief, first act is the set up for the second act where the emotional explosion occurs and the revelations stun because of Mamet’s clever misdirection throughout.
The Chinese restaurant represents the off-site, safe place where furtive deals might be made between the real estate salesmen and others. The three two-hander scenes, taking place one after the other, reveal the salesmen who succeed or fail under the oppression of a “dog-eat-dog” system that values money and material wealth as the only measure of human success, a pathetic blind they’ve fallen for.
Thus, thematically, as these individuals get ground up, drained of their identity and humanity in a process that de-masculinizes them, we note they become more aggressive, desperate and verbally explosive, as they confront failure by the play’s conclusion.
First, we meet Shelley Levene (Bob Odenkirk), who gaslights his office manager boss John Williamson (Donald Webber, Jr.), about his poor sales performance. Shelley hopes to mitigate the inevitable, being canned. So, he persuades John to give him the great leads that sell themselves. Despite Shelley’s oily patter and insistence to be “heard,” as he recalls his past glory days as ‘The Machine,” John directly tells Shelley that he hasn’t had a recent successful sale. He is at the bottom and ripe for firing because he is nowhere near being put on the board to compete to win the Cadillac offered as a gift to incentivize the men’s sales productivity.
Failing to convince John to “have a heart” about his losing streak that he claims is ending, Odenkirk’s Shelley suggests a quid pro quo. In exchange for a few premium leads, he will cut in John on a kickback of his sales. Not only does John “take the bait,” he calls Shelley’s bluff. He demands more money and payment up front which Shelley, of course, can’t afford. Interestingly, we note the sliminess of the exchanges and the abuse each man takes from the other in a devaluation of their humanity and decency in their struggle for the “all mighty dollar,” whose pursuit enslaves them and destroys their souls.
Webber, Jr. and Odenkirk are terrific in their focus, direction and pacing as they reveal these archetypes who are caught in a battle of wills where there is no ultimate winner.
The irony is that Williamson’s desk job is lower paying and requires little risk and a different skill set than Levene’s, who must sell worthless property to unsuspecting buyers. Both are on different levels entirely and they are blind to it. Without empathy for each other, they allow themselves to be overlorded by the unseen master entrepreneurs “Mitch and Murray,” who are the god-like downtown owners of the slime pit, real estate enterprise.
The overlords keep their charges in line through division, making sure all understand that performance is everything and competition against one another is the best way to shine. Those who can’t keep closing are fired, nothing personal. In spite of the vapid callousness his position requires, John makes sure the “operational daily grinding up of the men into mincemeat” continues smoothly. He is his owner’s loyal employee. Thus, he dead-ends Shelley’s kick-back offer and their conversation.
From this dead-end conversation between Levene and Williamson, Mamet moves to the next staccato dialogue between disgruntled, carping Dave Moss (Bill Burr), and laconic George Aaronow (Michael McKean). Both are terrific in humorous performances which reveal their mastery at their craft. Moss attempts to engage George to steal the premium leads that sell themselves which we’ve heard about in the previous scene. After their theft, Moss plans to sell them to a competitor of “Mitch and Murray” and give half the proceeds to George. Thus, on another level it’s “every man for himself” and the competition that Mitch and Murray stuff down their charges’ throats, Moss, who has had enough, plans to stuff down Mitch and Murray’s. Karma is a bitch in this world of anger, aggression and money.
Interestingly, with matter-of-fact irony, the “innocent” Moss anticipates that confiding in George about his gambit as a co-conspirator will be accepted by the laid back, stolid George. However, because the deal is a shady crime, Moss could be double crossing George about the amount of money he gets from the competitor. Not only would George not be able to countermand any cheating, he could end up “going up the river” if Moss decides to turn him over and disavow any participation in the theft. Moss’ proposition is a desperate one. Mamet indirectly suggests that the oppressive system, corrupt in itself, then provokes men to commit crimes to circumvent the inequitable set up rigged against them. If McKean’s George doesn’t pay attention to divine all the ramifications, he will trap himself, like Moss has been trapped.
When George realizes what Moss is after, none of the risk and half of the reward, which surely Moss will skim to his liking, McKean’s George avers. Moss, with dead seriousness that is also funny, implies that now, George is forced to steal the leads; he has no choice. By listening, he is an accomplice after the fact. Ironically, Moss uses his skills of persuasion to dupe a colleague in a contorted competitive strategem to get to the top.
With this sleight-of-hand, Mamet leaves the conversation “up in the air.” Will the exhausted, deadened George do what Moss wants him to, or will he assert his own will and avoid the trap, thus most probably losing his job, because he, too, hasn’t been on a winning streak and has no sales to stop the inevitable.
In the last exchange the dialogue shifts to the smooth, unadulterated, force and charm of the Ricky Roma (Kieran Culkin) sales pitch on his mark James Lingk (John Pirruccello). If the two previous scenes reveal desperate salesmen at the edge of the cliff of their humanity and identity, believing in the values of the system which cast them as suckers, failures and losers, Ricky Roma (Kiernan Culkin), proves to be the opposite.
In contrast Mamet shows why Roma succeeds as a salesman who the others resent. Additionally, he reveals why the premium leads that the others crave will only go to Roma as a closer and Cadillac winner. His approach with his mark is obvious. With Lingk he has identified a vulnerable, emasculated male who life has kicked around so furiously he wears as his cloak of apology and embarrassment as his outward demeanor. The real estate he sells, Roma cleverly converts to a concept, an experience of hope, a wonderful opportunity Lingk may have been waiting for his entire life. Roma presents the property as a salve that will soothe Lingk’s life humiliations.
However, to prep Lingk to receive this life turning experience, Roma frees Pirruccello’s Lingk from the obvious middle class morality that appears to have held him in. He absolves him of his deepest, darkest amoral longings only known to him.
Roma’s approach is gobsmacking. Here’s a winner to be reckoned with whose skills are exceptional and admirable. We would easily, willingly be duped by him. Yes, unlike the other whiners and weak-willed complainers, Roma is a closer who deserves the Cadillac. Along with Lingk, Mamet’s Roma has hooked us. We normalize the perverse values of this indecent unholy enterprise that is the backbone of the real estate industry as well as any industry that introduces a fabulous product but falls short of its promises.
Roma’s monologue is brilliantly written and I found it difficult to get Al Pacino’s portrayal in the titular 1992 film out of my mind. There’s an intimate intensity that must be conveyed, a confessional nature that engages Lingk so that he finds Roma’s sincerity and the hope he sells irresistible. The intensity, intimacy and sly seduction necessary for the sale was missing in Caulkin’s Roma. I do think that Caulkin might have been better served if the director positioned him seated in the same banquette as Pirruccello’s Lingk from the outset. Instead, Calkin’s Roma leans over the banquette and the intimacy that should exist between them falters.
In the first act Mamet sets up the stakes. The second act presents the payoff settling this masterpiece into a tragicomedy. The results of what the system has wrought in promoting the misery, torment and criminal behavior upturns the office. John’s “perfectly seamless environment” explodes. There is mess everywhere, and everyone loses, most of all Mitch and Murray. The power dynamic heightens between Caulkin’s Roma and Webber, Jr.’s John, as well as the dynamic between Shelley and John. In these scenes the actors are superlative.
Criminality has run amuck, starting from the top of the system on down, and all are its victims, even the detective (Howard W. Overshown), who must find the perpetrator to make himself relevant. As the gloves come off, Mamet ties in the humanity behind the desperation in the life of the one who stole the leads. The horror is that money has become the arbiter of life and death in this system where to get ahead, one must dupe, deceive, harm, then be inured to one’s own egregious actions, as if they are justified because you need money to live and a ton of money to prosper and live well. (Think of the CEO Brian Thompson of UnitedHealthcare.) Roma goes off to the restaurant after telling John that he and Shelley are teaming up and he is taking a part of Shelley’s commissions. Of course, John says nothing, allowing Roma’s greed to trap him as Roma is ignorant of Shelley’s circumstances.
Glengarry Glenn Ross works in this revival because its overarching themes are timeless. The acting and direction superbly emphasizes the authenticity of the characters’ desperation, exhaustion, and zombie-rat state, running in their own wheels, unable to stop themselves. Yes, even the shining Roma by the conclusion has been done in by the situation and his overconfidence in his skills.
Mamet emphasizes that in the system, whether you project that it is capitalism or economic totalitarianism, pity is a weakness and empathy is for chumps, not for closers. This is the perfect world that has birthed the current miasma that Donald Trump as a symbolic Mitch and Murray embraces and would foster, making all into his slavish subjects.
Of course, such a world doesn’t work seamlessly nor successfully, and if anything, nothing works in it much of the time. That the play concludes with all the players wiping dreck off their faces, including Mitch and Murray, who have lost their profits in a breach of security to their competitor, should be a lesson all the characters learn. But they don’t because they don’t reflect on their lives. They are too busy whining, being oppressed and making money to recognize they are going nowhere having been nowhere valuable or worthwhile when all is said and done.
Kudos to lighting designer Jen Schriever and the creative team already mentioned. Glengarry Glenn Ross is a must-see for the performances and to appreciate this early Mamet work. Apparently, he has since come to embrace the Mitch and Murrays of the world in what may only be intimated as Stockholm Syndrome.
Glengarry Glenn Ross runs 1 hour 45 minutes with a 15-minute intermission at the Palace Theatre on 47th Street. https://www.glengarryonbroadway.com/?gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1
CAROLE DI TOSTI 