Off-Broadway Review: Bella, An American Tall Tale

Ashley D. Kelley (as Bella) & Brandon Gill. Photo: Joan Marcus

Bella: An American Tall Tale

Book, Music and Lyrcis by Kirsten Childs

Directed by Robert O'Hara

Choreographed by Camille A. Brown
Playwrights Horizons

Through July 2

By Lauren Yarger

What's It All About?

It's a tall tale, all right, told by a woman with a very large tail....  Kirsten Childs (The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin)  brings to life this fanciful story of Bella (Ashley D. Kelley), a 1870's African-American woman who heads west to join her pen-pal soldier boyfriend, Aloicious. She isn't just leaving town to pursue love, however. Something has happened with Lothario Plantation owner Bonny Johnny (Kevin Massey) and her mother (Kenita R. Miller) and aunt (Marinda Anderson) convince her to leave town and assume a new identity.

Along the way (the beautiful buffalo and Native-American-motiffed set is designed by Clint Ramos), she meets a host of characters with the help of a rotating stage (played by a strong ensemble rounded out by Yurel Echezarreta, Olli Haaskivi, Jo’Nathan Michael, Paolo Montalban, Gabrielle Reyes, Britton Smith and NaTasha Yvette Williams) and train porter Nathaniel Bekwith, who might just be the man of her dreams. Or is he a man of her dreams? Along the way, doubt creeps in to just how much of the story we are seeing is real or in the imagination of a girl with a very large behind who is forced to make her living as an attraction in the circus.

What Are the Highlights?

If the premise sounds a bit bizarre, it is, but it is very absorbing, thanks to sharp direction by Robert O'Hara (who directed the also-different Booty Candy at Playwrights Horizons) who blends storytelling, choreography (by Camille A. Brown) and the music by Childs, who also provides the vocal arrangements and lyrics. (Music Direction and additional arrangements are by Rona Siddiqui; Orchestrations are by Daryl Waters).

Childs reaches into American history and comes up with a whole new cast of characters: African Americans living in working in the west -- chapters left out of most school history textbooks. The playwright has created such a fascinating world, that I was surprised not to find a dramaturg's note in the program saying that the story was based on real-life people. They are in general, of course, but this story feels like it is the re-telling of a legend like the Robber Bridgroom -- also set close-by on the Natchez Trace. Bella evokes humor in the same kind of dark-fairytale dreamworld which I particularly enjoy.

What Are the Lowlights:

At two hours and 30 minutes with an intermission, the musical starts to wander and drag toward the end. Some editing (an a trimming of the some 30 musical numbers included) can fix this.

More Information:

Bella spins her tall tales at Playwrights Horizons, 416 West 42nd St., NYC through July 2.

Additional credits:

Costume Design by Dede M. Ayite, Lighting Design by Japhy Weideman, Sound Design by Lindsay Jones, Projection Design by Jeff Sugg, Hair, Wig and Makeup Design by Dave Bova and J. Jared Janas. 

FAMILY-FRIENDLY FACTORS

-- Suggestive moments

Off-Broadway Theater Review: Julius Caesar in Central Park

Tina Benko, Gregg Henry, Teagle F. Bougere, and Elizabeth Marvel. Photo: Joan Marcus

Julius Caesar
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Oscar Eustis
Delacorte Theatre (Central Park)
Through June 18

By Lauren Yarger
What's It All About?  
For this production, "What's All the Controversy About?" might be a better opener.

Shakespeare in the Park's  Julius Caesar (Gregg Henry) looks and sounds like President Donald Trump, whose glamorous wife, Calpurnia (Tina Benko), has a Yugoslavian-sounding accent, always walks a few steps behind him and looks wounded when he refuses to take her hand. Remind you of a certain first lady? While the trend in theater always seems to be to throw in references to current political culture, this production, directed by the Public Theater's Artistic Director Oscar Eustis, may have gone too far.

Do audiences really want to see the American president, for all intents and purposes, stabbed to death on the Senate floor? Well, thanks to Henry's impersonation with Costume Design by Paul Tazewell and Hair, Wig and Makeup Design by Leah J. Loukas, that's sure what it looks like. 

While hard-core liberals make up most of the decision makers in New York theater as well as those who present the works on stage, they often make the mistake of forgetting that not everyone in America (and therefore in the audience) shares the same political bent. In a recent conversation with a theater professional in New York who was full of anxiety about what a Trump presidency might mean for her young daughter and who was incredulous that anyone might support his policies, I reminded her that she only thinks everyone agrees with her because she lives in New York City (where most people do share a loathing of the president and believe everyone else does too). Visit any other part of the country, particularly non-urban areas in the South, Midwest and West, however, and you will meet a lot of people (so many of them, in fact, that they elected Trump over liberal icon Hillary Clinton) who see the world from a completely opposite perspective: they can't believe there is anyone who didn't vote for Trump and who wanted four more years of the policies championed by President Barack Obama.

What this Central Park production of Julius Caesar brings to light is that thousands of people filling theater seats on Broadway and off come from those other areas (as well as from other countries where seeing a Broadway play is part of taking in the American experience). Thousands of them are conservatives and Christians who love theater -- welcome to the many readers of Reflections in the Light -- and they all aren't on board with a Donald-Trump-bashing agenda.  So seeing the president, a.k.a. Julius Caesar,  violently murdered by Senators and former supporters who think he is out of control and grabbing too much power, didn't exactly go over well with everyone (and personally, I didn't need to see him emerge naked from a bath tub either.) At the end of the murder scene, there wasn't applause or an outburst of enthusiasm which might have been expected -- this is New York, after all. 

What did happen, was that advertisers heard from unhappy audience members and outraged conservative media representatives and pulled their advertising for the production. Bank of America (an 11-year sponsor of Shakespeare in the Park who has made the experience free for one million people) and Delta Airlines announced they were withdrawing support from the production. Liberals, in turn, have called for boycotts of the two companies to protest censorship. The National Endowment for the Arts, under threat of cuts or de-funding by the Trump administration, was quick to issue a statement saying it had not supported this production.

So with all of the controversy out of the way, what did I think of the play? I thought the depiction of Caesar as Trump was unnecessary. Audiences are intelligent and might have drawn their own conclusions, but this forced comparison seems a bit of a stretch and solely for the purpose of enjoying that murder scene. Another creative choice up in Connecticut was much more savvy. Hartford Stage Artistic Director Dark Tresnjak put a blond wig on his lead actor in a just-closed production of George Bernard Shaw's Heartbreak House and suddenly an otherwise boring script that normally wouldn't be a good candidate for revival came to life. The portrayal of Captain Shotover (Miles Anderson) wasn't an impersonation of Trump, or even a parody. It was a thought suggestion that worked brilliantly. His lines of dialogue, written in 1920, sounded like something the president might say today. In fact, there were times you could swear he did say something just like that about running for political office or about being ruthless in business. It gave the character and the play nuance whereas the Trump impersonation in Julius Caesar doesn't add depth. 

Read Eustis's program notes here.  Read the review of the Hartford production of Heartbreak house here.

Here is the official response from the Public Theater:
"The Public Theater stands completely behind our production of Julius Caesar. We understand and respect the right of our sponsors and supporters to allocate their funding in line with their own values. We recognize that our interpretation of the play has provoked heated discussion; audiences, sponsors and supporters have expressed varying viewpoints and opinions. Such discussion is exactly the goal of our civically-engaged theater; this discourse is the basis of a healthy democracy. Our production of Julius Caesar in no way advocates violence towards anyone. Shakespeare's play, and our production, make the opposite point: those who attempt to defend democracy by undemocratic means pay a terrible price and destroy the very thing they are fighting to save. For over 400 years, Shakespeare’s play has told this story and we are proud to be telling it again in Central Park."

Don't hate me, though. I didn't hate this production outright. Julius Caesar is not one of Shakespeare's most-produced plays, so I was excited to see it, especially in the park which offers a unique outdoor setting under the stars. The Trump depiction distracted me from what otherwise was theater worth watching. John Douglas Thompson (Caius Cassius) is particularly good and I would have like to be able to concentrate on all of the performances and the play itself.

Highlights of the park production are the inclusion of "audience members" in crowd scenes. They are very nicely choreographed in the house (we wonder at first if audience members around us are getting out of control with all of their standing and chanting) as well as on the stage with a design (by David Rockwell) incorporating a backdrop of the US constitution. That in itself, along with several "Resist" banners, were all the reminder necessary for the audience to project modern times into the politics of ancient Rome. 

Marc Anthony (Elizabeth Marvel) gets a seamless gender change and allows a woman to take some prominence in a play that is testosterone-heavy (made more so by Melania -- I mean Calpurnia's -- submissive and hungry-to-be-noticed-by-her-husband portrayal). The play is fast-paced for a two-hour run, but suffers a loss of energy after the murder scene (which offers proof that the emphasis seems to have been on the Trump impersonation and this scene instead of the politics still playing out on stage).

More Information:
Julius Caesar runs in the park through June 18. Performances are Tuesday through Sunday at 8 pm at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park (outdoors). Tickets are free: publictheater.org.

Additional credits: Lighting Design by Kenneth Posner; Sound Design by Jessica Paz, Original Music and Soundscapes by Bray Poor.

Additional casting:
Teagle F. Bougere (Casca); Yusef Bulos (Cinna the Poet); Eisa Davis (Decius Brutus); Robert Gilbert (Octavius); Edward James Hyland (Lepidus, Popilius); Nikki M. James (Portia); Christopher Livingston (Titinis, Cinna); Elizabeth Marvel (Antony); Chris Myers (Flavius, Messala, Ligarius); Marjan Neshat (Metullus Cimber); Corey Stoll (Marcus Brutus); and Natalie Woolams-Torres (Marullus). The non-equity company includes Isabel Arraiza (Publius Clitus); Erick Betancourt; Mayaa Boateng (Soothsayer); Motell Foster (Trebonius); Dash King; Tyler La Marr (Lucillius); Gideon McCarty; Nick Selting (Lucius, Strato); Alexander Shaw (Octavius’ Servant); Michael Thatcher (Cobbler); and Justin Walker White (Pindarus)

FAMILY-FRIENDLY FACTORS:
-- Theater warns: violence, nudity, live gunshot sounds, strobe, herbal cigarettes, haze, and fog.

Next up for Shakespeare in the Park: A Midsummer Night's Dream in July directed by Lear deBessonet and starring: Phylicia Rashad, Annaleigh Ashford, De’Adre Aziza, Kyle Beltran, Danny Burstein, Shalita Grant, Austin Durant, Alex Hernandez, Jeff Hiller, Robert Joy, David Manis, Patrena Murray, Kristine Nielsen, and Joe Tapper.

Oslo, Come From Away Win Top Drama Desk Honors

2017 DRAMA DESK AWARDs (winners in bold)

 

Outstanding Play

If I Forget, by Steven Levenson, Roundabout Theatre Company

Indecent, by Paula Vogel, Vineyard Theatre

A Life, by Adam Bock, Playwrights Horizons

*Oslo, by J. T. Rogers, Lincoln Center Theater

Sweat, by Lynn Nottage, The Public Theater

 

Outstanding Musical

Anastasia

The Band's Visit, Atlantic Theater Company

*Come From Away

Hadestown, New York Theatre Workshop

The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical

 

Outstanding Revival of a Play

The Front Page

The Hairy Ape, Park Avenue Armory

*Jitney, Manhattan Theatre Club

The Little Foxes, Manhattan Theatre Club

 "Master Harold"... and the Boys, Signature Theatre Company

Picnic, Transport Group Theatre Company

 

Outstanding Revival of a Musical

Falsettos, Lincoln Center Theater

*Hello, Dolly!

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Sweet Charity, The New Group

Tick, Tick...BOOM!, Keen Company

 

Outstanding Actor in a Play

Bobby Cannavale, The Hairy Ape, Park Avenue Armory

Daniel Craig, Othello, New York Theatre Workshop

*Kevin Kline, Present Laughter

David Hyde Pierce, A Life, Playwrights Horizons

John Douglas Thompson, Jitney, Manhattan Theatre Club

 

Outstanding Actress in a Play

Cate Blanchett, The Present

*Laura Linney, The Little Foxes, Manhattan Theatre Club

Laurie Metcalf, A Doll's House, Part 2

Amy Ryan, Love, Love, Love, Roundabout Theatre Company

Harriet Walter, The Tempest, St. Ann's Warehouse

 

Outstanding Actor in a Musical

Nick Blaemire, Tick, Tick...BOOM!, Keen Company

Jon Jon Briones, Miss Saigon

Nick Cordero, A Bronx Tale

*Andy Karl, Groundhog Day

Jeremy Secomb, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

 

Outstanding Actress in a Musical

Christy Altomare, Anastasia

Christine Ebersole, War Paint

Sutton Foster, Sweet Charity, The New Group

Patti LuPone, War Paint

*Bette Midler, Hello, Dolly!

Laura Osnes, Bandstand

 

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play

Michael Aronov, Oslo, Lincoln Center Theater

*Danny DeVito, The Price, Roundabout Theatre Company

Nathan Lane, The Front Page

Jeremy Shamos, If I Forget, Roundabout Theatre Company

Justice Smith, Yen, MCC Theater

 

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play

Jayne Houdyshell, A Doll's House, Part 2

Randy Graff, The Babylon Line, Lincoln Center Theater

Marie Mullen, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, BAM

*Cynthia Nixon, The Little Foxes, Manhattan Theatre Club

Emily Skinner, Picnic

Kate Walsh, If I Forget, Roundabout Theatre Company

 

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical

*Gavin Creel, Hello, Dolly!

Jeffry Denman, Kid Victory, Vineyard Theatre

George Salazar, The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical

Ari'el Stachel, The Band's Visit, Atlantic Theater Company

Brandon Uranowitz, Falsettos, Lincoln Center Theater

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical

Kate Baldwin. Hello, Dolly!

Stephanie J. Block, Falsettos, Lincoln Center Theater

*Jenn Colella, Come From Away

Mary Beth Peil, Anastasia

Nora Schell, Spamilton

 

Outstanding Director of a Play

Richard Jones, The Hairy Ape, Park Avenue Armory

Anne Kauffman, A Life, Playwrights Horizons

Richard Nelson, What Did You Expect?/Women  of a Certain Age, The Public Theater

*Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Jitney, Manhattan Theatre Club

Daniel Sullivan, The Little Foxes, Manhattan Theatre Club

Daniel Sullivan, If I Forget, Roundabout Theatre Company

 

Outstanding Director of a Musical

Christopher Ashley, Come From Away

Bill Buckhurst, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

*Rachel Chavkin, Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812

*David Cromer, The Band's Visit, Atlantic Theater Company

Jerry Zaks, Hello, Dolly!

 

Outstanding Choreography

*Andy Blankenbuehler, Bandstand

Warren Carlyle, Hello, Dolly!

Aletta Collins, The Hairy Ape, Park Avenue Armory

Kelly Devine, Come From Away

Denis Jones, Holiday Inn, Roundabout Theatre Company

 

Outstanding Music

Stephen Flaherty, Anastasia
Dave Malloy, Beardo, Pipeline Theatre Company

Richard Oberacker, Bandstand

Irene Sankoff and David Hein, Come From Away

*David Yazbek, The Band's Visit, Atlantic Theater Company

 

Outstanding Lyrics

Gerard Alessandrini, Spamilton

GQ and JQ, Othello: The Remix

Michael Korie, War Paint

Irene Sankoff and David Hein, Come From Away

*David Yazbek, The Band's Visit, Atlantic Theater Company

Outstanding Book of a Musical

Terrence McNally, Anastasia

Itamar Moses, The Band's Visit, Atlantic Theater Company

Richard Oberacker and Rob Taylor, Bandstand

*Irene Sankoff and David Hein, Come From Away

Joe Tracz, The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical

 

Outstanding Orchestrations

Doug Besterman, Anastasia

Bruce Coughlin, War Paint

Benjamin Cox, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

*Bill Elliott and Greg Anthony Rassen, Bandstand

August Eriksmoen, Come From Away

Jamshied Sharifi, The Band's Visit, Atlantic Theater Company

Outstanding Music in a Play

Daniel Ocanto, Graham Ulicny, and Sean Smith, Alligator, New Georges in collaboration with the Sol Project

Marcus Shelby, Notes from the Field, Second Stage

*Bill Sims Jr., Jitney, Manhattan Theatre Club

Outstanding Revue

Hello Dillie!, 59E59

*Life is for Living: Conversations with Coward, 59E59

 

Outstanding Set Design for a Play

David Gallo, Jitney, Manhattan Theatre Club

*Nigel Hook, The Play That Goes Wrong

Laura Jellinek, A Life, Playwrights Horizons

Stewart Laing, The Hairy Ape, Park Avenue Armory

Douglas W. Schmidt, The Front Page

 

Outstanding Set Design for a Musical

Lez Brotherston, 946: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips, St. Ann's Warehouse

Simon Kenny, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

*Mimi Lien, Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812

Santo Loquasto, Hello, Dolly!

Jason Sherwood, The View UpStairs

 

Outstanding Costume Design for a Play

*Jane Greenwood, The Little Foxes, Manhattan Theatre Club

Susan Hilferty, Present Laughter

Murell Horton, The Liar, CSC

Toni-Leslie James, Jitney, Manhattan Theatre Club

Stewart Laing, The Hairy Ape, Park Avenue Armory

Ann Roth, The Front Page

 

Outstanding Costume Design for a Musical

Linda Cho, Anastasia

Toni-Leslie James, Come From Away

Santo Loquasto, Hello, Dolly!

Anita Yavich, The View UpStairs

Paloma Young, Bandstand

*Catherine Zuber, War Paint

 

Outstanding Lighting Design for a Play

*Christopher Akerlind, Indecent, Vineyard Theatre

James Farncombe, The Tempest, St. Ann's Warehouse

Rick Fisher, The Judas Kiss, Brooklyn Academy of Music

Mimi Jordan Sherin, The Hairy Ape, Park Avenue Armory

Stephen Strawbridge, "Master Harold"...and the Boys, Signature Theatre Company

Justin Townsend, The Little Foxes, Manhattan Theatre Club

 

Outstanding Lighting Design for a Musical

Jeff Croiter, Bandstand

Mark Henderson, Sunset Boulevard

Bradley King, Hadestown, New York Theatre Workshop

*Bradley King, Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812

Amy Mae, Sweeney Todd: The Barber of Fleet Street

Malcolm Rippeth, 946: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips, St. Ann's Warehouse

Outstanding Projection Design

Reid Farrington, CasablancaBox, HERE

Elaine McCarthy, Notes from the Field, Second Stage

Jared Mezzocchi, Vietgone, Manhattan Theatre Club

John Narun, Gorey: The Secret Lives of Edward Gorey, Life Jacket Theatre Company

*Aaron Rhyne, Anastasia

 

Outstanding Sound Design in a Play

Mikhail Fiksel, A Life, Playwrights Horizons

*Gareth Fry and Pete Malkin, The Encounter

Brian Quijada, Where Did We Sit on the Bus?, Ensemble Studio Theatre/Radio Drama Network

Leon Rothenberg, Notes from the Field, Second Stage

Jane Shaw, Men on Boats, Playwrights Horizons/Clubbed Thumb

 

Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical

Simon Baker, 946: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips, St. Ann's Warehouse

Peter Hylenski, Anastasia

Scott Lehrer, Hello, Dolly!

*Nicholas Pope, Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812

Mick Potter, Cats

Brian Ronan, War Paint

Matt Stine, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

 

Outstanding Wig and Hair

*David Brian Brown, War Paint

Campbell Young Associates, Hello, Dolly!

J. Jared Janas, Yours Unfaithfully, Mint Theatre Company

Jason Hayes, The View UpStairs

Josh Marquette, Present Laughter

Tom Watson, The Little Foxes, Manhattan Theatre Club

 

Outstanding Solo Performance

Nancy Anderson, The Pen (Inner Voices), Premieres

*Ed Dixon, Georgie: My Adventures with George Rose

Marin Ireland, On the Exhale, Roundabout Underground

Sarah Jones, Sell/Buy/Date, Manhattan Theatre Club

Brian Quijada, Where Did We Sit on the Bus?, Ensemble Studio Theatre/Radio Drama Network

Anna Deavere Smith, Notes from the Field, Second Stage

 

Unique Theatrical Experience

CasablancaBox, HERE

The Paper Hat Game, The Tank/3-Legged Dog

*The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart, National Theatre of Scotland

The Ephemera Trilogy, The Tank

 

Outstanding Fight Choreography

J. David Brimmer, Yen, MCC Theatre

Donal O'Farrell, Quietly, Irish Repertory Theatre

Michael Rossmy and Rick Sordelet, Troilus and Cressida, New York Shakespeare Festival

Thomas Schall, Othello, New York Theatre Workshop

Thomas Schall, The Hairy Ape, Park Avenue Armory

*U. Jonathan Toppo, Sweat, The Public Theater

Outstanding Adaptation

*David Ives, The Liar, Classic Stage Company

Ellen McLaughlin, The Trojan Women, The Flea Theatre

 

Outstanding Puppet Design

*Basil Twist, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Lyndie Wright, Sarah Wright, 946: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips, St. Ann's Warehouse

SPECIAL AWARDS:

 

Outstanding Ensemble

The Wolves, The Playwrights Realm: The superbly talented cast of Sarah DeLappe's debut play -Mia Barron, Brenna Coates, Jenna Dioguardi, Samia Finnerty, Midori Francis, Lizzy Jutila, Sarah Mezzanotte, Tedra Millan, Lauren Patten, and Susannah Perkins-jelled as one, proving that team spirit is just a alive on the stage as it is on the soccer field.

 

Special Award to Phil LaDuca: Proving that character comes from the ground up, the designer's innovative flexible dance shoe ensures that hoofers on any stage remain on point.

 

Sam Norkin Award: Lila Neugebauer:  During a season that saw her helm the original works The Antipodes, Everybody, Miles For Mary, and The Wolves, and resurrect the works of esteemed playwrights Edward Albee, Maria Irene Fornes, and Adrienne Kennedy in Signature Plays, director Lila Neugebauer has shown that her dauntless insight into the human condition knows no bounds.