Still Time to Get Tickets to Drama Desk Panel on Revivals

GAVIN CREEL, WARREN CARLYLE, STEVEN PASQUALE and JESSICA VOSK are among the panelists for REVIVING THE REVIVAL, a lively discussion about staging revivals moderated by Drama Desk member Robin Milling noon to 2:30 pm Tuesday, May 24 at Sardi's, 234 West 44th St.

Check the Drama Desk's Facebook and Twitter (@TheDramaDesk) pages for additions to the panel and for updates about the event*.

Topics include:

· Why bring the show back now?

· How do you make something from another decade relevant today?

· What elements make a good revival?

· What are the downsides/upsides of reviving a show?

· Working celebrity stars into the mix

· Which changes work and which ones don't?

Lunch will be served beginning at noon with salad and dessert and a choice of four entrees -- Salmon, Pan-roasted Chicken breast , Spaghetti Pomodoro (vegetarian) or Vegetarian Basket (gluten free).

Tables will seat eight and will be assigned (you will get your table assignment and menu selection ticket when you check in at Sardi's) -- please add the names of your guests and entree choices when purchasing your tickets.

Tickets are $57. Order tickets on line at

http://tinyurl.com/Drama-DeskRevivalPanel or by calling (866) 811-4111. Deadline is NOON THURSDAY, MAY 19.

TICKETS WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR

*Panel Participants are subject to change.

WARREN CARLYLE is a Tony Award winning Director/Choreographer. He directed and choreographed After Midnight, Chaplin, Hugh Jackman : Back On Broadway at the Broadhurst, Finian's Rainbow and A Tale of Two Cities. He has choreographed She Loves Me, currently at Studio 54, the revival of On The 20th Century, The Mystery Of Edwin Drood, A Christmas Story, and the Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim's Follies. He also directed and choreographed the 2015 New York Spring Spectacular starring the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall. He has been nominated for two Tony Awards, six Drama Desk Awards and an Emmy Award and has won the Tony, the Outer Critics Circle Award, the Drama Desk Award and the prestigious Astaire Award for choreography.

GAVIN CREEL starring as Kodaly in She Loves Me. Broadway: Hair (Tony Nomination), Thoroughly Modern Mille (Tony Nomination), The Book of Mormon, La Cage Aux Folles. West End: The Book of Mormon (Olivier Award), Mary Poppins, Hair. Off-Broadway: Bat Boy, The Mystery Plays. National Tour: The Book of Mormon, Fame. Regional: Bounce (Goodman Theatre/Kennedy Center), Prometheus Bound (A.R.T.), The Mystery Plays (Yale Rep). TV: "Eloise at the Plaza" and "Eloise at Christmastime" both co-starring Julie Andrews. Original Recordings: GoodTimeNation, Quiet, Get Out, and the single "Noise." Co-Founder: Broadway Impact. School: University of Michigan.

STEVEN PASQUALE Lortel winner for Roundabout's The Robber Bridegroom. He recently starred in Carousel at Chicago's Lyric Opera. Select New York theater: The Bridges of Madison County (Drama Desk, Drama League nominations), Far From Heaven, The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide..., A Soldier's Play (Second Stage), A Man of No Importance (Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle nominations), Beautiful Child, Spinning Into Butter, and The Wild Party, A Little Night Music, The Grapes of Wrath, Miss Saigon, and The Light in the Piazza. Select TV: American Crime Story, The Good Wife, Billions,Bloodline, and Rescue Me. Solo album: Somethin' Like Love (2009).

JESSICA VOSK is Fruma Sarah in Fiddler on the Roof. Other credits: Broadway: Finding Neverland, The Bridges of Madison County. She starred as Anita, in the Grammy-nominated San Francisco Symphony's West Side Story. Encores!': Merrily We Roll Along and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes; Roundabout's Death Takes a Holiday and She Loves Me. New York Philharmonic: Stephen Sondheim's Company; Featured in the new musical Kristina by ABBA's at both Carnegie Hall and Royal Albert Hall. 

ROBIN MILLING has a wealth of experience as an Entertainment Reporter covering everyting entertainment including film, theater, television, and music. Her style is conversational and candid, discussing personal issues as well as professional topics with celebrities. She is a writer/producer and host of Milling About™ podcast, an entertainment news and interview program featuring her provocative conversations with the hottest names in Hollywood, Broadway, and much more on iTunes http://apple.co/1lhKYnU and Blogtalk Radio www.blogtalkradio.com/robin-milling. She is also the New York Correspondent for World Entertainment News Network. Previous clients have included ABC Radio Networks, SONY Radio Networks, Associated Press Broadcast, and Showtime Networks, among others.

Broadway Theater Review: Long Day's Journey Into Night

Jessica Lange Steers a Complex Mary Tyrone Through a Foggy Journey

By Lauren Yarger

“Once you’ve learned a lesson, it’s hard to unlearn it.”

That’s just one of many thoughts to ponder in Eugene O’Neill’s Pulitzer-Prize winning play Long Day’s Journey Into Night. Thank goodness actress Jessica Lange didn’t take it to heart and give us the same portrayal of Mary Tyrone everyone seems to have learned over the years for this Roundabout Theatre Company revival on Broadway.

Instead, two-time Academy-Award winner Lange breathes new life into Mary and makes her the center of this autobiographical family drama as a family reluctantly comes to grips with her decision to take drugs, knowing the horrible consequences her choice will have on them all.

Mary, we learn, became addicted to morphine by accident when an incompetent doctor prescribed it for her after the difficult birth of her second son, Edmund (a lackluster John Gallagher, Jr.), and he is made to feel, if subtly, that he is to blame. For years, she and her husband, James (Gabriel Byrne), and their eldest son, Jamie Jr. (Michael Shannon), hid her condition from Edmund, but later, that proved impossible. Mary just recently has returned to their summer home in Connecticut after a hospitalization and she and her family are happily in denial that anything is wrong. Until Mary starts spending time in the spare room – a portent that she is giving in to her need to escape the pain. Even if that pain is more emotional than physical these days.

Lange is mesmerizing as the “normal” Mary, the keep-up-appearances woman, joking with the boys and flirting with her husband whose actor’s good looks swept her off her feet and veered her away from her the path she desired – to be a nun. Lange gives us a glimpse of what a carefree, happy girl she once was with evidence of affection for James.

She transitions, sometimes in the blink of an eye, however, to a paranoid, cold, selfish woman hardly able to mask her contempt for those around her and for the miserable existence she lives in a house that never has felt like home to her. Set Designer Tom Pye pays homage to O’Neill’s boyhood home, Monte Christo Cottage, still standing and open to visitors in New London, CT, without meticulously recreating the living room. Lighting Designer Natasha Katz creates a mostly dark atmosphere capturing the brooding darkness about to engulf this family, despite the lonely warnings of a fog horn (though the additional sounds of insects become annoying -- Sound Design by Clive Goodwin).

Everyone is walking on eggshells (right from the get-go thanks to O’Neill’s sharp writing), trying not to face the truth about anything, whether it is Mary’s relapse into the frightening hold of narcotics, James’ stinginess and refusal to pay good money for anything from an extra energy-using light bulb to a doctor’s care (that might have saved Mary from the quack and his morphine solution). Edmund’s serious health issues get swept under the carpet too lest they remind Mary of her beloved father died, or give , Before long the sound of cracking shells is all that can be heard as the brothers and their father allow their anxiety and pent-up frustrations with each other to boil over.

I usually refer to Long Day’s Journey as a perfect play. There is little I would change, except for maybe some tweaking of the three-and-a-half hour length and it appears Director Jonathan Kent already increased the pace in some areas (some versions are almost four hours). Usually, though, the play is all about the Tyrone men with Mary wandering in and out of their angst. In this version, however, the focus is on Mary – and so it should be. In her flawed way, she has always been what held the family together and now that she seems to have lost her faith and be forming a tighter embrace with her addiction and depression, the bonds between the Tyrones are threatened.

Byrne and Shannon give solid performances and Colby Minifie as the family’s maid, Cathleen, gets a few laughs. Gallagher’s Edmund doesn’t seem charged with any emotion or even very frail except when he appears to give a few coughs on cue. Without Lange’s portrayal, I am not sure this revival would be able to stand on its own in memory of the last fabulous revival led by Brian Dennehy.

Lange, however, is a delight to watch. It’s a pleasure to see a well-known character in a new light as she takes the long journey into night and makes it personal for us.

Long Day's Journey Into Night plays through June 26 at American Airlines Theatre, 227 west 42nd St., NYC. Perfromances are Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 7 pm, with matinees on Wednesday and Sunday at 2 pm and Saturday at 1 pm. Tickets are $67-$152: http://eclipsedbroadway.com; 212-719-1300,

Additional Credits:

Costume Design by Jane Greenwood; Hair and Wig Design by Tom Watson, Fight Direction by J. David Brimmer.

FAMILY-FRIENDLY FACTORS:

-- God's name taken in vain

Broadway Theater Review: American Psycho

Benjamin Walker and the cast. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

The Ink Blots Aren’t What You Think They Are in This Psychological Thriller

By Lauren Yarger
Duncan Sheik’s new Broadway musical American Psycho is sort of a two-hour, 45 minute Rorschach test that you fail. No matter what you think you might be seeing in front of you, reality turns out to be something else.

Take the opening number with the electrifying pulses of the composer’s score set against Es Devlin’s mind-stimulating, metallic-grey set, lightning-strobed with expertise by Lighting Designer Justin Townsend while cast members forebodingly sing  “Uh, oh” while stomping out Choreographer Lynne Page’s dynamic dance steps. I sat back and thought, Wow! Director Rupert Goold has put something together here that might give traditional Broadway musicals a lobotomy even more so than Spring Awakening, Sheik’s musical that changed the personality of musicals forever.

Pretty quickly, however, the musical sinks into a flat line where, thanks to the book by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, based on the novel by Bret Easton Ellis, we’re never really sure why anything is happening -- especially why we need to see the star in his underwear a lot --  or for whom we are supposed to be rooting. We find ourselves longing for our brain waves to be stimulated again by music like the opening number. (Sheik also supplies the lyrics and orchestrates). A number of the musical numbers build to sudden, loud crescendo finishes, but seem over done given the preceding melody.

It’s kind of like seeing a dazzling image of a blood-dripping challenge (thanks to costumes by Katrina Lindsay and Wig and Hair Design by Campbell Young Associates) to blockbuster Hamilton’s stronghold on the Tony Awards this season only to discover that we’re looking instead at an ordinary ink blot.

I was not familiar with Ellis’ novel or on the movie (starring Christian Bale) which has a large cult following and probably led to the thought that such a story could be a Broadway musical, so I can’t tell you how it holds up on comparison.

This version of the psychological thriller features Benjamin Walker (who delighted in Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson) as Patrick Bateman, an investment banker who enjoys wealth and an active social life, but who in secret, is a serial murderer.

His fiancée, Evelyn Williams (Helene Yorke), is oblivious as the couple attends countless, boring events with friends and co-workers like Patrick’s brother, Sean (Jason Hite), David Van Patten (Dave Thomas Brown ), Timothy Price (Theo Stockman), closeted homosexual Luis Carruthers (Jordan Dean) and rival Paul Owen (Drew Moerlein), who is always one step ahead, it seems, even when it comes to designing a business card (there is a humorous song devoted to this called, well, “Cards.”)

Patrick’s meek secretary, Jean (Jennifer Damiano), has feelings for Patrick (though why, we’re not sure, since he treats her pretty rudely). He criticizes what she wears, sends her on menial errands and she grows ever fonder as our worst fears come true – Damiano and vocal powerhouse Alice Ripley, who plays a few characters including Patrick’s mother, are not going to sing anything that even begins to challenge their vocal talents. 

The two dynamic voices last appeared on Broadway together in Next to Normal – probably the first musical to deal with mental illness, but in a way that might be familiar to us in dealing with loved ones who are bi-polar or depressed. As for Psycho, sorry, I don’t know anyone who is killing people and animals with knives, chain saws and axes or having sexual orgies because the killing excites them (one scene is particularly vulgar with sexual images flooding the stage – video Design by Finn Ross). Or at least I hope I don’t.

And that seems to be the take-away from this story – that we don’t really know anyone very well, that everyone has a dark side. And in a puzzling twist, we’re not sure whether anything is really happening or just the quiet desperation in someone’s mind. I think I determined that I am sane by not caring. I went as far as being disappointed, however, by feeling that what might have been an intriguing thriller wasn’t developed fully enough here.  That especially goes for the female characters who seem to be afterthoughts, including Courtney Lawrence (Morgan Weed), Luis’ fiancé having an affair with Patrick , or just there for the taking or killing…. Alex Michael Stoll gets a fun few seconds as Patrick’s apartment neighbor Tom Cruise, however.

The band is housed in the house boxes either side of the stage and plays some pop hits from the 1980s which factor into the story. The transition is distracting. Music Direction is by Jason Hart; Music Supervision and Vocal Arrangements are by David Shrubsole.

American Psycho bloodies up the stage at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, 236 W 45^th St., NYC through Sept. 25. Performances are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday at 7 pm; Friday and Saturday at 8 pm; Sunday, 2 and 7:30 pm. Tickets are $ 69-$148: 212- 239-6200; americanpsychothemusical.com.

FAMILY-FRIENDLY FACTORS:

-- MATURE**

-- Mature dialogue

-- Language

-- Sexual activity

-- God's name taken in vain

-- Homosexuality

-- Homosexual activity

-- Scantily-clad actors

-- Sexual images

Broadway Theater Review: Shuffle Along Or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed

Shuffle Along Over to One of the Best Shows on Broadway This Season

By Lauren Yarger

How odd that it should be one of the last shows of the season before I had a winner for the answer to the question I often get, “So what have you seen this year that you loved?” And odder still, that it should be Shuffle Along Or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed which, truth be told, I had heard nothing good about in previews. That the show was too long and a mess were recurring refrains, so imagine my surprise when, after a postponed opening (the show missed the cutoff this season for the Outer Critics Awards), I found myself in delighted rapture at the musical explosion of excitement on the Music Box Theatre stage.

In Shuffle Along,  we have a chance to see history in the making, not just once, but twice. The Broadway show starring Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Bully Porter, Brandon Victor Dixon and Joshua Henry (an historical lineup of amazing talent if I ever have seen one) is the story of another musical, Shuffle Along, with music and lyrics by the legendary Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake.

In 1921, the show broke new ground for musical theater and launched the careers of African-American stars  Josephine Baker and Florence Mills and others and helped others, like Lottie Gee (McDonald) stay employed. The song team of Eubie Blake (Dixon) and Noble Sissle (Henry) collaborated with Flournoy Miller (Mitchell) and Aubrey Lyles (Porter) to write the musical, which was the next step for the Vaudeville musicians, and proved that audiences would pay to see shows featuring an African-American love story.

Despite having to take the show on tour without always being able to pay its cast and crew, Shuffle Along landed at the 63^rd Street Theater and became a sensation, wowing the likes of George Bernard Shaw, Al Jolson, Fanny Brice and others. President Harry S. Truman even used its tune, “I’m Just Wild About Harry” as his campaign theme. A replica program for the original production is inserted into the show’s Playbill to complete the play-within-a-play theme.

The book by George C. Wolfe, who also directs, follows the creation and staging of the original show a well as the ups and downs in the relationships.  Savion Glover adds thundering, exciting, show-stopping choreography (the opening number will blow you out of your seat and probably will knock Hamilton out of the running at least in one category at the Tonys this year) and Ann Roth provides glittering, colorful costumes to complete a beautiful picture on Santo Loquasto’s set.

McDonald’s perfect delivery brings Lottie’s line a lot of laughs and she’s earning Pregnant Woman of the Year merits tapping up a storm every performance (she will be out on maternity leave beginning July 24 and though Fall 2016 when Grammy Award winner Rhiannon Giddens will make her Broadway debut in the role.) And it’s always a treat to hear Mitchell, Dixon and Henry sing (can Henry just be in every musical, please? His voice is intoxicating). You will recognize some of the tunes like “Love will Find a Way,” “Honeysuckle Time” and “Ain’t It a Shame” Music Directed by Shelton Becton and Supervised, Arranged and Orchestrated by Daryl Waters.

Don’t miss this one. It’s one of the best shows of the season, Hamilton or not, and is two hours and 45 minutes of foot-tapping bliss.

Shuffle Along plays at the Music Box Theatre, 230 W 45th St., NYC. Performances are Tuesday and Thursday at 7 pm; Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at 8 pm; Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday at 2 pm. Tickets currently on sale through Oct. 9 are $69-$169: shufflealongbroadway.com; 212-239-6200.

Additional Casting:

Brooks Ashmanskas, Adrienne Warren, Amber Iman, Phillip Attmore, Alexandria Bradley, Darlesia Cearcy, Darius de Haas, C.K. Edwards, Leo Ash Evens, Afra Hines, Curtis Holland, Jason Holley, Adrienne Howard, Lee Howard, Kendrick Jones, Lisa LaTouche, Alicia Lundgren, JC Montgomery, Erin N. Moore, Janelle Neal, Brittany Parks, Arbender Robinson, Karissa Royster, Britton Smith, Zurin Villanueva, Christian Dante White, Joseph Wiggan, Pamela Yasutake and Richard Riaz Yoder.

Additional Credits:

Wig and Hair Design by Mia M. Neal , Lighting Design by Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, Sound Design by Scott Lehrer

FAMILY-FRIENDLY FACTORS:

No notes

Broadway Theater Review: Tuck Everlasting

Andrew Keenan-Bolger as Jesse Tuck and Sarah Charles Lewis Photo: Joan Marcus

Children’s Book Comes to Life, but Show Might Not Enjoy Immortality

By Lauren Yarger
Step into magical woods where time stands still, life springs eternal and a beloved children’s book comes to life.

Tuck Everlasting gets a Broadway incarnation with music and lyrics by Chris Miller and Nathan Tysen (who teamed for The Burnt Part Boys) and a book by Claudia Shear and Tim Federle based on the novel by Natalie Babbitt.

Massive ancient branches bring green foliage – and enchantment -- of the woods into the tiny village of Treegap, NH (Scenic design by Walt Spangler) where Winnie Foster (Sarah Charles Lewis) feels stifled living with her mother (Valerie Wright) and Nana (an amusing Pippa Pearthree) following the death of her father. The 11-year-old misses her dad, but longs for excitement.

Wandering in the woods, where mysterious music plays, she stumbles upon Jess Tuck (Andrew Keenan-Bolger) who is very alarmed when he realizes the girl has seen him drinking from a secret stream. Jesse, his brother, Miles (Robert Lenzi) and their mother, Mae (Carolee Carmello) bring her to their home hidden in the woods and explain that the spring gives them eternal life. While staying with the Tucks, Winnie awakens a zest for life in the family’s patriarch Angus (Michael Park) and in Miles, who is bitter about losing his wife and son and sparks a romance with Jesse who hopes she will drink from the stream when she is a bit older and they can begin a relationship.

Winnie’s disappearance causes some alarm for her mother and grandmother, however, and Constable Joe (Fred Applegate, giving a nice turn and adding some needed humor) and his newbie, bumbling assistant, Hugo (Michael Wartella) begin an investigation. Complicating things, however, is the arrival of a carnival conman known as the Man in a Yellow Suit (Terrence Mann) who has long sought the secrets of the Ticks’ stream. He blackmails Winnie’s family into selling him the land where the stream runs and threatens the Tucks when he plans to make the stream a commercial enterprise.

Casey Nicholaw (Something Rotten!, Aladdin, The Book of Mormon) directs and choreographs the entertaining, if not too complex, tale. Standing out is Charles Lewis, with a singing voice so developed and clear that I checked the program to make sure that wasn’t Sidney Lucas up there in a red wig (Hair design by Josh Marquette) only to discover that the young actress was making her Broadway debut. It’s an impressive one.

Also starring in this production is Spangler’s set, expertly lighted by Kenneth Posner. Whether we’re in the Tucks’ quaint, old-fashioned cottage, seeing the wind blow through flowers (as painted on a backdrop) or climbing a tree in the woods, the enchantment of the story carries through. While some of the choreography throughout the show seems awkward and out of place, a final closing piece almost like a ballet that shows the progression of years throughout Winnie’s life is moving and leaves an impression about the importance of living life to the fullest.

The plot isn’t very enchanting on its own, however. If you are a fan of Babbitt’s 1975 novel, you are probably on board with it, but if you are like me, and somehow never read the book, you will be asking a lot of questions like “Do the Tucks really need to painfully separate and reunite only once every 10 years to avoid arousing suspicion about their longevity?” “If they are so concerned about detection why do they keep playing that music box?” “Why exactly has Angus been in a funk on the couch for 10 years?” “How was the Man in the Yellow Suit able to piece together that there is a stream offering eternal life back there in the woods?” “Why don’t Winnie’s mother and grandmother just tell Joe they are in trouble?” “A 17 year old really asks an 11 year old to wait for him?”

OK, maybe taking this “Brigadoon for kids” too seriously is a mistake. Miller’s score is pleasant, but not memorable (the opening number could use some work as it lacks an excitement despite a big finish). Mary-Mitchell Campbell music directs and supervises with Rob Berman. Orchestrations are by John Clancy with Vocal Arrangements by Chris Miller and Dance Music Arrangements by David Chase. But Broadway vets Carmello, Mann and Park give the show some oomph (and there’s Charles Lewis’ voice, even if I can’t remember anything she sang.) The uplifting message about not wasting life is a plus. Mae sings:

“Time we’ve been granted so much time
But what if all this time
Did more than pass us by?
Life even infinite
Still must have life in it
We know it won’t kill us to try.”

Another plus: the  musical is mostly family-friendly – a decreasing commodity on the Great White Way these days. Tuck failed to impress Tony Award Nominators, however. It received only one nod: Costumes designed Gregg Barnes. That plus slow sales at the box office might mean the show won't enjoy the same long life as the Tucks.

Catch it while you can at the Broadhurst Theatre, 235 West 44^thSt., NYC. Performances are  Showtimes Tuesday and Thursday at 7 pm; Wednesday at 2 and 7:30 pm, Friday at 8 pm; Saturday at 2 and 8 pm; Sunday at 3 pm. Additional show 7:30 pm May 29. Tickets are $59-$147: tuckeverlastingmusical.com; 212-239-6200.

Additional casting:

Timothy J. Alex, Marcus Bellamy, Callie Carter, Chloë Campbell, Benjamin Cook, Elizabeth Margaret Crawford, Deanna Doyle, Brandon Espinoza, Lisa Gajda, Jessica Lee Goldyn, Christopher Gurr, Neil Haskell, Matt Meigs, Heather Parcells, Justin Patterson, Marco Schittone, Brooklyn Shuck, Jennifer Smith, and Kathy Voytko.... Ensemble

FAMILY-FRIENDLY FACTORS:-- God's name taken in vain

Broadway Theater Review: Fully Committed with Jesse Tyler Ferguson

Enjoy a Hot Manhattan Restaurant from Behind the Scenes

By Lauren Yarger

Looking for a fun way to spend an evening out this summer? You might think about trying Manhattan’s world renowned, red hot restaurant where anyone who is anyone wants a table.

Or you could have a lot more fun being Fully Committed and enjoying the action at such a restaurant from its basement with reservation specialist Sam (“Modern Family’s” Jesse Tyler Ferguson).

In the Broadway revival of Becky Mode’s hysterical one- man show, Ferguson portrays some 40 characters interacting with Sam on the busy restaurant reservations line located in the dilapidated basement of the restaurant (and designed in shabby detail by Derek McLane).

Among those competing for Sam’s attention are a hooky-playing coworker,  the chef, the maître d, the hostess, the reservations specialist and numerous customers vying to be seen at the happening eatery where seats are scarce as people vie to sample the chef's trademarked “molecular gastronomy.” In fact, the restaurant is “fully committed” – a swanky way of saying sold out – for months in advance.

That doesn’t stop them from trying, though. I mean who wouldn’t want to dine out on dishes like “crispy deer lichen atop a slowly deflating scent-filled pillow, dusted with edible dirt” or “A nitro-frozen shaved foie gras enshrouded in a liquid chicken-filled orb?”

Among the characters calling are a mobster, uppity socialites who feel entitled, Gwyneth Paltrow’s personal assistant who keeps phoning to make sure Sam notes all of her ridiculous requirements for being seen dining at the restaurant, a Southern belle who drips charm while threatening a bad Yelp review if she doesn't get a reservation time and even Sam’s lonely dad, who calls on his son’s cell phone occasionally to check in.

The calls, messages and catastrophes come fast and furious leaving a stranded Sam without time for a bathroom break, or ironically, a chance to eat any food– until someone does the unthinkable in the toilet and Sam is tapped to go clean it up.

It’s a very funny 90 minutes without intermission with a good combination of script and a performer who is spot on with the fast pace and all of the various voices and personalities for the plethora of characters.

The play was a big hit back in 1999 featuring actor Mark Setlock and playwright Mode has updated it to reflect today’s foodie and restaurant culture.

Fully Committed and Jesse Tyler Ferguson reserve the right to make you laugh through July 31 at the Lyceum Theatre, 149 West 45^thSt., NYC. Performances are Monday and Tuesday at 7 pm; Wednesday- Saturday at 8 pm; Saturday at 2 pm; Sunday at 3 pm. Tickets are $45-$147: fullycommittedbroadway.com; (212) 239-6200. 

Additional credits:

Costume Design by Sarah Laux, Lighting Design by Ben Stanton , Sound Design by Darron L West, Original Music by Jeff Richmond.

FAMILY-FRIENDLY FACTORS:

-- Language

Off-Broadway Theater Review: Cagney -- TOP PICK (through May 28)

Robert Creighton leads the cast of Cagney, Photo: Carol Rosegg

Closing May 28

A Yankee Doodle of a Musical

By Lauren Yarger

Never under estimate the ability of an Off-Broadway production to entertain on a Broadway level.

Cagney, starring Robert Creighton as the song-and-dance-man/gangster actor is getting a revised production at the West Side Theatre Off-Broadway following its New York premiere at the York last Spring and it's one Yankee doodle of a musical.

Creighton, who received Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations (the show has racked up a bunch of nominations in various awards for theater and dance his season), gives an outstanding performance as James Cagney. Set to music and lyrics by Creighton and Christopher McGovern (who also arranges), the story (with a book by Peter Colley) tells the story of the scrappy kid who takes a job as a dancer to help support his mother (Danette Holden) and brother, Bill (Josh Walden -- I saw understudy Freddie Kimmel).

He takes Vaudeville by storm and soon gets a call from Jack Warner (Bruce Sabath), head of one of Hollywood's powerhouse studios, to come to LA. He finds himself playing a bunch of "You dirty rat!" gangsters and eventually leaves Warner to try to make the kind of films he wants to, like "Yankee Doodle Dandy." Songs like George M. Cohan favorites "Give My Regards To Broadway," "You’re A Grand Old Flag" and the title song also are featured in the musical. Matt Perri music Directs and conducts the five-man band.

Exciting, tapping choreography by Joshua Bergasse makes the six-person ensemble seem much larger as the actors sing and dance through the actor's life story, tightly directed by Bill Castellino.  Colley does a nice job of selecting events from Cagney's life to include (no tendency here, as in so many biographical shows, to try to highlight every moment from the subject's life.) The stories of his romance and marriage to entertainer Willie Vernon (Ellen Zolezzi), his pro-labor politics and run-in with McCarthyism, his friendship with Bob Hope (Jeremy Benton) are nicely blended and enhanced by projection designs by Mark Pirolo on James Morgan's set.

The highlight of the entertaining show is Creighton's performance -- a role he embodies as if born to play it.

Cagney is playing an open-ended run at the Westside Theatre, upstairs at 407 West 43rd St., NYC.

For performances through July 3, 2016: Tuesday at 7 pm; Wednesday at 2 and 8 pm; Thursday and Friday at 8 pm; Saturday at 2 and 8 pm; Sunday at 3 pm.

For performances beginning July 5, 2016: Tuesday at 7 pm; Wednesday at 2 and 8 pm; Thursday at 2 pm; Friday at 8 pm; Saturday at 2 and 8 pm; Sunday at 3 pm.

Tickets are $89- $109: cagneythemusical.com; 212-239-6200. There are a limited number of $25 student rush tickets for each performance (two tickets per person, cash only with valid student ID.)

Additional credits:

Martha Bromelmeier (costumes), Michael Gilliam (lights), Janie Bullard (sound),  Larry Lelli (music coordinator) and Christian Kelly-Sordelet and Rick Sordelet (fight directors).

FAMILY-FRIENDLY FACTORS:

-- No content notes. Enjoy.