Review: Chasing Manet

Lynn Cohen and Jane Alexander. James Leynse photo.

Old Age Brings Youthful Delight

By Lauren Yarger
In a theater season offering a seemingly never-ending supply of plays mired in dark topics and dysfunction, what a delight Tina Howe’s Chasing Manet at Primary Stages is, especially since it fills us with hope, laughter and refreshes the spirit, even as the playwright examines the frustrations and indignities of growing old.

Jane Alexander stars as Catherine Sargent, the legally blind distant relative of painter John Singer Sargent, who passes her days at the Mount Airy Nursing Home lying in bed and repeating the mantra “out, I want out.” Her son Royal (Jack Gilpin) has relocated her away from familiar Boston so she can be nearer to him, but he rarely visits and when he does, relations are tense since Catherine finds fault with everything he does and says.

New roommate Rennie Waltzer (Lynn Cohen) suffers from memory loss, thinks her dead husband is visiting and has trouble getting around without a walker. She frustrates Catherine with her gleeful exuberance over the new accommodations she mistakes for a hotel with room service. Rennie’s family enjoys frequent visits from daughter Rita (Julie Halston), who doubles as an entertainingly wacky wheel-chair bound resident of the home) and other family members (the cast, all of whom play multiple roles, is rounded out by Vanessa Aspillaga, David Margulies and Rob Riley. They try to include Catherine in their good-natured visits, but she remains in bed facing the wall until someone misidentifies the Manet painting hanging above her bed as a Monet.

Suddenly Catherine is animated and sharing about her life as a renowned artist. This comes as a shock, not only to the Waltzers, but to the audience, because Alexander’s portrayal, under the direction of Michael Wilson, paints Catherine as someone who would be more comfortable hosting society galas on Beacon Hill, rather than modeling for and painting nudes like she tells us she once did. The revelation, though, gives insight into the now blind character, no longer able to see the work of art. This, combined with moaning patients and wheelchairs casting shadows as they hang from the ceiling (sets, lighting and sound with original music from by Tony Straiges, Howell Binkley and John Gromada) create an atmosphere that never lets the women break free of the old age and death surrounding them. Costume designer David C. Woolard even dresses stage crew in orderly garb so the mood is uninterrupted.

Catherine and Rennie soon hatch a plan to escape and take a voyage on the luxury ship QE II. Some humorous moments ensue as Rennie merrily divulges the plan to nursing home staff and her family, but they think it’s just the dementia talking. A bit where the two women joyfully pack their stool-softening pills is quite amusing.

Howe’s treatment of the women and how they cope with the inevitable is poignant, uplifting and gives us insight into the plight of the elderly. I came out of the theater wishing my grandmother were still here so I could give her a hug and tell her how much she meant to me.

Chasing Manet plays at 59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th St., NY. For tickets, call 212.279.4200 or visit http://primarystages.org/chasingmanet.htm.

Christians might also like to know:
• Language
• Lord’s Name Taken in Vain
• Woman in the painting is nude

Review: The Secret Agenda of Trees

Michael Tisdale as Jack, Lillian Wright as Maggie and Reyna

de Courcy as Veronica. Photos by Ian Carmody

Roots of Addiction Hard to Pull

By Lauren Yarger
Addictions control the lives of a mother and daughter and keep them in a cycle of dependence and poverty in Colin McKenna’s The Secret Agenda of Trees off-Broadway at the Wild Project (which played through Saturday).

Maggie (Lillian Wright) tries to take care of her daughter Veronica (Reyna de Courcy) when she’s not working at the nearby meat-packing plant, taking hits of crystal meth, drinking or having sex with strangers. In reality, Veronica cares for herself in the shack, set in the Deep South, and comforts herself with fanciful and poetic stories about her soldier brother Dixon (Brian Reilly) who is missing in action and her gang-banger-in-training boyfriend Carlos (Christian Navarro). Sometimes she tries to pretend they are "a family or something.”

The tension becomes palpable when Maggie invites a drifter named Jack (Michael Tisdale) to move in. He clashes with Carlos and has less than desirable intentions toward Veronica, whom he encourages to smoke and drink. When Veronica barely survives an overdose after a meth session with Carlos, Maggie decides to kick the habit before the state takes Veronica away, even as Jack is setting up a meth lab in their home.

McKenna’s treatment of the dark subject is handled well, though Veronica’s strange poetry seems out of place and isn’t always clear in its message. Director Michael Kimmel doesn’t ignite any heat between Jack and Maggie who supposedly meet and tumble into bed. There’s less physical attraction between Carlos and Veronica (who lusts after him verbally, telling us she wants to lick his tattoos) so much of the action feels predictable, rote and as rooted as the trees that Veronica tells us “claw the sky” with a secret agenda to escape. The method Maggie chooses to dry out seems contrived as well, and the ending for which we’re hoping gets jackknifed twice, but in a way, this is a tribute to McKenna’s realistic treatment of drug dependence – there isn’t always a happy ending.

The highlight performance is from de Courcy who infuses 14-year-old Veronica with a youthful charm and exuberance balanced with strength and determination far beyond her years.

Christians might also like to know:
• Language
• Sexual Activity (sounds are heard from an adjoining room, but not depicted)
• Sex Outside of Marriage
• Drug Use Depicted throughout

Review: Reasons to Be Pretty

Thomas Sadoski and Piper Perabo

Lots of Reasons to Like This One

By Lauren Yarger
Emotions run high, in fact they’re combustible, from the opening seconds of Neil LaBute’s Reasons to be Pretty, the witty “take-off-your-masks-and-hold-back-nothing” dialogue fest running at Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre.

Terry Kinney directs sharp actors playing characters who aren’t exactly what they appear to be in this probing study of just how important physical looks are in relationships. Greg (Thomas Sadoski) is in the doghouse with girlfriend Steph (Marin Ireland) after he compares her to a pretty new girl at work. His remarks about her “regular” looks to co-worker Kent (Steven Pasquale) are repeated to Steph by her best friend, and Kent’s wife, Carly (Piper Perabo).

Greg tries to soothe Steph’s anger by suggesting that he meant it as a compliment, but Steph isn’t buying any of it. After hitting him a bunch and throwing some furniture (the apartment/work warehouse set is from David Gallo), she breaks off their relationship, deciding she deserves to be in a relationship with someone who finds her attractive. Kent and Greg continue their “guy talk” at the warehouse where they work, and Kent confides that he is having an affair with the pretty new woman and that his pregnant wife doesn’t suspect a thing.

LaBute’s seemingly stereotypical characters reveal veiled motives driven by a need to be liked. Kent and Carly are quite attractive. He is an insensitive sexist jock; she’s a typical blonde with low self esteem and intelligence to match. As they develop through tight and revealing dialogue, Kent turns out to be a bully and not quite the man he thinks he is while Carly is a lot smarter than we think.

Meanwhile Greg, who at first seems clueless as to why he blew it with Steph, comes around and realizes a little too late, what he had and lost. Steph, whose relentless hostility and unwillingness to forgive comes off anything but pretty, softens up with a new beau and colorful and feminine costumes from Sarah J. Holden, belying the fact that looks are more important to a relationship than she’d like to admit.

Kinney’s deft direction also helps propel the action and character development. As Greg won’t step up to the plate, either to help Kent hide his affair or to help him win the company softball championship, the director places the actors, literally, on opposite sides of a fence. In another snapshot, dejected Greg sucks on his drink straw while waiting for Steph with some flowers at a restaurant as “Take a Look at Me Now” plays in the background (Robert Milburn and Michael Bodeen, sound and music design). It’s priceless.


Reasons to be Pretty runs at the Lyceum, 149 West 45th St., NY. Tickets are available by calling 212) 239-6200 or (800) 432-7250, or by visiting http://www.reasonstobepretty.com/.

Christians might also like to know:

• Sex Outside of Marriage
• Adultery
• Lord’s Name Taken in Vain
• Strong language throughout

Review: Happiness

Intriguing Concept Gets Derailed

By Lauren Yarger
If you had to choose just one perfect moment from your life in which to spend eternity, what would it be?

This is the question the stranded subway riders in Lincoln Center Theater’s off-Broadway Happiness must answer before they can leave a stalled train and embrace their destiny in a new musical by Scott Frankel (lyrics by Michael Korie; book by John Weidman, directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman.

For some of the 10 passengers, like elderly, wheelchair-bound Helen (a delightful Phyllis Somerville), the answer is easy. She remembers a night at a USO dance where she met a beau. In a nice swing number, she joins her perfect moment, circling the outer edge of the action unfolding then entering it by joining the dance with her former self and the boy who later was killed in action.

Suddenly, she’s gone and the others, with some quick explanation from cosmic subway car conductor Stanley (Hunter Foster), catch on that they are dead and the only way off the subway train is to find their "perfect moment" and avoid being a “blip on the comic radar." Unfortunately, at this point, the audience realizes it has to sit through nine more of these stories before the show and its seemingly unending, unimaginative songs will come to a close.

Others find their moments easily. Kevin (charming Fred Applegate) remembers a special day in 1954 at the ballpark with his dad; and fashion designer Maurice (an endearing Ken Page)remembers an exchange of vows between him and his partner dying of AIDS. For others, like conservative shock jock Arlene (Joanna Gleason) and shallow wannabe model Gina (Jenny Powers), one worthwhile moment is a little harder to come by. For shark-like lawyer Zach (Sebastian Arcellus), the question may not be answerable: he’s convinced he’s not really dead and isn’t supposed to be on the train he forced his way onto that morning.

Some of the characters are quite interesting, but because we have to whip through 10 stories, they’re gone before we get to know them very well. Others seem underdeveloped caricatures. Arlene is one of the most insensitive, uncaring, rude people you’ll meet (and Gleason’s delivery of some of her one-line zingers are a highlight), but she’s hardly believable as a conservative Christian, particularly when her perfect moment involves drugs and sex. Also fluttering around in an implausible perfect moment is bike messenger Miguel who ends up dancing and singing in a ridiculous number while dressed as the tooth fairy. And if that isn’t hard enough to swallow, husband and wife Neil (Robert Petkoff) and Cindy (Pearl Sun), apparently smart enough to be doctors, but not smart enough to remember basics about each other’s nationalities to impress their inlaws (he’s Jewish; she’s Chinese), sing and dance in an incredulous number about memorizing “family flashcards.”

In addition to all of the passengers, there’s also Stanley, who it seems couldn’t find his perfect moment on a previous cosmic subway ride, so he’s destined forever to guide others to their moments and to hoof it up in large show numbers involving oversized ladder props. He seems very hostile toward Zach, though we’re not sure why. Perhaps it’s the same frustration we feel at the derailing of an intriguing idea and a trainload full of talent. The show would have benefited by eliminating some of the songs and some of the less-interesting characters and focusing instead on a few like Zach, Helen, Kevin and Maurice, for example.

The set (Thomas Lynch) is noteworthy, though, as the subway car breaks away to reveal its interior and glides upstage to make room for the memories enacted. The band, located above the action on stage and under the direction of Eric Stern, also is quite good.

Happiness plays through June 7 at The Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, 150 West 65th St., NY. For tickets, call (212) 239-6200 or (800) 432-7250, or visit http://lct.org/showMain.htm?id=184.

Christians might also like to know:
• Language
• Homosexuality
• Lord’s Name Taken in Vain
• Sexual Act Depicted
Note: The idea of making the most of your moments might be a good conversation catalyst, despite the obvious departure from scripture regarding the afterlife.

Review: Hair

Gavin Creel as Claude (center) and the cast of the Broadway

revival of Hair. Joan Marcus photo.

Music, Energy Perm; Message Falls Flat, Needs ‘Son’shine

By Lauren Yarger
The free-love, anti-war rock sensation Hair bursts onto stage at the Hirschfeld Theater for its first revival on Broadway since it shocked audiences in 1968, but its messages which rallied and spoke for a generation of flower-children hippies seems dated for the 21st century.

Last summer’s The Public Theater’s production in Central Park, which transferred for the Broadway run, was a timely revisit of the contra-culture classic with book and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado complementing Galt MacDermot’s score which gave us, among others, the now standard “Aquarius,” “Let the Sun Shine In” and “Good Morning Starshine.” Anti-war and anti-establishment sentiments were running high last summer as the presidential election race headed down the final stretch.

The election presumably solved that unrest, however: a liberal president was elected and quickly began championing that cause and reiterating his promise to end the war. So how does this musical speak for the current generation, as recent comments would have us believe? The anti-establishment protests we have now are in the form of tea parties being organized by conservatives, who, in general, and contrary to the anti-war protesters in Hair, are opposed to a quick pull-out from Iraq, and who are protesting bailout and stimulus spending without adequate representation of the taxpayers who will foot the bill. Not quite the same thing, so what might have struck a chord last summer seems out of tune now.

I wasn’t old enough to see the first Hair (really…I was playing with dolls, coloring in books and much too young to know a sexual and political revolution was taking place around me), but it must have been quite shocking. The depiction of sexual activity and drug use, not to mention the first-act, full cast, full nudity scene, took theater to a new unexplored level for back then. It was embraced as an expression of freedom by a generation which forced a wedge between themselves and their parents’ ideas of what was acceptable and expected forever.

For the most part, most of the folks I observed really getting into this revival were people old enough to be those flower children, perhaps reliving their youth. Others from younger generations around me were asking questions at intermission like, “Why did they have to be naked?” The sexual revolution the musical glorifies is intrinsically responsible for a decline in morals over the past 40 years that makes it almost impossible to shock an audience now. This year alone, I have seen more naked people on stage than I can count.

Gavin Creel as Claude and Will Swenson as Berger with the cast.

Instead of playing with dolls and coloring in books, elementary school children today have to worry about their families breaking up (maybe for the second or third time), how to avoid offending each other (opinions contrary to what's considered "politically correct" often are not permitted or tolerated) and how to avoid sexually transmitted diseases (with education required in some states as early as kindergarten). I don’t think any of this is good and that’s why it’s hard for me to embrace the message of this story. Watching a group of sexually promiscuous folks getting high on drugs and singing “our eyes are open” strikes me as ironic and sad.

Beyond my issues with messages that go beyond the basic tale of a boy trying to decide whether or not to burn his draft card, let me tell you that this revival is very well done. Diane Paulus directs an exuberant cast led by Gavin Creel, Sasha Allen (I saw understudy Saycon Sengbloh), Will Swenson and Caissie Levy who have strong voices and who throw their energy into the music and dancing (choreography by Karole Armitage). Paulus makes good use of the space, often having actors positioned in and interacting with the audience (even up in the balcony). The signature song “Hair” rocks out the house and is a showstopper.

Scott Pask’s scenic design includes a large sunburst painted on the brick wall behind the action and it, along with period costumes by Michael McDonald, set the stage.

Hair runs at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, 302 West 45th St., NY. Tickets at http://www.givenik.com/show_info.php?show_id=153&show=individual

Christians might also like to know:
• Full Nudity
• Sexual Acts Depicted
• Drug Use Depicted throughout
• Scantily Clad Actors
• Cross Dressing
• Eastern Religion Practiced
• Homosexual Activity
• Sex Outside of Marriage

Review: The Toxic Avenger

Demond Green, Matthew Saldivar, Nick Cordero,

Sara Chase and Nancy Opel. Carol Rosegg photos.

It’s a Lean, Green Laughter Machine
By Lauren Yarger
So he’s green, smells, oozes slime and rips people’s limbs off. What’s not to love?

He’s The Toxic Avenger (Nick Cordero), New Jersey’s own superhero in the new off-Broadway musical treatment of the cult horror films of the same name playing at New World Stages. The show features a rocking score by Bon Jovi’s David Bryan, a really funny book from Joe DiPietro (both collaborated on the lyrics) and a knock-’em-dead (well, sometimes, literally) performance by Nancy Opel in multiples roles culminating in a sharply staged duet with herself.

The superhero is created when geek Melvin Ferd the Third, is dropped into a vat of toxic waste by some school bullies and left for dead. Instead, he emerges as a large, slime-covered green mutant with super powers (hair and wig design by Mark Adam Rampmeyer; costumes by David C. Woolard). When not pursuing a relationship with blind librarian Sarah (Sara Chase), he’s ridding Tromaville, NJ of polluters and corrupt politicians, often one gory limb at a time (prosthetics and special effects by John Dods).

Sarah doesn’t realize Melvin is “Toxie,” as she calls her new beau. She wonders why he won’t kiss her or let her touch his face. The Avenger fears rejection if Sarah were to discover the truth, because as she says, “Violence is always wrong, even if it is entertaining…”

Director John Rando expertly guides the cast through the tongue-in-cheek humor and some tight staging that makes the already sarcastic and goofy humor even more fun. Opel’s performance as Melvin’s mother, a nun and Tromaville Mayor Babs Belgoody is worth the ticket price alone. Also playing multiple roles are Matthew Saldivar and Demond Green, known only as “White Dude” and “Black Dude” who play everything from bullies and cops to Sarah’s BFFs and back up singers à la the Supremes in this laugh-a-minute fest.

The blind librarian jokes never stop -- and never stop being funny-- because Chase plays the gags with such gusto. Whether Sarah’s crashing into things, failing miserably as a librarian or sweetening a cup of tea with Drano, she does it full throttle and you can’t help but laugh. Even her clashing-colored clothes and the upside-down wallpaper in her apartment, which swings open on the other side of the toxic vats comprising scenic designer’s Beowulf Boritt’s backdrop, are amusing (lighting and sound design by Kenneth Posner and Kurt Eric Fischer).

Located above the action upstage right, the band rocks out the house as the stars lend their strong voices to songs titled, among other things, “Get the Geek,” “Thank God She’s Blind,” “Evil is Hot” and “You Tore My Heart Out.” Conducted by Doug Katsaros on the keyboards, the band also can be seen laughing at most of the bits taking place below, usually proof of a funny show.

The Toxic Avenger plays at New World Stages, 340 West 50th St, NY (between 8th and 9th avenues). Tickets are available by calling (212) 239-6200 or (800) 432-7250 or by visiting http://thetoxicavengermusical.com/.

Christians might also like to know:

Before you rush out to see this show based on my glowing review, let me advise you that to appreciate this show, you have to set aside the fact that it contains a lot of crude humor and potentially offensive material. It’s definitely not something to which I would bring young children. Here is a list of what’s in the show so you can make an informed decision about whether or not this show is for you:
• Language
• Drug use depicted
• Attempted rape depicted
• Mutilation and decapitation depicted—it’s gross, but could be worse
• Woman’s underwear revealed
• Cross Dressing
• Suggestive Dancing
• Sexually suggestive lyrics
• Sex Outside of marriage
• Praying to Oprah

Review: Irena's Vow

Thomas Ryan as ‘Major Rugemer,’ Tovah Feldshuh as ‘Irena Gut Opdyke,’

and John Stanisci ‘Sturmbannfuhrer Rokita’ in Irena’s Vow.Review: Irena’s Vow

(Photos by CAROL ROSEGG)

An Amazing Circle of Faith Triumphs Over Evil

By Lauren Yarger
“What we do is who we are” and one woman’s vow to make a difference in the face of man’s inhumanity against man is the compelling plot of Dan Gordon’s play “Irena’s Vow” playing at the Walter Kerr Theater on Broadway.

Tovah Feldshuh, directed by Michael Parva, stars as Irena Gut Opdyke, a Polish Catholic who singlehandedly saved 12 Jews from death in the Nazi camps during World War II. In Gordon’s treatment of this true story, Irena, in her golden years, begins recounting her story to a group of school children. Times travels back to 1939 (accomplished through the use of costumes by Astrid Brucker, original music by Quentin Chaippetta and projections by Alex Koch amidst Kevin Judge’s set), where Feldshuh portrays the 18-year-old nursing student taken prisoner, raped by Russian soldiers and forced into labor in occupied Poland. Rumors soon abound that the Nazis are exterminating the Jews, and Irena is convinced after witnessing a mass murder, including the horrific killing of a baby in front of its mother. Unable to act or help, Irena vows never to stand by again.

A Nazi officer, Major Rugemer (Thomas Ryan) notices Irena and installs her as housekeeper in his home, where Irena hides 12 Jews in the basement. Three of them appear as characters in the drama: Lazar and Ida Hallar (Gene Silvers and Maja C. Wampuszyc, wonderfully moving in her Broadway debut) and Franka Silberman (Tracee Chimo). The group finds a hidden space that connects between the basement and the garden gazebo and stay hidden there even during dinner parties thrown for ranking Nazi officials like Sturmbannfuhrer Rokita (John Stanisci). To accomplish this, the Jews secretly help prepare the meals so extra help is not needed in the kitchen and Irena does some fancy juggling with the help of her friend Shultz (Steven Hauck) who, in a personification of the “don’t get involved” attitude, is willing to close a blind eye, but won’t take an active part to help the Jews.

Poignant moments about what it really means to be alive surface as the Jews struggle with having to “live like rats” and when Ida becomes pregnant. Gordon gives some terrific dialogue to Rokita who coldly and unaffectedly explains the systematic programming of the Jews for extinction. Where the script feels less realistic, however, are the frequent attempts at humor, often seeming out of place against the plot unfolding.

Gene Silvers as ‘Lazar Hallar,’ Maja Wampuszyc as ‘Ida Hallar,’

Tracee Chimo (kneeling) as ‘Fanka Silberman,’

and Tovah Feldshuh as ‘Irena .'

Irena’s hiding friends vote for safety and to abort the life of the Hallar child, whose cries would put them all in danger. Irena, opposed to abortion, fights for the child who eventually is born, a stunning testimony to life and hope amidst such evil and death.

Rugemer discovers the Jews in his house, but agrees to remain quiet when Irena becomes his mistress. The Poles despise her for becoming the mistress of a Nazi and danger mounts as officials receive reports that Jews are hiding in the house. Irena smuggles them out to the Allies who are invading as the war is drawing to a close. She then is interred as a collaborator since she had been the mistress of a Nazi officer. One of the Jews she hid frees her and she comes to the United States where she marries, has a daughter and “puts a do-not-disturb sign” on the memories of her past.

The circumstances of how she decides to tell her story and how she is reunited with loved ones is amazing and more than once brings a gasp from the audience as a full circle of forgiveness and faith’s ability to triumph over evil is revealed.

"God is always there," Irena tells us. Sometimes "we just need to listen a little harder."

An added bonus at the performance I attended was Irena’s real life daughter who appeared on stage to answer questions from the audience.

Irena’s Vow runs at the Walter Kerr Theatre, 219 West 48th St., NY. Tickets are available by calling (212) 239-6200 or visit http://irenasvow.com/. A movie version of the story is in the works.