Theater Review: The Miracle Worker

This Revival Doesn’t Work any Miracles, Unfortunately
By Lauren Yarger
William Gibson’s play The Miracle Worker about the efforts by teacher Annie Sullivan to reach young Helen Keller, trapped in a world of blindness and deafness, is a moving piece of drama. You can’t help sit in awe of Sullivan’s determination and rejoice when Helen finally realizes that the words her teacher has been spelling out in sign language on her hands actually mean something.

The original Broadway production starring Patti Duke as Helen and Anne Bancroft as Sullivan took a best play Tony. The stars reprised their roles in the screen version and in a popular TV remake years later, Duke took on the role of Sullivan opposite Melissa Gilbert, then starring in TV’s "Little House on the Prairie," as Helen. The play is beloved and is presented often at regional and amateur theaters around the country.

For its first revival on the Great White Way in 50 years, Alison Pill takes on Sullivan and film actress Abigail Breslin, best known for her roles in “Little Miss Sunshine,” “Raising Helen,” “Nim’s Island” and “Kit Kittredge: an American Girl,” makes her Broadway debut as Helen. Unfortunately, as directed by Kate Whoriskey, this production fails to work any miracles. In fact, Ivoryton Playhouse in Connecticut's recent production directed by Jacqueline Hubbard with Helen played by Jenilee Lea Simons Marques, who in real life is deaf, was far superior and might have have been a better choice for the revival.

Joining Pill and Breslin at Circle in the Square is Matthew Modine as Helen’s father, Captain Keller, the southern gentleman who is at first reluctant to bring an outspoken Yankee woman into his home as a governess/teacher for his wild and undisciplined daughter. He finally gives in to the pleas of his wife, Kate (Jennifer Morrison, whom fans of the TV series “House” will recognize), who hopes Sullivan will be able to teach Helen something and keep the family from having to send her to an asylum.

Adding more opposition is the Captain's estranged son, James (Tobias Segal), who resents everything, including the chaos Helen brings to the household, Kate, whom he thinks too easily replaced his own mother in the Captain’s affections, and Sullivan, who seems to know how to get the Captain’s ever elusive attention.

Haunted by memories of the death of her little brother, Jimmy (Lance Chantiles-Wertz), while they were orphan inmates in an asylum, Sullivan sees reaching Helen as a form of redemption and steadfastly works to find a way to communicate with her while convincing her parents to stop confusing pity with love and to let her enforce some discipline.

The real miracle in the play is not just that Sullivan accomplishes these goals, but also transforms the whole family in different ways. Whoriskey never gets the actors to go beneath the surface, however, so much of the production seems like a bunch of people just shouting lines at each other rather than a study of the relationships.

Elizabeth Franz, Yvette Gannier and Michael Cummings give nice turns in minor roles, but the leads fail to engage. Breslin appears very animated and aware of actors and actions around her, not detached and unaware as we would expect Helen to be. She doesn’t seem to need any help and Pill never emits enough of a feisty spirit to convince us that she does. Most difficult is Morrison’s appearing cold and unfeeling while reciting lines about how much she cares.

Meanwhile, Derek McLane (set design) no doubt had a challenge creating scenes on a three-step floor in the center of the theater in the round. His solution: lace trim forming an oval on the ceiling out of which fly pieces of furniture, door frames, windows and whatever else is needed to create a scene. It doesn’t work. The pieces remain attached to their cables for the duration of their stay and it’s awkward and distracting.

Skillful lighting by Kenneth Posner does help to create different scenic areas. It creates an other-worldly feel when the undergarment-only-clad Jimmy, pitifully thin and racked with convulsive coughs, visits Sullivan’s thoughts. (I prefer other productions, like the one at Ivoryton, where we just hear Jimmy).

Gibson’s play itself is worth a night at the theater, though, especially if you haven’t seen it before. There were a number of giggling young children in the audience and it’s about a “G” rated a play as you’ll see on a Broadway stage.

The Miracle Worker plays Circle in the Square Theatre at 235 W. 50th St., NYC. Discount tickets are available for friends of Masterwork Productions. Go to http://www.givenik.com/?code=Masterworks, click on the show, then indicate at left that Masterwork Productions is the religious charity you wish to support to see the special rates.

Christians might also like to know:
• No content notes for this show

Theater Review: A Behanding in Spokane

This Play and Walken’s Creepy Performance Deserve a Hand for Most Creepy
By Lauren Yarger
Christopher Walken is one creepy guy – and that’s as it should be in Martin McDonagh’s newest Broadway play, and his first set in the USA, A Behanding in Spokane.

Walken plays Carmichael, a psychopathic killer searching for his missing left hand which was chopped off when some hillbillies in Spokane held the 17-year-old youth down in the path of an on-coming train. Cruelly, they used the severed hand to wave goodbye to him and now, years later, Carmichael is still trying to regain what was rightfully his.

The search connects him with a couple of con artists, Toby (Anthony Mackie) and Marilyn (Zoe Kazan), who try to convince him that an Aboriginal hand they stole from a museum is the one he is seeking. The deal disjoints, however, and Carmichael holds the couple hostage, chains them to the radiator in his shabby hotel room (Scott, Pask, set design) and goes to their apartment where they claim to have left the real hand on top of a freezer.

The couple brings new meaning to the word stupid, with Marilyn continually derailing Toby’s attempts to make up stories that might cause Carmichael to let them go, like the “other-hand-on-top-of-the-freezer” tale. She’s oblivious to their danger because she’s ticked off that Carmichael used the “n” word, and she’s even more angry at her African-American boyfriend for not being offended by it. They argue a lot and Toby cries a lot while they make some ridiculous attempts to save themselves. They don’t think of using the phone to call for help, however, until after Toby takes a call from Carmichael’s mother.

Perhaps even more stupid than the hostages, if that is possible, is hotel clerk Mervyn (Sam Rockwell), who obsesses about monkeys and of being a hero one day, all while knowing Carmichael is up to no good. He refuses to help the hostages escape, though, and somehow sees himself as Carmichael's sidekick. The sudden realization that Carmichael is the smartest person in the room is very frightening.

If this all sounds like an unlikely plot for a play, it is, until we notice the scathingly witty comment on society that McDonagh has weaved through it. It’s really uncomfortable to laugh at some of the language and really macabre situations, but it is very funny, and true, if bizarre, and you can’t help yourself.

It’s a dark and creepy comedy, tightly directed by John Crowley and played to perfection by Walken, who seems to enjoy making the audience wince. Only he could pull off shooting someone, then deliver an unaffected “I love you” to his mother on the phone in the next beat.

A Behanding in Spokane plays at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, 236 West 45th St., NYC through June 6. Discounted tickets are available for friends of Masterwork Productions by going to http://www.givenik.com/?code=Masterworks. Click on the show and make sure you have selected Masterwork Productions as the charity you are supporting.

Christians might also like to know:
• Language
• God’s name taken in vain
• Violence
• Contains really macabre stuff
• The show posts a mature rating

Banana Shpeel Sets New Dates Under New Management

Marty Schmelky has closed a deal with Cirque du Soleil to produce Banana Shpeel which will begin performances at the Beacon Theatre in New York on April 29 instead of March 17.

"The bananas are still a little green,” Schmelky said in explaining the postponment.

Those who purchased tickets through Ticketmaster for performances through April 28 will automatically be credited the ticket price and convenience charges. The credit should post to the credit card account within 10 business days. A special discount sent via e-mail will be offered to ticket holders of cancelled dates, which will be valid for performances starting April 29. For customer service inquiries, go to www.ticketmaster.com/h/asktm.html.

Banana Shpeel tickets for performances starting on April 29 can be purchased at http://www.schmelkyproductions.com/, http://www.ticketmaster.com/ or by calling 1-800-745-3000.

Performance Schedule:
April 29 - May 16, 2010:Wednesday-Saturday at 8 pm
Sundays at 3 pm

May 21 – Aug. 29, 2010:
Wednesday at 2 pm and 8 pm
Thursday and Friday at 8 pm
Saturday at 2 pm and 8 pm
Sunday at 2 pm & 6 pm

Theater Review: Equivocation

The Play About the Play Within the Play’s the Thing. There's No Equivocating on That
By Lauren Yarger
Terrific performances by John Pankow as William Shakespeare and a strong ensemble cast playing multiple roles to portray members of his Jacobean acting company, conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot and various royals and politicos trying to cover up what really happened make for some fabulous theater in Manhattan Theatre Club’s Off-Broadway production of Equivocation.

The brightest star of the play, however, is its author Bill Cain, who skillfully weaves history, intrigue and language of the Bard to tell one of the most satisfying tales on a NY stage this season.

Shag, short for Shagspeare (there are a number of different spellings of his name), has been commissioned by Secretary of State Sir Robert Cecil (David Pittu) to write a play about the Gunpowder Plot, an attempt in 1605 by Catholics to blow up Parliament and assassinate Protestant King James I (David Furr). It seems like easy money for The King’s Men, the acting troupe performing Shakespeare’s plays at the Globe Theatre and at court.

Ah, but here’s the rub: the story on which the play must be based has been written by the king himself and it isn’t based on truth. It’s what those in power would like adopted as the official version. They agree that Shag, whom Cecil thinks is so talented that his works might still be read 50 years hence, should be the one to write it and while he’s at it, James would some witches added just for fun. Furr is equally entertaining playing the spoiled king and Sharpe, a conceited actor in the troupe.

Shag tries to write the play, but finds a lot of the facts don’t hold up under scrutiny (and even today there are unanswered questions about what happened and who really was involved. Visit http://www.gunpowder-plot.org/). Where did Guy Fawkes and a bunch of working class men get all that gunpowder and how did they dig tunnels to plant it underneath Parliament without removing any dirt for instance? In fact, there doesn’t seem to be evidence of a plot at all. Shag sneaks into prison to question tortured co-conspirator Thomas Wintour, but still can’t find any answers.

Also unable to provide any insight is another accused co-conspirator, Father Henry Garnet (Michael Countryman), head of the Jesuits and the last of the “old faith” priests. Garnet writes a pamphlet called “Equivocation” which, according to his critics, teaches persecuted and imprisoned Catholics how to lie under torture, but which, according to its author, explains rather “how to tell the truth in trying times.”

Shag tries to master the art of equivocation so he can write a play that will please the king without rewriting history. The result is really very clever. Cain deserves to take a bow along with the wonderful ensemble directed by Garry Hynes, because, really, the play’s the thing here. Rounding out the troupe is Remy Auberjonois and Charlotte Parry, the only actor besides Pankow playing a single role as Shag’s neglected and unappreciated daughter Judith who obsesses with doing the troupe’s laundry and with ridding her father’s works of boring soliloquies.

Francis O’Connor designs the brooding metal set and costumes that ingeniously appear to be modern and of the period simultaneously. Likewise, Cain’s uses today’s language, yet mixes in enough iambic pentameter to sound like the bard. Get over to the Globe …. I mean New York City Center, and catch this one before it closes March 28.

Tickets are available by calling 212-581-1212. The play is on Stage I at 131 West 55th St., NYC.

Christians might also like to know:
• Language
• Lord’s name taken in vain
• Violence
• Bloody violence/ torture

Theater Review: Extinction

Michael Weston and James Roday. Carol Rosegg photo

Where Do Relationships Really Begin and End?
By Lauren Yarger
Two old friends get together for an annual weekend of debauchery in Atlantic City, but one of the men’s reluctance to join in the usual sex, drugs, gambling and drinking games this time around tests the boundaries of their relationship as well as how they define themselves in Gabe McKinley’s play Extinction Off Broadway.

Wealthy Max (Michael Weston) offers to bankroll the fun when Finn (James Roday) reveals that he has been wiped out trying to save his mother’s failed restaurant. Max offers money to finance his friend's graduate studies, orders room service and provides alcohol and cocaine in bulk to get Finn in the party mood, but it doesn't work. Finn confesses that he has married a woman they knew in college and that they are expecting a baby. He wants to turn over a new leaf and somehow, competing in a contest with Max where their conquests are assigned points – three points for single women, five for those who are married – just doesn't appeal.

Max is hurt, not only by Finn’s decision to embrace a more traditional life, but because Finn unexpectedly didn’t invite him to the wedding, let alone ask him to stand as best man. He decides to forgive and forget – well, at least to forget everything Finn has said – and asks the prostitute he has purchased for the evening to bring a friend along as a surprise for Finn.

Prostitute Missy (Amanda Detmer) dominates her relationship with the inexperienced Victoria (Stephanie E. Frame) much in the same way Max dominates his with Finn, and she coaches the recently unemployed girl about how to solve her financial problems by being with Finn.

The women try to remain pleasing even while the hostility between the men smolders, then bursts into a conflagration when a game of “remember when” turns ugly. Director Wayne Kasserman skillfully places the actors and brings out performances that show the progressively unattractive side of both men. The clever set designed by Steven C. Kemp (lighting design, Mike Durst) keeps the action in the two men’s hotel rooms separate, but simultaneously viewable. When the two women are left on their own for a few minutes, we discover that their relationship with each other and how they define themselves individually are just as vulnerable to extinction as those of their “dates.”

Roday flings humorous one-liners back and forth with Weston, who ironically happens to be a real-life friend from their NY University days as is McKinley, but the actor sounds nothing like his popular Shawn Spencer character on the hit TV show "Psych," despite the fact that Shawn and his sidekick Gus often share the same kind of banter. (Dulé Hill who plays Gus also happens to be a producer on Extinction and to complete the old-home week theme, Weston also guest starred on an episode of "Psych.") At the curtain call, I could see Roday physically remove himself from the character of Finn in evidence of some great acting.

Though the subject matter is difficult, McKinley injects a lot of sharp humor throughout. He also offers some implied morality about the consequence of some of the poor decisions the men make, about how avoiding temptation probably is the better choice and about how some decisions can come back to haunt you. It’s the type of play that lends itself to lots of discussion after the final curtain. The script also offers a thought-provoking surprise ending.

Extinction plays through March 14 at the Cherry Lane Theater, 38 Commerce St., NYC. Visit http://www.cherrylanetheatre.org/playing.php?page=guest for more information.

Christians also might like to know:
• Sexual activity and violent sexual activity
• Sexual dialogue
• Drug use
• Language
• Lord’s name taken in vain

Theater Review: Conviction

Kevin Hart, Catharine Pilafas and Ami Dayan

Spanish Inquisition's Interrogation Prompts Modern Counterpart
By Lauren Yarger
The confession of a 15th century priest about his secret marriage and his subsequent martyrdom plays out against a 20th century professor’s arrest for stealing the Inquisition’s records of the incident as Chicago Victory Gardens Theater presents the NY premiere of Oren Neeman’s Conviction Off-Broadway.

Neeman’s play, from the novel “Confession” by Yonatan Ben-Nachum, which won the 2001 Prime Minister Prize for Hebrew Literature, is adapted here by Ami Dayan and Mark J. Williams and plays out on a set doubling as a 1962 office in the Spanish National Archives and as a 1486 church confessional minimally designed by Jeremy Cole, who also directs.

The head of the archives, known only as Director (Kevin Hart), questions Israeli Professor Chaim Tal (Dayan) about his interest in the confidential document from the Inquisition. Director can’t figure out why this straight-forward confession of a priest would prompt such interest and make Tal risk arrest to possess it.

The modern-day interrogation continues and as Director rereads the aged pages from an interrogation hundreds of years ago, the story unfolds on stage with Dayan and Hart doubling as Priest Andreas Gonzales and his confessor, Juan De Salamanca, respectively. The Catholic priest no longer can hold the secret of his double life: he secretly has been married to a Jewish woman, Isabel (Catharine Pilafas), for more than a year.

The transition between time periods is well done, aided by some impressive quick-change costumes by Kevin Brainerd and original music by Jon Sousa and Yossi Green. Cole makes good use of the limited set and coaxes compelling performances from all three. A seductive scene between Isabel and Andreas is very artfully staged.

The script contains way too much exposition and is totally predictable, but Conviction is a very intriguing story enhanced by a very helpful printed program with a history lesson about the Jews and the Inquisition in Spain (most of which I had not known) and a glossary of Spanish and religious terms.

The show runs at 59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th St., NYC through March 21. Tickets are available by calling 212-279-4200 or online at http://www.ticketcentral.com/. For more information visit http://www.59e59.org/.

Christians might also like to know:
• Sexual activity

Theater Review: Signs of Life

Music, Character Development Misplaced in Story of Jews at Terezin
By Lauren Yarger
Jewish artists, political activists, homosexuals and anyone not deemed Arian enough by Hitler were imprisioned in the Czech city of Terezin during World War II. There the artists were forced to paint pictures of the “happy” life within the ghetto’s walls to mislead visiting Red Cross workers visiting the city.

Unbeknownst to the Nazis, artists, realizing they faced certain death, created other images depicting the true horrors of starvation, illness and executions they experienced at Terezin and secreted them in the walls and crawlspaces of the city's buildings. Some escaped detection and survive to this day to tell their story.

Now imagine if while I was telling you all that, the Jews and the Nazis were belting out songs – tons of them – and you’ll have an accurate picture of your own describing Amas Musical Theatre’s Signs of Life playing its world premiere Off-Broadway at the Marjorie S. Deane Little Theatre.

Peter Ullian’s book almost seems to clash occasionally with Joel Derfner’s music (lyrics by Len Schiff). The show is directed by Jeremy Dobrish. It's hard to tell sometimes whether you have landed in the middle of “Schindler’s List,” Les Miserables or “Springtime for Hitler.” It’s really a shame, because the story of the Jews in Terezin is one that should be told.

Nic Cory as Jonas and Patricia Noonan as Lorelei Schumann

with Kurt Zischke as Commandant Raum and Allen E. Read as Officer Heindel. Joan Marcus photo.

The protagonist is artist Lorelei Schumann (Patricia Noonan), who is sent to the city Hitler called his “gift to the Jews” with her grandfather, Jacob (Stuart Zagnit), little brother, Wolfie (Gabe Green), fellow artist Jonas (Nic Cory), political agitator and subsequent love interest Simon Muller (Wilson Bridges), entertainer Kurt Gerard (Jason Collins) and the most interesting, but most underdeveloped character of them all, Berta Pluhar (Erika Amato), a Jew who converted to Christianity, renounced by her husband who wants to move up in the Nazi Party.

Amato does justice the show's best song, a chilling “Home Again Soon,” in which Berta shares her heartbreak over trying to comfort children in the camp who ultimately will be sent to Auschwitz. It’s followed by an equally moving response, “Mourner’s Kaddish” sung by Jacob. This is where the story, staging and music (Mike Pettry plays keboard and directs three other musicians offstage), all come together. Unfortunately it’s the only time it happens in the show. Most of the rest of the music seems out of place with singing Nazis and performers who appear to be in belting contests in song after song, many performed in a continuous operatic style, seemingly without end. I glanced at the program well into the first act to incredulously discover they still were singing just the second song.

I wanted to like this show, but couldn’t engage in World War II while I was caught up in the battle of the show’s elements clashing all over the place. The costumes (Jennifer Caprio), for example, seemed too nice and clean under the circumstances.

Then there's the dialogue. Simon’s bumbling attempts to express his feelings for Lorelei are cute at first, but soon wear thin, though Bridges does a fine job of playing the love-struck, tongue-tied boy. Much dialogue has an unnatural sound to it with fluctuations between formal and colloquial like this exchange between a starving Kurt and Lorelei, who agrees to give him one of her dumplings for a kiss:

“A kiss will do, thank you very much. It satisfies my girlish curiosity without too severely compromising my virtue.”

“You’re not going to tell me you’re a virgin?"

“That, Mr. Gerard, is none of your damn business!”

“Please. Kurt. And you?”

“You may call me Miss Schumann.”

Before you have time to ask, “What the heck?” Simon is belting another song.

Lorelei is inexplicably complacent about going to the ghetto and creating what the Nazis want at first, but finally comes to agree with Jonas about painting the truth when she realizes the Nazis aren’t really all that nice. The characters and plot don’t get a chance to develop as much as we’d like and while Terezin’s legacy is one that deserves to be shared, it just doesn’t come together here.

One of the highlights of the show, however, is Alex Distler’s set. Images from the city are projected onto a scrim before the Jews are sent to Terezin. When they arrive, the scrim gives way to a backdrop of stacks of luggage, with creative use of suitcases as props throughout. Also moving is an exhibition in the theater's hallway of some of the actual surviving artwork from Terezin.

Signs of Life plays at the theater inside the YMCA at 5 West 63rd St. through March 21. Post-show discussions have been scheduled as follows:
• March 2 Matinee: Barbara Siesel & Phillip Silver, Juilliard Graduate and Daughter of a Survivor, Colby College Professor Specializing in Music of the Terezin Period
• March 6 Matinee: Edgar Krasa, Terezin Survivor Regularly Performed in the Ghetto.
• March 6 Evening: Fred Terna, internationally recognized artist and scholar
• March 7 Matinee: Edgar Krasa
• March 9 Evening: Gisela Adamski, Terezin Survivor, speaker and member of Holocaust Survivors Inc., Queens Chapter
• March 16 Matinee: Sol Rosenkranz, Terezin Survivor and Volunteer at The Museum Of Jewish Heritage at Battery Park
• March 20 Matinee: Anita Schorr & Stephen Herz, a child survivor of Terezin and Frequent Speaker, Poet and Author of a Collection Inspired by the Terezin Period
• March 20 Evening: John Freund, Terezin survivor and one of the "Boys Of Birkenau."

Tickets are $55 for adults and $40 for seniors and students and $40 for all previews and can be purchased by calling 212-352-3101 or online at www.ovationtix.com/trs/cal/425.

Christians might also like to know:
• Language
• Sex outside of marriage
• Suicide attempt
• God’s name taken in vain
• Sexual dialogue and situations