Next to Normal Receives Pulitzer

Next to Normal with book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey and music by Tom Kitt won the Pulitzer Prize for best drama, it was announced today. Finalists in the category were The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, by Kristoffer Diaz; Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, by Rajiv Joseph and In the Next Room (or the vibrator play) by Sarah Ruhl.

Next to Normal tells the story of a woman's journey through bipolar disorder and depression and her family's attempts to deal with her illness. For a review, click here. Discounted group tickets for friends of Masterwork Productions are available by clicking here. To see whether the tour is coming to a theater near you, click here.

For a list of the Pulitzer Prize winners in all the categories, click here.

Broadway Theater Review: Red

Play about Abstract Artist Leaves an Impression
By Lauren Yarger
If you’ve ever gazed at an abstract painting and thought “there must be more to this,” you’re right and in the case of a series of murals commissioned by the Four Seasons Restaurant in the Seagram Building on New York's Park Avenue from master abstract impressionist Mark Rothko, there’s a whole play more to them.

It’s playwright John Logan’s Red, which stars Alfred Molina as the self-absorbed painter and Eddie Redmayne as his assistant, Ken.

Set in 1958, Rothko receives what was then the world’s largest commission to paint the murals, in part recreated here in a studio set designed by Christopher Oram, terrifically brought to life by Neil Austin’s lighting.

Molina and Redmayne, who created the roles for the show produced by the Donmar Warehouse in London, are directed by Michael Grandage and give solid performances. Rothko is brooding, pondering everything from Nietzsche and classical music to divine guidance as he creates his paintings. In fact, he sits on stage for 20 minutes prior to the curtain just studying one of his creations.

Ken, an aspiring painter himself, at first is thrilled to be working with someone of Rothko’s reputation and is happy mixing paints, stretching canvas and sometimes being given the privilege of helping to apply the undercoat for a painting. Rothko continually challenges him to see more than just red or any other shade on the canvas as just a color. The master is more interested that he "feel" the colors.

One of the most memorable scenes is of the two men applying red primer to a canvas, wielding their brushes and moving alongside, around and over each other almost in a creative ballet while music plays on the phonograph (Adam Cork, composer and sound designer).

The hero worship wears off, however, and after two years, Ken finally sees red, if you will, and unleashes his frustrations on the uncaring mentor, who barely has taken the time to show and interest in anything the assistant does outside of the studio. Is he married? How are his paintings coming along? How has he coped with having witnessed the murder of his parents as a young boy?

These aren’t questions Rothko has asked because he increasingly withdraws into the dark shadows of his studio, away from people, away from the commercialism of the art business and its new and upcoming competitors and away from natural light which he finds so offensive. He doesn’t want to be a mentor or father figure for the young artist. And, he finally realizes, he doesn’t even want his beloved paintings hanging in the posh restaurant where New York’s wealthy wheel and deal.

There’s a lot of interesting history here about Rothko and those paintings (which never do make their way to the Four Seasons) and some fine acting in the interactions between the two characters. Logan’s Red is a lot like an abstract piece of art that you look at for a while only to find its image keeps reappearing in your memory and has made a lasting impression long after you've left.

Red plays at the Golden Theatre, 252 West 45th St., NYC through June 27. Discounted tickets are available to friends of Masterwork productions by clicking here.

Christians might also like to know:
• Language
• Lord’s name taken in vain

Theater Review: Lend Me a Tenor

Stars Lend Themselves to Farcical Silliness
By Lauren Yarger
A star-studded cast directed by Stanley Tucci turns in a solid comedic performance to propel a fun Broadway revival of Ken Ludwig’s Lend Me a Tenor.

Saunders (Tony Shaloub, TV’s famous OCD detective Monk among other stage and screen credits) and his assistant, Max (film star Justin Bartha making his Broadway debut), plan a concert featuring opera great Tito Merelli (Anthony LaPaglia, Broadway veteran and also star of TV’s “Without a Trace”).

There’s just one problem. Saunders and Max think Merelli has died in his opulent Cleveland hotel room (designed by John Lee Beatty, complete with five doors lending themselves to the pop ins and outs and door slamming typical of this type of farce) and they quickly devise a scheme to go on with the concert and fool the waiting audience. Max, a budding opera singer himself, dresses as Othello and goes on as Merelli.

Actually, there’s another slight problem: Merelli isn’t dead and also dressed as Othello, heads to the concert hall. Before you can say the word “farce,” mistaken identities and mayhem abound. Fooled are Sanders' daughter, Maggie (New York stage actress Mary Catherine Garrison), her aunt, Julia (Brooke Adams, screen star and Shaloub’s real-life wife), Merelli’s wife, Maria (very funny Broadway veteran Jan Maxwell), opera diva wannabe Diane (Jennifer Laura Thompson, another delightful Broadway vet), and the bellhop (Jay Klantz, probably the newest kid on the block, but who makes his minor role memorable).

The two Othellos, elegantly costumed by Martin Pakledinaz (all of the 1930-era close are wonderful and there’s one blue evening gown to die for) and humorously made up (Paul Huntly, hair and wig design), confuse everyone. The evening includes rotting shrimp, evading the police, sexual double entendre and objects projected into the audience, among other things.

When Shaloub’s character finally figures out that Merelli isn’t dead, I so wanted him to frame the scenes with his hands à la Monk and say, “Here’s what happened.” My rewrite would have improved a somewhat weak script – it’s not the best farce ever written – but without my edit, the show still is a lot of fun. Watching these stars throw themselves into the physical humor and deliver their lines with impeccable timing is worth seeing.

Lend Me A Tenor also offers one of the most satisfying “into the curtain calls” around. Enjoy it at the Music Box Theatre, 239 West 45th St., NYC. Discounted tickets for friends of Masterwork Productions are available here.

Christians might also like to know:
• Language
• God’s name taken in vain
• Sex outside of marriage
Note: While there is a lot of sexual innuendo in the double entendre dialogue, it really is in the spirit of farce and is on the lower end of the scale for being offensive in my opinion.

Theater Review: Come Fly Away

Big Band, Big Production, Big Entertainment
By Lauren Yarger
A big band, vibrant dancing to the choreography of Twila Tharp, spectacular lighting by Donald Holder and the singing voice of Old Blue Eyes himself combine to make Broadway’s Come Fly Away an enjoyable evening of entertainment.

Tharp, who brought Billy Joel’s music to life on the Great White Way in Movin’ Out, repeats the formula for Come Fly Away: no spoken dialogue, no real story, but lots of dance with the choreography telling the story for each vignette. Humor abounds in the "stories" involving the romance of two young bumbling sweethearts.

All of the action has four couples falling in and out of love linked by a night club theme on a deco-ish set (James Youmans, design) which houses a 19-member big band orchestra conducted by Russ Kassoff on piano. Holder’s lighting creates spectacular effects, illuminates the large stain-glass-type tray ceiling which unfortunately moves and floats ominously above the action, and creates a larger-than-life portrait of Frank Sinatra, whose own vocals are nicely synced with the instruments and live singing by Hilary Gardner and Rosena M. Hill.

The dancers, also directed by Tharp, perform her choreography well. The starring dancers are Matthew Stockwell Dibble, Holley Farmer, Laura Mead, Charlie Neshyba Hodges, Rita Okamoto, Karine Plantadit, Keith Roberts and John Selya.

A few segments I found rather degrading to women (the dancer is passed from man to man, crawls across the stage like an animal with a piece of costume in her mouth to mention a couple). Unfortunately each segment I found objectionable also was performed by the African American woman dancer.

Otherwise, the show is visually pleasing. Costume Designer Katharine Roth creates shiny, swirly dresses for the women and elegantly slick suits for the men. It’s an enjoyable show, especially if you like the old classics like “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” “You Make Me Feel So Young,” “Witchcraft,” “Pick Yourself Up,” Makin’ Whoopee,” “My Way, “ and tons more.

Come Fly Away plays at the Marquis Theatre, 1535 Broadway. NYC. Discounted tickets for friends of Masterwork productions can be purchased here.

Christians might also like to know:
• A few sexually suggestive dance moves

Review: When the Rain Stops Falling

The Rain and the Confusion Never Cease
By Lauren Yarger
When viewing Andrew Bovell’s When the Rain Stop Falling Off-Broadway at Lincoln Center, be sure to open the Playbill to the cast and family-tree pages, study them and keep them open for the duration. You’re going to need them if you want to understand what’s happening on stage.

I did not have the benefit of that friendly advice when I saw the show and as a result spent the entire 90 minutes trying to figure out who was who and mistakenly thinking people were who they were not, only to realize through some dialogue that they couldn’t be who I thought they were. And since there is no intermission, there wasn’t the option of trying to make a quick study before the second act.

In fact, my companion and I discussed who was who at length following the show, and we weren’t alone, as other theater goers lunching at our restaurant also were trying to make some sense out of the all the characters. Even after we thought we had it figured out, I realized when I sat down to write this review that we still hadn’t gotten it right.

So dear readers, I will not attempt to tell you who was who and who did what since I’m not exactly sure. I can tell you that a number of characters (nine, I think) many of whom are named Gabriel or Gabrielle, played by various actors at different ages, are portrayed at various times from 1959 to 2039 and that the play is set in London and in Adelaide, Alice Springs, Ayres Rock and the Coorong, Australia (and most of that I got from the program, not from Bovell’s script).

At one point a fish drops out of the sky and indeed, fish figure prominently in the various vignettes we share with the characters. The folks repeat a lot of the same conversations and are particularly interested in discussing how the incessant rain isn’t so bad when you consider how much it rains in Bangladesh.

What it all means, I honestly am not sure, but there are some highlights (and my companion absolutely loved the play, though I’m not sure he could tell you for sure why). There are some really nifty rain and lighting effects (David Korns, Tyler Micoleau, design). The always excellent Victoria Clark who plays Gabrielle York, older and Mary Beth Hurt (Elizabeth Law, older) are ably directed by David Cromer of Our Town fame and give moving performances as women trapped in lives they didn’t expect trying to do what they think is best.

Cromer’s outstanding moment comes right at the beginning of the play when all of the various characters walk past each other in the rain on a revolving stage that symbolizes the vicious cycle of these people’s lives. It’s terrific theater. Then I got lost in the deluge of characters and time tripping and never got my head above water again.

After the characters share their moments, there is reconciliation between a father and son and the rain finally stops. I’m just not sure which father and son, because even now when I look at the family tree and remember the play, I think it’s one particular father reuniting with his son. The show’s publicity information, however, tells me it’s actually two different characters.

So, instead, I’ll just list the rest of the actors and their characters as listed in the Playbill and say that they all give very good performances: Kate Blumberg (Elizabeth Law, younger), Richard Topol (Henry Law), Will Rogers (Gabriel Law), Susan Pourfar (Gabrielle York, younger), Rod McLachlan (Joe Ryan), Michael Siberry (Gabriel York), Henry Vick (Andrew Price).

When the Rain Stops Falling plays through April 18 at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater, 150 West 65th St., NYC. For tickets call 212-239-6200; outside NY: 800- 432-7250.

Christians might also like to know:
• Language
• Lord’s name taken in vain

Theater Review: A Cool Dip in the Barren Saharan Crick

A Refreshing Drink of a Play

By Lauren Yarger
A Cool Dip in the Barren Saharan Crick, Kia Corthron’s new Off-Broadway play is self fulfilling. It’s a refreshing, satisfying drink of a play in a theater world thirsty for new works that offer some hope and solutions for problems instead of focusing on dysfunction in hopes of winning a Pulitzer Prize.

Cool Dip follows the life of Abebe (a delightful William Jackson Harper), one of the most positively portrayed Christian characters you’ll ever see on a stage. At once endearing and exasperating, he’s someone you wish you knew in real life, because your life would be richer for knowing him.

Abebe journeys from his native Ethiopia to rural Maryland to attend college, though he is unable to declare a major since he is torn between his first love: preaching God’s word and becoming a pastor, and his second love: water studies which would offer him a way to help his drought-plagued village. Will he save the planet, or the souls on it? He tries to do both.

His host family is a godsend to orphaned Abebe. Pickle (Myra Lucretia Taylor, in a stand-out performance) and her daughter, H.J. (Kianne Mashcetti), make him feel right at home and play guinea pigs as he practices his sermon-giving and baptism-dunking techniques on them (a large favor on H.J.’s part, since she wants nothing to do with God).

Abebe tries to help Pickle, slowly losing touch with reality, through the grief of losing her father, husband and son in Hurricane Katrina. She hears their voices, inventively brought to life by set, lighting and sounds designers Kris Stone, Ben Stanton and Darron L. West. Abebe also attempts to help H.J. get back with her estranged boyfriend, Tich (Keith Eric Chappelle), and becomes a Big Brother to Tay (an adorable Joshua King), a young boy left mute by the trauma of witnessing his father murder his mother and sister.

Trying to deal with all of these emotional situations causes Abebe to realize that in many ways, he is a missionary, only in reverse. He’s a missionary from Africa, sent to save the souls of Americans. Abebe has his own ghosts to deal with, as well: his family and an adopted stepbrother, all lost because of the lack of safe drinking water in his village and the disastrous corporate attempts to profit by building a dam. He’s also haunted by the dawning truth that wherever he starts a good work, his efforts seem to go barren.

Corthron steers the theme of water as a nourishing and life-threatening force throughout the play, both metaphorically and directly, with many conversations hinging on bottled water vs. tap. Water even enters into Abebe’s no-nonsense, yet humorous preaching. Water is used in the practice of many non-Christian religions, he tells us, but they will have a surprise in the end because there “isn’t much water in hell.” Now some will be offended by that but if you heard Abebe 's conviction while speaking in his innocent, African-accented, endearing way, you'd probably smile.

The plot, though sometimes disjointed in trying to grapple with so many subplots, ripples with engaging characters, realistic, yet supernatural events, lots of God’s word and hope to bring a satisfying, thirst-quenching play to the stage. It's most welcome.

All of the actors, directed by Chay Yew, give exceptional performances. Cool Dip runs in a limited engagement through April 11 at Playwrights Horizons, 416 West 42ns St., NYC. For tickets, call 212- 279-4200.

Christians might also like to know:
• No content notes. Go see it and take your friends.

Theater Review: The Book of Grace

Besides the Character’s Name, There’s Little Grace Here
By Lauren Yarger
The Book of Grace by Pulitzer-Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks (Top Dog/ Underdog) offers some good performances directed by James McDonald, but not much grace or any real incentive to spend time with its three rather unlikable characters.

The night I attended, many folks in the audience snoozed through the 90-minute dysfunction fest and some who stayed awake reacted negatively, both physically and vocally to the depravity on stage.

The action takes place in Texas near the Mexican border as Buddy (Amari Cheatom) visits his estranged father, Vet (John Doman), and his stepmother, Grace (Elizabeth Marvel). The couple’s frumpy home is oddly designed by Eugene Lee with sand instead of a floor, a picture of the exterior of the house displayed behind it, and bags of sand at the rear where Vet has dug a hole for Grace.

Vet had dug one for Buddy’s recently deceased mother also. The exact meaning? We're not sure. Buddy, who apparently suffered terrible sexual abuse by his father, decides for reasons clear only to the playwright to accept Grace’s invitation to visit and attend a ceremony being held to honor Vet, a border crossing guard, for his capture of some illegals.

Buddy arrives and immediately has sex with Grace as though it’s a normal thing for a stepmother and stepson to greet each other after years of separation in this way. Then they sort of forget about it and start chitchatting with Buddy asking whether Grace thinks they’ll be friends.

“We’re more than friends,” she tells him. “We’re family.”

Grace is ever smiling to hide the terror she feels at living with the degrading, unkind Vet, (a stereotype of the bigoted, military type most pro-immigration reform folks imagine those who want to protect the border to be). She hopes that Buddy’s visit will somehow make things better (note to Grace: having sex with the son of your abusive husband is not usually the way to accomplish this, thought the border patrol guard who prides himself on knowing everything that goes on turns out to be rather obtuse….).

Her other hopes and dreams are captured in a book where she writes down things that make her happy: “evidence of good things,” which quench the thirst of her barren life when she revisits them. She keeps the book hidden from Vet, who doesn’t approve of writing things down. He prefers to keep his thoughts in his head where they are safe from theft.

Will Grace get to read her book? Will Buddy successfully bomb the awards ceremony to take revenge on his father? Will Vet get the crease just right on his uniform pants before he attacks someone with the iron? Do we care? The answer is no.

These characters are just too whacked for us to relate or to want to get involved in their lives, despite Parks’ attempt to convince us that the whole mess really is an allegory for the state of our nation. The good performances turned in by the actors are the production's saving grace, but we really don’t want to watch these characters past the first few moments of the play.

The Book of Grace runs through Sunday at the Public Theatre, 425 Lafayette St., NYC. For tickets call 212-967-7555.

Christians might also like to know:
• The show does not post a Mature Rating, but it should.
• Two males kiss
• Sexual activity
• Sounds of pornographic video
• Violence
• Language