Theater Review: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson

Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson cast. Photo by Joan Marcus

It's Emo-Cracy in Action

By Lauren Yarger
Backroom deals in Washington, slogans of “take the country back,” “teabags,” “change” and a celebrity US president who promises transparency, vows to reglulate bankers on Wall Street and makes unilateral decisions he “knows” the American people really want even when they say they don’t.

Headlines ripped out of today’s newspapers? No, they’re issues from nearly 200 year-ago life of the nation’s seventh president and parts of the script from Broadway’s musical Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.

In this tongue-in-cheek story by Alex Timbers, who directs, with emo-rock music by Michael Friedman (who also wrote the lyrics), Jackson (Benjamin Walker) is personified as a tight-jean-wearing rock star persona, whose tale is told with a lot of sarcasm and humor. It’s enjoyable and a subtle commentary on today’s politics, which haven’t changed all that much in the last two centuries, it would seem. It is especially funny on the eve of Tuesday’s election.

The savvy presentation with choreography by Danny Medford takes place on a stage decorated with an explosion of frontier-themed props, chandeliers and tiny lights that extend into the house. Everything glows a bloody red as the audience enters the theater (watch out for that floating horse carcass.) Modern/period costumes are designed by Emily Rebholz.

The “bloody” refers to Jackson’s obsession with ridding the nation of Indians (they killed his family). After one massacre, he sends a surviving infant home to his wife Rachel (Maria Elena Ramirez) as a “souvenir.” Black Fox (Bryce Pinkham), who survives as the leader of the last nation of Native Americans by cooperating with Jackson, helps raise the boy until his refusal to go along further with the relocation of his people breaks his friendship with Jackson.

There’s a lot of history thrown in with the gags, like Jackson’s initial failed bid for president against John Quincy Adams (a very funny Jeff Hiller), charges of bigamy -- Rachel apparently was legally married to someone else -- and the Louisiana Purchase. These are thrown in amidst some very funny interpretations of politicians of the time: James Monroe (Ben Steinfeld), Henry Clay (Pinkham), Martin Van Buren (Lucas Near-Verbrugghe) and John C. Calhoun (Darren Goldstein).

Rounding out the zaniness is Kristine Nielsen as the wheel-chair-bound Storyteller, the voice of history, who has a love-hate relationship with Jackson.

This fresh take on the “man who puts the man in manifest destiny” is a treat and makes the transition from last season’s Off-Broadway presentation to Broadway well (many of the cast members repeat their performances for this rendition).

Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson plays at the Bernard R. Jacobs Theatre, 242 West 45th St., NYC. For tickets call 212-239-6200 or 800-432-7250 outside New York.

Christians might also like to know:
• Language
• God’s name taken in vain
• Sexual dialogue
• Two women kiss

Theater Review: Lombardi with Dan Lauria and Judith Light

Performances in Broadway’s Lombardi are Winners Too
By Lauren Yarger
Now, everyone knows legendary football coach Vince Lombardi, but back in the early 1960s the intimidating, growling man who had turned the losing Greenbay Packers around and led them to back-to back Super Bowl championships was still something of a mystery.

To tell the story of Lombardi, playwright Eric Simonson has focused on one week in 1965 during which reporter Michael McCormick (Keith Nobbs) talks with the coach (Dan Lauria), some of his players and his wife, Marie (Judith Light) to write a profile piece for Look magazine.

Lauria is great as the taciturn gridiron leader who doesn’t believe in losing (“We just ran out of time”) and who would rather die than finish second, which the Packers have just done twice following their championship seasons. He looks and sounds like Lombardi.

Light is very funny as sarcastic Marie, supportive of her husband’s obsession with the sport, but downing martinis while pining for the metropolitan New York area she left behind for the “frozen tundra” of Wisconsin. She appears to have trouble walking in high- heeled period shoes (Paul Tazewell, costume design), but it’s hard to tell whether they’re slipping on the stage surface, or Marie just has had a little too much to drink.

McCormick has a hard time getting Lombardi to open up, and his players, Dave Robinson (Robert Christopher Riley), Paul Horning (Bill Dawes) and Jim Taylor (Chris Sullivan) are even less cooperative. Marie, especially when plied with liquor, gives him some background. Thomas Kail effectively directs flashback scenes where the reporter looks on.

The week with the coach results in McCormick's finding out more about himself, his relationship with his father and what he wants to do with his life instead of producing the magazine profile that he thought would propel his reporting career.

The play is nicely staged with Packer footage projected on video screens (Zachary Borovay, design). Images also transform the stage into the football field and a chalkboard with circles and arrows showing plays. Props needed for the scenes seamlessly rise up out of the floor (David Korins, scenic design; Howell Binkley, lighting; Acme Sound Partners, sound).

Lombardi runs 90 minutes without an intermission. It plays at Circle in the Square, 235 West 50th St., NYC. Discounted tickets are available through Masterwork Productions at http://www.givenik.com/show_info.php/Masterworks/250/individual

Christians might also like to know:
 Language
 Lord’s name taken in vain
 References to Lombardi’s Catholic faith, his belief in the Jesuit philosophy “freedom through principle’ and to Paul’s writings about running the race.

Theater Review: La Bête with David Hyde Pierce, Mark Rylance and Joanna Lumley

From left, Greta Lee, Mark Rylance, Joanna Lumley and David Hyde Pierce

It’s a Drive-By Wording and Lots of Fun
By Lauren Yarger
It’s a drive-by wording: You’re struck so many times so quickly that you don’t know what hit you and you didn’t have time to get the license plate. In the case of Broadway’s La Bête, the driver is Mark Rylance and the vehicle is playwright David Hirson’s imaginative and rhyming couplets and meter script. In all, it’s one of the most unique stage experiences of the season.

Rylance’s tour de force which includes an opening 20-minute monologue during which he hardly takes a breath is one of those moments on stage when the audience knows its witnessing theater history. It’s a perfect storm of acting, writing and direction (Matthew Warchus) that sends a tsunami of theatergoers out onto the streets saying, “You have to see this!”

Truthfully, you’ll need to see the work to appreciate it since the couplets delivered in doublets (it takes place in mid 17th century France) is very different and such a wall of words, that ironically, it leaves one almost speechless to describe it.

Rylance is Valere, a nose-picking, belching and otherwise disgusting and obnoxious street performer who possesses little theatrical talent. He is capable of speaking in long, run-on sentences, however, which his even larger ego believes everyone is as interested in hearing as he. The portrayal is bizarre and funny (think Bobcat Goldthwait’s character Zed from the 'Police Academy" movies, only not quite as smart and drunk). He’ll have you saying, “Oh my gosh, did he really just do or say that?” and if you aren’t sharp, you won’t be sure because about 5000 other words of dialogue probably already sped by (or “verbobos“ as Valere likes to call his many words).

Valere’s performances have moved the Princess (Joanna Lumley, known to television audiences for her role in “Absolutely Fabulous”) and she has commanded that Valere join the thespians at court, led by classical writer Elomire (David Hyde Pierce). He can’t stand the clown and protests, when he can get a word in edgewise, that Valere won’t fit in with his troupe (Stephen Ouimette, Sally Wingert, Robert Lonsdale, Lisa Joyce, Michael Milligan and Liza Sadovy round out the ensemble of players and courtiers). Also part of the craziness at court is Greta Lee as Dorine, Elomire’s maid who can speak only in words that rhyme with “oo” and who engages the others in charades-like pantomiming to convey messages.

“A year at court has undermined your morals,” Princess tells Elomire. “You’ve grown content to rest upon your laurels as if afflicted by some dead ennui. Valere will challenge your complacency!” In other words, she uses her power to challenge Elomire and to give Vallere a shot and since there's no doubt about who is in charge here, made obvious by her fabulous entrance (Mark Thompson, set and costume design), they have to try to work something out.

A competition of sorts ensues between the two artists. Who will get the royal endorsement and get to stay at court? Hirson gets the golden pen award for writing an engaging play in verse that also manages to deliver a knock-down commentary on today’s culture and society and what influences them. Elomire discovers that in the end we need to stand by our principles and be “measured by the choices that we make.”

While Rylance chews up the stage for almost two hours, the fork and knife are provided by Hyde Pierce’s understated performance. He reacts with expressions, actions, silence and humor that are a foil to the more flamboyant Rylance. In not needing to upstage or get his fair share of the action, he perfects the piece. It’s a welcome change of pace (it’s almost like Hirson took the princess’s challenge himself and wrote something different from the same-old, same-old that seems to be infecting new plays these days?) and a theater experience that won’t be matched.

The Broadway run of La Bête (it means beast in French), which won the 1990 Olivier Award (England’s equivalent of the Tonys) for Best Play, follows a run at the Comedy Theatre in London’s West End. It’s at the Music Box Theater, 239 West 45th St., NYC until Feb. 12. Tickets are available by calling 212-239-6900 or by visiting ww.telecharge.com.

Christians might also like to know:
 God’s name taken in vain
 Minor language
 Sexual dialogue
 Two men kiss

Theater Review: A Life in the Theater with Patrick Stewart and TR Knight

T.R. Knight and Patrick Stewart. Photo by Carol Rosegg.

Interesting if You Share the Life, but Probably Like Viewing Someone Else’s Vacation Slides if You’re Not
By Lauren Yarger
Theater is a wonderful life: relationships develop and creativity and opportunities abound. Some not-so-wonderful things are a part of it too, like jealosy, ego, forgotten lines and prop disasters.

All of it is profiled in a biographical tale of two actors in David Mamet’s A Life in the Theater, running on Broadway, but if you’re not in the industry or don’t do a lot of community theater, this play might feel more like being forced to watch someone else’s vacation slides than a good time at the theater.

Numerous, brief scenes follow the relationship that develops between the two actors played by Patrick Stewart and T.R. Knight as they interact in various productions and backstage. The dynamics of the relationship change as the veteran actor, Robert (Stewart), drops in esteem as up-and-comer John’s (Knight) career solidifies.

Because there’s not much plot beyond that and the actors are more than capable of delivering their lines without much guidance, Director Neil Pepe seems to have felt a need to over direct the scenes where the men appear in productions together. Some of the scenes are elaborately staged (Santo Loquasto, scenic design) with the actors lavishly costumed (Laura Bauer, design). I’ve seen full productions that didn’t generate as much set and costuming as A Life in the Theater does for a five-minute bit to show the actors delivering a few lines from a show.

Probably the most entertaining part is seeing Stewart appear in a number of silly wigs (Charles LaPointe, design). Fans of the classical Shakespeare actor, known also as no-nonsense Captain Picard on TV’s “Star Trek: the Next Generation,” can’t help but chuckle and think what a good sport the bald actor is when he appears in various wigs (Charles LaPointe, design) and silly costumes and, among other things, performs ballet.

The two actors work well and have a chemistry that helps the play along, though it offers no real plot other than to allow you to recognize elements of your own theater experience somewhere in the lives of the two actors. Fortunately, it also doesn’t offer all of the profanity or women bashing Mamet includes in some of his other works. It doesn’t offer a lot to hold your interest, however, if you’re not involved in the theater (except of course the chance to get to see two of your favorite television stars -- Knight also is known to television audiences for his role on “Grey’s Anatomy.”)

If you are in the industry, you’ll chuckle your way through some of it, see yourself either as the wise veteran or the actor just starting out and groan, probably with empathy, when things go wrong on stage.

A Life in the Theatre runs through Jan. 2 at the Gerald Schoenberg Theatre, 236 West 45th St., NYC. Special discounted tickets are available through Masterwork Productions at http://www.givenik.com/show_info.php/Masterworks/267/individual.

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

Theater Review: The Language Archive

Words Say Mean a Lot -- or Not -- in Relationships
By Lauren Yarger
The floor-to-ceiling shelves cluttered with books and knickknacks (Neil Patel, set design) are the backdrop for the home an office life of a man stuck between his love for preserving dying languages and his inability to express himself adequately in his native tongue.

The communication between linguist George (Matt Letscher), his wife Mary (Heidi Schreck) and his assistant, Emma (Betty Gilpin), are explored with playwright Julia Cho’s own gift for intelligent insight and lyrical language, but unless you’re someone like me, who preferred staying in the dorm room in college to research etymologies while your friends went to the kegger, the charm of Roundabout Theatre’s The Language Archive, playing Off Broadway might by ephemeral. (In other words, if you can’t define etymology or ephemeral, this play might not be for you.)

George is unable to express his feelings or to say I love you to Mary, who resorts to leaving notes around the house in the hopes that they will prompt him. He’s more excited about preserving languages that are close to extinction. When a language dies, so does the imagination, memory and way of life for the people who spoke it, he says, and that fills him with a passion he doesn’t seem to have for Mary. In fact, the linguist has nothing to say when she tells him she’s leaving.

Meanwhile, as Emma assists George in his recordings of languages, she’s unable to express the love she feels for her boss, even in the man-made language esperantos which he adores. They both learn some valuable lessons from an elderly couple, Alta (Jayne Houdyshell) and Resten (John Horton), the last speakers of an extinct language, who provide some of the play’s comic relief (Houdyshell and Horton also play a few other characters along the way). Mary, on the other hand, has no trouble expressing herself, but seems constantly surprised at the words that she utters.

It’s interesting, again insofar as you’re willing to immerse yourself in the language and the subtleties of the communication between the characters, but the lack of a real plot and a pronounced depreciation of momentum (OK, I could have said the pace slows, but I’m trying to be worthy of the linguistic lovers who still might be reading this review) in the second act fail to keep us on board. Some of the staging (Mark Brokaw, director) is hard to define as well, with George apparently asleep on a table or nearby for some reason when some other characters interact.

The Language Archive plays a limited run through Dec. 19 at the Laura Pels Theatre, 111 West 46th St., NYC. Tickets are available by calling 212-719-1300.

Christians might also like to know:
• Language (no pun intended)
• Homosexuality discussed in dialogue
• God’s name taken in vain

Donny & Marie Osmond Celebrate Christmas on Broadway

Donny & Marie - A Broadway Christmas, a new holiday production will play a limited engagement of 12 performances Thursday, Dec. 9 through Sunday, Dec. 19 at Broadway’s Marriott Marquis Theatre, 1535 Broadway at 46th St., NYC.

In the holiday tradition of the “Osmond Family Christmas” television specials, siblings Donny and Marie share a Broadway stage for the first time to share their favorite hits mixed with the irresistible chemistry that made them international stars.

Donny began his career in entertainment at the age of 5, and by 13 had already collected 18 gold records, eventually earning a grand total of 33 throughout his career. He starred in Andrew Lloyd Weber's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for a record-breaking, six-year run of 2000 performances and in 2007 he starred on Broadway as Gaston in Beauty & The Beast.

Marie made her Broadway debut in The King and I following a national and international tour as Maria in The Sound of Music.

The performance schedule for Donny & Marie - A Broadway Christmas is as follows: Monday at 7 pm, Tuesday at 6:30 pm, Thursday through Saturday at 8 pm, with matinees Saturday at 2 pm and Sunday at 3 pm. Tickets ranging from $136.50 - $51.50 are available at
www.TicketMaster.com or by calling 877-250-2929.

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Reviews will be up this week for A Life in the Theatre with Patrick Stewart and T.R. Knight, The Language Archive and La Bete with David Hyde Pierce, Joanna Lumley and Mark Rylance.