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April 28th,
2008
Stephen Adly Guirgis’s play THE LITTLE FLOWER OF EAST ORANGE, now
at The Public Theatre, which has clear overlaps with his earlier “Our
Lady of 121st St,” is a vivid slice of working class speech and behavior
as an old woman, beautifully portrayed by the radiant Ellen Burstyn, prepares
to leave Earth. She’s wonderful in a complex role as she drifts in
and out of consciousness and dreams and memories. Guirgis captures the
poetic rhythms in the colorful speech of her dysfunctional, hysterical
son and daughter, the nurses, the doctor and others. The entire cast,
some in multiple roles, is top level, and as directed by Philip Seymour
Hoffman, except for Burstyn, the acting is raucous, the language raunchy,
the emotions and conflicts all expressed intensely and sometimes cacophonously.
Burstyn is sublime in fantasy and in her misty reality moments. Despite
some interspersed bathos, especially in the long monologues in Act Two,
this is a strong piece of contemporary Theatre, complemented by Narelle
Sissons’ flexible set, Mimi O’Donnell’s costumes and Japhy
Weideman’s lighting.
Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com.
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March 03rd,
2008
In Stephen Sondheim's dazzling SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH
GEORGE (book by James Lapine) the combination of the extraordinarily brilliant
design by David Farley (set and costumes), lighting by Ken Billington
and projection design by Timothy Bird & Knifedge Creative Network,
and the most unusual use of words and their rhythms since Gilbert and
Sullivan (but faster and
more profound) gives us a thrilling evening of Theatre. The plot is simple--
the carrying out is what is brilliant. Act 2, a hundred years later, using
Seurat's influence in a contemporary art
outpouring, lifts the theatricality even higher, and as eloquently directed
by Sam Buntrock, with a very strong cast, especially Jenna Russell, SUNDAY
IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE is a thrilling theatrical experience.
Richmond
Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com.
That David
Mamet wrote NOVEMBER is a surprise. That Nathan Lane is hilarious in it
is not. It's sitcom joke after joke after joke about a bad president ending
his term, and it's great to have a master comedian with super timing in
the role of the ridiculous ninny. Who would have thought that Mamet could
write like a team of network talk show monologue creators? He does it
very well. Mixed in is a glimpse of some of the basic flaws of our country,
a lot of it from the lesbian speechwriter, a marvelous
Laurie Metcalf. Scott Pask's Oval Office set is perfect, and with Joe
Mantello's sharp direction, it's laugh after laugh for two acts. Lane
does a great bit of comic movement, a mouse-like scamper in Act 2, that
I will never forget.
Richmond
Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com.
TAKE ME ALONG,
music and lyrics by Bob Merrill, book by Joseph Stein and Robert Russell,
based on "Ah, Wilderness!" by Eugene O'Neil, now at The Irish
Rep on W. 22nd St., is a cute, old-fashioned Americana musical. With the
colossal naïvite in the romantic story, a morality that can be looked
at as an
anthropological study, it is a pleasant visit to a time and values long
past. It is all nicely done, with a series of beautiful paintings to create
the 1920 set by James Morgan, fine singing by the entire cast, clear direction
by Charlotte Moore and lots of active choreography by Barry McNabb. And
you do actually walk out humming a tune- the title song.
Richmond
Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com.
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