BETRAYAL by Harold Pinter is a fascinating play, and with three Brits who know how to articulate in the roles of the participants in a love triangle, Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz and Rafe Spall, we catch every word. And in a subtle play like this, every word is important. Director Mike Nichols gives exquisite timing to Pinter’s famous pauses, adding depth and character revealment to each of them as the play travels back in time. It is riveting. Craig is strong, but vulnerable, Weisz, showing a wide range of emotional possibilities is marvelous in all her interactions with the two men. Spall is a fine actor, with, for me, a glitch: the more emotional he gets, the more he pulls his voice back into his throat, until he is growling. The active, imaginative set, smoothly changing settings, by Ian Macneil is excellent, and so is lighting by Brian Mscdevitt. Ann Roth’s costumes fit perfectly. The totality is so interesting, so well done, that I’ll surely go back for another visit to this terrific Theatrical Experience. I just wish they wouldn’t smoke so much on the stage-- it drifts into the theater and is a distracting irritant.

Richmond Shepard—Performing Arts INSIDER and lively-arts.com.

John Grisham’s A TIME TO KILL, stage adaption by Rupert Holmes, directed with strength and energy by Ethan McSweeny, is a powerful, riveting courtroom drama with a dynamite cast. It addresses the biblical question in its title. Two white men rape and kill a ten year old black girl. Her father (John Douglas Thompson) kills them. The defense attorney (Sebastian Arcelus), and the district attorney (Patrick Page) battle it out. All three are strong, clear, and they tap deep into their psyches. The entire cast is top notch: Tom Skerritt as an old alcoholic lawyer, Tonya Pinkins as Thompkin’s wife,
Chike Johnson as the sheriff-- not a weak link in the sixteen member cast. With a great, imaginative set by James Noone and projections by Jeff Sugg, perfect costumes (by David C. Woolard) ) and lighting (by Jeff Croiter) this intense, gripping drama doesn’t let go of you throughout its duration. I asked my companion (Barbara Lee Horn, author of eight published books on Theatre) what she thought of the production. Dr. Horn said, “Flawless.) I agree.

Richmond Shepard—Performing Arts INSIDER and lively-arts.com.

John Grisham’s A TIME TO KILL, stage adaption by Rupert Holmes, directed with strength and energy by Ethan McSweeny, is a powerful, riveting courtroom drama with a dynamite cast. It addresses the biblical question in its title. Two white men rape and kill a ten year old black girl. Her father (John Douglas Thompson) kills them. The defense attorney (Sebastian Arcelus), and the district attorney (Patrick Page) battle it out. All three are strong, clear, and they tap deep into their psyches. The entire cast is top notch: Tom Skerritt as an old alcoholic lawyer, Tonya Pinkins as Thompkin’s wife,
Chike Johnson as the sheriff-- not a weak link in the sixteen member cast. With a great, imaginative set by James Noone and projections by Jeff Sugg, perfect costumes (by David C. Woolard) ) and lighting (by Jeff Croiter) this intense, gripping drama doesn’t let go of you throughout its duration. I asked my companion (Barbara Lee Horn, author of eight published books on Theatre) what she thought of the production. Dr. Horn said, “Flawless.) I agree.

Richmond Shepard—Performing Arts INSIDER and lively-arts.com.

BIG FISH, book by John August, music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa, which might have been called “Life of a Salesman,” is the most entertaining show in town at this time.
Director/choreographer Susan Stroman fills the tall tales of the salesman Edward Bloom (a powerful, moving Norbert Leo Butz) with brilliant innovation as she brings to life the mythical characters he describes to his son, including an amusing giant (Ryan Andes), and gives us folk-based dances like The Alabama Strut that expand dance vocabulary to new imaginative heights. Costumes by William Ivey Long are delightfully playful, and Julian Crouch’s fantastic, active set, with Benjamin Percy’s projections as part of it, is as good as set design gets. The story, from Daniel Wallace’s novel, is ultimately quite moving as we experience the decline of this vivid man, and the vicissitudes of his communication with his son. Big Fish will give you plenty of laughs, and some heart-felt emotion. The songs are melodic and memorable, with terrific singers: Butz, Kate Baldwin as his wife, and Bobby Steggert as his son at an older age. And two other sweet-singing women in the cast caught me: Krystal Joy Brown is a joy as the son’s wife, and Kirsten Scott moved me as the son’s ex-girlfriend. BIG FISH is a top-level Broadway Musical entertainment with strong emotional content.

Richmond Shepard—Performing Arts INSIDER and lively-arts.com.

October 18th, 2013

A NIGHT WITH JANIS JOPLIN, written and directed by Randy Johnson— I sat down in the theatre, and was immediately repelled by a loud, noisy soundtrack that almost drove me out of the theatre, followed by lights flashing into our eyes, and then another sound assault from the musicians on the stage playing and singing at high decibels. Janis
enters, played by a powerful singer, Mary Bridget Davies, and her considerable talent is drowned out by the underscoring, which makes her words undecipherable. As my lady put it, “It’s too loud to hear.” She has four dynamite co-stars: Taprene Michelle Augustine, De’Adre Aziza,Alison Blackwell and Nikki Kimbrough, each of whom portrays other singers of the time— they’re terrific. The set by Justin Townsend is peculiar: a bunch of lamps on the floor; his lighting design splashes around, and at other times under-illuminates. Sound designer Carl Casella must have had damage to his eardrums from earlier listening to super loud music, so that he couldn’t tell that this production of what seems to be a good show is defeated by electronic magnification of sound. If you feel you must see it, bring your earplugs.

Richmond Shepard—Performing Arts INSIDER and

Fans of Billie Holiday come to the show LADY DAY, written and directed by Stephen Stahl, to see a re-creation of the jazz star perform her famous numbers, and Dee Dee Bridgewater captures the flavor of Billie very well. She’s a good singer, particularly in the ballads, and gives us the spirit, phrasing and tone of the original. And she can scat. Video projections by DIVE add an occasional visual theatricality that enhances. But you have to wait ‘til Act 2 for most of what you came for. Act 1 is filled with talky, over-written portions of the singer’s life, past and present, all filled with magnified emotions,
especially in an abuse scene, that are over-wrought and overdone. Act 2 is mostly the concert we came to hear, and it’s performed in a luxurious gown by designer Patricia A. Hibbert. With a super jazz quartet: Bill Jolly on piano, James Cammack on bass, Jerome Jennings on drums and Neil Johnson on sax, all of whom have dialogue too, the
musical numbers cook.

Richmond Shepard—Performing Arts INSIDER and lively-arts.com.

THE GODDESS by Justine Lambert and Kenneth Nowell is the funniest sex comedy I’ve ever seen-- an intriguing, well-written play about a couple ( Tricia Alexandro and Richard Busser) who, nudged by a Goddess figure (Claudia Mason), decide to try Open Marriage-- yield to all temptations and have sexual adventures. It’s a jump back to the
pre-AIDS 1970’s when many people in the big cities gave “Free Love” a shot. Michael Kingsbaker and Sarah Nedwek each play several well-defined tempters. Clearly directed, with pace and energy, by Alice Jankell, the love scenes are hot, the acting is all top level (Ms Alexandros’ is a tour-de-force) and as the Goddess segues from flower-crowned to horned, questions arise (and remain). Costumes by Deb O properly reflect character and her platform set works well. Lighting by Stephen Arnold illuminates the action perfectly. Try it-- you’ll like it. (Not Open Marriage-- the play Goddess.) Thru
November 4 at Richmond Shepard Theatre- 309 E. 26th St-- 866/811-4111.

Barbara Lee Horn—Performing Arts INSIDER and lively-arts.com.