A combative NYC mayoral election in 1929, with allegations of voter fraud, money laundering, and pay-offs, scandalous affairs and mob connections, provides the inspiration for the all-new fully immersive participatory theatrical experience Tammany Hall, co-created and directed by Darren Lee Cole and Alexander Wright, with Megan Drury, at Off-Broadway’s SoHo Playhouse. Staged throughout the same historic building that housed the former Huron Club – one of the private spaces and infamous speakeasies in Manhattan’s First Ward where the eponymous political machine of the Democratic party met – the site-specific production not only offers a compelling look at a crucial period of the past, but also an implicit socio-political warning for our present divisive and turbulent times.
Upon entry, theatergoers are invited upstairs to the organization’s club room. There they meet and mingle with the real-life characters, buy drinks at an illegal Prohibition-era bar, and sit around a symbolic boxing ring, where a contentious verbal sparring match between the candidates – incumbent Mayor Jimmy Walker and Republican challenger Fiorello LaGuardia, who has the support of Democratic President FDR – takes place (all the while being coerced to vote for Walker by his Tammany Hall cronies).
After the heated debate, selected members of the audience are invited to follow different characters at different points through a variety of locations in the building. The scenarios range from engaging in ongoing discussions about the mayoral adversaries, submitting a vote for your chosen candidate, attending a performance of showgirls in the theater, observing secret assignations and listening to private conversations in the hallways, dressing room, and penthouse, hearing the results of the landslide election, and witnessing the raid of the speakeasy in the basement. Every experience is different, depending on which figure you’re chosen to follow at each stop along the way.
A thoroughly engaging company of twelve – featuring Marie Anello, Chloe Kekovic, Natasa Babic, Nathaniel J. Ryan, Jesse Castellanos, Isaac J Conner, Shahzeb Hussain, Sami Petrucci, Charly Wenzel, and Andrew Broaddus, and led by the outstanding and perfectly cast Martin Dockery and Christopher Romero Wilson as political opponents Walker and LaGuardia – skillfully inhabits the characters and captures the spirit of their era, while masterfully interacting and improvising with the audience and making us feel a part of it all.
The believable performances are supported by a transporting design, with period-appropriate costumes by Grace Jeon, original vintage-style choreography by Lola Selsky and music by Gavin Whitworth, and evocative lighting by Emily Clarkson and sound by Megan Culley. Special kudos are due to set designer Dan Daly for bringing the interior of SoHo Playhouse back to the look and feel of the Huron Club in the 1920s, with meticulously researched colors and details.
I could return to Tammany Hall again and again, to follow a different route, to be privy to more sub-plots of the story and characters, and to be immersed in its timely socio-political issues. There’s nothing like live theater, and this is as alive as it gets.
Running Time: Approximately 90 minutes, without intermission.
Tammany Hall plays through Sunday, January 9, 2022, at SoHo Playhouse, 15 Vandam Street, NYC. For tickets (priced at $89), visit the Box Office (Tuesday-Sunday, after 4 pm), or go online. Audience members must be fully vaccinated with an FDA or WHO authorized vaccine and show proof of vaccination and a valid ticket at the time of entry. Mask use is required inside the building per current CDC guidelines.
For a preview, you can watch the trailer below, then be sure to experience it yourself in person at the theater:
