Glistening The Kennedy Center’s lush Opera House with feted Hollywood glitz and glamour, the national tour of the 2015 multi-Tony-winning musical, An American in Paris, debuted Tuesday for a month-long engagement, featuring Bethesda native, Allison Walsh.
The An American in Paris touring company. Photo by Matthew Murphy.
Adapted and modernized, while still retaining the splendor of the iconic multiple Oscar-winning 1951 Vincente Minelli film, which won the Academy Award for best picture, starring dance legends Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron, the musical is a love story about art, friendship, and reawakening in Post-World War II Paris.
As fans of the movie may recall, the narrative centers on Jerry Mulligan (exuberantly commanded by McGee Maddox), an aspiring artist and American soldier who, after the liberation of France, remains in the City of Lights to pursue a painting career when he encounters an intriguingly beautiful French ballet dancer, Lise Dassin (a demure but alluring Allison Walsh), who captures his heart. Unbeknownst to Jerry, a strident American art dealer, Milo Davenport (superbly portrayed by Kirsten Scott) has her sights on him; while wealthy Henri Baurel (an affable Ben Michael) and composer Adam Hochberg (a tremendous Matthew Scott) vie for Lise’s affection.
Exquisitely bridging the gap between ballet and Broadway, punctuated with a stunning score of George and Ira Gershwin’s masterful standards, Director and Choreographer Christopher Wheeldon (who, not only created all of the intricate dance arrangements, but all of the versatile stage and prop changes innovatively brought to life by Bob Crowley’s set and costumes, accented with Natasha Katz’s light designs and 59 Productions’ projection designs) seamlessly blends contemporary and classical styles with luminous elegance and flair.
McGee Maddox and Allison Walsh. Photo by Matthew Murphy.
Imaginatively set against breathtaking backdrops of continually varied scenes and ingenious projections, such as the clouds floating above the city skyline and the stars flickering in the reflection of the Seine, each member of the extraordinary ensemble ardently sing and dance, while simultaneously twirling design pieces on and off the stage with finesse.
Of the show’s most memorable 17-song set catalog, which includes the timeless, “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” (gorgeously executed by Maddox, Michael and Scott), “I Got Rhythm” and “S’Wonderful”, was Kirsten and Matthew Scott’s (who are actually married in real life) poignant duet in Act II of “Who Cares?”
Heightened with the best and most infectious of 20th Century American music, solidified with a stunning sequence of avant-garde dance numbers, expertly delivered by an immensely talented cast and exceptional orchestra, An American in Paris makes for an upliftingly sublime escape.
Running Time: Approximately two hours and 30 minutes, including a 20-minute intermission.
An American in Paris plays through January 7, 2018, at The Kennedy Center’s Opera House Theater – 2700 F Street, in Washington, DC. For tickets, call (202) 467-4600, or purchase them online.
Steve Jobs was a revolutionary genius in communicating. He showed the world how to get “everything” anyone needed on a single gadget. Yet he was a spectacular failure in communicating with his friends and family on a personal level.
That’s the essence of his story, and it contains basic conflict, which is the stuff of drama. Yet Steve Jobs has been an elusive subject, as proven by the failure of two motion picture attempts. So the choice of Jobs’ life for an opera was no slam dunk.
Edward Parks, Garrett Sorenson, and the Santa Fe Opera Chorus. Photo by Ken Howard.
The composer Mason Bates was drawn to the subject because of his own interest in technology. He is a deejay and a creator of electronic soundscapes. Then he turned to classical compositions that utilized keyboard samplings of sounds and other electronica.
To date, his biggest success has been Alternative Energy, commissioned and premiered by Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony and performed this past season by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra. It presents a sound representing the crank which Henry Ford used to start his automobiles and proceeds to the sounds of nuclear reactors and of icebergs melting and breaking apart because of global warming. All of this is within the instrumental palette of a symphony orchestra.
Bates sits in the orchestra with his own computer and other electronic devices at performances of Alternative Energy and of this new opera.
Knowing that the personality of Jobs presented problems, Bates sought out Mark Campbell, the librettist of the acclaimed opera Silent Night and of Broadway shows, to be his creative partner. Campbell chose to present a seemingly-random group of episodic anecdotes to build a narrative that is more personal than the general perception of Jobs. It does not whitewash his faults; we see him being self-centered, obsessive, demanding, and cruel.
We also witness his early years when he and Steve Wozniak horsed around and found a way to break into Ma Bell. They joyously sing about bringing that behemoth “to its knees…money-sucking, monolithic, monopolistic, autocratic Ma Bell was just screwed over.”
Edward Parks. Photo by Ken Howard.
Their pleasure in being outsiders presents a contrast with the Jobs who barks orders and insults and dismisses his co-workers, and even Woz. Woz has a big aria in which he sings, “The guy I thought I knew / Has no time / No Space / No life. You’re losing it.”
We finally see Jobs marry the lovingly devoted Laurene Powell, who eventually convinces Jobs to slow down, look inward and seek medical help.
Bates assigns specific sounds to his various characters. Jobs is identified by computerish blips and by acoustic guitar; jazz saxophones trail Woz; soft strings accompany the loving Laurene; and Jobs’ spiritual adviser, Kobun Otogawa, is represented by flutes, Tibetan temple bowls and Chinese gongs.
Compared to his earlier compositions, Bates’s music has fewer sound effects and a more subtle integration of electronica with the full orchestra.
Jobs is sung by the excellent baritone Edward Parks, who is tall, balding, and wears the familiar black turtleneck and jeans. Garrett Sorenson is entrancing as Woz, Sasha Cook is radiant as Laurene, and the sonorous bass We Wu is the guru Kobun who dispenses valuable advice to Jobs in the spirit of Sarastro from The Magic Flute. Jobs’ earlier girlfriend is sympathetically played by coloratura soprano Jessica E. Jones.
I cannot imagine any better cast when this production moves on to the San Francisco Opera, Seattle Opera, and the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
Victoria “Vita” Tzykun provides a scenic design that shifts efficiently from private spaces to meeting rooms to lecture halls, and utilizes projections by 59 Productions. The excellent sound design is by Rick Jacobsohn and Brian Loach, crucial lighting by Japhy Weideman and costuming by Paul Carey.
Director Kevin Newbury magnificently dovetails the 18 scenes. Robert Tweeten conducted the final performance of the season, which I attended.
The music drama lasts just 90 minutes and leaves us emotionally satisfied. One of the assets of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs is its self-awareness and its humor. At Jobs’ funeral, Laurene sings, “The very second this is over / For better or worse / Everyone will reach in their pockets or purses / And guess what? / Look at their phones / Their “one device.” But she adds that version 2.0 of Steve would say: “Look at the stars / Look at the sky… / Glance at the smile of the person right there next to you.”
Running Time: One hour and 35 minutes with no intermission.
The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs had its final performance on August 25, 2017 at Santa Fe Opera, performing at the Opera House – 301 Opera Drive, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Tickets to next year’s festival can be purchased online.
Editor’s Note: Tomorrow from Santa Fe: Fledermaus and What We’ve Learned.
When John Cameron Mitchell (book) and Stephen Trask (music and lyrics) were developing their gender-bending rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch for its Off-Broadway premiere in 1998, the Berlin Wall had only recently come down (November 1989), David Bowie and Lou Reed, icons of the glam and punk rock music of the ‘70s, were still very much alive, and marriage equality was still a dream (The Netherlands was the first country to enact a law recognizing same-sex marriage in 2001). With the current national tour of the show, which began in 2016, following its Tony Award-winning Broadway revival in 2014, the avant-garde original has now become a significant piece of living history, with a timeless human message about the search for love and acceptance. Presented collaboratively by the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts and The Shubert Organization as part of their popular Broadway Philadelphia series, the latest present-day incarnation of the enduring smash hit, directed by Michael Mayer, has hit town for a six-day run this week at the Forrest Theatre.
Euan Morton (front center), with Hannah Corneau (to left) and band. Photo by Joan Marcus.
Euan Morton stars as the genderqueer protagonist who recounts a dramatic backstory in a mash-up of rock concert and drag cabaret, through personal direct-address anecdotes, up-close-and-personal interactions with the audience, and an expressive rock score that pays homage to the stars and genres of the earlier decades. Backed by the powerhouse four-piece band from the Broadway production (Music Director Justin Craig, Matt Duncan, Tim Mislock, and Peter Yanowitz), we get to know the compelling character from a troubled childhood in East Berlin (as “a slip of a girly-boy”) through a series of failed relationships (including current husband and back-up singer Yitzhak, played by Hannah Corneau), and a botched sex-change operation that left the eponymous “internationally-ignored” rocker with the titular “angry inch” (which is also the name of the fictional band).
Hedwig’s characterization by Morton, with a slight German accent (dialect coaching by Stephen Gabis) and a soft-spoken demeanor – until agitated, imitating others in the go-back narrative, or rocking out with the band and Corneau to a high-decibel number – feels more engaging than edgy, with alternating passages of risqué humor, saucy mannerisms, and heartfelt poignancy that make us all root for a happy ending and cheer the ultimate transformations that come with the challenging journey. Both Morton and Corneau deliver the songs with full vocal force or gentle introspection as required (with especially rousing performances of “Exquisite Corpse” and “Wicked Little Town” and a touching rendition of “The Origin of Love”) and move around the stage, up the aisle, and into the audience with energy, leaving no vestige of a fourth wall, under Mayer’s spirited blocking.
Euan Morton. Photo by Joan Marcus.
There are witty updated and local references that bring Hedwig’s story to Philadelphia now, and faux Playbills scattered throughout the audience that cleverly explain the show’s situation and locale, as if performed on the abandoned set of a failed production of Hurt Locker: The Musical, in a derelict scenic design by Julian Crouch. Animations (by John Bair/Phosphene) and projections (Benjamin Pearcy for 59 Productions) help to illustrate Hedwig’s tale, and an outstanding sound design by Tim O’Heir allows us to hear pieces of the big-stage concert by Hedwig’s “other half” Tommy Gnosis with the occasional opening and closing of a door. Over-the-top costumes by Arianne Phillips and wigs and make-up by Mike Potter support the glitz and glam of the figures, and Kevin Adams’ stunning lighting design, employing colorful spots and strobes, adds to the show’s visual excitement.
While real socio-cultural change is slow, Hedwig and the Angry Inch remains an important and entertaining arbiter for growth and acceptance, an indicator that, though we still have a way to go, some advancement has been made since the show’s groundbreaking debut in the ‘90s, and proof that art can make a difference in the world.
Running Time: Approximately one hour and 45 minutes, without intermission.
Hedwig and the Angry Inchplays through Sunday, April 23, 2017, at Broadway Philadelphia, performing at the Forrest Theatre – 1114 Walnut Street, in Philadelphia, PA. For tickets, call (800) 447-7400, or purchase them online.
If you “love a Gershwin tune” (and who doesn’t?), An American in Paris, presented by Broadway Philadelphia for a limited run this Thanksgiving week at the Academy of Music, is the show for you! Based on the Oscar-winning 1951 film, with music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, a script by Alan Jay Lerner, and choreography by lead actor Gene Kelly, the current Broadway touring production of the 2015 Tony Award-winning musical is a feast for the eyes and ears, for which audiences can be thankful.
‘An American in Paris’ Touring Company, with Nick Spangler (center). Photo by Matthew Murphy.
With an expanded book by Craig Lucas, and new choreography and direction by internationally-renowned master of ballet Christopher Wheeldon, the show is an enlarged and re-envisioned descendant of the MGM movie classic. While it retains the basic theme and plot points, the stage production switches up many of the beloved Gershwin tunes (some favorites like “Embraceable You,” “Nice Work If You Can Get It,” and “Love Is Here to Stay” have, sadly, been cut), adds in some corny old-fashioned jokes and malapropisms, and gives some contemporary substance to the vintage characters and socio-political relevance to the post-war romance. And of course Wheeldon’s specialty results in a more balletic focus, with fewer tap numbers than in Kelly’s original dance sequences.
Set in Paris in 1945, here we see the lingering effects of World War II, as three aspiring-artist friends—two American, one French, and all three of whom, unbeknownst to one another, have fallen for the same Parisian ballerina–espouse the restorative values of art and love to return the City of Lights to its former glory and joie-de-vivre. Despite the many revisions to Lerner’s tenuous narrative (including the appearance of Frenchman Henri’s parents and an amplified nod to the local Nazi resistance), the contrived (and often convoluted) plot still serves largely as a device to string together fabulous segments of song and dance.
Sara Esty and Garen Scribner. Photo by Matthew Murphy.
In the lead roles, Garen Scribner (as the US expatriate soldier-turned-painter Jerry Mulligan) and Sara Esty (as the dancer and object of his affection Lise Dassin) deliver not only the consummate grace and agility of their professional ballet backgrounds, but also turn in irresistible characterizations and fine vocals. Their beautifully rendered dance-fantasy of “An American in Paris”–the eponymous 1928 orchestral composition by George Gershwin that inspired the film—is a stunning climax to the story, with a surprise reversal, a fluid synthesis of the classic and jazz-ballet styles, and flawlessly synchronized movements with each other and the ensemble. Esty’s long en pointe passages and Scribner’s sequence of jetés and pirouettes around her are both delightful and astonishing.
The supporting cast is equally engaging. Featuring Etai Benson as American musician/composer Adam Hochberg and Nick Spangler as the wealthy French wannabe singer Henri Baurel, the friends and romantic rivals of Scribner’s Mulligan join him to light up the stage with exuberant trios of “I Got Rhythm” and “’S Wonderful” and the inserted Gershwin number “They Can’t Take That Away from Me” (which, like Lise’s “The Man I Love” and Jerry’s “Fidgety Feet,” was not a part of the film). Henri’s Radio City-style chorus-line, tap, and soft-shoe fantasy of “I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise” (performed with Adam and the ensemble) is another highlight of the show, as Spangler’s character imagines overcoming his nerves and stage-fright to become a self-possessed star in New York.
Emily Ferranti as Milo Davenport (a rich American socialite with an ulterior motive for sponsoring Jerry’s artistic endeavors), and Gayton Scott and Don Noble as Henri’s affluent parents, capture their upper-class attitudes and inner motivations. Save for some unconvincing French and Russian accents throughout, the whole cast, dressed in lavish period-style role-defining costumes by Bob Crowley, is terrific.
Crowley also provided the set design, with a palette–supported by Natasha Katz’s lighting–that evinces the shift from the dreary greyness of the aftermath of war to the bright re-emergence of Paris through its lively arts scene. Supplementing Crowley’s movable flats and scenic elements (too often reconfigured at dizzying speeds) are 3-D digital projections by 59 Productions, of famous sites throughout the city, such as the Arc de Triomphe and the Seine. While they serve to set the locales, they are a post-modern anachronism to the era of the ‘40s, which also tend to distract from the spectacular song and dance routines. The most successful of the scenic and video designs are those based in the colorful abstract art of the period, which come as a welcome relief to the sometimes overly busy visuals.
Though the touring Broadway stage production of An American in Paris is not a slavish imitation of the popular mid-century film, it, too, is filled to the brim with memorable music, nimble and elegant dance, and spirited performances. It’s a great launch to the holiday season, so catch it while you can during its brief stay in Philadelphia!
Running Time: Approximately two hours and 30 minutes, with one 20-minute intermission.
https://youtu.be/_ST7IfxZwio
An American in Parisplays through Sunday, November 27, 2016, at the Academy of Music – 240 South Broad Street, in Philadelphia, PA. For tickets, call (215) 893-1999, or purchase them online.
It was an active year, heavily marked by new and revisited musicals. The attendance and box office numbers were good, both on and off Broadway. I, as the only writer covering New York theater for DCMTA, could not see everything, but from the 35 plays and musicals I did attend, I submit the ten that I found most distinctive. I list them in no particular order, but all of them rewarded me on any number of levels.
Kristin Chenoweth, Peter Gallagher, Mark Linn-Baker, Michael McGrath, Mary Louise Wilson, and Andy Karl in ‘On the Twentieth Century.’ Photo by Joan Marcus.
(1) In mid-March, when I joined DCMetroTheaterArts, I reported thatOn The Twentieth Centuryat the Roundabout was in the capable hands of director Scott Ellis and Choreographer Warren Carlyle who gave it a sleek and lively new look. It’s always interesting to see good material interpreted by original artists who, as performers, start from scratch and build their own characters. Certainly Kristin Chenowith, Andy Karl, Mary Louise Wilson, Michael McGrath and Mark Linn-Baker gave us musical comedy fun all night long. Leading man Peter Gallagher is just a bit too sane to have given theatre genius Oscar Jaffe the barely hidden madness that made him move, but he looked the part and sang well.
Comden and Green, late in their careers as book writers and lyricists, here proved they never lost their ability to take perfectly ordinary people and turn them into highly original lunatics and lovers. And Cy Coleman sprinkled his musical notes all along the way. Together all of these gifted artists, totally committed, came up with a merry musical.
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Leanne Cope and Robert Fairchild in ‘An American in Paris.’ Photo by Angela Sterling.
(2) Barely a month later,An American In Parisopened on Broadway. It’s a prime example of creative people tackling a beautifully wrought film, and delivering a fresh version of the source material that shines like any great original musical must. Introducing us to Robert Fairchild, on leave from the New York Ballet, was a major plus because as leading man he was notable as singer, dancer and actor. He’d have been snapped up by MGM in an instant had this been played out first onstage, before the film was made, just as Gene Kelly was spotted in Pal Joey on Broadway, and whisked west for a major career on screen.
The delightful George and Ira Gershwin score, (which used highlights from the film, but was augmented by many numbers to serve the new book), that new book by Craig Lucas and the direction and choreography of Christopher Wheeldon all melded to transform the movie into something we’d not seen before, and now we could relish it live on stage.
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The cast of ‘The Visit.’ Photo by Joan Marcus.
(3)The Visitcontinued the rush of openings racing to happen in time for consideration by the Tony Award committee. It is the last of the many collaborations by John Kander and the late Fred Ebb, the last of the four mostly completed works that Ebb left behind. The other three were finished by Kander and in some cases by other collaborators who contributed finishing touches.
The last of the four was The Visit, a dark musical about revenge that is based on a Dürenmatt play of the same name. It had served the Lunts as a drama, and was in fact their swan song on Broadway, where it was highly regarded. An unlikely source for a musical because it told a very dark story, dealing with revenge for a hurt imposed years earlier. In it, Claire Zachanassian, the world’s richest woman, returns to her desperately poor home town, from which she’d been banished many years earlier when her lover had abandoned her to marry another woman.
Terence McNally, a frequent Kander and Ebb collaborator, adapted the play and wrote an engrossing story of this wealthy woman, her ex-lover and some of the key people of the town. It deals with greed, perfidy, betrayal but remains a love story gone wrong, and there is romance in it when it flashes back.
The score is one of the team’s loveliest, and songs like “Only Love,” “You,” “Yellow Shoes,” and others will live on. I found the show memorable, more so because it offered Chita Rivera the role of a lifetime, and she triumphed in it. I saw it in all three regional productions that preceded Broadway and it was richly rewarding to watch it grow until it positively glowed. It was not popular and only managed a three-month run, but it’s a major work in my opinion, and belongs on any “Best 10 list.”
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Kelli O’Hara (Anna), Ken Watanabe (King of Siam), and the cast of ‘The King and I.’ Photo by Paul Kolnik.
(4) Days after my visit to The Visit I was at Lincoln Center’s large Beaumont Theatre to catch Bartlett Sher’s production of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic The King and I. Kelli O’Hara has been lighting up Broadway season after season in some ten musicals since 1997, and her work in South Pacific,The Light In The Piazza, and The Bridges of Madison County prepared her for her major star turn as Anna Leonowens which is still playing at Lincoln Center.
Her new “King” replacement, Hoon Lee, is younger than the original King and is reported to be bringing a more sensual quality to the relationship he has with “Mrs. Anna.” I urge you to see this production, for it is unlikely to be bettered — ever.
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Ben Miles and Lydia Leonard in ‘Wolf Hall.’ Photo by Johan Persson.
(5)The year wasn’t devoted exclusively to musicals. They certainly led the way to record breaking grosses, but in addition to holdover hits like The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, the British importWolf Hallarrived in the April rush. This monumental work was really one long play, running some six hours, but to make it user friendly, it was played out with the one title, on two evenings. One could see the two at matinée and evening on the same day. The first play deals with Henry VIII and his life on the throne through his marriage to Anne Boleyn, the second one opens as he is on the verge of marrying Jane Seymour. It dealt with the banishment and ultimate death of Cardinal Woolsey whose power over the English throne was potent when Henry began his reign.
The evenings were filled with rich and informative performances by Ben Miles and this excellent company of British actors. A vast and entertaining history lesson, and a worthy addition to the season it graced.
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Brad Oscar (Nostradamus) and Brian d’Arcy James (Nick Bottom). Photo by Joan Marcus.
(6)April continued to shower us with well conceived and executed products. A refreshing original musical (Something Rotten!) with nothing on its mind but amusement, took up residence in the St. James Theatre, once home to Oklahoma!, The King and I, The Producers, Hello, Dolly!and other crowd-pleasers, where it remains happily pleasing large audiences as it rounds out its first year. This lighthearted romp involving show folk trying to make a buck in London in 1599 offers a cast of farceurs who are tops.
I enjoyed Tony Award winner Christian Borle (so great in Peter and the Starcatcher) and Brian D’Arcy-James (who has played with great range all sorts of plays and musicals. This is his first outing in farce since he was a youngster playing the bellboy in Lend Me a Tenor in Ohio. (I know he can play farce because I was in that production and he was hilarious). It features such great character actors as Brad Oscar, Brooks Ashmanskas, John Cariani, Peter Bartlett and the lovely Kate Reinders, and Heidi Blickenstaff. Check your troubles in the lobby, and c’mon, get happy.
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Steven Boyer (Jason) and Sarah Stiles (Jessica) in ‘Hand to God.’ Photo by Joan Marcus.
(7)April continued to bring May flowers along with 3 and 4 openings a week! I was so busy I didn’t get to see one of those, an original play by Robert Askins called Hand to God.I finally caught it in early June, but its originality and brave use of controversy are still imbedded in my head. As I wrote then: “Askins takes us on a journey into little known territory and with the aid of a first rate cast, he helps us to understand and relish the little band of broken very human beings.” The play deals with the preparation of a Christian puppet show, and the Pastor is demanding that it must be ready within a week.
One of the participants is Jason, a soft spoken lad who has made himself a hand puppet he calls “Tyrone.” Suffice it to say that Tyrone has a mind of his own, and as an extension of Jason’s arm, he will spend most of the evening shocking us as he becomes adversary to the world, particularly when he spots anyone being evasive in answering a tough question. He is the dark side of Jason, and he’s as scary as the demon inside the girl in The Exorcist. Shocking and provocative, beautifully executed theatre that’s been thrilling audience for most of the year. It will play its last performance on Broadway this Sunday, January 3rd, but I’m certain it will pop up again wherever a theatre company can find an actor of the caliber of Steven Boyer to play both roles, often in the same sentence.
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Sam Rockwell (Eddie) and Nina Arianda (May). Photo by Joan Marcus.
(8)Fool For Lovedeserved a return run (it originally opened in 1983 at Circle Rep) if for no other reason than to give the iridescent Nina Arianda a role she can fully inhabit, not to mention one that can do the same for Sam Rockwell. Set in a motel in the Mojave Desert, it’s the re-uniting of a pair of untidy lovers and they will interest you whether or not you’ve ever met anyone like them. Rough and tumble, that’s them – and the tumbling gets fairly rough between clinches. Ed Harris and Kathy Baker had a field day (and big career boosts) from the original production, as have many other actors in the ensuing years.
It’s an early Shepard play; Eddie and May, the two principals characters, will be around indefinitely for their connection is visceral and will not date. There is tenderness and violence within them, with many shades in between, This production lent drama to the year, and deserves credit for that.
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James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson. Photo by Joan Marcus.
(9)To move from Sam Shepard’s Fool For Love to Donald L. Coburn’s The Gin Gameis almost like mentioning Charley’s Aunt and Medea in the same breath, in that one is a gut wrenching tug of war between two turbulent characters and the other is a love letter to two aging individuals who have built armor against hurt. Both plays are rich in detail, and are immensely satisfying. Of course plays are meant to be acted, and when that’s well done, an audience can be transformed. James Earl Jones has great range, and in this play he sensibly keeps under control his resonant baritone voice, so useful to him in the past in roles that require thunder (The Emperor Jones is one, The Great White Hope is another). But in this he is just an old guy who is lonely, (Weller Martin) living in a retirement home, who tries to break through the shell constructed by a fellow retiree (Fonsia Dorsey). It’s just the two of them, a series of gin games, and the unfolding of two deep and meaningful relationships, that make up this Pulitzer Prize-winning play.
This production has the good fortune to have Cicely Tyson playing Fonsia. In it she fulfills the promise she showed in her lovely performance in The Trip to Bountiful for which she won the Tony Award. Now over 90, she is in full command of her talent, and her Fonsia is another character she has created from the text, from her imagination, and from her great gift as a creative artist. She never seems to be acting; she is just being. Every moment is real, and as Mr. Coburn has affection and understanding for his characters, some of the effects are chilling, others are terribly funny, many more are just plain touching. An old play, somewhat forgotten, given vibrant new life by two actors in their ancient age, blessed with the ability to deliver.
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L to R: Daveed Diggs, Okieriete Onaodowan, Anthony Ramos, and Lin-Manuel Miranda. Photo: Joan Marcus.
(10) The tenth selection I make is virtually mandatory. I refer of course to Hamilton, the incredible achievement of Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the book, music and lyrics and manages to play the central role as well. Noel Coward used to do all that, but that was in the age when theatre folk were revered, when cocktails and cocktail hours were evident in all the smart places, when cigarette smoking was a very sophisticated thing to do.
There is no one like Miranda today, and the theatre is blessed to have him. In the so-called Golden Age we had a dozen or more teams of writers prolifically producing theatre, season after season, including Irving Berlin, Rodgers with Hart and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe, Cole Porter, Frank Loesser, Jule Styne, Schwartz and Dietz, Harold Rome, Noel Coward, and more, was followed by the next generation, equally gifted and interested in keeping musical theatre alive and thriving. In that group — Kander and Ebb, Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Herman, Bock and Harnick, Adams and Strouse, Jones and Schmidt and a dozen others. But the generation after that — brought us Stephen Schwartz, William Finn, Craig Carnelia, and Jason Robert Brown.
Now, it’s the post-AIDS generation and Lin-Manuel Miranda is the titan who emerges from it to give us all hope. His Hamilton is audacious, original, and satisfying. It’s different, it casts casting correctness aside with some interesting results, and its rap score will not work for everyone, but it is original and pungent. He is our hope for the future, and of course his work must be on any list of bests that is worth its salt. So here is Hamilton, the biggest hit since Oklahoma!
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I have two latecomers for you, as alternates. One, School of Rock-The Musical, surprised me for I really can’t take rock in the theatre (it’s too loud for me, it’s not always about melody and it takes all nuance out of lyrics).
But this simple tale of under achieving kids finding something to give them confidence, Sir Andrew Lloyd-Webber (the show’s composer) has written some stirring anthems and has found Alex Brightman, who is tireless in the leading role, and very funny and appealing. And for once stage kids are appealing and genuinely talented.
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Josh Segarra (Emilio) and Ana Villafane (Gloria). Photo by Matthew Murphy.
Another juke box musical is calledOn Your Feet!) and is the story of composer/performer Gloria Estefan and her husband. It’s a jolly night out with a superb cast and some wildly exuberant staging by Jerry Mitchell which has you doing the Conga on your way out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkZ1_RL1J3U
Both shows are happy editions to the scene on Broadway as 2015 calls it a day.
“Fresh as paint” kept buzzing through my head as I sat, enthralled, as this latest “new musical based on a famous film” sang and danced its way across the boards of the famous Palace Theatre. Soon I suspect there won’t be any famous films left that might inspire the current crop of musical theatre creators. Of course we can’t be certain; perhaps even now there are writers, directors, even stars planning to add song and dance to Cool Hand Luke, Stage Coach and Dark Victory. But we must be grateful that Playwright Craig Lucas, Director/Choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, Arranger and Musical Supervisor Rob Fisher, and Set and Costume Designer Bob Crowley got together with just such a plan, and somehow managed to put together a consortium of several dozen producers to guide it to the Palace, where if there is any justice in the world, it should remain — forever.
Leanne Cope and Robert Fairchild in ‘An American in Paris.’ Photo by Angela Sterling.
You see it is “inspired by” the MGM film of the same name. The Arthur Freed unit at MGM during Hollywood’s golden years was the most creative and successful in all the world of motion pictures. In 1951 Gene Kelly was at the peak of his considerable popularity, and he and Freed convinced big boss Louis B. Mayer – and his associates – to ok a project very close to Kelly’s heart. Kelly, Vincente Minnelli and Alan Jay Lerner, all riding high from recent successes in film and on Broadway, wanted permission to film an original story with music from the George Gershwin estate, one which would bravely stretch the boundaries of movie musicals by, among other things, including an uninterrupted seventeen minute ballet. The movie was made, it won eight Oscars including Best Picture, and has remained one of our most cherished musical movies. All this made it a great challenge to anyone attempting to transform it into a vibrant and original stage musical that didn’t bring to mind Gigi, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, State Fair, A Time for Singing, and so many other pale imitations of the films that inspired them. To get to the point, this team has met that challenge, and come up with a lollapalooza of an “original musical” that should delight the whole family, cynics, and sourpusses included.
Robert Fairchild (Jerry Mulligan), Brandon Uranowitz (Adam Hochberg), and Max von Essen (Henri Baurel) with the cast of ‘An American in Paris.’ Photo by Mathew Murphy.
For starters, book writer Craig Lucas has put Alan Lerner’s script into a blender, and extracted from it the bare bones of a story about an ex-GI named Jerry Mulligan, a would-be painter, who decides to remain in Paris for a while at the end of World War II. He has a friend there, a composer now named Adam Hochberg (I say “now named” because in the Lerner screenplay he is Adam Cook). There will be a girl named Lise Dassin thrown into the mix (she was called Lise Bouvier in the Lerner version) and a friend of Adam’s (Henri Baurel, from an aristocratic background, but stuck with a dream of becoming a professional singer). The name changes are not arbitrary. Mr. Lucas has background stories for his principal characters that enrich them, make them more substantial, for he’s also moved the time slot to 1945 when more than memories linger in the aftermath of the just ended great war. The show begins with the tearing down of the Nazi flags, the early days of recovery, and gives weight to many of the references to what’s gone by, to the hope for a better future for all of these interestingly fleshed out characters.
But wait! I haven’t mentioned that Jerry and Lise are played by two who are new to Broadway, both from the world of ballet. He isRobert Fairchild, principal dancer with New York Ballet since 2009, and she is Leanne Cope, trained in the Royal Ballet School and graduated into the company in 2003. Both are making their Broadway debuts, and both are absolutely smashing. He is movie star handsome who is exciting from the moment he opens his mouth. That he can sing, act with great conviction and charm, is a bonus we hadn’t expected. When he dances, which is often, he almost seems animated, for no one in recent memory on Broadway can compare.
Ms. Cope manages to capture all the charm that Leslie Caron brought to the role in the movie, but Caron was French and Ms. Cope is not, so this in itself is an achievement. But like her partner in dance, she seems to float effortlessly throughout the evening, and in the end the two created the kind of magic we just don’t see all that often in the post Golden Age of Musical Theatre.
In support, Brandon Uranowitz as Adam Hochberg, now renamed to make him Jewish in the role Oscar Levant inhabited in the film, is far more than the wisecracker Levant played.
Max Von Essen wraps himself around Henri, and stops the show with the fantasized version of “A Stairway to Paradise” which Mr. Wheeldon and his collaborators have designed around him.
Veanne Cox is playing a character not in the film, Madame Baurel, Henri’s mother, and she extracts from it juicy contradictions, a woman freed of many of the restrictions life forced upon her during the war. To watch her cut loose in a moment when she can no longer contain herself, is pure joy.
Leanne Cope (Lise) and Jill Paice (Milo) in ‘An American in Paris. Photo by Angela Sterling.
Jill Paice, who played Scarlett O’Hara in the London musical Gone With the Wind, is now a wealthy art patron with a yen for Mr. Fairchild. She has taken on the musicalized role Nina Foch played so well in the MGM movie, and she has made it her own.
The brilliant ensemble of singers and dancers, as well as the magical projections of 59 Productions complete this bundle of contributors to the most exciting musical of the season. So far — we still have a couple waiting in the wings. But this American in Paris will be hard to top. Here I am, still aglow on the morning after.
What’s most impressive about this lovely show is that it never settles for the obvious. American in Paris is filled with the imagination and talent of its creators who have truly transformed a marvelous movie into a magnificent Broadway musical, one you will remember long after its attractive central couple finally find each other, having earned their happy ending in a most dazzling and entertaining way.
Running Time: Two hours and 30 minutes, including a 15-minute intermission.
An American in Parisplays at The Palace Theatre-1564 Broadway in New York, NY (at 47th Street). For tickets, call Ticketmaster at (877) 250-2929, go to the box office, or purchase them online.
Pure awestruck inspiration is often hard to come by these days upon the stage, but a radiant beam of stunning and imaginative heart is blasting its way onto the stages of Baltimore as Broadway Across America— CareFirst Hippodrome Broadway Series presents the Tony Award winning Best Play, War Horse. A remarkable piece of theatrical genius based on the beloved novel by Michael Morpurgo, this sensational production is filled to the brim with the inspired struggle of friendship born between a young boy and his horse in the face of the atrocities of war.
Directed by Bijan Sheibani (based on the original Tony Award-Winning Direction of Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris), this breathtaking performance will capture your heart and inspire a conflagration of passion to burn wildly for the story of Albert and his horse, Joey. Produced in association with Handspring Puppet Company, this enchanting production will tug at your heartstrings and move you in ways that epic dramatic theatre is meant to move its audience.
It seems unfathomable, life-life full size horses on a Broadway-size stage, but it’s the overall simplistic nature of the remaining design elements in the production that allow this transformation of imaginative magic to occur. Set and Costume Designer Rae Smith, working with 59 Productions and their projection designs, create an intricate world in the village of Devon England at the brink of the First World War Rather than complicate the set with elaborate fixtures, Smith utilizes members of the company to hold fence posts in place created penned in areas and delineative markings on the farm and in the main village area. It’s the projections, however, that are truly mesmerizing. Ever changing, perpetually in motion, they tell the story as much as the characters on the stage and the horses around them. Stunning black and white and brown scale images often flood the background, showing location as well as time. And moments of battlefield action are highlighted with these projections, often creating explosions and other travesties of war right before the audience’s eyes.
A great deal of the emotional soul of this performance comes from the ethereal music that underscores nearly every scene. Created by Musician Adrian Sutton, these evocative melodies draw tension into serious moments, sprinkle joy into jovial moments, and bring a tear to the eye in their sheer aural beauty. Accompanying the musical overlay of the production are songs, created by John Tams, sung by an almost ghost-like character, recognized only as Song Man (at this performance John Milosich). With a superbly clear voice, Milosich weaves a haunting series of melodies into the story; truly stunning to behold.
The story is beyond memorable and the striking visual glory of the production is unbelievable. Handspring Puppet Company, guided by Movement Director and Horse Choreographer Toby Sedgwick, brings an amazing feat to the stage with these enormous puppets. It becomes an exceptional show; these horse puppets so life-like and fully animated that it only takes a moment to become lost in their grandeur and believe that you are seeing real horses. Sedgwick devises such realistic movements for these puppets and the performers that work with them that the story breaks your heart when tragedy befalls them. Emotions run high because you forget you are watching inanimate objects posing as animals, and hearts bleed with passion for these enormous equine majesties.
Human characters build this story to its awe-inspiring heights, their raw reality and genuine emotions infused into every scene is what keeps you focused from the moment the production starts until it closes. From the hard knocks of Devon where the accents are thick but the skin on the villagers is thicker, to the battlefields of France where the Germans and the English can barely speak a word between them; it is the people’s story as much as the horses. The Narracott family is the central focus, with Rose (Maria Elena Ramirez) and Ted (Gene Gillettte) raising their young son Albert. Ramirez is a stern woman with a kind heart that always sees the bigger picture. Juxtaposing this dual personality up against the drunken and thickheaded character played by Gillette and already the stakes of the production begin to simmer.
Militant soldiers bark orders throughout, Sergeant Thunder (Andrew Long) being the most boisterous of the bunch. Long brings a smattering of much needed comic relief to this intensely emotional drama at the top of Act II, finding subtle ways to eke out laughter without appearing to create moments of comedy. Private Taylor (Andy Truschinski) has a similar humorous value in the production; creating tender moments between him and Albert when they’re struggling alone in the trenches.
Captain Friedrich Muller (Andrew May) will turn your heart over at least once. It is May’s commanding presence and impressive German accent that keeps you interested in his character. His compassionate pleas for the horses as well as his unbridled love for his family shining through the tough rigidity of his German training is what unearths the humanity in his character.
Albert Narracott (Michael Wyatt Cox) is the young boy that braves the perils of war in search of his horse, Joey (manned at this performance by James Duncan, Adam Cunningham, and Aaron Haskell). From the moment Cox encounters Joey as a foal (manned by Mairi Babb, Catherine Gowl, and Nick Lamedica) their bond is intense and sure. Watching the naïve friendship blossom between them with simple gestures and moments of pause is a breathtaking splendor. The burgeoning personalities of both boy and horse grow right in front of your eyes; a wonder to behold as it happens. Cox’s emotional depth in this character knows no limitations and he gives a stellar performance, taking the audience on every step of his journey.
Duncan, Cunningham, and Haskell are a trio of perfection when it comes to making Joey the epitome of equine majesty. This graceful bold creature is so lifelike in his movements, from the gentle breathing and flips of his tail, to the way he interacts with the humans it is nothing short of phenomenal to observe. The trio work in flawless tandem to create fluid seamless movements that keep Joey lively and spirited. Even when Joey encounters Topthorn, (manned at this performance by Danny Yoerges, Patrick Osteen, and Dayna Tietzen) an equally majestic and enormous beast, his grace is only preceded by his realistic responses.
The trio commanding Topthorn are equally skilled and talented when it comes to making this realistic horse a captivating character. Though Topthorn and Joey have vastly different personalities; watching them side by side is stunning. A visual sensation not to be missed; these horses of war will evoke deep emotional responses as they gallop their way across your hearts. Be sure to see this incredible drama; fast on its way to becoming an exceptional theatrical classic.
Running Time: Approximately 2 hours and 40 minutes with one intermission.
War Horseplays through February 9, 2014 at The Hippodrome Theatre—12 North Eutaw Street in downtown Baltimore, MD. Tickets are available for purchase by calling the box office at (410) 547-7328 or by purchasing them online.
