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Theatre Reviews
2008 – 2009
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September 2008
The First Breeze of Summer
In The
First Breeze of Summer, which opens the Signature Theatre Company's
season-long salute to the Negro Ensemble Company, three generations of an
African-American family ponder their lives and futures during one brutally hot
June weekend in suburban Philadelphia.
At Peter Norton Space, Ruben Santiago-Hudson directs an optimistic and
emotional revival of the 1975 play by Leslie Lee with a cast headed by the notable
Leslie Uggams as Lucretia. Called Gremmar,
Lucretia is the ailing but intrepid matriarch whose story drives the
exploration of the family saga through six decades of racism, sexuality, politics
braced by the joys and comforts of religion.
Slowly
secrets are stated and unraveled, lives and desires interwoven, and the past
sets the scene for the present. Through memory
segments, the social disruptions of the '70's are interspersed with Gremmar's history. Gremmar
is visiting the family of her son, Milton, a construction company owner played
by Keith Randolph Smith, and his wife, Hattie (Marva Hicks). Also in the house are two young adult sons, Nate
and Lou, played by real life brothers, Brandon and Jason Dirden. Gremmar,
who suffers from acute chest pains, shares in the family activities but also privately
wanders into the past, sitting still in a chair, her eyes focus inward as she is
transported to years gone by. Younger versions of Gremmar are played by Yaya
DaCosta who is making her professional stage debut. With sensitivity, she portrays Lucretia at
various points when love and lust bring her down. First Lucretia is young, vulnerable, and in
love with Sam Green (Gilbert Owuor), who gives her a string of pearls and
leaves her pregnant. She then works as a
maid for Briton Woodward, a resentful, adopted white man played by Quincy
Dunn-Baker. Again pregnant, this time
she is the one who walks out. Later,
John Earl Jelks plays Harper Edwards, a mine-worker/preacher who abandons her
when he learns about her past.
Two of the three children, now grown, include Harper's son Milton, and Briton's
daughter, the meddlesome chatterbox, Edna, played by Brenda Pressley. Sam's son has died.
Uggams portrayal of Gremmar is faceted with poise and intelligence. A relationship with God has softened the traumas of her life, and she has come to terms with her sensuous past and her disappointments. She learned to accept her unconventional emotions and experiences, and gained compassion without losing her spunk and wit, something appreciated by the whole family but especially by youngest grandson, Lou. Proud and wise, Gremmar is supportive of Lou's ambition to become a doctor although his father, Milton, wants him in the family business. Patiently, she counsels Lou, a bewildered and sexually ambiguous teenager, and in Act II, Gremmar, facing her mortality, takes a risk and allows Lou to learn her secrets, to which he reacts with surprising vehemence.
Lou's older brother, Nate, is frustrated and impatient working for his
father. He is not as gifted or ambitious
as Lou is, but he yearns for a fuller life and is critical of the way his
father runs the business. He also derides
their church ties. Nate is engaged to
the vivacious Hope, played by Crystal Anne Dickinson. Like all the characters, Lou and Nate are carefully
illustrated, fitting into a close-knit working African-American family with universal
problems and centered around the church.
One vigorous sequence has Reverend Mosely (Harvy Blanks) leading the
family in raucous testifying session with full-throated "Glory Hallelujahs".
Reuben Santiago-Hudson savors each moment of the play, carefully fitting
the puzzle pieces into the design. The
story flows neatly between past and present.
The set design by Michael Carnahan crams the stage with comfortable
details of a middle-class home and porch with decorative plates on the wall, a
piano topped with family photographs, and colorful plants. Marcus Doshi's lighting filters through the
trees in the summer air. Karen Perry's costumes are faithful to the 1970's.
Finally,
a summer breeze brings relief to the scorching weekend, just as Milton hires
his first white employee, a symbol of changing times. In its original 1975 production, the play won an Obie Award and a
Tony Award nomination for playwright Leslie Lee. Rich and detailed, The
First Breeze of Summer under Reuben Santiago-Hudson's direction remains
engrossing in its characters, language and vitality.
Elizabeth
Ahlfors
August 28, 2008
Signature Theatre Company's Peter Norton Space
555 West 42nd
Street between 10th & 11th Avenues
Tickets online and current Performance Schedule: www.signaturetheatre.org
2 hours 40 minutes
Through October 5
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August 2008
Flamingo Court
Flamingo
Court zeros in on the
sunny side of older life, but most seniors admit the "golden years"
are not all sunshine and orange blossoms even if you live in the Sunshine
State. About 20 years ago, Luigi
Creatore, now 87, came up with these insights about geriatric escapades in a
Florida complex. His good-natured/poignant "Comedy in Three
Condos" was presented at the Boca Raton
Community Theatre and ended up just off-Broadway at New World Stages.
The three
one-act plays star M*A*S*H's Jamie
Farr and Chapter Two's Anita
Gillette, crafting sharp characterizations of South Florida retirees. They are retired from jobs but not from life
and they confront the good parts of living, like sex and love, but also the
hard times. The first story,
''Angelina'' (Apartment 104), concerns Dominic, a silver fox who falls hard for
Angelina, a fluttery, not quite conventional neighbor. Angie is drawn to the romantic Dominic, but
is burdened with an invalid husband, Frank, whom we never meet. We never meet him because Frank is... well,
that is one of the twists. Other twists
involve a fantasy stroll down the Via Veneto in Rome and, fortunately or
unfortunately, a murder. Or is it a
murder? The plot meanders and shifts
before an all-smiles ending.
Tackling the hard
times is the heart of the middle play, ''Clara'' (Apartment 204). This moving segment is introduced by
projected photographs of family memories before opening on an elderly couple
slowly dancing. The wife, Clara, is
suffering from dementia and Arthur, her husband, is waiting for transportation
to take her to a nursing home. Clara does not want to go and solves the problem
in a most traumatic manner. Jamie Farr
communicates the husband's anguish over his dilemma, and Gillette shines as the
fragile Clara, one moment as clear as her name and then confused and
frustrated.
''Harry,'' in (Apartment 304), is a sprightly 89-year-old who passes time by scheduling himself for a free hearing test although his hearing is perfectly good. Farr as Harry showcases his outgoing comic flair, particularly with a quirky walk. He is lonely but vibrant and has a daughter, Chelsea, whom he despises. He has a unique habit to keep Chelsea from snooping around in his closet. Realizing that "living well is the best revenge," Harry resolves to spend his money and live lavishly, leaving his daughter nothing. He convinces the hearing-aid salesman to find him a hooker, and in comes Chi-Chi. Anita Gillette plays Chi-Chi with broad gusto in a frisky, platinum-blonde wig and squeezed into skintight gold tights and a plunging hot pink blouse. Harry would be happy about the play's ending where Chelsea, the self-centered daughter, gets her comeuppance.
The strong supporting cast includes Herbert Rubens, engaging as Mark, the hearing aid salesman, and Joe Vincent as Walter, who is in cahoots with wife Chelsea's plans.. Lucy Martin's biting voice rounds out portraits of Angelina's friend Marie and Harry's daughter Chelsea.
James Youmans designed a peach-hued Florida condo that easily accessorizes for each occupant. Carol Sherry's cheery costumes might have been chosen in a southern mall's Senior Shop, with baggy men's pants belted high above the waist, tropical shirts, and elastic socks, all brought to amusing tackiness in Harry's plaid shorts and Chi-Chi's blowsy get-up.
In these snapshots
of life, director Steven Yuhasz squeezed the most comedy possible out of his
actors' vocal and physical characterization.
The pace is light-footed. Some of
the biggest laughs went to the announcements projected above the stage between
acts, comically relating tidbits about life in a retirement condo, scheduling
Bingo, mall-hopping and daily lessons on using the cell phone and setting the
DVD. Doris Day, Rosemary Clooney, and
Frank Sinatra singing '50's hits serves as a overture to Flamingo Court, and, a bouncing ball sing-along for a original
tune, "Old Is In," brings
in Act II.
Flamingo Court holds no message that smacks you in the head, except for the reminder to savor the laughs in life, and that's not a bad lesson at all.
Elizabeth
Ahlfors
August 14, 2008
New World Stages / Theatre 21
40 West 50th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues
Running Time: 2 hours, with one intermission
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August 2008
Buffalo Gal
Buffalo Gal -- Will she or won't she "come out tonight"? It all depends on Amanda. Will this fading Hollywood star accept a cushy TV sitcom playing Granny Sweetpants, or will she stick to her love of theatre and star as Madame Ranovskaya in a Buffalo production of The Cherry Orchard? Subtext issues range from life's disappointments to the future of regional theatre, from financial security to artistic ideals and reconnecting with yourself. A lot of issues for 90 minutes.
Buffalo Gal, a character-driven play written in 2002 by the prolific A. R. Gurney, opens the current season of Primary Stages and marks the play's New York debut. Reflective of the popularity of Gurney, the play was extended two weeks even before its opening night. The universality of his plays examines changing cultures and characters caught up in familial and societal dramas. As in this play, Gurney often uses his hometown of Buffalo to evoke past glory and present problems.
Buffalo Gal is a light comedy with amenable characters sketched with intrigue but not fully drawn. Jackie, director of Buffalo's small regional company, has convinced Amanda to return home and star in The Cherry Orchard. Amanda is an upper-class Buffalo blue blood who left family and home for an acting career. Alas, her glory has tarnished somewhat by now, but Jackie believes that if this production succeeds, the theatre company may survive financially, perhaps expand its reputation, and Amanda may regain her semi-glossy career. It is a win-win, if Amanda can pull it off.
Jackie, however, finds her star to be an insecure and needy diva-with-a-heart. Amanda worries about her career, admits her memory is not what it once was, and nostalgically remembers her privileged Buffalo upbringing in her grandmother's family home. With financial worries and a daughter with emotional problems, she is weighing the options of television versus stage. She becomes flustered by disruptions like finding out that her co-star in The Cherry Orchard has been replaced by James, an African-American recovering drug abuser. Her insecurity soars until she recognizes James as a friend from her early student days.
She is interested but apprehensive upon receiving a note from Dan, a former high-school boyfriend, now a local dentist with a new name. When they do meet, Dan makes a case for his deep and lasting love for Amanda, sending her a CD of a song he had written for her. We learn their early romance was more involved than first indicated. Furthermore, although Dan is married, he claims the marriage is not happy so perhaps Amanda can enjoy a lifestyle similar to what she once knew, as well work on stage again in Buffalo regional theatre.
Amanda senses coincidences between her life and that of the character she plays. Just as Mme. Ranovskaya tries to protect her family home, Amanda believes she may be able to regain her grandmother's home. With her stirred up emotions, she ignores the fact that both the upper-class Buffalo that formed Amanda, like the Russian aristocracy that formed Mme. Ranovskaya, is gone.
A final disruption comes when Amanda receives a call from her agent in Hollywood with a new sitcom offer. While it is merely television, not theatre, there could be lots of money in the sitcom -- if it works. Buffalo regional theatre is the stage, but promises little security. Amanda decides to go back to Hollywood just to make the pilot and then return immediately to Buffalo and The Cherry Orchard. Will she return or won't she?
Susan Sullivan, best known in television (Falcon Crest) and films (My Best Friend's Wedding), ably portrays the vulnerability beneath the theatricality of Amanda, who swoops across the stage, dipping into deep curtsies at every opportunity. Sullivan likes and respects her conflicted character but the role, as written, is sketchy.
Jennifer Regan plays Jackie, the ambitious director. Not only does she have her hands full keeping Amanda on track, she worries about the future of her small theatre and her own future. Furthermore, she wants to impress the children of her lesbian lover. Amanda and Jackie are the most full drawn characters.
James Waterston brings a hardworking eagerness to Roy, the stage manager. Carmen M. Herlihy as Debbie, the college intern with a passion for regional theatre, delivers the play's best lines with earnest perkiness. Dathan B. Williams portrays an overly mannered James. Mark Blum is fervent but not convincing in his claim of a love-that-never-faded for Amanda.
Andrew Jackness designed the backstage theatre set with props of birch trees and a hobbyhorse indicating use in The Cherry Orchard. Lighting is by Mary Louise Geiger, and costumes by Candice Donnelly. Director Mark Lamos provides an ambiance of humorous gentility with a bite, but try as it might, this Buffalo Gal does not yet "dance by the light of the moon."
Elizabeth Ahlfors
July 31, 2008
Primary
Stages
59 East 59 Street
Between Park and Madison
Avenues. (212) 279-4200.
August 5, 2008 – September 13,
2008 (extended)
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© 2008 Elizabeth Ahlfors. All rights reserved worldwide