Spring theater in New York is approaching full bloom, and my latest visit was a mixed bag of shows.
By far, the best show of my visit was the Jamie Lloyd directed adaptation (by Amy Herzog) of Ibsen's "A Doll's House," which features a bravura performance by Jessica Chastain as Nora. Herzog's adaptation, Lloyd's direction and Chastain's "can't take my eyes off of her" performance are perfectly in synch, yielding a production almost entirely centered on Chastain's Nora. My interpretation is that the show is set in Nora's mind, with her remembering the actions that take place on stage. This interpretation is buttressed by the pre-show appearance of Nora/Chastain seated on a circular roundtable where for appoximately 15 minutes she appears to be engaged in deep thought as other cast members slowly appear and take their own seats.
The set design is minimalistic, which allows for greater focus on the words that are crisply and clearly delivered via the outstanding sound design. This production calls for audience focus, and thankfully the audience at my performance was blissfully silent and seemingly rapt throughout the almost 2 hour intermission-less show. This "Doll's House" feels current, urgent and explosive in no small part due to Chastain's beautifully rendered performance. Audience complaints about the lack of set design or stage interaction (and there are quite a few such complaints being made) seem to me to miss the point of the bold and daring vision of the show's artistic creators.
Count me in the "not horrible, but far from great" camp for the lackluster "Sweeney Todd" revival currently playing on Broadway. Josh Groban is miscast and proves the considerable limits of his acting abilities, Annaleigh Ashford starts out great but by the end seems to be mugging too much, and Jordan Fisher is not up to the demands of singing "Johanna," one of Sondheim's most beautiful tunes. The choreography does not fit the show, and at times made the staging look like a Disney musical, and a bad one at that. I also cannot help but plead for the removal of the cheap mechanical bird that furiously flaps its plastic wings as Fisher begins to sing "Johanna," which is beyond absurd and distracting. The sound design is also lacking as the orchestra sounded way too quiet from my Row K orchestra seat. The set design is just okay, but is overly clunky in Act 2. Going in, I did not think Thomas Kail was the right director for this show, and what I saw on stage confirmed that fact.
On the positive side, Gaten Matarazzo and Ruthie Ann Miles provide worthy dimensions to their roles, and Jamie Jackson and John Rapson are quite good as the Judge and Beadle (which they also proved to be in prior, better productions of this show). In the end, I see no reason to see this show if you have seen prior professional productions of "Sweeney Todd," and this production in no way justifies the outrageously high prices being charged for tickets.
Although it could use a few more revisions by an expert dramaturge, I was thoroughly engaged, entertained and ultimately moved by Classic Stage Company expertly cast Marcus Gardley play "black odyssey," which revisits the Odysseus saga as seen through a Black American lens. Stevie Walker-Webb's direction is sharp as he guides this journey of his supremely talented cast. Yes, the play can be a bit messy at times, but perhaps that messiness is itself a comment on the black experience in contemporary America.
I caught the Signature Theatre's revival of Samuel D. Hunter's "Bright New Boise" in its last week of performances, and was glad that I did so. I did not care for a prior production of this play I saw years ago at small theater in Los Angeles. But Signature's production, which featured an excellent cast smartly directed by Oliver Butler made the best case I can imagine for this play, even if the ending still did not fully land for me. Among the fine cast was the stunning young actor Ignacio Diaz-Silverio, who gives a career making performance here that portends his likely great future as an actor.
I also enjoyed Suzan-Lori Parks' musical adaptation of the film "The Harder They Come," which has an infectious energy even if it is unable to overcome the many cliches contained in the underlying work. The talented cast and band go a long way towards making this show sing, and it never overstays its two hour running time.
MCC Theater's presentation of Soho Rep's "Wolf Play," proved to be a worthwhile exercise in theatrical ingenuity, although for me the inventive staging somewhat masks the elemental and basic nature of the underlying script.
Finally, despite some nice staging and a few good performances, Keith Bunin's "The Coast Starlight" at Lincoln Center Theater's Mitzi Newhouse lacked credibility and nuance, which left me feeling both disappointed and sour as to why this feeble play was accorded the considerable resources this prominent venue.
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