Visuals Enchant in "The Man in a Case"

	KenderTheater (@KenderTheater)
5/4/14, 9:12 PM I was entranced and engaged by the visual artistry brought to two Chekhov short stories by Baryshnikov and AnnIe-B Parsons' #BigDanceTheater in "The Man In a Case" @TheBroadStage.  The elliptical style is not for everyone, but it worked for me.

"Your Mother's Copy of the Kama Sutra" Engages & Surprises

	KenderTheater (@KenderTheater)
4/20/14, 10:37 PM Kirk Lynn's #YourMother'sCopyOfTheKamaSutra is another winner at Playwrights Horizons - a raw, funny, unique, unpredictable and moving play about exposing one's vulnerability and what it means to be human.  It holds its audience in a spell throughout.  Thank you Playwrights Horizons for presenting a terrific production of another unique, smart and challenging work.

"Bullets Over Broadway" Shoots Blanks

	KenderTheater (@KenderTheater)
4/20/14, 6:27 PM They don't make them anymore like #bulletsoverbroadway...for good reason, it's a creaky bore. Lots of wasted resources on stage.  Susan Stroman does what she can to keep it all moving, but the source material passed its expiration date at least several decades ago.

Neil Patrick Harris Rocks It as Hedwig

KenderTheater (@KenderTheater)

4/19/14, 10:37 PM I will confess that I had some doubt that he could pull off the darker, more serious aspects of the role, but @ActuallyNPH [Neil Patrick Harris] gives it his all and pulls off an amazing performance in @HedwigOnBway.   They can start polishing his Tony, because no musical actor this season is mesmerizing audiences the way NPH does in "Hedwig."  While part of me misses the grittiness of the original 1998 production, and despite some concern in the first half hour that it was being played too broadly for laughs, in the end NPH and this production make it all work.  The show on Broadway is both entertaining and moving, which is hard to pull off, but what this special show needs to work.

"Violet" Revival Soars When It Sings

	KenderTheater (@KenderTheater)
4/19/14, 6:10 PM Broadway revival of #Violet @RTC_NYC is beautifully sung, but failed to move me emotionally until close to the finale.  No doubt as to who is the highlight and heart of this production, it is @joshuahenry20 who is simply fantastic here.  Sutton Foster's voice is in top form here, but her acting choices (which are usually spot on) bewildered me somewhat.

"Mothers And Sons" Deserves To Be Seen

	KenderTheater (@KenderTheater)
4/18/14, 10:50 PM Terrance McNally's #MotherAndSons is a good (not great) play that feels like it needed to be written, and deserves to be seen.  It is a fine addition to McNally's body of work.  Tyne Daly is quite good in the lead role.

An Assured "Rest" at South Coast Rep

	KenderTheater (@KenderTheater)
4/13/14, 6:35 PM "Rest" @SouthCoastRep is another terrific Samuel D. Hunter play featuring  ordinary people who find their essential humanity confronting life's biggest issues. It features an expert  cast, with special mention to the outstanding performance given by Lynn Milgrim which grounds the work and expertly conveys the play's empathetic and humane themes.

Peter Brook's Exquisite "The Suit"

	KenderTheater (@KenderTheater)
4/12/14, 10:19 PM Peter Brook/Theatre des Bouffes du Nord's  "TheSuit" @CAP_UCLA is a finely crafted, exquisitely performed, beautiful work of art. Run to see it at UCLA's Freud Playhouse before it closes on April 19.

A Misconceived "Dream"

	KenderTheater (@KenderTheater)
4/11/14, 10:53 PM The Bristol Old Vic/ Handspring Puppet Company production of  "Midsummer Nights'sDream" at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica is an unfortunate misfire.  Although it has some fine visual moments, overall it felt misconceived & lacked the otherworldly aura and magic need to make Shakespeare's play work.

"Appropriate"- A Terrific New Play From A Promising Young Playwright

	KenderTheater (@KenderTheater)
4/6/14, 3:34 PM Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins' "Appropriate" @SignatureTheatr is outstanding and the best new play I have seen thus far this season.  A terrific cast mines the play's considerable humor while imparting the insightful depth of this promising young playwright's message.  Don't miss it.

A Most Happy "Fella" @ Encores!

	KenderTheater (@KenderTheater)
4/5/14, 8:26 PM Encores! "MostHappyFella" @NYCityCenter was a near perfect mounting of Frank Loesser's classic with a dream cast and orchestra. Simply enchanting.

Hit and Miss "Of Mice And Men" Broadway Revival

	KenderTheater (@KenderTheater)
4/5/14, 3:59 PM James Franco is just plain awful and way out of his acting league, but Chris O'Dowd is an outstanding Lenny in hit-and-miss Broadway revival "Of Mice and Men."

"The Fortress of Solitude" has a welcome debut in Dallas

To be successful, theater needs engage the emotions of its viewers.  It is not easy to do, and can be especially difficult in musical theater.  Indeed, much of the musical theater canon is focused on engaging the humor or romantic emotions in viewers, as those are the emotions most naturally suited to the musical form.  A musical that engages the the mind and heart in a deeply felt way outside of a romantic context is particularly difficult to pull off.  But that is exactly what the outstanding new musical  "The Fortress of Solitude," a musical stage adaptation of Jonathan Lethmam's 2004 novel set in Brooklyn, NY is able to accomplish in its outstanding premiere now playing through April 6 at the Dallas Theater Center.

"Fortress" is a co-production between DTC and New York's Public Theater, and features a tuneful and witty score by Michael Friedman, an engaging and smart book by Itamar Moses, fluid direction by Daniel Aukin, and a terrific cast led by two outstanding young actor/singers, Adam Chanler-Berat and Kyle Beltran.  Mr. Chanler-Berat holds much of the emotional weight of the show on his shoulders, and provides the finest musical theater performance I have seen on stage this theater season.

The show primarily focuses on the unlikely friendships and family lives of the characters played by Chanler-Berat and Beltran, who grew up as neighbors in mid-1970s Gownaus, Brooklyn.  The show spans the time period from 1975-1999, and the lyrics and music evoke the musical styles  (and some near sampling that had me wondering about legal music clearances) that span that time frame.  Indeed, as in the book on which it is based, music and it's effect on the emotional lives of its characters provides a central theme of the work.

To say that I was incredibly moved by this show would be an understatement.  I am not sure if it is due to the fact that the characters grew up in times relatively contemporaneous with my own life, but I was blown away by the ability of the show to evoke the period zeitgeists in the American eras it portrays.  To me, this proved to be a unique and special musical that I highly recommend to anyone in Dallas before it closes.

As with many brand new works, I have a few quibbles.  The first act is a bit too long, and needs better focus.  I believe this could be accomplished by reducing the character arcs of a few of the minor characters. I am hopeful these issues will be resolved by the creative team before the show is mounted next year at the Public (the starting place for last year's outstanding new musical "Fun Home" whose tone and execution reminded me a great deal of "Fortress"). Indeed, I cannot wait to see this show again at the Public to see if the careful polishing of the musical gem is accomplished.  

"Bridges," "Rocky," "If/Then": Three Imperfect Musicals, With Much To Recommend

It is very difficult to create a near perfect musical, and the current theater season has failed to produce  one thus far.  But many pleasurable moments can be found in three new musicals on Broadway that get a great deal right, even though each is flawed in some significant way.

I will confess that going into "THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY," I expected to find the show unduly sappy and trite.  Thus, I was quite surprised to find myself swept away by one of the finest on stage romantic pairings I have seen,  provided by this show's enormously talented leads, Kelli O'Hara and Steven Pasquale.  The on stage chemistry between these two fine actors and singers is palpable, and aided by a lush score and the fluid directorial touches of Bartlett Sher, this show soars when its two leads command the stage.  The disappointment comes when any of the other characters are on stage, as none of them can compete with the heat generated by the two central performers.   There is a great 110 minute show trying to break out of this 2 hour, 40 minute production, and those minutes are what makes this show well worth catching, at least as long as Ms. O'Hara and Mr. Pasquale are in it.

"ROCKY," the big money spectacle musical of the season, left me with very mixed feelings.  On the plus side are two terrific lead performances (Andy Karl and Margo Seibert in another strong romantic pairing), several fine songs and one of the most amazing musical stagings I have seen.  On the minus side are a number of pointless songs, an anemic book and some miscast actors (the usually fine actor Dakin Matthews being the chief offender).  But in the last 20 minutes all misgivings are swept away by the exquisitely staged final boxing match that sends its audience out a musical theater high.  Is it enough to wipe away the flaws that came before it?  Probably.

Finally, although not without its flaws, I found "IF/ THEN" to be the best new musical I have seen thus far this season.  An interesting and thoughtful look at the various choices taken in life, and the metaphysical strings that influence those choices, "If/ Then" features a fine score, cast and staging.  The show's book is well thought out, unique and unpredictable.  I became deeply invested in the show while watching it, but I must confess that it never moved me in a deep way.  I think this is partly due to the lack of nuance provided by the show's lead actress, Idina Menzel.  Ms. Menzel is a fine singer and belts out the fine songs she is given in true show-stopper fashion.  But her acting is simply not on par with her singing, and she fails to give her character an innate sweetness that a better actress could have provided as a means to connect with the main character on a deeper level.  While watching the show, I could not help thinking that LaChanze, who plays a supporting role in the show, would have been put to better use cast in the lead role.  Nevertheless, there is much to recommend in "If/Then," and I hope it finds an audience beyond the rather noisy Idina Menzel groupies that attended the performance I saw.

A Perfect "Vanya & Sonia & Sasha & Spike"; An Entertaining "Encounter"

I greatly enjoyed Christopher Durang's witty farce "Vanya & Sonia & Sasha & Spike" when I first saw it at Lincoln Center's Mitzi Newhouse stage more than a year ago.  In part, I was surprised by how much I liked the show and its humor, despite the fact that its style (farce) is usually lost on me.  For me, the highlight of that production was Kristine Nielsen, who expertly navigated the tricky role of Sonia that is necessary to get right to make the play work.  One quibble I had with that production was that Nielsen's performance towered over that of her sibling nemesis Masha played by Sigourney Weaver.  But I liked the play enough to want to see it again.

I had hoped that the CTG's production of "Vanya..." might be as good as the original production, especially since Nielsen was reprising her role as Sonia.  What I did not expect was that this David Hyde Pierce (the original Vanya) directed version would exceed its predecessor by a considerable margin.  But it does.  Indeed, the play seems funnier, deeper and more layered in its LA mounting.  I think this is due in large part to the genius casting of Christine Ebersole in the role of Masha, who more than holds her own with Ms. Nielsen's Sonia.  Where Sigourney Weaver played her role as fairly similar in both acts of the play, Ms. Ebersole is a very changed person in Act 2-  it shows and it works to deepen the quite complex themes of the play.  After seeing this sterling production, I am now of the view that Durang's "Vanya..." is one of the finest stage comedies I have seen.  

If you are in Los Angeles and want to catch a pitch-perfect production of this Tony Award winner for best play, get yourself to the Mark Taper Forum before it closes on March 16.

Another "don't miss" production now playing in the LA area is the Kneehigh's (from London) brilliant and moving taking on "Brief Encounter" now playing at the new Wallis Anneberg Performing Arts complex in Beverly Hills.  I first saw and loved this ingenious melding of stage and screen in New York,  at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn.   I must admit this new, if overly formal and reserved, theatrical venue in Beverly Hills is a less than perfect house for this wonderful show, and I much preferred the scrappier and looser Brooklyn site for this work.  But the cast, some of whom remain from the version I saw four years ago, is outstanding.  I especially liked the performance of Damon Daunno, whom I felt gave the show much of its heart and soul, despite playing a supporting role.  The multi-talented Mr. Daunno is a young star in the making, as further evidenced by the outstanding lead performance he gave in the terrific new musical "Fly By Night" that I saw earlier this year in Dallas.   I hope he reprises that role when 'Fly By Night" plays at Playwrights Horizons in NY in May.  

"Brief Encounter" is a sheer delight to behold, and the concept is brilliant and sustained throughout.  Much of the staging still took my breath away, despite having seen it before.  Try not to miss this before it is swept away on March 23.