Hold On to Me Darling (Lucille Lortel Theatre)

By Harry Forbes

I didn’t catch Kenneth Lonergan’s play when it ran at the Atlantic Theater Company in 2016, but the current revival -- directed, like the last, by Neil Pepe, and featuring three of the original company -- is a winner, and another feather in the cap of Adam Driver. He takes the lead role of country singer Strings McCrane who returns home to Beaumont, Tennessee. for his mother’s funeral.

Driver is no stranger to New York theater, and has played an impressive variety of roles in plays by Shaw, Rattigan, Osborne, and Lanford Wilson, but in spite of his ever-growing film fame, he hasn't given up on stage work. And as with his previous film and theater roles, he again proves how skillfully he can completely transform himself to the character at hand

HIlariously self absorbed and self-pitying, and prey to any woman who sympathizes with him, Strings falls for the flattery and idolatry of masseuse Nancy (spot on Heather Burns) sent to his hotel room to relieve his stress. And later, at the funeral home, he finds himself inexorably drawn to Essie (Adelaide Clemens, also marvelous), the lovely second cousin he barely noticed before. And throughout it all, his puppy dog adoring assistant Jimmy (Keith Nobbs) is always on hand to do his bidding. He’ll also reconnect with his half brother Duke (CJ Wilson) who leads what now appears to Strings to be an enviably “normal” life. And ultimately, he’ll get to meet the father (Frank Wood) he hasn’t seen since his parents divorced when he was eight. 

Lonergan writes characters that you care about, and the situation is enormously entertaining. Despite Strings’ immense fame as a singer and film star, he insists he wants to give it all up, and go back to the simple life. Driver’s lovable sincerity and basic innocence make the premise plausible, and he makes Srrings consistently endearing despite the character’s inherent narcissism. 

Clemens, Nobbs and Wilson are reprising their original roles, and they are all terrific. Together with newbies Burns and Wood, they create an impeccable ensemble. The production team is largely the same: Walt Spangler’s revolving set which encompasses a variety of settings deftly, with Suttirat Larlarb and Lizzie Donelan’s character accurate costumes, and David Van Tieghem’s excellent sound design and music.

Pepe’s direction is perfectly judged as the play balances humor and poignancy. And he guides his cast expertly throughout. 

My performance lasted considerably longer than the two hour and 40 minutes originally stated, but was never less than fully absorbing.

(Lucille Lortel Theatre, 121 Christopher St.; HoldOnToMeDarling.com; through December 22)

Photo by Julieta Cervantes: (l.-r.) Heather Burns and Adam Driver

The Roommate (Booth Theatre)

By Harry Forbes

What a pleasure to watch those two pros, Mia Farrow and Patti LuPone, at the top their respective games in Jen Silverman’s funny two-hander about Robyn, a hard-nosed lady from the Bronx with a mysterious past (that’s LuPone) who comes to room with Farrow’s uber-naive Iowa widow Sharon. 

There are abundant laughs as these two diverse personalities knock up against each other, and Sharon is continually shocked and awed by Robyn’s progressive ways; she’s (goodness!) gay and vegan for starters. But for all of the sitcom-like pleasure of the basic situation, there’s substance here, and the play has real poignancy as it progresses. It premiered at the 2015 Humana Festival in Louisville, and was produced at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in 2017.

Sensibly, the stars get their initial bows over with right at the start, and then return for their “real” entrances as the play proper begins unimpeded by audience applause. 

Farrow’s character may be the mousy one, at least at first, but there’s nothing lacking in her stage dynamism. She was last on Broadway in 2014 for a brief run of “Love Letters” with Brian Dennehy, and she was first-rate. Here, she has some wonderfully funny moments -- watch her Sharon take her first swallow of almond milk -- but also highly moving ones, and she, like LuPone, creates a solidly believable character despite plot improbabilities. 

The naive Sharon has what Robyn and we the audience clearly discern is a gay dress designer son living in Park Slope, and we shortly learn that more about Robyn’s familial connections, and her mysterious past. Both women know exactly how to play for laughs and then scale back for the dramatic moments. Farrow is particularly touching in the final scenes of the play.

I hesitate to say too much about the plot which runs without an interval in a single act for about one hour and 45 minutes. Better to experience each revelation when it comes. But it’s not too much of a spoiler to say that the two ladies do eventually bond in a most unexpected and. for Sharon at least, positive, way. 

Though Silverman’s plot is largely predictable, it’s the kind of predictability that tickles the funny bone and satisfies. 

All of this plays out on Bob Crowley’s very attractive airy open house set (no walls or ceiling). Natasha Katz’s character-defining costumes are spot on. Mikaal Sulaiman’s sound design is natural and clear. The evocative underscoring is by David Yazbek. And the whole is masterfully directed by that Jack O’Brien. 

(Booth Theatre, 222 West 45th Street; theroommatebway.com; through December 15)

Photo by Michael Murphy: (l.-r.) Patti LuPone & Mia Farrow

Yellow Face (Roundabout Theatre Company)

By Harry Forbes

Playwright David Henry Hwang uses the firestorm he ignited back in 1991 over the casting of actor Jonathan Pryce in the London to Broadway transfer of “Miss Saigon” as the springboard for this autobiographical comedy/drama. (You may recall Pryce was to recreate his acclaimed role of a Eurasian brothel owner in Vietnam.) "Yellow Face" premiered at the Mark Taper Forum and came to the Public Theater in 2007.

 

But that episode is only the preamble for what follows. Hwang then turns to events surrounding his follow-up to his acclaimed “M. Butterfly.” The play was “Face Values” but it fizzled during previews in 1993, and closed before opening night. In Hwang’s amusing riff on the actual events, he mistakenly hires a white actor -- one Marcus Dahlman -- for the lead role believing the actor to be at least partly Asian, though, in fact, Marcus is quite obviously Caucasian. 

When DHH, as Hwang is called here, and winningly portrayed by Daniel Dae Kim, fully realizes his error, he sacks the guileless, good natured actor, likably played by Ryan Eggold. But Marcus has found he enjoys being part of the Asian-American community and all the affirming rhetoric that goes with it. He wholeheartedly embraces his new identity, much to DHH's annoyance. (One of the pleasures of the play is the self-deprecating portrait Hwang paints of his fictional self.)

All of these farcical elements are funny and thought-provoking. But matters take a decidedly more serious turn when, in he second half (unlike its earlier incarnations, played without an interval), DHH’s elderly father, a successful banker, falls under govenment scrutiny for his Far East National Bank dealings with China. His loyalty to the US is now questioned, a situation all the more ironic given his devotion to all things American and, you might say, his lifelong assumption of “white face.” HYH, as the father is called, is played most endearingly by Francis Jue who also takes on the sympathetic role of Wen Ho Lee, a nuclear scientist suspected of spying. 

As HYH, Jue touchingly avows a devotion to Jimmy Stewart, but the investigation crushes his spirit, and turns out to be a far cry from the “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” scenario he had envisioned.

When DHH -- who sits on his father’s board -- acquiesces to an interview with a pointedly unnamed "New York Times" reporter (outstandingly played by Greg Keller) investigating the banking story, it becomes clear that the reporter expects him to rat on his father. The scene between DHH and the reporter is arguably the best in the play.

The earlier parts of the play have rather a facile feel, and the brief appearances of such bold faced names as Cameron Mackintosh, Jane Krakowski, Bernard Jacobs, Frank Rich, and Michael Riedel and the like struck me as more than a little patronizing but admittedly give us a breezy recap of those once headline-grabbing events. 

Actors Kevin Del Aguila, Marinda Anderson, and Shannon Tyo, all excellent, briefly take on those high profile personas, as well as all the other characters who populate the narrative, blithely crossing racial boundaries as they do so, appropriate for a play grappling with the complexities of race.

This revival, apparently trimmed by half an hour from the original, is smartly directed by Leigh Silverman who helmed the premiere productions as well, and is decked out with fine production elements including Arnulfo Maldonado’s versatile set, Yee Eun Nam’s often witty projections, Anita Yavich’s period costumes, Lap Chi Chu’s apt lighting, and Caroline Eng and Kate Marvin’s exemplary sound design and music. 

Though it’s been 17 years since the original production, sadly, the themes of the play remain all too relevant.

(Todd Haimes Theatre, 227 West 42nd Street; roundabouttheatre.org; through November 24)

Photo by Joan Marcus: (l.-r.) Ryan Eggold, Marinda Anderson, Daniel Dae Kim, Kevin Del Aguila

Table 17 (MCC Theater)

By Harry Forbes

Former partners Jada (Kara Young) and Dallas (Biko Eisen-Martin) meet at a restaurant for a reunion under the sardonic eye of the supercilious maitre d/waiter River (Michael Rishawn) in Douglas Lyons amusing and ultimately touching comedy.

Smartly and resourcefully directed by Zhailkon Levingston on Jason Sherwood’s chicly adaptable set configured like the Bianca’s eatery at which the action transpires (the first rows of the theater have been replaced by tables for audience members), the play is a solid showcase for three very appealing performances. (A porgram insert, incidentally, is cutely designed as a menu in keeping with the show’s setting.)

Young follows up her brilliant work as Lutiebelle in last season’s “Purlie Victorious” with another bravura performance. Her brash Jada conceals a vulnerable creature hurt by the past events we learn as the evening transpires. She gets the laughs where appropriate but also shows us the touching heartbreak beneath the bravado. Eisen-Martin’s aspiring music producer Dallas matches her sensitivity beautifully, and their scenes together play out with convincing naturalness, by turn awkward, bitter, and tender in their interactions. Rishawn impresses in his multiple roles demonstrating easy versatility as he morphs from campy waiter to Jada’s former coworker and other roles. 

The play is punctuated by several flashbacks which fill in the backstory, as well as brief audience asides where these characters express their inner thoughts a bit reminiscent of O’Neill’s “Strange Interlude.” A pivotal Christmas episode, an airport mixup, and a breakup confrontation are particularly well done.

All the production elements are fine including Devario D. Simmons’ costumes, Ben Stanton’s lighting, and Christopher Darbassie’s clear sound design. 

We’ve seen this general story before, and occasional stretches of dialogue are a tad conventional, but overall, Lyons’ comic voice is distinctive, as was clear with his Broadway debut play, “Chicken and Biscuits,” and there are, in any case, a couple of unexpected twists in the narrative which keep things even more interesting. 

(MCC Theater’s Susan & Ronald Frankel Theater,  511 W 52nd Street; mcctheater.org/tix/; hrough September 29)

Photo by Daniel J Vasquez: (l.-r.) Biko Eisen-Martin, Kara Young

Once Upon a Mattress (Hudson Theatre)

By Harry Forbes

The delights of director Lear deBessonet’s “Once Upon a Mattress” at Encores this past spring remain undimmed in its Broadway transfer. Indeed, in some ways, they’re actually heightened in its Great White Way retooling.

The show is, of course, composer Mary Rodgers’ comic comic spin on Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Princess and the Pea.” (The very funny book by lyricist Marshall Barer, Jay Thompson, and Dean Fuller, has been smartly adapted by Amy Sherman-Palladino who penned star Sutton Foster’s TV series “Bunheads.”) 

“Mattress” was famously the show that launched Carol Burnett’s meteoric career back in 1959. A 1996 Broadway revival with Sarah Jessica Parker was, frankly, merely adequate, as its leading lady didn’t play Princess Winnifred as broadly comic as the zany part truly demands.

But here, as at Encores, Foster makes the part gloriously her own and for long stretches, even makes you forget Burnett. She’s wonderfully matched by Michael Urie’s touchingly innocent Prince Dauntless and his impeccable comic timing is a joy throughout. Together, Foster and Urie have ribtickling comic chemistry.

There are some changes in the cast but all the newbies fit their parts as beautifully as their Encores counterparts. Ana Gasteyer is now Queen Aggravain putting obstacles in the path of every eligible maiden for the hand of her son. Daniel Breaker is the jester who serves as the show’s narrator, impressing with his smooth vocals right from the opening number, “Many Moons Ago.” And Will Chase is now the clueless Sir Harry who can’t marry Lady Larken until Dauntless walks down the aisle. 

Larken is once again played most delightfully by the gorgeous voiced and appealing Nikki Renée Daniels, and David Patrick Kelly is back as the mute King Sextimus the Silent endearing throughout largely with skillful pantomime. Brooks Ashmanskas again delights as the Queen's partner-in-scheming Wizard.

Lorin Latarro’s ingenious choreography -- last season on impressive display in “The Who’s Tommy” and “The Heart of Rock and Roll” -- confirms her stature as one of the very best in that field. 

As at Encores, the orchestra is positioned upstage under the assured  baton of Mary-Mitchell Campbell. 

David Zinn’s scenic design and Andrea Hood’s costumes are fractured fairy tale perfect. Kai Harada’s sound design is ideally balanced.

The audience at my performance had a ball and I think it’s a safe bet that you will too. 

(Hudson Theatre, 141 West 44th Street; OnceUponAMattessNYC.com)

Photo by Joan Marcus: l.-r. Michael Urie, Sutton Foster, and cast

Ohio Light Opera 2024

By Harry Forbes

In the decade or so that I’ve been attending Ohio Light Opera’s summer season of operettas and musicals, I continue to be awed by the consistency of quality the company maintains, under the leadership of its Executive Director Laura Neill and Artistic Director Steven Daigle. Even with inevitable changes in the company’s performing roster and orchestra -- and certainly the pandemic brought about its fair share of those -- OLO somehow manages to come up with hugely talented triple threat performers who can be as versatile as a repertory season of six shows demands. 

Part of the fun, in fact, is seeing company members take on widely disparate roles, or alternate effortlessly between ensemble and leading roles as the case may be.

This season was no exception. With its usual lineup of high profile classic musicals -- “Guys and Dolls,” “Me and My Girl,” and “The Sound of Music”; Gilbert and Sullivan (“The Gondoliers”); and operetta (Lehár’s “The Count of Luxembourg”) -- the catnip for buffs was Lionel Monckton and Howard Talbot’s 1909 “The Arcadians,” a massive hit in its day, and one which straddled the genres of the English operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan and the burgeoning modern musical. It was considered one of the very best of the Edwardian era musicals as its original 809 performance run attests.

The Arcadians

When London caterer Jim Smith’s plane crash-lands in the fabled Arcadia (located somewhere near the North Pole), the innocent residents are fascinated to encounter a specimen of the wickedness they had recently learned is prevalent in that distant city, a land populated by “monsters” who live in cages, and tell lies. So when Jim is caught in a major fib, they dunk him in the Well of Truth which youthens and (they think) reforms him. Sombra and her sister Chrysaea (Holly Thomas) decide Jim (now renamed Simplicitas) will take them back to London and they will convert everyone to a truthful simple life. The second act scene-change from pastoral Arcadia to a London racetrack, a delightful contrast.

Vince Gover, one of OLO’s brightest lights, was a superb Jim/Simplicitas, sharp and funny in the dialogue and outstanding in all his music hall type numbers including the show’s big hit “All Down Piccadilly,” an earworm if there ever was one. And the cast was uniformly excellent.

Laura McKenna was ideally cast as Sombra with just the right innocence and sweetness, and she sang with beautiful tone. Madison Barrett was charming as fetching Irish lass Eileen and her “The Girl with the Brogue” number was another highlight. That number, and indeed the dancing for all the shows, was the superior work of OLO choreographer Spencer Reese who, here, also played Jack, the racehorse owner pursuing Eileen. Their duets -- the popular “Charming Weather” and “Half Past Two” -- were as delightfully done as one could wish. Connor Burns as jockey Peter Doody earned a rousing hand for his third act number “My Motter” (as in motto), an enormous hit in 1909 for doleful originator Alfred Lester.

Steven Daigle's direction and Wilson Southerland's conducting perfectly captured the authentic Edwardian spirit.

OLO revived the piece in 1998, but the resulting two-CD recording on Albany records was unfortunately trimmed. In any case, here’s a promotional video sampler for the recent production: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTdIW9y-GqU

The Count of Luxembourg

Though Franz Lehár’s “Count of Luxembourg” recordings (mostly German) are plentiful and there are at least a couple of videos, this was only the second time I had encountered the show performed in person. And I was struck again by how well it played. Often cited as the most tuneful of Lehár’s early period after “The Merry Widow,” and the closest in overall tone to that megahit, the plot is surprisingly engaging and even suspenseful under Daigle's directorial helm. Impoverished Count René agrees to a brief marriage of convenience with opera anger Angèle without each actually seeing the other. She’ll thus gain a Countess title and be able to marry the elderly Prince Basil Basilovitch who’s wooing her, and René, in turn, will receive a generous payout. Daigle again directed a well-paced production. The tunes -- under the vital baton of Wilson Southerland - were glorious, including the duet for secondary pair -- painter Brissard (William Volmar) and his girlfriend Juliette (Jordan Knapick) -- shamelessly “borrowed,” by the way, by Sigmund Romberg for “Just We Two” in “The Student Prince.” 

Versatile OLO regular Jack Murphy played René appealingly. His light tenor is miles removed from the Rudolf Schock/Nicolai Gedda mold, but he carried the part off with distinction. Christine Price’s Angèle was quite gorgeously sung in the traditional manner, and it was interesting to see the two together again after their excellent but vastly different pairing in last season’s “Orpheus in the Underworld.” Volmar and Knapick made a strong secondary couple. Company Associate Artistic Director Jacob Allen gave us an incisively sung, lively and amusing Basil. And Maggie Langhorne had an impressive third act turn as an elderly Russian countess, though the Nigel Douglas performing edition deprived her of the aria Lehár added in 1937. 

The Gondoliers

There were pleasures to be had in director Spencer Reese’s sometimes overly busy mounting of Gilbert and Sullivan’s final success. Once again, Gover was outstanding, this time as the Duke of Plaza-Toro singing his numbers with crisp diction and steady tone. Zachary Elmassian made a fine and sonorous Don Alhambra, dramatically and vocally. Some of Reese’s gags were a big heavy handed for my taste including some running business involving objects tossed offstage making crashing sounds. 

I also felt the staging for the gondoliers Marco (Davian Raggio) and Giuseppe (Connor Burns) was, at times, wrong headed. There was too much blindfolding beyond the dictates of the opening scene, and their big second act solos -- “Rising Early in the Morning” and “Take a Pair of Sparkling Eyes” (both well sung, incidentally) -- lost some focus as those numbers each were staged with the two standing side by side. 

As the Duchess, Andrea McGaugh was particularly good in “On the Day When I Was Wedded” with some silly but funny business involving puppets under her voluminous gown. Laura McKenna, Julia Fedor, and Holly Thomas sang well as Gianetta, Tessa and Casilda respectively. And there was good work from Michael Koutelos as Antonio and Nicholas Orth as Luiz. 

Reese’s choreography including the “Cachucha” scene and elsewhere, and Michael Borowitz's conducting, were consistently sterling. 

Guys and Dolls

With Frank Loesser’s “Guys and Dolls” a big hit in London currently in a revamped immersive staging -- and no doubt slated for Broadway -- it was good to see the show in its pure, original form with all the nowadays cut scene changing music and such intact. The cast was a good one. At my performance, Madeline Coffey played Salvation Army lass Sarah Brown, and she was ideal, singing superbly. “If I Were a Bell” in the Havana sequence was a particular standout, and she teamed with Ori Marcu’s Miss Adelaide for an especially satisfying rendition of “Marry the Man Today” near the end. Elsewhere, Marcu nailed “Adelaide’s Lament” and her two club songs in the part’s time-honored style. Versatile James Mitchell (last season’s King Arthur in “Camelot”) slipped easily into the Nathan Detroit role. And Jack Murphy as Sky Masterson handled his first act ballads and second act “Luck Be a Lady” with aplomb, pairing well with Coffey in the dramatic scenes. Filling out the large cast were Spencer Reese in Stubby Kaye’s Nicely-Nicely role, and Yvonne Trobe as the starchy but soft-hearted Salvation Army General.

Jacob Allen directed with his customary Broadway know-how, with Michael Borowitz at the podium, and Reese again doing a fine job with the dancing. The Crapshooter Dance was remarkably well staged, and the ensemble hoofing impressive. William Volmar, vocally strong in “Luxembourg,” showed real terpsichorean talent. 

After his terrific comic turns in “The Arcadians” and “The Gondoliers,” here was Vince Gover in an affecting and understated performance as Sarah’s Irish grandfather (for a young man, Gover has a remarkable ability to play convincingly older). His unadorned rendition of “More I Cannot Wish You” was even, in the view of one visiting Broadway professional,  the best single moment in the show. 

Me and My Girl

Stephen Fry and Mike Ockrent’s 1984 revamp of the enormous 1937 London musical hit may not -- despite its multiple awards and impressively long runs in the West End and Broadway -- have the title recognition of a “Guys and Dolls,” but the OLO audience received it with wild enthusiasm. Spencer Reese was a natural for the lead role, cockney Bill Snibson who inherits a title and a fortune but must prove his worth to the other swells in the family to keep the title and fortune that goes with it. 

Sally Smith is the true-blue girl he loves, despite the disapproval of Bill’s new-found aunt, the Duchess of Dene. Reese danced up a proverbial storm. And, in his empathetic Sally, Kate Bilenko, Reese had found a partner who could give him a run for his money. There were moments when it felt as though Fred Astaire had at last found his ideal Ginger Rogers. The two danced superbly, like thoroughbreds. Bilenko acted the part with honest sincerity and touching conviction, bearing favorable comparison with the part’s originator Emma Thompson and Broadway’s Maryann Plunkett. Her ballad “Once You Lose Your Heart” was an emotional high point.

Noel Gay’s tuneful score, including the very earwormy “Lambeth Walk,” (staged to a fare thee well by Reese) got a first-rate performance, right through Bill’s beguiling eleven o’clock number “Leaning on a Lamp Post.” 

The strong supporting cast included James Mitchell as the family solicitor, Yvonne Trobe as Bill’s disapproving Duchess aunt, Madison Barrett (demure Eileen in “The Arcadians”) as vampy Lady Jacqueline who sets her gold digging cap on Bill, and Jack Murphy as her frustrated suitor Gerald demonstrating his limber dancing prowess in the second act opener, “The Sun Has Got His Hat On.” R. Porter Hiatt as the Duchess’ old flame was another asset, and dueted entertainingly with Reese on “Love Makes the World Go Round.” 

There was savvy direction from Jacob Allen, and lively accompaniment in the pit by Michael Borowitz. 

The Sound of Music

For all the sometimes patronizing attitude about Rodgers and Hammerstein’s final collaboration one hears in certain quarters, it must be said that the show is rock solid and an audience pleaser which never fails to pull on the heartstrings, even in a relatively modest production such as this. 

Once again, the Daigle/Southerland team were at the helm directing and conducting respectively, and it was gratifying to hear the original 1959 stage score in its original form with neither of the two movie additions. So, too, the songs were all in their customary place: Maria and the Abbess singing “My Favorite Things,” Maria comforting the children during the storm with “The Lonely Goatherd,” and so on. 

Dramatically, Rachel Weinfeld made a sympathetic Maria, and sang beautifully. She was well matched by Zachary Elmassian’s imposing Captain von Trapp who again impressed with his rich bass-baritone. Jordan Knapick transformed from the warmly likable soubrette in “Luxembourg” to the calculating Elsa Schraeder who contrives to marry von Trapp, while chameleon James Mitchell again scored, this time as impresario Max Detweiler. Though her roles in the season’s other offerings were mainly non-musical character parts, Yvonne Trobe got to demonstrate her rich mezzo in a grandly sung “Climb Ev’ry Mountain.” 

 A couple of days before the end of season, Board Chairman Michael Miller offered his annual “Operetta Mania” morning video presentation. This included some choice moments from operetta productions around the world, as well as some pearly scenes from vintage OLO shows like Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Ruddigore,” Victor Herbert’s “Dream City/The Magic Knight,” and Emmerich Kálmán’s “Countess Maritza” with memorable turns by company regulars Julie Wright Costa, the late Brian Woods, Daniel Neer, Nicholas Wuehrmann, Nathan Brian, and Ted Christopher among other of the company’s well-remembered veterans. 

Donors were treated to a special morning concert narrated by Michael Miller with company members showing off their versatility in numbers from shows previously presented by OLO, an impressive and heady mix of Offenbach, Strauss, Coward, Lehár, Fall  and more. Highlights too numerous to mention in full included the “If I Loved You” bench scene from “Carousel” with Rachel Weinfeld and William Volmar who followed that with an excellent number from Kálmán’s “Autumn Maneuvers.” Jacob Allen reprised his comic role from “The Desert Song” with the snappy “It” in tandem with Arianna Paz, and later duetted with Maggie Langhorne in “A Picture of Me without You” from “Jubilee.” But Michael Koutelos, Christine Price, Davian Raggio, Laura McKenna, Owen Malone, Sara Nealley, Nicholas Orth, Julia Fedor, and Jeron Robinson all excelled in their individual or group numbers, with apt accompaniment by Eric Andries on piano. 

None of this season’s productions were filmed, alas, but last year’s excellent production of “No, No, Nanette” in its original 1925 version has just been released on DVD. It can be ordered from OLO’s web page below.

(The Ohio Light Opera, The College of Wooster, 1189 Beall Avenue, Wooster, OH; 330-263-2345 or ohiolightopera.org; through July 28)

Photos: Matt Dilyard

(Top) “The Arcadians”

(Below)

(l.-r.) Vince Gover, Laura McKenna in “The Arcadians”

(l.-r. foreground) Jack Murphy, Christine Price, Jacob Allen in “The Count of Luxembourg”

(l.-r.) Vince Gover, Andrea McGaugh, Zachary Elmassian, Holly Thomas, Nicholas Orth in “The Gondoliers”

(l.-r.) Madeline Coffey, Jack Murphy in “Guys and Dolls”

(l.-r.) Spencer Reese, Kate Bilenko in “Me and My Girl”

(l.-r. center) Rachel Weinfeld, Zachary Elmassian, Yvonne Trobe & cast  in “The Sound of Music

N/A (Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater)

By Harry Forbes

Crackling good performances by Holland Taylor and Ana Villafañe as characters “inspired by” Nancy Pelosi and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (the titular “N” and “A”) highlight this taut, witty play by Mario Correa who crafts this two-hander as a confrontation (mostly cordial) between N’s pragmatic decades-long experience in Congress against newbie A’s brash and impatient desire for change.

Tautly directed by Diane Paulus who draws convincing performances from her stars, the 80 minute play holds your interest throughout. The play set in the “recent past” basically charts the time between the Democrats gaining the House of Representatives and then losing it, which is to say, roughly 2018 to 2022 

Taylor already had a triumph portraying a real-life character, late Texas Governor Ann Richards at Lincoln Center’s upstairs space, and she is once again quite brilliant as the first woman Speaker of the House, though "N/A" is not a Lincoln Center Theater production. Similarly, Villafañe j-- who triumphed on Broadway as Gloria Estefan in “On Your Feet” -- scores again, this time as the youngest woman elected to Congress. 

Though A’s abrasiveness at first has the audience more on N’s side, Correa is careful to keep our sympathies nicely balanced between his two well intentioned but vastly different protagonists. So, too, a late-in-play revelation from A generates further sympathy and motivations for her passions.

Their sparring is lively, and sometimes heated (as in A’s insistence that ICE be abolished with indignation about children in cages) but never descends to nasty hostility. “A battle of ideas” was Correa’s intent, according to a brief program note. And much of their snappy repartee is quite entertaining and often amusing. For the record, Donald Trump is never mentioned by name just pronoun, but clearly held in disdain.

Myung Hee Cho’s ultra simple production design -- a pared down evocation of N’s office -- is artful and attractive, and her costumes are right on target for the real-life models. Mextly Couzin’s ingenious lighting, along with Possible Lisa Renkel’s projections,  brilliantly effects scene changes with a sort of sweeping black out effect that gives the impression of a curtain closing between the play’s several scenes.

(Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center, 150 W. 65th St.; www.NAThePlay.com or by Telecharge.com or 212-239-6200; through August 4 ) 

Photo by Daniel Rader: (l.-r.) Ana Villafañe, Holland Taylor