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

The Heart of Rock and Roll (James Earl Jones Theatre)

By Harry Forbes

The latest jukebox musical -- this one delving into the Huey Lewis and the News songbook -- is just as lightweight and unprofound as you might expect of such an enterprise. And yet, I found it an unabashedly fun and diverting entertainment, and its featherlight plot, such as it is, does keep you hooked. 

This is due, in large part, to the committed and dynamic turn of Corey Cott as a young man who has left his dreams of fronting a rock band behind to pursue an executive position in a Milwaukee cardboard packaging factory, so as not to be a failure as he believes his late father to have been. Needless to say, just as his cheeky machinations begin to pay off at a Chicago trade convention, the dormant music career at last shows signs of taking off. What’s a guy to do?

The book by Jonathan A. Abrams (from a story by Abrams and Tyler Mitchell) manages to build a decent amount of suspense about this improbable dilemma especially in the more action-packed second act. 

The excellent Gordon Greenberg directs at a snappy, no-nonsense pace.

Cott really makes you care about his character Bobby, sings powerfully, and all in all, tops his earlier good work in “Bandstand” though we'll overlook the misguided revival of “Gigi.” He handles the reflective moments as much as the rhythmic numbers with sincerity and assurance. There are also appealing performances by McKenzie Kurtz as the boss’s confidence-lacking daughter Cassandra; John Dossett as her widowed dad; Zoe Jensen and Josh Breckenridge as Cassandra’s friends; Orville Mendoza as the sauna loving magnate of an IKEA-like furniture company; and F. Michael Haynie, Raymond J. Lee, and John-Michael Lyles as Bobby’s old bandmates.

Especially winning are Tamika Lawrence as Bobby’s sassy friend and factory’s HR head, and Billy Harrigan Tighe as Cassandra’s smarmy ex-flame from Princeton (a “human PEZ dispenser, as someone calls him). Lawrence earns some of the biggest laughs of the evening, and Tighe -- though patently villainous -- shines in some impressive musical numbers like “Give Me the Keys” and “Stuck with You” which segues into an amusing dream ballet.

Throughout, Lorin Latarro’s vigorous choreography -- including a standout number involving bubble wrap, and a Richard Simmons-like second act workout number -- is a big plus, and the hard-working dancers impress at every turn.

The Lewis tunes are reasonably well integrated into the script, and sound very catchy as arranged and orchestrated by Music Supervisor Brian Usifer, and under the musical direction of Will Van Dyke. Along with following one’s dreams, love in the overarching theme and the show is peppered with reprises of “Do You Believe in Love?” and “The Power of Love.” 

The topline production team includes Derek McLane (sets), Jen Caprio (costumes), Japhy Weideman (lighting), John Shivers (sound), Nikiya Mathis (hair, wig, and makeup)

The show premiered at San Diego’s Old Globe back in 2018, but it was worth the effort to get it to Broadway.

(James Earl Jones Theatre, 138 West 48th Street; Telecharge.com or 212-239-6200)

Photo by Matthew Murphy: Corey Cott and McKenzie Kurtz

Mother Play (Second Stage)

By Harry Forbes

After outstanding Broadway turns in classic plays by Williams and O’Neill, Jessica Lange creates a new role, and delivers another absolutely splendid performance, this time as an alcoholic single mother ruling over her two children with steely Southern charm. They, in turn, are beautifully played by Jim Parsons and Celia Keenan-Bolger, who each age convincingly from young teens to adulthood. 

Paula Vogel’s skillfully observed semi-autobiographical play is set outside Washington, D.C.’ s beltway from 1964 and over the ensuing decades. We can quickly discern that mother Phyllis’ well-ordered plans for Martha and Carl are destined to go seriously wrong from the get-go. Both her grandiose dreams for her golden boy Carl and her casual dismissal of Martha will soon be turned on their ear as she gleans that the precocious Carl is gay, and so, it later transpires, is Martha. 

The play is a drama, but one not without many sharply comic moments. The whole is deeply affecting, however, and by the end of the play’s 105 minute running time, there were audible sobs at my performance. 

On the lighter side there is a marvelous bit of business involving Carl showing Martha how to walk like a man, so she won’t be hit on by the boys at school, followed a bit later by Phyllis demonstrating how a woman should walk. A later dance scene (choreographed by Christopher Gattelli) provides another highly amusing interlude.  

Later, when Phyllis’ appalling behavior leads to her eventual isolation from Carl and Martha, Lange brilliantly commands the stage in a heart wrenching solo turn, as she struggles to cope with her solitude. 

David Zinn’s scenic design, lighted by Jen Schriever, neatly encompasses the various residences of the peripatetic family, as they move from place to place with their boxes and well-worn furniture.  (Thus the play’s subtitle, “A Play in Five Evictions.”) And with most of the residences beset with roach infestations, Shawn Duan’s witty projection designs gives us the incongruous and somehow delightful image of dancing roaches. 

There’s a canny use of music throughout as Phyllis listens to her favorite songs on the local easy listening station from “The Theme to a Summer Place” to “Moon River,” all of which perfectly capture the mood of the era as well as Phyllis' character.

Tina Landau directs her cast with delicate precision through their respective character and aging transformations, and deftly orchestrates the shifting moods of Vogel’s heartfelt narrative.

(The Helen Hayes Theater, 240 West 44th Street; 2st.com; through June 16)

Photos by Joan Marcus:

(top) Jessica Lange

(below) Jim Parsons and Celia Keenan-Bolger

Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club (August Wilson Theatre)

By Harry Forbes

For all of the much vaunted accouterments of the award-winning London import, this latest revival of John Kander and Fred Ebb’s enduring 1966 musical finds Joe Masteroff’s book more or less intact. But, as in most stage productions since the 1972 movie version, leading man Cliff, the stand-in for Christopher Isherwood, whose stories inspired the play "I Am a Camera" before the musical, is pointedly more interested in “boys” than “girls.” Even so, the affair with chanteuse Sally Bowles plays out along its familiar lines. 

Musically, this production follows the playbook of the 1988 Alan Cumming/Sam Mendes production. Original numbers such as “The Telephone Song,” “Meeskite,” “Why Should I Wake Up,” “Sitting Pretty” have not been restored. And, in their place, we still have “Mein Herr,” “Money,” and “Maybe This Time” from the film, plus “I Don’t Care Much,” written for but not used in the original production. 

Director Rebecca Frecknall’s production is staged in the round though the bulk of the audience is positioned as per the Wilson Theatre’s customary layout, albeit with tables up front. The rows which follow directly behind are equipped with drink ledges which makes seat access a tad tight.

Scenic Designer Tom Scutt has effected a quite spectacular transformation of the theater from top to bottom, so much so that it is quite a challenge to discern the normal configuration of the place. Only the central staircases leading to the auditorium and the position of the restrooms allow one to get one’s bearings. As if all this weren’t enough, Scutt also designed the costumes. (Isabella Byrd’s lighting design complements Scutt’s work seamlessly.) 

The show itself is prefaced by a mostly superfluous 75 minute “prologue” of supposedly Weimar era performers, nine in all, dancing provocatively on raised platforms or running amongst the crowd. One enters the theater not through the lobby, but rather a side alley and then steps down to the multi-level club. It’s all very dimly lit (restrooms included) and I found it more than a little claustrophobic. Before the actual show begins, there’s more mood-setting activity on the auditorium level. 

Clearly, there is much good in this production, but the over-the-top tawdry decadence level seems to rise with each new production. But I fear a major revival of the show as it was in 1966 is unlikely.

Eddie Redmayne has created a very individual and striking Emcee, quite different from the interpretations of both creator Joel Grey and revival star Alan Cumming. Whether as carrot-topped clown, marionette, or stormtrooper, he’s quite a marvel to watch, and sings very well indeed, as we hear especially in his two most lyrical moments,  “Tomorrow Belongs to Me” and “I Don’t Care Much.” When  he’s not performing one of Kit Kat numbers, he lurks about as a silent observer. 

Gayle Rankin’s Sally is also first rate, giving the character a hard edge but not so much that we can’t understand why the sexually ambivalent Cliff falls under her spell. I didn’t particularly care for the staging of her first number, “Don’t Tell Mama” (choreographed by Julia Cheng), but thereafter found her to be a dynamic and engaging presence, skillful in her dramatic scenes, and impressive vocally. Like Redmayne, she’s careful not to imitate her predecessors, and all her numbers are intelligently delivered. Her manic, defiant rendition of the title song near the end was quite sensational, and it gets my vote for showstopper of the season. 

Bebe Neuwirth is absolutely tremendous as boarding house landlady Fraulein Schneider. She doesn’t make a false move here dramatically or vocally. Her latter-day vibrato works well in this context, and she masterfully delivers the three big numbers originated by Lotte Lenya. She’s beautifully matched by Steven Skybell (Tevye in the Joel Grey directed “Fiddler on the Roof”) as fruit seller Herr Schultz who gives a warm sensitive performance. Also fine are Henry Gottfried as Ernst Ludwig who befriends Cliff but later reveals the dark side beneath the cheerful affability. And Natascia Diaz as Fraulein Kost also delineates well the duality of her personality: carefree call girl masking hard-edged intolerance. 

The one discordant casting is Ato Blankson-Wood as Cliff. Blankson-Wood is a very good actor, as his Hamlet in last year’s Public Theater production confirmed -- and that production will, incidentally, air on PBS’s “Great Performances” this month -- but his performance on this occasion is oddly lackluster. So, too, this is color blind casting that requires an unreasonable suspension of disbelief, particularly with race such an obvious issue in the incipient Nazi era.

Musically, under the direction of Jennifer Whyte, the classic John Kander and Fred Ebb score, sounds good as ever, and I must commend the sound design of Nick Lidster for Autograph for the crystalline clarity of both music and dialogue. 

Even if the immersive elements are not your cup of tea -- and they certainly weren’t mine -- you might consider bypassing much of it, and just heading for your seats in the theater proper to experience this flawed but still worthy production. 

(Kit Kat Club at the August Wilson Theatre, 245 West 52 Street; kitkat.club)

Photos by Marc Brenner

(top) Eddie Redmayne

(below) Steven Skybell and Bebe Neuwirth  

Sally & Tom (The Public Theater)

By Harry Forbes

The prolific Suzan-Lori Parks’ latest play (a “dramedy” about “art, politics, and the contradictions that make all of us” (according to the press notes) charts the fascinating and enigmatic relationship of Thomas Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemings, a union that produced six children. But rather than giving us a straight-forward historical narrative, Parks has framed the story as a play called “The Pursuit of Happiness,” as it is being rehearsed by a low-budget acting troupe called Good Company, while preparing for the first performance.

The actors in the troupe grapple with the issues in the play and, in some instances, mirror them. Thus, the play simultaneously explores the mythology of Sally and Tom, and the ethos of making theater.

All of the scrappy Good Company actors wear multiple hats in mounting the production. Leading lady Luce (Sheria Irving), for instance, is also the playwright, and her boyfriend Mike (Gabriel Ebert) is not only the play’s director but also has the Jefferson role. Jefferson’s daughter Patsy (Kate Nowlin) is taken by the company’s dramaturg and choreographer; while daughter Polly (Sun Mee Chomet) happens to be the stage manager. And so on.

The back and forthing of the Sally/Tom and backstage stories could seem a tired device, but both plot lines hold our interest, and one can see the wisdom of that structure so that the present-day characters are allowed to express modern day views on the historical action of 1790 Monticello.

The Jefferson-Hemings relationship was not a love story, Lori-Parks wants us to know, as obviously, Sally was owned by TJ (as the Good Company calls him), though as there was no Known coercion on Jefferson’s part, the true dynamics of that relationship can never really be known. 

The cast, headed by Irving and Ebert, morphs easily between their modern characters and the historical roles. Alano Miller is particularly strong as Sally’s valet brother James whose impassioned stand-up speech to Jefferson becomes a point of contention when the (unseen) producer Teddy sends word that it should be cut. Daniel Petzold as actor Geoff plays several parts in “The Pursuit of Happiness” most skillfully, while offstage, he bonds romantically with Leland Fowler’s Devon. Kristolyn Lloyd is especially good as Luce’s friend Maggie, and Sally’s sister Mary in the play.

Like the aforementioned James Hemings speech, both Sally and Tom have their big monologues, and they are impressively delivered by Irving and Ebert. The latter closes the first act with a defense of his (Tom’s) contradictory character. How can the author of “all men are created equal” own hundreds of slaves? We learn that, unlike George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, Jefferson chose not to free his slaves, and not even on his deathbed did he free Sally, as was often customarily done. 

And near the end of the second act, Sally herself explains her conflicted feelings about the relationship. Naturally, it’s all supposition on Parks’ part, but Sally’s logic in the speech sounds plausible. Besides which, it’s another theatrical highpoint of the play.

Rodrigo Muñoz’s period costumes -- along with J. Jared Janas & Cassie Williams’ wigs -- are authentically rich, though of course, one can’t help thinking this finery would all be far beyond the means of a troupe such as Good Company. 

Riccardo Hernández’s scenic design creates the expected 18th century ambience, and allows quick transitions to the backstage and other real-life settings. Edgar Godineaux has devised period choreography to some very pretty music composed by Parks herself and sound designer Dan Moses Schreier. 

Steve H. Broadmax III’s direction balances the past/present action smartly, and as indicated above, draws good performances from all. 

I suspect if “Sally & Tom” has an afterlife -- this is its second production after the Guthrie Theater in 2022 -- Parks will refine and perhaps prune it to good advantage. But as it stands now, it’s a most intriguing play by one of our finest playwrights.

(The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street: publictheater.org or 212.967.7555, through June 2)

Photo by Joan Marcus: (l.-r.) Sheria Irving and Gabriel Ebert

Lempicka (Longacre Theatre)

By Harry Forbes

I must confess I don’t know enough about Polish Art Deco artist Tamara de Lemprica to parse the fiction from the facts of the “pop-infused” bio-musical which has just opened on Broadway after tryouts at Williamstown Theatre Festival and La Jolla Playhouse. But it’s pretty clear there are heaps and heaps of dramatic license at work. 

In any case, the superficial result is, at best, somewhat akin to the short-lived “Diana: The Musical.” Which is not to say that, like that unfortunate retread of the short life of the Princess of Wales, there isn’t some decent talent on stage and behind the scenes.

As with “Diana,” for instance, the new show’s star, Eden Espinosa delivers a creditable performance, at least within the framework of the script’s broad strokes, morphing from crusty old lady in the opening scene to young woman caught up in the upheaval of the Russian Revolution in 1917, and then moving forward. She delivers dramatically and musically, revealing only occasional strain at the top of her register. 

The show’s book -- by creator Carson Kreitzer and composer Matt Gould --  relates how Lempicka rescues her upper crust husband Tadeusz Lempicki (Andrew Samonsky) from prison during the Revolution by bribing his captors with jewelry and then, when that fails, her virtue. They flee to Paris where she refines her talent for painting, under the tutelage of Futurist Movement founder Emilio Marinettii (a manic George Abud), and the patronage of a Baron (Nathaniel Stampley) and his wife (Beth Leavel), gaining fames for her celebrity portraiture and daring nudes. 

She soon makes the acquaintance of singer Suzy Solidor (Natalie Joy Johnson), and through her, falls under the spell of the prostitute Rafaela (a fictitious composite character played by the charismatic Amber Iman) with whom she commences an affair. Even before they eventually meet, both Tadeusz and Rafaela are aware of each other, but they settle into a comfortable, don't ask, don’t tell, triangular arrangement. 

Lempicka’s precocious daughter Kizette (Zoe Glick), a frequent model for her mother’s portraits, but otherwise neglected, is written and played like a cross between Baby June from “Gypsy” and Patty McCormack in “The Bad Seed.” And curiously, she seems to remain a child over the years.

Against the backdrop of ominous changing times and the impending rise of Fascism, Lempicka becomes emblematic of “the New Woman.” This also includes her enthusiastic patronage of an elaborate lesbian bar run by Suzy. Yet, all of these freedoms are soon to be curtailed by a more intolerant regime, with the now sinister Marinetti its chief proponent here.

Gould’s music makes no attempt at a period sound. It’s mostly hard-driving pop/rock bombast with a few soft ballads in the mix. I did like Iman’s jazzy “Stay,” but otherwise the score is predictably generic. Musicians are openly positioned in the pretty Longacre boxes, but the overall sound palette is a heavily miked artificiality. (Under the helm of Music Supervisor Remy Kurs, Charity Wicks leads the orchestra.) 

Leavel’s eleven o’clock number, as the Baroness confesses she is dying, earns applause, but vocally, she has little else to do. Samonsky’s attractive vocals are a pleasure throughout.

Director Rachel Chavkin does the best she can with the property but “Lempicka” is several notches below her previous triumphs, “Hadestown” and “Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812.” Raja Feather Kelly’s choreography is more Studio 54 than pre-Occupation Paris, but at least it keeps things lively. 

Riccardo Hernández's constantly shifting Eiffel Tower/Art Deco scenic design, augmented by Peter Nigrini’s newsreel footage projection design and Bradley King’s lighting provide visual interest.  Paloma Young’s costumes and Leah Loukas’ hair & wig design conjure the appropriate period look. 

Just based on the subject matter alone, the relatively little-known Lempicka would seem to be a longshot for Broadway success, and yet I should report that the audience at my Saturday night performance was highly enthusiastic throughout. Whether they were cheering the performances or the various triumphs of the show’s heroine -- or both -- I was at a loss to discern.

(Longacre Theatre, 220 West 48th Street; LempickaMusical.com)

Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman: Eden Espinosa