Copperfield! The New Musical (Act Two Theatricals)

By Harry Forbes

I must confess I approached this  latest version of Charles Dickens’s beloved David Copperfield with only modest expectations. But Jeffrey Scharf’s Copperfield! The New Musical, directed and choreographed by Gabriel Barre, proved a most agreeable surprise: a genuinely fine adaptation that distills the sprawling novel into its essentials while remaining remarkably faithful to its source. Unlike, say, last season’s The Count of Monte Cristo at the York Theatre, this is a musicalization that understands the importance of honoring the original material even while reshaping it for the stage.

Scharf, who supplies the book, music, and lyrics, has found a particularly effective thematic thread in David’s lifelong search for a place he can truly call home. The familiar Dickensian procession of hardship, cruelty, friendship, betrayal, and eventual fulfillment is thus given a satisfying narrative coherence, culminating in a most touching conclusion.

The score is eclectic and tuneful, with some particularly jaunty rhythms in the scenes involving Peggotty’s seafaring family. There are inevitable echoes of other musicals drawn from classic literature, but Scharf has a distinctive voice of his own, and the musical palette (superior orchestrations by Sonny Paladino) is consistently appealing. His achievement in condensing Dickens’s hefty narrative while providing such an enjoyable succession of songs deserves considerable credit.

A particularly inspired feature of this production is its company of actor-musicians, who double impressively as instrumentalists, bringing to mind the approach associated with director John Doyle. Here, however, the technique is handled with such naturalness that it never feels like a gimmick. During the narrative passages, the principal players generally put aside their instruments, taking them up again when they’re on the sidelines..

Bobby Conte is excellent as the adult David, with Henry Witcher playing the younger David at the performance I attended. Happily, the two Davids share the stage throughout both acts. Young David is integrated into the action as his older self’s ever-present alter ego and vice versa in the first act. 

The entire company is impressively cast, with no weak links. Kara Mikula is a standout as the formidable Aunt Betsey Trotwood, finding just the right balance of eccentricity and underlying warmth. The familiar Dickens gallery is satisfyingly represented, across the board. 

The entire cast, except for the Davids, play two or more roles. Cathryn Wake, for instance, first appears as David’s loving mother, Clara, in the early scenes and the sweetly vapid Dora in the later ones. The tyrannical Murdstone, David’s abusive stepfather, shows up as unctuous Uriah Heep, both in the person of Will Reynolds.

The rest of the remarkable cast includes Amelia Cormack (Peggotty and Mrs. Micawber), Jed Feder (Ham), the show's musical director Nancy O’Connor (Em’ly), Aaron Michael Ray (Mr. Dick and Tungay), Alexander Sovronsky (Mr. Peggotty, Mr. Creakle, Mr. Quinion, and Mr. Wickfield), Andy Taylor (Mr. Micawber), and Tatiana Wechsler (Agnes Wickfield and Miss Jane Murdstone).

Owen Squire Smith is a standout as the charismatic but ultimately unreliable Steerforth, and he makes a particular impression in Barre’s lively choreography. Barre directs with canny dramatic sense, keeping the episodic story moving while giving the scenes that lend themselves to dance an engaging physicality. The result is a production that feels brisk and theatrical despite the considerable amount of narrative ground it must cover.

The production’s visual elements are equally well judged. Edward Pierce’s multilevel set provides sufficient variety to accommodate the novel’s many locales without cumbersome scene changes, while Jen Caprio’s costumes are richly conceived, helping distinguish the large gallery of characters. Jeff Croiter’s lighting and Shannon Slaton’s sound design are first-rate.

Scharf’s adaptation captures the essential spirit of Dickens, balancing the story’s darker episodes with its generous helping of humor, eccentricity, and hard-won humanity. The audience’s warm reception was entirely understandable. “Copperfield!” is an engaging, affectionately realized tribute to a literary classic, and a welcome reminder that a well-told story, accompanied by appealing music and brought to life by a talented ensemble, can still work theatrical magic.

(The Duke on 42nd Street; 229 W. 42nd Street; CopperfieldTheMusical.com; through Dec. 6) 

Photo by Jeremy Daniel: Amelia Cormack, Jed Feder, Bobby Conte and (top) Alexander Sovronsky

Anon (MCC Theater)

By Harry Forbes

Anne Washburn, whose “Mr. Burns, a post-electric play” imagined the afterlife of civilization, turns in Anon, to a menace already very much among us: the dark underside of social media, where the craving for online attention can blur the line between fantasy and reality, with increasingly disturbing consequences.

The dramedy heats up with a seemingly innocuous provocation: a gay pride flag is unfurled across the street from Jeanie (Crystal Finn), a Texas suburbanite whose single-minded devotion to posting on TikTok initially seems merely an eccentric, if irritating, habit. But as the action unfolds, her online activity takes on a distinctly darker cast, with consequences that reach beyond her own household and into the lives of her new neighbors.

Jeanie’s teenage daughter, Delia (Izabel Mar), is understandably mortified by her mother’s propensity to post personal information about her, potentially causing embarrassment at school. Jeanie’s husband, Michael (Andrew Garman), has also tried to reason with her, but to little avail. As “Anon” progresses, it explores how easily the pursuit of online attention can distort judgment and feed increasingly extreme attitudes. Jeanie becomes a rabid conspiracy theorist embracing all the Qanon rhetoric.

Meanwhile, the other household at the center of the action comprises Adam (Jeff Biehl), an easygoing presence, and his partner, Will (Jeremy Shamos), whose seemingly more conservative outlook grows increasingly militant and paranoid as he becomes caught up in the TikTok mentality himself when they learn Jeanie’s been posting about them.

The performances are uniformly excellent. Finn is a particular gem as Jeanie, initially comic in her zeal, but with a darker undertow that steadily becomes more pronounced. Biehl brings an appealing natural ease to Adam, while Garman makes a sympathetic, long-suffering Michael. Mar is affecting as Delia. And Shamos compellingly traces Will’s transformation from apparent restraint to something far more aggressive.

A growing atmosphere of foreboding is reinforced by Delia’s school assignment: to compose a monologue for a Shakespearean character who has no such speech. Her choice of Goneril, one of the treacherous daughters in King Lear, adds resonance to the play’s stormy climax.

Director Anne Kauffman keeps the narrative gripping throughout, making effective use of an otherwise largely gray set that serves as the respective homes of the two families. Projected text messages are a frequent feature, and there’s articularly inventive fantasy video sequence that opens the second act, laying bare the increasingly rabid tenor of Jeanie’s online postings.

Washburn’s cautionary tale is all the more unsettling for suggesting that the consequences of online extremism are anything but confined to the virtual world.

Anon is never less than absorbing, and increasingly suspenseful as it progresses.

(MCC Theater’s Newman Mills Theater (511 W 52nd Street, New York, NY 10019; mcctheater.org; through Nov. 1)

Photo by Monique Carboni: (l.-r.) Andrew Garman, Izabel Mar, and Crystal Finn

School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play

By Harry Forbes

I didn’t catch Jocelyn Bioh’s marvelous play School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play when it premiered at MCC in 2017, but Manhattan Theatre Club’s new production is a gem. Directed with confident flair by Whitney White, who previously collaborated with Bioh on MTC’s acclaimed Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, this Broadway premiere delivers a deliciously funny, ultimately touching portrait of adolescent cruelty, the tyranny of beauty standards, and the painful business of discovering who you are.

Set in 1986 at Aburi (pronounced Ehh-Bree) Girls Boarding School in central Ghana, the play revolves around Paulina, the self-appointed queen bee of the school, whose ambitions extend well beyond the classroom. When a recruiter arrives seeking candidates for the Miss Ghana pageant, Paulina assumes she, among all the girls, will be chosen. But the arrival of Ericka, a transfer student from America, upends these assumptions and turns the competition into something considerably more personal.

The cast is a beautifully integrated ensemble, with Denée Benton particularly striking as Paulina. Those accustomed to seeing Benton as the appealingly earnest budding journalist on HBO’s The Gilded Age will encounter quite another creature here: a ruthless schemer who amply earns the title of mean girl. Jasmine Amy Rogers, gearing up for her starring role in Lincoln Center Theater’s The Sound of Music, makes a worthy foil as Ericka.

Erin Morton is an audience favorite as Nana, the plus-size schoolgirl who bears the brunt of Paulina’s relentless bullying. Her resilience and vulnerability give the comedy some of its most affecting moments. Heather Alicia Simms lends compassionate authority to Headmistress Francis, while Patina Miller, as recruiter Eloise Amponsah, the former Miss Ghana of 1966, gets a recurring laugh from her character’s proud insistence on that long-ago triumph. It’s a running gag that never wears out its welcome. Lucia Aremu, Nia Otchere-Sarfo, and Jordan Rice round out the talented company.

White’s sharp direction mines Bioh’s play for all its considerable humor without losing sight of the pain beneath the barbs. What begins as a wickedly entertaining comedy of schoolgirl rivalries gradually opens into something more profoundt, touching on questions of identity, self-worth, and colorism. 

The production is handsomely realized. Teresa L. Williams’s atmospheric scenic design establishes the school’s distinctive world, while Qween Jean’s costumes are a particular delight, perfectly capturing the characters’ personalities and aspirations. Stacey Derosier’s lighting and Cody Spencer’s sound contribute to an accomplished technical ensemble.

At 75 minutes, without intermission, School Girls is a compact, expertly calibrated entertainment, one that leaves a more resonant impression than its initial premise might suggest. MTC’s production does full justice to a play that is as perceptiveand profound as it is funny.

Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, 261 West 47th Street; manhattantheatreclub.com; through November 15)

Photo by Matthew Murphy: (l.-r.) Denée Benton and Jasmine Amy Rogers