Corruption (Lincoln Center Theater)

By Harry Forbes

Playwright J.T. Rogers -- whose “Oslo,” about the Arab-Israeli Peace Accord, was memorably mounted at Lincoln Center Theater under the direction of Bartlett Sher -- returns with another ripped-from-the-headlines tale, also directed by Sher, this time concerning the 2010-11 phone hacking scandal at Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World in the U.K. 

Writing much in the vein of David Hare (think “The Absence of War” or the Murdoch inspired “Pravda”), Rogers skillfully creates maximum suspense and tension and paints a picture of an environment where, as one character puts it, “government, privacy, and trust are malleable.” Even the police, it is revealed, are involved in the dirty doings.

Toby Stephens plays Tom Watson, the member of Parliament who, as government whip under Prime Minister Gordon Brown (Anthony Cochrane), had himself been smeared by the press, takes on unmasking the rampant phone hacking tactics (against non-celebrities and bold-faced names alike) undertaken under the leadership of formidable chief executive of News International Group, Rebekah Brooks (Saffron Burrows).

Watson does so, even though the ensuing notoriety may jeopardize his wife (Robyn Kerr) and young son. He enlists the help of journalists Martin Hickman (Sanji de Silva) of The Independent and Nick Davies (T. Ryder Smith) from The Guardian as well as solicitor Charlotte Harris (Sepideh Moafi). Rupert Murdoch’s son James (Seth Numrich) is ostensibly Brooks’ boss, but as she’s firmly entrenched in the elder Murdoch’s good graces, he stands little chance of diminishing her power, much as he’s inclined to denigrate print in favor of his pet projects, TV and new media. Brooks, for her part, is aided every step of her ruthless way by the paper’s chief counsel Tom Crone (Dylan Baker). 

Rogers based the play on Watson and Hickman’s book, “Dial M for Murdoch: News Corporation and the Corruption of Britain.”

The Yank-Brit cast is uniformly excellent. Besides all those mentioned, Michael Siberry has some choice moments as wealthy Max Mosely, a victim of the News of the World’s spying tactics, as do Eleanor Handley as New York Times reporter Jo Becker whom Watson and his colleagues try to interest in the story, and K. Todd Freeman as gay MP Chris Bryant, once attacked by Watson, but now enlisted to help in the cause. 

All the actors, except for Stephen and Burrows, play multiple roles which can sometimes cause momentary confusion. So, too, despite Rogers’ expository skill, following the narrative might be a bit challenging, at least for an American audience. Nonetheless, the main thrust of the narrative is clear enough. 

Sher directs at a fast pace and generates requisite momentum even with the dense talk. 

Stephens is terrific, expertly conveying his conflict as he tries, for the sake of his family, to stay neutral on the issue but inexorably drawn into it. And Burrows is convincingly commanding and intimidating as his hard-as-nails nemesis.

There are personal stories here too to balance all the industry talk. There’s the domestic friction between Watson and his wife Siobhan. And Brooks and her new husband Charles (John Behlmann) are attempting to have a child through a somewhat reluctant surrogate mother (also Kerr) whom they fear may change her mind.

Michael Yeagan’s set includes circular sectional tables which continually change position as the narrative unfolds, while newsroom monitors on an overhead ring keeps the eye dazzled, along with back projections of text and video by 59 Productions/ Benjamin Pearcy and Brad Peterson. 

(Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater,150 West 65 Street; lct.org)

Photo by Charles Erickson: (l.-r.) John Behlmann, Eleanor Handley and Toby Stephens.

The Ally (the Public Theater)

By Harry Forbes

Playwright Itamar (“The Band’s Visit”) Moses’ latest work is a provocative drama concerning university writing teacher Asaf (Josh Radnor) who signs a social justice manifesto on the urging of his student Baron (Elijah Jones) after the death of the latter’s cousin at the hands of the police. But his action ignites a a firestorm as the document equates the #BlackLivesMatter situation with that of Palestinians by Israelis. 

As Asaf is of Jewish descent, his involvement raises the particular ire of Judaica student Reuven (Ben Rosenfield) who bursts into Asaf’s office and passionately defends the Jewish side, and excoriates Asaf. And later, when Asaf decides his name should be removed from the manifesto after all, he comes under fire from both Palestinian student Farid (Michael Khalid Karadsheh), who argues the other side just as intensely and persuasively, and Asaf’s ex-girlfriend, Nakia (Cherise Boothe) who, in fact, wrote the manifesto. 

Moses is, like Asaf, of Israeli descent, and his play is a smart summation of all the arguments of the Middle East conflict. Both sides receive balanced, highly charged airings, and Rosenfield and Karadsheh are superb in their lengthy monologues as they argue their respective positions. No one applauded after either of these superbly acted speeches, as if cheering histrionic virtuosity might be mistaken for allegiance to one political side or the other. Or so it seemed.  

The play is a lengthy two hours and 40 minutes, but by the end, there is no actual resolution, as indeed the never-ending conflict in the Mideast seems to bear out. So, too, it was written before the Hamas invasion of Israel on October 7, and all the horrific carnage that followed, so there’s no reference to any of that, but the arguments remain pertinent, and no less potent.

Director Lila Neugebauer who did such a fine job with the current “Appropriate,” keeps the action fluid, and one scene morphs into another without pause. She draws fine performances from all, including Joy Osmanski as Asaf’s wife Gwen, a community relations administrator at the college which is planning to expand its campus; Madeline Weinstein as student Rachel who, though Jewish herself, joins with Farid to sponsor a campus lecture by a best-selling author espousing anti-Zionist sentiments. 

Radnor is ideal as the ever well-meaning Asaf who gets embroiled in such a maelstrom of controversy. Never less than likable, he earns the audience empathy from the start and retains it throughout.

The profusion of ideas is intriguing certainly, though “The Ally” frequently seems less a play than a stimulating debate. But, in fairness, there is a surprising amount of humor amidst the heavy arguments, and just enough domestic conflict in the scenes between Asaf and Gwen, and later, Asaf and old flame Nakia to keep us involved. 

(The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street; publictheater.org or 212-967-7555; through March 24)

Photo by Joan Marcus: Ben Rosenfield and Josh Radnor

The Connector (MCC Theater)

By Harry Forbes

Eager beaver Princeton grad Ethan Dobson (Ben Levi Ross) lands a job as a prestigious literary magazine, the titular Connector, after he impresses the longtime editor Conrad O’Brien (Scott Bakula). He quickly befriends assistant copy editor Robin (Hannah Cruz) who becomes something of a girlfriend. 

But she, unlike Ethan, has yet to have one of her stories greenlighted. The story is set in the world of male dominated mid-1990’s journalism on the cusp of a changing media landscape, one in which scrupulous adherence to the facts is pitted against good storytelling. 

Ethan’s first story is an immediate hit with readers, as are his subsequent pieces, and circulation rises. But his winning streak starts to derail when his sensational expose of an embattled New Jersey mayor raises questions of veracity.

Though that plot twist is a bit of a spoiler, the theme has been widely publicized by the creators and MCC’s program notes which spotlight journalistic scandals such as Stephen Glass’s fabrications at The New Republic, presumably an inspiration for the script.

Jonathan Marc Sherman’s book is quite interesting, particularly when the narrative takes that particular turn. I find it difficult to assess Jason Robert Brown’s rhythm-heaving, electronic score on first hearing but it’s certainly as skillful and accomplished as you’d expect from the talented composer/lyricist who leads the band at each performance.

Several numbers beguile the ear, culminating in the Mideast flavored “Western Wall.” Choreographer Karla Puno Garcia has devised her most elaborate movement for that last lengthy number. Still, I couldn’t help feeling that “The Connector” might be just as compelling as a straight play sans songs. 

The show was conceived and very well directed by Daisy Prince in her third collaboration with Brown, following “The Last Five Years” and “Songs for a New World.”

The leads are all well cast. Ross, who starred in the somewhat thematically related “Dear Evan Hanson” for a couple of years, nails all the aspects of his tricky role, and Cruz makes an equally strong impression as the increasingly discontented Robin while Bakula brings the appropriate gravitas. All sing splendidly.

I did feel the band sometimes drowned out important lyrics, but generally Jon Weston's sound design is admirable.

There’s excellent work by Jessica Molaskey as a persistent fact-checker, and Mylinda Hull as a comically dogged fan letter writer whose correspondence take a more aggressive turn when she begins to discern something seriously amiss in Ethan’s copy. Superlative as well is Daniel Jenkins as the magazine’s lawyer. Max Crumm has a standout number as a Scrabble champion, and Fergie Philippe as a rapping informant. 

Beowulf Borritt’s set -- a sort of checkered pattern dominated by a wall of magazine proofs and piles of manuscripts elsewhere -- and dynamic lighting by Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew keep the show visually interesting. And Márion Tálan de la Rosa’s costumes capture the period and ambience.

(MCC Theater’s Newman Mills Theater, 511 W 52nd Street; mcctheater.org; through March 17)

Photo by Joan Marcus: (l.-r.) Scott Bakula and Ben Levi Ross

Babes in Toyland (Victor Herbert Renaissance Project Live!)

By Harry Forbes

I approached this resurrection of The Little Orchestra Society’s 1990s-era  “Babes in Toyland” with some trepidation. Admirable champion of Herbert’s work that the Orchestra’s late director, Dino Anagnost, was, when it came to “Babes in Toyland,” he always opted for a greatly abridged version geared to children. 

Gone were any songs not directly integral to the plot. According to VHRP Artistic Director Alyce Mott in her introductory remarks to the production under review here, Maestro Anagnost considered them the “kitchen sink” songs (as in “everything but the…”). 

But nonetheless, it can’t be denied that many of those numbers were among the most popular in the show, and have been generally included even in otherwise abbreviated stage, recording, and broadcast versions of the three-hour extravaganza that premiered to such great acclaim in 1903.. “Beatrice Barefacts,” “Jane,” “The Moon Will Help You Out,” “Our Castle in Spain,” and above all, the infectious earworm “Barney O’Flynn” were all casualties of Anagnost’s edition. 

As this was the version Mott chose to revive, I wondered how much of the score would be left given the rather ungenerous 65 minute running time. Much to my relief, there was more than I imagined, and it was well sung by Mott’s as-usual well-chosen cast, with Herbert’s music authentically played (in a reduction of the original score) by ace Music Director Michael Thomas and his eight-member New Victor Herbert Orchestra. True, not all the verses were there, and Mott changed many of lyricist Glen MacDonough’s words to match the streamlined plot, but the result still made for a satisfying earful to the audience at my performance, nearly all adults as it turned out. 

With just a smidgen of an overture, Alexa Devlin as Mother Goose addressed the audience in the time-honored way of children’s theater delivery. But such was Devlin's command and charm that it registered as ingratiating not patronizing. And when she launched into the introductory strains of the hit tune “Toyland” in her warm and engaging mezzo, the crowd was right with her, singing along to the refrain. I wish she had more to sing, but besides a later reprise of “Toyland,” she was allowed a verse of the famous “I Can’t Do That Sum.” 

McDonough’s 1903 book was impossibly complicated but every other aspect of the show had critics outdoing themselves for superlatives: the wondrous stagecraft, the elaborate scenery and astonishing special effects, splendid costumes, beautiful girls, and above all, that superlative score by Herbert which far outshone the songs for “The Wizard of Oz,” the hugely popular extravaganza that immediately preceded and inspired “Babes”  at Columbus Circle’s Majestic Theatre. Though a smash hit in New York and on tour, it didn’t quite financially surpass “Oz”  because, it has been suggested, of its less appealing book. 

Mott’s version positioned Little Bo-Peep and Tom (siblings in the original!) as the central love interest. (The original “babes” were actually brother and sister Alan and Jane, wards of mean Silas Barnaby who wants to dispatch them for their fortune. Alan loves Mary Contrary, and Jane is the sweetheart of Tom (a trouser role). 

So there had to be plenty of juggling of songs at VHRP.  The expanded Bo-Peep role meant that company regular Joanie Brittingham appropriated Alan’s “Floretta” and part of “Before and After,” as well as her part of the familiar “Never Mind, Bo-Peep,” and sang them with her customary skill. Because of Bo-Peep’s perpetually losing her sheep, the character’s recurring business involved a lot of Lucy Ricardo-like “waahhh” outbursts, irritating after a while. And a bit out of character for Bo-Peep’s elevation from soubrette to female principal in this version.

Hero Tom Tom, clearly and strongly sung by Ryan Allais, who offered solid versions of his several numbers including the multi-verse “Song of the Poet.”

Mean Silas Barnaby was played with comic relish by the always splendid Matthew Wages who also made the most of his one vocal moment, “The Richest Man in Toyland,” a reworking of “He Won’t Be Happy Till He Gets It.”

Chaz Peacock and Andrew Buck were good fun as his comical ruffian henchmen, Roderigo and Gonzargo, and their number “A Great Big Cheer” was set to the tune of “If I Were a Man Like That” from the original. 

Mott’s libretto expunged all unseemly parts of the original -- the Toymaker who hates children and wants to maim them with his toys, and Barnaby’s genuinely murderous plans for the babes -- and infused her script with an overall uplifting message of forgiveness. Never mind that when Mother Goose gave everyone the “choice” of whether the contrite Barnaby should live or die at the end most opted for the latter, but Devlin deftly steered things to a more merciful denouement. 

In 1903, most of the fairy tale offspring of the Widow Piper (rather than Mother Goose) were taken by women, but here it was a first-rate half and half. Kathleen Raab, Gabriella Giangreco, Maggie Langhorne, Sarah Bleasdale, and Mariah Muehler made up the female contingent with the other characters played by Joe Marx, Matthew Youngblood, Zach Wobensmith, and Keith Broughton. Company veteran David Seatter played Old King Cole endearingly. 

Mott directed the material adroitly as always with lively choreography by Christine Hall.

On reflection, the production contained more Herbert music than the 1934 Laurel and Hardy or 1961 Disney films or even the mid-1950s TV versions. though I wondered afterwards if a pre- or post-show recital of a few of those cut numbers might not have been a clever way of letting us hear the fuller breadth of Herbert’s great score. In any case, if you’re curious to hear as full a version of the show as possible, the late John McGlinn’s unreleased studio version -- as revelatory as his groundbreaking “Showboat” recording --  is still available on YouTube. 

And we must not forget that New York did get to hear a nearly complete version at Carnegie Hall in 2017 under the direction of Ted Sperling, and his MasterVoices cast. The accompanying narration was more than a tad condescending to the material, but the music was superbly delivered by a top-notch Broadway cast (Kelli O’Hara, Bill Irwin, and Christopher Fitzgerald among them), and Sperling’s fine orchestral and choral forces. 

And VHRP will give us Herbert’s orchestral music in all its unadulterated glory, at its scheduled May 26th concert of his orchestral works to be conducted by Steven Byess with a full orchestra. 

(The Theater at St. Jeans, 150 East 76 Street; Feb. 20-22 only; www.vhrplive.org or https://vhrp-live.thundertix.com)

Photos by Jill LeVine:

Top: Alyce Mott (far left) & Michael Thomas (rear in black) with cast

Below: (l.-r.) Ryan Allais & Joanie Brittingham

(l.-r.) Chaz Peacock, Matthew Wages, Andrew Buck

Bottom: Alexa Devlin

Appropriate (2NDSTAGE)

 

By Harry Forbes

Three siblings arrive at a dilapidated Arkansas plantation after their father's death to settle his estate, and long festering familial issues arise, further complicated by the discovery of some disturbing and highly charged artifacts found in the house. Such is the premise of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ provocative, absorbing and frequently very funny play, first seen at the Signature Theater Company in 2014. A spectacular riff on the great family dramas of the stage, like “Long Day’s Journey into Night” and “August: Osage County,” Jacobs-Jenkins turns the genre on its ear and makes the dysfunction in those earlier works seem mere child's play.

Sarah Paulson, long absent from the stage while delivering memorable performances on TV series like “American Horror Story,” plays eldest sibling Toni. Now divorced, she had been the principal caregiver for the father during his lengthy decline, after years of propping up her deeply troubled teenage son Rhys (Graham Campell) and earlier, her ne’er-do-well, now estranged brother Franz (Michael Esper).

The latter has now shown up unexpectedly with his New Agey girlfriend River (Elle Fanning, very fine in her Broadway debut). Seemingly unflappable brother Bo (Corey Stoll) later arrives from New York with his wife Rachael (Natalie Gold), and precocious young daughter Cassidy (Alyssa Emily Marvin) and son Ainsley (Lincoln Cohen at my performance). 

The play’s title can be taken both as an adjective (as in suitable) and verb (as in take). Was the late patriarch a racist, as the discovery of the aforementioned artifacts, not to mention Jewish daughter-in-law Rachael's assertions at one point, suggest? Or if he was casually racist in a manner that was considered "acceptable" for an earlier generation? But then, what of those artifacts? No matter how they happened to be in the house, the family seems to have no compunctions about appropriating them for their monetary value, despite their heinous origins? 

Toni has become bossy and embittered from years of toiling on behalf of her ailing father, and Paulson makes an impressive meal of the role, giving a dynamic and commanding performance. But all the performances are spot-on perfect, and Jacobs-Jenkins has given each character at least one, if not several, juicy moments. 

The highly atmospheric set is designed by the multidisciplinary collective known as dots, with Jane Cox’s lighting complimenting it beautifully. Bray Poor and Will Pickens’ sound design adds mightily to the visuals including the deafening roar of cicadas which fill the theater during scene changes. In fact, all three elements combine for a rather spectacular coup de theatre during the play’s climax.

Lila Neugebauer’s direction is ever taut and attuned to all the shifting nuances of Jacobs-Jenkins’ text with its unfailingly funny, intelligent and razor sharp dialogue.

The play runs a generoous 2 hours and 40 minutes, and grips you throughout. Highly recommended.

(The Helen Hayes Theater, 240 West 44th Street; 2ST.com; through March 3)

Photo by Joan Marcus: (l.-r.) Michael Esper, Corey Stoll, Sarah Paulson

Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch (The Music Box)

By Harry Forbes

If there were any doubts about the wisdom of reviving Ossie Davis’ 1961 play, as opposed to "Purlie," the excellent 1970 musical adaptation, especially as the current production stars such a fine singing actor as Leslie Odom, Jr., they are quickly dispelled from the show’s first joyful and funny moments. 

For the straight version proves a very worthy property in its own right, and doesn’t even seem at all dated as many other comedies of this vintage might. Odom is completely commanding in his bravura performance as a traveling preacher trying to secure the local church Old Bethel, and throw off the yoke of the blithely bigoted Ol' Cap'n Cotchipee who exploits the black workers on his Georgia plantation.

Purlie hatches a scheme to have Lutiebelle, an innocent country girl, impersonate his long-lost cousin who was rightly owed an inheritance of $500. Lutiebelle is played by the wondrous Kara Young, who impresses mightily yet again after her outstanding comedic and dramatic turns in “Clyde’s” and “Cost of Living.” 

Odom and Young’s performances are part of an impeccably cast ensemble: Billy Eugene Jones is his obsequious brother Gitlow with Heather Alicia Simms as Gitlow’s sensible wife Missy; Jay O. Sanders is the bigoted Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee, with Noah Robbins his meek but enlightened son Charlie, and Vanessa Bell Calloway the sassy servant who has raised Charlie on the right racial path. The performances are all gems.

Kenny Leon’s direction is fast-paced and masterfully balances the hilarious comedy with the underlying serious themes (unfortunately still relevant after all these decades). The production credits are all first-rate, including Derek McLane’s set which serves as Purlie’s shack, the village commissary, and then wondrously transforms into a church in the final scene. Emilio Sosa’s character perfect costumes, Adam Honoré’s atmospheric lighting, and Peter Fitzgerald’s well balanced sound design. 

I’ll be anxious to rewatch the movie version titled “Gone Are the Days,” with many of the original cast including Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, which used to be a TV staple, but I did relisten to the musical’s cast album. Peter Udell’s lyrics and Gary Geld’s tunes capture the play’s characters and themes exceedingly well.

Even so, the current revival, sans musical numbers, comes across just as exuberant, heartwarming and hilarious. Highly recommended, but hurry, as the revival closes this weekend.

(The Music Box, 239 West 45th Street; PurlieVictorious.com, Telecharge.com or 212-239-6200; through February 4) 

Photo by Marc J. Franklin: Leslie Odom, Jr. & Kara Young

The Gardens of Anuncia (Lincoln Center Theater)

By Harry Forbes

Composer Michael John LaChiusa honors his frequent collaborator, director/choreographer Graciela Daniele, with a loving portrait of the present day Daniele -- here named Anuncia, and winningly played by Priscilla Lopez -- looking back on her formative years in Peron-era Buenos Aires, where she was raised by her mother, aunt, and salty grandmother. 

These three -- Mami, Tía, and Granmama -- are, as you would expect, beautifully embodied by Eden Espinosa, Andréa Burns, and Mary Testa. We learn that Mami’s husband left her when Anuncia was six, and Grannmama, after early disillusionment, has been separated from her husband for many years, though he does make occasional visits and young Anuncia adores him. But otherwise, Anuncia was raised in an all-female household. 

Mami sees to it that Anuncia is enrolled in ballet class principally because of her daughter’s flat feet, but this sets Anuncia/Graciela on her path to becoming a professional dancer. To earn money for the family, Mami works in a government job in spite of her anti-Peronist political views and the potential danger of her position, a situation that does, in fact, lead to the most dramatic point in the narrative.

Besides the stellar work of the women here, various male roles are taken by Enrique Acevedo and Tally Sessions. The former plays on the grandfather and, briefly, the abusive husband/father, while the latter shines in two whimsical present day sequences wherein Anuncia is visited in her garden by a friendly deer with whom she even dances, and later, the deer’s cynical brother. 

The basic narrative is frankly not dissimilar from other stories we’ve seen of an adolescent blossoming as he/she comes to maturity, but Daniele's particular story is not without interest. Kayln West plays the young Anuncia well even though, as written, certain aspects of the character’s immaturity are exasperating and vexing. 

LaChiusa’s tango-flavored score falls pleasantly on the ear, but it’s difficult to assess the songs, beyond the fact that they are always apt and, of course, bear LaChiusa’s accomplished stamp. And though this is a small scale, almost chamber work, focusing, as it does, on a limited section of Daniele’s truly fascinating life, I found myself wanting a fuller story.

The show was originally developed and produced at the Old Globe. For the record, this is the fifth collaboration between LaChiusa and Daniele at Lincoln Center Theater, following "Hello Again" (1994), "Chronicle of a Death Foretold" (1995), "Marie Christine" (1999), and "Bernarda Alba" (2006).

This is not primarily a dancing show, though West has some balletic moments, and Espinoza has a bracing tango number. But, in the authoritative hands of director/choreographer Daniele (and co-choreographer Alex Sanchez) the overall staging is very fluid

Michael Starobin’s orchestrations under the musical direction of  Deborah Abramson put LaChiusa’s score in the best light. And Mark Wendland’s simple but evocative settings, Toni-Leslie James’ period costumes, the  lighting by Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, and Drew Levy’s tasteful sound design are all state-of-the-art.

(Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater in Lincoln Center Theater, 150 West 65th Street; Telecharge.com; through December 31)

Photo by Julieta Cervantes: (l.-r.) Eden Espinosa, Kalyn West, Mary Testa and Andréa Burns.