The Night of the Iguana Written by Tennessee Williams Directed by Emily Mann James Earl Jones Theatre December 8, 2023 Production website 💉💉 out of 5.
The Night of the iguana is one of Tennessee Williams’s later and less successful plays. It takes a haphazard group of people and really just spends too much time with them going repeatedly over the same themes. The story focuses in on Shannon who is struggling with his sanity as he leads a travel group of prim Baptist ladies from America through the backroads of Mexico. Having committed an act of statutory rape on the youngest member of the group he is losing his mind, and, it this is not helped by a group of obnoxious Germans staying at a hotel. The only possible lifeline is Hannah, a well-spoken penniless artist from Nantucket traveling with her 97-year-old frail old poet grandfather.
Purlie Victorious a Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch Written by Ossie Davis Directed by Kenny Leon The Music Box December 7, 2023 Production website 💉💉 out of 5.
I was just not “invited” to this play. From the very first moment, this play just roared on by. Leslie Odom, Jr. just exploded on stage – – speaking and moving so fast that I could barely understand what he was saying and what was going on. I really have no idea what was gained by this storm of behavior. It took a good long time before the play settled down so that I could understand what was going on. I just felt that everyone in the play was working too hard – and not to the betterment of the story. They were squeezing each line to get just as much as they could out of each word – – which ended up making all words of equal importance. It was truly hard to connect with any of the characters; they were so busy acting.
How to Dance in Ohio Book and Lyrics by Rebekah Greer Melocik Music by Jacob Yandura Choreographed by Mayte Natalio Directed by Sammy Cannold Belasco Theatre December 6, 2023 Production website 💉💉 out of 5.
Of my 10 shows that I saw on this trip I was most looking forward to seeing How to Dance in Ohio, but it was my least favorite show. I was so excited to witness a show that brought the inclusion of a cast of individuals who were self-identifying as people with autism. I thought it a great chance to give voice to people who would not normally be seen on Broadway. But, as the show made clear, no special exception, was to be given to any of them. They were going to be judged – – in fact, they wanted to be judged, on their own merits – – and it just didn’t work.
Manahatta Written by Mary Kathryn Nagle Directed by Laurie Woolery Public Theatre November 30, 2023 Production website 💉💉 out of 5.
Manahatta written by Mary Kathryn Nagle takes place in present day Oklahoma as well as present day Manhatta known today as Manhattan. The show follows Jane Snake as she rises to the top ranks of Wall Street, while her family back in Oklahoma struggles to keep their home. The family struggles as they are paying for a mortgage with an ARM – a loan repayment feature that brought down so many families during the housing crash of the 1980s. The show tries to draw a connection between what was happening for this Indian family in the 17th century Manhatta and the current time. The play depicts the arrival of the Dutch settlers representing the Dutch East India Company, who subsequently take the land of and massacre the Delaware Lenape people, driving them out of Manahatta and Lenapehoking.
20 Seconds – a play with music Written and Performed by Thomas Sweater Directed and Developed by Jeremy Scott Blaustein The Pershing Square Signature Center September 14, 2023 Production website 💉💉 out of 5.
This is a really tough play to review because the heart of the play is so true, so heartfelt and so important but the stage mechanics of it were so clunky. Clearly this work of love, resilience, and the undeniable “power of music to make real change in a persons’ life” belongs on the stage, but it could have used some better dramaturgy. Tomas Sweater’s autobiographical work leads us from his trouble childhood where music provided companionship to a career as a music therapist.
