Birthday Candles Written by Noah Haidle Directed by Vivienne Beseech American Airlines Theatre/Roundabout Theatre Company March 29, 2022 Production website 💉💉💉 out of 5.
This play really had an affect on me and took me on quite an emotional rollercoaster. The premise of the play is clear: we are going to show the passage of a woman’s life from being 18 to 91 in the very same kitchen. Characters are going to play children and then they are magically going to age step by step to their grave.
At first I just hated this play. To see Debra Messing wiggling her way playing an 18 year old girl talking about how bored she is with live – – I thought that this was going to be the LONGEST two hours in the theatre. I was ready to tune out and focus on my watch. BUT then I began to get invested in the transition from teenage years to adult years.
Lehman Trilogy Written by Stefano Massine Adapted by Ben Power Directed by Sam Mendes Nederlander Theatre January 1, 2022 Production website 💉💉💉💉💉 out of 5.
This was simply perfect! It was a true story; an important story and told with the utmost economy of language, movement, and scenic support. The story of the Lehman’s is a story of American industry and wealth. The story starts with the great immigration from Europe, takes us through cotton and the anti-bellum South. It leads us through Civil War and its aftermath. Soon after, they create the middleman -the man who has nothing – but makes the connection between the creator and the buyer. It moves us from the fields to the city – New York City – – as the stock market is invented and creates new wealth and the sees the birth of the railroad, television, and even computers – finally addressing the ultimate wealth maker: the ability to convince people to spend money they don’t have on things that they do not need. Perfect wealth! The Lehman brothers also dealt poignantly with the stock market crash of the 29 and the market reset in the 1980’s. All this while telling the story of three very Orthodox Jews who work to maintain their beliefs in a world that constantly challenges faith.
Flying Over Sunset Book by James Lapine Music by Tom Kitt Lyrics by Michael Korie Direction by James Lapine Lincoln Center Theatre at the Vivian Beaumont December 31, 2021 Production website 💉💉 out of 5.
It was a perfect New Year’s Eve. I was lucky and scored tickets in the first row right to the side of the stage next to the step down into the audience. The seat was comfortable, plenty of leg room and NO chatty neighbors! Heaven! The musical, Flying Over Sunset was quite an adventure. The brief program note bears repeating,
In the 1950’s the drug LSD was legal, but generally it was only experimented with by a small number of people either under the radar or in a clinical setting. Flying Over Sunset is a work of fiction inspired by the extraordinary lives of Aldous Huxley, Claire Boothe Luce, Cary Grant, and Gerald Heard, all of whom experimented with the drug. We know that the famed author and philosopher Aldous Huxley’s first experience with LSD began when he stopped at a new Rexall drug store in Los Angeles on what was to be a quick errand. He was with his wife Maria and an old friend Gerald Heard. WE know that playwright Congresswoman and Ambassador Clare Boothe Luce first experienced the drug in the garden of her Ridgefield, Connecticut, estate with Gerald Heard serving as her guide. We know that at his wife’s urging, the movie star Cary Grant went to her psychiatrist’s office to find out more about this miraculous drug she dept urging him to try. Flying Over Sunset connects the dots.
Trouble in Mind Written by Alice Childress and Michael Aegean Directed by Charles Randolph-Wright Roundabout Theatre Company at American Airlines Theatre December 29, 2021 Production website 💉💉💉💉 out of 5.
The last three post-Covid trips that I have taken to New York have all been about bringing visibility to black artists, stories, and history. There has truly been a renaissance in black literature on stage and new actors/new faces are popping up all over Broadway. It is so great to be part of this excitement. But of all the stories about the Black experience none is more effective than Trouble in Mind – – and that is quite a feat for a play that was first optioned and later rejected for Broadway in 1955. Back in 1955, the play was well received Off Broadway but was stopped on its path to Broadway because white producers wanted the script to be “toned down”. The playwright, Alice Childress, refused to make the change. But today we see the full unedited production straight from the playwright’s pen.
Clyde’s Written by Lynn Nottage Directed by Kate Whoriskey 2nd Stage at Helen Hayes Theatre December 28, 2021 Production website 💉💉💉 out of 5.
As the play began, I knew I was not going to like this play at all, but, as I left the theatre, I began to like it more and more. I believe the reason I got such a negative start had to deal with my seats. I was lucky/unlucky to score seats in the center section right in the second row. I had a clear view of the stage and all was good – – until the lights went down. From the very first moment all things on stage were SO loud and SO overplayed and SO working more to get an audience to laugh rather than settling down and trying to bring us into the world of the play. A perfect example is the character of Letitia twerking away for sake of the audience before we even know what/who she is in the play.
