Caroline, or Change Book and Lyrics by Tony Kushner Music by Jeanine Tesori Choreographed by Ann Yee Directed by Michael Longhurst Roundabout Theatre Company Studios 54 October 13, 2021 Production website 💉💉💉💉 out of 5.
Admittedly, I am not trained or pretend to be a qualified musical theatre practitioner but I do love the art form. I write this as an audience member totally mystified at the art of musicals. The first thing I noticed was how this musical spoke for this very unique time in Broadway history when almost every venue was working on plays exploring Black Americans and struggles they face every day. The statue of the Confederate soldier that holds fort in the center of the stage and the center of the story of Caroline or Change became the perfect lightning rod for this “change” in how post-COVID theatre is being practiced. Artists are certainly exploring change in all arenas.
Morning Sun Written by Simon Stephens Directed by Lila Neugebauer Manhattan Theatre Club October 12, 2021 Production website ☠️ out of 5 – TOTAL POISON
In decades of theatre going under my belt, this has to be THE WORST PRODUCTION of arguable the WORST SCRIPT I have ever seen. I am serious. Now of course I saw the production on the first preview, but since they were charging just as much as a regular production, I didn’t feel that I needed to cut them any slack. To begin the set was just a bland, drab expanse of stage that was very wide and very shallow. Nothing about the set gave me a sense of where we were at. All the furniture faced front and there was large gaps of carpet until the next illogical piece of furniture. Interesting stage pictures were not going to be possible. I cut the show some slack thinking that later in the night this drab expanse of a set was going to make some magical sense, but no.
Letters of Suresh Written by Rajiv Joseph Directed by May Adrales Second Stage Theatre October 10, 2021 Production website 💉💉💉💉 out of 5
With this play I did something I have never done in all of my years of theatre-going. I just looked at my watch and found that I could make an evening show if I wanted. I hadn’t planned on this – didn’t do any research. I just went to Playbill on-line and picked one not too far away that I hadn’t seen – – thus Letters of Suresh. Luckily it paid off and the play was the perfect choice for the evening.
Essentially Letters of Suresh is a series of letters that were found in the meager estate of a dead priest in Hiroshima. Over the years he had corresponded to Suresh about life and love. These letters where found and through a third party they are read and passed on to another reader. Essentially the correspondence of one pair of penpals grew into a small group of people that were transformed by the beauty and honesty of the writing. Each person that read the letters was driven to become a writer and the art of letter writing blossomed.
Pass Over Written by Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu Directed by Dana Taymor August Wilson Theatre October 10, 2021 Production website 💉💉💉💉💉 out of 5
This play was perfection. There was not a single word or gesture that was extraneous. Visually the play made sense on the bare stage to a stage full of smoke and affects. Very seldom have been so moved by a play.
In many ways Pass Over uses the play, Waiting for Godot and applies this story and its absurdist rules to an urban black culture. Gogo and Didi have been replaced with Moses and Kitch. The bare stage with a single tree has been replaced with a concrete median with a single imposing streetlight. Even the classic bowler hats of the hobos Gogo and Didi are replaced by baseball caps that become treasured props to them. I could go on and on with the comparisons and revaluations made in seeing Godot through this new lense – it was brilliant.
Sanctuary City Written by Martina Major Directed by Rebecca Frecknall New York Theatre Workshop October 9, 2021 Production website 💉💉💉 out of 5
It was so great to back into the theatre and see a play. It had been waaaaaay tooo long! Sanctuary Play was the first of the group. The story was simple – two adolescents, both children of undocumented workers banded together to plot ways to stay in the country. The girl simply named “G” found a loophole in the system that allowed her to stay if she was willing to stay with her physically abuse succession of her Mother’s boyfriends and take on an excessive amount of college student debt. The boy, “B” had it tougher. His mother was planning to give up and just return to her home country. His options were to continue hiding in the shadows in fear or to find an American girl that he could marry. I am sure you can guess where we go from there.
