Six Degrees of Separation
Written by John Guare
Directed by Trip Cullman
Starring Allison Janney, John Hickey, and Corey Hawkins
Barrymore Theatre
April 14, 2017 Production website
💉💉💉 out of 5.
“For each of our dysfunctions, there is someone out there eager to meet us.” This is NOT a line from the play but a line I have learned from my life – – the hard way. I saw Six Degrees of Separation almost 30 years ago and all I could remember was the nudity and the reckless inclusion of gay hustlers. Beyond that I am not sure I could tell you the plot. But I am some 30 years older and now able to focus on those things beyond the scintillating and grab more of the story. Continue reading Six Degrees of Separation→
In Transit
Book, Music, and Lyrics by Kristen Ajderso-Lopez, James-Allen Ford, Russ Kaplaj, and Sara Wordsworth
Directed and Choreographed by Kathleen Marshall
Circle in the Square Theatre
March 23, 2017 Production website
💉💉 out of 5.
InTransit: a new musical was just too cute – just way, way way too cute. For people of my generation, it was as if Up With People were doing an homage to the mass transit system of New York. It really is hard to fault the piece. It so cleverly used the thrust staging of the Circle in the Square Theatre where a working treadmill provided the necessary illusion of a subway car whizzing back and forth across the city’s underground. Continue reading In Transit→
Wakey, Wakey
Written and directed by William Eno
Signature Theatre
March 22, 2017 Production website
💉💉💉💉💉 out of 5.
Wakey, Wakey is just 5 💉💉💉💉💉 brilliant! There is little more on stage then a wheelchair, a few cardboard boxes, a surface to display a few YouTube clips and the amazing Michael Emerson illuminating the quirky world of William Eno. Essentially Wakey, Wakey is a dramatic poem taking us through the final moments of a man’s life. What is so amazing here is that although you were very connected with the central character and certainly bought the stakes of the moment, you didn’t get swallowed up in sentimentality. You didn’t cry. I didn’t cry – – and I am a crier in plays like this! I was scared. I was dumbstruck – – but just not sad. Continue reading Wakey, Wakey→
Miss Saigon
Music by Claude-Michel Schonberg
Lyrics by Richard Maltby, Fr & Alain Boublil
Choreography by Geoffrey Garratt
Directed by Laurence Connnor
Broadway Theatre
March 20, 2017 Production website
💉💉💉 out of 5.
It has been 20 years since I saw Miss Saigon and the show feels quite different. The show still has that wonderful anti-war bite of spinning embassy gates, marching followers of Ho Chi Minh storming through the rice fields, and helicopters (now more realistically then EVER) pulling out all of the American forces from Saigon and leaving all of the natives with lots of empty promises and fatherless children. The exploitation of the women into sexual slavery and trafficking remains the same – perhaps made even more painfully blunt as this cast has no inhibitions about touching the breasts, butts, and crotches of women at will. This production truly takes the objectification of women to a new level of inappropriateness. It is NOT for the faint of heart.Continue reading Miss Saigon→
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical Book by Douglas McGrath Written by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur Words and Music by Gerry Goffin, Carole King, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil Directed by Marc Bruni Choreography by Josh Prince Stephen Sondheim Theatre March 19, 2017 Production website 💉💉💉💉 out of 5.
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical was such a warm and satisfying return to seeing shows after an unfortunate 3 month break due to something called “a job”. This was not my first time seeing Beautiful. I was there in the very early days of the show in late October 2013 with the outrageous debut of Jessie Mueller as Carole King. I so remember that first moment the light catches her out on stage at the grand piano simply singing one of many hit songs by Carole King – – my jaw dropped. How could any actress catch that oh, so unique voice of Carole King – – and how could any singer step into all of those high school memories I have with these songs and bring them all to life and let me relive the 1970’s all over again. Jessie Mueller was magical! Simply magical.
Six Degrees of Separation
