Queens (c) Valerie Tarranova
Theater: Queens
At Manhattan Theater Club
Martyna Majok’s follow-up to her Pulitzer Prize winning Cost of Living in 2017 was queens, her play at LCT3 about immigrant women sharing a small and cramped basement in Queens, and while I liked the ambition of the play as well as giving voice to the voiceless, the play’s actual plot felt very dispersed and unwieldy. After a couple of years of tinkering, the play has returned (now with a capital Q in its title), in a confident, shorter production by Trip Cullman and an enjoyable ensemble of actors, headed by a fierce Marin Ireland as our guide into this world at Manhattan Theatre Club. Ireland plays Renia, a Polish immigrant, who in 2017, owns a house in Queens, and is confronted one day by a young and homeless Ukrainian Inna (Julia Lester), confusing her for the mother who left her when she was a little girl to find a better life in New York City. Renia offers the girl a refuge in her empty basement, the same basement she moved into when she first arrived in NYC soon after the attacks on September 11th, when immigrants were especially scrutinized. At that time, the basement was overflowing with immigrants from all corners of the world, with Belarusian Pelagiya (Brooke Bloom), the self-declared warden of the basement; Afghani Aamani (Nadine Malouf, who played the role in the original), taking on the role of mother hen as she furiously tries to obtain legal status; and Isabela (Nicole Villamil), who at the time of Renia’s arrival in 2001 is going back to Honduras, as her pursuit of the American dream has failed. Majok finds some common themes in these women’s shared plight: Many have children they left behind, and many do not have the support of a partner, so they make the big and dangerous leap to come to the U.S. for a better life. The play’s dialogue has an internal poetry to it, especially the underlying theme that to even attempt to find a better life makes them figuratively queens of their own story.
Queens (c) Valerie Terranova
The shifting perspective between 2001 and 2017 is still a bit jarring, especially now that we’re seeing it through the lens of 2025. Back in 2017, it was Trump’s first presidency, and his anti-immigration message was just starting. In 2025, it has blown up to a crazed movement in which every issue is blamed on immigrants, from leeching off healthcare and SNAP benefits to eating pets. The major plot change from 2001 and 2017 in Queens is Reina has successfully achieved her dream to own a piece of America in the Queens house, and thanks to a committed and nuanced performance by Ireland, the audience can see that some of the decisions she made in those 16 years may have everlasting effects on Reina’s soul. This part of the play felt unconvincing in its first iteration, and while I believe it more now, Reina’s fortune still feels more like a plot device. More successful now are the backstories of the two younger characters in 2017: Inna’s decision to leave Kiev to find her mother in America after the death of her grandmother and with the support of her friend Lera (Andrea Syglowski), and Glenys (Sharlene Cruz), a Hispanic honor roll student hoping to graduate high school when Reina took her in in 2011. There are small things to nitpick in the plot, but to have these characters, who are rarely seen in plays, given a chance to tell their stories and dramatize their life challenges, is reason enough to see Queens. At the performance I attended, there was also a group of high school students, many of whom had parents who may have gone through something similar for them to be attending an off-Broadway show. Their quiet attention during the show and spirited conversation at intermission is an even better reason.
Reunions (c) Jeremy Daniel
Theater: Reunions
At City Center Stage II
Reunions, the new musical by book writer and lyricist Jeffrey Scharf and composer Jimmy Calire, is based on two short stories from two wildly different writers: The Twelve Pound Look by British writer J.M. Barrie and A Sunny Morning by the Spanish Quintero Brothers, which, except for the “reunion” theme, taking place in the same year of 1910, and the double casting of the talented actors, are not connected in plot. But that doesn’t stop the overall evening, intimately directed by Gabriel Barre, from being breezy, charming and, occasionally, with a social commentary. The heavier play of the evening is the first act, The Twelve Pound Look, about Harry Sims (Bryan Fenkart), a British social climber who, with his devoted young wife (Courtney Reed), finally achieves his dream of being knighted by the king. His happiness is tempered when he has an unexpected reunion with someone from his past who reminds him of how his ambitions were detrimental to a previous relationship and might be his downfall now. The seriousness of the first story is nicely balanced by the beautiful and light soufflé of A Sunny Morning in which two octogenarian strangers (Joanna Glushak and Chip Zien), who each enjoy the day away at a public park in Madrid as they stake out their favorite benches, find themselves begrudgingly sharing a bench, then finding out they may have something in common.
Reunions (c) Jeremy Daniel
The songs are a bit frothy in an operetta kind of way, which makes it pleasant, if not memorable at first hearing. The acting ensemble is having fun in their dual, sometimes quadruple, roles. Veteran Zien is predictably funny and strong in his bigger part, but there is also strong work by Glushak and, especially Chilina Kennedy, in a sort of spoiler part I won’t reveal. The musical that “Reunions” reminded me of most is 1987’s underrated Romance, Romance, another small chamber piece (starring a young pre-Quantum Leap Scott Bakula) with its two one-act play structure and common theme. Reunions looks good, with splendid work by the design team of Edward Pierce (sets), Jen Caprio (costumes) and lighting design by Ken Billington and Mitchell Fenton, especially since the thrust layout of Stage II can be a challenge. Reunions is perfectly ensconced there and will leave audiences in a happily ever after kind of mood.
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Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (c) Valerie Terranova
Theater: Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion
At Stage 42
Like finding a fading Post-It stuck in your old datebook with a phone number but no name, I remember liking the 1997 film, Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, but forgot everything about it until the new musical adaptation opened off-Broadway. The musical, like the movie, is about two life-long lovable loser friends, who are living their best lives in LA despite not having done much since high school, with Laura Bell Bundy as Romy (Mira Sorvino in the film) and Kara Lindsay as Michele (originally played by Lisa Kudrow). Their clueless bubble bursts when they get an invite to their 10-year high school reunion back in Tucson, Arizona. The interesting thing about this story is that while the two BFF would seem to be the stereotypical mean girls of any other teen comedy, they were actually bullied by the clique of popular girls, including ringleader Christie (Lauren Zakrin), which we see in flashbacks, with Michele in her metal body brace for her scoliosis. So, when the pair decide to attend, they agree to make up a story that they are powerful businesswomen who created Post-Its, something no one can verify (the authors make it clear, this show takes place before Google).
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Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (c) Valerie Terranova
This production has all the right elements of a successful movie-to-musical adaptation, retaining a lot of the spirit and charm of the original (including the R+M’s iconic pose from the movie poster), but it lacks any character development to keep us engaged as it jumps from set piece to set piece from the film. The small ensemble is working overtime, playing so many characters that I can just imagine the traffic jam backstage during their quick costume (by Tina McCartney, pitch perfect) and wig changes. The VIP of this crew has to be Jordan Kai Burnett, who plays both Heather, the Goth girl (who may have had a crush on Michele), and one of the mean girls. I just admired her whiplash character (and black lipstick) change throughout the evening. Like Wayne and Garth before them, Romy and Michele are each other’s found families, and any celebration of that is to be embraced. I just wish director Kristin Hanggi and writers Gwendolyn Sanford and Brandon Jay took a couple of U-turns to update Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion for modern eyes and not make it a time capsule.
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