Gotta Dance (c) Bjorn Bolinder
Theater: Gotta Dance
At Theatre at St. Jean
Revues are odd theater beasts. I don’t know why some are wildly successful (Ain’t Misbehavin’, Smokey Joe’s Café) and some don’t catch fire (Dancin’, Lennon). Gotta Dance, the new revue presented by The York Theatre and American Dance Machine, is a retrospective review like Jerome Robbins’ Broadway in which musical numbers from hit Broadway shows or Hollywood films are meticulously recreated and presented as close to the original as possible. As the title promises, most of the numbers, picked by directors Nikki Feirt Atkins and Randy Skinner, are dances from memorable shows/films, but they might not be the most famous. For example, Gotta Dance comes from the great 1952 film Singing in the Rain, but the directors didn’t choose that number (or the iconic title song), but “Moses Supposes” and “Broadway Melody.” Instead of “The Dance at the Gym” from West Side Story, “Magic to Do” from Pippin or “Rich Man’s Frug” from Sweet Charity, we get less splashier numbers like “Cool,” “Manson Trio” and “I’m a Brass Band,” respectively. (I wish they had chosen "The Rhythm of Life" from Sweet Charity, the movie version, which had a groovy happening vibe by Sammy Davis Jr.). But they do have some big hits, including “One” from A Chorus Line, “All I Need Is the Girl” from Gypsy and the most recent show on the roster: the Pas de Deux from Christopher Wheeldon’s An American in Paris. The biggest thrill for me was Susan Stroman’s Contact. I never thought I would ever experience her electrifying “Simply Irresistible” live again, but the minute the woman in the yellow dress appeared, I had goosebumps. Of course, all of this would not be half as enjoyable without a fantastic ensemble of singer/dancers, and each of the 14 members (a mixture of Broadway and ballet talents) get at least one number to shine. Without much introduction beyond the title of the show and the choreographer projected on the back screen, the numbers flow seamlessly. And as a holiday offering, Gotta Dance is perfect to enjoy with friends and family after a day of shopping and sightseeing.
Laowang (c) James Leynse
Theater: Laowang
Primary Stages at 59E59 Theaters
Humor is not something one would expect from an adaptation of “King Lear,” but Alex Lin’s Laowang has some very funny moments as the three grandchildren of matriarch and restaurant magnet Margaret Choy (Wai Ching Ho) scheme their way into a bigger part of her estate as Margaret seems to be showing signs of dementia. This modern retelling takes plenty of liberty with the Shakespeare of it all, but the basic outline is there. Margaret is ready to sell the restaurant that made her a legend, but it seems that hard times make the real estate it sits on more valuable than its historical significance. Again, there are two greedy, adult grandchildren, Amy (the always reliable Cindy Cheung) and Steven (a very funny Jon Norman Schneider), but only one, Lai-Fa (a stoic Amy Keum), who seems to worry about Margaret’s welfare. The actors, including Daisuke Tsuji as the prospective developer, are all having a great time in their roles. The opening scene in which the three heirs are taking either trains, planes or bicycles to get to Margaret (in an inspired directorial touch by Joshua Kahan Brody) is full of exposition hidden in funny but true family politics. And the veteran Wai Ching Ho, who is now best known as playing Madame Gao in Daredevil, is extraordinary as Margaret, switching confidently from commanding (and funny) to confused (and heartbreaking). Lin, who has another play this season at the Roundabout, is certainly a talented playwright, and Laowang is a wonderful introduction.
Little Bear Ridge Road (c) Julieta Cervantes
Broadway: Little Bear Ridge Road
At the Golden Theatre
Samuel D. Hunter is currently the one of the most produced living playwrights, and despite his most popular play (and subsequent Oscar-winning film adaptation) “The Whale” being his most controversial, I think this honor is well deserved. Most of his plays are set in his home state of Idaho, with his titles being Idahoan towns or landmarks like A Bright New Boise, Greater Clements, Pocatello and now Little Bear Ridge Road, his first play to make it to Broadway. Directed by Joe Mantello, on a set with only a three-seat Barcalounger by Scott Park (if there was only a table, the actors wouldn’t look so awkward with their coffee cups and plates), this really could have been a radio play, but then you wouldn’t get to see the wonderful Laurie Metcalf as Sarah, a woman living all alone in Troy, Idaho, and that’s fine with her (she has her TV), in action. Into her sanctuary comes her nephew Ethan (Micah Stock), who left Seattle to close out and sell the house of his late father (and Sarah’s brother). The father is a silent character in the play as the two dance around with niceties and TV watching. But soon, those nasty skeletons in the closet reveal themselves, and both Metcalf and Stock are intense and raw during the later scenes. Ethan, like many of Hunter’s gay characters, are usually the least explored, although they always have some chips on their shoulders that makes them feel remote but always simmering with anger. John Drea is geeky fun as a guy Ethan meets in a bar (he’s the Leonard to Ethan’s Sheldon), and Meighan Gerachis is fine in her late play appearance, but it really is a two-person play.
Oedipus (c) Julieta Cervantes
Broadway: Oedipus
At Studio 54
Director Robert Icke starts his own adaptation of Sophocles’ 1,530-year old Oedipus with a longer than usual video of a news segment following a charismatic Oedipus (Mark Strong), a candidate for President, on election day as his campaign expects a landslide. My one question is, where are we? America (we are on Broadway)? The UK (the production is a transfer from the West End, and everyone, including the American actors, are speaking in a British accent)? Before the question is answered, the action moves into the campaign offices with wife Jocasta (Leslie Manville in a powerful Broadway debut), grown children Antigone (Olivia Reis), Eteocles (Jordan Scowen) and Polyneices (James Wilbraham), and campaign manager and brother-in-law Creon (John Carroll Lynch) as they wait for the results. But when a member of a cult crashes the premises and announces that some secrets will be revealed and Creon will be elected, Oedipus’ world slowly unravels with the clockwork precision of a Greek play. This is an extraordinary production that takes a bit too much time reveling in Oedipus’s hubris before the walls start crumbling. Strong, who was also so good in a Broadway revival of A View from the Bridge, really is amazing here, as is the rest of the cast (the children’s parts could be better delineated, especially since one of them had a Sophocles play of her own ten years prior). As for the location of the play? It’s answered in the last two minutes of the production. Well played, Mr. Icke, well played.
The Queen of Versailles (c) Julieta Cervantes
Broadway: The Queen of Versailles
At St. James Theatre, Closing on January 4
Marie Antionette makes a cameo in Stephen Schwartz’s new musical, The Queen of Versailles, and her “let them eat cake” policy to her subjects should be used as a warning as we are living in an analogous political era in which the person in power holds a lavish, let’s say, Great Gatsby party (at a resort he own), while subsidies to the poor are cancelled because of a government shutdown. But she's there, as is the court of King Louis XIV of France, because the titled heroine of the musical, Jackie Siegel (Kristin Chenoweth), has convinced her rich husband (F. Murray Abraham) to build a replica of the palace of Versailles in Florida. The problem with this premise and in turn the musical itself, is that this is based on a real-life woman. If it was a fictional story, then Schwartz and bookwriter Lindsey Ferrentino, could have made Jackie into a tragic figure with her fool-hearted mission to finish construction of the mansion, even during the recession of 2008 when her family lost their fortune. But the writers are bound by Jackie’s life (which was made into a documentary in 2012, and what the musical is based on). Although she experienced some genuine tragedies, and the show ends with an apt metaphor for Jackie’s frivolity, one wonders if the real Jackie learned anything from the events showcased in this musical. Chenoweth is, of course, the draw, and she tries her hardest to make the material work (reuniting with her Wicked songwriter), lifting a lot of it on her 4’11” shoulders, especially when she’s singing. But like the Tammy Faye musical of last season, there is only so much abuse of wealth an audience (even a Broadway one) can stomach before the cake we were offered to eat starts to taste bitter.
(Please note, the theater community in New York City is small, and I do know people that are in shows I review. I try not to be swayed, but know that it's part of the equation.)
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