Bug (c) Matthew Murphy
Broadway: Bug
At the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
Things are getting itchy on Broadway for the new year, with one of Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tracy Letts’ earlier work from 1996, Bug, now having its Broadway debut starring Letts’ wife, Carrie Coon, best known to TV audiences for The White Lotus and The Gilded Age. Coon plays Agnes, a waitress in a small midwestern town, who lives full-time in a motel. One night, she meets Peter (Namir Smallwood), a former soldier she feels a connection with, and who also defends her when her violent ex-husband, Jerry (Steve Key), fresh out of prison, returns in hopes of picking up where they left off, which usually means a lot of drinking and drugs. Peter comes with baggage of his own—he starts to see bugs in the room, which he believes are there for nefarious reasons. When the play premiered in New York in 2004, all eyes were on a then-unknown Michael Shannon as Peter, whose shifty, paranoid demeanor was scary and understandable. Not that Smallwood isn’t also formidable in the role, the focus should really be on Agnes, and here in David Cromer’s edgy and anxiety-filled production, Coon is in total command. (When Bug goes totally obsessive and delusional in the second act, its off-Broadway edginess feels incompatible with the usual Broadway audience expectations.) Indeed, the more adventurous theatergoer will totally vibe with how this play’s themes line up with society’s current obsessions with conspiracy theories, but others may feel them at odds with date night vibes. (Add to that, being on edge after a needlessly confusing and chaotic experience in the rain before the show to lock up people’s phones in pouches.) Coon, who hasn’t been on Broadway since her debut in 2012, is the real deal and will keep you on your toes, as will set design Takeshi Kata’s mind-blowing scene change late in the play.
Two Strangers (Carrying a Cake Across New York) (c) Matthew Murphy
Broadway: Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)
At the Lyceum Theatre
It was sort of triggering after taking a redeye flight into JFK earlier in the week to walk into a Broadway theater to see a mountain of monochromatic luggage piled up in JFK. This is not just a preshow set-up by Soutra Gilmour’s conceptual idea for the musical Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) in which a young British man named Dougal (a winning, if unbelievably optimistic, turn by Sam Tutty) arrives in New York for his first-ever visit. This pile never leaves the stage but cleverly becomes all the Big Apple landmarks Dougal visits, as well as a couple of unexpected locales before going to his father’s wedding at the end of the weekend. His reluctant guide is Robin (Christiani Pitts), the sister of the bride, who is tasked to make sure Dougal makes it into Manhattan from Queens, but Dougal latches onto her, even volunteering to help her pick up the wedding cake from a bakery in Brooklyn. This meet-cute set up is the unique charm of Jim Barnes and Kit Buchan’s musical, and the first act is quite appealing especially with the opposite personalities of Dougal and Robin always at the forefront. But, the show get sort of bogged down in the second act when the writers add many (MANY) plot twists and obstacles that makes this small souffle of a musical sort of deflate before our eyes. The two actors, who make up the entire cast, make it work, especially Tutty, who has been with the show through many iterations in the UK, and has an easy, breezy vibe and winning singing voice that only occasionally falls into a Ben Platt-ification vibrato, left over from his stint as the title character in the UK premiere of Dear Evan Hansen. Pitts has the harder role, as a lot of the turmoil of the second act stems from secrets Robin has kept from Dougal, but she makes her jaded New Yorker relatable, especially in the show’s best number, “American Express.” Tim Jackson has directed every production of Two Strangers since its 2019 premiere, including an extended run at A.R.T. in Cambridge earlier this year with this cast. This is a charming little show (which definitely doesn’t need to be two hours and twenty minutes long) that reminded me of another modest musical focusing on a mismatched pair — last year’s Maybe Happy Ending.
Tartuffe (c) Marc J. Franklin
Theater: Tartuffe
At New York Theatre Workshop
“Oh.” This quiet, little exclamation spills out occasionally in Matthew Broderick’s take on Molière’s most famous scoundrel Tartuffe, and it’s hard to tell if he’s surprised by what he’s just heard or scheming towards his next move. In Lucas Hnath’s cheeky adaptation, currently at New York Theatre Workshop with an enviable cast of New York-theater luminaries, Broderick plays the title character sort of like a clueless Forrest Gump, even though we know he is a shrewd con man, ready to take advantage of his mark. In this case it’s Orgon (David Cross), a wealthy landowner who, with his mother, Mme Pernelle (Bianca del Rio, full of energy), is totally under the spell of his pious new friend. The rest of the family sees right through Tartuffe’s ruse and sets out to entrap him. They include Orgon’s wife Elmire (a smart Amber Gray), her brother Cleante (Francis Jue), her children (Emily Davis and Ryan J. Haddad) and, hysterically, the maid Dorine (the wonderfully surly Lisa Kron), who especially despises Tartuffe. Although there is a lot of fun in this new production, it lacks a sort of manic energy that Molière’s comedies need to succeed. Hnath decided to write the play in verse, which is historically accurate but unfortunately keeps the play pacing at a certain rhythm when it should be breaking out with wild abandon. Director Sarah Benson also keeps the action respectable, with only one farcical and hysterical moment at the end of the play (with a major assist by costume designer Enver Charkatash) that should have been the rule, not the exception. Broderick seems to be underplaying Tartuffe’s many bad attributes—turns out to be the right call as it makes his eventual comeuppance even more fun. Still, I can feel the audience wanting and waiting to laugh out loud. Alas, it’s just pleasant fun, which is fine for any other night at the theater, but sort of disappointing for Molière.
Prudence Play (c) Umar Faraz
Theater: Prudence Play (or Sister Prudence Is Not Gay!)
At Flea Theatre, closing on Friday, January 16
Nuns are a favorite muse for queer playwrights, whether it’s a loving homage to cinematic ones in Charles Busch’s The Divine Sister or a rebellious take on childhood religious hypocrisy in Charles Durang’s Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You. The nun at the heart Caroline Dunn’s one-woman Prudence Play (or Sister Prudence Is Not Gay!) is pretty (cough, cough) straightforward, that is until she realizes she might have a crush on a fellow nun. While the exclamation point in the title and Dunn’s comedic background might indicate a more manic or farcical production, the show does seem to have serious thoughts on its mind (Prudence’s two tap-dancing interludes notwithstanding). With the audience as her confidant, Prudence takes us to parochial school visits, Friday fish dinner nights and the anticipation of a new priest to the parish. This priest will be important as he will hear Prudence’s confession of sinful thoughts for Sister Ann Margaret, who appears to be cool and understanding (she watched Fleabag during a family visit and hopes for a hot priest of her own), stirring up some deep, hidden emotions that starts to bubble up as they hang out together. This is all done in an easy tone by Dunn, who plays Prudence as confident and sarcastic but also naïve and lost. The script relies heavily on voice-overs of other characters, which seems like a wasted opportunity as Dunne does a good job distinguishing between Prudence and Ann Margaret (with a Southern lilt to her). The evening, ably directed by Frances Rippy, also sort of just ends. As a comedy skit, it’s a fun moment to end on, but it left the playgoer in me a bit wanting. Still, this is a nice introduction to Caroline Dunn, who’s a confident physical comedian. I look forward to her growth as a writer to match.
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