“Critic’s Pick! Laughter is making a big comeback on Broadway,” raved The New York Times. “Gaspingly funny,” cheered New York Magazine. “A wild new comedy!” raved The Wrap. “One of the best productions Broadway has offered this season!” exclaimed Deadline.

‘EUREKA DAY’: Thomas Middleditch, Amber Gray, Bill Irwin, Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz & Jessica Hecht. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

Eureka Day stars Tony Award nominee Amber Gray (Broadway: Hadestown; Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812) as Carina, two-time Tony Award nominee Jessica Hecht (Broadway: Summer, 1976 at MTC; A View from the Bridge) as Suzanne, Tony Award winner Bill Irwin (Broadway: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Largely New York) as Don, Emmy Award nominee Thomas Middleditch (Television: “Silicon Valley”) as Eli, and Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz (Television: “Scandal,” “The Resident”) as Meiko. Eboni Flowers (Broadway: Macbeth, Slave Play) will assume the role of Carina starting Saturday, February 1.

Jonathan Spector’s explosive and timely comedy had its world premiere at Aurora Theatre Company in Berkeley, CA., and has been seen Off-Broadway at Colt Coeur and in London at The Old Vic. The New York Times, in their Critic’s Pick review of the Off-Broadway production, praised Eureka Day as “the perfect play for our age of disagreement.”

Vaccine chaos at private California school

Eureka Day is a private California elementary school with a Board of Directors that values inclusion above all else—that is until an outbreak of the mumps forces everyone in the community to reconsider the school’s liberal vaccine policy. As cases rise, the board realizes with horror that they’ve got to do what they swore they never would: make a choice that won’t please absolutely everybody.

The production features: scenic design by Tony Award winner Todd Rosenthal; costume design by Tony Award winner Clint Ramos; lighting design by two-time Tony Award nominee Jen Schriever; original music and sound design by Drama Desk Award nominees Rob Milburn & Michael Bodeen; projection design by Tony Award nominee David Bengali; intimacy & sensitivity coordinator Ann C. James; vocal coach Gigi Buffington; casting by Caparelliotis Casting & Kelly Gillespie; Production Stage Manager is Charles M. Turner III.

Eureka Day is presented by special arrangement with Sonia Friedman Productions, Wagner Johnson Productions, and Seaview Productions.

Major support for Eureka Day is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation as part of The Sloan Initiative: Setting the Stage for Science and Technology. Additional support is provided by The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation.

MTC’s Beyond the Stage Series

Manhattan Theatre Club’s Beyond the Stage series enriches and expands the impact of MTC’s productions and theatrical storytelling by offering audiences events that connect to our plays’ cultural and historical contexts. These community-building conversations and experiences provide fresh insights and novel perspectives, leading to a deepened understanding and celebration of our shared humanity.

Beyond the Stage Series throughout January

Sunday, January 12

Purchase a ticket and join us after the 2:00 pm performance on Sunday, January 12 for an intimate conversation moderated by ABC Audio’s Start Here podcast host Brad Mielke, featuring guest speakers Alann Seales and Dr. Nicole Naggar.

Tickets are on sale at Telecharge.com. Subscriptions for MTC’s 2024-25 season are available by visiting www.manhattantheatreclub.com/join, or by calling the MTC Clubline at 212-399-3050.

Wednesday, January 15
Purchase a ticket and join us after the performance for a conversation with Eureka Day playwright Jonathan Spector for TCG’s OFFSCRIPT podcast. Offscript is American Theatre’s monthly podcast about all things theatrical.

Thursday, January 16
January 16 is Entertainment Community Fund Night at The Samuel J. Friedman Theatre! Purchase a ticket and join us following the performance join for a talkback featuring Dr. Ram Koppaka and Dr. Jason Kindt from the Samuel J. Friedman Health Center for the Performing Arts as they discuss Eureka Day, the growth of public health, how it influences our lives and the communities the Friedman Health Center serves and supports.

Additionally, Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) and Harlem Arts Alliance (HAA) are joining forces to host a Book Drive to benefit Harlem Hospital and its surrounding community. Inspired by Eureka Day, our goal is to collect at least 2,000 new books for children and young adult readers, with a special emphasis on social justice content. Audience and community members are welcome to donate new books at the Samuel J. Friedman box office during operating hours through January 19, 2025.

ABOUT MANHATTAN THEATRE CLUB

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Director Chris Jennings, Manhattan Theatre Club produces seasons of new work for the theatre both on and Off-Broadway. In the 2023-24 season, all three of its Broadway shows were nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play, representing three of the five nominees in the category. MTC’s not-for-profit mission, which Meadow created in 1972 and has implemented over five decades of award-winning productions, is to develop and present new work in a dynamic, supportive environment; to identify and collaborate with the most promising new as well as accomplished artists; and to produce a diverse repertoire of innovative, entertaining, and thought-provoking plays and musicals by American and international playwrights.

Since 1989, MTC Learning and Community Engagement, which uses the power of live theatre and playwriting to awaken minds, ignite imaginations, open hearts, and change lives, has also been an important corollary to MTC’s work. MTC’s over 600 world, American, New York and Broadway premieres have earned 7 Pulitzer Prizes, 30 Tony Awards, 51 Drama Desk Awards and 49 Obie Awards amongst many other honors. MTC has homes on Broadway at its Samuel J. Friedman Theatre and Off-Broadway at New York City Center. MTC is an anti-racist organization that respects and honors all voices and upholds the values of community and equity. For more information, please visit www.manhattantheatreclub.com.

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‘EUREKA DAY’: Thomas Middleditch, Amber Gray, Bill Irwin, Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz & Jessica Hecht. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

EUREKA DAY
By Jonathan Spector
Directed by Anna D. Shapiro
Through February 16, 2025
Manhattan Theatre Club
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
261 W 47th Street
https://www.manhattantheatreclub.com/shows/24-25-season/eureka-day/

By Scott Harrah

The American culture wars and the divisive anti-vaccine movement collide at a private school in Berkeley, California in Jonathan’s Spector’s provocative Eureka Day. The show was originally produced in 2018. It has played in different venues across the country as well in London at the Old Vic. Eureka Day is an often hilarious but politically charged dark comedy about “woke” politics, social justice and the anti-vaccine movement that is both topical and uncomfortable to watch in these tense times in America.

The show starts out with a group of parents on the executive committee at Eureka Day, a progressive private school. The group sits around discussing “politically correct” terminology such as “transracial adoptee” and “all gender bathrooms.” It’s the type of “inclusive” chatter that sends conservative TV media hosts into a frenzy.

Anti-vaccine vitriol

There’s a sudden twist when group leader Don (Bill Irwin) reads aloud a letter from a local health official warning of an outbreak of mumps. A Eureka Day student has been confirmed as having the disease. Suddenly, chaos ensues when everyone discusses the public health doctor’s demand that any child who has not received the MMR vaccine must not be allowed to attend school unless he or she has been vaccinated.

Suzanne (Jessica Hecht) is especially opposed to mandating vaccines at school. While Suzanne on the surface appears to be a stereotypical affluent Bay Area liberal, she is actually a control freak. She immediately tears into others on the committee that disagree with her, including Carina (Amber Gray) and full-time dad Eli (Thomas Middleditch). Suddenly, their bubble of “social justice” and left-wing coastal elitism becomes as nasty and polarizing as anything on right-wing TV news programs.

An online livestream discussion about the mumps outbreak is one of the highlights of Eureka Day. As Don and group leaders discuss mumps and its symptoms, the online chat comments—projected onto a screen behind the cast—veer into madness, with parents ranting about alternative medicine, anti-vaccine conspiracy theories and some calling others “Nazis.” It’s hilarious and disturbing but so true to life. What’s so illuminating and shocking is how these upper-middle-class, well-educated parents of Eureka students are just as vile and nauseating as any thread of online trolls.

A prophetic play

Jonathan Spector’s play, first produced nearly seven years ago in 2018, was remarkably prescient, considering it was originally mounted two years before the COVID-19 pandemic. While it’s not exactly a perfect story, it is amazing how much of Mr. Spector’s play was an omen of things to come in 2020. He brilliantly captures all the conflicts that arise from misinformation, individual choice and the greater responsibility of community leaders protecting the public when a disease starts spreading rapidly.

Director Anna D. Shapiro does a nice job of helping the cast shine amongst all the pandemonium. Bill Irwin is brilliant as Don, the head of the school who loves to quote the poet Rumi incessantly. Jessica Hecht is wonderful as the annoying, entitled Suzanne. Amber Gray as Carina is a great foil for Suzanne, and her scenes with Ms. Hecht are incredibly tense and riveting. Thomas Middleditch as Eli, Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz as Meiko and Eboni Flowers as Winter are all equally powerful in their respective roles.

Eureka Day is hardly holiday fare. It rings with contemporary veracity about the ugly divisions in America and is not a play for anyone anxious about historical revisionists and science deniers who might wreak havoc in this country in the near future.

Published December 16, 2024
Reviewed at press preview performance on December 14, 2024

‘EUREKA DAY’: Bill Irwin & Jessica Hecht. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

‘EUREKA DAY’: Amber Gray, Bill Irwin & Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

‘EUREKA DAY’: Thomas Middleditch. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

‘EUREKA DAY’: Amber Gray & Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

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‘THE MINUTES’: (center) Noah Reid & (left to right) Jesse Mueller, Jeff Still, Tracy Letts & Cliff Chamberlain. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

THE MINUTES
Written by Tracy Letts
Directed by Anna D. Shapiro
Through July 24, 2022
Studio 54
254 West 54th Street
New York, NY 10019
(212-239-6200), www.TheMinutesBroadway.com

By David NouNou

Our Town gone awry.

Tracy Letts is a timely and a wonderful playwright but also a theatrical provocateur. Not that these can’t go hand in hand; just look at the likes of Tennessee Williams and Edward Albee. His ideas and the way they unfold are brilliant but they can go too far in the end. The adage that “less is more” certainly applies to Mr. Letts. At times, he needs a strong director to smooth out the extreme rough edges. Mr. Williams had Elia Kazan, Mr. Albee had Alan Schneider, and Mr. Letts needs a stronger director who doesn’t just rubber stamp what he writes in a script.

At a city council meeting room in Big Cherry (any town west of New York City and east of LA) USA, a meeting is about to convene. Brian Peel (Noah Reid of Schitt’s Creek fame) has just returned from his mother’s funeral in California, and being offered condolences from Mayor Superba (Tracy Letts) along with the rest of the council members. Peel wants to know about the minutes that took place the week before while he was out and the missing member Mr. Carp (Ian Barford). Starting with the council secretary, Ms. Johnson (Jesse Mueller) to senior members Ms. Innes (Blair Brown) and Mr. Oldfield (Austin Pendleton) to junior members Mr. Blake (K. Todd Freeman), Mr. Hanratty (Danny McCarthy) and Mr. Assalone (Jeff Still) all give him small talk, runarounds and exchange pleasantries but no one will give him a straight answer about the “unwritten yet” minutes or the whereabouts of Mr. Carp and why he is not at the meeting.

The play goes into high gear (often hilarious) once each councilman starts talking about grievances and the bill they want to pass. The mayhem probably takes place at any council meeting, but this one goes even further by re-enacting for Mr. Peel the heroism that took place in bringing the existence of their town Big Cherry to life replete with American soldiers, Native American Indians, and the Farmers Family.

Once the digging goes beneath the surface, it uncovers America’s soul and the sanitizing of history that has and is currently taking place, in places like Florida, Oklahoma or in any town, state or school that represses history. Mr. Letts has written a chilling play that is profound and mirrors the “good” folks and mayors in small-town America today.

As always, Mr. Letts has written meaty roles for an excellent ensemble cast whose names I’ve listed earlier. Each has a unique role: Mr. Letts’ mayor is a shark with a no-nonsense attitude. Noah Reid, making his Broadway debut, is perfect as the idealistic councilman (he may remind one of James Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington). Austin Pendleton as the oldest grousing councilman is a scream. Ian Barford, Blair Brown, K. Todd Freeman, Danny McCarthy, Jesse Mueller, and Jeff Still all lend their talents to elevate this ensemble.

There is a “but” here, and the but is how Mr. Letts chooses to end his plays. There were a couple of possibilities of ending this play satisfactorily without outrageous theatrics involved. This is where director Anna D. Shapiro should have stepped in to polish these rough edges with some fine-tuned editing and still made it a remarkable evening in the theatre. Just as he did in his epic work August: Osage County, Mr. Letts has a lot to say about the uncomfortable taboo topics in everyday American life.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 21, 2022
Reviewed at April 20, 2022 press performance.

‘THE MINUTES’: Jesse Mueller & Noah Reid. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

‘THE MINUTES’: Tracy Letts & Noah Reid. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

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‘STRAIGHT WHITE MEN’: Armie Hammer. Photo: Joan Marcus

STRAIGHT WHITE MEN
Written by Young Jean Lee
Directed by Anna. D. Shapiro
Through September 9, 2018
The Helen Hayes Theater
240 West 44th Street
(212-239-6200), www.2ST.com

By David NouNou

Sometimes mediocrity and unambitious invisibility are all someone wants out of life.

First presented at the Public Theatre in November 2014, Young Jean Lee’s dramedy has nothing to do with sexual orientation, but the privilege that comes from being a straight white man. She doesn’t comment on the subject; she just presents it to us and for us to disseminate her presentation. If this sounds a bit ambiguous, it’s because there is no resolution, just presentation.

It is Christmas Eve and Jake (Josh Charles) and Drew (Armie Hammer) have returned to their Midwest home to celebrate the holidays with their widowed father Ed (Stephen Payne) and their older brother, Matt (Paul Schneider). Jake is a divorced banker and Ed is a semi-successful writer. Matt, a Harvard graduate, has moved back to live with his father for no specified reason and Ed is happy to have his son back and being taken care of after his wife’s death.

It’s great to see the family dynamics. especially with Jake and Drew horsing around and reminiscing about their lives and their youth. Also, watching their dad, coming in and making them wear the traditional Christmas pajamas. What family doesn’t have their rituals? There is nothing odd or strange going on until Matt has a breakdown and starts crying for no apparent reason over their Chinese dinner. What family doesn’t encounter drama during the holidays?

It is at this point the play takes a turn when Jake and Drew try to analyze Matt’s breakdown. Jake feels Matt’s is an underachiever because of his guilt of being a white male. Drew wants him to see a psychotherapist because he is depressed and lacks self-respect. What Ms. Lee is doing here is transposing each brother’s shortcomings onto their brother, Matt.

It is entertaining watching Armie Hammer and Josh Charles recreating their childhood shenanigans with deft performances. Mr. Charles is a standout as the alpha brother. Mr. Hammer is sinfully gorgeous and carefully modulates his Broadway debut performance. Paul Schneider gives the right pathos as the depressed brother who is okay with his mediocrity. Stephen Payne is robust as the loving father.

Anna D. Shapiro, the director, doesn’t do much to clarify the proceedings or bring any lucidity to an otherwise simple tale of a loving family brought together for the holidays and the usual drama that gets created by dissenting members of the family with their differences. Even the most loving of families have their breakdowns. What we are left here with not so much as a rewarding play but an unfulfilling setup of a premise.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published July 26, 2018
Reviewed at July 25, 2018 press performance.

‘STRAIGHT WHITE MEN’: Kate Bornstein, Armie Hammer & Ty Defoe. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘STRAIGHT WHITE MEN’: Armie Hammer, Stephen Payne & Paul Schneider. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘STRAIGHT WHITE MEN’: Kate Bornstein & Ty Defoe. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘STRAIGHT WHITE MEN’: Stephen Payne. Photo: Joan Marcus

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BROTHERS IN FOUL ‘FISH’: Larry David & Ben Shenkman at their father’s shiva. Photo: FishintheDark.com

FISH IN THE DARK
Written by Larry David
Directed by Anna D. Shapiro
Cort Theatre,138 West 48th Street
(212-239-6200), www.FishInTheDark.com

By David NouNou

No one knows better about writing quirky, irreverently nonsensical comedies about dysfunctional Jewish families than Larry David. All you have to do is watch a couple of episodes of “Seinfeld” or HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and you’ll get the gist. However, not even Mr. David can write a sustained two- hour comedy without it skidding off track and becoming a long-winded, sitcom episode with a lot of needless characters used as fillers to fill the allotted time for a Broadway show. With the advent of dramedies, comedic plays are becoming harder and harder to write. Not even the great and prolific Neil Simon, whose staple of comedies regaled us in the 1960s and 1970s, could write a sustainable comedy or even a successful revival of any of his previous hits unless they were jam-packed with stars. Remember his last revival of The Odd Couple, dreadful but a total sellout due to Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, and Brad Garrett in the leads.

As sitcoms tackle every imaginable issue, a comedy about the death of the patriarch of a Jewish family, set in a hospital ward with all the stereotypical family members waiting in attendance to claim the spoils, is nothing new. If you are familiar with Mr. David’s works, it usually means it brings out the worst in people; grieving becomes secondary, avarice, greed, lust, shirking responsibilities, and screaming at each other take center stage. So it is with Fish in the Dark. Mr. David aims to please, but the end product is an unsatisfying half-baked comedy. Not even such a superior director as Anna D. Shapiro (August: Osage County, Of Mice and Men, and last fall’s This Is Our Youth) can override Mr. David or his clichéd script.

As the constantly competitive and bickering brothers, the older, Norman Drexel (Larry David) and the younger, Arthur Drexel (Ben Shenkman); two people you wouldn’t want in your life in a moment of crisis, for neither one possesses a modicum of conscience, are awaiting the arrival of their mother and the rest of the family members and arguing in a hospital waiting area. They are there weighing the pros and cons of whether it is worth putting their dying father on a respirator and bickering about their father’s last dying wish on who would take care of their mother after he is gone. Needless to say, neither brother wants that responsibility. The rest of the crucial characters are Brenda Drexel (Rita Wilson), Norman’s wife; Gloria Drexel (Jayne Houdyshell), Norman and Arthur’s mother; Fabiana Melendez (Rosie Perez), Norman’s housekeeper; and Diego Melendez (Jake Cannavale), her son. The other 12 characters are negligible and unnecessary but represent stock sitcom characters usually found in television comedies but in general are rendered useless characters in a tightly written, budget-conscious Broadway show.

If you’ve ever seen Larry David, then you know the character he is portraying; no need to go into character analysis, he is Larry David and the cause célèbre of this shows huge advance sale. Ben Shenkman as the younger brother Arthur, is perfect as the self-absorbed, egotistical, competitive schmuck. Rita Wilson, besides being Tom Hanks’ wife, is also a talented actress; alas, she is wasted as the nagging, shrewish wife. Jayne Houdyshell plays the usual put-upon mother and widow. Rosie Perez in another nasally whining Rosie Perez characterization; and as Diego, her son, Jake Cannavale holds his own against these Broadway veterans, and yes, he does his father Bobby proud.

Last fall’s hot ticket was the star-studded, unfunny name-dropping Terrence McNally comedy It’s Only A Play; this spring’s hot ticket is Larry David’s Fish in the Dark. I’ll say this much for it; it does tap into a new audience share that would not be usually going to the theatre. At the preview performance I attended, there were lots of shouts of “We love you, Larry” hurling down from the balcony.

HUSBAND & WIFE: Larry David & Rita Wilson in ‘Fish in the Dark.’ Photo: FishintheDark.com

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INSTANT ATTRACTION: Tavi Gevinson & Michael Cera. Photo: Brigitte Lacombe

By David NouNou

September is the month when children go back to school and critics go back to review Broadway shows. For most children and critics, this could be an ominous time. However, this time the first day of school (or from a critic’s standpoint, the first show of the new fall 2014 season), This is Our Youth is a cause for rejoicing for two reasons. The first being relishing a good show, and the second seeing fresh newcomers take to the Broadway stage and have actual stage presence and charisma. For me, it’s always a pleasure to see actors/celebrities from other mediums making their Broadway debuts and leaving lasting impressions.

Set in March 1982 in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, we meet the loner/loser Warren Straub (Michael Cera), who has just been thrown out of his father’s house for constantly smoking weed there and just happens to steal $15,000.00 on his way out from his dad’s attaché case. Being midnight and having nowhere else to go, Warren shows up at his best friend and tormentor’s home Dennis Ziegler, (Kieran Culkin). Dennis is an entrepreneur in the art of the deal in procuring and selling drugs to his friends and has made a lucrative life for himself, and Dennis also has his own apartment that his rich family pays for as long as he stays away. The third person is Jessica Goldman (Tavi Gevinson), who Warren likes a lot. Naturally they all have excess baggage, and are not particularly likeable characters if you knew any of them personally, and all have hidden secrets, which get revealed as the show progresses.

This is Our Youth was first done as an Off-Broadway show in 1996. As a matter of fact it is Mr. Lonergan’s first foray on Broadway. Both show and playwright are making their Broadway debuts. Also making his Broadway debut is Michael Cera, known as a movie star for his roles in Juno, Superbad, and This Is the End, plus the TV show “Arrested Development”; Mr. Cera has always managed to supply his own brand of geekyness and awkwardness, but he does it with flare. In This is Our Youth, he takes this awkwardness to new heights that are heartfelt as well as heartbreaking. He is the misfit of the 1980s era and plays it to perfection. Even at a happy moment with a girl, he is still the sad sack because you know something will go wrong.

Having seen Kieran Culkin in After Ashley and The Starry Messenger, I knew he is a deft and talented actor;seeing him in an aggressive role is a refreshing part for him. His Dennis is full of cockiness and has mastered the art of the deal, but in the end he will find a way to screw it up because he hasn’t learned to harness his talents for the long haul, just long enough for the next dream ahead.

Tavi Gevinson is an enjoyable young actress but she still has to find her stage legs. She has the angst and frustration of her character but has to tone her down a bit. She can come across as too shrill at times. Director Anna D. Shapiro has managed to take this small show and give it the proper dimensions to make it work on the big stage. Todd Rosenthal’s tenement building background is a vision of art.

What makes This is Our Youth timeless is that it resonates in every decade Whether it’s the 80s, 90s or even the 2010s, the same loners and losers still exist. The dropouts exist in every decade, the only difference is in the 80s they either lived with a parent or lived alone in their own apartment. The only thing that has changed in the 2010s is that they now live as three roommates to make it more cost effective to share the rent.

BEST FRIENDS: Kieran Culkin & Michael Cera in ‘This Is Our Youth.’ Photo: Brigitte Lacombe

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published September 14, 2014
Reviewed at press performance September 13, 2014

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