‘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.

The post ‘The Minutes’: When a town sanitizes its history appeared first on StageZine.

‘MORNING SUN’: Blair Brown & Marin Ireland. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

MORNING SUN
Written by Simon Stephens
Directed by Lila Neugebauer
Through December 19, 2021
Manhattan Theatre Club
New York City Center Stage
1
131 West 55th Street
(212-581-1212), www.NYCityCenter.org

By David NouNou

Morning Sun by playwright Simon Stephens captures the essence of the 1952 painting “Morning Sun” by artist Edward Hopper. The painting is of a woman in a pink slip, sitting on a bed staring outside her window, at the city. The Playbill lists the three women in Mr. Stephens’ play anonymously as 1, 2 and 3. Like the painting, these women live an abstract life, almost Bohemian in nature. However, as the play progresses, the abstract shifts to isolation and survival in the city.

At the onset in the dark, 1 (Edie Falco) keeps asking “is it safe, am I safe?” and the voices reply “you’re doing just fine, everything is okay.” It poses the question is 1 in labor giving birth—or is it at another stage of her life? As the lights come on, we learn that 2 (Blair Brown) has come to the city in 1947 and just got a two-bedroom apartment in Greenwich Village for $75.00 a month while working at Macy’s. 2/Claudette gets married, and her husband moves into this apartment and they have a long marriage. 2/Claudette gives birth to 1/Charlotte, which takes us back to the beginning, was it safe for 1 to come into the world or is it another stage of her life.

1/Charlotte prefers the name Charley and lives in the same Village apartment as her parents. She doesn’t ask much of life. She has a best friend as a child, but is betrayed by her as an adult. She gets pregnant from a one-night stand with a pilot, and gives birth to a girl, 3 (Marin Ireland) and she names her Tessa. 1 has a 10-year relationship with a semi-abusive man who leaves her for another woman. She works at St. Vincent’s Hospital until it shuts down. She ultimately meets Edwin, a medical supplies salesman, with whom she moves out with to Colorado.

3/Tessa has a difficult life, no real father; just father figures. She lives with her mother and grandparents in the same Village apartment. She has a tough time whether coping in school, in her childhood, with her job, and when her mother decides to move to Colorado.

1, 2 and 3 play multiple characters, both men and women, thus the abstract, but they essentially play mother, daughter and granddaughter who love each other but have a tough time connecting. They represent the strong willed, the survivor, and the loner. They are connected but all three women live in isolation. The beauty here is the seamless connection these women portray. They are three separate women but can speak as one.

Edie Falco gives a gut-wrenching performance as 1/daughter and survivor. In lesser hands, the character might seem a loser; however, Ms. Falco imbues Charlotte with every noble quality a woman can possess. Blair Brown, as 2/mother and strong willed, is fearless. Like a great wine, she gets better with age and experience. Marin Ireland, as 3/granddaughter/loner and a multiple array of other characters, is becoming one of the finest actresses of her generation. She has grown as an actress from her earlier outings in reasons to be pretty  and The Three Sisters. Her Tessa is heartbreaking and her switching from one character to another is seamless.

Simon Stephens has written a lovely abstract play about the connection of three generations of women.  Director Lila Neugebauer gives everything focus, but Edie Falco, Blair Brown and Marin Ireland give the show its pulsating heart.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published November 3, 2021
Reviewed at October 30, 2021 press preview performance.

‘MORNING SUN’: Edie Falco & Marin Ireland. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘MORNING SUN’: Edie Falco & Marin Ireland. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

The post ‘Morning Sun’: All-star cast shines in tale of three women appeared first on StageZine.

‘THE PARISIAN WOMAN’: Josh Lucas & Uma Thurman. Photo: Matthew Murphy

THE PARISIAN WOMAN
Written by Beau Willimon
Inspired by Henri Becque’s La Parisienne
Directed by Pam MacKinnon
Through March 11, 2018
Hudson Theatre
141 West 44th Street
(855-801-5876), www.ParisianWomanBroadway.com

By David NouNou

Somewhere in heaven, the late novelists Jacqueline Susann and Jackie Collins are fuming and wondering if they can collect any royalties from Beau Willimon’s The Parisian Woman. Every ludicrous cliché they ever wrote in their novels (from blackmail to scandalous illicit affairs) is here. Whereas theirs was “pulp fiction,” no pun intended, and can be read over and over again as escapism, this is expensive babbling at high Broadway ticket prices and it will be dated within four years hopefully (if not earlier, if there is any justice in the political world of today).

Uma Thurman is gorgeous as the calculating Chloe. A woman who doesn’t do much these days but did fritter her youth away with love affairs, art and beauty in Paris. She now lives to further the career of her husband Tom, the equally gorgeous Josh Lucas. He is a tax lawyer that sees his time as now in the helter-skelter world called Washington, D.C. to be a nominee for chief justice. Chloe and Tom live in a luxury townhouse, no children, and are allowed to have affairs on the side as long as they don’t talk about it. An ideal situation in the imperfect Duchy of Washington.

The snake in this idyllic garden is Peter (Marton Csokas), a D.C. banker and supporter of the RNC and he has connections with an incoming president whose last name begins with a “T.” His character is more absurd and more ridiculous than anyone Ms. Susann or Ms. Collins could have ever concocted. He is hopelessly, madly and jealously in love with Chloe. He even divorced his wife for her. He is so enamored by Chloe that within the first 10 minutes of the play, she is manipulating him to put in a good word with “you know who” for the seat in the Justice Department. After all, this is only a 90-minute play, so the proceedings have to move quickly.

There is also Jeanette (Blair Brown), some bigwig who has just been appointed by “you know who” for I don’t know what and wants to befriend Chloe because of her spunk and refreshing forthrightness. Jeanette has a lovely daughter, Rebecca (Phillipa Soo), who has just graduated from Harvard Law School, wants to go into politics, jump through a few political hurdles first, and then has her eyes set for the ultimate prize, being president of the USA. Of course, to right all the wrong that is being done today by “you know who.”

All this folderol is directed with the usual leaden hand of Pam MacKinnon (remember earlier this spring, she helmed the dreadful dud Amelie?) Ms. MacKinnon also recently directed David  Mamet’s putrid China Doll and the awful 2015 revival of The Heidi Chronicles.

The one bright note in theatrical parlance is Blair Brown. She is a perfectionist and can make the most awful mundane lines seem plausible. Credit must also be given to Ms. Soo for adding some gravitas to her trite role. As for Ms. Thurman and Mr. Lucas, they have to settle for gorgeous.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published December 6, 2017
Reviewed at December 5, 2017 press performance.

‘THE PARISIAN WOMAN’: Uma Thurman. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘THE PARISIAN WOMAN’: Phillipa Soo & Uma Thurman. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘THE PARISIAN WOMAN’: Uma Thurman & Marton Csonkas. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘THE PARISIAN WOMAN’: Phillipa Soo. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘THE PARISIAN WOMAN’: Josh Lucas. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘THE PARISIAN WOMAN’: Blair Brown. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘THE PARISIAN WOMAN’: (left to right) Uma Thurman, Blair Brown & Phillipa Soo. Photo: Matthew Murphy

The post ‘The Parisian Woman’: Valley of the dulls appeared first on StageZine.