‘NATASHA, PIERRE AND THE GREAT COMET OF 1812’: (left to right) Josh Groban & Denée Benton. Photo: Chad Batka

By David NouNou

I saw Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 exactly three years ago at the Kazino Theatre, which was in a tent set up with heaters right next to the Imperial Theatre. I thought I was experiencing one of the most dreadful musicals I had seen in a long time. It was bleak, dark, claustrophobic, listless and pointless; after all it was set in Russia. It was freezing inside the tent, my partner and I had our coats, gloves and scarves on all night–which I guess for some it might seem atmospheric, getting a sense of what it would be like to be in Siberia. I remember ushers/servers pushing vodka, beverages, and various food items at exorbitant prices and the audience was piled on top of one another on chairs and tables. I just wanted to get the hell out of there; needless to say the evening warranted one star.

What a difference three years later makes. It is now at the Imperial Theatre. The theatre has been magnificently redesigned with sets by Mimi Lien, beautifully and warmly lit by Bradley King and the costumes by Paloma Young are extraordinarily colorful. It is now colorful, open, and energetic, with a deliciously eclectic score by David Malloy that has Slavic overtones that captures the mood from sad ballads to the contemporary sound. In addition, the cast has been expanded, which now makes the musical more jubilant and exciting. And, of course, you have the wonderful Josh Groban. with his thrilling baritone voice.

You must remember that this is based on Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace; there will be a lot of grief and heartbreak, characters that have at least five first names and a Moscow that was brimming with life and opulence. The story centers on Natasha (Denée Benton) saying goodbye to her fiancée, Andrey (Nicholas Belton) who goes off to war and she comes to Moscow to be with her cousin Sonya (Brittain Ashford) and her Godmother, Marya (Grace McLean). In the course of her socializing and experiencing new delights, she falls in love with Anatole (Lucas Steele), whose sister Helene (Amber Gray) is married to Pierre. In the midst of all this is somber Pierre, a friend to all and ultimately he has to clean up the mess that has taken place by all the revelers and revelry.

With all the revelry going on stage, the real deal here is Josh Groban. As an actor, he is perfect as Pierre, and as a singer he is outstanding. If nothing else he is worth the price of admission and more. Denée Benton is lovely as Natasha. Also noteworthy is Amber Gray as Helene, Pierre’s promiscuous wife. As for the rest, they vary in degrees of overplay due to the direction they were given by Rachel Chavkin. There is so much going on stage that you never know where to look; it is a lavish spectacle, frenetic, that at times it seems like a mashup of Cirque De Soleil butchering Leo Tolstoy. In this case so much is too much.

If you go with the purpose of seeing Josh Groban, you’ll not be disappointed, for he delivers the goods and his voice is heaven sent.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published January 4, 2017
Reviewed at performance on January 3, 2017

‘NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812’: Josh Groban. Photo: Chad Batka

‘NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812’: Nick Choksi. Photo: Chad Batka

‘NATASHA, PIERRE AND THE GREAT COMET OF 1812’: Denée Benton & Brittain Ashford. Photo: Chad Batka

‘NATASHA, PIERRE AND THE GREAT COMET OF 1812’: Denée Benton. Photo: Chad Batka

‘NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812’: (left to right) Lucas Steele & Denée Benton. Photo: Chad Batka

‘NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812’: Josh Groban. Photo: Chad Batka

‘NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812’: Denée Benton & Amber Gray. Photo: Chad Batka

‘NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812’: Josh Groban & cast. Photo: Chad Batka

The post ‘Great Comet of 1812’: Tolstoy meets Broadway appeared first on StageZine.

‘LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES’: Janet McTeer & Liev Schreiber. Photo: Joan Marcus

LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES
Written by Christopher Hampton
Directed by Josie Rourke
Through January 22, 2017
Booth Theatre
222 West 45th Street
(212-239-6200), www.LiaisonsBroadway.com

By David NouNou

Seeing Les Liaisons Dangereuses for the third time, I marveled at how well written and crafted a play it is. Granted, productions can vary, casts can give different interpretations, and weak directors misguide the show but this play about love, passion, deceit, seduction, deception, lust and much more, all set in Paris and the countryside in the 1780s, is a marvel to behold.

The enjoyment of the play is how the two main characters manipulate themselves, each other and the people that cross their paths. Needless to say the victims are virtually all annihilated. Le Vicomte de Valmont (Liev Schreiber) and La Marquise de Merteuil (Janet McTeer) are the two principles who joust and parry in this lethal game of love and conquest with other people’s lives. They were once lovers; now they are friends who constantly challenge each other on whom are they going to conquer next and to what degree is that person going to suffer.

The three lives that are going to be affected include Madame de Tourvel (Birgitte Hjort Sorensen), a married, virtuous woman who is staying with Valmont’s aunt, Madame de Rosemonde (Mary Beth Peil). Valmont truly loves Madame de Tourvel but will ultimately seduce and destroy her. Cecile Volanges (Elena Kampouris) is a girl of 15 out of the convent, and daughter of the Marquise’s cousin, whom she forces Valmont to seduce. The third being Le Chevalier Danceny (Raffi Barsoumian), who is in love with Cecile, but the Marquise decides to dally with him to thwart off and renege on her promise to Valmont.

Liev Schreiber and Janet McTeer are both very good but they don’t strike the right chord together. They lack the sting the two need that causes all this devastation around them and that comes from faulty direction. The reason for this disconnect between the two, although Mr. Schreiber makes a good Valmont, is he is too good looking for any woman to resist in the 1780s or 2016. He wouldn’t have to try very hard to seduce any woman; she wouldn’t be able to resist him. He lacks the smarminess and lechery that his predecessors had. Ms. McTeer lacks the villainess the character desperately needs.

This all comes under the heading of faulty direction by Josie Rourke. A stronger director could have corrected these minor infractions and made it into a much stronger production. In the supporting roles, Mary Beth Peil and Birgitte Hjort Sorensen are the standouts.

Despite the minor flaws I mentioned, I strongly recommend Les Liaisons Dangereuses if you are in the mood for an evening of seduction and deception. Who wouldn’t want to see Liev Schreiber and Janet McTeer live on stage?

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published November 4, 2016
Reviewed at press performance on November 3, 2016

‘LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES’: Janet McTeer. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES’: Liev Schreiber. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES’: Birgitte Hjort Sorensen & Liev Schreiber. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES’: Liev Schreiber & Elena Kampouris. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES’: Liev Schreiber & Janet McTeer. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘LES LIAISON DANGEREUSES’: Mary Beth Peil & Birgitte Hjort Sorensen. Photo: Joan Marcus

The post ‘Les Liaisons Dangereuses’ still seduces appeared first on StageZine.

‘AMERICAN PSYCHO’: Benjamin Walker (center) & cast. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

AMERICAN PSYCHO THE MUSICAL
Book by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Music & lyrics by Duncan Sheik
Based on the novel by Bret Easton Ellis
Directed by Rupert Goold
Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre
236 West 45th Street,
(212-239-6200),www.americanpsychothemusical.com

By Scott Harrah

Decades before millennials ruled, upwardly mobile members of Generation X wallowed in the hedonistic excesses of the 1980s, and novelist Bret Easton Ellis was, some might argue, the literary voice of the era. Mr. Ellis’s 1991 novel American Psycho epitomized and lampooned everything about the go-go 80s in New York, from Wall Street greed to obsession with fashion, drugs and nightclubs, and hard-body fascism, etc. Book writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and composer/lyricist Duncan Sheik, under the direction of Rupert Goold, stay fairly true to the book and 2000 Hollywood film in this flashy stage adaptation—first mounted in London in 2013—in a production more grisly than Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, but with a heavy dose of winking satire, all set to a synth-pop beat.

From the two opening numbers, “Opening (Morning Routine) and “Selling Out,” the show unfolds like an extended MTV music video from back in the day. Benjamin Walker is instantly riveting as antihero Patrick Bateman, the buff, handsome, narcissistic Wall Street executive who’s about to celebrate his 27th birthday and seems to have everything going for him, but something’s amiss. He’s an investment banker by day, and a serial killer at night. Throughout the first act, Mr. Walker really carries the show with his arresting stage presence, despite the fact that his Patrick Bateman and nearly all the characters are vapid, one-dimensional stereotypes and morally reprehensible.

These are people obsessed with eating at the trendiest restaurants, dancing at clubs like Tunnel and Danceteria, wearing all the top designers, and anyone who lived in late 1980s and early 1990s New York certainly knew the type. There are some fine performances from other cast members—from Heléne Yorke as Patrick’s over-the-top fiancée Evelyn to Jennifer Damiano as his kindhearted assistant, Jean. Also worth noting is a nearly unrecognizable Alice Ripley (a Tony winner for Next to Normal), playing Patrick’s mother and other roles, from a laundress to a real-estate broker. However, it’s difficult to root for anyone because, as the story progresses, we never quite know when to take the onstage antics seriously (or if we’re supposed to at all). Just as in the novel, it’s evident we’re seeing the story from Patrick’s point of view, but what unfolds gets increasingly confusing.

Still, it’s hard to resist such numbers as “You Are What You Wear” (an ode to designer labels, featuring the women of the cast). In a nod to the MTV videos the show sends up and celebrates, Duncan Sheik’s score also includes snippets from 80s staples such as Tears for Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight,” Huey Lewis and the News’ “Hip to Be Square,” New Order’s “True Faith,” Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me,” and so on. While this may please 80s nostalgia aficionados, the hit parade of oldies, along with Mr. Sheik’s original songs, all start to lose steam.

Director Rupert Goold depicts this American horror story with a distinctly cheeky British sensibility–U.K. directors truly love epics of Americans behaving badly–aided by a top-notch technical crew (lots of spooky ambient music and eerie lighting in all the right places), and Lynne Page’s spot-on, music video-style choreography. Although the murder scenes will thrill fans of slasher and gore films, most of the gruesome glee ends in the first act. By Act II, the narrative becomes far too puzzling and unfocused. Is Patrick Bateman really a serial killer? Or is this all some sick fantasy in his head? While Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s book accurately replicates the ambiguity of Bret Easton Ellis’s novel, the plot twists are just too muddled and convoluted for musical theater. Parody and dark humor can be a brilliant combination, but only if they make sense.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 26, 2016
Reviewed at press performance on April 25, 2016

‘AMERICAN PSYCHO’: (left to right) Benjamin Walker, Alex Michael Stoll (on table) & Dave Thomas Brown, Jordan Dean & Theo Stockman. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

“AMERICAN PSYCHO’: Benjamin Walker. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘AMERICAN PSYCHO’: Benjamin Walker. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘AMERICAN PSYCHO’: Benjamin Walker

‘AMERICAN PSYCHO’: Benjamin Walker (center) & cast. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘AMERICAN PSYCHO:’ Holly James & Benjamin Walker. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘AMERICAN PSYCHO’: (left to right) Anna Eilinsfeld, Ericka Hunter, Helene Yorke, Morgan Weed, Krystina Alabado & Holly James. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘AMERICAN PSYCHO’: (left to right) Benjamin Walker, Jennifer Damiano & Alice Ripley. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘AMERICAN PSYCHO’: The cast. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘AMERICAN PSYCHO’: Benjamin Walker (center) & cast. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘AMERICAN PSYCHO’: The cast. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘AMERICAN PSYCHO’: (left to right) Alex Michael Stoll, Jordan Dean, Holly James, Dave Thomas Brown & Drew Moerlein. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘AMERICAN PSYCHO’: (left to right) Krystina Alabado, Holly James, Morgan Weed, Helene Yorke, Erica Hunter & Anna Eilinsfeld. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘AMERICAN PSYCHO’: Benjamin Walker (center) & cast. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

The post ‘American Psycho’: Making a killing in the 80s appeared first on StageZine.

‘THE COLOR PURPLE’: Cynthia Erivo & Joaquina Kalukango. Photo: Matthew Murphy

THE COLOR PURPLE
Based upon the novel by Alice Walker
Book by Marsha Norman
Music & lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis & Stephen Bray
Directed by John Doyle
Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre
245 W. 45th St.
(212-239-6200), http://colorpurple.com/

By Scott Harrah

Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1982 novel The Color Purple was a tricky classic to adapt for the screen and stage. Steven Spielberg did a superb job making the story into a film, but the Broadway musical adaptation a decade ago, despite 11 Tony Award nominations in 2006 (including a win for LaChanze for Best Actress in a Musical as Celie), was considered too lavish and overdone by some critics. So it is truly amazing what British director John Doyle—who brought us all those gimmicky Stephen Sondheim revivals of Company and Sweeney Todd, featuring actors doubling as musicians, playing instruments—has accomplished. This revival, which originated at London’s Menier Chocolate Factory, is a total reinvention of the musical, with no real sets other than a wooden backdrop with chairs. In addition, British actress Cynthia Erivo, as the lead character Celie, gives the most-talked-about performance of the 2015/2016 season, stealing the show in virtually every scene with her emotionally exhausting, virtuoso portrayal of the poor, awkward-looking, downtrodden young African-American girl in rural 1930s Georgia.

Mr. Doyle has taken a complicated saga (the novel was written in Southern black slang as letters to God) and Marsha Norman’s bloated Broadway book adaptation and pared everything down to its bare bones, and this simply works beautifully. Fortunately, Mr. Doyle has moved away from the days of making actors play instruments and here focuses on what he does best. He streamlines this blockbuster musical, snips away the fat, and keeps the emotional content intact.

One doesn’t need to be familiar with the book or movie to understand the basic plot, but in a nutshell, Marsha Norman’s original script skips over a lot of the story’s details. Celie is 14 when we first meet her, pregnant, and is soon forced to marry Mister (Isaiah Johnson), a man who beats her. He separates from her sister Nettie (Joaquina Kalukango). The Color Purple is a tale of black women overcoming domineering, abusive men and insurmountable odds despite race and gender, and Mr. Doyle’s utilitarian set and direction helps us focus on these incredible, inspiring characters. It’s impossible not to root for them.

Danielle Brooks (Taystee in “Orange is the New Black) is glorious as Sofia (the role played by Oprah Winfrey in the film), a sassy mama who takes no guff. She brings down the proverbial house when she belts out the women-fight-back anthem “Hell No!” in Act One. Fine performances are also given by Joaquina Kalukango as Nettie, Isaiah Johnson as Mister, Kyle Scatliffe as Harpo, Patrice Covington as Squeak, and Carrie Comprere, Bre Jackson and Rema Webb as local church ladies.

Oscar and Grammy Award winner Jennifer Hudson, as the glamorous singer Shug Avery, is a bona fide Hollywood name helping this production sell tickets. Ms. Hudson will surely please fans with her trademark golden pipes in such rousing numbers as “Push Da Button” and the duet with Celie, “What About Love?” Unfortunately, she has a lackluster stage presence. The character of Shug Avery is supposed to be a bisexual powerhouse, ultimately becoming Celie’s partner, and she should command everyone’s attention whenever she’s onstage. Were it not for Ann Hould-Ward and Christopher Vegara’s gorgeous costumes, Ms. Hudson’s Shug Avery wouldn’t be noticeable at all. When Ms. Hudson delivers a line, she’s definitely good, but it seems she is giving the same performance she did as Effie in Dreamgirls. Ms. Hudson is a diva indeed, but she may disappoint anyone expecting more from such an accomplished star. However, the rest of the cast’s performances are so strong that it doesn’t matter.

Cynthia Erivo makes her Broadway debut here, but she’s already established over in the United Kingdom, where she toured in Sister Act (playing another role Whoopi Goldberg originated for a Hollywood hit). There is no question Cynthia Erivo is bound for stage superstardom on our shores, and the whole audience gets chills as she belts out her 11^th hour number “I’m Here” toward the end of Act Two. By spring’s awards season, Ms. Erivo, Mr. Doyle and this revival itself are going to clean up with this richly shaded, exquisitely acted Color Purple.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published December 16, 2015
Reviewed at performance on December 15, 2015

‘THE COLOR PURPLE’: Cynthia Erivo & Jennifer Hudson. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘THE COLOR PURPLE’: Jennifer Hudson & Cynthia Erivo. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘THE COLOR PURPLE’: Isaiah Johnson. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘THE COLOR PURPLE’: Jennifer Hudson & Cynthia Erivo. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘THE COLOR PURPLE’: (left to right) Cynthia Erivo, Jennifer Hudson, Isaiah Johnson & company. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘THE COLOR PURPLE’: Joaquina Kalukango. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘THE COLOR PURPLE’: (left to right) Danielle Brooks, Patrice Covington, Cynthia Erivo, Bre Jackson, Carrie Comprere & Rema Webb. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘THE COLOR PURPLE’: (left to right) Antoine Smith, Patrice Covington, Jennifer Hudson, Cynthia Erivo, Isaiah Johnson, Kyle Scatliffe & Danielle Brooks. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘THE COLOR PURPLE’: Danielle Brooks & Kyle Scatliffe. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘THE COLOR PURPLE’: Danielle Brooks & Kyle Scatliffe. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘THE COLOR PURPLE’: Danielle Brooks. Photo: Matthew Murphy

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