‘TAKE ME OUT’: The cast. Photo: Joan Marcus.

TAKE ME OUT
Written by Richard Greenberg
Directed by Scott Ellis
Through May 29, 2022
The Hayes Theater
240 West 44th Street
(212-541-4516), www 2ST.com

By David NouNou

Take Me Out is a show that is enjoyable while watching, but mind-blowing long after leaving the theater and pondering the different subject matters it tackles. I admired the show in 2002 more as a voyeur and missed out on the multiple layers upon which it is built. The central subject matter is the coming out of a beloved baseball player, who is at the top of his game, to the media, unbeknownst to his fellow teammates and without any cause or a personal relationship. Although it might have seemed a breakthrough for a major league athlete to come out as gay in 2002, just think where we are in 2022 and the alarming “Don’t Say Gay” Florida law that was just signed, banning the word “gay,” and other states trying to undo same-sex marriages. It is mind-numbing to see how far we are regressing, which in turn makes Take Me Out more progressive and relevant today.

The catalyst, Darren Lemming (Jesse Williams), a biracial center fielder for the fictional Major League team the Empires, beloved by the public as well as himself, has just announced he is gay for no apparent reason other than to free himself of the secret he’s carried on a daily basis. Now that his sexual orientation is in the open, he must navigate through life with the slings and arrows that are hurled upon him. Everything now comes under scrutiny—from an ordinary shower after a game to dealing with his teammates on a daily basis. He has the support of his teammate and friend Kippy Sunderstrom (Patrick J. Adams), who is also the narrator of the play. However, his best friend Davey Battle (Brandon J. Dirden) who plays on an opposing team, The Larks, is a holy man and revolted by what he considers Lemming’s “deviation” and “depravity.” This is the proverbial line in the sand that has been crossed.

Later, Darren Lemming also acquires a new accountant, Mason Marzac (Jesse Tyler Ferguson). The last one we are to believe has retired. Marzac knows nothing about baseball, but is enthralled that Darren has come out and has new interest in the game. Marzac has learned “that baseball is absolute. It works better than democracy. It has a definite winner and a loser.” Here is another layer for us to peel: in a democracy who wins an election and who loses?

Due to Lemming being in a slump and losses piling up, a dimwitted, racist, homophobic relief pitcher, Shane Mungitt (Michael Oberholtzer), is brought in from the minor leagues. He happens to be an orphan due to his father killing his mother and then killing himself, and is either from Arkansas or Tennessee. Now that the team begins winning, Mungitt is wanted for a press interview where he expresses his displeasure with “colored” people and having to shower with a “fa**ot.” This places Mungitt on suspension.

Due to the suspension, the team goes into a slump again. An apology letter is written and released to the public. Public sentiment wants Mungitt back, against Lemming’s feelings. With Mungitt back, this creates new revelations and consequences that will affect the lives of many. Please unravel the revelations and consequences for yourself, it will be more fulfilling. So many things come into question here, and I’m sure each viewer will have their own interpretation

Although this looks like an ensemble piece, there are four standout remarkable performances; Jesse Williams is an Adonis with a command of the stage that is riveting. His every stance, move and interaction is poetry in motion. Patrick J. Adams as friend and narrator anchors the play in his sincerity. Michael Oberholtzer as the outsider can he heartbreaking once you realize he will always be a failure in life and will always get himself in trouble.

The joker in the deck is Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Marzac, a role that won Denis O’Hare a much-deserved Tony Award in a supporting role. Where Mr. O’Hare was an introverted, nebbish “Mr. Cellophane” who blossomed while loving baseball, Mr. Ferguson is never a milquetoast but a lonely, self-deprecating accountant who falls in love with baseball once he meets Darren Lemming. As his friendship with Darren evolves, so does his flamboyance, giving the show its much needed levity.

My sincere hope is that Take Me Out will be extended beyond May 29th. With so many tourists coming to New York this spring and summer, this would be the one solid play I would recommend people to see. Its poignancy is harder hitting today than it was in 2002.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 7, 2022
Reviewed at April 6, 2022 press performance.

‘TAKE ME OUT’: Jesse Tyler Ferguson & Jesse Williams. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘TAKE ME OUT’: Jesse Williams & Brandon J. Dirden. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘TAKE ME OUT’: Michael Oberholtzer & cast. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘TAKE ME OUT’: Jesse Williams & Ken Marks. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘TAKE ME OUT’: Patrick J. Adams & Jesse Williams. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘TAKE ME OUT’: Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Photo: Joan Marcus.

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‘SKELETON CREW’: Joshua Boone & Chanté Adams. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

SKELETON CREW
Written by Dominique Morisseau
Directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson
Through February 20, 2022
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
261 West 47th Street
(212-239-6200),www.manhattantheatreclub.com


By David NouNou

There is a universality that hits hard in Dominique Morisseau’s new drama Skeleton Crew. It deals with hard times, power struggles in jobs, loss of jobs, homelessness, resilience and dignity. It could be any depressed city in the United States, but in this instance, it is set in Detroit in 2008 at a car-stamping plant.

Faye (Phylicia Rashad) has been working at the plant for 29 years, waiting for her 30^th in order to collect her retirement pension. She is a chain-smoking labor representative and a den mother to her fellow workers. She has been abandoned by her son because she is a lesbian. The company manager Reggie (Brandon J. Dirden) is conflicted by the fact that the plant will be shutting down and has to remain silent about it but has concerns for the employees.  Two of the hard-working and loyal employees are Dez (Joshua Boone), a young rebel who has heard rumors of the shutdown, and Shanita (Chante Adams), a young, single expectant mother who truly enjoys her job and takes pride in what she does.

Ms. Morisseau fleshes out her characters well. We get to know them and feel for them. But there is a hitch here. There is a feeling of déjà vu. It is a variation of Lynn Nottage’s  2017 play Sweat. Both plays are written by women who understand the everyday fears people face from losing their jobs to the daily perils that exist outside their confines. However, in this case, Skeleton Crew is less convoluted.

It’s great to see Phylicia Rashad back on stage. Her Faye is sass personified and resilient. She has fallen many times but remains a survivor because she has no other choice. She infuses Faye with the dignity she so richly deserves. Ms. Rashad is a constant joy to watch.

Having seen Brandon J. Dirden in Enron, Clybourne Park, All the Way as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Jitney, it is gratifying to see an actor grow with each successive role. He is perfect as the company man who has to be tough and still have the capacity to care about the employees’ future. I can’t wait to see what he does this spring in Richard Greenberg’s Take Me Out.

Joshua Boone and Chanté Adams are the younger members of the cast, and they make their presence known. As Dez, Mr. Boone is a likeable rebel that doesn’t just go down with the ship, he has plans and ideas to eventually succeed. Ms. Adams is a delight as a young expectant mother who doesn’t let things get her down.

Although familiar in nature, Skeleton Crew offers memorable performances.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published January 31, 2022
Reviewed at January 29, 2022 press performance.

‘SKELETON CREW’: Phylicia Rashad. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘SKELETON CREW’: Brandon J. Dirden & Phylicia Rashad. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘SKELETON CREW’: Joshua Boone, Brandon J. Dirden, Phylicia Rashad & Chanté Adams. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘SKELETON CREW’: Adesola Osakalumi. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

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‘AUGUST WILSON’S JITNEY’: (Left to right) Harvy Blanks, Michael Potts, Brandon J. Dirden & Andre Holland. Photo: Joan Marcus

JITNEY
By August Wilson
Directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson
Through March 12, 2017
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
261 West 47th Street
(212-239-6200), http://jitneybroadway.com/

By Scott Harrah

Besides Fences, Jitney is one of the late August Wilson’s most solid dramas, and the first installment in his “Pittsburgh Cycle” of plays. Originally mounted in 1982, the show has been produced many times off-Broadway (most recently in New York in the early 2000s). This revival makes a powerful debut on Broadway with a superb ensemble cast.

It is 1977 in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, an African-American community, a place where traditional taxi cabs will not travel to, and Becker (John Douglas Thompson) runs a “jitney” (gypsy cab) car service. The story explores the lives of the men who work for the car service, set in a ramshackle building about to be torn down as part of gentrification, with calls coming in via an old rotary pay phone.

There’s Youngblood (André Holland from Moonlight), the young Vietnam vet who is often fighting with girlfriend Rena (Carra Patterson) about fidelity and just where he goes each night; the alcoholic Fielding (Anthony Chisholm), a man always wanting to borrow money to buy booze and who claims he was once a tailor for Count Basie; the gossiping busybody Turnbo (Michael Potts); the numbers runner Shealy (Harvy Blanks) and others. Each has a story to tell, illuminated by August Wilson’s colorful, crisp dialogue.

The drama’s biggest conflict centers on Booster (Brandon J. Dirden), the 39-year-old son of Becker. He has just been released from prison after serving a 20-year sentence for murder, but Becker has trouble forgiving him over the crime and what it did to the son’s mother.

Mr. Thompson’s Becker is a protagonist of almost Shakespearean proportions, a symbol of hard work and ethics in a world and era that offers few opportunities for black men. He is the epitome of a devoted husband and “tough love” father, one that cannot overlook or easily forgive his son’s past. Becker’s showdown with his son at the end of Act I is raw and packs an emotional punch as he unnerves Booster for what he did two decades earlier. It is truly a cathartic moment of theater at its best.

David Gallo’s dilapidated set anchors the story well, and there is a marvelous authenticity to the 1970s costumes by Toni-Leslie James, from polyester leisure suits to funky denim.

However, it is August Wilson’s florid, slang-riddled soliloquies that give Jitney its heart and soul. Although it takes a while for audiences to catch up with the show’s rapid-fire rhythm in the first act, one is soon riveted to every word each character utters.

The ensemble cast is a pleasure to watch, especially Mr. Thompson as Becker, Mr. Dirden as Booster and Mr. Potts as Turnbo. Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s direction allows each character to shine, but the use of jagged jazz music inserted into certain scenes seems unnecessary and awkward. Regardless, this is a brilliant production of a story that, although set in 1977, has enough timeless appeal and human themes to more than ring true in 2017

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published January 22, 2017
Reviewed at press performance on January 21, 2017

‘AUGUST WILSON’S JITNEY’: (Left to right) John Douglas Thompson, Michael Potts, Anthony Chisholm & Brandon J. Dirden. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘AUGUST WILSON’S JITNEY’: Andre Holland & Ray Anthony Thomas. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘AUGUST WILSON’S JITNEY’: John Douglas Thompson & Michael Potts. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘AUGUST WILSON’S JITNEY’: Andre Holland & Carra Patterson. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘AUGUST WILSON’S JITNEY’: Andre Holland & Carra Patterson. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘AUGUST WILSON’S JITNEY’: Brandon J. Dirden & John Douglas Thompson. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘AUGUST WILSON’S JITNEY’: Michael Potts, Anthony Chisholm & Keith Randolph Smith. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘AUGUST WILSON’S JITNEY’: Keith Randolph Smith & Harvy Blanks. Photo: Joan Marcus

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