‘N/A/’: Ana Villafañe & Holland Taylor. Photo: Daniel Rader.

N/A
By Mario Correa
Directed by Diane Paulus
Through September 1, 2024
Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater
https://natheplay.com/
 

By Scott Harrah

This explosive, provocative one-act two hander never mentions former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and young superstar New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez by name—draw your own conclusions by the play’s title, N/A—but there’s no doubt “N” (the incredible Holland Taylor) and “A” (Broadway veteran Ana Villafañe) are thinly veiled composites of two of the most famous and feared women in Washington politics.

The show opens as “A” is livestreaming a video on social media from the office of “N,” when “N” was still House Minority Leader and “A” had just won a primary against a moderate Democrat. Don’t come to N/A expecting a bona fide biography of the two women because this is, after all, a fictionalized account of what Nancy Pelosi and AOC might have said over the years behind closed doors. It’s doubtful the real Ms. Pelosi ever said anything as condescending as “you arrived on our shores like the Beatles; they were a band” to Ms. Ocasio Cortez.

Mario Correa’s account tells us much of what we already know about the real-life women on which the characters are based. Ms. Pelosi had decades of experience in Washington and embodied everything about the so-called Washington “establishment:” She’s white, she came from “privilege,” she’s a centrist who negotiates with lobbyists and Republicans and compromises to get things done and produce “results” for her voters, but she’s also a strong woman and a trailblazer with a reputation for putting the men who tried to silence her in their place.

Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, as we already know, is a Latina woman from the Bronx who represents the far-left progressive wing of the Democratic party. She considers herself an activist for such issues as climate change, single-payer healthcare and fighting income inequality for working people. She is portrayed here as idealistic, while Ms. Pelosi is a moderate, seasoned political woman willing to cut deals and make concessions with Republicans in order to get the work done in Congress. The two women have different ideas on how to govern but the two things they have in common are passion and guts. Both are examples of the popular new feminist slang term “girl-boss.”

Scene changes in N/A are depicted by designers Possible and Lisa Renkel with colorful projections on a screen of six time periods over four years, from 2018 to 2021, showing the 2018 midterm elections and ending shortly after the January 6, 2021 insurrection. “N” and “A” argue about everything from ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to how to pass legislation on divisive issues.

The script is sharp but at times uneven and contains witty banter that likely never took place between the two women. Playwright Mario Correa’s story of imagined one-on-one meetings between the two political powerhouses is far from perfect, but N/A is still an evening of compelling theater, thanks to the outstanding performances of the two actors.

Holland Taylor may not be as glamorous as the real Nancy Pelosi, and Myung Hee Cho’s costumes don’t exactly capture the high-end fashion panache of the ex-House Speaker (the pink power suit “N” wears in the show looks nothing like anything Ms. Pelosi would ever wear). However, Ms. Taylor is incandescent in every scene and brings the right amount of spunk and hard-edged determination to the character. Ms. Taylor has perfect comic timing for many of the show’s droll one-liners, and she is acerbic in all the right places. Ms. Taylor, as “N,” is hilarious when she talks “baby talk” on the phone to her young grandchild, then hangs up and springs back to her usual tough persona.

Ana Villafañe is best known for playing pop star Gloria Estefan in Broadway’s On Your Feet! Ms. Villafañe has now captured the essence of another Latina icon, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez.  From the gleam in her eyes to the manic energy of “AOC,” Ms. Villafañe gives a Hollywood-style interpretation of the far-left political legend. She more than resembles the woman she portrays, and she’s more charismatic and likeable than the real “AOC,” and that’s not a bad thing to be in a two-character one act. By the show’s end, Ms. Villafañe brings a sense of vulnerability to “A” that is refreshing and also touching.

See N/A for no other reason than to watch the sparks fly between these two incredible actors.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published June 28, 2024
Reviewed at June 27, 2024 press performance

‘N/A’: Ana Villafañe. Photo: Daniel Rader.

‘N/A’: (background) Ana Villafañe & Holland Taylor. Photo: Daniel Rader.

‘N/A’: Holland Taylor. Photo: Daniel Rader.

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‘1776’: The company. Photo: Joan Marcus.

1776
Book by Peter Stone
Music & lyrics by Sherman Edwards
Directed by Jeffrey L. Paige & Diane Paulus
Through January 8, 2023
American Airlines Theatre
227 West 42nd Street
(212-719-1300), www.roundabouttheatre.org

By David NouNou

1776, as originally written in 1969, was a masterpiece of American musical theatre. At the time it sounded absurd to write a musical about the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It had no advance sale but ended up winning the 1969 Tony Award for Best Musical and deservedly so. The book by Peter Stone is most interesting and illuminating. The score by Sherman Edwards is lilting and memorable. The direction by Peter Hunt was heart-stoppingly impeccable and he won the Tony Award for Best Direction.

In 1997, Roundabout did an excellent revival of the show, brilliantly directed by Scott Ellis. This year we get one of the most ill-conceived revivals of any musical. Most people know the signing of the Declaration of Independence and our forefathers from the painting by John Trumbull and the signatures boldly signed on the document. Anyone familiar with the picture and the show 1776 knows this is one of the most indelible portraits in American history. Historically, it is male-dominated and attired in the dress code of the day.

Directors are taking risks and reimagining musicals with mixed results. Case in point was last year’s gender-bending revival of Stephen Sondheim classic musical Company, directed by Marianne Elliott, changing Bobby, a male character, to a female lead, Bobbie. It worked because the character is interchangeable. However, when you uproot embedded history that strongly deals with sensitive issues like the abolition of slavery into “woke” standards of today, you are left with a very poor explanation/translation of American history.

The story needs no explanation but the ill-conceived reimagining direction by Diane Paulus and Jeffrey L. Page and absurd choreography by Mr. Page is a head-scratcher for the ages. Right or wrong, 1776 is inherently the most male oriented/dominated musical ever conceived. Where it really gets dicey is when directors have to deal with the score of a musical; just imagine if you heard a male Maria singing “I Feel Pretty” from West Side Story. 1776 has one of the most arresting and uncomfortable songs written for a musical, “Molasses to Rum to Slaves.” It is sung by a strong-willed, “distasteful” Edmund Rutledge from South Carolina (Sara Porkalob), refusing to sign the Declaration because he wants abolishing slavery to be stricken from the document. This song is not a throwaway; it has to be sung with hard, cold conviction and no gimmicks.

In another instance, “Momma Look Sharp” is a ballad and lament and is sung by a courier (Imani Pearl Williams) in a letter from George Washington to the congressional committee relating a soldier’s cry to his mother before dying. What is meant to be a tribute to the lost man here has been turned into a production number of a wailing mother and members of the cast in black jackets.

Another instance is the final song “Is Anybody There?” sung by John Adams (Crystal Lucas-Perry). It is a sincere,sad song about a letter from Washington to the committee about his losses, asking “is anybody there, does anybody care?” and Adams translates it into his vision of a monarch-free America but no one else seems to see his ideal; it now sounds like a “belt out” power-pop ballad on “American Idol.”

The biggest disappointment comes in the end. The ending usually is one of the most dramatic moments in musical history that sends shivers down the spine. As originally conceived, you hear each delegate being called by name to sign the document and take their place in the designated spot as in the Trumbull portrait in full regalia. With each name signing, you hear the Liberty Bell clanging, with each name the music builds and the clanging gets louder until the tableau is completed. You get to see the entire portrait that is frozen in time and the music swells to a full crescendo.

Don’t have any high expectations here. The costumes by Emilio Sosa look more like bargain-basement Halloween costumes and no goosebumps or portrait. The cast marches out, one by one, to sign a piece of paper with the signature on a projection. The end.

In all fairness, I have to single out one person, Eryn LeCroy as Martha Jefferson. Her rendition of “He Plays the Violin,” sung after a night of unbridled passion with her husband Thomas, is simply sublime. Ms. LeCroy delivers one of the few authentic moments in this revival of 1776, a brilliant musical that just comes across as a total misfire under the direction of Jeffrey L. Paige and Diane Paulus.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published October 10, 2022
Reviewed at October 9, 2022 press performance.

‘1776’: (left to right) Elizabeth A. Davis, Patrena Murray & Crystal Lucas-Perry. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘1776’: The cast. Photo: Joan Marcus.

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‘JAGGED LITTLE PILL’: Elizabeth Stanley. Photo: Matthew Murphy

JAGGED LITTLE PILL
Lyrics by Alanis Morissette
Music by Alanis Morissette & Glen Ballard
Book by Diablo Cody
Directed by Diane Paulus
Broadhurst Theatre
235 West 44th St.
212-239-6200
https://jaggedlittlepill.com/

By Scott Harrah

Back in 1995, Alanis Morissette became a superstar with her seminal album Jagged Little Pill. Alanis, then just 20, defined emotionally raw music for a new generation of young women with the album’s iconic smash hits, from “You Oughta Know” and “Hand in My Pocket” to “Ironic.” Alanis’s music was highly personal, neurotic, hauntingly poetic and angry—all things we’d never heard before from a female artist so young and unapologetically feminist. Her music sounded so genuine because the pain she sang about came from such an organic place. Perhaps that’s why Jagged Little Pill on Broadway is so, well, hard to swallow. With a book by Oscar-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody (Juno), this jukebox musical only uses Alanis’s songs as the soundtrack for a story about a dysfunctional suburban family in Connecticut.  The story, while told with intelligence and a multi-talented cast of actors with good voices, is all too familiar and strained at times. Alanis’s classic songs are all here, performed with panache and with new added nuances, but they often seem out of place with such heavy-handed material.

Mary Jane Healy (Elizabeth Stanley)—cleverly named, of course, after the song “Mary Jane” on the Jagged Little Pill LP—is referred to by the nickname MJ. She pretends she and husband Steve (Sean Allan Krill), a workaholic attorney, have the perfect family. Their son Nick (Derek Klena) has just received word that he’ll be attending Harvard University when he finishes high school, but he hates the pressure to succeed this puts on him. The family also has an adopted African American daughter Frankie (Celia Rose Gooding). Of course, nothing is as idealistic as it seems. MJ was in a bad car accident and has since developed an addiction to opioid painkillers and has lost interest in sex with her husband. Steve, she discovers, has a secret addiction as well—to internet pornography. Daughter Frankie is hiding a shocking secret as well: She is bisexual and has been carrying on a lesbian fling with friend Jo (Lauren Patten). Trouble arises when Frankie meets new boy in town Phoenix (Antonio Cipriano) and falls for him.

Ms. Cody spins quite a tangled yarn here, covering enough controversial topics to fill a whole season of TV’s “Movie of the Week.” In two and a half hours (with an intermission), Jagged Little Pill covers topics ranging from rape and opioid addiction to bisexuality, marriage counseling, and so on. Despite its attempts to be “woke,” Jagged isn’t exactly original. The recent teen musical Dear Evan Hansen handled similar subject matter better because its narrative was more focused and less contrived.

The setting is 2019, but some of the characters still wear 1990s-style Seattle grunge gear. Alanis fans will love the way many of her classics are presented. For example, “Ironic” is performed during a high school writing class and characters stop to say what people said back when the song first topped the charts: Many of Alanis’s examples of “ironic” things like “a black fly in your chardonnay” or “rain on your wedding day” aren’t ironic at all. Regardless, “Ironic” is a great song.  “You Oughta Know”—the scorned woman’s anthem that made Alanis a household name, with its lyrics like “would she go down on you in a theater? —takes on a whole new meaning as sung by Lauren Patten as Jo.

Some of Alanis’ later hits are also included and used in clever ways to weave their way around the narrative. “Hands Clean” from Under Rug Swept—a song about sexual abuse Alanis encountered when she was a teenage pop singer in Canada, years before Jagged Little Pill—is used to tell the story of the rape of a teen character, Bella (Kathryn Gallagher). The infamous yet catchy “Thank U” is also here—the 1998 hit in which Alanis thanks India, terror and silence.

The Alanis songbook nearly 25 years after the release of Jagged Little Pill is still influential and groundbreaking in its own right. Alanis was always “real” and truly ahead of her time. She was singing about abusive men and helping to empower women years before the “#MeToo” movement.

Diablo Cody’s turgid story is overwhelming at times and so full of “issues” that it becomes absurd.  An experienced director like Diane Paulus should have been able to fine-tune the story much better, and Sidi Larbi Cherakaoui’s choreography is literally all over the place.

There are many fine performances in Jagged Little Pill, particularly Ms. Patten as Jo. However, despite all the talent on the Broadhurst stage, it is unfortunate that Alanis’s music could not have been used for a more satisfying musical.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published December 12, 2019
Reviewed at December 11, 2019 press performance.

‘JAGGED LITTLE PILL’: Elizabeth Stanley & Kathryn Gallagher. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘JAGGED LITTLE PILL’: Elizabeth Stanley & Celia Rose Gooding. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘JAGGED LITTLE PILL’: Celia Rose Gooding, Lauren Patten & cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘JAGGED LITTLE PILL’: Derek Klena & cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘JAGGED LITTLE PILL’: Derek Klena. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘JAGGED LITTLE PILL’: Elizabeth Stanley & Heather Lang. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘JAGGED LITTLE PILL’: Lauren Patten & cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘JAGGED LITTLE PILL’: Celia Rose Gooding & Antonio Cipriano. Photo: Matthew Murphy

The post ‘Jagged Little Pill’: Angst & Alanis’ songbook appeared first on StageZine.

‘WAITRESS’: (left to right) Keala Settle, Jessie Mueller & Kimiko Glenn. Photo: Joan Marcus

WAITRESS
Book by Jessie Nelson
Music & lyrics by Sara Bareilles
Based on the motion picture by Adrienne Shelly
Choreography by Lorin Latarro
Directed by Diane Paulus
Brooks Atkinson Theatre
256 West 47th Street
(877-250-2929), www.WaitressTheMusical.com

By David NouNou

Formulated with flour, baked with butter and sprinkled and seasoned with sugar are not only the ingredients of the pies that are baked in Waitress. They are also the ingredients of the show itself and showered all over with love.

Based on the 2007 movie of the same name, Waitress easily translates to the musical formula and is hugely influenced from a female perspective because its creators, book, score and direction, are all women. If you recall the 1970s sitcom “Alice” with Linda Lavin, and Mel’s Diner, it had a feminist point of view that was refreshing for its day. Waitress has updated that version and the notion women can ultimately have and do it all.

The indefatigable Jessie Mueller is Jenna, working in a diner in the American South. She is in a loveless marriage with her abusive husband Earl (Nick Cordero). Her gift is making the pies her mother taught her. In this diner, instead of the gruff and lovable cook Mel and the two besties: loudmouthed Flo and dimwitted Vera, we now have the gruff and lovable cook Cal (Eric Anderson). The besties are loudmouthed Becky (Keala Seattle) and naïve Dawn (Kimiko Glenn), both of whom are there to support Jenna during her destructive marriage and her unplanned pregnancy.

Also on hand is the handsome and married gynecologist, Dr. Pomatter (Drew Gehling), with whom Jenna has an affair during her pregnancy. The ever lovable showstopper Christopher Fitzgerald as Ogie, pursuing Dawn, and the curmudgeonly Joe, owner of the restaurant, are the characters who round out this talented cast.

The book by Jessie Nelson is serviceable; the score by Sara Bareilles is not very compelling considering the best song in the show is given to a secondary character, the showstopper for Ogie entitled “Never Ever Getting Rid of Me.” The rest are interchangeable ballads. Diane Paulus keeps things moving, thanks in large part to the brilliant scenic designer Scott Pask. Although in this case the sets are not much to look at, but their seamless transitions keep the musical afloat and his backdrop landscape vistas are breathtaking.

Jessie Mueller is quickly rising in the ranks as a top, bona fide Broadway star. Having won the Tony Award for Beautiful just two years ago, she will be up again for best actress for the coveted role of Jenna. She is the magical sugar, butter and flour that makes this musical rise.

Keala Settle, as bestie Becky, is a delight and believable; she was one of two characters that made the musical Hands on a Hardbody bearable. Kimiko Glenn as Dawn gives more of a caricature than a performance.

The men run the gamut from dreamy to abusive bully. Drew Gehling as the gynecologist is a total dream; he is one of the good guys. Nick Cordero, who was brilliant in Bullets Over Broadway, here comes across as a Southern psycho bully; one really expected hisses from the audience at curtain call. There is the wonderful character actor Dakin Matthews as the curmudgeonly Joe and he makes his presence felt in every scene. The best for last is Christopher Fitzgerald as Ogie; there isn’t a thing this wonderful musical comic can’t do.

If you’re in the mood for a scrumptious piece of pie, why not try the big helpings you’ll get at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre? They will surely satisfy anyone with a sweet tooth.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 27, 2016
Reviewed at press performance on April 26, 2016

‘WAITRESS’: Jessie Mueller. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘WAITRESS’: Nick Cordero & Jessie Mueller. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘WAITRESS’: Kimiko Glenn & Keala Settle. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘WAITRESS’: Nick Cordero & Jessie Mueller. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘WAITRESS’: Drew Gehling & Jessie Mueller. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘WAITRESS’: (Left to right) Ryan Vasquez, Charity Angél Dawson, Christopher Fitzgerald, Eric Anderson, Dakin Matthews & Molly Hager. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘WAITRESS’: Christopher Fitzgerald, Kimiko Glenn & Aisha Jackson. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘WAITRESS’: Kimiko Glenn & Christopher Fitzgerald. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘WAITRESS’: Dakin Matthews & Jessie Mueller. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘WAITRESS’: (left to right) Jeffrey Morse, Christopher Fitzgerald, Kimiko Glenn & Aisha Jackson. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘WAITRESS’: Drew Gehling & Jessie Mueller. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘WAITRESS’: Drew Gehling & Jessie Mueller. Photo: Joan Marcus

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YOU’LL BE ‘HOOKED’: Matthew Morrison (left) & Kelsey Grammer & ensemble in ‘Finding Neverland.’ Photo: Carol Rosegg

FINDING NEVERLAND
Book by James Graham
Music & lyrics by Gary Barlow
Based on the Miramax motion picture written by David Magee
and the play The Man Who Was Peter Pan by Allan Knee
Directed by Diane Paulus
Lunt-Fontanne Theatre
205 West 46th Street
(877-250-2929), http://www.FindingNeverlandTheMusical.com

By David NouNou

Credit must be given to Harvey Weinstein, lead producer, for his persistence and tenacity in believing in Finding Neverland when, for the last year, a lot of people in the theater community as well as critics were wondering why he was so obsessed with turning this property into a musical for the Broadway stage, especially when it had such a bumpy start and all the difficulties that burgeoned along the way. He dismissed the show’s original leading man, Jeremy Jordan, and replaced him with Matthew Morrison of TV’s “Glee” fame. He scrapped the original material and had the show reconstructed from the bottom up. Even when a show has a smooth sailing, it doesn’t guarantee it success, but when a show had so many obstacles, why wouldn’t you just abandon it and cut your losses? The simplest answer would be Mr. Weinstein is the little boy that believed in magic and fairy tales, because his belief in the project never wavered.

Indeed, Finding Neverland is a fairy tale steeped in magic. The magic stems not from the special effects, but from the delightful score by Gary Barlow and Eliot Kennedy; at times one would call it enchanting. The book by James Graham is a bit fussy and relies a lot on the obvious “wink, wink” jokes (that the audience knows the musical is about the conception of the beloved character we’ve come to know as Peter Pan). It shows the struggles of J. M. Barrie (Mr. Morrison) trying to conceive his next play and via chance meeting with the widowed Mrs. Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (Laura Michelle Kelly) and her four sons (one whose name is Peter) in Kensington Park, London and how they came up with the idea of Peter Pan, pirates, boys never growing up, a crocodile with a clock in its stomach, and Tinkerbell. Now the trick is to sell this idea to his producer, Charles Frohman (Kelsey Grammer).

In addition to the lovely score, the obvious story, and some effective special effects, there are two performances that I found particularly interesting. Kelsey Grammer, better known as Frasier Crane from his Emmy-winning performances in “Frasier” and “Cheers,” is having the time of his life up on the stage. First as the curmudgeonly producer, Charles Frohman, who dislikes children (and ultimately is the model for Captain Hook), is an absolute delight. Imagine Frasier being older, more cantankerous and in a Captain Hook costume and mustache, and you will find the glee and merriment he has imbued in his character.

The second is harder to appreciate. Matthew Morrison, who has been absent from the New York stage for far too long, has the more difficult role of J. M. Barrie. It is a difficult and colorless role. He has to be the child inside the man that doesn’t want to grow up, and at times it does come off as creepy. Mr. Morrison does a wonderful Scottish brogue, has a lovely singing voice, and gives J. M. Barrie a hipster, Jake Gyllenhaal look (if you saw him earlier this winter in Constellations, you’d swear they were one and the same person or at least twins), a fact which I’m sure the “Gleeks” will love.

As for as other performances: Laura Michelle Kelly as Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, mother of the four boys, is unremarkably present; Carolee Carmello as Sylvia’s mother, Mrs. DuMaurier, is stalwart as ever; and Aiden Gemme, as Peter Llewelyn Davies, has just the right amount of sulkiness and charm that is needed for Peter.

Director Diane Paulus does an admirable job of bringing the show together. Although not as exciting as her previous effort in Pippin, she does get the job done. She could have edited two songs in Act II better. The first being “We’re All Made of Stars,” sung by the four Davies boys. Instead of four lads in London, it comes across more as Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn and friends in the backyard. The second being the finale with Mrs. DuMaurier; it is endless. When the children around you are fidgeting, you know a musical number of this nature (and the audience it is playing to) is going on far too long.

In the end, the hero and savior of this musical is Harvey Weinstein, for if it wasn’t for his dogged persistence, the theater would have lost a lovely score, a hammy Kelsey Grammer, a yummy Matthew Morrison, and a fun, familiar family show.

BARRIE & CAPTAIN HOOK: Matthew Morrison & Kelsey Grammer. Photo: Carol Rosegg

BARRIE & SYLVIA LLEWELYN DAVIES: Matthew Morrison & Laura Michelle Kelly. Photo: Carol Rosegg

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 15, 2015
Reviewed at press performance on April 12, 2015

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