‘BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB’: The cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB
Book by Marco Ramirez
Music by Buena Vista Social Club
Choreography by Patricia Delgado & Justin Peck
Directed  & developed by Saheem Ali
Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre
236 West 45^th Street
https://buenavistamusical.com/

By Scott Harrah

Don’t miss this joyful tale of music in Cuba told during two separate time periods: In the 1950s, in the days before the Cuban Revolution, when President Fulgencio Batista still ruled and Havana was a gambling haven. Juxtaposed cleverly with this timeline is the year 1996, when a group of Cuban musicians reunite to record the titular Grammy-winning album on which this lively, colorful musical is based.

The backstory

In 1996, producer Juan de Marcos (Justin Cunningham) brings together a backup band for the older Cuban singers. The story focuses on four musicians, Omara Portundo (Natalie Venetia Belcon), Ibrahim (Mel Semé), Rubén (Jainardo Batista Sterling) and Eliades (Renesito Avich), all coping with the Fidel Castro regime and how it has affected their lives.

The narrative tells how the eponymous album (released in 1997) was made, bringing the musicians world recognition. The story was made into an acclaimed, Oscar-nominated 1999 documentary of the same name, by German filmmaker Wim Wenders.

When approached about doing the album, Omara is hesitant because she has not sung in years. But she is soon convinced by the album producer to reunite with old friends at the club. She, of course, immediately has no regrets.

From the 1950s to 1996

Part of the story is told in flashbacks to the ‘50s. The young Omara (Isa Antonetti) and sister Haydee (Ashley De La Rosa) are being pursued to sign a recording contract. In addition, Haydee is enthralled with the glamour of the white clubs frequented by tourists in Havana, while Omara prefers performing at the mostly Afro-Cuban Buena Vista. We also meet the younger Compay (Da’Von T. Moody) and Rubén (Leonardo Reyna). Rubén is a master at the piano and gets the whole group jamming with glee.

This is that rare stage musical in which flashbacks actually work and make sense. All songs are performed in Spanish. The best aspect of the show is seeing all the magnificent choreography by Patrick Delgado and Justin Peck, with characters all sporting Dede Ayite’s authentic Cuban costumes.

An entertaining evening

Mr. Delgado and Mr. Peck, with the help of creative consultant David Yazbek, Marco Paguia (music director, orchestrations and arrangements) and music director Dean Sharenow, have assembled an incredibly entertaining evening.

Director Saheem Ali gets marvelous performances from the entire gifted cast, and the story and songs all flow together well. Dav’Von T. Moody as young Compay and Leonardo Reyna as young Rubén make a dynamic duo.

Standouts include Ms. Belcon as Omara and Ms. Antonetti as the young Omara. The two women have powerful voices that soar. For instance, Ms. Belcon’s vocals are both incredibly sultry and raspy in the song “Candela.”

The Atlantic Theater Company originally produced the musical in 2023. Granted, this reviewer never saw that production, but there is no question that this festive celebration of Cuban music and life belongs on Broadway. It is one of the spring 2025 season’s best musical revivals—a nonstop jubilee of culture, history and Cuban music that will keep audiences spellbound from beginning to end. ¡Viva Cuba!

Published April 4, 2025
Reviewed at press performance on March 27, 2025

‘BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB’: Leonardo Reyna (seated at piano) & cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB’: Isa Antonetti. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB’: (left to right) Justin Cunningham, Marco Paguia (seated at piano), Renecito Avich, Natalie Venetia Belcon & Román Diaz. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB: (left to right) Natalie Venetia Belcon, Mel Semé (foreground) & Wesley Wray. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB’: The cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

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‘THE NOTEBOOK’: Jordan Tyson. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

THE NOTEBOOK
Based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks
Book by Bekah Brunstetter
Music and lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson
Directed by Michael Greif & Schele Williams
Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre
236 West 45th Street
(212-239-6200), www.notebookmusical.com

By David NouNou

Eternal love is about the highest ideal a couple can achieve in life: To be there for each other from the onset of their first meeting to their final days. Nicholas Sparks wrote the novel The Notebook on which this musical is based in 1996 when he was 28, and it has endured with readers and moviegoers for nearly 30 years now. However, the Broadway adaptation of the hit book and film is problematic indeed.

The story consists of the three periods in the life of Allie and Noah. They meet in a coastal town in the Mid-Atlantic in the late 1960s where teenagers Younger Noah (John Cardoza) meets Younger Allie (Jordan Tyson) at a picnic with friends and knows she is the girl he’ll marry. Allie is there for the summer with her rich family, Noah works in his father’s lumberyard. Her family looks down on him. He was forced to enlist in the army because her parents were claiming he abducted her and he risked being thrown in jail.

Ten years pass. Middle Noah (Ryan Vasquez) and Middle Allie (Joy Woods) reunite in the late 1970s. Unbeknownst to Allie, Noah wrote her letters for 10 years but she claims she never received them. Of course, her mother hid them from her, and now Allie is engaged to be married to a rich defense lawyer. She reads in the paper that Noah is alive and has bought the home he was building for them and refurbished it as planned. She takes a leave of absence for a few days from her engagement to clear her mind and rekindle what may have been lost. Lots of recriminations here. Until Allie gets the letters handed over by her mother.

Part three is Older Noah (Dorian Harewood) and Older Allie (Maryann Plunkett). Allie is in an old-age facility, suffering from dementia. She doesn’t realize that Noah is her husband. She has good days thinking of him as a friend and days she has no idea who he is. Noah is persistent. He reads the notebook journal that Allie has written to constantly remind her of their lives together so that one day she will remember and come back to him.

The love story is bearable and one wants to believe in this magical love; it’s the execution that is mind-numbingly awkward. From the poorly written book by Bekah Brunstetter and the unremarkable and forgettable music and lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson, one only wishes there was a large scissor to cut out the text and the score so we could sit with Older Allie and Older Noah and just let them try to find themselves and have that glimpse of recognition.

Which brings me to Maryann Plunkett and Dorian Harewood—God bless them. Ms. Plunkett and Mr. Harewood are the saviors of the show. Without them, you have one of the most unremarkable cast ensembles assembled. With hardly any stage presence or even investment in character, cast members just meander on and off the stage in puddles, water and rain. What’s astonishing is that The Notebook needed two directors—Michael Greif and Schele Williams—to keep the cast moving on and off stage without bumping into each other.

Imagination is in short supply here. Look at the dreary Playbill cover; it will tell you nothing. One just has to be grateful for the professionalism and stage presence of Maryann Plunkett and Dorian Harewood and be satisfied with them.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published March 22, 2024
Reviewed at March 21, 2024 press performance.

‘THE NOTEBOOK’: Maryann Plunkett & Dorian Harewood. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘THE NOTEBOOK’: Joy Woods. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘THE NOTEBOOK’: Maryann Plunkett & cast. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘THE NOTEBOOK’: The cast. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘THE NOTEBOOK’: John Cardoza & Jordan Tyson (front) & Ryan Vasquez & Joy Woods; & Dorian Harewood & Maryann Plunkett. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘THE NOTEBOOK’: Jordan Tyson & John Cardoza. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘THE NOTEBOOK’: Ryan Vasquez & Joy Woods. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

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‘LIFE OF PI’: Hiran Abeysekera & Richard Parker (Fred Davis, Scarlet Wilderink, Andrew Wilson). Photo: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade.

LIFE OF PI
Based on the novel by Yann Martel
Adapted by Lolita Chakrabarti
Directed by Max Webster
Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre
236 West 45th Street
(212-239-6200), www.lifeofpibway.com

By David NouNou

Life of Pi is an epic in every sense of the word and for regular theatregoers, will be a reminder of War Horse due to its puppet wizardry courtesy of Finn Caldwell and Nick Barnes. They are so masterfully crafted and come to life so vividly that we are actually invested in each and every one of them.

Starting in 1978 with Pi (Hiran Abeysekera), under his bed in an antiseptic hospital room in Mexico, he’s being questioned by Lulu Chen (Celia Mei Rubin), a Canadian government figure and Mr. Okamoto (Daisuke Tsuji), a Japanese insurance man. They want to know how this 17- year-old boy survived for 227 days and was washed up on the Mexican shore after being shipwrecked from a Japanese freighter en route to Canada. Pi has struggled with grief, loss, loneliness, physical pain and still survived.

He is reticent to talk to them at first and finally does open up to explain his childhood in India in 1976, his parents, sister, his relatives, and the zoo that his father owned. The zoo was a magical place for Pi, it housed an orangutang, a giraffe, zebra among other animals and Richard Parker, the Bengal tiger supreme.

Pi’s father (Rajesh Bose) and mother, also overseer and protector during his ordeal (Sathya Sridharan) and family are forced to leave India due to the increasingly repressive government.

As the journey begins, so does the magic created by set and costume designer Tim Hatley. Turning the hospital room and bed into an ocean and a boat is nothing short of extraordinary and a visual extravaganza. As Pi jumps ship after being sunk in a storm, his companions consist of a giraffe, zebra, orangutan and Richard Parker. I don’t have to go into detail about the giraffe, zebra and orangutan. Suffice it to say, the battle is between Pi and Richard Parker and their mutual understanding of each other.

Unlike the movie— which relied mostly on special effects to engage the mass audiences—here religion and metaphysics play a big part in Pi’s survival and it is manifested in the scenes between the hospital and the ocean. Hiran Abeysekera originated the role of Pi (for which he won an Olivier Award last year as best actor) and he captures Pi’s innocence in the beginning as well as his struggles and ordeals with life, religion, and survival.

Special kudos have to go to all the handlers but especially those of Richard Parker, consisting of his head, his hind, and his heart, and his masterful voice is that of (Brian Thomas Abraham).

Life of Pi is a journey of mystical belief and an unforgettable visual treat and experience long after leaving the theatre.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 2, 2023
Reviewed at April 1, 2023 press performance.

‘LIFE OF PI’: Sonya Venugopal, Celia Mei Rubin & Hiran Abeysekera. Photo: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade

‘LIFE OF PI’: Hiran Abeysekera, Mahira Kakkar & company. Photo: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade.

‘LIFE OF PI’: Hiran Abeysekera, Mahira Kakkar & company. Photo: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade.

‘LIFE OF PI’: Rajesh Bose & Hiran Abeysekera. Photo: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade.

‘LIFE OF PI’: Rowan Magee, Celia Mei Rubin, & Nikki Calonge. Photo: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade.

‘LIFE OF PI’: Rowan Magee, Celia Mei Rubin & Nikki Calonge. Photo: Matthew Murphy & Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade.

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‘COME FROM AWAY’: The cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy

COME FROM AWAY
Book, music & lyrics by Irene Sankoff & David Hein
Directed by Christopher Ashley
Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre
236 West 45th Street
(212-335-1873), http://comefromaway.com/

By Scott Harrah

The inherent goodwill in humanity and the kindness of strangers during a global crisis are both ongoing themes in this brilliant sleeper hit musical.  A musical about what happened when nearly 7,000 people from 38 transatlantic jets were forced to land and stranded in tiny Gander, Newfoundland, Canada on September 11, 2001 may not sound like “feel good” material to fill one hour and 45 minutes. “A 9/11 Broadway musical? Really?” one first thinks. However, it is this show’s ability to surprise and touch even the most cynical, jaded New York theatergoer that makes it so unusual and emotionally powerful.

Most of us probably forgot about or never paid attention to the little human interest story (overshadowed in the press by the grisly articles dispatched from Ground Zero in Manhattan, the Pentagon in DC and Shanksville in PA) about how a remote town in Maritime Canada opened its homes and hearts to thousands unable to return to the USA when planes were grounded as U.S. airspace closed on 9/11.

Beowulf Borritt’s barren set of weather-beaten trees and little else vividly depicts Newfoundland.  The show opens with the rousing number “Welcome to the Rock” (a reference to the fact that Newfoundland looks like a giant rock in the North Atlantic “between there and here”), and the cast sings in twangy, hard-to-decipher Newfie brogues (a strange hybrid of Canadian and Irish dialects).

The cast’s frenetic energy and the Celtic-themed music command our attention.  Broadway rarely gets original shows that are not adaptations of a film or book, and this one is based on real-life events and has a docudrama feel to it.  On paper it sounds like it shouldn’t work at all, but the fact that it does beautifully makes Come From Away all the more trenchant.  Based on interviews with the people of Gander, Canadian book and songwriters Irene Sankoff and David Hein (a married songwriting duo) have assembled a pop opera that simply tells the stories of the diverse characters stuck in Gander without being trite or sentimental.

There are the “come from aways” (Newfoundland slang for outsiders): Texans, Brits, a Jew, Muslims, Germans, a female American Airlines pilot (Jenn Colella), as well as the townspeople, ranging from a teacher to an animal rescue worker. The actors play many dual roles. Caesar Samayoa, for example, alternates between a gay man and a Muslim Egyptian (with cogent conviction). Other subplots include a budding romance between an older Texas woman (Sharon Wheatley) and an Englishman (Lee MacDougal), and the experiences of a neophyte TV reporter (Kendra Kassebaum).

There are jokes about Newfoundland and Canada in general (complete with Tim Hortons gags), and odd local customs like kissing a codfish (don’t ask). Amazingly, for such a short show, there is also plenty of depth here, and the people aren’t portrayed as cartoons or stereotypes

Songs like “28 Hours/Wherever We Are,” ”On the Edge” and “Me and the Sky” (Ms. Colella’s showstopper about being the first woman pilot of a commercial jet) and more jump out at us with the melodic, emotional force we used to experience in old show standards.

It is easy to see why this show went from a workshop at a small Ontario college to mountings in Seattle, La Jolla, Washington, DC, a major Toronto production and now Broadway.  Although the story is set in Canada, it pays tribute to one of the darkest periods in modern American history.

In addition to the outstanding cast, expertly directed by Christopher Ashley, there is innovative choreography by Kelly Devine, which contains bits of country and lots of Irish-style Riverdance moves. The narrative is expertly woven through nonstop movement and song.

Come From Away is unlike anything we’ve seen on Broadway, a musical that celebrates and glorifies humanity, understanding and the reasons to embrace the differences of people we don’t know, while showing how no one is really that different—without coming off hokey or contrived. This is a musical with a simplistic yet sobering message of unity for the divided, dark America of 2017, making the show relevant, topical, and fun. It’s a new type of never-before-seen, uncharted musical territory much like Hamilton was, and should also make musical-theater history.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published March 12, 2017
Reviewed at press preview performance on March 11, 2017

‘COME FROM AWAY’: The cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘COME FROM AWAY’: Kendra Kassebaum. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘COME FROM AWAY’: Jenn Colella & cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy

Clip from Come From Away, ‘Heave Away’

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‘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

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‘CHINA DOLL’: Al Pacino. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

CHINA DOLL
Written by David Mamet
Directed by Pam MacKinnon
Through January 31, 2016
Broadhurst Theatre
Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre
236 West 45th Street
(212-239-6200), www.Chinadollbroadway.com

By David NouNou

David Mamet’s latest, China Doll, is an enigma. Enigmas can be fun and brilliant. Just think of last year’s film The Imitation Game; Alan Turing cracking the so-called unbreakable codes of Germany’s World War II enigma machine. Now that was genius. A present-day audience cracking the so-called undecipherable codes of Mamet’s China Doll, however, is pointless; you’ll just end up with a headache.

Mr. Mamet’s last play, The Anarchist in 2012, had a narrative that was too confusing, and unfocused to qualify as a solid drama. However, in China Doll, the narrative is so undisciplined and structure-free that it is hard to connect to its central character Mickey Ross, portrayed by Al Pacino. It is hard to decipher whether Mamet based the character Mickey Ross after Donald Sterling, the former owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, or if this was the way Pacino wanted to portray Mickey Ross.

Mickey Ross is a self-made billionaire who can be a bully and get his way. As the play opens, he is berating his assistant, Carson (Christopher Denham), for what Mickey thinks was a job not well executed. The first act is all about Mickey having bought a Swiss-made, custom-built jet but its serial number has been switched from Swiss numbers to an American number, making it impossible for it to land in the U.S. Otherwise, if it does, Mickey has to pay a $5 million tax. On board this plane is his (unseen) much younger, beautiful girlfriend (who was commissioned by Mickey to redecorate the interior of the plane to her specifications) who is supposed to fly directly to Toronto, but the pilot had to make a forced landing because of a malfunctioning signal light at 41,000 feet, forcing him to land in the U.S. and then go to Toronto. The dynamics of the first act are almost a total monologue by Mickey, having to talk to various attorneys and friends to straighten things out with who owns the plane, who should pay the taxes, and how his girlfriend was humiliated by a strip cavity search at the American landing site. As the curtain for Act I is about to come down, politics rears its ugly head and a lot of belligerence and bile is spewed by Mickey.

Yes, indeed politics becomes the root of all evil in Act II. As Mickey is about to make his mea culpas for his belligerence the night before and get out of the business, and take his young fiancé with him, that’s when his real problems begin. There is blackmail, bribery, extortion, conspiracy, revenge, prison sentencing, everyone consorting with everyone else, double dealings—all the absurdities that embroil the late Jackie Collins’ novels, but are not half as much fun. In other words, Act II unravels faster than you can say Lucky Santangelo.

If you had gotten used to the staccato, rapid-fire bandying of words in his masterpieces Glengarry Glen Ross, Speed-The-Plow, American Buffalo and Race, forget it here because the dialogue comes in leaps and spurts. Since it is almost a monologue, Mr. Pacino bears the burden of the delivery. Poor Mr. Pacino, either he has problems remembering all the lines that are being fed to him by earphones, thus his deliveries are stilted and late; or he is deliberately doing a slovenly Donald Sterling imitation with no character shading or nuances. Christopher Denham as Carson, the assistant, just has to stand, be obedient and deliver his one-liners.

Alas, the culprit who failed both Mamet and Pacino is the highly touted director, Pam MacKinnon. She is way out of her league with two super egos like Mamet and Pacino; she never had a chance.

At the end I had to wonder if all billionaires have the tsuris (I left some out, so why spoil it for you?) that Mickey Ross goes through in 24 hours, or is this what the “one percenters” have to deal with in their everyday life? Maybe Mamet’s moral here is who needs to be a billionaire? You can get by easier by just being a millionaire.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published December 4, 2015
Reviewed at press performance on December 3, 2015

‘CHINA DOLL’: (left to right) Christopher Denham & Al Pacino. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘CHINA DOLL’: (left to right) Christopher Denham & Al Pacino. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘CHINA DOLL’: Christopher Denham. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘CHINA DOLL’: Christopher Denham. Photo: Jeremy Daniel

‘CHINA DOLL’: Al Pacino. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

‘CHINA DOLL’: Al Pacino. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

‘CHINA DOLL’: Al Pacino. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

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