“Critic’s Pick! Laughter is making a big comeback on Broadway,” raved The New York Times. “Gaspingly funny,” cheered New York Magazine. “A wild new comedy!” raved The Wrap. “One of the best productions Broadway has offered this season!” exclaimed Deadline.

‘EUREKA DAY’: Thomas Middleditch, Amber Gray, Bill Irwin, Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz & Jessica Hecht. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

Eureka Day stars Tony Award nominee Amber Gray (Broadway: Hadestown; Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812) as Carina, two-time Tony Award nominee Jessica Hecht (Broadway: Summer, 1976 at MTC; A View from the Bridge) as Suzanne, Tony Award winner Bill Irwin (Broadway: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Largely New York) as Don, Emmy Award nominee Thomas Middleditch (Television: “Silicon Valley”) as Eli, and Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz (Television: “Scandal,” “The Resident”) as Meiko. Eboni Flowers (Broadway: Macbeth, Slave Play) will assume the role of Carina starting Saturday, February 1.

Jonathan Spector’s explosive and timely comedy had its world premiere at Aurora Theatre Company in Berkeley, CA., and has been seen Off-Broadway at Colt Coeur and in London at The Old Vic. The New York Times, in their Critic’s Pick review of the Off-Broadway production, praised Eureka Day as “the perfect play for our age of disagreement.”

Vaccine chaos at private California school

Eureka Day is a private California elementary school with a Board of Directors that values inclusion above all else—that is until an outbreak of the mumps forces everyone in the community to reconsider the school’s liberal vaccine policy. As cases rise, the board realizes with horror that they’ve got to do what they swore they never would: make a choice that won’t please absolutely everybody.

The production features: scenic design by Tony Award winner Todd Rosenthal; costume design by Tony Award winner Clint Ramos; lighting design by two-time Tony Award nominee Jen Schriever; original music and sound design by Drama Desk Award nominees Rob Milburn & Michael Bodeen; projection design by Tony Award nominee David Bengali; intimacy & sensitivity coordinator Ann C. James; vocal coach Gigi Buffington; casting by Caparelliotis Casting & Kelly Gillespie; Production Stage Manager is Charles M. Turner III.

Eureka Day is presented by special arrangement with Sonia Friedman Productions, Wagner Johnson Productions, and Seaview Productions.

Major support for Eureka Day is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation as part of The Sloan Initiative: Setting the Stage for Science and Technology. Additional support is provided by The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation.

MTC’s Beyond the Stage Series

Manhattan Theatre Club’s Beyond the Stage series enriches and expands the impact of MTC’s productions and theatrical storytelling by offering audiences events that connect to our plays’ cultural and historical contexts. These community-building conversations and experiences provide fresh insights and novel perspectives, leading to a deepened understanding and celebration of our shared humanity.

Beyond the Stage Series throughout January

Sunday, January 12

Purchase a ticket and join us after the 2:00 pm performance on Sunday, January 12 for an intimate conversation moderated by ABC Audio’s Start Here podcast host Brad Mielke, featuring guest speakers Alann Seales and Dr. Nicole Naggar.

Tickets are on sale at Telecharge.com. Subscriptions for MTC’s 2024-25 season are available by visiting www.manhattantheatreclub.com/join, or by calling the MTC Clubline at 212-399-3050.

Wednesday, January 15
Purchase a ticket and join us after the performance for a conversation with Eureka Day playwright Jonathan Spector for TCG’s OFFSCRIPT podcast. Offscript is American Theatre’s monthly podcast about all things theatrical.

Thursday, January 16
January 16 is Entertainment Community Fund Night at The Samuel J. Friedman Theatre! Purchase a ticket and join us following the performance join for a talkback featuring Dr. Ram Koppaka and Dr. Jason Kindt from the Samuel J. Friedman Health Center for the Performing Arts as they discuss Eureka Day, the growth of public health, how it influences our lives and the communities the Friedman Health Center serves and supports.

Additionally, Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) and Harlem Arts Alliance (HAA) are joining forces to host a Book Drive to benefit Harlem Hospital and its surrounding community. Inspired by Eureka Day, our goal is to collect at least 2,000 new books for children and young adult readers, with a special emphasis on social justice content. Audience and community members are welcome to donate new books at the Samuel J. Friedman box office during operating hours through January 19, 2025.

ABOUT MANHATTAN THEATRE CLUB

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Director Chris Jennings, Manhattan Theatre Club produces seasons of new work for the theatre both on and Off-Broadway. In the 2023-24 season, all three of its Broadway shows were nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play, representing three of the five nominees in the category. MTC’s not-for-profit mission, which Meadow created in 1972 and has implemented over five decades of award-winning productions, is to develop and present new work in a dynamic, supportive environment; to identify and collaborate with the most promising new as well as accomplished artists; and to produce a diverse repertoire of innovative, entertaining, and thought-provoking plays and musicals by American and international playwrights.

Since 1989, MTC Learning and Community Engagement, which uses the power of live theatre and playwriting to awaken minds, ignite imaginations, open hearts, and change lives, has also been an important corollary to MTC’s work. MTC’s over 600 world, American, New York and Broadway premieres have earned 7 Pulitzer Prizes, 30 Tony Awards, 51 Drama Desk Awards and 49 Obie Awards amongst many other honors. MTC has homes on Broadway at its Samuel J. Friedman Theatre and Off-Broadway at New York City Center. MTC is an anti-racist organization that respects and honors all voices and upholds the values of community and equity. For more information, please visit www.manhattantheatreclub.com.

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‘EUREKA DAY’: Thomas Middleditch, Amber Gray, Bill Irwin, Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz & Jessica Hecht. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

EUREKA DAY
By Jonathan Spector
Directed by Anna D. Shapiro
Through February 16, 2025
Manhattan Theatre Club
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
261 W 47th Street
https://www.manhattantheatreclub.com/shows/24-25-season/eureka-day/

By Scott Harrah

The American culture wars and the divisive anti-vaccine movement collide at a private school in Berkeley, California in Jonathan’s Spector’s provocative Eureka Day. The show was originally produced in 2018. It has played in different venues across the country as well in London at the Old Vic. Eureka Day is an often hilarious but politically charged dark comedy about “woke” politics, social justice and the anti-vaccine movement that is both topical and uncomfortable to watch in these tense times in America.

The show starts out with a group of parents on the executive committee at Eureka Day, a progressive private school. The group sits around discussing “politically correct” terminology such as “transracial adoptee” and “all gender bathrooms.” It’s the type of “inclusive” chatter that sends conservative TV media hosts into a frenzy.

Anti-vaccine vitriol

There’s a sudden twist when group leader Don (Bill Irwin) reads aloud a letter from a local health official warning of an outbreak of mumps. A Eureka Day student has been confirmed as having the disease. Suddenly, chaos ensues when everyone discusses the public health doctor’s demand that any child who has not received the MMR vaccine must not be allowed to attend school unless he or she has been vaccinated.

Suzanne (Jessica Hecht) is especially opposed to mandating vaccines at school. While Suzanne on the surface appears to be a stereotypical affluent Bay Area liberal, she is actually a control freak. She immediately tears into others on the committee that disagree with her, including Carina (Amber Gray) and full-time dad Eli (Thomas Middleditch). Suddenly, their bubble of “social justice” and left-wing coastal elitism becomes as nasty and polarizing as anything on right-wing TV news programs.

An online livestream discussion about the mumps outbreak is one of the highlights of Eureka Day. As Don and group leaders discuss mumps and its symptoms, the online chat comments—projected onto a screen behind the cast—veer into madness, with parents ranting about alternative medicine, anti-vaccine conspiracy theories and some calling others “Nazis.” It’s hilarious and disturbing but so true to life. What’s so illuminating and shocking is how these upper-middle-class, well-educated parents of Eureka students are just as vile and nauseating as any thread of online trolls.

A prophetic play

Jonathan Spector’s play, first produced nearly seven years ago in 2018, was remarkably prescient, considering it was originally mounted two years before the COVID-19 pandemic. While it’s not exactly a perfect story, it is amazing how much of Mr. Spector’s play was an omen of things to come in 2020. He brilliantly captures all the conflicts that arise from misinformation, individual choice and the greater responsibility of community leaders protecting the public when a disease starts spreading rapidly.

Director Anna D. Shapiro does a nice job of helping the cast shine amongst all the pandemonium. Bill Irwin is brilliant as Don, the head of the school who loves to quote the poet Rumi incessantly. Jessica Hecht is wonderful as the annoying, entitled Suzanne. Amber Gray as Carina is a great foil for Suzanne, and her scenes with Ms. Hecht are incredibly tense and riveting. Thomas Middleditch as Eli, Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz as Meiko and Eboni Flowers as Winter are all equally powerful in their respective roles.

Eureka Day is hardly holiday fare. It rings with contemporary veracity about the ugly divisions in America and is not a play for anyone anxious about historical revisionists and science deniers who might wreak havoc in this country in the near future.

Published December 16, 2024
Reviewed at press preview performance on December 14, 2024

‘EUREKA DAY’: Bill Irwin & Jessica Hecht. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

‘EUREKA DAY’: Amber Gray, Bill Irwin & Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

‘EUREKA DAY’: Thomas Middleditch. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

‘EUREKA DAY’: Amber Gray & Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

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‘SUMMER, 1976’: Jessica Hecht & Laura Linney. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

SUMMER, 1976
Written by David Auburn
Directed by Daniel Sullivan
Through June 10, 2023
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
261 West 47th Street
(212-239-6200), www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com

By David NouNou

Most New York theatregoers know that this is Tony crunch time and a plethora of shows open back-to-back in the last two weeks of April, jockeying for the best position for the prestigious and coveted awards. Some succeed in this maneuvering, but most of them fall by the wayside because they are all crashing into each other and ultimately face closure due to the glut in the market.

However, sometimes a beautiful gem manages to enter the fray, and this one is David Auburn’s Summer, 1976, an ode to women and friendship. You enter the theatre seeing an unassuming backyard. Two women walk in from opposite sides of the stage and sit across from each other. They are Diana (Laura Linney), the frosty, well-put-together, always neat woman, who has to have everything in its place; and Alice (Jessica Hecht), the more bohemian, disheveled, not-too-well-put together woman whose house is always a mess. Sort of like Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin in Netflix’s Grace and Frankie might have been 30 years earlier, with one big difference: These women are real.

They start talking, breaking the fourth wall; they are talking to us and telling us how they met and had an instant dislike to each other. Their friendship resulted from each of them having a daughter and the two daughters bonded together, being inseparable and thus forcing the two women to warm up to each other and form a cordial friendship and opening up to us with their backstories; one sees the friendship and co-dependency growing and the events that took place that summer of 1976.

After being worn down from seeing my sixth consecutive show, I was amazed how I was being enveloped by this story. I was actually investing in these women and wanted to know more and more about them and what happens to them. Not that they were extraordinary wonder women; they were everyday women, who are moms, and some of them are wives; they are just navigating everyday life. What makes them so interesting is David Auburn’s brilliant, sensitive, and naturalistic writing. The humor comes from genuine feelings and conversation, not sitcom dialogue. There is honesty in the writing, and this filters out into the audience.

I have seen both Laura Linney and Jessica Hecht in about six different shows each, and I’ve admired their formidable talents. However, I have never seen them be so touching and vulnerable. They are both great technicians who deliver very good performances, but here I got to see two women and not actresses who let their guards down and see what a friendship and bond means to these two women. Their chemistry is theatrical magic.

Daniel Sullivan is a good director, but when given a great script, he outdoes himself. He has fine-tuned these two performances to shine brilliantly. Long after one leaves the theatre, as I am writing this review, I am still thinking about these two women and what became of them.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 30, 2023
Reviewed at April 29, 2023 press performance.

‘SUMMER, 1976’: Laura Linney & Jessica Hecht. Photo: Jeremey Daniel.

‘SUMMER, 1976’: Jessica Hecht & Laura Linney. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

‘SUMMER, 1976’: Laura Linney & Jessica Hecht. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

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‘THE PRICE’: (left to right) Tony Shalhoub, Mark Ruffalo & Jessica Hecht. Photo: Joan Marcus

THE PRICE
Written by Arthur Miller
Directed by Terry Kinney
Through May 7, 2017
American Airlines Theatre
227 West 42nd Street
(212-719-1300), www.RoundaboutTheatre.org

By David NouNou

Death Of A Salesman, The Crucible and A View From the Bridge are Arthur Miller’s most enduring plays, and every few years, a director comes along and shines a new perspective on them; lately it’s been done by European directors that push the envelope to the point that they are hardly recognized as Miller plays. Thank goodness The Price is not one of them; it is so rarely done that when a good production is mounted, you welcome it with open arms. I was too young to appreciate the original 1968 version; the 2000 version was abysmal; and now finally a version has arrived at just the right time, with its values intact.

The Price centers around two brothers that have each taken a different path growing up. Victor Franz (Mark Ruffalo) stayed to take care of his bankrupt father after the death of his mother and gave up school and science to become a policeman. Walter Franz (Tony Shalhoub) decided to leave his father and pursue his schooling and became a very wealthy doctor. They have been estranged for 28 years without even a call. Now that their father is dead and the building they lived in is being demolished, all the furniture that was stored in the attic has to be sold, and the appraiser, Gregory Solomon (Danny DeVito), has come to buy it all. This brings us to the price for the furniture, the price that each brother has paid to be who they are, and the price Solomon has paid to live as long as he has. The fourth character is Esther Franz (Jessica Hecht), wife of Victor, who has always envied people with a better life than she’s had and after nearly 30 years of marriage, still wants a better life.

What makes The Price relevant today is that it’s a seesaw play, one’s allegiance shifts from brother to brother on a moment-to-moment basis. What two brothers haven’t shared in guilt and recrimination with moving on or staying behind? In 1968, in gentler times, the arguments were clearer cut. Today, with harsher and more cynical realities, the lines are blurred and each one presents his case but ultimately there are no winners, for what is done is done and you can’t change the past. Seen by this perspective, The Price is profoundly relevant today.

Like the best of wines, Tony Shalhoub just keeps getting better with age. He is a consummate actor with a command that rivets your whole attention to his performance. When he is onstage, the play is electric; but he doesn’t come on until the end of Act I. However, in Act I you have Danny DeVito; finally coming to Broadway in a role tailor made for him. Thank God for his arrival early on to lift the tedium that is known as the exposition or set up of the play. You can say he is the wise Jewish grandfather of his previous role of Louis De Palma from TV’s “Taxi.” What a joy to have him on stage supplying the lighter moments.

In the drab and thankless roles of Victor and Esther Franz, Mark Ruffalo and Jessica Hecht make a valiant attempt to bring life to their characters. Mr. Ruffalo was a last-minute replacement for John Turturro; his real shining moment is the confrontation scene with Mr. Shalhoub. In those tense moments, you can really feel the pent-up rage between these two brothers who can never reconcile with each other.

For theatergoers who enjoy depth and content in their shows, I suggest you rush to the American Airlines Theatre because this production is only around until May 7, 2017.

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

‘THE PRICE’: Mark Ruffalo & Tony Shalhoub. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE PRICE’: Mark Ruffalo & Jessica Hecht. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE PRICE’: Mark Ruffalo & Danny DeVito. Photo: Joan Marcus

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‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: Danny Burstein as Tevye. Photo: Joan Marcus

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF
Book by Joseph Stein
Music by Jerry Bock
Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick
Based on the Sholem Aleichem stories by special permission of Arnold Pert
Directed by Bartlett Sher
Choreographed by Hofesh Shechter
Broadway Theatre
1681 Broadway at 53rd Street
(212-239-6200), http://fiddlermusical.com

By David NouNou

If you are one of the lucky people (still around to talk about it) who saw the original version in September 1964 when it opened at the Imperial Theatre with the one and only Zero Mostel, you knew there was a masterpiece for the ages unfolding in front of your very eyes. Over the years, there have been numerous revivals, and some versions, as well as some Tevyes, were better than others. However, in the case of Fiddler on the Roof, what stands the test of time is its eternal and universal story and the sublime score that is joyously giddy, and absolutely heart wrenching and always memorable. I maintain that it is one of the two most outstanding scores ever written for a musical.

Tevye (Danny Burstein) is a poor milkman who lives in Anatevka, a village in Czarist Russia. He has five unmarried daughters, a shrewish wife, Golde (Jessica Hecht), a lame horse, and has a penchant to talking to God about his misfortunes. The one thing that has kept Anatevka going for all those years is tradition and Tevye has to watch each tradition that he holds sacred unravel. Therein lies the beauty and texture of the family dynamics and Tevye’s turmoil of upholding his covenant with God and his religious beliefs, especially when his third daughter Chava (Melanie Moore) marries the Russian Christian soldier, Fyedka (Nick Rehberger).

When you watch Fiddler on the Roof, you must really forget about past revivals, who starred in them and especially the movie version. Any Fiddler revival has to be strong enough to sustain itself for the new generation who may be seeing it for the first time. I was so pleased that so many young people who were attending the same press performance as me seemed genuinely intrigued and heartily enjoying the proceedings. Not one of them was texting or had his cellphone on. They were actually engrossed. Mazel tov.

With Danny Burstein, we do not get a bombastic, bigger-than-life, argumentative Tevye. We get a sweet interpretation of a man who speaks to God in a gentle manner and gingerly admonishes God about why couldn’t He just once throw a little extra his way as in the song “If I Were a Rich Man”? Incidentally, Mr. Burstein is in phenomenal voice. What he lacks in “bigger than life,” he makes up for with his rendition of his songs.

Jessica Hecht as Golde is the weak link; her accent comes and goes, and she’s not really a singer and turns in a one-note shrew performance with no shadings. The rest of the townspeople are portrayed more as caricatures than real human beings. Tevye’s Daughters: Tzeitel, (Alexandra Silber), Hodel (Samantha Massell) and Chava (Melanie Moore) are a constant delight with angelic voices.

Bartlett Sher for his part has done magnificent revivals of South Pacific and earlier this year the sublime The King and I. However, the brilliance that is usually associated with Mr. Sher seems to be lacking here. The direction is uneven with both the actors and the events taking place on the stage.

When you see Fiddler, you don’t sweat the small stuff; you go and marvel at its universality and how it has been embraced all over the world. At one time there was even a Japanese version. We never tire of its wonderful, timeless themes.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published January 6, 2016
Reviewed at press performance on January 5, 2016

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: (left to right) Lori Wilner, Jessica Hecht & Danny Burstein. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: (left to right) Adam Kantor, Alexandra Silber, Jennifer Zetlan (arm), Lori Wilner, Jacob Guzman, Adam Grupper, Reed Luplau, Jeffrey Schecter, Mitch Greenberg & Michael Bernardi. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: (left to right) Marla Phelan, Alexandra Silber, Jenny Rose Baker, Melanie Moore, Hayley Feinstein, Samantha Massell & Sarah Parker. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: The cast. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: (left to right) Alexandra Silber, Samantha Massell, Melanie Moore, Danny Burstein, Jessica Hecht, Jenny Rose Baker & Hayley Feinstein. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: (left to right) Tess Primack, Reed Luplau, Jennifer Zetlan, Lori Wilner, Eric Bourne, Jessica Vosk, Alix Korey, George Psomas, Jeffrey Schecter, Adam Grupper, Jacob
Guzman, Marla Phelan & Jesse Kovarsky. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: Melanie Moore, Alexandra Silber & Samantha Massell. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: Jesse Kovarsky (center) & cast. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: (from top) Jessica Vosk, Danny Burstein, Jessica Hecht & cast. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: Jessica Hecht & Alix Korey. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: Jessica Hecht. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: Melanie Moore. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: Melanie Moore & Nick Rehberger. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: Melanie Moore & Danny Burstein. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: Stephen Carrasco, Nick Rehberger, Aaron Young, Reed Luplau, Mitch Greenberg, Sarah Parker, Jesse Kovarsky, George Psomas, Eric Bourne & Marla Phelan. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: Danny Burstein. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: The cast. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘FIDDLER ON THE ROOF’: The cast. Photo: Joan Marcus

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