‘THE MINUTES’: (center) Noah Reid & (left to right) Jesse Mueller, Jeff Still, Tracy Letts & Cliff Chamberlain. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

THE MINUTES
Written by Tracy Letts
Directed by Anna D. Shapiro
Through July 24, 2022
Studio 54
254 West 54th Street
New York, NY 10019
(212-239-6200), www.TheMinutesBroadway.com

By David NouNou

Our Town gone awry.

Tracy Letts is a timely and a wonderful playwright but also a theatrical provocateur. Not that these can’t go hand in hand; just look at the likes of Tennessee Williams and Edward Albee. His ideas and the way they unfold are brilliant but they can go too far in the end. The adage that “less is more” certainly applies to Mr. Letts. At times, he needs a strong director to smooth out the extreme rough edges. Mr. Williams had Elia Kazan, Mr. Albee had Alan Schneider, and Mr. Letts needs a stronger director who doesn’t just rubber stamp what he writes in a script.

At a city council meeting room in Big Cherry (any town west of New York City and east of LA) USA, a meeting is about to convene. Brian Peel (Noah Reid of Schitt’s Creek fame) has just returned from his mother’s funeral in California, and being offered condolences from Mayor Superba (Tracy Letts) along with the rest of the council members. Peel wants to know about the minutes that took place the week before while he was out and the missing member Mr. Carp (Ian Barford). Starting with the council secretary, Ms. Johnson (Jesse Mueller) to senior members Ms. Innes (Blair Brown) and Mr. Oldfield (Austin Pendleton) to junior members Mr. Blake (K. Todd Freeman), Mr. Hanratty (Danny McCarthy) and Mr. Assalone (Jeff Still) all give him small talk, runarounds and exchange pleasantries but no one will give him a straight answer about the “unwritten yet” minutes or the whereabouts of Mr. Carp and why he is not at the meeting.

The play goes into high gear (often hilarious) once each councilman starts talking about grievances and the bill they want to pass. The mayhem probably takes place at any council meeting, but this one goes even further by re-enacting for Mr. Peel the heroism that took place in bringing the existence of their town Big Cherry to life replete with American soldiers, Native American Indians, and the Farmers Family.

Once the digging goes beneath the surface, it uncovers America’s soul and the sanitizing of history that has and is currently taking place, in places like Florida, Oklahoma or in any town, state or school that represses history. Mr. Letts has written a chilling play that is profound and mirrors the “good” folks and mayors in small-town America today.

As always, Mr. Letts has written meaty roles for an excellent ensemble cast whose names I’ve listed earlier. Each has a unique role: Mr. Letts’ mayor is a shark with a no-nonsense attitude. Noah Reid, making his Broadway debut, is perfect as the idealistic councilman (he may remind one of James Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington). Austin Pendleton as the oldest grousing councilman is a scream. Ian Barford, Blair Brown, K. Todd Freeman, Danny McCarthy, Jesse Mueller, and Jeff Still all lend their talents to elevate this ensemble.

There is a “but” here, and the but is how Mr. Letts chooses to end his plays. There were a couple of possibilities of ending this play satisfactorily without outrageous theatrics involved. This is where director Anna D. Shapiro should have stepped in to polish these rough edges with some fine-tuned editing and still made it a remarkable evening in the theatre. Just as he did in his epic work August: Osage County, Mr. Letts has a lot to say about the uncomfortable taboo topics in everyday American life.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 21, 2022
Reviewed at April 20, 2022 press performance.

‘THE MINUTES’: Jesse Mueller & Noah Reid. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

‘THE MINUTES’: Tracy Letts & Noah Reid. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

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EXQUISITE ENSEMBLE: The outstanding Julie White & Carolyn Braver, with (background) Scott Jaeck in ‘Airline Highway.’ Photo: Joan Marcus

AIRLINE HIGHWAY
By Lisa D’Amour
Directed by Joe Mantello
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
261 West 47th Street
(212-239-6280), www.AirlineHighwayBroadway.com

By Scott Harrah

Take every misfit plagued with misfortune from such Tennessee Williams plays as Vieux Carré, set the scene in modern-day, post-Katrina New Orleans and you have Lisa D’Amour’s innovative, beautifully acted but ultimately contrived Airline Highway, which recently opened on Broadway after a successful run by Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company. This drama full of colorful, down-on-their-luck characters has a lot going for it, but the problem is we have seen variations of these Big Easy personalities and their sad lives before.

Set in the parking lot of the seedy Hummingbird Motel, on Airline Highway in New Orleans (hence the show’s title), the story centers on a group of people gathering for a funeral for burlesque club grande dame Miss Ruby (Judith Roberts). Miss Ruby is gravely ill but isn’t dead yet, and her friends want to throw her a high-spirited funeral party/wake before she passes.

Nearly all the characters are stereotypes, but are exquisitely acted regardless. The standout is Broadway veteran Julie White as Tanya, an aging prostitute who lives in the rundown motel (along with many others). Tanya is the quintessential “hooker with a heart of gold,” and Ms. White portrays her with a raw sincerity that makes the character truly heartbreaking.

Equally exemplary is K. Todd Freeman as Sissy Na Na, a spunky African-American drag queen who is wise and lovable. Included in the ensemble are Krista (Caroline Neff), a stripper; Wayne (Scott Jaeck), the motel manager; Bait Boy (Joe Tippett), a former New Orleans resident who has returned from Atlanta (where he’s shacked up with a rich sugar mama) to pay last respects to Miss Ruby; and Bait Boy’s girlfriend’s teenage daughter Zoe (Carolyn Braver), a high school student working on a sociology project on subcultures.

Act One moves along briskly, as characters prepare for Miss Ruby’s funeral later in the day and talk about their troubles. Scott Pask’s lifelike set—showing everything from trash strewn everywhere to glimpses into the motel rooms (complete with cartoons on TV sets and people in the shadows smoking, etc.), and a sign advertising rates as low as $34.99—captures the decay of the surroundings well. At times, several characters talk at once, so we see multiple conversations going on simultaneously. While this adds a remarkable sense of realism, it also becomes distracting to the audience, and that’s a problem in a play this unfocused.

By Act Two, things start out lively, with everyone sporting Mardi Gras beads and grooving to jazz music, but the show soon takes a predictable turn. Characters get drunk and high, eat junk food, and truths are revealed. The dreary tone becomes repetitious, but director Joe Mantello makes the most of things with the talented cast.

Like the Tennessee Williams plays playwright Lisa D’Amour emulates, Airline Highway has lots of florid, poetic dialogue, including a rambling, philosophical soliloquy by Miss Ruby herself (she doesn’t come onstage until well into Act Two). Unfortunately, the crisp dialogue and first-rate performances are not enough to make us overlook the overall feeling of dramatic déjà vu and the timeworn sentimentality of the play.

YOU GO, GIRL: K. Todd Freeman & company of ‘Airline Highway’. Photo: Joan Marcus

NEW ORLEANS MISFITS: Caroline Neff & company of ‘Airline Highway’. Photo: Joan Marcus

PARTY GIRLS: A scene from ‘Airline Highway.’ Photo: Joan Marcus

CATCHING UP WITH PEOPLE FROM THE PAST: (left to right) Caroline Neff, Joe Tippett & Carolyn Braver. Photo: Joan Marcus

GREAT ENSEMBLE: The cast of ‘Airline Highway.’ Photo: Joan Marcus

TANYA, THE PROSTITUTE & MOTEL MANAGER WAYNE: Julie White & Scott Jaeck. Photo: Joan Marcus

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 27, 2015
Reviewed at press performance on April 26, 2015

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