‘GOOD NIGHT, OSCAR’: Ben Rappaport & Sean Hayes. Photo: Joan Marcus
[printfriendly]
GOOD NIGHT, OSCAR
Written by Doug Wright
Directed by Lisa Peterson
Through August 27, 2023
Belasco Theatre
111 West 44th Street.
(212-239-6200), www.goodnightoscar.com
By David NouNou
Most people today would not know who Oscar Levant is except if they watch TCM and see An American in Paris or The Bandwagon. For those who do know something of him, he is most difficult to describe. He was a conundrum; he wasn’t attractive in real life, but he was an MGM star. He was best known for his sarcastic wit and self-deprecating humor but could have been a concert pianist instead of a humorist, and he excelled in both. He was multitalented but also a tortured soul. He also had his inner demons to contend with, which included bouts with drugs and alcohol. Who would one get to play such a person? You certainly wouldn’t think of Sean Hayes who portrayed Jack McFarland on TV’s “Will and Grace.” Here comes the surprise, although Mr. Hayes is much too good-looking to portray Mr. Levant, Mr. Hayes digs deep to capture the essence that was Oscar Levant, giving one of the year’s most outstanding performances on the Broadway stage.
The play is set at NBC dressing rooms in Hollywood in 1958. Jack Paar (Ben Rappaport) has been transferred to Hollywood to do the nightly “Tonight Show” for sweeps week in L.A. instead of his usual home base in New York City. His first guest stars for the premier show are: Oscar Levant, Jayne Mansfield and ventriloquist Señor Wences. I wonder if that episode really existed (I Googled for hours and couldn’t find it). Regardless, they all appeared on Jack Paar— if not together, certainly separately.
Unbeknownst to Jack, June Levant (Emily Bergl) has committed Oscar (Mr. Hayes) into an institution to dry him out for his drug overdoses. It’s very close to showtime and there is no Oscar in sight. He does eventually appear: disheveled, abusive, manic, but with his abrasive wit still intact. Playwright Doug Wright doesn’t supply us with any back story or how Oscar came to this state. We only know he has a four-hour pass from the institution in the belief that he is attending his daughter’s graduation, when in fact he is appearing on “The Tonight Show” with Jack Paar.
Oscar also has his inner demons and voices to contend with; that of George Gershwin (John Zdrojeski). Oscar one might say was the definitive interpreter of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” among other works, his career was dominated by Gershwin’s compositions and not his own.
What makes the play ironic is the strict moral code of what used to be censorship and what could be said on live TV. Head of NBC, Bob Sarnoff (Peter Grosz), is totally against having Oscar on “The Tonight Show” because of his coarse humor and what he might say (this is a wink to the audience at this point of where our TV morals are today) but Paar is insistent. Levant appears because Parr knows he can goad Oscar into pushing the envelope with his viewpoints on politics, religion and sex, all of which were taboo topics on live TV at the time. To give full justice to the jokes, you just have to see the show.
The play is quite enjoyable and interesting, but director Lisa Peterson should have brought out her editing shears to trim excessive, needless exposition in the beginning between Sarnoff and Paar, and especially the scene with Gershwin and Levant toward the end.
Putting that aside, we have to give credit where credit is due. Having seen Mr. Hayes in An Act of God and Promises, Promises, Jack McFarland was still lurking in the wings. However, what we see now is an actor shedding his past, and digging deep to capture and create a troubled soul. His performance is sensational and his piano performance is spellbinding. The recital at the show’s end is a magical theatrical moment.
Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 28, 2023
Reviewed at April 27, 2023 press performance.
‘GOOD NIGHT, OSCAR’: Ben Rappaport, Sean Hayes & Peter Grosz. Photo: Joan Marcus.
‘GOOD NIGHT, OSCAR’: Emily Bergl & Sean Hayes. Photo: Joan Marcus.
‘GOOD NIGHT, OSCAR’: Emily Bergl & Sean Hayes. Photo: Joan Marcus
‘GOOD NIGHT, OSCAR’: Sean Hayes & John Zdrojeski. Photo: Joan Marcus.
‘GOOD NIGHT, OSCAR’: Marchánt Davis & Sean Hayes. Photo: Joan Marcus.
‘GOOD NIGHT, OSCAR’: Alex Wyse & Sean Hayes. Photo: Joan Marcus.
]]>
‘AIN’T NO MO’ ‘: Marchánt Davis & cast. Photo: Joan Marcus.
[printfriendly]
AIN’T NO MO’
By Jordan E. Cooper
Directed by Stevie Walker-Webb
Belasco Theatre
111 West 44th Street
(212-239-6200), https://aintnomobway.com/
By Scott Harrah
Playwright Jordan E. Cooper’s Ain’t No Mo’ is a scathing satire about the Black experience in America that is a raucous comedy on the surface. However, beneath the laughter and hilarious jokes in each of the one-act show’s vignettes, Mr. Cooper rips off the proverbial Band-Aid of racial injustice with an ongoing subtext that tackles painful, serious issues about the persecution and systemic racism that African Americans have struggled with for centuries in this country. It is that rare show that initially has the audience laughing but as things progress, makes us really think about the inequities Blacks have suffered through from the era of slavery up to the 2020s in the USA.
The premise of Ain’t No Mo centers on African American Airlines and a nonstop flight to Dakar, Senegal at gate 1619, the same as the year African slaves were first brought to America. The story unfolds in a series of skits that may remind audiences of the groundbreaking Black comedy TV show “In Living Color” from the 1990s. Some of the scenes are outrageous, high-energy parodies loaded with dark humor.
The show opens at a funeral on November 4, 2008, the night Barack Obama won the presidential election and was about to become America’s first African American president. Mourners run down the aisles, jumping in laps of audience members—with actors sobbing and hugging folks in hilarious hysterics—before running up to the stage to a large coffin in a church containing the body of “Brother Right to Complain.” Pastor Freeman (Marchánt Davis) talks about how president-elect Obama’s presidency may help African Americans overcome a long history of oppression while mourners like Crystal Lucas-Perry display funny histrionics. The mourners believe they are about to enter an age of optimism and newfound freedom for Blacks. Hope and change, however, does not last for Blacks once President Obama leaves office.
Next up is airline gate attendant Peaches (Mr. Cooper in drag) on a call at an airport. She is trying to get all African Americans—all of whom received a text message about a free flight to Africa, courtesy of the U.S. government—to hurry up and get to the airport. The African American Airlines jumbo jet will be leaving soon to take all Blacks to Dakar, and people can then connect to the African countries they wish to start a new life in, based on their ancestry.
Several vignettes follow that give a glimpse into modern-day Black lives. In the next scene, the show’s best, “Real Baby Mamas of the South Side,” a parody of the many reality TV shows about housewives, four women are seen at a taping hosted by Tony (Mr. Davis in one of many multiple male roles). The women all get bitchy, nasty and catty, especially when talking to “trans racial” Rachel/Rachonda (Shannon Matesky) as she is transitioning to become a Black woman. The women sharpen their claws and spew hysterical venom to Rachel/Rachonda, claiming she has no place on the reality show because she is actually white.
Another scene, “Circle of Life,” shows Trisha (Fedna Jacquet) waiting in an abortion clinic while the father tries diligently to talk her out of having the procedure. Another woman waiting explains that she already has several kids and does not want to bring another into the world. In “Green,” an upper-class wealthy Black family sits in a posh home at a dining room table while Black (Ms. Lucas-Perry again) plays a slave who has been locked up in the family’s basement for 40 years. Black laughs at the affluent family and the snobbish way they look down on those planning to take the Africa flight. Her rapid-fire delivery of dialogue and on-stage antics are outrageous and the highlight of the vignette.
Ms. Lucas-Perry returns in the next scene as an inmate at a women’s prison. The prison has been emptied by the U.S. African exodus policy but she is hesitant about leaving when she realizes some of her belongings are missing. Ms. Lucas-Perry gives a heartbreaking performance here.
The final scene shows Peaches trying to get the last stragglers onto the Africa-bound jet. In addition to the stress of getting the plane ready to leave the gate, Peaches is hurrying frantically to get her own luggage and herself on board at the last minute. What is most troubling for her is lifting up a bag that stores all the accomplishments of African Americans throughout the centuries. Giving more details would spoil the story, but the ending is open to interpretation. The show is worth seeing for the superb performances of the outstanding cast alone. Ain’t No Mo is not a perfect play, but it is a thought-provoking one act comedy-drama about the many levels of inequality Blacks have endured in America since the 1600s.
Edited by Scott Harrah
Published December 5, 2022
Reviewed at December 4, 2022 press performance.
‘AIN’T NO MO’ ‘: Jordan E. Cooper. Photo: Joan Marcus.
‘AIN’T NO MO’ ‘: Crystal Lucas-Perry. Photo: Joan Marcus.
‘AIN’T NO MO’ ‘: Crystal Lucas-Perry & Ebony Marshall-Oliver. Photo: Joan Marcus.
‘THE GREAT SOCIETY’: Brian Cox. Photo: Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade, 2019
[printfriendly]
THE GREAT SOCIETY
Written by Robert Schenkkan
Directed by Bill Rauch
Through November 30, 2019
Vivian Beaumont Theatre
150 West 65th Street
(212-239-6200), www.ltc.org
By David NouNou
The Great Society is a continuation of Robert Schenkkan’s 2014 Tony Award-winning play All the Way, which focused on Lyndon Baines Johnson’s first-term presidency taking over for the assassinated John F. Kennedy. The triumph of that play was Bryan Cranston’s outstanding Tony-winning performance as LBJ which gave the show its gravitas. Mr. Cranston may not have looked like LBJ, but his stature and tone gave us the essence of the man.
All the Way ended in 1964 where LBJ wins the presidency and the beginning of his wheelings and dealings, especially when it came to working with Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement. It centered on a critical juncture in American history and was focused on the subject. The Great Society picks up in January 1965 with LBJ (Brian Cox) giving his inaugural speech. His message dealt with civil rights, healthcare, welfare and education. Does that sound familiar 54 years later?
The Great Society, in addition to dealing with MLK (Grantham Coleman), now goes into the riots in Selma, Alabama, Watts in Los Angeles and the advent of “Black Power” as well as Chicago and its corrupt mayor Richard Daley (Marc Kudish). LBJ has his supporter, Hubert Humphrey (Richard Thomas) and rival Bobby Kennedy (Bryce Pinkham). It goes further in depth with the involvement of America in Vietnam and its strong advocate, Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, (Matthew Rauch). It all leads up to 1968 as the death toll and casualties in Vietnam escalate and LBJ decides not to run for a second term as president, and the chilling conclusion of Richard M. Nixon (David Garrison) being elected president. Of course, the audience gets a chuckle because we all know how that turned out.
Mr. Schenkkan has certainly crammed a lot of American history into one night. He has shown us a parallel perspective of the chaos then, that seems almost parallel but tame to the chaos ensuing these days on a daily basis. The fatigue quotient is overwhelming. Because of the abundance of material here, the subject matter is unfocused and the multitude of scenes seem more like vignettes than actual historical moments. He is not aided by his director Bill Rauch. Mr. Rauch could have edited the play more and added focus to the scenes instead of having them all run into each other.
Brian Cox, the renowned British actor, is an odd choice to follow Mr. Cranston as LBJ. He lacks the stature and the tone of the 36th president of the United States and what you are left with is a gruff exterior and blustery caricature, thus starting the evening on a wrong note. What you do have are admirable performances by Marc Kudish as Mayor Daley, Richard Thomas as Hubert Humphrey, Bryce Pinkham as Robert Kennedy, Matthew Rauch as Robert McNamara and David Garrison as Richard Nixon as smarmy as ever. Since Nixon plays a central figure in the end of The Great Society, one has to wonder if Mr. Schenkkan is planning a third part for a trilogy?
Edited by Scott Harrah
Published October 3, 2019
Reviewed at October 2, 2019 press performance.
‘THE GREAT SOCIETY’: Marc Kudisch & Brian Cox. Photo: Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade, 2019
‘THE GREAT SOCIETY’: (left to right) Brian Cox, Richard Thomas, Gordon Clapp. Photo: Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade, 2019
‘THE GREAT SOCIETY’: (left to right) Marchant Davis, Brian Cox, Bryce Pinkham. Photo: Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade, 2019
‘THE GREAT SOCIETY’: Grantham Coleman & cast. Photo: ‘THE GREAT SOCIETY’: Brian Cox. Photo: Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade, 2019
‘THE GREAT SOCIETY’: Barbara Garrick & Brian Cox. Photo: Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade, 2019
]]>