‘CULT OF LOVE’: (left to right) Christopher Sears, Barbie Ferreira, Roberta Colindrez, Mare Winningham, Zachary Quinto, David Rasche, Shailene Woodley & Rebecca Henderson. Photo: Joan Marcus.
[printfriendly]
CULT OF LOVE
Written by Leslye Headland
Directed by Trip Cullman
Through February 2, 2025
Second Stage
The Helen Hayes Theater
240 W. 44th Street
https://2st.com/shows/cult-of-love
By Scott Harrah
Opening just in time for the holidays, playwright Leslye Headland’s Cult of Love is a one act that features all the formulaic elements of a dysfunctional family: arguments about religion, career and marital problems, strained relationships, homophobia, drug abuse, mental illness, and so on. Although the 100-minute play does not exactly shed new light on these issues when they appear in “toxic” families, the trenchant performances of the all-star cast in this fine production, directed by Trip Cullman, make us forget the familiar themes. Just sit back and watch the family fireworks explode.
The story focuses on four adult siblings who return to their parents’ farmhouse in Connecticut for Christmas. Home might be “where the heart is” for some, but in the Dahl family, it’s where the hurt is. Ginny Dahl (Mare Winningham) is the manipulative matriarch who pretends that there’s nothing wrong with the family. Father Bill Dahl (David Rasche) appears sweet on the surface. He loves to play the piano and reminisce about the days when all four kids were young and used to sing “Shenandoah” like a saccharine, American version of the Von Trapp family in The Sound of Music. However, Bill is having memory issues and it’s becoming obvious he might be developing dementia.
The Dahl kids
Each one of the Dahl children has an issue that the parents either cannot accept or try to ignore. Mark (Zachary Quinto) went to Yale and was a seminary student but decided to become a lawyer instead. His marriage and career are not in great shape. He is also no longer a Christian—something that does not thrill his evangelical parents. His wife Rachel (Molly Bernard) converted to Christianity when she married him.
Evie Dahl (Rebecca Henderson) is a chef who shuns her religious upbringing. She is also an out-and-proud lesbian, married to wife Pippa (Roberta Colindrez). Diana Dahl Bennett (Shailene Woodley) is a pregnant Jesus freak who has struggled with mental-health problems since childhood. She and her preacher husband James (Christopher Lowell) are temporarily living with Evie’s parents after being forced out of their church.
Everyone is waiting for Johnny Dahl (Christopher Sears) to show up on Christmas Even so they can dig into a roast lamb. Johnny is a recovering drug addict and eventually arrives late with his friend Loren (Barbie Ferreira), a fun-loving free spirit who is refreshingly level-headed and not amused by the discord of the Dahl family.
The Dahls have always played music together, from banjo and guitar to the kazoo. Watching them all jamming and singing together gives the show the right amount of levity to help neutralize the dark tone of gloom and tension that runs throughout the narrative.
Stellar cast
Despite the lugubrious nature of this sometimes-predictable drama, Cult of Love is worth seeing primarily thanks to the brilliant cast. Director Trip Cullman gets superb performances from everyone. Mare Winningham is marvelous as the crafty, unpleasant mother Ginny, and David Rasche also shines as her husband Bill. Zachary Quinto does a great job portraying the brooding Mark, and Christopher Sears is also first-rate as Johnny.
The female cast members are all outstanding. Rebecca Henderson is often touching as Evie, while Shailene Woodley is riveting and shows incredible range as Diana, the Bible-thumping daughter who goes from sweet and annoying to downright disturbing when she has a meltdown. Molly Bernard as Rachel, Roberta Colindrez as Evie’s out-of-place wife Pippa and Barbie Ferreira as Loren are all sublime in their supporting roles.
Cult of Love is hardly average Broadway holiday fare. Playwright Leslye Headland skillfully dissects and destroys the myth of “happy” families who demand loyalty without truly knowing how to love and accept one’s kin despite their individual quirks and flaws.
Published December 19, 2024
Reviewed at press performance on December 17, 2024
‘CULT OF LOVE’: (left to right) Shailene Woodley, Christopher Sears, Rebecca Henderson & Zachary Quinto. Photo: Joan Marcus.
‘CULT OF LOVE’: (left to right) Zachary Quinto, Mare Winningham, Shailene Woodley & David Rasche. Photo: Joan Marcus.
‘CULT OF LOVE’: Zachary Quinto & Shailene Woodley. Photo: Joan Marcus.
‘CULT OF LOVE’: (left to right) Zachary Quinto, Molly Bernard & Chris Lowell. Photo: Joan Marcus.
Complete the Cast of
LESLYE HEADLAND’S
CULT OF LOVE
Directed by TRIP CULLMAN
Joining the Previously Announced
Molly Bernard, Roberta Colindrez, Barbie Ferreira,
Rebecca Henderson, Christopher Lowell, Zachary Quinto,
Christopher Sears, and Shailene Woodley
New York Premiere Production
Begins Previews on Broadway November 20th
Opening Night December 12th
At Second Stage’s Helen Hayes Theater
NEW YORK – Second Stage Theater (Bennett Leak, Interim Artistic Director; Lisa Lawer Post, Executive Director) has announced that David Rasche (Succession, VEEP) and Emmy Award winner, Academy Award and Tony Award nominee Mare Winningham (Girl from the North Country, Georgia) will play Bill and Ginny Dahl, the parents of the fractured family at the heart of Emmy Award nominee Leslye Headland’s CULT OF LOVE. Directed by Obie Award-winner Trip Cullman, the New York Premiere production of CULT OF LOVE will begin previews on November 20th and will officially open on December 12th at the Helen Hayes Theater (240 West 44th street). This production will mark Ms. Headland’s Broadway debut.
‘CULT OF LOVE’: Mare Winningham.
Mr. Rasche and Ms. Winningham join the previously announced Molly Bernard (TV Land’s “Younger”), Roberta Colindrez (Broadway’s Fun Home, 2ST’s Mala Hierba), Barbie Ferreira (HBO’s “Euphoria”), Rebecca Henderson (“Star Wars: Acolyte”), Christopher Lowell (Netflix’s “Glow,” Hulu’s “How I Met Your Father”), Zachary Quinto (Broadway’s The Boys in the Band and The Glass Menagerie), Christopher Sears (Off-Broadway’s The Harvest and Gently Down the Stream), and Emmy, BAFTA, and Golden Globe Award nominee Shailene Woodley (The Divergent Series, Ferrari, HBO’s “Big Little Lies”), who will be making her Broadway debut. They will also be joined by understudies Peter Bradbury, Billy Cohen, Vero Maynez, Rachel Prather, and Luisa Sermol.
Single tickets are currently on sale at 2ST.com.
‘CULT OF LOVE’: David Rasche.
DAVID RASCHE most recently portrayed the bigwig media executive, Karl Muller, on HBO’s multi-award-winning series, “Succession.” Up next, Rasche will be seen in FX’s “Dying for Sex”” opposite Michelle Williams and Jenny Slate. His Broadway credits include: David Mamet’s Speed-The-Plow, Lunch Hour, with Gilda Radner and directed by Mike Nichols, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning, The Shadow Box. Off-Broadway credits include: Little Miss Sunshine, directed and written by James Lapine, Chekhov’s The Seagull at CSC for which he earned the Richard Seff Award from Actors’ Equity, David Mamet’s Edmond (Atlantic Theater Company), and Last Dance by Marsha Norman, with JoBeth Williams (Manhattan Theater Club).
He began his career on the mainstage at Chicago’s famed cabaret theater, The Second City.
His TV credits include recurring roles on two HBO series: “VEEP” with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and “Bored to Death” with Ted Danson, and the title role in the series, “Sledge Hammer!” His films include: About My Father (with Robert DeNiro and Sebastian Maniscalco), In The Loop (Armando Iannucci), Burn after Reading (Coen Brothers), Men In Black III (Sonnenfeld), Flags of Our Fathers (Clint Eastwood), United 93 (Paul Greengrass), The Sentinel (with Michael Douglas and Kim Basinger), An Innocent Man (Peter Yates), The Divine Secrets of the Yaya Sisterhood (with Sandra Bullock), That Old Feeling (with Bette Midler, dir. Carl Reiner), Delirious (with John Candy), and Manhattan (Woody Allen).
MARE WINNINGHAM’s career has encompassed a range of performances on stage, television, and film. She won her first Emmy Award for her role in “Amber Waves.” She went on to earn her second Emmy Award for her work in John Frankenheimer’s “George Wallace,” as well as Golden Globe and SAG Award nominations. She has received an additional six Emmy nominations for her performances in “The Boys Next Door,” “Hatfields & McCoys,” and “Mildred Pierce.” She was seen on television most recently in the limited series “Dopesick,” earning her sixth Emmy nomination. Her other high profile television movie and series credits include “The Thornbirds,” “ER,” “The Affair,” “The Outsider,” and multiple seasons of “American Horror Story.” Her range of film credits include performances in St. Elmo’s Fire, Wyatt Earp, The War, Turner & Hooch, Philomena, Dark Waters, All MY Puny Sorrows, and most recently, Rob Peace. She was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for her performance in Miracle Mile, and for her work in Georgia, she received an Academy Award nomination, SAG nomination, and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Her off-Broadway appearances include 10 Million Miles, for which she received a Lucille Lortel Award, in addition to Drama Desk and Drama League nominations, and Tribes, for which she received a Lucille Lortel nomination. She made her Broadway debut in a revival of Picnic and was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance in Casa Valentina. For creating her role in the original off-Broadway production of the Bob Dylan musical Girl From the North Country she received an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination; when the show subsequently transferred to Broadway, she was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance. Winningham is also a recording artist and has appeared in concert performance venues in New York, where she resides.
ABOUT CULT OF LOVE
It’s the holiday season for the Dahl family. The four adult children return to their childhood home with partners in tow. The Dahl traditions include singing carols in harmony at the drop of a hat, but the gathering is anything but harmonious. Old conflicts resurface, new issues battled, and dinner is taking absolutely forever to be served. Will the love the Dahls have for each other be enough to get them through, or will this be their last Christmas together?
Emmy® Award nominee Leslye Headland (Bachelorette, “Star Wars: The Acolyte,” “Russian Doll”) has written an equally heartwarming and heartbreaking new play about the things that bind families together… or tear them apart.
CULT OF LOVE will feature scenic design by John Lee Beatty, costume design by Sophia Choi, lighting design by Heather Gilbert, and sound design by Darron L West. The Music Supervisor is Jacinth Greywoode. Casting is by Jim Carnahan, CSA and Liz Fraser, CSA.
CULT OF LOVE had its World Premiere at IAMA in January 2018.
ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM
Playwright LESLYE HEADLAND is an Emmy®-nominated writer, producer and director. She returns to Second Stage Theater, which produced her play, Bachelorette, in its Uptown Series, and her play, The Layover, Off-Broadway at the Kiser Theater. Headland began her career writing and directing the “Seven Deadly Plays” series for IAMA Theatre Company. Most recently, Headland served as writer, director, showrunner and executive producer of “Star Wars: The Acolyte” for the Disney+ streaming platform. The series stars Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-Jae and Manny Jacinto. Headland currently has a multi-year, overall deal with Fox 21 Television Studios to create, develop and direct series for network, cable and streaming platforms. Headland served as writer, director, showrunner and executive producer of Netflix’s acclaimed series “Russian Doll” (co-created by Natasha Lyonne and Amy Poehler), which was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards and nine Creative Arts Emmy Awards. Headland made her directorial film debut with Bachelorette, which she adapted from her critically acclaimed play, starring Kirsten Dunst and Rebel Wilson. Bachelorette is currently streaming on HBOMax. She wrote and directed Sleeping With Other People, starring Jason Sudeikis and Alison Brie. Sleeping with Other People is currently streaming on Hulu. Both films premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2012 and 2015 respectively. Additional TV writing/directing credits include: “Single Drunk Female” (Freeform), “Terriers”(FX), “Blunt Talk” (Starz), “Smilf” and “Black Monday” (both Showtime), and “Heathers” (Paramount), as well as pilots for HBO, ABC and NBC.
TRIP CULLMAN (Director). Broadway: The Rose Tattoo, Choir Boy, Lobby Hero (Tony nom., Best Revival), Six Degrees of Separation (Tony nom., Best Revival), Significant Other. Select Off Broadway: I Can Get It For You Wholesale (Best Revival, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle) (CSC); The Lonely Few, Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow, YEN, Punk Rock (Obie Award), A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Gynecologic Oncology Unit At Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Of New York City (MCC); Days Of Rage, The Layover, The Substance of Fire, Lonely I’m Not, Bachelorette, Some Men, Swimming In The Shallows (Second Stage); Unknown Soldier, The Pain Of My Belligerence, Assistance, A Small Fire (Drama Desk nomination, Best Direction), The Drunken City (Playwrights Horizons); Choir Boy (MTC); Murder Ballad (MTC and Union Square Theatre); The Mother, I’m Gonna Pray For You So Hard (Atlantic); Roulette (EST); The Hallway Trilogy: Nursing (Rattlestick); The Last Sunday In June (Rattlestick and Century Center); Dog Sees God (Century Center); US Drag (stageFARM); and several productions with The Play Company. London: The Colby Sisters of Pittsburgh, PA (Tricycle). Select regional: Berkeley Rep, Geffen, Arena, Alliance, Old Globe, La Jolla, South Coast Rep, Bay Street, McCarter, Williamstown Theater Festival.
* * * * * *
Season Subscriptions are now available, 5-Play packages are $425 and 3-play packages are $295. For those 30 years of age and younger, Flip the Script 5 Play packages are $150. To purchase a subscription, please visit 2ST.com or call 212-246-4422. Subscribers receive early access to a winter festival of plays and readings by new American writers.
Second Stage Theater’s programs are made possible by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
This production is supported by a grant from the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation.
This season is sponsored by the Howard Gilman Foundation.
ABOUT SECOND STAGE THEATER
Second Stage Theater is a non-profit theater company founded in 1979 by Robyn Goodman and Carole Rothman that produces work by living American writers both on and off Broadway. The current season is being programmed by Interim Artistic Director Bennett Leak. Incoming Artistic Director Evan Cabnet will begin programming in fall 2025.
The company’s more than 200 citations include the 2024 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play for Branden Jacobs Jenkins’ Appropriate, as well as Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Play for Sarah Paulson and Best Lighting Design of a Play for Jane Cox; 2022 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play for Take Me Out, as well as Best Featured Actor in a Play for Jesse Tyler Ferguson; six 2017 Tony Awards for Dear Evan Hansen (Best Musical; Best Lead Actor in a Musical, Ben Platt; Best Featured Actress in a Musical, Rachel Bay Jones; Best Book of a Musical; Best Original Score; Best Orchestrations); the 2009 Tony Awards for Best Lead Actress in a Musical (Alice Ripley, Next to Normal), Best Score (Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey, Next to Normal), and Best Orchestrations (Tom Kitt and Michael Starobin, Next to Normal); the 2007 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play (Julie White, The Little Dog Laughed); the 2005 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical (Rachel Sheinkin, …Spelling Bee) and Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Dan Fogler, …Spelling Bee); the 2002 Tony Award for Best Director of a Play (Mary Zimmerman for Metamorphoses); the 2002 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work, 29 Obie Awards, 11 Outer Critics Circle Awards, four Clarence Derwent Awards, 20 Drama Desk Awards, 11 Theatre World Awards, one Dorothy Louden Award, 20 Lucille Lortel Awards, the Drama Critics Circle Award and 23 AUDELCO Awards.
For more information, please visit www.2ST.com or follow Second Stage on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok: @2stnyc
]]>
‘GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY’: The cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy.
[printfriendly]
GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY
Written & directed by Conor McPherson
Music & lyrics by Bob Dylan
Belasco Theatre
111 West 44th Street
(212-239-6200), www.northcountryonbroadway.com
By David NouNou
Hybrid musicals are constantly evolving. Originally started as pastiche musicals by songbooks from tunesmiths, examples being Fats Waller’s Ain’t Misbehavin’ and Lieber and Stoller’s Smokey Joe’s Cafe morphing into jukebox musicals the likes of Jersey Boys and Ain’t Too Proud—and let’s not forget the bio-musicals using an artist’s songbook: Beautiful, Donna Summer, The Cher Show and, most recently, Tina. Now we have musicals that create the story around an artist’s album and works, such as Alanis Morrisette’s angst-filled Jagged Little Pill (which opened last December). This brings us to Bob Dylan’s Girl from the North Country. Mr. Dylan was previously represented on Broadway in the abysmal The Times They Are a Changin’.
Girl from the North Country is set in 1934 in Duluth, Minnesota during the Great Depression, with no jobs and no money. Narrated by Dr. Walker (Robert Joy), he tells us about the characters that unfold in the story and their final Thanksgiving and Christmas in 1934 at the Laine’s rundown guesthouse and its transients. Nick Laine (Jay O. Sanders) is not only trying to save his guesthouse and home from foreclosure, he also has to take care of his dementia-riddled wife, Elizabeth (Mare Winningham) and his two children Gene (Colton Ryan), a shiftless drunken wannabe writer in his early 20s and an adopted black daughter who was left with them when she was a baby, Marianne (Kimber Elayne Sprawl), who is 19 and pregnant.
Nick is trying to arrange a marriage for Marianne with the wealthy 70-year-old shoe mender, Mr. Perry (Tom Nelis) in order to secure a home for her and her baby. Also, at the guesthouse is Mrs. Neilson (Jeannette Bayardelle) who is having an affair with Nick while awaiting her late husband’s probate to clear.
Also, at the guesthouse are Mr. Burke (Mark Kudisch) who has lost his business in the market crash, his wife Laura (Luba Mason) who takes care of their mentally challenged adult son Elias (Todd Almond), and the struggle to come to terms with their reduced plight.
Arriving late one stormy night, Nick takes in two borders, the self-proclaimed Reverend Marlowe and bible salesman (Matt McGrath) and a down-on-his-luck boxer, Joe Scott (Austin Scott), both looking for shelter. Now that all the characters are in place for the action to begin.
The book by Conor McPherson is engaging and you really get a feel for all the characters and how they are trapped in the situation of the day. They hope they can change their destinies, but the times are rough. This is where Bob Dylan’s songbook comes in and it doesn’t always mesh well with the storyline. Every time the story moves forward, a musical number is inserted randomly and slows down the proceedings, and here Mr. McPherson, in the role of director, doesn’t help the situation because every time a character has a song to sing, the rest of the characters form a back “doo-wop” singing group with microphones and finger snapping, all of which makes no sense. In Act I as you are getting to know the characters, the songs are forming the introductions in a way. In Act II, the songs become lugubrious and just halt everything with the added pointless dance movements by Lucy Hale.
The redemption of the evening consists of the hardworking acting and fine voices of the ensemble consisting of Jay O. Sanders, Mare Winningham, Mark Kudisch, Luba Mason, Robert Joy and Tom Nelis. However, the mellifluous and angelic voices are provided by the powerhouses: Jeannette Ray Ardelle, Kimber Elayne Sprawl, and Austin Scott.
At another time, this show would have been an interesting venture. What with the current state of the country and the economy, as well as the turmoil of the pandemic, I can’t say that this is exactly the antidote for the day, but Conor McPherson’s story is, regardless, still compelling.
Edited by Scott Harrah
Published March 11, 2020
Reviewed at March 10, 2020 press performance.
‘GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY’: The cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy.
‘GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY’: Mare Winningham. Photo: Matthew Murphy.
‘GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY’: Marc Kudisch. Photo: Matthew Murphy.
‘GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY’: Caitlin Houlahan & Colton Ryan. Photo: Matthew Murphy
‘GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY’: Austin Scott & Kimber Elayne Sprawl. Photo: Matthew Murphy.
‘GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY’: Luba Mason. Photo: Matthew Murphy.
‘GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY’: (left to right) Colton Ryan, Kimber Elayne Sprawl, Mare Winningham & Jay O. Sanders. Photo: Matthew Murphy.