‘ENGLISH’: (left to right): Pooya Mohseni, Hadi Tabbal, Marjan Neshat, Tala Ashe & Ava Lalezarzadeh. Photo: Joan Marcus.

ENGLISH
By Sanaz Toossi
Directed by Knud Adams
Through March 2, 2025
Todd Haimes Theatre
227 West 42nd Street
https://www.roundabouttheatre.org/get-tickets/2024-2025/english

By Scott Harrah

Four Iranian students struggle to learn English as a foreign language while pursuing dreams of life abroad in the provocative comedy-drama English by Sanaz Toossi (winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Drama).  Set in a language school in Karaj, Iran in 2008, English focuses on the stories of each student as well as their teacher Marjan (Marjan Neshat), an upbeat woman who spent nine years in Manchester, England before returning to the Middle East. Ongoing themes about the struggle to learn a new language, cultural identity and communication issues run throughout the 90-minute play.

The English teacher

Marjan is a passionate anglophile and demands that everyone speak English only in her class. No Farsi is allowed at any time. Anyone familiar with advanced foreign-language classes knows this type of “immersion,” as it is called, is standard. However, while English contains lots of comedic moments about the difficulty learning and speaking English, Sanaz Toossi’s tale is also about the different reasons why the students are studying a foreign language. Many have dreams of leaving Iran to pursue better lives abroad.

The students

Elham (Tala Ashe) is hoping to attend medical school in Melbourne, Australia to become a gastroenterologist and medical researcher, but she needs a near-perfect score on the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language). Although she’s highly proficient in math and science, Elham is having trouble mastering English. She tells the class in earnest , “My accent is a war crime.”

Omid (Hadi Tabbal) is the only male student and his English skills are so exceptional that everyone wonders why he is in the class. He likes to visit Marjan during office hours so the two can watch videotapes American and British romantic comedies to purportedly get a better grasp of English. Regardless, it is obvious he fancies her and the two are flirtatious together.

Roya (Pooya Mohseni) is a middle-aged woman who needs to learn English so she can spend time with her son and daughter-in-law in Canada. She specifically needs to be fluent in English because her Canadian granddaughter doesn’t speak Farsi. Her character is one of the most heartbreaking in the show when we learn the truth about her family overseas.

Goli (Ava Lalezarzadeh) is an 18-year-old woman who just wants to learn English and speak it without a Persian accent to give her more career opportunities.  Because she is so young, Goli learns the language fast and has fewer difficulties than the older students.

Word games & ‘show & tell’

The story shows the students participating in word games, such as throwing around a ball and naming every item in a kitchen using the proper English word. Students are also expected to do a “show and tell” presentation in many classes, and there are some genuinely funny moments. In particular, Goli plays the silly Ricky Martin pop song “She Bangs” and analyzes the 2000 hit like it’s a Shakespearean soliloquy. However, Goli points out that “English doesn’t want to be poetry like Farsi.”

The universality of the play is perhaps the best aspect of playwright Sanaz Toossi’s story. This could be set in any non-English-speaking nation where people aspire to leave their homeland for a better life. Many dramas set in the Middle East focus on politics and religion, but the play avoids these controversial topics and instead explores the human conflicts that arise when a foreign language, culture, tradition and ambition all collide.

All that’s missing from Ms. Toossi’s otherwise superb script is more depth to the characters. Many scenes outside the classroom, when characters discuss their issues with learning English as well as their personal problems in life, add nuance and some explanation about each student’s backstory. However, in this one-act play, there are a few holes in the exposition. For example, we know the teacher Marjan spent nearly a decade in Manchester, but why she returned to Iran is never fully explained.

Outstanding performances

Director Knud Adams extracts outstanding performances from the five-person ensemble. Marjan Neshat, as teacher Marjan, is lively and somber and portrays the woman as both positive and nurturing while being complex and mysterious behind her cheerful façade.

Ava Lalezarzadeh as young Goli is wonderfully bubbly, while Hadi Tabbal is great as the enigmatic Omid.

Tala Ashe is remarkable as the troubled but gifted future doctor Elham. Ms. Ashe displays all the multiple layers to Elham with amazing skill and precision, showing the woman to be smart and self-assured but also vulnerable when she discusses taking the TOEFL exam.

Pooya Mohseni gives one of the show’s best performances as Roya, a woman torn between her love of her country and native tongue. She wants to learn English so she can reunite with her son and form a relationship with her English-speaking granddaughter in Canada. Ms. Mohseni displays a wide range of emotions with ease and aplomb, and the audience really feels all the pain Roya is experiencing.

Marsha Ginsberg’s simplistic but innovative set design, complete with Farsi words on a sign, Enver Chakartash’s authentic Iranian costumes, along with Reza Behjat’s wonderful lighting and equally effective sound design by Sinan Refik Zafar really make audiences feel like we are watching a class in the suburbs of Tehran.

Sanaz Toossi’s play examines the complexities of yearning to travel outside one’s home country for a better life. Just learning a foreign language is not the only obstacle people face when planning to travel abroad to work, study or reunite with family. English is a provocative evening of theater, showing how language and cultural barriers create many setbacks with sobering consequences.

Published January 29, 2025
Reviewed at press performance on January 28, 2025

‘ENGLISH’: Hadi Tabbal & Marjan Neshat. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘ENGLISH’: Ava Lalezarzadeh. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘ENGLISH’: Tala Ashe & Marjan Neshat. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘ENGLISH’: Hadi Tabbal. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘ENGLISH’: Tala Ashe. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘ENGLISH’: Pooya Mohseni. Photo: Joan Marcus.

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‘FAT HAM’: (Left to right, clockwise): Calvin Leon Smith, Nikki Crawford, Billy Eugene Jones, Benja Kay Thomas, Adrianna Mitchell & Marcel Spears. Photo: Joan Marcus.

FAT HAM
Written by James Ijames
Directed by Saheem Ali
Through July 2, 2023
American Airlines Theatre
227 West 42nd Street
(212-719-1300), www.FatHamBroadway.com

By David NouNou

There is a lot to process in James Ijames’ 2022 Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Fat Ham. There is a lot of fat and gristle to go through until you get to the meaningful middle, and that’s Marcel Sparks as the delicious Juicy.

Since there is no curtain, as one walks into the American Airlines Theatre, the setting is a backyard, somewhere in the Black South replete with tables, folding chairs and a barbecue smoker. In the middle of this set is a wreath with Pap’s picture in the middle. At the onset Juicy and his childhood friend Teo (Chris Herbie Holland) are chatting away and setting up decorations for a backyard party. Pap, Juicy’s dad (Billy Eugene Jones), died last week, and Juicy’s mom, Tedra (Nikki Crawford) has just gotten married today to Rev (again Billy Eugene Jones) who happens to be Pap’s brother, and Juicy’s uncle. Hence the preparations for this festive barbecue.

During setting up, Pap’s ghost appears in a white suit and smoke billowing from his shoulders, and he wants Juicy to avenge his murder by the hands of Rev. This sets up the narrative/comparison to Hamlet. Pap taunts Juicy for being “soft” (gay) and doesn’t have the courage to do it. At this point, Juicy breaks the fourth wall and addresses the audience. Both Pap and Rev have been mean to Juicy while growing up and never gave him the respect he deserves. It also gives Juicy his conscience and dilemma—at what point does one break the cycle of meanness and killing and stand up for one’s own principles and convictions as the kind and sweet-natured man Juicy is?

There are more people arriving to this barbecue: Rabby (Benja Kay Thomas), Tedra’s loud church lady friend and her two children, Juicy’s childhood friends: Larry (Calvin Leon Smith) and Opal (Adrianna Mitchell). Besides Juicy being “soft,” every character has a secret that can’t be revealed till a crisis has to eventually emerge.

There are parts that seem contrived and stereotypical, but at the center of it all is Juicy. A wonderful young man who is kind on the inside, has a heart and a mind and cares about everything and everyone, and who is determined on the outside. Marcel Sparks is the embodiment of Juicy. He infuses life into this complex character and gives him dimension to lift him up from his everyday life and surroundings.

Everyone else gives an over-the-the top quality to their performances that is not always honed, fine-tuned or reined in by director Saheem Ali. The performances are outrageous and all over the place. They lack the discipline Mr. Sparks has given to Juicy.  Despite its shortcomings, Fat Ham has many funny moments and has a lot to say about family ties and adjusting to one’s own true self.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 17, 2023
Reviewed at April 16, 2023 press performance.

‘FAT HAM’: Adrianna Mitchell, Chris Herbie Holland & Marcel Spears. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘FAT HAM’: Marcel Spears & Calvin Leon Smith. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘FAT HAM’: Marcel Spears & Billy Eugene Jones. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘FAT HAM’: Adrianna Mitchell & Benja Kay Thomas. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘FAT HAM’: Marcel Spears & Nikki Crawford. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘FAT HAM’: Marcel Spears & Adrianna Mitchell. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘FAT HAM’: Marcel Spears. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘FAT HAM’: (Left to right): Nikki Crawford, Billy Eugene Jones, Benja Kay Thomas, Adrianna Mitchell, Calvin Leon Smith & Marcel Spears in front. Photo: Joan Marcus.

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‘COST OF LIVING’: David Zayas & Katy Sullivan. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

COST OF LIVING
Written by Martyna Majok
Directed by Jo Bonney
Through October 30, 2022
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
261 West 47th Street
(212-239-6200), www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com

By David NouNou

Winner of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for drama, Martyna Majok’s Cost of Living is a poignant and touching play that is so ethereal in nature but wallops a heartbreaking punch to the guts. Everything seems and feels real. Everyone has the need to have someone in their life that with whom they can interact and communicate.

Cost of Living examines the relationship of two couples, where in each case one is disabled and the other is able. Eddie (David Zayas) is an unemployed truck driver whose ex-wife, Ani (Katy Sullivan) became a quadriplegic following a tragic accident. John (Gregg Mozgala) is a graduate student with cerebral palsy and has hired Jess (Kara Young) as his caregiver.

The scenes take place at different times. Eddie is in a bar on a Friday night recalling the texts his wife used to send him. In a different scene, Jess is being interviewed by John and needs the job of caregiver desperately. Both Eddie and Jess are extremely lonely, and both have a need to fill their lives. They both need a reason to survive another day. Extraordinary events take place, some real, some by invention of the mind. Their experiences are extremely real and palpable to each which brings them to an intersection to the truth and to connect.

What’s extraordinary for the audience is twofold. The play begs us to ask the question, “What is the cost of living, especially when you can’t put a price on it?” They must connect the dots to reality as well as experience the palpable and heart-wrenching performances given by the four cast members: Gregg Mozgala, Katy Sullivan, Kara Young, and David Zayas. They are further abetted by the excellent and seamless direction provided by Jo Bonney.

There is a haunting quality to Cost of Living that lingers long after leaving the show, and that is the true gift of a night well spent in the theater.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published October 7, 2022
Reviewed at October 6, 2022 press performance.

‘COST OF LIVING’: Gregg Mozgala & Kara Young. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

‘COST OF LIVING’: Gregg Mozgala. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

‘COST OF LIVING’: Kara Young. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

‘COST OF LIVING’: Katy Sullivan. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

‘COST OF LIVING’: Katy Sullivan & David Zayas. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

‘COST OF LIVING’: Gregg Mozgala & Kara Young. Photo: Jeremy Daniel.

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‘A SOLDIER’S PLAY’: (left to right) Warren Miller, Nnamdi Asomugha & Blair Underwood. Photo: Joan Marcus

A SOLDIER’S PLAY
Written by Charles Fuller
Directed by Kenny Leon
Through March 15, 2020
American Airlines Theatre
227 West 42nd Street
(212-719-1300), www.RoundaboutTheatre.org

By David NouNou

Originally opening Off Broadway in 1981 and winning the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1982, it is hard to imagine that it has taken almost 40 years for A Soldier’s Play to finally have a Broadway production. However, I must caution that at times the play might seem a bit dated —through no fault of playwright Charles Fuller, but due to Kenny Leon’s heavy-handed direction.

Set in Fort Neal, Louisiana in a segregated U.S. Army barrack in 1944, Captain Richard Davenport (Blair Underwood) has come to the base to investigate the unusual circumstances of the murder of company Sergeant Vernon C. Waters (David Alan Grier). Davenport is there to find out the truth but is met with hostility by not only the white base commander, Captain Charles Taylor (Jerry O’Connell), who would want to make it seem like the Ku Klux Klansmen did it, but also by the black serviceman who served under Waters.

By examining each person in the barracks, Davenport tries to unravel the tangled lives of the men vis-à-vis Waters. First, he has to find out why Waters, who was drunk on the evening of his death, was shot twice and his body found by the river to give credence that the Klansmen would have done this heinous crime. As each soldier presents his story in connection to the murder, Davenport unveils bigotry, self-loathing, death, guilt, and a life of a man who was always trying to obey the law even at the cost of incriminating his own people.

A Soldier’s Play is beautifully written and its framework stands like an Agatha Christie murder whodunit. This is one hell of a powerful play and its themes resonate to this day. It is further aided by the perfect and riveting performances of the entire company, especially by David Alan Grier, who gives a sterling performance as the tormented Waters. Blair Underwood is dauntless and perfectly chiseled (you’ll see in Act II) as the defiant and determined Davenport.

Although most of the men are making their Broadway debuts—Nnamdi Asomugha as Private First Class Melvin Peterson, Billy Eugene Jones as Private James Wilkie, J. Alphonse Nicholson as C.J. Memphis, Jared Grimes as Private Tony Smalls, and McKinley Belcher III as Private Louis Henson— they form a strong, tight-knit ensemble that raises the bar for acting.

Kudos to the Roundabout for having the vision to bring this gem of a play back for its long overdue Broadway debut.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published January 24, 2020
Reviewed at January 23, 2020 press performance.

‘A SOLDIER’S PLAY’: David Alan Grier. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘A SOLDIER’S PLAY’: (left to right) Rob Demery, J. Alphonse Nicholson & McKinley Belcher III. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘A SOLDIER’S PLAY’: The company. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘A SOLDIER’S PLAY’: David Alan Grier, Blair Underwood & Billy Eugene Jones. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘A SOLDIER’S PLAY’: Jerry O’Connell & Blair Underwood. Photo: Joan Marcus.

The post Intense ‘A Soldier’s Play’ makes Broadway debut appeared first on StageZine.

‘THE GIN GAME’: Cicely Tyson & James Earl Jones. Photo: Joan Marcus

THE GIN GAME
Written by D.L. Colburn
Directed by Leornad Foglia
Through January 10, 2016
Golden Theatre
252 West 45th Street
(212-239-6200), www.thegingamebroadway.com

By David NouNou

Although The Gin Game won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1976 (trust me, that year was very slim pickings), one doesn’t necessarily see it for content but for the incredible actors and actresses that have played the roles of Fonsia Dorsey and Weller Martin over the last 40 years. Having been fortunate to have seen the original production in 1977 with Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn at this same theatre, I was too young to appreciate its subtle nuances. Saw it again as a revival in 1997 with Julie Harris and Charles Durning, I appreciated it more in middle age, but I thought they were too young for these roles. Now that I am older, I finally caught up with the play and two of its finest performers.

This time the cantankerous Weller is James Earl Jones, and the gentile, soft-spoken Fonsia is Cicely Tyson. They are both superb and sublime. Here are two performers at the top of their game, and believe me, these two have had their share of game. Whether it was in The Great White Hope and Fences for Mr. Jones, or The Trip to Bountiful for Ms. Tyson, they have never stopped giving excellent performances on the stage, screen and television.

The plot is simple. Weller has been in this old-age home for three months and doesn’t like mixing with the other octogenarians. Fonsia has just arrived and bonds with Weller over gin games. He is a sore loser and she gets feistier with every game. With every game they get to know each other better, as well as their real selves.

What makes this version so unique is when you consider the ages of both Ms. Tyson, who is 90, and Mr. Jones, 84, and their spot-on delivery. There isn’t a beat or a nuance that is lost, and their character changes are just remarkable. Leonard Foglia, the director, has matched them well and paced them accordingly to give them characterizations.

The new fall season has just started and there are lots of fine actors giving good performances, but I doubt that you will see greater ones than what Mr. Jones and Ms Tyson are displaying at the John Golden Theatre this fall.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published October 16, 2015
Reviewed at press performance on October 15, 2015

‘THE GIN GAME’: Cicely Tyson & James Earl Jones. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE GIN GAME’: James Earl Jones & Cicely Tyson. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE GIN GAME’: James Earl Jones. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE GIN GAME’: James Earl Jones. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE GIN GAME’: Cicely Tyson. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE GIN GAME’: Cicely Tyson. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE GIN GAME’: James Earl Jones & Cicely Tyson. Photo: Joan Marcus

The post ‘The Gin Game’: Jones & Tyson in winning revival appeared first on StageZine.

POWERFUL BUT DATED ‘HEIDI CHRONICLES’: (left to right) Tracee Chimo, Jason Biggs, Elisabeth Moss & Bryce Pinkham in the revival of the Wendy Wasserstein classic. Photo: Joan Marcus

THE HEIDI CHRONICLES
By Wendy Wasserstein
Directed by Pam MacKinnon
The Music Box Theatre
239 West 45th Street
(877-486-3037),www.theheidichroniclesonbroadway.com

By David NouNou

Before Heidi there was “Maude,”and shortly after Heidi came “Murphy Brown,” all of them feminists, enterprising, uncompromising women, and unfortunately, all define a particular decade. “Maude” made a statement for women’s lib in the 1970s, “Murphy” advanced career women in the 1990s, but poor Heidi, she is stuck in the 1980s and really doesn’t stand for very much. She is a follower, not a leader. She is extremely well educated, bandies about the different prestigious colleges she attended or taught, an art historian, campaigned for women artists, and for all the women’s movements and activism she championed, she ultimately is defined through the eyes of the two men she met very early on in her life.

Heidi first met Peter Patrone in 1965 at her high school dance. He is charmingly caustic, clever, shy, endearing certainly (as portrayed by Bryce Pinkham). By the late 1980s, he is New York City’s foremost pediatrician. This relationship, although lifelong, is never an option for Heidi, for Peter to no one’s surprise but Heidi’s is gay.

The second man in her life is Scoop Rosenbaum. They met in 1968 at a McCarthy for president rally in New Hampshire. Scoop is arrogant, pushy in a likeable way (or maybe it is just because Jason Biggs is so likeable) and a successful editor of a magazine. Like Heidi, he is headstrong and not a good match. He ultimately marries a malleable woman who makes no ripples for him nor challenges him; this is not Heidi. They shall forever be the love of each other’s lives and the one that should have been but wasn’t meant to be.

Heidi’s life crisscrosses with these two men until the plays end in 1989. Throughout her many movements, many women enter in and out of her life, and all of them seem to move on successfully or not, except for Heidi. She glows when she lectures about female artists and their place in art history, but where is Heidi? Nothing ever seems to fulfill her or make her happy. Does she want too much? Does she want everything, but thinks she can’t attain it? These were heady questions for women up to 1989.

Unfortunately for The Heidi Chronicles, it is a play that is steeped and confined in its time frame and era. Hampered by the songs of each decade it represents, images of Geraldine Ferraro, pictures of women’s lib, with banners as backdrops, all add to the datedness of the play. Unlike Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Glass Menagerie, or Death of a Salesman, all of which are timeless and can be revived every few years by a visionary director that gives them a new slant, this play is so structured and confined that its parameters are limited. Of course, women’s rights are still relevant today, but Wendy Wasserstein took it only up to 1989 and a lot has happened for women since then—a lot of it good and some not so good: Sarah Palin for vice president, not so good. Hillary Clinton as the next president of the U.S.? Now that would be progress and who says women can’t have it all?

Okay, back to the play and cast; both Jason Biggs as Scoop and Bryce Pinkham as Peter shine in the play. They enliven the stage and are charismatic in their parts. A standout among the women is Tracee Chimo in multiple parts. Which brings us to Heidi and Elisabeth Moss; Heidi is not a very likeable person; she seems to be her own worst enemy. She participates in a lot of things but nothing makes her happy. Most of the major characters develop and grow, but Heidi seems to revel in her unhappiness. As portrayed by Ms. Moss, hardly anything changes through the decades, not even her hairdo. Ms. Moss, an accomplished, multi Emmy-nominated television actress (most notably in “Mad Men”) is not comfortable on the stage, thus making Heidi less interesting than even the minor characters in the play.

Although The Heidi Chronicles won the Tony and the Pulitzer Prize for Best Drama in 1989 and was revolutionary for its day, with Heidi even going so far as striking a chord by the end by becoming both a single mom and a career woman. As a revival, it all seems old hat; been there done that already.

NOT MEANT TO BE: Elisabeth Moss & Jason Biggs as former lovers Heidi & Scoop in ‘The Heidi Chronicles’. Photo: Joan Marcus

GIRL POWER: Ali Ahn, Leighton Bryan & Elise Kibler in ‘The Heidi Chronicles.’ Photo: Joan Marcus

HAVING IT ALL? Elisabeth Moss in ‘The Heidi Chronicles.’ Photo: Joan Marcus

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published March 26, 2015
Reviewed at press performance on March 25, 2015

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TENSE TOPICS: (left to right) Gretchen Mol, Hari Dhillon, Karen Pittman & Josh Radnor in ‘Disgraced.’ Photo: Joan Marcus

 

DISGRACED
Written by Ayad Akhtar
Directed by Kimberly Senior
Lyceum Theatre
149 West 45th Street
(212-239-6200), www.DisgracedOnBroadway.com

By David NouNou

While watching Ayad Akhtar’s Disgraced, two words immediately spring to mind: provocative and contrived. I can’t honestly add “thought provoking” because that all depends on how one feels about the subject matter. Mr. Akhtar has created this huge cauldron and has thrown everything into it, Muslim, Jew, white, black, Islamic art, religious beliefs, political stances, bigotry, and prejudices. All this sounds like heady material but ultimately it comes across as too calculated. It’s being invited to friends for dinner and after some drinks, the evening turns into Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Instead of attacking the fragile state of marriages, religion, beliefs, both sacred and secular, come under fierce attack.

Amir (Hari Dhillon), a Pakistani lawyer who was of Islamic faith, and lives on the Upper East Side and specializes in mergers and acquisitions, has done everything to assimilate to the American way of life. He married a blond beauty trophy wife, Emily (Gretchen Mol), which would be something totally against the Quran. Emily specializes in Islamic art and is up for a showing at the Whitney Museum. His nephew Hussein, who has also assimilated and changed his name to Abe (Danny Ashok), pops in while Emily is sketching a portrait of her husband. Abe wants Amir to represent an imam accused of funding Islamic terrorists against Amir’s better judgment. The imam doesn’t trust his Jewish lawyers and would prefer to have Amir has part of his legal team. Amir is up for partnership in his Jewish law firm. To please the well meaning but misguided and deluded American Emily, he attends a hearing and now starts the stirring of this proverbial cauldron.

A few weeks after this incident, Isaac (Josh Radnor), a Jewish art curator interested in Emily’s art, among other things, is married to Jory (Karen Pittman), a black lawyer who also works in Amir’s law firm, and they are all friends. Exposition set up, drinks flow and dinner begins.

There is nothing off the table; from racist rants to religious shredding, the gloves come off and everyone is on their own, nothing is sacred. Everyone is disgraced, whether it is through race, religion, beliefs, ideas, marriage or friendship. Kimberly Senior puts her actors through a shredder; her direction is swift and peels off all their layers. Needless to say, they all come off superbly and sincerely.

Mr. Akhtar has totally opened the theater to something new, unfamiliar and uncomfortable. This is not Rodgers and Hammerstein shedding light on racism as in South Pacific. There is plenty of grit and as far as Mr. Akhtar is concerned, honesty and the actors do his words justice. This is not theater for the faint of heart; there is no comfort zone here. Earlier I mentioned provocative, and it is. I also mentioned contrived, for where else are you going to find a black, Jew, Muslim and white all occupying the same space and time and justifying their true nature at a dinner party? You may enjoy it or might find it repellant, depending on what your stance is. In the end, this is reality and what is going on in the real world today.

LAW FIRM COLLEAGUES: Hari Dhillon & Karen Pittman in ‘Disgraced.’ Photo: Joan Marcus

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published October 29, 2014
Reviewed at press performance on October 28, 2014

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