‘MARJORIE PRIME’: June Squbb. Photo: Joan Marcus.

MARJORIE PRIME
By Jordan Harrison
Directed by Anne Kauffman
Through February 15, 2026
Second Stage at the Hayes Theater
240 West 44th Street
https://2st.com/shows/marjorie-prime
 

By Scott Harrah

AI (artificial intelligence) is everywhere in our lives in the 21st century. Despite all its hype, many contend that AI cannot truly replicate humans—human emotion in particular. Or can it? This is one of many thought‑provoking questions playwright Jordan Harrison poses in the sublime Broadway revival of his 2014 science‑fiction drama, Marjorie Prime.

The play takes place in the not‑too‑distant future, about 37 years from now, in 2062. Marjorie (Oscar nominee June Squibb) is an 85‑year‑old widow experiencing memory issues. Lonely and still coping with the loss of her husband Walter, she is introduced by her family to a “Prime”—a high‑tech AI projection designed to mimic her late spouse. Primes are not robots, but advanced technological recreations that look, speak, and sound human. The play opens with Marjorie in conversation with Walter, revisiting fragments of their shared past.

Blast from the past

Marjorie pours her heart out to the Prime, recalling memories in bits and pieces. The Prime absorbs these recollections and helps her refine and reorganize her thoughts about life with Walter. But are these memories truly fixed? Can they be edited, altered, or even erased altogether?

At the center of this debate are Marjorie’s middle‑aged daughter Tess (Cynthia Nixon) and son‑in‑law Jon (Danny Burstein), who approach the Prime from opposing emotional viewpoints. Tess worries about the psychological toll of her mother bonding with a technological stand‑in for a deceased spouse, while Jon sees the Prime as a compassionate solution to Marjorie’s loneliness. These conflicting perspectives generate a steady undercurrent of tension throughout the play’s brief 85‑minute running time.

Parable about humanity & technology?

On the surface, Marjorie Prime may resemble an ethical parable about humanity and technology. While that theme is certainly present, Harrison’s play is ultimately more concerned with aging, grief, and how families process loss. The differing perspectives of Marjorie, Tess, and Jon lend the story a sustained sense of dramatic tension, raising questions about memory, truth, and the ways humans adapt—emotionally and morally—to rapidly advancing technology.

June Squibb & Cynthia Nixon shine

June Squibb, at age 96, has received understandable media attention for being one of the oldest actors to perform on Broadway, but it is her commanding stage presence and remarkably fluid approach to Marjorie that make her performance so compelling. With apparent ease, Squibb pivots between wit and cantankerousness, irritation and moments of forgetfulness, allowing each emotional shift to feel organic and unforced. She not only brings Marjorie vividly to life but also strengthens the performances around her.

Cynthia Nixon delivers one of her strongest stage performances to date. She brings sharp emotional clarity to Tess, grounding the play’s futuristic premise in recognizable human anguish. Ms. Nixon captures Tess’s anger, vulnerability, and deep emotional fatigue, particularly in scenes shaped by grief and unresolved memory. Her tightly coiled anxiety stands in sharp contrast to Marjorie’s more easygoing temperament.

Danny Burstein & Christopher Lowell

Danny Burstein offers a warm, grounded performance as Jon, Tess’s husband, approaching the role with empathy and restraint. He allows Jon’s quiet frustration to surface naturally, giving the character a relatable humanity. Together with Squibb and Nixon, Burstein helps anchor the play’s emotional stakes.

Completing the ensemble, Christopher Lowell strikes a careful balance as Walter Prime. He suggests warmth and familiarity while maintaining a subtly unsettling emotional distance, reinforcing the character’s artificial nature without tipping into caricature.

Dynamic direction

Director Anne Kauffman skillfully guides the ensemble, allowing each performance to register clearly while maintaining tonal balance. She never lets the drama drift into sentimentality or melodrama, keeping the production emotionally resonant yet controlled.

Marjorie Prime is a provocative and deeply affecting play, and one of the year’s best. It speaks thoughtfully to the accelerating presence of AI in modern life and humanity’s uncertain ability to keep up with it. The play ultimately suggests that emerging technologies need not be inherently frightening; they may someday help shape how we choose to remember our lives—and one another.

Published December 15, 2025
Reviewed at press performance on December 11, 2025

‘MARJORIE PRIME’: June Squbb & Cynthia Nixon. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘MARJORIE PRIME’: Christopher Lowell & June Squibb. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘MARJORIE PRIME’: Danny Burstein & Cynthia Nixon. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘MARJORIE PRIME’: Christopher Lowell. Photo: Joan Marcus.

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‘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.

CULT OF LOVE
Written by Leslye Headland
Directed by Trip Cullman
Through February 2, 2025
Second Stage
The Helen Hayes Theater
240 W. 44^th 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.

The post ‘Cult of Love’: Dysfunctional family Christmas appeared first on StageZine.

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 20^th

Opening Night December 12^th

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 20^th and will officially open on December 12^th at the Helen Hayes Theater (240 West 44^th 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

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‘APPROPRIATE’: (Left to right) Michael Esper, Elle Fanning, Natalie Gold, Alyssa Emily Marvin, Corey Stoll & Sarah Paulson. Photo: Joan Marcus.

APPROPRIATE
Written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Directed by Lila Neugebauer
Through June 23, 2024
Belasco Theatre
111 West 44th Street
https://appropriateplay.com/

By David NouNou

What family doesn’t have its ups and downs? The Lafayette family is steeped in it. Three siblings and their families come down to rural Arkansas to settle their deceased father’s dilapidated estate, only to come down and find out and get more than they bargained for. The spelling of “appropriate” has two definitions: one can be what is proper behavior when you come down to settle an estate, the other definition is to take something for your own; like a trust fund or mutual property.

Late at night, Frank (Michael Esper) or Franz as his girlfriend, River (Elle Fanning) has renamed him have just broken into the house that belonged to his father. They arrive a bit early for the estate sale that is going to take place. However, his oldest sibling, Toni (Sarah Paulson) has arrived even earlier with her son, Rhys (Graham Campbell). Toni is in a frenzy due to the fact that Frank hasn’t been in touch with the family for over 10 years or attended the funeral of their dad, but he is here now and why. Middle brother, Bo (Corey Stoll) has also arrived with his wife Rachel (Natalie Gold) and their two children, Cassidy (Alyssa Emily Marvin) and Ainsley (Lincoln Cohen) from D.C.

If you are familiar with Tracy Letts’ August: Osage County you will notice a few similarities. These siblings all have backstories and plenty of baggage and recriminations. The first act is constructed and directed flawlessly. It starts with while packing and putting things away, a photo album is discovered which unleashes a torrent of revelations. Starting with racism, antisemitism, drugs, alcoholism, insults, finger pointing, pedophilia and a little bit of fascination between cousins, this family is toxic. More should not be revealed to the reader who hopefully and ultimately will be a viewer. This show plays like a jigsaw puzzle. Your allegiance to each character keeps shifting throughout the first act. Each time you are steered in one direction, you are quickly jolted into another. That is the purpose of a good show; it keeps the audience engaged and constantly guessing.

Act I ends on a brilliant cliffhanger. Act II begins meandering from the onset. It gets mired in further toxicity about the family and in a lot of cases the action seems contrived and doesn’t flow as easily as it did in Act I. The screwups become repetitious, and this is where playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and director Lila Neugebauer should have collaborated more tightly. They had one of the most brilliant endings in Broadway history about a boy coming down a staircase; instead, they chose to keep trudging along.

Where Ms. Neugebauer does succeed is in her direction of this great ensemble cast, headed by Sarah Paulson. Ms. Paulson’s performance is a tour de force: from her manic entrance, to her emotional breakdown, and her resolution, she thrills throughout. She sets the bar high, and her co-stars Corey Stoll, Michael Esper, Elle Fanning and Natalie Gold are on their toes matching her in riveting performances. The performances of these five actors weave a disturbing tapestry of a dysfunctional family and are compelling throughout the show.

This is one of the season’s must-see shows. The show was set to close on March 3, 2024. It will be on hiatus for about three weeks, and will reopen at the larger Belasco Theatre on March 25, 2024 and run through June 30, 2024.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published February 24, 2024
Reviewed at February 22, 2024 press performance.

‘APPROPRIATE’: Michael Esper, Corey Stoll & Sarah Paulson. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘APPROPRIATE’: Alyssa Emily Marvin & Elle Fanning. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘APPROPRIATE’: Michael Esper & Elle Fanning. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘APPROPRIATE’: Natalie Gold & Corey Stoll. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘APPROPRIATE’: Sarah Paulson. Photo: Joan Marcus.

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‘THE THANKSGIVING PLAY’: Chris Sullivan & D’Arcy Carden. Photo: Joan Marcus.

THE THANKSGIVING PLAY
Written by Larissa FastHorse
Directed by Rachel Chavkin
Through June 4, 2023
The Hayes Theater
240 West 44th Street
(212-541-4516), www 2st.com

By David NouNou

Larissa FastHorse’s The Thanksgiving Play is about as close to the theatre of the absurd as one can get. However, this absurdity is in the form of a satire on the state of “woke.” Ms. FastHorse, being a member of the Sicangu Lakota Nation, is the ideal person to write such a play and capture all the nuances of the spoken word of what can be said or can’t be said on or off stage.

Logan (Katie Finneran) was an actress and now is a director for an elementary school. She has just received a grant to direct a Thanksgiving play providing it has a Native American in the cast. She and her boyfriend, Jaxton (Scott Foley), a street performer/yoga enthusiast, are jointly working to present this play in a non-offensive, nontraditional, non-confrontational way and trying to sort out all the machinations on how this will come about.

Logan brings in two people that hopefully can sort out all the issues that arise in today’s “woke” society. In comes writer Caden (Chris Sullivan); he is an aficionado on the matter and has done research on Thanksgiving dating back to 3,000 years ago. The second is Alicia (D’Arcy Carden), an actress whom Logan hired, thinking she is a Native American. As it turns out Alicia is everything but a Native American. Her agent has advised her to have six different headshots to qualify her for any role from Native American to a Latina, and she was third understudy to Jasmine in Disney’s Aladdin. Alicia has been hired without checking her origins, because that would be discriminatory.

Problems keep arising for Logan who is in a serious predicament, because if she doesn’t get a Native American, she fears she will get fired or lose grant money. Logan decides to improvise this play and tries to find a way without offending somebody. With all the improvisations, there is no easy solution; hence the conundrum that “woke” has generated. The fun in the play is how to arrive to a reasonable solution, and it’s a dilly.

Director Rachel Chavkin has done a great job in keeping the play moving at a frantic pace, therein lies the humor. She has her cast on their feet and no one comes off better than the outstanding D’Arcy Carden as Alicia, for she embodies the beautiful vapid Hollywood actress that believes she doesn’t have to do anything but just be. She is perfection. The inimitable Katie Finneran is her usual great, energetic self as the uptight director trying her best to commit to a non-offensive production. Scott Foley and Chris Sullivan are ideal foils for these polar opposite women.

The pleasure here is how Ms. FastHorse has illustrated how “woke” has gotten a stranglehold on the theatre. Her Thanksgiving play is a thought-provoking metaphor for how far “woke” and political correctness can and has permeated American culture.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 27, 2023
Reviewed at April 26, 2023 press performance.

‘THE THANKSGIVING PLAY’: Katie Finneran. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘THE THANKSGIVING PLAY’: Scott Foley & Katie Finneran. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘THE THANKSGIVING PLAY’: Chris Sullivan & Scott Foley. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘THE THANKSGIVING PLAY’: D’Arcy Carden. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘THE THANKSGIVING PLAY’: D’Arcy Carden, Scott Foley & Chris Sullivan. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘THE THANKSGIVING PLAY’: Katie Finneran. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘THE THANKSGIVING PLAY’: Chris Sullivan. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘THE THANKSGIVING PLAY’: Scott Foley. Photo: Joan Marcus.

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‘BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY’ (left to right): Stephen McKinley Henderson, Elizabeth Canavan, Michael Rispoli, Common,  Liza Colon Zayas & Rosal Colon. Photo: Joan Marcus

BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY
Written by Stephen Adly Guirgis
Directed by Austin Pendleton
Through February 19, 2023
Second Stage at the Hayes Theater
240 West 44th Street
(212-239-6200), www.2ST.com

By David NouNou

Stephen Adly Guirgis won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize in Drama for Between Riverside and Crazy—crazy on the outside, but cunningly crafted on the inside. On the surface it first comes across as grifters taking advantage of an old man, but once the surface is scratched, there is a minefield percolating, ready to explode.

Walter “Pops” Washington (Stephen McKinley Henderson) is a retired black policeman who was accidentally shot by a white officer eight years ago. He turned down a lucrative settlement that did not meet his demands. He has been pursuing a discrimination suit against the police department. He lives in a large rent-controlled three-bedroom apartment on Riverside Drive and is now facing multiple eviction notices.

Pops’ wife Dolores has died a few years earlier. He now lives with a recovering drug addict, Oswaldo (Victor Almanzar), as well as his son “Junior” (Common) who has just been released from jail and living with them is Junior’s girlfriend, Lulu (Rosal Colon).

“Pops” is visited by three guests, not ghosts: Detective O’Connor (Elizabeth Canavan) who used to be Pops’ old partner when he was on the force, and Lieutenant Caro (J. Anthony Crane), her fiancé. Both have come to talk sense into Pops in accepting the force’s final offer. Also visiting is Church Lady (Maria-Christina Oliveras) who has come to comfort “Pops” by having him accept Jesus and find salvation.

The characters are set, and what’s unfolds takes place in multiple rooms in Pops’ shabby, overstuffed apartment. The set is an ingenious one designed by Walt Spangler where the set revolves and the actors and action flow seamlessly from room to room.

It is always a delight to see a formidable actor who has finally landed a role of a lifetime that is tailor made for his talents, and one in which he dominates. Having formerly seen Stephen McKinley Henderson in: King Hedley II, Fences and A Raisin in the Sun, he has always been a consummate actor that delivered the performances but never really got the attention he deserved, because he was always in supporting roles. At last, now at 73, Mr. McKinley is a star, giving one of the season’s devilishly outstanding performances.

Common as Junior, making his Broadway debut, has an incredible presence and delivers a heartfelt performance. Maria-Christina Oliveras as Church Lady gives a performance that has to be seen to be believed. It is outrageous in the most flattering of ways.

Best known for the 2011 The Motherf**ker With the Hat,  Stephen Adly Guirgis delivers another thoroughly enjoyable “dramedy” with salty language suitable to the characters. However, it is his star, Stephen McKinley Henderson, that is the steam to this percolating cauldron.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published January 4, 2023
Reviewed at January 3, 2023 press performance.

‘BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY’: Stephen McKinley Henderson. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY: Stephen McKinley Henderson, Elizabeth Canavan & Michael Rispoli . Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY’: Victor Almanzar. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY’: Stephen McKinley Henderson & Common. Photo: Joan Marcus 2022.

The post ‘Between Riverside and Crazy’ a must-see appeared first on StageZine.

‘CLYDE’S’: Uzo Aduba & (left to right) Kara Young, Ron Cephas Jones, Edmund Donovan & Reza Salazar. Photo: Joan Marcus.

CLYDE’S
Written by Lynn Nottage
Directed by Kate Whoriskey
Through January 16, 2022
The Helen Hayes Theatre
240 West 44th Street
(212-541-4516), https://www 2ST.com

By David NouNou

To call Clyde’s the best play of the season might not sound much of a compliment, considering the slim pickings that were offered this year, but let me assure you it can stand on its own merits in any season. It is a thought-provoking play peppered with laughs about hell, purgatory, dreams and hopes.

Clyde’s is set in a truck-stop sandwich shop in Berks County, Pennsylvania. It’s a modern-day purgatory. Run by the devil incarnate Clyde (Uzo Aduba), it is a place for former incarcerated inmates upon release to work and make some money to restart their lives. Clyde was once incarcerated herself because of a man that did her wrong, and she made sure he isn’t around to talk about it. She knows the system and worked out the deal. Thus, working long hard hours for very little pay, that’s the deal with Clyde because there is nowhere else for inmates to work or get paid. Do the job as told—or back in the clink you go.

In this hellhole work four former incarcerated people, their crimes ranging from petty larceny to assault:  Montrellous (Ron Cephas Jones) is the oldest and wisest who tries to keep hope alive. Jason (Edmund Donovan) is the tattooed-all-over loner who doesn’t fit in anywhere. Rafael (Reza Salazar) is the aspiring sous-chef with a positive attitude. Finally, there is the feisty Letitia (Kara Young) whose crime was stealing medicine to keep her baby alive. They are four misfits indeed, all of whom ultimately come together by having a dream in their spare time to talk about making the perfect sandwich.

There really isn’t much time for daydreaming or hoping because the dragon lady, Clyde, is there at every turn to make sure their dreams are crushed and there is nowhere to go but further down. From this misery comes people of diverse identities, forming this bond to keep their hopes and dreams alive and a feeling a self-worth. They feel that their past doesn’t have to constantly identify them.

Although this is an ensemble piece, director Kate Whoriskey makes sure every actor and movement on stage is meticulously timed. Just watch the inmates working around this hellhole of a kitchen, with a great set by Takeshi Kata; navigating through it is almost choreographic.

Uzo Aduba’s Clyde is phenomenal—whether berating the employees or pulverizing their souls and making sure they never get a break with anything—she rules. Her costumes by Jennifer Moeller are a drag queen’s fantasy.

Ron Cephas Jones imbues Montrellous with so much dignity that when he describes making a perfect sandwich, you are transformed in his dream. Mr. Cephas Jones, Edmund Donavan, Reza Salazar and Kara Young all mesh together seamlessly as an ethnically diverse group of actors and give performances that complement each other perfectly.

Is there such a thing as the perfect sandwich?  Depends on your taste, but I can assure you Lynn Nottage is offering us a devilishly delicious one with Clyde’s.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published November 27, 2021
Reviewed at November 26, 2021 press performance.

‘CLYDES’: Reza Salazar, Kara Young, Ron Cephas Jones & Edmund Donovan. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘CLYDE’S’: Reza Salazar & Kara Young. Photo: Joan Marcus.

The post ‘Clyde’s’ is best play of the season appeared first on StageZine.

‘GRAND HORIZONS’: James Cromwell & Jane Alexander. Photo: Joan Marcus

GRAND HORIZONS
Written by Bess Wohl
Directed by Leigh Silverman
Through March 1, 2020
The Helen Hayes Theater
240 West 44th Street
(212-541-4516), www 2ST.com

By David NouNou

Sustaining a marriage for 50 years is difficult. However, writing a good, sustainable comedy that doesn’t sound or read like a script from a TV sitcom these days is even harder. Playwright Bess Wohl has achieved this feat with Grand Horizons. Watching Nancy (Jane Alexander) and Bill (James Cromwell) for a few minutes setting up their dinner table and sitting down to eat, and Nancy nonchalantly uttering “I want a divorce,” is a wonderful starter.

Nothing is extraordinary about this situation and this doesn’t mean the play doesn’t have its shortcomings and filler, but what is extraordinary is the genuine laughter that playwright Ms. Wohl achieves. Grand Horizons is the name of the retirement home that Bill and Nancy live in. The remarkable cast elevates the material to hysterical heights.

The divorce isn’t so much about Nancy and Bill but how it affects their two sons: the older Ben (Ben McKenzie), his wife Jess (Ashley Park), and their younger son Brian (Michael Urie), a high-school drama teacher. The three are there to form an intervention against this divorce. In the process they discover their own shortcomings, the disillusionment of unhappy parents as they were growing up and their parents’ own secrets. The divorce stems from Nancy discovering Bill has been “sexting” Carla (Priscilla Lopez).

The setups aren’t new but there is a freshness to the tone. There is crispness to the dialogue, but the humor also comes with fillers. One such scene is Brian bringing a one-nighter (Maulik Pancholy) to his parents’ home. The scene is to establish Brian’s feelings about his parent’s divorce but the one-nighter is horny and isn’t interested in anything but sex. The scene has genuine truths in it, but is highly implausible.

What keeps the material afloat is the wonderful acting by an all-star cast, and I must admit I am a sucker for an all-star cast. Starting with Jane Alexander, long absent from the New York stage, making a regal comeback. Having first seen her in The Great White Hope, though the material here isn’t as compelling, she hasn’t lost her touch or command of the stage. She, like fine wine, has matured with age but is still lilting and grand.

Having seen James Cromwell in countless movies and TV shows, it’s great to finally see him on the New York stage. He is crotchety, compelling and ideal in trying to sort his life out.

Michael Urie plays another gay character here, but is absolutely beguiling as the lost son trying to make sense of it all. He touches the nerve of why he has never been able to connect with another person and wrenches the heart with his sincerity.

Priscilla Lopez as Carla, the other woman, just dazzles in her too-brief scene with Jane Alexander as they are discussing what to do with Bill, and starting to talk intimately is civility done to perfection.

Ben McKenzie, Ashley Park, and Maulik Pancholy add to the comic hysteria at various stages in bringing in their own perspective to this scenario.

Comedy is such a rare commodity these days and we are in such desperate need to laugh during these hard times. Grand Horizons hits the funny bone and is a welcome start to the New Year.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published January 29, 2020
Reviewed at January 28, 2020 press performance.

‘GRAND HORIZONS’: Ben McKenzie & James Cromwell. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘GRAND HORIZONS’: Priscilla Lopez & Jane Alexander. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘GRAND HORIZONS’: Ashley Park & Ben McKenzie. Photo:Joan Marcus

‘GRAND HORIZONS’: Michael Urie. Photo: Joan Marcus.

“GRAND HORIZONS’: James Cromwell. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘GRAND HORIZONS’: Jane Alexander. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘GRAND HORIZONS’: Michael Urie & Maulik Pancholy. Photo: Joan Marcus.

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‘LINDA VISTA’: Ian Barford & Caroline Neff. Photo: Joan Marcus

LINDA VISTA
Written by Tracy Letts
Directed by Dexter Bullard
Through November 10, 2019
Helen Hayes Theater
240 West 44th Street
(212-541-4516), https://2st.com/shows/linda-vista

By David NouNou

Tracy Letts as a playwright wrote the legendary epic August: Osage County, and as an actor he has given a definitive portrayal of George in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? I mention this because he is so good at everything he does. Whether on the screen or on stage, his performances ring true, but as a playwright he can be hit or miss. His Broadway follow-up to the illustrious August: Osage County was Superior Donuts—which at best was a disappointment. His current Linda Vista falls somewhere in between.

There is no doubt that Mr. Letts can write interesting, complex and flawed characters. The first act of Linda Vista is actually quite funny: a divorced man, Wheeler (Ian Barford), 50 and with a hip problem, is just moving to his new San Diego digs with the help of his best friend, Paul (Jim True-Frost). Wheeler is having a hard time adjusting to moving out of his ex-wife’s garage and leaving his troubled teenage son. This opening sets up Wheeler as an erudite but rigid know-it- all, and messed up. I mean really messed up. The exchange between the two is quite clever. Wheeler is in a dead-end job working as a camera repairman; he used to have ambitions to be a great photographer. Paul is concerned that Wheeler is not getting out much, so he fixes a double date with him and his wife, Margaret (Sally Murphy) and introduces the guy to Jules (Cora Vander Broek). They all go out to a karaoke singalong at a local bar.

With mixed feelings, Wheeler hits it off with Jules and they end up having a hysterical night of sex (hysterical for the audience), when in the middle of their second go round in walks Minnie, (Chantal Thuy), a 20-year-old pregnant Vietnamese next-door neighbor who has been thrown out of her apartment and has nowhere to go but ends up at Wheeler’s doorstep.

It’s in the second act that mayhem ensues. As in August: Osage County, no one comes out unscathed. The devastated and flawed have to pick up the pieces in their own way to survive, but somehow Wheeler keeps sinking lower to the point of losing his job. Maybe in the end he can start re-finding his redemption through his love of photography.

Mr. Letts knows how to write about white male flawed characters well, and his characters are extremely realistic. They have the same problems we do, but they have the nihilistic gene that thankfully most of us don’t have. The scenes are well written but director Dexter Bullard does not do an adequate job of editing the text. Scenic designer Todd Rosenthal has created a great set of the Linda Vista apartment complex in San Diego and various nearby locations, but again Mr. Bullard doesn’t utilize the scenes to properly fuse them into each other; the scenes just run into each other.

Cora Vander Broek—who until recently has been hidden away from Broadway in the hinterlands—is marvelous. Her Jules is heartbreaking. Having just broken up with a jerk and being quite vulnerable, she is a self-help “life coach” motivator on the rebound who thinks she has a good shot with Wheeler. Her breakup in the restaurant with him is shattering and crumbling. Just keep an eye on her self-respect moment towards the end; she speaks for every woman who has been scorned by a jerk and can move on with her head held high.

In the central role of Wheeler, I kept envisioning the charismatic Mr. Letts in the part of the disillusioned, washed-up wastrel.  A part like Wheeler needs an enigmatic actor who can be such a sh*t and still see the error of his ways and might find redemption in the end. Mr. Barford supplies Wheeler with the trappings of a heel, but can’t get us to hope for his ultimate salvation

Sally Murphy as Margaret gives a scorching performance in the second act, berating Wheeler for the person he is becoming.

There is a lot of good material in Linda Vista but with uneven writing and directing, it’s harder to roll the boulder up that mountain of empathy for a guy like Wheeler.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published October 16, 2019
Reviewed at October 15, 2019 press performance.

‘LINDA VISTA’: Cora Vander Broek & Ian Barford. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘LINDA VISTA’: Jim True-Frost & Sally Murphy. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘LINDA VISTA’: Chantal Thuy & Ian Barford. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘LINDA VISTA’: Cora Vander Broek & Ian Barford. Photo: Joan Marcus

The post ‘Linda Vista’: Love pains & middle age appeared first on StageZine.

‘TORCH SONG’: Ward Horton & Michael Urie. Photo: Matthew Murphy

TORCH SONG
Written by Harvey Fierstein
Directed by Moises Kaufman
Through February 24, 2019
The Helen Hayes Theater
240 West 44th Street
(212-239-6200),www.torchsongbroadway.com

By David NouNou

The original gay fantasia—set in the early 1970s and 1980s and every gay Jewish boy’s dream of being able to have the gorgeous hunk WASP lover and living happily ever after—is back. But as we all well know, that fantasy is not always the case even if we attain the unattainable. Originally known as Torch Song Trilogy, Harvey Fierstein wrote a play with a tailor-made role for himself. It was first produced Off-Off-Broadway, then moved to Off-Broadway at the Actors’ Playhouse, and finally came to Broadway in 1982 at the Little Theater, now the Helen Hayes, where it has landed in a most triumphant revival. Torch Song has come back home to its original theater with a shorter title and all the humor and pathos that made it a groundbreaking gay classic.

Upon second viewing what stands out the most is how pertinent and relevant the subject matter is now, even more so than it was in 1982. Back then, it had a certain voyeurism to gay culture and was titillating to see gay life explored so openly.

Act I entitled “International Stud” is set in a real backroom bar that existed in the ‘70s and ‘80s. We meet Arnold Beckoff or Virginia Hamm (Michael Urie), that being his drag name and a torch singer living in New York City. He encounters Ed (Ward Horton), the unattainable bisexual stud at the bar. He leaves with Ed and his real problems begin.

Act II, entitled “Fugue in a Nursery,” takes place three years later, 1974. Ed is with Laurel (Roxanna Hope Radja) and Arnold is invited by Laurel for a weekend in the country. Arnold is now with a former hustler, now model Alan (Michael Hsu Rosen). Needless to say, all that ensues is a kind of mixed doubles.

Act III “Widows and Children First” is the money-shot act and the most solid of all. It is now 1980 and we get to meet Mrs. Beckoff (Mercedes Ruehl), the role that was originated by Estelle Getty. It is here that we discover how the proverbial apple does not fall far from the tree. We learn about Arnold adopting an orphan, David (Jack DiFalco), and we find out that Ed has left his wife and is staying with Arnold. Most important is the battle royal that ensues between mother and son. Both have lost loved ones and both deal with their losses in different ways. Both demand love and respect on their own terms.

The third act shows how ahead of its time Torch Song really was. What we take for reasonable expectations now of having unattainable relationships and marriage, a family, and respect from loved ones was really once a fantasy. Although we have come a long way, certain dogmas remain constant.

Michael Urie has made the role of Arnold Beckoff his own. He has placed his own stamp and his own original contemporary take on Arnold. Mercedes Ruehl as his mother is electrifying. Their blow-up with each other is theater magic. Moises Kaufman’s direction gives the proceedings a feel of the present, although they are set in the not-so-distant past. The one flaw in this otherwise flawless revival is the casting of Jack DiFalco as the son David (who is supposed to be a 16-year-old teenager). This is the role that introduced the public to a young Matthew Broderick and later to Fisher Stevens; they were teenagers, Mr. DiFalco now is David. He is not a teen and does not even look like one. The head-scratcher here is didn’t anyone in casting or the production team see this as an obstacle? Regardless, Torch Song still holds up more than 36 years later as an epic of LGBTQ life that has a lot to say about sexuality, family, gender roles, love and acceptance to a new generation.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published November 5, 2018
Reviewed at November 4, 2018 press performance.

‘TORCH SONG’: Mercedes Ruehl & Michael Urie. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘TORCH SONG’: (left to right) Roxanna Hope Radja, Ward Horton, Michael Urie & Michael Hsu Rosen. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘TORCH SONG’: Jack DiFalco & Michael Urie. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘TORCH SONG’: Michael Urie. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘TORCH SONG’: Michael Urie & Jack DiFalco. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘TORCH SONG’: Mercedes Ruehl. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘TORCH SONG’: Michael Urie. Photo: Matthew Murphy

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