‘& JULIET’: (from left): Joomin Hwang, Rachel Webb, Bobby Pocket Horner, Lorna Courtney, Virgil Gadson. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

& JULIET
Book by David West Read
Music & lyrics by Max Martin & friends
Directed by Luke Shepard
Stephen Sondheim Theatre
124 West 43rd Street
212-239-6202, www.AndJulietBroadway.com

By David NouNou

There is an infectious vitality to & Juliet that is off the charts. It has a great and actually funny, irreverent book by David West Read and a catchy score from start to finish by Max Martin & friends. No spoiler alert here, but the score includes Britney Spears’ “Baby One More Time” and “Oops…I Did It Again”, Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” & “Roar” as well as the Backstreet Boys’ “Everybody” and more surprises.

As Shakespeare wrote it, Romeo takes his poison and dies. Juliet awakens from her drugged coma, learns from Friar Laurence of what happened, and stabs herself to death. The end. Well, not in this version. Juliet (Lorna Courtney) wakes up and figures things out for herself. Why should she kill herself? And it was selfish of Romeo to kill himself and not wait for her. She intends to live her life. Thus, the merriment unfolds.

Besides Juliet, there are the three other principal protagonists: William Shakespeare (Stark Sands) and Anne Hathaway, not the actress but actually Shakespeare’s wife (Betsy Wolfe). They manipulate how the story should continue now that Juliet is alive. Anne looks at things from the feminist point of view and wants Juliet to experience all the alternatives at her disposal, while William wants to keep the traditional manner in which he conceived it. The third principal is Melanie La Barrie as the Nurse.

As the play progresses, different characters are introduced that alter Juliet’s life and if she should even remarry. Even Romeo (Ben Jackson Walker) is resurrected and makes another plea for Juliet’s hand in marriage. Decisions, decisions.

With further alterations by William and Anne, Juliet leaves Verona for Paris to flee her parents and encounters Francois (Philippe Arroyo), the dejected son of Lance (Paulo Szot), a man of high importance in the courts of Paris. Lance forces Francoise to make him proud by marrying Juliet. One problem, though: Francoise is gay and in love with May (Justin David Sullivan) who happens to be Juliet’s BFF. Lance in younger days had an affair with Juliet’s nurse. Messy. Messy. Not to worry; things do sort themselves out.

As I mentioned the premise is great, the score delightful, and the performances in some cases are good, except for the over hamming by most. Lorna Courtney delivers her songs “Oops!…I Did It Again” and “Roar” like a finalist on The Voice and not so much as the character, Juliet. Betsy Wolfe is a consummate Broadway pro and really gives Anne the boost for feminism that the character requires. She is in great voice and far superior to her British counterpart in the London version we saw this summer. Stark Sands as William is raffish enough, but lacks the spark and passion needed for William to be compelling.

The surprise of the evening is Paulo Szot, best known for his 2008 Tony-winning performance as Emile De Becque in South Pacific. He is a wonderful baritone who seems to be enjoying himself in the part of Lance singing and precision dancing as a boy band singer. He delivers a delightful performance.

This musical is further enhanced by its creative team. Set designer Soutra Gilmour has created original, unorthodox, seamless, cluttered but easy-on-the-eye sets. The costumes by Paloma Young are colorful. Lighting Designer Howard Hudson captures every mood, night or day. Choreographer, Jennifer Weber has injected so much energy and originality in her dances. Director Luke Sheppard keeps the merriment going and unfolding at every scene, but in his English version, the supporting cast was tighter and more focused than the freewheeling in this version.

The surprises keep coming, the fun rolls along, and remember in this version it is Juliet, not Romeo.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published November 30, 2022
Reviewed at November 29, 2022  performance.

‘& JULIET’: Lorna Courtney & cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘& JULIET’: The cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘& JULIET’: (left to right) Lorna Courtney, Betsy Wolfe, Justin David Sullivan & Melanie La Barrie. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘& JULIET’: Stark Sands & Betsy Wolfe. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘& JULIET’: Ben Jackson Walker & cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘& JULIET’: Lorna Courtney & cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘& JULIET’: Melanie La Barrie & Lorna Courtney. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘& JULIET’: Paulo Szot & Phillipe Arroyo. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

‘& JULIET’: Philippe Arroyo & Justin David Sullivan. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

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‘MRS. DOUBTFIRE’: Rob McClure. Photo: Joan Marcus.

MRS. DOUBTFIRE
Book by Karey Kirkpatrick & John O’Farrell
Music & lyrics by Wayne Kirkpatrick & Karey Kirkpatrick
Directed by Jerry Zaks
Choreographed by Lorin Latarro
Music supervision by Ethan Popp
Stephen Sondheim Theatre

124 West 43rd Street
(212-239-6200), www.DoubtfireBroadway.com

By David NouNou

Mrs. Doubtfire’s intentions are good and it aims to please. There is a lot going on in here, but in this case, the proverbial less would have been more. Fewer non-descript songs by the talented Kirkpatrick brothers would have gone a lot further. They did a great job with the score of Something Rotten!—one of my all-time favorite shows—but here the score is so unmemorable to the point of tedium, with the exception of two production numbers, “Make Me A Woman” and “The Shape of Things to Come,” thanks to the ingenious direction by Jerry Zaks and the choreography by Lorin Latarro.

When you create a stage adaptation of a mega-hit family movie—one which originally starred the incomparable Robin Williams—you are also taking a big gamble. Yes, it is an identifiable brand, but turning Mrs. Doubtfire into a musical forces one to make the unenviable comparison of movie versus musical. The movie was seamless and believable and you rooted for the hero Daniel Hilliard/Mrs. Doubtfire. In this case, it is quite difficult to root for Daniel (Rob McClure).

Daniel here is an obnoxious, irresponsible man-child who refuses to take anything seriously. His wife Miranda (Jenn Gambatese) has given him every opportunity to grow up and take responsibility as a husband and father, but he instead remains a child among his own three children: Lydia (Analise Scarpaci), Christopher (Jack Ryan Flynn) and the youngest, Natalie (Avery Sell). This leads to their divorce and the custody of the children. The only way Daniel would get more time to spend with his children is to take the job of their nanny/babysitter, and recreate himself as Mrs. Doubtfire with the aid of the make-up artists Frank, his brother (Brad Oscar) and his husband Andre (J. Harrison Ghee).

You’ll have to wait for about 20 minutes into the show before it begins to come to life, and that’s thanks to the marvelous number given to Mr. Oscar and Mr. Ghee in “Make Me a Woman.” Whenever the show drags, not meant as a pun, the two are in place to give the show some transfusion. Another lovable character is Peter Bartlett as Mr. Jolly, a TV host for a children’s show.

With the book not being much help except as the blueprint for the musical, Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell have thrown in a lot of unnecessary fillers to differentiate themselves from the movie. You will find that out for yourself. Thanks to the genius of Jerry Zaks, he’s infused it with a lot of fun touches to make it pass for family entertainment.

In defense of Mr. McClure, his energy is boundless, his talents are endless and he transforms from Daniel to Mrs. Doubtfire with ease. Despite Mr. McClure’s many gifts, how can anyone compete with a phenomenon like the late Robin Williams?

Jenn Gambatese isn’t given much to do but be dour for most of the show, and the kids— instead of being naturals—are cloying Broadway kids.

As I said before, the show tries very hard to please, and out-of-towners will love it.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published December 9, 2021
Reviewed at December 8, 2021 press performance.

‘MRS. DOUBTFIRE’: (left to right) Avery Sell, Jake Ryan Flynn, Analise Scarpaci, Jenn Gambatese & Rob McClure. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘MRS. DOUBTFIRE’: (left to right) J. Harrison Ghee, Brad Oscar, Charity Angél Dawson & Rob McClure. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘MRS. DOUBTFIRE’: Brad Oscar, Rob McClure & J. Harrison Ghee. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘MRS. DOUBTFIRE’: Jenn Gambatese & Rob McClure. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘MRS. DOUBTFIRE’: Peter Bartlett. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘MRS. DOUBTFIRE’: Rob McClure. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘MRS. DOUBTFIRE’: The cast. Photo: Joan Marcus.

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‘SLAVA’S SNOWSHOW’: Yellow clown in storm by Veronique Vial.

SLAVA’S SNOWSHOW
Created & staged by Slava Polunin
Through January 5, 2020
Stephen Sondheim Theatre
124 West 43rd Street
(212-239-6200), www.SlavaOnBroadway.com

By David NouNou

Seeing Slava’s Snowshow may conjure up memories of the hallucinogenic images that people who took “acid” experienced decades ago. In the 1980s, I dropped “acid” at the discos (most notably at The Saint) a few times and had some weird trips. You know those images from what we called “tripping,” where you are sitting on a banquette and you are too “toasted” to move, but the weird images keep floating past you. People having clownish faces, wearing strange outfits, garbled background noise, disconnected music and people just jabbering in front of you. All of it seems like you are in an echo chamber and things keep moving in and out of your head and all around you and you have no control over it. Having been clean for over 30 years now, sitting at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre last night, suddenly all those weird images and sounds resurfaced again.

Slava Polunin is the creator, director, and lead actor, dressed in a yellow bear-like costume with a red scarf along with six fellow actors, all of whom are dressed in similar seafoam shabby green coats (please view pictures for accurate description) and some sort of oversized headwear. By reading the Playbill notes, I discovered that these seven misguided souls are traveling through a winter landscape in search of joy and childhood innocence. Someone should have slipped me a Quaalude to put me on a more even keel in order to find joy and be in touch with my childhood innocence. Then I would have been flying in the same plane as the rest of the actors.

This is not really a pantomime, nor balletic movements, or even as remotely exciting as any show by Cirque Du Soleil; it is just random movements, random squeaky noises, and random effects, such as a cotton curtain-like cobweb floating over the heads of the audience sitting in the orchestra, being pushed to the back of the house and bringing us to the intermission

Act II starts with the audience in the orchestra being sprayed by bottles of water to simulate rain. Considering it was about 30 degrees Fahrenheit last night, one didn’t need to go out of the theatre wet. Also be prepared to have a high/low voice along with the actors. You have to be there to understand that one, and you will be pelted by tons of paper confetti from all sides.

The pièce de résistance is the finale. I must caution you that if you wear contact lenses, make sure your eyes are covered, because you need both hands to protect them for what’s in store for you. During the mandatory standing ovations now, you will also have a chance to bounce huge balls around the theatre with your fellow audience members.

Although Slava’s Snowshow is not for everyone, it has played around the world and won an Olivier Award and other accolades, despite what critics like I may think. I recall reading some wise man stating “too many empty Broadway houses gives the opportunity for too many shows that were meant for Off-Broadway to have a place on Broadway this season.”

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published November 13, 2019
Reviewed at November 12, 2019 press performance.

‘SLAVA’S SNOWSHOW’: Little houses in the snow by Andrea Lopez.

‘SLAVA’S SNOWSHOW’: Yellow clown in storm by Vladimir Mishukov.

‘SLAVA’S SNOWSHOW’: Crowd in spider web by Vladimir Mashukov.

‘SLAVA’S SNOWSHOW’: Cobweb by Andrea Lopez.

‘SLAVA’S SNOWSHOW’: Colored balloons in the audience by Veronique Vial.

‘SLAVA’S SNOWSHOW’: Clown & snowball by Veronique Vial.

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