FRANKIE AND JOHNNY IN THE CLAIR DE LUNE
Written by Terrence McNally
Directed by Arin Arbus
Through August 25, 2019
Broadhurst Theatre
235 West 44th Street
(212-239-6200), https://www.frankieandjohnnybroadway.com/

By David NouNou

Frankie and Johnny in the Clare de Lune first opened at Stage 2 of the Manhattan Theater Club in June 1987 with Kathy Bates and F. Murray Abraham, who was followed by Kenneth Welsh. As described, Frankie is a fat, frumpy waitress who is emotionally defined by her unattractiveness. She is a waitress in the diner where Johnny is a short-order cook who is in good physical condition. There was a revival in 2002 with Edie Falco and Stanley Tucci at the Belasco Theatre. Ms. Falco wasn’t fat or unattractive but had her share of hang-ups, and Stanley Tucci in that version was hot.

The current incarnation gives us a different slant of these two people; they are both still damaged souls and desperately seeking a connection. They are both fairly attractive but come with a lot of baggage. After six weeks of working together, Frankie and Johnny finally go out on a date and, from the onset of the play, we find them having explosive sex in her apartment.

Naturally for Johnny, (Michael Shannon), he feels he found his soul mate and they are meant for each other as in the song “Frankie and Johnny.” However, for Frankie (Audra McDonald) she is more cautious and feels once the deed is over, it is time for Johnny to leave. This is not going to happen. Johnny is persistent, and does everything to convince Frankie he is her man. Their differences are also their similarities. They’ve both made bad choices throughout their lives and have had consequences to pay for it. Johnny sees it as a last chance for love and redemption; Frankie is just afraid of commitment and the fear of being beaten up again. It is ultimately music that starts to bring these two together. On this particular night, Johnny calls up a radio station DJ to play the beautiful song they heard earlier that night, but the DJ instead plays the enthralling “Clare de Lune” by Claude Debussy

What makes the piece exciting is the casting. Michael Shannon is a revelation here for multiple reasons. If you ever saw him in films like The Shape of Water, Nocturnal Animals or Revolutionary Road, he does not come off as the genial “nice guy next door.” He is intense. Intense. So, Frankie has got to be thinking what the hell has she gotten herself into with this overzealous could-be psycho, who she will ultimately have to face again on Monday at the diner? The harder part of the two characters in this case is Johnny’s, not only does he have to seduce Frankie, he has to seduce the entire audience in rooting for him. In an odd perverse way, we would all like to have such a committed person in our life. His seductive manner is overpowering, but his intentions are always true and good. He brings humanity in the purest form to Johnny.

Ms. McDonald has to be constantly on her guard as whether Johnny is for real or another Saturday night crackpot. She puts barriers up, and he methodically brings them down. Matched together, Ms. McDonald’s Frankie could easily throw Johnny out of her apartment if she wanted to; she is that strong a woman. Also, what works against Ms. McDonald are the hideous costumes she has to wear, for they strip her of any femininity and vulnerability. Her Frankie could have used those two characteristics, and matched Mr. Shannon in charming and seducing the audience to her side of thinking. Instead, she just settles for the frumpiness.

This is one of Terrence McNally’s most charming and delicate plays and very accessible. However, in this case, the Broadhurst Theatre becomes a cavernous venue for such a delicate piece. The apartment in use is a studio in Hell’s Kitchen, but at the Broadhurst Theatre, it seems like a three-bedroom apartment, so a lot of the cramped, in-your-face, claustrophobic tensions are lost. Perhaps the show should have waited for the smaller venue, the Booth Theatre (which will be available soon), where the fireworks of these two talented and overwhelming leads would have ricocheted off the walls.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published June 5, 2019
Reviewed at June 4, 2019 press performance.

‘FRANKIE AND JOHNNY IN THE CLAIR DE LUNE’: Audra McDonald & Michael Shannon. Photo: Deen van Meer

The post ‘Frankie and Johnny’ returns with McDonald & Shannon appeared first on StageZine.

ROSEMARY HARRIS: Will receive Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in Theatre. (Pictured: Ms. Harris in Indian Ink in 2014.)  Photo: Joan Marcus

ROSEMARY HARRIS, TERRENCE McNALLY & HAROLD WHEELER

TO BE HONORED WITH THE 2019 SPECIAL TONY AWARDS

FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN THE THEATRE

New York, New York (April 25, 2019) – The Tony Awards Administration Committee announced today that Tony Award-winning actress Rosemary Harris, Tony Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally and Tony-nominated composer and musician Harold Wheeler will be the 2019 recipients of the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre.

“We are thrilled to recognize Rosemary, Terrence and Harold with the Special Tony Awards for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre,” said Heather Hitchens, President of the American Theatre Wing and Charlotte St. Martin, President of The Broadway League.  “They are pioneers in each of their crafts and their contributions to American Theatre and culture has been immeasurable.”

Rosemary Harris, a Tony Award winner for Best Actress for her performance in The Lion in Winter (1965), is currently starring as Mrs. Higgins in Lincoln Center Theater’s award-winning production of Lerner and Loewe’s My Fair Lady. Her other 25 Broadway credits include Tony nominations for The Royal Family (2009), Waiting in the Wings (1999), the LCT production of Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance (1996), Hay Fever (1985), Pack of Lies (1984), Heartbreak House (1983) and Old Times (1972).  She won the Theatre World Award for The Climate of Eden (1952) and was a founding member in Ellis Rabb’s APA-Phoenix Company (1960-67). Her London theater credits include Dame Laurentia McLachlan with John Gielgud in his farewell theatre performance in The Best of Friends (1988); All My Sons (1982); Desdemona opposite Richard Burton in Othello (1956, Old Vic); and at The Royal National Theatre, Ophelia with Peter O’Toole in Hamlet (1964) and Yelena with Laurence Olivier in his celebrated production of Uncle Vanya (1964).  Off-Broadway: All Over (Obie Award, 2003).  Films include Aunt May in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy and Tom and Viv (Oscar nomination). TV: An Emmy Award winner for “Notorious Woman,” and a Golden Globe Award winner for “Holocaust.”

Terrence McNally has had a remarkably far-ranging career, including at least one new work on Broadway in each of the last six decades. A revival of his play Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune begins performance on Broadway on May 4, starring Audra McDonald and Michael Shannon.  In 2018 he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is a recipient of the Dramatists Guild Lifetime Achievement Award and the Lucille Lortel Lifetime Achievement Award. He has won four Tony Awards for his plays Love! Valour! Compassion! and Master Class and his musical books for Kiss of the Spider Woman and Ragtime. He has written a number of TV scripts, including “Andre’s Mother,” for which he won an Emmy Award. He has received two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Rockefeller Grant, four Drama Desk Awards, two Lucille Lortel Awards, two Obie Awards, and three Hull-Warriner Awards from the Dramatists Guild. In 1996 he was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame. He wrote the libretto for the operas Great Scott and Dead Man Walking, both with music by Jake Heggie. Other plays include Mothers and Sons; Lips Together, Teeth Apart; The Lisbon Traviata; A Perfect Ganesh; The Visit; The Full Monty; Corpus Christi; Bad Habits; Next; The Ritz; Anastasia; It’s Only a Play; Where Has Tommy Flowers Gone?; and The Stendhal Syndrome.

Harold Wheeler is an accomplished orchestrator, composer, conductor, record producer and arranger. In a career spanning more than five decades, he has received numerous accolades, including Emmy, Tony and Drama Desk nominations and a lifetime achievement award from the NAACP Theatre Awards.   Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Wheeler began studying piano at age five, when he played for Sunday school at his church. He continued his studies through elementary and high school, which eventually led him to Howard University. While at Howard, Wheeler met other budding musical talent, including Roberta Flack, Donny

Hathaway and his future wife, Hattie Winston. Upon graduating, he attended the Masters of Music program at the Manhattan School of Music in New York. Although best known for his 17 seasons as musical director for the ABC show Dancing with the Stars, Wheeler has enjoyed many years of success over several mediums.  Wheeler started his career as an assistant program director for CBS-FM Radio and began composing his own music and coaching other performers. Wheeler’s talents led him to legendary composer Burt Bacharach, who hired him to conduct his musical Promises, Promises. At the time, Wheeler became the youngest conductor on Broadway. He would go on to work on some of Broadway’s most memorable shows, including: Ain’t Supposed to Die a Natural Death, A Chorus Line, The Wiz , Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music and Dreamgirls . He has earned six Tony Award nominations for his work on The Life , Little Me , Swing, The Full Monty, Hairspray and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels , and won a Drama Desk Award for his work on Hairspray. In addition to his theatre work, Wheeler gained extensive experience in television and film. In 1971, he formed his own jingle house. Throughout the decade he composed, arranged and produced more than 500 jingles for companies such Pepsi, Coca-Cola, TWA, United Airlines, McDonald’s and Folgers. Wheeler has served as musical director for special events, including the Primetime Emmy Awards, the People’s Choice Awards, the Democratic National Convention and the American Film Institute Awards, and served as co-musical director for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 1996 Olympics. Wheeler was the second African-American to conduct the Academy Awards, and has done so on four occasions. In 2018, he earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Music Direction for his work on the 90th Academy Awards. Wheeler has arranged and produced for Aretha Franklin, Anita Baker, Peabo Bryson, Della Reese, Nina Simone, B.B. King, Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, Freda Payne, Kathleen Battle, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Al Green, Joe Cocker, Dizzy Gillespie, Gloria Gaynor, Whitney Houston, Stephanie Mills, and Debbie Allen among scores of other performers.

The American Theatre Wing’s 73^rd Annual Tony Awards, hosted by James Corden, will air on the CBS Television Network on Sunday, June 9, 2019 (8:00-11:00 PM, ET/delayed PT) live from Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The Tony Awards, which honors theatre professionals for distinguished achievement on Broadway, has been broadcast on CBS since 1978. The Tony Awards are presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing.

The Nominations for the 2019 Tony Awards will be announced live, by Bebe Neuwirth and Brandon Victor Dixon, on Tuesday, April 30, 2019 from the New York City Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. The event will be streamed on Facebook LIVE (at Facebook.com/TheTonyAwards), and covered by CBS This Morning at 8:30am ET.

Follow the Tony Awards on Twitter and Instagram for real-time updates on the nominees as they are announced (@TheTonyAwards). The entire announcement will also be available on TonyAwards.com after the event.

The post Rosemary Harris, Terrence McNally & Harold Wheeler to be Honored with 2019 Special Tony Awards for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre appeared first on StageZine.

‘ANASTASIA’: (left to right) Christy Altomare & Derek Klena. Photo: Matthew Murphy.

ANASTASIA
Book by Terrence McNally
Music by Stephen Flaherty
Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens
Inspired by the Twentieth Century Fox Pictures
Directed by Darko Tresnjak
Broadhurst Theatre
235 West 44th Street
(212-239-62000, www.AnastasiaBroadway.com

By David NouNou

Anastasia is a musical that can’t make up its mind whether to cater to adults or to children. It was inspired by the two 20th Century Fox movies: the 1997 animated version with talking animals and the excellent 1956 adult version with an Oscar-winning performance by Ingrid Bergman. Luckily there are no talking animals here, but this version is a highly diluted fairy tale version of the once captivating and thought-provoking notion that Anastasia Romanov was spared by the firing squad and actually survived and reunited with her grandmother, the Dowager Empress. Two standout performances, high-tech sets and projections, plus gorgeous costumes make this Anastasia momentous, if nothing else.

Anastasia starts in 1907 before the Russian Revolution in St. Petersburg at the palace of Czar Nicholas II, with a young Anastasia (Nicole Scimeca) and her grandmother (the enchanting Mary Beth Peil) singing a memorable duet “Once Upon a December.” This idyllic picture soon dissolves with the massacre of the czar and his family and the new Communist regime of Russia and poverty. Leningrad and the Communists take over the grandeur that once was St. Petersburg.

It is now 1917, Anastasia has lost her memory and is sweepings the streets of Leningrad. Two survivors of the revolution: Dmitry (Derek Klena) and Vlad (John Bolton) upon hearing rumors that Anastasia may have survived the massacre,  hatch up the scheme to find the right girl, train her, take her to Paris and pass her off as Anastasia and reunite her with her grandmother and claim the reward. In the mix is Gleb, (the wonderful Ramin Karimloo). Mr. Karimloo was Jean Val Jean in Les Miz. Here he is now playing the Javert role, the Russian officer who dogs Anastasia (Christy Altomare) to eliminate any remaining Romanov.

Well, you know the rest. With lots of training, Anastasia’s memory gets jogged, she goes to Paris, meets grandmother, and along the way falls in love with the revolutionary who discovered her. All this is good and well if it wasn’t for the rambling book by Terrence McNally and the bland score by Flaherty and Ahrens, which makes the show seem interminable. Too many unremarkable songs stretch the evening as fillers and minimalize the depth of the narrative. This is where director Darko Tresnjak should have stepped in and tightened the proceedings.

Unfortunately, the show isn’t helped any by having two extremely bland performers as the protagonists. Neither Christy Altomare nor Derek Klena have the depth or charisma to carry off the leads. They both don’t seem to realize that they are portraying Russians, instead of voiceovers for an animated film. John Bolton and Caroline O’Connor (as lady-in-waiting to the empress) perform the obligatory older folks for the light comic touch, with both having too many songs and slowing up the action.

The two gems are Mary Beth Peil, who is so regal and divine as the Empress. Young performers, take notice and learn from Ms. Peil on how she commands the stage. Finally she has been given a role that utilizes her talents. The second is Ramin Karimloo, in the role of Gleb, with a voice and presence that shakes the rafters. Oh, how wonderful it would have been if he had played Dmitry. Anyone would give up everything to be able to run away with him.

Lastly one could call the show a spectacle, thanks in large part to the dazzling costumes by Linda Cho, expert lighting by Donald Holder, but especially to Aaron Rhyne for his innovative projection design. It is absolutely astounding how seamlessly the scenes change from palace to the streets, from Russia to Paris. All three evoke the mood of a fairy tale.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 27, 2017
Reviewed at press performance on April 26, 2017

‘ANASTASIA’: Christy Altomare & Derek Klena. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘ANASTASIA’: Ramin Karimloo & Christy Altomare. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘ANASTASIA’: John Bolton & Caroline O’Connor. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘ANASTASIA’: (seated, left to right) John Bolton, Christy Altomare & Derek Klena. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘ANASTASIA’: Derek Klena & Christy Altomare. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘ANASTASIA’: Nicole Scimeca & Mary Beth Peil. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘ANASTASIA’: Christy Altomare. Photo: Matthew Murphy

The post ‘Anastasia’: Romancing the last Romanov appeared first on StageZine.

CHITA RIVERA, GIVING ONE OF HER BEST PERFORMANCES EVER: (left to right) Tom Nelis, Chita Rivera, Chris Newcomer & Matthew Deming in ‘The Visit.’ Photo: Joan Marcus

THE VISIT
Book by Terrence McNally
Music by John Kander
Lyrics by Fred Ebb
Based on the play by Friedrich Dürrenmatt
Directed by John Doyle
Choreography by Graciela Daniele
Lyceum Theatre
149 West 45th Street
(212-239-6200), www.thevisitmusical.com

By David NouNou

She enters from the rear of stage right in a beautiful white, fur clad-coat and cane in hand and the applause begins. She has a long, slow walk to center stage and halts and the ovation is genuine and rapturous and it doesn’t stop. Chita Rivera: Broadway legend and one of two remaining superstars who can command the stage and elicit an ovation upon an entrance. I promised myself that I wouldn’t start my review by gushing over her, but how can one not? After all, we have come to praise Chita. Her roles are indelible and immortal by now: Anita in West Side Story, Rosie in Bye Bye Birdie, Anyanka in Bajour, Velma Kelly in Chicago. The Rink and Kiss of the Spider Woman earned her two Tony Awards, and she received Tony nominations in a recent revival of Nine and her one-woman show Chita Rivera: A Dancer’s Life; and she was in the 2012 revival of The Mystery of Edwin Drood. She now adds to this roster Claire Zachanassian, which ranks among her greatest performances.

The play The Visit by Friedrich Dürrenmatt is a compelling drama unto itself, and it is very difficult to musicalize. I know it is tempting for Kander and Ebb to reach for the dark subject matters in shows and try to make them more enthralling by adding a score; it certainly worked in Cabaret and Chicago, but there was also humor there that could be tapped into. However, in The Visit there is no room for musical numbers; they distract from the drama and weaken it. Sure, there are some melodies that are reminiscent of both musicals, but these don’t linger.

Set in the desolate and impoverished town of Bracken, somewhere in Europe after World War II, Claire returns to her hometown with her ominous black bags, and there are lots of them, and her valet and two eunuchs. Why is she back after many years of ostracism to this bleak, desolate wasteland? We learn that when she was young, she gave herself to Anton Schell (Roger Rees) who went on to marry Matilde Schell (Mary Beth Peil) because her father owned a store and he could better himself. In a mock trial, Claire was thrust out as a whore with a child. After leaving Bracken, Claire married many men who died on her and left her lots of money, making her the richest woman in the world.

She has not forgotten how badly she was treated by the citizens, but she is willing to strike a deal with them. She will pay 10 billion marks for the city to rebuild and each person in it gets an additional two million apiece for the life of Anton Schell. At first everyone is appalled by such an offer, but slowly greed and the taste of the finer things start creeping into the lives of Anton’s friends and even his family. One asks oneself how much is a person’s life actually worth when it comes to revenge and to what lengths would one go to get their pound of flesh?

Durrenmatt’s story is a gorgeous morality play. It’s a pity it hasn’t been revived since 1973. Terrence McNally has written a book that plays to Ms. Rivera’s strengths and the score tries to have a sentimental lilt about it. However, John Doyle’s gloomy direction sucks up everything. Even having young counterparts/shadows of the younger Claire and Anton (a device lifted from young counterparts in Follies) is not very original. John Riddle and Michelle Veintimilla are gorgeous together, and you can see the passion there, but they add very little to the story after a while. Roger Rees, as the older Anton, is a hollow shell of a man now and seems quite uncomfortable in his part and in his singing. One even wonders why Clare wastes all that money on him. Oh, venomous revenge is never sweet.

And so we are back to Chita Rivera. Her singing voice has gotten slower and raspier; she doesn’t do her immortal high kick steps anymore, but good God, can the woman act and still break our hearts. In truth, Ms. Rivera is now 82, and another magnificent role like Claire Zachanassian will be hard to come by. Any theatergoer who cherishes a great performance from a legend must go to the Lyceum Theatre and marvel at the beauty and craftsmanship of the diva La Rivera. In years to come, I know I will be thrilled to say that I was there to see her giving one of her finest performances ever.

VIEW OF ‘THE VISIT’: The superb Chita Rivera & the cast. Photo: Thom Kaine

DANCING WITH HERSELF: Chita Rivera dances with her younger self, Michelle Veintimilla, in ‘The Visit,.’ Photo: Thom Kaine

MONEY, MONEY, MONEY: Townspeople sing of their greed in ‘The Visit.’ Photo: Thom Kaine

TOWN WITHOUT PITY (left to right) Roger Rees, John Riddle, Michelle Veintimilla & Chita Rivera in ‘The Visit,’ about a woman seeking revenge on the man & town that ostracized her decades ago. Photo: Joan Marcus

KANDER & EBB’S LAST MUSICAL’: Michelle Veintimilla, Matthew Deming, Rogers Rees, Chita Rivera, Chris Newcomer & cast of ‘The Visit’. Photo: Thom Kaine

LA DIVA RIVERA &
‘THE EUNUCHS’: Chita Rivera & cast members in ‘The Visit.’ Photo: Thom Kaine

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 29, 2015
Reviewed at press performance on April 28, 2015

The post Chita Rivera makes ‘The Visit’ worth the trip appeared first on StageZine.

STAR POWER: (left to right) Megan Mullally & Nathan Lane. Photo: Joan Marcus

IT’S ONLY A PLAY
Written by Terrence McNally
Directed by Jack O’Brien
Through January 4, 2015
Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre
236 West 45th Street
(212-239-6200),www.ItsOnlyAPlay.com

By David NouNou

The first instinct of any theatre-goer who hears that Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, Stockard Channing, Megan Mullally, F. Murray Abraham and Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley of Harry Potter fame) are starring in Terrence McNally’s revival of It’s Only A Play would be to order tickets. And they did just that, creating an advance sale of millions of dollars. One wonders what this cast of luminaries saw in this flimsy excuse for a play.

It was presented as a re-write of Mr. McNally’s Broadway Broadway and played at the small Off-Broadway house at the Manhattan Theatre Club for 47 performances in 1985. It must have been a fluff piece about a playwright, his best friend, cast, producer and a critic awaiting the reviews of a show on opening night.  The premise was this: While waiting for the reviews, a lot of famous names of the day were mentioned, those evoking the mirth and humor. Well, now it is a fully mounted Broadway show with all the above-mentioned stars in this overblown, overlong, namedropping bacchanal, in which boldfaced names—ranging from Lady Gaga to Alec Baldwin and James Franco to Ben Brantley, critic of the New York Times—are bandied about as if the very mention of them creates an instant hysterical punch line.

For a comedy to truly work, it has to be embedded in reality, the people have to make sense, and the humor has to flow naturally. Yes, there are some genuinely funny lines as a result of the celebrity namedropping, but you can’t build a whole show around it. In addition, a critic who hasn’t written his review of the show yet would never be attending the producer’s opening night party. Worse yet is having a British director throw a tantrum that critics have only praised him and his works and he has not known a failure. I know that theatre people live for praise; I don’t think anybody in the theatre yearns for a failure…..and so it goes. What humor did all the above- mentioned A-listers see in this bit of fluff that has not been revived since 1985?

Thank God for Nathan Lane, for no one can inject humor into a listless line like he can. He and Stockard Channing manage to save the day with their over-the-top performances. Mr. Lane is James Wicker, the playwright’s best friend. Ms Channing is the drug and booze-addled leading actress Virginia Noyes of said play, The Golden Egg. The playwright, Peter Austin, is Matthew Broderick, delivering another one of his one-dimensional robotic, monotone performances; it now seems no one can flatline a comedy like him.

Megan Mullally is a puzzlement here; she is among the best scene stealers in comedy. However, as the producer, Julia Budder, she seems lost between a combination of her Karen Walker character from TV’s “Will & Grace” and a Southern bimbo who wants to be the sole producer of a show. Her part is too underwritten to make her believable or effective.

A part that could have very easily been written out of the play is Ira Drew, a critic played by F. Murray Abraham. He is fine in the role but there is nothing to substantiate his existence here because critics are a producer’s nightmare. Totally miscast, as the sniveling British director, is Rupert Grint. Why he was made out to look like Tim Burton, the film director, is a head scratcher.

Jack O’Brien, the director, does his best to keep things moving. After all, it is a step up from his 2013 Macbeth with Ethan Hawke at Lincoln Center. The pity of it all is there was so much anticipation and potential for this show. Had it not had so many stars, with each needing their stage time, this could have been written as a tighter, more insightful play for audiences to learn what really goes on after the curtain comes down on opening night and the agony of cast and crew having to wait for those ever-dreadful reviews. But then again, this is supposed to be a comedy.

OPENING NIGHT JITTERS: (left to right) Rupert Grint, F. Murray Abraham, Stockard Channing & Nathan Lane in ‘It’s Only a Play.’ Photo: Joan Marcus

THERE’S NO PEOPLE LIKE SHOW PEOPLE: (left to right) Micah Stock, Megan Mullally, Rupert Grint & Nathan Lane in ‘It’s Only a Play.’ Photo: Joan Marcus

Video Excerpt from It’s Only a Play

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published October 12, 2014
Reviewed at press performance on October 11, 2014

The post ‘It’s Only a Play’: Did we like it? appeared first on StageZine.

UNSYMPATHETIC CHARACTER: Tyne Daly as Katharine. Photo: Joan Marcus

MOTHERS AND SONS
By Terrence McNally
Directed by Sheryl Kaller

John Golden Theatre

252 West 45th Street

(212-239-6200), www.MothersAndSonsBroadway.com

By David NouNou

Set in a spacious, comfy Upper West Side apartment, we learn soon enough that Terrence McNally’s new play Mothers and Sons (a sequel to his 1990 PBS TV drama Andre’s Mother) will turn into a battleground. Everything from past and present, mothers and sons, denial vs. reality love vs. hate, closure vs. open wounds, fidelity vs. promiscuity, lovers vs. husbands, couple vs. family, are all headed for a collision course.

Katharine Gerard (Tyne Daly) has unexpectedly shown up at Cal Porter’s (Frederick Weller) apartment for no apparent reason. For what ex mother-in-law shows up at her dead son’s lover’s new apartment 20 years after his death? The talk is about Andre; the dead son. This premise reeks with touches of Vi and Sebastian Venable from Suddenly Last Summer. Andre died of AIDS and Cal was there for him till the last minute, Katharine never was, because she had issues. This sets the conflict in motion. To add to the mix, Cal has been married to Will Ogden (Bobby Steggert) for the last 11 years and they have a biological six-year-old son, Bud Ogden-Porter (Grayson Taylor). Cal, Will and Bud live the idyllic, gay married family life with nary a problem.

Well, at least till Katherine shows up, for she is the past, mother, in denial, hater, openly wounded, currently widowed and all alone. Cal is blissfully married with a husband and son, has closure, moved on, enjoys total fidelity with the new marriage laws, something that was denied to he and Andre when they were together back in the 80s, and is a living saint. If only it was that easy to meet a saint like that online? No spoiler alert, but that’s how Cal and Will met, the modern way. All the points that Mr. McNally makes are valid and make a strong case for people living in the past vs. the people who have moved on and are living in the present, but the premise is totally unbelievable. For who would ever let a mean-spirited, ex mother-in-law stay as long as she does and risk upsetting this Utopian lifestyle that is currently enjoyed by Cal and Will?

The characters as written have their hurdles to cross. Tyne Daly delivers the goods as Katharine, the mother-in-law from hell and spews every venom-filled line with gusto. Frederick Weller is saddled with a martyred character that is difficult even for a real saint to pull off. Grayson Taylor comes across as a cloying child actor that makes one yearn for any one of the kids in “The Partridge Family.” Bobby Steggert as the stay-at-home dad/writer has the balls to speak his mind and has the best line in the play; about AIDS in the 80s and all the victims it claimed all too soon will sadly be only a footnote in the future.

In this case, unfortunately and very sadly for all of us who remember those horrific times, it has already become a footnote. Had Mr. McNally written this play in the 90s, it would have been a strong and provocative play, but like all the plays that were written about AIDS in the 80s and 90s, they have already and very sadly become dated and a footnote. I wonder how many of the millennials actually know what the horrors and ravages of AIDS actually were? Alas, again only a footnote.

Nominated for 2 Tony Nominations: Best Play and Best Dramatic Actress, Tyne Daly

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published March 27, 2014
Reviewed at press performance on March 26, 2014

The post ‘Mothers & Sons’: Angst on a collision course appeared first on StageZine.