Battle Wins Again at the LAFCA

Teyana Taylor in One Battle After Another.
Credit: Warner Brothers

One Battle After Another continues to dominate the pre-Oscar film Award season, winning three awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association including Best Picture, Best Director for Paul Thomas Anderson and Best Supporting Performance for Teyana Taylor as Perfidia Beverly Hills, a violent revolutionary. Battle has already won the top award from the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Board of Review. The LA critics met on Dec. 7 to vote for their 51st awards. 

The gender-neutral Leading Performance Awards went to Ethan Hawke of Blue Moon and Rose Byrne of If I Had Legs, I'd Kick You, who also won Best Actress from the New York Film Critics and the NBR. The LAFCA began gender-neutral acting categories four years ago with the top two vote-getters declared winners regardless of their sex. (The Drama Desk does that too.) In the Supporting Acting category, the winning pair were Taylor and Stellan Skarsgård of Sentimental Value. 

Battle's dominance with the critics' groups is not a guarantee of an Oscar win. LA Confidential and The Social Network similarly took the top three critics' prizes as well as the Best Picture slot from the National Society of Film Critics, but ultimately lost the top Oscar. Schindler's List is the only film to win all four critics' awards and the Oscar.

A complete list of winners follows:

Battle Dominates Early Film Awards

Leonardo DiCaprio in One Battle After Another,
Best Picture winner for the NYFCC, NBR
and Gotham Awards.

Film award season is upon us and One Battle After Another, Paul Thomas Anderson's action epic of a former radical (Leonardo DiCaprio) rescuing his daughter from a right-wing nut job (Sean Penn), is dominating the field, winning Best Picture and several other awards from the New York Film Critics Circle, the National Board of Review and the Gotham Awards. Benicio Del Toro who plays a martial arts instructor and underground activist who aides DiCaprio's character, was named Best Supporting Actor by both the NYFCC and NBR. Rose Byrne won Best Actress from both of those groups for If I Had Legs I'd Kick You (which is also my choice for Best Title of the Decade.) 

The Gotham Awards were announced Mon., the NYFCC on Tues. and the the NBR on Wed. I have not been as excited about the movie awards this year as in past seasons. I used to obsessively keep track of all the eligible films I'd seen and where I'd seen them. Maybe I'll do that this year, but it's looking like Battle is the top film and I wasn't crazy about it. The direction was excellent, Anderson keeps the suspense tight and the action sequences were skillfully edited and shot, but the theme left me cold. Anderson appears to be condemning political extremism of all kinds. DiCaprio plays a former resistance fighter whose daughter is kidnapped by racist Army officer Sean Penn. DiCaprio's character appears to be an innocent caught between two extremes. The left-wing radical underground army he was allied with resorts to extreme violence to achieve its ends. His lover, played by Teyana Taylor, is a horrible person, abandoning their daughter and the cause when she is caught. Penn's forces are equally heinous, representing not only the current cruel immigration policies of the Trump administration, but also a cultish, deep-state powerful network of bigots called the Christmas Adventurers. 

I didn't sympathize with any of the characters except Del Toro's activist who is the only one who doesn't resort to violence to help his community. Having said that, I didn't find his performance exciting enough to warrant all these Supporting Actor prizes. I didn't really get the point of the film, except to film people getting shot and chasing each other across the desert.

Hamnet is the only other film getting major award buzz and it's not even been mentioned by these early accolade dispensers. (Still haven't seen it, but I plan to.) I did catch Wicked: For Good yesterday in 3-D and 4-DX at the Union Square theater. The seats moved while Cynthia Erivo was flying her broom, so that was fun and we were sprinkled with water during the cyclone scenes. It will probably garner a few Golden Globe nods. 

A breakdown of the winners follows:

B'way Update: Death of a Salesman

Nathan Lane, Laurie Metcalf and 
Christopher Abbott with star in
Death of a Salesman next spring.

Willy Loman is returning to Broadway. The seventh Main Stem production of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman will begin previews at the Winter Garden Theater on March 6, 2026 prior to an April 9 opening. Tony winner Joe Mantello (Wicked, Little Bear Ridge Road) will direct Tony winners Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalf, Christopher Abbott (James White, House of Blue Leaves) and Ben Ahlers (Jack the footman/now rich clock maker from The Gilded Age). Scott Rudin and Barry Diller will produce. The production was originally planned in 2020, but the COVID pandemic delayed it. Earlier this year, it was announced for 2026-27. Salesman opened on Broadway in 1949, starring Lee J. Cobb, Mildred Dunnock, Arthur Kennedy and Cameron Mitchell. winning the Tony, NY Drama Critics Circle Award and Pulitzer Prize. Broadway revivals have starred George C. Scott (1975), Dustin Hoffman (1984), Brian Dennehy (1999), Philip Seymour Hoffman (2012), and Wendell Pierce (2022).

In a statement, Kate Miller, Trustee of the Arthur Miller Literary and Dramatic Property Trust said, “This production promises to channel Salesman's dynamic power in a completely new way. Part of what's so exciting about Joe Mantello’s approach is that he has been immersing himself in our extensive archives and interacting with Arthur's earliest drafts of Salesman—sounding out a deeper understanding of the play's inner workings. It's been wonderful to work with someone who is successfully finding new ways into a play that's been thoroughly studied, taught, and performed by the greatest artists in the world for nearly 80 years. Mantello’s approach will bring Salesman’s impactful and ever relevant commentary on the American dream to modern audiences, and we're so eager to see it come to life."

Mantello added, "It’s been incredibly rewarding to work closely with the Arthur Miller Estate, who’ve so generously opened the archive and encouraged real exploration. Looking through Miller’s early drafts revealed insights into the play’s first impulses—including some surprising theatrical ideas that feel both deeply familiar and unexpectedly modern."

Lane revealed, “In 1995 while rehearsing a Terrence McNally play with Joe, he turned to me one afternoon out of the blue and quietly said, ‘Someday you and I are going to do Death of a Salesman.’ And true to his word, 30 years later, that day has come. I couldn’t be more thrilled and honored to follow in the footsteps of so many great actors in tackling the role of Willy Loman, especially with the brilliant Laurie Metcalf by my side and the remarkable cast Joe is assembling. It’s a privilege to do what is arguably the greatest drama of the twentieth century, and like all great plays it always seems to speak to us anew each time we see it.”

Metcalf said, “Collaboration is everything in the theatre. I am lucky to be going from one exciting project to another with Joe Mantello—and in the very same season. Joe and Nathan are longtime collaborators, and my shared history with—and deep respect for—them makes what might otherwise feel daunting feel familiar, and absolutely thrilling.”

Off-B'way Review: The Seat of Our Pants

Shuler Hensley and Micaela Diamond in
The Seat of Our Pants.
Credit: Joan Marcus

At this year’s Thanksgiving dinner, a young relative expressed her fears the world might be doomed because of AI and a certain lawless occupant of the White House. Us old folks had to reassure her that America and humankind in general has faced worst crises and we’ve come through, if only by the skin of our teeth or the seat of our pants. In similar conversations, friends have expressed the overwhelming fear that freedom and democracy are kaput in this country, that we are headed for becoming another Gilead (the fictional right-wing dystopia of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale), and where can they safely emigrate to? 

These encounters brought home the realization that this is the perfect historic moment for Ethan Lipton’s The Seat of Our Pants (at the Public), a musical adaptation of The Skin of Our Teeth, Thornton Wilder’s crazy comedy of civilization triumphing over countless disasters. Debuting on Broadway in 1942, as America had just entered the Second World War, Wilder’s Pulitzer-Prize winning existential extravaganza imagines a typical modern suburban family, the Antrobuses standing in for all of humanity as they face glaciers, floods, and devastating wars. Characters speak directly to the audience, the fourth wall is broken numerous times, dinosaurs and mammoths romp through living rooms, and Noah’s Ark, the Ice Age and World War III are recreated. It’s insane but it works. As does Lipton’s adaptation which cleverly balances Wilder’s original, slightly dated script with modern sensibility and appropriately off-kilter, satiric songs. (John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Joseph Stein attempted their own musical version of Skin which went through regional productions, readings, and workshops, but never made it to New York.)

Michael Lepore, Micaela Dimaond, 
Ruthie Ann Miles, Geena Quintos, and 
David Ryan Smith in The Seat of Our Pants.
Credit: Joan Marcus

Lipton follows Wilder’s original fairly closely with a few well-placed detours into 2025 territory and his songs strike just the right note of whimsical earnestness. The Antrobus family and their maid Sabina are first seen in their New Jersey home struggling to stay warm as a sheet of ice threatens to obliterate mankind. As they gather around a diminishing fire with homeless refugees representing philosophical, religious and artistic figures, they sing “We were born out of the darkness/And should the darkness call us back/Let us pray we smell a brisket/As we slip into the black.” It’s that specific absurd image of a brisket that brings us into the Wilder mindset of bizarre comedy amidst terror. Director Leigh Silverman stages the goofy goings-on with a serious edge, allowing the comedy to subtly come through and the seriousness to slowly surface.

B'way/Off-B'way Review: Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York); Gruesome Playground Injuries

Sam Tutty and Christiani Pitts in
Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York).
Credit: Matthew Murphy

A pair of two-character shows with differing depictions of amorous connections have recently opened on and Off-Broadway. One is a charming rom-com musical replete with cliches and plot-holes you could drive a truck through. Despite these flaws, Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) is an engaging and lighthearted romp, perfect for holiday fun. Strangers arrives on Broadway after runs in London and the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Mass. The other Off-Broadway offering, Rajiv Joseph’s Gruesome Playground Injuries, has no songs, is much darker, complex and more honest in its portrayal of the dysfunctional relationship of two accident-prone outsiders who come in and out of each others’ lives from elementary school to young adulthood.

The elaborately titled Two Strangers takes the basic romcom trope of two previously unacquainted, dissimilar characters meeting in a tense situation, running into conflict and then into each others’ arms. There’s shopping, sightseeing, sex, heartbreak, and an ambiguous resolution. Luckily, Jim Barne and Kit Buchan’s songs and dialogue are snappy and cute enough to overcome the overly familiar story arcs. Tim Jackson’s slick and smooth direction and choreography works perfectly on Sutra Gilmour’s versatile revolving set, employing set pieces in the shape of luggage of varying sizes to suggest multiple scenes in Gotham. 

Sam Tutty and Christiani Pitts in
Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York).
Credit: Matthew Murphy

Sam Tutty and Christiani Pitts are bubbly, bright, and multifaceted as the mismatched pair. Tutt exudes boyish enthusiasm and gleeful hopefulness as Dougal, a lonely British bachelor in New York for the first time to attend the wedding of his estranged dad. Pitts is the somewhat depressed Robin, the sister of the bride (much younger than the groom), who has been tasked with shepherding Dougal and performing a million ceremony-related chores including transport of the titular gateau from Flatbush, Brooklyn to Manhattan. Of course, Dougal’s puppyish eagerness and excitement for the Big Apple at first grates against Robin’s cynical veneer, but they eventually wind up canoodling. Several secrets involving ruptured family relationships for the two are gradually revealed, but too many loose threads are left dangling by the end of their brief time together. 

Book Review: Crampton Hodnet

(Downloaded on my Kindle for $6): A few years ago, I read almost all of Barbara Pym's novels and they were like a long cozy tea-time. Crampton Hodnet was written in 1940 and published in 1985 after Pym's death when her work was back in favor and edited by her literary executor. A charming comedy of missed connections and frustrated loves set in the university of North Oxford. There are two main plot threads. Miss Morrow, paid companion to the elderly, domineering Miss Doggett, becomes involved in a strange relationship with curate Mr. Latimer who is boarding with the ladies. Meanwhile, Miss Doggett's nephew, Frances Cleveland, a middle-aged don, has developed an infatuation with his young student Barbara Bird. Romantic illusions give way to practicality as both Mr. Latimer and Mr. Cleveland discover amorous fantasies do not always lead to happy endings. One of my favorite lines is when Miss Morrow observes she enjoys dramatic scenes in novels and films, but they can be embarrassing and awkward in real life. There are two gay characters, a pair of mincing undergraduates who perform impromptu ballet steps in the middle of shops, who are there mainly for comic relief. Miss Doggett was a funny, bossy character given to extravagant hats and snobbish opinions. I felt badly for Miss Morrow whom everyone treats as a sexless appendage to her employer. 

B'way/Off-B'way Review: Chess; Practice

Aaron Tveit (c.) and cast in Chess.
Credit: Matthew Murphy

The big question is does the first Broadway revival of Chess solve the cult musical’s previously impossible problem of the messy book dragging down the magnificent, memorable score? The short answer is no, but it does provide powerhouse singer-actors (Aaron Tveit, Lea Michele, Nicholas Christopher, Hannah Cruz) the opportunity to display their impressive vocal chops and limning skills. Is it worth sitting through the Cuckoo-for-Coco-Puffs script to get to those compelling, stirring songs by Tim Rice and the Abba team of Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus? That’s a matter of taste. It was rough going for me for the show’s nearly three-hour running time, but when the stars opened the mouths to vocalize, I forgot the melodramatic excesses and lame jokes in Danny Strong’s new book.

Chess is one of those shows that just won’t die. It began life as a 1984 concept album like Rice’s collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita. A fully-staged 1986 adaptation played London’s West End for three years, but a highly revised Broadway version closed after only two months in 1988. Ever since, the property has re-emerged in regional revivals, concerts, and recordings. The reason for Chess’s long game is the brilliant score. The sexy, catchy “One Night in Bangkok” was a Top 40 earworm. The sweet ache and passionate regret of “You and I” has always brought me to tears. “I Know Him So Well” is a tender duet expressing reflection over a failed love affair with gorgeous intertwining vocal lines. “Someone Else’s Story” is another beautiful ballad, heartbreaking in its simplicity.

Aaron Tveit and Lea Michele in Chess.
Credit: Matthew Murphy

The crazy story arc which contains these wonderful songs involves chess masters, affairs, the 1956 Soviet invasion of Hungary, the CIA, and the KGB. Plus this new version by Strong asks us to believe the fate of the entire world hangs on the chess matches—there are two of them, one for each act—with US and Soviet commanders poised to press the nuclear button depending on who emerges victorious. 

Strong has streamlined the crowded storyline (but not enough) and treats the material with a satiric, almost campy tone, with the Arbiter character transformed into a devilish narrator who constantly reminds us we’re watching “ a Cold War musical” and laying out the subtext in case we don’t get it. This narrator device removes us from the romantic-triangle aspects of the story and inserts contemporary groanworthy quips about RFK Jr. and his brainworm, Joseph Biden running for a second term, and just the mention of our current president (Tveit’s character name is Trumper, get it?). It doesn’t help that Bryce Pinkham, who has been a delight in previous musicals such as A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder and Holiday Inn, delivers every line like a WWF ring announcer. He’s at full volume and intensity from his first entrance and has nowhere to go but over the top. Michael Mayer’s direction does flow smoothly with David Rockwell’s sleek, ultramodern set and Kevin Adams’ flashy lighting providing for swift, cinematic transitions. Mayer and choreographer Lorin Latarro also effectively employ a top-notch chorus to move the story along and provide background.

Book Review: It Seemed Like a Bad Idea at the Time: The Worst TV Shows in History and Other Things I Wrote

(Read on the Libby App on my phone): Bruce Vilanch's Riotously funny account of the craziest projects he's ever worked does not just cover disastrous TV specials but also movies and Broadway shows. I needed something light and hilarious after plowing through almost 600 pages of Victorian romanticism with A.S. Byatt's Possession. Vilanch was involved with some of the most disastrous turkeys to hit the airwaves--the Star Wars Holiday special, Paul Lynde's Halloween bash, the Brady Bunch Variety series, the Snow White-Rob Lowe Oscars. I cringe because I remember watching all of them like train wrecks you could not turn from. He also includes such floperoos as The Ice Pirates movie, The Village People's legendary bomb Can't Stop the Music, and the Broadway shows Platinum and Comedy Tonight. I laughed out loud many times. (I was annoyed by the numerous footnotes explaining famous show-biz figures I was familiar with such as Jack Benny, Carmen Miranda, Martha Raye, but I guess Vilanch felt they were necessary for the younguns who never heard of them.)

B'way/Off-B'way Review: Oedipus; Archduke

Mark Strong and Lesley Manville in Oedipus.
Credit: Julieta Cervantes

The countdown clock in Hildegard Bechtler’s sterile set for Robert Icke’s explosively dramatic adaptation of Sophocles’ Oedipus was ticking down to the final minutes and I was having trouble breathing. Even though the shattering conclusion of incest and destruction is well known to the civilized world, Icke’s modern version of the classic Greek tragedy is so perfectly paced and infused with such suspense, the tension was palpable. The prideful Oedipus (a dynamic Mark Strong) is about to find out his true identity. The revelation will destroy his burgeoning political career, his family, his very essence, and erase his hubristic pride. The next few moments are a stunning coup de theater in the Broadway season’s most stunning dramatic presentation.

Now at Studio 54, produced in association with Roundabout Theater Company after an Olivier Award-winning run in London, Oedipus is everything theater should be—thought-provoking, emotionally stirring and empathy-evoking. Icke’s adaptation is smart, relevant and eloquently addresses issues afflicting our contemporary body politic. His direction is flawless, skillfully and slowly building the anxiety till the inexorable finale. The placement of that large clock marking the minutes and seconds to the end, and Tom Gibbons’ eerie sound design add to the stress. Strong and Lesley Manville, painstakingly documenting the gradual crumbling of the colossal egos of Oedipus and his wife Jocasta, lead a magnificent cast, each clearly delineating their part in the hero’s downfall and their reactions.  

Mark Strong and Samuel Brewer in Oedipus.
Credit: Julieta Cervantes

Icke whose previous transatlantic triumphs have included a masterful Hamlet and Oresteia as well as an updated version of an obscure Arthur Schnitzler play called The Doctor, has transformed Oedipus from an ancient Greek king into a 2025 progressive political candidate on the cusp of winning an decisive elective victory. We open with a giant video screen (Tal Yarden designed the CNN-style videos) depicting Oedipus’ campaign vows to reform a corrupt government, sounding much like NYC mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, and promising to release his birth certificate, recalling Barack Obama.  

The screen raises and we are in campaign headquarters as the election results are pouring in. Oedipus’ mother Merope (stern and mysterious Anne Reid) urgently requests private time with her son. (We all know where that’s headed.) Meanwhile, Oedipus receives ominous warnings from the blind seer Teiresias (intense Samuel Brewer) that he will murder his father and sleep with his mother. As the protagonist attempts to ferret out the meaning of this riddle, we learn this contemporary Oedipus wants to reform the future. Strong makes Oedipus a complex figure. He revels in the hero’s robust ambitions, but also exposes his tender side. Oedipus compassionately accepts a gay son, promises better living conditions for his constituents, and loves his family. But Icke stresses Sophocles’ theme that the past can determine destiny. 

Book Review: Possession

(Bought at the Strand for $10) A.S. Byatt's dense 550-page novel was heavy going at times. I had reread several passages, especially the thick Victorian poetry. But the story was involving and complex. Two modern scholars find the heretofore unknown letters of a pair of Victorian poets and fall in love themselves. A mystery and a romance. Yet another of the 100 books I'm supposed to read before I die according to the BBC.

Off-B'way Update: Sean Hayes; New Group

Sean Hayes 
will star in The Unknown
at Studio Seaview.

Tony, Emmy and SAG winner Sean Hayes (Will and Grace, Good Night, Oscar) will return to the New York stage in The Unknown, a solo play by Obie winner David Cale (Lillian, Deep in a Dream of You), at Studio Seaview with previews beginning Jan. 31, 2026, opening on Feb. 12 for a limited run through April 12. Tony nominee Leigh Silverman (Suffs, Violet) directs. Hayes plays a blocked writer retreating to an isolated cabin only to discover he may not be alone.

Director Leigh Silverman said, “David Cale is a masterful storyteller and I am thrilled to be embarking on our third collaboration with The Unknown. We are joined by the charismatic, dynamic Sean Hayes, an imaginative design team and visionary producers and I can’t wait to share this enthralling show with audiences.”

Playwright David Cale said, "I'm thrilled by the inspired pairing of the brilliant Sean Hayes with my solo thriller, and to be collaborating again with the great Leigh Silverman."

New Group Season: In other Off-Broadway news, The Group has announced in 2026 season and its new permanent home. The company which has been presenting its work in various venues including the Signature Theater Pershing Center, will now take up residence at the theater at St. Clement's, having signed a 30-year lease with the church. The company will present Preston Cowder's Bocking (summer 2026), Adam Rapp's Jackals (fall 2026) and Elmer Rice's The Adding Machine (winter 2026).

Milo O'Shea and Billie Whitelaw in 
the film version of The Adding Machine (1969)

Bocking is a sex farce about two parents called to the principal's office for their bedroom behavior. Jackals  is set in a pandemic-blighted Middle American city in the not-so-distant future. Single mother Orla must choose between a better life for herself or her 14 year old, whose ticket out may be the only commodity left: his immune system. The Adding Machine, a satirical fantasy, premiered in 1923 and concerns Mr. Zero who is replaced at his accounting job by a machine and acts out violently. Milo O'Shea, Billie Whitelaw, and Phyllis Diller starred in the 1969 movie version. A musical version opened Off-Broadway in 2008.

B'way/Off-B'way Review: The Queen of Versailles; The Baker's Wife

Kristin Chenoweth in The Queen of Versailles.
Credit: Julieta Cervantes

Stephen Schwartz has the distinction of having three shows running simultaneously on New York stages. In addition to the long-running Wicked, Schwartz’s songs are on display in The Queen of Versailles, a new musical based on the documentary film about socialite Jackie Siegel’s quest to build the largest private home in America, and The Baker’s Wife, based on Marcel Pagnol’s film, which closed during out-of-town try-outs before reaching Broadway in 1976. Both scores serve their respective shows well. But the former is a mixed bag of confused storytelling choices and Broadway excess while the latter is an intimate, delightful Off-Broadway charmer.

There are many satisfying elements in Queen of Versailles, not the least of which is Kristin Chenoweth’s magnetic star performance as well as Michael Arden’s fluid, fast-paced direction and Dane Laffrey’s elaborate scenery and clever video design, combining elements of campy bad taste and European chic. The same can be said for Christian Cowan’s century-tripping costumes. But it’s unclear how Schwartz and book-writer Lindsey Ferrentino want us to feel about Chenoweth’s character, the vapid but tenacious Siegel. We learn plenty about her driven struggle to rise above the middle-class status of her hard-working parents (solid Broadway vets Stephen DeRosa and Isabel Keating). She works several jobs in high school, gets an engineering degree and survives an abusive first marriage. But her goals and means of achieving them are questionable at best. 

Kristin Chenoweth and F. Murray Abraham
in The Queen of Versailles.
Credit: Julieta Cervantes

After marrying the decades-older, fabulously wealthy Time Share King David Siegel (F. Murray Abraham, doing his best with a thankless role) and going on a honeymoon in France, Jackie decides to replicate the extravagant Palace at Versailles in her hometown of Orlando, Florida. Why? “Because We Can” she and the company sing in a number celebrating unrestrained consumption. Louis XIV (Pablo David Laucerica) and Marie Antoinette (Cassondra James)—both exhibit lovely voices, BTW—pop up in parallel-time scenes, meant to demonstrate what? That Jackie and David are just as bad as the French aristocracy who ended up guillotined by starving revolutionaries? (Jackie buys an actual guillotine without irony.) But then are we also supposed to admire Jackie’s pluck and determination while simultaneously disdaining her boundless avarice and materialism? 

Book Review: The Best American Short Stories 2023

(Ordered from Amazon.com) I took a course in short stories and this was our text. We read two stories each week and then met over Zoom to discuss them. The collection offered insights into so many different experiences and cultures with many of the stories detailing the lives of immigrants from Iran, Ukraine, China, Mexico, etc. as well as stories set in Nigeria, South Africa, etc. My favorite was probably Taryn Bowe's Camp Emeline about a young girl coming to terms with the death of her severely disabled sister as her family sets up a camp for similarly challenged children. Her family is grieving and she doesn't know how to deal with it. She forms an attachment to the bedraggled handyman. Also liked Manuel Munoz's Compromisos, Joanna Pearson's Grand Mal, and Lauren Groff's Annunciation.

B'way Review: Rob Lake Magic with Special Guests The Muppets

Rob Lake (l.) with the Muppets
in Rob Lake Magic with Special Guests
The Muppets
Credit: Evan Zimmerman

“Now this show has some real star power,” declares Miss Piggy, the porcine puppet star, late in Rob Lake Magic with Special Guests The Muppets, now in an abbreviated run at the Broadhurst. The glamorous felt pig is not wrong. The family-friendly special attraction does feature some fun-filled fare for the kiddies, but lacks a strong driving force. Lake himself, who gained recognition as a finalist on America’s Got Talent, is a genial enough presence, attractive and self-effacing, but his demeanor is so mellow and laid-back, his impressive illusions produce mild smiles rather than astonished gasps. Unfortunately, the show has not sold enough tickets to justify its original limited holiday-season run and, after delaying the official opening twice, producers have decided to shutter after only four performances and 15 previews. 

There could be several reasons for this disappointing box-office performance. The high price of Broadway ducats may have kept families with multiple children away. In addition, the similar Jamie Allan’s Amaze! is still running Off-Broadway at New World Stages until Feb. 22 and parents may have opted for the more affordable and intimate alternative. Lake’s efforts suffer by comparison with Allan’s not just in the economy department. Allan’s venture had a narrative arc and structure, offering details on his childhood obsession with legerdemain, his parents’ show-biz credentials as well as the history of magic in vaudeville and popular entertainment. In short, we get to know Allan as a person, not just as a performer. Lake briefly touches on his background, but we are not offered similar insights into his development as a magician. In addition, several of the illusions in both shows are similar.

Rob Lake in his show
Rob Lake Magic...
Credit: Evan Zimmerman

The program credits do not list a director or writer. Lake created and conceived the evening. Bethany Pettigrew is down as “Creative Consultant” and Kevin J. Zak is credited with “Additional Material.” Perhaps a stronger creative hand behind the scenes would have crafted the show into a cohesive whole. As it stands, the illusions do not feel connected and the usually delightful Muppets seem like cameo performers. Kermit the Frog, Fozzie Bear, Rowlf the Dog, Gonzo the Great and Animal the drummer appear early in a taxicab, exchanging slightly amusing banter with Lake. Fuzzy later shows up in a box, delivering elementary-school level gags. It’s significant that Miss Piggy does not show up until much later and her campy, imperial tone is much missed. I did enjoy Gonzo’s quips about the supposedly upper-class Broadway audience as he prepared to be shot out of a canon. “Good evening, Cultural Elite! Here’s a trick you can tell your butlers about!” he cries in the one of the show’s few instances of adult humor.

There is also a guest shot with a current Broadway performer helping out with a pick-a-card trick. Jak Malone of Operation Mincemeat was the celebrity at the performance attended. Audience members are also called upon to ascend the stage to assist in the proceedings and it must be a thrill for them, each seemed genuinely astonished at Lake’s efforts, enhanced by assistants videoing their reactions. Jessica Forcha, Jennifer Orf and Natalie Vatalaro are sexy and vibrant stage assistants. 

Even given the show’s weaknesses, this is a cute distraction for families wishing to expose their children to Broadway. Too bad it will disappear so soon.

Opens Nov. 14 and closing Nov. 16 after 4 performances and 15 previews. Broadhurst Theater, 235 W. 44th St., NYC. Running time: 90 minutes. telecharge.com.

Off-B'way Review: Richard II; Kyoto

Michael Urie in Richard II.
Credit: Carol Rosegg

Michael Urie proves he is as adept at Shakespearean tragedy as he is at musical comedy and TV sitcoms in a powerful staging of the Bard’s Richard II from Red Bull Theater at the Astor Place Theater. Craig Baldwin’s modern dress adaptation has its idiosyncratic flaws, but the central thrust of Richard’s downfall due to his arrogance and lack of empathy comes across with intensity and power.  

Baldwin has set the tale of Richard’s selfish reign and the rise of his rival cousin Bolingbroke in 1980s Manhattan. Rodrigo Munoz’s period-perfect costumes and Bobbie Zlotnik’s wigs and make-up put us in that era of shoulder pads and big hair. Richard and his court are more interested in disco dancing to the Eurythmics and snorting coke than in governing a fractured realm. Also, Coleman does not shy away from Shakespeare’s gay subtext, bringing Richard’s homosexuality out of the closet. This king is clearly carrying on an affair with his cousin Aumerle (sly and slinky David Mattar Merten) and his Queen (a limp Lux Pascal) doesn’t seem to have a problem with that. There’s even a scene set in a steambath where all genders of the king’s court get extremely chummy. 

Emily Swallow, David Mattar Merten,
Grantham Coleman, Michael Urie, and Lux Pascal
in Richard II.
Credit: Carol Rosegg

Baldwin has also switched sexes in some of the casting with the Duke of York and Northumberland rewritten as women (masterful Kathryn Meisle and cunning Emily Swallow). This reversal and other shifts in Shakespeare’s text don’t always work. An imprisoned Richard is seduced by an assassination-bent Aumerle disguised as a stable hand, putting on a tumbleweed Southwestern twang. It’s as if the two are flirting at a leather bar just before Aumerle stabs the king. Because the Duke of York is now a woman, the Duchess’ lines in the last scenes have been reassigned to the Queen, who should be on a boat, returning to her native France after the deposing of her husband.

Off-B'way Review: The Burning Cauldron of Fiery Fire

Bobby Moreno, Bartley Booz, Cricket Brown,
Donetta Lavinia Grays, Jeff Biehl, and
Bruce McKenzie in The Burning Cauldron
of Fiery Fire. Credit: Carol Rosegg

I was looking forward to Anne Washburn’s The Burning Cauldron of Fiery Fire, a co-production of The Vineyard Theatre and the Civilians playing at the former’s Off-Broadway space. Washburn’s Mr. Burns: A Post-Electronic Play was a clever and moving depiction of a grim electricity-free future where the only entertainment is re-enacting episodes of The Simpsons. Her 10 Out of 12 was a delightfully daffy send-up of tech rehearsals of a struggling theater company. Burning Cauldron has an interesting central premise, but Washburn fails to develop it significantly. None of the characters are relatable. The main action doesn’t go anywhere and its theme is unclear. The play is a rough first draft. Very rough. Steve Cosson’s indifferent direction and the flat performances fail to make up for the script’s shortcomings. By the end of two hours-plus running time, my only reaction was “What a waste of time and talent.”

The first act does show potential. We’re in a farming commune in Northern California. (Andrew Boyce’s homey set imparts rustic charm.) The crunchy-Granola residents’ goals appear to be getting away from the madness of modern civilization, conveyed by the cast reciting natural images of their property Greek-chorus style. One of the members, a painter named Peter (Tom Peckina), dies under mysterious circumstances and his co-habitants don’t want to contact the authorities. Government bad, remember? Milo (Bobby Moreno), one of the many children in the commune, speaks to the audience as a grown-up and informs us that he never liked Peter and also gives his impressions of life in the community from his perspective as a grown man. Washburn seems to offer foreshadowing that Milo had something to do with Peter’s death, also that the child was sexually molested by one of the other adults in the group, but these plot elements are never really developed. 

Off-B'way Review: Queens

 “I did the best I could,” cries the intense Marin Ireland as Renia, a Polish immigrant struggling to justify her questionable actions in abandoning her daughter while pursuing the American Dream in Queens, Pulitzer Prize winner Martyna Majok (Cost of Living)’s affecting but overcrowded new play presented by Manhattan Theater Club. The anguished declaration comes at the end of the play as multiple storylines involving eight different women leaving their native land and scrapping by to build a remarkable legacy in the US come together. Majok creates indelible characters and heart-tugging plots, but there’s so much going on, the proceedings can get more than a bit confusing. 

Marin Ireland, Nicole Villamil, Brooke Bloom,
and Nadine Malouf in Queens.
Credit: Valerie Terranova

Nevertheless, she makes you feel for these resilient, flawed women by the end of the tumultuous, event-filled evening. Director Trip Cullman’s straightforward, clear-eyed staging, with a big assist from set designer Marsha Ginsberg (more on her amazing environment anon), allows us into this complex world and helps us keep all the stories straight.

The main setting is a crowded basement apartment in the Masbeth section of the titular New York City borough, with a side trip to Ukraine. Ginsberg’s detailed set perfectly evokes the desperate, makeshift life of the characters from the cluttered kitchen to the tiny sleeping areas to the flickering overhead lighting fixtures. Majok trips back and forth in time as well as locale. Initially we are in 2017 Queens as Renia is violently confronted by Inna (heartbreaking Julia Lester), a Ukrainian emigre, who is searching for her mother. (No spoilers, it may or may not be Renia.) From this starting point, we flashback to 2001 when Renia first arrives at the apartment which she shares with Aamani from Afghanistan (Nadine Malouf), Isabela from Honduras (Nicole Villamil) and Pelagiya from Belarus (Brooke Bloom). Eventually we also meet Agata (Anna Chlumsky), also Polish; Lera (Andrea Syglowski) who never makes it out of Ukraine, and Glenys, Isabela’s daughter (Sharlene Cruz). 

Off-B'way Review: Bat Boy The Musical; Oh Happy Day!

Two fantasy-based productions are currently running Off-Broadway, one darkly satirical, the other raucous yet reverential. The campy comedy is Bat Boy, New York City Center’s annual gala presentation, and the roof-raising and religious offering is Oh Happy Day! at the Public. Both have moments of joy, fun, and outrageous theatrical flair.

Taylor Trensch, Mary Faber, and
Christopher Sieber in Bat Boy The Musical.
Credit: Joan Marcus

Bat Boy opened Off-Broadway in 2001. It was one of many funny spoof-ical shows, satirizing pop culture and musical conventions. Inspired by a sensational tabloid story, Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming’s jokey book focuses on a bat-like youngster found in a West Virginia cave. A veterinarian’s family takes the boy in and attempts to assimilate him into their conservative community, but his natural blood lust, not to mention his vampirish appearance, causes issues. Like Little Shop of Horrors, Urinetown, Hairspray, Reefer Madness, and Book of Mormon, the goofy show takes a parodistic tone and Alex Timbers’ confident new staging combines a cartoonish viewpoint with slick professionalism.

Taylor Trensch, Alex Newell, and
Gabi Carrubba in Bat Boy The Musical.
Credit: Joan Marcus

Laurence O’Keefe’s songs still hit the bull’s-eye on their satiric targets, especially as staged by choreographer Connor Gallagher with a tip of the hat to Broadway tropes. The Sondheim-esque “Three Bedroom House” retains its driving energy, reminiscent of “Another Hundred People” from Company, delivered with humor and power by Kerry Butler as Meredith, Bat-Boy’s adoptive mother, and Gabi Carrubba as Shelley, his more than sisterly temporary sibling. (Butler originated the role of Shelley and has beautifully transitioned to the more mature role.)  “Show You a Thing or Two,” in which Edgar aka Bat Boy is given a crash course in history and culture, is a delightful tribute to Eliza Doolittle moments and Main Stem pizzazz, complete with a Chorus Line kick line, courtesy of Gallagher. “Children, Children,” a forest-set sexual fantasy with Edgar and Shelley teetering on the brink of sexual awakening, makes fun of Julie Taymor’s Lion King menagerie. The chorus is transformed into horny woodland creatures, led by a delightfully Dionysus-like Alex Newell as the God Pan. Jennifer Moeller’s crazy critter costumes are a hoot (as is David Korins’ Halloween-ish haunted-house set.)

Subway Encounter #3: A Poem

A singer with a guitar was performing Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car
On the number 7 subway platform at Grand Central
The song always made me cry
But the singer was blurring and mumbling the lyrics
I couldn’t understand them
I tried to remember them and they only came back in snatches
“You got a fast car.”
“Leave tonight or live and die this way.”
“I-I had a feeling that I belonged. I-I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone.”
My eyes misted up.

The train arrived and I entered a near empty car.

Immediately there was an overwhelming smell 

I only smelled it a few times before—always on the subway.

Like unwashed bodies. Like ammonia.

In the corner of the car were two people, a man and a woman, youngish.

The man was black, sitting up,

The woman who was brown-skinned was lying down with her head in his lap. 

She seemed to be sleeping.

She wore a red jacket.

The four other people in the car sat far away from them.

I felt bad for them

They really stank.

I wondered if they just rode on the 7 train back and forth from Shea Stadium to Hudson Yards all day.

When did they sleep? Where did they go? Were they in love or did they just cling to each other for protection with no home outside of the subway?

Once we got into Queens, the car filled up and the smell of other bodies

covered up the couple’s stink.

People sat and stood near them and I couldn’t see them anymore. Did they feel like someone?