9/19/23: Swing State
What: Audible presents Rebecca Gilman's new play, about Peg, an aging widow looking after a prairie in Wisconsin in 2021, observing the collapsing ecosystem and wondering if it's worth fighting anymore.
And? In the earliest moment in the play, Peg is quietly mixing the dough for zucchini bread. Then she stops and poises her sharp knife first against her arm and then as if to drive it into her eye. When Ryan, a young man who does odd jobs for her, arrives moments later, she doesn't mention the incident. But she does show him her will. I don't want to dig too deeply into the rest of the plot here (spoilers) but I will say it was refreshing to see such a well-crafted piece of writing onstage again (it's been a dry summer). With a cast of only four (but omg, all of them truly excellent, especially Mary Beth Fisher in the main role), at first it seems like the kind of play where you can guess where it's going from moment one. But characters continue to surprise with moments that are both shocking and yet fully grounded in what we already know. And it's rather striking to see such a poignant exploration of despair that still manages, by the skin of its teeth, to find enough hope to keep on. Todd Rosenthal's scenic design is perfection, full of tiny details that make the space not a set but a home--from the abandoned dog toy near the food and water bowl, to the peeling contact paper lining the pantry shelves, this is a home that has been lived in and loved. Doing similarly beautiful work is Eric Southern's lighting design, gently sculpting the space with a scattering of table lamps stashed on bookcases, the light over the oven, wall sconces, and other subtle touches, making this house a beacon against the darkness of the prairie at night. It comes as less of a surprise to report such a solidly excellent cast and design when I see that the director is Robert Falls, of course.
An excellent, but difficult play. Pairing this with Jaja's African Hair Braiding last weekend, and I think the fall season of theater is off to a very good start for me.
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| Mary Beth Fisher and Bubba Weiler as Peg and Ryan. Photo by Liz Lauren. |
9/23/23: Merrily We Roll Along
What: The Broadway transfer of the NYTW run of Maria Friedman's production of the beloved Sondheim-Furth (flop) musical, about the friendship among three friends, traveling backward from the collapse of the friendship through to its idealistic beginnings.
And? I stand by what I said back in November. I think that by and large this is a solid, if not a definitive, production of Merrily, and it will be interesting to see if at long last Merrily can be a hit on Broadway (although bittersweet, with Furth, Prince, and Sondheim all dead). I don't hate the set design like some do, but I do feel that it limits the imagination of the director and restricts us to some less than creative staging. I think Gussie is still miscast (Gussie should be able to steal the scene with any of her lines; that's how she's written; that's what she does). What's funny to me is, casting of Gussie aside, I feel like most of my issues could be fixed if they would just let me in the room (oh, the arrogance). My issues are minor but: "Franklin Shepard Inc." should feel like someone cut the brake line, not like there's a chance to stop this debacle in action; some of the power in "Our Time" is lost when we don't see everyone else on their rooftops to see Sputnik (this is a staging limitation); the biggest offense to me: when Frank is noodling on the piano leading into "Growing Up" and acting like "oh this is a good melody I just came up with, let's keep composing go me" and it is CLEARLY the score for "Good Thing Going," which we'll hear in full in the next act. Come on, y'all. Major dramaturgical misstep, and one that wasn't there when this ran on the West End. What were they thinking?
But see? That stuff's fixable. Just listen to Zelda.
No, really, it's a solid production that mostly does right by a show I love. And it's the only production that has a promise of redemption for Frank, based on the framing device of Frank holding the script for "Take a Left." Maybe this time, he'll make the right choice.
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| Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff, and Lindsay Mendez as Charley, Frank, and Mary. Photo by Joan Marcus. |
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