A work unfinishing: Weekly Margin 2026, W21: Well, I'll Let You Go, Proof, Cable Street, Fallen Angels, Titaníque, Cats: The Jellicle Ball

5/18/26: Well, I'll Let You Go

What: Studio Seaview hosts an encore presentation of Bubba Weiler's play about a newly-widowed woman receiving visitors one by one in the immediate aftermath of her husband's death.

And? This play owes a large debt to Thornton Wilder's Our Town, but it's more than able to pay it back: a narrator explains the layout of the main room in a farmhouse, pointing to a piano we can't see, a sectional couch that for us is just five folding chairs. He sets both the space and the mood in this way, bringing us gently into Maggie's suddenly small world. With each visit from a friend or relative, new detritus is brought into the house: used bowls and coffee mugs, a surfeit of white floral arrangements, an incongruous bouquet of purple balloons, a case of Coors beer, a wheelbarrow full of mulch, a stack of half-opened storage boxes. With each visit, more is unveiled about the man with whom Maggie spent most of her life, the man whom she may not have known as intimately as she thought. Surrounded by a mess as chaotic as the turmoil in her head, Maggie wonders when the last time was she had known real ease.

I really loved this one. It's so delicately and deftly crafted, treating Maggie with the gentle compassion she deserves while simultaneously brutally pulling out the rug from beneath her feet. Jack Serio's direction fully grounds the performances even in this ungrounded space, and earning the transformations revealed later on in the work. Weiler's play is a beautiful study in the stages of grief, and the mess of life we accumulate over time. The play could have been leading to an ending of devastation and emptiness, but instead -- it's still devastating because he's still gone, but it's not empty, what he left behind. The walls that were closing in on Maggie are fading away, leaving her air to breathe and a horizon to see. This play isn't sentimental in the way that Our Town, is -- it won't wallow in that -- but it still knows how to give space to loss. Quincy Tyler Bernstine is remarkable as Maggie, messy and frank and wounded and still here. Matthew Maher's narrator is warm and matter of fact, allowing the actor to stretch muscles I don't often get to see him stretch. Emily Davis, as the mysterious Angela, perfectly balances the tightrope of revelations and tensions her arrival brings.

Danny McCarthy as Jeff, Matthew Maher as Narrator,
and Quincy Tyler Berstine as Maggie. Photo by Emilio Madrid.

5/19/26: Proof

What: Thomas Kail directs the Broadway revival of David Auburn's Pulitzer-winning play about the daughter of a math prodigy, who may be either a math prodigy herself, or as mentally unwell as her father was at the end of his life.

And? It's really hard to get out from under certain shadows. I still have vivid memories from seeing the original Broadway run of Proof with Jennifer Jason Leigh. The hard cut to black after the final line of Act One. The dryness of Catherine's delivery, originated by Mary-Louise Parker, continued by JJL. The too-quick-to-seem-possible scene and costume changes. The sweetness and eagerness of Cathereine's romance with Hal. The genuinely worrying ambiguity regarding the validity of her story, and her quiet monotone voice as she reads aloud her father's proof. All of this remains crystalline clear in my memory, 25 years later. So it's not really fair. If this were my first experience of the play, I'd probably appreciate it a lot more -- it's an amazing play, perfectly constructed. This production is fine, Ayo Edebiri is continuously vibrating as Catherine (simultaneously compelling and exhausting to watch), and Teresa L. Williams's scenic design is striking even if it never lives up to its original promise. The production is fine but it is unable to eclipse my memories of the original run.

Ayo Edebiri as Catherine, Don Cheadle as Robert, and Jin Ha
as Hal. Photo by Matthew Murphy.

5/21/26: Cable Street

What: 59E59 hosts 10 to 4 Productions's new musical by Tim Gilvin and Alex Kanfsky, telling the story of the Battle of Cable Street in 1936: British fascists (BUF) had a planned march through the Jewish quarter of East London, protected by police, but their paths were barricaded and their march was violently fought by communists, the Jewish population, Irish Catholics, and other sympathetic neighbors.

And? It's uneven, but there's something here. It's heartening, in these difficult times, to see a story portraying the Jewish people, not as hapless victims to be saved, but as a people of conviction and strength. The score and production are definitely among the descendants of Hamilton's game-changing approach to telling historical stories, and I don't mind it. The cast has some strong players, especially Isaac Gryn as firebrand Sammy, Lizzy-Rose Esin Kelly as Mairead, and Jez Unwin in triplicate as the contemporary tour guide, Sammy's cautious father Yitzhak, and Mick, the leader of the fascist group (Unwin is especially impressive at portraying such disparate characters, changing from one to the other onstage as he dons the blackshirt uniform). Yoav Segal's scenic design is striking and evocative, though one can feel how the production is chafing a bit within 59E59's somewhat narrow space: there's a reason we rarely see large-cast shows in this theater. Still, within that, director Adam Lenson finds subtle and smooth storytelling transitions from present-day to past in a way that are continually satisfying. The score and script are a bit overbloated and repetitive; I think the writers should trust the audience more to follow the parallels among the three young protagonists--one a Jewish man no longer willing to stay meek, another an Irish woman finding her rebellion as she joins the Communist Party, and the third a disillusioned Englishman looking for a way toward success and acceptance with the BUF--without overplaying the parallel scene motif. Likewise, there's a way to trim the riot sequence to its most essential beats. It's still worthwhile and I'm glad I saw it.

Barney Wilkinson as Ron and Isaac Gryn as Sammy, center,
with the cast of Cable Street. Photo by Carol Rosegg.

5/22/26: Fallen Angels

What: Roundabout Theatre revives Nöel Coward's sex farce about two married couples thrown for a loop when an ex-lover of both wives comes to visit.

And? It feels a bit like they don't trust Coward's humor to carry itself, leaning heavily into slapstick. That being said, both Rose Byrne and Kelli O'Hara are very funny, O'Hara especially getting to stretch some physical comedy muscles she normally doesn't.

Rose Byrne as Jane and Kelli O'Hara as Julia.
Photo by Joan Marcus.

5/23/26: Titaníque

What: The Broadway transfer of the Off-Broadway hit musical parody of the film Titanic, as narrated by Celine Dion.

And? I think I didn't really get the show the first time I saw it. My review, in brief, was "Very campy fun." It's still that, of course. It is different, getting to see it with its creators, Marla Mindelle and Constantine Rousouli, in the cast as Celine Dion and Jack Dawson, at home in the show they built together (Mindelle in particular is perfection as Celine Dion, especially in her nightly--or matinee-ly in my case--improv sequence of what she thinks Rose and Jack got up to while she was very drunk). The show is, largely, a lot of fun, giving its cast plenty of opportunities to show off both vocals and comedic chops (as well as performer-specific career references that call to mind the audience call-outs during the 2000 revival of Rocky Horror Show). It's also too long, ultimately, and starts to wear out its welcome a bit (it runs at under two hours, but there's too long literally and too long I get it but also I'm ready to leave now).

Marla Mindelle as Celine Dion, Constantine Rousouli as
Jack Dawson, and Melissa Barrera as Rose DeWitt Bukater.
Photo by Evan Zimmerman.

5/24/26: Cats: The Jellicle Ball

What: The Broadway transfer of the downtown hit reimagining of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical through the lens of ballroom culture.

And? I'd heard that the Broadway transfer didn't have the same joy and abandon of the downtown run, and it's definitely true that some restaging had to be done, with the majority of the audience past the proscenium and at the "front" of the runway, rather than mostly along the sides of the runway. The runway itself extends a bit into the audience space, but it's not the same. But I'll tell you, we really lucked out with our tdf tickets: we got to sit on the stage, so not only got to maintain that view, but had an even more intimate experience as there were fewer rows of seats than when I saw it at PAC. A friend of mine who saw it from rear orchestra did not have as impressive an experience, so I really am feeling my luck with where we sat. I had an absolute blast yet again. Between this and Masquerade, I'm seconding @GianmarcoSoresi, who said "it's clear that Andrew Lloyd Webber is best enjoyed not as intended."