What's happening in NYC? A lot: Three reviews of #Broadway shows that could not be more different.
Over the course of three weeks, I had the privilege of enjoying two Broadway plays and one Broadway musical that could not be more different: JK Rowling’s continuation of the Potter saga #HarryPotterandTheCursedChild, Tom Stoppard’s #Travesties, and Itamar Moses and David Yazbek’s #TheBandsVisit.
In viewing order:
A true, experiential event – and part of the fun was hearing the audience, mostly the kids, react with wonder and gasps.
Upon completing the Sisyphean task of acquiring tickets to this play (I won the registration lottery, received my unlock code, and surprisingly scored tickets on the first day they went on sale).
Seeing parts one and two (over five hours) in one day takes planning and stamina. After arriving at the newly-renovated Lyric Theatre on 43 Street with its Potter-themed facade, and entering the beautiful lobby, I felt the magic start to take hold.
While I’m am committed to #keepthesecrets, I don’t think I’m giving anything away by writing that the carpet, the lighting fixtures, the wall-and-ceiling decor of the lobby and theater – all Potter-related – prime the audience for the adventure to come.
As has been previously written, the play picks up 19 years after graduation on Track 9 ¾, as Harry and Ginny, and Hermione and Ron are sending their kids off to Hogwarts. Let’s just say that there’s no shortage of magical adventures and some surprising turn-of-events ahead.
The cast, particularly the members from the London production, is uniformly terrific. The formidable Noma Dumezweni knocks it out of the park as Hermione. Equally good are Jamie Parker as Harry, and Paul Thornley as Ron, although his storyline here is in support of other characters. The plot follows Harry’s son Albus (Sam Clemmett) and Draco’s son Scorpius, (Anthony Boyle). Both characters are welcome additions to the Potter universe, and as young actors, doing fine work.
The production, tightly directed by John Tiffany, is stunning theatrical magic. Take care not to get caught up in the “how” things are done and just go with the experience. Kudos to the scenic designers, lighting, illusion, and projection teams. From the movement to the music, and the spells to the scene changes, it’s a visual treat and continual surprise.
Part one is the stronger of the two parts. After the initial exposition for the forgetful or uninitiated (I’m not sure anyone could follow this show with no previous Potter knowledge), the show flows well and gets stronger to its P1 break. Part two picks up solidly on that same high note, but is overlong and muddled with plot twists that are unnecessary and confusing to follow. I would have trimmed about 20 minutes or so. The story ultimately straightens itself out to reach a satisfying end.
It was a true, experiential event – and part of the fun was hearing the audience, mostly the kids, react with wonder and gasps.
Highly recommended, if you can get tickets, at the Lyric Theatre booking thru may 2019 at this writing.
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It’s a jubilant production. If you miss any of the intellectual barbs, rest easy that another is coming quickly on its heels.
As Stoppard is one of my favorite playwrights, missing this was not an option. Before I begin, just a reminder that this is a revival of an early comedy by Tom Stoppard – explanations short of 10 pages are impossible. I’ll keep it brief.
It’s 1917 as The Great War reaches its peak, and Irish writer James Joyce, Bolshevik Vladimir Lenin and Dada founder Tristan Tzara happen to be in neutral Switzerland at the same time. The past events of the artists and revolutionaries are recounted by British consul Henry Carr, played dementedly by a superb Tom Hollander reprising his role from the London production. Carr is the connector to all of the characters.
Are you with me so far?
Carr, an actual person, played Algernon in Joyce’s amateur production of The Importance of Being Earnest and ended up in a lawsuit with him over a costume. It’s through this lens that Carr – now old man and former POW – reminisces, and we experience his thoughts on art, revolution and war through his unreliable memory.
The play is performed at breakneck pace on one set that is at once Carr’s drawing room and through smart scenic design, the library and the train station. There’s are multiple entry points with many doors and levels lending themselves to its farcical nature for quick entries and exits. In Carr’s maze of memories, Joyce argues that art is pure, Lenin preaches art as manifesto, and Tzara views art through the irrationality of Dada Dada Dada. Themes from Earnest are played out, with the women appropriately named Cecily and Gwendolyn. There are secret identities, limericks, songs, and romances, and I’m not sure how it all works, but somehow it does.
Directed by Patrick Marber, it’s a jubilant production. If you miss any of the intellectual barbs, rest easy that another is coming quickly on its heels. Most of the Roundabout cast is American with a strong background in Shakespeare and/or Stoppard, and are well up to the task of handling complex language and accents.
I’m still unclear why Tzara spoke in a Romanian accent in the opening scene, then a British one going forward. Was it a direction, or a failing on the part of the actor? Or was it simply the way memory works?
Highly recommended, if you’re up to the task, at the Roundabout Theatre thru 17 june 2018.
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One of the many beautiful things about this musical is that it’s not about politics, it’s about being human.
As a huge fan of Eran Kolirin’s 2007 film, I was both curious and apprehensive about its adaptation to a musical. In a film where silences speak volumes, how would that work in musical form where the demand is “big”?
I’m thrilled to report that the same intimate, quiet and powerful tone of the film has been successfully translated to the stage. The production is terrific – sticking closely to the source material, and using music to communicate the cinematic. With David Yazbek’s compositions, Itamar Moses’s book, and under David Cromer’s direction, The Band’s Visit is funny, poignant, and heart-wrenching without drifting into sentimentality.
The Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra has traveled to Israel from Egypt to perform an important concert at the Arab Cultural Center. Because of language difficulties, they’ve taken the wrong bus. Instead of arriving in the busy city of Petah Tikva (that’s with a P), the band lands in Bet Hatikva (with a B), a nowhere place in the desert with not much going on. With the only bus leaving the next morning, the band is stranded and the people of Bet Hatikva take them in. The story interweaves the lives of each group as they share stories and music over the course of an evening.
Yazbek’s score is exquisite – using actor/musicians along with a small, hidden orchestra. The combination of Arabic, Israeli, klezmer and jazz sounds played on oud, darbouka, violin, cello, and clarinet throughout the evening fits perfectly and serves many narrative moments that were once cinematic.
One of the many beautiful things about this musical is that it’s not about politics, it’s about being human. The book is strong, and the direction is carefully restrained. By making less more in a musical, The Band’s Visit is truly distinctive. The actors and musicians, and some are both, are superb. Katrina Lenk’s Dina, the cafe owner, is a force of nature. Her story with Tony Shalhoub’s reserved leader Colonel Tewfiq and the rest of the distinctive characters share the longing for connection along with the pain of hope.
There’s only one act, so the “big” cast number is the finale. And it’s perfect. It was so beautiful, so brief – so true to the show, I wanted it to go on, but like much of life, it passed in a flash.
Note, don’t leave immediately after the curtain call.
Highly recommended, if you’re open to musicals of a different kind, at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre booking thru october 2018 at this writing.
Photos: Buttons and Playbill © 2018 Janet Giampietro. Travesties illustration © Roundabout
