'Bull': Workplace Politics as Blood Sport

 

The combatants gather in Mike Bartlett's 'Bull'

It stands to reason that, having written a highly successful play called Cock, the playwright Mike Bartlett could not resist calling his next one Bull.  Since the running time for the former is 90 minutes, and for the latter it is 50 minutes, you know it won’t be long before they will be paired up for a theatrical evening under the title 'Cock and Bull.'

That particularly bit of marketing silliness aside, the two plays are good companion pieces, with a shared depiction of human competitiveness as blood sport. 

Cock depicted a sexual triangle (a man and woman fighting over another man).  Bull, on view at the 59 East 59 Theater, moves the battleground to the workplace, though with the same combat-to-the-death theme.  

With Bull, we get a ringside view of three employees of an unnamed corporate entity who are at the endgame of vying over the two positions that will remain after a round of downsizing. Call it musical chairs with real consequences.

It is clear from the get-go who will be discharged, as two of the players have joined forces like members of a wolf pack closing in on a wounded zebra.  Anyone who has ever worked in a hostile work environment (and let’s face it, who hasn’t) will recognize the antagonists: Tony, the self-confident arrogant bastard, and Isobel, the vicious piece of business determined to claw her way to the top regardless of collateral damage. Poor Thomas, the intended prey, doesn’t stand a chance against these armed-to-the-teeth backstabbers. 

The play takes place in a waiting area shortly before a meeting with the boss.  Almost from the outset, Tony and Isobel start in on Thomas, denigrating his appearance, alternately withholding information and lying altogether, and thrusting their verbal lances like picadors in (naturally) a bullfight.  “Stop shuffling around like an autistic penguin,” Isobel tells him, while criticizing his suit and pointing out a non-existent blotch in the corner of his mouth.  They behave, in short, like a pair of nasty-ass middle school bullies. 

This really is all there is to the play. Tony and Isobel keep up their thrusts and jabs until the boss shows up and Thomas—knowing he doesn’t stand a chance—lashes out uncontrollably (for which you might feel the urge to send up a mighty cheer), though, of course, he ends up the perfect and inevitable victim. 

What makes this well worth the visit is the exquisite performances by Adam James as Tony, Eleanor Matsuura as Isobel, Neil Stuke as the boss, and, especially, Sam Troughton as Thomas, who starts out without much self-confidence and gradually melts into a twitching and trembling mass of gelatin under the cruel ministrations of his “colleagues.”  It comes almost as a surprise that Mr. Troughton is able to stand up to take his bow.  Director Clare Lizzimore has done a fine job of keeping the level of tension high.  Clever idea to pump up the audience by using the well-known theme music from the movie Rocky III as a lead-in.  

If you go, be sure to ask for a “standing room” ticket.  That will give you a place around the square of Plexiglass set up like a boxing ring and give you the closest and best view of the goings-on.  You will not be able to tear your eyes away.  Plan on dinner or drinks afterwards; the evening will still be young and you will have much to talk about.  


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The Tony Nominations Are Announced: Let the Speculation Begin!

2013 Tony Award Nominees 'Kinky Boots' leads with 13 Tony nominations Kinky Boots, the Harvey Fierstein/Cyndi Lauper collaboration leads the list of Tony Award nominations. Great for box office, but how will it fare in the end? Its stiffest competition for Best Musical:  the British import, Matilda. In the past, I've avoided speculating on the Tonys, but what the heck.  Below is the list of nominees, with my predictions in boldface.  I have Matilda edging out Kinky Boots, by the way, though I have given best original score to Lauper.
BEST PLAY The Assembled Parties Lucky Guy The Testament of Mary Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Author: BEST MUSICAL Bring It On: The Musical A Christmas Story, The Musical Kinky Boots Matilda The Musical BEST BOOK OF A MUSICAL A Christmas Story, The Musical Kinky Boots Matilda The Musical  Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella BEST ORIGINAL SCORE  A Christmas Story, The Musical Hands on a Hardbody Music: Kinky Boots  Matilda The Musical Music & Lyrics BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY Golden Boy Orphans The Trip to Bountiful Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL Annie The Mystery of Edwin Drood Pippin Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE IN A PLAY Tom Hanks, Lucky Guy Nathan Lane, The Nance Tracy Letts, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? David Hyde Pierce, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike Tom Sturridge, Orphans BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE IN A PLAY Laurie Metcalf, The Other Place Amy Morton, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Kristine Nielsen, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike Holland Taylor, Ann Cicely Tyson, The Trip to Bountiful  BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MUSICAL Bertie Carvel, Matilda The Musical Santino Fontana, Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella Rob McClure, Chaplin Billy Porter, Kinky Boots Stark Sands. Kinky Boots BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MUSICAL Stephanie J. Block, The Mystery of Edwin Drood Carolee Carmello, Scandalous Valisia LeKae, Motown The Musical Patina Miller, Pippin Laura Osnes, Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A PLAY Danny Burstein, Golden Boy Richard Kind, The Big Knife Billy Magnussen, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike Tony Shalhoub, Golden Boy Courtney B. Vance, Lucky Guy BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A PLAY Carrie Coon, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Shalita Grant, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike Judith Ivey, The Heiress Judith Light, The Assembled Parties Condola Rashad, The Trip to Bountiful BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A MUSICAL Charl Brown, Motown The Musical Keith Carradine, Hands on a Hardbody Will Chase, The Mystery of Edwin Drood Gabriel Ebert, Matilda The Musical Terrence Mann, Pippin BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A MUSICAL Annaleigh Ashford, Kinky Boots Victoria Clark, Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella Andrea Martin, Pippin Keala Settle, Hands on a Hardbody Lauren Ward, Matilda The Musical BEST DIRECTION OF A PLAY Pam MacKinnon, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Nicholas Martin, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike Bartlett Sher, Golden Boy George C. Wolfe, Lucky Guy BEST DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL Scott Ellis, The Mystery of Edwin Drood Jerry Mitchell, Kinky Boots Diane Paulus, Pippin Matthew Warchus, Matilda The Musical BEST CHOREOGRAPHY Andy Blankenbuehler, Bring It On: The Musical Peter Darling, Matilda The Musical Jerry Mitchell, Kinky Boots Chet Walker, Pippin BEST ORCHESTRATIONS Chris Nightingale, Matilda The Musical Stephen Oremus, Kinky Boots Ethan Popp & Bryan Crook, Motown The Musical Danny Troob, Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella  BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A PLAY John Lee Beatty, The Nance Santo Loquasto, The Assembled Parties David Rockwell, Lucky Guy Michael Yeargan, Golden Boy BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A MUSICAL Rob Howell, Matilda The Musical Anna Louizos, The Mystery of Edwin Drood Scott Pask, Pippin David Rockwell, Kinky Boots BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A PLAY Soutra Gilmour, Cyrano de Bergerac Ann Roth, The Nance Albert Wolsky, The Heiress Catherine Zuber, Golden Boy BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A MUSICAL Gregg Barnes, Kinky Boots Rob Howell, Matilda The Musical Dominique Lemieux, Pippin William Ivey Long, Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A PLAY Jules Fisher & Peggy Eisenhauer, Lucky Guy Donald Holder, Golden Boy Jennifer Tipton, The Testament of Mary Japhy Weideman, The Nance BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A MUSICAL Kenneth Posner, Kinky Boots Kenneth Posner, Pippin Kenneth Posner, Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella Hugh Vanstone, Matilda The Musical BEST SOUND DESIGN OF A PLAY John Gromada, The Trip to Bountiful Mel Mercier, The Testament of Mary Leon Rothenberg, The Nance Peter John Still and Marc Salzberg, Golden Boy BEST SOUND DESIGN OF A MUSICAL Jonathan Deans & Garth Helm, Pippin Peter Hylenski, Motown The Musical John Shivers, Kinky Boots Nevin Steinberg, Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella Feel free to tell your friends about this blog, and to share your own theater stories by posting a comment.

'Pippin' Revival Finds Its Corner Of The Broadway Sky

The Cast of 'Pippin':  They've Got Magic To Do!

It's been 40 years since Broadway has seen a production of the Stephen Schwartz musical Pippin, and its arrival has been anticipated by many as a much-desired breath of fresh air in what has been, until very recently, a bland and disappointing theater season.

Pippin was never wildly beloved of the critics, but audiences kept it going for close to 2,000 performances between 1972 and 1977, and it did garner Tony Awards for its director/choreographer Bob Fosse, its set designer Tony Walton, and its lead actor Ben Vereen, who has been indelibly associated with the show since creating the role of the Lead Player.

The show has remained popular through many, many high school and college editions over the years, which makes perfect sense since its theme of youth seeking a purpose in life is one that speaks to young people.  Indeed, Mr. Schwartz originally conceived of Pippin as a student production while he was attending Carnegie Mellon University, just a few years prior to the show’s Broadway opening. 

There is much to commend about this revival, and I do expect that it will be a strong contender for Tony awards in at least three categories:  best revival of a musical, best directing for Diane Paulus, and best supporting actress for Andrea Martin, whose over-the-top crowd-pleasing performance of her solo (with audience participation) number is a master class in musical theater.

I do not normally warm to smoke-and-mirrors production values, especially when they are intended to distract the audience from an insipid play or musical.  Yet it is impossible not to yield to Ms. Paulus's production, which mixes circus, vaudeville, and burlesque motifs in a way that is a perfect match for this show.  The most brilliant decision was to bring in members of the Montreal-based acrobatic company called Les 7 Doigts De La Main ("7 fingers of the hand,") whose skills at tumbling, juggling, and flying through the air are extraordinary.  Gypsy Snider of 7 Doigts is responsible for the circus motif, and it is magnificently woven throughout the show.

In a way, the story of Pippin is circus-like, with elements of sideshow sleight-of-hand and illusions, and headed up by an indefatigable and omnipresent ringmaster.  In the original production, it was Mr. Vereen who inhabited this role.  Now it is in the capable hands of Patina Miller, who previously announced her presence as a London and Broadway performer to be contended with in the musical adaptation of the popular movie Sister Act.

All right, Ms. Miller is not Mr. Vereen, who had the advantage of working closely with Bob Fosse in the creation and development of the role. But she does give a gutsy and out-there performance as the Lead Player, and she does a creditable job with Chet Walker's choreography (which is identified officially as being "in the style of Bob Fosse.") Professional dancers in the audience, or others very well versed in the Fosse oeuvre, will cavil that "in the style of" isn't quite in the same league as the real thing, but it is Fosse enough for most audience members.

Matthew James Thomas, in the title role, is personable, a fine singer with a strong pop singing voice ("in the style of" American Idol and that ilk).  He comes to Pippin after serving as alternate in the role of Peter Parker in Spider-Man:  Turn Off The Dark.  If you want to picture his performance style, think of Aaron Tveit in Next to Normal. 

I almost feel like a grump saying this, but on the whole, Pippin is not a great work of musical theater.  The biggest problem—and I am about to get literary here—is that it has the design of a picaresque bildungsroman, an episodic coming-of-age story like Candide, for example, but without the necessary moral growth of the main character.  

Pippin doesn’t learn much from the various experiences he has (war, sex, revolution, politics, and so forth), and even when he gets in over his head (like killing his father, Charlemagne, and taking over the kingdom), he finds he can undo his actions and move on.  Even the finale, or THE FINALE as it is called, carries very little real threat with it.  The choice our hero makes—life over death—is kind of a no-brainer.  It should be his soul, not his life, which is at stake. While watching, I thought of the wonderful novel by Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes, which creates a great sense of souls-at-risk in connection with a circus theme.  If you haven’t read it, check it out.

Regardless, there is no doubt that this production of Pippin delivers what it promises:  “sets, costumes, lights, magic.”  It is filled with sizzling moments, and there is no faulting the spectacle of it all, nor the performances.  In addition to leading star turns by Ms. Miller and Mr. Thomas, Andrea Martin is truly exceptional in the role of Berthe, the advice-giving grandmother, and Terrence Mann (excellent as Charlemagne), Charlotte d’Amboise as Fastrada, and Rachel Bay Jones as Catherine all grab hold and make the most of their own little corner of the sky.

I expect that Pippin has settled in for what will, once again, prove to be a long and successful run. 



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'The Trip To Bountiful': A Revival To Cherish For Bringing Cicely Tyson Back to the Stage

Cicely Tyson and Condola Rashad in 'The Trip To Bountiful'

Music suffuses the endearing new revival of The Trip To Bountiful, on view at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre and starring the indomitable Cicely Tyson as Carrie Watts, an elderly widow bound and determined to escape her stultifying urban existence and return to live out her days at her family home in rural Texas. 

The music comes from many sources:  from Perry Como crooning on the radio, from the chirping of the redbirds and scissortails that floods Mrs. Watts with joyful memories, and, most of all, from the hymns she loves to sing and in which she finds great strength and comfort.  (I don’t know whether this is occurring at every performance, but at the one I attended, many in the audience joined Ms. Tyson in singing one of the hymns; far from distracting, it felt like a spontaneous and transcendent moment.)

Playwright Horton Foote originally wrote The Trip to Bountiful as a teleplay in 1953, during the Golden Age of Television when first-rate theatrical dramas and live televised productions were standard fare. The original TV production starred Lillian Gish as Mrs. Watts, and the iconic actress took the play to Broadway shortly thereafter. Over the years there have been several theatrical revivals, along with a movie (1985) that garnered an Academy Award for Geraldine Page.  Later, in 2006, Lois Smith won a  Drama Desk Award for her portrayal of the same character in an off-Broadway production at the Signature Theatre Company. 

In short, Mrs. Watts has been very kind to actresses of a certain age.  At the time she entered into their lives, Ms. Gish was 60, Ms. Page was 61, and Ms. Smith was 76.  But Ms. Tyson beats them all.  At what has been widely reported to be the age of 88, she grabs hold of the character, the stage, and our hearts from start to end. 

The plot of The Trip to Bountiful is a simple one (the title pretty much says it all), and the play would be most resistant to any sort of fussy production.  Thankfully, Michael Wilson, who has had a lot of experience directing Mr. Foote’s plays, helms the evening with a gentle hand.  The story unfolds without a lot of sentimentality and avoids melodrama during several potentially melodramatic scenes. 

Mrs. Watts feels trapped, living as she does with her hapless son Ludie (Cuba Gooding Jr.) and sharp-tongued daughter-in-law Jessie Mae (Vanessa Williams) in a two-room flat in Houston.  The only thing to do is to make her escape and return to her family home in Bountiful, where she intends to live with a childhood friend. 

Along the way, she shares a bus ride and swaps stories and hymns with a young woman (Condola Rashad), loses her handbag with her pension check inside, and spends the night in a bus station just a few miles from her destination. 

It is not difficult to imagine a version of the play in which the final miles of Mrs. Watts’s journey are made in a pine box, but this is an ending that Foote wisely stayed away from in the writing. Instead, he sends a kind-hearted sheriff (Tom Wopat), who has been dispatched to find Mrs. Watts and reunite her with her family. 
  

It is the sheriff who drives her the rest of the way to Bountiful, where she finds her childhood friend has passed away, her family home is in ruin, and the world of her dreams has long since returned to nature.  Still, it is enough that she has made the journey, and she is able to conjure up a sense of satisfaction and inner peace.  When Ludie and Jessie Mae show up, she is content to return with them to Houston, carrying Bountiful inside her. 

The acting company does a fine job all around, mostly performing roles that are only modestly defined and that serve largely as foils to the central character.  Mr. Gooding, who is making his professional stage debut with this production, does seem somewhat ill-at-ease onstage, and when I saw him, he was losing his voice.  Yet I found him to be most appropriately cast in the role of the befuddled Ludie, trying to little avail to be the peacemaker in the constant struggle between his mother and wife.   

The more experienced Ms. Williams, as the self-centered and mean-spirited Jessie Mae, and Ms. Rashad and Mr. Wopat make the most of their parts.  

But, of course, it is Ms. Tyson who carries the play. She is in turn charming, devilish, forthright, sweet, stubborn—and always fascinating to watch.  Whether she is 79, as her official biography has it, or 88, as The New York Times has declared, It hardly seems to matter.  To quote Shakespeare, writing of Cleopatra:  “Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety.” 

Brava, Ms. Tyson, and yet again brava!!!

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'The Testament of Mary': Fiona Shaw Solos In A Lacerating Version of "The Greatest Story Ever Told"

Fiona Shaw in 'The Testament of Mary'

It’s getting so that if you are on time to the theater, you are actually late.

If, for instance, you have tickets for the hit musical Once, you need to arrive a good half hour before curtain time in order to enjoy the exuberant live pre-show performance of Irish music, along with the opportunity to buy expensive drinks at the on-stage bar. 

Productions of other musicals (Fela! comes to mind) and even non-musicals (Brief Encounter) have offered live music as the audience settled in, and it’s hard to find even a straight play—especially a period revival—that doesn’t set the mood through the use of recordings from the era (Golden Boy, Happy Birthday).  Even the Pearl Theatre Company’s lighter-than-air production of This Side of Neverland, a pair of one-acts by J. M. Barrie, entertains us with an on-stage pianist playing turn-of-the-20^th-century tunes. 

So, what’s a director to do to grab the audience’s attention without resorting to the ubiquitous pre-show musical performance?

Deborah Warner, director of The Testament of Mary—the stimulating, if overly stimulated new play at the Walter Kerr Theatre—gives the pre-show a new twist, what you might call the pre-show art exhibit.  

While waiting for the play to begin, audience members are invited to come onto the stage to walk around and view the pre-show set, designed by Tom Pye in the manner of an exhibition of Dada art.  The set is, indeed, a sight to behold, rife with symbolism and found objects, only some of which remain onstage as the play begins, to be used as props during the 90-minute rigorous workout of a performance by Fiona Shaw as the Virgin Mary.

Ms. Shaw, the gifted Irish actress best known to many Americans for her recurring role as Aunt Petunia in the Harry Potter film series, was last seen on Broadway a decade ago in a modern-dress version of Medea (another visceral performance directed by Ms. Warner).  Here she portrays an angry, depressed, and frustrated Mary, whose own version of the events surrounding her son’s last days has been ignored and distorted beyond redemption, save for the 90 minutes in which she is allotted to give testament. 

In case you are thinking of attending the play, I’ll not reveal any more about the pre-show exhibition, save to say that it is quite an eyeful and is sure to hold your attention.  As for the pieces of it that serve as props during the play, they must be made of strong materials, indeed, to be able to withstand Ms. Shaw’s physical workout of a performance.

The Testament Of Mary was written by Colm Toibin, both  as this play and as a novella. In it, Mary has been badgered to support the version of Jesus’s story that suits the hierarchy of the Church—and she wants no part of it.  As far as she is concerned, her son’s life was usurped by the band of hangers-on who followed him everywhere and turned him, essentially, into Jesus Christ Superstar.  The “miracles” were either sleight-of-hand parlor tricks (water into wine) or disturbing misfires (the reanimation of Lazarus, akin to something out of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary.)  Every effort she made to get him to come home, to save him from his fate, was thwarted.  In the end, she could not stomach bearing witness to the crucifixion, and fled. 

This is territory that Mary does not want to revisit, yet which she cannot avoid.  As she give testament, Ms. Shaw chews up the stage, hurls herself from one end to the other, stomps her feet, strips naked and plunges into a pool of water, plays with a coil of barbed wire, and rearranges and batters the furniture and other props.

This is, indeed, a tour de force performance, one that is likely to bring Ms. Shaw a Tony nomination.  The thing is, though, The Testament of Mary could do with rather less of the relentless assault that marks the actress’s work here. This is a version of “the greatest story ever told,” after all; that ought to be able to hold an audience’s interest without all of the sturm und drang. 


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