TheaterReviewsFromMySeat

I scanned the critical reviews before committing to the revival of Romeo + Juliet on Broadway.  I have never seen the play nor any movie adaptation of Shakespeare’s famous – and somewhat infamous – tragedy.  Reviews were all over the board with very mixed opinions.  That’s interesting, I think, so let’s check it out.  I’m very, very glad I did.

Sam Gold’s interpretation is squarely aimed at the Gen Z crowd.  Its stars are well known to many but are definitely adored (worshipped?) by a younger set than me.  Kit Connor plays Romeo, best known for a television hit “Heartstopper”.  Rachel Zegler was María in the recent West Side Story movie.  She is Juliet here.  Both have great moments in this production.  The audience wants them to be in puppy love and they deliver.

Every member of this young cast is making their Broadway debut.  The energy is exciting as is the staging in the round at Circle in the Square.  The original play is significantly cut and language is largely contemporary with enough “thou” references thrown in to let us remember from hence the story begat.  None of that modernization is off-putting.  Instead it feels rather fresh and accessible.

Like The Outsiders playing nearby, these teens are hormonally wired.  Boys will be boys and sides will be taken.  The recklessness of youth is on full display both comedically as well as dramatically.  Shit happens in Verona.  While this staging contains a nightclub vibe, complete with a DJ and original songs, blood will be shed.

Many lament the relative ickiness of romancing a thirteen year old girl in this play.  Both leads are in their twenties; young and not completely naive.  I saw two people drawn to each other despite familial warfare.  The two most famous scenes – the balcony and the death scene – are worth the wait.

The balcony scene in particular is a masterfully executed visual.  Supremely gorgeous Juliet’s bed rises into the air (inspired scenery by design collective dots).  A confident, masculine Romeo looks up from down below.  “Where for art thou” becomes “how can I reach up to you?”  The imagery and timing of this scene is slow burn sexy.  Both actors, notably Mr. Connor with impressive physicality, make the most of this well known highpoint.

That seems to be one of the purposes of this revival.  Introducing theatrical Shakespeare to a younger generation (and, while at it, theater in general and plays rather than musicals specifically).  The stars are famous, the language is understandable, side plots are excised and a core storyline is presented.  There are a lot of cuts and added hip wordplay.  All of that felt natural given the context of this show.

Every actor in this play is making their Broadway debut.  The cast is not nearly at the level seen in The Outsiders but they are all interesting, many of whom play multiple roles.  There’s a handy who’s who graphic in the Playbill to keep them straight.  That partially works but does not really matter.  They are clearly reveling in their performances with special kudos to Sola Fadiran who memorably inhabits both Capulet and Lady Capulet.

Should a play about romancing a thirteen year old really be celebrated?  One of our most famous rock n’ rollers, Jerry Lee Lewis, married a girl that age in the 1950’s (after his early evangelical training, no less).  This past week’s nominee for Attorney General of the United States is publicly accused of cavorting with underaged women.  As Shakespeare said, “The play’s the thing”.  This material, while offensive, is hardly unbelievable or horrendously dated.

Despite raising the average audience age at a recent matinee, I found Romeo + Juliet a transporting experience.  I was not brought to tears which some critics bemoaned.  Alternatively I was drawn to the distressing realization that the human condition remains deeply flawed and the most innocent among us – our children – cannot grasp the pot of gold at the other end of the rainbow.  That outlook sadly arrives much later in life.  I’ll remember this unique production for a long time.

Romeo + Juliet is running on Broadway through February 16, 2025.

www.romeoandjulietnyc.com

Broadway superstar Audra McDonald begins her turn as the famed stage mother in Gypsy this week.  Jez Butterworth has given us another version of this archetype in his deeply emotional and satisfying play The Hills of California.  Mothers and daughters and dreams, the stuff of drama and growth.

Widowed at a young age, Veronica is raising her four daughters to have a life far better and more empowered than her own.  Perhaps she, like Gypsy’s Mama Rose, wants the life for them that she wished for herself.  It is a familiar story for sure.  The tension within this dramedy, however, mines new depths of sadness despite the effervescent joy of young girls blossoming under mom’s tutelage.

Veronica is training the sisters to be an act by mimicking the Andrew’s Sisters.  That gives us a few terrific old tunes to savor in performance scenes including “Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy”.  In 1955 this choice seems already a tad dated underscoring mother’s missed opportunity for herself.

The play also takes place in 1976 when Veronica is nearing the end of her life.  The Webb sisters are back in their former home, a now run down guesthouse somewhere near the sea.  Will the one sister who attained some level of fame return?

The play will shift in time over the course of a very swift three hours.  Every scene is naturally realistic.  The major plot advancement includes a visitor (David Wilson Barnes) invited by Veronica to witness her assembled talents.  As the play turns we are faced with a stage mother far steelier than anything a musical could conjure.  The scene is devastating and superbly rendered under the excellent direction by Sam Mendes.

In a play with time periods separated by two decades memories will be challenged.  The shaping of perspectives is a nice layer which enriches the vagaries in the mother daughter dynamic.  What does it take to successfully climb the hills of California?  Is that the dream?  Should it be?

The acting is top notch.  Laura Donnelly is vividly cold as Veronica and equally memorable in a second role.  All of the sisters in the various age groups are excellent especially Helena Wilson as the one daughter who never left the nest.  These people (and their bitterness) are recognizable making the angst palpable.

I am a huge fan of Mr. Butterworth as a playwright.  I have seen all of his Broadway productions including the jaw dropping Jerusalem, The River and The Ferryman.  Not knowing what this play was about I went simply because his plays are so very good.  The Hills of California is no different.  This is everything an exquisitely staged and intimately written drama should be.  I cannot wait until the next one.

The Hills of California is running at the Broadhurst Theatre until December 22, 2024.

www.thehillsofcalifornia.com

theaterrviewsfrommyseat/theferryman

“Whenever you come near the human race there’s lots and lots of nonsense”.  That chestnut is uttered by Jim Parsons as the Stage Manager in Thornton Wilder’s Our Town.  I have never had an opportunity to see this famous play performed.  This revival, directed by Kenny Lyon, is excellent from start to mesmerizing finish.

A Pulitzer Prize winner, this incisive drama brilliantly incorporates metatheatrical devices.  The Stage Manager hosts the audience, comments on the action and occasionally performs a character.  Over three acts (here performed without intermissions) the American small town of Grover’s Corner will showcase the ordinariness of the human condition and also its universality.

People have their everyday jobs like milk delivery guy and town newspaper editor.  Some in school are growing up and falling in love.  The town alcoholic is known.  Class and position in society, religious demographics and the lack of culturally broadening perspectives are topics chewed on.  There are so many timeless themes in this 1938 study of who and what we are.

Not knowing the play to any extent I was treated to the superlative surprise that is Act III.  Everything staged before built to a thrillingly thoughtful critique on life, death and what we do with the molecules holding us together while we visit this Earth.  What is the purpose of all of this?  Our Town doesn’t answer that question completely but instead invites us to Grover’s Corner to contemplate everything from the mundane to the otherworldly.

Mr. Parsons is in confident command of this large cast who each excel in this contemplative, swirling, often funny dissection.  As the young couple brimming with the promises of life ahead, Ephraim Sykes and understudy Emily Webb shine brightly with demonstrable chemistry.  Their Act III moments are, therefore, powerfully realized.

This talented group includes Michelle Wilson, Billy Eugene Jones, Richard Thomas and Julie Halston.  The show was cast diversely and there is not a second of self-acknowledgement of that choice.  This material can be and should be absorbed by everyone.

I am struck by a visit to the simpler times in Grover’s Corner.  Our American small towns seem far more complicated now given the dynamics of a century of changes – for the better and the worse.  I wonder what the residents would think of the the presidential candidate who pantomimed fellatio with a microphone last week?  Savior?  Fucked up freak?  That the human race is overwhelmed by “lots and lots of nonsense” is indisputable.

Thornton Wilder’s play is a still relevant gem.  The piece is wildly theatrical and laser sharp in confronting its audience about the meaning, value and gift of life.  This production of Our Town is highly recommended especially if, like me, you’ve never taken the trip before.

Our Town is running on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre through January 19, 2024.

www.ourtownbroadway