Theater Digest - March 14, 2022
New thoughts on Trayf and Alma
Hello theater lovers!
I’m Katie, and I see a lot of theater! Currently, I’m seeing 1-2 shows a week, a pace I haven’t experienced since late 2019. While the world is in a hybrid place, this newsletter will remain so as well, including both in-person and digital theater, to meet you at your comfort level. I will also do my best to include the Covid protocol for in-person shows, but things change rapidly, so if you decide to see something, please double check what the protocol are before you arrive at the theater!
As a rule, I won't be talking about any Disney/Fox/Hulu shows. Since this newsletter is geared towards people in the entertainment industry, there's a good chance I won't like a show that you or someone you know was involved in. I'm sure that you/your friend put a lot of effort into your/their work! I've been in a few shows, I know how much work goes into putting on a show. But just as you're entitled to dislike TV shows your friends worked on, I'm allowed to dislike theater you/your friends may have worked on. I try not to be vindictive, but I also do make it clear when I don't think a show is worth the price of a ticket or the time spent watching it.
I won't be writing much/any synopsis in these blurbs, but feel free to check out other reviews for synopses! Or just check out other reviews in general! Keep theater journalism alive & well!
Each week, I'll remove everything that’s closed, and put ** next to anything that’s new!
Worth Seeing:
The Lehman Trilogy at the Ahmanson [LA]. I’ll admit, the premise of this show does not sound enticing: a three hour and 20 minute biographical exploration of the original Lehman brothers, who founded the eponymous firm, and their descendants, from the 1840s through the 2008 financial crisis. It sounds like a show that’s perfect for the types of people (men?) who like to read historical biographies for fun, and while it is that, it is also engaging for people who just love a well-told story. And this story certainly is well told! Based on a (five hour) Italian play by Stefano Massini and adapted into English and condensed by Ben Power, The Lehman Trilogy is engaging. The production is directed by Sam Mendes, who directed the initial three productions in London, as well as the Broadway version, which closed in January before coming here. Adam Godley and Simon Russell Beale, who play the youngest and eldest brothers, respectively, have been with the show since the first London production in 2018, and their comfort with the text shows. Howard W. Overshown is new to the cast in Los Angeles, and fits in quite nicely. It’s an interesting choice to have those three actors play all the roles, including the brothers’ wives and children, but it’s easy to follow which character an actor is at a given time as all three voice both their own dialogue and the omniscient third person narration (it sounds odd as a concept, but works well). The first two acts, which, combined, span around 80 years, are quite strong, but the third act, which takes the narrative from the Great Depression to 2008, feels rushed, and introduces some strange dramatic devices that I didn’t think quite worked. The text also seems to go out of its way to say that the company’s downfall had nothing to do with any of the Lehmans, who were greedy, but not too greedy, according to the authorial voice. Still, the show is a treat to watch, since everyone involved is at the top of their game.
Closes April 10 in LA.
Covid protocol: Indoor venue. Proof of full vaccination + booster required for all patrons. Masks required at all times. Guests age 6 and under not allowed.
Company on Broadway [NY] (reviewed in London in 2018). I’ve studied Company, Sondheim’s seminal 70s musical about a 35 year-old man who can’t/won’t find love, and I’ve never really enjoyed it, mostly because I never really cared for the main character, Bobby. But this production, which gender-swaps about half the characters (Bobby becomes Bobbie; Amy, who sings “Not Getting Married Today,” becomes Jamie, half of a same-sex couple; and the three girls Bobby dates are now three guys) really spoke to me. All the critiques of why Bobby hasn’t settled down yet, which feel facile when Bobby’s a straight man, suddenly gain new depth when they’re launched at Bobbie, given the age-old debate about whether women can really “have it all.” Not everything translates seamlessly when gender-swapped, but I really appreciated the nuance and complexity the director (Marianne Elliot, whose War Horse, Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, or Angels in America you may have seen—all were on Broadway, and the first two came to the Ahmanson) brought to this new take. Elliot primarily works in plays, rather than musicals, and some of the staging choices did feel like generic musical theater blocking, but those are small quibbles, given how radically she transformed the text. And of course, Patti LuPone is a delight as Joanne, who sings “The Ladies Who Lunch.”
Note: While I have not seen the NY production of this yet, I have heard from multiple friends whose opinions I trust that Katrina Lenk is not great in this role. That is a shame, but I think the production is still worth seeing!
Open-ended run in NY.
Covid protocol: Indoor venue. Proof of full vaccination (but not booster) required for patrons 12 and up. Masks required at all times.
Power of Sail at the Geffen [LA]. I knew very little about this show going into it, just that it starred Bryan Cranston, who I think is a great actor, and who I had not seen do theater before. Like Slave Play, this West Coast premiere written by Paul Grellong examines white supremacy for a white audience, and deals with some heavy themes, but the similarities end there. All in all, I was impressed by the production. The ensemble is excellent, and Cranston is just as good live as you’d imagine him to be. The text is structured in a very interesting way, which keeps the audience on their toes, and invites a second viewing. It does seem like it was written for an older demographic, as at times the dialogue can over-explain computer concepts, and some of the characters take particular delight in mocking young people, pausing for laughs, expecting the audience to agree that yes, young people are too sensitive. This does function as character development, but I always cringe when Gen X and Millennial playwrights and dramaturgs throw their contemporaries under the bus to appease Baby Boomer audiences. It is possible to explore generational conflicts without alienating the people who increasingly make up a sizable portion of an established theater company’s subscriber base. But that’s a whole other thinkpiece someone should probably write! Anyways this is a good show and I recommend seeing it!
Closes Mar 27 in LA.
Covid protocol: Indoor venue. Proof of full vaccination (but not booster) required for all patrons. Masks required at all times.
Good Grief on Audible. Full disclosure, this is a recording of a play and while I have not listened to the recording, it’s a recording of the Vineyard Theatre production of the show, which I saw two years ago in New York. This is one of my all-time favorite plays, and it was a fantastic production, so I definitely recommend checking it out if you’re an audiobook type of person! It is sad (as one would expect from the title), and while I don’t usually like sad stories, the playwright, Ngozi Anyanwu, writes so beautifully and balances tone so well that I don’t mind.
Download here.
Magic Mike Live in Las Vegas and London [Vegas/London]. Both of these shows are quite fun, and the show’s writers (none officially credited, but they seem to be Channing Tatum & Lyndsay Hailey) have done a great job of creating a non-sleazy environment and a relatable guide in the emcee. The choreography (by Alison Faulk, Teresa Espinosa, and Luke Broadlick) is also astounding. There are some differences between the Vegas and London stagings, with each being tailored to both the different performance spaces and the casts, and I have to admit, I didn’t love the emcee I saw in London (and the British audience was also pretty rude, talking throughout the show), but all in all, it’s an entertaining and empowering night.
Open-ended run in Vegas and London.
Vegas Covid protocol: Indoor venue with close proximity to (unmasked, vaccinated) performers. Proof of vaccination or recent (within 72 hours) negative test required. Masks required at all times.
London Covid protocol: Indoor venue with close proximity to (unmasked) performers. Unclear if proof of vaccination or negative test is required. Unclear if masks are required.
A Mixed Bag:
**Trayf at the Geffen Playhouse [LA]. Set in the 90s, this is a story about two 18 year-old Hasidim who go around New York City performing mitzvot, in the hopes of bringing about a messianic age. But while that’s what the plot is, the play is really about close childhood friendships, and how those can help you grow, or preserve you in amber. The show shines brightest in the scenes between those two friends, Zalmy (Ilan Eskenazi) and Shmuel (Ben Hirschorn), but falters when they interact with others. Both Zalmy and Shmuel are in the process of converting Jonathan (Garrett Young, seemingly doing his best impression of a Matthew Lillard character), a young man who was raised secularly, but yearns for Judaism. But Eskenazi and Hirschorn’s scenes with Young don’t crackle with the same electricity as they do when it’s just the two of them on stage alone. Those familiar with Louisa Jacobson from The Gilded Age will find her work to be of a similar caliber in her singular scene. It’s interesting to view this show in conversation with the other show I saw this weekend, Alma (below), as I wished this story were more narrowly focused on Zalmy and Shmuel, without other characters, while I might have preferred the opposite from Alma.
Closes Apr 10 in LA.
Covid protocol: Indoor venue. Proof of full vaccination (but not booster) required for all patrons. Masks required at all times.
**Alma at the Kirk Douglas Theatre [LA]. This world premiere production focuses on a mother, Alma (Cheryl Umaña), who is undocumented, and her daughter, Angel (Sabrina Fest), who was born in the United States, and is in her senior year of high school, but wary of her mother’s expectations. If my description of the titular character seems reductive, it is because that is how the play presents her, despite Umaña’s deft portrayal of the role. We only see Alma as Angel’s mother; we get no sense of who she was before Angel was born, or who she is outside of the confines of the apartment where the action takes place. Seemingly, she exclusively exists to parent her daughter, which is frustrating. There’s a liveliness and reality to playwright Benjamin Benne’s dialogue, and Angel is a vividly drawn, multidimensional character, but I couldn’t help but want more for Alma. The play moves briskly at first, but slows down immensely in the last half hour or so, as things take a turn for the supernatural, without much dramatic justification. Ultimately, the ending feels unfinished and haphazard. But there’s enough in the relationship between Alma and Angel to somewhat recommend the show. It’s also great to see a story about the Latine community presented on a major Los Angeles theatrical institution’s stage, an occurrence that is disproportionately rare. The dialogue is in a mix of Spanish and English.
Closes April 3 in LA.
Covid protocol: Indoor venue. Proof of full vaccination + booster required for all patrons. Masks required at all times. Guests age 6 and under not allowed.
Come From Away on the West End & Broadway [London/NY]. My expectations going into this were pretty low, and the show exceeded them, but it didn’t win me over. The story is good, but because 9/11 plays such an important role in it, it’s at odds with the musical form. Also, the songs weren’t that good. The music was passable, but the lyrics were poor, over-relying on rhyming couplets, and, failing that, leaving lone lines to land with a thud. The book (the scenes between songs) was charming enough, and the whole thing was well-directed and -acted, but I couldn’t get into it. The book, music, and lyrics are all credited to the same two writers, so it’s hard to separate out individual elements.
This is set up at eOne, and a filmed version is available to stream on Apple TV+.
Open-ended run in London, reopening imminently in NY, coming back to LA summer 2022
London Covid protocol: Indoor venue. Unclear if proof of vaccination or negative test is required. Masks not required.
NY Covid protocol: Indoor venue. Proof of full vaccination (but not booster) required for patrons 12 and up. Masks required at all times.
& Juliet on the West End [London]. This is a retelling of Romeo and Juliet from Juliet’s perspective, set to a catalogue of songs written by Swedish pop maestro Max Martin, including “Teenage Dream,” “I Want It That Way,” and “Since U Been Gone.” If you’re the kind of person who looks at the track listing and has sung at least 75% of the songs in the show at karaoke, you’ll probably love & Juliet. It’s very fun, but, much like a Max Martin song, it falls apart the more you try and think about it (indeed, it’s cringeworthy to hear a professional actress sing, with perfect diction, “Now that I’ve become who I really are”). The cast’s accents are an incomprehensible melange, and I’m personally not a fan of the Tumblr-meets-Ed Hardy aesthetic the show has going on (it’s certainly… a choice), but it’s the kind of show that makes it easy to forget your troubles. I did feel that the way it addressed the non-binary character in the script was pretty clueless (i.e. continually using lyrics with female pronouns to describe a character who is trying to make clear that they’re neither male nor female), and overall, the creative team is regrettably not representative of the characters they’re showcasing on stage.
Open-ended run in London.
Covid protocol: Indoor venue. Unclear if proof of vaccination or negative test is required. Masks not required.
American Utopia on Broadway and HBO/HBO Max. I’ll be honest, I didn’t care for this one at all, I’m definitely not the target demographic for a David Byrne concert/spoken word show, but some of the musical performances are fun, and I’m sure this is a blast for Talking Heads fans. Spike Lee did a great job of capturing the energy of a live performance, and I found myself missing feeling safe enough to walk into a theater with a bunch of strangers and watch something that I didn’t ~get~ and then discuss all the oddities of the show with a friend on the way home. The barrier to entry for this one is pretty low for HBO subscribers, so why not check it out and see if you dig it?
Included with HBO/HBO Max subscriptions. Find it through your TV or their streaming app. Closes Mar 6 in NY.
NY Covid protocol: Indoor venue. Proof of full vaccination (but not booster) required for patrons 12 and up. Masks required at all times.
The Play That Goes Wrong off-Broadway and on the West End [NY/London]. There are some really funny moments in this show, but it's too long, even at two hours, including intermission. I wish it had been 80 minutes, sans intermission.
Open-ended runs in New York and London.
My review: http://stageraw.com/2019/07/15/play-that-goes-wrong/
London Covid protocol: Indoor venue. Unclear if proof of vaccination or negative test is required. Masks not required.
NY Covid protocol: Indoor venue. Proof of full vaccination (but not booster) required for patrons 12 and up. Masks required at all times.
Dear Evan Hansen on Broadway & the West End [NY & London]. I originally saw this right after it opened on Broadway, and loved it then, loved it much less the second time, but I think it’s still worth seeing once, if you can afford the ticket price. If you can’t, don’t fret too much.
Feature adaptation released by Universal.
Open-ended run in NY and London, coming back to LA this summer
My original review of the Broadway production: https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/01/review-dear-evan-hansen.html
My full review of the production at the Ahmanson: http://stageraw.com/2018/10/24/dear-evan-hansen-theater-review/
London Covid protocol: Indoor venue. Unclear if proof of vaccination or negative test is required. Masks not required.
NY Covid protocol: Indoor venue. Proof of full vaccination (but not booster) required for patrons 12 and up. Masks required at all times.
Not worth it:
Assassins at East West Players [LA]. I had never seen this show before, and as someone who likes many Sondheim scores, I was excited to see this one. While there are a few standouts in the cast, particularly Gedde Wantanabe as Charles Guiteau and Aric Martin as Giuseppe Zangara, I couldn’t help but wonder, “why Assassins?” Partially, this is a source material problem; the text of the show doesn’t do enough to justify its existence. Why are we telling this story? Towards the end, the characters mention that they assassinated (or attempted to do so) for renown, so what purpose does it serve to spotlight them in such a way? And then, to the matter of this production, I ask, why tell this story, now? What is it about this moment that makes this story particularly resonant? I didn’t find it in director Snehal Desai’s staging, which, while competent, lacked urgency, especially in the story’s last half hour or so. This is even more surprising in a show premiering 13 months after January 6, 2021, an event that’s still in the headlines weekly. Perhaps this revival works better for those who already like Assassins as a show, but I doubt it will win over anyone who doesn’t know, or doesn’t care for the show. That said, it is always a treat to hear a Sondheim score sung well.
A content note for the gun-wary: as expected in a show about assassination, there are quite a few gunshot effects, but a lot of blanks are fired at unexpected moments throughout the show, which can be quite startling.
Closes March 20 in LA.
Covid protocol: Indoor venue. Proof of full vaccination (but not booster) required for all patrons. Masks required at all times.
Hadestown on Broadway [NY]. I know! It won the Tony for Best Musical! But I didn’t like it! Ultimately, I didn’t like the score, and since the show is pretty much entirely sung-through, it made it quite difficult for me to like the show as a whole. It seemed like the composer, Anaïs Mitchell, has difficulty writing for a male voice, because it didn’t sound like any of the three leads had a vocal part that sat in a comfortable part of their range, and Reeve Carney, who plays Orpheus, really seemed to be straining vocally when I saw it (I also didn’t care for any of his acting choices). Musically, the score was interesting, though not too hummable, and I found the lyrics to be clumsy, which is a problem as they provide the main/only storytelling mechanism.
Open-ended run in NY, coming to LA in April 2022.
Covid protocol: Indoor venue. Proof of vaccination required for patrons 12 and up. Masks required at all times.
On my radar:
Six on Broadway & the West End
The Music Man on Broadway
Suffs off-Broadway
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