Theater Digest - November 14, 2021
Hello theater lovers!
I’m back in the world! Seeing theater! Slowly but surely. As you can probably tell from this landing in your inbox, I saw some shows recently! And I have thoughts about them! 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:
**Poor Clare at Echo Theatre Company [LA]. This is such a fascinating, thought-provoking play. I went into it knowing nothing about it, just that it seemed to be set in the past, and I quite enjoyed the production, which is a world premiere. Set in the early 1200s C.E., it is the origin story of Saint Clare of Assisi, a young woman born into wealth, but intrigued by the ideas of one of her peers, Francis (yes, that Francis of Assisi). Though the costumes and sets are mostly evocative of the 13th century, everything else about the play is very of this moment, which holds Clare’s journey up as a mirror the audience, challenging our complacency. Playwright Chiara Atik’s dialogue is sharp and the characters are compelling. Alana Dietze’s direction is astute as always, though the transitions out of scenes can feel awkward and stilted.
Closes November 29 in LA.
Covid protocol: Indoor venue. Proof of vaccination required (no patrons younger than 12 allowed). 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. Masks required at all times.
Freestyle Love Supreme on Broadway [NY]. This was so fun! It’s a fully improvised rap show, with a rotating cast of three rappers, a beatboxer, and two people on keys/other instruments. There’s also a special guest at every show, and at the show I attended, the special guest was Lin-Manuel Miranda, so that was very fun! I had the hugest grin on my face the entire show—it was just so entertaining and joyful! The cast is so talented, it’s a delight.
Closes Jan 2 in NY.
Covid protocol: Indoor venue. Proof of vaccination required for patrons 12 and up. Masks required at all times.
A Mixed Bag:
**@Playaz at Moving Arts. This is a tricky one! I saw it last night, and I’ve been sitting with it for a full day, and I still can’t fully articulate how I felt about the play. There’s nothing significant that’s wrong with it, and a lot of things are really nice about it, but I still didn’t love the show. Perhaps I’m not the audience—it centers on three guys, two Gen X and one millennial (the millennial, of course, being the butt of the joke) who are video game live streamers. I don’t understand the appeal of watching strangers play video games, so as someone who’s never tuned into a Twitch stream, I’m not exactly in the target demo. Playwright Dana Schwartz (who is not Twitter Blue Check/She-Hulk writer Dana Schwartz) does a good job of humanizing the action, and the production is grounded in the warm performance of Justin Huen in the lead role, but the show still left me a little cold. Perhaps this is due to the references to the twin epidemics ravaging America right now, Covid and opioids; they both seemed to be integrated into the text in more of a “Very Special Episode” way, rather than organically. The staging also relies heavily on projections, and the main projector was noticeably out of focus, which meant that the audience was unable to see a (presumably) important exchange near the end of the play. But all things considered, I wouldn’t say that @Playaz is a bad show, it’s just not a show I feel I can wholeheartedly recommend.
Closes December 6 in LA.
Covid protocol: Indoor venue. Proof of vaccination required. Masks required at all times.
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. Vaccination, recent (within 48 hours) negative test, or proof of recent recovery required. Masks not required.
NY Covid protocol: Indoor venue. Proof of vaccination required for patrons 12 and up. Masks required at all times.
Dana H on Broadway [NY] (reviewed in 2019 in LA). I can't in good conscience recommend this play, though I'm sure some will appreciate it. It is a play that is good, with a very strong and compelling performance at its center, but I felt the play was exploitative and it made me very uncomfortable. It's about the playwright's mother and a deeply traumatic incident she underwent over 20 years ago. What she experienced was horrific, but as good as the actress playing Lucas Hnath's mother is, I felt like I was eavesdropping on a conversation I shouldn't have heard. Because theater at a large regional theater like Center Theater Group is, by nature, both iterative (in that there are typically eight performances a week) and commercial (most tickets cost at least $40 each), to me, it felt like Hnath was exploiting his mother's trauma, and in so doing, cheapens it. I'm sure this show will provoke a variety of reactions, and I well may be in the minority feeling this way, but it was a play that made me deeply uncomfortable on a variety of levels.
Closes Nov 28 in NY.
Covid protocol: Indoor venue. Proof of vaccination required for patrons 12 and up. Masks required at all times.
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 vaccination required for patrons 12 and up. Masks required at all times.
Ain’t Too Proud on Broadway [NY] (reviewed at the Ahmanson in August 2018). I wanted to like this. I mean, it’s a musical based on the Temptations! Great songs. And the musical performances are realllllly good! But the show as a whole is uneven, thanks to a lackluster book. The director, Des McAnuff, who also directed Jersey Boys and Jesus Christ Superstar on Broadway, seems to be falling into a visual shtick, but it didn’t bother me too much here.
Note: this may have undergone development between the LA and New York runs, but I still wouldn't be inclined to see it a second time.
Open-ended run in NY; coming back to LA this season
My full review: http://stageraw.com/2018/08/28/aint-too-proud-theater-review/
Covid protocol: Indoor venue. Proof of vaccination required for patrons 12 and up. Masks required at all times.
Not worth it:
**Head Over Heels at the Pasadena Playhouse [LA]. I really wanted to like this show! The original production only ran briefly on Broadway, but by chance, I happened to see it, and thought it was charming, if slight. This is a heavily revised production that is unfortunately, somewhat charmless. The cast is, for the most part, great (George Salazar’s voice is as impeccable as ever, and Alaska 5000 all but steals the show), but the plot is so streamlined that the story is impossible to follow. My friend and I had both seen the longer version in New York, so we had an inkling of what was going on, but we agreed that we’d be totally lost had we not seen that (a familiarity with The Arcadia, a rarely-produced play from 1593 that provides the plot for this would be helpful in lieu of that, I suppose). The modern and cheap-looking costume and set design, paired with flat sound design that causes any words that aren’t over-enunciated to be lost into oblivion are further detractions. Alarmingly, despite a brand-new HVAC system at the 97 year-old theater, the air conditioning won’t be working for a few works, so the theater was uncomfortably warm, a problem I imagine is only worse on the GA floor, where attendees are standing and dancing for most of the show (there are also normal theater seats, which is where we were). Jenny Koons and Sam Pinkleton, who are credited as directors, choreographers, and concept originators, had some cool ideas on how to explore gender in a fun, poppy way for an audience who might not know many out trans and non-binary people, but unfortunately, the overall production is confused and underwhelming.
Closes Dec 12 in LA.
Covid protocol: Indoor venue. Proof of vaccination required (no patrons younger than 12 allowed). 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 (upcoming)
The Last of the Love Letters at the Atlantic
If you were forwarded this email and would like to receive updates as I have anything relevant to share, click the button below!