Theater Reviews

 Susan Granger’s review of “One Man, Two Guvnors” (Music Box Theater:  2011-2012 season)

    Highly recommended for those who love to laugh, this frantic British music-hall farce, set in seedy Brighton in 1963, revolves around hefty and perpetually hungry Francis Henshall (James Corden) who seeks to improve his financial situation by going to work for two different people at the same time.

    Obviously, his two employers (a.k.a. ‘guvnors’) aren’t aware that they’re sharing the same blathering, bungling manservant. Indeed, Rachel Crabbe (Jemima Rooper) is far too busy impersonating her recently-killed twin brother Roscoe, while smug Stanley Stubbers (Oliver Chris ,who murdered Roscoe, is Rachel’s posh lover.

    It’s a giddy tour-de-force for English comic star James Corden, who last appeared on Broadway as the fat kid in “The History Boys” and reprised his role in the film. As the scheming fool, his cheeky gluttony is as palpable as is his flair for slapstick clowning and improvisational comedy, adapted to fit any plot twist that comes along.  In the second act, he’s matched, merry pratfall-for-pratfall, by Tom Edden as a bumbling, almost blind, 96 year-old waiter with an erratic pacemaker. The rest of the cast includes Claire Lams as a lovelorn dimwit, Daniel Rigby as her self-consciously leather-clad thespian fiancé, Suzie Toase as a buxom bookkeeper with Trevor Laird and Fred Ridgeway as former convicts-turned-con men.

    Satirically devised by Richard Dean, who adapted it from Venetian Carlo Goldoni’s “The Servant of Two Masters,” it’s staged with silly, mistaken identity abandon by Nicholas Hytner, Artistic Director of Great Britain’s National Theatre, and Cal McCrystal, who is credited for the ‘physical comedy.’  

    In the late 18^th century Italian Commedia del’Arte style, it introduces familiar stock characters, like Corden’s ‘harlequin,’ and includes earthy, jesting interaction with unwitting theatergoers.  Providing a musical introduction and punctuating the action, there’s an on-stage, four-piece skiffle band, punningly called The Craze, performing Grant Olding’s original songs and playing an eclectic assortment of banjos, guitars, xylophones, washboards, jugs and squeeze-ball horns. Mark Thompson’s sets and costumes suit the lightness of mood and the middle-class seaside resort town perfectly.

    Not since Monty Python and “Noises Off” has there been this kind of great, raucous fun!

Susan Granger’s review of “End of the Rainbow” (Belasco Theater 2011-2012 season)

    Admittedly, it’s difficult for me to review this show about the tragic demise Judy Garland, who died of an accidental barbiturate overdose on June 22, 1969, at the age of 47. Growing up on the M.G.M. lot, I was fortunate to meet Miss Garland several times and see her, even more often, when she was a guest in my parents’ home. That was during the 1950s, when she was married either to director Vincente Minnelli or producer Sid Luft.

    Set at the Ritz Hotel in London in December, 1968, six months before her fatal overdose, the narrative follows Judy (Tracie Bennett) as she desperately tries to stage a five-week comeback at the Talk of the Town nightclub, only to succumb, once again to pills and booze. As it begins, she’s settling into a suite with her manager/soon-to-be-fifth husband, much younger Mickey Deans (Tom Pelphrey) and her long-suffering gay pianist, Anthony (Michael Cumpsty). Although her determination wavers, her famous contralto voice soars.

    Imported from London’s West End, it’s written by Peter Quilter and directed by Terry Johnson (“La Cage Aux Folles”), riddled with Judy’s, literally, begging on her hands-and-knees for Ritalin, threatening imperiously, “I decide if and when I do shows.”

     In a bravura performance, perhaps the best on Broadway, petite Tracie Bennett embodies all of Garland’s nervous mannerisms within her richly textured portrayal of a struggling, tortured soul who simply refuses to concede defeat to the personal demons that have plagued her for most of her life, going back to studio days with Mickey Rooney and venturing down the Yellow Brick Road through Oz. The highlight is her uncanny rendition of “Come Rain or Come Shine,” accompanied by bongos in overdrive.  And it’s a miracle that Ms. Bennett has the stamina to perform eight emotionally and physically strenuous shows a week.

    But for those who have had the pleasure of knowing Judy Garland, albeit in person or on the screen, it’s an embarrassing experience, venturing into a very eerie realm of impersonation that goes beyond the uncomfortable. So it’s understandable that Liza Minnelli, Judy’s daughter, skipped the show in London and has not been spotted in the New York audience.

    As an added footnote: Anne Hathaway has signed to play Garland in the upcoming biopic, “Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland.”

Susan Granger’s review of “Evita” (Marriott Marquis Theater: 2011-2012 season)

    Pop star Ricky Martin steals the show in this first Broadway revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s “Evita.” While Mandy Patinkin, who originated the role, played an overtly angry Che, Martin subversively mocks not only opportunistic Eva Peron but also those who worshipped her.

    “Evita” chronicles the spectacular rise of ruthless, ambitious Maria Eva Duarte, a one-time radio actress/social outcast who blithely seduced and bedded suitors, starting with nightclub singer Magaldi (Max von Essen), who took her to Buenos Aires, where she met and married pompous Colonel Juan Peron (Michael Cerveris), serving as First Lady of Argentina from 1946 to her death from cancer at age 33 in 1952. As the first ’glamorous’ female political celebrity of the 20^th century, she cut a hefty swath through Argentina’s treasury yet endeared herself to poor, working people through her charity work. As the observant Everyman known as Che, Ricky Martin, oozing charisma and “star quality,” commands the stage, giving sardonic commentary to her every move as a Zelig-like historical precursor to the inevitable military coup which ousted Peron.

    Thirty years ago, Elaine Page and Patti LuPone were the formidable West End and Broadway stars, while Madonna did the 1996 movie version. As the first Argentine to play the title role on Broadway, Elena Roger gets the accent right but very little else. The real Eva Peron was 5’5” tall, a calculating, commanding presence, while petite Elena Roger – standing barely 5-feet, weighing 98 pounds – seems more suited to playing songbird Edith Piaf (which she did – in London) or even Peter Pan. Despite her expressive face, her thin, reedy voice is shrill and she screeches far too often. As for her line-readings, they’re devoid of any shred of self-awareness or humor. On the other hand, Michael Cerveris and Max von Essen are superb, as is poignant Rachel Potter as Juan Peron’s former mistress.

    Director Michael Grandage has re-imagined and re-staged the 1979 version, enhanced by Rob Ashford’s tango-inspired choreography.  Christopher Oram’s subdued scenic and costume design, warmly lit by Neil Austin, evoke the South American setting, especially the regal Casa Rosada.

    Bottom Line:  Catchy, memorable tunes like “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina,” “Buenos Aires,” “A New Argentina” and “High Flying, Adored” are still marvelous and memorable, but don’t pay full price for tickets.

Susan Granger’s review of “Newsies” (Nederlander Theatre: 2011-2012 season)

    Disney’s back on Broadway – with a rockin’, relentlessly rousing musical called “Newsies.” Based on a real-life strike called by struggling young newspaper vendors back in 1899, it chronicles their rebellion when exploitive publisher Joseph Pulitzer hikes his distribution prices at their expense.

    Leader of the pack of urchins is defiant 17 year-old Jack Kelly (Jeremy Jordan, looking like a young Leonardo Di Caprio), who befriends Crutchie (Andrew Keenan-Bolger), whose leg has been badly injured, urging him to think of a brighter future, far away in “Santa Fe.”  Working with his wise-cracking kid brother Les (played alternately by Lewis Grosso/Matthew J. Schecter) because their dad has lost his job, Davey (Ben Fankhauser) is their brainy buddy, who advises Jack that he can’t call a strike until he organizes the scrappy, street-wise, often homeless ragamuffins who hawk the daily ‘paps’ and forms a union. That infuriates the scheming Pulitzer (John Dossett), whose daughter, Katherine (Kara Lindsay) is a classy, resourceful cub reporter who not only supports the protest but also doubles as Jack’s love interest. When the newsboys need a meeting place that’s bigger than Jacobi’s Deli, that space is provided by a sympathetic vaudeville queen, Medda Larkin (Capathia Jenkins) and, eventually, they’re supported by New York’s then-Governor Theodore Roosevelt (Kevin Carolan).

    Fancifully re-imagined by Harvey Fierstein (“La Cage aux Follies”) as a masculine “Norma Rae”-for-teens and directed by Jim Calhoun, the stage is dominated by set designer Tobin Ost’s huge metal staircases and scaffolds which roll back and forth – like trees in an urban jungle – and are inventively utilized by choreographer Christopher Gatelli. After surviving the barrage of critical bullets aimed at “Bonnie and Clyde,” hunky, charismatic Jeremy Jordan triumphs here and is sweetly supported by soprano Kara Lindsay warbling the inspirational “Watch What Happens.”

    When the same child-labor story was made into a 1992 Disney movie, it flopped. But the tuneful score by Alan Mencken (music) and Jack Feldman (lyrics) has endured and has finally found its place, not only on Broadway but, ultimately, at The Magic Kingdom, where “Seize the Day”-themed, family-friendly musicals are destined to last forever.

Susan Granger’s review of “Once” (Bernard B. Jacobs Theater: 2011-2012 season)

    “Once” began as a charming, low-budget, independent movie (2006), made in Dublin, about a down-on-his-luck Irish busker who falls in love with a classical pianist from Czechoslovakia. It was a humble hit at Sundance and with art-house audiences. Its stars, Glen Hansard of the Irish rock band the Frames and Marketa Irglova, became a real-life couple as their song “Falling Slowly” won an Oscar in 2008. Astutely sensing the theatrical possibilities, producers staged it first at a Cambridge, Mass., repertory theater, then as modest Off-Broadway musical before moving it onto the Great White Way.

    The simple love story with evocative music remains the same.  Steve Kazee plays The Guy and Cristin Milioti plays The Girl. He repairs vacuum cleaners in his father’s shop but the love of his life has moved to New York, so he’s ready to give up the guitar. Estranged from her husband, she lives with her mother and young daughter. She’s tart; he’s tender. They meet – and, suddenly, their lives become enriched with possibilities.

    Artfully adapted by playwright Enda Walsh, who wrote the IRA film “Hunger,” with music and lyrics by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, it’s directed by John Tiffany with stylized choreography by Steven Hoggett and music supervision/orchestrations by Martin Lowe, as traditional Irish tunes are integrated into the score and some of the actors play their own instruments.  Bob Crowley‘s set is designed as a rustic, wood-and-mirrored pub, where audience members can order a $13 pint before the show or at intermission.  While there’s plenty of booze and foot-stompin’ music, there’s very little magic.

    Since critics get complimentary press tickets to Broadway shows, this doesn’t often happen to us. But for “Once,” I was seated behind two huge, broad-shouldered men and, literally, could not see center-stage, no matter how I twisted and turned. I’m relating this only because – when you buy costly theater tickets – you should find out if the seats are raked and/or tiered.  That’s not the case in the back of the orchestra at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theater on West 45^th Street in Manhattan.  Ticket buyer beware!

    Did not being able to see affect my review? Of course. And if that happens to you, you’ll be tempted to want your money back.

Susan Granger’s review of “American Legends: Mickey Rooney” at the Edgerton Center for the Performing Arts at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT

    Now 91, Mickey Rooney has been entertaining audiences since he was 17 months old. Born on Sept. 23, 1920, on the dining room table in Brooklyn, New York, he’s the only child of chorus girl Nell Carter and comic Joe Yules Sr. Two weeks after his birth, Mickey was on the vaudeville circuit, touring with his parents. As soon as he could walk, he was fitted with a tiny tuxedo and began performing. After his parents divorced, Mickey wound up in Hollywood, where he landed his first film role, as a midget in “Not To Be Trusted,” followed by Puck in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

   Candidly recalling moments from his childhood comes easily to garrulous Mickey, whose rollercoaster career went from #1 box-office star in the world at 18 – to bit parts in beach movies when he was 48. At 5’3” tall, it wasn’t easy to find parts beyond the Andy Hardy series. Yet he made over 200 films, and his leading ladies included Elizabeth Taylor, Lana Turner, Ann Rutherford, Esther Williams and Judy Garland.

    “Judy was one of a kind. Her talent touched everyone. She could dance, sing, make you laugh and cry. There was no on like her.”

    In later years, he toured extensively with “Sugar Babies” and “Will Rogers Follies,” among other shows, and his enthusiasm still continues.

    Mickey survived eight marriages, including his first to Ava Gardner, who left him after a year-and-three-months for Frank Sinatra. When questioned, Mickey could only recall the names of four of his wives, culminating with Jan Chamberlain Rooney – to whom he’s been wedded for the past 42 years.

    Although he rambles fancifully about ‘discovering’ Sammy Davis Jr. and Red Skelton and giving young Norma Jean the name ‘Marilyn Monroe,’ Mickey never alludes to his sometimes fondness for liquor and how betting on the ponies cost him several fortunes and caused him to declare bankruptcy before becoming a born-again Christian. And the genial director of The Edgerton Center Jerry Goehring never probes too deep, preferring to skim the surface and allow elderly audience members to ask questions, most of which allude to incidents occurring 40 to 50 years ago.

    Often referring to his loneliness, Mickey Rooney concludes: “The only things that count are family and friends, people who care.”

Susan Granger’s review of “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever” (St. James Theater 2011-2012)

It’s a pleasure revisiting Alan Jay Lerner and Burton Lane’s 1965 musical, which originally starred Barbara Harris and John Cullum, even though director Michael Mayer’s new, gender-bending concept is a bit bewildering.
Enchanting Daisy Gamble, the kooky girl with ESP, has become gay Brooklyn florist David Gamble, while the minor role of the psychiatrist has been amplified by playwright Peter Parnell (“QED”) into the story’s protagonist. So when simpering, easily-hypnotized David (David Turner) visits Dr. Mark Bruckner (Harry Connick Jr.), ostensibly to stop smoking, the grieving widower/psychiatrist is stunned to discover that he’s falling in love with Melinda (Jessie Mueller), a 1940s nightclub singer reincarnated from David’s previous life. The chronologically-convoluted twist is that David was born the day that Melinda died, and she still inhabits a niche in his psyche – which leaves Dr. Bruckner and the audience quite confused.
With acclaim for “American Idiot” and “Spring Awakening” under his belt, Meyer’s therapy-for-three revisions were supported by the Lerner and Lane estates and amplified by songs from the 1970 Vincente Minnelli film version, starring Barbra Streisand and Yves Montand, as well as “Royal Wedding,” the 1951 Fred Astaire/Jane Powell musical.  According to his producer/daughter Liza Lerner, lyricist Alan Jay Lerner was fascinated by psychic phenomena and reincarnation, and Harry Connick notes, “It’s a contradictory, back-to-the-future, illusion-reality deal that you have to chalk up to poetry.”
Having scored resounding success in the Roundabout Theatre’s 2006 revival of “The Pajama Game,” Harry Connick Jr. proves once again that he’s a big-time Broadway star – and his performance is superb. Unfortunately, while David Turner and Jessie Mueller do their best, their dual character is never properly delineated – and neither ignites sparks with Mr. Connick. On the other hand, Turner’s “What Did I Have That I Don’t Have?” is all the more plaintive in this version.
The creative team includes Christine Jones (sets), Catherine Zuber (costumes), Kevin Adams (lighting), Peter Hylenski (sound), Tom Watson (hair), Lawrence Yurman (music director) and Doug Hesterman (orchestrations).
So while the plot is problematic, watching and listening to soulful, ballad-heavy songs smoothly delivered by Harry Connick Jr. is always a pleasure.

Susan Granger’s review of “Bonnie and Clyde” (Gerald Schoenfeld Theater 2011-2012 season)

No one deliberately sets out to make a flop, but somewhere along the way the multitude of harried producers of this less-than-mediocre $6-million musical must have realized that there was no hope of survival. It makes one wonder why the weaknesses weren’t spotted during its tryout at the Asolo Theater in Sarasota, Florida, which also gave birth to the ill-fated “A Tale of Two Cities.”

Book writer Ivan Menchell (“The Cemetery Club”), composer Frank Wildhorn (“Jekyll & Hyde”), lyricist Don Black (“Sunset Boulevard”) and director/choreographer Jeff Calhoun chose to delve into the dreary, Depression-era biographical backstory, exploring how and why two larcenous, small-town Texans became America’s Most Wanted, beginning with a stunning depiction of the blood-soaked duo’s death in a bullet-riddled car.

Ambitious Bonnie Parker (Laura Osnes) always wanted to be a Hollywood movie star like Clara Bow. Cheeky, escaped convict Clyde Barrow (Jeremy Jordan), the son of a sharecropper, idolized outlaws Billy the Kid and Jesse James.  Obviously, they are intoxicated by fame and fortune, vowing “This world will remember me.” And both have suffered: Bonnie’s losing her father and Clyde’s recurrent raping in the local jail cell.

In contrast to their bank-robbing capers, Clyde’s brother Buck (Claybourne Elder), was once his fun-loving partner but Buck’s rebellious streak has been tamed by his pious, strait-laced wife, Blanche (Melissa van der Schyff), who is determined that he must return to prison to serve out his sentence. Yada, yads, yada.

Far too elegant and sporting an impressive zumba-dancer’s six-pack, Laura Osnes steals the show, leaving Jeremy Jordan and the rest of the cast in the dust, literally and figuratively. But her performance is simply not enough to sustain interest, even punctuated by Aaron Rhyne’s video projections of dust-bowl photos.

If the “Bonnie and Clyde” story intrigues you, it’s best to revisit Arthur Penn’s iconic 1967 film starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway with Gene Hackman and Estelle Parsons as Buck and Blanche.

Susan Granger’s review of “Noel Coward’s Private Lives” (Music Box Theater 2011-2012 season)

After watching all three seasons of the hilarious Canadian cult TV series “Slings and Arrows,” I became convinced that Paul Gross is one of the most compelling of actors. Why he hasn’t become a Hollywood star baffles me. So when I realized that he’s paired with Kim Cattrall in this revival of Noel Coward’s campy romantic comedy, set in the 1930s, there was no keeping me away from the Music Box Theater.

Sexy Amanda (Cattrall) and debonair Elyot (Gross) were once married. Five years after their divorce, they’ve just acquired new spouses and meet by accident, sipping cocktails on adjoining balconies of a hotel in France. Sparks reignite as it becomes obvious that her doting but dull groom, Victor (Simon Paisley Day), is no match for petulant, powerful Amanda, and Elyot’s naïve bride, Sybil (Anna Madeley), is far too prim and proper to keep him interested for long. Impetuously, the reunited lovers bolt to an apartment in Paris, followed by the jilted spouses they left behind, demanding to know what happened.
“That sort of attraction can’t be explained,” Amanda says.

In Act II, Amanda and Elyot confront the reality of their tempestuous reconciliation. They’re still squabbling but, perhaps, now that they’re older and wiser, they can make the relationship work, invoking a two-minute period of silence when they’re in the midst of an argument.  Amusing, incisive and insightful, Noel Coward’s droll romp explores the inability of women and men to live with or without each other.

Best known as vampy Samantha Jones in “Sex and the City,” curvy Kim Cattrall, who has been with director Sir Richard Eyre’s production since it debuted in 2010 in the U.K., is incandescent, while distinguished Paul Gross smolders as the endearing, irresistible cad who believes that women should be struck regularly, like gongs. Together, they exude combustible comedic chemistry.

Rob Howell’s stylish sets are glorious, particularly the Parisian pied-a-terre, complete with a round window, shaped like a ship’s porthole, love seats, a piano (which Gross plays) and an aquarium filled with goldfish in three tiers of bowls.

If you’re looking for romance and laughter, “Private Lives” a “must see.”

 Susan Granger’s review of “Other Desert Cities” (Booth Theater – 2011/2012 season)

Truth hurts – it stuns, shocks and stings. That’s why Jon Robin Baitz’s dazzlingly dry, witty observations about parents and children, secrets and blame have such resounding resonance.
Patrician former movie star-turned-United States Ambassador Lyman Wyeth (Stacy Keach) and his self-righteous, Jewish wife, Polly (Stockard Channing), are Old-Guard Hollywood conservatives, now living in retirement Palm Springs. Currently joining them in residence is Polly’s bitter, bohemian sister, Silda (Judith Light), a recovering alcoholic and Polly’s former screenwriting partner.
It’s Christmas, 2004, as their grown children are join them for the holidays.  Depressive Brooke (Rachel Griffiths) is an anguished novelist whose upcoming book spills long-kept family secrets, while Trip (Thomas Sadoski) is a laid-back ‘reality’ television producer. An older child, Henry, is there in spirit only, having committed suicide after being implicated a fatal Weather Underground-style bombing which mortified and socially ostracized his parents during the Reagan era. It’s this shame that Brooke publicly reveals.
After creating ABC-TV’s “Brothers & Sisters,” Baitz is in familiar territory, exploring social dysfunction, hypocritical politics and tantalizing family drama. His barbed dialogue crackles as the family painfully probes its past.  Ironically, Baitz was fired in 2007 by ABC executives because he wanted the series to take a darker, more dramatic tone, while they insisted on retaining its sit-com sensibility.
Stacy Keach and Stockard Channing are so adept that, during their eventual ‘confessionals,’ they drop their voices softly, keeping the rapt audience, literally, on the edge of their sets.  Making her Broadway debut after only two weeks of rehearsal, Australian-born Rachel Griffiths (who played the older sister in “Brothers & Sisters”) is superb as the overtly confrontational East Coast liberal who breaks the barrier of things that ‘polite,’ well-bred Republicans simply don’t discuss.
Deftly directed by Baitz’s frequent collaborator, Joe Mantello, it’s a redemptive tale of reconciliation, made even more believable by the entitled authenticity of John Lee Beatty’s sleekly chic set and David Zinn’s costumes.
For those unfamiliar with the geography of California, the title comes from a roadside sign on Interstate 10, indicating the way to Palm Springs and Other Desert Cities.