Tony Kushner's "Angels in America" Comes Back to Broadway but It's Impact Plummets

Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Tony Kushner (b Amer 1956) floats amongst the top echelon of contemporary playwrights, authors & screen writers.  Other honors include 2 Tonys, an Olivier Award, & 2 Oscar nominations ("Lincoln" directed by Steven Spielberg) & an Emmy for "Angels in America"directed by Mike Nichols ('03).  In 2012, Kushner was awarded a Nat'l Medal of Arts by Pres. Obama.  Kushner in the eyes of those who admire & glorify his enormous talents shroud him with praise of an infallible Icarus.  Alas, this highly anticipated theatrical revival falls from grace despite the talents of Andrew Garfield & Nathan Lane (whose comic delivery of Roy Cohen was damaging.)  Even with the ebullient presence of Mr. Kushner seated amongst the audience & graciously taking selfies, "Angels in America" limped along on fractured wings.  This play doesn't hold a candle in comparison to Nichol's TV production.   Blame is doled to the accomplices with paltry acting and faulty staging.  Nathan Lane as Roy Cohen was guilty of impersonating himself playing strictly within his comic lane which was too narrow a portrayal for the hypocritical & sinister emotional center of "Angels".  Garfield as Prior Walter, dying of AIDS and abandoned by his fickle lover Louis (a fine James McArdle) was poignant & stirring in his role.  Alas, the rest of the cast, except for a superb Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) as the bumptious nurse to Roy Cohen fade into the background.  Stewart-Jarrett also played the role of Mr. Lies but the role was flimsy and added to the flotsam & jetsam that laden this American Gothic.  Kushner's brilliant writing glimmered throughout and his ambitious breadth of blending historical events, cultural & religious conflicts & conundrums was admirable.  Unfortunately, the script was fractured by too many fleeting distractions including a frenetic set and dismal choreographing; especially disappointing in the Angel's aberrational transformation.  For both the Angel Shadows & the audio/animatronics with black clad costuming looked cheap.  "Angels in America" strives for a purposeful & powerful storytelling of America's factual Lucifer figures & a most shameful epoch.  Hopefully, our nation has moved forward in tolerance, acceptance and justice.  But, it's naive to believe this the case.  "Angels in America" has soared before to the heavens as Icarus flew towards the sun.  Perhaps, Mr. Kushner is not done with revising this production which soars & then melts into a bore.  Prior productions have been magnificent.  One can aspire for "Angels in America" now in previews to open & soar like a Phoenix.

"Public Parks Private Gardens: Paris to Provence" at the MET at Precisely the Perfect Point in Time

In previews, (ironically limited to the privileged and not general public) the MET's refreshing exhibit "Public Parks Private Gardens: Paris to Provence."  The exhibit will open to the general public next week at a time when NYC is besieged with winter's wrath and spring is still a glimmer on the horizon.  But, this pleasurable promenade in the lower gallery situated around a staged outdoor garden replete with fountain, benches and large potted plants.  No great expense was spared to establish a faux garden (the potted plants were flimsy and the fountain barely trickled) but it is situated beneath an ocular greenhouse windows.  A pity that the exhibit couldn't look out at our city's own Central Park.  The massive collection of paintings, drawings, photos and few but exquisite glass or ceramic vases were garnered from the MET's own collection.  There is an interesting showcase of watering cans from the 19th C epoch (on loan) that was delightful & whimsical.  This was an interesting time in French history; post Revolution and pre WWI.  France was coming into an era of tranquility and having obtained property hereto only in the hands of royalty, public lands were becoming meccas to the masses.  Citizens were ready to cultivate outdoor spaces and began to redefine the lay of land, by lining promenades with trees and gardens and cordoning off floral gardens and designing landscapes.  This agricultural revolution launched both a movement for sylvan, floral havens for public socialization and spurred many artists to capture the natural beauty found in nature and the sheer enjoyment of experiencing outdoor public spaces.  Many of the most highly esteemed (mainly) French painters from this epoch are represented with their works whose beauty illuminates nature's own.  The most well known artists' works assembled are Monet, Matisse, Renoir, Lautrec, Vuillard and Van Gogh.  Van Gogh's sunflowers and lilies are breathtaking & revitalizing as are Matisse's floral paintings of peonies.  Mary Cassatt shall not be overlook for her magnificent portraits painted in outdoor settings.  The circular staging of the exhibition is subdivided into sections.  The floral paintings are perfectly lovely.  French society found les fleur de rigueur dan les parlors.  I enjoyed the portraits painted outdoors to be more interesting and celebratory of the great outdoors.  "...characteristic of our Parisian society is that everyone in the middle class wants to have his little house with tress, roses, and dahlias, his big or little garden, his rural piece of the good life." (Eugene Chapus) This is the perfect place to promenade with a companion and take in the picturesque scenery of the spring/season that is soon to bring scores of people in NYC Central Park.

92ndY Talk on America's First Ladies by Scholarly Douglas Brin But for a Few Gaffs

Today's talk led by Douglas Brin, journalist & teacher at NYC's Dalton School on America's First Ladies reminded me how much First Lady Michelle Obama is missed.  She didn't make the chronological cut despite making the grade. Today's lecture was laden with interesting titillating tidbits spanning from First Ladies Grover Cleveland's wife to the most beloved First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt.  Cleveland's wife was compared to Mrs Kennedy & dubbed the First "super celebrity" First Lady.  Noted:  Mrs. Kennedy & Mrs. Cleveland were the only 2 presidential wives who remarried after the deaths of their husbands.  Cleveland is the only President who served non-consecutive terms.  He's the only President who married while in the White House.  Scandals were present in the past but the current jackass in the White House is heinous and should get kicked out on his ass. Cleveland had a child with his mistress which he didn't deny.  He assumed financial  responsibility but left his son in foster care after the mother of his child was committed to a mental institution.  The mother managed to escape and kidnapped her son from his foster family.  She was caught & sent back to the mental hospital and her son to his foster parents.  The Republic Party ran a clever but futile slur campaign, "Ma, ma where's my pa?  Gone to the White House hah hah hah." Pres. Cleveland's wife Frances was 28 years younger.  Together they had 6 children  though it was rumored (and likely) that not all 6 were his.  Cleveland was the 2nd heaviest Pres. and his young intelligent wife very glamorous.  Upon leaving the White House after losing his 2nd bid for election to Benjamin Harrison, Mrs. Cleveland told the servants not to change anything "We'll be back."  The speaker claimed Mrs. Cleveland was the only Presidential wife to give birth in the White House.  Gaff #1 - Mrs. Kennedy did give birth to a son Patrick (b 8/071963-8/09/1963).  Pres. Harrison, the interim President was infamous for being corrupt also maintained an illicit, unseemly affair with his niece while his wife was dying and then married her.  Gaff 2 - Brin stated in 1920 women won the right to vote to their advantage.  This was to everyone's benefit.  William McKinley bucked his predecessor's lascivious libido's and was known as a devoted husband to his wife Ida.  Mrs. McKinley suffered from epileptic seizures which were exacerbated by the loss of their 2 young daughters.  (Tragically, the vast majority of Presidents have buried a child.)  Pres. McKinley bucked tradition & sat his wife next to him at State dinners to shield her.  When McKinley was shot while in a receiving line his last words were "My wife, be careful how you tell her." Gaff 3 - Brin remarked on Pres. Teddy Roosevelt being shot in Milwaukee & belittled the city.  Golda Meir was the 1st Prime Minister of Israel.  She was born & raised in Milwaukee as was yours truly.

Tulsa Ballet at Joyce Premiers Ma Cong's "Glass Figures" A Powerful, Inspiring and Elegant Opus

The Tulsa Ballet Co is highly regarded amongst the finest ballet companies in the world.  Tulsa Ballet brings an extraordinary blend of traditional ballet with innovative artistic creativity.  The ensemble of dancers are expressive and versatile.  The choreographic pieces on last night's program was a liturgy of anthropomorphic movement that was astonishing in Helen Pcikett's choreography ME{Cryptic symbol}AL (AMONG).  SHIBUYA BLUES choreographed by Annabelle Ochoa to a blend of electronic music was mesmerizing.  The pas de deus were a welcomed juxtaposition from the rigid, shocking in sync figurations.  The highlight of last night's performance was Ma Cong's truly inspiring "GLASS FIGURES" making its NYC premiere.  Ma Cong (b China) began his career studying at the Beijing Dance Acad. and went on to dance with the Nat'l Ballet of China.  He's since worked with the finest Int'l Ballet Companies:  Paris Opera, Royal, ABT & NYC.  Cong is the Resident Choreographer for of the Tulsa Ballet.  Numerous choreographers are drawn to the genius of Glass' contemporary, minimalist & repetitive movements but other than Jerome Robbins, Ma Cong is the only choreographer to capture Glass' genius as he captures brilliant musicality through the power & elegance of his dancers & extraordinary composition.  The ballet was breathtakingly beautiful. GLASS FIGURES elicited joy, awe and a visceral emotional response.  The costume designs by Susan Roemer reinvented the tutu for the 21stC with bathing suit bodices and minimal structured skirts in metallic grey with bright orange trim.  Les Dickert's lightening proved less is more when highlighting sensational dancing.  BRAVO is due to choreographer Ma Cong, dancers and Artistic Dir. Marcello Angelini (b Spain) for Tulsa Ballet's excellence in the world of ballet.  

"The Tet Offensive: 50 Years Later" in Discussion with Columbia Prof. Nguyen and Max Boot at NYHistoric Soc.

Lien-Hang Nguyen (b S. Viet Nam 1974) is an assoc. prof. at Columbia Univ. of US & E. Asia history.  Nguyen is the author of the just released book "Hanoi's War: An Int'l Hist. of the War for Peace in Viet Nam."  Nguyen was at the NY Hist. Soc. to discuss her latest book with Max Boot.  Boot is Sr. Fellow for Nat'l Security Studies for the Council on Foreign Relations & author of "The Road Not Taken:  Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy."  This talk is in conjunction with the Viet Nam exhibit at the Historic Soc.  Both are experts on the Viet Nam (VN) War, the years leading up to US involvement and the Cold War aftermath.  Nguyen is fluent in Vietnamese.  She was 5 months when her family fled Saigon in April of 1975.  Her personal story was very interesting.  She is the youngest of 9 children.  Her father was Catholic & part of the anti-communist movement during the massive migration from the North to the South.  Her mother was a Buddhist & worked as a seamstress while her husband became a military recruiter for the South Vietnamese.  "{We were} very typical of many families living through the civil war" said Nguyen.  The family's harrowing escape as told to her by family members began with her father being alerted to US soldiers pulling out in April '75.  He rushed her family onto a fleeing dingy meant for 20 filled with 100 people.  They were rescued by a US military ship then transported & transferred through 3 refugee camps.  The family was brought to a camp in PA and then sponsored by the local Methodist Church.  Her father found employment with Amtrak & her mother for the postal service.  Both parents stressed the importance of education.  Researching the "Tet Offensive" in VN Nguyen said she was granted access to closed archival information in part due to her heritage & fluency.  But the most informative & enlightening materials were obtained through little known memoirs of party officials and "renegade" interviews which would not have passed censorship.  Nguyen proffered surprising revelations of intense power struggles and unbeknownst stories of survival.  Noted:  Ho Chi Minh (HCM) had been exiled to Beijing and more a figurehead than in command of the North Vietnamese Army.  It was HCM's strategy to launch massive general offensives to quell resistance but the north was unable to overcome the Saigon regime only prolonging & exacerbating the agonizing suffering & devastation.  Warfare escalated in 1968-9 with massive bombings, fatalities, LBJ's refusal to run & growing dissension in the US.  Walter Cronkite gave an editorial after visiting VN at the height of the Tet Offensive. "We are mired in stalemate is the only realistic conclusion" and urged "the only rational way out is to negotiate."

Wayne McGregor' US Premiere "Autobiography"-It's Phenomenal and Puts Dance on an Elevated Plane

The multitalented and multi-award winning choreographer/director Wayne McGregor (b UK 1970) is a maverick trailblazer in the dance world.  "Autobiography" made its US premiere at the Joyce theater last week.  It is the most oustoundingest supreme spectacle of choreography I have been privileged to watch as a gaped mouth onlooker.  Before you think I didn't spellcheck outstandingest it's because McGregor's work is so astonishing there aren't enough superlatives to do justice to the choreography, dancers, lighting, costuming, stage designing.  McGregor has advanced the artistry of dance to another plane ahead of the approximate vernacular to describe.  This was a breathtaking virtuoso performance of such stunning beauty & power that while it is inspirational it is far beyond reach for most mortals to aspire to this level of skill & inventiveness.  McGregor's choreography has been performed by the world's leading ballet companies in addition to modern dance companies such as the always exceptional Alvin Ailey Amer. Dance Theater.  He has jetted the dance world on its head with every move he makes.  The ensemble of dancers' displayed astounding agility, musicality, and divertissements; movements were graceful, strong nuanced and poignant.   The program prints his first name backwards & upside down melding the upside down W fo the M for McGregor.   The concept, direction & choreography for "Autobiography" were McGregor's.  Accolades must be given composer Jin's electronic music, lighting design by Lucy Carter and set design & projection by Ben Cullen Williams, a London based visual artist & designer.  The costumer designer Aitor Throup (b Argentina) is a British designer, artist and creative director.  The androgynous black, white, nude palette and ephemeral costumes were magnificent.  The dancers stripped down to bare minimal black shorts, sports bras and the male dancers bare chested for the final movement.  Bravo to all the artists who contributed their talents to making this profound and visually stunning work of art. The dance company was an integrated ensemble of male/female and multi-ethnicities.  If I were to be cynical (and I won't) I would claim the dancers (whom I watched & envied from the 4th row) all so good-looking it felt like an opening to an advertisement or runway show.  Perhaps, McGregor could be charged with hiring only the most beautiful & talented dancers.  If I were a talent scout or casting director or artistic director I'd be looking to lure away all these dancers.  In the meantime, the dance world should be looking to what new heights  Wayne McGregor is going to extend dance and dramaturgy.  I hope McGregor will allow other companies to use his choreography.  It should be seen in numerous originations.

Broadway's LOBBY HERO Stars Chris Evans (Captain America) but It Didn't Win Me Over

LOBBY HERO is a 2nd Stage Production playing at the newly refurbished Helen Hayes Theater.  Playwright Kenneth Lonergan is an Acad. Award nominated dir/screenwriter ("Manchester by the Sea").  Lonergan (b Amer 1962) is also an acclaimed playwright.  His previous play "The Waverly Gallery" was a Pulitzer Prize finalist.  His last play on Broadway "This is Our Youth" was nominated for a Drama Desk Award.  LOBBY HERO, Lonergan's newest play is about to open on B'wy and already garnered a Drama Desk & Olivier Award for Best Play.  For all the play's strength's it has several Achilles heels.  It centers round a revolving set of the inside to a humdrum NYC lobby.  Jeff (a miscast Michael Cera) is the omnipresent lackey "security guard".  Cera was cast in "This is Our Youth".  He is type cast as the milk toast, spineless and grating young person for whom we're expected to sympathize.  However, Cera's portrayal has grown old & stale.  Admittedly, he's also the source of levity to this social drama/comedy that is battered roughly between prescient social issues & injustices which diminish the strengths of its scathing commentaries.  Jeff is seated behind the lobby desk when William his supervisor (an extraordinary Brian Tyree Henry "Atlanta") & "Captain" to several other buildings' guards comes in to check on him and really lays into him what a lousy job he's doing.  William's harsh criticism softens as Jeff's abject & self-deprecating manner seem to quell his anger.  The other 2 cast members are officers; the veteran Bill (a flawless Chirs Evans "Captain America") and a rookie female cop, Dawn (Bel Powley "Arcadia").   Jeff's hapless, pathetic life becomes paltry in comparison to the complications, litigations & moral dilemmas that soon overpower the other three characters.  Jeff fell far from grace from the glory of his war hero father after his dishonorable discharge for smoking pot while on guard duty.  "Everyone does it I was the unlucky one to get caught" bemoans Jeff.  The lives of the officers shed light on police offenses that are covered up by their fellow officers.  William, is a black man who pontificated to Jeff to pull one's self up by maintaining a hardworking, honest life.  Laws begin to bend and familial loyalties prove sovereign.  Lonergan's brilliant writing becomes convoluted and off-balanced at times.   He's written absorbing characters whose double-talk gets themselves busted.  Jeff's feeble persona draws a line in the sand "I take it. But there's a limit."  The other 3 self-righteous characters' hypocritical hearsay, says a lot about social injustice, harassment & abuse of authority.   Basically this amusing play seems to say:  lie and deny.  I'd claim LOBBY HERO a Tony worthy play, but that would be a lie.  

Y/A Film "Every Day" Has a Sensitive Insightful Message that is too Lah Lah Even for LA

The young adult film aimed at teens & preteens is too preachy & too pretentious to give any redeeming qualities.  However, there's a lot to be said for its young lead actress.  And, the premise itself was potentially promising.   A high school student, Rhiannon (a convincing Angourie Rice) finds herself befriended by a friendly but freakish spirit that inhabits a new body Every Day.  There are some constraints to this chimera.  The body snatching persona can only possess the person's body (& mind) for 24 hours.  There are several imposed restrictions.  A, the name it calls itself, cannot stray very far away and B, its age must be in the teen range.  Rice (b Australia '01) is so likable as A's only confidant & comrade you care what her future will look like until the changeling, ET, Yoda...yaddah yaddah character study grows old.  Dir. Michael Sucsy (b Amer 1973) is best known for the Emmy nominated TV movie "Grey Gardens".  "Grey Gardens" is based on two elderly real life eccentric women living in squalor.  EVERY DAY is a totally different genre.  It's made for adolescents and perhaps meant as a serious young love story and virtuous dissection of tolerance.  The fun of this fantasy wears thin after Rhianan is convinced of A's incredulous multi-amorphous body snatching abilities.  While A explains the advantages of accessing the physique & mindset of multitudes of individuals, A notes the gained insight  "what makes everyone different makes everyone the same."  "But doesn't that get lonely?" asks the sensible but susceptible "Rhi".  The platitudes become overbearing and the day A & Rhi have a body/mind sharing experience is too much to bear.  It all gets too Lah Lah even for the LA mindset.  But, I'm part of the over the hill set; way past remembering what it feels like to be young (& dumb, I mean innocent).  The big takeaway comes from Rhi.  Rhi's  family consists of a father whose had a manic, debilitating episode, a mother (Maria Bello, why she took this role is a mystery) is resentful & immeshed in an affair and an older sister  (Debby Ryan) who adds some spark to the mix.  Rhi sagaciously says to her mom "We can't know what it's like to love someone who changes. We can only grow closer or further apart. Grow closer" Rhi requests of her mom (a mostly dishelved looking Bello).  Perhaps, the simplest but most meaningful message came from a sign in the bedroom belonging to the young man meant to be Rhi' soulmate all along "Kindness can accomplish much".  I hate to pain this film as solely flimsy and thanks to the fine cast of young actors especially Rice and Justin Smith (who plays her best/worst boyfriend) there are some redeeming qualities.  Far better films of a similar genre are "Being John Malkovich" for adults and "Beautiful Creatures" for teens.

Nat'l Bk Award Novelist Amy Bloom Discusses Her Latest Novel WHITE HOUSES with Blanche W. Cook

This month is Women's History Month at Roosevelt House and it commenced with a stellar evening of discussion with 2 great writers: Amy Bloom ("Away", "Come to Me") and historian Blanche Cook ("Eleanor Roosevelt, Vol. 1,2 &3").   Ms. Cook was a Co-Founder & Co-Chair of the Freedom of Information & Access Com. of the Org. of Amer. Historians.  The gist of the talk from both Bloom's novel & Cook's biography of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt (ER) was the lesbian relationship between  ER & her longtime companion, Lorena Hickok. (LH).  The heart of these 2 great historic women, ER as FDR's active advisor & continual social advocate.  LH was a maverick in journalist circles covering war stories, historical events and interviews.  Their books focused on their love and drew outward on their amazing accomplishments.  Cook, a renown historian focused mostly on wartime was militant in her assertions there were denials & cover-ups pertaining to ER & LH maintaining a lesbian relationship.  Cook spoke of having read the many written correspondences between the women that corroborated their love and the varying stages of their relationship.  "My writing is based on facts that can be documented" Cook claimed.  Bloom also read the letters as research for her novel written from curiosity about the two women's alliance.  Bloom said,"{It} was a pleasure to write about their love affair.  What doesn't look beautiful is beautiful".  I found her candor refreshing.  She admitted having slept through history in school.  I was also intrigued with her confessed struggles in finding the narrative voice for the novel.  "It was not going to be ER voice narrating the novel."  The women discussed the pendulum of acceptance of homosexuality that sprang from a homophobic period in the 30s & 40s.  But, as Bloom stated, "The arch bends slowly.  I was interested in writing a rhapsody of homosexuality which is of interest to me as both as novelist & a queer woman.  These were great complex people and their's a great love story".   Both women writers' approaches to writing varied.  Cook relied solely on documentation & facts.  Bloom said all her novels play with time and memory allowing the reader to enter into the world of the story and enabling the reader to be present.  As a novelist Bloom eloquently her intent was "to hold facts up to the light creating a relationship with an understanding from the inner and outer exploration of their world and love."    

AMY and the ORPHANS at the Roundabout - A Family Comedy/Drama that Could Earn Tony Awards

The deceptively clever play AMY and the ORPHANS will have you laughing & leave you deeply moved pondering what constitutes a family & what are familial/societal obligations for people in need of constant care.  New York playwright Lindsey Ferrentino's previous play also performed at the Roundabout UGLY LIES the BONE was a serious, heart wrenching play.  It was a relentless monologue by a mother whose only child was killed at Sandy Hook in 2012.  The tragically prescient play addressed the pervasive malady of mass shootings in our nation & our nation's schools.  There was nothing light hearted about UGLY LIES the BONE.  It was a character study of a badly disfigured American army vet and her unrelenting pain and struggles to fit back into society.   It spoke of the insanity of war and humanities greater propensity for indifference than empathy.  AMY and the ORPHANS addresses issues of proper health care & guilt ridden responsibilities for family members.    Ferrentino proves adroit at both solemnity & comedy.  In AMY and the ORPHANS comedy is used as a palpable facade for the painful epiphanies of obligatory measures to care for our family members and the horrid failings in institutional care.  This laudatory play is a funny parody of siblings quibbling, innovative storytelling, social commentary.   Foremost, the ensemble cast is outstanding.  Amy (an astonishing Jamie Brewer "American Horror Story") is the youngest of 3 siblings about to venture on a road trip to bury their only remaining parent.  And by the way, Jamie Brewer has Down syndrome, a pivotal factor in this fractious family.  The timeline goes on/off course starting with a young married couple, Sarah & Bobby at a couple's retreat attempting to resolve marital problems.  The couple's problems have been exacerbated by the birth of their third child; a daughter born with Down's syndrome.  Sarah is intent on leaving the marriage if Bobby doesn't consent to Amy being institutionalized as a ward of the state.  She is not capable (or willing) to have Amy living at home.  The circuitous plane, train & automobile trip brings Amy's older brother & sister; Maggie (Tony nominated Debra Monk "Curtains") and Bobby (Josh McDermitt "The Walking Dead") to get her to bring her with to their father's funeral on LI.  Amy's caregiver, Cathy (a hilarious Vanessa Aspillaga, B'wy "Anna in the Tropics") is the brash & bumptious adult whose been mainly in charge (and dedicated) to Amy's wellbeing as her family was mostly being absent.  With wisdom comes sorrow and responsibilities.  Amy is happy where she is and happy watching movies.  Her soliloquy of notorious movie lines at the end is miraculous.  How true & tragic are her lines "I could have been somebody."  This show is a major contender for Tonys.