Molly Griggs, Janie Dee

Time was, she had her [stuff] together, a prize-winning advertising executive, who knew her products, knew her market of women transitioning in and through middle age, and more than that, respected them. In a business often driven by cynicism, she cared.

Molly Griggs, Jennifer Ikeda, Janie Dee

Donald Sage Mackay, Janie Dee,

Things, however, are very different now for Linda (Janie Dee) in the eponymous play by UK dramatist Penelope Skinner, currently at the Manhattan Theatre Club. The youngies are encroaching upon her territory, in particular the privileged Amy (Molly Griggs) who is tearing down all the craft-sensitivity Linda built up, in league, naturally, with a tone-deaf, chauvinistic CEO (John C. Vennema). Ironically, as Linda gears up to battle women’s-issue rights at work, they’re showing up at home too. Her younger daughter Bridget is obsessing over which classic man’s role she can play for her college audition, to better demonstrate the versatility that comes with strength; older daughter Amy (Jennifer Ikeda) is unsocial and seems unambitious in the wake of an event we’ll learn of later, dressing only and ever in a neutering penguin-design onesie; and husband Neil (Donald Sage Mackay), safe and supportive, is also passive and unengaged…which will have its own impact on the self-image issue.

John C. Vennema, Janie Dee

Penelope Skinner’s play takes a look at how things have changed for women, how they’ve stayed the same in the guise of change, and how all that affects matters between and among women, who, at least here, are as capable of wittingly and unwittingly compromising themselves as male chauvinism and myopia. It’s not a pretty bit of social commentary, but it’s delivered with wit, edge, irony and a fair amount of compassion.

Janie Dee

Though the play is an import, and its star, Janie Dee, British (making her first return to the US and MTC since 2000, making a splash as quite a different kind of female in Alan Ayckbourn’s Comic Potential), , Ms. Dee is new to the play and the sleekly effective production, helmed by MTC AD Lynne Meadow, is new. And you may find it has new things to say; or anyway puts them in new relief.

*************

Danielle Leneé,

As bracing an experience in its highly contrasting way is White Guy on the Bus, by Philadelpia playwright Bruce Graham; and I identify him as such because he’s devoted to stories set, and about people, in the city. The 2016 play seems to have caught fire in theatres around the country—from a quick Google, the production now at 59E59 would seem to be its fourth major staging in 18 months—and with good reason; it has some compelling things to say about class, poor vs rich, race discrimination and race perception.

Robert Cuccioli, Danielle Leneé

And there’s not much at all I can tell you about it (or that anyone else should; avoid spoilers at all costs), because in creating a narrative that skips around in time, Graham affects a kind of narrative slight-of-hand wherein only a startling revelation late in the first act “cracks the code” of chronology and changes your perception about what you were watching. Which is probably endemic to the themes being explored by the play. For this is not, if you’ll forgive a too-sweeping generalization, the “usual” drama about racism in which lines are cleanly drawn between factions, or at least between philosophies. In this play, good and bad are mutable abstractions, blurred gray lines are everywhere, and ethics cross ethnic lines.

What I can tell you is that our main character, Ray (Robert Cuccioli), is a disaffected Wall Street power player, angry about the younger generation in his industry who won’t play by the rules; bored with his life, he’d like nothing more than to move out of his big Philly house. He’s still in love with his wife Roz (Susan McKey), a dedicated inner city school teacher, but worried for safety her too. He’s concerned about his unofficially adopted son Christopher (Jonathan Silver) as well, having invited him into the finance business to make a good living; but Christopher, following Roz’s footsteps, wants to be a teacher, gearing for his dissertation whose objective is nailing his tenure. Which he will need, because his young wife Molly (Jessica Bedford) is pregnant.

Susan McKey, Robert Cuccioli

What this has to do with assisted-living worker and nurse-in-training Shatique (Danielle Leneé, the only veteran of a prior production), and the bus ride she takes every Saturday to visit her brother in prison is not to be revealed here. But Ray is on that bus every Saturday, unthreatening and interested, getting to know her…

The play doesn’t purport to be realistic (in a theatrical sense), but Graham—whose strength at plotting serves him especially well here—seems to have merged the genres of social drama and Shavian dialectic such that the heightened universe makes the intersection of the two vastly different universes credible. Director Bud Martin has been especially sensitive in casting such that the voice of each perspective rings with the iconic soul of the argument; and the casting of Cuccioli is especially effective, because having been, in younger years, a musical theatre matinee idol, he brings a sexual energy to Ray that adds to the first arc of suspense right until the big reveal. And the chances are that you’ll never see it coming; nor guess where it’s going after (though in retrospect, the play’s structure is impeccably built). And the icing on the cake is that the aftermath of seeing the play is a fair bet for sparking spirited debate.

I have to say, too, that despite being a classy affair, White Guy on the Bus falls into another category of my own naming. It’s the kind of thing I call a “paperback play,” because if it were a novel, it would be a real page turner; it has that kind of verve. Based on how quickly it has been taken up by one production company after another, I guess that would make it a bestseller too…

Return to the Aisle Say home page

Go to the Aisle Say New York City & Environs Index

Up Next

Kyle a Cocaine Comedy is Seriously Funny

Don't Miss

The Cast of The Glass Menagerie Comes Out For Rose

David Spencer

David Spencer is an award-winning composer-lyricist, lyricist-librettist, author and musical theatre teacher. He has written music and lyrics for the Richard Rodgers Development Award-winning musical The Fabulist, which also contributed to his winning a Kleban lyrics award and several Gilman & Gonzalez-Falla Theatre Foundation grants. He is also lyricist-librettist for two musicals with composer Alan Menken: Weird Romance (WPA 1992, York 2004) and The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, which had its sold out, extended world premiere in Montreal in Summer 2015; cast album release soon. He made his professional debut in 1984 with the English Adaptation of La Bohéme at the Public Theatre; and he has since written music and lyrics for Theatreworks/USA’s all-new, award-winning Young Audience versions of The Phantom of the Opera (1996) and Les Misérables (1999) (book and direction for both by Rob Barron). Currently he is writing book, music and lyrics for a musical based on the iconic Russian novel The Golden Calf. Spencer’s published books are the Alien Nation novel Passing Fancy (Pocket, 1994), The Musical Theatre Writer’s Survival Guide (Heinemann, 2005, a regularly reprinted industry standard) and the script of Weird Romance (Samuel French, 1993). He is on faculty and teaches at the BMI-Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop and has taught at HB Studio, the Workshop Studio Theater and Goldsmith’s College in London. His primary professional affiliations are BMI, The Dramatists Guild and The International Association of Media Tie-in Writers.

Off Broadway

Asi Wind’s Inner Circle Where Cards Are Magical and Slight of Hand is Astounding

Published

8 hours ago

March 20, 2023

Suzanna Bowling

My guest absolutely loved Asi Wind’s Inner Circle pre, but if you have been to Speakeasy Magick at The McKittrick Hotel, much of what is here will seem repetitive, though still amazing.

Asi, is good looking, charming, amusing and has a wonderful slight of hand. The Gym at the Judson has been designed and lit by Adam Blumenthal to make the space warm and inviting. The space only has 100 seats so you are up-close and personal.

Before the show starts audience members are asked to write their names and initial on a blank card with red or black sharpie’s. These are the cards he uses as his deck, so that each night the show is personalize.

Wind is a wonderful storyteller and loves his craft. He is infectious about his passion and in so brings his audience in. Each trick is celebrated as he builds his momentum. You will have seen most of these tricks before, if you have been to The McKittrick, but Asi makes it fun and exciting.

My guest could not wait to bring her grandson and throughly enjoyed the show. That alone made the performance special.

Asi Wind’s Inner Circle: Gym at Judson, 243 Thompson Street, until May 28th.

Broadway

Theatre News: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Bad Cinderella, John Kander, KPOP and The Rewards of Being Frank

Published

1 day ago

March 19, 2023

Suzanna Bowling

A Statement From Andrew Lloyd Webber

I am absolutely devastated to say that my eldest son Nick is critically ill.

As my friends and family know, he has been fighting gastric cancer for the last 18 months and Nick is now hospitalised.

I therefore have not been able to attend the recent previews of Bad Cinderella and as things stand, I will not be able to cheer on its wonderful cast, crew and orchestra on Opening Night this Thursday.

We are all praying that Nick will turn the corner. He is bravely fighting with his indomitable humour, but at the moment my place is with him and the family.

Opening Night Performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new musical Bad Cinderella is Thursday, March 23, 2023 at Imperial Theatre, 249 W 45^th Street.

Red Carpet arrivals of celebrity guests including Afyia Bennett, Senator Barbara Boxer, Alex Brightman, Tory Burch, Kandi Burruss, Jordan E. Cooper, Erin Dana Lichy, Lamar Dawson, Machine Dazzle, Bethenny Frankel, Mandy Gonzalez, Amber Gray, Jae Gurley, Amber Iman, Ashley Longshore, Carson Kressley, Judy Kuhn, Loosey LaDuca, Luann de Lesseps, Marcia Marcia Marcia, Martyna Majok, Ingrid Michaelson, Andy Mientus, Minnie Mills, Pablo Montalban, Justin Peck, Wendell Pierce, Zac Posen, T. Oliver Reid, Krysta Rodriguez, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Sylvester Stallone, Elizabeth Stanley, Alex Timbers, Tommy Tune, Tanairi Sade Vasquez, Ana Villafane, Anna Wintour and the cast and creative team of Bad Cinderella including Andrew Lloyd Webber, Linedy Genao, Carolee Carmello, Grace McLean, Jordan Dobson, Sami Gayle, Morgan Higgins, Cameron Loyal, Christina Acosta Robinson, Savy Jackson, Mike Baerga, Raymond Baynard, Lauren Boyd, Tristen Buettel, Alyssa Carol, Gary Cooper, Kaleigh Cronin, Josh Drake, Ben Lanham, Angel Lozada, Mariah Lyttle, Robin Masella, Sarah Meahl, Michael Milkanin, Chloe Nadon-Enriquez, Christian Probst, Larkin Reilly, Julio Rey, Lily Rose, J Savage, Dave Schoonover, Tregony Shepherd, Paige Smallwood, Lucas Thompson, Alena Watters and more.

John Kander celebrates his 96^th birthday on Saturday, March 18, six days before New York, New York, his 16^th original Broadway musical begins performances at the St. James Theatre., giving him the distinction of being the oldest composer to open a new musical on Broadway. To honor the legendary composer Susan Stroman, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Colton Ryan, Anna Uzele and the cast and creative team of New York, New York surprised John Kander with a Big-Apple-sized rendition of “Happy Birthday.” You can watch the video here.

A titan of the American Theatre, John Kander made his Broadway debut as the rehearsal pianist for the original production of Gypsy starring Ethel Merman in 1951. The first Kander & Ebb musical, Flora The Red Menace, debuted in 1965 and starred Liza Minnelli in a Tony-winning performance. What followed was a string of legendary musicals including Chicago, Cabaret, Steel Pier, Curtains, The Visit and The Scottsboro Boys, all culminating in this new musical set in post-war New York, inspired by the 1977 Martin Scorsese film of the same name, which features the iconic song “New York, New York.” New York, New York marks the 15^th Kander & Ebb musical to open on Broadway.

New York, New York marks the first new John Kander & Fred Ebb musical to open on Broadway since 2015’s The Visit, which was nominated for 5 Tony Awards including Best Musical. The legendary duo is also currently represented on Broadway with Chicago, which holds the distinction of being the longest-running American musical in Broadway history.

New York, New York stars Colton Ryan (Girl From The North Country, Hulu’s “The Girl From Plainville”) as Jimmy Doyle, Anna Uzele (Six, Apple TV+’s “Dear Edward”) as Francine Evans, Clyde Alves (On The Town) as Tommy Caggiano, John Clay III (Choir Boy) as Jesse Webb, Janet Dacal (In The Heights) as Sofia Diaz, Ben Davis (Dear Evan Hansen) as Gordon Kendrick, Oliver Prose as Alex Mann (Broadway Debut), Angel Sigala (Broadway Debut) as Mateo Diaz, and Tony Award nominee Emily Skinner (Side Show) as Madame Veltri. The ensemble includes Wendi Bergamini, Allison Blackwell, Giovanni Bonaventura, Jim Borstelmann, Lauren Carr, Mike Cefalo, Bryan J. Cortés, Kristine Covillo, Gabriella Enriquez, Haley Fish, Ashley Blair Fitzgerald, Richard Gatta, Stephen Hanna, Naomi Kakuk, Akina Kitazawa, Ian Liberto, Kevin Ligon, Leo Moctezuma, Aaron Nicholas Patterson, Dayna Marie Quincy, Julian Ramos, Drew Redington, Benjamin Rivera, Vanessa Sears, Davis Wayne, Jeff Williams, Darius Wright. New York, New York begins performances Friday, March 24, 2023 and officially opens Wednesday, April 26, 2023 at Broadway’s St. James Theatre (246 West 44^th Street).

Featuring music and lyrics by Tony, Emmy & Grammy Award winners and Academy Award nominees John Kander & Fred Ebb (Chicago, Cabaret), written by Tony Award nominee David Thompson (The Scottsboro Boys, Steel Pier), co-written by Sharon Washington (Audible’s Feeding The Dragon) and featuring additional lyrics by Pulitzer, Tony, Emmy & Grammy Award winner and Academy Award nominee Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton, In The Heights), New York, New York will be directed and choreographed by five-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman (The Producers, The Scottsboro Boys).

It is 1946, the war is over, and a resurgent New York is beginning to rebuild. As steel beams swing overhead, a collection of artists has dreams as big and diverse as the city itself.

Among them is New York native Jimmy Doyle, a brilliant but disillusioned musician looking for his “major chord” in life: music, money, love. The odds are against him getting all three until he meets Francine Evans, a young singer just off the bus from Philly, who is destined for greatness. If they can make it there, they can make it anywhere.

Tickets for New York, New York are now on-sale at www.NewYorkNewYorkBroadway.com. Tickets start at $59.

This new musical is inspired by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Motion Picture New York, New York written by Earl M. Rauch.

Sony Masterworks Broadway, along with producers Tim Forbes and Joey Parnes, share new track “Super Star” from KPOP – Original Broadway Cast Recording – listen here. Featuring vocals from chart-topping Korean songstress and show lead Luna as well as the show’s talented cast of performers, “Superstar” is the second track to debut from the album, which arrives digitally on Monday, May 8 and on CD Friday, May 12. “Super Star” premieres today alongside an accompanying video featuring Luna – watch here.

Available for preorder and presave now, KPOP – Original Broadway Cast Recording was produced by Helen Park, Matt Stein, and Harvey Mason jr.(NCT 127, Red Velvet), and features music, lyrics, music production and arrangements by Park and music and lyrics by Max Vernon. The first-ever Broadway musical to celebrate Korean culture with Korean, Korean-American, and API representation on and off-stage, the album features a star-studded cast of performers from the world of K-pop, including chart-topping superstar and lead Luna, BoHyung (from the K-pop group SPICA and half of the duo KEEMBO), Min (from the K-pop group Miss A), Kevin Woo (from the K-pop group U-KISS), and more.

The Rewards of Being Frank, currently running through March 26, 2023 at the Mezzanine Theatre at ART/New York Theatres (502 West 53rd Street), is now available for streaming, also through March 26 only. The World Premiere play, written by Alice Scovell, is a sequel to Oscar Wilde’s immortal 1895 comedy, The Importance of Being Earnest. The Rewards of Being Frank is a co-production of New York Classical Theatre (Stephen Burdman, Founding Artistic Director, Matthieu Chapman, Literary Director) and Cincinnati Shakespeare Company (Brian Isaac Phillips, Producing Artistic Director). Mr. Burdman directs. The streaming version of The Rewards of Being Frank is available for a donation of $10 or higher. You can watch the recording as often as you wish and at any time. The link will expire at 10:00 pm on Sunday, March 26, 2023. To order, or for more information, please visit: https://ci.ovationtix.com/35099/store/donations/49755 The cast for The Rewards of Being Frank feature Moboluwaji Ademide Akintilo (New York Classical’s The Importance of Being Earnest (Two Ways), Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream) as Frank, James Evans (The McKittrick Hotel’s The Woman in Black) as Algernon, Kelly Mengelkoch (Cincinnati Shakespeare Company) as Gwendolyn, Tora Nogami Alexander (The Acting Company’s Twelfth Night) as Cecily, Jeremy Dubin (Cincinnati Shakespeare Company) as Ernest, and Christine Pedi(Broadway’s Chicago, Talk Radio, Off-Broadway’s Forbidden Broadway) as Lady Bracknell. Oscar Wilde’s much-loved The Importance of Being Earnest receives a hilarious sequel in this world premiere. Set seven years after Wilde’s play, see what happens to our characters when they meet Frank. After all, the only thing more Important than being Earnest, is being Frank! Performances are Tuesday-Sunday at 7:00 PM with matinees on Wednesdays at 2:00 PM. Running time is two hours including intermission. Tickets are available on the NY Classical website. Advance reservations are $35 per seat. These reservations are refundable—in cash, at the theatre—following each regular performance.* All NY Classical programs are free and open to the public. Pending seating availability, FREE admission will be available beginning one hour before curtain, on a first-come, first-served basis.

Off Broadway

Norman Mailer’s Son Filmmaker Michael Mailer Directs His First Theatrical Production Darkness of Light

Published

1 day ago

March 19, 2023

Suzanna Bowling

DOL Productions and Pivot Productions are pleased to announce the world premiere production of Alexander Kaletski’s Darkness of Light: Confessions of a Russian Traveler, directed by Michael Mailer (“The Minute You Wake Up Dead” with Morgan Freeman, “Heart of Champions” with Michael Shannon, “Blind” with Alec Baldwin and Demi Moore) in his legit debut. Darkness of Light will play a limited engagement at The 36th Street Theatre (312 W 36th St. 4th floor, New York, NY 10018). Performances begin Thursday, March 30, and continue through Sunday, April 16. Opening Night is Saturday, April 1 (8 p.m.). Tickets are $25 and available darknessoflight.com.

Based on Alexander Kaletski’s semi-autobiographical novel, “Darkness of Light”, the play follows Nikolai Rodnin, a Russian painter and Soviet Defector, chronicling his sexual relationships with women throughout his life. Fighting not to lose his artistic soul, Nikolai travels around the world, while facing the pull to return to Moscow and finish what he started.

“I’ve always found the tensions between one’s artistic imperatives and the practicalities of making a living compelling,” comments Mailer. “How much do you compromise along the way till you can no longer tolerate your craft? This play explores that dynamic while taking us on a tragic-comedic romp from the Soviet Union to Europe and finally America through the eyes of a Russian artist trying to hold onto the truth of his art while being buffeted from one system to another.”

“As an artist my work has always reflected my impressions of life,” reflects Kaletski. “Now, as I get older, I find life, more and more, imitating my art.”

The production stars Jonathan Glass as Nikolai Rodnin, Alexander Yuille Elmaleh as Sergei, Sarah DeBaets as Anya, Audrey Claire Wilson as Monique, and Christopher Pasi as Max.

The production features scenic design by TJ Jacob. Lighting, projection and sound design by Anneke J. Thompson and Alexis Kitchmire. Stage management by Emily Cohen and Publicity by Katie Rosin/Kampfire PR.

Darkness of Light: Confessions of a Russian Traveler plays the following regular schedule through Sunday, April 16:

Thursdays at 8 p.m.

Fridays at 8 p.m.

Saturdays at 8 p.m.

Sundays at 2 p.m.

Tickets are $25 and available darknessoflight.com. Tickets can also be purchased at the theater a half-hour prior to the performance.

Running Time: 105 minutes (with a fifteen-minute intermission)