Philadelphiatheaterarts

Review by Neal Newman

April 8, 2024

HURRICANE DIANE by Madeleine George is a feminist comedy about climate change and permaculture. If that sounds like a mouthful, it is aided tremendously by the playwright’s wit and skill and a vividly acted and designed production at People’s Light in Malvern. Director Molly Rosa Houlahan has pulled off a miracle that brought me back decades to the wonders of Charles Ludlam’s Ridiculous Theater Company in Sheridan Square.

Here’s the premise. Dionysus, the male god of wine, ecstasy, and theater, is upset with humanity (special thanks to Euripides) and decides to return to Earth and convince a few disciples that planting ecologic gardens will create a new flowering of the land and lead to a great Bacchanalian frenzy of joy. He loves ecologically robust plants like the pawpaw tree and hates lawns that feature green grass, wrought iron benches, and “curb appeal.”  He disguises himself as a lesbian gardener named Diane and heads to a suburban cul-de-sac in New Jersey to gather acolytes. She’ll bring a hurricane to the Earth.

The chrome-marble clean setting by Grisele Gonzalez is the perfect suburban kitchen. It serves as the meeting place of all four households since each of the houses has the same floor plan. The ladies living here, (the husbands are always elsewhere), are upper class housewives of New Jersey.

Shauna Miles plays Renee, a woman of color who works for a gardening magazine. She loves the garden that Diane (Rami Margron) create but is frustrated that the neighbors consider it a trash heap on 95 in Secaucus, and the magazine refuses all permaculture articles. Miles grounds the craziness with a profound calm. Pam (Suli Holum) is an over-dressed, pure New Jersey housewife who tries to act like Katherine Hepburn. She hates Renee’s Garden and wants something resembling an Italian Palazzo. Holum sparks the wackiness. Julianna Zinkel is touching, as Beth is the most vulnerable character. He husband has left her, and her lawn hasn’t been mowed for months. She seems to be an easy target for Diane.

The zaniest is Carol (Teri Lamm), who, surprisingly, has a JOB working “in complience” for a corrupt drug company. She is the paragon of selfishness, and her hysterical breakdown speech is a testament to comedy. I remember Zinkel and Lamm giving suburb performances in THE VINEGER TREE, a very different type of comedy. They are treasures to our area. Rami Margron’s Diane ties it all together with a skillfully controlled performance, which, the audience hopes, will lead to that Bacchanalian frenzy. Bravo, Madeleine George, who writes roles that actors will covet for a hilarious evening with a powerful theme.

Any play titled HURRICANE had better produce one. After all, our weather is getting stormier. This one is a doozy thanks to Gozalez’s set, the inventive costumes of Camilla Dely, and the flash-bang lighting and sound design of Ebony M. Burton and Caroline Eng. Add to this the exceptional skill of director Houlahan, and you’ll notice that the entire team is women. 

HURRICANE DIANE is a very unusual and unique event. All theater lovers are urged to attend.

Running time:  90 minutes with no intermission.

HURRICANE DIANE runs through May 19 at People’s Light at 39 Conestoga Road, Malvern, PA. Tickets can be obtained at peopleslight.org or by calling 610-644-3500.

Review by Neal Newman

April 28, 20024

British playwright Tim Crouch is not your typical storyteller. Seeing the American premiere of BEGINNERS at Hedgerow Theatre Company is like playing a game. But it is a rewarding game. The performances, designs, and music are filled with surprises, most of which will not be revealed here. To do so would spoil Crouch’s carefully concealed strategy.

So, instead of a standard review, I’ll describe the experience. Remember, audience confusion is part of it. The setting is a drab bunk room filled with beds. Is it the sleeping room of an antiquated psychiatric ward? The actions of the characters might lead you in that direction. Nigel (Phillip Brown) says he’s a doctor and walks about in a white coat with a stethoscope. He is not a doctor. Lucy (Emma Gibson) claims to be a new mother but screams as she throws her baby about. Joy (Joanna Liao) is first seen casing the joint with a pistol. The audience favorite is Bart (Mike Thurstlic), who is not acquainted with these old friends and keeps asking, “What is going on here?” But he carries a karaoke machine and has no skill with it. The cast is totally professional.

There are themes too: the destruction of the environment, the difficulties of parenting, the passing of time that changes a person, and the relationship between parents and children. Crouch has obviously studied John Bradshaw’s best seller HOMECOMING. If you have too, don’t miss this one.

Part of the experience is making discoveries. After a bit, we learn that these are very old friends (except for Bart) who have been coming to a vacation home for many years. It is raining, so they reveal the personal baggage they bring with them. But that’s only the beginning. Many marvels await. The drab set by Paul Kuhn will erupt with color. The storm-laden lightning by Lily Fossner cannot suggest the wonders to come. Stage Manager Al Caiazzo wrote some of the music. The apt costumes are by Nicole Lawrie, who also appears as a dog.—a dog who talks and spouts sensible nonsense. There are also children. They are wonderful and played by Olivia Seale, Jordan Sheppard, Alice Webber, and Theo Bramucci.

Mention should also be made of the captions unobtrusively located on stage right. Some of the British slang used is incomprehensible to American audiences. They solved a lot of problems.

The experience reminded me of the 1960s when I attended the first Pinter and Ionesco one-acts. You don’t know what is happening, but it is fascinating and filled with “humour.” The audience was challenged and responded with a final cheering ovation. There’s not much left of the three-week run, but check Hedgerow’s website. It will soon be streaming to your living room.

Running Time:  90 minutes with no intermission.

BEGINNERS plays through May 5 at Hedgerow Theatre, 64 Rose Valley Road, Media, PA. For tickets, hedgerowtheatre.org or 610-565-4211.

Review by Neal Newman

April 7, 2024

Wilma Theater’s THE GOOD PERSON OF SETZUAN offers much to admire and many challenges for the audience.

Bi Jean Ngo’s performance in the title role is foremost. She illuminates the stage. Bertolt Brecht’s play is the tale of a person who wants to do good in a world filled with crooked and often evil conspirators. Since the good Shen Te can’t succeed in this society, she disguises herself as the worldly, actively corrupt male Shui Ta who finds cruel ways to navigate the evils of society. Brecht’s theme is obvious and stated early on. “If you want to succeed in anything, be prepared to break heads.” Or as Brecht translator Marc Blitzstein put it: “First feed the face and then talk right and wrong.” 

     Shen Te is a prostitute forced into the profession by hard times. The gods recognize her goodness and arrange for her to receive a small sum of money, which she uses to purchase a tiny shop. That’s where her troubles begin as sharpers and wastrels descend to take advantage of her goodness. Such a story needs a bright light of shining charisma in this sea of iniquity, and Bi Jean Ngo truly has it. She is not the fat, cigar-smoking boor one imagines as Shui Ta, but she does well, bringing the play’s themes to exciting life.

    One is also struck by the setting of Steven Dufala, which begins with a multicolored curtain made of cheap shirts and underclothes. It rises to reveal a brightly colored world made exclusively of trash. It’s a two-storied concoction that features modern plastics, old furniture, and many other oddities that illustrate the world of poverty and desperation Brecht calls for. The back wall of the playhouse is seen. There are no wing curtains or tormentors to hide the lighting. The cast is seen in the wings awaiting cues. The costumes assist the performers as they quickly change into many characters. Costumer Ariel Wang and Director Justin Jain avoid any MIKADO style “oriental” cliches. Some outfits suggest China, but others do not. Lighting Designer Krista Smith keeps it simple with plain white light and a few flashes of color in the second half.

     The adaptation from a translation by Wendy Arons is by famed writer/adaptor Tony Kushner. Since Kushner’s script has not been published, I eagerly looked forward to experiencing it. This didn’t prove to be easy due to Jain’s direction and the music of Jordan McCree and Mel Hsu. Jain likes multitasking and usually has two things going on at once. The play opens with the waterseller telling of his difficult life, with the admirably physical Jungwoong Kim reciting his role in Korean while other cast members provide simultaneous translations. This works well in PBS documentaries, but in this case, I couldn’t understand either, with much exposition lost right at the beginning.

     The continuous music offers an intriguing mixture of Asian and Western instruments. However, even the soft pizzicato of a cello managed to overwhelm the dialogue, with many moments of text being lost. I was particularly interested in Kushner’s lyrics for the songs, but these were disguised mainly by too many sounds from too many places. I tried to like a charming song called “RAIN,” but various noises from the cast made it impossible to understand the lyrics. The sound design of Eugene Lew is assaultingly loud for a three-hundred-seat theater, but evidently, that was what the director needed. The sound design was so generalized that when the entire cast was onstage, one could not ascertain who was speaking. One searched in vain for moving lips while missing the play.

Director Jain is a fan of “loud and weird,” and this is what defines the supporting cast’s performances. The continual plonking of the musicians was accompanied by various screamed lines, often in painfully rhythmic “Beverly Hillbilly” accents. It is unfair to compare productions, but I have seen the play at LaMama in NYC and East Berlin. I remember that the audience doubled over in laughter while still appreciating the seriousness of Brecht’s themes. This GOOD PERSON was not funny. Just strange. Weird is popular today, with many cable television series starring a quirky leading character falling into bizarre straits. If you like these programs, this is the show for you. It could be a hit.

   The running time is slightly short of 4 hours.

RUNNING TIME:  Three hours and forty-five minutes with one intermission. Bring snacks!

Wilma Theater presents THE GOOD PERSON OF SETZUAN BY Bertolt Brecht.      It runs through April 21 at 266 South Broad Street, Philadelphia. Tickets can be obtained by calling 215-546-7824 or online at wilmatheater.org#WilmaGoodPerson

Review by Neal Newman

March 30, 2024

Imagine this. You are standing at the bottom of a hill. Suddenly, you hear what sounds like a war, a cacophony of percussion. Over the hill, heading directly toward you is something that resembles a huge army tank. You can’t tell because there are golden lights blinding you. The sound now resembles an army of loudly marching men. It is terrifying and exciting. Such was the experience of seeing Shakespeare’s MACBETH at Quintessence. It would be wrong to detail all the wonders. The setting is a tall black platform with many surprises emerging from therein. The excellent costumes resemble a Scots WWI brigade. The witches wear bizarre masks and continually perform chants and writhing dances. The sound effects seem to continue forever. And there is fighting, lots of fighting: some in slow motion upstage to illustrate the dialogue, and then battles that are just mean and bloody. The lighting is complex, quickly changing, and conveys that the entire play occurs at night. Oh, and two final theatrical coups d’theatre will surprise and delight those who have studied the play.

Many talented people, led by director Alex Burns, deserve acclaim for this achievement. They will be credited below.

The acting company is a strong one. Daniel Miller is a charismatic Macbeth, a strong, tall, believable soldier. He is a profoundly ambitious but not a deeply emotional Macbeth. When Miller asks, “Is this a dagger I see before me?” he doesn’t tremble but sees it as a challenge. This murderer is not too upset when it is announced that the king is dead, but more concerned that Banquo’s line might replace him. His finest moment is the speech: “Light thickens, and the crow/Makes wing to the rooky wood.” He accepts evil. He embraces it. Lady Macbeth (Scott Parkinson) is a strong and committed wife. She continually has her hands upon him, hugging, kissing, and molding him like a piece of wet clay. Eventually, madness does overcome her, and the handwashing scene is terrifying. The fact that Parkinson is male is irrelevant. It’s a grand performance. Since this production does not produce prodigiously emotional Macbeths, director Burns gives that moment to Macduff (Lee Thomas Cortopassi), who is persuasively moving at the death of his family and frighteningly angry in the final battle scene. Christopher Patrick Mullen is fine as the soon-to-be-killed King Duncan but then grabs the limelight almost immediately as the hilarious and totally unrecognizable comic porter. He may have added to Shakespeare’s words, but the laughs appear at this strange moment. Shakespeare wouldn’t mind. The remaining cast is more than adequate, though the visually impressive Banquo of Vaughn Meccod makes Shakespeare’s verse primarily incomprehensible. Bringing Banquo back from the dead, in the doctor’s important role, was a mistake. The witches were given extra dialogue and dances, but by the time of the parade of kings, they had worn out their welcome.

     All of this creates an impressive evening that is highly recommended. Now, let’s list the credits:

Director/set design and sound design:  Alex Burns

Lighting by Anthony Forchielli

Costumes by Kelly Myers

Masks created by Barbaric Yawp Worhshop.

Fight Direction by Sean Bradley

All contribute memorably. The three hours flies by.

RUNNING TIME: 2 hours 45 minutes, including one intermission.

MACBETH presented by Quintessence through April 21, 2024, at 7137 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia. Tickets can be obtained at quintessencetheatre.org or by calling 215-987-4450.

Review by Neal Newman

March 24, 2024

BIG was a smash hit at the Bristol Riverside Theatre this Sunday afternoon. The audience, primarily young parents with preteens, loved almost every minute. The only grey head in the balcony was mine. This is just what the future of our current theater needs.

     BIG is the musical version of the beloved film of the same title. It tells the story of Josh, a 12-year-old who doesn’t fit in. He wishes he were a grown-up, and through magic, his body is transformed even though his mind and everything else are still 12. This being America, the kid is an immediate success. spectacularly becoming the vice president of a toy company. This allows the writers to deal with two basic themes:  Be careful what you wish for, you might get it, and modern mankind is always searching for their lost inner child.

Director Ken Kaissar has a strong, confident hand as he controls the various elements. The set design is a wonder of small light boxes that dominate the experience. To me, it read “pinball machine,” while the 12-year-old behind me said “computer.” Oh, well, to each his own. The costumes by Linda B. Stockton were effectively ugly and reminded us that we all looked that way in the early 60’s. The settings by Christoper Swader & Juston Swader were amazing. Regional theater doesn’t have the advantage of Broadway with its all-computerized invisible scene changes. Book writer John Weidman faced a problem as his musical was based on the film script, which had many short scenes and locations. Bristol’s many sets looked great, including different bedrooms, a carnival, and an upscale toy store. And bravo to the stage crew who moved it all so professionally. The lighting was in sync with the computer game design, though I wish the mother’s song, “Stop Time,” had been given a tender stage picture. The musical direction of Douglass G. Lutz seemed terrific, though I had no idea where the orchestra was, while Ryk Lewis’s sound design was effectively loud and assaultive.

     BIG depends on a powerful leading man, and they found him with Charles Osborne. He is totally convincing as a 12-year-old in a man’s body. I especially loved the moment when he discovered he had met the president of a toy company: “YOU OWN A TOY COMPANY!!” he screeched, jumping up and down. Perfect. Also memorable was Erika Strasburg as Susan, a conflicted modern career woman with an “affair” (???) with older Josh. Her singing and confusion were expertly done.   The two preteen leads, Remi Tuckman as young Josh and especially Kalel Carrera as Billy, Josh’s young friend as Billy, Josh’s friend who stays with him throughout the show, were, deservedly, audience pleasers. Director Kaissar gave the chorus members unique characteristics, though Paul, Josh’s nemesis, was miscast. Stephen Casey’s choreography resembled a gym class, and the preteen chorus members enjoyed it.

    BIG, with book by John Weidman, music by David Shire, and lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr, was never a good musical. It has been rewritten numerous times since its Broadway failure and has received mixed reviews wherever it has been performed. To me, the music and lyrics are remarkably unsurprising and will never replace the original film. However, there is one brilliant song, “Stop Time,” sung in the sadly underwritten role of Josh’s mother. Jackie Washam, who was always excellent at Bristol, gave a superb rendering. The audience, however, responded with limited applause and seemed happy to be back to the noise and flash of the rest of the show.

   BIG’s themes made the film an adult picture, but if you have preteens, get your whole family to Bristol Riverside. It’s selling out.

RUNNING TIME: Two hours and thirty minutes with one intermission.

BIG runs through April 14 at Bristol Riverside Theatre, 120 Radcliffe Street, Bristol, PA. Tickets can be obtained at brtstage.org or by calling 215-785-0100.

Review by Neal Newman

March 23, 2024

    Why was the year 2008 such a financial disaster for the entire world? Why did a century-old bank like Lehman Brothers surprisingly fail and cease to exist? This is the conundrum explored in THE LEHMAN TRILOGY by Stefano Massini and extensively adapted by Ben Power, an associate director at the National Theatre of Great Britain. It receives its area premiere at the Arden Theatre.

     Adaptor Power made several daring choices. The three Lehman Brothers who immigrated to Alabama from Germany would be played by only three actors, who would enact not only the immigrants but also all their sons and heirs as well as any other characters, male or female, that might be needed. The three actors also narrate the play, describing changes in location, setting, and costume as required. The National, unsurprisingly, had the services of the finest actors in existence and was able to cast the play with performers who could easily solve any difficulties the concept presented. The original was a visual feast set in a glass box on a constantly revolving turntable.

  The Arden’s production is “co-conceived by” the set designer and the director, Jorge Cousineau and Terrence J. Nolan. And quite a conception it is. The mostly bare stage features movable small tables and chairs. Cousineau’s impressive “Video Design” is backing all of this, which assists in creating the eras covered. The pictures begin with cotton fields in Alabama and segue to rural street scenes. As the brothers move to New York, we see the city’s varying skylines. As the action ramps up to the computer age, films and action sequences take over. It’s quite a ride. Asaki Kuruma’s understated costumes underline the changing decades, and Krista Smith’s lighting brings it all home.

     The actors are excellent in their varied roles, though not entirely on the level of what we saw at the Armory in New York. But the performance improved as the trilogy unfolded. The first act was a little hard to follow, with the rapidly changing accents and lower energy. Things improved in Act Two, where the characters were now native-born Americans, and Act Three really took off. By this time, the three performers had a lot of fun, and the various vignettes became more specific and hilarious. Scott Greer scores as Henry, the stubborn founder of the company, as various Lehman wives, and a governor of Alabama. Charlie DelMarcelle plays Emanuel, the middle brother who is always off to New York. He also shines as many of the sons and later computer-based stock traders. Akeem Davis doesn’t have the tongue-tripping vocal dexterity needed, but his wild Bobby, ably dancing as a horse trading, art-loving Lehman, is a delight in the third act. Through it all, we see a panorama of American history through the eyes of money as the brothers move from selling fabrics to cotton to investments to stock trading. One imagines that these Jewish immigrants had a lot to do with slavery in the pre-Civil War South, but this British play doesn’t deal with it.

     If the above appeals to you, don’t miss it.

    PS. This production introduced me to the AI Smart Caption Glasses. If you like your television with captions, you can now have a play with subtitles. The glasses adapt to caption size and color and follow the action in real time. It is an impressive aid to those with hearing loss. It didn’t quite work for me since I couldn’t fit them comfortably over my standard eyewear, but I was impressed. The National Theater in London introduced this product, and only two theater companies in the US have them.

RUNNING TIME:  Three hours with two intermissions. Be sure to check the early start times.

The Arden Theatre Company presents THE LEHMAN TRILOGY through April 14 at 40 N. 2^nd St in Philadelphia. Tickets can be obtained at ardentheatre.org or by calling 215-922-1122.

Review by Neal Newman

March 23, 2024

   Act II Playhouse in Ambler has produced a near-perfect revival of IT’S ONLY A PLAY. Terrence McNally, who has written such esteemed works as THE RITZ, FRANKIE AND JOHNNY, and RAGTIME, has devised the takedown ultimate of the terrible business known as Broadway theater. After all, appearing on stage in that arena requires an appalling mix of bravery, narcissism, and the ability to get up when knocked down. This comedy is inestimably wonderful for someone like me who has known decades of great successes and failures.

    It’s not a brilliant farce like NOISES OFF, but McNally has a treasure trove of great lines and the ability to keep topping himself in hilarity. Indeed, he exposes that society’s hypocrisy and just plain meanness, but he also manages to imbue these people with a dose of sympathy.

    Director Kevin Glaccum skillfully arranges an impressive ensemble production. The stage is usually filled with the entire cast, and they expertly play off each other like the professionals they are.

     The setting is a room above an opening night party for a new play, where the NY Times review is tensely awaited. Tony Braithwaite is the TV star who thinks he despises Broadway but admits to only being seduced by the West Coast money. Braithwaite captures the character’s confusion as he navigates the evening, complementing people he hates. E. Ashley Izard is the leading actress with a remarkable capacity to ingest harmful drugs. To her, a “hit” is not a successful play. Izzard is better than a farce character needs to be. She brings many unique aspects to the character and is over-the-top in just the right way; Nick Cardillo pleases as a sleazy leather-clad British director, who is a critic’s darling because of his gimmick productions:  a science fiction OEDIPUS or a TITUS done as French mime. After a dozen successes, he longs for failure. He’ll get it. Steven Wright is the play’s author, and after continually saying, “It’s only a play,” he leads everyone in a gospel-style prayer meeting for a favorable review. Megan McDermott is the delightfully daffy producer making her Broadway debut. She is a true theater dilatant who continually malaprops famous theatrical sayings. The only reason she is in the room is her wealth. Tom Teti exudes smugness as a vicious critic who proudly quotes his insults of years before. Unsurprisingly, he is a failed playwright. Finally, there is Nate Miles-Mclean as a coat check boy, who has just arrived in New York and hopes to make contacts for a showbusiness career. The entire evening is unforgettable as the actors enthusiastically deliver the comedy.

    The centerpiece is an ACT II review from the Times classic of critical snark. No one escapes the wrath of a critic offended. My favorite incivility concerns the wealthy producer who “should have used her money to endow a hospital when she could have her head examined.”

     Parris Bradley, James Leitner, and Katherine Fritz contribute significant contributions for set, lighting, and costumes.

   You don’t have to be a “theater person” to love this production. Hypocrisy and narcissism seem to run through most professions.

RUNNING TIME:  2 hours plus an intermission. ACT II Playhouse presents IT’S ONLY A PLAY through April 14, 2024.  56 Butler Avenue, Amble, PA. Tickets can be obtained at Act2.org or by calling 215-654-0200

Review by Neal Newman

February 19, 2024

When you enter the Hedgerow Theatre, you see the set designed by Marie Laster. It looks like any Irish play of the last 150 years: the ancient furniture, the out-of-date appliances, the cracked Tiffany lamps. The walls show extreme water damage and are mended with corrugated tin. But wait, that music is wrong. It’s Elvis and Brenda Lee. Then there are the costumes by Georgia Evans. At the beginning of the play, they resemble typical Irish play costumes. But wait. Soon, one sister dresses like a cute young girl of the 1960s. Then the other sister dresses as the high school tramp, out to catch the boys. Later, a simple fishmonger dons a sleek outfit worthy of early Travolta. And the lights by Lily Fossner are soon throwing disco ball effects on the set.

Most Irish plays are inundated with the location, the era, and history. Not here. These ladies’ minds are in the NEW ELECTRIC BALLROOM, the play’s title. It seems that years ago, at the ballroom, something terrible happened to the sisters involving boys, and they continue to relive these moments through poorly applied makeup and very long speeches.

If this is Ireland, it is the land of Samuel Beckett and James Joyce. The playwright is Enda Walsh. This is not dialogue; it is poetry. Poetry that describes the pain and sorrow of the past and the sadness of the present. And it is delivered at a rapid clip. Seeing this is the same as reading FINNEGAN’S WAKE. You don’t understand all of it. But it’s beautiful and washes over you like the ocean does the rocks in Galway Bay.

There is a plot of sorts as well, though you’ll be figuring it out long after the performance ends. Will the pretty younger sister continue to abet the siblings’ fantasies? Will the lowly fishmonger ever be invited to stay for tea? Will the older sisters gain control of the younger sister and have her join their unhappiness?

The cast has hundreds of combined years of local and national experience. Janis Dardaris plays the older sister, possessing the Mary Magdeline complex. Marcia Saunders is Clara, the sister of the Virgin Mary complex. Marcie Bramucci is the younger sister with “the beautiful face.” Stephen Patrick Smith plays the fishmonger with a bizarre and not-explained past.

I’ve spent a lot of time in Ireland, mainly in theaters and afterward in Dublin and Belfast pubs. One thing I’ve noticed about Irish acting is the total commitment to the character and their dreams. Every gesture and vocal trill is wholly fulfilled. You know what I mean if you’ve seen the original cast productions of BEAUTY QUEEN or THE FERRYMAN. As the Broadway replacement cast of FERRYMAN demonstrated, this is not easy for American actors. I can say without reservation that this is the best American cast of an Irish play I’ve ever seen. The director is Emma Gibson. Bravo!

Sometimes they are too good. The superb accents and the rapid pace make some moments unintelligible. But that’s alright. I’ll try to see BALLROOM again or attend one of the upcoming performances with captions on February 24, 29, and March 1.

A suggestion to the audience. Come prepared. You must listen carefully. You’ll miss too much if the mind wanders to dinner afterward or if you fed the cat.

RUNNING TIME: 75 minutes

THE NEW ELECTRIC BALLROOM plays through March 3 at Hedgerow Theatre, 64 Rose Valley Road, Media, PA. For tickets, hedgerowtheatre.org or 610-565-4211. In repertory with SHIRLEY VALENTINE.

Review by Neal Newman

February 9, 2024

Not long ago, two gay gentlemen traveled from their home state of Colorado to Massachusetts. a more liberal state. for a legal wedding. They returned to Colorado for a reception with friends, but when they ordered a wedding cake, the Christian baker refused to create it, claiming it was against his religion. The gay couple sued. But the US Supreme Court found for the baker and reversed the Colorado decision, feeling that anti-gay sentiments clouded the proceedings. This blanketed the media and was noticed by experienced playwright Bekah Brunstetter.

She was not interested in the religious aspects but rather in the gulf in her life, now in New York and Hollywood, with her hometown in conservative North Carolina. She loved people in both “bubbles” and wanted to explore this breach tearing our country apart. Her approach was sensitive and sympathetic to both sides. The resulting play, THE CAKE, is challenging to pull off.

The heroine of CAKE is Della, a dyed-in-the-wool Southern lass who loves to bake. When she says you must only use pure ingredients and rigidly “follow the recipe,” one immediately recognizes someone who will resist societal change. That challenge comes when her beloved goddaughter returns home from “up north.”  She has returned to be married. To a woman. A black woman. Naturally, Della cannot bake that cake.

Steel River Playhouse is presenting the play in its upstairs loft. Director/Artistic Director Leena Devlin shows a strong hand with the technical aspects. Gone are the days of no set or lighting in the loft. Designer Hugh Abbott has created a set that is a yellow and blue confectioner’s dream. The lighting by Dakota Adams is complex and inventive, as are the costumes of Teal Knight and Madison Devlin’s sound design. Credit should also be given to the uncredited person who made the cakes.

The performers are a mixed bag. Deborah Baldwin, as Della, is a skilled professional who is delightful when her husband, Tom Libonate, notices that she has never met a gay person. Her confusion is heartfelt. She is also surprisingly hilarious when she dreams her “baker’s nightmare” taunted by the sexual prodding of a British game show host, played by a condescending but unseen Matt Lake. She is less effective as the torment of her conservative upbringing results in actions she cannot understand.Some thought on this would give the performance more momentom and make the ending a true surprise.

Caitlin Monahan is excellent in her excitement of returning home to her beloved cakes. She is also touching in her scenes with Della as she reveals the disorientation of a young person faced with difficult decisions. Less effective are the moments with the two young women, where there is a distinct lack of chemistry. These would play more effectively with a deep commitment to their love and new lives. All in all, the actors and director must excavate more deeply into the text.

This play is a “dramedy,” a modern playwriting term that allows a good deal of sentiment to enter the possible comic elements. If you loved the show THIS IS US, you will love this. Brunstetter was a writer/producer on that show.

Upcoming at Steel River is the musical THE PROM, which deals with many similar themes. That one is filled with New York snark and is an often hilarious satire of liberal wokeness and conservative rigidity.

RUNNING TIME: 90 minutes without intermission.

THE CAKE runs through February 18—2024, at Steel River Playhouse, 245 E. High Street, Pottstown, PA. Tickets can be obtained at www.steelriver.org or by calling 610-970-1199.

Review by Neal Newman

February 4, 2024

R. Eric Thomas is a wonderful guy. He is a warm and original storyteller who could be an excellent standup comic or sitcom star if he wanted to be. I remember once when someone asked him what the R. stood for, he said something to the effect of that his name was Robert because his folks felt that a non-black name would look good on job applications. Then he said: “I got a lot of interviews with racists.”

He is also a critic (uh-oh), and I love his reviews for their humor. On re-seeing TITANIC, he recalled the healing moment when the elderly Rose tossed the gigantic diamond into the ocean. Possessions don’t bring happiness, only love. Says Thomas: “Thanks so much, but I opt to learn that lesson the hard way: by being rich for about 70 years and see how that goes.” As for being a critic, he said he loved “anything that was free.”

His play MRS. HARRISON is being revived at the Montgomery Theater. It has received productions throughout the country, rave reviews, and many Barrymore nominations when it debuted in Philadelphia in 2018. Montgomery’s associate artistic director, Kristen Heckler, who is renowned for championing women, gender roles, and new plays, saw this as a necessary production. As director, she would want to bring this play to a new audience.

The setting is the exclusive restroom at an upscale college during a thunderstorm at a class reunion. The characters are:

1.   The beautiful, well-dressed, successful black playwright Aisha (Chali Cooke) is being celebrated in the Alumni magazine.
2.  The scuzzy, thrown-together Holly (Jena Kuerzi), an unsuccessful writer, comic, and, by default, storyteller, is there for the free drinks. 

At first, it seems to be a chance meeting between strangers, but Holly has an agenda, which is not my job to reveal. Let’s say they are not strangers, and as we discover they knew each other ten years before, it is evident that Holly is driven by jealousy and the need for attention and success.

This production has a few shortcomings. but that didn’t divert my and other playgoers’ discussion in the tavern afterward. 

‘How many themes are contained in this play?” we asked!? It is about ideas and how they can be turned into compelling art. It’s about storytelling, the need for stories, and the difficulty of crafting them. It is about who owns an idea and if white people can write stories about black people. It’s about failure in the world of theater (or anywhere) and the jealousy that comes when you know someone who has succeeded. We recalled the quote from Chekhov: “Never allow a writer to enter your home. They’ll steal everything.”  Holly is angry because she feels Aisha has stolen one of her ideas. But was it stolen? Does Holly have the talent and the drive to write a story?

My difficulties begin with a few more questions. Why doesn’t Aisha leave? A careful reading of the author’s description of the play says they are “trapped” by the thunderstorm.   However, this element of “trapped” was not well defined in the performance. Sure, there were lightning and thunder crashes, but these seemed to be only occasionally interesting events irrelevant to the proceedings.

Why does Aisha like and admire the unlikable Holly? According to the published script, the author has her say: “That’s good, that’s really admirable.”  Or “I’m fascinated.” But I missed these developmental moments in this production.   Lacking this bare dramatic urgency, the characters become merely voices for the author’s ideas rather than human beings.

What does Aisha think of Holly’s bizarre 20-minute story? According to the published script, Thomas says: “Aisha buys this. She is shocked and immediately drawn in. There is a certain deliciousness for her in Holly’s strangeness and unreserved revelations.”  Either I missed this pivotal moment, or the director did not emphasize it.

Kudos to the design team of set, lights, and costumes (R. Cameron Purdy, Jim Leitner, and Teal Knight) for excellent, unobtrusive work. Chali Cooke and Jenn Kuerzi are exceptional performers, and the play is well-staged. But fundamental questions remain here, which hopefully can be considered as the run continues.

Running time: 75 minutes without intermission.

MRS HARRISON by R. Eric Thomas plays through February 25 at 124 N. Main Street, Souderton, PA. Tickets can be obtained at montgomerytheater.org or by calling 215-723-9984.