Women of a Certain Age *** B+

The final play in Richard Nelson’s trilogy “The Gabriels: Election Year in the Life of One Family,” now at the Public Theater, is set in the kitchen of the Gabriel family home in Rhinebeck, New York a couple of hours before the polls close on Election Day. The characters are the same as in the first two plays: Mary Gabriel (the superb Maryann Plunkett), a retired doctor, was the third wife and now widow of Thomas Gabriel, a playwright who died exactly a year ago. His younger brother George (Jay O. Sanders), a cabinetmaker, also taught piano until hard times forced them to sell the family piano. George’s wife Hannah (Lynn Hawley) works for a local caterer, but business is slow so she is also working part-time as a maid in a nearby hotel. Their son Paul is away at college, but his future there is uncertain because of their reduced financial status. George’s sister Joyce (Amy Warren), an unmarried assistant costume designer, is visiting from Brooklyn. Patricia (Roberta Maxwell), George and Joyce’s mother, who resides in a nearby assisted living facility, has had a stroke that left her partially paralyzed. Thomas’s first wife Karin (Meg Gibson), an actress and teacher, is renting the room over the garage. She is performing a solo piece that evening based on the writings of Hillary Rodham Clinton. The modest supper of shepherd’s pie and paintbrush cookies they are preparing may be the last time the family is together in the family home. A financial crisis brought on by Patricia’s gullibility has forced the sale of the house. Their conversation ranges far and wide, from vintage cookbooks to gentrification to outside money’s influence on local politics. In preparing the house for sale, they run across a box of letters sent to Patricia when she was 13, shortly after the sudden death of her older sister. The attempt to tie the reasons for the sister’s death to a notorious incident long ago at Harvard seemed clumsy and out of place. The Gabriels do not yet know the election results, but their future does not look bright regardless of the outcome. In contrast to the family in Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, their misfortune is entirely unearned. Anyone who has not seen at least the middle play of the trilogy may not get a lot out of this one. The ensemble cast is outstanding. Susan Hilferty designed the costumes and, with Jason Ardizzone West, the cozy set. The playwright directed. Running time: one hour 45 minutes; no intermission.

"Master Harold" ...and the Boys **** A

A superb revival of Athol Fugard’s 1992 masterpiece, directed by the playwright, is the latest offering at Signature Theatre. In this semi-autobiographical work, Fugard portrays a critical moment in the longtime relationship between Hally (Noah Robbins), a 17-year old Afrikaaner, and two black employees of his family’s business, the wise Sam (Leon Addison Brown) who has tried to be a mentor to Hally and the impulsive Willie (Sahr Ngaujah). Hally’s father, badly injured in WW II, is an alcoholic. His mother has been forced to be the family breadwinner, first by operating a boarding house, since then by running a tea room. The lonely, seething, embittered Hally has turned to Sam and Willie since early childhood for companionship. When a telephone call from his mother bodes ill for Hally’s future, he lashes out at the only people he feels any control over. There are lighter moments of Sam and Willie preparing for a dance contest and of Hally recollecting happier times, but the play builds inexorably to its lacerating climax. Every aspect of this production is top-notch. All three actors fully inhabit their roles, the realistic set by Christopher H. Barreca is excellent, Susan Hilferty’s costumes are fine and Fugard’s direction is, as one would expect, assured. I could quibble that the play’s metaphors are occasionally a bit heavy-handed, but it is indisputably a modern classic. I highly recommend seeing it. Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes; no intermission.

Love, Love, Love *** B

Mike Bartlett’s (Cock, Bull, King Charles III) 2010 unflattering portrait of the British generation born around 1950 has arrived in New York at Roundabout’s Laura Pels Theatre. It follows a young self-absorbed couple over a 40+ year period. Kenneth (Richard Armitage) is freeloading in his hardworking older brother Henry’s (Alex Hurt) shabby London flat during his summer break from Oxford. When Henry brings home a date, the free-spirited Sandra (Amy Ryan), it does not turn out well for him. In the second act, set in a modern, attractive suburban home about 20 years later, Kenneth and Sandra have two teen-aged children — Rose (Zoe Kazan), a devoted violin student about to celebrate her 16th birthday and Jamie (Ben Rosenfield), a few years younger. It is clear that the couple feel hemmed in by their marriage and are not exactly model parents. In the final act, another 20 years later, we find Kenneth and Sandra in self-satisfied retirement while their adult children are floundering. The first act entertainingly sets up the central relationship. The second act, by far the most entertaining of the three, vividly shows how their situation has developed. The final act, alas, turns a bit polemical as Rose blames her parents and, by extension, their generation for her own problems. The dialog is sharp and the situations often amusing. You may cringe, but you’ll probably laugh. Amy Ryan is sensational, worth the price of admission. Richard Armitage and Zoe Kazan are also strong. Alex Hurt does his best with a one-note character and Ben Rosenfeld, with an underwritten one. The three distinct sets by Derek McClane and the period costumes by Susan Hilferty establish the time and place well. In the final act, more could have been done with makeup and wigs to make them look their age. Michael Mayer’s direction is assured and fluid. A few of the British references do not travel well. The ironic title comes from a Beatles lyric. If you appreciate fine acting and want to keep up with the works of an acclaimed contemporary playwright, you will probably find the play worthwhile. If you need sympathetic characters to identify with, you will probably not. Running time: 2 hours 5 minutes, including two intermissions.

What Did You Expect? *** B

The second installment of Richard Nelson’s trilogy “The Gabriels: Election Year in the Life of One Family,” now at the Public Theater, brings us back to the kitchen of the Gabriel family in Rhinebeck, New York, this time on September 16, 2016. Those of you who saw the first play, “Hungry,” will recall that it is set in the same place on March 4 of this year. Thomas Gabriel, a playwright and novelist, had died several months before. Mary Gabriel (Maryann Plunkett), a retired doctor, was his third wife and now his widow. His younger brother George (Jay O. Sanders) is a piano teacher and cabinetmaker. George’s wife Hannah (Lynn Hawley) works for a local caterer. George’s sister Joyce (Amy Warren), an unmarried assistant costume designer, is visiting from Brooklyn. Patricia (Roberta Maxwell), George and Joyce’s mother, now resides in a nearby assisted living facility, but is there for dinner. Somewhat peculiarly, Thomas’s first wife Karin (Meg Gibson), an actress, is also there, having rented the room over the garage. As the family prepares supper, they discuss a wide range of subjects, many of them literary. An erotic passage from Wharton, a famous picnic attended by Melville and Hawthorne, and a found letter from a famous artist all command their attention. The topics they are trying to avoid are the pressing ones — a family financial crisis brought on by Patricia’s gullibility. the downside of the gentrification of Rhineback for locals, the disinterest of wealthy Democrats in the working class. a generalized sense of anxiety and the upcoming election. As usual, Nelson brings things right up to date with a reference to Hillary’s pneumonia and Jimmy Fallon’s messing up Donald Trump’s hair on TV. The political elements seemed less important and less integral this time, almost as if they were grafted onto the play. The varied conversations also seemed less part of a coherent whole this time. Anyone who has not seen the previous play may not get a lot out of this one. Nevertheless, the ensemble cast is once again superb. Susan Hilferty again designed the costumes and, with Jason Ardizzone West, the cozy set. The playwright directed. We will have to wait until Election Day for the final play “Women of a Certain Age” to see what is in store for the Gabriels. Running time: one hour 40 minutes; no intermission.

Hungry ***

Theatergoers who enjoyed Richard Nelson’s set of four plays about the Apple family of Rhinebeck, New York will be delighted that Nelson is back at the Public Theater with a new series of three plays about a different local family. “Hungry,” the first installment of “The Gabriels: Election Year in the Life of One Family” opened on March 4, the same day that it is set. Coming up in September is “What Did You Expect?” and, on Election Day, the final play “Women of a Certain Age.” With “Hungry,” the series is off to a fine start. Nelson’s skill at incorporating feelings about events in the larger world into naturalistic family conversations is even more seamlessly realized here than in the Apple plays. The cost of this seamlessness is a lessening of drama and traditional plot, a tradeoff I can readily accept. The Gabriels have gathered to scatter the ashes of Thomas Gabriel, a playwright who died four months prior. The absolutely superb ensemble cast includes two holdovers from the Apple plays — Maryann Plunkett as Thomas’s widow, third wife and retired doctor, and Jay O. Sanders as his brother George, a piano teacher and cabinetmaker. The other family members present are George’s wife Hannah (Lynn Hawley), who works for a local caterer; George’s sister Joyce (Amy Warren), an assistant costume designer who has come up from Brooklyn; and Patricia (Roberta Maxwell), George and Joyce’s frail but crusty mother who now resides in an assisted living facility. Thomas’s first wife Karin (Meg Gibson) is also there, a not wholly welcome guest. As the women prepare a supper of homemade bread, ratatouille over pasta, salad and apple crisp, they all discuss a multitude of issues, many of which suggest an underlying feeling of unease that has gripped the family and the country. Gentrification, carpetbagging, a diminishing sense of history, the toxic political environment, the need to preserve memories, an old book on housewifery and a unique method of determining the correct portion of pasta are all discussed. There is a sense of introducing the characters to lay the foundation for following their course in the two remaining installments. The archangel Gabriel was a messenger. We shall see what message these Gabriels bring. Susan Hilferty designed the costumes and, with Jason Ardizzone West, the cozy set. Nelson is a notable exception (along with Alan Ayckbourn) to my rule that playwrights should not direct their own plays. I doubt that anyone could do as well. If you demand fast-acting drama, you will be miserable, but if you enjoy leisurely conversation by intelligent people, you will be quite content. Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes; no intermission.

Familiar ***

This lively, overstuffed new play by Danai Gurira (Eclipsed) now in previews at Playwrights Horizons runs the gamut from sitcom to high drama in its two plus hours. The action takes place in real time late in the afternoon before the rehearsal dinner for the wedding of the Chinyamwira family’s 34-year-old daughter Tendi (Roslyn Ruff). Tendi and her Caucasian fiancé Chris (Joby Earle) are members of a charismatic Christian church who have vowed premarital abstinence. Tendi’s parents Donald (Harold Surratt), a successful attorney, and Marvelous (Tamara Tunie), a scientist/professor who has assimilated to American ways with a vengeance, left Zimbabwe over 30 years ago and are living the good life in a suburb of Minneapolis. Clint Ramos’s finely detailed two-level set presents a house worthy of a home design magazine, sure to evoke real estate envy in the heart of every New Yorker. Tendi’s younger sister, Nyasha (Ito Aghayere), a singer/songwriter/feng shui consultant based in New York has just returned from a trip to Zimbabwe to get in touch with her roots, but her family doesn't express much interest in her trip. Margaret (Melanie Nichols-King), Marvelous’s depressed younger sister with a drinking problem might well have wandered in from a production of “A Delicate Balance.” A crisis develops when Marvelous’s elder sister Anne (Myra Lucretia Taylor) arrives unexpectedly from Zimbabwe, determined to perform roora, an ancient bridal price ritual, over the strenuous objection of Marvelous. Sibling rivalry is strong in both generations of sisters. When he learns that the roora ceremony requires the groom to have an intermediary, Chris hurriedly recruits his slacker younger brother Brad (Joe Tippett), with hilarious results. During the second act, the mood gradually darkens and the revelation of a shocking family secret changes everything. The play’s many extremely funny moments make the darkward turn all the more unsettling. Director Rebecca Taichman has nimbly steered the actors through the change of tone. The strong ensemble acting succeeds in making the specific seem universal. Susan Hilferty's costumes contribute greatly to the production. The humanity and good humor went a long way toward making me willing to overlook some of the holes in the plot. It’s far from perfect, but well worth seeing. Running time: 2 hours 15 minutes including intermission.

The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek ***

Even though he has already written over a score of plays about life in South Africa during and after apartheid, Athol Fugard still has things to say on the subject. His new play at Signature Theatre is loosely based on the career of outside artist Nukain Mabuza, a black farm laborer who painted colorful designs on the boulders located on the farm owned by the Afrikaaner family who employed him. They encouraged him and bought him paint to spend his Sundays turning the rocks into stone “flowers.” In Fugard’s fictionalized version of his life, the aged Nukain (Leon Addison Brown) arrives with his 11-year old assistant Bokkie (Caleb McLaughlin) to tackle the last unpainted boulder, a gigantic one he calls “The Big One.” He feels artistically blocked and unable to paint the rock until Bokkie’s suggestion that he paint eyes on it. Doing so releases a flood of creative energy and, instead of a flower, he turns the rock into an abstract record of his life. When the boss’s wife Elmarie (Bianca Amato) arrives bearing leftovers, she dislikes his painting and tells him to paint over it the following weekend and replace it with another floral design. Bokkie is horrified and sasses her. She is enraged at his cheekiness and tells Nukain to use his belt on him. The irony is that Nukain is so poor he doesn’t even own a belt. 

22 years later, the adult Bokkie, now known by his given name Jonathan (Sahr Ngaujah) returns to Revolver Creek where he is greeted by a hostile Elmarie brandishing a pistol. She does not recognize him and is on edge because of the recent murder and torture of her neighbors by blacks. Most of the act consists of long alternating speeches by the two, each passionately defending a point of view. Fugard plays fair in presenting their perspectives and mostly avoids didacticism. The play ends on a cautiously optimistic note.

The production is exemplary. The cast could not be better. Christopher H. Barreca’s evocative set draws you in immediately. Susan Hilferty’s costumes are appropriate. The playwright’s direction is uncluttered. It’s not a major Fugard play, but still a welcome addition to his canon. Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes including intermission. 

NOTE: I suggest staying in your seat at intermission because the set change is extremely interesting. I also suggest avoiding the first two rows (unless you have a foot fetish) because you’ll be staring at the performers’ feet.

Posterity **

I really had high hopes for Doug Wright’s new play at Atlantic Theater Company. I had enjoyed his Pulitzer Prize-winning play “I Am My Own Wife” and thought his book for “Grey Gardens” was well-crafted. The topic of the play — the interplay between recalcitrant subject Henrik Ibsen (the excellent Australian actor John Noble) and reluctant sculptor Gustav Vigeland (Hamish LInklater, fine in a role for which he was not an obvious choice) when Ibsen’s bust was sculpted — sounded promising.  I wish I could say my expectations were met. Things start well with a scene with the sculptor and his nude models, the middle-aged Mrs. Bergstrøm (Dale Soules) and his hunky young apprentice Anfinn (Mickey Theis). They are interrupted by the arrival of the prissy Sophus Larpent (Henry Stram), VIgeland’s solicitor and agent. He tries to induce Vigeland to to do a bust of Ibsen in order to win the backing of a key bureaucrat for the ambitious fountain celebrating humanity that he wants to create for a space in the heart of Oslo. When Ibsen arrives to meet Vigeland, things go badly. Their sparring match goes on for far too long and lacks nuance. Changing circumstances persuade Ibsen to agree to sitting for Vigeland and pouring out his heart to him. There are distracting subplots concerning the apprentice and the absence of usable clay. Very little light is shed on either Ibsen or Vigeland. There are very few peaks or valleys along the way, just lots of talk. We don’t even get to see the bust. Derek McLane’s effective set presents a rustic studio lined with busts covered in cheesecloth. Susan Hilferty’s costumes are apt. Wright also directed, which was probably a mistake. While I admired the playwright’s ambitions, I was quite disappointed with the results. Running time: 2 hours 15 minutes including intermission.

Stage Kiss ***

Sarah Ruhl’s delightful backstage comedy, now in previews at Playwrights Horizons, is at heart a love letter to theater and actors. Along with loads of hilarity, there is an exploration of how permeable the border between art and life is and how hard it sometimes is to tell which is imitating which. The premise is that an actress (Jessica Hecht) making a return to the stage after a long time off for childrearing is cast in the revival of a short-lived period drams from the 30’s about a woman whose dying wish is to see her old lover again. The actor playing her long lost lover is none other than her real-life former lover (Dominic Fumusa) from whom she split acrimoniously 20 years prior. When they are forced to kiss on stage eight times a week, their affair is rekindled. For most of the play’s first hour, I was doubled over with laughter. In the opening audition from hell, Hecht demonstrates that she can be a first-class comedienne; her mannered style, which I have often found so annoying, serves her well here. The audition is followed by several funny rehearsal scenes and, finally, by opening night. Fumusa has a scene on crutches that is a comic triumph. The revelation for me was Michael Cyril Creighton, who at various points plays the butler, the understudy, the doctor and, in the second act, a pimp; he is wickedly funny in all his guises. The rest of the supporting cast (Todd Almond, Clea Alsip, Emma Galvin, Daniel Jenkins and Patrick Kerr) are fine too. At intermission, I feared that Ruhl would be unable to maintain so high a level for another act. To some extent, my fears were justified. Act Two explores the consequences of their rekindled affair and throws in another audition and a scene from another play-within-a-play. Although there are a few extremely funny scenes, the resolution is a bit anticlimactic. Neil Patel’s scenic design is excellent, as are Susan Hilferty’s costumes. She dresses Hecht in a gown that is an absolute knockout. Rebecca Taichman’s direction skillfully manages the abrupt changes of tone. I wish the second act had been as wonderful as the first, but I am grateful for the first hour, which is one of the most entertaining I have spent in a theater. Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes including intermission.

Regular Singing ***

The fourth and final installment in Richard Nelson's saga about the Apple family of Rhinebeck, New York brings the series to a satisfying conclusion. I confess that I approached this one with a bit of trepidation, because, by the end of the third play, the pleasure of the Apple family's company was wearing a bit thin for me. In addition, two members of the superb original cast (Shuler Hensley and J. Smith-Cameron) were unavailable for the final play and I was uncomfortable about seeing new actors in their roles. Like the three previous plays, the action or, more accurately, the conversation is set on a day significant for American history. "That Hopey Changey Thing" was set on Election Night 2010; "Sweet and Sad" on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and "Sorry"on Election Day 2012. (I suggest you use the search box near the top right to read my reviews of the three previous plays.) This time the occasion is the 50th anniversary of JFK's assassination. The Apple siblings -- Barbara (Maryann Plunkett), a spinster schoolteacher; Marian (Laila Robins), also a teacher, whose marriage collapsed after her daughter's suicide and who now lives with Barbara; Jane (Sally Murphy, replacing Smith-Cameron), a writer who has recently moved to Rhinebeck with partner Tim (Stephen Kunken, replacing Hensley), an actor/waiter; and Richard (Jay O. Sanders), an attorney who has fled his failed marriage in New York for a job in the Cuomo administration in Albany -- and their Uncle Benjamin (John Devries), a former actor whose failing memory has landed him in an assisted living home, have gathered at Barbara's house, where Marian's ex-husband Adam lies dying upstairs. As they go over Adam's detailed plans for his funeral, they discuss many things, from the state of the country to their personal demons. There is no action in the usual sense, but there are occasional moments of great pathos. Murphy seemed a bit young to play Jane and was barely audible at times. Kunken, always a fine actor, fit in well as Tim. The four returning actors are as excellent as we have come to expect. It was a real pleasure to spend time with them again. Nelson as director serves his own material well. For one of the Public Theater's Lab productions, the modest set and costumes by Susan Hilferty are commensurate with the low ticket price. At one hour, 50 minutes without intermission, the play could use some judicious trimming.

Neva **

(Please click on the title to see the complete review.)
It's not often that we get to see a play by a contemporary Chilean playwright in New York. Now, courtesy of the Public Theater, we can see Guillermo Calderon's absurdist comedy set in early 1905 in St. Petersburg (the one on the Neva River, of course). The woman in black pacing back and forth before the play begins is Olga Knipper (Bianca Amato), star of the Moscow Art Theater and widow of Anton Chekhov. She has accepted a guest role with a theater in Russia's capital and is waiting for a rehearsal to begin. The noble-born Aleko (Luke Robertson) and the revolutionary activist Masha (Quincy Tyler Bernstine) are the only other actors to arrive. The rest of the cast may or may not be victims of the Bloody Sunday riot which is under way. Dissatisfied with her own interpretation of her current role, Olga segues from the monologue in the play to her own monologue about the actor's need for love and acclaim. The border between acting and real life is a porous one. Olga enlists Aleko and Masha to reenact scenes from her life, including different version's of Chekhov's death and his sister's reaction to learning about his impending marriage. Masha closes the play with a showy monologue about the irrelevance of theater in a time of revolution. The play contains many lively, entertaining moments, but at times drifts aimlessly. The playwright directed, which is not always a good idea. The nimble translation is by Andrea Thome, herself a playwright. Susan Hilferty's black costumes blend well into the prevailing murk. No set designer is credited. A fight director, Thomas Schall, is listed although the play contains no fights. Running time: 85 minutes, no intermission.

NOTE: I really dislike attending the Martinson Theater at the Public. Judging from the amount of time it takes to exit the theater and gain access to the only stairway to the street, I would not want to be there in an emergency.