'Matilda The Musical' Opens On Broadway: REVIEW

BY NAVEEN KUMAR

Like the extraordinary girl at its center, Matilda The Musical, a new adaptation of Roald Dahl’s much-loved 1988 children’s novel, is charming, brilliant, and a little bit naughty. Already a critical and box office success on London’s West End, director Matthew Warchus’ production of the musical with book by Dennis Kelly and music and lyrics by Tim Minchin, opened on Broadway last Thursday at the Shubert Theatre.

An exceptionally gifted little girl born to outlandishly mean and stupid parents, Matilda Wormwood isn’t an orphan like Oliver or Annie, although she’d probably be better off. Like many of Dahl’s best-known stories, Matilda pits daring young children against treacherous adults who strike a delicate balance between cartoon villainy and Gothic cruelty.

Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood (Gabriel Ebert and Leslie Margherita, both fantastically over the top) are undoubtedly nightmarish, yet they also endear themselves to the audience with their farcical stupidity. Far from a complacent victim of their torments, Matilda talks back to her parents and retaliates with clever pranks—though she later realizes she has more supernatural brain powers at her disposal.

But it’s her school principal Miss Trunchbull (Bertie Carvel, making a star turn in some seriously scary drag), who is the real menace in this story. A brick house of a woman and former Olympic hammer thrower, Miss Trunchbull’s brand of villainy is spectacular, fastidious, and seemingly absolute. Yet with his finely tuned, hysterical performance, Carvel manages to bring out a vulnerability even in the worst of the show’s villains.

Matilda’s teacher Miss Honey (a honey-voiced Lauren Ward), vows to champion her against the oppression of these cruel nemeses, though it turns out Miss Honey has a troubled past of her own that makes standing up to aggressors no easy task.

The show features a rotating cast of four girls in the role of Matilda on different nights. At the performance I attended, Bailey Ryon played the role until midway through the second act when she experienced a minor injury backstage, and Milly Shapiro stepped in after a brief announcement. Both were wonderful, and the unforeseen switcheroo was a reminder that each of the four will bring unique qualities to the role.

This being a musical about a prodigy, the language in Kelly and Minchin’s book and lyrics is smart, funny, and rapid-fire. Minchin’s catchy music runs the gambit from buoyant numbers featuring the company of talented children (nimbly choreographed by Peter Darling), to moving, intimate songs that address the story’s emotional stakes.

As much as there is to love, the show’s second act becomes somewhat problematic. Storytelling isn’t nearly as tight, as musical numbers lead from one to the next without the clear logic of the first. Matilda’s telekinetic powers would seem an obvious aspect of the book to capitalize on for stage adaptation, yet by the time they come in over three quarters through, their appearance feels closer to a convenient plot device than an integral high point of the story.

Nevertheless, the show certainly isn’t lacking in other highlights. Resembling a fanciful collage of Scrabble tiles, Rob Howell’s imaginative set serves as a constant reminder of the potential of language and the power of storytelling. Matilda The Musical harnesses both to its maximum advantage, and the end result is wonderfully transporting.

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Follow Naveen Kumar on Twitter: @Mr_NaveenKumar (photos: joan marcus)

'Kinky Boots' Opens On Broadway: REVIEW

BY NAVEEN KUMAR

Who better to help boost a stumbling economy than a brazen troupe of fabulous drag queens in high-heels? They’re just the divas for the job in Kinky Boots, the uplifting and heartfelt new musical with book written by Harvey Fierstein and music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper, which opened on Broadway last Thursday at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre.

Loosely based on the 2005 film of the same name, Kinky Boots tells the story of Charlie Price (Stark Sands), whose father dies, leaving him in charge of the family’s floundering shoe factory. Through an unlikely alliance with a wry drag queen named Lola (Billy Porter), Charlie hatches a plan to save the family business by producing stiletto boots sturdy enough to support a man’s weight, and fierce enough to satisfy his outer diva.

Of course, this is not just a tale of economic triumph. Ultimately, it’s a story about courage, pride, and accepting others for who they are—all lessons which drag queens are perfectly suited to teach the world.

Kinky Boots is also a musical very much about family. Charlie and Lola share a bond in overcoming the disappointment of not living up to their fathers’ expectations. Yet for all the characters on stage here, family bonds stretch beyond bloodlines. For Charlie, saving his father’s factory means saving his lifelong friends and neighbors from unemployment. And aside from a fraught relationship with her ailing father, Lola’s band of limber back-up Angels is the only family she knows.

With direction and choreography by Jerry Mitchell, it’s hard to think of a creative team whose talents are more fit for telling a story as campy as it is sincere. Here Fierstein appropriately combines his experience writing musicals about economic underdogs (Newsies) and saucy show queens with a soft side (La Cage Aux Folles). 

Lauper’s music is buoyant, layered with synth, and provides a conducive vehicle for belt-heavy star vocals. Like the pretensionless, unabashed brand of pop she pioneered in the 80’s, Lauper’s songs are scattered with hooks and straightforward in their sentiment. From full cast dance numbers to confessional ballads, and an eleven o’clock number that Porter slays as Lola, every feeling is spelled out with a sugared clarity amplified by repetition.

Both top-notch performers, Sands and Porter bring charisma and talent to their halves of the story’s central odd couple, including voices that soar over the rafters. Annaleigh Ashford is delightfully funny as Charlie’s hapless admirer and dedicated employee, though developing romantic subplots is not the show’s strongest suit. Charlie’s relationship with his fiancée dissolves mostly unseen, and Lola né Simon is actually meant to be straight as well—a holdover from its source material that this production wisely underplays.

If Kinky Boots wears its heart on its sleeve (lyrics in the closing song actually spell out its lessons in a numbered list), it’s a full heart beating with a passionate and important message worth spreading. That changing minds really does change the world is an equation we’re counting on. 

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Follow Naveen Kumar on Twitter: @Mr_NaveenKumar (photos:matthew murphy)

Michael Urie Takes On Barbra Streisand in 'Buyer & Cellar': INTERVIEW

BY NAVEEN KUMAR

Michael Urie is playing Barbra Streisand Off Broadway, and every other character in Buyer & Cellar, playwright Jonathan Tolins new one-man play which opened on Wednesday at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. An exceptionally gifted comedian and stage performer, Urie does the diva justice—and she’s just one piece of the story.

You may or may not be surprised to know that Barbra has her many earthly possessions organized into something that resembles a posh strip-mall in her basement. That is the factual part of the story. Buyer & Cellar imagines if she hired some poor (lucky?) soul to work down there, manning the shops for just one special customer.

Urie plays just the man for the job—an out of work L.A. actor named Alex, who’s just been fired from playing the Mayor of Toon Town at Disneyland. Alex is the play’s narrator and protagonist, and while he tells us about his experience with one of the world’s most bizarre retail jobs, he also plays himself and every other character involved.

Tolins’ play is well crafted, hilarious, and completely accessible to folks who know nothing about Barbra Streisand. Of course, the show’s success is thanks in no small part to Urie’s charming, whirlwind performance. I spoke to Michael about his work on the play, his choice of gay roles, and his personal feelings on the lady of the house.

Naveen Kumar: How did you approach playing different characters with only yourself to play off of? You recently directed a film about high school forensics (Thank You For Judging), and I know from my own experience, that forensics (or speech and debate) requires some similar skills, like using yourself as a scene partner.

Michael Urie: I’m so glad you mentioned forensics, because it was so helpful to have that vocabulary of popping from character to character. I had experience with forensics in high school, and [have been] reliving it all these years with Thank You For Judging. So, when I read the script I was like, ‘I get it! I get how I could do this.’

I didn’t know how hard it was going to be to actually figure out. Because comedy is all about timing, and usually you time yourself off of others. Whether it’s an audience if you’re doing stand up or if you’re doing a scene, it’s about how you play off of [that other person]. So, I was like, how am I going to play off of myself? Not only that, but continue narrating the story. That was the greatest challenge.

I’ve learned more [performing in front of an audience] than I did through all of rehearsal, because audiences tell you what’s funny.

There was no one way to create the characters, I had to attack them all in very different ways. There’s a lot of trust, obviously, in the playwright. What’s great about [John’s writing] is you could figure out how to play the character of Barbra even if you didn’t know who she was. He’s written that character so beautifully and so three-dimensionally, that I think you could probably interpret that character without any knowledge of Barbra Streisand and get really close.

NK: That was actually my next question. As the story’s narrator, Alex tells the audience from the beginning that he’s not going to “do” Barbra. Was it challenging to steer away from impersonation? How much did you know about her going in?

MU: That [line about not ‘doing’ Barbra] is such a brilliant precursor, and it takes so much of the onus off of me. Because everybody has an idea of what Barbra sounds like, she’s iconic. Even if it’s just 'Like buttah.' People have done impersonations, real impersonations, brilliantly. We didn’t want to try to do that, because it’s also not about her it’s about Alex, she’s just a character in [the play].

I think that’s part of John’s genius, that he has created something that’s meant to be an emulation—accurate storytelling rather than a series of impressions. Thank God! I don’t think I could do a real impression, certainly not without his words, I wouldn’t know what to say.

Read more, AFTER THE JUMP...

Nora Ephron’s 'Lucky Guy' Starring Tom Hanks Opens on Broadway: REVIEW

BY NAVEEN KUMAR

The late Nora Ephron’s new play Lucky Guy, which opened on Broadway last night at the Broadhurst Theatre, resembles not so much conventional drama as kinetic, straight-talking journalism. Starring Tom Hanks as renowned tabloid reporter and columnist Mike McAlary, Ephron’s play depicts the newspaperman’s rise and fall in the world of city tabloids as if it were a feature profile. It's an insider story with many contributors.

The stalwart writers and editors in the smoky newsrooms of Ephron's 80's and 90's New York vie for narrative authority as they retell major events in McAlary’s career — though ultimately all the voices on stage add up to Nora’s own. A veteran of Gotham newsrooms, including a stint at the New York Post, Ephron’s sharp personal insights are the play’s unmistakable highlights.

Often told in the same exclamatory tones as headlines splashed across city tabloids, the main events in McAlary’s life are more illustrated than they are dramatized. Players agree (or disagree) about timelines and scenes are assembled accordingly, but Ephron’s characters rarely divert their attention from addressing the audience — storytelling is their business.

George C. Wolfe (Angels In America) directs an ensemble cast of fifteen led by Hanks, whose signature everyman demeanor and accessible charm are put to good use. Hanks takes the audience into his confidence with ease and brings warmth to the surface of a bullish, ambitious character. He transforms smoothly from a pavement-pounding reporter covering the police beat to a weekly columnist blinded at inopportune times by the size of his byline.

Standouts among the cast include Courtney B. Vance (Fences) as Hap Hairston, and Peter Gerety (The Lieutenant of Inishmore) as John Cotter, two of McAlary’s Newsday editors with whom he had strong bonds. Deirdre Lovejoy is refreshing as two of the only apparent women in the newsroom boy’s club, while Maura Tierney’s subdued performance as McAlary’s wife Alice feels like a missed opportunity to lend the story a more solid emotional anchor.

Yet as events turn to McAlary’s struggle with terminal illness, it’s difficult to overlook the parallel to Ephron’s own, which ended last summer while she was continuing work on this play. Between Hanks' heartfelt performance and words that at moments resonate beyond the character on stage, it’s an affecting conclusion with a broader context.

Ultimately, Ephron’s play is an earnest tribute to a particular heyday of sensational print journalism before the age of Perez Hilton and TMZ. If her characters aren't easy to get to know, it's because they're essentially beat reporters spinning stories about their lives rather than living them on stage.

Ephron's Cotter boils it down: "You’re born, you die. Everything in between is subject to interpretation. […] Everything in between is how you tell the story and who’s telling the story and what they think is important and which order to put it in and where they’re coming from." As her characters maintain their distance, the 'who' in Lucky Guy rarely ceases to be Nora herself—though there are worse ways to spend an evening than listening to anecdotes and insights from a revered New York legend.     

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Follow Naveen Kumar on Twitter: @Mr_NaveenKumar (photos: joan marcus)

'Breakfast At Tiffany's' Opens On Broadway: REVIEW

BY NAVEEN KUMAR

Though it ends with a cameo by a cat on a stormy night in New York City, Richard Greenberg’s stage adaptation of Truman Capote’s Breakfast At Tiffany’s, which opened at the Cort Theatre on Broadway last week, isn’t very much like the iconic rom-com made famous by Audrey Hepburn.

Rather than reshaping it into a conventional love story like the 1961 film, this production stays close to Capote’s original novella set during the middle years of World War II. In his stage adaptation, Greenberg (Take Me Out, Three Days of Rain) maintains the original narrative’s first person voice with Fred (an amiable Cory Michael Smith) as the play’s narrator.

The story begins with a missing girl. It’s 1957 and Fred hasn’t seen his friend and neighbor Holly Golightly (Emilia Clarke of HBO’s Game of Thrones) in over ten years. He goes on to recount the story of their fateful and fitful relationship, cluing in the audience on his feelings as seasons pass and their lives become increasingly entangled.

That Fred and Holly don’t live happily ever after is clear from the start—his fascination with her is only momentarily and unrequitedly romantic. Rather, the play is more concerned with steadily revealing the enigmatic nature of both characters.

While Hepburn’s Holly Golightly is all sweetness and light, the Holly on stage here is more brassy and droll—an ingratiating yet calculating city girl making her own way in wartime Manhattan. Clarke lends the character a particular kind of charm, though it seems in line with the story being told here that her Holly is less magnetically sympathetic as the Holly made famous by Hepburn.

Although he spends most of the play baring his soul to the audience, our narrator has secrets of his own—and like most loaded secrets, Fred’s turn out to be sexual. Clues slip from the narrative throughout (some less subtle than others) hinting that Fred may not be exactly on the straight-and-narrow.

Though its story is decidedly different from the film, the production benefits from cinematic design elements. Director Sean Mathias (Bent) makes creative use of lighting, projection and mobile scenery to guide the action from one scene and season to the next, conjuring everything from a night stroll on the Brooklyn Bridge to horseback riding through Central Park.

With its aura of film noir rather than frothy antics, this Breakfast At Tiffany's will likely catch staunch romantics and classic film devotees off-guard. But the combination of two meticulous craftsmen in Capote and Greenberg make for a smart, seductive, well-spoken drama.

Plus, there's the cat. People really do seem to love that cat.

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Follow Naveen Kumar on Twitter: @Mr_NaveenKumar (photos: nathan johnson)

Annie Baker’s ‘The Flick’ Opens Off Broadway: REVIEW

BY NAVEEN KUMAR

A lot of stories get told in movie theatres—but none quite like Annie Baker’s subtly artful behind-the-scenes drama about three employees at a run-down single screen movie house. The Flick, which opened Off Broadway Tuesday at Playwrights Horizons, attends to what happens between screenings when the illusion is over, lights come up—and somebody has to clean up the mess.

Directed with an appropriately ambling precision by Baker’s frequent collaborator Sam Gold (Uncle Vanya, The Aliens), the play is staged among about a dozen rows of movie theatre seats (a meticulously detailed set by David Zinn), so that the audience sits in place of the screen. Other than occasionally stumbling upon a particularly gnarly food spill, a majority of the action on stage consists of characters sweeping popcorn off the floor.

A seasoned employee of the Flick, Sam (Matthew Maher) shows young rookie Avery (Aaron Clifton Moten) the ropes on his first day. Sam is what you might call a lifer — 35, living in his parents’ attic, longing to be promoted into the projection room. A reserved, fastidious movie buff home on an extended break from college, Avery’s job at the plex seems temporary by design. Rose (Louisa Krause), a twenty-something with baggy clothes and dyed green hair, works the projector and completes what develops into a clumsy sort of love triangle.

A young, critically acclaimed playwright, Baker has become known for her intricate hand at crafting characters whose idiosyncrasies become one with their charm. Her work is in top form here, as her eloquent characterizations carefully emerge out of scenes of mostly mundane action. Just as the play’s scenes take place between movie screenings, much of Baker’s story lives in the silences between dialogue.

All three actors are exceptional, distilling their performances with equal parts humor and heart. In a play much about perception and people often overlooked, one moment characters may seem easy to peg and the next they surprise us with an unexpected personal insight. All three performers navigate this dynamic with a comfortable ease that’s a pleasure to watch.

Weighting silent moments with unspoken meaning is one of director Sam Gold’s greatest strengths, but it also contributes one of the production’s lone disabilities. Clocking in at just over three hours, it could certainly stand to be tightened. Even slight adjustments in pace would quicken the play’s momentum and bring it down to more reasonable length.

Spending three hours these days in a movie theatre isn’t uncommon — and The Flick is likely more interesting than most of the post-Oscar releases playing at a multiplex near you. And at least it comes with an intermission. 

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Follow Naveen Kumar on Twitter: @Mr_NaveenKumar (photos: joan marcus)