Oscar E Moore

This one person multi-media production does nothing to make you want to run out and read anything that Susan Sontag ever wrote – especially her journals on which SONTAG: REBORN is based – edited by her son David Rieff and directed by Marianne Weems (founder of The Builders Association – co-producer with NYTW) a good friend of Ms. Sontag who personally had a hand or two in developing this unfortunate piece performed and adapted by Moe Angelos.

We wonder what made this aloof, super smart Jewish wunderkind, chain smoking, tri-lingual essayist, critic, novelist and sexually charged and confused (she was married and bore a son and had many lesbian lovers) into the international “cause celebre” that she was. 

We learn that she was an avid reader (we hear almost all the titles), loved to travel and teach and that she was a Capricorn – which explains a lot. 

I thought it almost impossible that an actress, in this case Moe Angelos, could be upstaged by herself.   But upstage herself she does as an older, larger than life black and white filmed projection of Sontag hovers throughout – overseeing and smoking and giving us time and place and sometimes commenting.

The video projections and close-ups on an upstage screen are extraordinary by Austin Switser as is the sound design by Dan Dobson.  But when you take away these technical accoutrements there is less here than meets the ear.

Ms. Angelos lacks the passion and the angst, delivering the contents of Sontag’s journals in a monotone that could induce sleep without the marvelous multi media circus going on that induces one to wonder “how’d they do that?”

The sofa of Sue Mengers in Bette Midler’s terrific one woman homage “I’LL EAT YOU LAST” has been replaced here with a desk.  Sue Mengers has been replaced by Susan Sontag and entertainment and insight have been replaced by humorless intellectual boredom, despite the Herculean efforts to keep the audience awake by the spectacular visuals.

Served up without intermission.  Through June 30^th

www.nytw.org

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For all you lonely young singles out there, here is a show for you.  But be forewarned: drinking and falling in lust with the wrong person in a bar could be dangerous to your health.  But you know that already.  Or should.

In this sung through rock opera by Julia Jordan (book & lyrics) and Juliana Nash (music & lyrics) infused with some country western type songs, a love triangle is played out literally in the lap of some audience members at The Union Square Theatre that has been refashioned with a long bar, a pool table, band stand and a bloody bat.

The audience is in on the action up close – on three sides and on the main playing area at small tables lit with electronic candles.   One of the best aspects of the piece is the expert and spot on lighting by Ben Stanton.

Poor drunken and unhappy Sara (a sometimes shrill Caissie Levy) has fallen hard for Tom (the sexy Will Swenson).  They are like two animals in heat.  Magnets that cannot be separated.  But he won’t commit.  She’s confused and drunk and meets the unsuspecting Michael – the voice of reason (a terrific John Ellison Conlee) and before the narrator (Rebecca Naomi Jones) can clue us in it’s years later and they have a child and Sara is unhappy again and rekindles the sparks that once flew with Tom.  You can imagine the results.

The staging by Trip Cullman is fantastic – making great use of the space although sometimes words are lost when we watch the backs of the actors or try to locate them.

Doug Varone has done an excellent job with the dance moves particularly atop the pool table and there is an in your face confrontation but the finale fizzles.

Someone is done in but it doesn’t matter who as we don’t really care for any of them – particularly Sara.  It’s an odd hour and a half long evening where you can buy a beer or whatever and watch the clichéd and heated passions of these unhappy dudes play out.

MURDER BALLAD was originally produced by MTC.

www.MurderBallad.com EXTENDED through September 29^th

^{Photos:  Joan Marcus}

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MURDER BALLAD – a lusty rock opera fable for our times

REVIEW will be posted May 23^rd, 2013

MURDER BALLAD was originally produced in New Yrok City by the Manhattan Theatre Club

www.MurderBallad.com

NATASHA, PIERRE AND THE GREAT COMET OF 1812 – from Ars Nova to Kazino

For a truly unique and spectacular theatrical and dining experience head on over to KAZINO – The Meatpacking District “Little Siberia” (13^th Street and Washington Street) home to NATASHA, PIERRE and THE GREAT COMET OF 1812 a new musical by the talented Dave Malloy. 

Dinner theater is alive and well and serving up a Russian feast that includes a shot of borsht, perogies, black bread, crudités, shrimp plus dinner and your choice of beverage from an extensive list that is not included in the $125.00 ticket to the extravaganza.

A special tent city has been constructed especially for this Off-Broadway production that had its incubation period at Ars Nova 511 West 54 Street (www.arsnovanyc.com) a tiny little theatre that has housed some unusual productions.  NATASHA, PIERRE and THE GREAT COMET OF 1812 has been super sized, retaining its 19^th century Russian supper club atmosphere designed by Mimi Lien.

The audience sits on banquets and chairs around small bistro tables.  We are surrounded by a raised stage that encircles the entire area.  And the actors perform all over the club and may sit down right next to you.  It’s somewhat tight and you may be in need of a neck massage at the end of this two and a half hour presentation based in part on Leo Tolstoy’s WAR and PEACE but it will be worth it.

Anyone who attempts a sung through musical based in part on WAR and PEACE is either a maniac, an egomaniac or a genius.  You must decide by attending, I can only be your guide.

I had a fantastic time.  The opening number of this “electropop opera” where all the characters are introduced and we are informed to hold onto and consult the program so that we’ll know what’s going on is hysterical and festive reminding me of The Twelve Days of Christmas.  The program has a full outline of the V parts with an intermission so that you can refill your vodka glass and a Family Tree of the characters involved.  It comes in handy.  But the show is perfectly clear.  And beautiful.  And funny.  And moving, smart and romantic.  The eclectic score is both traditional and modern and Russian with the orchestra scattered around the arena led by a terrific Or Matias.  The performers are all standouts.

The tale is your basic love triangle served Russian style.  Natasha (Phillipa Soo) is torn between her betrothed Andrey (Blake Delong) who is away fighting the war and Anatole (Lucas Steele) a swaggering drunken womanizer whom she meets at the Moscow Opera and immediately has some strange tinglings stirring within.  What will she do?  Will she be betrayed?  Will Andrey ever return?  Will Pierre (Dave Malloy) a scholar and drinker who has little or no sex with his slut of a wife Helene (Amber Gray) be able to console Natasha?

Beautifully directed by Rachael Chavkin and evocatively lit by Bradley King and gorgeously costumed by Paloma Young you will totally enjoy this festive Russian party, leaving impressed, contented, sated and perhaps a little tipsy. 

www.Kazinonyc.com       www.davemalloy.com  Photo:  Chad Batka

FIVE Drama Desk Nominations

HERE LIES LOVE – Imelda Marcos’ disco party

The third floor LuEsther Theater at The Public Theater has been transformed into a pulsating neon lit disco where HERE LIES LOVE is performing and you are standing. 

Not a standing ovation mind you but you are literally standing and moving throughout this immersive performance piece/ sung through rock opera about Imelda Marcos and friends by David Byrne (Concept & Lyrics) and Music (David Byrne and Fatboy Slim) – additional music Tom Gandey, J Pardo – unless you request one of the higher box seats.

It’s another love triangle of sorts.  Imelda (Ruthie Ann Miles) a poor country girl who sometimes went without shoes wants more out of life – power and money and yes, love.  Her first suitor Aquino (Conrad Ricamora) is quickly replaced by Ferdinand Marcos (Jose Llana) – they remain fierce political opponents while her faithful and best friend Estrella (Melody Butiu) watches from the sidelines.  As does the audience in this high concept, interactive, manipulative musical ingeniously directed by Alex Timbers.  If Imelda and Ferdinand could manipulate the Filipinos why not have a show about them that manipulates the audience?

I can appreciate the production values, the score, the lively choreography by Anne-B Parson, the costumes (Clint Ramos) – that change faster than the years that go flying by covering the highlights and low of Imelda – the terrific lighting (Justin Townsend) and exceptional projections (Peter Nigrini) and the energetic and excellent ensemble of players 

The many moveable platforms (David Korins) have the traffic control crew working hard not to interfere with the actors while herding us around in circles careful that no one trips while boogieing which is encouraged to the catchy music that permeates the action. 

The audience is moved about like a herd of cattle and urged to root for and then despise Mr. and Mrs. Marcos while seeking sympathy for pill popping Imelda who learned too well from her husband.  A philandering husband who treated her as a puppet as their fame and fortunes rose and then fell.

Video cams, actual news footage, photos and songs trace her simple life to the wife of the President and escape to America.  She vows repeatedly that love is all that matters, although to help her people certain ugly sacrifices must be made.

HERE LIES LOVE has been awarded the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding new Off-Broadway musical and has five Drama Desk Nominations.

If you have the stamina and do not mind being led around like a flock of sheep and miss the long gone nights of disco dancing and want to see a unique theatrical presentation by all means go.  Programs are distributed upon exit.  Extended through June 30^th.

www.publictheater.org

www.davidbyrne.com

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You will be amazed, surprised and thrilled.  You will laugh.  You will sing along.  You will come under the spell of the magic created by some of the best creative minds and performers on Broadway.

And if you haven’t already, you will realize how talented and smart Stephen Schwartz is – the man behind the excellent and most pleasing score – music and lyrics.  After all he is the wizard behind WICKED.

PIPPIN – a production of the American Repertory Theater (Cambridge MA) is brilliantly directed by Diane Paulus, and along with Stephen Schwartz and book writer Roger O. Hirson have hit pay dirt with this spectacular circus setting by Scott Pask and circus creation by Gypsy Snider of the Montreal-based troupe Les 7 doigts de la main and equally spectacular costumes by Dominique Lemieux (from Cirque du Soleil) all lit dramatically by Kenneth Posner.

This definitive production utilizes every trick, illusion and special effect – juggling, acrobats, hoops, bouncing balls, flying bodies, pole dancing, trapeze artistry and more to make this production outstanding.  Everything moves the story along while amazing us every two seconds by its ingenuity.  And I haven’t even gotten to the cast.

And what an exceptional cast it is to tell the simple story of a boy looking for his rightful place in life – his “corner of the sky”.  It’s a coming of age story told within the framework of a group of circus performers headed by the Leading Player (Patina Miller) somewhat influenced by Fellini and Fosse – the original director/choreographer.  Chet Walker has reinterpreted Bob Fosse’s moves with its trademark hands and sinuous, sensual gyrating hips faithfully and added his own razzle dazzle.

The boy is Pippin (an adorable sweet voiced and strong matinee idol Matthew James Thomas), son of Charlemagne (Terrence Mann) and his conniving stepmother Fastrada (Charlotte d’Amboise) who wants her dim-witted son Lewis (Erik Altemus) on the throne. 

Throughout his journey Pippin deals with war and sex and politics and a love that he shares with Catherine (a stellar, poignant Rachael Bay Jones) a simple widow and her son Theo (Andrew Cekala).  Will Pippin finally discover that a simple life with his new chosen family is what matters most or will he succumb to the taunts of the circus people to jump into the fire of the finale?

Pippin also has a feisty, still very attractive grandmother – Berthe – played by the feisty and still very attractive and very funny Andrea Martin who stops the show midway through the first act getting a standing ovation for her incredible fearless and seemingly effortless performance of “No Time at All” aloft on a trapeze and hanging upside down while getting the audience to sing along.  It is the best performance on Broadway and will be one of the many moments that you will remember from this PIPPIN including a talking decapitated head (Colin Cunliffe).

Ben Vereen became a star with his original portrayal of the Leading Player.  The gender has been changed but the star power remains.  Patina Miller has stepped into the role making it her own with her incandescent smile and in control spunk, belting out her numbers with an edgy cynical meanness caressed with charm.

You will have the best time ever at this extraordinary production of PIPPIN now at The Music Box on 45^th Street.  You may even want to run away and join a circus.

www.PippinTheMusical.com  Photos:  Joan Marcus

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For anyone seeking some biographical information about super agent to the A-list stars Sue Mengers during her heyday of 1970’s Hollywood just GOOGLE.  If you desire to see the next to the real thing and get the inside dish with some juicy added embellishments just fork over some dough to see The Divine Miss M in all her glory acting out the role in John Logan’s one woman talk-a-thon I’LL EAT YOU LAST – a chat with Sue Mengers (although she does all of the chatting in this 85 minute inside LA Confidential monologue) at the Booth Theatre where Ms. M has just broken the house record.

Bette Midler is in top form.  Sitting throughout on a divine sofa plush with pillows in a divine house (décor by Scott Pask) that once belonged to Zsa Zsa Gabor with a pool somewhere outside (but that’s not important) wearing a divine caftan designed by Edith Head – sorry I mean Ann Roth circa 1981.

What is important is that Mengers (who died in 2011) is hosting one of her infamous dinner parties and has just been informed by the lawyers of her used to be best friend Barbra Streisand that her services will no longer be needed.  There is a new agency on the block CAA (Creative Artists Agency – ironically the playwright’s rep) and the winds of change are blowing at hurricane force and clients are jumping ship.

Looking radiant after an absence of more than thirty years on Broadway and fit as a fiddle and ready for just about anything including profanity, smoking, alcohol consumption, drug use and gossip that we have been warned about on the show curtain Bette Midler basks in the glow of her adoring fans who by play’s end adore her even more for her grand performance that has been coaxed on by director Joe Mantello.  Between the two, strategic smoking and drinking have been timed precisely to get every laugh line there is.  And Midler knows how to prolong and milk a laugh till its dry.

She tells us, while waiting for La Streisand to call, about her rise from a German/Jewish waif to receptionist to super agent to such luminaries as Julie Harris, Gene Hackman, Faye Dunaway, Ali McGraw and Sissy Spacek.  And how to go about being a super agent.  Like her.  When someone said “No” she heard “Maybe”.  Most of the anecdotes are hilarious as told by the Divine Miss M.

Sue Mengers first and foremost wanted to have fun.  And she did.  And Bette continues to do so, especially when she beckons an unsuspecting guy from the audience to fetch her cigarettes and vodka – after removing his shoes so as not to soil her newly cleaned carpet.

Brash, outspoken, fearless with a self made image and determination of steel could be used to describe both Mengers and Midler.  Both have done it their way.  And we are the grateful recipients of a great performance about a great super agent.  It’s delish.  Go see it.

www.illeatyoulast.com  A strictly limited engagement through June 30^th.  Opened April 24^th the birthday of Streisand.

Photos:  Richard Termine

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From the Barrington Stage Musical Theater Lab to the Duke on 42 Street comes an odd, ambitious and contemporary new musical THE MEMORY SHOW by Sara Cooper (Book & Lyrics) and Zach Redler (Music) produced by the Transport Group Theatre Company starring Catherine Cox and Leslie Kritzer.  It is performed without an intermission.  It has fifteen musical numbers that are difficult to listen to – let alone remember.

Considering that the show deals with Mother (Cox) being diagnosed with early stage Alzheimer’s disease and Daughter (Kritzer) moving back home to care for her that might seem appropriate. 

It’s a promising premise that might have made a better play without music – music that distracts and alienates.  By the time the last number “Lullaby” arrived I couldn’t wait to depart.

I admire the work of the Transport Group.  Their productions are daring and different – The Boys in the Band, Hello Again, See Rock City and Other Destinations, and The Queen of the Mist were all outstanding.

I have admired Catherine Cox especially her performance in Flambé Dreams a production of the New York Music Theater Festival, ditto for the very talented Leslie Kritzer for her turn in Rooms:  A Rock Romance.  But Cox’s over the top portrayal here seems more bipolar than someone suffering with being unable to remember.  Plus the character is unlikable and so it is difficult to feel any sympathy for her.

Daughter (Kritzer) has her own set of problems.  She is sacrificing all to help.  So she says.  She had given up her apartment and has been unlucky in love and her relationship with Mom seems to have always been stressful.  It’s a she says, she says kind of thing.

Now Mom is trying to remember – having Daughter enact other people from the past.  Their versions of what happened differ especially when it come to Father.  Who’s telling the truth?  Is it the sickness or has Mom always been in denial.  Oh yes, there is a family secret that keeps popping up that Mom threatens to reveal.

And Daughter laments so often about she being the apple and her mother the tree that you soon tire of that clichéd expression.

The off stage musicians – heavy on oboe and clarinet, cello and violin tend to drown out the two performers in this art house, chamber like musical that is anti melodic in the extreme.

Mother and Daughter are angry, addressing the audience, telling their side of the story and become increasingly confrontational.  One takes pills the other booze.  The book tries its best to elicit some compassion and nearly succeeds at the close but the music all but destroys anything worth remembering about THE MEMORY SHOW. 

Directed by Joe Calarco.  Through May 18^th.

www.TransportGroup.org  Photo:  Carol Rosegg

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Stark, searing and sensational.  The best revival or new play I have seen this season.  This production of the timeless ORPHANS by Lyle Kessler excels on so many levels under the expert direction of Daniel Sullivan.  It’s a moving, original and most unusual drama that has its moments of terror, laughter and compassion.

First produced in 1983 it retains its full emotionally draining power and the performances by Alec Baldwin as Henry, the man who would be kidnapped, Ben Foster as the prone to violence Treat, the older orphaned brother whose petty thievery allows him to help his backward yet extremely intelligent younger brother Phillip (Tom Sturridge) are nothing short of magnificent.

Phillip and Treat barely exist in a ramshackle, dingy and dirty house in North Philadelphia – another amazing set by John Lee Beatty.

In two short and swift acts at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre these two orphans – their mother has died and their father has deserted them – live on a steady diet of tuna and mayo.  While Treat goes about robbing people Phillip stays indoors – afraid to go out.  Treat will provide.  Treat will take care of him.  Or is he keeping Phillip isolated from the real world to serve his own purposes?

Phillip has a pent up energy that manifests itself in his jumping all over the furniture and up the staircase like some Spiderman or wild animal.  At the same time he has a sensitive inner being just waiting to be allowed out.  He speaks slowly and educates himself by watching reruns of The Price is Right on TV.  He underlines words and sentences in books.  He is a quick study.  He comforts himself with the clothing of his mother in a closet.  He is heartbreaking.

Then Treat arrives with a drunken Henry.  Is he a businessman or a gangster from Chicago?  And how did they really meet?  Why is he carrying an attaché case full of stocks and bonds?

As their captive Henry is tied to a chair and left alone with Phillip.  They talk.  They bond.  And when no one wants to pay a ransom for Henry the play takes a decidedly different turn which is unexpected, fun and harrowing.

Alex Baldwin has amazingly left Alec Baldwin at the stage door and makes Henry (an orphan himself) a full blown exciting character to watch.  At first drunk, then offering “an encouraging squeeze of the shoulders” and then taking charge as boss and teacher.

Long after seeing this production, ORPHANS will haunt you with its tender and hurtful, hilarious and explosive and strong and real emotions that are laid bare for all to see.

Photos:  Joan Marcus

Limited engagement through June 30^th. DO NOT MISS ORPHANS.

www.orphansonbroadway.com

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What’s most missing in this Hollywood artifact dug up by the Roundabout Theatre Company – not seen here for sixty years?  A biting edge and that most important word – STYLE. 

It’s a rather unimpressive and dull production directed by Doug Hughes of THE BIG KNIFE on view at the American Airlines Theatre, Clifford Odets’ melodramatic expose of the old Hollywood Studio System, fame and fortune and cover-ups.

Billy Wilder got it right in Sunset Boulevard.  This is Wilder without the satire or the bite or the fun needed to fully satisfy all those faces out there in the dark.

This is film noir that’s about as noir as the light bulbs that illuminate the excellent set by John Lee Beatty where the action takes place.  It’s the “playroom” of Charlie Castle (a pontificating Bobby Cannavale) – where deals are made and broken as well as hearts, where cigarettes and booze are rampant, where seductions are played out and murder plots hatched in this plush ultra modern Beverly Hills home circa 1948.

A home very much in vogue again.  Not so the script.

Get yourself famous.  Get yourself in trouble.  You eventually pay for it.  In spades.  Charlie Castle is a huge star who has the look of Errol Flynn and the sound of a cross between Bogart and Tony Danza – a piece of property owned by the Studio headed by that megalomaniac Marcus Huff (Richard Kind) who brings in lots of money both for himself and the shareholders.  But hot shot, womanizer Charlie is having second thoughts and is mulling over his new contract that would tie him up for another fourteen years and he might not sign.

 His wife Marion (a much too contemporary Marin Ireland) will leave him, once again, if he does sign.  His agent Nat Danziger (Chip Zien) strongly advises him to not make waves.  The Studio boss and his cohort Smiley Coy (Reg Rogers) will do everything in their power – including blackmail and murder to keep their star before the camera.  Richard Kind plays this shark that sheds crocodile tears on cue to the hilt.

Buddy Bliss (Joey Slotnick) had taken the blame in the past for a tragic accident that Charlie was involved in – covered up by the Studio.  His wife Connie (Ana Reeder) puts the make on Charlie.  He in turn puts the make on starlet Dixie Evans (Rachel Brosnahan) and screen writer Hank Teagle (C.J. Wilson) is waiting in the wings to whisk Charlie’s wife away after the maybe yes maybe no divorce.

A rumor that Hollywood gossipmonger Patty Benedict (a wonderful Brenda Wehle) tries to sniff out during the opening moments of the play looking and acting the part in the style that is missing in the other performances.  Too bad.

One highlight however is in the dark – as the scene changes we hear dialogue from one of Charlie’s hit movies that is the real thing and right on target.

Period costumes by Catherine Zuber also sometimes miss the mark.  But I do love the character’s names that Clifford Odets came up with as well as the opening voice over concerning cell phones and hard candies.  But THE BIG KNIFE was a letdown leaving me hungry for the 1955 film version and a big bag of popcorn.  Through June 2^nd.

www.roundabouttheatre.org  Photos:  Joan Marcus

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It’s 1937 and Chauncey Miles (Nathan Lane) headliner at The Irving Place Theatre where burlesque is gasping its final breath and the balcony is a playground for homosexual hanky panky is picking up more than a sandwich at the local Automat in Greenwich Village. 

It is here that he meets a young, naïve and attractive guy from Buffalo Ned (a charismatic Jonny Orsini) who has heard that he might meet someone at this particular Automat at this particular time.  Not divulging his true identity Chauncey charms as well as shares his sandwich with the hope that they can meet around the corner at the newsstand and continue their forbidden homosexual tryst.  An act forbidden in the eyes of Mayor LaGuardia, who is cracking down – raiding and arresting.

And so THE NANCE a brave, powerful and disturbing new play by Douglas Carter Beane begins.  Focusing on their growing relationship on stage and off with lots of Burlesque skits and numbers that sometimes beautifully comment, Chauncey the house “nance” camps up a storm on stage with a wink here and a leer there speaking in sexual double entendres that would make a grown man groan aided by his on stage partner Efram (a perfect Lewis J. Stadlen) who doesn’t appreciate the fact that Chauncey is gay and has brought his new discovery into the act and flaunting his odd lifestyle.

There are also three strippers that are hatched from the same egg as the three strippers in GYPSY – only not as successful.  Cady Huffman (Sylvie) Jenni Barber (Joan) and Andrea Burns (Carmen – the hot tamale from Brooklyn) are lots of fun.  But the skits are repetitive and begin to wear out their welcome.  Some easy enough to accomplish cuts from the otherwise excellent direction by Jack O’Brien could have made this show tighter, focusing more on Ned and Chauncey.

Rather Chauncey and Ned – after all Chauncey should get top billing – he’s the star at The Irving Place Theatre and the Lyceum where THE NANCE is holding forth.  Nathan Lane is giving a powerhouse and controlled bravura performance.  He cannot accept the innocent and true love that Ned offers him.  He is entrapped in his own mental self loathing anguish not being able to realize that we are all worthy of finding someone to love and not have a series of quick, casual and anonymous sexual encounters.

Newcomer Jonny Orsini is a major discovery for Chauncey as well as for us.  He is star material and more than holds his own with Mr. Lane.  He’s a natural with a kilowatt smile.  They make a beautiful odd couple and Ned’s true passion for Chauncey is heart wrenching.

The spectacular revolving set by John Lee Beatty that goes from the automat to Chauncey’s apartment to onstage/backstage at the Irving Place Theatre and a Courtroom helps the transitions tremendously.  The costumes by Ann Roth are appropriately tacky for the strippers and Burlesque scenes.  Original music by Glen Kelly keeps everything buoyant and bubbly.

THE NANCE could be one of the most important fairy tales ever told.  It’s historical and hysterical and hits you right in the gut and heart.

Please go.  Another fine Lincoln Center Theater production – www.lct.org  Photos:  Joan Marcus

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The Richard Greenberg prolific writing factory has been working overtime this season.  With mixed results.  His adaptation of BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S has prematurely closed.  His book for the new musical FAR FROM HEAVEN hasn’t opened yet and so we wait with baited breath.  And on the boards at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (forever the old Biltmore for me) is THE ASSEMBLED PARTIES a Manhattan Theatre Club production – a mellow yet sometimes very funny Jewish family slice of life comedy with somewhat sad overtones where some things are a bit too convenient to be believable and many loose ends remain on the loose.

The first act occurs at a 1980 Christmas dinner party in the sprawling fourteen room apartment of the Bascovs on the Upper West Side of Manhattan – at first viewed as an oversized black and white photograph prior to the start of the show.

And then the large apartment comes to vivid life as we view various scenes in various rooms as the intricate set of Santo Loquasto revolves on its turntable enabling us to see how the various characters can sometime s get lost in the hallways unable to find their way.

And that perhaps can also be said of Mr. Greenberg.  Act II takes place again at a Christmas dinner twenty years later in the living room of the same apartment and has a decidedly different tone than Act I although there are still lots of laughs.

THE ASSEMBLED PARTIES is an old fashioned play.  And that’s a good thing.  Reminiscent of prime Neil Simon with a bit of O’Henry thrown in with a saga about a ruby necklace that helps the limping plot along in the second act.

Mr. Greenberg is smart and extremely clever with words with a facility to provide many quotable quips and so he has populated his play with smart and clever characters – especially the women – who can deliver his many quotable quips with a deft touch.

He as well as we are indeed fortunate that a smooth Jessica Hecht is Julie Bascov “ruthless and strong” a once teenage actress of some renown who has a charming way of putting down others, sometimes being brutally honest and the always brilliant Judith Light is her kvetching, non political (Ha!) and opinionated sister-in-law Faye.  What a pair of aces they are.  And Lauren Blumenfeld as Mort (Mark Blum) and Faye’s daughter Shelley – a misfit of sorts – holds her own up there with these pros.  Her second act speaker phone call is tops.

As the only non blood relative who has been invited to attend the festivities by his college buddy Scotty (Jake Silbermann) the older son of Julie and Ben (Jonathan Walker) Jeremy Shamos as Jeff – looking to wrangle himself into the family is excellent.  In Act II when most of the men have died off he attempts to reconcile the differences between Julie and her younger son Tim (Alex Dreier) who is now grown and played by Mr. Silbermann.  There are too many plot contrivances – those pesky loose ends – that simply do not pay off.

But THE ASSEMBLED PARTIES directed with finesse by Lynne Meadow is honest and real and full of surprises with Jewish expressions peppered throughout where everything seems to be right but isn’t and never fully explained.

Through June 2^nd.

www.TheAssembledPartiesBroadway.com

www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com Photos:  Joan Marcus

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