twi-ny recommended events

THE CONTENDERS 2017: THE BIG SICK

Actor and stand-up comic Kumail Nanjiani and Emily Gardner (Zoe Kazan) explore love and romance in The Big Sick

THE BIG SICK (Michael Showalter, 2017)
MoMA Film, Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Friday, December 29, $12, 7:30
Series runs through January 12
212-708-9400
www.moma.org
www.thebigsickmovie.com

Michael Showalter’s surprise summer hit, The Big Sick, is a heart-wrenchingly bittersweet romantic comedy loosely based on the real life of Pakistani American actor and comic Kumail Nanjiani. It would do a disservice to call the film, which was produced by Judd Apatow and Barry Mendel, a mere romcom, as it is so much more, taking on religion, assimilation, responsibility, culture, and personal identity with intelligence and wit. Kumail plays an Uber driver and stand-up comedian gigging at a Chicago club with fellow comics CJ (Bo Burnham), Mary (Aidy Bryant), and his doofy roommate, Chris (Kurt Braunohler). Kumail spends a lot of time at his parents’ suburban home, the heart of his family, where his mother, Sharmeen (Zenobia Shroff) and father, Azmat (Anupam Kher), continually invite single young Pakistani women to “drop by” to meet him, determined to arrange a proper marriage for their son. However, Kumail has started sort-of seeing a blond American woman, Emily Gardner (Zoe Kazan), after she playfully heckles him at a gig. As their relationship gets more serious, Kumail still hasn’t told his parents or his brother, Naveed (Adeel Akhtar), jeopardizing their future, but when Emily is struck by a sudden illness, Kumail reevaluates who he is and what he desires out of life. Emily’s illness also forces him to get to know her parents, Beth (Holly Hunter) and Terry (Ray Romano), who at first want nothing to do with him.

Beth (Holly Hunter) and Terry (Ray Romano) wait for news on their daughter in Michael Showalter’s The Big Sick

Written by Nanjiani (The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail, Silicon Valley) and freelance journalist and author Emily V. Gordon ( SuperYou: Release Your Inner Superhero, The Carmichael Show), The Big Sick is as gripping as it is funny. The characters are well defined, and the plot is filled with both delightful and shocking twists and turns that will have you on the edge of your seat, tears at the ready, particularly if you don’t know what ultimately happened to Kumail and Emily in actuality. Nanjiani is adorably understated playing a version of himself, while Emmy nominee Kazan (Ruby Sparks, Olive Kitteridge) is charming and quirky as Emily; the two have an instant chemistry that makes the stop-and-go beginning of their relationship thoroughly involving. Emmy winner Romano (Everybody Loves Raymond, Men of a Certain Age) and Oscar and Emmy winner Hunter (The Piano, Saving Grace) are terrific as Emily’s parents, who have some issues of their own to resolve aside from Kumail and Emily. (As a side note, the scene where Beth gets into a fight with a heckler was inspired by a real incident in which Hunter heckled a tennis player at the US Open.) Bryant (Saturday Night Live, Danger & Eggs) and musician and stand-up comic Burnham provide solid, um, comic relief, while Shroff and Kher excel as Kumail’s parents, who insist that Kumail follow tradition, regardless of what he wants for himself. One of the best films of the year, The Big Sick is screening December 29 at 7:30 in MoMA’s annual series “The Contenders,” which consists of films the institution believes will stand the test of time; it continues through January 12 with such other 2017 works as James Mangold’s Logan, James Gray’s The Lost City of Z, Steven Spielberg’s The Post, and Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird.

JUNK

Ayad Akhtar and Doug Hughes shine a light on debt financing, leverage, disclosure violations, and the death of American manufacturing in Junk at Lincoln Center (photo by T. Charles Erickson)

Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center Theater
150 West 65th St. between Broadway & Amsterdam Ave.
Tuesday – Saturday through January 7, $87-$147
212-362-7600
www.lct.org

Just because I graduated from Wharton in the 1980s doesn’t mean I understand every intricacy in Ayad Akhtar’s complexly layered Junk, his sizzling-hot excoriation of greed and hostile takeovers, set in 1985. But Akhtar makes the key elements easy to follow, even for me, as a group of men fight it out for control of an Allegheny steel mill — but the last thing on their mind is actually steel, because in this world, it’s money that matters. Akhtar — who won the Pulitzer Prize for Disgraced, a sharp play about race, assimilation, ambition, and bigotry, and whose 2014 drama, The Invisible Hand, put capitalism and religion on trial in Pakistan — refers to Junk as “a ritual enactment of an origin myth,” in this case that of debt financing at the expense of American manufacturing. “When did money become the thing — the only thing?” journalist Judy Chen (Teresa Avia Lim) asks at the beginning. “It was like a new religion was being born.” It might not sound like a sexy topic, but it’s a scorcher in the hands of Tony-winning director Doug Hughes (The Father, Incognito), who orchestrates all the back-room dealings on John Lee Beatty’s dazzling multilevel set, strikingly lit by Ben Stanton. Sacker-Lowell junk bond trader Robert Merkin (Steven Pasquale) is the mastermind behind a hostile takeover of Everson Steel and United, a family-owned business on the Dow. Merkin, who believes that “debt is an asset,” and Sacker-Lowell lawyer Raül Rivera (Matthew Saldivar), who claims that “nothing makes money like money,” are working with corporate raider Israel Peterman (Matthew Rauch) to gain control of Everson Steel, owned by Thomas Everson Jr. (Rick Holmes), who desperately wants to hold on to the Allegheny-based firm founded by his father. Merkin turns to his wife, numbers whiz Amy (Miriam Silverman), for advice while luring in arbitrageur Boris Pronsky (Joey Slotnick) and investor Murray Lefkowitz (Ethan Phillips) to raise the necessary funds and manipulate the market. When old-time private equity magnate Leo Tresler (Michael Siberry) gets wind of Merkin’s plan, he decides to throw his hat in the ring as well. Meanwhile, US attorney Giuseppe Addesso (Charlie Semine) and assistant US attorney Kevin Walsh (Philip James Brannon) are operating behind the scenes, building a case against Merkin and others.

Corporate raider Israel Peterman (Matthew Rauch) colludes with junk bond trader Robert Merkin (Steven Pasquale) in Broadway financial thriller (photo by T. Charles Erickson)

When Akhtar moved to New York City shortly after graduating from Brown, his father offered to pay his rent if he read the Wall Street Journal every day. He immersed himself in newspapers and magazines about business and came to believe that the players in this world were “not moral or immoral but amoral,” he tells co-executive editor John Guare in Lincoln Center Theater Review. In many ways Junk is like a Shakespearean history play about war, complete with lies, betrayal, spies, sex, and blood, where words and actions can be twisted to mean something else. Of course, Akhtar is not exactly the first person to write about how money became a kind of religion, with profit more important than product and people, humanity be damned, but he does so with a graceful style that turns clichés inside out while choosing no real heroes or villains. No one is safe from his skewer, but each man and woman gets to state his or her case free from editorial judgment. That doesn’t mean everyone is equal, that the audience can’t separate good from evil, or that viewers can’t feel sympathy for some characters and disdain for others. Akhtar reveals a socioeconomic level many of us will never be a part of, and most likely wouldn’t want to — although more than a few in the well-heeled Lincoln Center audience at the show we attended rustled uncomfortably in their seats. Talking about Merkin, Tresler tells Chen, “He’s a pawnbroker. And he’s got America in hock,” to which she replies, “Or he’s the new J. P. Morgan.” In many ways Akhtar has created an extremely extended dysfunctional family, with surrogate children, cousins, parents, and grandparents fighting over money, power, and values. “I don’t want to make you mad,” Lefkowitz tells Merkin, as if he doesn’t want to disappoint Daddy. Featuring a strong cast of twenty-three led by fine turns by Pasquale (The Bridges of Madison County, Rescue Me), Siberry (An Enemy of the People, Six Degrees of Separation), Phillips (My Favorite Year, Benson), Slotnick (Dying for It, Boston Public), and Holmes (The Visit, Matilda), Junk might be set thirty-two years ago, but it’s not out-of-date in the least, as income inequality grows around the world, President Trump has just signed a controversial overhaul of the US tax system, and cryptocurrency complicates the market and confuses the masses.

TICKET ALERT: THE MUSIC OF LED ZEPPELIN

music of led zeppelin

Who: Jackie Greene, Joseph Arthur, moe., Nicole Atkins, Son Little, Bettye LaVette, Brian Wheat of Tesla, Erika Wennerstrom of Heartless Bastards, J Mascis, Patty Smyth, Living Colour, Bustle in Your Hedgerow (Marco Benevento, Joe Russo, Dave Dreiwitz, and Scott Metzger), London Souls, O.A.R., Richie Sambora & Orianthi, the Zombies, Tony Shanahan, Sarah Tomek, and more to be announced
What: Fundraising tribute to Led Zeppelin
Where: Carnegie Hall, Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, 57th St. & Seventh Ave., 212-247-7800
When: Wednesday, March 7, $48-$175 (VIP packages $325-$10,000), 8:00
Why: Since 2006, City Winery has been staging “Music of” benefit tribute shows to legendary performers at Carnegie Hall, from David Bowie, Prince, Aretha Franklin, and Bruce Springsteen to Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Jimmy Webb, and the Who. This year City Winery owner Michael Dorf gets the led out with a evening honoring Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones, and the late John Bonham, whose nine British blues-rock albums as Led Zeppelin over the course of thirteen years and groundbreaking live shows changed the face of popular music. On March 7, more than two dozen musicians will gather in the Stern Auditorium to play big hits and deep cuts by the fantastic foursome; the updated roster features Jackie Greene, Joseph Arthur, moe., Nicole Atkins, Son Little, Bettye LaVette, Brian Wheat of Tesla, Erika Wennerstrom of Heartless Bastards, Bustle in Your Hedgerow (Marco Benevento, Joe Russo, Dave Dreiwitz, and Scott Metzger), J Mascis, Living Colour, London Souls, O.A.R., Richie Sambora & Orianthi, and the Zombies, with a house band fronted by Tony Shanahan and Sarah Tomek. Various VIP packages, with such names as “Dazed & Confused,” “Whole Lotta Love,” and “Stairway to Heaven,” come with a five-course dinner with participating artists, soundcheck access, preview performances, and other perks; for ten grand you can join in onstage for the grand finale. (Keep watching this space for information about the live rehearsal show on March 6 and afterparty on March 7.) All proceeds will benefit Midori & Friends, the Center for Arts Education, Little Kids Rock, Grammy in the Schools, Fixing Instruments for Kids in Schools, the Orchestra Now, the D’Addario Foundation, Sonic Arts for All, and the Church Street School for Music & Art.

THE PARISIAN WOMAN

Uma Thurman, Josh Lucas, and Marton Csokas discuss sex and politics in Beau Willimon’s The Parisian Woman (photo by Matthew Murphy)

Hudson Theatre
139-141 West 44th St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
Tuesday – Sunday through March 11, $59.50 – $260
www.thehudsonbroadway.com

Oscar and Emmy nominee Uma Thurman makes her Broadway debut in The Parisian Woman by Beau Willimon, the creator of the American version of House of Cards. The ninety-minute play, set in contemporary Washington, DC, could be an alternate episode of the popular Netflix hit. Thurman is Chloe, the socialite wife of tax lawyer Tom (Josh Lucas), who is being considered for a federal judgeship. Unsurprisingly, sex, lies, and power will determine whether he succeeds or not. Chloe is having an affair with the obsessively jealous Peter Lafont (Marton Csokas), a wealthy banker who just might have the ear of President Trump. When Chloe and Tom are invited to a party at the home of high-powered Republican Jeannette Simpson (Tony winner Blair Brown), Chloe sees it as an opportunity to manipulate Jeannette, who has been nominated to become the chairwoman of the Federal Reserve, in order to find out Tom’s chances. At the party, Chloe also speaks with Bob and Jeannette’s daughter, rising political star — and liberal Democrat — Rebecca (Tony nominee Phillipa Soo). Bedroom intrigue and political maneuverings lead to a surprising conclusion that would probably make House of Cards’ Frank and Claire Underwood proud.

Chloe (Uma Thurman) and Jeannette Simpson (Blair Brown) make a deal in The Parisian Woman (photo by Matthew Murphy)

Running through March 11 at the Hudson Theatre, The Parisian Woman, which was inspired by Henri Becque’s scandalous 1885 play, La Parisienne, is slight though enjoyable, but it seldom achieves the intimacy it strives for. Thurman (Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction), who was last onstage in Classic Stage’s 1999 revival of Molière’s The Misanthrope, is elegant but too languid — she may look great in Jane Greenwood’s fab costumes, but her character is so vapid it is difficult to understand why everyone is in love with her. Csokas (The Lord of the Rings, LovingHamilton, Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812) underwhelming, while Lucas (Corpus Christi, The Glass Menagerie) is plenty smarmy, but it’s Brown (Arcadia, Copenhagen) who saves the day with a stellar performance as Jeannette, the most fascinating and likable character in the play, which shines whenever she is onstage. Tony winner Pam MacKinnon (Clybourne Park, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) directs with a sure hand on Derek McLane’s stylish sets, but the play suffers from Willimon’s repeated references to Trump and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, making it feel more like liberal propaganda at times; in fact, Willimon (Farragut North, Lower Ninth), who worked on campaigns for Charles Schumer, Hillary Clinton, Bill Bradley, and Howard Dean, has significantly revised the play several times since its 2013 premiere at South Coast Repertory, where the cast included Dana Delany and Steven Weber. The Parisian Woman is not without its merits, but it ends up being akin to a good episode of House of Cards, which will not be enough for more discerning theatergoers.

A VERY BERRI CHRISTMAS: THE TWO OF US

Alain Cohen makes a sparkling debut in Claude Berri’s semiautobiographical masterpiece, The Two of Us

THE TWO OF US (LE VIEIL HOMME ET L’ENFANT) (Claude Berri, 1967)
Quad Cinema
34 West 13th St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Opens Friday, December 22
Series runs December 29 – January 4
212-255-2243
quadcinema.com

The Quad is celebrating the holidays with “A Very Berri Christmas,” a wide-ranging ten-film tribute to French writer, director, producer, actor, and distributor Claude Berri that includes such favorites as Jean de Florette, Manon of the Spring, and Le Sex Shop. The series kicks off December 22 with the U.S. premiere of the fiftieth anniversary 4K restoration of Berri’s semiautobiographical debut feature, the extraordinary WWII coming-of-age drama The Two of Us. “In November 1943, I was eight years old . . . and already a Jew,” Berri, who was born Claude Berel Langmann, says in voice-over at the start of the film, which is based on his real-life experiences when he was sent to live with a gentile family during the war. Young Claude Langmann (Alain Cohen) can’t help getting into trouble even though his father (Charles Denner) keeps trying to make him understand that Jews have to lay low and stay below the radar in German-occupied Paris. But soon Claude’s exasperated father and loving mother (Zorica Lozic) send him off to the Grenoble countryside to stay with Mémé (Luce Fabiole) and Pépé (Michel Simon), an older couple who don’t know that he’s Jewish. They become surrogate grandparents for Claude, who builds a particularly special relationship with Pépé, an animal lover who blames the world’s ills on the Jews, the Communists, the Bolsheviks, and the English. He regularly chastises his son, Victor (Roger Carel), who is married to Suzanne (Sylvine Delannoy). Pépé prefers the company of his treasured fifteen-year-old dog, Kinou, who has his own chair at the dinner table and sleeps in bed with Mémé and Pépé. As Pépé sings the praises of Vichy leader Marshal Philippe Pétain, Claude continues to wreak more than his share of havoc, from getting in fights at school to flirting with Dinou (Elisabeth Rey), the daughter of Maxime (Paul Préboist), a farmer whose son (Didier Perret) can’t keep his finger out of his nose.

The Jewish Claude (Alain Cohen) and the anti-Semitic Pépé (Michel Simon) form a unique bond in sensitive and beautiful WWII drama

The Two of Us, whose French title translates as The Old Man and the Child, is anchored by spectacular performances by newcomer Cohen, whose maternal grandparents were killed at Auschwitz, and Simon (L’Atalante, Boudu Saved from Drowning), in one of his last roles following a debilitating accident with makeup dye. Despite being only nine years old, Cohen, who would go on to play Claude in two other films by Berri, shows an innate understanding of his character’s complexities; Claude knows how to push adults’ buttons, as revealed by his sly smiles. He subtly taunts Pépé about his anti-Semitism, at one point teasing the old man about the size and shape of his nose. Cohen even looks directly into the camera a few times, as if he’s aware that we’re watching him. Simon won the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for his portrayal of Pépé, a big, lovable, gentle man with a tender humanity except for his dangerous political views; Berri does not apologize for him but instead depicts him as someone who doesn’t really know any better and perhaps might just learn something from Claude. Berri also throws in a playful reference to a frying pan, a key object in his Oscar-winning 1962 short, Le Poulet, about a hen. The 4K restoration of The Two of Us is sensational, bringing out the sharp details of Jean Penzer’s black-and-white photography, which combines beautifully with Georges Delerue’s gorgeous, understated score. The Two of Us is an unforgettable film, relentlessly charming despite its serious subject matter, with one of the all-time-great performances by a child. “A Very Berri Christmas” continues December 29 through January 4 with such other films as Germinal, Male of the Century, Uranus, and Je vous aime, which boasts a spectacularly attractive cast as Catherine Deneuve tries to discover what went wrong with former lovers Gérard Depardieu, Jean-Louis Trintignant, and Serge Gainsbourg.

THE SORCERESS (DI KISHEFMAKHERIN)

the sorceress

Museum of Jewish Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust
Edmond J. Safra Plaza, 36 Battery Pl.
December 25 – January 1, $25
866-811-4111
nytf.org
mjhnyc.org

Two years ago, the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene resurrected Joseph Rumshinsky’s long-lost Yiddish musical,
The Golden Bride, to well-deserved, widespread critical and popular acclaim. The company is now kicking off its Global Yiddish Theatre Restoration Project with a special work-in-progress presentation of the long-lost operetta The Sorceress (“Di Kishefmakherin”). The show, based on a Jewish and Romanian superstition about witches, was written in 1878 by playwright, songwriter, and poet Abraham Goldfaden, considered the father of modern Yiddish theater; in 1882, it became the first Yiddish Theatre production in America, and was directed by fourteen-year-old Boris Thomashefsky. From Christmas Day to New Year’s Day, there will be five lightly staged performances in Yiddish, with English and Russian supertitles, at NYTF’s home in Edmond J. Safra Hall at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. The scenic design is by Dara Wishingrad, with costumes by Izzy Fields, lighting by Zachary Heffner, sound by Howard Fredrics, and scripts in hand, featuring Michael Yashinsky as Bobe Yakhne, Stephanie Lynne Mason as Mirele, Pat Constant as Markus, Steve Sterner as Hotsmakh, Rachel Botchan as Basye, and a ten-piece orchestra. The meticulously restored piece incorporates partial arrangements that were discovered at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, rescued by the Paper Brigade; through January 23, YIVO is hosting the exhibition “The Paper Brigade: Smuggling Rare Books and Documents in Nazi-Occuped Vilna.” The developmental production of The Sorceress is directed by Motl Didner, with music direction by Zalmen Mlotek and musical staging by Merete Muenter. The Christmas Day show is already sold out, so hurry if you don’t want to miss this Yiddish treasure.

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

Mr. Bennet (Chris Thorn) tries to avoid the shenanigans of his wife and daughters in exhilarating adaptation of Jane Austen’s first novel (photo by James Leynse)

Cherry Lane Mainstage Theatre
38 Commerce St.
Tuesday – Sunday through January 6, $82-$152
212-989-2020
primarystages.org
www.cherrylanetheatre.org

“How do you know if you’ve found the right match?” Lydia Bennet (Kimberly Chatterjee) asks her sisters, Lizzy (Kate Hamill), Mary (John Tufts), and Jane (Amelia Pedlow), early on in Hamill’s rousing adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, continuing at the Cherry Lane through January 6. Hamill is an actress who started writing plays to ensure strong roles for herself and other women, and she has found the right match yet again. Her latest work is her third consecutive triumphant and wholly original adaptation of a classic novel, following Bedlam’s production of Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, which ran at the Gym at Judson for ten months, and William Makepeace Thackeray’s Vanity Fair, the final presentation at the late, lamented Pearl Theatre. Hamill, who has hinted that she is making her way through Austen’s books in chronological order, meaning that Mansfield Park might be next, has also found the right match in her personal and professional partner, Jason O’Connell (The Dork Knight), who plays Mr. Darcy, and in directors, with Oregon Shakespeare Festival veteran Amanda Dehnert having a blast with Austen’s comedy of manners regarding marriage and money. The show begins with the cast performing Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders’ 1965 hit, “The Game of Love,” which starts out, “The purpose of a man is to love a woman / And the purpose of a woman is to love a man.” As Lizzy soon explains, “Playing games keeps one sane, when the stakes involved threaten to drive one mad.” Mrs. Bennet (Nance Williamson) is determined to marry off her daughters to wealthy, somewhat respectable suitors, no matter the cost — since they have no male heirs to inherit their estate — so she kicks into high gear with the arrival of the goofy Bingley (Tufts), “a fellow of large income!” Bingley takes a liking to Jane, which makes Lizzy happy that it’s not her. “I am an ugly sharp-tongued awkward little creature, but you are good and kind and about five times prettier than any other girl in the county,” Lizzy tells Jane. “Nono, you shall have to fall on Mr. Bingley’s sword, and be quick about it too — the clock is ticking for us old maids!” Bright and cheery fourteen-year-old Lydia is also interested in finding a man — as is the sisters’ archrival, Charlotte Lucas (Chris Thorn), but the dour Mary sees only darkness in life amid her constant coughing.

It is not exactly love at first sight for Lizzy (Kate Hamill) and Mr. Darcy (Jason O’Connell) in Pride and Prejudice (photo by James Leynse)

Meanwhile, Mr. Bennet (Thorn) reads the business section of the Times as the women gossip, plot, argue, and complain all around him. “Matrimonial games are women’s purview, Elizabeth, and I had enough of them when my own round was lost,” Mr. Bennet says. Soon entering the proceedings are potential suitors Mr. Collins (Mark Bedard), a strange and annoying man, and Wickham (Bedard), a charming cad who was childhood friends with Darcy, in addition to the domineering and demeaning Lady Catherine (Chatterjee), who is Darcy’s aunt, and her daughter, Miss De Bourgh (Pedlow), who remains curiously hidden behind a veil. And so the game is on, and a deliciously wicked and fun contest it is. Hamill and Dehnert focus on the more comic elements of Austen’s novel, staying true to the heart of the beloved story while leaving no double entendre or sly joke on the cutting room floor. There’s a reason Pride and Prejudice has been made into and/or has heavily influenced films, opera, theater, and literary works, including such wide-ranging beauties as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Bridget Jones’s Diary, and Death Comes to Pemberley. Dehnert has added anachronistic songs to the show, from Stevie Wonder to RuPaul, and the doubling of the cast is an absolute riot, as Thorn changes from Charlotte to Mr. Bennet, Bedard switches between Wickham, Collins, and Miss Bingley, and Tufts shifts from Mary to Bingley right before our eyes. When an actor is not part of a scene, he or she sits in the background of John McDermott’s sweetly crowded set, laughing along with the audience at the numerous comedy bits — especially Collins’s difficulty with a chair. As much fun as the audience is having, the cast might be having that much more, even as Hamill makes her on-target points about the treatment of women through the centuries. It’s a barely controlled kind of mayhem in which anything can happen at any moment — be sure to follow the bouncing ball — adding to the ever-building excitement. “Please do pardon the chaos,” Mr. Bennet tells Wickham. “I wish I could say it was unusual.” A coproduction with the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, Pride and Prejudice is a sheer pleasure, an exuberant and exhilarating reimagining of a cherished classic about the rather tricky game of love and holding out for just the right match.