this week in theater

BROADWAY WEEK SUMMER 2014

Tony winner A GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER is among those shows selling half-price tickets during Broadway week

Multiple venues
September 1-14, buy one ticket, get one free
www.nycgo.com/broadwayweek

Tickets are now on sale for the summer edition of Broadway Week, which runs September 1-14 and offers theater lovers a chance to see new and long-running shows for half-price as well as have an opportunity to pay a $20 fee to upgrade to better seats. Twenty-one shows are participating, but they’re already starting to sell out, with the most popular selections being Cabaret and The Lion King. Among the other choices are Pippin, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, Kinky Boots, If/Then, the rebooted Les Misérables, Matilda the Musical, Motown the Musical, and such longtime mainstays as Wicked, Jersey Boys, Chicago, The Phantom of the Opera, and Mamma Mia! In addition, tickets are available for a few promising shows in preview, the Broadway debut of Kenneth Lonergan’s This Is Our Youth, starring Michael Cera and Tavi Gevinson, Donald Margulies’s The Country House with Blythe Danner, and a revival of Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman’s You Can’t Take It with You, featuring James Earl Jones, Rose Byrne, and Elizabeth Ashley. You can look all you want, but the two-for-one list does not include The Book of Mormon, unfortunately.

TICKET GIVEAWAY: DONKEY PUNCH

DONKEY PUNCH explores sex and friendship at SoHo Playhouse (photo by Hunter Canning)

DONKEY PUNCH
SoHo Playhouse
15 Vandam St. between Varick St. & Sixth Ave.
Wednesday – Sunday through August 31, $45
212-691-1555
www.sohoplayhouse.com
www.ivytheatre.com

In June, Micheline Auger’s provocative The Feminism of a Soft Merlot, or (How the Donkey Got Punched) had a brief but successful run at the Tada Theater. The Ivy Theatre production about sex and friendship has now made a big move to SoHo Playhouse and shortened its name to the much more simple and direct Donkey Punch, a reference to a controversial sexual position. In the dark comedy, directed by Ivy cofounder Audrey Alford, the adventurous Kareena (Cleo Gray) is considering settling down with Teddy (Michael Drew) while setting up her prudish best friend, Sam (Lauren Dortch Crozier), with Kyle (Stephen Stout), a pornographer she found online. As their lives and relationships intersect, everyone is faced with a decision: Punch or be punched?

TICKET GIVEAWAY: Donkey Punch runs Wednesday through Sunday through August 31 at SoHo Playhouse, and twi-ny has three pairs of tickets to give away for free for performances through August 28. Just send your name, daytime phone number, and favorite play with an animal name in the title to contest@twi-ny.com by Wednesday, August 20, at 3:00 to be eligible. All entrants must be twenty-one years of age or older; three winners will be selected at random.

LIFE’S A PICNIC IN GRAND CENTRAL

Vanderbilt Hall, Grand Central Terminal
89 East 42nd St. at Vanderbilt Ave.
August 18-22, free, 7:00 am – 7:00 pm (food available for purchase 11:00 am – 4:00 pm)
www.grandcentralterminal.com

Grand Central Terminal’s classy Vanderbilt Hall is getting a makeover this week, being transformed into an indoor public picnic space August 18-22, with tables covered in gingham cloth, an AstroTurf floor, prizes and giveaways, and food from many of the restaurants that are located throughout GCT. “Life’s a Picnic in Grand Central” will also feature free Wi-Fi, air-conditioning, and live performances. You can bring your own lunch or pick up specials from a rotating lineup of GCT eateries, including Café Spice, Ceriello Fine Foods, Ciao Bella Gelato, Financier Patisserie, Junior’s Bakery, Magnolia Bakery, Zaro’s Bakery, Manhattan Chili Co., Tri Tip Grill, Two Boots Pizza, and Murray’s Cheese. Below is the music schedule, programmed in conjunction with Music Under New York.

Monday, August 18
Music Under New York: Susan Keser, 11:00 am – 2:00 pm

West Village String Quartet, 4:00 – 7:00

Tuesday, August 19
Music Under New York: Gabriel Aldort playing Galdort Gumbo, 11:00 am – 2:00 pm

Music Under New York: West Village String Quartet, 4:00 – 7:00

Wednesday, August 20
Big Apple Circus presents Dicky’s Wacky Magic Show, 12 noon – 2:00 pm

Music Under New York: The Poor Cousins, 4:00 – 7:00

Thursday, August 21
Music and dance from iLuminate and Revolution in the Elbow of Ragnar Agnarsson Furniture Painter, 12:30 – 2:00

Music Under New York: Jason Green, 4:00 – 7:00

Friday, August 22
Broadway Hour: musical performances from Chicago, Motown, Pippin, and Cinderella, 12:30 – 1:30

Music Under New York: Inti & the Moon, 4:00 – 7:00

SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK: KING LEAR

John Lithgow stars as an emotional King Lear in Shakespeare in the Park production that also features Annette Bening as Goneril and Christopher Innvar as Albany (photo by Joan Marcus)

Central Park
Delacorte Theater
Tuesday – Sunday through August 17, free, 8:00
shakespeareinthepark.org

Fut! Another day, another Lear. Over the last several years, New York City has been inundated with major productions of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy. There’s been Michael Pennington at Theatre for a New Audience, Sir Ian McKellen, Sir Derek Jacobi, and Frank Langella at BAM, and Kevin Kline and Sam Waterston at the Public. And now Rochester native John Lithgow, at the age of sixty-eight, has taken on the role of the king and father descending into madness. First performed at Shakespeare in the Park in the Delacorte’s inaugural season, 1962, with Frank Silvera and last seen there in 1973 with James Earl Jones, this latest Public Theater presentation of King Lear features two-time Tony winner Lithgow (The Changing Room, Sweet Smell of Success) as an emotional Lear as he deals with the betrayal of his two conniving older daughters, Goneril (Annette Bening) and Regan (Jessica Hecht), after casting aside his beloved youngest, Cordelia (Jessica Collins). He also exiles his loyal friend, the Earl of Kent (Jay O. Sanders), who reappears in disguise as Caius to protect his lord, the fading king. Meanwhile, the Earl of Gloucester (Clarke Peters) is misled by his bastard son, Edmund (Eric Sheffer Stevens), into believing his first-born, Edgar (Chukwudi Iwuji), is plotting patricide.

The Fool (Steven Boyer), Caius (Jay O. Sanders), and Lear (John Lithgow) are surprised by Poor Tom (Chukwudi Iwuji) in Public Theater presentation in the park (photo by Joan Marcus)

One of the most fascinating things about King Lear is how adaptable it is, that even when the same dialogue is being used, focus can shift dramatically from one character to another in different productions. In this case, veteran Shakespeare in the Park director Daniel Sullivan (The Comedy of Errors, The Merchant of Venice) highlights Goneril and Regan, but Bening, in her return to the New York stage for the first time in a quarter-century, is too stolid as the former, and Hecht (The Assembled Parties, A View from the Bridge) adds too much ironic humor as the latter. Jeremy Bobb’s laconic Oswald is stronger than Stevens’s fanciful Edmund, which is usually the other way around, while Iwuji transforms from carefree Edgar to the pathetic Poor Tom very well. Lithgow is a sad, heart-rending Lear, but Sullivan too often leaves him virtually alone on John Lee Beatty’s set, a large wooden platform backed with a tall screen covered with metallic rods that are like sharp sticks; Lear loses his grandeur too quickly, his minions peeling away as his mind goes. Shakespeare in the Park mainstay Sanders nearly steals the show as Kent/Caius, the only one who truly stands by his king. Steven Boyer is a fine Fool, but there’s not enough of him. The blinding scene is disappointingly tame, but Tal Yarden’s video projections enhance the storm, there’s an exciting sword fight near the end that draws gasps, and percussion played by two men on either side of the stage intensifies the overall ominous mood, resulting in a worthwhile, if not stellar, version of an oft-seen play that, amazingly, rarely bores even after repeated viewings. However, just when it seemed safe to put Lear to bed for at least a little while, it’s been announced that English actor Joseph Marcell will be starring in a production at the NYU Skirball Center this fall by Shakespeare’s Globe, the company that just performed Twelfth Night and Richard III on Broadway to such great acclaim. Fut! indeed. . . .

(In addition to waiting on line at the Delacorte, the Queens Museum, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Lehman College, the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, and the Public Theater to get free tickets, you can also enter the daily virtual ticketing lottery online here.)

BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY

BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY features a stellar cast led by the wonderful Stephen McKinley Henderson (photo by Kevin Thomas Garcia)

Atlantic Theater Company
Linda Gross Theater
336 West 20th St. between Eighth & Ninth Aves.
Monday – Saturday through August 23, $20-$65
866-811-4111
www.atlantictheater.org

Longtime character actor Stephen McKinley Henderson, a staple in the work of August Wilson, finally gets the big-time starring role he deserves in Stephen Adly Guirgis’s Between Riverside and Crazy. In the Atlantic Theater Company production, which has been extended through August 23, Henderson, who was nominated for a supporting actor Tony in 2012 for his role as Bono in Fences and more recently played Bobo in the Tony-nominated revival of A Raisin in the Sun, both opposite Denzel Washington, stars as Walter “Pops” Washington, a former beat cop whose career ended after a fellow police officer shot him multiple times. As the play opens, the portly Pops is sitting in a wheelchair at the kitchen table in his broken-down, rent-stabilized Riverside Drive railroad apartment. But it turns out that he can walk fine; the wheelchair belonged to his wife, who passed away just before Christmas. Meanwhile, the much-coveted apartment has been falling apart ever since his wife’s death, as evidenced by a wobbly Christmas tree still in the living room. Pops lives with his grown son, the recently paroled Junior (Ray Anthony Thomas), who is secretive and argumentative; Oswaldo (Victor Almanzar), a tough-talking young man in recovery who Pops has taken in; and Lulu (Rosal Colón), Junior’s pregnant girlfriend. It’s been eight years since Pops was shot in a controversial off-duty incident that he claims was racially motivated; over that time, the city has made financial offers to settle the case, but Pops has rejected every one on principle. “An honorable man can’t be bought off,” he tells his son. “An honorable man doesn’t just settle a lawsuit ‘No Fault’ and lend his silence to hypocrisy and racism and the grievous violation of all our civil rights.” His former partner, Audrey (Guirgis regular Elizabeth Canavan), and her fiancée, Lieutenant Caro (The Sopranos’ and Nurse Jackie’s Michael Rispoli) come for dinner and try to persuade him to take the deal, but Pops is a stubborn, unpredictable man with a unique view of the world. Nevertheless, he sees a different light after a visit from the new church lady (Liza Colón-Zayas).

Pops (Stephen McKinley Henderson) and Lulu (Rosal Colón) share a moment in new Stephen Adly Guirgis play at the Atlantic (photo by Kevin Thomas Garcia)

Guirgis, who grew up on Riverside Drive, is the former co-artistic director of the LAByrinth Theater Company, for which he wrote five plays directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman (including Our Lady of 121st Street and Jesus Hopped the “A” Train), followed by his Broadway debut, The Motherf**ker with the Hat. Between Riverside and Crazy again demonstrates his sharp ear for dialogue and his keen sense of characterization as he creates complex, realistic situations filled with surprise twists and turns. Henderson is fabulous as Pops, alternating between a sweet gentleness and a selfish anger, both populated with four-letter words that emerge poetically; the audience never knows what he’ll say or do next, making the play wonderfully uncomfortable. The supporting cast is excellent as well, as Guirgis and director Austin Pendleton (Gidion’s Knot, Orson’s Shadow) give each character his and her moment to shine on Walt Spangler’s rotating, somewhat ramshackle set. But best of all, everyone keeps the spotlight centered on Henderson as Pops, a lovable yet intensely frustrating individual played by an actor of tender and intelligent depth and charm.

TWI-NY TALK: JOE WISSLER

Joe Wissler is back at the Fringe Festival in Kim Ehly’s semiautobiographical comedy, BABY GIRL

New York International Fringe Festival
The Kraine Theater
25 East Fourth St. between Second Ave. & Bowery
August 8, 10, 14, 18, 24, $18
www.joewissler.com
www.babygirltheplay.com

The first thing one notices about Joe Wissler is his size. At six-foot four, two hundred and twenty-five pounds, he usually stands out in a crowd. The next things that become quickly apparent are his gregarious nature and welcoming sense of humor. But the Manhattan-born, Brooklyn-raised character actor gets very serious when discussing the details of his chosen career. “What I love about Joe is his professionalism and dedication to his craft, which he clearly loves,” playwright and casting agent David Bellantoni says about Wissler, who was recently nominated for Best Actor at the Unchained one-act theater festival for starring as a Brian Dennehy-like tough guy in Bellantoni’s Laundry, which took the Audience Award. “Most actors, no matter where they are from, think they can pull off a New York character – accent, attitude, swagger,” Bellantoni continues, “but in performance you can almost always tell they’re from somewhere else. Joe is the real deal, the genuine article. It was a pleasure to work with him and I would do so again in a heartbeat.”

Wissler is very much the real deal. In order to start dating (and eventually marry) Grace Argentina, he had to get past her eleven not-so-friendly brothers. Grace and Joe’s son is a Suffolk County police officer, their daughter a Nassau County teacher and track coach. And Wissler continues winning better and better roles in an extremely difficult business. This week Wissler, who has appeared onstage with John Amos (Good Times, Roots) in Felony Friday at the Fringe Festival, on Law and Order: SVU on television, and in such indie films as Waiting for the Blackout and Abscond Valley, is back at the Fringe in Baby GirL, Kutumba Theatre Project artistic director Kim Ehly’s semiautobiographical comedy about adoption, coming out as a lesbian, and searching for home. In between rehearsals for the show, which runs August 8, 10, 14, 18, and 24 at the Kraine Theater, Wissler discussed his acting career, his size, his deep, profound love of his craft, and more.

twi-ny: You were last at the Fringe in 2011, when you starred with John Amos in Felony Friday. What was that experience like?

Joe Wissler: In a word, it was amazing. Of course, I have been a fan of John’s since I can remember. I was so glad when he came to the rehearsals ready to work like any other actor. No pretense, no attitude. We shared most of his scenes, so we rehearsed quite a bit together. I’m happy to say that we became friends and remain so to this day.

twi-ny: This year you’re appearing at the Fringe in Baby GirL. Can you tell us a little about your role and how you got the part? It’s a different kind of show for you.

JW: I actually play two roles in the show. In the first act I play Dave, adopted father to Ashley, a very traditional, head of the family, “meat and potatoes Republican” living in South Florida in the late 1960s to 1980s. I dote on Ashley, which is why she comes out to me first, that she is a lesbian. Things take a turn from that moment on. In act two, I play Henry, husband of Ashley’s biological mother. Henry is a simple man who doesn’t say too much, thanks to the nonstop talking of his wife.

I auditioned for the roles, with absolute abandon. In one flashback scene, I jump into four different scenarios in a matter of one minute. There is just no way to win a part like that unless you are willing to completely commit to that individual moment. There was no playing it safe at this audition.

twi-ny: What is it that resonated with you to make you want to work on this play?

JW: Baby GirL is a play about struggling. Ashley struggles to find her sexual identity, her birth parents, and her life. Dave and Mary struggle to conceive a child, raise a child the way they think she should be raised, and then break away from the child they don’t understand. Struggle is what creates conflict, which is what creates drama. The beautiful thing about this play is there is lots of comedy mixed in with the drama, and a fine cast that understands how to work both the comedy and the drama so it will move the audience to laughter and tears. I’m sure the audience will walk away from this show with a lot to think about and talk about. And hopefully it will help someone out there struggling with his or her own personal feelings, be that if they need to come out, accept someone who comes out, or just choose to live the life they want for themselves.

Joe Wissler stars in Florida comedy hit making New York premiere at the Fringe Festival

Joe Wissler plays two roles in Florida comedy hit making New York premiere at the Fringe Festival

twi-ny: You’re six-foot-four, two hundred twenty-five pounds, and from Brooklyn, yet you’ve appeared in a wide variety of genres on film and television and onstage. Do you think your size is a hindrance or an advantage?

JW: [laughs] My size can be both an advantage and a hindrance. Most times I find it to be an advantage. Of course, I can remember times when it worked against me. Many years ago, when I was a child, I started growing at an unbelievable rate. I can remember walking into auditions at ten years old and being taller than the man auditioning to play my father. More recently, I was being considered for a great part in a film. I was to play Jon Voight’s brother. Before production began, I was told that Jon Voight would not be doing the film. Instead, Malcolm McDowell was the new lead. Jon Voight and I are almost the same size, but I am seven inches taller than Malcolm McDowell. Apparently, size did matter. I always find a way to fit my dimensions into the skin of the character I am playing.

What about your accent?

JW: [laughs again] What accent? In my day-to-day life, my New York accent is certainly apparent. I have learned to eliminate it for professional purposes. Just listen to me say “You didn’t talk much at dinner” in Baby GirL.

twi-ny: What’s more fun – playing the cop or the mob guy?

JW: I love acting. I love the characters that I get to play. I humanize the characters by a simple yet effective method. I find myself in the character, I find the character in me and find myself as the character in the situation. With that, anything is possible. The rest just depends on the costume.

twi-ny: You were recently nominated for Best Actor in David Bellantoni’s Laundry, in which the cast really seemed to bond. You’re a gregarious fellow; what’s it like when a group of actors don’t really come together on a set?

JW: Laundry was a great experience. A set is a family. It’s very important to make it work, with everyone involved – cast, crew, writers, production, and director. We are all working toward a common goal: To do the best work we are capable of. Nothing on set or behind the scenes should distract from that goal. That being said, jealousies and insecurities are always possible. While studying at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, I was taught that just like any other walk of life, you will meet all kinds, just more so in acting. Concentrate on your work and leave the negativity to those who need it. I only experienced that kind of situation on one project. Hopefully, never again.

twi-ny: You’ve also done stand-up comedy; do you still go back in front of that brick wall?

JW: I have not in quite a while. I am thinking about performing stand-up in L.A. on my next trip there in September.

twi-ny: What do you have coming up after Baby GirL?

JW: I will have a couple of weeks here in New York City to enjoy the rest of the summer. I am cowriting a play that I hope to finish this year. I will be traveling back and forth to the West Coast. My L.A. agent, Marlene Hartje, is amazing. I can’t wait to get back out there and see what she has waiting for me. There are a few plays being produced here in New York that I would love to finish the year out with. John Amos and I have been trying to coordinate our schedules for a couple of years, with the hopes of mounting a great two-man play a friend of his wrote. And of course, I am constantly on the hunt for a production of John Logan’s Red that is casting.

FRINGE NYC: DANCING MONK IPPEN

DANCING MONK IPPEN tells the story of an itinerant monk spreading Buddhism using song and dance in thirteenth-century Japan

The New York International Fringe Festival
The Sheen Center – the Loretto
18 Bleecker St. at Elizabeth St.
August 8, 10, 11, 13, 15, $18
www.fringenyc.org
www.fuuunkabocha.yokochou.com

In the thirteenth century, itinerant monk and former samurai Ippen Shōnin traveled around Japan, spreading Pure Land Buddhism by using Nembutus dance and song. His story is now being told in Fuuun Kabocha No Basha’s Dancing Monk Ippen, a musical playing at the eighteenth annual New York International Fringe Festival. The eighty-minute show, directed by Hiroaki Doi, features book and lyrics by Takaaki Shigenobu, music by Tokuaki Nakajima, and choreography by Chie Nakagawa. The show runs August 8-15 at the Loretto theater at the Sheen Center.

Update: Takaaki Shigenobu’s J-pop opera, Dancing Monk Ippen, is a swift, fun sojourn through the life of Shōjumaru, born into thirteenth-century Japan’s bitter civil wars between the Shogunate and the Imperial Army, which severely rend his family, his father and uncle fighting on different sides. Son of a noble family, the young man is sent to a Buddhist temple to protect his life. There he is given a new name, Ippen, and soon develops a unique brand of Buddhism that includes singing and dancing to bring peace and understanding to his fellow human beings. Playfully directed by Hiroaki Doi, Dancing Monk Ippen is energetically acted by the Fuuun Kabocha No Basha company, led by Ikumi Sugamoto as the title character, Motonori Mano as his comic sidekick, Mitsuaki Susa as his father, and Ayako Murai as temple monk Shotatsu. The musical numbers, which occasionally descend into treacly ballads, are sweetly choreographed by Chie Nakagawa and charmingly performed by the enthusiastic cast. Unfortunately, however, everything is in Japanese, with no translations, save for just a handful of hard-to-hear English descriptions read by a disembodied female voice in between certain scenes. The program, which comes with an origami gift, includes a detailed synopsis in case you want to know in advance what is going to happen. The show ends boisterously, with the actors dancing around the audience, cheerfully thanking the exiting crowd.