this week in theater

HARLEM ARTS FESTIVAL 2012

Queen Esther will close the 2012 Harlem Arts Festival with dancer-choreographer Francesca Harper tonight

Richard Rodgers Amphitheater
Marcus Garvey Park
Madison Ave. between 120th & 124th Sts.
Saturday, June 30, free, 1:00 – 8:00
www.harlemartsfestival.com

The second day of the free Harlem Art Festival, held in Marcus Garvey Park, features another fine lineup of live music, dance, and theater, emceed by DJ Stormin’ Norman. The party gets started at 1:00 with Gary Samuels & the Prayz’N Hymn Ensemble on the main stage and Isaac Katalay on the second stage at 1:30. Other performers include the Mighty Third Rail, Gwen Laster, Illstyle & Peace Productions, James Browning Kepple, Benjamin Barson, Guerilla Dance Collective, Shelah Marie, and Vernard J. Gilmore / La Verdad, with Queen Esther & the Francesca Harper Project closing the show at 7:00. There is also a kids’ corner with children’s activities in addition to local food vendors, a market, special programs in the Harlem Library, and a gallery walk with work by such artists as Leon Barber, Laura Gadson, Judy Levy, Bryce R. Zackery, and Maxine DeSeta.

HARVEY

Jim Parsons might just have you asking, “Jimmy who?” in Roundabout revival of HARVEY (photo by Joan Marcus)

Studio 54
254 West 54th St.
Through August 5, $47-$140
212-719-1300
www.roundabouttheatre.org

Although the role of Elwood P. Dowd, a rather eccentric, happy fellow whose best friend is a six-foot, three-and-a-half-inch-tall invisible pooka, is most closely associated with Jimmy Stewart, who was nominated for an Oscar for Henry Koster’s 1950 film adaptation and played the part in a 1970 Broadway revival with Helen Hayes, not many others have attempted to take on Dowd, the central figure in Mary Chase’s 1944 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, Harvey. The role was created by vaudevillian Frank Fay, and it has been played on the small screen by Art Carney and Harry Anderson. Now comes Emmy-winning actor Jim Parsons, the thirty-nine-year-old star of television’s The Big Bang Theory. Well, it might sound like blasphemy, but Parsons pulls off Dowd in a very big way, bringing a charm and gallantry that outshines even that of Stewart. The play as a whole, which famously topped Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie for the Pulitzer, does not hold up particularly well in Scott Ellis’s current Roundabout revival at Studio 54; it’s an old-fashioned piece of Americana fluff, its WWII-era sensibilities seriously out-of-date with the times (as opposed to Mike Nichols’s recent restaging of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, which was powerfully relevant). But Parsons is absolutely mesmerizing as Dowd, a well-mannered gentleman who is always accompanied by a large white rabbit that only he sees — but by the end of the play, you might think you’ve seen Harvey as well.

Elwood P. Dowd (Jim Parsons) has a special message for Betty Chumley (Carol Kane) in HARVEY (photo by Joan Marcus)

Elwood is an embarrassment to his sister, the society-obsessed Veta (Jessica Hecht, displaying a fine comic physicality), and her daughter, the socialite-in-training Myrtle Mae (Tracee Chimo). The ditzy Veta conspires to lock her brother away in a sanitarium run by Dr. William R. Chumley (Charles Kimbrough), but a misunderstanding between Veta, Dr. Lyman Sanderson (Morgan Spector), and nurse Ruth Kelly (Holley Fain) leads to some major foul-ups, some funnier than others. The relationship between Sanderson and Kelly falls particularly flat, as does a passionless attraction between Myrtle Mae and sanitarium worker Duane Wilson (Rich Sommer). Kimbrough is appropriately blustery as the exasperated Chumley, Carol Kane delivers a scene-stealing turn as his wife, Betty, and Larry Bryggman is stalwart as Judge Omar Gaffney. But the play takes off whenever Parsons is onstage, as Elwood makes friends with everyone he meets, including telephone solicitors, hands out his card to strangers, and is always quick to at least try to introduce his best friend, which doesn’t always work out quite as he plans. He has a penchant for reaching out and touching people in an engaging way, both physically and verbally, a supremely gentle man who also likes his drink. But whereas Stewart played Elwood as a wide-eyed, melodramatic dreamer, Parson’s Elwood is a more down-to-earth character, although still lost in his own alternate reality. Yet it’s a welcoming alternate reality that is a pleasure to be a part of in these often maddening, fast-paced times.

RIVER TO RIVER FESTIVAL: ACT WITHOUT WORDS II

Dublin’s Company SJ is presenting free Beckett in a downtown alley as part of River to River Festival

Theatre Alley between Nassau and Centre Sts., enter at Ann St.
Nightly through June 29, free but advance reservations encouraged, 9:00
rivertorivernyc.com

Dublin-based theater troupe Company SJ, headed by artistic director Sarah Jane Scaife, specializes in presenting works by such Irish playwrights as J. M. Synge, Samuel Beckett, and contemporary writer Marina Carr. The company is in New York City this week at the River to River Festival, performing their unique thirty-minute version of Beckett’s Act Without Words II, a mime initially written in French in 1959 before Beckett translated it into English. A hit at the 2009 Dublin Fringe Festival and the 2012 Dublin Theatre Festival, the surreal, existential production features Raymond Keane and Bryan Burroughs as a pair of chaps who crawl out of sacks to face a mysterious world beset by drugs, homelessness, and other dramatic problems. Taking place in an outdoor alley between Nassau and Centre Sts. on a set designed by Aedín Cosgrove, Act Without Words II is being presented nightly through June 29 at 9:00. Admission is free, but advance reservations are strongly recommended.

THE BAD AND THE BETTER

Detective Lang (William Apps) and Miss Hollis (Sarah Lemp) get caught up in a dangerous conspiracy in THE BAD AND THE BETTER (photo by Monica Simoes)

The Peter Jay Sharp Theater
416 West 42nd St.
Through July 21, $49.95
www.thebadandthebetter.com

Last summer the Amoralists squeezed twenty audience members into a small, makeshift bedroom in the Gershwin Hotel for a double feature of original plays by Adam Rapp (Animals and Plants) and company associate artistic director and cofounder Derek Ahonen (Pink Knees on Pale Skin). This year the innovative theater group is squeezing no fewer than 26 actors playing 33 characters onto the stage in the intimate 128-seat Peter Jay Sharp Theater for Ahonen’s delightfully gripping detective noir The Bad and the Better. David Nash stars as Venus, an earnest undercover cop posing as a playwright who embeds himself with a radical New York City anarchist group to supposedly study them for the sequel to his previous work, The Sad Singers on Stanton Street — a sly reference to Ahonen’s own downtown hit, The Pied Pipers of the Lower East Side. Led by twins Justice (James Kautz) and Charity (Selene Beretta), the anarchists are causing some minor mayhem, but bigger plans await. Meanwhile, Venus’s brother, hero cop Ricky Lang (William Apps), has been exiled to a far-off part of Long Island with a secretary (Sarah Lemp) who has the hots for him, but he soon becomes suspicious when people in his usually calm district start killing themselves. And somewhere in the middle of all this, slimy developer Richard Zorn (Clyde Baldo) is manipulating candidate Eugene Moretti (David Lanson) into highlighting the war on terror in an important upcoming election. The multiple story lines weave in and out of one another before coming together for an explosive climax, all expertly directed by Obie winner Daniel Aukin, who keeps the continuous stream of characters moving around Alfred Schatz’s set in clever ways, as if imaginary borders exist as one scene morphs into the next. The pulpy play takes on such themes as loyalty, honesty, violence, corruption, courage, betrayal, and, most of all, family, with a liberal dose of humor and even a few tugs at the heartstrings. “It’ll really just be a story about love but it’ll be somewhat disguised as a cautionary tale about the hypocrisies of extreme principals,” Venus says to the radical anarchists at one point in a self-referential explanation that doubles for Ahonen talking about The Bad and the Better itself, an engaging production that once again shows off the many talents of the somewhat radical and anarchic Amoralists.

SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK: AS YOU LIKE IT

Andre Braugher’s dual performance as dueling dukes is one of the highlights of AS YOU LIKE IT (photo by Joan Marcus)

Central Park
Delacorte Theater
Through June 30 (no show June 24), free, 8:00
shakespeareinthepark.org

Fifty years ago this week, the Delacorte Theater in Central Park opened with a production of The Merchant of Venice directed by Joe Papp and Gladys Vaughan and starring George C. Scott as Shylock, followed by The Tempest, with Paul Stevens as Prospero and James Earl Jones as Caliban, directed by Gerald Freedman. Since that time, Shakespeare in the Park has been home to more than 150 shows with all-star casts that have been seen by more than five million people. The Delacorte’s golden anniversary season began June 5 with the Bard’s mistaken-identity romantic comedy As You Like It, directed by Public Theater veteran Daniel Sullivan. The story has been shifted to the antebellum South of the 1840s, where Duke Frederick (an excellent Andre Braugher) has been running rampant, exiling people he feels are not loyal to him and threaten his rule, including his older brother, Duke Senior (a fine Braugher again), Senior’s daughter, Rosalind (Lily Rabe), and Orlando (David Furr), a local man who has been mistreated by his older brother, Oliver (Omar Metwally), and had the audacity to beat Frederick’s champion wrestler (Brendan Averett). Disguised as a boy named Ganymede, Rosalind decides to seek out her father in the Forest of Arden, joined on the dangerous journey by her best friend, Celia (Renee Elise Goldsberry), Frederick’s daughter, and Touchstone (Oliver Platt), the court fool. Meanwhile, Orlando is determined to find Rosalind and declare his undying love for her. Sullivan has transformed the eminently likable As You Like It into a somewhat old-fashioned piece of Americana, complete with a four-piece folk-bluegrass band led by banjo favorite Tony Trischka playing songs written by Steve Martin. The first half is indeed very funny and engaging, highlighted by the foot-stomping music and John Lee Beatty’s set, a tall wooden fort that opens up into the dense green Forest of Arden, incorporating Central Park’s real trees. Sullivan adds small touches outside of the script, little flourishes of eye contact and physical shtick that bring playful life to the familiar tale.

Stephen Spinella declares that “all the world’s a stage” in uneven Central Park production (photo by Joan Marcus)

But after intermission, things devolve quickly, as Rabe’s Rosalind turns annoying and obnoxious, Furr’s Orlando becomes silly and overwrought, and the side-plot relationships between Touchstone and busty local lass Audrey (Donna Lynne Champlin) and young Silvius (Will Rogers) and Phoebe (Susannah Flood) seem superfluous at best. Even the music starts feeling repetitive and unnecessary. In the play’s most famous speech, clumsily delivered by an otherwise solid Stephen Spinella as Jaques, Senior’s cynical attendant goes through the seven stages of man, explaining, “All the world’s a stage / And all the men and women merely players. . . . Last scene of all / That ends this strange eventful history, / Is second childishness and mere oblivion, / Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.” He could just as well be describing the interminable second act of this well-meaning but ultimately disappointing production. As You Like It runs through June 30, followed July 23 – August 25 by Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods, starring Amy Adams, Donna Murphy, Denis O’Hare, and Gideon Glick. Don’t forget that in addition to waiting on line at the Delacorte to get free tickets, you can also enter the daily virtual ticketing lottery online here.

FREE SUMMER THEATER 2012

Andre Braugher plays dual roles in Shakespeare in the Park presentation of AS YOU LIKE IT (photo by Joan Marcus)

Thursday, May 31
through
Sunday, June 24 New York Classical Theatre: Twelfth Night, directed by Stephen Burdman, Central Park, 103rd St. & Central Park West, Thursday through Sunday at 7:00

Tuesday, June 5
through
Saturday, June 30 Shakespeare in the Park: As You Like It, directed by Daniel Sullivan and starring Lily Rabe, Andre Braugher, Stephen Spinella, Oliver Platt, and Renee Elise Goldsberry, with music by Steve Martin, Delacorte Theater, Central Park, 8:00

Wednesday, June 6
through
Saturday, June 23 Inwood Shakespeare Festival: As You Like It, Moose Hall Theatre Company, directed by Ted Minos, Inwood Hill Park Peninsula, Wednesdays through Saturdays at 7:30

Friday, June 22
and
Saturday, June 23 SummerStage Theater: Paige in Full, by Paige Hernandez, directed by Danielle A. Drakes, and featuring DJ Reborn, Red Hook Park, 8:00

Saturday, June 23
through
Sunday, July 15 Boomerang Theatre Company: Hamlet, directed by Tim Errickson, Central Park, 77th St. & Central Park West, Saturdays & Sundays at 2:00

Tuesday, June 26
through
Friday, June 29 River to River Festival: Act Without Words II by Samuel Beckett, Company SJ, TheatreAlley between Nassau & Centre Sts., 9:00

Tuesday, June 26
through
Sunday, July 22 New York Classical Theatre: Twelfth Night, directed by Stephen Burdman, meet at Castle Clinton in Battery Park, Tuesday through Sunday at 7:00

Thursday, July 5
through
Friday, July 20 Piper Theatre Company: Xanadu the Musical, directed by John P. McEneny, Old Stone House, Washington Park, JJ Byrne Playground, Thursdays & Fridays at 8:00

Friday, July 6
and
Saturday, July 7 SummerStage Theater: A King of Infinite Space, by Mando Alvarado, directed by Jerry Ruiz, St. Mary’s Park, 8:00

Saturday, July 7
through
Saturday, July 21 Piper Theatre Company: Island of Doctor Moreau, Old Stone House, Washington Park, JJ Byrne Playground, Saturdays at 8:00

Sunday, July 8
through
Thursday, July 12 River to River Festival: The Saints Tour by Molly Rice, directed by Maureen Towey, 7:00

Thursday, July 12
through
Saturday, July 28 The Drilling Company’s Shakespeare in the Parking Lot: The Merry Wives of Windsor,, Municipal Parking Lot (Ludlow & Broome), Thursday through Saturday, 8:00

Thursday, July 12
through
Sunday, August 5 Hudson Warehouse: The Rover by Aphra Behn, directed by Jesse Michael Mothershed, Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, Riverside Park, Thursday through Sunday at 6:30

Friday, July 13
and
Saturday, July 14 SummerStage Theater: A King of Infinite Space, by Mando Alvarado, directed by Jerry Ruiz, Crotona Park, 8:00

Wednesday, July 18
through
Saturday, August 4 Moose Hall Theatre Company: The Golem, Heart of Light, Mind of Darkness, written and directed by Ted Minos, Inwood Hill Park Peninsula, Wednesdays through Saturdays at 7:30

Monday, July 23
through
Saturday, August 25 Shakespeare in the Park: Into the Woods, directed by Timothy Sheader and starring Amy Adams, Denis O’Hare, Donna Murphy, and Gideon Glick, Delacorte Theater, Central Park, 8:00

Wednesday, July 25
through
Saturday, August 18 Hip to Hip: Hamlet and Comedy of Errors in repertory, multiple locations in Queens, 5:00 or 7:30

Friday, July 27
and
Saturday, July 28 SummerStage Theater: The Power of the Trinity, by Roland Wolf, adapted and directed by Alfred Preisser, with original music composition by Tomas Doncker, Springfield Park, 8:00

Tuesday, July 31 SummerStage Theater: The Power of the Trinity, by Roland Wolf, adapted and directed by Alfred Preisser, with original music composition by Tomas Doncker, Central Park, 8:00

Thursday, August 2
through
Saturday, August 18 The Drilling Company’s Shakespeare in the Parking Lot: Coriolanus,, Municipal Parking Lot (Ludlow & Broome), Thursday through Saturday, 8:00

Friday, August 3
through
Sunday, August 5 SummerStage Theater: The Power of the Trinity, by Roland Wolf, adapted and directed by Alfred Preisser, with original music composition by Tomas Doncker, Marcus Garvey Park, 8:00

Saturday, August 25
through
Monday, August 27 SummerStage Theater: Jason and the Argonauts, by Apollonius Rhodius, new translation by Aaron Poochigian, East River Park, 8:00

THE MONKEY CHANNEL

Fred Torres Collaborations
527 West 29th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
Saturday, June 16, 7:00, and Sunday, June 17, 4:00
Tickets: $15
212-244-5074
www.johnbyrneproductions.com
www.fredtorres.com

Last summer, dancer and choreographer John Byrne presented “Facility of Movement,” an engaging site-specific lunchtime dance made in conjunction with David LaChapelle’s “From Darkness to Light” installation at Lever House, which was designed by Fred Torres Collaborations. Byrne and LaChapelle also worked together on Byrne’s evening-length Transcending Form at Theatre 80. This weekend Byrne will be premiering The Monkey Channel, a play with dance inspired by the writings of John Krakauer (Into Thin Air), running June 16-17 at Fred Torres in Chelsea. In 1990, midwestern single mom Cindy suddenly decides to climb Mt. Eiger, the more-than-thirteen-thousand-foot-high mountain in the Bernese Alps made famous by the Trevanian book and Clint Eastwood movie The Eiger Sanction, leaving her teenage daughter at home with an exchange student from the Dominican Republic. The play is written and directed by Byrne, who also appears in the production along with Debra Zalkind and Natasha Murray. Tickets are available with advance RSVP to john@johnbyrneproductions.com.