cameron folmar | This Week in New York

Stephen Spinella has a blast as the title character in streamlined revival of Ben Jonson’s VOLPONE (photo by Carol Rosegg)

Red Bull Theater at the Lucille Lortel Theater
121 Christopher St. between Bleecker & Hudson Sts.
Tuesday – Sunday through December 23, $20-$75
212-352-3101
www.redbulltheater.com

Ben Jonson’s classic 1606 English Renaissance satire, Volpone, is currently enjoying its first major New York City revival in half a century, in a deliriously entertaining streamlined version at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. The Red Bull Theater production, directed with a playful hand by Jesse Berger, stars two-time Tony winner Stephen Spinella (Angels in America) as Volpone, a Venice magnifico who takes great delight in duping various local patrons out of their extensive wealth. “Open the shrine, that I may see my saint. . . . Hail the world’s soul, and mine,” he declares upon waking, referring to his treasure chests of gold. He requests a serenade by his trio of oddball servants, eunuch Castrone (Sean Patrick Doyle), fool Androgyno (Alexander Sovronsky), and dwarf Nano (Teale Sperling), who put on a fabulous little performance for their master, with the help of offstage musicians and ensemble members Jen Eden and Pearl Rhein. Pretending to be dying of a variety of awful illnesses, Volpone is visited by a series of greedy elitists who bring him expensive gifts in the hopes of becoming his sole heir and inheriting his vast riches. The parade of men and women who feign caring about him while actually praying for his impending death include Corbaccio (Alvin Epstein), a nearly deaf old man willing to cut his son, Bonario (Gregory Wooddell), out of his will in favor of Volpone; Corvino (Michael Mastro), a wealthy merchant contemplating pimping out his virtuous wife, Celia (Christina Pumariega), in order to be named as Volpone’s heir; Voltore (Rocco Sisto), a buffoonish lawyer who can’t wait for Volpone to kick the bucket; and the elegant Lady Would-Be (four-time Tony nominee Tovah Feldshuh), who uses her feminine wiles to go after the prize. Orchestrating the mad goings-on is Volpone’s right-hand parasite, Mosca (Cameron Folmar), who relishes his role as the one who casts out the bait and reels in the catch. But when Volpone goes too far, he and Mosca have to come up with a new plan or face potential ruination.

The supposedly impending death of a wealthy Venetian sets many wheels in motion in classic English comedy (photo by Carol Rosegg)

Considered one of the greatest non-Shakespearean Jacobean comedies, Volpone is a frenetic farce fraught with fanciful flourishes. Jonson has fun with the details, beginning with the characters’ names, which reveal their inner nature; Volpone means fox, Corbaccio raven, Corvino crow, Voltore vulture, and Mosca fly. He skewers English society, leaving no one unscathed, including Volpone and Mosca and the courts. Spinella has a ball playing the sly fox, addressing the audience directly as he dupes his callers with relish, but Folmar nearly steals the show as his oft-improvising servant. Trimmed down to a lean two hours from its original four, Volpone also features several raunchy musical numbers by Scott Killian and wonderful costumes by Clint Ramos that further reflect the characters’ true selves. Things threaten to get a little too crazy in the second act, but Berger steadies the ship for a grand finale. Jonson works all seven deadly sins into his tale, which still feels relevant in today’s money-hungry world, where so many are willing to do whatever it takes for wealth and power.

Richard Hannay is on the run in Tony-winning play THE 39 STEPS

New World Stages
340 West 50th St. between Eighth & Ninth Aves.
Through January 16, $69.50-$149.50
Half-price tickets available at TKTS booths and by using CODE TNAMIGO2 at box office, www.broadwayoffers.com, or 212-947-8844
www.39stepsny.com

While Julie Taymor’s massive extravaganza SPIDER-MAN: TURN OFF THE DARK is dazzling (and confounding) preview audiences and endangering cast members at the Foxwoods Theatre on Broadway, a very different kind of thriller is playing its final weeks nearby. Patrick Barlow’s Tony- and Drama Desk-winning THE 39 STEPS, directed by Maria Aitken, opened in June 2005 in England, moved to Broadway in January 2008, and then settled in for an extended run at New World Stages that comes to an end January 16. Based on John Buchan’s 1915 novel and Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 classic film, the production slyly plays off of Broadway’s penchant for overinflated technical gadgetry by going deliberately low-tech, with tongue firmly planted in cheek. John Behlmann stars as Richard Hannay, an erudite individual falsely accused of murder and forced to head out on the run. Kate MacCluggage plays all three female roles, including the mysterious Annabella Schmidt, the beautiful blonde femme fatale Pamela, and the lonely farm wife Margaret. But the show is stolen by Jamie Jackson and Cameron Folmar, who together play more than one hundred parts, making costume changes that seem impossible as they whirl back and forth across the stage in record time. Cast and crew wonderfully handle chases, shootouts, and other action scenes in inventive, playfully simplistic ways, energized by large doses of good humor and plenty of knowing winks. And yes, Sir Alfred does indeed make an appearance. THE 39 STEPS is an engaging, ingeniously presented comedy thriller that will have you howling with laughter.

In conjunction with the show, the downstairs bar is serving such special cocktails as the 39 Sips, the Vertigo, the Femme Fatale, the McGuffin, and the Hitchcock, which can all be savored inside the theater. And the December 15 evening performance will be followed by a talkback with screenwriter Steven DeRosa, author of WRITING WITH HITCHCOCK.