Tag Archives: Daniel Sullivan

LOST LAKE

Veronica (Tracie Thoms) and Hogan (John Hawkes) are a pair of lost souls set adrift in new play by David Auburn (photo by Joan Marcus)

Manhattan Theatre Club
NY City Center Stage 1
131 West 55th St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
Tuesday – Saturday through December 21, $90
212-581-1212
www.lostlakemtc.com
www.nycitycenter.org

One of the best new plays of the fall season, David Auburn’s Lost Lake is a relatively simple yet compelling drama about two flawed souls trapped in worlds they can’t break out of. Veronica (Tracie Thoms) is a single mother looking to rent a cabin upstate for a week for her, her children, and one of their friends. Veronica goes up early to check out the cabin, which turns out to be as shoddy and ramshackle as its owner, Hogan (John Hawkes), a gaunt, grizzled, but well-meaning man who can’t seem to do anything right in his life. Both are repairers of a sort; Veronica is a nurse practitioner with aspirations to perhaps become a doctor, while Hogan purports to be a handyman who can fix just about anything, including the rotting swimming dock out on the lake behind the cabin. But neither can patch the gaping holes in their lives. As her supposed vacation progresses, Veronica gets caught up in Hogan’s family drama, as he lurks around the property, telling her about his problems with his ex-wife, his daughter, his brother, and, mostly, his despised sister-in-law, no matter how much Veronica just wants him to leave. But various events, both major and minor, keep bringing these two very different people together during a complicated period in which each is forced to take a long, hard look at the choices they’ve made while dealing with the hands they’ve been given.

Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner Auburn reteams with his Proof director, Daniel Sullivan, for this moving slice-of-life tale, which is highlighted by two superb performances. Thoms (Cold Case, Stick Fly) is careful and deliberate as Veronica, a troubled woman who does not like to let her wounds show. The Oscar-nominated Hawkes (Winter’s Bone, The Sessions) is riveting as Hogan, all herky-jerky and unpredictable as a man seemingly uncomfortable in his own skin. The back-and-forth banter between them is enhanced by the piercing yet vulnerable looks in their eyes, neither character happy with their lot in life but not sure how to turn things around. The script cleverly touches on such issues as race, the economic crisis, class, elitism, and gender roles while efficiently dismissing the one place you really don’t want it to go. J. Michael Griggs’s set is appropriately broken-down and dilapidated, echoing the protagonists’ inner demons. The ninety-minute Manhattan Theatre Club production follows the play’s debut earlier this year at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with Jake Weber and Opal Alladin as part of the Sullivan Project, a residency led by artistic director Daniel Sullivan, who has also helmed such shows as Rabbit Hole, Orphans, The Heidi Chronicles, and many Shakespeare in the Park presentations. Lost in the Lake is a fine fit for the intimate Stage I at City Center, where it is scheduled to run through December 21.

THE COUNTRY HOUSE

An acting family rips into itself in Donald Margulies’s THE COUNTRY HOUSE (photo by Joan Marcus)

Manhattan Theatre Club at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
261 West 47th St. between Broadway & Eighth Aves.
Tuesday – Sunday through November 23, $67-$125
www.manhattantheatreclub.com
www.thecountryhousebway.com

There’s something all too familiar about Pulitzer Prize winner Donald Margulies’s latest play, The Country House, which opened October 2 at the Manhattan Theatre Club’s Broadway home, the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. The show, which deals with a close-knit group of friends and relatives gathering at a country house during the Williamstown Theatre Festival, resounds with echoes of such recent productions as the Tony-winning Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, the underrated Ten Chimneys, the Public’s Nikolai and the Others, and MTC’s own The Snow Geese. It’s a year after the tragic death of Kathy, a beloved and successful actress and, by all accounts, one of the most amazing women ever to step foot on the planet. Her family is honoring her memory at their country house, led by her mother, stage diva Anna Patterson (Blythe Danner); Anna’s cynical, ne’er-do-well son, Elliot Cooper (Eric Lange); her former son-in-law, schlock director Walter Keegan (David Raasche), who was married to Kathy; and Susie (Sarah Steele), Walter and Kathy’s twentysomething daughter. Walter has arrived with his new fiancée, the much younger and very beautiful — as we are told over and over again — Nell McNally (Kate Jennings Bryant), a struggling actress, and Anna has also invited TV superstar and heartthrob Michael Astor (Daniel Sunjata), a longtime family friend who is slumming by appearing at the festival in Ferenc Molnár’s The Guardsman. Margulies (Time Stands Still, Dinner with Friends) channels Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard and The Seagull as all the women flirt with Michael, the cynical Susie chooses not to get involved in the family business, and the condescending and contemptuous Elliott takes issue with just about everyone, writing a play that doesn’t exactly endear him to the others.

The Country House might not shed new light on this somewhat tired subject, but the production itself is excellent, fluidly directed by Daniel Sullivan, who has helmed many of Margulies’s previous plays. John Lee Beatty’s living-room set is charming and inviting, enhanced by Peter Kaczorowski’s splendid lighting, which smartly signals each next scene and is especially effective evoking a lightning storm. The acting is exemplary, led by the always engaging Danner (The Commons of Pensacola, Butterflies Are Free) as the still-feisty family matriarch rehearsing for Miss Warren’s Profession, and Steele (Slowgirl, Russian Transport), who is a star on the rise. Rasche (Speed-the-Plow, Sledge Hammer!) is particularly effective as Walter, a character with a lot more depth than originally presented, and TV veteran Lange (Lost, Victorious), in his first play in seven years, will have you wondering why he doesn’t take to the stage more often. Originally produced this past summer at the Geffen Playhouse in L.A. (where Danner, Steele, Rasche, and Lange originated their roles), The Country House has a lot to offer, but it’s a place that’s been visited far too often.

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.)

BREAK BREAD WITH THE BARD: WHY SHAKESPEARE? WHY NOW?

Michael Pennington, who is starring as King Lear in Theatre for a New Audience production, will participate in Drama Desk panel on Shakespeare

DRAMA DESK SPRING LUNCHEON AND PANEL DISCUSSION
Sardi’s Eugenia Room
234 West 44th St. between Seventh & Eighth Aves.
Friday, April 4, $50-$60, 11:45 am
212-352-3101
www.dramadesk.org

Has Shakespeare ever been hotter in New York theater? Mark Rylance just dazzled Broadway in Twelfth Night and Richard III; Kenneth Branagh will be starring in and directing Macbeth at the Park Avenue Armory in June, following Ethan Hawke’s portrayal at Lincoln Center; Julie Taymor inaugurated Theatre for a New Audience’s new Brooklyn space with A Midsummer Night’s Dream; the National Theatre of China just made its U.S. debut with Richard III at the Skirball Center; Romeo & Juliet could recently be seen on Broadway and at Classic Stage; the Public Theater moved Antony and Cleopatra to Haiti; and we’ve had a surfeit of King Lears, with Frank Langella at BAM, Michael Pennington currently at Theatre for a New Audience, and John Lithgow set to take on the role this summer at the Delacorte. On April 4, the Drama Desk will delve into this Shakespearean deluge with the panel discussion “Why Shakespeare? Why Now?” at its annual spring luncheon, taking place in Sardi’s Eugenia Room. The event will be moderated by theater teacher, critic, translator, and playwright Dr. Carol Rocamora and feature Taymor, who in addition to Midsummer Night’s Dream has directed productions of The Tempest, The Taming of the Shrew, and Titus Andronicus for stage and/or screen; John Glover, who played multiple roles in Macbeth at the Vivian Beaumont; Scott Shepherd, who starred in the Wooster Group’s Cry, Trojans! based on Troilus and Cressida; Daniel Sullivan, who has helmed seven Shakespeare in the Park plays; and Pennington, the cofounder of the English Shakespeare Company who has appeared in more than a dozen Shakespeare productions in addition to writing several books on individual works by the Bard.

THE SNOW GEESE

The Gaesling clan gathers at their upstate lodge for the start of hunting season (photo by Joan Marcus)

Manhattan Theatre Club at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
261 West 47th St. between Broadway & Eighth Aves.
Tuesday – Sunday through December 15, $67-$120
www.manhattantheatreclub.com
www.thesnowgeesebroadway.com

Late last year, Sharr White’s gripping The Other Place, a searing look inside the mind of a marketing executive lost in her own alternate reality, opened on Broadway after a 2011 run at MCC Theatre. White’s follow-up, The Snow Geese, another coproduction of Manhattan Theatre Club and MCC at the Samuel J. Friedman, is a dreary mashup of Alan Bridges’s 1985 film The Shooting Party and Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, a just-plain-dull WWI-era tale focusing on a woman having difficulty facing reality after the unexpected loss of her beloved husband. Despite the sudden death of Teddy, Elizabeth Gaesling (Mary-Louise Parker) thinks she is ready to go on with her life as the family comes together at their lodge in upstate New York for their traditional toast at the opening of snow goose season. Elizabeth is joined by her two sons: the patriotic, prodigal Duncan (Evan Jonigkeit), who goes to Princeton and has joined the war effort, and Arnold (Brian Cross), who has stayed home to take care of their mother and the family finances, which are not in very good shape.

Two sisters (Mary-Louise Parker and Victoria Clark) try to get by in Sharr White’s new Broadway play (photo by Joan Marcus)

Also with them is Elizabeth’s sister, Clarissa (Victoria Clark), a very Christian woman who thinks that Elizabeth should still be in mourning, and her husband, Max (Danny Burstein), a German-born doctor with a thick accent who can no longer practice medicine because of anti-Axis sentiment, even though he has been an American for decades. Most of the meandering story plays out on John Lee Beatty’s stodgy dining-room set, with occasional boring scenes out in bare woods where Duncan and Arnold verbally spar while not shooting at snow geese, who fly by in a metaphorical gaggle of freedom. The most interesting figure in the play is the Gaeslings’ maid, Viktorya Gryaznoy (Jessica Love), a bright young woman from a wealthy family who escaped the Ukraine and has taken a job well below her; how she is treated by the others establishes not only her character but theirs as well. Director Daniel Sullivan (Proof, Orphans) is not able to do much with the material or the mediocre performances, surprising from such a talented cast. The Snow Geese takes aim at examining the human condition in a changing America during WWI but unfortunately ends up firing mostly blanks.

SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK: THE COMEDY OF ERRORS

The dancing starts early and keeps on coming in playful Central Park production of THE COMEDY OF ERRORS (photo by Joan Marcus)

Central Park
Delacorte Theater
Through June 30, free, 8:30
shakespeareinthepark.org

Shakespeare in the Park kicks off its 2013 season — and second half century — with a delightfully fresh and funny production of William Shakespeare’s early play, The Comedy of Errors. Inspired by the ancient Roman comedies of Plautus such as The Menaechmi and Amphitruo, the Bard created a farce built around two pairs of identical twins who are separated shortly after birth during a shipwreck. Egeon (Jonathan Hadary) brings Antipholus (Hamish Linklater) and the servant child Dromio (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) back home to Syracuse, wondering what has become of his wife and the other two boys. Many years later, his search for his family leads him to Ephesus, run by the gangster Duke (Skipp Sudduth), who has a thick Brooklyn accent, and his gun-wielding henchmen. Unbeknownst to Egeon, both sets of twins are soon also in Ephesus, getting mixed up in different pairings, with Antipholus of Ephesus confused by Dromio of Syracuse, thinking it is his Dromio, and vice versa. Meanwhile, Antipholus of Syracuse has the hots for Luciana (Heidi Schreck), the sister of Adriana (Emily Bergl), who is married to Antipholus of Ephesus. The mayhem mounts as Angelo the goldsmith (Robert Creighton) makes a necklace for Antipholus of Ephesus, who decides to give it to a local courtesan (De’Adre Aziza) when he thinks his wife is cheating on him.

Antipholus (Hamish Linklater) and Dromio (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) get all mixed up in Shakespeare in the Park production of THE COMEDY OF ERRORS (photo by Joan Marcus)

Antipholus (Hamish Linklater) and Dromio (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) get all mixed up in the Bard’s comedy of mistaken identity (photo by Joan Marcus)

It’s all great fun, set in a 1940s atmosphere with nightclubs, couples swing dancing between scenes, a movie theater (named the Lyceum) that is showing the 1933 Eddie Cantor musical Roman Scandals, and a train station that takes passengers to Ithaca, Utica, Troy, and Schenectady. Shakespeare in the Park veteran Sullivan (Orphans, Glengarry Glen Ross) turns up the slapstick as the gang makes its merry way to an immensely satisfying conclusion. The excellent cast is led by a standout performance from three-time Emmy nominee Ferguson (Modern Family), who has a ball running around as the two Dromios, along with Sudduth doing double duty as Dromio of Ephesus’s oversized wife, Linklater (Seminar, The School for Lies) playing two very different Antipholuses, and Harady telling the story of his search using a magical suitcase. The lighthearted romp, which continues at the Delacorte through June 30, also features original music by Greg Pliska, choreography by Mimi Lieber, and scenic design by John Lee Beatty; be sure to get there a little early, because the dancing starts well before showtime (8:30), setting the proper mood for the festivities. 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 2013

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS is first of two free Shakespeare in the Park presentations at the Delacorte this summer

Tuesday, May 28
through
Sunday, June 30
Shakespeare in the Park: The Comedy of Errors, starring Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jonathan Hadary, Hamish Linklater, Heidi Schreck, Skipp Sudduth, Jessica Wu, and others, directed by Daniel Sullivan, Delacorte Theater, Central Park, Tuesday – Sunday at 8:30

Thursday, May 30
through
Sunday, June 23
New York Classical Theatre: The Seagull by Anton Chekhov, translated by Jean-Claude van Itallie, directed by Stephen Burdman, Central Park, 103rd St. & Central Park West, Thursday – Sunday at 7:00

Monday, June 17
River to River Festival: Bad News!, staged reading directed by JoAnne Akalaitis, Poets House, 10 River Terrace, 6:30

Saturday, June 22
River to River Festival: Andrew Schneider, Tidal, curated by Laurie Anderson, East River Esplanade, Pier 15, 9:00

Tuesday, June 25
through
Sunday, June 30
New York Classical Theatre: The Seagull by Anton Chekhov, translated by Jean-Claude van Itallie, directed by Stephen Burdman, Prospect Park, Rustic Shelter by the Lake, 7:00

Thursday, June 27
through
Sunday, June 30
River to River Festival: Sekou Sundiata / Rhodessa Jones, blessing the boats: the remix, with Will Power, Carl Hancock Rux, and Mike Ladd, part of “Blink Your Eyes: Sekou Sundiata Revisited,” 3:00 or 8:00

Friday, June 28
through
Sunday, July 14
Shakespeare in Carroll Park: Julius Caesar, Smith Street Stage, bring your own seating, Carroll Park, 7:00

Sunday, June 30
River to River Festival: Isolde, LMCC Open Studios with New York City Players, written and directed by Richard Maxwell, starring Jim Fletcher, Brian Mendes, Victoria Vazquez, and Gary Wilmes, 1 Liberty Plaza, advance RSVP required, 3:00

Sunday, June 30
Tuesday, July 2
and
Wednesday, July 3
River to River Festival: You, My Mother: A Chamber Opera in Two Parts, by Two-Headed Calf & Yarn/Wire, directed by Brooke O’Harra, music by Brendan Connelly and Rick Burkhardt, text by Karinne Keithley-Syers and Kristen Kosmas, performed by Gelsey Bell, Beth Griffith, Laryssa Husiak, and Mike Mikos, Pier 17, South Street Seaport, advance RSVP required, 3:00 and/or 8:30

ONE from Piper Theatre Productions on Vimeo.

Friday, July 5, 12, 19
Saturday, July 6, 13, 20
and
Thursday, July 11, 18
Piper Theatre: Frankenstein, directed by John P. McEneny, with films by Jeremy Mather and original score by Lucas Syed, Old Stone House in Washington Park, 8:30

Saturday, July 6, 13, 20
and
Friday, July 12, 19
Piper Theatre: You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, directed by Mollie Lief Abramson, Old Stone House in Washington Park, 7:00

Tuesday, July 9
through
Sunday, August 4
New York Classical Theatre: The Tempest by William Shakespeare, directed by Sean Hagerty, Battery Park, Tuesday – Sunday, 7:00

Wednesday, July 10
through
Saturday, July 13
River to River Festival: This Great Country by 600 Highwaymen, directed by Abigail Browde & Michael Silverstone, advance RSVP required, Pier 17 Storefront, South Street Seaport, 8:00

Thursday, July 11
through
Saturday, July 27
Shakespeare in the Parking Lot: Cymbeline, municipal parking lot, corner of Ludlow & Broome Sts.

Saturday, July 13
River to River Festival: Open Studios with Andrew Ondrejcak based on Strindberg’s A Dream Play, Building 110, LMCC’s Arts Center at Governors Island, 2:00 – 6:00

Tuesday, July 23
through
Sunday, August 18
Shakespeare in the Park: Love’s Labour’s Lost: A New Musical, songs by Michael Friedman, book adapted by Alex Timbers, directed by Alex Timbers, Delacorte Theater, Central Park, Tuesday – Sunday at 8:30

Tuesday, July 30
through
Thursday, August 1
SummerStage “This is __ Hip-Hop”: King Kong by Alfred Preisser & Randy Weiner, directed by Alfred Preisser, Herbert Von King Park, 8:00

Thursday, August 1
through
Saturday, August 17
Shakespeare in the Parking Lot: Richard III, directed by Hamilton Clancy, municipal parking lot, corner of Ludlow & Broome Sts.

Friday, August 2
and
Saturday, August 3
SummerStage Theatre: Diablo Love by Mando Alvarado, directed by Alfred Preisser, with music direction and composition by Tomás Doncker, Herbert Von King Park, 8:00

Alfred Preisser and Randy Weiner’s KING KONG is part of SummerStage season

Monday, August 5
SummerStage “This Is __ Hip-Hop”: King Kong by Alfred Preisser & Randy Weiner, directed by Alfred Preisser, Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, 8:00

Tuesday, August 6
Wednesday, August 7
and
Saturday, August 10
SummerStage “This Is __ Hip-Hop”: King Kong by Alfred Preisser & Randy Weiner, directed by Alfred Preisser, St. Mary’s Park, 8:00

Thursday, August 8
and
Friday, August 9
SummerStage Theatre: Diablo Love by Mando Alvarado, directed by Alfred Preisser, with music direction and composition by Tomás Doncker, St. Mary’s Park, 8:00

Tuesday, August 13
Wednesday, August 14
and
Saturday, August 17
SummerStage “This Is __ Hip-Hop”: King Kong by Alfred Preisser & Randy Weiner, directed by Alfred Preisser, Marcus Garvey Park, 8:00

Thursday, August 15
and
Friday, August 16
SummerStage Theatre: Diablo Love by Mando Alvarado, directed by Alfred Preisser, with music direction and composition by Tomás Doncker, Marcus Garvey Park, 8:00

Monday, August 19
SummerStage Theatre: Diablo Love by Mando Alvarado, directed by Alfred Preisser, with music direction and composition by Tomás Doncker, Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, 8:00

Tuesday, August 20
through
Thursday, August 22
SummerStage “This Is __ Hip-Hop”: King Kong by Alfred Preisser & Randy Weiner, directed by Alfred Preisser, Marcus Garvey Park, 8:00

Friday, August 23
and
Saturday, August 24
SummerStage Theatre: Diablo Love by Mando Alvarado, directed by Alfred Preisser, with music direction and composition by Tomás Doncker, East River Park, 8:00