“Intriguing. a couple reopening old wounds, but also awakening to the idea that if they cut deeper than before, there may just be some possibility of healing those wounds. Here, unusually, there is the suggestion that the oncoming dawn may truly presage a fragile new beginning.

Ms. Flockhart’s Martha seems to be fighting an increasingly frantic, almost-lost battle to salvage her marriage, to claw her way back into her youth, when life, and marriage, offered seemingly limitless opportunities. It’s this sense of irredeemable loss and long-echoing emptiness, of course, that inspired George and Martha to engage in the sad fantasy of rearing a son.

Mr. Quinto’s George retains a cool and definitely calculating poise even when Martha provokes him beyond endurance. the distance between them—he’s a block of ice, she’s desperately trying to chip away at it—creates its own tension, and ultimately pathos.”

-        Wall Street Journal

“A sharp, sexy revival. Quinto’s George is electrifying. Flockhart’s Martha is breathtakingly sexy.”

-        Indulge Magazine

“want a laugh? Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen’s proudly silly take on Dracula has jokes by the truckload.”

- The Daily Beast

“Under Greenberg’s rapid-fire no-holds-barred direction, the 90-minute farce of a fright fest is a laugh-out-loud mash-up of the Victorian era and now. “

- Theatre Scene

“Think Monty Python, The madcap, manic Tricycle Theatre production of The 39 Steps, a dash of the Ridiculous Theatrical Company.”

- NYStage Review

“a rip snort good time. This is how comedy is done!  Run to see this show.”

- Front Row Center

“90 minutes of sheer delight.” 

- Times Square Chronicles

“Director Gordon Greenberg is a laugh maker who knows how to build a joke that puts him in a class with noted comic directors Casey Nicholaw and Jerry Zaks."

- City News

“Gordon Greenberg’s direction is superb. It is a finely tuned choreography of dialogue and movement that harkens back to the golden era of silent films to the Marx Brothers.”

- Fears Magazine

“highly theatrical and inventively directed, THIS IS a vivid world you’ll certainly wish to return to.

Pitre’s performance as Piaf is tremendouS. Lewis carries off this style with panache.”

- Toronto Now

“there is such rampant imagination being exhibited in this production that this oft-told tale is new again.

The whole show is a delight. It is a theater lover’s dream. The focus becomes so singular that you are enthralled by the craftsmanship of playwright, director and actors.”

- New Hope Free Press

”The Old Globe transforms a heavily self-conscious pageant into 100 uninterrupted minutes of buoyant pleasure. Economic indicators have been cloudy for intimate entertainments eyeing the Main Stem, but if sheer entertainment is any criterion, luck may be with these laboring folk should their jobs be transferred to Gotham.

For this new incarnation, the spoken and sung interview excerpts have been streamlined and rearranged for pellucid unity. Situations and images become passed batons.

Helmer Gordon Greenberg marshals the transitions with precision and wit, before our eyes. even the stage manager and band visibly work their magic on an upper tier of Beowulf Boritt's boxy set -- to remind us we're not just hearing about work, we're seeing it in action.

- Bob Verini, Variety 

”intoxicating. intense, big-city evocations of sordid times and characters whores, winos, wastrels AND Bohemian revelry IN director Gordon Greenberg’s excellent "Jacques Brel.” 

- Michael Somers, Star Ledger

”helmer Gordon Greenberg has heightened the cynicism of the Belgian troubadour's impassioned song narratives, giving a whole new audience a chance to connect with the fierce antiwar poetry of earlier generations.”

- Marilyn Stasio, Variety

Terry Teachout

"Half a Sixpence" performed to exhilarating effect by Goodspeed Musicals

Pop quiz: What other musical about class warfare is based on a celebrated piece of Edwardian literature? Answer: "Half a Sixpence," now being performed to exhilarating effect by Goodspeed Musicals, was adapted by David Heneker and Beverley Cross from "Kipps," H.G. Wells's once-popular 1905 novel about a working-class draper's apprentice who inherits a fortune and is catapulted into the ranks of medium-high society. Needless to say, Cross's book retains little more than the bare outline of "Kipps," a 500-page socialist tract disguised as a Dickensian romance in which the author of "The War of the Worlds" railed against "the great stupid machine of retail trade," but the musical still manages to hint at Wells's righteous anger, albeit in much-blunted form.

A monster hit in London in 1963, "Half a Sixpence" ran for 511 performances in New York and was then turned into a big-budget film that was a box-office turkey. The stage version is still remembered in England, but Goodspeed's new revival appears to be the first one of any importance in the U.S. since the show closed on Broadway in 1966. It isn't hard to see why "Half a Sixpence" failed to make its way into the musical-comedy repertory -- the ballads are bland -- but the music-hall numbers are full of spunk, and Goodspeed's production proves they still have the power to delight when staged with imagination and charm.  The cast is marvelous, with Jon Peterson giving a high-powered performance in the starring role that was created four decades ago by Tommy Steele.

To my mind, though, the brightest stars of the evening are Gordon Greenberg, Patti Colombo and Rob Bissinger, the director, choreographer and set designer, who make miraculously resourceful use of the Goodspeed Opera House's tiny stage. I've never seen a smaller show that looked bigger, and the intimacy imposed by the size of the 400-seat house in which "Half a Sixpence" is performed further enhances its impact. Why doesn't some smart producer invite these three fine artists to do a Broadway show together? They make a smashing team.

'33 Variations' Superb PRODUCTION

MICHAEL ECK, TIMES UNION

In 1819, Viennese music publisher Anton Diabelli composed a brief, inconsequential waltz and sent it to a number of composers, challenging them to write a variation on his theme. A savvy man, he knew the resulting folio would sell well, boasting contributions from the biggest names of the day.  Ludwig von Beethoven took the challenge. And how. Eventually, Beethoven, growing deafer by the day, composed 33 responses that have been called the greatest set of variations ever written.  In 2007, Venezuelan-born playwright Moises Kaufman wrote a play based in part on Beethoven's creative process, called "33 Variations."

Capital Repertory Theatre is opening its 30th season with the play and it is, to say the least, an auspicious occasion.

"Variations" also hinges on musicologist Dr. Katherine Brandt, who unlike Beethoven, is a fictional creation. In the past, Kaufman has often based his characters on actual figures, but Brandt is an original, and actress Barbara Walsh brings her to shining life.  Brandt is stricken with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and her body is atrophying as she attempts to finish her life's work of studying Beethoven and his drive to create the variations.  Kaufman weaves many stories into "33 Variations" and he also weaves time, with much of the action taking place simultaneously in the 19th and 21st centuries.  The stories -- relationships between Beethoven (Bob Stillman) and his amanuensis, Anton Schindler (Kevin Gardner); between Shindler and Diabelli (Ward Dales); between Brandt's daughter Clara (Julie Jesnick) and her nurse, Mike Clark (Mark Scheibmeir); and between Brandt and Beethoven librarian Dr. Gertrude Ladenburger (Eileen Schuyler) -- are all variations on a theme.  At heart, the most important story is between Brandt and Clara, whom the musicologist, as Ladenburger points out, treats like a second-rate waltz.

Director Gordon Greenberg has assembled a magnificent production.The acting across the board is superb and so is virtually every other aspect of this production. 

There are many thrilling moments in the show, when the stage arts come together to create magic -- as when Michael Gilliam's lights and projections soak Tobin Ost's miraculous set (populated by monochromatic bookshelves and sliding scrims).  Combined with the old fashioned stagecraft of acting they create wonder.

Stillman is an excellent pianist and he makes his Beethoven mad without making him crazy. Walsh, playing a strong woman in an unbeatable situation, enacts her disease while keeping her spirit. And Jesneck is similarly on target as a girl who can do little, it sometimes seem, but let her mother down.

One need not have interest in classical music; a loved one touched by disease; or even a fascination with 19th century Germany to appreciate this play.  One only needs a heart and a mind.

A NEW EVITA: To see the expertly staged production is to appreciate anew the show's substance.  

Gordon Greenberg's staging is so flashy and fast moving that those who want to settle back for just light and fury will be satisfied.

The staging and acting in "High Flying Adored" and "Rainbow High" make beautiful character studies of a woman getting what she wished for and not knowing quite what to make of it. Later, as Eva's health declines, IT is remarkable in showing the conflict of mental strength and physical weakness...

Throughout the show, director Greenberg makes innovative use of the two-level stage and large ensemble.

This doesn't look like the typical "Evita" production. Silent tableaus often appear on the higher rear level to underscore the action on the main stage. Movement between scenes is seamless except when deliberately stopped for dramatic impact. Peron's rise to the presidency at Eva's urging ("A New Argentina"), Eva's mission to Europe to promote Argentina ("The Rainbow Tour") and the famous balcony scene ("Don't Cry for Me Argentina") are each staged with a feel of freshness....

Of added interest is that this production features a revised version of the show that incorporates musical and character elements used in the 1996 movie version that starred Madonna and Antonio Banderas.
 
"Evita" is powerful theater.
 

Geffen Playhouse's Starry Terms of Endearment 

The engagement, which featured Melissa Benoist, Calista Flockhart, and more, supported Stand Up to Cancer and the Geffen's New Play Development Program.

Presented by Berlanti Productions and Jessica Queller, the Gordon Greenberg-helmed staged reading of James L. Brooks’ screenplay starred Calista Flockhart as Aurora Greenway, Chris Wood as Flap Horton, and recent Beautiful star Melissa Benoist as Emma Greenway. 

“At its core, the Geffen is driven by the power of the arts to illuminate the human experience,” said Geffen Playhouse Executive Director Gil Cates, Jr. “Terms of Endearment is a deeply personal, resonant story and we are proud to partner with Stand Up To Cancer to bring awareness to the very important work they do every day.”

The previously reported cast also featured Alfred Molina as Garrett Breedlove, Kumail Nanjiani as Sam Vurns, Constance Wu as Patsy, Italia Ricci as Doris, Willie Garson as Vernan, and Kate Burton as Dr. Maise.

The 1983 film Terms of Endearment, which won five Academy Awards including Best Picture, featured Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito, and John Lithgow. (Dan Gordon also penned a stage version based on Larry McMurty's original novel and Brooks' screenplay.)

With a revised book by Gordon Greenberg, the show plays more like a remix of the film than a strict adaptation. The key elements of the story are intact, but reshuffled or tweaked with style and precision. This is a snow globe of a show, with such musical highlights as the title tune, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and “The Trolley Song.” Of the songs featured in this production but not in the film, the standout is “Boys and Girls Like You and Me.” Nostalgia for a simpler and more optimistic era is at the heart of this sweetly engaging musical.

- ST. LOUIS POST DISPATCH

All of the changes are for the better, and there has never been a more entertaining version. Although I know it may be sacrilege to admit, I’ve never been a huge fan of the film from which this musical is based. However, I have no doubt that this is the greatest version of Meet Me in St. Louis to have graced the stage.
- REVIEWS ST. LOUIS

The picture-perfect nostalgic closer for The Muny's centennial season, a romantic musical based on the 1944 film that follows the Smith family through 1903 and into the new year as they await the opening of the 1904 World's Fair. The plot focuses on family, friendship, and love, and pays an affectionate tribute to a bygone era in St. Louis history.
- BROADWAY WORLD

'Blue-Sky Boys' stellar at Capital Rep

Story of moon mission engineers entertains, inspires

By turns funny, brainy and magical, the space-race play "The Blue-Sky Boys," receiving its second professional production at Capital Repertory Theatre, is intergalactically rewarding despite covering a round-trip distance of less than half a million miles.

Overflowing with playfulness and humor, Deborah Brevoort's comedy, under the witty, exuberant direction of Capital Rep vet Gordon Greenberg and starring an expert cast, addresses material comprehensively dealt with before in many forms and media: that tense period between May 25, 1961, when President Kennedy vowed to put an American on the moon by the end of the decade, and July 20, 1969, when, at 6:18 p.m. GMT, Apollo 11 and its astronauts settled onto the lunar surface.

Brevoort's approach, to put us into the room with the engineers who made it happen, gets its lift and originality from dramaturgical creativity rather than historical fact. The title refers not to the great azure yonder of the sky — space, after all, is black — but to the imaginative process of the engineers. (They're not scientists, thank you very much, but engineers.) They "blue-sky" ideas, which is to say speculate wildly and improbably, and call on sturdy and forthright influences from the past, including comic-book hero Buck Rogers, the Greek god Apollo, Italian astronomer Galileo and others.

Inspired by these heroes, who appear on a level above the stage and sometimes enter scenes, the engineers strive to break the bonds of gravity as well as conventional thinking. While there was no scientific reason for sending a man to the moon — aside from, as a character says, "trying to beat Russia in a pissing match" — the achievement becomes both a means and a goal, and the engineers must sort out the practical problems of their seemingly impossible task, as well as the philosophical questions raised by the effort.

If directed and performed differently, the three scientists could have been types or stereotypes. Instead we've got three youngish men — played by Andrew Mueller, Shayne David and Etai Benson, all superb — who have believable variety and quirkiness. Greenberg, directing his eighth production at Capital Rep, has a marvelously accomplished hand with the three, whose minds and talents must be such that we never doubt they'd put a rocket, and men, on the moon.

He's even better with the three actors playing the fantastical parts, creating deep comedy from scenes involving Icarus and Apollo (Michael Goldstein), Galileo (Orville Mendoza) and, especially, as Buck Rogers and others, Tom Templeton, whose scenes with David drew deserved guffawing responses from the opening-night crowd.

The set, the fifth for Capital Rep by Paul Tate dePoo III, is a genius installation of a lab of 1960s wires, plugs, dials and small screens, but the most captivating image, achieved by lighting/projection designer Rob Denton, is at the end. Describing it more precisely would spoil the magic for future audiences. Musical, transporting and wholly realized, it is also a blessed reminder of a time when our country — though, then as now, riven by divide — still could be unified in hope and purpose.

Capital Rep's 'Single Girls Guide' a sassy SMART NEW musical

ALBANY — Jane Austen is all the rage lately at Capital Repertory Theatre.

Last fall, the downtown troupe presented "a romantic deconstruction" of Austen's "Pride and Prejudice," retitled "Pride@Prejudice."

Now, the company is offering the world premiere of a new musical, "Single Girls Guide," based on Austen's "Emma," her fifth novel, published in 1815.

It's 1966 in "Single Girls," and Emma Woodhouse is employed, but frustrated, in the newspaper business. Despite being the namesake of the paper's president, she's ghostwriting a dead woman's "Dear Abby"-like advice column and feeling like a glorified secretary.

When a rival with old Southern money backing his enterprise offers her a posher spot at his new rag, she takes the job, becoming a much more successful columnist with her "Single Girls Guide."

"Guide," cleverly written and exuberantly directed by Gordon Greenberg with dynamic songs by Tommy Newman, veers freely from Austen's tale, becoming both a gentle critique and goofball celebration of '60s feminism, tobacco politics and Truman Capote.

Jo Winarski's set design gloriously recalls TV game shows of the era as well as hipper office suites. Dane Laffery's costumes are squarely cut and boldly bright, even when they're black. And a top shelf pit band, featuring pianist/orchestrator/music director Zachary Dietz, bassist Mike Wicks and drummer Joe Barna makes Newman's songs sound great.

"Guide" may occupy the same smoke-and-whiskey world of "Mad Men," but it's a much friendlier place, even when Emma (well-played by Kate Loprest) tries to mess it up.

Newman's songs often flow fast enough to make the show feel sung through. They rightly borrow from a plethora of '60s sounds. The first half of the second act, for example, features wonderful turns from Jonathan Rayson (as Emma's boss and would-be beau Nick Knightley) on "Without Her"; Kelsey Kurz (as unctuous cigarette heir T.R. Elton) on the Andrew Lloyd Webber blues of "What Women Want"; and a brief reprise by Nick Wyman (as Emma's father, Henry) of the poignant "It's About Time." Farah Alvin and Robb Sapp garner lots of laughs as a pair of Cranston, R.I., rubes undone by Emma's un-matchmaking. They sing "In Your Mouth" together, and Alvin wails on "Down the Drain."

Greenberg has been a regular presence at Capital Rep. He's previously helmed properties like "33 Variations," "Song of Singapore" and "Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris" for the Pearl Street theater. "Guide" certainly feels like it will have long legs.

rousing 40th anniversary production of “1776”

Hear! Hear! The Continental Congress has assembled at Paper Mill Playhouse.

Composer Sherman Edwards, who died in 1981, created a score of great vigor and melodic sweep that soars with guts and glory.

The principal historical figures are well-drawn here: Don Stephenson is the quick-tempered and single-minded John Adams, a shrewd politician who really cares for his cause; Conrad John Schuck blesses gout-ridden Benjamin Franklin with bluster and charm; stalwart Thomas Jefferson is played with restraint by Kevin Earley; and Aaron Ramey provides a great rush of humor as Richard Henry Lee with “The Lees of Old Virginia.”

The show’s stirring 11 o’clock number goes to James Barbour, most recently seen as Sydney Carton in Broadway’s “A Tale of Two Cities.” As staunch defender of slavery Edward Rutledge of South Carolina, he sings a smoldering version of the whip-cracking “Molasses to Rum.”

Among the ladies, Lauren Kennedy is a spirited Martha Jefferson, and Kerry O’Malley makes a winsome Abigail Adams. A sweet diversion from the congressional hearings finds Adams and Franklin joining Mrs. Jefferson for the sprightly dance that accompanies Kennedy’s joyous confessional “He Plays the Violin,” exuberantly choreographed by Josh Rhodes.

An inspired bit of casting finds George Washington’s courier played by a young black actor, Griffin Mathews, who lends the role a poignant edge, bringing the curtain down on act one with a telling account of war’s ravages in “Momma, Look Sharp.”

The large cast cut distinctive figures, and all the actors have their moments, from Robert Cuccioli’s poised John Dickinson, who sings the calming “Cool, Cool Considerate Men,” to James Coyle’s frail Caesar Rodney of Delaware.

Director Gordon Greenberg has invested the musical history lesson with tremendous verve. The muted period costumes are well tailored and picturesque, and the Congress chamber has been re-created with textbook accuracy by designer Kevin Rupnik, enhanced by Jeff Croiter’s dusty lighting design.

a rousing, colorfully acted and musically rich revival at Paper Mill Playhouse

The Congress is in obstructionist mode. Conservatives and liberals lock horns. Debates about taxes, an escalating war, the erosion of human liberties and a restructuring of the social order end in stalemate and standoff.

“Piddle, twiddle and resolve; nothing ever do we solve,” is the way one wag describes the morass. 

The legislative body in question is the Second Continental Congress, and the play is “1776,” the 1969 Tony Award-winning musical by Sherman Edwards (music and lyrics) and Peter Stone (book) that recounts the critical final weeks leading to the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

It is currently receiving a rousing, colorfully acted and musically rich revival at Paper Mill Playhouse. 

Forty years after the show took Broadway by storm, “1776” remains a powerful teaching tool; a 1972 film version is a basic part of the curriculum for legions of American History 101 students. The founding fathers emerge with striking individuality and depth, among them John Adams (said to be “obnoxious and disliked” even by admirers among his colleagues); Benjamin Franklin (spouting witticisms as he perpetually nods off in public); and Thomas Jefferson (a rather effete personality, though lusty in his appreciation for his young wife, Martha). The excruciating contortions that the Congress undergoes before it can muster a unanimous vote for independence — the Tory sympathizer John Dickinson of Pennsylvania insists on unanimity — are vividly brought to life.

That said, “1776” can prove heavy going. Its first act of one hour and 45 minutes contains ponderous stretches of dialogue punctuated by widely spaced musical numbers (several of which are more fillers than plot movers). The second act, shorter and with greater dramatic tension as the vote on the Declaration nears, is less problematic.

A large and talented cast is ably directed by Gordon Greenberg. Don Stephenson as John Adams captures perfectly the unflagging badger we know so well from historical records. A tender exchange of letters with Abigail, played beautifully by Kerry O’Malley, lowers the level of bombast in a welcome shift. As Benjamin Franklin, Conrad John Schuck gives a warm and humorous portrayal. If Kevin Earley’s Jefferson seems a bit flaccid, the excessively bouncy Martha of Lauren Kennedy, especially in her morning-after romp “He Plays the Violin,” strikes one as too contemporary in style and sound.

Aaron Ramey as Richard Henry Lee mugs outrageously as he lavishes praise on “The Lees of Old Virginia,” while Nick Wyman finds measured dignity in the venerable John Hancock. With Robert Cuccioli’s deliciously suave portrayal of John Dickinson, the audience has someone they love to hate. Mr. Cuccioli’s demeaning sneers and scornful shrugs find their mark. 

In a score that lacks distinction, James Barbour’s performance of “Molasses to Rum,” with its lurid description of the trade triangle involving slavery, and Griffin Matthews’s “Momma, Look Sharp,” a dirge sung by a mortally wounded soldier, are standouts. 

The single-setting scenic design of Kevin Rupnik, lighted elegantly by Jeff Croiter, works beautifully to evoke the Philadelphia environs of the Congress, and Alejo Vietti’s costumes are period perfect.

All in all, this is a meaty musical history lesson with contemporary resonance, performed with panache.

Theater review: SURPRISINGLY ENTERTAINING, WITTY and POIGNANT, ‘Stars of David’ examines religious identity

Seeking an answer to “Who am I?” is the defining journey of most lives, and our religious heritage is part of the eternally elusive solution, even if we don’t embrace that religion or its culture.

Such is the soul of Stars of David: Story To Song, a musical revue, which, despite its cripplingly kitschy title, is a surprisingly entertaining, witty and poignant look at how Jewish-Americans struggle on that journey.

Fashion designer Kenneth Cole asks during the evening, “I mean, is who you are the faith you were born into — by no choice of your own?” It is not a rhetorical question.

The show has begun a six-city Florida tour at the Broward Center, later moving to Miami, Miami Beach and West Palm Beach, among others.

It melds monologues and quips about identity raised in interviews with famous contemporary Jews. Interspersed between spoken vignettes are 13 songs keyed to those monologues — music written expressly for this show by some of the best known composers and lyricists including Jeanine Tesori, Michael Feinstein, Richard Maltby and David Shire.

Some songs and monologues are just cute throwaways, some are not as well written as others. But several are insightful observations reflecting diverse experiences ranging from agnosticism to a profound immersion. They often reference rediscovering faith because of intermarriage or the birth of children.

The raw material is drawn from a 2005 book Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewishin which Abigail Pogrebin, a former 60 Minutes producer, interviewed about 60 notables. She, and director Gordon Greenberg created a concert-like show that bowed off- Broadway last year.

One of the strongest segments excerpts an interview with Cole, who spoke about how he agreed for his children to be raised Catholic in deference to his wife. But with the death of his own father, he felt he had sacrificed something that he needed to relearn before passing it on to his children. Those sentiments are reflected in a song The Darkening Blue by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater (Spring Awakening).

A shattering section depicts Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s memories of being forbidden, ironically by Talmudic law, to be part of the 10-man minyan to say the mourner’s prayer at her beloved mother’s funeral. Those feelings are echoed in the subsequent song, As If I Weren’t There, written by Tom Kitt (next to normal) and Pogrebin.

But there are humorous numbers such as the seemingly ultra-shiksa Gwyneth Paltrow singing about how her looks belie her heritage in (I’m A) Who Knew Jew.

The performers embrace the energetic, infectious joy of the piece. They include Avi Hoffman (who developed the Too Jewish series), Patti Gardner, Mike Westrich and Cassie Levine, accompanied on piano by Caryl Fantel. They have been guided by the director Gordon Greenberg and musical director Eric Alsford.

The scores of interviews deliver the distinct sense of pride and confusion and searching, culminating in a reinforcing validation that you’re not searching all alone.

`Edges: The Musical’ is a must-see

By MICHAEL ECK
Special to the Times Union

ALBANY - Get to Capital Repertory Theatre.

They’re presenting the professional premiere of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul’s “Edges: The Musical,” and you’ll want to be able to say you saw it when …

Over the past few years, Capital Rep has made a habit of staging what are, in essence, “dating” musicals and/or comedies … stuff like “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change,” “8-Track: The Sounds of the ’70s” and let us not forget the godawful “Five Course Love.”

“Edges” is certainly obsessed with dating and relationships, but it stands head and shoulders above the aforementioned shows.

It is, in every way, a fine piece of work, and yes it’s made even more impressive by the fact that it was composed by a pair of ambitious college kids.

“Edges” is the kind of material that makes us thrilled to have a place like Capital Rep in our backyard. It should also be noted that it is just one element in “The Biggest Little International Play Festival” which also finds the downtown venue offering Heather Raffo’s “Nine Parts of Desire” from Nov. 1-11 and Dov Weinstein’s Tiny Ninja Theater production of “Hamlet” from Nov. 12-15.

Pasek and Paul have created a show that speaks directly to issues of youth, the way “Rent” did a decade ago. In doing so they have found universal appeal. If audience members aren’t going through all that angst and discovery for themselves, they remember what it’s like.

Musically, it’s chatty and choppy like “Rent,” but it’s balanced by Paul’s occasionally beautiful way with a melody. Some of these songs are worthy of Jason Robert Brown or Adam Guettel, and “Lying There,” as voiced on Wednesday by Farrah Alvin, even hints at Stephen Sondheim. No, really.

The production is up to the show, too. Hate to call on “Rent” again, but Dane Laffrey’s steel frame set does look, well, sort of “Rent-y.” Traci Klainer’s lights, though, are pure Broadway on Pearl Street.

And Paul is as strong on the piano (accompanied by bassist David Malachowski and drummer
Chris Johnson) as he is on staff paper.

Singers Alvin, Steven Booth, Whitney Bashor and Colin Hanlon are invested in the material, sing well and act their parts (sans dialogue mind you, as this is a musical revue) to the teeth. There were more than a few hushed wows on Wednesday following Booth’s “Once I Knew,” Hanlon’s “Along the Way” and Bashor’s tense “Perfect.”

Kudos also to director Gordon Greenberg, who has not only done great work with the show, but brought it to Capital Rep’s attention in the first place.

Granted, Capital Rep can’t sustain itself financially on a diet of new and quirky works, but they need an audience to affirm strong artistic choices.

See this show.

Michael Eck, a freelance writer from Albany, is a regular contributor to the Times Union.

REVIEW: Asolo Rep gets risqué with ’Yentl’

The Asolo Repertory Theatre pushes the envelope with its highly sexualized staging of “Yentl.” 

Superb acting throughout carries the play. It’s frequently steamy on stage as the actors successfully sell the many, intricate modes of young lust. The welcome comedic elements are delivered with charming aplomb. 

A smart, fresh score by original “I Kissed a Girl” singer/songwriter Jill Sobule functions as wonderfully innovative Greek chorus. The songs are strongly performed by a band of mostly Asolo Conservatory students. While the sonics lean toward Old World folk, the lyrics give the play a winning, contemporary edge.

The play by Leah Napolin and Isaac Bashevis, based on Singer’s short story “Yentl The Yeshiva Boy,” begins with a young Jewish woman seeking to enjoy the same education as her male peers in 19th-century Eastern Europe.

After her tutoring father dies, teenage girl Yentl (Hillary Clemens) dresses in his clothes and transforms herself into boy Anshel so she can continue studying Judaism.

Older student Avigdor (Andrew Carter) defends the effeminate Anshel and the two become best friends. Yentl falls in love with Avigdor while maintaining her masquerade, and the idea of his sexuality comes into question as they exchange romantic glances. The story takes its strangest turn when Yentl learns that Avigdor was rejected by bride-to-be Hadass (Gisela Chipe) and then marries her to bring the three into a love triangle. Yentl shares the marriage bed and takes Hadass’ virginity (a sheet is held up and crass comment made). Meanwhile, Avigdor marries pushy shopkeeper Pesha (Summer Dawn Wallace).

Clemens, who’s also great as May Daniels in Asolo Rep’s “Once in a Lifetime,” shines as the character who has “the soul of a man in the body of a woman.”  

The plays ends with many questions regarding the future of the main characters, except for the nonconformist Yentl. 
- BRADENTON HERALD

REVIEW: 'Yentl' offers sweetness and laughter with a modern twist at Asolo Rep

Greenberg brings a loving feeling for the story in this energetic production

The Isaac Bashevis Singer story about “Yentl, the Yeshiva Boy” gets a modern make-over in the Asolo Repertory Theatre production that opened Friday night.

Singer’s short story is about a headstrong Jewish girl living in Eastern Europe in the late 1800s. After her father’s death, she masquerades as a boy to continue studying the Torah because of religious laws preventing women from such activity. The charade, leads her into an unexpected love triangle with a fellow student, Avigdor, and the woman he loves, Hadass.

Gordon Greenberg’s charming production is not quite a musical, but a play with sweet, often quirky songs by Jill Sobule that comment on the story being told.

Giving a new sound to "Yentl"

Sobule's songs have a quasi-Klezmer sound, as if they come from a bygone era filtered through more current styles. And they serve as a Greek (or is that Jewish?) chorus to comment on what’s happening. They work best in quieter ballads like "Tomorrow is Breaking My Heart" and "One Kiss," written with Robin Eaton, and less so in the rowdier “My Sister My Bride,” performed in a broadly sensual style by the talented ensemble members who double as characters and musicians. Surprisingly, the songs function in a similar way to those heard in Barbra Streisand’s film version, where they served as internal musical monologues of the Yentl/Anshel character.

Through a lot of laughter, the production raises questions about how women in various cultures are banned from education, and the importance of pursuing your dreams at any cost, even if that means giving up on love. As much as Yentl may love Avigdor, she can’t see herself as a traditional wife. She must be on her own, to survive.

Greenberg brings a loving feeling for the story in this energetic production, highlighted by an engaging performance by Hillary Clemens in the title role.

She is simultaneously boyish and feminine and conveys the deep passion that causes Yentl to throw aside centuries of Jewish law to better understand it. She is paired nicely with Andrew Carter, who is a caring, compassionate Avigdor, and Gisela Chipe, who is sweetly innocent as Hadass.

The story takes on a more broadly comic style with the supporting players, who include former Producing Artistic Director Howard Millman as Hadass’ lively father, opposite his real-life wife, Carolyn Michel, as an overly worried mother. She also gets laughs as Yachna, who runs a bathhouse for women. Most of the third-year class in the FSU/Asolo conservatory play numerous roles and instruments as they sing the songs and move set pieces on the attractive set by Brian Sidney Bembridge, dominated by a caged wall of books, inviting and forbidden at the same time.

The production does include a brief scene by a river with carefully staged full frontal male nudity, a rarity in the theater, but relevant to the story. It’s one of many scenes that Greenberg uses, along with the music, to link the past to the present.
- SARASOTA HERALD TRIBUNE

Songs in musical 'Vanities' add note of social context

Greenberg's smoothly staged musical bridges the segues

The vanities of "Vanities" are on display in a new format to open TheatreWorks' 37th season. Jack Heifner's popular 1976 play, following the lives of three Texas cheerleaders into adulthood -- one of the longest running plays in off-Broadway history -- is now a musical. It also traces the women's lives right up to the present, which isn't a very good idea. 

The world premiere of "Vanities: A New Musical" opened Saturday at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts in a production that has New York aspirations all over it. Music and lyrics are by David Kirshenbaum, whose "Summer of '42" played TheatreWorks on its way to off-Broadway. Director Gordon Greenberg has New York credits (“Jacques Brel…”), as does choreographer Dan Knechtges ("The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee"), music director Carmel Dean ("Spelling Bee") and orchestrator Lynne Shankel ("Altar Boyz"). 

The performers are Broadway and national tour veterans. Megan Hilty, who plays Mary (the "wild" one), comes fresh from starring as Glinda in "Wicked" on Broadway. Leslie Kritzer ("Hairspray," "Urinetown") plays the super-organized Kathy. Sarah Stiles ("Spelling Bee") is the simpleminded Joanne, who wants nothing more than domestic bliss. Set designer John Arnone began his Tony-winning career with the original production of "Vanities." 

Heifner's book is, as expected, basically faithful to his play. It's the same three-scene format, with an added prologue ("Hey There, Beautiful," sung by the teenagers at their vanities as they prep and primp for school) and epilogue, running a compact 100 minutes with no intermission.

The first scene, in a banner-strewn, rural Texas high school gym in November 1963, introduces the three self-absorbed cheerleaders practicing routines, discussing their popularity, eternal friendship and how to fend off their football team boyfriends' sexual demands, while planning social events and how to get into college without actually cracking a book. Their obliviousness to the outside world is comically betrayed by a major national event. 

Some of the satire has been cut to make room for the songs, which serve something of the same purpose in a more generic manner. They add social context, however, with Kirshenbaum drawing creatively on peppy, period girl-group and other pop-rock styles (and Knechtges on '60s dance moves), expertly handled by Dean's crack pit band and the three potent singers.

Kritzer's redheaded Kathy is the leader of the pack, organizing to maintain their popularity, even if it means fixing a vote. Stiles' Joanne, a prissy, self-absorbed brunette with a squeaky cute-girl voice, is the least intelligent and most judgmental ("If I weren't a virgin, I'd hate myself"). Hilty's blond, fun-loving Mary finds escape from her "bar-hopping mom" in the group and aches to leave the small town behind. 

Greenberg's smoothly staged musical bridges cover the segues, as the actors take turns changing time periods in Cathleen Edwards' brightly conceived costumes and Sharon Ridge's wigs. In 1968, the women gather in a kitschy sorority bedroom. Kathy is busy organizing events and the future of the sorority, but troubled by her lack of plans for life after college. Joanne is tactlessly puffed up about her impending wedding, her life's goal, especially given that Kathy's boyfriend has just married someone else. 

Mary, adopting hippie fashions, doesn't care that much, having found she can have all the sex she wants on her own terms. She breezes in from an anti-war protest, on her way to a civil rights meeting, and sings of longing to get out of Texas and expand her horizons in a potent folk-rock blues with a hint of psychedelic electronics ("Fly Into the Future"). Oddly, the lyrics' celebration of her hedonistic freedom also deny her commitment to the causes she supposedly espouses. 

The same contradictory fault line has always run through Mary in "Vanities." It's most notable in the final, 1976 scene, set in Kathy's sumptuous Manhattan penthouse, when globe-trotting, man-hopping Mary has become a successful gallery owner with no apparent interest in art or anything much except her independence. Kathy has given up trying to plan her life, though Heifner leaves her bio unwritten. That gaping hole is made up for by the exposure of fissures in Joanne's marital bliss, dynamically expressed by Stiles in a solo trembling with angst beneath her smug superiority. 

The open-ended ambiguity of the last scene was part of the play's appeal. But Heifner and Kirshenbaum take advantage of revisiting it for a "Looking Good" epilogue that brings the women's stories up to date in the three decades since. It's a feel-good, circle-of-life ("a river that sweeps us along") song crammed with experiences emblematic of the Boomer generation. But it cheapens the ending by letting the characters off easy. "Vanity of vanities," as the Preacher saith, "all is vanity."

Talkin’ Broadway Regional Reviews: San Francisco

An Engaging Production of the Musical Vanities

 TheatreWorks is currently presenting the world premiere of David Kirshenbaum and Jack Heifner's coming of age musical, Vanities, at the Mountain View Performing Arts Center. Vanities is an impassioned musical featuring three of New York's most talented young singer-actresses. The musical is a bittersweet, snapshot-sharp chronicle of the lives of three small town Texas girls as they go from adolescence to adulthood. 

Jack Heifner's original Vanities opened Off-Broadway at Westside Theatre on March 22, 1976, and featured a young Kathy Bates. The audience loved this heart-on-the-sleeve show so much that it ran 1,785 performances. HBO did a production in 1981 with Meredith Baxter, Shelley Hack and Annette O'Toole playing the three roles (never offered on DVD, unfortunately for the many fans of the fascinating play).

David Kirshenbaum became interested in making a musical version about a year and a half ago. The composer convinced Jack Heifner to write the libretto, drawing from and expanding on his 1975 play. There were readings of the musical in October of 2005 at TheatreWorks in Palo Alto plus a reading in New York. There have been slight changes in the one hour and 40 minute intermissionless production since the readings. This production also tells what happened to the ladies after the 1970s in an epilogue. As Jack Heifner said in an interview with Kenneth Jones of Playbill, people have told him that they can't tell where his words stop and David's words start.

David Kirshenbaum, who composed the music and lyrics for The Summer of '42, which also had its premiere at TheatreWorks five years ago, has written a score with a '60s pop feel that echoes the girl group songs of the era. There are snippets of rhythm and blues, a little Burt Bacharach, Carole King and Carly Simon in the melodies and lyrics. I even thought I heard a little of Sondheim in the song "In the Same Place" toward the end of the production.

Vanities opens on the fateful day of November 22, 1963 in a gymnasium in a small town high school somewhere in Texas. The three high school cheerleaders swear that they will always be together through thick and thin. Their world centers around their own activities as cheerleaders, being the head of dance committees, and of course boys. However, they won't let their boyfriends "go too far." They don't even realize that on that day, the President of the United States has been gunned down on the streets of Dallas. They think it was the president of the school council.

Kathy (Leslie Kritzer) is the head cheerleader and the smartest one of the trio. She is a real go-getter who organizes school events and dances, and can make anything using chicken wire and Kleenex into a work of art for theme dances. Mary (Megan Hilty) is the fast one of the group who enjoys boys much too much. She has a boyfriend who is a football player and he gives her gifts like his football sweater for certain sexual favors. Joanne (Sarah Stiles) is something of a mousey air head who is very shy and upholds a very high moral ground with her boyfriend, Ted (we never see Ted, but he is central to the theme of the musical).

The musical follows the three girls to college where, during the spring of 1968, they are senior members of an exclusive sorority house. There are more serious issues going on in the world, including anti-Vietnam War movement. Mary joins the movement while Joanne, who is still going steady with high school boyfriend Ted, becomes a typical all American apple pie woman who wants to get married and have kids. Kathy becomes the person in the middle of any political discussion. You begin to see cracks in their relationship as they go their separate ways.

The third and final scene takes place in an upscale Manhattan penthouse where Kathy is mysteriously living with another person. Joanne has become a stay-at-home mom with her high school sweetheart, who seems to always stay at the office. We get the idea that Ted is one loose character who has had affairs with both of the other women. Joanne is raising three kids with a fourth one on the way and she takes to drinking away her problems.

Mary is a sophisticated person who owns a successful up market art gallery selling expensive porno items to shock people, like a six foot neon erection. After a few drinks, sparks fly in all directions as the women become something out of The Women.

Director Greenberg, who recently directed the Off-Broadway revival of Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris at the Zipper Theatre, has assembled a dynamic trio of young actresses. Each has a unique voice and they are a rich polyrhythmic trio when singing the girl trio songs. Sarah Stiles (Broadway's 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and the national tour of Dr. Dolittle) as Joanne has a voice reminiscent of that of Kristin Chenoweth. She is snazzy in song "In the Same Place" in the last scene.

Megan Hilty (Wicked on Broadway) as Mary has a vibrant voice, especially in the potent rendition of "Fly into the Future." She belts out this song with great enthusiasm.

Leslie Kritzer (Broadway's Hairspray and Off-Broadway's Bat Boy and  The American Trailer Park Musical) as Kathy has feisty chops when singing "Friendship Isn't What It Used To Be." 

Carmel Dean leads the ten piece orchestra for great backup of the '60s and '70s melodies. John Arnone has designed some very effective sets, from a high school gym look, to an oh-so-cute sorority house which has three beds that reflect the characters' style, to a distinguished patio in a luxurious penthouse in Manhattan. Dan Knechtges who choreographed Spelling Bee seems to have done similar things with the dances in the first scene in the gym.

Vanities is a wonderful chamber piece that shows the evolution of friendship and how nothing quite turns out the way we think as teenagers. Many who identify with these three women had friends like these when in high school. The whole musical is about friendship and how things change between friends as they get older.

Vanities plays at the Mountain View Center for Performing Arts, 500 Castro St, Mountain View through July 16th. Their next production will be Donald Margulies' Brooklyn Boy opening at the Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield, Palo Alto on July 19 and running through August 13th.