Shariq’s Département

Shrek, the trendsetting Dreamworks motion picture has been transformed into a deeply moving and musically innovative meditation on being different, of being the freak in not conforming to society.  Its message is simple: realize that others act intolerant out of fear, embrace your uniqueness even if others define it as strange, and forgive and embrace all, for we are all one.

Brian D’Arcy James, who playes the title character Shrek, has a beautiful booming voice whose timbre, in moving melodies, indicates the depth of alienation and desire to belong buried deep within his soul.  In this sense, the musical adaptation of the movie adds another dimension to what was a very funny cartoon of a movie, and creates a fundamental statement, relevant for today, of reclaiming our identity, even if we feel, as defined by society that we do not fit in.

And Shrek’s alienation is echoed not only by the Princess Fiona (ably played with true comic timing by the charismatic dynamo, Sutton Foster), and Donkey (played by Daniel Breaker, who gives Eddie Murphy a run for his money), but by the whole company of fairy tale characters who have been tossed aside by society, including Ugly Duckling, Pinnochio, Peter Pan.

And even the villain, Farqhuar, becomes more loveable than in the movie version, for we recognize that he is not entirely comfortable with his meanness, and that it is driven by his own insecuities of not fitting in, by being born a midget.

A parable for us all to reclaim our sense of majesty, of who we are, in these magnificent times of change.  And to accept others, even if we don’t understand them, or their differences.

The eagerly anticipated revival of Peter Shaffer’s 1970s play on Broadway, “Equus”, about a boy who is erotically triggered by horses and ends up blinding six of them, will perhaps best be remembered for the 10 minute naked sequence in the end of the play where Daniel Radcliffe, the star of the Harry Potter movies, romps around completely nude, exposing himself in every way.

I wish this production was better, so that it might vindicate his valiant embracing of this role as a troubled, anguished adolescent.

There are two main problems.  First, the play seems a bit dated.  When the play and subsequent movie came out in the 1970s, sexual peversion and dysfunction were only beginning to be openly discussed and so this play seemed to be shocking, when the extent of the boy’s activity really was only to ride the horses naked (as opposed to the recent documentary “Zoo” which was much more explicit!).  So the sense of scandal is missing, and the psychological methods employed seem distinctly dated.  Second, Richard Griffiths, of “The History Boys” fame, taking on the role of the psychiatrist is oddly flat and asexual for what is obviously a sexually charged play.  Where Richard Burton in the 1977 movie was charismatic and fevered and intense in his interrogations with the boy, creating his own sexual tension, Griffiths is clinical, detached and almost sleepwalking through this role.  And Radcliffe, although trying hard, seems too one-note in his obstinate insouciance to let us truly into the emotional mood of this troubled youngster.

Positive aspects of the production include: the homoeroticism implicit in the use of men wearing masks and sporting translucently covered torsos as the horses, whom Radcliffe rubs sexually throughout the play, to make explicit the nascent homoerotic longings in the Radcliffe character.  Kate Mulgrew (of Star Trek: Nemesis fame) brings true timbre and energy to the play in her brief scenes as the friend Griffith consults with.  Also, Anna Camp turns in a very promising performance as the young girl at the stables.  I’d very much like to see her on Broadway again (she was recently in “The Country Girl”).

See the 1977 Richard Burton movie instead.  It is much better than this revival.

A “Gypsy” virgin, I was bound to be enthralled by the show, its catchy lyrics, melodic numbers and surprising plot turns.  What took me by surprise, however was how amazing the performances were of the two main women in the show: the veteran Patti Lupone as Gypsy’s overbearing mother, and relative newcomer, Laura Benanti as Gypsy.  Both won Tony awards for their performances.  And both performances are sensational.

Patti Lupone seems to be channelling an entirely new being - she embodies the role in every way: in her voice, her movements, her facial expressions.  Her voice soars on every note, quivering at the right moments to express heartfelt emotion.  This is not a very likeable character, but you cannot take your eyes off Lupone.  YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS PERFORMANCE BEFORE IT ENDS!  I have been seeing Broadway shows since my first in 1984 (the original Sunday in the Park with George with Bernadette Peters and Mandy Patinkin), and I can honestly say that this performance by Patti Lupone is one of a kind.  It will become legendary and go down as one of the greats, in the same vein as Marlon Brando’s stage performance in the original production of “A Streetcar Named Desire”.

Laura Benanti, who plays an insipid, timid personality for the first act of the show transforms herself as a performer in the second act, and it is then that we realize what a fantastic actress she is.  She had us fooled so well initially, that we could not possibly believe the transformation she accomplishes.  Of course, the complexity that Laura adds to the performance justifies her Tony.  Her insecure girlish persona in the first act was a reaction to her mother’s dominance, but in a sense her new, aggressive persona in the second act is an attempt to finally get attention from men in a way that she never got from her parents.  What Laura achieves is to evidently display the pathos of the situation.  We applaud her growth, but mourn the loss of her innocence.

One of the themes of the show is that our choices in life have a tendency to be pre-programmed.  We are reacting: a close friend or family member tells us we cannot be a peformer, and we believe them.  Later we choose to be this performer, but we carry it to a seedy, exhibitionist extreme, and even this becomes a reaction to prove this person wrong, who has infiltrated your sense of self. 

An alternative approach, actually embodied by Patti Lupone, Gypsy’s mother, is to say “I believe in myself and my dream and to hell with anyone else”.  Of course, Lupone’s character takes it to the extreme, where she demolishes everyone to get her own way.

A middle ground might be to simply believe in your own truth, your belief in what path is right for you and seek it out, without listening to the doubts others throw your way, and without seeking to convince, dominate or harm others.  You cannot change other people’s opinions, so the best thing to do is to ignore them and believe in your inner self.  So you move out of a sense of “reaction” to one of unemotional “choice”.

The direction by Arthus Laurents is engaging and fun.  You see Lupone wandering backstage during her daughters’ rehearsals, a sight gag for the busybody that she is, generating laughter at the right moments.  The children who act for the first 45 minutes of the show are all excellent. 

And the music enters your body and soul and makes the whole evening just wonderful!

I loved “Boeing Boeing” on Broadway!  The show, a farce about a 3-timer who suddenly has all three girls show up at the same time at their shared home in Paris, has precise comic timing so that the audience is continuously laughing out loud.  The show belongs to Mark Rylance, the British actor, who expertly plays the surprise friend from Wisconsin (in a flawless American midwest accent).  His comic timing, his physicality and pauses set up all the gags.  Accordingly, he was awarded a Tony for Best Actor in the play this year!

The set is devised in a semi-circle, and with all the doors opening and closing in expert comic timing, one feels as if one is on a merry-go-round.  All 3 girls, playing German, American and Italian air hostesses act amazingly well.  Mary McCormack plays the German air hostess, Gretchen, as a German dominatrix with ambiguous sexuality (she kisses a surprisingly subdued Christine Baranski), terrorizing the men around her, but ends up succumbing to the subtle, persistent charms of Mr. Rylance.  She won a Tony as well.  All three girls use their bodies and extreme physical poses to emphasize their sexuality and to further the comedy.  Gina Gershon as the Italian girl looks amazingly young.

Highly recommended.  Will put a smile on your face.  Expert timing and acting is essential to make a farce work.  And this one gets an A+.

Bello, a traditional pre-theatre Italian on 9th and 56th is a solid, satisfying option before a Broadway show.

Both of my dishes were excellent, suggesting the truth that although in Manhattan we always look for the latest chef and the best new dishes, sometimes old flavor combinations have survived for a reason.

My appetizer was a very simple prosciutto and melon plate with cracked black pepper and lemon (picture 1).  This dish has been around for ages - but for a reason: the sweet melon interacts with the salty, lemony prosciutto to create a nutritious, delicious harmony.  Sometimes simple dishes are the most satisfying.

My entree was Chicken Marsala - again, probably available at hundreds of Italinan restaurants in Manhattan and around the world.  But, when properly executed, as it was here, the rich sauce bubbling with tasty mushrooms around a perfectly tender, succulent piece of chicken is classic, non-carb comfort food (picture 2).

I was pleasantly surprised at my Bello experience.

The usually barren post-Tony summer theatre season in New York is a great time to catch up on shows from prior years that have had great success and are still running.

The intimate, powerful, stirring 2007 Best New Musical Tony winner, Spring Awakening is a great bet.  The show, adapted from a story about teenage angst in late 19th century Germany in a society which represses sexuality and individual expression, is an amazing blend of rock, intimate singing and raw energy.  The theatre is small, so the audience very much feels that they are a part of this soul baring that is happening on stage.  I felt the audience members around me reacting, clapping almost every five minutes.  There was electricity in the air.

The show combines witty dialog with great music, vocals and strong performances by Alexandra Socha as Wendla, the girl who dying (literally) to express her sexuality, and Blake Bashoff as the effervescent, wild, spike-haired Moritz.  Alexandra’s performance is especially noteworthy as her sinuous physicality echoes her plaintive songs and her face expresses depth of emotion that might rival Meryl Streep!

The story about societal repression is certainly applicable today - it might not be sexuality in present day U.S. (although certainly sex and sexuality are repressed in so many parts of the developing world); but the show is a metaphor for how conservative elements in society cause harm by repressing free spirits they don’t understand.  We can laugh at how silly it seems that the German adults in the show are alarmed at adolescent hormones, but the point the show wants to make is that what seems crazy today might be perfectly normal a few decades from now.  So if a social conservative rails against specific “out-of-the-box” behaviour, the world might be laughing at the stupidity of this person a few years later.

My one complaint about the show is that the staging of the one gay love scene is set up for laughs, as the boys act overly effeminate, playing into stereotypes.  Although the scene adds comic relief, perhaps another, more serious scene to balance the comic one out would have been a clearer depiction of gay sexuality.

See it - one of the best shows on Broadway!

Caryl Churchill’s classic ’80s play Top Girls is brilliantly executed in a dynamic ensemble performance on Broadway.  The play, an entertaining rumination on feminism, the travails of women in the workplace, and the costs of breaking the norms of society, features exceptional performances by Martha Plimpton, Mary Catherine Garrison and Jennifer Ikeda. 

The first act is a fantasy women’s restaurant dinner where a recently promoted career woman, Marlene, hosts historical women who challenged the constraints of their times, such as the rumored female Pope Joan, a Japanese courtesan from the 13th century who became a Buddhist nun, and Griselda, the obedient, loyal wife described by Chaucer.  Themes of sacrifice, punishment for pushing limits, and the impact of bearing children reverberate in the playful yet emotionally charged banter within this group.

The latter part of the play focuses on Marlene’s actual life in the office and with her rural family she ran away from as a teenager.  What’s exciting about the acting is that the actresses play multiple characters.  So Martha Plimpton, who is nominated for a Tony, plays Pope Joan as well as a slow, dim-witted rural, possibly lesbian teenager.  The change from certitude in character to a lost, angry soul shows the depth of Plimpton’s acting ability.  The play also riffs with variations by having the same actress play multiple roles, as Pope Joan’s drag is transformed into confused, nascent modern-day lesbianism.  Similarly, the wonderful Mary Catherine Garrison, morphs from a patient fictional icon to a petulant, whiny teenager to a hip, 21-year old looking for a job.  I thought she was absolutely fascinating as Kit, the teenager, and the show is worth watching just to see the complexity she imbues into each line of delivery.  I will be looking forward to see anything she acts in again.

The biggest disappointment in the play was the academy-award winning Marisa Tomei, whose Scottish and British accents were so bad that they sounded forced, making it hard to understand an actress who was no longer enunciating well and losing all emotional tonality in her delivery as she focused on sounding authentic.  She sounded like she might have a cold, so maybe she was having an off-day.

The play becomes a metaphor for challenging the norms of society and the  consequences of doing so.  See it before it ends!  The show closes on June 29th.  Watch the Tony awards this weekend!

Part of the problem the beautifully executed and sombre production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses on Broadway faces is that the story has become so familiar.  The movie version with Glenn Close, Michelle Pfeiffer and John Malkovich became a classic with Oscar buzz.  The story was replayed in various forms, such as the Reese Witherspoon movie Cruel Intentions.  So, excited though I was to sit through this production, it felt like I was watching a familiar Shakespeare play - you knew what was going to happen, which robbed the play of much excitement.

The most noteworthy part of the production is Ben Daniels’ star turn as the morally corrupt Vicomte de Valmont.  Daniels, who I remember as the nerdy middle-aged lover in the British movie Beautiful Thing, manages to be be convincingly cruel, sexy, charming all at the same time.  He also successfully brings about a metamorphosis in the character by the end of the play - we truly believe, watching him, that he has been taught a lesson about the importance of morality and love in life.  He is a marked improvement on John Malkovich, who, in the movie version, seemed icky and slimy enough that you did not care much what happened to him. This allowed Glenn Close to dominate the movie version.

Unfortunately for Laura Linney, who I love, but is seriously miscast as the conniving Marquise de Merteuil (played by Glenn Close in the movie), Daniels is the more interesting and compelling character in this production.  No matter how hard she tries to be nasty, Linney’s smile, which is meant to be artifice, actually comes across sometimes as hidden goodness.  We, the audience, just do not believe she is as nasty as her actions show.  And this robs the show of some of its dramatic tension, moving us to pathos instead.  This tone of pathos is reinforced by mournful, choral singing to mark the change in scenes.  The singing, while beautiful, throws a cover of melancholy over the proceedings. 

Ben Daniels’ performance and Mamie Gummer’s (Meryl Streep’s daughter’s) comic timing are reasons to see this show.  But, it can drag at times, as we do not seem to care much for the other characters.

I finally went to see “Avenue Q” on Broadway last night (only 4 years after it won the Tony for Best Musical in 2004)! A friend visiting from the U.K. really wanted to go…and it was a great evening.  The show is still bouncy, fun and silly and yes, be warned: it does have full puppet nudity and sex!

The plot is fairly simple: a group of friends living in a cheap neighourhood (Avenue Q) deal with issues of love, frienship, sexuality, finances and life’s purpose.  An idiosyncratic note is struck from the beginning through the opening number “It sucks to be me!” which is hilarious. 

The show works because it identifies all of our fears: failure, lack of external achievement, meaning in life. And answers are supplied through universal truths in playful songs: we’re all a little bit racist; help someone and be generous and you will feel so much better; which leads to the main point of the show: life’s purpose is derived from helping others and making in a difference in the world, as Princeton (the puppet protagonist) demonstrates by raising money for his on-and-off girlfriend, Kate Monster, so that she can start her own Monster school.  Both Howie Michael Smith (playing Princeton) and Sarah Stiles (playing Kate Monster and Lucy the Slut) have exceptional, beautiful singing voices.

This is an hilarious, unique show which is worth catching while it is still around.  It will put a smile on your face and have you leaving the theatre feeling positive about life.

What a waste of acting talent!  Frances McDormand, a fantastic actress (Fargo, The Man Who Wasn’t There), gives a quietly feminist turn in this extremely boring, dated Clifford Odets play, which should not have been revived on Broadway.

McDormand is fierce and delivers her lines with her trademark restrained intelligence.  Her voice is strong and has a strong theatre presence.  Two problems mar the result.  First, the play has dialog which is so pedestrian you wonder why Mike Nichols would ever have directed it.  The plot, about whether an alcoholic actor (Morgan Freeman) will be able to headline a new play is very bare.  Odets is know for character-driven plays, which would seem to have been perfect for actors of McDormand’s and Freeman’s caliber. 

But this leads us to our second problem.  McDormand does not get adequate support to sustain interest from her co-stars.  Morgan Freeman, a dyanamo-presence in film (Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption, Million Dollar Baby), seems muted here.  Although the part requires him to be unsure of himself and dissembling, in doing so, he seems to mislay the acting chops that normally make him so great.  As a result, the interactions between Frances and Morgan seem lacking, without any real connection or tension.  Also, the other main character of Bernie Dodd, the director, is over-acted by Peter Gallagher (sex, lies and videotape, The Player).  The plot hinges on his inability to see the truth about the real relationship between Freeman and McDormand, but Gallagher is never really able to convince the audience why he believes Freeman and his lies over McDormand’s fire.  Of course, he could have been helped by better lines.

The only interesting scene occurs towards the end of the play, in the middle of the final act when Freeman’s drunken lies are exposed and Gallagher apologizes to McDormand, and manipulates her by playing on the lack of sex in her life.  Here, for once, the sparks fly between the actors, and things seem interesting.  But it is too late, and, beside, Odets quickly fast-forwards to a forced ending that seems unsure how to honestly explore the new romantic dynamic between McDormand and Gallagher.

Go see it only if you are a die-hard Frances McDormand or Morgan Freeman fan.  Otherwise, you will find yourself regretting wasting your time and money.