u/manggy

I’m being manic as per usual and ended up traveling all over to satisfy my theater itch.

Once (NextStop Theater, Herndon VA) - having seen the original production 3 times (lucky enough to have caught Cristin Milioti) and the tour another 3 times, I was worried this wouldn’t live up to my memories of the show. I’m happy to say it did (who knew there was this much talent just sitting around northern Virginia?). Even the kid actress who played Ivanka played violin! Is it too early for a Broadway revival??

Precarious (Mosaic Theater Company, DC) - this is a new play that aims to draw a parallel between a mother’s dwindling sense of purpose and ecological instability. The connection is a bit loose and really I was overall distracted about how unrealistically overbearing the mom is - in the first ten minutes of the play, she’s dropped in unannounced at her daughter’s NYC apartment, criticized every aspect of it (including her relationship), and thrown out things without permission while her daughter keeps her mouth shut.

Suffs (touring at The National, DC) - I was high up on the balcony, which wouldn’t have been my first choice for a seat with my subpar vision, but it was the first performance on this leg in the nation’s capital, the audience was 99% women and the vibe was electric. It was very educational for me (not having grown up in the US) and I enjoyed the music enough to listen to the cast recording after. Shaina Taub is crazy talented.

Sally & Tom (Round House Theater in Bethesda, MD) - I saw this a couple of days before Juneteenth and it was HBCU night. The story is really about a theater group putting together a show about the relationship between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings, but when they’re in the play-within-a-play, I felt transported to the past and it’s clear that the author wanted those lines blurred. There’s at least a couple of awkward moments where someone has a monologue within the play that I wanted to applaud (and could see a few in the audience wanted to as well), but it wasn’t clear when the speech had ended for real, and before the beat is done, they’re suddenly back in the “real world” and it’s too late to applaud. Great performances all around, regardless.

Titanique (St. James, NYC) - I was debating on whether to see this at all because I’d already seen it at Daryl Roth, but it was the only matinee I was even slightly interested in seeing on a Thursday afternoon, so I thought I’d at least have the pleasure of seeing Layton Williams and Jim Parsons perform (the iceberg off-Broadway when I went was Kyle Ramar Freeman, who was phenomenal as well). That was worth the price of admission, but also with the added treat of John Riddle looking like a vision - I’d followed him on instagram but never seen him perform. The improv was about the Gazillion Bubble Show closing, which was.. eh

La Cage Aux Folles (New York City Center) - I quite enjoyed this and I thought the criticisms about Billy not being off-book were unfair given that it was already part of the premise and I didn’t hear a PEEP about Philippa Soo, Andrea Martin, and Steven Pasquale doing the same (and Andrea Martin and Steven Pasqual, funny as they were, not doing it quite so smoothly) for High Spirits. I thought Billy and Wayne had great chemistry. I’d never seen Wayne Brady on stage before and he is quite a pro, I was impressed. Billy hit the emotional notes well but it’s evident that his recent health scare (it’s very likely that he was intubated) damaged his voice significantly. The high notes were not hitting and he knew it. Billy was SO SWEET at the stage door and spent a lot of time with everyone when I thought he probably could use the vocal rest!

I’m Almost There (Brooklyn Academy of Music) - is the story of performer Todd Almond meeting his husband Mark Subias for the first time told as a loose adaptation of The Odyssey and if it sounds crazy on paper, wait till you hear it! It was sweet and quirky and made me realize I totally don’t have the energy to date any more lol. After the show I talked to Todd a little bit about Girlfriend (the show he wrote with Matthew Sweet’s songs) and how it should be playing all over the country for Pride month, heh.

A Walk on the Moon (Miriam Steinberg Center for Theater) - I hadn’t seen the original movie so this was an unexpected treat (the ending, I gather, is a little different). Everyone looked and sounded amazing. This is also my first time seeing Sam Gravitte on stage, who looks insanely good with hippie hair, as if he didn’t look amazing enough already. My only critique is that some songs sounded half-written - like they couldn’t think of any lyrics at all, so they just inserted whatever, haha.

Jerome (Playwrights Horizons) - I read about this play that centers around an elderly gay couple forming a throuple in a ghost town in Arizona in the background of the AIDS crisis in the early 90s and I thought, okay, how disparate are those narrative threads?? But the story was actually woven together really well. The passionate scenes were really intense and all three leads had crazy chemistry. I couldn’t help but gush to Stephen Spinella after and I probably shouldn’t have said that he was legendary, but he self-deprecatingly replied with, “well, to some people!”

Brokeback Mountain (Chicago Shakespeare Theater) - I didn’t have a chance to see this on the West End and I’m not even sure how it randomly entered my radar when it wasn’t advertised all that well (at least, to this non-Chicagoan) but I’m glad it did because this was phenomenal! And there’s only one week left! The chemistry between leads Harrison Ball and Jack Cameron Kay (by the way, I didn’t watch Boots so I didn’t even know this celebrity part of the draw) was so electric that AI erroneously told me (via Google, I avoid AI if I can) that they were a couple and I fully believed it. To fit 90 minutes, the show primarily centered around Ennis; you don’t see any of Jack’s life with Lureen and such. The set was amazing as well - I felt transported to the desolate wilderness of Wyoming. It didn’t have one of my favorite lines, though (not spoiling an old movie too much, but Ennis doesn’t have a response to Jack’s “quit you” speech).

Iceboy! (Goodman Theater, Chicago) - initially I was going to see this in mid-July as I wanted to see Megan Mullaly and Nick Offerman perform, but when I saw Grey Henson was cast, it sealed the deal. I realized that night I didn’t have anything to do so I decided to buy a ticket to this preview on a whim. Nick Offerman is away till 6/14 so the role of Eugene O’Neill was played by Shawn Pfautsch. This was stupid and hilarious (I think Bigfoot would be a close comparison) with plenty of slapstick elements that I’m curious to see how Offerman plays with it. Grey looked and sounded amazing (let’s face it, I’d pay to watch him read the terms and conditions) and of course I got tongue-tied telling him so after the show. Megan never fails to give me a stomachache with laughter. (don’t want to spoil any of the very fact-based and verifiably real plot!)

I know it's not uncommon for broadway actors to make an appearance on SNL (typically as dancers), but I'm thrilled that I've now watched enough theater to immediately spot one, such as Andrew Kober (a fave and most recently in Wild Party and coming up on Giulia) and Todd Buonopane (been a hot minute, but he was last cast as Amos in Chicago) in this weekend update spot that is so dumb but I was laughing a full minute after it ended. Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrW2ld-13iQ

With so many recommendations coming in fast via this subreddit and r/offbroadwayNYC I find it hard to keep up especially with the performance dates getting shorter for off-broadway stuff! My FOMO can't handle it. Case in point: I just saw Appropriate at the Olney Theatre Center north of DC and I realize that it showed not that long ago on Broadway, starring Corey Stoll who I ended up seeing this week anyway. So that fed my completist tendencies some more.

What Happened Was - I knew this was going to be about a first date gone awry, but I did not expect it to make that turn that it did. Somehow Cecily Strong's acting still managed to make the show feel grounded despite the absolutely bonkers twist. Both stars were gracious with signing and selfies and I was swooning.

Dog Day Afternoon - I didn't see the movie and I asked someone if it was a comedy, even a little bit, and he said decidedly not, so I gather this play is quite different in tone! I thought this was fun enough. There wasn't really a strong message being communicated other than to be a vehicle for Jon Bernthal and Jessica Hecht's acting chops. For a matinee, surprisingly nearly everyone came out to the stage door.

The Balusters - I look forward to seeing this have a healthy life in regional productions. This was quite enjoyable (probably my favorite this week, though to be fair to the other shows, not by a huge margin) and somehow very traumatizing for me as I am myself the treasurer of my HOA. The identity politics aspect of it was maybe not the most realistic depiction - I find usually we just want to get the meeting over with and we reveal as little about our personal lives as possible - but the characters still managed to be hilarious without being caricatures. Most everyone came to the stage door; Anika Noni Rose is so sweet.

Kenrex - this is the first show I booked this week and what I built the week around. I failed to see Picture of Dorian Gray so I'm not sure how much more impressive Jack Holden's ability to transform himself is, but I was floored. It's like Operation Mincemeat without costume changes, but he pulls it off. I didn't know this was based on a true story. I have very strong feelings about bullies - I found myself trembling. Holden and musician John Patrick Elliott signed. I spotted backup musician Alex Crossland, who was surprised when I pulled out my playbill from Falling Out to sign. (I'm a sucker for cute multi-intstrumentalists, what can I say.)

Proof - I didn't think I'd be so invested in math at this age but here we are. It strangely kept with a theme of wasted potential (Death of a Salesman, What Happened Was). I don't watch The Bear but I will now because Ayo Edibiri was phenomenal here. A perfect cast, I told them. I hurried to watch the 2005 film with Gwyneth Paltrow afterwards and was shocked by how anemic that one turned out to be. Everyone came out to sign; I told Ayo to grab that Tony. From my lips to G-d's ears, I said, and she said "Oh, you have a direct line??" I laughed so loud I got embarrassed.

The Fear of 13 - I have to confess I am not terribly familiar with Adrien Brody's acting but I get the sense that he was totally transformed for this role. I got the impression that even those who were annoyed by his past antics begrudgingly admitted that he totally nailed this. I found myself verklempt at Proof but I was sobbing here. I was totally unspoiled for the plot/ what happened to Nick Yarris so the whole time I was thinking what new terrible thing is going to happen now. More than half the cast came out to sign, notably including the two stars. Tessa Thompson was like an angel gracing us with her presence.

Broken Snow - this was randomly fed to be as an ad on social media and seeing Tom Cavanagh was in it, I had to see it. Of course I wasn't encouraged by some reports on the subreddit that Tony Danza called for a line 13 times, but this performance had understudies for both Tony (Bob Ari) and Michael Longfellow (F. Michael Haynie), who were both amazing, so I was thrilled. Plot-wise it felt like "Appropriate"-lite, which was weird cos I just saw it, but I was happy to pay full price for my front-row seat (in a way that I may not have if an actor called for a line 13 times). All the actors signed after, and Tom was happy to chat (I was a fan of Ed back in the day), and he is as loquacious as that character haha.

Fallen Angels - between The Balusters and this play, the sets were gorgeous. I can't explain why it felt fresh despite having been written in 1925. I think it's a testament to the amazing physical comedy skills of Rose Byrne and Kelli O'Hara, who both surprised me in that regard. Only Mark Consuelos came out to sign.

That's it for me for a couple of months. I hope to catch Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Cats, and Lost Boys. For sure going to see Well I'll Let You Go, and looking for other things to see off-broadway (already going to miss Rheology, The Receptionist, and The Adding Machine). Still debating on seeing Schmigadoon and Titanique as I saw both in their earlier incarnations. Thinking about La Cage (Encores) in June as well.