January 19, 2023
One Jewish Boy at Trafalgar Studios is Incisive, Upsetting, & Too Relevantby Randi / March 13, 2020It’s Theatre Thursday during a pandemic, which means I’m going to rave about a show that you can no longer see because THIS! WORLD! IS ON FIIIIIIIRE.
Man alive, Chekhov needed a friend, am I right? Christopher Durang could have easily made a less-funny Chekhovian play called Vanya & Sonya & Depression & Sadness and we’d all get it. Actually, it should still be funny, because Chekhov, the master, infused his gloomy, depressing (if you drink every time I use this word in this piece you will get through quarantine like a champ) classic Uncle Vanya with just as much humor as sadness, and just as much heart as melancholy, just as much humanity and sad beauty as grief. The current London production of Uncle Vanya is a fantastic, nearly flawless revival, one of the many heartbreaking casualties of this strange time of isolation. Toby Jones in the titular role redefines how fully felt this unforgettable character can be, and he leads a pretty great cast in this magnificent production.
If you don’t know Chekhov’s classic of countryside despair, Uncle Vanya tells about a man named Vanya who lives with his niece Sonya in a crumbling country estate where every day looks the same and their future looks bleak but they just go through each day doing their paperwork and drinking their vodka and, like, sighing, I guess. But excitement enters with the unwelcome arrival of Vanya’s brother/Sonya’s father Aleksandr (played by the wonderful Ciaran Hinds), a famous professor who is lauded as a genius but is really just an annoying and ignorant blowhard and my favorite part was when Vanya tried to shoot him and my least favorite part was when he missed. Aleksandr has a hot new young wife Yelena (played by understudy Afia Abusham when I saw it, who was decent but didn’t seem to quite get her footing enough to make an impression among this stellar cast) and Vanya is like OH DIP A HOT WOMAN AND ONE I’M NOT RELATED TO I HAVEN’T SEEN ONE IN YEARS! And he falls in love with her but Yelena is like mmm pass and falls instead for the hot town doctor who pays ever increasing visits since her arrival. Sadly, Sonya, who is good (and Natasha’s young and Andrei isn’t heeere) but plain is like SUPES in love with hot doctor (Richard Armitage, magnetic) but he is not attracted to her in the least even though he is as lonely as everyone else and it would be nice if he and Sonya saved each other from a life of dreary solitude but hey he just doesn’t love her you can’t force it so instead he ALSO falls for Yelena (who is MARRIED, my dudes) (okay to an old buffoon but STILL). So everyone is super unhappy and lonely and depressed because they know this is their lot in life and it will never change. Russians, man.
Toby Jones’s Vanya is, well, everything. He so completely and perfectly inhabits Vanya’s despair with every joke and gesture and gaze, a despair that informs everything Vanya says or does though he tries to keep it bubbling under the surface, at least part of the time. It’s heartbreaking that he has lived a life so barren and knows that there’s nothing he can do to change it (I mean, I’m optimistic that if he really wanted to, he could change his life, but Russians man). Jones also infuses his Vanya with a sad but incredible humor, because I admit nothing is funnier than self-hate, it’s true. His seemingly nonstop movement, even at rest, and elastic facial expressions added to the creation of a dynamic Vanya for the ages.
In a cast this starry, it’s surprising and impressive that despite Toby’s complete encompassing of his character, the standout is young Aimee Lou Wood as Sonya. I can’t think of a more efficient performance in recent times, with so much done with comparatively little. With only a few lines at the end of the first act, she broke my heart, and continued breaking it throughout the rest of the show. Her sad monologue that ends the show had me riveted. Husbo thought the delivery was painfully labored and it took him out, but for me, I needed all that time to breathe in between words because I was still so shaken by her final interaction with the doctor, an interaction so subtle and so exquisitely performed that I wanted to gasp but instead cried. She’s an incredible young actor that I can’t wait to see more of. Her performance is a huge part of what makes this production so beautiful, so heartbreaking, and so – one more for the road – depressing.
INFORMATION
After a 7:30pm start (probably 7:33 or so, happily not as late as most shows), Act I ended at 8:44pm and Act II at 10:12, so note that it is 12 minutes longer than it says on the official show website which might not seem like a lot to you but it’s enough to be wrong.
Vanya’s annoying mother is extra annoying because they have her smoke a lot. She has like 4 lines but it was important to establish that her character smokes?? MISS ME WITH THIS UNNECESSARY LUNG DAMAGE PLEASE.
This was supposed to run until May 2 but the world is on a break from life so I suggest reading the play and perhaps acting out all the parts with the people you are locked down with. If you are locked down alone, do all the parts yourself like when I sing “Moscow” from The Great Comet it doesn’t make you look or feel crazy no sirree I promise totally a normal thing to do.
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“A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder”: Broadway’s Most Hilarious and Horrible Hijinks This Season
The supremely entertaining new musical “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder” is one of the most exciting new shows this Broadway season. Halting the omnipresent influx of jukebox musicals and, more importantly, making murder hilarious, “Gentleman’s Guide” will likely be a main player at the Tony Awards this June. Despite its somewhat unseemly subject matter, it is an old-fashioned and very British show.
The dark comedy concerns a young man named Monty Navarro, who is finally told of his birthright: that he is related to the wealthy D’Ysquith clan, and ninth in line to inherit its dukedom. (The name is pronounced like ‘dies quick’. So funny.) Monty, who seems like a well-mannered, kindhearted gentleman, begins a journey to become part of the family that quickly morphs into a killing spree.
The dark comedy concerns a young man named Monty Navarro, who is finally told of his birthright: that he is related to the wealthy D’Ysquith clan, and ninth in line to inherit its dukedom. (The name is pronounced like ‘dies quick’. So funny.) Monty, who seems like a well-mannered, kindhearted gentleman, begins a journey to become part of the family that quickly morphs into a killing spree.
Monty initially reaches out to the D’Ysquiths to bond in normal ways, but the posh elitists rebuff him. After such terrible treatment, Monty sets out to methodically, and humorously, murder each of the 8 relatives ahead of him in succession.
This surprising turn of events works because Monty is so charming, and the actor playing him, Bryce Pinkham, manipulates the pacing so well. But the real star of the show, and its biggest selling point, and the main reason to see it, is Jefferson Mays. The well respected Tony-winning actor (for 2003’s “I Am My Own Wife”) plays all eight of the doomed D’Ysquith family members, men and women, young and old. He quickly switches from the old priest (whose death showcases my favorite ridiculous staging) to young bicurious student to middle-aged actress, and he sells each character just as eight individual actors could. As each death occurs, one gets nervous that soon Mays won’t be onstage anymore. That would be a shame. (Luckily, a clever end twist and a sort of cliffhanger ending make sure that this doesn’t happen.)
Mays is truly spectacular, particularly as the young, too trusting, slightly doofy Oxbridge student who takes a fast and overzealous liking to Monty. Sadly, Henry D’Ysquith has a weakness too obvious and too delicious for Monty to ignore: his penchant for beekeeping. It is probably also obvious that his death is one of the funniest.
The lovably silly character of Henry gives Mays and Pinkham their most enjoyable song and what I thought was the highlight of the show. The song “Better With A Man” has Monty being a little overly friendly to the very obviously receptive Henry. While they sing ostensibly about friendship, the choreography clearly says otherwise, and the number verges into pure slapstick. It’s so wrong, and so funny.
The other highlight musically is a pas de trois between Monty, his married lover Sibella, and his new cousin Phoebe, whom he plans to marry. As is customary in love triangles performed on stage, the scene finds Monty trying to hide both women from each other when they both visit his home. Impressive on all counts, the scene showcases the voices of the women and the timing of Pinkham better than any other.
However, aside from these two songs, the music is disappointing. What makes it seem very old-fashioned in the best ways also accounts for its old-fashioned sense musically. Most of the music is not the kind you’d want to listen to outside the Walter Kerr theatre. There are the boring choral bits, where the ensemble sings the same uninspired lines over and over. There are solos that don’t go anywhere and feel as if written as monologues and not as sung pieces. The music often does drive the show’s plot forward, as it should, but it doesn’t do it any better than the words unsung would, which defeats the purpose of making a show into a musical. It’s the kind of show where I would love to see it again, but no way would I ever listen to the cast recording.
Despite the majority of the music being disappointing, the show itself is gold. You feel terrible for laughing and for secretly rooting for Monty, because he doesn’t seem like a bad guy (despite everything to the contrary). I love that the show boasts so much new talent, and that it’s not like anything else recently on Broadway. If you have the chance to see it, you won’t regret it. I’m sure Mays will be a strong contender come Tony night, but all I hope is that the show’s Tony performance is “Better With A Man” (cross your fingers!).
This surprising turn of events works because Monty is so charming, and the actor playing him, Bryce Pinkham, manipulates the pacing so well. But the real star of the show, and its biggest selling point, and the main reason to see it, is Jefferson Mays. The well respected Tony-winning actor (for 2003’s “I Am My Own Wife”) plays all eight of the doomed D’Ysquith family members, men and women, young and old. He quickly switches from the old priest (whose death showcases my favorite ridiculous staging) to young bicurious student to middle-aged actress, and he sells each character just as eight individual actors could. As each death occurs, one gets nervous that soon Mays won’t be onstage anymore. That would be a shame. (Luckily, a clever end twist and a sort of cliffhanger ending make sure that this doesn’t happen.)
Mays is truly spectacular, particularly as the young, too trusting, slightly doofy Oxbridge student who takes a fast and overzealous liking to Monty. Sadly, Henry D’Ysquith has a weakness too obvious and too delicious for Monty to ignore: his penchant for beekeeping. It is probably also obvious that his death is one of the funniest.
The lovably silly character of Henry gives Mays and Pinkham their most enjoyable song and what I thought was the highlight of the show. The song “Better With A Man” has Monty being a little overly friendly to the very obviously receptive Henry. While they sing ostensibly about friendship, the choreography clearly says otherwise, and the number verges into pure slapstick. It’s so wrong, and so funny.
The other highlight musically is a pas de trois between Monty, his married lover Sibella, and his new cousin Phoebe, whom he plans to marry. As is customary in love triangles performed on stage, the scene finds Monty trying to hide both women from each other when they both visit his home. Impressive on all counts, the scene showcases the voices of the women and the timing of Pinkham better than any other.
However, aside from these two songs, the music is disappointing. What makes it seem very old-fashioned in the best ways also accounts for its old-fashioned sense musically. Most of the music is not the kind you’d want to listen to outside the Walter Kerr theatre. There are the boring choral bits, where the ensemble sings the same uninspired lines over and over. There are solos that don’t go anywhere and feel as if written as monologues and not as sung pieces. The music often does drive the show’s plot forward, as it should, but it doesn’t do it any better than the words unsung would, which defeats the purpose of making a show into a musical. It’s the kind of show where I would love to see it again, but no way would I ever listen to the cast recording.
Despite the majority of the music being disappointing, the show itself is gold. You feel terrible for laughing and for secretly rooting for Monty, because he doesn’t seem like a bad guy (despite everything to the contrary). I love that the show boasts so much new talent, and that it’s not like anything else recently on Broadway. If you have the chance to see it, you won’t regret it. I’m sure Mays will be a strong contender come Tony night, but all I hope is that the show’s Tony performance is “Better With A Man” (cross your fingers!).
Emilia: A Powerful, Relevant Take on History and Today
It’s Theatre Thursday! Today’s show is Emilia, at London’s Vaudeville Theatre.
Who was the ‘dark lady’ that Shakespeare wrote sonnets about? Was she some strumpet, some rampallian? Bite your tongue, peasant! The new play Emilia follows the suggestion of editor A.L. Rowse that this mysterious figure in Billy Shakes’ sonnets was actually Emilia Bassano, one of the first female poets in England to have her works printed. And I’m all for this. Although unlikely, it’s fun to imagine that these two contemporary poets not only knew each other, but once upon a time loved each other, and that maybe Billy owes some of his most famous words to her. Maybe she was so talented that Shakey stole some of her words and made them famous, without attribution, without permission, without even thanking her. That’s the route of the new play Emilia, newly transferred to the West End from the Globe, in imagining this mysterious figure as one who, in a more reasonable time, could have been the famous playwright everyone knows.
We meet Emilia first as an older woman reading what has been written about her and scoffing at it. She’s finally reclaiming her story and telling us the truth – at least some of the truth; what we know about her real life is interspersed with the imagined interactions with Shakespeare, with some ‘mostly likely’ scenarios, such as who her patronesses were, mixed in too. To tell the story, three actresses portray Emilia at different stages in her life: first, a captivating Saffron Coomber as the vibrant young lady with all the world’s gumption; second, an affecting Adelle Leonce as the wiser and still strong woman she became; and third, back to Clare Perkins as the powerful older incarnation of the lady that wouldn’t stop fighting for her voice to be heard.
Throughout all the efforts to keep her in the ‘proper’ path – including sending her away to be raised in the court – Emilia wrote and lived on her own terms as much as possible in a society that didn’t let women do anything on their own terms. By presenting virtually her entire life and every move she made to stay true to herself and her writing, the play becomes an epic in female empowerment. It’s sometimes too focused on being seen as such, but overall it achieves the goal. With these sorts of messages, it’s easy, and common, for the creatives to hit audiences over the head with their morality lessons (and point to the modern day relevance in a too obvious ‘see what I did there!’ kind of way) when letting the work stand on its own feet would accomplish a more powerful result, yet despite falling into this common trap a few times, it doesn’t take away from the truly powerful result.
As a young lady, Emilia became the mistress of Baron Henry Carey, an arrangement that let her focus on her writing while meeting the most influential patrons of the arts. It’s in this detail that the play sees her meet fellow poet William Shakespeare, a peer who at first seems like the only one who gets her but who, like all men, disappoints as he deems her writing simply a hobby. The use of Shakespeare, and the portrayal, was brilliant. When the two poets’ relationship sours over his theft of her words, they come to a head in the extraordinary, dynamic climax of the first act, with the cast spread all over the theatre shouting and clashing. Luckily for me, Shakespeare barged into my box to do his shouting from there, and he hilariously said to me “I’m so sorry madam, you can have a free ticket for the next play”. The scene was incredibly staged and directed, with everything chaotic but organized perfectly. I wish the direction remained more like that throughout, instead of sometimes getting lost in keeping aspects modern, such as music and dance. Those attempts (I think someone dapped) read as more of a joke than a way to make any sort of commentary.
The dark turn of the second act makes complete sense and is necessary, but it almost feels surprising, which it shouldn’t considering how truthful it is. Perhaps it’s because all the girl-power messages are finally starkly shown to not mean much when you’re in a society that isn’t listening. Perhaps it’s partly because of the modern aspects used as jokes and the girl-power applause breaks that don’t work as well as the play itself. More so at the end, the morality lessons threaten to get lost in heavy-handed presentation. When big statements are made about men and women that still apply, they tend to elicit raucous applause, which is fine, if it’s warranted. Too often, there were dramatic statements that seemed present for that very reason, instead of serving the story. There’s a fine line between important and indulgent, and a few times it felt like the latter (especially when the audience erupted after one character asks a male character why he was explaining stuff she already knew to her). Maybe it’s just that audiences are too eager to be a part of things. But it all comes together at the end, with the oldest Emilia giving a fourth-wall breaking speech that was one of the most powerful things I’ve ever seen. It nearly erases any flaws of the preceding show, and serves to reinforce that overall, this is a potent, impressive work.
The cast of all women turns the Shakespearean tradition of men playing women on its head while also happily reminding me of RBG saying “when there are 9”. In defense of the all-male casts that still proliferate while all-women casts are usually nowhere to be found (or only for shows with all-female characters), I’ve heard people say “well it’s funny when men play women! Women playing men is not funny at all.” This show is like CHECK AND MATE, MUFUCKA. Shakespeare (Charity Wakefield (omg you’re more British than Shakespeare!)) was so incredibly pitch-perfect and hysterical, I was almost embarrassed at how much I was laughing. It was a hilarious character, like Shakey from Something Rotten! but less mean in his humor. Amanda Wilkin as Emilia’s goofball husband Alfonso was also nonstop hysterical with her gallivanting around the stage and ridiculous moments, especially when she played an era-appropriate song on the recorder in a baby’s face. And what made me laugh harder than anything was when one of the older ladies of the ensemble, briefly played a duke who was railing against women speaking or writing. The audience booed and hissed, which made me super mad because audiences are ridiculous here, but the actress completely made the show by shouting back, ‘excuse me this isn’t PANTO SEASON.’ It was THE BEST. And despite most of the ensemble switching in and out of various roles, they reached such emotional depth with the dramatic turns of the plot that you almost felt guilty for laughing in a previous scene. Everyone is wonderful, and even though it’s all women, the diversity of the cast was stellar. A range of ethnicities, ages, abilities, bodies, with old ladies playing young, and even one deaf actress. This is how 99% of casts should be. And if all new plays were as strong as this one, I would be thrilled.
INFORMATION
Emilia is playing the Vaudeville Theatre until June 15. It runs 2 hours 30 minutes.
