The Normal Heart, by Larry Kramer, is an autobiographical play about the outbreak of the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980’s in NYC. The play was written around that time, and sadly, is still painfully relevant today. There was little comic relief in this painful, heart-wrenching drama. The play follows the life of Ned Weeks, a pseudonym for Kramer (Raul Esparza). As many of Weeks’ friends contract this unknown killer disease, including his boyfriend, he becomes a revolutionary in the fight to make people open their eyes. His fight is mostly futile, as most politicians and most people, including his own brother, want nothing to do with anything having to do with the gay community. Kramer’s writing and Esparza’s virulent anger made clear the frustration and agony of having to sit by and watch loved ones die while the government and medical world refused to help.

Raul Esparza can really do no wrong. He was intensely real. Props also go to Joanna Gleason as Dr. Emma Brookner was subdued and strong. The whole cast was great. I was emotionally drained after the three hour epic saga of death and pain; I can’t imagine how they must feel after each performance.

Jeff Cohen, as the artistic director, deserves recognition. He made great choices, specifically the scene in act two where there were two different scenes going on in two separate rooms, and he had them intermingling with each other; only changing the lighting plot when one scene was “on” and the other was “off.” It really worked well.

I must finish my review with a comment about the senile, deaf old men sitting behind me. They felt it necessary to comment on every scene, and during the scene breaks, talk to each other and react to what had just happened. NOTHING kills the mood more than hearing somebody whistle, or say, “Oh this is the end, he’s gonna die now,” and things like that. I am sorry, I do not care how old you are, YOU SHOULD BEHAVE BETTER OR DO NOT LEAVE YOUR HOUSE, PLEASE.

Johnny Guitar, a new musical playing at the Century Center for the Performing Arts (in Union Square), is apparently based on an old Joan Crawford film, a cult classic. I’ve never heard of it. The show can be enjoyed having no prior knowledge of the film, however, I bet it would make it a lot better. Not to say that I didn’t enjoy the show. It was fast paced and funny. The performances were all great, and it was some of the best singing I’ve heard in a while. The script had a lot of very funny, campy, silly moments, but I wish there had been more of them. The parts where it was more straightforward sort of fell flat.

Ann Crumb as the villian Emma was funny, and had an incredible belt. Judy McLane as Vienna was the perfect old-West heroine. Christopher Carl played Johnny Guitar (he was the understudy) and he was understated and suave. Robert Evan as the Dancin’ Kid was great too. The performances really couldn’t have been better. I wish the writers had decided to do more with the plot; it was severely lacking. I’m sure they decided to keep it close to the original film, that’s the only explanation I can come up with for why the plot was so slim.

But the songs were catchy and fun, and the audience was roaring with all the laughlines. You can accurately call this show an effective crowd-pleaser. Even though there was no dancing. All actors and singers. This made me happy! A show with no dancing. I hope its a new trend in musical theater.

This was the fourth preview performance of this new Broadway play. Thanks to AE, we got in for free. I have become very jaded on paying for theatre, lately, when I know I can see so much of it for free. Anyway, this is a new play by Mark Medoff, who is best known for “Children of a Lesser God. The performances were solid, particularly Andre de Shields, who plays a gorilla. His physically and vocal grunting was obviously exhaustingly studied and practiced. It was the best portrayal of an animal by a human I have ever seen. I had seen him play the older black stripper in “The Full Monty.” Quite a different role for him! Phyllis French is a deaf actress whom Medoff has written five plays for. This one was another vehicle for her, and I think she deserves better. Her acting, which she does with physicality, facial expression, and sign language, was clear and passionate. James Naughton and Heather Tom rounded out the four person cast, incidentally, they were the only ones that spoke.

The overall purpose of the play was unclear, other than to display the talents of de Shields and French. It is a play about AIDS, about maternal love, and about good vs. evil. However, it just touches on these issues and never says anything definitive about them.

The set design, by Robert Steinberg, was a little too bright and cartooney to be believable as a mountain top. The stream running into a giant pool, stage L, was pretty cool, so I forgive him.

I didn’t hate it. I just didn’t understand “why.”

Jumpers, at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, is the latest of far too few plays that make the long journey from London’s Royal National Theatre. This fact alone, based on my good experiences with RNT shows, made me anxious to see this production. Also the fact that it stars Simon Russell Beale, and is written by Tom Stoppard, I figured it was worth my time and money. And it was. However, I am reminded of the vast pros and cons involved with seeing a show while it is still in previews. On the pro side, the performances are new and fresh, and you are the first one in your social circle to see it and therefore can proclaim your opinons about it. On the con side, previews are often technically, very rocky. They had some issues with sound and set that were a detraction. In addition, the leading actress (Essie Davis), while fantastic in the role, had not had the necessary time to adjust her perfomance to the much larger Broadway house. Her projection and annunciation were not up to the level where they needed to be, particularly while doing Stoppard. Stoppard writes more with ideas than with plot, and these ideas stream out of his characters at lightning speed. Even the best annunciators need to be extra careful with Stoppard. She wasn’t. But she was delightful and powerful at the same time, so I forgive her.

Beale gives an erratic yet specific (yes, it is possible) performance as the philosohper, George. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing him play Pangloss in “Candide” at the National, as well as Vanya in “Uncle Vanya” at BAM. I also saw him in “Summerfolk” at the National but I cannot remember his character’s name. Regardless, each role he plays is different and powerful and clear. He is one of the best actors working in theatre today, and he’s not particularly handsome. In fact, he’s rather homely and overweight. Its wonderful for him that his acting ability has overshadowed his appearance, but please will someone let me know when this happens for an actress? I’ll be holding my breath.

The play itself was interesting, I would certainly like to read it, considering how much of it I missed. Stoppard’s writing is just so wordy and dense. He clearly uses his characters as vessels for his philosophical and religious ideas. One wonders if he is more a philosopher than a playwright, at least, in this particular instance.

The scenic design was excellent (despite their minor tech flaws). The rotating stage in combination with an eerie blue lighting scheme that predominated, created a dark, yet beautiful world. The stage was basked in stars and moonlight, while we see corpses and pet-murders. The elements clash, making us feel uncomfortable, which is clearly the point.

Another issue is that the tone of the show was unclear. Was it comedy or drama? Or both? Or neither? The show transcends traditional category barriers, which indeed makes it unique. However, American audiences like to be able to put labels all over art. So I guarantee this show will be confusing and unliked by NY audiences. Which is a shame, because it is really something to be seen.

Blackbird, written and directed by Adam Rapp, is the most recent of the playwright-in-residence’s shows to be premiered at the Edge Theatre Company. For this show, they used a teeny tiny blackbox at the Blue Heron Arts Center. Definitely the most intimate setting i’ve ever seen used for a major production. And definitely one of the most disturbing. I was interested in seeing this show after seeing his play “Finer Noble Gases” at the Actor’s Theatre of Louisville. In comparing that show to “Blackbird,” it has been made clear what kinds of people he like to write about. Rapp is obsessed with people on a downward spiral. He writes characters that have hit rock bottom and have no where left to go. He gives these losers and scurges of socitey a humanity so we pity them and watch helplessly as they deteriorate. It is horrible and brilliant all at once.

The play documents a day in the life of two people in New York City, circa 1998. Baylis is an Gulf War Veteran who injured himself while moving a couch and is mostly immobile and unfortunately, also incontinent. Froggy is an tomboy child prostitute herioin addict with Hepatitis who is squatting with Baylis in his hole-in the wall apartment. The play shows these people during their last day on Earth. You learn everything about how they met, and how they came to be in the sorry states they are in. The character development is fascinating, because of the complexities of each. They are horrible people that have done horrible things in their lives, but you can’t fault them for it because they have had an equal number of injustices done to them. So you empathize with people that, in normal society, we ridicule, shun, or ignore.

Paul Sparks and Mandy Siegfried should be recognized for their work. Their characters were perfectly believable. The risks they are forced to take on stage at each performance are vast: the nudity, the violence, the profanity, the graphic accounts of a sordid past, the sex; pretty much everything you never wanted to do in front of an audience that is three feet away. Their chemistry was solid. I am sure this was due in large part to the directing. Rapp should definitely continue to direct his own work, which does not always work, but I’m not sure others would be able to accurately understand his own nightmarish vision of the world.

I had to go. It just sounded so ridiculous. And it was.

BASH Theatre Company has put together a shockingly good homage to everybody’s favorite teen show from the Eighties. The costumes were perfect. There was no set, but who cares. The performances (impersonations) were excellent. Nick Spangler as Zack was a dead ringer for Mark Paul Gossaler (?) in the TV show, it was almost scary. The major difference between these actors and the ones from the original show is this: these kids have talent, the TV versions did not. Almost every single actor was clearly trained in singing, acting, dance, and comedy. To an extreme level.

What was brilliant about the writing was that it incorporated the best moments from the most famous episodes of the show, and then just crammed them together. These moments were made more complete when the characters would randomly break out into song with each other. I especially liked Screech and Violet’s love duet toward the end. In addition, the cheezy music (and lipsynching) that the show is famous for, was stolen and used in the show. “Friends Forever” and that song that goes “Put your mind to it go for it, get down and break a sweat, rock and roll, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet” were in the show as well, which I’m sure is terribly illegal. Until these people get sued by the show’s producers, they are having a blast and making people in their mid-to-late twenties laugh their asses off.