Danny and the Deep Blue Sea is a short, two-person play by John Patrick Shanley. I like this guy. He wrote “Moonstruck” and “Joe Versus the Volcano,” as well as several great plays. This is a revival of one from the 1980s. It follows two people over the course of an evening. Danny, a roughneck violent construction worker, and Roberta, a roughneck barfly with a teenage delinquent son. These two people meet and find solace in each other. Their relationship ranges from violent to loving, over the course of a very short period of time. The brilliance of the script is the complexity and realism of the characters. As an audience member, I could choose to see the depressing side of things (how emotionally crippled and depressed and lonely they are) or the hopefull and happy (despite their shortcomings as people, they are able to find love with each other). The show ends on a positive note, but you’re not really sure if one of them is about to flip out on the other, yet again.

The chemistry between the two actors is vital for the success of the production, and in this production it really worked. Rosemarie DeWitt and Adam Rothenberg, clearly with the help of the clean, bold direction of Leigh Silverman, really made the relationship come to life.

An excellent production of a very good play. Shanley’s expertise lies within his exploration of humans and how they relate to each other. Most of his shows involve people talking and relating, but not actually doing much. Yet, he is never boring. Go figure.

Set designer Santo Loquasto deserves recognition for his work. The ceiling of the bar was lowered onto the stage, and we see a bedroom set on top of it. As it was being lowered, the bar scene splits in half and glides seamlessly off stage in either direction. While this is all happening, the moon rises. And nary a grip in sight!!! One of the better set changes I’ve ever seen.

The concept is simple. A cast of actors read old-school radio horror stories aloud to a live audience. The narrators, one an olde tyme radio broadcast type, the other a character actor doing mad scientist schtick, were the only ones in costume. The others were in all black. There were some props; a fake fire and a scary dummy. But for the most part, the entertainment was in the acting and sound effects. I was really surprised to see that none of the sound was done live, a la radio, but it was all pre-recorded sound. It really would have worked better the other way.
The acting was mostly very very good. But I think it would have been more interesting to hear in the comforts of my home, on a cd. I was kind of bored with nothing to look at for 90 minutes.

An interesting concept, not my particular cup of tea.

This play is based on the real life testimony of Cardinal Law, the Cardinal of the Archdiocese of Boston. When all the child molestation accusations came out a few years ago, this man was forced to testify under oath about what he knew. The deposition was released for public view, and the play was created from this actual document.

The play consists of four men sitting in a room, for 90 minutes. The questioning lawyer, the Cardinal’s lawyer, the Cardinal, and a silent, young man who does not speak. Occasionally, the side of the stage is occupied by one of two character actors who each play about ten different characters. When the lawyer begins to read a letter by a real person to the Cardinal, one of the character actors is lit, giving the author of the letter a face and a voice. It was interesting watching these people transform themselves so quickly into different people, using predominantly costumes and dialect work. The acting was definitely good, subtle and realistic; not stagey at all. It looked more like film acting than stage acting, which worked well within the intimate setting of the show. I did have a problem with the overall concept of the play. It is just people talking to each other for ninety minutes, and nothing happens. A story is told but they rarely even leave their seats.

The best moment in the show is the very end, where we learn who the silent man in the room is. We learn he is a victim of molestation by a priest, and he gives a heartbreaking monologue in which he weeps openly. What I found interesting is that he had the first 85 minutes of the play to sit and listen and prepare for his emotional moment, so when it happened, it was all the more effective.

This is what I learned from this show. 1) There have been thousands upon thousands of children in our country that have been sexually abused by a member of the clergy. 2) These children usually come from poor families. 3) In each and every case, the priest was allowed either to return to his original position at the church, or be transferred to another location, where the community is unaware of the allegations. 4) Cardinal Law knew about most of the allegations and did absolutely nothing to try to help it to stop, nor did he do anything in the way of reparations for the victim or their families. He perpetuated a culture of silence about the matter. 5) The Catholic church, and those running it, believe that they are above the law and can do whatever they want, which is true, because none of them were punished in any way. 7) The Catholic Church would rather keep its reputation unsoiled than admit fault, or in this case sexual deviance, and has willingly and knowingly destroyed thousands of peoples’ lives in order to do so.

God Bless America!

Tonight I saw Brenda Blethyn and Edie Falco in this gripping situation drama. Acclaimed playwright Marsha Norman is best known for this play. It follows the events of a mother and daughter over the course of an evening. Jessie tells her mama that she plans to kill herself that evening, and the play comes out of this piece of information. Falco, as Jesse, was beautifully rational and understated and unwavering in her penultimate decision. Blethyn really steals the show, however, the role carries much more emotional depth. Whereas Jessie only gets a few moments in the show, the majority of the play shows Mama’s reactions to the news. She goes from denial to anger to bitterness to desperation and finally, to acceptance. Then back to desparation again. This is an incredible role for an actress and she really delivered all I had hoped.

I have the advantage of seeing these two women regularly on film and TV, and therefore I was able to recognize the fact that they had fully realized these characters in the physical sense. The way Falco walked, with her head down and shoulders slumped, was a telling attribute. She didn’t have to even talk to tell us a great deal about this person. The way Blethyn moved, particularly the way she rose ackwardly from her chair, like an old woman, was so realistic, even though we know the actress is no where near that age.

Vocally, Blethyn had the quality of voice that could project, and it didn’t sound like she was trying to project. Falco, best known as a TV actor, and probably not used to having to project to the top balcony of a huge theatre, wasn’t quite as convincing. There were moments where it sounded a bit like she was using “actor voice.” But herein lies a problem with doing “‘Night Mother” on a Broadway stage. It is an incredibly intimate moment in two people’s lives. It really should be done on a small space with a small audience for full effectiveness. However, the quality of the production indicated the need to be put in a large house. It seems strange. Like cramming “The Lion King” in a tiny studio theatre.

Neil Patel did an amazing job creating a fully functional, working kitchen and living room on the stage. The kitchen had a sink with running water, a working refrigerator, and what looked like a working stove (may not have been). Nothing looked like a prop, everything looked (and probably was) fully functional.

I have to say that I was moved to the point of tears and nose running. When the lights came up, my new sweater had wet dots all over my chest area. Therefore, the show is a success.

An Inverse Theatre buddy of mine, Timothy McCown Reynolds, made his playwrighting debut with this new piece. An unofficial sequel to Moliere’s “The Misanthrope,” the action of this play takes place six years later. Alceste has returned to the world he once new, except now, he’s become a werewolf and wants to eat everyone he once knew. It had elements of campiness, but all in all it was a serious dramatic work.

I was astounded at Timothy’s ability to mimic the sound patterns of the great Moliere. He didn’t use all rhyming couplets, but the flow of the dialogue was so seamless and poetic, it sounded as if things were rhyming when they didn’t. Mr. Reynolds is an amazing poet, I am truly in awe of his mastery of the english language. Not just in sound, but in content. There were some very poignant and touching witticisms thrown in all over the place.

The acting was mostly excellent. Reynolds, who cast himself as Alceste, was perfect in this role. Menacing and evil, yet debonair. I found it interesting that he wrote the role for himself, and every female character in the show wants him. A bit of a narcissist, are we Timothy? I kid. It worked. Other notable performances were John McConnel as Philinte, Sarak K. Lippman as the good Eliante, Randall Middleton as the complex Oronte, and Carey Urban as Celemene, who has become a whore since last we saw her in The Misanthrope. Bob Laine was brilliant and utterly unrecognizable as the foppish, vulgar Clitandre.

The creepy violin music added a creepy mood that predominated the show, and went well with the spooky lighting by Jeff Nash. Karen Flood added the period costumes, and all in all the technical design concept was pretty much flawless. Except the door was a little wiggly looking.
My only problem with the show was its length. It ran almost three hours, which was a bit unnecessary. However, if I were Timothy, I would have a hard time deciding what dialogue to cut. It was all so nicely laid out. He should be really proud of his writing and acting, and I see why he had a hard time cutting it down. But to be more commerically viable, he really should.

Other than that, it was a really amazing new work, to be highly commended.

Sometimes even talented actors have to be in bad shows. In fact, this happens a lot. My friend Erin Williams was in this new musical for all of ten minutes, but even if she had been in it for longer, I do not think her talents could have saved this clunker. The writer, Tom Kleh, did have a good concept. Yuppies are kidnapped by a Pirate Ship, lost off the NJ coastline in a wacky time-travel scenario. Who doesn’t love pirates? And musicals? Unfortunately, even though all the elements were in place, the show fell flat. It couldn’t make up its mind between being super-silly-camp, or being a real musical with real characters. The acting styles were all over the board, some being purely one dimensional comedy and others trying to achieve depth. And failing.

The music was simple, and completly unmemorable, but fun to hear once, I guess.
I have to say that parts of it were so ridiculous, I did laugh and have fun, so there was something redeeming about the evening.

Performances were spotty. Jeanne Tinker as a corporate secretary was great, as was the goofy captain of the Pirate Ship, played by David Weitzer. Logan Lipton as the Eggman was hysterical. Rachael Bell as Amy Slocum played the part so over-the-top goofy, there was not a single moment of reality in her character. Her boyfriend in the show, Mick Bleyer, played the role almost completely naturalistically. It just didn’t work.

The pirate dance montage in act two was a lot of fun. I laughed.

Another issue with the writing is that Kleh obviously loves and has a great facility with the English language. He uses too much of it. The whole first act of the show, it sounded to my ears that everyone was just trying to spit out all their lines as quickly as possible, because they had so many of them, most of which were irrelevant. He tried to hard to write “laugh lines” that often were not funny. They are funny to people that think word play is hilarious, but most audiences don’t. I wanted to see more people fall down, prop humor, things like that. But instead, he opted to keep the comedy cerebral and lame, which was the wrong choice in this context.