Le Serpent Rouge

GRADE: B+

Written/directed/choreographed by Austin McCormick. Company XIV. (CLOSED)

For the most part, the worst criticism Austin McCormick's new dance/theater extravaganza gets is that it's too much of a good thing. Most critics are turned on, some apparently quite literally, by this lush, sensuous, and quite heterodox retelling of the Adam-and-Eve creation myth, with a dollop of seven deadly sins thrown in for good measure. Nearly all rave about Zane Philstrom's set and Olivera Gajic's costumes (and lack thereof), with only a few finding the results a tad repetitive. Sounding the least impressed, and dragging the grade down to a B+, is the Voice's Brian Parks, who finds it all a bit of a drag (pun intended).

Nytheatre.com A
(Danny Bowes) Although the story of Adam and Eve is as old as mankind, McCormick's choreography is absolutely not. What it is: imaginative, visually striking, fresh, exciting, erotic, compelling, articulate, and brilliantly theatrical. Of course it helps to have good dancers, and in Laura Careless, John Beasant III, Yeva Glover, and Davon Rainey, McCormick has some very good ones. Beasant and Careless create true character arcs for Adam and Eve, respectively, entirely through movement...Tired of superlatives yet? Too bad. Le Serpent Rouge looks stunning—courtesy of lighting designer Gina Scherr's lush reds, yellows, and oranges; the dancers are frequently back- or top-lit and become beautiful shadows. They perfectly compliment Zane Philstrom's impressive set (replete with chandelier) and Olivera Gajic's costumes, which do actually get worn a bit, the first few minutes notwithstanding.

That Sounds Cool A
(Aaron Riccio) It's a sort of epic burlesque, except that McCormick and Company XIV are in the habit of stripping away the glamor--ironically, using glamor itself to get back to the humanity of these ancient tales. This apple bites back, and the taste of Le Serpent Rouge! lingers on.

Blog Critics A
(John Sobel) Austin McCormick's Company XIV is back with another extravagant, sexually charged dance-theater piece of the kind only they can produce...The choreography is continually expressive and beautifully realized by the amazing dancers; the movement is descriptive, never abstract, occasionally a little repetitious, but the spell holds for the production's full 70 minutes...Given the dark material, there's surprisingly little menace in the tale. One gets the sense that Mr. McCormick and his troupe take such pleasure in their work that real evil, even in circus guise, can find no purchase on their stage.

The New York Times A-
(Andy Webster) This theater-dance hybrid, a lush rumination on temptation, infuses its subject with a heady blend of baroque elegance and contemporary snap...Mr. McCormick’s dances throughout are sensuous marvels, pungent but never overwrought. The performers, though, vary. John Beasant III’s Adam is a cipher, easily led by his sex drive. The women are more interesting: as Eve, Laura Careless is frustrated but earthy, resilient and striving, and Yeva Glover, as Lillith, is lithe and blithely seductive...Does this work sympathize with suffering womanhood or mock it? A little of both, I’m afraid. Nevertheless, Mr. McCormick and his crew show great humor and a pronounced appreciation for body heat. The combination is deliriously rewarding.

Brooklyn Paper A-
(Mike McLaughlin) Maybe I wouldn’t have been so bored in Sunday school if they had taught me the story of Adam and Eve like Company XIV does in “Le Serpent Rouge.” I certainly got a big rise from this stripped-down, satirical depiction of the Fall of Man, which featured a first couple writhing nearly naked...If the play loses momentum at all, it’s because almost all of the dialogue is delivered by a narrator. That’s not to say there isn’t action; a gyrating drag queen invades the audience, the sets are ethereal, and the soundtrack is filled with fantastic oldies like James Brown and Peggy Lee. The time-honored man-woman dynamic and divisions endure in this bawdy Creation myth...But this isn’t some pure hedonistic romp in which reckless self-indulgence has no consequences. The characters in Austin McCormick’s play experience pain and agony after breaking the allegedly divine rules. But there’s joy in expulsion, too — especially for Adam, who gets to experience Earth’s first menage a trois.

Offoffonline A-
(Amy Freeman) Their version of the temptation and the fall is as sensuous, spectacular, and rococo as it can get, with a shiny pressed tin backdrop, a whip wielding, thigh-high boot-clad Ring Mistress narrating events, a large chandelier that doubles as the tree of knowledge, and a fog machine...What follows as part of the temptation is a walk-through of the Seven Deadly Sins, beginning with vanity. A large gilt-framed mirror is wheeled onstage...Le Serpent Rouge almost threatens to be too long. There is a brief second act, separated from the first by an entre-act performance of Eartha Kitt's " A Woman Wouldn’t Be a Woman" by a drag queen. The second act serves as a quick summation and almost feels tacked on to the piece, a quick little bow to tie everything up.

Gothamist B+
(John Del Signore) You'll be pleasantly surprised by the rococo splendor that awaits you inside the Brooklyn home of Company XIV, where their second production, Le Serpent Rouge, unfolds under a lavishly designed, pressed tin proscenium and shimmering curtain. Zane Philstrom's set is a work of stunning beauty, matched only by the impeccably toned bodies of the core performers, who display impressive physical endurance and plenty of flesh while executing Austin McCormick vigorous, baroque choreography...In the absence of any dramatic tension, the piece becomes increasingly attenuated around the one hour mark; while the writhing bodies and lavish design are always easy on the eyes, a certain repetitiveness takes hold as the ensemble proceeds to reenact purgatory...But taken as a whole, the moody Le Serpent Rouge is filled with enough striking and surprising tableaux to whet my appetite for future apples from Company XIV.

Backstage B
(Andy Propst) Writer-director-choreographer Austin McCormick likes his opulence. With Le Serpent Rouge, he delivers a wildly flamboyant take on the Biblical story of Adam and Eve...Though often sensual and sometimes brutal, McCormick's choreography—performed with intensity by the company—can become visually repetitive despite the broad array of accompanying music. Perhaps McCormick intends for similarities in the dances to be leitmotifs that underscore the perpetuity of the vices, but unfortunately the effect can be a bit wearying. Ultimately, Serpent feels a bit like a medieval mystery play that's been crossed with a juicy soap opera.

Village Voice C
(Brian Parks) The most impressive thing about Company XIV's Le Serpent Rouge is not the show but the troupe's fabulous theater on Bond Street in Brooklyn...Trying to work a sexy vibe, the piece—directed by Austin McCormick—features a fair amount of nudity, but occasionally feels like one of those "exotic" topless casino shows. Nonetheless, Yeva Glover (Lillith) and John Beasant III (Adam) are both talented dancers, and a late section of the piece that has each methodically pacing around the circular set is oddly compelling...Not at all compelling is the show's drag queen, lip-synching singers such as Peggy Lee. Hey folks, it's 2009—drag queens are tired. Especially mediocre ones who want to give audience members—unlucky me!—a lap dance. If you insist, though, please deploy an actor without such nasty breath.

Nytheatre.com A 13; That Sounds Cool A 13; Blog Critics A 13; The New York Times A- 12; Brooklyn Paper A- 12; Offoffonline A- 12; Gothamist B+ 11; Backstage B
10; VV C 7; 103/9=11.44 (B+)

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10 Things To Do Before I Die

GRADE: D+

By Zakiyyah Alexander. Directed by Jackson Gay. At 2nd Stage Uptown. (CLOSED)

Not a lot to report here, frankly. Other than Patrick Lee, reviewers just don't like Zakiyyah Alexander's play about two estranged sisters, a father's belongings and growing up while in your mid-30s. The range of quibbles is fairly broad, from the more poetic dream sequences in the play to the underdeveloped male characters to feelings of cliche seeping into the dialogue. More general praise greets the actors, particularly Tracie Thoms as Nina and Natalie Venetia Belcon as Vida. A late-breaking review from Elizabeth Vincentelli at the New York Post dragged the play's grade down from C- to D+.

TheaterMania B
(Patrick Lee) Although modest, the play is well-observed and warmed considerably by comic touches, with nuanced, believable characters brought to life both by sensitive writing and well-considered performances... Belcon conveys the anger beneath Vida's sometimes icy surface and makes thoroughly convincing the character's gradual progression. She also makes credible the idea that Vida would be occasionally seized by anxiety attacks, although there is room for Belcon to bring a greater sense of panic to those moments. Thoms makes Lena seem to unravel emotionally before our eyes, playing a vulnerability that is increasingly less restrained with each scene.

Backstage C
(Leonard Jacobs) The play has serious faults, from an over-reliance on episodic structuring to odd fantasy interludes to muddled staging decisions by director Jackson Gay. Yet the production also has Natalie Venetia Belcon's sharp, wise, and moving performance as the sister who didn't need to pen a scalding memoir to emerge whole, if not wholly unscathed, from a disappointing youth. Her acting delivers the audience from the danger of ambivalence.

Variety C-
(Marilyn Stasio) Zakiyyah Alexander may have the gift of gab, but she hasn't found her voice in 10 Things to Do Before I Die. Play gives beaucoup talk time to two estranged sisters who make up after they go through 10 boxes of family memorabilia left by their recently deceased father. But with a shapeless plot and no action to drive the arbitrary events, the piece comes across as more of a character study -- of people with little to say but an overwhelming need to make themselves heard.

NYTimes D
(Charles Isherwood) Harmless but pedestrian...Ms. Alexander makes a couple of regrettable mistakes. Near the top of my list of 10 things developing playwrights should avoid would be dream sequences; these virtually never work onstage. Here there are several. Also to be discouraged is the use of quotations from great plays. The best writing in 10 Things to Do Before I Die comes from Tennessee Williams and Shakespeare — a tough duo to top, admittedly.

NY Daily News D
(Joe Dziemianowicz) Ambitious but unconvincing...Uneven lead performances under Jackson Gay's slack direction don't help. Belcon is a striking figure on stage, even with a humongous bun that makes it look like a dirigible is hovering behind her head.

Time Out New York D
(Helen Shaw) The list in the title of Zakkiyah Alexander’s play should have been the tip-off. Her ungainly 10 Things to Do Before I Die feels like a playwright ticking off boxes, an exercise in filling time. The drama gets through its modest catalog of tasks—introduce characters, toss in relationship crises, cue breakdowns—without poetry, insight or (and this is what makes it tiresome) dispatch. Yet 10 Things is not entirely disposable. Alexander can, after hours of exhausting setup, write delicately comic scenes. And, to be ruthlessly utilitarian, she provides an opportunity for theater makers to ply their craft: Wilson Chin, for instance, should be congratulated for his handsome, understated set. Hooray?

Talkin Broadway D-
(Matthew Murray) For a play that warns about the dangers of spinning your wheels and wasting your time, 10 Things to Do Before I Die takes nearly forever to live up to its title. It’s not until well into the second act of Zakiyyah Alexander’s labored, falsely poetic play, which Second Stage is presenting at the McGinn-Cazale Theatre as part of its Second Stage Theatre Uptown series, that you really get a concrete idea of what it’s about. By that time, Alexander, director Jackson Gay, and a group of poorly matched actors have made it practically impossible to care.

NYPost F+
(Elizabeth Vincentelli) Most of the show is taken up with contrived sisterly dichotomies and tensions that feel as if they came straight out of a Playwrightron 2.0 software, with no interference to humanize things along the way. Predictable plot points and Important Life Lessons turn the second act into a domestic dramedy that would bore even Oprah. Growing up is hard to do. It's even harder to watch. Incongruous acting compounds these problems,

TM B 10; BS C 7; V C- 6; NYT D 4; TONY D 4; NYDN D 4; TB D- 3; NYP F+ 2; TOTAL = 40/8= 5 (D+)

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Pure Confidence

GRADE: A-

By Carlyle Brown. Directed by Marion McClinton. 59E59. (CLOSED)

Carlyle Brown gets high marks from critics for shedding light on the little-known time in American history before the Civil War when black jockeys dominated horse racing. Gavin Lawrence plays the successful jockey Simon Cato, who wants nothing more than to buy his freedom. Most critics agree that the first act is more compelling than the second, but they still come out in favor of the play, citing Marion McClinton's able direction and the performances, especially Christiana Clark as Cato's wife Caroline, as strengths.

Bloomberg News A+
(John Simon) Brown has come up with a fascinating story, racy characters and salty dialogue. Marion McClinton, astute director of several August Wilson plays, does as handsomely by Brown’s invented, but by no means far-fetched tale. McClinton achieves big effects on a small stage that Joseph Stanley has equipped with telling scenery. McClinton also has chosen an exemplary cast, in which even supporting roles are strongly taken by Mark Sieve, Mark Rosenwinkel and Casey Greig. Chris Mulkey and Karen Landry are compelling as the Johnsons, and Gavin Lawrence is all vim and vinegar as Simon. But even more astounding is the Caroline of Christiana Clark, a performance that grows to staggering power as if in a time exposure. She dazzles with double-decker portrayals of conflicting attitudes: stolid submissiveness on the outside with staunchness transpiring from beneath; later, a fine facade of dignity that does not hide the underlying bruises.


Just Shows To Go You A
(Patrick Lee) The story, about a resourceful slave in the pre-Civil War South whose talent as a horse jockey seems to offer him a path to freedom, might have made for a dry docudrama of the “theatre that is good for you” variety. But instead the play, written by Carlyle Brown, is lively and absorbing and the production, with an exceptional cast directed by Marion McClinton who is best known for staging August Wilson, is a crowd-pleaser.

Backstage A
(Karl Levett) The two acts are widely different in tone—the first is buoyant with hope and promise, the second heavy with resignation and melancholy. Brown leaves the play open-ended and director Marion McClinton whose authoritative hand is evident throughout, creates a minuet of great charm for Simon and Caroline as the final image. The cast, led by Lawrence's superbly alive Simon, is strong throughout, especially the two female characters. Landry makes for a wise, if self-serving Mattie and Clark's Caroline grows in stature before our eyes. The title Pure Confidence refers to a beloved, pedigreed horse. This compelling play also has a pedigree that proclaims it as a piece of important theatre.

CurtainUp A
(Elizabeth Ahlfors) Director Marion McClinton, long associated with playwright August Wilson's study of the African-American journey, has turned his focus on this docudrama that's seasoned with doses of comedy and tragedy through Brown's precise, colorful dialogue. Joseph Stanley's set design is minimal but imaginative. With few props it effectively uses lighting and sound to set the moods, utilizing choruses of "Camptown Races" to open and close most scenes. With the talented ensemble, the stage comes alive with action. One scene shows Caroline coming into the Johnson stable where Cato is sitting on a saddle strapped over a barrel. In one hand is a jug of moonshine, in the other a whip. Cato jubilantly describes to Caroline a future race in which he will be riding his own horse, Freedom, against the Bondage Man on Slavery. That neck to neck race has Cato challenging Bondage Man with "You soon be looking at my horses ass." To add excitement, this spectacular win for Cato is staged with background sounds of a cheering crowd.

The New Yorker A
(Unsigned) The enjoyably hammy and charming summer-stock-style production contains glimmers of insight into the depths of the master-slave relationship and the realities of freedom.

Variety A-
(Sam Thielman) The play's longer first act gives us all this information in the first few minutes. Brown's whirlwind exposition slows only for snatches of charged dialogue, like Simon's gratifyingly insolent exchange with sore loser George Dewitt (Mark Sieve), who gets so riled, he challenges a visibly embarrassed Johnson to a high-stakes grudge match. That quick little micro-play is the first thing we see in "Pure Confidence," and the presentation of slave and slaveholder as a team of lovable conmen puts us off our guard. Is Johnson secretly an abolitionist? Will he fight for the noble Union against the craven rednecks of the Confederacy? Thank God, no. The two characters demonstrate Walker Percy's observation that "an old-style Southern white and an old-style Southern black" will have an easier time talking to each other than, say, Ted Kennedy and Jesse Jackson. If "Pure Confidence" occasionally loses its grip on the subtleties of this decorous banter (occasionally delivered in that I-do-declare accent indigenous to theaters north of the Mason-Dixon), it deserves serious kudos for attempting them in the first place. The lack of nuance is not the fault of the author. The performances are uniformly interesting, but they're not uniform in any other sense.

New York Post B+
(Frank Scheck) The play falters somewhat in the second half, set years later in Saratoga, NY, where the once-proud jockey has been reduced to working as a hotel bellhop. His racist boss has no idea of his past until a newspaper reporter presses Simon for an interview. Here, the play's themes, so subtly presented in Act 1, are hammered home. While director Marion McClinton's lackluster staging fails to do full justice to the material, the powerful subject matter and impressive performances make "Pure Confidence" a winner nonetheless.

Lighting & Sound America B
(David Barbour) Even in these early scenes, Simon's oversupply of brass and sass -- and his skill at getting away with verbal murder -- threatens to saddle Pure Confidence with crippling credibility problems. However, the author, Carlyle Brown, has a way of grounding his whimsical story in the harsh soil of reality... The first act ends on a note of tingling suspense, when a catastrophic racing accident occurs simultaneously with the firing on Fort Sumter. After the intermission, the action moves to Saratoga in 1877, where Simon, his career over, works as a bellboy -- and, sad to say, Pure Confidence takes a tumble from which it never really recovers. Brown has to work extra hard to reunite all the characters -- he even introduces a New York Times journalist whose job is to deliver vast amounts of exposition -- but, once he has his players back in place, he has surprisingly little for them to do besides rehashing the past. A disillusioned, middle-aged Simon is much less interesting than his younger counterpart; the play is left without its primary source of energy.

The Village Voice B-
(Alexis Soloski) Brown has written a melodrama: entertaining, if also sentimental and simplistic. The play's less-than-startling claim—that racism comes in a variety of flavors, from mustache-twirling villainy to friendly paternalism—won't stun anyone possessed of a fair knowledge of American history. Linguistic anachronisms and pop psychology mar many a scene, but, when he wants to, Brown can write a sequence as thrilling as any onstage—as when Simon recounts an imaginary race between two horses named Freedom and Slavery.

The New York Times B-
(Rachel Saltz) Mr. Lawrence understands Simon’s ambition and will, but his character remains one-dimensional, without the doubts and vulnerabilities that would make him compelling. Ms. Clark’s Caroline is a more vivid creation, by turns shy and sly. Her scenes with the pitch-perfect Ms. Landry generate real emotion, even when they strain credulity. Whatever the play’s weaknesses, the veteran director Marion McClinton makes the production a theatrical sure thing. He knows when to slow the drama and when to pump it up, and he stages the action scenes cleverly and simply, using movement, light and imagination. The audience eats it up... This may be a soothing view of the past, but it’s too easy and too sentimental, ugly history as a lullaby.

Bloomberg News A+ 14; Just Shows To Go You A 13; Backstage A 13; CurtainUp A 13; The New Yorker A 13; Variety A- 12; New York Post B+ 11; Lighting & Sound America B 10; The Village Voice B- 9; The New York Times B- 9; TOTAL: 117/10 = 11.7 (A-)

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Vieux Carre

GRADE: B-

By Tennesee Williams. Directed By Austin Pendleton. At the Pearl Theatre Company. (CLOSED)

For it's final show at its St. Mark's Space, the Pearl Theatre has also chosen to do their first Tennesee Williams play. And not just any Tennesee Williams' play, a late-period work that would be notorious for its initial reception were it not instead largely forgotten. Vieux Carre, an auto-biographical, somewhat impressionist quasi-sequel to The Glass Managerie has critics split. NYTheatre, Backstage and Variety are grateful for the opportunity to discover a hidden diamond in the rough while Theatremania and CurtainUp maintain that there are reasons why some plays remain obscure.

NYTheatre A
(Martin Denton) The Pearl Theatre Company, wrapping up their 25th season, is giving audiences a chance to savor and ponder and wrap themselves up in this lesser known Williams piece. It turns out to be a shiny diamond that somehow got overlooked, hovering as it was in the shadow of The Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire and those other famous plays. Do not miss your chance to see it, in an affecting production that's been brilliantly staged by Austin Pendleton.

Backstage A-
(David Sheward) Heartbreaking isolation is what Williams wanted to capture in this autobiographical work and director Austin Pendleton sensitively exposes it like a physician treating a charity ward full of society's outcasts... Despite these echoes of past works and some overwrought sex scenes, Williams' trademark compassion for the weary and the lost shines through. The Pearl company illuminates their struggles with intensity and restraint.

Variety B+
(Marilyn Stasio) Hard to believe it took the Pearl, the very model of a responsible classical repertory company, 25 years to do a Tennessee Williams play. Tardy though it may be, this staging of Vieux Carre -- produced in 1977 and rarely seen since -- is a well-chosen example of how an enterprising rep house can serve a bit of nouvelle cuisine to faithful subscribers nourished on Shakespeare and Shaw. By salting the resident company with guest thesps from other venues, visiting director Austin Pendleton also provides a piquant taste of the interactive dynamic in this most theatrical of theater towns.

Time Out New York B-
(Diane Snyder) The Pearl Theatre Company demonstrates that gems like Vieux Carré, which lasted only 17 performances on Broadway in 1977, contain a lyrical luster—especially in Austin Pendleton’s affecting and engaging revival. ...Despite bits of awkward staging (sending the actors through the audience for exits and entrances), Pendleton and his cast find the heartbreak in Williams’s “shadowy occupants.” They just don’t always bring them to light.—

TheaterMania D+
(Adam R. Perlman) Unfortunately, while Vieux Carré certainly feels like Tennessee Williams, it just doesn't feel like a play. In his other works, Williams builds intricate drama amidst decaying Southern atmosphere; but Vieux Carré is simply all atmosphere. The evening is essentially a series of short stories linked by location and an all-but invisible narrator... Beyond eliciting the mostly admirable acting, director Austin Pendleton hasn't done the production many favors. Working with set designer Harry Feiner (and with the theater's limited vertical height), the action is largely set on or about a center stage bed forced into yeoman's duty (now it's The Writer's room, now the hallway, now the young lovers', and so on). The unfortunate effect is the feeling that the action revolves around The Writer, rather than that he rattles around the outskirts, watching and wanting. As a result, we're made all the more aware of the lack of central drama in the play.

CurtainUp D+
(Elyse Sommer) While Helmer Austin Pendleton has gone out of his way to recreate the atmosphere of the boarding house where Williams stayed just long enough to absorb this mother lode of inspiration, his directorial ideas don't always work. I can appreciate why he chose to have the various rooms in the boarding house on one level and without any visible dividers to differentiate between the various rooms. Having the characters move upstage when not part of the action so that the one center stage bedroom serves as Mrs. Wire's, Jane's, Nightingale's and the narrator's room fits the dreamy atmosphere of the mature narrator evoking memories from long ago. I suppose Pendleton's enclosing that single set with a doorless back, so that the actors keep entering and exiting via the two aisles also makes sense in terms of emphasizing the connection between the shabby, dead-to-life interior and the life pulsing outside. However, without a trace of anything to suggest New Orleans (a projection of the street on that bare enclosure might have helped) there's a lack of atmosphere and, all that up and down the aisle movement tends to be distracting to the point of annoyance. The cast too is uneven.

NYTR A 13; BS A- 12; V B+ 11; TONY B- 9; TM D+ 5; CU D+ 5; TOTAL: 55/6 = 9.2 (B-)

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I Have Been To Hiroshima Mon Amour

GRADE: B-

By Chiori Miyagawa. Directed by Jean Wagner. The Ohio Theater. (CLOSED)

Chiori Miyagawa's exploration of Hiroshima's place in the popular consciousness proves somewhat divisive amongst the critics. Martin Denton swoons over the layered text (which expands upon the French New Wave classic it takes its name from) while Helen Shaw actually despairs for the next generation of experimental theatre artists. Sitting in the middle are mostly respectful takes from the Times, Backstage and the Voice.

Nytheatre.com A
(Martin Denton) Miyagawa considers memories and their owners in this complex, layered work... a rich, challenging, sometimes difficult (though always accessible) piece. On its surface the play seems to be about appropriation of memories, in the manner that the French Woman in the dialogue quoted above suggests that the world has somehow assumed Hiroshima's mantle of sadness out of regret. The question is, does that equate to assumption of responsibility? Is it, instead, usurpation?...The play is performed by Joel de la Fuente, Juliana Francis-Kelly, and Sue Jean Kim, all of whom do superb work. Innovative multimedia design by Glenn Reed, Rick Martin, Hap Tivey, and Du Yun contribute much to the ethereal feel of the show.

Backstage B+
(Leonard Jacobs) The play makes brittle poetry of unimaginable horror... Miyagawa's goal isn't to re-inflict old wounds—World War II was hastened to a close, historians say, by President Truman's decision to nuke Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Rather, it's to replace Resnais' romanticizing of mushroom clouds with newer, more complex metaphorical arrangements. For Hiroshima is not just one story among many; it's the story of our age. She also creates especially well observed characters—you might detect slivers of yourself in the performances, none of which hits false notes. No doubt the actors were nurtured by Jean Wagner's staging, which is pretty as a lilac, and by Hillary Spector's choreographic diversions.

Village Voice B
(Sharyn Jackson) A contemporary dialogue about history and personal memory around re-enacted film scenes in which Resnais's two lovers engage in bedside physical and psychological therapy—while the ghost of a lost betrothed delivers gory details about melting skin. In the present-day sections, the malleable actors (Joel de la Fuente, Sue Jean Kim, and Juliana Francis-Kelly) play pals gathered for movie night, where Hiroshima's consequences are confined to a Netflix envelope; though they bicker, they never come to a consensus about who has the right to feel angry or moved by the horrors of the past. Shifting screens surrounding the stage invoke the motion-picture theatricality of history, but director Jean Wagner's use of explosive graphics is the only cheap shot in this play. Stark descriptions of the bomb's aftermath are graphic enough.

The New York Times B
(Wilborn Hampton) A mostly effective but occasionally affected exploration of Alain Resnais’s 1959 film... Three fine, understated performances by Joel de la Fuente as the architect, Juliana Francis-Kelly as the actress and Sue Jean Kim as the Japanese victim, under Jean Wagner’s subdued direction, give the play a quiet dignity. In the end, of course, as the actress is frequently told, we know nothing of Hiroshima. Only those who were there can know what it was like. But Ms. Miyagawa’s play is a reminder of how little we understand.

Theatermania C+
(Andy Buck) As intriguing as many of the playwright's concepts are, they are undermined by a cast -- directed by Jean Wagner -- who don't quite connect to their roles or to each other. The performances of Joel de la Fuente and Juliana Francis-Kelly may be intended to be a mere comment on the film's central romance but, in order to do that effectively, they still need a certain chemistry that they lack. Sue Jean Kim fares only a little better with her ghostly utterances. And all three actors look awkward and halting in the evening's occasional movement passages, which are choreographed by Hillary Spector. They do, however, possess some nice comic timing. The production is well-supported by its design team.

Lighting & Sound America D
(David Barbour) There's a lot on Miyagawa's mind, including the horror of the bombing, the meaning of similar incidents (such as the firebombing of Dresden), Japan's role in its own downfall, racism, gender identity, and the role of art in romanticizing the horrors of war. But bringing up issues isn't the same thing as exploring them -- and it becomes frustrating to see so many fascinating ideas mentioned, then dropped, as the author moves on to other things. Nothing acquires any weight, and the script begins meandering in search of a meaningful conclusion.

Time Out NY D
(Helen Shaw) What must have seemed, in the planning stages, like an audacious reworking of the 1959 Alain Resnais film, fails depressingly on all fronts. Miyagawa borrows from the Marguerite Duras screenplay—a star-crossed story of a French woman falling for a Japanese man—and then pans beyond the frame, showing us the relationships left out of Resnais’s storytelling. This results in a clamor of voices, including modern-day deconstructions (“I think it’s politically questionable”) and commentary from one of Hiroshima’s dead. The project is interesting; Miyagawa’s problem is entirely in execution. The playwright doesn’t solve—or really address—the transition between media, and thus the doomed love affair so gorgeously melodramatic on screen bloats into absurdity.


NYTR A 13; BS B+ 11; VV B 10; NYT B 10; TM C+ 8; LSA D 4; TONY D 4; TOTAL: 8.57 (B-)

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American Hwangap

GRADE: B+

By Lloyd Suh. Directed by Trip Cullman. The Wild Project. (CLOSED)

Overall critics are receptive to Lloyd Suh's play about a Korean man trying to make amends with his family. Though critics say the plot is not original, they think Suh avoids the pitfalls of such a plot and think the play works largely because of the cast as directed by Tripp Cullman and Erik Flatmo's simple yet effective set. Critics don't agree on the merits of the vague ending.

CurtainUp A
(Amy Krivohlavek) Under the deft direction of Trip Cullman, this compact 90-minute production flies by, offering a vivid, intimate portrait of a family attempting to patch itself together. It helps that this stellar cast feels like a real family, with dynamic interactions that smack of real-life sibling sparring and parent-child struggling. Katigbak delivers a wonderfully wry, no-nonsense portrait of Mary, a steadfast woman with an innate understanding of her children's needs, as well as her own. She reminds her stubborn daughter of the need to "face the thing that made you. To make it see you." Saito is alternately exasperating and sympathetic as Min Suk, and his performance is particularly touching as he works to revive his relationships with his children and his ex-wife. By way of explanation, he tells his daughter about the "planned obsolescence" that has plagued his career and life:

Theatermania A
(Dan Balcazo) Suh strikes just the right balance between humor and deeply felt emotion. His dialogue not only captures what the characters express to one another, but also hint at the subtextual thoughts that they're unable to say. The playwright also sets up an effective parallel between North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's desire to reunify North and South Korea, with Chun's desire to reconnect with his family. "Many people in Korea want reunification, but so divide so many years, hope for together but philosophy so different," says Chun. In the end, while the play does not resolve all the conflicts it introduces, it does offer the possibility of reconciliation, although no guarantee that it will actually come to pass... Erik Flatmo's simple-seeming set is surprisingly versatile, and able to suggest a myriad of locations with just a few re-arranged pieces of furniture or addition of small set units. For example, a cut-out of a boat flown in while Kim and Saito sit on a tabletop ingeniously sets the scene for a father-son fishing trip. Junghyun Georgie Lee's costumes, Paul Whitaker's lighting, and Fitz Patton's sound design also all contribute to the overall effectiveness of the piece.

Gay City News A
(David Kennerley) Under the snappy direction of Trip Cullman, Suh's characterizations are intimately vivid, and the dialogue crackles. The excellent James Saito, who won an Obie Award for his role in "Durango" a couple of years ago, renders the hapless, deadbeat dad worthy of his children's buried love. Another standout is Hoon Lee as the snide, stony David, who refuses to travel from New York. When he intones, "I'd most prefer not to drop everything and just rush down for some supplication congratulation situation," it is at once chilling and amusing. He calls his younger brother "champ" and "buddy" with all the affection normally reserved for a shoeshine boy. His bottled-up rage verges on bursting at any moment. What's especially astounding is how Cullman manages to balance the comic and darker elements, never permitting one to stumble over the other. The tone shifts naturally and seamlessly -- no easy feat. In less confident hands, the goofy yet touching scene where Ralph and his father go fishing together in a tiny boat, awkwardly sharing confidences, would surely sink.

Backstage A
(Ronni Reich) Lloyd Suh's American Hwangap offers a sensitive, thought-provoking glimpse into family relationships and coming-of-age angst. The play is sharp, insightful, and neatly plotted. Suh skillfully breaks up the drama with witty and poetic reflections just beyond the scope of normal speech, and director Trip Cullman gets finely calibrated performances from the cast. David (Hoon Lee), the oldest child, is a steely toned, exaggeratedly masculine investment banker. Throughout the play, his family pleads with him to join the celebration, but Suh avoids the obvious endings, with David neither revealing himself to be just like his father nor joining the smiling family portrait.

The New York Times A-
(Ken Jaworowski) The 90-minute show — a co-production of the Play Company and the Ma-Yi Theater Company — highlights Trip Cullman’s skillful direction and his optimal use of a small space, cleverly designed by Erik Flatmo. The limited area is ideal for Mr. Suh’s work, which often places just two characters onstage at a time, leading to quiet, more personal quarrels rather than full-out family warfare. In such private disputes, Ms. Katigbak excels, conveying deep feelings with the smallest of gestures. But when the emotions run higher, the outstanding Mr. Lee simultaneously displays and conceals an undercurrent of rage. Those moments of anger prove that no matter how much a playwright loves his characters, sending them to unhappy places can be the most thrilling thing for an audience to watch.

Time Out NY A-
(Andy Propst) Director Trip Cullman’s well-calibrated staging deftly navigates the naturalistic and the fantastical qualities of the high-stakes reconciliation Suh has conceived. Recriminations are the shoot-outs here, and although some of the material may come across like John Wayne retread, it nonetheless satisfies.

Variety B+
(Marilyn Stasio) From the time of the ancient Greeks, family reunions have always been an efficient playwriting device for setting up a nice, big, messy meltdown. Curiously, Lloyd Suh pulls back from that payoff scene (by keeping a key character otherwise occupied) in "American Hwangap." Thus he withholds a definitive emotional release for his otherwise touching family drama about the return of a prodigal Korean dad to the family he left behind in Texas. Smart ensemble assembled by helmer Trip Cullman delivers the carefully detailed character work that goes into knowing how to make 'em cry after you make 'em laugh... But the confidences shared with Ralph and Mary are truths that should be shared with David, whose resistance to his father's pleas to come home for his Hwangap keeps the family from restoring itself -- a goal the playwright himself seems ambivalent about. It's all very well for David to sneer from a safe distance, on long-distance cell phone conversations with Esther. But if he let out all that anger in a face-to-face confrontation with his father, a very nice play with an ambiguous ending might have taken a more electrifying turn.

The Village Voice C
(Alexis Soloski) The play takes an unusually tender-hearted attitude toward Min Suk, never really facing him with the emotional and financial depredations his departure wrought upon his family. If Suh is reluctant to write those scenes, he overwrites others. His dialogue is effective, but the longer speeches tend toward the artificial and indulgent, as when the troubled Ralph describes his mental state as "teetering toward a very nearby precipice beneath which is untold personal misery and psychological disaster."... Suh's refusal to write the central dinner scene is formally interesting, but also somewhat faint-hearted. The play seems to require that central confrontation, but Suh dodges it. That's a pity. Having discussed the dumplings, the dduk-gook, and the frosted cake, Suh shouldn't let them go untasted. Min Suk would seem to agree: After the fete, he peers from his maple tree perch at his unhappy family and muses, "Good party."

Lighting & Sound America C-
(David Barbour) What keeps American Hwangap watchable is the fine cast, neatly directed by Tripp Cullman. Michi Barall is at times a little overwrought as Esther, but when she erupts in anger, you'll definitely pay attention. Mia Katigbak nicely captures Mary's seen-it-all attitude, and her sense of perplexity at the way her children have turned out, although it would be nice to know what she thinks of Chun's decision to flee. Peter Kim is in touch with Ralph's ingratiating side -- a good thing, since his mental illness come across more as a case of willed immaturity. Hoon Lee makes us see the vast gulf between David's smiling, anonymous small talk and the raging emotions inside. (He is, however, hard-pressed to deal with a long monologue in which he describes the night when, as a child, he spied on his parents in the bedroom.) James Saito makes Chun into a suitably woebegone figure... But, really, American Hwangap is more of a situation than a play; the facts of the story are restated rather than explored. (There is the suggestion that Mary took the lead in breaking up the family -- by refusing to return to Korea - but, once raised, this notion is quickly dropped.) The play ends on the same note of irresolution with which it began -- and not enough happens in between.

CurtainUp A 13; Theatermania A 13; Gay City News A 13; Backstage A 13; The New York Times A- 12; Time Out New York A- 12; Variety B+ 11; The Village Voice C 7; Lighting & Sound America C- 6; TOTAL: 100/9 = 11.11 (B+)

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The Dishwashers

GRADE: B

By Morris Panych. Directed by Byam Stevens. 59E59. (CLOSED)

The reviewers are quite amused by Morris Panych's dark absurdist take on class struggle, set in the kitchen of a fancy restaurant for the well-to-do. The debate seems to be this: Is Panych's script a wry, Beckett-influenced gem that's occasionally brought down by mis-direction on the part of Byam Stevens? Or is it rather a little over-long at two hours but rescued by great performances and clever direction? Either way, the play earns mostly B-grades, with the outliers being one A (from John Simon) and one C- (from Backstage's Karl Levett).

Bloomberg News A
(John Simon) A brilliant extended metaphor for the way our society works. The dialogue is by turns quizzical, snide, sarcastic, defiant and servilely accommodating. It is also simultaneously amusing and mildly frightening when dealing with internecine rivalry or abject fear of the management and clientele unseen above.... one of this season’s happiest theatergoing experiences.

Flavorpill B+
(Alyssa Alpine) Morris Panych's dark comedy The Dishwashers is reminiscent of a Samuel Beckett work, complete with existential philosophizing and dialogue that prompts wince-inducing laughter. Part of Americas off Broadway at 59E59 Theaters, a two-month series bringing successful regional plays to NYC, the Chester Theatre Company's production of The Dishwashers is a complex portrait of three workers toiling in the depths of a high-end restaurant.

Village Voice B+
(James Hannahan) A quirky, insightful delight.

Theatermania B+
(Patrick Lee) Morris Panych's The Dishwashers, currently at 59E59 Theatre as part of the Americas Off Broadway festival, is an existential workplace comedy that is both wryly observed and darkly funny. Better still, the first-rate production, directed by Byam Stevens, sets the proper tone for the play's poker-faced absurdities... A work like this relies heavily on its actors, and Donoghue and Stratton complement each other very well, the former reading believably as working class while the latter convinces as white collar.

Variety B+
(Marilyn Stasio) There's no question that the timely crash of the global economy has made The Dishwashers more pertinent. But this painfully enjoyable show also alerts us to the fact that we may be ready for a renaissance of absurdist comedy, a form that was made for these times.

Nytheatre.com B(Jo Ann Rosen) There is very little action in The Dishwashers. However, the concepts and the humor keep it going. Not all of the humor is laugh-out-loud-funny, but it does prevent the play from becoming preachy or maudlin. For me, the dramatic elements hit home long after the lights went down at the end of Act II. I like a thought-provoking play, and this one has some very strong elements.

Time Out NY B
(Diane Snyder) Two hours is more than enough time for Panych to unveil his idiosyncratic subjects and slender plot. Fortunately, director Byam Stevens draws out sly wit and panache. The four-person cast (including Michael J. Fulvio) extracts plenty of humor without coddling their characters or rendering them less than genuine. As a result, it’s clear to us that if they hadn’t drawn the short straw, they might have been lucky enough to end up like Beckett’s tramps—who at least are free to roam

The New York Times B-
(Jason Zinoman) The Dishwashers, by Morris Panych, is receiving a wry if somewhat shallow production at 59E59 Theaters...In a fanciful style that occasionally veers into the heavy-handed (crème brûlée is more of a metaphor than a dessert here), Mr. Panych has written a clever play that, dramatizing the clash of ideas in the most dreary of places, speaks to the economic anxieties of our time and even provides a ray of hope. While it sends up pieties about the work ethic, it also shows a real affection for the virtue of old-fashioned labor, which doesn’t always come through in the slick, far too clean production directed by Byam Stevens. The actors mime washing their dishes, and when a plate breaks, the effect is achieved through a blackout and a sound effect. The performances are solid if also a little artificial, relying on deadpan poses, and, in the case of Mr. Stratton, an overly presentational style. This is a play about the drudgery and dignity of everyday work. It needs some sweat.

The New Yorker B-
(Unsigned) Morris Panych’s small comedy (from the Chester Theatre Company), the first production of the “Americas Off Broadway” festival, could be subtitled “Zen and the Art of Manual Labor”; over the course of two acts, the new guy, schooled by Dressler, a kitchen-sink philosopher, begins to see the wisdom in wanting nothing. There’s depth in Panych’s spare, Beckett-esque dialogue, but the fun of the play is compromised by stagey acting and the director Byam Stevens’s choice to have the actors look out over the heads of the audience while they speak to each other.

Backstage C-
(Karl Levett) The Dishwashers is a flimsy comedy that has trouble making up its mind what kind of a play it wants to be. Set in the basement scullery of an upscale restaurant, it suggests a human drama à la Arnold Wesker showing the plight of the working man. But on that score the play lacks the necessary naturalism and its working-class characters are not convincingly detailed. Nor does it succeed as an absurdist comic fable, awash in philosophic observations, of losers in a cruel world of winners... Under Byam Stevens' direction, the three principal performers have to work hard to bring life to these unconvincing characters. Donoghue, when given a good line, can knock it out of the park. Shuman is able to add some pathos to the kitchen-sink scenario, and Stratton exudes youthful energy in Emmett's struggle to survive.

BB A 13; FP B+ 11; VV B+ 11; TM B+ 11; V B+ 11; TONY B 10; NYTR B 10; NYT B- 9; TNY B- 9; BS C- 6; TOTAL: 101/10= 10.1 (B)

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A Play on Words

GRADE: C+

By Brian Dykstra. Directed by Margarett Perry. 59E59. (CLOSED)

It doesn't seem that surprising that critics, except for That Sounds Cool's Aaron Riccio, like a play about words. Though some critics eventually tire of the conversation, they love Mark Boyett and Brian Dykstra's delivery. They also credit director Margarett Perry for keeping the pace swift. Perhaps most interesting about the reviews is what tidbits in the discourse on language each critic focuses on.

Nytheatre.com A+
(Martin Denton) The press release calls this loquacious comedy "Seinfeld meets Waiting for Godot," but I think that diminishes this play's accomplishment and also diverts us from its searing political purpose. A tour de force for its two players—Dykstra and Mark Boyett—this is a journey through language and meaning, and how the quest for the latter is mangled and subverted by crafty users of the former... Godot is conjured by the two-guys-in-a-void setup, but the void, rendered brilliantly by director Margarett Perry, turns out to be a suburban backyard filled (incongruously, when we stop to think about it) with kids' playground equipment. Dykstra and Boyett give impeccable performances; Dykstra is generous with his material, giving Boyett some of the most stunning bits to deliver.

Backstage A+
(Leonard Jacobs) Rusty's perfunctory greeting to Max—"Hey"—instantly becomes a debate on the semantics of chitchat. How Dykstra achieves this is wild: He forgoes exposition, character, and other dramatic accoutrements to dive into the meaning behind the play's title. He does provide all these later, but for now it's clear this isn't how neighbors or friends communicate. Yet the actors understand that the humor comes from playing it real, and they do so superbly. Dykstra is writing about language—why things mean what they mean, and how we know. The play is like a survey course in semiotics, and often funnier than it has a right to be.

Theatermania A-
(Sandy MacDonald) Fortunately for us, these argumentative sticklers' frequent set-tos are no less fierce -- or funny -- for being so abstruse and picayune. These two wield recondite notions the way cavemen once brandished their clubs. And like many a topdog/underdog duo before them -- Abbott and Costello, Hardy and Laurel, Gleason and Carney -- they continually sow doubt as to who's really the smarter. While the snide, condescending Max never lets up on his assumption of intellectual superiority, it's great fun to see Rusty (whom Boyett endows with a Howdy Doody geniality) get some licks in.

CurtainUp B+
(Jenny Sandman) Dykstra and Boyett have great chemistry and have obviously worked together before, as has director Margarett Perry. Their combined energy keeps the play aloft and made me sorry to have missed their previous efforts. Ultimately, however, even Dykstra's deft hand with dialogue can't avoid the play's coming off more like a clever classroom exercise than a play. There's simply not enough weight to it, and even at ninety minutes it's too long. In short: Clever, yes; significant, no. That said, not every play needs to be meaningful as long as it's entertaining and when it comes to the latter, Play on Words does its job well.

Variety B+
(Sam Thielman) There are two problems with this first half of the play. The largest is that the exchange, which is pointedly not about anything except semantics, slows down the clock like a really long grammar lecture. The second is that the dialogue's focus on pedantry causes a kind of meta-pedantry in the listener (did he pronounce that correctly? Are we sure?). Finally, just when you're ready to scream, Max reveals his master plan to Rusty. Without giving away too much, Max's vision hinges on the invention of two slogans inflammatory enough to incite violence in both conservatives and liberals. Think about that for a moment: Dykstra's premise, which no one in the audience seemed to have any trouble buying, is that a large enough group of like-minded angry Americans could be encouraged to physically assault, maybe kill someone by a motto short enough to fit on a bumper sticker (the winning slogans are three very funny words each). It's terrifying to think public discourse has sunk to that level, but it's not very difficult.

The New York Times C+
(Rachel Saltz) There are tangents — why “hang” in “I don’t give a hang”? — and striking riffs for Mr. Boyett, an excellent actor with crack timing, who can reel off long, tongue-twisting speeches that gain in speed and virtuosity. Though his diction remains perfect, you’re likely to be more impressed here with the sound of his words than their meaning. What he’s communicating is exuberance about the noise of language. Mr. Dykstra obviously shares that exuberance, and while much of his play, directed by Margarett Perry, is diverting and clever, it can also get tiresome. You may find yourself tuning Rusty and Max out (language as white noise). They are, perhaps, too blank as characters, too anonymous to hook us with their incessant back-and-forthing.

Time Out New York D-
(Adam Feldman) Planted on Kelly Syring’s cartoon-suburbia set, they bat ideas about language around like so many tattered shuttlecocks, taking an ambling tour through linguistic philosophy that leads them only in circles. Director Margarett Perry generally keeps things moving, but tired badinage can march only so quickly. Frankly, my dear reader, I didn’t give a hang.

The Village Voice F
(Alexis Soloski) Perhaps Dykstra intends these endless digressions as a political statement—the play takes place during an election year in a swing state. Indeed, one man wears a red shirt and the other a blue. And there's an amusing bit in which the friends attempt to conceive two slogans—one to inflame Democrats, one to provoke Republicans. Maybe Dykstra is suggesting that Americans get so caught up in electoral frivolities and niceties that we ignore the important issues; we obsess over grammar and disregard content. It's a plausible thesis, but after 90 minutes about nothing, I didn't give a hang.

That Sounds Cool F
(Aaron Riccio) This review digresses, but mainly because it doesn't want to regress--to lower itself to Dykstra's level. (Instead, it seeks the egress.) In any case, if Dykstra doesn't "give a hang" about the ninety-minute conversation he has with co-star Mark Boyett, why should this review? Then again, the main fault of A Play on Words--aside from not being funny--is that it belabors its point--that "language is the opposite of communication"--by jumping from tangent to tangent to the tangent of a tangent. What's more, to accomodate this nonsense, Dykstra's characters are reduced to mouthpieces, and then reduced further: to mouthpieces that sound exactly the same. Boyett may be on stage with Dykstra, but it's really just to give Dykstra a chance to catch his breath. He might as easily have bounced his ideas off a wall, and given how stiffly Boyett walks, clinging to his props, it's possible that director Maragarett Perry had exactly that in mind.

Nytheatre.com A+ 14; Backstage A+ 14; Theatermania A- 12; CurtainUp B+ 11; Variety B+ 11; The New York Times C+ 8; TONY D- 3; The Village Voice F 1; That Sounds Cool F 1; TOTAL: 75/9 = 8.33 (C+)

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Groundswell

GRADE: B-

By Ian Bruce. Directed by Scott Elliott. New Group at the Acorn Theatre. (CLOSED)

Critics diverge sharply on Ian Bruce's political thriller about post-apartheid South Africa and its discontents. A few critics find it a tense and masterful study of need and disillusionment, while a number of naysayers find its mix of old-style thriller tropes and testimonial speechifying to be creaky and reductive. Derek McLane's downmarket seaside-resort set gets high marks, and the actors mostly get kudos for their performances, though there's a lot of crosstalk about which actors fare best, and, among the harsher critics, whether the actors' work, under director Scott Elliott, is enough to redeem the play's flaws.

Variety A
(Sam Thielman) Marvelously economical...Bruce's world is so meticulously observed he seems to be setting the scene at a leisurely pace when he's actually dropping hints and plot points...Bruce has been quietly arranging the play's climax while we were looking at the bottles and glasses making their way around the room during the dinner conversation. The secret depths to which these characters have had to stoop make for a heart-tearing end to the play, and a more eloquent argument for justice than any statistic or photograph.

Backstage A
(Adam R. Perlman) To enlist Smith's assistance, Johan tries every recognizable form of persuasion—enticement, guilt, coercion, violence. It's the progress of institutionalized frustration and a metaphor for race relations in South Africa. But what separates Groundswell from lesser, didactic works is that it never feels like mere allegory. There are high and immediate stakes here. When a weapon is pulled, the characters react to it like it's a deadly object, not a symbol...The triangular tug-of-war generates real sympathy for all sides, a result of finely written characters finely played...Seeing these men fight for post-apartheid scraps of property and dignity serves as a sobering reminder that while oppression isn't good, its absence leaves a void that the victimized and the guilt-stricken are often ill-equipped to fill.

The New York Times A-
(Charles Isherwood) Engrossing...Mr. Bruce’s drama could be described as a cross between David Mamet and Athol Fugard. With surprising deftness Mr. Bruce blends consideration of the economic and social fault lines of postapartheid South Africa with a suspense-stoked tale of desperate men willing to go to dangerous lengths to secure one last chance at a big prize...The director Scott Elliott, an expert at fine-grained naturalism with comic overtones, allows the play’s languid pace to accelerate perhaps a little too gingerly...But when the three men settle down at the table, the tension builds quietly but inexorably...Mr. Bruce draws his characters in admirable depth and telling detail.

American Theatre Web A-
(Andy Propst) Patience is key in Groundswell, which ultimately proves to be an intelligently rewarding and surprising play...On both political and dramatic levels, Groundswell proves to be riveting in Scott Elliot's staging, which is consistently taut. And though Elliott never solves some of the script's more awkward and ungainly structural problems, he has, nevertheless, elicited three grandly eloquent and passionate performances from his company.

Talkin' Broadway B+
(Matthew Murray) Taut, terse, and gracefully acted by Larry Bryggman, David Lansbury, and Souléymane Sy Savané, it savagely twists up the all-too-familiar quandary of “What do you do now that you’ve got what you thought you wanted?” with issues of class, entitlement, and racism that have disquieting parallels with the direction of our own country. Bruce’s play is not complicated or deeply original writing, but it’s uncomfortable in the best of ways when the warring souls at its center hash out a century’s worth of strife during one stormy day...Groundswell, however, is more well crafted than it is good...At least Elliott has smartly helmed things, keeping the pacing at a constant yet unobtrusive push most of the time.

Nytheatre.com B
(Martin Denton) Elliott gets the tones confused. Groundswell is a heavy, politically motivated drama-cum-thriller that Elliott, for the first hour, has masquerading as a comedy...The laughs disappear in the last 45 minutes, when the tone shifts and Elliott has clearly realized one of the play's arguments (that the aftershocks of Apartheid are still being felt, no matter what the characters claim) and its implications. Those 45 minutes provide political theater of the highest caliber that, for once, isn't American or British in nature. The three-man cast, Larry Bryggman as Smith, David Lansbury as Johan, and newcomer Souleymane Sy Savane as Thami, is excellent.

CurtainUp B
(Elyse Sommer) Like some of the flavorful old-time film noirs this setting brings to mind, the story is not without its implausible aspects. These are easily forgiven considering that Bruce manages to combine the thriller genre with a provocative exploration of post-Arpatheid South Africa; even more so because the New Group has enlisted an excellent thespian trio to portray the three very different men whose lives have been dead-ended and whose pleasant dinner turns into a desperate power struggle. The one flaw in this production is Scott Elliott's audience-unfriendly direction...It's hard to understand his thoughtless blocking which has Larry Bryggman positioned with his back to fully half the audience for a good chunk of the intermissionless 140 minutes.

Theatermania B
(Barbara & Scott Siegel) While the work -- deftly directed by Scott Elliott and featuring the exceptional trio of Larry Bryggman, David Lansbury, and Souleymane Sy Savane -- is kept afloat by a considerable amount of melodrama, it is nevertheless a remarkably even-handed account of the seemingly intractable problems facing this historically tragic nation...The play brazenly telescopes its plot with the introduction in the very first scene of a monster knife, making the threat of violence very much in the air...Indeed, everything you think is going to happen in the play happens -- except the ending of the play, which is intelligent and valid. What raises this play above the commonplace, however, are the impassioned speeches each of these characters eventually have the opportunity to make.

Time Out NY B-
(David Cote) Mostly engaging...Acted with gusto by an uneven three-man cast wielding a muddle of accents, the story has gritty intensity but lacks finesse and sharp edges at key moments. Lord knows that director Scott Elliott has taken enough heat for his stillborn revival of Mourning Becomes Electra, and his work here is similarly broad-brushed and actorcentric. You sense that he relies heavily on performer chemistry, and most of his work involves ramping up big emotions, rather than carefully parsing text...Lansbury gives a bravely deranged performance as the disgraced ex-cop and drunk; Savané has tons of natural charm and an understated stage presence; and Bryggman, forgoing any persuasive accent, plays off both of them credibly. Bruce’s piece has some blunt urgency to recommend it, but this production really ought to cut deeper.

Village Voice B-
(Alexis Soloski) If Bruce's script relies on a familiar form, he manages to inject excellent convolutions into its content and characters. The play's politics aren't easy to unpack and—on the page, at least—one doesn't know whether to embrace or detest the three men at its center...Of course, director Scott Elliott reduces many of these complexities. In previous plays, Elliott has encouraged his actors toward overly broad characterization, and Groundswell proves no exception. Lansbury plays Johan as a psychopath from the first, truncating his character's arc. Meanwhile, Sy Savané—though making a compelling stage debut—endows Thami with so much innate decency that it trumps any of the character's bad actions. Only Bryggman manages to dine at Elliott's table and remain a thrilling cipher, portraying a man both aggrieving and aggrieved, at once genial and despicable.

Bergen Record C
(Robert Feldberg) An ambitious attempt to examine the hopes and failures of a new society, as seen through the prisms of three very different lives. Things start out promisingly under the taut direction of Scott Elliott, with the play taking the form of a socially aware thriller. But everything collapses toward the end of the one-hour-40-minute evening, as each character figuratively grabs a soapbox to air the grievances of his race and class, effectively destroying dramatic believability...Bruce’s picture of a government that cannot fulfill everyone’s dreams, and therefore has created disillusionment, and new kinds of troubled racial relationships, is thoughtful and obviously pained. But instead of letting this come naturally out of the characters’ relationships, he turns them into angry speechmakers and philosophers, which, paradoxically, wipes out their credibility.

The Daily News C-
(Joe Dziemianowicz) Strives to comment on the aftershocks of apartheid and builds to a harrowing climax. But the overall story is blunted by a creaky cat-and-mouse construction and too many clichés - like the ominously hazy setting and a nasty knife that is seen being stashed in a drawer...Savané's quiet desperation stands in stark contrast to Lansbury, who goes over the top as an unstable ex-cop. The reliable Bryggman is fully believable as a well-off retired businessman in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Lighting & Sound America D+
(David Barbour) Deploys every trick of the old melodrama...To be sure, I'm not against this kind of hokum; in fact, I yearn for the day when the old-fashioned thriller regains its place of pride among our popular amusements. But I do think this approach meshes badly when you're trying to make a serious point about race, class, and money in South Africa's post-apartheid world...All of these insights may very well be on the money -- I think they probably are -- but here they're undermined by Bruce's presentation, a series of can-you-top-this testimonials to everyone's suffering. The round robin of recriminations becomes repetitive and dull, and the plotting, which is borrowed from the lesser class of crime thriller, makes everything seem silly. It doesn't help that each member of the talented cast is acting in a different style...The director, Scott Elliott, hasn't been able to bring all three actors into the same world. The best thing about the production is the design.

New York Post D
(Elisabeth Vincentelli) Despite tense flare-ups and the brandishing of a large knife, though, "Groundswell" departs from Hollywood's usual swindle thrillers. Rather, it all hangs on playwright Ian Bruce's milieu of South Africa, and the way its history shaped his pocket drama's three characters...In the end, we're left wanting on all counts: "Groundswell" is neither satisfying suspense nor illuminating metaphor.

Variety A 13; Backstage A 13; The New York Times A- 12; American Theatre Web A- 12; Talkin' Broadway B+ 11; Nytheatre.com B 10; CurtainUp B 10; Theatermania B 10; Time Out NY B- 9; VV B- 9; Bergen Record C 7; The Daily News C- 6; Lighting & Sound America D+ 5; New York Post D 4; 131/14=9.36 (B-)

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A More Perfect Union

GRADE: D+

By Vern Thiessen. Directed by Ron Russell. East 13th Street Theater. (CLOSED)

Aside from Aaron Riccio (writing for Show Business), critics find Vern Thiessen's opposites attract love story between two Supreme Court law clerks to be unrealistic and predictable. Critics write that the two actors, Melissa Friedman and Godfrey L. Simmons Jr., do an admirable job with the material, but have no chemistry and therefore the political dialogue works better than the romantic. The best reviews go to Troy Hourie for his library set.

Show Business A
(Aaron Riccio) The play is not all laughs, but the give-and-take between Simmons and Friedman — particularly when they role-play their Supreme Court bosses — holds us rapt even as they debate the ethical minutiae of fictional Supreme Court “certs” (case submissions). The theatrical realities — every lean over a desk, crinkle of a wrapper, and slam of a book — keep things so physical that we are able to absorb the more thought-provoking ideas. Similarly, the moral issues Thiessen explores are so engaging that we are willing to lose ourselves in Russell’s stagecraft. Bring on the musical transitions between scenes (or “articles”): swing holds plenty of sexual tension; indie rock is full of bipolar jumps in tempo.

Backstage C+
(Andy Propst) That Maddie, from a working-class background in Cleveland, and James, an African American from the upper echelons of Atlanta society, fall in love while working as clerks for the Supreme Court is to be expected. What surprises—and it's the most satisfying aspect of the play—are the arguments they have about the cases that might be heard by the court. Unfortunately, the romantic bets they make about their influence over the justices are cloying, and because Thiessen limits their romance to legal sparring, the difficulties that crop up in their unusually intense relationship strain credibility. Thankfully, Friedman and Simmons turn in first-rate performances, working on Troy Hourie's multilevel set that, combined with Tyler Micoleau's lighting, handsomely evokes the austerity of Federal architecture.

Lighting & Sound America C-
(David Barbour) Thiessen has plenty of ideas on his mind, and he has a nice way of putting them into dialogue. The political debates between Maddie and James have a crispness and clarity that you wish could be found on Meet the Press or CNN's Reliable Sources. Furthermore under Ron Russell's direction, Melissa Friedman and Godfrey L. Simmons, Jr. navigate the tricky script with technique to spare. They're especially adept at handling their overlapping dialogue and on-a-dime mood swings. I rather liked the Cheshire Cat-smile that curls around Friedman's lips when Maddie thinks she's scoring a point. Simmons is a sneaky charmer -- the kind who, before you know it, wins you over in spite of yourself -- but he also argues his points -- about the Court's hidebound attitudes toward race and gender -- with real force as well... Nevertheless, there's that nagging question of credibility, which isn't helped by sequences of playacting, in which either James or Maddie offers a mock oration, with the other impersonating a judge. Russell's direction suffers from a number of cutesy touches, especially when he's filling the transitions between scenes with unnecessary comic business.

CurtainUp D+
(Elyse Sommer) Melissa Friedman, whose wonderful performance in Epic's Hannah and Martin remains fresh in my mind, does what she can with this stereotypical character, as does Godfrey L. Simmons Jr with his. But neither they, director Ron Russell or the handsome staging can save this pat romantic situation from coming off as a soap opera made more flavorful by its Supreme court background. The parallel to the case that Maddy is trying to get past the Rule of Four (the vote of four Justices needed to get a case heard) is more obvious than genuinely organic. Thiessen doesn't stint on legal banter with references to Supreme Court practices that have been the subject of much criticism but no action. But he seems torn between admiration for a venerated institution and wanting to do a bit of muckraking about the questionable practices the law clerk system has bred: A too heavy reliance on these smart young lawyers to help make decisions and serve as legal ghost writers, and conversely, law clerks happy to take this sure road to plushy careers with higher earnings than those of the justices they worked for.

Variety D+
(Marilyn Stasio) Troy Hourie's extremely handsome set of the private library of the Supreme Court confers unearned gravitas on this romantic political fantasy. Under the lush lighting of Tyler Micoleau, vintage chandeliers, solid wood desks, thick red carpeting and an imaginative floor-to-ceiling wall treatment consisting of gigantic law books are served up on a raised stage that says: We are smart, we are serious, we are above it all. Maddie (Melissa Friedman), a Jewish workaholic who clerks for a conservative justice she calls "the Wise One," considers this study nook her private domain. She's both annoyed and affronted when her space is invaded by James (Godfrey L. Simmons Jr.), a full-of-himself charmer who clerks for a liberal justice he calls "the Enlightened One." This "meet cute" scene doesn't go well, however, as Thiessen ("Einstein's Gift") proves awkward at the light, sexy, serio-comic dialogue that accompanies the mating rituals of the young and horny. Instead of being clever and seductive, their arch banter is merely irritating.

Time Out New York D+
(Diane Snyder) Friedman and Simmons generate a winning rapport—Simmons is especially charismatic as he fluctuates between his character’s playful and serious sides—but despite their efforts and those of director Ron Russell, Thiessen’s vital themes of unity and truth-telling hit louder than a pounded gavel. Epic Theatre Ensemble’s mission is to tackle issue-oriented plays, but this one becomes too much of a trial.

The New York Times D-
(Anita Gates) It’s nice to know that a Canadian playwright has a deep admiration for the United States Supreme Court, but turning that feeling into fictional entertainment can’t be easy. Because a love for justice isn’t that inherently dramatic. Or comic. Or romantic. Vern Thiessen tries to enliven the subject with his well-meaning one-act “A More Perfect Union,” presented by the Epic Theater Ensemble at the East 13th Street Theater. But after he throws a batch of plot ideas into a stew pot, he forgets to turn on the gas, and the results taste like a thin After-School Special.

The Village Voice F+
(James Hannaham) Melissa Friedman's unconvincingly conservative Maddie and Godfrey L. Simmons Jr.'s mush-mouthed James are forced to preen through some pretty television-y bits as director Ron Russell amps the coy exchanges and smug comebacks. Truly, you'd rather hang out with real lawyers. Nothing makes this pair of bar-crossed lovers' 11th-hour conversion to ethical behavior seem heartfelt, and worse, you're left with a faint aftertaste of racism and misogyny, feeling that the skeleton of the story is this: James ravages, impregnates, and thereby domesticates Maddie. If there were a second act—and, thankfully, there isn't—it would doubtless take place in family court.

TheaterMania F
(Adam R. Perlman) Every few years, our interest in the Supreme Court is piqued. Usually, as is currently the case, the cause for curiosity is a vacancy. One would think this situation might make Vern Theissen's A More Perfect Union, now being presented by the Epic Theater Company at the East 13th Street Theater, particularly timely. Instead, its less-than-credible romance, poor grasp of reality, and glib dialogue make this two-hander a resolutely old-fashioned affair.

musicOMH F
(Scott Mitchell) The whole set up feels forced and artificial. The play then lurches into lecture mode and the characters are reduced to little more than mouthpieces. The audience is hit with wave after wave of dialogue about race, economic privilege and abortion. The simplicity of their arguments are particularly infuriating. No two intelligent people would deliver the banalities that these two people do. It's impossible to believe in them as Supreme Court clerks. The whole play has a dumbed down quality as if Thiessen assumes all Americans exist on a steady diet of Fox News, Jerry Springer and Project Runway and he has to talk down to them accordingly.

New York Post F
(Elisabeth Vincentelli) More painfully heavy-handed parallels spring up from the judicial issues. In a twist that nobody but nobody could have seen coming, the pair's life eventually echoes a couple of the primo cases they've been arguing about. All this drama completely lacks drama -- which is weird, considering that a lawyer making an impassioned case is inherently theatrical. Thiessen tries to inject levity in the legal-eagles plot by having Maddie and James quickly finish each other's sentences in an attempt to emulate the volleys of screwball comedy. Alas, Garson Kanin, who scripted the classic feuding-lawyers comedy "Adam's Rib," he's not.

Show Business A 13; Backstage C+ 8; Lighting & Sound America C- 6; CurtainUp D+ 5; Variety D+ 5; TONY D+ 5; The New York Times D- 3; The Village Voice F+ 2; TheaterMania F 1; musicOMH F 1; New York Post F 1; TOTAL: 50/11 = 4.55 (D+)

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Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson: The Concert Version

GRADE: A-

Music and lyrics by Michael Friedman. Written and directed by Alex Timbers. The Public Theater. (CLOSED)

Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson addresses the debate of the merits of our seventh president, but positive reviews show that critics find little to debate about the production. Critics enjoy its send-up of Spring Awakening, Alex Timber's streamlined history, Michael Friedman's emo score, and the cast, especially Benjamin Walker who they find particularly charismatic. The only fault critics find is that the show falls apart a little bit towards the end. Time Out New York's David Cote, on the other hand, thinks the last ten minutes are the brightest point in the show.

Talkin' Broadway A+
(Matthew Murray) Its target isn’t just still-controversial seventh President of the United States, but also Spring Awakening. Well, not just the Steven Sater-Duncan Sheik Tony winner, but shows like it. With (intentionally) amateurish acting, (intentionally) poorly- and non-plotted and flat-out disconnected songs, and an (intentionally) irreverent attitude toward subjects of abject seriousness, this absorbingly effective riff on emo narrative by Alex Timbers and Michael Friedman is as much a comment on the ragged quality of this kind of storytelling as it is a story itself. And because of its intelligence, its wit, and the undercurrent of maturity that buoys its childishness, this is in no way the pandering, least-common-denominator evening it mocks every chance it gets. But there’s a more important fusion at work here than simply musical theatre and whine rock. Librettist-director Timbers is the artistic director of Les Freres Corbusier and Michael Friedman is the house composer of The Civilians, and the uniting of these two downtown titans on a project of this audacity is a match made in theatre utopia. Timbers’s knack for rampantly visionary entertainment and Friedman’s grip on pungent social commentary combine to make something deeper, richer, and hotter than either has previously devised alone, all within a searing context that commands your attention and demands your assent to its absurdities.

CurtainUp A+
(Jenny Sandman) Les Freres Corbusier is known for its irreverently clever productions, including an adaptation of Hedda Gabler with robots. Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson carries on this spirit. The ensemble is one of the finest in New York right now, and they're all as happily hormonal and outré as Jackson himself. Look for finely caricatured performances of James Monroe (Ben Steinfeld), Henry Clay (Bryce Pinkham), Martin Van Buren (Lucas Near-Verbrugghe), John Quincy Adams (Jeff Hiller) and John Calhoun (Darren Goldstein). A delightfully cluttered set by Donyale Werle and extremely loud guitar (Justin Levine) and drums (Kevin Garcia) complete the party atmosphere. Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson is the most fun I've had at a play this year, and at $10, it's the best bargain in town. If only all our presidents could be as entertaining and good for our pocketbooks.

Theatermania A
(Brian Scott Lipton) Who knew Martin Van Buren (the hilarious Lucas Near-Verbrugghe) loved Twinkies? Or that the troubled Jackson (Benjamin Walker) once indulged in one of his ritual self-bleedings while Cher's "Song for the Lonely" played in the background. More realistically, who knew that Walker -- who gave distinctly earnest performances in the recent Broadway revivals of Les Liaisons Dangereuses and Inherit the Wind -- posseses the kind of rock star charisma to rival Adam Lambert. (True, some people in Los Angeles -- where Walker starred in an earlier and considerably longer version of this show -- might have that knowledge.) Not only is the actor's striking and surprisingly deeply felt performance a revelation, Walker turns out to be the kind of anchor needed to keep the musical's excesses from becoming overwhelming.

AmericanTheaterWeb A
(Andy Propst) The piece, a co-presentation with California's Center Theatre Group and New York's adventurous and iconoclastic Les Freres Corbusier, unfurls within the confines of an environment that looks like an East Village rocker club that's been decorated with an eye toward the rustic 19th century (scenic design by Donyale Werle). The dichotomy of the visuals beautifully fits the show's duality which relates history with a swirl of rock music and which continually exposes the contemporary parallels between Jackson's time and our own. Emily Rebholz's costumes similarly reflect this bifurcation of periods. Early on, the indefatigable cast sport items that invoke the period, but in the way in which children's cowboys and Indians costumes do. After Jackson has reached the White House (on his second time out), they wear what might be best described as downtown monochrome chic.

Just Shows To Go You A
(Patrick Lee) As staged by Alex Timbers, it’s silly and smartypants at the same time. The show’s conceit has Jackson in strutting rock god drag which not only amusingly illustrates his celebrity and resonance with the people but also allows Benjamin Walker to rock out old school in his thoroughly winning breakout performance.

Backstage A-
(Adam R. Perlman) Writer-director Alex Timbers has a strong sense of theatrical economy, fast-forwarding and hitting the pause button at the right times. We see Jackson as a boy sandwiched between the carcasses of his dead parents (yup, Indians got 'em) and negotiating that age-old line between work and family... Michael Friedman's songs—sometimes seamlessly integrated, sometimes jumping out like pictures in a pop-up book—provide what the moment needs... Through the visual quotes and the semi-ironic Simpsons-style satire, something fairly rare emerges: a complex musical with a conflicted point of view. The creators have trouble choosing sides in the Jackson debate—populist hero or "American Hitler"?—and their attempt to treat their ambivalence honestly leads to a third act that lacks the breezy energy of what came before. I'm not sure the shift works, but it's nice to see a rise-and-fall story that isn't clichéd—the story of how the people came together behind one of their own, a man who defeated a corrupt political cabal that thought him unfit for the Oval Office, only to perhaps prove his critics correct.

New York Post A-
(Elisabeth Vincentelli) One of the great things about Timbers is that no matter how nuttily downtown his shows appear, they're held together by an old-fashioned sense of craft, starting with strong casting. Benjamin Walker, pink cheeks aglow under shaggy black curls, gives a great anchor performance. He's onstage almost the entire time, and carries the show with boundless energy. He has to: The entire thing unfurls at "Looney Tunes" speed, and with a similar sense of anarchic joy and cross-cultural mayhem. A scene in which Jackson and his wife, Rachel (Maria Elena Ramirez), indulge in some cutting is underscored by a tune incorporating Susan Sontag's "illness as metaphor" theory. (Why Friedman hasn't been on Broadway yet is befuddling.)

Variety A-
(Marilyn Stasio) Terrible things happen to the Storyteller, which is all to the good, since the smart subtext of the show has to do with narrative itself -- the process by which we perpetuate the legends we create. So while Jackson's life and career are rendered faithfully enough in broad outline, the information is refracted through multiple information sources, from the Storyteller lady and the tall-tale tellers in the no-name saloon to the CNN voices (of Lisa Joyce and others) breathlessly pumping up election night frenzy, and those screamers who conduct the vote count on "American Idol." The creatives are nothing if not democratic in their contempt for how we make, market and destroy our heroes. And in the end, it's the Storyteller who sticks the knife in the Jackson legend by reminding the president that, even today, scholars can't decide whether he was a great warrior and a true populist leader or a ruthless, land-grabbing imperialist and "a genocidal murderer" -- the "American Hitler" who displaced indigenous Indian tribes and wiped out the entire Cherokee Nation. The academic jury may still be out on that question, but down at the Public, this hot little show is putting on one hell of a wake for a fallen hero.

The New York Times A-
(Ben Brantley) Emo, for those of you who don’t download your songs, is a postpunk rock variant that wears its shattered heart on its tattered sleeve, throbbing with the narcissism, masochism and frustrated powerlessness that come with being a teenager. The closest Broadway has come to incorporating emo was in Duncan Sheik’s score for the late (and much missed) “Spring Awakening,” a show about the agony of young lust. “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” — which runs through May 24 as part of the Public LAB season and, at $10 a ticket, is one of the best bargains in town — plies that sensibility to evoke the oohs and ouches of a new country’s growing pains. (The first lyric of its first song: “Why wouldn’t you ever go out with me in high school?”) And its scrappy, two-fisted title character (played by the lean, mean Benjamin Walker) is presented as the perfect national avatar of the period: an angry, enthusiastic and very hungry overgrown boy with a need for instant gratification and a whopping sense of entitlement.

The Daily News B+
(Joe Dziemianowicz) Writer/director Alex Timbers and composer-lyricist Michael Friedman borrow a page from the era-spanning "Spring Awakening" to create a satirical history lesson that presents Jackson (a charismatic Benjamin Walker) in modern terms with catchy songs and spiky, if often sophomoric, humor. It's a sort of "My So-Called Presidency" as it recalls Old Hickory's childhood, military career, grass-roots rise to the White House, plus his bigamist marriage and his infamous dealings with Native Americans.

The New Yorker B+
(John Lahr) The quirky humor of the knowing production style, however, is also the company’s problem. In the course of ninety minutes, a certain lyric and visual monotony settles in. Whether Les Freres Corbusier can travel north of Eighth Street will depend on whether Timbers and Friedman can add some emotional variety and characterization to their high camp. But, for the present grave moment, rollicking, in any shape or form, will do.

Bloomberg News B-
(John Simon) The show thrives on the sometimes funny, sometimes merely gross. Les Freres refer to it as “sophomoric” and “favoring the anarchic, the rude, the juvenile,” though that pre-emptive strike isn’t necessarily exculpatory or pardonable. Still, some of it is really funny. Thus Indian-killer Jackson addresses Chief Black Eagle: “You people are despicable creatures! You show no loyalty to anything, your music is terrible, your table manners suck, and your painting skills are absolutely dreadful. I mean look at this,” he says, pulling out a primitive drawing of a buffalo. “No artistic vision. You’re savages; you’re soulless, godless, and well you get the point.”

Time Out New York C+
(David Cote) Despite several smart-and-bouncy Friedman tunes and an ace cast—headed by cute, pouty Benjamin Walker in the title role—the overall proportion of snark to dark is distressingly off. Timbers keeps the action moving at cartoon speed, but he might have cut some tunes and beefed up the book. The last ten minutes are the best, when the disillusioned and power-mad Jackson offers Native Americans a final solution. At such times, one glimpses the sort of irreverent, complex musical this could have been.

Talkin' Broadway A+ 14; CurtainUp A+ 14; Theatermania A 13; AmericanTheaterWeb A 13; Just Shows To Go You A 13; Backstage A- 12; New York Post A- 12; Variety A- 12; The New York Times A- 12; The Daily News B+ 11; The New Yorker B+ 11; Bloomberg News B- 9; TONY C+ 8; TOTAL: 154/13 = 11.85 (A-)

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