Medea Re-Versed (c) Carol Rosegg
Theater: Medea: Re-Versed
At the Sheen Center Frank Shiner Theatre
For us New Yorker theatergoers, we probably take for granted the caliber of our acting community. But every once in a while, a production takes an audience’s collective breath away with how a company of actors can blow our minds when we least expect it. At first, I assumed The Red Bull Theater and Bedlam’s production of Medea: Re-Versed would be the umpteenth reimagining of Euripides' play in which the vengeful Medea wreaks havoc on her cheating husband by (a 2,500-year spoiler alert) killing everyone he holds dear. But walking into the Shiner Theatre to three musicians (Siena D'Addario, Melissa Mahoney and Mark Martin) slowly strumming and beat-bopping at a hum level was intriguing, and by the time the show actually starts with the rap verse intro by the leader of the chorus (a charming Luis Quintero), we are hooked, especially when he reminds us “ya’ll the kind of people who came here to see a tragedy.” Luis Quintero's adaptation is full of fourth-wall breaking comments like these (especially when he warns us at the start about audience participation).
Medea Re-Versed (c) Carol Rosegg
Most of the play is sung in this catchy rap battle cadence, which is most effectively done when we get the confrontation between Medea (the force of nature Sarin Monae West) and her husband Jason (Stephen Michael Spencer at his most bro-iest), and if this scene reminds you of a recent presidential debate between a clueless, privileged white guy and a strong-willed black woman, well, I’m sure director and co-creator Nathan Winkelstein won’t mind the comparison. Medea does have a worthy advisory in Creon (the invaluable Jacob Ming-Trent), the king of Thebes, who banishes Medea and her sons in a powerful scene. In a later moment, we witness possibly both the angriest and the saddest mic drop, which had the audience on the edge of their seats. While I appreciated the modern-verse script and the effectively sparse production, it really was the cast that sold the story, kept the audience enrapt. That’s what great storytelling does, and Medea: Re-Versed is one of those shows you miss at your own peril.
See What I Wanna See (c) Thomas Brunot
Theater: See What I Wanna See
Presented by Out of the Box Theatrical at 154 Christopher St
When Michael John LaChiusa’s See What I Wanna See premiered at the Public Theater, the musical was overshadowed by the presence of one Idina Menzel in the cast, who chose to do this small, intimate musical between leaving the Broadway company of Wicked the year before and opening that show in London the next. Without this distraction, the equilibrium is restored, and one can enjoy the three short stories that make up the musical. That they are based on the stories of Japanese writer Ryūnosuke Akutagawa and the original production was lacking in any Asian representation has been remedied by director Emilio Ramos’s inventive production, which not only has an all-Asian cast, but also incorporates Japanese puppetry for intriguing dramatic effect. The theme seems to be how different people perceive the same event, but I think it goes deeper to how these people interpret some events to reconcile their feelings or motives. One of the musicals is called R Shomon because film director Akira Kurosawa used the same short story, “In a Grove,” for his film Rashomon. It is set in New York City’s Central Park where a nightclub singer (Marina Kondo) has an encounter with a mysterious stranger (Sam Simahk) on a night in 1951. The musical is a flashback from the points of view of all the characters involved (including her husband and a witness who happens to be walking by) and how their accounts are so different from each other.
See What I Wanna See (c) Thomas Brunot
The second musical, Glory Days, is based on Akutagawa’s “Dragon: The Old Potter’s Tale,” which is also set in Central Park, but this time a year after 9/11, focusing on a young priest (Zachary Noah Piser), who, after having a crisis of faith, decides to fabricate what we today would call a fake news account of an upcoming cosmic event, but only for those who believe (or see what they wanna see). Both parts (as well as a third bon mot short about lovers and revenge based on the story “Kesa and Morito”) are all chamber pieces, meant for meditation on its modest themes, and this new production certainly gives the show new perspectives, as well as a re-evaluation of LaChiusa’s songs, which seem weightier and more playful at the same time. The actors are all wonderful, but Piser really infuses his conflicted priest with a complex emotional journey. Try to catch it before it ends it run this weekend.
Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song (c) Carol Rosegg
Theater: Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song
At Theater 555
There was a chance that Gerard Alessandrini’s latest iteration of Forbidden Broadway would have made it to Broadway. But like many (always the) bridesmaids, the elusive dream, while close, was ultimately out of reach. Does that mean that Alessandrini might be a little bitter and thus have sharper knives out for the show that landed off-Broadway, way down 42nd Street? It’s true that the new show, subtitled Merrily We Stole a Song, starts (after a prologue that I won’t spoil here) with a song titled "Forbidden Broadway NOT on Broadway,” but if you’ve seen any version of this revue that started over 40 years ago, you know that you can’t sharpen Alessandrini’s wit/tongue/claws any more than it has been. With a joyful and gleefully talented quartet of Chris Collins-Pisano, Danny Hayward, Nicole Vanessa Ortiz and Jenny Lee Stern, under the watchful eye of longtime pianist/musical director Fred Barton, the show is a Broadway fan’s delight as it skewers the thing we love the most.
Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song (c) Carol Rosegg
All four performers are chameleons, using every part of their face and body, with only a couple of costume embellishments, to channel our favorite Broadway talents, most whom are in shows currently on the boards (like The Great Gatsby and Cats: The Jellicle Ball) or coming soon (Audra in Gypsy or Bernadette in a new Sondheim revue). So, to say that each performer has more than one standout moment is an understatement. But I do have favorites: Danny Hayward’s Eddie Redmayne in Cabaret is an exhaustive medley marathon; Chris Collins-Pisano’s tribute to Daniel Radcliffe in “Harry Potter, Inc.”; Nicole Vanessa Ortiz’s complaint about the orchestrations of pop songs in & Juliet, and Jenny Lee Stern’s all vowels chestnut of “Patti LuPone,” this time to the tune of “Ladies Who Lunch.” Not all the parodies hit their target (the Alicia Keys Hell’s Kitchen sequence is a little toothless) and one wonders why Alessandrini didn’t take advantage of Ortiz’s resemblance to Tina Turner to not tackle Tina: The Tina Turner Musical. Still, this is a hysterical evening of merrily stealing songs we all know and love.
That Parenting Musical (c) Maria Baranova
Theater: That Parenting Musical
At Theater Row (Theater Three)
It’s hard to believe that a harmless, good-natured show with an innocuous title—That Parenting Musical—could be discussing a topic being politicized in this weird, presidential election year, but here we are. The songwriting team of Graham and Kristina Fuller have written a song cycle of an experience that many married couples go through, parenthood, and sure enough the clueless couple at the start of the show are Mom (McKenna Ogrodnik, channeling Mandy Moore in This is Us) and Dad (Dwayne Washington), they’re already losing any individuality and are just Mom and Dad when their many pregnancy tests come up positive. Our on-and-off narrator (Brian Owen) tells us parents come in all sexual shapes and sizes. “That Parenting Musical” focuses on a cis couple who are the proud parents of Child 1 (Max Crumm). And if there’s a Child 1, there must be a Child 2, and sure enough, she is played with on-the-nose second child syndrome exasperation by Vidushi Goyal. Also in the mix is Mom’s bestie, Single Friend (the talented Natalie Bourgeois, who seems to exude a “future Elphaba” vibe) as she is free-spirited and supportive at the start, then, of course, becomes a last-minute babysitter as the story progresses.
That Parenting Musical (c) Maria Baranova
Vice President nominee JD Vance’s suggestion that grandparents pitch in to drive down the cost of childcare, is dramatized here, but as many new parents will tell you, grandparents as babysitters is not a viable long-term economic solution. Besides this 2024 topical relevance, the show itself aims for the universal milestones of parenthood (which also gives it a bit of a generic sheen), from children sleeping in the parents’ bed to the terrible twos to the start of pre-school. All of this is done in a cheerful, knowing way, with the actors all throwing themselves into their primary roles (they also play many ancillary characters along the way). Only Crumm’s Child 1 is given a distinguishing personality trait (they seem to be on the rainbow spectrum, as their jumper suggests). This is the kind of show like I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change and Menopause, The Musical in which the audience nods in recognition at every new situation that comes up. But the moral of this story, nicely directed by Jen Wineman, is that new parents never know what they’re getting into (even if you think you have a concept of a plan) and yet somehow, most get through it.
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