Sunset Blvd. (St. James Theatre)

By Harry Forbes

Andrew Lloyd-Webber is having quite the year. First, there was the acclaimed off-Broadway "Cat"-less reworking of his "now and forever" megahit. And now, here's a stripped down, highly stylized reversioning of the 1993 musical which, on the West End and Broadway, was dominated by John Napier’s majestic hydraulic set and grand staircase, and with the cast outfitted in Anthony Powell’s stylish period costumes. 

Director Jamie Lloyd’s current production dispenses with these traditional elements and even basic props, though Soutra Gilmour’s scenic design is striking and hardly less elaborate, in its way, than the original. And the cast is chicly decked out in non-period specific black (also Gilmour), on a mostly darkened smokey stage.

Lloyd’s 2023 production of “A Doll’s House” was virtually a blueprint for this, which includes an even more spectacular breaking of the fourth wall than he managed for that Ibsen revival. 

The four principals from London have been imported for Broadway. And they are all excellent: Tom Francis in the film’s William Holden role of writer Joe Gillis accidently finding himself on the property of silent film star recluse Norma Desmond when he drives there to evade his car being repossessed by the agents chasing him; David Thaxton as Norma’s fiercely protective manservant Max; and Grace Hodgett Young as Betty the studio assistant who falls for Joe, unaware of his involvement with the aging Norma. 

Apart from Lloyd’s imaginative staging, what keeps us riveted is Nicole Scherzinger’s unique portrayal of Norma. She is absolutely mesmerizing. 

Is she better than all the Normas who have come before her, such as Patti LuPone, Glenn Close, Betty Buckley, Elaine Paige and long run champ Petula Clark? I’d say it’s more a case of apples and oranges as the staging is so very different, and let's not forget those earlier interpreters of the role were each special in their own ways. 

Scherzinger certainly has the terpsichorean edge on her predecessors, as her lithe and sensual moves as devised by choreographer Fabian Aloise add another dimension to the role. So, too, there’s now a younger version of Norma sinuously danced by Hannah Yun Chamberlain. (Aloise’s choreography for the rest of the ensemble is quite striking as well, and gives them plenty to do in light of the streamlining elsewhere.)

Supporting roles like Joe’s friend (and Betty’s fiance) Artie (Diego Andres Rodrigquez), studio exec Sheldrake (Tyler Davis), and so on, have relatively brief onstage stime. The focus is squarely on the leads here. Even the role of legendary director Cecil B. DeMille is represented only by a giant silhouette voiced by one of the ensemble.

The score itself sounds as lush and sumptuous as ever under the direction of Alan Williams. There have been some cuts in the music including “The Lady’s Paying” and “Eternal Youth is Worth a Little Suffering” sequences. But those numbers incorporated tunes heard elsewhere in the score anyway.

The elaborate and impressive video design is the work of Nathan Amzi and Joe Ransom. A webcam follows the characters throughout as their images are projected on the expansive backdrop. And, of course, it’s Norma who plays to the camera most of all, in sometimes a shamelessly hammy way perhaps not quite in the manner of a once great lady of the silver screen, even a self-deluded one

But no matter. It’s still a great performance. Throughout the evening, I kept wondering how Scherzinger would fare in the traditional Trevor Nunn staging. And I finally decided she’d be equally powerful even sans Lloyd’s almost Kabuki-like stylization. As it is, she earns two midshow ovations for her big numbers “With One Look” and “As If We Never Said Goodbye.” And at the end of the show, the audience rewards her and the rest of the cast with a thunderous and, unlike so many shows these days, absolutely genuine ovation.

There were projections in the original Nunn staging, but Lloyd really goes to town with the cinematic flourishes, even including movie style credits at the beginning and end of the show. 

Clearly this revisal is something to see.

(St. James Theatre, 246 West 44th Street; SunsetBlvdBroadway.com)

Photo by Marc Brenner: Nicole Scherzinger

Hold On to Me Darling (Lucille Lortel Theatre)

By Harry Forbes

I didn’t catch Kenneth Lonergan’s play when it ran at the Atlantic Theater Company in 2016, but the current revival -- directed, like the last, by Neil Pepe, and featuring three of the original company -- is a winner, and another feather in the cap of Adam Driver. He takes the lead role of country singer Strings McCrane who returns home to Beaumont, Tennessee. for his mother’s funeral.

Driver is no stranger to New York theater, and has played an impressive variety of roles in plays by Shaw, Rattigan, Osborne, and Lanford Wilson, but in spite of his ever-growing film fame, he hasn't given up on stage work. And as with his previous film and theater roles, he again proves how skillfully he can completely transform himself to the character at hand

HIlariously self absorbed and self-pitying, and prey to any woman who sympathizes with him, Strings falls for the flattery and idolatry of masseuse Nancy (spot on Heather Burns) sent to his hotel room to relieve his stress. And later, at the funeral home, he finds himself inexorably drawn to Essie (Adelaide Clemens, also marvelous), the lovely second cousin he barely noticed before. And throughout it all, his puppy dog adoring assistant Jimmy (Keith Nobbs) is always on hand to do his bidding. He’ll also reconnect with his half brother Duke (CJ Wilson) who leads what now appears to Strings to be an enviably “normal” life. And ultimately, he’ll get to meet the father (Frank Wood) he hasn’t seen since his parents divorced when he was eight. 

Lonergan writes characters that you care about, and the situation is enormously entertaining. Despite Strings’ immense fame as a singer and film star, he insists he wants to give it all up, and go back to the simple life. Driver’s lovable sincerity and basic innocence make the premise plausible, and he makes Srrings consistently endearing despite the character’s inherent narcissism. 

Clemens, Nobbs and Wilson are reprising their original roles, and they are all terrific. Together with newbies Burns and Wood, they create an impeccable ensemble. The production team is largely the same: Walt Spangler’s revolving set which encompasses a variety of settings deftly, with Suttirat Larlarb and Lizzie Donelan’s character accurate costumes, and David Van Tieghem’s excellent sound design and music.

Pepe’s direction is perfectly judged as the play balances humor and poignancy. And he guides his cast expertly throughout. 

My performance lasted considerably longer than the two hour and 40 minutes originally stated, but was never less than fully absorbing.

(Lucille Lortel Theatre, 121 Christopher St.; HoldOnToMeDarling.com; through December 22)

Photo by Julieta Cervantes: (l.-r.) Heather Burns and Adam Driver

The Roommate (Booth Theatre)

By Harry Forbes

What a pleasure to watch those two pros, Mia Farrow and Patti LuPone, at the top their respective games in Jen Silverman’s funny two-hander about Robyn, a hard-nosed lady from the Bronx with a mysterious past (that’s LuPone) who comes to room with Farrow’s uber-naive Iowa widow Sharon. 

There are abundant laughs as these two diverse personalities knock up against each other, and Sharon is continually shocked and awed by Robyn’s progressive ways; she’s (goodness!) gay and vegan for starters. But for all of the sitcom-like pleasure of the basic situation, there’s substance here, and the play has real poignancy as it progresses. It premiered at the 2015 Humana Festival in Louisville, and was produced at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in 2017.

Sensibly, the stars get their initial bows over with right at the start, and then return for their “real” entrances as the play proper begins unimpeded by audience applause. 

Farrow’s character may be the mousy one, at least at first, but there’s nothing lacking in her stage dynamism. She was last on Broadway in 2014 for a brief run of “Love Letters” with Brian Dennehy, and she was first-rate. Here, she has some wonderfully funny moments -- watch her Sharon take her first swallow of almond milk -- but also highly moving ones, and she, like LuPone, creates a solidly believable character despite plot improbabilities. 

The naive Sharon has what Robyn and we the audience clearly discern is a gay dress designer son living in Park Slope, and we shortly learn that more about Robyn’s familial connections, and her mysterious past. Both women know exactly how to play for laughs and then scale back for the dramatic moments. Farrow is particularly touching in the final scenes of the play.

I hesitate to say too much about the plot which runs without an interval in a single act for about one hour and 45 minutes. Better to experience each revelation when it comes. But it’s not too much of a spoiler to say that the two ladies do eventually bond in a most unexpected and. for Sharon at least, positive, way. 

Though Silverman’s plot is largely predictable, it’s the kind of predictability that tickles the funny bone and satisfies. 

All of this plays out on Bob Crowley’s very attractive airy open house set (no walls or ceiling). Natasha Katz’s character-defining costumes are spot on. Mikaal Sulaiman’s sound design is natural and clear. The evocative underscoring is by David Yazbek. And the whole is masterfully directed by that Jack O’Brien. 

(Booth Theatre, 222 West 45th Street; theroommatebway.com; through December 15)

Photo by Michael Murphy: (l.-r.) Patti LuPone & Mia Farrow

Yellow Face (Roundabout Theatre Company)

By Harry Forbes

Playwright David Henry Hwang uses the firestorm he ignited back in 1991 over the casting of actor Jonathan Pryce in the London to Broadway transfer of “Miss Saigon” as the springboard for this autobiographical comedy/drama. (You may recall Pryce was to recreate his acclaimed role of a Eurasian brothel owner in Vietnam.) "Yellow Face" premiered at the Mark Taper Forum and came to the Public Theater in 2007.

 

But that episode is only the preamble for what follows. Hwang then turns to events surrounding his follow-up to his acclaimed “M. Butterfly.” The play was “Face Values” but it fizzled during previews in 1993, and closed before opening night. In Hwang’s amusing riff on the actual events, he mistakenly hires a white actor -- one Marcus Dahlman -- for the lead role believing the actor to be at least partly Asian, though, in fact, Marcus is quite obviously Caucasian. 

When DHH, as Hwang is called here, and winningly portrayed by Daniel Dae Kim, fully realizes his error, he sacks the guileless, good natured actor, likably played by Ryan Eggold. But Marcus has found he enjoys being part of the Asian-American community and all the affirming rhetoric that goes with it. He wholeheartedly embraces his new identity, much to DHH's annoyance. (One of the pleasures of the play is the self-deprecating portrait Hwang paints of his fictional self.)

All of these farcical elements are funny and thought-provoking. But matters take a decidedly more serious turn when, in he second half (unlike its earlier incarnations, played without an interval), DHH’s elderly father, a successful banker, falls under govenment scrutiny for his Far East National Bank dealings with China. His loyalty to the US is now questioned, a situation all the more ironic given his devotion to all things American and, you might say, his lifelong assumption of “white face.” HYH, as the father is called, is played most endearingly by Francis Jue who also takes on the sympathetic role of Wen Ho Lee, a nuclear scientist suspected of spying. 

As HYH, Jue touchingly avows a devotion to Jimmy Stewart, but the investigation crushes his spirit, and turns out to be a far cry from the “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” scenario he had envisioned.

When DHH -- who sits on his father’s board -- acquiesces to an interview with a pointedly unnamed "New York Times" reporter (outstandingly played by Greg Keller) investigating the banking story, it becomes clear that the reporter expects him to rat on his father. The scene between DHH and the reporter is arguably the best in the play.

The earlier parts of the play have rather a facile feel, and the brief appearances of such bold faced names as Cameron Mackintosh, Jane Krakowski, Bernard Jacobs, Frank Rich, and Michael Riedel and the like struck me as more than a little patronizing but admittedly give us a breezy recap of those once headline-grabbing events. 

Actors Kevin Del Aguila, Marinda Anderson, and Shannon Tyo, all excellent, briefly take on those high profile personas, as well as all the other characters who populate the narrative, blithely crossing racial boundaries as they do so, appropriate for a play grappling with the complexities of race.

This revival, apparently trimmed by half an hour from the original, is smartly directed by Leigh Silverman who helmed the premiere productions as well, and is decked out with fine production elements including Arnulfo Maldonado’s versatile set, Yee Eun Nam’s often witty projections, Anita Yavich’s period costumes, Lap Chi Chu’s apt lighting, and Caroline Eng and Kate Marvin’s exemplary sound design and music. 

Though it’s been 17 years since the original production, sadly, the themes of the play remain all too relevant.

(Todd Haimes Theatre, 227 West 42nd Street; roundabouttheatre.org; through November 24)

Photo by Joan Marcus: (l.-r.) Ryan Eggold, Marinda Anderson, Daniel Dae Kim, Kevin Del Aguila