The Block

Reviewed by Daphnie Sicre

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No borough is safe from gentrification, especially as developers eye the latest untouched land in New York City, the South Bronx, or what they are calling, SoBro.

"The Block" is part of Five Boroughs/One City, a theatrical initiative by The Working Theatre that aims to devise plays about each of the five boroughs based on conversations with residents in those communities. As soon as the pieces have been developed, they will be performed on a borough wide tour. "The Block" is the first in the series, and after the opening at Urban Stages in Manhattan, it toured all five boroughs.

In "The Block," proud residents of the Bronx reminisce about the good old times while dealing with gentrification, social stratification, classism, and simply trying to stay afloat. Clinton Lowe’s genuine portrayal of Dontrell, showcases a born and bread Bronx hustler who returns from upstate after discovering his girlfriend has cheated on him. Upon his return, he notices all the changes to his old neighborhood, barely recognizing it or its residents. Fortunately, he runs into his long time friend Rick (Flaco Navaja) at Moe’s (Nathan Hinton) storefront. Through lively conversations about the good old times, Moe, an African Immigrant admits that things are not the same and plans to move. Shortly after, Dontrell’s former roommate, Soria (Yvette Ganier) makes a grand entrance with a solo phone conversation with her girlfriend. Soon after, Dontrell and Soria sit down to discuss the realities of a landlord trying to kick her out of her home after 30+ years of living there. The only character that seems to be slightly disconnected with the story is that of Eddie (Robert Jimenez). Although heartfelt, his drunken accounts seem dropped in more than weaved into the story, while Navaja’s character Rick, breaks up the seriousness of the topics discussed through jokes and comic relief.

As the story unfolds, the passage of time is not fully developed making it hard to determine how much time has gone by throughout the course of the play. In between the scenes, we can hear hip hop music and recorded conversations that inspired dramatist Dan Hoyle to write "The Block." Hoyle is better known for his excellent solo performance work, but in "The Block," he manages to successfully interlace a series of sketches through conversations of interconnected characters that grew up in the Bronx. But in doing so, we are left wanting to know more about the stories of these characters and their respective fates, not the themes.

The Block by Dan Hoyle. Directed by Tamila Woodard. Set Design: Raul Abrego. Costume Design: Sarita Flores. Lighting Design: Alan C. Edwards. Sound Design: Mark Van Hare. Prop Design: Claire Kavanah. Dialect Coach: Beth McGuire; Production stage manager: Danielle Teague-Daniels. Off-Broadway Tour Venues. Urban Stages. 259 W. 30th Street, Manhattan. | Ridgewood Bushwick Youth Center .1474 Gates Ave, Brooklyn. | Local 3 IBEW Auditoriu 158-11 Jewel Ave, Queens. | Pregones Theatre 571 Walton Ave, Bronx. | Sung Harbor Cultural Center 1000 Richmond Terrace, Staten Island.  Ran from May 28 - June 23, 2016

Daphnie Sicre is a full-time instructor at BMCC-CUNY, where she teaches courses in theatre, social justice, and advanced public speaking.  Some of her NYC directing credits include: "Shower Me" at FringeNYC, "Stranger" for Stage Black where she won a Best Director Award and the Audelco nominated "Not About Eve." 

The Total Bent

Reviewed by Daphnie Sicre

From the creators of "Passing Strange," Stew and Heidi Rodewald, comes "The Total Bent," a gospel/blues/rock musical about the relationship between a preacher (Vondie Curtis Hall) and his son (Ato Blankson-Wood). With text by Stew and music by Stew and Rodewald, this small musical has a lot of bite.

Set mostly in the 1960’s, it tells the story of gospel preacher Joe Roy, trying to resurrect his career. Working along his side is his son, Marty, who urges him to sing about the civil rights movement. Joe refuses to stand behind the movement, causing a rift between him and his son. Soon we discover the rift is deeper than civil rights with hints of Marty’s homosexuality. Shortly, Marty meets Byron Blackwell (David Cale) a British wanna-be producer obsessed with Black music. Together, Marty’s music rises to the top through a very visual transformation, but not short of controversy as Byron also tries to signs Joe.

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The only problem with the musical is the book; it is hard to follow at times. Time and space are not always clear, but what is clear are the phenomenal musical arrangements, songs and melodies. Stew also does an excellent job at introducing comical side comments from the onstage band that interacts with the characters, audience and each other.

Although this musical might not be everyone’s cup of tea, as it does not follow a traditional American musical theater format, the music and the vocal arrangements are superb. Stew and Rodewald are excellent composers plus Hall’s voice is heavenly. Equally as gifted is Blankson-Wood’s voice, as it hits all sorts of vocal ranges. More than once I had to re-adjust my seat to make sure it was him singing all those arrangements. Jani Kearse and Curtis Wiley do not fall short of talent either--respectively they play Andrew and Abee, Marty's backup singers.

The musical feels more like a rock gospel concert than a musical, but that is ok. If you want to hear incredible music through story, "The Total Bent" has it. And if that is not enough, trust me. These songs will make you think about social justice, sexuality and God.

The Total Bent by Stew. Music by Stew and Heidi Rodewald. Directed by Joanne Settle. Set Design: Andrew Lieberman. Costume Design: Gabriel Berry. Lighting Design: Thom Weaver. Sound Design: Obadiah Eaves and Sten Severson. Hair and Wig Design: Cookie Jordan. Music Director: Marty Beller. Music Coordinator: Dean Sharenow. Choreography: David Neumann; Production stage manager: Chris DeCamillis. The Public Theatre. 425 Lafayette St, New York, NY.  Ran from May 10 - June 19, 2016.

Daphnie Sicre is a full-time instructor at BMCC-CUNY, where she teaches courses in theatre, social justice, and advanced public speaking.  Some of her NYC directing credits include: "Shower Me" at FringeNYC, "Stranger" for Stage Black where she won a Best Director Award and the Audelco nominated "Not About Eve." 

Kentucky

Reviewed by A.J. Muhammad

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What better way than to close out the theater season than with the play “Kentucky” by Leah Nanako Winkler to get everyone ready for all the upcoming summer weddings? A coproduction between Ensemble Studio Theatre, P73 and The Radio Drama Network, “Kentucky” calls to mind Charles Mee’s spectacles and EST’s dark comedies (“Year of the Rooster”).

Kentucky opens with a singing chorus of young women who later double as bridesmaids before we’re introduced to our hero named Hiro (Satomi Blair), a young Asian-American woman who has escaped a traumatic childhood in Kentucky, and now lives in New York City working in marketing. Like most New Yorkers, Hiro has a therapist Larry (Curran Connor) on call who may be falling for her. Hiro is called home to attend the wedding of her born again Christian younger sister Sophie (Sasha Diamond) to someone she has only met several months before. Against Larry’s counseling, Hiro plans to rescue Sophie and bring her back to New York City where Hiro thinks Sophie can start a new life and break from their oppressive and dysfunctional parents: submissive and kooky Japanese mother, Masako (Ako), and boorish Caucasian father James (Jay Patterson).

It’s clear why Hiro has ditched her family and white trash upbringing which includes her paternal Grandma (Marcia Haufrecht). That and Masako’s cat with a serious attitude, Sylvie (Amir Watchterman) caused me to wonder if the play was going to be a surreal version of the interracial and intergenerational family dramedies that dominated the season.

Things shifted for me when an African-American family that is the polar opposite of Hiro and Sophie’s enters late in the first act: Sophie’s fiance Da’Ron (Ronald Peete) and his parents, Ernest (Mikumari Caiyhe), a church pastor and his first lady, the glam Amy (Lynnette Freeman). Nanako Winkler presents an African American family that is loving and nurturing, which was surprising and subversive. Presumably by marrying into Da’Ron’s family, Sophie will have the normalcy and support she didn’t receive from her biological family and this nucleus is something that sister Hiro is lacking.

The joy of "Kentucky" lies in Nanako Winkler’s characterization of Hiro as a millennial who is stubborn, selfish, but is engaging and she makes the other people on the canvas identifiable. The playwright also gives Hiro a subplot romance (and what hero doesn’t deserve one?) with Kentuckian Adam, played by Alex Grubbs.

All around fine work by the cast and director Morgan Gould who served the changes in Nanako Winkler’s styles, genres and tones with clarity and highlighted the play’s many themes without hitting audiences over the head. Nick Francone’s scenic design evoked rural life and multiple locations without making EST’s black box seem cramped. Solid work by the rest of the design team.

Kentucky by Leah Nanako Winkler.  Directed by Morgan Gould.  Music Direction & Vocal Arrangements: Sariva Goetz. Costumes: Suzanne Chesney.  Lighting: Ryan Seelig. Sound: Shane Retting.  Props: Justin Cox. Choreographer: Katie Spelman. Stage Manager: Eileen Lalley. Ran from April 20 - May 22, 2016 at Ensemble Studio Theater, 549 W. 52nd St. New York City. 

Born For This: The Bebe Winans Story

Reviewed by Tracey Conyer Lee

THIS AIN'T “MOTOWN”

I can't lie. After Googling the theatrical events available to me during my week on tour in Atlanta, I was wholly disappointed to find The Alliance Theatre's "Born For This" was the only major production on the boards when I wasn't working myself. The Charles Randolph-Wright helmed musical biopic chronicles the beginnings of the careers of gospel duo BeBe & CeCe Winans.

Now... 

I was a decided BeBe & CeCe fan during their late 80s/early 90s heyday when they had “crossed over” and made get-right songs in a style that we heathens couldn't resist. I am a child of God, but be clear, those unmistakable voices are what pulled dollars out of my pocket for cassette tapes and concert tickets. I assumed "Born For This" would offer up some SANGIN' but I also assumed it'd be bestrewn with horribly-written sketches of already-known-about or not-at-all-play-worthy information that often undermines the “jukebox musical.” And plagues a Black one. We already know we need to be better than “they” to succeed. For every "Motown" (the very type of theater I was describing above) we watch open then close, “they” watch "Beautiful" and "Jersey Boys" run for years on end. Our stories are worthy of more than being sung sublimely and danced to perfection, they deserve to be told with excellent crafting and groomed with unapologetic care for the art, not the ego. Ironically, ego is one of the themes of "Born For This." Yup. There are themes. 

So... 

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Alliance Theatre

I was prepared to be underwhelmed and salty only to leave hopeful and proud. "Born For This" isn't just a concert with some trite anecdotes dropped in around it. It's a play. It isn't a revolutionary play. It's not especially innovative or groundbreaking. What it is is an expertly performed, solidly crafted story about siblings I thought I knew...but didn't. This ain't no "Motown." It's what "Motown" wanted to be and should have been, but wasn't. Mr. Randolph-Wright, who co-wrote with BeBe Winans, happened to be in the house for the performance I saw and I told him so. Was he insulted (having also helmed "Motown")? Maybe. But since Berry Gordy's egomaniacal yearnings to tell his story his way were the well-known downfall of "Motown," it is my hope that Mr. Randolph-Wright heard me saying “had you the power to truly collaborate with Mr. Gordy (as it seems he had with novice playwright Winans), maybe "Motown" would still be running, out-selling Carole King and Frankie Valli.” 

What I most appreciated about "Born For This" is that instead of trying to cram the lengthy careers of the huge Winans clan into one sparse story, they focused on BeBe & CeCe's enduring relationship with "Praise The Lord" (PTL) televangelist icons Jim and Tammi Faye Bakker (played by Chaz Pofahl and Kirsten Wyatt) to highly entertaining and truly enlightening effect.  Later, I Youtubed all four of them for two additional hours because what I learned in the play really “Change(d) My Nature.” (See what I did there?) It's the story we weren't told in the tabloids and scandalous media coverage. 

The cast is unanimously gifted. Aside from some questionable interpretive dance moments that I hope gets cut, their charge is a lofty one and there are no weak links. Led by BeBe & CeCe's niece and nephew, real-life siblings Juan and Deborah Joy Winans, the entire company will join the remount at DC's Arena Stage in July and August. It's mesmerizing to watch the next generation tell their family story in this way, but as beautiful as their voices are (and they are awesome singers), don't count on hearing the identifiably fierce clarinet-trombone-like blend that makes BeBe & CeCe's sound so signature. You can go home after the show and dust off your “Different Lifestyles” album. You're welcome. Again, not brain surgery, but if you want to be entertained and have a little hope for the jukebox biopic format, get you a Boltbus down to DC and check out "Born For This."

Born For This: The Bebe Winans Story.  Book, Music & Lyrics by Benjamin "BeBe" Winans. Directed by Charles Randolph-Wright.  Costume Design: William Ivey Long. Set Design: Neil Patel. Choreographer: Warren Adams. Musical Director and Player/Conductor: Steven Jamail. Projection Design: John Narun. Sound Design: Jesse Stevens. Stage Manager: Bret Torbeck.  At Alliance Theatre . Atlanta, GA.  Ran from April 13 to May 15, 2016.

Tracey Conyer Lee has originated roles Off-Broadway and regionally. 2015-16 credits include Yale Rep and Denver Center. Her TV/film work includes a Best Actress Audience Award. Also a playwright, Ms. Lee has had her work developed and produced in New York, Boston and Chicago. She is a Merit Scholar for a 2018 MFA in Writing For the Stage & Screen.

Mabel Madness

Reviewed by A.J. Muhammad

Image sourced by Urban Stages

There aren’t enough accolades to describe the treasure that is Trezana Beverley who starred as the real life singer Mabel Mercer in “Mabel Madness,” an elegant solo-show that was also written by Beverley and produced by Urban Stages Theater.

Mercer was the biracial British born singer who came to prominence in first half of the 20th century and was the muse to composers and a generation of recording artists. In "Mabel Madness," we meet Mercer in her later years waiting for a meeting with a promoter who promises to revive her career. She then flashes back to her childhood in the U.K. as the daughter of a young single mother who was an itinerate singer, and a Black vaudeville performer. As a young woman she relocated to Paris during the 1920 and 1930s and made a name for herself performing her signature style of singing while seated. It was there that she encountered a host of celebrities including Marlene Deitrich and the African American performer Ada Smith aka ”Bricktop” who took over as the owner of the venue where Mercer sang and also became one of Mercer’s close friends. 

Fearing for her safety, Mercer fled pre-war WWII Europe for New York City where she quickly became a fixture on the nightclub scene. The grueling demands on her and long hours proved taxing on her voice and spirits. A trip to the Caribbean to recover from her health conditions without her identification documents made her unable to re-enter the country for three years. While there, a sympathetic queer singer, Kelsey Pharr, proposed marriage so that Mercer could finally return to the states.  Mercer agreed to the platonic union, but later found love and counted Frank Sinatra, who learned the techniques to deliver a song from her, among her suitors. 

Beverley outlines enough details about Mercer’s life to fill the show’s 90 minute running time and played a host of secondary characters with considerable skill. She recreated a bygone era in two continents and included both racial and familial issues into the narrative to flesh out Mercer. Beverley, in excellent voice, performed a dozen of standards by composers such as Cole Porter, The Gershwins, Dubose Hewyard, and others.  Kudos to musical direction and off stage accompaniment by Tuffus Zimbabwe.

Although in the context of the show having Beverley seated for long stretches makes sense, she could have used staging that was more dynamic and less static, as well as a bigger stage to fit her larger than life talents and Mercer’s incredible stories. Tech quality, including projections and video, underscored Mercer’s recollections nicely.  Here’s to an encore!

"Mabel Madness" written by Trezana Beverley. Directed by Frances Hill and Peter Napolitano. Musical Direction: Tuffus Zimbabwe.  Costume Design: Tabitha Pease. Lighting Designer: Christina Watanabe. Video Designer: Nicholas Blade Guldner. Technical Director: Douglas Mills. Choreographer: Brenna Hughes. Production Stage Manager: Jill Woodward. Ran from Feb 19- April 10, 2016 at Urban Stages Theater.  259 W. 30th St. NYC. 

Head of Passes

Reviewed by Daphnie Sicre

Do you want to take a master acting class with Phylicia Rashad? Then go see "Head of Passes."

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The Public Theater

Having premiered at the Steppenwolf, and in a co-production with Berkeley Repertory Theatre, The Public opened Tarell Alvin McCraney’s latest on March 15, 2016. Extended after being chosen as a New York Times Critic’s Picks, it will run until May 1, 2016. But before you rush to get your tickets, expect the unexpected.

MacArthur “Genius” Award recipient McCraney starts his story in the distant present Head of Passes, Mississippi, where the tides are growing and storms are on the rise. On the eve of Shelah’s birthday (Rashad), her two sons, Aubrey (Francois Battiste) and Spencer (J Bernard Calloway) have planned a surprise party and invited close friends and family. Unfortunately, having not visited lately, they discover the home has been neglected for years, and torrential leaks have taken over the décor. Quickly assembling buckets and covers, family friends Crier (Kyle Beltran), Creaker (John Earl Jelks), and Mae (Arnetia Walker) assist Shelah with the drips. With the foundations of the home cracking, the metaphors for the play are evident from the get-go.

Intertwined between domestic drama and myth, the first act reads like a typical August Wilson play, but don’t be fooled, the second act quickly turns the play into a Greek tragedy with messengers and all. When you think you are starting to get to know the characters, you don’t. For example, act one quickly introduces Cookie (Alana Arenas) Shelah’s late husband’s illegitimate crack addicted-stealing daughter, whom Shelah raised as her own.  Her arrival causes tension amongst the siblings and one expects a traditional family drama to unfold. Dr. Anderson (Robert Joy) also unexpectedly joins the dinner part and reveals Shelah’s cancer, but instead of unraveling these characters, act two disbands all relationships formed during act one and places Rashad front and center. The disappearance of these characters dissipates character buildup or attachment. Yet, McCraney might have done this on purpose, leaving Rashad for almost the entire second act in a beautiful mystical world submerged by the Mississippi waters.

Although the show feels like two separate plays, director Tina Landau manages to tell both stories and intertwines them thanks to Rashad’s powerful performance. But if not for Rashad’s masterful take on Shelah, the play would not be as successful.

"Head of Passes" by Tarell Alvin McCraney. Directed by Tina Landau. Set Design: G. W. Mercier Costume Design: Toni-Leslie James. Lighting Design: Jeff Croite. sound by Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen; wig and hair design by Robert-Charles Vallance; production stage manager, Lori Lundquist. At The Public Theatre, 425 Lafayette Street, at Astor Place, Manhattan; 212-967-7555, publictheater­.org. Running time: 2 hours.

Daphnie Sicre is a full-time instructor at BMCC-CUNY, where she teaches courses in theatre, social justice, and advanced public speaking.  Some of her NYC directing credits include: "Shower Me" at FringeNYC, "Stranger" for Stage Black where she won a Best Director Award and the Audelco nominated "Not About Eve." 

House Rules

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A. Rey Pamatmat

Reviewed by A.J. Muhammad

Two close knit and neighboring New York City based Filipino American families whose American born children are faced with the mortality of their elder parents in A. Rey Pamatmat’s new play “House Rules,” a production of Ma-Yi Theater Company. Patriarch Ernie (an impish Jojo Gonzalez) has two sons Rod (James Yaegashi) and JJ (Jeffrey Omura); and matriarch Vera (the always vibrant Mia Katigbak) has adversarial daughters, the neurologist Momo (Tiffany Villarin) and photographer Twee (Tina Chilip).

At the top of the play, Ernie falls ill, leaving his cardiologist son Rod to care for him in the hospital (where Momo is also employed). The thanks that Rod gets is to constantly be berated by his father. Ernie would rather prefer a visit from the “good son” JJ.  Not only is Rod dealing with his father’s declining health, he is also crushed when his wishy washy Caucasian boyfriend and colleague Henry -- who really is twee -- has broken up with him; and JJ loses his lucrative job at a comic book company (think Marvel Comics) in LA then returns to NYC to crash with Rod. Both brothers resent their father for his cruel treatment of them during their childhood.  JJ, who suffers from an early career crisis, can’t bring himself to visit his father and later falls for Twee. Meanwhile the stylish and extroverted Twee, who has blown grant money on a trip to India, returns broke and stays at her mother’s home where she relentlessly taunts the introverted goody two-shoes younger sis Momo who Twee feels is mom’s favorite. Momo’s attempt to preserve their Filipino culture by learning how to cook and teaching herself Tagalog is often the cause of Twee’s harangues. This leaves Vera to play the peacemaker between her squabbling daughters and defend her friend Ernie's legacy to his sons when JJ goes off about his dad.  This places Vera in a health predicament of her own.

The board, card and traditional games that characters play in “House Rules” can be viewed as a metaphor for the games and traditions that we learn from our parents and that siblings and friends teach other. Each generation of parents change the rules of the game of parenting and how do we change the game from morphing into our parents? Or, is this a losing game?

Pamatmat has a lot of ideas in his game book, but the challenge faced by him and his director Ralph B. Peña is integrating these ideas into a wholly compelling stage play, whereas “House Rules” seems like a theatricalized screenplay. It’s hard for us to invest in a play that simmers and doesn’t start boiling in until late in the game.

Pamatmat is served well by his cast who do uniformly good jobs with his naturalistic writing. Reid Thompson’s loft like set design allows us to see simultaneous action; Oliver Wason’s lighting zeroes in during moments of intimacy and adds color and warmth to HERE Art Center’s expansive ground floor black box theater. Veteran sound designer Fabian Obispo’s jazzy percussive score matched the rhythm of the quick scene shifts that initially established all of the characters in different locations, but grew repetitive.

House Rules and Danai Gurira’s “Familiar,” which both ran Off-Broadway at the same time, portray tensions between first generation Americans and their immigrant parents, the cost of assimilation has on the psyches of parents and their children, and sibling rivalries. Both incorporate the beauty and sound of other languages (Shona in “Familiar” and Tagalog in “House Rules”) into the plays. Like “Familiar,” which premiered regionally and was reportedly revised before arriving in New York City, Pamatmat could stand to rework “House Rules” so that it is more impactful and leaves ticket holders feeling like they have the winning hand.

"House Rules" by A. Rey Pamatmat. Directed by Ralph B. Peña.  Costume Design: Martin Schnellinger. Lighting Design: Oliver Wason. Sound Design: Fabian Obispo. Production Stage Manager: Jennifer Delac. Ran from March 25 - April 16, 2016 at HERE, 145 6th Avenue.