2019 in Review: Off-Broadway & Regional Theater

Over the past twelve months, we only had the opportunity to see three off-Broadway and four regional theater productions, but they were all terrific and all for different reasons. Off-Broadway, we saw Puffs, Merrily We Roll Along and Little Shop of Horrors; regionally we saw Fun Home at Baltimore's CenterStage, and Grand Hotel, Assassins and A Chorus Line at Signature Theater in Arlington, Virginia. Here's what stood out for us in 2019.

2019 in Review:

Off-Broadway & Regional Theater

February: Puffs

(New World Stages)

Being huge Harry Potter fans who identify as Hufflepuffs, we had to see this parody. It was very funny and smart in its sharp observations about all things Potter.

• What we liked best: Hands down, it was the creative use of props that were instantly recognizable yet completely original. I can't imagine being in charge of all that.
• What we liked least: It could have used a bit of a trim. A little of that goes a long way.

February: Fun Home
(New World Stages)

One of our all-time favorite musicals, this may have been the best post New York production we have seen. Alison Bechdel would be pleased.

• What we liked best: An amazing performance by Michelle Dawson as Helen, a frightening take on Bruce by Jeffrey Denman, and a touching performance by Molly Lyons as Young Alison. And the use of projections was masterful.
• What we liked least: It was over way too fast.

April: Merrily We Roll Along
(Laura Pels Theatre)

As Sondheim fans, whenever there's a new interpretation of this enigma, we must see it. That this was being done by Fiasco Theatre made it all the more urgent.

• What we liked best: The cuts made were fine - they actually helped clarify things. And the arrangements and vocal direction were spot-on. Watching a cast of six navigate multiple roles added to the fun of trying to get a grasp on what makes these characters tick. Then there's that Mary transformation...wow.
• What we liked least: The search for the perfect Merrily rolls along. Maybe the next one?

May: Grand Hotel: The Musical
(Signature Theater)

One of my ten favorite musicals of all time, this show just isn't done that often. A major New York revival is long overdue.

• What we liked best: They didn't try to replicate Tommy Tune's work, and the show was perfectly cast. The set by Paul Tate Depoo III was beautiful, especially the floor. And Bobby Smith's take on Kringelein was heartbreaking.
• What we liked least: Really hard to think of anything... rub a dub!

August: Assassins
(Signature Theater)

Another Sondheim show that must be seen anytime it comes around. Needless to say, we are really excited to see the 2020 off-Broadway revival. Until then, we are glad we saw this one!

• What we liked best: The dynamic duo of "Squeaky" Fromme and Sara Jane Moore, played to perfection by Rachel Zampelli and Tracy Lynn Olivera. And the final scene between John Wilkes Booth (Vincent Kempski) and Lee Harvey Oswald (Sam Ludwig) was absolutely brilliant.
• What we liked least: A couple of characters overplayed it, but that may have more to do with us seeing an early performance than anything else.

November: A Chorus Line
(Signature Theater)

I never miss a chance to see my favorite show ever. The downside is that it takes a lot to impress me. The good news is that there's a lot to love in almost any production. This was no exception.

• What we liked best: A really strong, nuanced Zach is always a plus, and Matthew Risch was one of the best I've ever seen. And our belief that seeing understudies is an opportunity, not a bad thing was proven once again, by Zeke Edmonds, who made the smaller role of Al into a star turn. Hope to see him again and soon!
• What we liked least: They promised us it would be like we've never seen it before, but it was pretty much your standard A Chorus Line.

November: Little Shop of Horrors
(Westside Theatre - Upstairs)

Sometimes doing a show the way it was originally meant to be is a good thing.

• What we liked best: This was one of the best shows we saw in all of 2019, no matter what the venue. Jonathan Groff was the sweetest nerd ever, Christian Borle was never funnier, and in another understudy discovery, Chelsea Turbin was brilliant as Audrey.
• What we liked least: We probably won't have a chance to see it again.

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REVIEW: Puffs

Review of the Friday, February 1, 2019 performance at New World Stages Stage 5 in New York City. Featuring Madeleine Bundy, Jessie Cannizzaro, Anna Dart, Kullan Edberg, Alex Haynes, Reginald Keith Jackson, Andy Miller, Zac Moon, Keith Rubin, Stephen Stout and Harry Waller. A play by Matt Cox. Original music by Brian Hoes. Set, costume and prop design by Madeleine Bundy.  Lighting design by Herrick Goldman. Sound design by Matt Cox. Direction by Kristin McCarthy Parker. 1 hour 45 minutes, with no intermission.

Grade: B-

For our long-awaited visit to Hogwarts, Mike and reacquainted ourselves with the books and movies. As a treat, we thought it might be fun to see the long-running off-Broadway parody Puffs: Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic to sort of cleanse our Potter pallets.

Turns out, it was a nice way to start our weekend of epic theater-going.

As you might guess, the show is largely a send-up of the epic seven novel series, and, I would imagine anyone in the audience unfamiliar with it would be pretty bored and maybe uncomfortable. Fortunately, the audience we attended with was fully into it, and the cast responded in kind. The play, by Matt Cox, crams most of the story into just over 100 intermissionless minutes, but with a twist - we see it all from the "behind-the-scenes" point of view of the Puffs, the magic school's misfit outcasts. This is a smart parody, never too mean, and a wonderful tribute to the books that changed literature forever.

This show proves that one doesn't need high tech gadgets and effects to create stage magic. The show's designer, Madeleine Bundy, has an endless supply of creativity. The set offers a backstage-y point of view, perfect for this "other point of view" tale, with multiple doors lending plenty of door-slamming farce to the proceedings. The props, which range from sock puppets to stuffed birds and everything in between, and the clever costumes (Moody and McGonagall are especially fun) allow for instant recognition and immediate laughs.

Puffs  features a solid, all-on-the-same-page troupe of actors, all of whom handle the demands of split-second timing and quick-change costumes and characters with remarkable energy and precision. Everyone gets multiple chances to shine here. Stand outs include Stephen Stout, who nails a send up of both Snape and Dumbledore, Anna Dart, who gets to play both good and evil with glee and Andy Miller, whose long red hair is practically a cast member all by itself, and her gift for facial expressions is generously shared. I also really enjoyed the narrator, a sly Harry Waller, who is especially fun in the final plot twist moments of the play.

Three Puffs: Andy Miller, Zac Moon, Stephen Stout

The four main characters are wonderful. Geeky charm and endearing awkwardness are central to Reginald Keith Jackson's sweet turn, and Kullan Edberg is a riot as the moody, dissatisfied Slytherin wannabe. She takes snark and ambivalence to a new level, making her character arc all the more satisfying. Matinee idol looks, a smoking hot body, and a toothy grin combine to make Keith Rubin's romp one heck of a rock star Puff. He's just as funny as he-who-shall-not-be-named. Finally, Zac Moon as the Puffs own Potter-esque house member is spot-on as the ultra-nerd unwittingly thrust into the world of wizardry. A hang-dog face, dry delivery, and a knack for underplaying combine to make him the perfect foil for all the more bombastic characters that fill the stage around him.

Like many a parody before it, Puffs suffers from not knowing when to let up. Even at under two hours, it drags quite a bit in places, and grinds to a halt during a mid-show ad-lib section (on February 1, a just-short-of-uncomfortable ode to Black History Month) that got less and less funny as it went on and on, with the actor doing it more focused on breaking up his fellow cast mates than paying attention to the diminishing returns of audience laughter. Mr. Cox's script would benefit from an outside editor and a trimming of maybe 15 minutes in running time.

Still, it is a lot of fun, and I'm glad I saw it. Potter fans won't be disappointed. For the most part, I wasn't.

(Photos by J. Kyler, H. Canning)

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Looking Forward to Winter: December 2018 - February 2019

Why am I always so shocked when December rolls around? The older I get, the faster time goes by. Ah, well. At least I have a lot to look forward to as the holidays approach (and fly by) and we settle in for the cold months of the new year. There are 6 shows opening between the start of December and the end of February: one new musical, one holiday special, one play revival and three new plays. And that doesn't even include off-Broadway shows!

Before we look ahead, let's review what we got to see in the fall. I'd say it was hugely successful: Passion (Signature Theatre, Virginia): A, The Band's Visit (re-visit): A+, The Waverly Gallery: A+, King Kong: C, and The Prom: A+. (And I'd still recommend King Kong - it is fun and spectacular.)

So this is what we have coming up during the next three months. As you can see, it'll be a busy few months.

Torch Song (on Broadway at the Hayes Theatre)

Left over from the fall, I'm looking forward to seeing this as a fan of playwright (in this case) Harvey Fierstein, Michael Urie and especially Mercedes Ruehl. Also, this play, along with the recent The Boys in the Band and Angels in America represent major works of gay theater. Supporting that and learning from it is practically a civic duty these days. I'm very excited about seeing this revival.

The Cher Show (on Broadway at the Neil Simon Theatre)

I'm not sure which thing draws me more to this show - the cast (Stephanie J. Block, Matthew Hydzik, Emily Skinner, and my favorite ensemblist, Charlie Williams, among others), the costumes, or the music (I love Cher, of course...). I suspect it's a little of all of those. Even though I'm getting a little tired of bio-jukebox musicals, I have high hopes that this will at least be fun.

To Kill a Mockingbird (on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre

Like most people, I grew up loving this book. (I've never seen the movie.) And I respect the work of writer Aaron Sorkin and of director Bartlett Sher. Then again, there's the cast. I've long enjoyed Jeff Daniels, and look forward to seeing many of my stage favorites like Celia Keenan-Bolger, Gideon Glick, Frederick Weller and Stark Sands. Word of mouth on this has been extremely positive, and I've been looking forward to seeing it ever since it was first announced.

Puffs (off-Broadway at New World Stages)

In preparation for Cursed Child, we've been watching the films (and Mike read all of the books - I read them when they came out). To get us in a lighter mood before the epic event, we are seeing Puffs! It looks like a lot of fun. Add to that we both took the "official Sorting Hat quiz" on Pottermore and found out that we are both Hufflepuffs. I have a feeling this will be a great laugh and a lark.

Hamilton (on Broadway at the Richard Rodgers Theatre

This will be our second visit to the room where it happened. Previously, we had the honor of seeing the original cast. We both thought it was quite good, if not quite the revelation of musical theater everyone says it is. I have a feeling we suffered a case of show hype let down. That said, we look forward to appreciating the show for what it is not what we were hyped to believe we'd see. Plus, we are both fans of Daniel Breaker, Euan Morton, James Monroe Iglehart and Denee Benton. Here's hoping they are still with the show in early February!

Don Giovanni (Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center)

This will be my second opera at The Met, the first being The Death of Klinghoffer. Mike is a big opera fan, and he's teaching me an appreciation for the form. This time, we are seeing a traditional classic. I know nothing about it, other than a synopsis I read. The pictures look interesting.  I am looking forward to expanding my base of knowledge. And the opera house is pretty amazing just to be in!

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (on Broadway at the Lyric Theatre)

We have had tickets for this since they day they went on sale, so the waiting has been torture. (I'm a little irked that better seats than I have seem to pop up all the time, but that's for another time...) Still, our seats are good, and we will be completely prepared by the time we see it. Everything I've seen and heard about it makes me excited to see it at last. Both of us are trying not to suffer from show hype let down (see Hamilton above). And I'm holding out hope that the original cast will still be there... No matter what, I look forward to an in person return to the Wizarding World!

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