Familial Turbulence Rocks Boat in 'Harbor'

Kevin (Randy Harrison), Ted (Paul Anthony Stewart) and Donna (Erin Cummings) form an odd triangle in "Harbor." Photos by Carol Rosegg.

BY TAMARA BECK

FOR some, family is more a punch in the gut then a loving tap on the shoulder.

In other words, kinship can be a scary thing, as it is in Chad Beguelin’s “Harbor.” The play is in a Primary Stages production at 59E59 Theaters through 8 Sept.

When she drops in on her brother Kevin (Randy Harrison), Donna Adams (Erin Cummings) disrupts the nicely ordered life he has established with his husband, Ted (Paul Anthony Stewart).

Along with her teen daughter, Lottie (Alexis Molnar), Donna brings some “brick(s) of truth” – a favored expression for unwelcome tidings – into Ted and Kevin’s home. Donna is a force of destruction, shattering their Sag Harbor idyll.

CB has written a heartbreakingly poignant comedy, full of mordant humor and some of those moments where reality meets consequences. He has peopled “Harbor” with characters whose flawed humanity is sketched in intimate and loving detail. “Harbor” defies pigeonholing but could be called a dramedy for simplicity’s sake.

Lottie (Alexis Molnar) and Donna (Erin Cummings) are on a truth-seeking journey in "Harbor."

The exceptional script is buoyed by an excellent ensemble. All four actors, under Mark Lamos’ direction, give sensational, multifaceted performances.

The gorgeous set by Andrew Jackness makes a perfect backdrop for “Harbor.” The exterior of the immaculate home shows up on the wallpaper of its interiors. The design is a picture of order, onto which Donna can work her powers of disarray, and Lottie can get a sense of stillness and peace.

Visit http://www.primarystages.org/harbor to learn more about “Harbor.”

'Rx' Isn't a Placebo. It'll Result in Genuine Laughter.

Meena (Marin Hinkle) and Paul(Stephen Kunken) are in search of the right prescription for happiness in "Rx." Photos by James Leynse.

BY TAMARA BECK

HATE your job? There’s a pill for that.

In Kate Fodor’s new comedy, “Rx,” it appears that Big Pharma has a prescription for all of life’s tribulations. The Primary Stages production is at 59E59 Theaters through 3 March.

Meena Pierotti (Marin Hinkle), a published poet, is miserable being Managing Editor at “Piggeries, American Cattle & Swine Magazine.” She is the perfect candidate for a clinical trial of a drug being developed by the pharmaceutical company, Schmidt Pharma. The drug is designed to relieve work-related depression.

Just ask Meena's boyfriend, Dr. Phil Gray (Stephen Kunken), who doubles as the drug’s target consumer and a Schmidt researcher. He earns upward of $65,000 and has health coverage, he informs her.

Phil’s boss, Allison (Elizabeth Rich), is thrilled with her job and the rich market potential job dissatisfaction presents. Could Frances (Marylouise Burke), a cheerful widow Meena meets in the old ladies’ underwear section of a department store be a part of the clinical trial? To Meena’s surprise, Frances discloses that she really missed her menial factory job when she got married.

Frances (Marylouise Burke) shares her worldview with Meena (Marin Hinkle) in "Rx."

The cast under Ethan McSweeny’s excellent direction gives KF’s witty and entertaining script its due. To help keep up the comic pace, Lee Savage cleverly uses modular variations on the Murphy bed in the fluid set design.

Giving the satire in “Rx” a little extra bite are MH and SK, both Tony nominated for “Enron.” They give affecting naturalistic performances as the romantic leads. In one of two roles, Paul Niebanck, gives a broad, almost slapstick turn as Morgan, a bumbling research doctor in Schmidt’s lab.

In “Rx,” KF writes a prescription for entertaining and earnest humor.

Visit http://www.primarystages.org/ for more information about “Rx.”

Bountiful Laughs in 'Olive and the Bitter Herbs'

David Garrison as Robert, Dan Butler as Trey, Marcia Jean Kurtz as Olive, Richard Masur as Sylvan and Julie Halston as Wendy in "Olive and the Bitter Herbs." Photos by James Leynse.

BY TAMARA BECK

SOMETIMES it seems as if playwright Charles Busch has been outrageously funny forever, so it is no surprise that his latest work, “Olive and the Bitter Herbs,” elicits hearty guffaws.

CB revisits some familiar tropes with “Olive and the Bitter Herbs.” It is in a premiere run at 59E59 Theaters’ Primary Stages through 3 Sept. As often happens in a CB comedy, there are eccentrics whose stories overlap and intersect to hilarious effect.

In “Olive and the Bitter Herbs,” the ghost in Olive Fisher’s (Marcia Jean Kurtz) mirror is one of the few things she welcomes into her life.

Despite her relative good fortune, Olive remains a curmudgeon, bristling at minor slights and quarrelling happily with everyone. Her neighbors, Robert (David Garrison) and Trey (Dan Butler), are particularly irksome to her. Her selfless friend Wendy (Julie Halston) stages a truce, inviting Trey and Robert for cocktails at Olive’s.

During this visit the ghost also becomes a person of interest for each of her guests. That particular visitor is probably (or improbably) the reason that Robert and Trey continue to hang around. In another unlikely twist and out of the blue Olive is asked and agrees to host a Seder, explaining the title of the play and offering an occasion for gags.

Wendy (Julie Halston) is a good friend to temperamental Olive (Marcia Jean Kurtz) in "Olive and the Bitter Herbs."

Rounding out the little horde at Olive’s door is Sylvan (Richard Masur), the widowed father of the co-op’s president (like the ghost, unseen on stage.) He comes by to apologize for an altercation Olive started with his daughter in the building’s newly renovated lobby.

MJK is very funny as Olive, a mildly successful actress whose claim to fame was a starring role in one of those viral commercials some time back.

CB’s stock characters – angry and unpleasant New Yorkers, a bickering gay couple, a helpful handmaiden single woman and a mellowed-out retiree – are anything but stick figures as brought to life by a fine cast under the direction of Mark Brokaw.

Visit http://www.primarystages.org/ to learn more about “Olive and the Bitter Herbs.”

This 'The Little Foxes' Retains Mendacity

Lynda Gravatt, Cristin Milioti, Christopher Evan Welch and Tina Benko, above, in "The Little Foxes." Below, Denise Summerford and Cheney Snow are “In Transit.” "The Little Foxes" photo by Jan Versweyveld; "In Transit" by James Leynse.

BY TAMARA BECK

MUSIC syncopates with menace. The stage is encased in purple velvet and looks cavernous. There is no curtain, just the rising tension of the beat of the music to open the proceedings.

Mid-stage is an archway framing a staircase; above the archway is a TV screen. Projected from it is a man lying on his back. Characters enter from far behind the archway – audible before they are visible. The stage is now set for what follows: deception, unease, danger, betrayal, http://www.youtube.com/user/nytheatreworkshop79?feature=mhum.

Ivo van Hove is the mastermind behind this avant-garde interpretation of Lillian Hellman's classic, “The Little Foxes.” And as unusual as the staging seems, it also evokes a modern resetting of a Greek tragedy. LH's tale is full of evil-doing and unpleasantness, hiding under the guise of a civilized and mannered family saga. In this production of "The Little Foxes" at New York Theater Workshop, the characters are dressed in business suits and evening dresses. The women wear high heels. Virtually all of the players are strivers hungry for power, prestige and money.

The entire cast – from Sanjit De Silva's Mr. Marshall of Chicago whose project to build a cotton mill in town precipitates the chain of events that ends so tragically to the exquisite Elizabeth Marvel whose Regina Giddens is a masterpiece of a monster – is wonderful.

Regina is willing to sacrifice her only child, Alexandra (Cristin Milioti) to get a piece of the Hubbard family's expected fortune. Her brother, Ben, (Marton Csokas) exercises his brutality with brio. Their other brother, Oscar, (Thomas Jay Ryan) is a mean-spirited bully. Symbolically and to the disgust of his wife, Birdie, he kills animals for sport and pleasure. Unlike Ben, he is actually a weakling and easily cheated by his manipulative siblings. Ben and Regina are equals, or would be if Regina weren't a woman.

The play is still set in a southern town, racked by unemployment and filled with racial unease. The Hubbard brothers look to profit handsomely from "bringing the mill to the cotton" and routinely cheat the local blacks. They need Regina to bring a third share of the investment to keep it in the family. To further her schemes, Regina sends Alexandra to bring her husband back home from the hospital. Alexandra adores her father but she does as she is told. Horace Giddens (Christopher Evan Welch) does not lack principles or intelligence but he does lack the strength to stop his wife's machinations.

To try to avert disaster Alexandra enlists as allies Birdie (Tina Benko) and the house servants, Addie (Lynda Gravatt) and Cal (Greig Sargeant), who are the moral center amid the malevolence.

The drama is intense and gripping with no intermission to distract and the performances and staging are worthy of this fevered plot.

Visit http://www.nytw.org/ for general information about "Little Foxes.

'In Transit,' and Always With a Song for the Ride

YOU are young or youngish, and your love life, work life – even where you live your life – are "In Transit." You have to sing about it, a cappella at that, on the platform of subway stations, opening with "Not There Yet" to set the stage: http://primarystages.org/intransit#video

Inspired by the rhythms and sounds of life on the subway, “In Transit” was written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez, James-Allen Ford, Russ Kaplan and Sara Wordsworth. The four were members of an a cappella group in college.

Chesney Snow as Boxman stands out in this largely unknown cast since he is our charming narrator and host, as well as the beatbox for the proceedings. “In Transit” is a simple story but this world premiere production at Primary Stages (59E59 Theaters) – under the musical direction of Mary-Mitchell Campbell and musical staging and direction of Joe Calarco – is complicated. Everyone has to sing either as the lead or as backup on every number. The actors portray 38 different characters, and their nuanced acting distinguishes each of them: the aspiring actress temping for a "corporate diva"; the out-of-work stock broker; the jilted lover, the closeted man. They perform with verve and skill.

Along with our narrator, Steve French, Celisse Henderson, Hannah Laird, Graham Stevens, Denise Summerford, and Tommar Wilson take travelers on a thrilling ride from "Not there Yet" to "Getting There."

Visit http://www.primarystages.org/ for general information about "In Transit."

Tamara Beck is President, Clean Lists Associates, Inc, an association management firm. And an avid theater-goer.