G. Alverez Reid and Jeremiah Maestas play Daniel and Paul in ‘Questa’ at Wings Theatre.
Broadway’s “Cry-Baby” is absolutely rollicking fun—with an emphasis on the abs.
This second-annual festival nurtures playwrights and raises funds for the local Harvey Milk High School.
Plus: Wilde’s ‘Earnest’ revival and Christine Ebersole’s jazzy CD
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By Jonathan Warman
Friday, March 07, 2008
QUESTA
Wings Theatre, bless it, follows up the excellent production of “Auntie Mayhem” with “Questa,” which also voids gratuitous nudity in favor of a story that addresses “the way gays live now.”
When sex and romance come to the fore of playwright Victor Bumbalo’s script, that sexuality and sensuality is palpably, even painfully, real. In particular, G. Alverez Reid as black gay transient Daniel (the play’s surprising voice of reason) and Jason Alan Griffin as the well-intentioned Richard, give us moments of believable humanity. But those moments are rare: In general the slow-moving “Questa” portrays people at their most desperate and morose. That’s compelling for about five minutes, and this play is more than two hours long.
The lead character Paul (sensitively rendered by Jeremiah M. Maestas) has killed a young homophobe—perhaps accidentally—who taunted him at exactly the wrong time in the wrong alleyway. Paul wants to be relieved of his guilt by relieving the suffering of the young man’s mother. Unfortunately, most of the characters seem set up to fall, reflecting Bumbalo’s worldview rather than their own. Fall they do, with leaden predictability.
“Questa,” 8 p.m. Mon. & Thu.–Sat., and 3:30 p.m. at Wings Theatre, 154
Christopher St., at Greenwich St., $20, 212-627-2961, wingstheatre.com.
NIGHT OF THE IGUANA
I enjoyed the revival of Tennessee Williams’s “Sweet Bird of Youth” at T. Schrieber Studios last season, so I looked forward to the Studio’s production of Williams’s “Night of the Iguana.”
My anticipation was guarded, however: “Iguana” features more raw racism than just about any other play of his, and more despair-by-the-numbers than I like. Also, I felt that director Terry Schreiber’s take on “Bird” missed a lot of what is essential about Williams: the radicalism, the hope beyond hope, the moments of shocking quietude and serenity which reveal the playwright’s deep compassion. Schrieber directs Williams as though he were Arthur Miller—in both productions—and that is a fundamental error.
But George Allison’s superb set puts the audience right in the heart of the run-down Costa Verde Hotel in coastal Mexico circa 1940, where the sensual and hyper-sensitive Reverend T. Lawrence Shannon confronts his demons—primarily the conflict between sexuality and religion.
The acting is committed but often unsure. All told, this production doesn’t bury Williams, but it doesn’t quite know how to praise him either.
“The Night of the Iguana,” 8 p.m. Thu.–Sat. and 3 p.m. Sun. at T. Schreiber
Studio, 151 W. 26th St., $20, 212-352-3101, tschreiber.org.
TOVAH FELDSHUH
“Are you ready for some shtick?” A friend asked me as I walked into Tovah Feldshuh’s “Tovah in a Nutshell!” at Feinstein’s. This club act finds Broadway favorite Feldshuh in this zany (if not always funny) mood. In this evening of much shtick and a little music, Feldshuh sings songs from Gershwin to Judy Collins and inhabits a gallery of comical characters, ages 8 to 80, ranging from Grandma Ada in the Bronx to socialite Muffy Brooke Asthma Alsop of Park Avenue.
When she’s on, as she often is in “Nutshell,” few performers are as hilarious as Tovah. When she’s off—in, say, a painful “rap” or an only sporadically funny bit about her vocal coach—it gets tiresome very quickly. If you are willing to stick with Tovah, the jokes that land are joyous and the moments of sentiment genuine and touching. Would it be such a shonda to cut about twenty minutes from this act?
“Tovah Feldshuh: Tovah in a Nutshell!” 8:30 p.m. Tue.–Thu. and 8 p.m. & 10 p.m. Fri. & Sat. at Feinstein’s at the Regency, 540 Park Ave. at 61st St., $60–$75 w/ $25-$40 food/drink minimum, 212-339-4095, feinsteinsatloewsregency.com.
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