James Snyder, Chester Gregory II, Elizabeth Stanley and Spencer Liff in
“Cry-Baby,” based on the John Water film set in 1950s Baltimore. Photo: Joan Marcus.
This second-annual festival nurtures playwrights and raises funds for the local Harvey Milk High School.
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By Jonathan Warman
Friday, May 09, 2008
Cry-Baby
Let’s get this straight—“Cry-Baby” is loads of fun, a barrel and a half of laughs, and a generally rollicking and sexy good time. Based on the John Waters movie of the same name, “Cry-Baby” takes place in Baltimore, just like Waters’ mega hit franchise “Hairspray.” However this is the Baltimore of 1954, eight years before the action in “Hairspray.” These are the paranoid anti-Communist Eisenhower years, where a rockabilly “drape” like Wade “Cry-Baby’ Walker (enthusiastically played by James Snyder) is simultaneously a pariah and the coolest boy in town.
Wade falls hard for good girl Allison (Elizabeth Stanley, a pretty blonde with dangerous energy in the Sherie Rene Scott mold) and the plot is pure boy meets girl with detours through class warfare, insanity and tongue kissing. The score is a mixed bag: David Javerbaum’s lyrics are clever and razor-sharp, while Adam Schlesinger’s music gets the light-hearted tone and 1954 stylings just right (it just isn’t particularly memorable).
Rob Ashford’s slam-bang choreography is the show’s real star, with abundant Elvis-like pelvic thrusting for his hunky chorus. Dance captain Spencer Liff also deserves special mention for his smokin’ abs and ultra-precise move; if he doesn’t raise your temperature at least a little, you’re just not gay.
“Cry-Baby,” 7 p.m. Tue., 8 p.m. Wed. Sat., 2 p.m. Wed. & Sat. and 3 p.m. Sun. at the Marquis Theatre, 1535 Broadway, $35–$120, 212-307-4100, crybabyonbroadway.com.
The Eccentricities of a Nightingale
Tennessee Williams’ wrote “Summer and Smoke” immediately after his first flush of success with “Menagerie” and “Streetcar,” and it found Williams clearly trying to replicate those hits. Set in small town Mississippi shortly before World War I, it follows preacher’s daughter Alma Winemiller, who harbors an enduring love for the boy next door, who has grown into the handsome Dr. John Buchanan.
In “Summer and Smoke” the story of Alma and John has all the torrid, Southern Gothic traits that made “Streetcar” such a smash: He’s a sensualist, she’s repressed and so on. Telling the story that way never satisfied Williams, and he revised the play many times over the years, rewriting it so radically in the 1970s that he renamed it “The Eccentricities of a Nightingale.”
In this version, Alma is not so much repressed as frustrated at every turn, and John is a Mama’s boy who keeps the sensual streak he does possess a strict secret. I much prefer this version, which trades the melodrama of “Summer” for more subtle, touching and intimate human exchanges.
The current revival of “Eccentricities” by the Actor’s Company Theatre—the first in the city in over 30 years—for the most part makes a strong argument for the play’s superiority over the earlier version. Mary Bacon’s portrayal of Alma doesn’t work throughout, though: In the early part of the show she plays her as constantly worried, taking the “frightened bird” image far too literally.
In a sense, Bacon’s playing Alma from “Summer” and not this play for at least the first third of the piece. Once Alma decides wholeheartedly to pursue John, Bacon finds the right tone, but it’s a jarring jump. That said, this is Williams at his best in a strong revival—“Eccentricities” should indeed replace “Summer” in the repertory, and shouldn’t wait another 30 years to play New York again.
“The Eccentricities of a Nightingale,” 7:30 p.m. Mon., Thu. & Fri., 2 p.m. & 8 p.m. Sat. and 3 p.m. Sun. at the Clurman Theatre, 410 W. 42nd St., $20, 212-279-4200, tactnyc.org.
Thurgood
I’m fonder than most theatergoers (and definitely most critics) of the biographical one-person show. So I’m a little surprised that I didn’t enjoy “Thurgood” more. “Thurgood” is undeniably informative and even a bit inspirational. I’d even call it entertaining—but merely adequately entertaining. There’s little doubt that it could have been done better.
It relies a little too much on its innately interesting subject matter (the event-packed life of groundbreaking African-American jurist Thurgood Marshall) and charismatic star (Laurence Fishburne). George Steven Jr.’s script is ham-fistedly old-fashioned, offering the flimsiest of reasons why Marshall should be giving an audience such a detailed and intimate look at his life story. I’m not sure if Stevens would fare so well if one of the most talented and broadly capable actors of his generation wasn’t playing the first black man to serve on the United States Supreme Court.
Fishburne’s performance makes this worth seeing: He’s thoroughly engaging.
“Thurgood,” 8 p.m. Tue. Sat., 2 p.m. Wed. & Sat. and 3 p.m. Sun. at the Booth Theatre, 222 W. 45th St., $71.50–$96.50, 212-239-6200, shubertorganization.com/theatres/booth.asp.
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