72 hours During NYC Broadway Week
DAY 1
Death Becomes Her (7 p.m. Performance — NYC Broadway Week 2-for-1 tickets)
This is a show that defines an exceptional film adaptation to the stage. It was daunting to imagine how this popular 1992 film would trod the footlights, but Marco Penette's book, along with music and lyrics by Julia Mattison and Noel Carey, managed to evolve this into a true Broadway show without compromising on the story—making it superior to the film in almost every way. The plot of two undead long-time frenemies battling over a man is even more hilarious on stage, with clever innovations in special effects and show-stopping musical numbers.
With powerful vocals, Michelle Williams oozes youth and sexual beauty as the egocentric actress Madeline—nickname "Mad" (Betsy Wolfe) by offering her unwitting victims a magical potion. But so much of the be-careful-what-you-wish-for moral ante is raised to hysterical levels when a humiliated author Helen—nickname "Hell" (Jennifer Simard) returns to escalate their fuel with new ways of failing to kill each other, while the object of their "affection" Ernest (Christopher Sieber) watches in hysterically horrified disbelief.
DAY 2:
Chess (2 p.m. Performance —Theatre Box Office Day-of Rush Ticket, $49)
This production is more of a reinvention than a revival. While the bones are intact from the original London production, plot points, dialogue, and overall narrative are largely altered, seemingly to bridge the 40-plus years since it debut.
Chess was politically charged with intention during the Cold War days of its invention. However, even then, the pro-British storyline made the black-and-white rivalry between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. with both sides being flawed. It's transition to the New York stage required it to be changed for American sensibilities, undermining it's bite, and it has struggled ever since. With the current world stage, the Broadway stage managed to blow Chess up again and retool it, expanding the Arbiter's role to draw double duty as a narrator allowing context to make it more relevant to the current political climate. But the biting satire is even handed—no political ideology is spared.
The songs are shuffled in an unrecognizable order but it works well. This production loses a few original songs—a hilarious number involving the British consulate that is glaringly absent—but the show itself has injected much more levity so the comic relief aspect of that song is less needed. Unfortunately, while the new songs allowed showcase solos for some of the secondary roles, they were not to the same caliber of the original ones and did not add to the story.
In the leads, Nicholas Christopher (Anatoly) and Bradley Dean (Freddie) are strong, but former Glee star Lea Michele (Florance) is the draw for many in the audience. However, with expanded part, and thus stage time, the role of Svetlana (played by Hannah Cruz) literally stood toe to toe with Michele, matching her energy and vocal power in every scene.
Two Strangers Carry a Cake Across New York (7:30 p.m. Performance—TKTS 50% off tickets)
A relatively unknown original rom-com musical on Broadway is a bit of a unicorn these days amid the star-powered film adaptations lining the Great White Way. But discovering this fun two-person love letter to New York is a throwback to the core of the city's theatre scene. Jaded native-New Yorker Robin (Christiani Pitts) opens the show scrambling to pick up never-met British visitor Dougal (Sam Tutty) from JFK airport. The two literally bump into each other, and she is quickly wary of the over-the-top enthusiasm from this odd first-time visitor, starry-eyed at being in NYC.
Dougal is coming in to attend the wedding of his father—who he has never met—who is marrying Robin's sister. Despite being semi-estranged, Robin is still jumping through hoops to make her sister's wedding day perfect, including picking up this future in-law, and carrying the wedding cake across New York. As expected, things go from wrong, to worse, to revealing finally revealing the secrets that ultimately draw these new strangers closer in their mutual need for family, acceptance, and love. What is more Broadway than that?
Soutra Gilmour's minimalist set of stacked luggage is cleverly masking a multitude of imaginative set pieces to transform scenes for audiences. The costume design is authentically up to the task, as well, believably transforming the couple rom plane-weary traveler and harried barista into black-tie on the town dazzle.
Jim Barne and Kit Buchan's script sets up an almost-formulaic plot that has enough surprises to keep it fresh, with songs that are even fresher. Having yet another ballad about the joys of being in New York could easily have been cloying, but the nuanced lyrics offer a depth within that affection locals can appreciate, and visitors will want to explore. And while the show keeps audiences guessing if the two will wind up together, nothing is taken for granted but happy endings have their way in shows like these, however unexpected.
DAY 3:
"Oh, Mary!" ( 2 pm. performance—NYC Broadway Week 2-for-1 tickets / TKTS 50% off)
"Oh, Mary!" is Broadway at it's irreverent, unexpected, and boundary-busting best. The premise of this non-biographical story is an alternate—and, really, and all-out reinvention—life of First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln (alternating actors every four to six weeks through the run of the play) as imagined by playwright Cole Escola, who seemingly knows almost nothing about the wife of President Lincoln (John-Andrew Morrison). With even less interest in finding out, the play's resulting over-the-top imagining of Mrs. Lincoln presents her as a First Lady who is less insane and more artistically repressed—but still a tad insane—wanting to better her life in the weeks prior to her husband's assassination. She is assigned a chaperone to keep her in check and a teacher to help her express her inner artist. Things go from funny to hysterical as she begins learning about the questionable people surrounding her.
Jinkx Monsoon was a dominant force of brilliant absurdity in this performance week and kept the laughter constant. Cole Escola's script had the audience unable to anticipate what dark and side-splitting turns Mrs. Lincoln's revised life would go next.
"Comic genius," one patron exclaimed, summing up the show during an enthusiastic standing ovation. Suffice to say, if President Lincoln hadn't been assassinated in a theatre, this show would surely have killed him—and does—in all the funniest ways. The show is a irreverent as it is funny, with zero indication of where this could possibly go—and with no spoiler alerts here to be found. Even-handed in it's satirical skewering of conventional narratives but without being truly offensive or mean-spirited,
But while it's easy to assume this could be done with a minimalist set, the tech team elevates the show in its evolution from the Off-Broadway Lucille Lortel Threatre in the West Village. Holly Pierson's costume design and scenic design by Dots makes sure audiences know this is a Broadway play to be taken seriously, especially because it doesn't seem to take itself seriously.
"Oh, Mary!" is what makes for a great theatre experience. The wry humor and fun while keeping an eye on an engaging story would make Shakespeare—and even the ancient Greek playwrights who are the foundation of modern stage performances—laugh with approval.
