Joy & Fun & Juliet

I admit that I had low expectations for & Juliet. The premise just sounds clumsy, “What if Juliet didn’t kill herself after Romeo?” And a jukebox musical at that, with songs written Max Martin and collaborators. It sounds like the show was cobbled together to try to mimic the success of Moulin Rouge crossed with SIX. I was wrong that it would not be a ton of fun. It is. And, if it is Moulin Rouge and SIX mashed together, it works

& Juliet is energetic, fun and what people expect a musical to be: big, loud, colorful, and overwhelming. It isn’t perfect, but it a blast.

And I will start by saying the cast is fantastic. I don’t want to be redundant and complement each actor, but the singing, acting and casting were first rate from top to bottom. 

The story begins with Shakespeare’s wife, Ann Hathaway (Betsy Wolfe). She questions why Juliet has to die in Romeo and Juliet. When Shakespeare (Stark Sands) gives a waffling answer – That is what makes it a tragedy – she convinces him to try a new tack. Let Juliet decide to live and see where it goes. And so, Juliet (Lorna Courtney) escapes her parents plans to send her to a nunnery by running off to Paris. A nunnery is where fallen women are sent. Since Juliet is no longer a virgin , she no use to her parents. Escaping with her are two new friends, May (Justin David Sullivan) and Ann, plus one old friend, the nurse (Melanie La Barrie) from Shakespeare’s original play.

In this show, the star-crossed lovers are the non-binary May and Prince François (Philippe Arroyo) and, The Nurse and King Lance - Paulo Szot lending a adult air and voice to the proceedings. Shakespeare and his wife Ann share the stage as feuding couple with different expectations of marriage. The late arrival of Romeo (Ben Jackson Walker), freshly not dead, complicates the happily ever after for all concerned.

The & Juliet songs, mainly bouncing and upbeat, add to the carnival like atmosphere. With one or two exceptions, the songs fit and and add a layer of comedy. & Juliet adds an inside joke or two that everyone who has seen or heard Romeo and Juliet will understand.

The story here is more gender inclusive with love stories between men and women, non-binary characters and a freedom from stereotypes. But the main moral of the story is that self-empowerment gives a person the freedom to choose who to and how to love. And how being true to yourself might be the greatest superpower we all have.

If this all sounds preachy, do not worry, & Juliet is infused with joy and life. Veteran London Director Luke Sheppard balances the razzle dazzle of the show as expertly as he does the moments of love and heart. Instead of a preachy show about gender, he allows this musical to spread the joy throughout the audience without losing engagement in the story. 

& Juliet is good story, great acting and a positive message.

& Juliet
Playwrights: Max Martin & Friends, Music | David West Read, Book | Director: Luke Sheppard | Cast: Lorna Courtney, Paulo Szot, Betsy Wolfe, Stark Sands, Justin Davie Sullivan, Melanie La Barrie, Ben Jackson Walked, Philippe Arroyo | Website: & Juliet

Young, Stupid and Political at Camp Siegfried

Johnny Berchtold and Lily McInerny star in Bess Wohl's Camp Siegfried, directed by David Cromer, at Second Stage Theater.
(© Emilio Madrid)

Camp Siegfried starts with an unknown and uncomfortable part of history. From 1936 to 1941 there was a movement among some German Americans to convince the United States to adopt Third Reich answers to the problems of the world, and to ally with Hitler. Camp Siegfried takes place in a summer youth camp directed by the American Bund - or German American National Socialists - before Hitler’s regime started the wars and the country’s aggressive hatred was clear. The movement crashed after America’s entry into World War II.

So, a minefield.

At the start of the play the analogies to present day America seem blatantly obvious. Telegraphed like Steven Spielberg milking our emotions. But the analogy becomes more tortured until it is muddled with the experiences of these two teenagers. Johnny Berchtold and Lily McInerny play the unnamed young people.

These two actors navigate a situation that becomes less overtly political and more personal as the story progresses. It is not just a political history lesson, it is also an emotional journey of young people. These two navigate a summer camp of adolescence as infatuation convinces them they are in love.

The Bund, like the Nazi Youth, promotes the idea of pure germans reproducing. That is the purpose for women. Sex and pregnancy are encouraged by the members of the right ages - she is 16 and he is 17.

Johnny Berchtold and Lily McInerny star in Bess Wohl's Camp Siegfried, directed by David Cromer, at Second Stage Theater.
(© Emilio Madrid)

But camp draws to a close. The couple’s relationship disintegrates as the summer comes to an end. Their “plans” for the future, like ours at that age, are brought to an end. That end can be bittersweet for some, but for these two the end is fierce. The confront the future and finally themselves. They have been changed by the experience and respond differently, as well do. This is the least engaging part of the play and the most distant from the characters we have seen. They act as if removed from the time period and reality of rest of the piece.

Camp Siegfried’s Senior Production Manager is Michael Catalan and the designs add greatly to the experience. They create a space that is both expansive and claustrophobic. It serves the emotions of youth excellently. Written by the wonderful Bess Wohl (writer of Grand Horizons), it walks the delicate line between young desire and family expectations. Director David Cromer brings the show to life with a light touch that lets the story develop naturally.

Camp Siegfried

Playwright: Bess Wohl | Director: David Cromer | Cast: Johnny Berchtold, Lily McInerny

website

My Little Pony Takes A Turn to the Dark Side

Despite its name, The Antelope Party is not about a group of happy herbivores frolicking in the sun. The play is happy and light, until it takes an unexpected turn. The Antelope Party was written in 2018 and postponed by the pandemic in 2020. It finally comes to the stage in New York with power and prescience far beyond what was implied in 2018 or 2020. 

The Antelope Party opens on a group of people at a completely different type of party. Five friends share a common interest in My Little Pony role playing and meet up once a week. They all take the parts of the various characters from the TV show. The group is made up of 3 bronies (male cosplayers) and 2 Pegasisters (female cosplayers). Each of the weekly meetings starts with a sharing session, which is cleverly laid out to the audience with a combination of love and disbelief.

Ben Mawere, Caitlin Morris and Will Dagger

With two players missing and one new member, the story opens with this sharing session. Shawn (an amazing Will Dagger) starts by explaining how his life was saved by the group and how much he loves it. Ben (wonderful Edward Mawere) is the founder of the leaderless group. Ben and Rachel (Caitlen Morris) worry about Maggie (Lindsley Howard) and Doug (Quinn Franzen), late to show up without a word. Newcomer Jean (Anna Ishida) realizes quickly that this isn’t the group she signed up for, and leaves.

Doug into the room, and tells the story that Maggie was grabbed on the street by a vigilante gang. From his discussion we find it isn’t safe to wear their pony outfits on the street as the vigilantes tend to look at any others as outsiders. There is a generalized feeling of unease in their appearance in the city.

When Maggie does shows up the next week, she explains she was not kidnapped. She recognized her cousin and went in the car voluntarily. But she shuts down all questions about the evening and her cousin. Later we find her father is one of the heads of the vigilante group, The Antelope Party. The party is a slightly fascist group intent on confronting those that don’t follow their ideas about true Americans.

Caitlin Morris, Quinn Franzen

Maggie and Shawn, who is enamored with her, join The Antelope Party. In a short amount of time, they both pressure everyone to sign a pledge approving of the party. It is interesting because Maggie is a woman of color and therefore close to being an outsider in the Antelope’s view. Doug sings on quickly, but Ben, a Black man, and Rachel, a bisexual woman, have serious doubts about the group.

The Antelope Party slowly morphs from a local organization to a powerful group dedicated to harassing people out of power. Here, The Antelope Party becomes a grim prophecy on what has come to pass in reality. The machinations of the Bronies as they navigate this new environment are both familiar and foreboding.

The Antelope Party is well paced and directed by professional Jess Chayes. The playwright, Eric John Meyer brings the action from farcical to deadly serious in a manner that is internally consistent, and externally frightening. It is another great production by the Dutch Kills Theater Company. The stage of the Wild Project is small, but the intimacy works perfectly in the venue.

The Antelope Party

Director: Jess Chayes | Playwright: Eric John Meyer | Cast: Will Dagger, Quinn Franzen, Lindsley Howard, Anna Ishida, Edward Mawere, Caitlin Morris | website

Jackie Hoffman Rises As Fruma-Sarah

The Cell is a remarkably intimate space to watch Jackie Hoffman work her magic. Those who have seen her - live in the theater, singing at Joe’s Pub or in many television appearances - appreciate her great talent in overwhelming the stage while not overwhelming her costars. In Fruma-Sarah (Waiting in the Wings), her myriad of talents are seen through a completely different prism. What if this multi-talented woman had been born into a different, and lesser, life. 

Fruma-Sarah (Waiting In The Wings); Jackie Hoffman and Kelly Kingsella

In Furma-Sarah, Ms. Hoffman plays Ariana Russo, an ex-housewife devoted to community theater in central New Jersey - which is kind of like Broadway’s cousin, once removed. For those that don’t know, or don’t remember, the character of Fruma-Sarah is a comedic cameo in the musical Fiddler on the Roof. You don’t have to remember, or even like, Fiddler on the Roof (something I rarely admit to) in order to love this show. The main references are to the songs from the show, which are part of the American zeitgeist.

Ariana is hilariously bitter about the politics of local theater, her failed marriage and still bitter, albeit less hilariously, about how life has retreated from her.  Ariana is locked into a flying harness, waiting until she enters as the dream witch, emerging from the wings, high above stage left. Meanwhile she holds court over a captive stage manager – a wonderful Kella Kingsella who grows during the performance. Ariana, enjoying her forced audience of one, rifts on marriage, life in the suburbs and her delightfully petty feuds with the local gate-keepers of community theater.

Jackie Hoffman and Kelly Kingsella

It is a treat to watch Kelly Kingsella, as stage manager Margo, try to keep Ariana quiet, semi-sober and awake until her entrance at 1:07 in the show. Fruma-Sarah (Waiting in the Wings) runs in real time as Fiddler in the Roof drags on off-stage, which means both Ariana and Margo have a deadline. Will Ariana fly on time? Will Margo’s walls come down? These two women not only command the stage, they invest the audience in the outcome. You can feel the tension as the audience realizes how much time is left.

The writing by E. Dale Smith is astounding. He captures the joy, wonder, and disappointment of theater life, whether on Broadway or in a small theatre in central New Jersey. The direction by Braden M Burns is fast paced but emotional, funny, and sensitive. He unrolls the layers of the character and her isolation, slowly, lovingly and with a perfect cast. I also have to call out the lighting by Dan Alaimo, which brings backstage during a show to life. 

Fruma-Sarah, L’chaim.

Furma-Sarah (Waiting in the Wings) 

 Director: Braden M Burns | Playwright: E. Dale Smith

Cast: Jackie Hoffman, Kelly Kinsella | Website