Newsies The Musical at the Nederlander Theatre

Stop the presses.   Newsies The Musical becomes the King of New York!


Disney theatrical has struck gold with its stage adaptation of Newsies.    This production had its world premiere in the fall of 2011 at Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey. (see September 2011 in the blog archive for the review)  For several years Disney had received more requests to adapt Newsies than any other of its many properties and its clear why it is so popular with schools and camps.    With a cast comprised almost entirely of young teen characters, a score filled with rousing anthems and a story about how the young people take on the adult establishment for justice, Newsies is a crowd pleasing prospect.    So, how has the production fared between Paper Mill and Broadway.   In a word, spectacularly!


The film Newsies had its problems particularly in two areas, the adult characters, particularly the vaudeville performer Medda, and the lack-luster love story.   The Paper Mill production made improvements to the adults, and made several changes to the storyline including a new female leading character.   The production was ready for the great white way,yet still needed a few more changes.  I am happy to report that the minor changes to Harvey Fierstein's book and the addition of three new songs have corrected those minor flaws.   As a result Newsies The Musical is the best new family-friendly entertainment on Broadway.


Disney's Newsies The Musical takes place in 1899 New York City.  The Newsies are the boys who sell the "papes."  Many live on the streets, others work long hours to help their struggling families.  Their leader is Jack Kelly, a talented artist who dreams of going west for a better life.  His fellow newsies include close friend Crutchie, struggling with a disability, and two new kids, brothers Davey and Les, whose father was laid off after being injured in a factory job. When Joseph Pulitzer, publisher of the World desides to raise the price the newsboys must pay for the papers they sell, he convinces William Randolph Hearst and the other publishers to follow suit.  The boys decide to form a union and strike until the price is cut and the publishers agree to buy back any papers the boys can't sell.   Jack meets girl reporter Katherine Plumber, who dreams of a promotion from writing the society page to the news beat.  Together the Newsies and Katherine take on the world in a fight ultimately for the benefit of all of the oppressed child workers of the city. 


Jeff Calhoun has guided his enthusiastic cast with a sure hand, maintaining a fast paced, high stakes urgency throughout the play.   Christopher Gattelli's rousing choreography explodes on the larger Nederlander stage.   Tobin Ost's steel girder inspired set is versatile and provides a perfect canvas for Sven Ortel's projections. Jess Goldstein's costumes and Charles G. LaPointe's hair and wig design evoke the turn of the century while giving the actors plenty of ability to move.   


For move this talented cast must.   The sheer athleticism of the Newsies is a wonder to behold.   The largest change that has happened to Newsies between Paper Mill and Broadway is the tight camaraderie of the ensemble.   They have a ease on the stage that shows that the Newsies company has become the family mentioned in the lyrics.  Every one of the young men performs amazing gymnastic leaps that it is hard to single out a few for specific accolades.   But, one young man, Ryan Steele who plays Specs and is the dance captain, gets a wonderful moment during "Seize the Day" with his strong piroutettes on a scrap of newspaper that cannot be overlooked and brings deserving cheers from the audience.    


John Dossett's Joseph Pulitzer is now the consummate villain and his new song "The Bottom Line" is a vast improvement over the Paper Mill production's "The News Is Getting Better"making Pulitzer less of a cartoon.   Capathia Jenkins makes vaudeville owner and staunch ally Medda Larkin more relevant to the story in her few scenes.  Medda's new song, "That's Rich" is humorous with a subtle social commentary.    Andrew Keenan-Bolger's Crutchie is charming and poignant and he is greatly missed when he is arrested and sent to the dreaded orphan's home, The Refuge.


While The Refuge remains an off-stage menace, the threat of the dank juvenile prison seems genuine now.   Jack's anguish at Crutchie's arrest and his tale of Crutchie's treatment there is a classic darkest before the dawn moment of the play.   When, Stuart Marland's Snyder, the warden of The Refuge gets his comeuppance it has an impact that was sorely lacking in the original production.


Ben Fankhauser has found Davey's emotional arc growing from the tentative young man forced with his younger brother to support his struggling family into the confident brains that helps to shape the Newsies' strike.   His clear hopeful vocals gets the musical's best known anthem "Seize The Day" off on the right note.   His younger brother Les is the typical brashy young kid, played well by Matthew J. Schechter at the performance I attended. (The role is shared with Lewis Grosso.)  


Kara Lindsay is feisty as the earnest girl reporter, Katherine.  "Watch What Happens" sung as Katherine writes her first story of the strike is still the best of the new songs written for the score.   Her new duet with Jack, "Something To Believe In" is charming, perfectly reflecting the joys of first love.


Which brings us to Jack Kelly.   The premature demise of Bonnie and Clyde was Newsies The Musical's gain.  Jeremy Jordan is one of the most charismatic leading men on Broadway.   His voice delivers the hope and anguish of a young man dreaming of a better life who later becomes  horrified that his leadership may have caused more harm than good. Yet, when he embraces being the Newsies strike leader, a good portion of the audience is ready to join the battle.    Do not be surprised to see Mr. Jordan nominated for several awards this spring.


Disney's Newsies: The Musical is being performed at the Nederlander Theatre in New York City.   It is currently advertised as a limited engagement with performances through August 19, 2012.  For tickets please visit www.ticketmaster.com or www.newsiesthemusical.com




For those who are die hard fans of the original Newsies film, I recommend picking up a copy of the souvenir "newspaper".  Inside you will find an article written by B. Denton and a wanted notice searching for Francis Sullivan a.k.a. Jack Kelly a.k.a. Cowboy.   It is a nice nod to the devoted fan base of the 1992 film.

Other Desert Cities at the Booth Theatre

“…to control everything, every bit of information, every gesture, every pose, that was the way to live.  Order. Precision. Discipline.”

Christmas, 2004, Palm Springs, California.   Welcome to the immaculate home of the Wyeth family.   Father Lyman is a retired actor respected in the Republican establishment.   Mother Polly carefully preserves the family appearance.   On this Christmas, daughter Brooke returns home for the first time in years.   She bears a memoir focused on a horrible family tragedy from her childhood.  In the late 1970’s the Wyeth’s oldest son, Henry participated in the bombing of a military recruitment center during which a homeless man was killed.  Henry subsequently committed suicide.   The entire family was damaged.   The parents from the devastation that their son could be involved in something so horrible that also damaged their political reputation.  Brooke has suffered from severe depression, her younger brother Trip, a young child at the time, has grown into an abrasive young man who tries not to focus on a past he barely remembers.   And Aunt Selma, Polly’s alcoholic sister, has become deeply estranged from her sister.

Brooke’s memoir, while helping her heal, drives a red-hot knife into the carefully constructed world of her family.   During the course of this pivotal Christmas, truths are emotionally flayed shattering long held beliefs.    The Wyeths are forever changed in the course of this one day.

Jon Robin Baitz’s script is nuanced and emotionally draining.   He carefully balances the devastating revelations with well-needed humorous moments.   Joe Mantello's direction flows at a natural pace, neither rushed nor lingering.   The two hours and 30 minutes running time feels exactly right.  

John Lee Beatty is to be commended for designing the Wyeth’s living space so perfectly.   The décor is perfect for Palm Springs and its white palette is so reminiscent of the show place homes of people like the Wyeths who clearly do a lot of entertaining.   Yet the immaculate room has a gentle irony given the amount of dirt that it hides.

The five members of the Wyeth family are fully realized human beings.   It would not be surprising to see multiple Tony nominations for all are deserving of accolades.   Judith Light is brassy as the recovering alcoholic Aunt Silda.   Yet behind the zingers lies a woman deeply supportive of her niece.   Matthew Risch also lets fly several barbs as the younger sibling, Trip.   Trip is too young to remember much about his older brother, and Mr. Risch shows both the impatience of a young man who wants to live in the present, and the supportive mediator between his sister and his parents.

Elizabeth Marvel is a whirlwind of manic emotions as daughter Brooke.   Trying to write what she needs for her own emotional understanding, she still craves her parents’ approval for what is an assassination of their carefully fought façade of normality.   Brooke is genuinely seeking the redemption of Henry at the expense of the parents she blames for his death.   

As the parents at the center of Henry’s tragedy, Stacy Keach and Stockard Channing give rich performances.   Mr. Keach shows the consummate politician mask, ever maintaining the rock steady persona he has created through the years.    When that façade breaks, so does the audience’s heart.     Ms. Channing is a wonder as Polly.   A deeply dislikeable woman at first, seeming to be all about the image and a disbelief that neither Selma nor Brooke can be trusted to be cured. Once she gives into her emotions that she has carefully hidden from view for two decades, Ms. Channing provides the catharsis at the center of this family drama.  

Other Desert Cities is being performed at the Booth Theatre in New York City.   For tickets please visit www.telecharge.com.

Long Day's Journey Into Night at Arena Stage

A few weeks ago Arena Stage revived Eugene O'Neill's Ah, Wilderness, a gentle nostalgic comedy believed to portray the family life Mr. O'Neill wished had been his own.  Now Arena Stage opens Long Day's Journey Into Night the painfully autobiographical play in which Mr. O'Neill lays bare the demons of his own upbringing.  It is a powerful production during which the troubles of the barely fictional Tyrone family are in the hands of the masterful direction of Robin Phillips and the taut emotional performances of his acting ensemble.

In the late summer of 1912 in a beachside summer home in Connecticut, Long Day's Journey Into Night takes place on one privital day.   Awaiting word from the family doctor on the health of the youngest son, Edmund, the Tyrone family tries unsuccessfully to maintain the facade of the loving family.  The father, James, a renowed actor in his day, has made choices and his miserly behavior have deeply affected his family's lives.   Mother Mary recently returned from the turn-of-the-century version of rehab slips into a morphine haze.  Elder son, Jamie blunt about his family's denial of their deep-rooted problems buries his anger in alcohol.   The ill Edmund, well aware he is not suffering from a summer cold, also turns to alcohol, yet throughout this anguished day finds a way to come to an understanding particularly with his father before facing his life-threatening illness.

Robin Phillips steers his actors with a firm hand.  The play unfolds in such a way that the various revelations that help the audience understand from where the characters' issues flow is organic and natural, not histrionic.  For a good portion of the three hour running time the actors are seated and it is a credit to their performances and their director's skill that their tales are mesmorizing and engaging.  

The set designed by Hisham Ali envelops the Tyrone sitting room with walls that are translucent, yet not clear, the characters as they travel to the porch or upstairs appear shrouded in fog making manifest the metaphorical fog that cloaks the house and the alcohol and drugged minds of the family.

Andy Bean has the right mix of intolerance, anger and despair as the eldest son who has no patience for sugar coating the family's crisis.  Nathan Darrow starts emotionally mild as the ill Edmund who feels out of place in his family into which, but for fate he might never have been born.   Yet in a late night alcohol-fueled showdown with his father, Mr. Darrow boils with a kaleidoscope of emotions.

As the gruff miserly James, Sr.  Peter Michael Goetz commands the family and our attention.  While the character is deeply unlikeable, Mr. Goetz manages to convey a deep understanding of the man, shaped by his upbringing and well aware that many of the choices he has made damaged his family.

Helen Carey delivers an outstanding performance as the morphine-addicted Mary.  A poignant portrayal of a woman unraveling in front of our eyes, Ms. Carey is heartbreaking as she flits between nervous choices that do not fool anyone in her family  and are painful for the audience to witness.  By the end her Mary transforms into an embodiment of the fog, shrouding her mind, her family and her hated home.

Long Day's Journey Into Night is being performed as part of the Eugene O'Neill Theatre.   Performances take place in the Kreeger Theatre at Arena Stage's Mead Center for American Theater through May 6, 2012.   For tickets, performance information and information on the Eugene O'Neill Festival please visit www.arenastage.org.

The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess at the Richard Rodgers Theatre

Theatergoers have an opportunity to see mesmerizing performances, a memorable score and a great American musical on Broadway.   If all you know of the revival of Porgy and Bess is the controversy over its updating the script that is not the full story.    It is true that when this production was mounted at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts it generated a lot of publicity, a lion's share of which was negative.   Perhaps that is why there were large numbers of seats empty the night I saw this production.   If so, I encourage theater patrons to consider seeing this show.   The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess is a respectful, vibrant version of a monumental work that has long straddled the dual worlds of musical theater and grand opera.

It is comforting that despite "The Gershwins'" title the accompanying souvenir program does not neglect the contributions of the Heywards.  DuBose Heyward wrote the original Porgy novel, and his wife Dorothy who adapted it into a play, both of whom later worked on the libretto of the musical version with Ira Gershwin.   It is a credit to script adaptor Suzan-Lori Parks that whatever real changes were made to the libretto they are not discernible to the average audience member.   I would need to see a side by side comparison to determine how much was changed beyond the editing of the material from its four hour operatic running time to the taut two and a half hours traffic upon the Richard Rodgers stage.

Diane Paulus has taken her very talented ensemble and brought forth a community.   The residents of Catfish Row are friends and neighbors bonded by their work and traditions, united against the threats of outsiders such as the brutal Crown and his drug-addled woman, Bess, and particularly the threat of the white authority figures who view the community with contempt.

Set in Catfish Row, an African American community of fishermen and their wives in Charleston, South Carolina, Porgy is the crippled man who takes in the drug-addicted "loose" woman Bess when the hot-headed Crown must flee after murdering a man over a dice game.   Porgy's unconditional love wins over Bess and she is gradually accepted as a member of the community.    A fateful picnic leads to an encounter between Bess and Crown in which she is seduced and assaulted by him.   Following a hurricane that devastates the small community Crown reappears.   Following a confrontation between Crown and Porgy, Bess is left alone and vulnerable.   Bess' decision whether to wait for Porgy to return  or resume her former life hints at a tragic end for the lovers.

The company of The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess contains some of the most amazing vocalists on Broadway.    Yet, they are not the static choruses that frequent the worlds' opera stages.   The most minor supporting role is a fully-realized human being.   Strong support is given by NaTasha Yvette Williams as Mariah, the matriarch of Catfish Row and Bryonha Marie Parham as the grief-stricken widow Serena who grows to become a pillar of strength.   The charismatic Joshua Henry and Nikki Renee Daniels as the doomed young parents Clara and Jake are loving and teasing, just as a young couple deeply in love should be.   Ms. Daniels rendition of "Summertime" soars to the rafters.

Phillip Boykin is menacing as the murderous Crown, yet has the animal magnetism necessary to see why Bess continues to be attracted to the brute.   David Alan Grier infuses the dangerous Sporting Life with the easy charm that the seductive provider of happy dust embodies.    Mr. Grier sings with a flirty style "It Ain't Necessarily So," yet he maintains the vigilance of a vulture as he circles Bess dangling a hit of happy dust and the promise of the "Boat That's Leaving Soon For New York" as he tempts his prey.

Norm Lewis may not have the rich resonance of a classic opera singer, but he has a wonderful voice that is full of heart.   His charms brim through "I Got Plenty of Nothing."   As a character his Porgy grows from the gentle soul of Catfish Row into the man who can defend the woman he loves.   The optimism of "I'm On My Way" will bring a lump to your heart.

Audra McDonald is the definitive Bess of her generation.   Not only does she have a voice that raises the roof, she clearly maintains the underlying temptations that prevent Bess from happily settling down with a decent man.   She is sensuous and vulnerable baring her soul in the duet "Bess, You Is My Woman Now."  When she gives in to her heart's desire in the beautiful duet "I Loves You Porgy" she gives the audience a brief glimpse of optimism that, even if you know the story, you will harbor hope that this time Porgy and Bess might live happily ever after.

The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess is being performed at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in New York City.   For tickets please visit www.ticketmaster.com.

Once, a New Musical at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre

The 2006 Irish film Once was a low budget gentle love story that loosely based upon the lives of the two musicians who were its stars.  Adapted for the stage using clever, innovative staging, Once, a new musical is a charming adaptation of this beloved indie film classic.

Using the same conceit as the film by not naming the two main characters, Once is the story of Guy, a struggling, heartbroken Irish musician who meets the Girl, a young brash Czech immigrant.   Encouraged by her to pursue his music, their romance takes place over several days as they collaborate creating stunningly beautiful music together.   Their personal lives do not permit them from going beyond admitting that they have fallen in love.  Yet, their brief encounter enriches their lives and those of the friends and collaborators who get caught up in the creation of the music.

Playwright Enda Walsh has shaped the original film into a heartfelt stage adaptation. John Tiffany directs his small ensemble in a way that brings forth the charms of the film without getting too precious with the story or the performances.

At the heart of Once is the music.  The film had a great score written by its stars Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova.  It  includes the Academy-award winning song, Falling Slowly.  One of the strengths of the musical is that the majority of its score comes from that  film.   The music is performed by the actors in a way that is organic to the story.   This is not a gimmick like the recent adaptions of Sweeney Todd and Company.   Here, since a majority of the acting company must play instruments as a part of their characters, the actors as orchestra conceit works brilliantly.

The musical is staged within Bob Crowley's designed Irish pub backdrop.  Audience members are welcome to come up on stage before the show and during intermission to purchase drinks at the bar and, prior to the show, be enveloped in an old-fashioned jam session.   Please note, this is becoming very popular and you may be asked to wait until the stage clears of a few fellow patrons before you are permitted to go up on the stage.

Another good decision was to project Czech language surtitles on the set whenever the Czech characters are speaking.   By allowing the actors to speak in English with those surtitles instead of the reverse it simply allows the audiences to acknowledge that the characters are speaking a foreign language without being distracted from the performance by having to read in English what they are saying.

The actors are wonderful.  At first, the secondary characters do not appear to be well-fleshed out, yet by the time that the story flows to the creation of the music, individuals make their small roles real human beings.   Performances of note are given by David Abeles as Eamon, Elizabeth A. Davis as Reza, Lucas Papaelias as Svec, Andy Taylor as the Bank Manager and Paul Whitty as Billy.

Cristin Milioti is forceful as the honest and abrupt Girl.   She has a voice with the lilt of heartbreak and grit of emotion.  Yet, physically she makes herself muted, cutting herself from fully embracing her feelings with Guy knowing that her personal life makes falling in love difficult.

Unfortunately Steve Kazee was absent attending to a family emergency the night I saw this production.  I would just like to say to my fellow theater patrons, when the lead is not present give the understudy a chance.  Ben Hope officially made his Broadway debut as Guy.  While in the beginning he was not quite convincing as a struggling musician on the verge of giving up music in his life, as the performance went on Mr. Hope relaxed into the role and his Guy became a young man transformed musically and emotionally by his growing love for Girl.  Mr. Hope has a wonderful voice and good stage presence. I hope to see more of him on stage in the future.

Once, a new musical is being performed at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre in New York City.   For tickets and other performance information, please visit www.telecharge.com.

Dido, Queen of Carthage at the American Shakespeare Center

The chance to see an early English drama that is not produced very often is one of the benefits of the American Shakespeare Center.  As their last production of the Actors' Renaissance Season, the repertory company presents Christopher Marlowe's Dido, Queen of Carthage.  A retelling of the famous doomed romance from Virgil's Aeneid, this early work can be difficult to make compelling given the script's challenges.  While there are problems due to some jarring jumps in the narrative that are the fault of the script, this story of the gods interference with man and destiny exudes passion.

Aeneas and his men flee the destruction of Troy.  After wandering the seas for seven years, the goddess Juno causes a storm to wash the Trojans ashore in the kingdom of Carthage.  They meet the Queen, Dido, her sister, Anna, and Dido's suitor, Iarbus who provide the Trojans with comforts and support, rebuilding their tattered fleet.  The goddess Venus, who is Aeneas' mother, replaces Aeneas' son, Ascanius with the god Cupid who uses his love dart to make Dido fall passionately in love with Aeneas.  She does and a jealous Iarbus offers a sacrifice to the gods to win Dido's love back.  However, before any revenge can be made, Jupiter, king of the gods appears to Aeneas in a dream and  he is also urged by a visit from the god Mercury, that it is his destiny to go to Italy and found Rome.  He obeys and leaves a devastated Dido. Aeneas' abandonment of the heartbroken queen leads to a fiery tragedy for Carthage.

It is believed by scholars that Dido, Queen of Carthage is one of Christopher Marlowe's earliest plays.  It may also have been partially written by Thomas Nashe.  As such the play shows elements of the transition from narrative poetry to actual drama.  The poetry is beautiful and the talented actors deliver it with aplomb.  There are a few jarring transitions.   Now, Shakespeare has scenes in which the action happens offstage and in which the audience is told what has occurred.   Here the most difficult transition in the play comes just after Dido and Aeneas declare their very passionate love for each other in a violent storm.  Shortly thereafter Aeneas tells us that he just had the dream in which Jupiter tells him to go found Rome.  If the play was written in a later period that scene would have happened on stage (with Jacobean masque effects).  

There is also the opening scene of the play which might make some audience members uncomfortable as it depicts the love between Jupiter, king of the gods and his cupbearer, the male Ganymede.  The scene is mild compared to some productions portrayal of the male love story in Marlowe's Edward II.   Benjamin Kurns as Jupiter and Gregory Jon Phelps as Ganymede portray this relationship honestly.  It is theatrically heightened without taking it over the top.

Mr. Phelps also gives a delightful performance as the playful Cupid.  Allison Glenzer is perfect as the meddling Venus.   Brandi Rhome assays her roles as the vengeful Juno, the admonishing Mercury and as Dido's sister, trying to support her queen while pining for the Queen's cast off suitor, Iarbus.  Aidan O'Reilly as the noble Iarbus strikes a balance between jealousy and the truth that Iarbus is really just a nice guy in love with the wrong woman.

At the heart of this production are Sarah Fallon and Rene Thornton, Jr. as Dido and Aeneas.  They have a natural chemistry on stage. The actors are fearless in portraying the doomed lovers heightened emotions.  Mr. Thornton delivers a lengthy recitation of the fall of Troy that is riveting for the audience as well as the attentive company on the stage.  His dilemma in leaving his love to follow the orders of the gods is sympathetic and poignant.

Ms, Fallon must navigate what could be over-the-top hysterics in a lesser actor's hands.  In Ms. Fallon's outstanding performance Dido's desperate love is as beautiful a tragedy to behold as any Shakespeare heroine.   Her attempts to prevent Aeneas's departure are heartbreaking and her death will bring you to tears.

Dido, Queen of Carthage will be presented as part of the Actors' Renaissance Season at the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Virginia in repertoire with William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing and Richard III, Philaster, or Love Lies a-Bleeding by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, and A Mad World, My Masters by Thomas Middleton through April 7, 2012. For tickets and other performance information, please visit www.americanshakespearecenter.com.

During the Actors' Renaissance Season there are no directors or designers. The American Shakespeare Center recreates what extensive research believes were the conditions that Shakespeare's acting company would have used to stage a play. The actors receive only cue scripts containing their lines and a short "cue", the last few words of the preceding actor's line. They are responsible for acquiring their own costumes and props from the stock available at the theater. There is a prompter on the side of the stage in case someone forgets a line. The rehearsal period is a matter of days.

Brother Russia at Signature Theatre in Virginia

Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia is to be commended for the commitment they have made in the 2011-2012 season to producing new work.    For audiences that enjoy being among the first to see a show and, perhaps, be able to see that show shaped and change in subsequent productions, this can be an exciting experience.   Unfortunately, not every show is one or two steps away from transferring to Broadway.   This is not a bad thing, but it is something to keep in mind when seeing the birth pangs of  theatrical babies.   Unless there has been a lot of press put out by the producing theater company, you may not have a clue what to expect when you purchase your ticket.   There is the danger that you might feel that your money has been wasted if you take a chance on a an unknown product.

This is not the case with Brother Russia, a new musical about Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin, one of the most infamous figures of world history.   The new musical, with book and lyrics by John Dempsey and music by Dana Rowe, shows quite a bit of promise.   Many of the songs in the score are quite terrific and help to enhance the story.   The acting company is enthusiastic and there are some wonderful passionate performances.   The problem lies with parts of the script and some of that is the framework for the story.

Brother Russia is a contemporary rock musical.   The story is framed in a familiar way by having an edgy Bohemian-style theater company tell the story (see Pippin).   The title character of Brother Russia (John Lescault) convinces the company to put on a performance of the life of Rasputin. Brother Russia insists that the play is the true story of his own life.   The company reluctantly agrees.   It is a fanciful version of Rasputin's life that bears only nominal resemblance to the actual history (again, reference Pippin).  During the telling of the story there are several breaks in the action some of which enhance the story of the Brother Russia character and others that just seem to grind the action of the play to a halt.  There is a disconnect in the narration as Brother Russia breaks the fourth wall to speak to the audience and then a scene or two later there will be a line stating that the actors are performing for an empty space.  The play reaches an emotional climax at the height of the Russian Revolution and the downfall of Rasputin and then seems to run out of steam.   The play ends not so much because the story is over, but as if the script ran out of ideas.

There are some diction issues with the full cast numbers that make it difficult to understand those lyrics.  Yet, there are notable performances.  Rachel Zampell is sensual and menacing as the Witch in her song Chid of the Wood.  Tracy Lynn Olivera leads a rousing ensemble in Vodka.   Amy McWilliams is haunting as the desperate Tsarina Alexandra and she is particularly poignant in the duet Matryoshka.

John Lescault overcomes the bizarre costuming he wears to be our enigmatic narrator, Brother Russia.   As the young man he conscripts to portray Grigori Doug Kreeger has a clear rock tenor that tests the limits of the sound system and has a magnetic personality that, while not on the legendary Rasputin's own scale, works for this production.   As the gypsy Sofya who reluctantly plays the gentle Grand Duchess Anastasia, Natascia Diaz gives a mesmerizing performance particularly in her songs Siberia, Elsewhere and in the love duet with Grigori, I Belong To You.

The costumes by Kathleen Geldard and makeup worn by the actors feel edgy for arts sake rather than feeling organic from the material of the play.   Music direction by Gabriel Mangiante is firm despite the few enunciation difficulties.   Eric Schaeffer has directed this fledging show with a firm hand which helps it overcome most of the script problems.

Brother Russia will be performed in The Max theatre at Signature Theatre in Arlington Virginia through April 15, 2012.   For tickets and other performance information please visit www.signature-theatre.org.