Tag Archives: Keen Company

All The World’s a Stage: First Look

Musical, Off-Broadway April 8, 2025 Leave a comment

Only two weeks into previews, the World Premiere of All the World’s a Stage is developing into a warm and enjoyable spring offering.  Though set in 1996 in small-town Pennsylvania, sadly the themes covered could be ripped from today’s headlines.  Adam Gwon’s lyrics are dense and expressive, but despite the many complex subjects he explores — bullying, book banning, religious indoctrination, and the very human need to be seen — it is hopefulness that is heard above them all.  Pair that with a memorable score and a quartet of talented performers, and this tale of a gay math teacher and the unusual student he mentors add up to a winning piece of entertainment.

The actors work together like four limbs of the same magical being.  Eliza Pagelle is wonderfully squirmy, adrift in her baggy cloths as unpopular high school senior Sam.  Matt Rodin embraces both the nerdiness and attractiveness of her protective closeted teacher Ricky.  Jon-Michael Reese and his big bold voice are perfectly suited to self-possessed bookstore owner Michael, who is out accompanied by trumpets and klieg lights.  And Elizabeth Stanley puts a relatable chink in the armor of by-the-book administrator Dede.  

Matt Rodin, Elizabeth Stanley and Eliza Pagelle in All the World’s a Stage at Theatre Row
Production Photography: Richard Termine

Keen Company’s Artistic Director, Jonathan Silverstein, takes the helm as the director of this lovely work.  The effect employed to create the unseen school principal is an example of his clever approach to promoting the big things in this small package.  Set designer Steven Kemp has made the most of the tight space in Theatre Row’s Theater 5, placing a short cinder block wall around the musicians and steps downstage to add more dimension.  Jennifer Paar has built an impressive wardrobe for each of the four central characters giving them even more to work with.   

Gwon’s book is filled with cultural references that have traveled well through time, especially the admiration for Tony Kushner’s Angels in America which was recently revived in New York and London.  Many lines earn a laugh of recognition from the audience.  (Who among us didn’t prefer listening to the cast album of Chess over following the stock market?)  His love for and knowledge of the theater is particularly needed at this time when the art form has been under attack.  The musical numbers cover a wide range of styles from the jingly “Saturday Night in a Small Auditorium”, through the campy “The Show Must Go On,” to the heartfelt “Mirrors” which had the hulk of a man sitting next to me weeping hard enough to wiggle my seat.  The four musicians under the direction of Andrea Grody stay wonderfully engaged with the onstage happenings without calling attention to themselves.

All the World’s a Stage packs a lot of emotion and life lessons into its current runtime of an hour and 40 minutes without getting preachy or losing its humanity.  It’s a compact work with enough heart to feel expansive.  Performances continue at Theatre Row thought May 10.  Tickets beginning at $25 can be purchased  online at www.keencompany.org, by phone at 212-714-2442 ex 45, or at Theatre Row Box Office at 410 W 42nd Street.  

Fish

Off-Broadway, Play April 3, 2024 Leave a comment

We’ve heard the old proverb, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”  But what are you supposed to do if you don’t have the money for a rod, line, or bait?  That is the provocative question behind Fish, a world premiere play by Kia Corthron currently running at Theatre Row on 42nd Street in New York.

The story revolves primarily around Latricia, known as Tree, a sharp 18 year old senior attending a typical urban high school that is short on funds and long on drop outs.  The teen has much more on her plate than 100 word essays.  With her mother incarcerated for a minor drug violation, she is responsible for running the household and overseeing her high-energy asthmatic 11 year old brother, Zay.  To add to her burden, her best friend LaRonda has won a spot in the Peak and Pinnacle Academy Charter School.  While only on the 6th floor of the same building as the rundown public school, with its gleaming computer lab and health center it might as well be on Mars.  English teacher, Jasmine Harris, can see Tree’s intellectual curiosity and capability below the layers of tough talk and anger.  But she’s so overburdened by the “teach to the test” requirements of Common Core she doesn’t have the time or tools to draw them out.  

Director Adrienne D. Williams does a brilliant job of incorporating the posture and movement of today’s cellphone obsessed youth.  Scenic designer Jason Simms has divided the small stage into three sections with smudged walls, mismatched chairs, and familiar posters, so that the action can move seamlessly from classroom, to project, to the streets.  The sound design by Michael Keck incorporates the thumping beats that greet us at the theater door.  Nic Vincent’s lighting design includes flickering fluorescents, an illuminated metaphor for the overall decline.  Scenes are cleverly titled overhead with the names of typical high school classes, for example “Speech and Debate” for a heated argument between teacher and student.   

Torée Alexandre makes a very believable Tree.  Even though she captures the cadence of a typical teen, with the guidance of dialogue coach Xavier Clark she takes the speed of delivery down just enough to make every impassioned word come across to the oldest of ears.  Equally good is Mikayla LaShae Bartholomew as best friend LaRonda, especially with dialogue that emphasizes the girls’ genuine caring for each other.  Acting as a worthy foil in her exchanges with Tree is Rachel Leslie as Jasmine Harris.  The cast also includes Josiah Gaffney as a sweet and playful Zay and Morgan Siobhan Green, Margaret Odette, and Christopher B. Portley playing multiple classmates and teachers.

Josiah Gaffney and Torée Alexandre in Fish at Theatre Row

This scathing portrait of a failing system and the magic of having a teacher see the value within a student would have been enough to satisfyingly sustain the 105 minute runtime.  Instead, the storytelling becomes defused in the last 20 minutes, with several tangential issues introduced.  It’s unfortunate that after all the times she is let down, Latricia doesn’t get the full attention that she deserves from the audience either.

Fish — a co-production of Keen Company and Working Theater — is playing in Theatre 4 at Theatre Row through April 20.  The script contains mature language and tough themes and is most suited to those over 10.  Running time is 105 minutes with no intermission.  Tickets are being sold on a sliding scale starting at $0 and can be purchased online (https://bfany.org/theatre-row/shows/fish/), by phone (212-714-2442 ext. 45,) or in-person (410 W 42nd Street).  You can learn about how to pick the price point that suits your budget by visiting www.keencompany.org/tickets.