Tag Archives: New York Theatre Workshop

Lights Out: Nat “King” Cole

Docudrama, Off-Broadway, Play May 20, 2025 Leave a comment

In November of 1956, singer/pianist Nat “King” Cole became the first Black man to host a variety show on network television.  Though he eventually had multiple Billboard hits including Mona Lisa, L-O-V-E, and Nature Boy, he never secured a National sponsor for this groundbreaking program.  Major markets, especially those in the South, pressured advertisers to drop their support of the broadcast.  Despite an array of popular guest stars with household names, beaten down by the color barrier, NBC and Cole agreed to terminate the venture the following year after 53 episodes.

Lights Out: Nat “King” Cole, written by Colman Domingo and Patricia McGregor, uses the final taping of the Nat “King” Cole Show to explore not only this chapter in the life of the beloved crooner, but the systematic erasure of Black voices.  It’s an intriguing pick for a central character.  Though Cole participated in civil rights marches and avoided segregated venues, he felt his public role was one of an entertainer.  He sang ballads, not protest songs, even after a cross had been burned on the lawn of his home in a wealthy white Los Angeles neighborhood.  

The play is set in a television studio (scenic design by Clint Ramos) complete with an applause sign, clever lighting (Stacey Derosier), and a live “Nelson Riddle” band on the stage.  This enables the easy integration of music, live-feed camera work and audience reaction.  However, it quickly becomes obvious that this is not a recreation of one night.  Shortly before airtime someone (someTHING) causes the ghost light to flicker and briefly go out, allowing the spirit of Sammy Davis Jr. to explode onto the scene.  In an effort to inspire Cole to go out on a combative note, The Rat Packer takes him through a phantom version of events.  Classic song lyrics are incorporated into the spoken dialogue along with a mix of historical fact as seen through the lens of modern times and Cole’s personal reflection as imagined by Domingo and McGregor.

Dulé Hill in NYTW’s LIGHTS OUT; photo by Marc J. Franklin

Dulé Hill gives soothing voice and gravitas to Cole, a part he cultivated at the Peoples’ Light in Malvern, PA and further developed at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles.  Daniel J. Watts, also reprising his role, grabs Davis by the lapels, practically ricocheting off the walls with intensity.  He is high octane gasoline to Hill’s humming battery pack.  Playwright McGregor directs, bouncing the two very different friends off one another, culminating in a dynamic dance number (choreography by Edgar Godineaux with tap by Jared Grimes). Though the plot line is choppy and likely to challenge those unfamiliar with the named celebrities and cultural touchstones, the songbook alone (arrangements and orchestrations by John McDaniel) makes for highly satisfying entertainment.  

Hill and Watts positively dazzle in the leads, capturing key qualities of their characters and steering clear of imitation.  The action is kicked off by Elliott Mattox’s convivial Stage Manager.  Cole’s white producer is portrayed in myriad forms by Christopher Ryan Grant.  Krystal Joy Brown makes an early impression as a purring Eartha Kitt, later embodying an enchanting daughter Natalie Cole. Also displaying range is another vet of the previous run, Ruby Lewis, who depicts both spunky Betty Hutton and sultry Peggy Lee.  Matriarch Perlina Coles, who first introduced Cole to the piano, is played with soulful sincerity by Kenita Miller with Mekhi Richardson performing as young Nat (and a younger Billy Preston) the afternoon I attended.  Adding a comedic touch is Kathy Fitzgerald as make-up artist Candy.  She is also featured in the highly creative live commercials that run throughout the program.   

You feel the ripples of connection move through different sectors of the audience depending on whether it is Cole performing his rendition of The Christmas Song, Lift Every Voice and Sing vocalized by mother Perlina, or young Natalie joining him for a duet of Unforgettable (something she created in the studio long after his death).  When you layer in the profound racism, disgraceful accepted stereotypes, and aggressions micro and macro, the entire experience becomes a social study as well as a piece of engaging theater.

Likely to fill you with a bubbling combination of elation and frustration, Lights Out: Nat “King” Cole provides a worthwhile conclusion to a bold season at New York Theatre Workshop.  Performances continue through June 29 on the main stage at 79 East 4th Street.  Runtime is 90 minutes without intermission.  The actors smoke heavily, making me grateful to remain a mask-wearer.  Tickets start at $49 and are available at https://www.nytw.org/show/lights-out-nat-king-cole/.

A Knock on the Roof

Festival, Off-Broadway, Solo performance January 28, 2025 Leave a comment

There are many ways in which the war in the Middle East has been brought into our lives, particularly over the last 15 months.  For a singular account, there is now A Knock on the Roof.  Written and performed by Khawla Ibraheem — a playwright, actor and director from the occupied Golan Heights — the piece avoids politics, focusing instead on the emotional casualties of the conflict.  Her collaborator and director is Oliver Butler, who previously worked with Heidi Schreck on the impassioned What the Constitution Means to Me.

The main character is Mariam, indicating that while the events portrayed are truthful this is not an autobiography.  She is living in Gaza with her husband, Omar, and young son, Nour, just trying to be “the cool mom” when war breaks out.  After Mariam refuses to move into the family building, her mother joins her in her small apartment.  The generational tensions add to the stress of an already fraught situation.

The title refers to the practice used by the enemy of dropping a small bomb on the rooftop to alert the residents that they have five minutes to vacate before their building will be completely destroyed.  Mariam prepares for this horror by packing a bag and practicing her evacuation, acquiring new knowledge, technique, and insight with each run.  Her cycle will be familiar to anyone who has faced a disaster that has the potential to take away “home” and everything that signifies.  The grinding anxious anticipation becomes as painful as the inevitable event.

This is not the type of one person show that makes you marvel at the actor’s ability to portray and interact with multiple characters.  Though she shifts her voice slightly when inhabiting family members, Ibraheem is a true solo performer, primarily sharing Mariam’s inner monologue.  Though the themes are heavy, the script contains moments of levity and Ibraheem makes the most of them.  Her exchanges with the audience feel warm, genuine, and even spontaneous.  She has been feeling “missing” since she gave up her studies to get married.  As she says about halfway through the piece, “I couldn’t share my real thoughts with me.”  She had wanted to move to Europe and get her Masters Degree.  Instead she has brought a sweet boy into a violent world with little hope.  Her words are a private knock on the roof: a warning of impending destruction. Much of what she expresses in her search for meaning, connection and safety is relatable. In addition to a gut-level understanding of the stresses of wartime, what we witness is a soul crushing personal reckoning.

This distinction from many first person plays becomes particularly significant towards the end of the piece when there is a jolting revelation.  The final section is so extreme that several women in the restroom — where much precious audience feedback is shared — said they found it unnecessary and even unrealistic.  While it doesn’t ruin all that came before, it certainly lessens the impact of universality of the other 95%.

Khawla Ibraheem in A KNOCK ON THE ROOF at New York Theatre Workshop;
Photo by Joan Marcus

The play is set against a plain brick wall (Frank J Oliva, scenic design) all the better to focus on Mariam.  Butler’s staging ensures that the entire space is used and no part of the audience is left out.  In cool colored clothes that belie her inner turmoil ( Jeffrey Wallach, costume design), she unfolds her story over the course of 85 minutes. The only prop is an armless chair which Ibraheem brings on stage with her.  The rest of the atmosphere is filled in by this vigorous actress along with lighting by Oona Curley augmented by Hana S. Kim’s effective projections. The high ceiling and lack of acoustical panels give a slight bounce to the sound, which intermittently makes Ibraheem difficult to understand.

The only side presented in the wartime setting of A Knock on the Roof is a human one.  Part of Under the Radar — a curated experimental theater festival that is playing across 30 New York City venues — it continues through February 16.  Tickets are available for as little as $30.  Performances take place at New York Theatre Workshop, 79 East 4th Street between Bowery and Second Avenue. Visit https://www.nytw.org/show/a-knock-on-the-roof/ to purchase and for more information.

Merry Me

Off-Broadway, Play November 13, 2023 Leave a comment

The new comedy Merry Me has plenty going for it.  The layered writing by Hanson Jung is packed with witty spins on pop culture and references to classicists from Euripides to Shakespeare all built around a structure most similar to a Restoration Comedy.  The cast — everyone making a New York Theatre Workshop debut — is masterful.  It would be easy to play up every clever note, which would also be exhausting.  Instead the punches are delivered in slowly rising waves under the direction of the always excellent Leigh Silverman.  It’s all quite attention getting and yet somehow lacks stickiness, which is not meant to be a sexy pun despite the prominence of bawdy humor in the dialogue.

Marinda Anderson, Esco Jouley, Shaunette Renee Wilson and Nicole Villamil in Merry Me; photo by Joan Marcus

The plot unfolds on the front lines of a war that has been paused by a well-known Angel (sassy  Shaunette Renée Wilson).  She introduces us to the interdependent characters as she and her cohorts manipulate their lives.  There is Lieutenant Shane Horne (magnetic Esco Jouléy) who having seduced the General’s Wife (pixieish Cindy Cheung) is on a quest for her next “Merry.”  Shane enlists the help of therapist Dr. Jess O’Nope (exuberant Marinda Anderson) to convince the rather dim General Memnon (David Ryan Smith with just the right amount of dopiness) that they are now heterosexual.  Meanwhile the General’s equally dim son Private Willy (Ryan Spahn taking the hit for cis white men everywhere) has smuggled his beautiful new wife Sapph (Nicole Villamil managing an incredible balancing act between allure and innocence) onto the base.  Bored out of her mind and her body, she dresses in “boy drag” in order to explore her surroundings and seek out Shane. 

Playwright Jung pulls in references from Illyria to Wakanda with a hefty serving of Kushner and a soupçon of E.L. James.  All of her characters are self aware and often speak in stage directions and subtext. The energy is that of an old-fashioned farce but the would-be cliches are almost literally turned on their heads.  Having directed many productions in the NYTW space, Leigh takes actions that would typical be horizontal and stages them vertically with wonderful results.  There is one tiny portable foley door that gets run in and out of, but for the most part that classic farcical piece is “performed” by a remarkable back wall designed by Rachel Hauck.  The effects are fully achieved with the help of Barbara Samuels lighting and Caroline Eng and Kate Marvin’s sound design.  

A combination of intellectual exercise and frank sexuality, unsurprisingly Merry Me is attracting an unusual blend of followers.  The age range of the audience was fresh out of college to well into AARP membership.  Faces represented the colors of the rainbow.  And reactions spanned from gently bobbing heads to energetic fist pumping.  Performances continue through November 19 at New York Theatre Workshop, 79 East 4th Street.  Runtime is 90 minutes with no intermission.  Full priced tickets are $65.  For more information visit https://www.nytw.org/show/merry-me/.    There is room in this world for something different even if it isn’t enduring.

The Half-God of Rainfall

Off-Broadway, Play August 7, 2023 Leave a comment

At a time when the performing arts are struggling, it is fitting that the wonderful New York Theatre Workshop is hosting a theatrical event that takes much of its inspiration from the early Greeks.  Similar to the dramas of that time, The Half-God of Rainfall combines elements of religious mythology, social commentary, and contemporary politics.

The piece opens with a nod to the ancient tradition of oral storytelling as the players introduce themselves with their real names along with their god-selves.  Working together, the performers weave a tapestry of poetry and dance as they tell the tale of Demi, the product of a particularly violent rape by Zeus: one of many abuses perpetrated by the King of the Gods against human women.  Having won a wager with Sàngó, a fellow god of Thunder, Zeus took as his prize Modúpé, who almost instantly gives birth to a half-god child, Demi.  His despair can make rivers rise and his rage can make it rain.  But his real power manifests on the modern basketball court where every shot is a winner. Despite his many victories, his smoldering rage against his father always burns.

In this realm, the gods of all traditions know one another and many are no better than the mortals over whom they have dominion.  Encompassing so many deeply felt themes occasionally bends the narration out of shape, but the dazzling visuals and all encompassing soundscape keep you enraptured. The audience was invested enough that towards the end they elicited a loud gasp at a critical moment.  While some familiarity with the various pantheons would be helpful, playwright Inua Ellams includes enough background information that the plot can be followed without it.  Even the basketball reference are based on pop culture and never “inside baseball” as it were.

Taibi Magar’s direction is masterful, filling the scene with otherworldly energy enhanced by movement director Orlando Patoboy.  She also incorporates Orisha movement choreographed by Beatrice Capote.  The set by Riccardo Hernández with projections designed by Tal Yarden is in constant motion with swirling images of clouds, water, and the cosmos itself.  The stage continues the natural theme, covered in black sand that moves and lets out a soft crunch beneath the actors’ feet.  The physical experience is expanded with the sound design of Mikaal Sulaiman and lighting designed by Stacey Derosier.  Costume designer Linda Cho builds on basic black towards the shimmering waters of a fertility goddess.

The ensemble moves with fluidity throughout the work, their disparate voices adding variation to the verse.  Mister Fitzgerald gives Demi a radiant joy.  Jennifer Mogbock brings both strength and warmth to Modúpé, her body moving with the combined powers of grace and strength.  Jason Bowen as Sàngó and Patrice Johnson Chevannes as Osún make a fittingly splendid couple under whose protection Modúpé lives.  Kelley Curran’s Hera and Michael Laurence’s Zeus employ unnecessary Greek accents, but the two shine in their other supporting roles.  Only Lizan Mitchell over-modulates, consequently distorting her lines as the trickster Elegba and several other deities. 

Mister Fitzgerald as Demi, The Half-God of Rainfall; photo by Joan Marcus

As many Greek heroes learned, a great adventure often begins by being blown off course.  This production was disrupted by COVID only to wind up in just the right hands.  The result is an ambitious epic that draws a diverse audience much needed by today’s theater world.  Despite its themes, The Half-God of Rainfall is a human-level spectacle born of collaboration and heart.  (There is a trigger warning for a depictions of sexual violence and a use of flashing lights and haze for dramatic effect.)  Performances continue at the New York Theatre Workshop (79 East 4th Street) through August 20 and $65 tickets are available at https://www.nytw.org/show/the-half-god-of-rainfall/.  Runtime is about 90 minutes and mask-only performances are available.  A co-production of NYTW and Harvard’s American Repertory Theater, the show will be moving next to Cambridge, MA in September.