Tag Archives: Ryan Spahn

An American Daughter

Comedy, Off-Broadway, Play, Revival August 12, 2026 Leave a comment

A revered doctor and celebrated champion of women’s health is on track to be confirmed in a bipartisan vote as Surgeon General only to see her nomination derailed by an understandable personal oversight and a catty comment made by a conservative friend.  That storyline at the center of Wendy Wasserstein’s play An American Daughter seems ripe for reexamination amidst the hash political climate of Trump Two.  Tragically the bloated, charmless production that opened at the Irene Diamond Stage on Tuesday night will only serve as a lamentable introduction of an often witty and insightful playwright to a new generation.  

Originally presented in 1996, this script was never the strongest in the Wasserstein prize-winning oeuvre.  Despite a worthy cast, it only survived a handful of months on Broadway.  The updated version includes an unpublished Act 2, which does little to solve its structural issues.  Long talky speeches are in need of trimming and supporting characters including an aggressive former student Quincy Quince (Carmen Zilles) and an (inexplicable) family confident Morrow McCarthy (Ryan Spahn) could use more definition and purpose. 

That said, this rendition is singularly problematic.  Executive Director of La Femme Theatre Productions, Jean Lichty,  executes the lead role of Lyssa Dent Hughes with all the ease of The Tin Man prior to the application of oil.  There is no discernible chemistry between her and the rest of the cast.  Tony nominee Montego Glover plays best friend Judith with aplomb, but bafflingly delivers most of her lines directly to the audience rather than to her scene partner.  Tony winner Robert Sean Leonard as Lyssa’s husband Walter keeps shuffling uncomfortably as if he just wants to go home.  Portraying Lyssa’s father Senator Alan Hughes, veteran actor Dakin Matthews fairs better with characteristic wry delivery.  Likewise Mary Beth Peil ( his fourth wife, Charlotte “Chubby” Hughes) is unfaltering even when Spahn’s newly acquainted McCarthy creepily puts his arm around her.

Carmen Zilles, Montego Glover and Jean Lichty in Wendy Wasserstein’s An American Daughter; photo by Joan Marcus

The spacious Georgetown living room set with glimpses of a garden beyond, designed by Mikiko Suzuki MacAdams, is the artistic highlight.  From there, the 1980s television sitcom style direction of Sarna Lapine dampens whatever stakes are present in the material.  The pacing and emphasis are so far off the mark that my friend thought they’d forgotten to insert the intermission.  The artificial nature of the sound design by Darron L. West often distracts from the dialogue in a “what the heck is that?” manner.  Alan C. Edwards’ lighting queues are poky and entrances consequently delayed causing the audience to clap sporadically in the pauses.  By the end they must have been exhausted.  This is the first time in memory that no one gave the cast a standing ovation.

Due to advanced sales prior to the official opening night, the run has been extended through September 20. It is a shame that the apparent enthusiasm to revisit Ms. Wasserstein’s traditionally snappy dialogue and entertainingly maddening situations is met with this dull and draggy revival.  Performances take place in the The Irene Diamond Stage at The Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 West 42 Street.   Presented by La Femme Theatre Productions, An American Daughter is not part of Signature Theatre’s season.  Run time is posted as 2 ½ hours, though the show ran 10 minutes longer when I attended.  Visit LaFemmeTheatreProductions.org for tickets and 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.