/ Dance
Recently noted:
BAREFOOT IN THE PARK Neil Simon’s plays have not aged well. Worse yet, Scott Elliott has directed the show as if it was a “Method” class at the Actor’s Studio. It has a leaden seriousness that takes whatever sparkle there might have been right out of the show. The actors try valiantly, for the most part. Tony Roberts, as the artistic neighbor, and Amanda Peet seem lost, and they are talented actors with wonderful comic potential. Jill Clayburgh as Corie’s mother is charming and does a funny drunk—but not funny enough. Only Patrick Wilson comes close to achieving the paper heart of the script with a rampant physicality and an inherent timing. Cort Theatre, 138 W. 48th St. $26.25-$96.25 at 212-239-6200 (Christopher Byrne)
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Bridge and Tunnel In putting together “Bridge and Tunnel,” poet/playwright Sarah Jones demonstrates that she is an accomplished technician and mimic—and not very much more. Her ability to assume accents and to do them consistently is impressive. However, like any mechanical trick, it quickly loses its power to fascinate. In her drawn-out, 90-minute, one-woman show, Jones portrays a variety of characters who have come to a poetry slam in South Queens. They are all immigrants and have somehow come together through the Internet—the force of poetry being sufficient to eradicate all preconceptions, racial or religious stereotypes. Would that it were true. Helen Hayes Theatre, 240 W. 44th St.$26.25-$86.25 at 212-239-6200. (Christopher Byrne)
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The Color Purple Spousal abuse. Rape. Incest. Murder. Not exactly the stuff of which Broadway musicals are made. At least not musicals that expect to recoup their investment. But in bringing “The Color Purple” to the stage, at a cost of $10 million, lead producer Scott Sanders knew better. He assembled a crack creative team that was able to amplify the uplifting themes from the landmark 1982 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker—faith, overcoming adversity, finding self-love—and turn the doleful epic into a toe-tapping, knee-slapping feel-good fest. But is the package just a bit too tidy? Broadway Theatre, 1681 Broadway. $26.25 – $101.25 at 212-239-6200. (David Kennerley)
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CONFESSIONS OF A MORMON BOY With corn-fed good looks, Mormon ultra-brite smile, and chiseled Chelsea physique, Steven Fales seems made-to-order from Central Casting. His presence is particularly handy during the steamy New York portion of the play, where the actor swaps his sacred temple priesthood undergarments for a skimpy pair of black 2(x)ist undies. It’s not until the end, when he steps off the stage, shedding his Mormon persona, that we fully connect with this tortured soul. Perhaps if this eager-to-please talent imagined himself on a tiny Fringe stage instead of playing Off-Broadway, this production would achieve the authenticity this Mormon Boy has been seeking his entire life. Soho Playhouse, 15 Vandam St. $50-$55 at 212-523-5056. (David Kennerley)
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LONG TIME PASSING An anti-war fable set in the ruins of what we might guess is Central Park, this play by Barbara Kahn features two lesbian combatants—a rookie and a veteran—who fall in love. But it is not about the politics of war, but of war as a way of life and what it does to people. In the play you never find out what the war is about, how it started, or even who the sides are. Writer/director Kahn was recently named best playwright for last summer’s revival of her first play produced at New City in 1994 called “Pen Pals” which was about the religious right, and was shown as part of the Fresh Fruit International Festival of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Arts and Culture. That award will be presented in April. Theater for the New City, 155 1st Ave. $10 at 212-254-1109 (Gerard Robinson)
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THE ODD COUPLE Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick give command performances in this classic comedy. Expect no surprises as the stars fight it out as two co-habitating, very different characters, the anal-retentive versus the common slob. It is charming though—particularly in the performances by Brad Garrett as Murray the Cop, Lee Wilkof as Vinnie, and Olivia d’Abo and Jessica Stone as the Pigeon sisters. Brooks Atkinson Theatre 256 W. 47th St. $60-$100 at 212-307-4100. (Christopher Byrne)
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RABBIT HOLE Largely a meditation on grief and the confusing warren of emotions surrounding the death of a child, this is a solid workmanlike play with strong performances by Tyne Daly, Cynthia Nixon and John Slattery. But David Lindsay-Abaire’s play seems to skim the surface, keeping the grief neat and impersonal. This is not to say that there are not affecting moments. But the writing and Daniel Sullivan’s mostly competent direction trade largely on the assumptions of what the audience “should” feel in a situation, rather than a full exploration of the realities of loss. Biltmore Theater 261 W. 47th St. $54-90 at 212-230-6200. (Christopher Byrne)
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RED LIGHT WINTER When sex is commoditized, is love possible? Does anyone care? These are the questions that haunt one long after the end of Adam Rapp’s most mature drama to date. What makes the play so amazing is that Rapp, who also directed beautifully, has balanced the simplicity of a love triangle with the complexity of the emotions and the larger-scale sense of a world that has spun out of control. There is no happy ending for any of the characters, and the tragedies of each have an almost classic purity brought down to a paltry human scale. In that sense, the play is Chekhovian and the simple trappings of a life—a cell phone, a dress, a tape recording—speak volumes about life today. Barrow Street Theater, 27 Barrow St. $65 at 212-239-6200. (Christopher Byrne)
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SWEENEY TODD Rich in storytelling, gripping in intellectual scope, and performed by a superlative cast, this quintessential 20th century musical, with book by Hugh Wheeler and music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, has been reconceived for today’s world. Intimate, gripping, and more darkly disturbing than previous productions, it is political theater of the first order in the guise of a seat-edge storytelling experience. The Eugene O’Neill Theater. $35-$100 at 212-239-6200. (Christopher Byrne)
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ZOMBOID The downtown avant-garde theater guru Richard Foreman has been churning out original pieces on an annual basis since he founded his own company, the Ontological-Hysteric, in 1968. It is only fitting then, for such a complicated playwright/producer/director/sound and light artist, that he be permitted to “take a break.” Thus is the subject of Foreman’s new piece “Zomboid!”—an exploration of what people go through when their minds are “taking a break. Ontological-Hysteric Theater at St. Mark’s Church, Second Ave. at 10th St. Through Apr. 9. $23-$28/$17 for students; 212-352-3101 or theatermania.com. (Nick Feitel)
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