BROADWAY & ME QUICKIES

The Play: The Loved Ones; a gentle drama about a woman running an Airbnb in a rural part of Ireland who finds herself uneasily hosting a quirky American tourist, the grieving widow of the innkeeper’s son who died six months earlier and a young woman who says she was the dead man’s lover and is seven months pregnant with his child Written by: Erica Murray        Directed by: Nicola Murphy Dubey One good thing: It's really refreshing to have adult female-centered issues—infertility, infidelity, single motherhood, sisterhood and loneliness—treated with the same gravity that issues particular to men—gay or straight—regularly get; plus the top-notch cast (Maryann Plunkett, Donna Lynne Champlin, Clare O'Malley and Alana Raquel Bowers) skillfully sidesteps potential clichés as they go about their storytelling One not-so-great thing: The pacing is slow and the story might have been just effectively told in one act instead of two    

The Play: The Last Ship; a new adaptation of the 2014 musical about the closing of a shipyard in the northeast of England and its effect on the community of people whose families have worked there for generations  Music and Lyrics by: Sting       Book by: Barney Norris    Directed by: Leo Warner One good thing: This passion project was inspired by Sting's childhood and the rock star's love for the people he left behind is evident not only in his decision to lead the cast this time out but even more so in his gorgeous score filled with ballads and choral numbers, many of them set to the Celtic rhythms from his childhood and all beautifully performed by a largely British cast enhanced by a Met chorus for this very short run that ends June 14 One not-so-great thing: While the production is beautifully staged with some eye-popping visuals, the sound is off, making it difficult at times to understand what’s being said or sung     

The Play: Jerome; set in a rural part of Arizona during the early 1990s, this comedy-drama tracks what happens when a gay couple who have lived in relative isolation for nearly 30 years decide to bring a third partner into their relationship when a mysterious younger man arrives in their town Written by: John J. Caswell, Jr.        Directed by : Dustin Wills One good thing: It’s refreshing to see a love story centered around an older gay couple, especially one anchored by a deftly nuanced performance from Stephen Spinella  One not-so-great thing: The running time is only 2 hours and 20 minutes but seems far longer and the time spent having the characters asking the same questions and repeating the same points would have been better spent on developing the more intriguing storylines only hinted at; plus the production could have done without one surreal scene even though it does provides a gasp-inducing coup de théâtre      

The Play: A Woman Among Women; a riff on Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons” set in a wellness center run by a woman named Cleo who is a pillar of her progressive community and the mother of a daughter who is in prison for having committed a shockingly violent crime  Written by: Julia Maj Jonas        Directed by: Sarah Cameron Hughes One good thing: Zoë Geltman is amusing as Cleo’s often-overlooked second child but brings a focused energy to the role that makes her character more than just a joke  One not-so-great thing: There’s too much of everything: too many characters who have too little to do and too many distracting directorial flourishes, from having the actors break into singsong at odd moments to staging some lame and strained interactions with the audience    

The Play: Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody; a surprisingly sweet, cleverly staged and very amusing send-up of the hit HBO series about the relationship between two closeted gay hockey players Book, Music and Lyrics by: Dylan Marcaurele        Directed by: Alan Kliffer One good thing: You don’t have to have seen the streaming series to enjoy the terrific performances by Jay Armstrong Johnson and Jimin Moon, who sing great, look great and have great chemistry together; and just as good are the hardworking three-member ensemble who play all the other roles in the hockey guys' lives as well as the trio of straight women superfans who serve as the musical’s narrators One not-so-great thing:  This new makeshift theater’s folding chairs and tall stools aren’t all that butt-friendly even though the show only runs about 80 minutes and the site lines can also be a challenge for some audience members (one of them being me) if they're seated in the pathwa...

The Play: Animal Wisdom; a revival of the self-proclaimed 2017 requiem that aims to simultaneously mourn and celebrate its MacArthur Genius author’s childhood in Natchez, Mississippi and the ancestors, or ghosts, who helped shape it Written by: Heather Christian        Directed by: Keenan Tyler Oliphant  One good thing: Kenita R. Miller has stepped in to play the main character and her powerhouse vocals lend layers of soul-stirring jazz and blues to the show’s eclectic but largely folk-roots score One not-so-great thing: The show is a purposeful patchwork of memory and imagination but the pieces—including a rambling narrative, an onstage band costumed as though going to a Sgt. Pepper's theme party and a final 25-minute section that takes place almost entirely in the dark—don’t fit together quite as well as intended and while they do seem to reduce some audience members to tears they can also come across as self-indulgent and pretentious to others   ...