BROADWAY & ME QUICKIES

The Play: Bughouse; a stream-of-consciousness monologue drawn from the writings of the reclusive outsider artist Henry Darger, whose 5,000-page memoir, 15,000-page novel and over 300 large watercolor paintings depicting a fantasy world where children waged battles against evil adults were all only discovered after his death  Script by: Beth Henley        Conceived and Directed by: Martha Clarke One good thing: The video projections showing animated versions of Darger’s art work, much of it featuring a nude child-rebel leader he named Annie, give a visceral feel for the obsessions that played out in his eccentric imagination One not-so-great thing: John Kelly gives a  committed performance but he isn’t able to make Darger’s overwrought writings come to life and a better sense of the artist can be found on the explanatory poster boards in the lobby    

The Play: Night Side Songs; inspired by a reference that Susan Sontag made in her seminal 1978 book “Illness As Metaphor,” this bare-bones musical charts—literally—the experiences of a terminally ill woman and the collateral effect they have on the family members who love her and the medical professionals who care for her  Words and Music by:  The Latours (brothers Daniel and Patrick)       Directed by: Taibi Magar One good thing: The five-person cast I saw, most of whom—including Mary Testa and Robin de Jesús, who deserves extra praise for performing right up until his own ill mother died a few days before the show opened—play multiple parts and do it terrifically, at times even taking up an instrument to augment  the show's lone piano  One not-so-great thing: In addition to the usual Playbills, songbooks are handed out before Night Side begins and audience members are repeatedly urged to sing along with certain numbers, which seemed to deligh...

The Play: Bigfoot;! a very campy musical about the mysterious hermit-like creature who hides away in the forest but who in this version is actually a genial guy who desperately wants to move into town and hang out with the local folks who mistakenly fear him because he's, you know, different Book by: Amber Ruffin & Kevin Sciretta       Lyrics by:   Amber Ruffin       Directed by: Danny Mefford One good thing: As his recent turn in “Elf” showed Grey Henson has become the go-to-guy to play loveable outcasts and he’s just as charming in the title role here, despite—or maybe because of—being dressed in a furry costume that makes him look like the less well-kempt kid brother of The Wizard of Oz’s Cowardly Lion One not-so-great thing:   The show is packed with lots of crowd-pleasing one-liners (or groaners, depending on your sense of humor) but unlike similar modern-day morality tales—“Bat Boy” comes to mind—it lacks the heart and the ...

The Play: Chinese Republicans; four ambitious but very different Chinese-American women meet for a series of lunches while each pursues her own way to climb the ladder at the big investment firm where they all work Written by: Alex Lin        Directed by: Chay Yew One good thing: Stories about women of color trying to make it in the corporate world are rarely seen onstage and so it’s great to get a play putting the spotlight on them One not-so-great thing:  But so many issues—racism, corporate misogyny, sexual harassment, immigration anxiety, assimilation struggles, class conflicts, generational divisions, anti-Asian violence and, as the title suggests, politics—are crammed into this play that they all end up getting short shrift, which makes the whole thing weaker than it should be    

The Play: Meat Suit, or the Shitshow of Motherhood; a series of skits about the downside of being a mother, performed as an avant-gardist clown show with outlandish costumes and forget-them-as-soon-after-you-hear-them songs  Written and directed by: Aya Ogawa       One good thing: It’s always nice to see a traditional theater company like Second Stage giving mainstream exposure to a downtown show maker like Ogawa  One not-so-great thing: Maybe it's because I'm not a mom but the roll call of observations presented here—some women are ambivalent about becoming mothers, moms can be competitive with one another when it comes to childrearing, being a parent can be exhausting—just don’t seem all that cutting-edge or insightful    

The Play: Mother Russia, a goofy but still sharp critique of the former Soviet Union’s chaotic transition from communism to capitalism during the 1990s as experienced by two bumblers who try to adapt to the changes by cooking up get-rich schemes and by spying on a former famous dissident with whom one of them falls in love Written by: Lauren Yee        Directed by: Teddy Bergman One good thing: There’s a lot to love here, including the droll drag performance by David Turner in the title role, the dumb-and-dumber antics that  Steven Boyer and Adam Chanler-Berat gamely bring to life and a surprise dance interlude but I’m going with the clever low-tech sets devised by the design team dots One not-so-great thing: It’s a shame that the talented Rebecca Naomi Jones wasn't given more to do in the role of the former dissident.