BROADWAY & ME QUICKIES

  The Play: Fatherland; using dialog taken straight from court transcripts and other public documents this family drama tells the true story of the 19-year-old who turned in his father who was a leader in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capital  Conceived and directed by: Stephen Sachs One good thing:  Ron Bottitta gives an impassioned and surprisingly sympathetic performance as the father  One not-so-great thing:  Unfortunately this bare bones production doesn’t provide any fresh insights into t he generational and political passions currently dividing the country     

The Play: Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song; this latest edition of the beloved revue that spoofs Broadway show strives to be so up-to-date that it makes fun of shows that haven’t even opened yet (Hello, Audra’s “Gypsy”) but as always, some skits are funnier than others and some are meaner than others  Created, written and directed by:  Gerard Alessandrini One good thing: The incredibly talented quartet of performers is asked to do the impossible—and do it, with the MVP award going to Jenny Lee Stern, who not only sings, dances, does quick costume changes and dashes off a great Patti LuPone imitation but even pulls off a series of onstage push-ups without breaking a sweat One not-so-great thing: It may be just me, but some of the spoofs seemed too mean    

The Play: The Beacon; an artist and her estranged son try to sort through their troubled relationship including the long ago mysterious death of the father, the son’s new marriage to a much younger woman and the role a neighbor has played in all their lives in this unsatisfying melodrama that bites off a lot more than it can chew Written by:   Nancy Harris  Directed by:   Marc Atkinson Borrull One good thing:  A couple of the performances, anchored by a valiant Kate Mulgrew as the mother and Sean Bell, a standout as the sympathetic neighbor One not-so-great thing: Too many improbable plot twists    

The Play: The Roommate; a mysterious woman from the Bronx rents a room in the home of a naïve Iowa divorcee One good thing: Mia Farrow turns in a winning performance as the sad sack divorcee that is mainly comic but convincingly poignant just when it needs to be One not-so-great thing: Patti LuPone basically plays Patti LuPone, and even her costumes seem more like outfits LuPone might wear than those her street-smart New York character would wear    

The Play: The Ask; the generational clash between a young nonbinary fundraiser and a wealthy older feminist donor Written by:  Matthew Freeman  Directed by: Jessi D. Hill One good thing: Nicole Wee’s smart set, aided by Moira Stone’s spot-on props, capture the essence of the older woman, who’s wonderfully played by Betsy Aidem One not-so-great thing: The play isn’t able to rise above the level of a they-said-she-said debate and suffers in comparison to the similar but more skillful smackdown between generations in  N/A which ran earlier in the summer  

The Play: Once Upon a Mattress, a joy-filled revival of the fractured fairytale version of The Princess and the Pea Book by Jay Thompson, Marshall Barer and Dean Fuller; Music by Mary Rodgers; Lyrics by Marshal Barer Adapted by Amy Sherman-Palladino    Directed by Lear deBessonet One good thing: Michael Urie and Sutton Foster are pitch-perfect as the hapless Prince Dauntless and the unconventional Princess Winnifred who wins his heart; but the show’s MVP may be Sherman Palladino's smart revisal which adds some contemporary sensibility without sacrificing any of the show's old-fashioned goofiness One not-so-great thing:  Lorin Latarro is such a creative choreographer that I wish the production had made a little more room for her to show off what she—and of course the dance-nimble Foster— can do  

The Play: Six Characters; this riff on Pirandello’s absurdist classic boldly attempts to take on both the issue of how black creatives are treated in American theater and the growing threat of fascism in this country Written by : Phillip Howze    Directed by Dustin Wills One good thing : It’s refreshing to see a black playwright diving into the tricky waters of experimental theater One not-so-great thing: Plays like these need to set the rules of the game early or to provide clear entry points so that audiences know how to interact with them and this one fails to do either