Broadway Bob’s

“Girl Interrupted” at The Public is an adaptation of the 1999 movie that landed Angelia Jolie an Oscar for best supporting actress. Here the play is directed and acted beautifully. Even though the play is set with music, the music is never overbearing nor consuming, and it adds subtly to the show.

Director Jo Bonney keeps the story close to Martyna Majok’s book. The story is the mid 1960’s and Susanna (Juliana Canfield) has checked herself into a mental hospital in Belmont Mass. She believes that she will be there for 72 hours but it turns into 18 months. The aspiring writer does not see any problems mentally with herself what-so-ever.

In this brilliant show, Canfield is exceptional in the way she commands the stage; more importantly how she explains her state of mind, how she brings forth the mental instability of the other inmates as well.

What was most enjoyable about this deeply moving show is that Jo Bonney gave us a show of what the East Village theaters used to be. The Village used to put forth raw, edgy and deep plays that made you think, made you feel the show deeply. Here, “Girl Interrupted” checks off all of those boxes as an in-depth play that moves the audience for 110 intermission less minutes.

Not only does the direction move this play along for the most part nicely (it can get slow at parts), the lighting (Heather Gilbert), the sound (Dan Moses Schreier), the costumes (Sarah Laux) and the brilliant set all make this a first rate show indeed!

We get a dose of the time period in Majok’s book, Bonney too just touches on enough of it to bring forth what Susanna and the rest feel about the era that is the war torn Vietnam era as well as the 60’s protests and the assassinations, the murders as Susanna will tell us.

As in the movie, the play more so brings out how many of these girls are comfortable being institutionalized. Sure they all complain about being there, however, Bonney does well in showing us just how Grace (Mia Pak), Tori (Gabi Campo), Lisa (King Princess) as well as Daisey (Katherine Reis) know that they may not be able to be out in an open society without the kind of help that they get inside this facility that protects them from the world.

The Public Theater has for years been at the forefront of creative, edgy theater. “Girl Interrupted” was as creative as I have seen at the public. From the cylinder chamber above the stage that came down usefully when needed to underscore a scene, to the great all around staging of this play, The public continues to show us why it’s history is so rich and respected.

“Are You Now or Have You Ever Been” is playing at the City Center. Eric Bentley, an English writer wrote this in 1972 and it is directed by Anna D. Shapiro. The play has a rotating cast with Andrew McCarty having the biggest role last night playing Larry Parks.

The plot is based on the 1950’s UN-American Committee with the “Hollywood 10” under fire. Many of the actors try to wiggle through the committee by fencing with the committee. The various answers are never sincere for the most part. They tell the committee that they know little, or they take the 5th.

The show is running for 15 weeks. I thought the hour and forty five minutes went fast. The action, the staging (Andrew Boyce), the lighting (Donald Holder) were terrific. The projection was the most innovative works of the evening. Brittany Bland fires the historic facts at us all evening keeping us abreast of the time period. Shapiro too keeps the action moving as both sides get contentious at times.

When Eric Bentley first wrote this, he had it as a docudrama. Today, it maybe more relevant than it was in the 50’s. This time, more with China than Russia, we debate what communism is and what it can do to the American way of life. When the “Hollywood 10” was questioned, we had actors like Bogart, writers like Arthur Miller who were at the peak of their careers. These people could influence the American people just by their endorsements. Lillian Hellman, Jerrome Robbins were as big of names and were called to Washington to answer the charges of being Communists.

The writing here, and the direction do twofold: the actors did not want to give up their friends, the direction brings out what the actors went through to dance around giving answers. Caught in a quandary of losing their jobs, or losing their friends, the people called before the committee were in a no win situation. While the writings on this subject have always favored their own, there is no mistake that these actors were either communists, or communist supporters. At a time when Hollywood was more conservative than it certainly is today, people were fired for being left leaning. Today, Hollywood by majority is very left leaning, and has been for quite sometime; when movies, or plays are made today, it usually supports the people who were called in front of the committee. In “Are You Now”, it fairly gives both sides but still favoring the actors though.

This period of time was contentious, it is probably the reason that it has been written about quite a lot. It brings great debate even today amongst Americans. Did congress have the right to investigate? Did Americans want communists in our mist, especially in Hollywood, the place where movies are made, the place that controls a lot of the ways that Americans think? This play drew a lot of that out in the hour forty five minutes.

"A Walk On The Moon" is a fun musical with great subtlety too it. Written by Pamela Grey with the great music and lyrics by AnnMarie Milazzo, the two hour and fifteen minute musical is fantastic on so many levels.

The musical takes place at Dr. Fogler's in the" Borscht Belt"; this was a place where Jewish people converged in the summer at the Catskill Mountains. Re-pleat with the Jewish phrases and customs, "A Walk On The Moon" covers many of Jewish ideology's in the era of the late 1960's.

What is very enjoyable about this musical is that it touches on serious subjects like: the Vietnam War, woman's lib, Woodstock and the changing thoughts that were washing over America in 1969 and makes lite of them in the way that the writing is never preachy or overly political. Sure, Grey brings up Richard Nixon a lot, makes references to president Trump but it is never too annoying. Grey even brings patriotism to the play showing people's pride on the astronauts landing on the moon.

The play is centered around Pearl (Talia Suskauer), Marty (Max-Chemin), their liberal 15 year old daughter, Alison (Sophie Pollomo) and their son Danny (Leo Caravano). Pearl got pregnant at 16 years old and married Marty. Realizing she missed out on her youth, she takes up with "the blouse man" Walker (Sam Gravite). As the summer moves along, she smokes pot with Walker, has sex with him and fights running from her life as her upbringing on Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn prevents her from leaving her husband.

The subject matter is always kept fun and the back-beat of the show helps keep it that way. The lighting is always in the glam mode by Robert Wierzel. The staging and video design was wonderfully done by Tal Yarden. The costumes by Ricky Laurie as well as the choreography by Josh Price gave this show the light warmheartedness that it was trying to achieve. The direction by Sheryl Kaller gave just enough of everything to keep the show interesting throughout.

Like last years summer show at the Pels theatre, "Joy", "A Walk On The Moon" gave us a lesson on what it was like to live in the 1960's. As the country was divided ideological differences, the came together for a benchmark in American history, the moon landing. Much like the World Cup here in America going on now, people put their differences aside and pull for a common, great thing that is about to happen. This time we are focused in on Pearl, Marty, their family and the people at the vacation spot that was known as the "borscht belt" where Jewish people (that were at one time restricted from going there) gathered for the summer to get out of the city and enjoy the mountains.