Reviews and a weekend report

I was very fortunate to join a friend at MTC a couple of weeks ago to see Zoe Kazan’s new play We Live Here.  I wasn’t going to review it because I thought it was really early in the preview process, but it actually opened soon after, so…review away.  Also, I actually saw Kazan's first play, Absalom, at Humana Fest a couple of years ago, and did wonder what she would bring us next.

This will sound mean, but I will say it anyway—I don’t think this play would’ve been produced on MTC’s mainstage if it had been written by someone with a different last name.  There, I said it.  Oh, ew, I kinda hate to be so mean about it.  But there was nothing special about this piece.  Nothing.  Like her other play, it’s a rather dull view of an artistic upper-middle-class family.  They just talk and talk and talk, in circles, then it ends.  Nothing really happens, there’s no drama (there's plot, but no drama), just a lot of unpleasant people who do stupid things.  The previous play was about a family of writers, this one is about a family of musicians.  Same unpleasant/stupid ratio. 

I will say that the play has some reasonably entertaining dialogue and it is cast very well.  God love my boyfriend, Mark Blum, who very nearly makes a fully-rounded character out of practically nothing.  He has a lovely monologue in the first act, and I thought, oh, that’s an interesting idea.  Went nowhere.  In fact, most of the actors have a monologue with an vaguely interesting idea that goes nowhere (though, because I love Mark Blum so much, I’ll say he did the best job with his J ).  Oh, and the set is gorgeous.  My main memory of the piece is wanting to live on the set.  With Mark Blum.

Unfortunately, I think I feel the same way about Zoe Kazan’s writing that I do about her acting—it’s all surface and posing, with no depth.  I’ll just have to learn to live with the fact that I’m mean and be done with it.

Last night, I caught a preview of David Henry Hwang’s new play, Chinglish.  The play was quite a hit at the Goodman in Chicago earlier this year and I have my fingers crossed it will be a hit here.

I really had a grand time at the play.  It’s so funny, yet says a lot.  As usual, David is commenting on East vs West/Old China vs New China, and how we hear what we want to hear, or understand what we want to understand.  All’s fair in love and war, and politics and business and relationships…very interesting stuff.  Fear and suspicion, adaptability and resignation.  Lots of meaty, meaty stuff.

The script is in English and Mandarin, with supertitles up above on the ingenious set.  All of the actors, except for the American protagonist, speak fluent Mandarin, and all of the easy chatter in that language adds to the multi-layered effect of the script.

The plot deals with an American businessman going to China to drum up some business.  It all seems pretty straightforward, with hysterical scenes dealing with bad translators during business meetings, but as we get further into the story, there are some startling revelations and everyone’s motivations come into question.  I liked how I didn’t know where in the heck this story was going to go.

The actors are terrific.  Gary Wilmes, as the American businessman, has just the right balance of American arrogance and naiveté.  Jennifer Lim, as the vice minister, is fantastic.  She strikes so many levels in her performance, yet always seems inscrutable yet likable.  She walks quite a tightrope, and we still end up on her side.  Stephen Pucci as the consultant is quite good, with an interesting arc, and so are the other actors who play multiple roles.

The first act does seem a tad long to me, but other than that, I think this is a first-rate play getting a first-rate production.  I hope it’s here for awhile, because I’d love to see it again.  I think it opens next week—fingers crossed it gets good notices.  David is such a nice guy, so it would be nice for him to have a hit for a change.  ;)

Last weekend, I went with a beloved gal pal to see our other beloved gal pal in a play at the Provincetown Theater.  It was my first trip to P-town and it certainly won't be my last.  Even though it's a schlep to get out there, the charms far outweigh the annoyance.  As geography is not my strong suit, I had no idea that P-town was all the way out to the ocean!  Looking at the map on my phone's GPS made me worry we were going to drive straight into the water!  :)

We made really good time until we were just outside of Wellfleet, where there apparently was some sort of oyster fest.  Since there seems to be only one road in or out of Wellfleet, with only one or two traffic lights on it, traffic crawled for miles.  We must've been in the traffic for nearly an hour.  Once we finally got to our hotel, the Harbor Hotel, we were so relieved to get out of the car.  And we were very happy with the beautiful view of the cape in front of the hotel.  The hotel has recently been renovated, and it has a nice, cheery, relaxing atmosphere.  With very comfortable pillows.

We went straight into town and wandered around.  It was lovely.  The weather was perfect, we got a lobster roll and strolled over to a beach.  The architecture is lovely and there is a lot of charm all around.  And pedestrians rule the streets!  Hooray!  Before heading to my gal pal's show, my other gal pal and I wandered to the Pilgrim Monument.  We got there too late to tour the museum, but we got some gorgeous photos nonetheless.  Actually, most of my pictures are gorgeous, if I do say so myself.  Everything just popped into beautiful view for my camera lens (and my iPhone's Hipstamatic).

My gal pal was of course brilliant in the play (no need to review it--no perspective on brilliant gal pals), then we went out with some of the cast for dinner at another quaint restaurant.  I ate more fish.  I don't think I've ever had fish for two meals in one day, ever.  It sure was tasty, though!

Sunday, we slept in, then went back into town to check out the houses and shops we missed on Saturday.  I bought several gifts for my family (Christmas shopping is almost done!!), and one of my lovelies bought ME a gift!  A beautiful piece of Portuguese handpainted ceramics.  So beautiful--I love it.  I have the best friends ever.  We also drove over to the ocean at Race Point and Herring Cove.  It was another gorgeous day (although really windy) and it was the perfect end to our brief vacation to be together at such a beautiful place.  And we'll have to go back, not only because it's spectactular there (this was truly one of my top two or three vacation experiences), but also because we were denied fried dough and pumpkin ice cream.  Next trip.  Enjoy the photos!