AmericanTheaterWeb Original News & Reviews

At its heart, Aurin Squire's To Whom It May Concern is an oddball love story. The romance is set in motion when Lorenzo (Israel Gutierrez) writes a "fan letter" to Maurice (Matt Alford), a marine whose bravery while serving in Afghanistan has been widely reported in papers throughout the U.S. The relationship that develops between Lorenzo and Maurice, first via handwritten letters, then email and finally instant messages, not surprisingly is based on a misassumption that Maurice makes when reading Lorenzo's first letter which is signed simply "L.L." Maurice assumes that Lorenzo is a young woman, and Lorenzo, a nervous gay teen in Abilene, KS, does nothing to set the record straight, as it were.

From this comic premise, Squire shifts "Concern" to more dramatic ground once Maurice has landed stateside and comes to Abilene to make good on a fantasy they've typed about online. Maurice breaks into Lorenzo's bedroom – using the ladder that Lorenzo leaves outside for other reasons. – and crawls into bed with his paramour. During the course of their night together, Lorenzo and Maurice reveals scars that, while not making them necessarily the perfect soul mates, do make them kindred spirits in need of one another's friendship.

Squire's writing, on the whole, is sensitive and generally avoids melodrama, which could be an easy pitfall with a piece charged with more than a little homophobia. His portrait of Lorenzo, who's not yet 16 and suffering from ostracism both at school and home, is simultaneously warm and unflinchingly clear-sighted. Equally pungent is his depiction of Maurice, who is haunted by the legacy of his widely-reported actions on the streets of Kabul.

The actors, working within the confines of Bruce Eyster's set, which awkwardly attempts to bring Lorenzo's bedroom to life and also serve as a "split screen" when the guys are writing to one another, deliver solid performances that navigate the twists and turns of Squire's script with precision. Gutierrez is at his best when Lorenzo, who might just be too bright for his own good, is waxing blisteringly ironic. He nearly soars during some of Lorenzo's most dramatic moments, but his work is ultimately eclipsed by Alford's when Maurice describes the actual events that led to his military commendations.

Director David Gaard ensures that the piece unfolds with an amiable tautness, but there is a sense of fussiness to his staging, which could simply stem from some of Squire's overwriting of certain sequences once Lorenzo and Maurice have met. With some judicious pruning, though, "Concern" has the potential to not only be a terrific coming-of-age story (for both characters), but also a terrific piece of theater that explores how war affects some of the youngest men who have enlisted.

---- Andy Propst

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To Whom It May Concern plays at the Arclight Theatre (152 West 71st Street). Performances are Wednesday through Saturday at 8pm, and Sunday at 3pm. Tickets are $35.0 and can be purchased by calling 212-352-3101 or by visiting www.TheaterMania.com.

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New York Times

Accidental Tourists, on a Train to Eternity
Despite top-grade production values and a polished cast, this anxious smiley face of a musical slumps into a funk soon after it begins.

New York Daily News

No light at the end of this tunnel
When you hear the subway advisory, "Stand clear of the closing doors," it means the train is about to depart. The announcement for the frustrating new show "Happiness" at Lincoln Center could be trimmed to "Stand clear."

Newsday

Stroman disappoints with new musical 'Happiness'
Oh, dear. As if the MTA didn't have enough trouble, here comes "Happiness" - Susan Stroman's disappointing new musical about nine New Yorkers stuck in a subway car.

New York Post

Don't hop on: this train's stuck & so are we
The train of life moves on," a conductor named Stanley sings. Except, as MTA riders know all too well, when it doesn't. In the new musical "Happiness," a motley group of nine New Yorkers is held captive in a subway train stuck between stations. When Stanley (Hunter Foster) tells them they can leave the car once they...

Hartford Courant

New York Stage: 'Happiness' Doesn't Live Up To Its Name

Bloomberg.com

Mysterious Subway Transports Dead Strangers to Eternal Bliss: John Simon
Strangers in a New York subway car bound for -- who knows where? -- may not seem to be the most surefire bet for a musical.

Variety

Review: Happiness
But despite the best intentions of everyone involved, and the resources of Lincoln Center Theater, this underwhelming meditation on mortality doesn't resonate at all.

Hollywood Reporter

Theater Review: Happiness
Bottom Line: You'll find only fleeting moments of it in this high-concept musical.

Back Stage

Happiness reviewed by Erik Haagensen
Happiness is also that rare animal: a new American musical not based on a source in another medium. All of which makes it frustrating to report that, unhappily, Happiness falters.

TheaterMania

Review: Happiness
This sweet musical fable about the need to seize each moment is buoyed by a top-notch creative team and a superb cast.

Talkin' Broadway

Review: Happiness
If real MTA employees were as helpful as Stanley, the subway conductor at the center of the new musical Happiness at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center, New Yorkers might not mind the impending fare hikes. Stanley may be bitter, brooding, and unapproachable, but once you leave the station, he’ll ensure you get where you need to be, even if it’s not where you expect or think you want to go. . . .

 

New York Times

Surrounded by So Many, One Soul Remains Alone
Christian Camargo’s virtually perfect portrayal of Hamlet is the second Shakespearean astonishment in a row from Theater for a New Audience.

Associated Press

Christian Camargo Stars in a Stylish 'Hamlet'
The current off-Broadway revival of ''Hamlet'' is modern, streamlined and primarily black and white, but there is plenty of color, as always, in the centuries-old richness of Shakespeare's words.

Variety

Review: Hamlet
There's a sleek modernist gloss to Theater for a New Audience's "Hamlet" and Christian Camargo certainly brings contemporary standards of pale male beauty to the soulful Prince of Denmark. But whatever fresh ideas helmer David Esbjornson might have intended are too often drowned out by the visual bedlam of the design elements and the inconsistent performance styles.

TheaterMania

Review: Hamlet
Christian Camargo's hit-and-miss performance as the title character damages an otherwise fine production of Shakespeare's greatest tragedy.

Back Stage

Hamlet reviewed by Ron Cohen
With an accomplished, classically adept cast and a handsome production, Theatre for a New Audience offers a rich and respectful rendering of Hamlet.

CurtainUp

nytheatre.com

Review: Hamlet
Theatre for a New Audience is reviving Hamlet in a provocative production helmed by David Esbjornson; our reviewer Alyssa Simon says it explores big themes and contemporary issues in powerful ways.

 

AmericanTheaterWeb

Review - Irena's Vow
A Woman's Extraordinary Heroism

New York Times

In Grave Times, Exemplary Courage
A little-known story of heroism is transformed into theatrical hokum in Dan Gordon’s efficiently manipulative drama.

New York Daily News

'Irena's Vow' provides shelter from the Sturm
Re-reviewing a play brings a logical question: Did I get it right the first time? With "Irena's Vow," now open on Broadway after a run last fall at Baruch College, the answer's yes. Dan Gordon's play ...

New York Post

Promise isn't fulfilled
A play about a young Catholic Pole who risked everything to help a dozen Jews during WWII is slip pery ground for a critic -- espe cially when it's based on a real-life hero, Irena Gut Opdyke. Nobody wants to be the heartless Grinch who points out that a Holocaust drama is flawed. Oh well, here I go then . . .

Bergen Record

Brave maid, misguided Holocaust play
"Irena's Vow," which opened Sunday at the Walter Kerr Theatre, has a powerful, inspiring story to tell. It's a real shame that the telling is so pedestrian.

Associated Press

'Irena's Vow' Celebrates One Woman's Bravery
''Irena's Vow'' may be melodramatic and occasionally manipulative, but the emotions this stage biography stirs in theatergoers are genuine, a testament to the bravery and tenacity of the woman whose real-life story is being told.

Bloomberg.com

Kommandant's Villa Becomes Safe Haven for Jews in New Drama: John Simon
In “Irena’s Vow,” astounding human heroism and the amazing Tovah Feldshuh triumph in the blend of a powerful true story, suspenseful dramatization and humorous leavening. The result should prove a sure-fire crowd pleaser on Broadway.

Variety

Review: Irena's Vow
The conviction of Tovah Feldshuh's transformative performance drives "Irena's Vow," but it's the compelling true story of courage and heroism that makes Dan Gordon's by-the-numbers script so moving.

Hollywood Reporter

Theater Review: Irena's Vow
Bottom Line: Powerful true-life Holocaust tale plays like a combination of "Schindler's List" and "The Diary of Anne Frank."

Back Stage

Irena's Vow reviewed by David Sheward [critic's pick]
After a hit run Off-Broadway, Dan Gordon's simple and moving true-life drama Irena's Vow has opened at the Walter Kerr.

TheaterMania

Review: Irena's Vow
Tovah Feldshuh plays a gutsy Polish Catholic girl in Dan Gordon's powerful if predictable World War II drama.

Talkin' Broadway

Review: Irena's Vow
If there’s been any doubt as to the identity of Broadway’s greatest living star, there won’t be once word spreads about Irena’s Vow. Don’t misunderstand: This is not because Dan Gordon’s play is brilliant literature made transcendent by its headliner, but because the production of it that just opened at the Walter Kerr allows for nothing less than a full-on feting of its luminous leading lady, Tovah Feldshuh. . . .

Between Productions

A modesty proposal
I took in a preview performance of Irena's Vow (pictured) yesterday at the Walter Kerr. A hit Off Broadway, it should be equally well-received when it opens tonight, judging by the tumultuous curtain call.

 

It's hard to believe that it's been over 30 years since Tovah Feldshuh starred on Broadway in Yentl, playing the young woman who disguises herself as a boy to study at a Rabbinical school, particularly since Feldshuh is back on Broadway and convincingly playing an 18-year-old Polish girl in Irena's Vow, which opened last night at the Walter Kerr Theatre.

"Vow," which enjoyed an acclaimed and extended run off-Broadway in the fall, tells the story of Irena Gut, who after the German occupation of Poland finds herself conscripted by the Nazis and working as a housekeeper for a German major. When she learns that the Jews who had been working the laundry for the major will soon be killed, she devises a plan to save them: she hides them in the basement of the major's villa.

It's certainly a compelling slice of history that playwright Dan Gordon has landed on, and he delivers it sturdily. The play unfolds in a flashback as Irena in present day tells her tale to a group of students studying the Holocaust, and in fact, after coming to American, Irena would spend much of her time telling her story in schools across the country.

Unfortunately, the framing device undermines some of the natural tension of the tale. Theatergoers know that she survived, and thus, suspect that her dozen charges in the cellar also manage to make it through their confinement. Thus, events that should be heart-pounding – a hard-line member of the Gestapo (played with chilling dispassion and cruelty by John Stanisci) has to be called in to diffuse a blackmail attempt against Irena – are merely intriguing twists in a intellectually engaging tale.

What elevates the drama is Feldshuh's spirited performance as the spunky, self-effacing and self-sacrificing Irena. There's seemingly nothing that this heroine can't accomplish and Feldshuh manages to make even the most eye-brow raising scrapes credible. At the same time, she communicates the slow spiritual and emotional erosion that Irena suffers during her time with the Major. Perhaps the most compelling and touching moments in "Vow" come when Ida (Maja C. Wampuszyc), one of the women in hiding, becomes pregnant by Lazar (Gene Silvers), her eager newlywed husband. Since a baby's crying might lead to the discovery of the group (of which only three are seen in "Vow"), Ida and Lazar decide that they should abort the fetus, and ask Irena to bring the necessary supplies. Their request causes Irena to question her Catholic beliefs, and during this sequence, Feldshuh's ability to seemingly bare Irena's soul astounds.

Other aspects of the tale, particularly the complicated relationship that Irena develops with the Major (imbued with a modicum of decency and common sense by Thomas Ryan), fascinate, and the play's coda, which details events in Irena's life after the Russians have pushed into Poland, are truly touching. But strangely, during much of "Vow," directed with a sure-hand by Michael Parva, one experiences the tale on a cerebral, rather than emotional level.

The production's inability to fully sink into one's heart and under one's skin is even more curious given the evocative and atmospheric contributions of the show's designers. Kevin Judge's scenic design telescopes the upper floors of the villa and its lower reaches marvelously, and huge beams hang over the stage which bring to mind not only Teutonic architecture, but also hangmen's gallows. Lighting designer David Castaneda creates a sense of murkiness and dimness but never under illuminates the stage or performers. Alex Koch's projection design gorgeously brings the period and events from the world stage to life, and against this background Irena's heroic story, and Feldshuh's impressive performance, shine brightly.

---- Andy Propst

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Irena's Vow plays at the Walter Kerr Theatre (219 West 48th Street). Performances are Tuesday at 7pm; Wednesday through Saturday at 8pm; Wednesday and Saturday at 2pm; and Sunday at 3pm. Tickets are $41.00 - $98.00 and can be purchased by calling 212-239-6200 or by visiting www.Telecharge.com. Further information is available online at www.IrenasVow.com

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