Oh, Those Summer Nights

In our last column, we touched on some of the summer’s cabaret acts that we hadn’t previously had a chance to write about. We’re going to do the same thing for the summer’s theater in this column. These are not full reviews but, rather, impressions and memories; in particular, we’re zooming in on the things that worked (and did not work) in the following shows.

Corporate Rock, by William Bennett, was a satire at the Blue Heron Arts Center with humor that hadn’t yet graduated to the level of sophomoric. Not even Timothy Haskell’s energetic direction could help this comedy with music about corruption in the world of rock and roll. But even in poor shows, there is often something or someone worthy of high praise. It so happens that, amidst the lame humor of Corporate Rock, there was a truly inspired performance by Aaron Haskell, who played multiple supporting characters with such a zesty sense of silliness that he had us roaring with laughter. He stood out like a healthy finger on a sore hand.

Earnest and simplistic, That is the Question — Dale Johnson’s play about date rape — ran at the Kraine. It did not have the advantage of stylish direction but it did feature a spirited performance by Marie Bedford. Cute, sexy, and unactorish, this actress was in the moment as often as she was in the buff. It’s too bad that the play seemed very dated and far too preachy.

One of the theatrical pleasures of the summer was a two-week run of The Triple Happiness in the New Plays Uptown series produced by Second Stage. This is a delicious family comedy in which a movie star (Ally Sheedy) shows up one day in the home of an upper-middle-class family and moves in. Everyone in the family wants her: the father, the mother, and their son, who’s home from college for the holidays. Sharply written by Brooke Berman, the play featured an exceptional cast including Mark Blum as the randy father, Betsy Aidem as the suddenly independent mother, and Keith Nobbs as their almost innocent son. This was one of Sheedy’s best performances on stage in years, but most impressive of all was Marin Ireland as a college girl who also shows up, having followed Nobbs’ character home for the Christmas break. Ireland has been a standout in every show in which we’ve seen her (Fighting Words, Where We’re Born, and The Harlequin Studies); she could be a young Meryl Streep in the making.

Waitin’ 2 End Hell, by William A. Parker, was an offering of the New Federal Theatre. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the play was how politically incorrect it was; three of its female characters were depicted as either doormats or devils. Yet, as directed by Woodie King, Jr., the production was never without a sense of emotional importance, heightened by some very fine performances — most notably by Marcus Naylor, O.L. Duke, and understudy Kim Sullivan.

Three things stood out in the Dramahaus revival of Octave Mirbeau’s Diary of a Chambermaid at Walkerspace. The first was the brilliantly conceived set design by Jeffrey Eisenmann that established the many and varied locales of the play with élan. Next up for praise is the show’s director and adapter, Adrian Giurgea, who made such incredible use of the limited stage space. Finally, there was Finnerty Steeves playing two small parts and stealing the show. The production itself, including the rest of the cast, was uneven.

The Scottish play — okay, Macbeth — was produced by the Classical Theatre of Harlem earlier this summer and not a single actor stood out from the crowd. But, oh, what exciting direction by Alfred Preisser! Using drums and the outdoor setting of high walls surrounding a courtyard, the director created a good deal of theatrical magic as he had the cast members appear anywhere and everywhere. The production sped along in 90 minutes, thanks to considerable pruning of Shakespeare’s text. This wasn’t one of the greatest renditions of Macbeth but it sure was one of the more memorable.

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[To contact the Siegels directly, e-mail them at siegels@theatermania.com.]