Broadway Bridge and Tunnel Test

The Broadway Bridge and Tunnel Test is our personal and highly opinionated Commuter's Guide to New York theater and cultural events, with an emphasis on Broadway and Off-Broadway theatrical productions. The test is simple: is an event worth the always expensive, time consuming, and too often horrendous struggle to commute to New York City from New Jersey, Long Island, Upstate New York or Connecticut? Only truly great or near-great performances and productions may meet this stiff challenge!

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Location: Princeton, New Jersey, United States

James Camner is an antiquarian dealer of autographs, manuscripts and printed music and books of Opera, Classical Music, Theater, Dance, and Film, as well as a published author of more than 10 books on the performing arts including "How to Enjoy Opera" (Simon and Schuster), "The Great Opera Stars in Historic Photographs" (Dover), "Stars of American Musical Theater in Historic Photographs" (Dover - with Stanley Appelbaum); was for over 20 years a reviewer for Fanfare Magazine and has written feature articles and reviews for Opera News.

Saturday, November 07, 2009

In The Next Room or The Vibrator Play, a play by Sarah Ruhl, at the Lyceum Theatre. Starring Laura Benanti, Michael Cerveris, Maria Dizzia, Wendy Rich Stetson, Quincy Tyler Bernstine, and Chandler Williams; Directed by Les Waters. We caught Sarah Ruhl's new play while it's still in previews and probably there will be changes and the actors, all new to their roles except for Maria Dizzia, will settle into their characters. As it is, this appears to be perhaps Ruhl's most mature work, every bit as challenging as her previous plays, but more witty, and profoundly understanding of the human condition. It's also the first play we've seen from Ruhl, a playwright we'll follow to the ends of the earth (or at least to New Haven), that is erotically charged. The set up is clever, opening like an Ibsen play, in perfect period sets and costumes c.1880, as we see how a Doctor, played by the excellent Michael Cerveris, is treating his mostly female patients for "hysteria" using the newfangled electronic vibrator. The female patient played superbly by Maria Dizzia (creator of Ruhl's Eurydice) reacts to the vibrator in ways that are both predictable and surprising, while the Doctor's frustrated wife played with giddy nervousness by a stunningly beautiful Laura Benanti is burning with curiosity to know what's going on in the office. Many subplots, including an unexpected turn by an artist hilariously played by Leo Irving, ensue. The play appears to be mostly unchanged from its first incarnation in Berkeley, but it may undergo more changes by the opening. We plan to catch this sparkling and provocative play later in the run, but as it is, this handsomely mounted production full of choice lines worthy of Austen like "What men do not observe because their intellect prevents them from seeing..." from perhaps the most original young playwright in America is a must see. A particular pleasure is hearing Benanti's exquisite voice, apparently unmiked, singing two melancholy songs. Broadway Bridge and Tunnel Test Grade: B+

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