The 2023-24 Broadway season officially came to a finish last week, following a month in which an unusually large number of shows raced to open prior to the cutoff date to be eligible for this year’s Tony Awards.
The nominations announcement for the 2024 Tony Awards will take place on Tuesday morning, which will be followed by weeks of campaigning until the awards ceremony is held on June 16.
Below are reviews of four more shows that opened last week.
Mary Jane
In recent years, two hit films starring Rachel McAdams have been made into Broadway musicals, namely “Mean Girls” and “The Notebook.” Now McAdams herself is making her Broadway debut in “Mary Jane,” an emotionally shattering drama by Amy Herzog (which was previously produced Off-Broadway in 2017) about a young mother struggling to take care of a child with severe, life-threatening physical disabilities.
It consists of her conversations with different women, including such as a night nurse, a superintendent, a doctor, a hospital chaplain, and another mother facing similar challenges.
Under the tight direction by Anne Kauffman (“The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window”), McAdams gives an excellent performance which emphasizes the title character’s resilience and bravery in the face of unending challenges and increasing doubt. While “The Notebook” may leave you a bit teary-eyed, “Mary Jane” will leave you devastated – but thankful for such a meaningful theatrical experience.
Through June 16, manhattantheatreclub.com.
Mother Play
Compared to “Mary Jane,” Paula Vogel’s “Mother Play: A Play in Five Evictions” is a very different kind of play about a very different kind of mother.
As played by Jessica Lange, Phyllis is an unapologetically selfish, alcoholic, bitter, financially struggling divorcee who also proves to be misogynistic and homophobic as she cares for her two children, Carl (Jim Parsons) and Martha (Celia Keenan-Bolger). It begins in the 1960s and continues into the present day, in which daughter now cares for mother.
It is a loaded memory play, with freewheeling comic bits (including armies of vermin depicted with digital imagery and exercises in which Parsons and Keenen-Bolger practice how to walk like a man and a woman) alternating with scenes depicting pained relationships, which can get draggy, derivative and melodramatic. Lange lives up her showcase role, while Parsons and Keenan-Bolger once again prove themselves to be versatile performers with a knack for walking the fine line between comedy and pathos.
Through June 16, 2st.com.
Illinoise
More than two decades ago, two dance-driven pieces (Susan Stroman’s “Contact” and Twyla Tharp’s “Movin’ Out”) raised questions about whether they were musicals (even in a nontraditional sense) or just extended dance pieces with music and dramatic scenarios.
Now in a similar vein comes “Illinoise,” directed and choreographed by Justin Peck (NYC Ballet), in which three vocalists sing through the songs of Sufjan Stevens’ 2005 album “Illinois” while aided by a dozen dancers. The book (credited by Peck and playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury) revolves around teens trying to make sense of the world and of themselves.
At its best, “Illinoise” (which received a surprise Broadway transfer following a recent run at the Park Avenue Armory) is exhilarating, as when the dancers express the freedom of coming together to share their journal pieces, which revolve around figures such as Superman, a serial murderer, and other historical figures. The second half, which primarily follows the protagonist’s relationships with two friends and a new lover, is somewhat harder to follow.
The folk rock songs sound fresh but their poetic, reflective lyrics often get lost in the choreography. To be honest, I would probably be better able to appreciate “Illinoise” if I was more familiar with dance or indie music, but it is certainly preferable over many of the dull and disappointing new musicals of this season.
Through Aug. 10, illinoiseonstage.com.
Uncle Vanya
It sounded like a must-see event: a new production of “Uncle Vanya,” Chekhov’s perennial drama of regret and the human condition, by Lincoln Center Theater led by a starry cast that includes Steve Carrell (in his Broadway debut) as the title character, Anika Noni Rose, Alfred Molina, William Jackson Harper, Alison Pill, and Jayne Houdyshell, with a new translation by Heidi Schreck (“What the Constitution Means to Me”) and direction by Lila Neugebauer (“The Wolves”).
Now comes the question of what went wrong and why the production is so lacking in emotional impact, especially compared to other recent Off-Broadway productions of the play. There seems to have been a push to make this production feel contemporary and American, with Carrell channeling the physical and vocal energy that have marked his screen performances, but which here actually takes away from the play itself and feels self-indulgent.
There is also a lightweight, sitcom quality to the scenes in general. It is certainly not a terrible production, but it is one where the elements did not come together successfully to create something worthwhile.
Through June 16, lct.org.
