THE MORNING LINE DATE: Monday, January 25, 2016 FROM: Melissa Cohen, Michelle Farabaugh Claire Manning PAGES: 14, including this page

January 23, 2016

Pacino Leads ‘China Doll’ to Broadway Profitability By Michael Paulson “China Doll,” a critically panned but commercially successful new David Mamet play starring Al Pacino, has recouped its $3.7 million investment costs. The play, about a wealthy businessman who runs afoul of his state’s governor, started off blazing hot at the box office, reflecting the high regard audiences have for Mr. Pacino; since reviewers questioned the quality of the drama itself, business has slowed, although at a time (January) when Broadway grosses generally take a dip. The show’s lead producer, Jeffrey Richards, said he was pleased with the work, which he said has been revised and improved even after its official (and delayed) opening. “It’s been ultimately very rewarding because of the work that’s been done during the actual run of the play,” Mr. Richards said. “The ending has been changed by the playwright, and the audiences have embraced it recently, which has been very encouraging.” The play, which began previews on Oct. 21, opened for a limited run on Dec. 4, and is scheduled to close on Jan. 31. It has generally played six or seven performances a week (most Broadway shows are staged eight times a week); it grossed more than $1 million during six of its first seven weeks, but has been dropping since, to $552,601 for six performances last week. Mr. Richards said the play, which has only two characters, would have a post-Broadway life: he said that more than 30 theaters around the country have licensed the show, and that he expected several international productions next year.

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January 23, 2016

Review: ‘A Ride on the Irish Cream,’ Erin Markey’s Tale of an Odd Affair

By Charles Isherwood

“Huh?”

Such is, on occasion, my unhappy reaction upon leaving a show. But in the case of “A Ride on the Irish Cream,” it expressed my befuddlement going in. On the website of the Abrons Arts Center, where this new music-theater piece by Erin Markey is being performed, the précis of the plot describes it as a romance between “a vainglorious self-made girl” and “her family’s pontoon boat/horse.”

What’s with that slash? Surely, you can be either a pontoon boat — although I’ve never seen an actor portray one onstage, until now — or you can be a horse. (That’s comparatively old hat.) How on earth can you be both simultaneously?

Apparently, in the whimsical imagination of Ms. Markey, who wrote, created and stars in the show as that vainglorious girl, Reagan, all things are possible. Few, unfortunately, are comprehensible in this peculiar hybrid of rock concert, performance-art piece and quasi-musical. (There’s a small chorus line, and a smidgen of acrobatics and choreography.)

Ms. Markey, sporting luscious Breck-girl locks cascading from a cute topknot, often addresses us directly, telling the story of Reagan’s upbringing by a river in Michigan. Hence the pontoon boat, which her parents acquire one day. The transgender actor Becca Blackwell — also Ms. Markey’s partner in life — plays the pontoon boat, christened Irish Cream. In Reagan’s fantasy life, I guess, she fancies that the boat is also a horse, and falls in girlish love with it.

“Have you ever thought about kissing every inch of my body, but with both eyes closed and two hooves tied behind your saddle?” she asks seductively. “With your motor running on idle?”

“Yeah,” Irish Cream replies. “All the time.”

Where do we go from here? To the stables? To the boat dock? Well, frankly, everywhere and nowhere. The show’s accessible, often punchy pop-rock songs, with music by Ms. Markey, Emily Bate and Kenny Mellman (known as the male half of Kiki & Herb), and bizarre lyrics by Ms. Markey, rarely seem to intersect logically with the “plot.” Ms. Markey and an excellent four-piece backing band perform them with blazing gusto or intimate restraint, as required. The band is dressed, like Ms. Markey, in odd outfits that look as if they were just a little too goofy to make the cut for an episode of “Girls.” (Which is saying something.)

Under the loose (to put it mildly) direction of Jordan Fein, the dialogue and action, such as it is, gallop all over the place, as the playful relationship between Reagan and her, uh, whatever it is, develops. At one point, Reagan presses her forehead against Irish Cream’s rear end. Then she jumps into a weird, aimless monologue about skipping stones, before ordering Irish Cream to “start neighing now,” but “have it come organically out of the laugh,” adding, “but, like, mean the transition.” Irish Cream duly complies.

Played with a goofy, anything-goes charm by the ginger-haired Becca Blackwell, Irish Cream has his or her (what is the gender of such a fictional creature?) own weird monologues. “I like Christmas,” Irish Cream says,

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“’cause I’m as close to a Clydesdale as some girls are ever gonna get. Not to make any of this about beer, but I have a way of summing things up as beer.” Pause before one of the show’s many non sequiturs: “Ya like math?”

Ms. Markey has an ebullient charisma herself, although I found it often buried by the self-indulgent writing. Occasionally, the dialogue is amusing, with its offbeat lurches in unexpected directions. On a date, Irish Cream and Reagan order drinks with names like Birdbath Shadows and Birth Mom — which I wouldn’t be surprised to learn are actually on the menu of some bar in Bushwick. A monologue about Reagan’s unhappy transition to the different standards of jazz dance in South Carolina, where the family moves, was among the more endearing and funny passages, with the tang of real experience tethering it to reality.

But mostly, it’s all head-scratchingly obscure, as if Ms. Markey were still a young girl intentionally trying to baffle her elders by speaking in a secret coded language. She certainly succeeded in baffling me.

A Ride on the Irish CreamWritten and created by Erin Markey; music by Ms. Markey, Emily Bate and Kenny Mellman; lyrics by Ms. Markey; directed by Jordan Fein; musical direction and vocal arrangements by Ms. Bate; band arrangements by the Band: Ms. Bate, Ian Axness, Chenda Cope and Mike Marcinowski; choreography by Chloe Kernaghan; costumes by Enver Chakartash; sets by Adam Rigg; lighting by Barbara Samuels; sound by Dan Rider; duck construction by Nathan Lemoine; production stage manager, Bridget Balodis; production manager, Mo Lioce; assistant director, Ry Szelong; produced by Mr. Fein and Ms. Markey. Presented by Abrons Arts Center and American Realness. Through Feb. 6 at Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand Street, Manhattan; 212-352-3101, abronsartscenter.org. Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes.

WITH: Becca Blackwell (Irish Cream) and Erin Markey (Reagan/Neeno); Ian Axness, Emily Bate, Chenda Cope, Mike Marcinowski (the Band); and Cassidy Dawn Graves, Annie Pardoe, Nicolette Templier and Sarah Villegas (Leotard Girls).

January 25, 2016

Review: ‘The Velveteen Rabbit’ Is a Tribute to the Less Flashy Toy

By Alexis Soloski

Do you remember the toy you most adored? A blanket? A doll? Some shabby bit of plush and stuffing? Unicorn Theater’s “The Velveteen Rabbit,” a stage adaptation of Margery Williams’s beloved 1922 picture book at the New Victory Theater, pays sweet and occasionally sorrowful tribute to every plaything loved, gnawed and hugged into tatters.

The initial moments are distinctly unmagical, as three men dressed in business suits wait on what seems to be a train platform. “Is it starting?” I heard a young patron murmur in confusion. But a giant sock hung behind them soon began to jerk and shudder. From its folds a fourth man emerges, trading a suit coat for a downy brown jacket, transforming into the velveteen rabbit. Then one of the other men (the composer Jason Carr) takes his seat at a piano bench and the play begins in earnest.

Demosthenes Chrysan, who plays the narrator, explains how a boy (Ashley Byam) receives the stuffed rabbit (Christian Roe) in his Christmas stocking. The boy soon neglects the rabbit for flashier toys, but eventually they find themselves together again. Despite some trials (the boy is a restless sleeper and an overzealous playmate), they develop a loving friendship. Though his fur loses its luster and his whiskers wear away, the rabbit becomes real to the boy. And becoming real is what all toys dream of.

As the rocking horse, the oldest inhabitant of the toy cupboard, explains: “Real isn’t how you are made. It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but really loves you, then you become real.”

“Does it hurt?” the rabbit asks.

“Sometimes,” the horse says. “When you are real you don’t mind being hurt.”\ It’s this slight tinge of melancholy, this sense of fun mingled with just a little sorrow, that gives the book much its poignancy and power. (I read it often to my toddler, and I’ve never made it all the way through without tearing up.)

The Unicorn Theater production, arriving from London directed by Purni Morell, nicely captures that tone, though at times the pacing seems too stately and the story theater approach too serious. A little more silliness, a touch more naughtiness would be welcome. And there’s a failure of ingenuity late in the play, when Ms. Morell uses familiar Tinkerbell techniques to stage the appearance of the flower fairy, the most magical creature in the book. Though really, there’s not much more she could have done considering a limited costume budget and an all-male cast.

Still, there’s much to admire. The production never talks down to children, and it makes a strong case for the importance and delight of imaginative play. And Ms. Morell includes a charming surprise at the end to make sure that kids and their elders leave happy. During the two weekends that it runs, you can bet that a lot of stuffed animals will be hugged extra tightly at bedtime.

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“The Velveteen Rabbit” runs through Jan. 31 at the New Victory Theater, 209 West 42nd Street, Manhattan; 646-223-3010, newvictory-.org. Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes.

January 24, 2016

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January 25, 2016

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January 25, 2016

The SpongeBob Musical: Cast, poster, and plot revealed! — exclusive

Director Tina Landau previews the big stage debut of the world's most famous sponge.

By Mark Snetiker

Who lives, who dies, who lives in a pineapple under the sea? Broadway (and Chicago) will soon welcome a character almost as prolific as Alexander Hamilton, and decidedly more nautical nonsense-based.

Newcomer Ethan Slater has been cast as the absorbent, yellow, porous protagonist of The SpongeBob Musical, the forthcoming stage adaptation of Nickelodeon’s cherished cartoon and behemoth media franchise. As co-conceived and directed by Steppenwolf member Tina Landau, The SpongeBob Musical (which makes its world premiere in Chicago in June) will attempt to bring the toon icon and his cast of undersea friends — including

starfish Patrick, octopus Squidward, and deep sea-diving squirrel Sandy — above the water and onto the proscenium in a traditional musical of very non-traditional circumstances.

With his sing-song voice and perpetual sunniness, SpongeBob Squarepants lends himself to starring in a musical; with his bright yellow hue, square head, and literal being a sponge, he’s perhaps less natural to do so looking like an ordinary human being.

In 2008, Nickelodeon hired Landau from a pool of directors who pitched conceptual approaches to bring the children’s character to the stage. Landau’s winning concept involved non-literal but suggestive character design (see: the key art above, showcasing the very human Slater’s passing link to the very non-human sponge), an imaginative plundered playground setting, and a proprietary stage movement vocabulary.

“Before there was even a story, from very early on we did movement and physical workshops to explore the idea of whether we could really create these characters onstage without using literal representations of what they look like in the cartoon,” Landau tells EW. “The DNA is the same but the form is so radically different, we’re not approaching it literally. We’re not trying to take the cartoon and put it onstage. We’re trying to create a live theatrical event.”

From there, playwright Kyle Jarrow came aboard to craft the story: The SpongeBob Musical follows a day in the fictional underwater town of Bikini Bottom, where the citizens have just learned that a nearby volcano named Mount Humongous will erupt at sundown the next day. Amid the antics and fantasies of the community over the ensuing 24 hours, SpongeBob takes it upon himself to save the day and rescue his city from certain destruction. It’s an original story not pulled from the television series, says Landau.

Joining principal characters SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward, Sandy, Plankton, Mr. Krabs, and Gary (a surprising bit of stagecraft) are many peripheral characters from the series, though not every citizen of Bikini Bottom will get their Equity card (Mrs. Puff and Old Man Jenkins made the cut; Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy did not). Slater, who graduated from Vassar in 2014, will be joined in the cast by Lilli Cooper as Texan squirrel Sandy Cheeks, as well as an ensemble of theater veterans including Gaelen Gilliland, Curtis Holbrook, Stephanie Hsu, L’ogan J’ones, Emmy Raver Lampman, Mark Ledbetter, Kelvin Moon Loh, Vasthy Mompoint, JC Schuster, Abby C. Smith, and Jason Michael Snow. Additional casting is on the way.

The decision to keep the characters human and not opt for puppetlike conceits (seen in similar toon-to-Tony adaptations like The Little Mermaid or The Lion King, both from competitor Disney) was a creative decision network-approved and kid-tested. “We brought in different age groups and were most worried they were going to say, ‘But he’s not square!’” she recalls of previewing SpongeBob’s human concept to the core audience. “The main response was, ‘We finally got to see him in real life.’ They loved it. They felt they were getting to spend time with him in his authentic form.”

Landau describes the entire production as “scrappy, inventive, and wacky”; the design aesthetic of SpongeBob’s world is forged from found objects on the ocean floor. “It’s the same way that Bikini Bottom is,” she points out, citing Dadaism. “There’s a bucket, and someone says, ‘That’s a restaurant,’ and so it’s [Plankton’s restaurant] the Chum Bucket. In our production, you might have a cluster of pool noodles and someone can say, ‘Look at that kelp,’ and it’s kelp. It’s a lot of unexpected materials that create our own makeshift, colorful, psychedelic world of Bikini Bottom.”

In a sense, the same rummaged juxtaposition applies to the production’s original music, which pulls dozens of accomplished singer-songwriters into one cohesive score, shepherded by music supervisor Tom Kitt (Next to

Normal). Along with Nickelodeon’s music department, the musical’s creators wrangled a bouncy roster from

Cyndi Lauper and the Flaming Lips to Steve Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Panic! at the Disco, and Lady Antebellum — as well as a song from the late David Bowie.

Landau presented each songwriter with plot and lyric prompts, essentially taking an informed but risky guess in assigning each musical act a very specific story beat: T.I. has written a nihilistic, rabble-rousing rap for Plankton akin to “Ya Got Trouble” from The Music Man. They Might Be Giants gives Squidward his big dance number involving a chorus of tap-dancing sea anemones. John Legend penned a ballad — though Landau clarifies that the only romance in the show is between Plankton and his computer wife. “We very specifically asked all of the artists to write how they write, and not try to do what they think Nickelodeon or SpongeBob would sound like,” Landau adds. “What’s amazing is, when we hear them sung by our performers, you can tell exactly who wrote which song. We really wanted that difference.”

The SpongeBob Musical begins its world premiere performances on June 7 at Broadway in Chicago’s Oriental Theatre. From there, the limited engagement runs through July 3, 2016, and a Broadway run is thereafter expected in the 2016-17 season.

SpongeBob’s musical future could have veered any number of creative directions, but Landau is confident in the imaginatively designed, incongruously scored approach she and Nickelodeon have honed over the past seven years — or 17, if you consider SpongeBob’s journey to Broadway began when the character first debuted back in 1999. Landau hopes her production honors the most important ingredients of the world inhabited by the iconic pop culture pore-bearer.

“When we first talked to Steve Hillenburg, the creator of SpongeBob, I said to him, ‘What is absolutely essential to this world?’ recalls Landau. “And he said, ‘The light, the sky flowers—and bubbles.’”

January 24, 2016

January 24, 2016

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