Off Broadway: Fly Me to the Moon

A little more than a decade ago, when we first saw Marie Jones’ best known and multiple award-winning work, Stones in His Pockets, in its London debut, we realized that we had come upon a remarkably talented playwright with an exceptional gift for dialogue.  And so it was that we eagerly anticipated seeing her latest work, Fly Me to the Moon, in its New York premiere as part of 1st Irish at 59E59 Theaters.

Well, we’ve seen it and the good news is that Fly Me to the Moon does confirm Ms Jones’ considerable talent.  The play is well constructed and sharply written.  And there is more good news: the two actors, Tara Lynne O’Neill (as Loretta Mackey) and Katie Tumelty as (Frances Shields) are supremely talented in their own rights, both delivering wonderful comedic performances as two care workers looking after Davy, a wheelchair-bound octogenarian , unable to speak and paralyzed on one side as the result of a stroke.  And the bottom line (of the good news, that is) is that the play does provide one with an hour and forty minutes’ worth of genial entertainment.

But, sadly, there is some bad news too: this play is not anywhere near as good as Stones in His Pockets.  The plot of Fly Me to the Moon is little more than a minor variation on a hackneyed Grade B movie theme.  Davy, whose only real passions were Frank Sinatra and playing the horses, dies as the play begins (we never actually do get to meet him) and Loretta and Frances are presented with an opportunity to steal his racetrack winnings and last pension check.  Loretta and Frances are basically decent women but they live hardscrabble minimum wage lives and they succumb to temptation.  Who, after all, will be hurt and who is to know?  Certainly not Davy – he’s dead.  His bookmaker – who cares about him?  And the Government – don’t make me laugh.  But as plots of this sort always do, one thing leads (or rather descends) to another and Loretta and Frances find themselves sliding down a slippery slope toward self-destruction.

Here’s where I’d normally be issuing a “spoiler alert,” before saying much more about the play’s plot – if there was much more to say.  But there isn’t and there’s the rub: the play’s resolution involves some half-hearted attempts to come up with some creative O’Henry-ish twists but to no avail.  There are no truly unanticipated surprises and so the real bottom line is that despite some clever dialogue, excellent acting, and amusing moments, the play turns out to be a disappointment.  Or maybe, having seen Stones in His Pockets, my expectations for Fly Me to the Moon were simply too high.

Off Broadway: Serious Money

Cast members of Serious Money.  Photo by Stan Barouh.

You don’t have to be a supporter of “Occupy Wall Street” (Lord knows, I’m certainly not!) to enjoy PTP/NYC’s rollicking revival of Caryl Churchill’s Serious Money at Atlantic Stage 2 on West 16th Street.  Originally written in 1987, this scathing indictment of Wall Street focuses on the consequences of the transfer of power that was taking place from genteel establishment investment bankers to street smart uncultured traders.  Insider trading, risk arbitrage, leveraged buyouts, sexual indiscretions, drug abuse, and government complicity - all were emblematic of the greed and amorality that imbued the financial world of that time.  And not only were prominent risk arbitrageurs and junk bond specialists like Ivan Boesky and Michael Milken singled out as prime offenders, but such a political icon as Margaret Thatcher was pilloried as well for having facilitated the devolution of the financial community through her excessive deregulation (what came to be known as the “Big Bang” in London).

The play’s plot revolves around the death of Jake Todd (Mat Nakitare), a young aggressive trader on LIFFE (the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange) who is intimately involved in the dissemination of inside information.  His sister, Scilla (Tara Giordano), who is also a LIFFE trader is convinced that he has been murdered and sets out to find his killer, not so much to seek justice for her slain brother as to recover for herself the ill-gotten gains she assumes he has stashed away somewhere.  In the course of her investigations, she becomes involved with a number of unsavory characters including Marylou Baines (Megan Byrne), an American arbitrageur who has been the recipient of Jake’s tips and T.K. (Aubrey Dube), Marylou’s personal assistant who is no more scrupulous than his boss.

Concurrently, Billy Corman (Alex Draper), a corporate raider, is seeking to seize control of Albion, a stodgy old-line company run by Duckett (also played by Mat Nakitare).  In this effort, he enlists the aid of Zak Zackerman (David Barlow), an American banker.  Duckett responds, of course, and seeks the aid of Ms. Biddulph (Molly O’Keefe) as a “white knight.”  Others become involved, on one side or the other and often on both, including Marylou Baines; Jacinta Condor (Jeanne LaSala Taylor), a totally amoral Peruvian businesswoman; and Nigel Abjibala (also played by Aubrey Dube), an importer from Ghana.  The plots thicken and intertwine.  Betrayals, double crosses, and triple crosses abound.

The play has been written largely in rhyming couplets and is performed in a rapid-fire frenetic manner.  Imagine a Restoration comedy written by Bertolt Brecht and you’ll get the idea.

The original play was clearly intended as a leftist political attack, not only on the greed and amorality of the financial community but also on their enablers and cronies, right wing politicians, exemplified by Margaret Thatcher and the Tories in Great Britain and by conservative Republicans in the United States.  But, amazingly, the play works just as well today, a quarter century after it was written, if one just allows for the introduction of a batch of newfangled investment instruments like monetized sub-prime mortgages, derivatives, collateralized debt obligations, et al., and interest rate manipulation occurring in conjunction with stock market manipulation.

Only one further adjustment must be made to bring everything up to date: notwithstanding the overt biases of the “Occupy Wall Streeters,” government enabling and cronyism must be recognized as having become bi-partisan.  It’s no longer just conservative Republicans who must accept the blame for allowing (or, indeed, even encouraging) the financial disasters that have come to pass.  Liberal Democrats like Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner (who knowingly failed to intervene in Barclay’s interest rate scandal), Jon Corzine (the former Democratic Governor and Senator from New Jersey who presided over the collapse of MF Global), Maxine Waters (the Democratic Representative from California under investigation for ethics violations, having been accused of steering $12 million in TARP funds to a bank with ties to her husband), Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd (co-sponsor of the Dodd-Frank bill, who received special treatment on his own mortgages from Angelo Mozilo, CEO of Countrywide Financial), et al.  (This is not to suggest that liberal Democrats have now supplanted conservative Republicans in the rogue’s gallery of financial miscreants; nope, there’s still room enough there for all of them.)

When Serious Money was first produced in London in 1987, it was a big hit, and when it came to the Public Theater in New York in 1988, it was an off Broadway hit there as well.  But when it then moved to Broadway, it fell flat, closing after only two weeks – which may go a long way toward explaining why it’s taken so long for a full-fledged off Broadway revival of the play to have been launched in New York.

But it’s here now and we’re certainly glad it is.  Not only is the timing perfect, given the economic and financial state of the world today, but this production, in particular, is terrific.  The entire cast is superb but I would especially single out David Barlow as Zak Zackerberg, Tara Giordano as Scilla Todd, Alex Draper as Billy Corman, and Jeanne LaSala Taylor as Jacinta Condor for rave reviews.  Try not to miss it (no matter what your politics).

Off Broadway: Nymph Errant

Andrew Brewer, Amy Jo Jackson, Aubrey Sinn, Sorab Wadia and Laura Cook in NYMPH ERRANT.  Photo by Lee Wexler, Images for Innovation

Near the end of what is generally considered to be Cole Porter’s sexiest and most sophisticated show, Nymph Errant, currently being revived by the Prospect Theater Company at the Clurman Theatre on West 42nd Street, Evangeline (Jennifer Blood) describes the provenance of the plumber’s jacket she is wearing (and, in the process, recaps the entire show up to that point) by declaring:

"It was given to me by an American who liberated me from a Turkish harem after I was sold into white slavery when a Greek carpet merchant was killed in a war to whom I had been bequeathed by an Italian Count who rescued me from a predatory German nudist who saved me from starving to death with a suicidal Russian who brought me to Paris when Andre abandoned me…..”

Sounds pretty exciting and entertaining, right?

It isn’t.

To be sure, Nymph Errant does address such taboo subjects (at least taboo by the standards of 1933 when the show was first produced in London) as prostitution, lesbianism, nudity, white slavery, and sexual experimentation.  But it requires more than just a sexy or sophisticated theme to make for a good show. It also requires an interesting plot (without which you don’t have a play but a revue), and the adventures of Evangeline, an innocent graduate of a Swiss finishing school seeking to lose her virginity, are no more interesting than are the perils of Pauline.  Too, it requires at least a modicum of character development, surely more than the two dimensional caricatures provided here.  And it requires a combination of a hummable, if not memorable, score and some catchy or creative lyrics which, despite Cole Porter’s claim that this was his best score (by which he may simply have meant that it was his sexiest) the lyrics and score of Nymph Errant really don’t hold a candle to such Porter classics as Anything Goes, Can Can, or Kiss Me Kate.  Indeed, I believe it was the weakness of Nymph Errant’s original music and lyrics which prompted the producers of this show to interpolate four songs from other Porter works – Red, Hot and Blue from Red, Hot and Blue, Dizzy Baby from Paris, and The Boyfriend Back Home and Paree, What Did You Do to Me from Fifty Million Frenchmen into this show; they were certainly right to have done so since those four songs clearly are among the best musical numbers of the current production.

In other words, I really don’t think much of the original show itself and I can readily understand why it never made it to Broadway, why it took 50 years for it to make it to the United States at all (it received its off Broadway premiere in New York in 1982) and why it has been revived so infrequently ever since.  It is just not a very good show; certainly not up to the standards of so much else of Cole Porter’s work.

But having declared my disappointment in the original show, what is to be said of the cast of this particular production?  Well, that is a wholly different matter: in short, this cast is terrific and they are not at all to be blamed for any shortcomings in the material they have been given to work with.

Jennifer Blood, who reminded me a bit of Sarah Jessica Parker, sings beautifully and plays the role she has been given with an infectious innocence.  Aubrey Sinn as Madeline (the sexy French girl), Laura Cook as Pidge (the Italian go-getter), Amy Jo Jackson as Bertha (the German lesbian sports enthusiast), and Sara Jane Blackmore as Henrietta (the American girl next door from Yonkers) were wonderful in their roles as Evangeline’s finishing school classmates whose post-graduation paths coincidentally intersect with hers time after time.  And their voices were magnificent; in fact, I thought that the diminutive Sara Jane Blackman’s rendition of The Boyfriend Back Home was the high point of the show.

Abe Goldfarb and Sorab Wadia deserve considerable praise too for their portrayals of the eight different characters (Pithers, Alexei, Ferdinand, Vassim, Andre, Heinz, Constantine, and Ali) who played such important and disparate roles in Evangeline’s quest to rid herself of her innocence (though if truth be told the distinctions among them were sometimes difficult to discern).  And mention must be made of Natalie E. Carter, the one black member of the cast who didn’t let that minor quirk of melanin prevent her from being sold into white slavery as Haidee or of portraying Evangeline’s Aunt Ermyntrude.  And she sure could belt out a song!

So there you have it.  Nymph Errant may not be much of a play per se but this production does allow a number of very talented actors to take star turns singing several of Cole Porter’s lesser tunes and a few of his better ones.  And for many of you, that may just be enough.    

Off Off Broadway: An Ideal Husband

Whitney Kaufman as Lady Gertrude Chiltern, Aaron Gaines as Sir Robert Chiltern, and Stuart Williams as Lord Arthur Goring.  Photo by Christopher Thompson.

We haven’t been to the theatre much recently, what with our trip to the Galapagos and other distractions, but now that we’ve settled back into our lives in New York, we’ve resumed our theatergoing with a vengeance.  And we’ve gotten off to a great start with Sink or Swim Rep’s splendid revival of Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband, running through July at the Connelly Theater on East 4th Street.  This is one of Wilde’s most epigrammatic and entertaining works, reflective of the difficulties he was encountering in his own life at the time of its creation in the 1890s and scathing in its indictment of Victorian hypocrisy.  And this production – from the sets to the costumes, from the direction to the casting, and especially the performances – more than does it justice.

When Mrs. Cheveley (Amanda Jones) unexpectedly arrives at a dinner party at the Grosvenor Square home of Sir Robert Chiltern (Aaron Gaines) and his wife, Lady Gertrude Chiltern (Whitney Kaufman) in London in 1895, it is quickly apparent that her arrival bodes no good for the Chilterns. Sir Robert is now an up and coming member of the House of Commons and a seemingly “ideal husband” but once, in his foolish youth, he provided cabinet secrets to a market speculator and his recompense from that insider trading transgression gave him the seed money from which his present fortune and power have been derived.  If that youthful transgression were ever to be revealed, Sir Robert would be disgraced and his family and future would be destroyed.  And Mrs.Cheveley knows all about it, she has an incriminating letter to prove it, and she’s just the one to use it.

Mrs. Cheveley is sinuously evil but she’s not dumb; she’s certainly self-interested; and she’s willing to let Sir Robert off the hook – but only for a price.  She will give him the incriminating letter and keep his secret - if he agrees to reverse his public opposition to a fraudulent scam involving the proposed building of an Argentine canal in which she has invested.  Having recognized the scam for what it is, Robert previously had made known his opposition to it but now, fearing the revelation of his past misdeed, he reluctantly agrees to Mrs. Chevely’s demand that he reverse course and endorse the project.

When the beautiful, educated, upright and elegant Lady Chiltern, an early exemplar of the Victorian “new woman,” unaware of Sir Robert’s youthful transgression and equally unaware of Mrs. Cheveley’s blackmail attempt, learns of Robert’s intention to speak in favor of the project in the House of Commons, she is stunned and outraged.  A woman of great propriety, she prevails on Sir Robert to reverse course yet again, to do the right thing, and to oppose the scam publicly.

On the horns of a dilemma, Sir Robert seeks guidance and assistance from his best friend, Viscount Arthur Goring (Stuart Williams), a dandyish, thirtyish, hedonistic ne’er-do-well whose character (other than his heterosexuality) is clearly based on that of Wilde himself.  (At the time of his writing this play, Wilde was himself fearful of exposure as an active homosexual and his rendition of Arthur may reflect that fear: it may go a long way toward explaining why Arthur is portrayed as the most understanding of the characters in the play, the one who is most sensitive to human weakness, the one who is least judgmental, the one who most believes in forgiveness for past sins, and the one who is most aware of and the most critical of Victorian hypocrisy, posturing and moral inflexibility.)  Arthur does come to Sir Robert’s aid, in more ways than one.

The resolution of Sir Robert’s predicament is complex, convoluted and great fun.  Along the way, we are constantly reminded that all is not black and white, that perhaps being the “ideal husband” (or the “ideal” anything for that matter) may not be all it’s cracked up to be, and that, perhaps, we all should be slower to judge and quicker to forgive.

The play’s principal actors – Aaron Gaines as Sir Robert Chilton, Whitney Kaufman as Lady Gertrude Chilton, Amanda Jones as Mrs. Cheveley, and Stuart Williams as Viscount Arthur Goring – are all perfectly cast and play their roles brilliantly.  But some of the other supporting actors deserve mention as well:  In particular, I would credit Peter Judd for his performance as Arthur’s father, the stuffy, hidebound Earl of Caversham; Jade Anderson for her portrayal of Mabel Chilton, Sir Robert’s more traditional sister who comes across as an amusing counterpoint to Robert’s more liberated wife, Gertrude; Emily Jon Mitchell, Rachel Niehiesel and Clemmie Evans for their wonderful Victorian caricatures of Lady Markby, Mrs. Marchmont and the Countess of Basildon, respectively; and Craig Mungavin in his perfunctory no nonsense role as Phipps, the minimalist butler.

If you see this production, and I hope you will, be forewarned: there is much that is politically incorrect about it, not least of which its overt sexism.  While the Earl of Caversham, for instance, eventually does admit that Mabel exhibits “a good deal of common sense,” that must be understood within the context of his earlier declaration that “Common sense is the privilege of our sex.”  And Arthur Goring’s claim that “A man’s life is of more value than a woman’s” is readily embraced by all – including Gertrude Chiltern, herself.

But that sexism was truly reflective of the times – the play, after all, was written in the 1890s – and Sink or Swim Rep is to be commended for not attempting to paper it over and for mounting a fine and honest production that is true to Wilde’s original intent.

Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands

Ezra, the iguanas and me in the Galapagos.

Those of you who know my grandson Ezra know that he is a budding scientist with an intense interest in biology, nature and animals.  That is why we offered to take him on a trip to the Galapagos Islands in celebration of his bar mitzvah (an offer that he readily accepted!).  What with school, summer camp, skiing and who knows what else, however, today’s teenagers lead such active lives that the earliest that Ezra could fit the trip into his busy schedule was this year – fully two years after his bar mitzvah.  As it turned out, that was probably all to the good because he probably got more out of the trip at 15 than he would have at 13.  And it gave Sue and me an extra two years to anticipate what turned out to be a wonderful experience.

Great Frigate Bird on Genovesa.  Photo by Ezra Hornik.

We planned the trip ourselves, doing most of our research on the internet and relying substantially on comments posted on Trip Adviser by travelers who had preceded us to the Galapagos.  That worked out very well.  Our first decision, to opt for a cruise rather a few days of island hopping from a single land based location, was correct: there is more than enough diversity on the several islands and they’re spread far enough apart to justify going the cruise route.  And our second decision, to spend a week at sea rather than just a few days or two weeks, worked out as well: seven nights at sea, rather than just four (or 14) turned out to be just enough for us (and not too much).

Sea Lion in the Galapagos.  Photo by Ezra Hornik.

There were lots of ships of different sizes for us to choose from but the reviews we read of the three yachts in the Ecovenutra line – the Eric, Flamingo and Letty - were uniformly positive, so that’s the line we chose.  We didn’t get to pick the specific ship – Ecoventura assigns you to one of their three vessels when you arrive – but the three ships are virtually identical in configuration and we had no way of distinguishing in advance among the crews of the three.  As it turned out, we were assigned to the Eric and we were more than satisfied. 

Pelican in the Galapagos.  Photo by Ezra Hornik.

We still had to make a couple of other decisions: our ship was scheduled to sail from San Cristobal, Ecuador on Sunday, June 10 but there are no flights from NY to San Cristobal; we would have to book an international flight to Quito, Ecuador or Guayaquil, Ecuador and then take a shuttle flight from there to San Cristobal.  Moreover, not only are there few flights from NY to Quito or Guayaquil but the connecting flights from Quito or Guayaquil to San Cristobal are notoriously unreliable and we didn’t want to risk missing our connections.  So we had to decide when to fly out of NY, whether to stay in Quito or Guayaquil, and where to stay in Quito or Guayaquil once we got there before embarking on our cruise.

Sea Turtle underwater in the Galapagos.  Photo by Ezra Hornik.

We chose to give ourselves plenty of time and to stay in Guayaquil: we booked a flight on American Airlines from NY to Miami on Thursday, June 7 with a connecting flight from Miami to Guayaquil that day.  And we booked a room at the Hampton Inn Downtown in Guayaquil.  Our plan was to spend Friday and Saturday in Guayaquil and then fly from there to San Cristobal on AeroGal on Sunday.  We chose to stay in Guayaquil rather than Quito because it is closer to San Cristobal; indeed, the AeroGal flight to San Cristobal takes off from Quito and stops in Guayaquil before going on to San Cristobal so it does save time (and a few dollars) to fly from Guayaquil rather than Quito.

Crabs in the Galapagos.  Photo by Ezra Hornik.

That being said, however, Guayaquil really isn’t that entertaining a town and it might have been a little more fun to have spent the time in Quito instead, but I’ll really never know.  There are a couple of small museums in Guayaquil, a large number of historic monuments, a long stretch of land to stroll along the waterfront boasting a rather non-descript mall and an equally non-descript market, a scattering of fast food and other forgettable restaurants, and an unusual park, Parque Bolivar, which is home to hundreds of iguanas roaming free.  If you do go to Guayaquil, check out the park; we didn’t find anything else there noteworthy.

Heron in the Galapagos.  Photo by Ezra Hornik.

The Hampton Inn Downtown is listed as a five star hotel and it certainly met our needs.  It was clean and inexpensive; it boasted a gym, spa and sauna; our room rate included a very satisfactory buffet breakfast; staff was very accommodating (if somewhat inefficient); the food at the hotel’s restaurant was surprisingly good; and the location is superb – within walking distance of the waterfront and the Parque Bolivar and only about a 15 minutes ride to the airport.  But a five star rating is a real stretch.  I’d probably give it three although it well may be as good as it gets in Guayaquil and, within that context, I would not hesitate to recommend it to you.

Iguana in the Galapagos.  Photo by Ezra Hornik.

On the morning of Sunday, June 10, we checked out of the hotel and took the hotel’s shuttle bus to the airport.  There we were met by Ecoventura’s representative who checked our baggage through for us and accompanied us on the short AeroGal flight to San Cristobal.  We were met in San Cristobal by another Ecoventura representative who arranged for our bags to be sent directly to our cabin on the Eric and who escorted us to the ship.

Manta Ray underwater in the Galapagos.  Photo by Ezra Hornik.

We boarded the Eric, were introduced to the captain, the crew and the other passengers and were shown to our cabin.  The Eric accommodates just 20 passengers in nine cabins and a crew of about 12 (including the captain, two guides, a first and second mate, two cooks, a bartender/waiter, a steward, an engineer and a couple of panga drivers). (A panga is a small raft-like vessel that transports passengers to and from the yacht and the islands).  Our cabin was a little small for the three of us but we spent virtually no time in it other than to sleep so it really didn’t present a problem.

Unknown fish in the Galapagos.  Photo by Ezra Hornik.

We were served a buffet lunch on the Eric and received a safety drill and then were promptly taken from the yacht by bus to La Calapaguera Cerro Colorado on San Cristobal Island where the National Park has established a breeding program for the land tortoises.  We saw these amazing creatures, many well over a century old, in their native habitat and learned about the threats to their continued existence and what the National Park is doing to save them.

Giant Land Tortoise.  Photo by Ezra Hornik.

Over the next several days, we visited eight other islands - Genovesa (also known as Tower Island), Santa Cruz, North Seymour, Fernandina, Isabela, Santiago, Rabida, and Santa Fe – before returning to San Cristobal.  In the course of our travels, we crossed the Equator six times and saw an incredible number of bird species including red footed boobies, blue footed boobies (my favorite), nazca boobies, storm petrels, great frigates, magnificent frigates, swallow tailed gulls, greater flamingos, pelicans, penguins, blue herons, lava herons, flightless cormorants, mockingbirds, and far too many others to mention.

Blue Footed Boobies.  Photo by Ezra Hornik.

The birds were astonishing but so were the land iguanas, marine iguanas, sea lions, crabs, lizards, sea turtles, giant land tortoises and large number of fish.  We were awakened every morning at about 6:45 AM, breakfasted on board the Eric, and then were transported by panga from the yacht to one of the islands (usually with a wet landing) where we were led by our guide on a walk of about a mile or more, sometimes on a beach, sometimes in the rocky remnants of a volcanic eruption.  That walk generally was followed by an opportunity to snorkel (an opportunity which Sue and I reluctantly forewent but which Ezra availed himself of every time and which probably represented the high points of the trip for him).

Another iguana in the Galapagos.  Photo by Ezra Hornik.

Following the walk and snorkel, we were returned to the Eric via panga for a buffet lunch.  In the afternoon, we visited another part of the island or another island entirely and were given another opportunity to snorkel.  Then it was back to the ship for a briefing on the next day’s activities, dinner and, by this time thoroughly exhausted, to bed.

Baby Sea Lion playing with Ezra underwater.  Photo by Ezra Hornik.

So here’s the bottom line.  The trip was phenomenal.  Sue and I participated in most (albeit not all) of the guided hikes.  Our guides were terrific, warm, knowledgeable and entertaining.  I thought that the meals were good but not great, but I’m a tough food critic: most of the other passengers on board raved about the food.  Accomodations were adequate.  Public areas were ample and the captain and crew were first rate.  We had a great time. 

More Sea Lions in the Galapagos.  Photo by Ezra Hornik.

And Ezra had the best time of all.  He was first on line for every meal, went on all the hikes and snorkeled at every opportunity, cavorting with baby sea lions underwater and photographing fish and turtles with his underwater camera.  Ah, to be 15 years old again!  

Off Off Broadway: Obama in Naples

L-R: Brian Childers, Elyse Knight and John Fennessy in OBAMA IN NAPLES.  Photo by Jonathan Staff.

It might not be necessary to be a first generation Italian to appreciate Obama in Naples, now premiering in translation from the original Italian at the June Havoc Theatre, but it certainly may help.  At least I think it might.  At the performance I attended yesterday, it seemed to me that more than half the audience consisted of first generation Italians and they certainly acted as if they enjoyed the production more than I did, at least based upon my reading of their frequent spontaneous outbursts of applause, chatter and laughter.
Perhaps it was that many of them actually had a firsthand knowledge of life in Naples – a knowledge I could not share, never having visited Naples myself.  Or maybe they were just culturally steeped in the historic beauty and tragedy that infuses Southern Italy in a way that I, not sharing their cultural history, simply cannot internalize.  Or maybe they just got some of the play’s “in jokes” that may have been lost on me.  I’m really not sure what the explanation is but the fact remains that I found the play, presented as a comedic musical, to be a not very entertaining muddle whereas I must admit that many others in the audience did appear to be quite entertained by it.

Obama in Naples was written by Claudio Angelini, a prominent Italian TV news anchor known as the Dan Rather of Italy. The play is billed as “a love poem to Naples with humor, satire and plenty of local color” and, indeed, it is both humorous and satiric in spots, but I do have difficulty seeing it as a “love poem to Naples.”  When I think of “love poems” to cities, I think of Woody Allen’s odes to Manhattan, Paris and Barcelona, and Obama in Paris just didn’t elicit any such reaction in me.

Obama in Paris is also billed as a funny, romantic play with songs about the dream of Neapolitan people to solve their problems through the "magic" of Barack Obama, the idea being that Neapolitans are especially susceptible to charismatic characters whom they perceive as potential saviors and that is a bit closer to the mark.  Apparently, more than thirty years ago, the Italian President Sandro Pertini inspired the people of Naples in the days following the disastrous earthquake that struck Southern Italy, and Neapolitans have been waiting ever since for another political savior to take his place. San Gennaro, the patron saint of Naples, hasn’t done the city much good of late - Naples remains riddled with political corruption, poverty, and organized crime – and maybe, just maybe, the charismatic young American President Obama can take over where Pertini left off.

Paolo (Brian Childers), an American journalist originally from Italy, has returned to Naples to write a story on the reconstruction of Southern Italy since the earthquake that devastated the area in 1980.  (Back then, as a journalist, he had accompanied Sandro Pertini on his trip throughout the area). Since then, however, Paolo has been living in the US covering the White House and, as a consequence, he is now mistaken for an Obama correspondent or advance man. Pulcinella (Beau Allen), who also plays the role of the concierge at the hotel where Paolo is staying, has spread the rumor that Obama plans to visit Naples, to inspire and revitalize the city as he has done (or at least attempted to do) in America.  When Obama (Toby Blackwell) coincidentally does arrive, he is welcomed as if he were the new San Gennaro, if not the Savior himself.

The play is rife with a variety of silly sub-plots.  Paolo encounters a former lover, Madeline (Elyse Knight, who also plays the role of Hillary Clinton) and her friend John, an undercover CIA Agent (John Fennessy).  Gennarino (David Goldyn), the corrupt mayor, struts about with his lovely girlfriend (Jenna Dellacco).  Lorenzo, an intelligent but bumbling and self-destructive medical researcher (Scott Johnson) is in debt to the Mafia, jeopardizing not only his own future but that of his girlfriend Maria (Lauren Maslanik).  And Lorenzo’s aunt, the feisty Mother Concetta (Lin Tucci), is succeeding in keeping virtually everyone off balance.

Despite my general misgivings about the play’s overall structure, there are a number of things about it that I really did like.  For starters, the musical score is quite good.  Moreover, the cast as a whole is quite talented, both as actors and as singers. Brian Childers, in particular, has an outstanding voice and both Lin Tucci and David Goldyn are comic geniuses.  And both Toby Blackwell’s takeoff on Obama and Elyse Knight’s on Hillary Clinton would have made for great skits on Saturday Night Live.

So maybe all those first generation Italians in the audience were right after all.

Brunch at Café Espanol

The matinee performance of The City Club at the Minetta Lane Theatre that we attended last Saturday (see our post below) wasn’t scheduled to begin until 3PM which left us plenty of time for brunch in Greenwich Village before the show.  We opted to try Café Espanol, located just a couple of blocks away on the corner of Bleecker and Sullivan Streets, and we’re really glad we did.

Café Espanol offers a complete lunch special for only $11.95 per person on weekdays and $13.95 on weekends.  The deal includes a glass of beer, wine or sangria; any of three different soups or a house salad; and a choice of nearly two dozen different main courses ranging from chicken to pork chops to seafood.  Coffee or tea and bread with olive oil are also included and, for an extra buck, you can also get your choice of flan or vanilla ice cream for dessert.

Both Sue and I started with large glasses of very good Sangria.  Sue then had the House Salad while I had a large bowl of Caldo Callego, a delicious potato, spinach and chorizo soup.  (The other two soups on the menu were gazpacho and black bean but those will have to await my next visit.)  For our main courses, both Sue and I chose paellas but her choice, Paella Marinera, consisted of all seafood, including shrimp, mussels, clams, scallops and calamari, while mine, Paella Valenciana, lacked the calamari but included a large piece of chicken and lots of sausage to boot.  We were both more than satisfied with our selections.

We shared one flan dessert (also good) and coffee.  Service and ambience were excellent.  It was a great value.  We thoroughly enjoyed our meals and definitely plan to return.