Julianna Margulies is back on Broadway, where she shines

 

Julianna Margulies is a marvel as she commands the stage at the James Earl Jones Theatre for nearly the entire 100 minutes of Delia Ephron’s Left on Tenth, the writer’s autobiographical play based on her best-selling memoir.  She’s absolutely radiant and a delight to watch as she portrays a middle-aged woman surprised to find love and romance six months after the death of Jerry, her beloved husband of 33 years, then is fully convincing as she lies in a hospital bed on the verge of death from leukemia, begging for release.  Why has she been away from the stage for so long?  She’s a natural.

Her last Broadway performance was in Festen in 2006.  I saw it but didn’t know who she was at the time so I don’t remember noticing her.  I loved her in her starring role as Alicia Florrick in the six-year run of “The Good Wife.”  She’s a natural for the small screen as well.  With one of the most expressive faces in the business, she was made for close-ups.

With only an awareness of her TV persona, I wasn’t prepared to be so wowed by her stage presence.  She’s a megawatt up there, looking fantastic in skinny black slacks and a large untucked shirt (costumes by Jeff Mahshie).  She gives that old workhorse, the romantic comedy, a brilliant shine.

Under Susan Stroman’s direction the story moves swiftly, and there’s a lot of story to reveal. Margulies as Ephron addresses the audience like a storyteller, unveiling her unusual background.  Born to “angry alcoholic parents,” a childhood in Beverly Hills, the second of four sisters, all writers.  “My childhood was scary, often violent.  With Jerry I found my first true home.  My first safe place.”

She was closest to her older sister, Nora, a writer, director and “reinventor of the romantic comedy.  We collaborated on screenplays for many of the movies she directed.  She often said we shared half a brain.”

Nora died of leukemia in 2012; Jerry of prostate cancer in 2015, “both with long illnesses before.”

For all of this she is alone on stage, except for a few minor characters coming and going.  Scenic designer Beowulf Boritt’s oval-shaped study with floor-to-ceiling books looks as if it could be behind the façade of the beautiful brownstones on Tenth Street in Greenwich Village.  It’s delightful not only to hear her tell her story, but to see her gracefully tap dance around the room as she relives the tap dancing she and Jerry used to do.

The seismic shift in her life, after so many seismic shifts, occurs after she writes an essay about her frustration dealing with Verizon, her phone and Internet carrier, that is published in the New York Times.  She receives an email from Peter (Peter Gallagher), a Jungian psychoanalyst and widower in the San Francisco Bay area who tells her they dated while she was in college after being introduced by Nora.  She has no memory of him but is intrigued enough to begin exchanging emails, followed by phone calls.  Then Peter comes to town and after a slightly awkward first date they continue getting to know each other until they both realize they can love again.  And survive Delia’s cancer, which they do together.  Peter flies back to San Franciso to let his patients know he will be gone for at least six weeks, then sleeps on a cot in Delia’s room.  Recognizing the fragility of her condition he proposes and they enjoy a hospital wedding, complete with friends.

The difference in locations is portrayed mostly by Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew’s projections set above and behind the wall of the study.  They portray the Empire State and Chrysler Buildings on the right and rain on the left.  In one playful scene Yew even gives us a white shadow man silhouette to dance beside Margulies.  The hospital is a sterile white with little more than the bed and cot.  Lighting designers Ken Billington and Itohan Edoloyi create the chilly atmosphere of a hospital.

Kate MacCluggage and Peter Franics James skillfully play about a dozen featured characters, doctors, a Verizon repair man and friends.  Left on Tenth runs through Feb. 2. 

The Notebook The Musical “Lights The Stage in Teal” On Friday, November 1

 

This Friday, November 1, The Notebook The Musical will join more than 1,300 sites around the world to “Light the World in Teal,” bringing awareness to Alzheimer's disease as National Alzheimer's Awareness Month continues throughout November. Teal is the Alzheimer's Foundation of America's Alzheimer's awareness color.

Following that evening's performance at the Schoenfeld Theatre on Broadway, cast members from The Notebook will deliver brief remarks to the audience as the stage is illuminated in teal. The event will honor the more than 55 million people worldwide who live with Alzheimer's or a related dementia.

AFA's Light the World in Teal initiative is designed to shine a spotlight on the growing, international health issue of Alzheimer's, which impacts more than 6.7 million Americans and more than 55 million people worldwide. The annual program, one of AFA's signature Alzheimer's awareness initiatives, takes place in November as part of Alzheimer's Awareness Month.  Last year, more than 1,000 sites around the world participated in the initiative, including sites in all 50 states in the U.S. and 13 foreign countries.

“Light the World in Teal aims to literally shine a spotlight on Alzheimer's disease and show support for the millions of people living with it,” said Charles J. Fuschillo, Jr., AFA's President and CEO. “Every site that signs up, whether it's a multi-story building or a single-family home, helps to highlight the issue of Alzheimer's disease. Sign up to shine up in teal for Alzheimer's awareness on November 1 by contacting AFA at 866-232-8484 or visiting www.lighttheworldinteal.com.”  

Based on the bestselling novel by Nicholas Sparks that inspired the iconic film, the new musical The Notebook is playing on Broadway through Sunday, December 15 before kicking off a 2025 national tour in Cleveland, OH, with other cities to be announced. Produced by Kevin McCollum and Kurt Deutsch, The Notebook features music and lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson and a book by playwright Bekah Brunstetter (writer and producer on NBC's “This Is Us,” The Cake). The production is directed by Michael Greif (Dear Evan Hansen, Next to Normal, RENT) and Schele Williams (Aida, The Wiz), with choreography by Katie Spelman (Associate Choreographer on Moulin Rouge! The Musical).

The cast of The Notebook features Tony Award-winner Maryann Plunkett as Older Allie, Dorian Harewood as Older Noah, Aisha Jackson as Middle Allie, Ryan Vasquez as Middle Noah, Anna Zavelson as Younger Allie, Benji Santiago as Younger Noah, Andréa Burns as Mother/Nurse Lori, Carson Stewart as Johnny/Fin. Playing various roles are Yassmin Alers, Alex Benoit, Chase Del Rey, Hillary Fisher, Jerome Harmann-Hardeman, Dorcas Leung, Happy McPartlin, Juliette Ojeda, Kim Onah, Charles E. Wallace and Charlie Webb.

Allie and Noah, two people from different worlds, share a lifetime of love despite the forces that threaten to pull them apart in a deeply moving portrait of the enduring power of love. The musical is based on the book that has sold millions of copies worldwide and a film that is one of the highest-grossing romantic dramas of all-time.

The Notebook features scenic design by David Zinn and Brett J. Banakis, costume design by Paloma Young, lighting design by Ben Stanton, sound design by Nevin Steinberg, hair and wig design by Mia Neal, and projection design by Lucy Mackinnon. The production's music supervisor is Carmel Dean, who also collaborated on arrangements with Ingrid Michaelson and on orchestrations with John Clancy, and the music director is Geoffrey Ko. Casting by The Telsey Office, Patrick Goodwin, CSA.

The revival of 'Sunset Blvd.' in one word: DARK

The atmosphere is set from the moment you enter the St. James Theatre where British director Jamie Lloyd’s revival of Andrew Lloyd Webbers’ Sunset Blvd. opened last night.  The house lights were so dim I couldn’t read the Playbill.  Even before the first note from the orchestra, the theme of darkness was pervasive. 

Banking on the success of his Olivier Award-winning London production earlier this year, Lloyd is taking the chance that American audiences will appreciate two and a half hours of bleakness.  In his desire to tap into the grim 1950 film noir of the same title, Lloyd recreates that sensibility as much as possible.  Past Broadway productions have not been this stark and dark. I saw the 2017 revival with Glenn Close, who also starred in the original 1994 Broadway production, but it was much more subtle and so not as depressing. 

Soutra Gilmour’s costumes are all black and white.  In the first act the chorus of dancers wear black T-shirts except for a couple of white ones, black pants and black sneakers. They look as if they’ve stepped out of a Gap ad.  The attire is an appropriate match for Fabian Aloise’s athletic choreography.  

In the second act the women wear black slip dresses although they fade into the background in comparison to the ultimate wearer of a black slip dress, Nicole Scherzinger as Norma Desmond, the former Hollywood silent film star now living in obscurity in her mansion with her ever-attentive manservant, Max (Olivier nominee David Thaxton).  Railing thin with straight shiny black hair that falls past her shoulders, the Olivier Award winner and Grammy nominee is the self-involved ice queen devoid of any humanity.  Her dancer’s body, in that clinging black dress for the entire show, is as flexible as rubber.  She is, as she should be, always the center of attention whether it’s as her fully dimensional self or one of the distracting projections.

Gilmour is also credited as scenic designer but not one speck of scenery is used.  It’s just the big, black stage and designer Jack Knowles’ appropriately joyless lighting and lots of smoke and fog. Not one drop of color appears until the final blood-streaked scene.  OK, we get the idea of a black and while film but just in case someone doesn’t, the actors appear in film projections behind them, some reaching as high as the proscenium.  It’s effectively eerie but overdone.  Nathan Amzi and Joe Ransom provide the video design and cinematography.

I did like their filming of Joe Gillis (Oliver winner Tom Frances), the down-on-his-luck screenwriter who ends up moving into Desmond’s mansion to write a script to bring about her “return” to Hollywood (she hates the term “come back”).  In a scene I don’t understand but enjoyed, Gillis is filmed, in black and white, of course, backstage in his dressing room, then walking through the Theatre District followed by the dancers and stared at by the mingled tourists and theatergoers.

The scenes without the filming and without the chorus were the most effective for me, thanks to Max who is the only one who truly loves Desmond.  With the three of them alone on the black stage and a spotlight focus on them -- Desmond in the middle with the men on either side of her -- he reveals that he is her first of many husbands and that he has been sending the fan mail that she is so proud to still be receiving and that he faked a call from Paramount Studios asking her to make a new film.  “I made her a star and I will not let her be destroyed,” he sings.  He’s a big bruiser of a man but he’s the heart of the show.

Were I not a Drama Desk voter I would have happily passed on seeing this show again.  The anxiety of our close election is too upsetting.  We need a little Jerry Herman, right this very minute.  Mame, please.