Next to Normal Dramaturgy

By Sabrina Khan

*Warning – this article contains spoilers about the play*

Next to Normal is a rock musical about a psychologically ill mother and the conflicts she faces as she and her family cope with her problems. The musical bursts with powerful language portraying the gravity of grief, frustration, depression, and love this family feels and shares.

Next to Normal was originally called Feeling Electric when it was conceived as a 10-minute sketch in 2002. The story then revolved around suburban mother Diana Goodman receiving electroshock therapy as her husband Dan and daughter Natalie react to it and its effects on her. This draft focused heavily on a criticism of the medical practice, instead of the family’s pain.

It transformed into that much later with several changes through readings at different stages of its journey. And in 2008, Next to Normal was produced off Broadway at the Second Stage Theatre for the first time under its current name.

Throughout the show, Diana undergoes many different treatments because psychological disorders often cannot be classified as single illnesses with simple labels. Each person experiences their conditions differently and is treated on a custom basis, often mixing drugs and therapy. On a particular tragic occasion, Diana has a serious breakdown and her doctor recommends electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).

ECT is the standard course of treatment for drug-resistant patients who are imminently suicidal. One side effect of ECT is memory loss, which is a major point of contention in the story. Diana decides to go through with it, and though she seems to improve, she also suffers considerable amnesia. The treatment ends up solving little, and the show portrays only shows the downsides of the practice.

Next to Normal so attempts to have a musical conversation about psychological disorders and the means to alleviate them through the breakdown of this family. It’s worth gaining a fair knowledge about the issues it discusses before going in blind to this heartbreaking production.

Fences Dramaturgy

by Sabrina Khan

Fences, by August Wilson, is a 1983 play that reflects of the African American struggle for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—rights owed to every US citizen—during the Civil Rights Movement era. Set in 1957 through 1965 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the play explores complex themes of family conflicts and relationships, unwavering friendship during trying times, and integration among blacks and whites.

The play portrays the reality of the Black experience in the US in the midst and wake of Jim Crow laws. One such way the play alludes to historical context to serve as the foundation of the story is through the family name “Maxson,” a play on the words Mason and Dixon, from the Mason Dixon line, which was an imaginary border that separated the slave states from the free in 1820. It conveys the connection Troy bears between the unjust South he had leaves early on to become an urban citizen and the North that serves him little better.

Late playwright August Wilson, a prolific and influential writer to this day, told such a story by weaving together the threads that were the conditions of his own life. Wilson was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1945 and was raised in an environment where he became intimately familiar with poverty and racial discrimination. A remarkably intelligent individual, Wilson felt his academic curriculum unchallenging and often encountered prejudice in school. He educated himself in the local library, immersing himself in great works, and wrote poetry and short stories. Though Wilson wanted to be a writer, he and his mother were at odds because she wanted him to be a lawyer, and so he was compelled to leave home. He then enlisted in the US Army in 1962 for a year and returned to working odd jobs afterward.

In the 1960s, Wilson established himself as a playwright through the Yale School of Drama where the Dean of the Drama School, Lloyd Richards, saw extreme potential in him. Wilson and Richards collaborated on Broadway, and Wilson created the first of many works thereafter, Black Cart and the Sacred Hills. Fences soon followed, along with Joe Turner's Come and Gone, The Piano Lesson, and more. Fencesand The Piano Lesson both won Pulitzer Prizes for Drama in 1987 and 1990 respectively.

Fences opened in 1987 to great critical acclaim, and earned many Tony Awards, including Best Play. Since then, an entirely new cast has taken the responsibility to show another generation the still extremely relevant and poignant the story of Fences.

Lend Me a Tenor Interview

Plogger Sabrina went backstage to talk with Mary Catherine Garrison about her role in Lend Me a Tenor!

Sabrina: You've done a variety of plays that include Accent on Youth, The Man Who Came to Dinner, and many others. Do you like doing period pieces? What attracts you to this era of the '30s and '40s?

Mary Catherine: I actually really do like doing period pieces, but I don't necessarily seek them out. That time period was sort of a golden time for American theater so there are frequent revivals of plays from then, and, like our play, you have writers who have a lot of affection for that genre and then set plays in that time period. Personally, I enjoy doing GOOD plays--whether modern or a revival. But I do have a special place in my heart for the 20s, 30s, and 40s. I love films and music from then--and I'm al

so fascinated by their lifestyle. The hair, the clothes, the social norms--I love seeing inside a diner from the 30s--all the little details just fascinate me.

Sabrina: After having done both, what do you think is tougher, drama or comedy?

Mary Catherine: The honest answer is that they're both tough, but in different ways. I would say that a rehearsal for a comedy is tougher--only because you spend a lot of time not being funny until you find the funny, or doing the same jokes for the same people in the same room who can't laugh at it anymore. But doing a run of a play that asks a lot of you emotionally--eight shows a week of screaming and crying--that's a whole other animal. Right now, I'm really happy to be in a light, silly comedy!

Sabrina: In the play, your character, Maggie, wants a fling. What do you think that really means in terms of 1934? In your opinion, do you think this want ever really gets satisfied?

Mary Catherine: The writer, Ken Ludwig, obviously wrote this play in the 1980s and set it in 1934, so I'm thinking there are some liberties taken with some period behavior here :) The truth is, though, that people in the 30s--and any other time period, for that matter--were having sex and fooling around and had sexual desire and all of that. Whether you would have announced it to your fiance at that time, I'm not so sure. I think the want gets satisfied in a way she wasn't expecting: she had underestimated Max (played by Justin Bartha) and gets to experience him in a whole new light--which ends up being much better than a fling could have been.

Sabrina: Can you relate to Maggie? Or is she different from yourself or anyone you've ever played?

Mary Catherine: I almost always feel like there is plenty to relate to in any character I play. They may not be exactly like me or want exactly what I want, but they are people who want something so we always have that in common--after that you just have to get into and believe in the specifics.

Sabrina: What is your typical warm-up before getting on stage? Is there any particular song or exercise that pumps you up?

Mary Catherine: I'm finding that every show is different for me. I do a little yoga and a short vocal warm-up in my dressing room in this particular show, I want to go onstage (since I start the show) with my energy high so I've been blasting music that I don't normally listen to--like Guns-n-Roses and AC/DC and other random pop stuff to get the blood pumping.

Sabrina: What is it like working with such a dynamic and star-studded cast?

Mary Catherine: As famous and dynamic as they are--they are also an incredibly generous group of people who know a lot about comedy and about finding the jokes and I love them all immensely. We're still thrilled to be onstage together and still working. An example: the other night I was backstage with Tony and Justin and told them about a laugh I had lost which I had been getting since the beginning and I couldn't figure out what I was doing differently and what I needed to do. So in the dimly lit backstage area while whispering, the three of us talked it out and tried out a couple of things and solved it and I got my laugh back! They're also a hilarious group so we laugh a whole lot. There's nothing better.

Sabrina: What has been your most memorable onstage or backstage experience?

Mary Catherine: Fortunately or unfortunately, this particular cast has quite a few individuals who break easily on stage (by 'break' I mean laugh) and because there are some funny moments with some real funny actors, we have all--except a few who seem to be made of steel and are clearly more professional than the rest of us--lost it on stage. The audience loves it so my feeling is that if its genuine its fine. But as much as the audience loves it, we're having an even better time. It's such a wonderful job to be able to make people laugh!

Read Sabrina's review of Lend Me a Tenor and check out a backstage video here!

Lend Me a Tenor

by Sabrina Khan 

When it comes to comedy, delivery is everything. The cast of Lend Me Tenor makes that clear in every single scene of the hilarious play written by Ken Ludwig and directed by Stanley Tucci. Set in a hotel suite in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1934, the stage is divided into two elaborately decorated rooms. The atmosphere is vibrant and classic, costumes similarly glamorous, and the tones of the actors appropriately melodramatic.

When neurotic Cleveland opera producer, Saunders (Tony Shaloub, Monk), hires the world renowned Italian tenor, Tito Morelli (Anthony LaPaglia, Without a Trace), to star in Othello, he expects him to arrive on time and be ready to perform. Max (Justin Bartha, The Hangover), his daughter, Maggie’s (Mary Catherine Garrison, Accent on Youth) foolish boyfriend, is his assistant and responsible for ensuring that Tito is focused on the premiere. The three, expecting him to arrive solo to his hotel room, are surprised to find him finally enter with his hot-tempered wife, Maria (Jan Maxell, The Royal Family). She proceeds to yell at her husband for eating too much on the way and accuses him of having women in the hotel room.

Saunders leaves Max to convince him to take a nap. Max secretly mixes a tonic in his drink to do the trick, totally ignorant of the fact that Tito had already taken pills in an impassioned response to his wife‘s bickering. Completely intoxicated, Tito even has Max sing to him after Max tells him about his own vocal ambitions. He finally falls asleep, distraught because he finds out moments before that his wife has left him.

When Max attempts to wake Tito, he finds him completely still and panics that he is dead.He informs Saunders, who goes mad with rage because he thinks of the tickets that must be refunded. He devises a plan to have Max sing the tenor’s part and wear the costume for Othello, with blackface and all. He would fool the audience and the company until having to announce Tito’s death early the next morning. “Nobody will know,” he convinces the reluctant Max. Little do they realize that Tito is still alive. It’s one farce after another and the actors do a tremendous job of refreshing the humor.

A play of operatic proportions, Lend Me Tenor, is a surefire hit. Each role, large or small, has its own flair and the dynamic between the characters is well balanced. The actors truly compliment each other, making the play an arena for witty verbal jousting. Lend Me Tenor is simply genuinely funny and suitable for all audiences.

TICKETS: $26.50 general rush • Music Box Theatre, 239 W. 45th St.

Memphis Dramaturgy

by Sabrina Khan

Memphis, a new musical that soulfully narrates the birth of Rock ‘n’ Roll, is Broadway’s live history book of a time when music engaged the nation to acknowledge and take action
against racial discrimination.

In the show, young Huey Calhoun has a passion for rhythm and blues, and he visits an underground black club to listen to music. There he meets Felicia Farrell, a young black singer, who becomes Huey’s inspiration to bring “race music” to mainstream culture. Although the genre gains instant popularity among American youth, Huey is constantly met with hostility from conservative (often older) white people who want to censor it from the media.

Based on actual accounts, Memphis is set in a period of American history spanning The Great Migration, leading into the Civil Rights Movement, all amidst the origins of Rock ‘n’ Roll.

During the years of 1910-1970, over six and a half million black migrants moved from the South to the North in the hopes of escaping segregation and gaining greater standards of living. In 1910, 80% of the black population lived in the South, and because of The Great Migration, by 1970, only 25% remained. Unfortunately, the North didn’t offer the haven the migrants had hoped for and racism was rampant.

Facing discrimination in all walks of life, harsh treatment from employers, violence from the Ku Klux Klan, and segregation in the South, African Americans began to fight for equal opportunities and rights. Major strides were made in this fight: the Brown v. Board of Education decision that declared segregation in schools unconstitutional, Rosa Parks’ protest and successful Montgomery Bus Boycott led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Kansas, to name a few. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s paved the way for greater change in the next decade.

Finally, Rock ‘n’ Roll emerged as a youthful and rebellious call for change that defied the structure and rules of the past generation. The music enveloped all that conservative America tried to suppress - a sense of freedom and raw energy that was heavily influenced by black musical roots. A fusion of rhythm and blues, soul and gospel, Rock ‘n’ Roll, was much too political and risqué, but radio stations, a platform for divide, were willing to take a chance on it and made legends of artists like Elvis Presley. With a voice criticized for sounding “too black”, Elvis sang and danced controversy in his tunes and demonstrated the feel of the time. And when disc jockey Alan Freed coined the term Rock ‘n’ Roll in the early 1950s, he made an amazing addition to the recording industry and mainstream media.

Read a review of Memphis here

and an interview with the stars here

The Pride

by Sabrina Khan

It’s 1958 and Sylvia, Philip and Oliver are struggling to find love and come to terms with their sexuality. Shoot forward to 2008 and now they are trying to discern the fine line between love and lust and find true companionship. Caught in “an erotic time warp,” The Pride tells the story of two sets of three individuals with the same names and how they deal with the hardships of love amidst each society’s sexual attitudes during the two different time periods.

In 1958, Philip is in deep denial of his sexual orientation. An incredibly virile man who finds “effeminate” men “offensive,” Philip finds his world turned upside down when his wife Sylvia introduces him to Oliver, and the two develop a private relationship that he eventually deems the cause of a mental disorder.

Heavily manipulated by the 1950s views on the issue, Philip refuses to accept the truth and tries to lead a “normal” life with little consideration for Sylvia who, in turn, never gets the chance to feel the kind of bond with her husband that he once shared with Oliver. Victims of his betrayal, Oliver and Sylvia recognize their positions, but the pressures of the era silence their emotions and their lives are forcefully and heart wrenchingly dictated by Philip’s actions.
 

The production fast-forwards to 2008, where Oliver personally identifies himself as a sexual deviant. He is completely in love with Philip but constantly seeks meaningless encounters with anonymous men. As a loyal partner, Philip cannot accept this and leaves Oliver. A weakened and heartsick man, he finds solace in their mutual best friend, Sylvia. Sylvia meanwhile tries to find her own happiness, but often finds herself wedged between Oliver and Philip, helping them to solve their issues. In the present, all three realize how much has changed, but they also know that as “free” as they may finally be, obstacles still exist. Amidst this thickening drama, Sylvia dramatically and comically reveals that there is more to the gay community than a great knowledge of draperies and culinary instinct. There is a whole past of struggle and hope that enables them to show their pride.

Led by a stellar cast, The Pride is a passionate and potent play that recounts the progress of homosexuality in the public eye. It is a truly intense show with moments of profound and frightening impact that will be memorable to all those who open their minds to it.

TICKETS: $15 student rush thru 3/28 - Lucille Lortel Theatre, 121 Christopher St

The Understudy Dramaturgy

by Sabrina Khan 

Theresa Rebeck’s The Understudy, a satirical comedy about the least coveted role in a play, portrays theatre’s social pyramid through the imaginary pages of a nonexistent Franz Kafka play. 20^th century Prague fiction writer, Kafka, is known for his magical realistic manner of writing that exhibit a senseless direction. His major works are The Metamorphosis (1912), The Trial (1925), and The Castle (1926), all of which are alluded to in The Understudy. To express this magical realism, their protagonists undergo strange experiences in a dream world that they cannot escape from. Kafka manages to make these stories sound completely credible.

Born in 1883 into a large and dysfunctional middle-class Jewish family, Kafka developed a brooding and pessimistic outlook apparent in his novels. He held a few “bread jobs,” as described by his overbearing father, for doing things just to pay the bills. He also studied law and earned a degree in the subject. He worked as a law clerk for civil and criminal courts and learned a great deal about the government and justice system, which he heavily incorporated in his novels. Later in his life, he suffered from tuberculosis and left his works to close friend, Max Brod, whom he’d met in law school. He’d asked Brod to burn them, but luckily, Brod did just the opposite, and we owe him for the incredible contributions Kafka has made to literature.

To better understand the underlying concepts of The Understudy, one must understand the essence of Kafka’s texts. Kafka’s works convey a distortion of family, a lack of trust in the law, and a pessimistic view of bureaucracy (which he saw as a tangled web deceiving citizens). For instance, Josef K, the protagonist in The Trial, is caught in this web when he is convicted of certain charges and never learns the nature of his crime. The character known only as K in The Castle, is a man who struggles with authorities for a job in a castle and eventually dies before competing the task. Tragic hero, Gregor Samsa, is a man who becomes an insect overnight in The Metamorphosis, and faces a family that he realizes barely cares for him although he has sacrificed all his wishes just to satisfy their needs.

Jake and Harry’s fictional role in The Understudy envelops all three of these characters. Both share a part that shows a despairing and alienated man undergoing an investigation before ultimately losing his mind.

Oleanna

by Sabrina Khan 

Picture yourself as a professor whose ideals conflict with a student’s. What lengths would you go to in order to stay true to your beliefs?  How far would you go to protect yourself, or achieve success, if it meant betraying your ideals? How would you recognize it if you already had?

Now, imagine that you are a student whose beliefs challenge your professor’s authority. You follow your beliefs completely, but you take extreme measures. You ruin everything the professor has worked for. How would you justify your actions? 

Both the professor and the student end up in a sticky situation, so which would you rather be? In the end, whatever side you take, you’re wrong.

David Mamet’s Oleanna explores such profound questions and the invisible battle lines drawn within the professor-student relationship. Bill Pullman and Julia Stiles, who play John (the professor) and Carol (the student), both give tremendous performances in this stunning look into the complexities of academic hierarchy.

The entire play takes place in the John’s spacious office and opens as he answers a phone call while Carol waits to speak. The first act can be difficult to follow because most of the dialogue is delivered in fragments. We soon discover, however, that John is in the process of gaining tenure. Meanwhile, Carol is distraught because she is lost in the classroom and refuses to fail, at least not without a fight. A simple discussion about Carol’s grades and her inability to understand John’s book escalates into an argument about his teaching methods. Soon enough, the roles are reversed and Carol gains more control over the situation than John or the audience expects. According to her, John is guilty of sexual exploitation and now runs the risk of losing his job. At this juncture, both are sharply abused by the other and push one another to the brink of sanity and us to the edge of our seats.

The script blazes with brilliant discourse fired from both characters. As the audience, we become emotionally invested and take sides, but we find it difficult to completely support either character. As Carol provokes John, we understand his anger, and as he attempts to pacify and patronize her, we feel her degradation. One wonders if John is right about education when he says that it is just “prolonged and systematic hazing,” and one considers Carol’s right to doubt his ability as an educator. How can he conceive of such an idea while teaching those who hope to learn?  It is all a matter of power—who has it and who can manipulate it to his or her advantage.

Oleanna makes immense social and political commentary. Mamet compels us to critically view the educational platform and see that the same problems exist in every leader-subject dynamic.

It is no coincidence that the play, originally written in 1992, was Mamet’s response to the highly publicized Anita Hill - Clarence Thomas hearings. Thomas, currently an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, came under fire during his 1991 confirmation hearings when Hill, an attorney who used to work for him, testified that he had sexually harassed her. He was confirmed despite the allegations, but the truth behind them is still debated to this day.

Oleanna is an intensely powerful show sure to provoke the mind of any audience member.

HOW TO SEE THE SHOW: $25 Student Rush • Golden Theatre, 252 W. 45th Street

Baby Wants Candy Improvised Musical with Full Band

by Sabrina Khan

Baby Wants Candy The Completely Improvised Full Band Musical is sure to be on everyone’s list of Fringe favorites. A totally different show every time you see it, the cast performs an entirely improvised 60 minute musical based on any title that the audience shouts out.

Immediately I questioned, "Wherever could they go with something like 'A Scotsman in Thailand'?" But the response was just as immediate. The band played an oriental theme and the actors assumed floral positions and spot-on (what they jokingly called) choreography. From then on, there was non-stop laughter (and tears from too much laughter) at the dramatic comedy that ensued.

The six-person ensemble, made up of three women and three men, often played multiple roles and opposite genders yet never once confused the audience. This just made the show even more hilarious. There was never a dull moment as these talented performers sang ridiculous yet catchy songs right off the top of their heads. The band, directed by acclaimed musician and pianist in this production, Jody Shelton, was just as incredible, composing a perfect yet never before heard or rehearsed soundtrack along with the actors' inventions.

Recommended to theatre lovers and mature audiences, Baby Wants Candy The Completely Improvised Full Band Musical is a crowd pleaser that will not disappoint. Although teens will definitely enjoy it, a fair warning goes out to those not interested in vulgarity. Don't miss it!

http://babywantscandy.com/

VOTE!

by Sabrina KhanVOTE!, a new musical, is about a student council election that makes the candidates question and define ethics in a rather quirky manner, all the while representing and paralleling the American democratic system that shook the nation in 2008. Starring Baily Hanks, of Broadway's Legally Blonde: The Musical, the production has an excellent cast and crew.

Muffin, the captain of the cheerleading squad (played by Hanks), Mark, the smartest kid in school, and Nikki, the timid do-gooder, are all running for student council president in the most intense election yet at Green Valley High School. The campaigns are built upon lies, corruption, mudslinging and allusions to politicians who behaved in a similar nature. Meanwhile, each candidate discovers what he or she really means to achieve – a true identity, not just the face on the fliers.

The actors were truly wonderful and their performances even better. The music sounds a lot like the best of Broadway, but unlike them, the plot of VOTE! lacks real substance – not much to think about. Though there are no profound statement, there are moments of political commentary that inspire a little laughter.

Just like High School Musical and Legally Blonde, VOTE! is sure to entertain teens interested in a good time.

Ruined

By Sabrina Khan

Lynn Nottage’s Ruined is an intense and sexually charged drama that draws the audience to the stage. Ruined tells the heroic tale of Mama Nadi and the young women she harbors in the war ridden Democratic Republic of Congo. While several factions of militia and rebel forces tear the villages apart and destroy the lives of its inhabitants, Mama Nadi discovers a way to remain safe—by consorting with these very factions.


Set in a quaint village bar, the play begins in a rather lighthearted manner. Mama Nadi is busy cleaning when she is visited by the “Professor,” a salesman who brings her supplies such as lipstick and condoms. They discuss business in a humorous tone, but the mood shifts when The Professor offers Mama Nadi some additional cargo—Sophie and Salima, two homeless young women. It turns out that Mama Nadi provides more services than just food and drink. Her innocent pub is actually a brothel that serves all of the men fighting in the war. We soon meet Josephine, the most popular prostitute, who helps Mama Nadi run the business.

Mama Nadi makes no distinction between those she welcomes, as long as they follow her one rule of not bringing loaded weapons into the bar. At first it seems that Mama Nadi is safe from conflict because she shows no loyalty to either side, but her flexibility makes her even more vulnerable.


Sophie, Salima, and Josephine tell their stories throughout the play. Each story about their ruin is more heartbreaking than the last and moves the audience to sympathize with these women who must sell their bodies to the very men who stole them from their homes. Sophie, the most physically scarred of these women, is exempt from the usual brothel duties and takes on singing and bookkeeping to pay for her room and board. Her singing is the only soothing aspect of Ruined, the music of which exemplifies the essence of the struggle of the citizens of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Ruined pays homage to the women who have no voice of their own. It is as suspenseful as it is moving and will not disappoint.

How to see the show: New York City Center, Stage I, 131 W. 55th St. Visit www.mtc-nyc.org for schedule and more information.