Directors who understand that plays and musicals need to be in conversation with their times have given three well-known Broadway productions drastic makeovers this fall.
Not everyone agrees with this idea. There are theater enthusiasts—purists, if you will—who would rather witness a piece of art the way its creator intended. According to this perspective, the director’s role is to realize the playwright’s vision. However, the vision of an artist is open to interpretation, or reinterpretation. Art creates spaces that encourage group dreaming. Shakespeare is able to maintain the mirror to nature in this way.
Some might contend that the extent to which a work can be reconstructed in the interpreter’s image is limited. However, in “The Empty Space,” director Peter Brook reminds us that “a play may not make a sound if you just let it speak.” You have to summon the sound from the play if you want it to be heard.
Three directors with little in common—Jamie Lloyd, Sam Gold, and Kenny Leon—evoke surprising sounds from revivals that defy audience expectations. Some very familiar locales have something new to offer.
Following its success in London’s West End, Lloyd has taken his spectacular (and sensationalizing) production of “Sunset Blvd.”, which stars a nuclear Nicole Scherzinger, to Broadway. A “Romeo + Juliet” in the form of a rave has been presented by Gold, who has been dissecting the Shakespeare canon. Additionally, Leon has transformed Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town” to reflect the heterogeneous America of today.
Notwithstanding its demographic shifts, Leon’s “Our Town,” which is filled with spirituals from a variety of religious traditions, fully embraces interracial relationships, and welcomes other types of diversity that would have probably been marginalized in the Grover’s Corners that Wilder envisioned, feels perfectly in line with the play’s overall tone. In contrast, Lloyd’s “Sunset Blvd.” blares away without consequence to produce a completely other experience: a dynamic multimedia performance where Don Black and Christopher Hampton’s lyrics and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s music are liberated from the procedural nature of Black and Hampton’s book.
Gold’s “Romeo + Juliet” looks, sounds, and undoubtedly smells like teen spirit in a production that aims to rekindle a new generation’s passion for the play—yet another directorial ploy. Shakespeare’s tragedy is reimagined as a wild party with the welcoming raucousness of an epic party hosted by the LGBTQ+ characters from “Heartstopper,” and Kit Connor (from “Heartstopper”) and Rachel Zegler (María in Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story”) make a captivating (if mismatched) Gen Z Romeo and Juliet.
As the credits roll for the show, Lloyd, a British theater director with continental European mannerisms, is given prominent billing onstage. With Webber’s approval, the director employs many of his trademark techniques, which are recognizable to viewers of his 2023 Broadway adaptation of “A Doll’s House” (starring Jessica Chastain) or his creative (and heavily intoxicated) “Cyrano de Bergerac,” which rightfully received praise at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2022.
Lloyd’s method is not illustration. By separating the characters and their lines, he abstracts the written content. In order to disembodie voices, microphones jumble discourse. The camera is unquestionably king in Billy Wilder’s 1950 picture, “Sunset Blvd.” With its darkened stage and fog from movie projectors, it appears to be a studio set where dreams are created using both more conventional Hollywood methods and live projections.
Strolling around the stage with the confidence of an Instagram influencer, Scherzinger’s reincarnated Norma Desmond needs to be prepared at all times for her selfie. The surprising thing about the casting is that Scherzinger doesn’t look like a washed-up movie queen at all. Gorgeous to look at, she appears timeless on stage — until, that is, Hannah Yun Chamberlain’s Young Norma emerges from the background and the lines on the elder Norma’s face are displayed in high resolution for everyone to see.
Lloyd’s concept of celebrity is quite new. You don’t have to rely on Cecil B. DeMille for your close-up in this reinterpretation of “Sunset.” Like firearms, cameras are commonplace and equally hard to regulate.
The poor screenwriter Joe Gillis, portrayed by Tom Francis, becomes entangled in the web of Norma Desmond’s spider nest on Sunset Boulevard. He serves as both the show’s storyteller and its tragically destined protagonist, and he lends a lovely ordinariness to the performance. The group that inhabits this Hollywood environment is youthful, diversified, and dressed to represent the upcoming generation of entertainment business aspirants, with the obvious exception of David Thaxton’s Max, Norma’s loyal servant and curator of her heyday.
Grace Hodgett Young portrays Betty Schaefer, the intelligent studio script reader who attempts to rekindle Joe’s fire, first as a writer and later as a man, while sporting long sweat socks and sneakers. In stark contrast to Scherzinger’s Norma, who flits around like a vampire in a black slip dress, she lacks glitz. In a musical that depicts their uneven battle for Joe’s jaded soul, Betty stands for concrete fact and Norma for sensual delusion.
Scherzinger, a former member of the Pussycat Dolls, has a pop voice that can reach operatic levels. There’s something unearthly about her big numbers, like “With One Look” and “As If We Never Said Goodbye.” Her voice echoes with seismic intensity throughout the St. James Theatre. Her visage appears as if it were that of a god. In addition to being physically exhilarating, Scherzinger’s voice is stunningly lovely. Since Lea Michele’s success in “Funny Girl,” “Sunset Blvd.” has become the most sought-after Broadway ticket for a reason.
Scherzinger is not required to perform in Lloyd’s expressionistic production; instead, he is required to strike postures. Like a superstar, she is adored. Even the backstage scene that introduces the second act makes a playful allusion to her Pussycat Dolls popularity. (A live camera follows Francis as he moves around the crowded Broadway area, out the stage door, and into and out of changing rooms before coming back to continue the performance.)
Scherzinger’s legendary status and extraordinary musical abilities serve as the foundation for the show. There are indications of strain when she is asked to perform a bit more conventionally. However, these brief displays of weakness highlight the character’s vulnerability, just how Glenn Close’s meek singing skills helped her represent Norma Desmond in the 1994 Broadway premiere in a tragic way. (The casting decisions that resulted in Close’s triumph in New York, where Patti LuPone created the character in London and Faye Dunaway was fired before even taking the stage in Los Angeles, should be the subject of a musical.)
Lloyd’s “Sunset Blvd.” enchanted me, but it never really touched me. Lloyd retains the final horror movie imagery for an absurdly long time. Doused in blood and lost in insanity, Scherzinger’s Norma is portrayed as if she were a hybrid of Medea, Blanche DuBois, and Sissy Spacek’s Carrie. It has a numbing effect.
Close made the musical appear heavier than it actually is by adding layers of reality that have been burnished over time and by reprising her Tony-winning performance as Norma in the 2017 Broadway revival. By updating the stagecraft, Lloyd adds cutting-edge excitement to what is ultimately a business venture. Although the show’s meretricious core is not concealed by the production, Lloyd has found “new ways to dream” in Webber’s musical, much as the song that Scherzinger gives Puccini-esque grandeur.
In a similar vein, Gold’s “Romeo and Juliet” is more successful theatrically than dramatically. At the Circle in the Square Theatre, his in-the-round staging is constantly in leaping action. Except for Connor and Zegler, every member of the ten-member cast performs at least two parts. Even though it’s done in a playful manner, the horseplay that results becomes dizzying.
Given that Sola Fadiran is Juliet’s composite parent, it is simple to accept her as both Lady Capulet and Capulet. The odd combination of Tybalt and the Nurse is handled by Tommy Dorfman. However, Gabby Beans is called upon to portray Mercutio, the Friar, and the Prince; good luck keeping the roles straight. The obstacle never deters Beans, but the characters are forced to appear as thin masks.
The typical Shakespearean rules are of no concern to this exuberant revival. Jack Antonoff, a Grammy-winning musician and producer who has collaborated with some of the greatest stars in the industry, including Kendrick Lamar, Lana Del Rey, and Taylor Swift, wrote the music for the production. The popular Broadway jukebox musical “& Juliet,” which includes songs by Max Martin and other musicians in a “Romeo and Juliet” sequel that speculates on what could have happened had Juliet lived, appears to be the inspiration for Gold’s “Romeo + Juliet.”
Young individuals who appeared to enjoy the boisterous antics made up the majority of the audience at the Saturday matinee I attended. Although their connection is more of a notion than a tangible reality, Connor and Zegler are stunning as the youthful lovers. Zegler is at her best when expressing her persona via singing, while Connor is more comfortable with poetry. Gold’s over-the-top staging drowns out pity and dread, evoking more emotion in the romantic moments (the seductive acrobatics of the balcony scene inspire a chorus of squeals) than in the sepulcher climax.
It’s obvious that the intended audience isn’t picky Shakespeare scholars or picky theatrical critics. However, I can’t help but think of the pandemic-era National Theatre production of “Romeo and Juliet,” which starred Josh O’Connor and Jessie Buckley. The PBS production by Simon Godwin demonstrated that it was possible to be dynamically modern while remaining true to the tragedy’s dramatic poetry, which is its real source of everlasting appeal.
I was unaware of how desperately our nation needed “Our Town,” which was playing at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre like a wonderful hymn. Before the election, I saw Leon’s production, and I thought it was a comfort to a divided country. In my opinion, the National Institutes of Health ought to buy tickets for all Americans who wish to go after the election. Through the unavoidable shadow of mortality, Wilder’s drama serves as a guided tour of a typical village going about its daily business while serving as a reminder of our shared humanity.
The play’s lively theatricality easily adapts to Leon’s image of Grover’s Corners in the twenty-first century. Jim Parsons’s character, the Stage Manager, establishes the scene for a drama that depends on the audience’s creative involvement to see props that aren’t there and accept the passing of years at the Stage Manager’s request.
Parsons is the most notable member of the group, bringing his unique blend of sardonic urbanity and serious solemnity to the character. I really liked Katie Holmes’s Mrs. Webb, who was straightforward. However, the whole of this production is superior to the sum of its parts.
Leon’s inclusive vision is perfectly aligned with the sorrow of Emily Webb (played by Zoey Deutch) and George Gibbs (played by Ephraim Sykes), the young couple who fall in love and learn the painful lesson of loss.
The Broadway revival of “Our Town” shines like a refurbished antique, unfolding on a set of worn wooden planks and hanging lamps. In recent years, Leon has emerged as one of Broadway’s most sought-after directors. He has a talent for making classic pieces like “A Soldier’s Play” and “Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch” appear brand-new. But maybe that’s because he wants to help the author in the end. In our time, he makes the story live again after updating it.
