Michael Dale's Theatre Crawl - "18-Year-Old Noel Coward Explains It All For You"
By Michael Dale
Sarin Monae West and James Evans in Noel Coward’s The Rat Trap presented by The Mint Theater Company (Photo: Todd Cerveris)
This week…
Noel Coward’s The Rat Trap produced by The Mint Theater Company at New York City Center through December 10. Tickets start at $35.
Company XIV’s Nutcracker Rouge at Theatre XIV through January 29. Standing room $49, seating starts at $105.
Inexpensive and Recommended…
George Kaplan at The New Ohio Theatre through December 3. Tickets $25/Students and Under 30, $20.
I’m looking forward to…
Paper Kraine at The Kraine Theatre, November 30 and the last Wednesday of most months. An unpredictable, curated open stage for artists to present new works based on a given theme. Tickets $15 or whatever you can afford, with proceeds donated to a selected non-profit organization.
When you consider that Noel Coward was capable of writing a popular song titled World Weary when he was 28…
…it shouldn’t be surprising that The Rat Trap, which he wrote at age 18, is wise beyond the playwright’s years in matters of love, marriage and domestic competition.
The Mint Theater Company, specialists in mounting long-forgotten plays by significant authors in productions that are absent of any contemporary commentary, does a splendid job in director Alexander Lass’ lyrically bittersweet production of a piece that not only displays the expected Coward bon mots (“Your theory is that love should be free?” “Absolutely. Free always.” “Like the National Gallery?”), but also some sobering realities of romance (“The one thing love never teaches you is how to manage each other.”).
The perfectly wonderful cast is led by Sarin Monae West and James Evans as newlyweds Sheila and Keld. She’s a published short story writer and novelist and he’s a fledgling unproduced playwright. As the dynamics of their careers change, so do the dynamics of their marriage. (Spoiler: The husband’s a jerk.)
In a piece peppered with eccentric theatrical and literary types, special kudos to costume designer Hunter Kaczorowski for choices such as a flowing dressing gown and thin-framed glasses for Keld that has Evans resembling a young Groucho Marx, and a dress for the bohemian free-spirit lusciously played by Heloise Lowenthal that looks like she’s dressed in a theatre curtain, complete with bell-shaped tassels.
The Rat Trap wasn’t produced until Coward was firmly established as The West End’s newest wunderkind, and, as described on The Mint’s website, audiences were a bit thrown by this early piece that was “less dry martini and more bitter stout: dark, strong and a bit sour.” So rather appropriately, I forwent my usual post-theatre gin at Sardi’s and sauntered across the street for a stout at Black Tap, where I was delighted to see that almost all their beers on tap were local. My Void Of Light Stout from The Bronx’s Gun Hill Brewing Company was indeed dark and strong, but not the least bit sour; instead it had a tasty molasses flavor. Also very tasty was my diner-priced burger and our server must have noticed how my guest and I were gasping at the size of the colorful milkshakes that were passing by our table because he slipped us coupons for a couple of freebies on our way out. The fun atmosphere includes a soundtrack of hip hop and soul selections, with staff dressed in logoed hoodies. This one’s going on my list of recommended post-theatre unwinding spots.
It was a decidedly more modest affair when I first experienced a performance by Company XIV back in 2009…
Well, modest in budget, at least. The Judgement of Paris, based on the Greek myth where Zeus assigns Paris the task of presenting a golden apple to the fairest of the goddesses, was staged at the small Duo Theatre on East 4th Street, a far cry from the company’s lavish Theatre XIV, their own personal playground for artistry and decadence since 2018.
The creation of director/choreographer Austin McCormick (I’m still waiting for him to receive one of those MacArthur genius grants.), the neo-baroque troupe was inspired by the court entertainments held during the reign of France’s Louis XIV, stylized to mix classical dance, burlesque, variety acts, aerialists and vocalists whose repertoires range from highbrow to contemporary pop, with performers dressed (just barely) in erotic fashions by house designer Zane Pihlström. It’s all very healthy, body-positive fun.
While the company is celebrating the 12th edition of their annual holiday extravaganza, Nutcracker Rouge, McCormick has never been one to repeat himself, so while the plot remains the story of innocent Marie-Claire’s journey of self-discovery while touring a kingdom of confectionary delights, the show changes yearly with new talent and new acts.
Demure ballet dancer Christine Flores was the wide-eyed Marie-Claire last Saturday night (sharing the role with Chanel Stone), guided through the evening by the charismatic powerhouse vocalist Cunio, who brought down the joint just before the first intermission with Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats’ S.O.B., strutting the stage while pleading for someone in the audience to get him a drink.
Cunio in Company XIV’s Nutcracker Rouge (Photo: Chad Wagner)
Well-deserved cheering ovations were also earned by acrobat Nicholas Katen, trapeze artist Troy Lingelbach, Donna Carnow, who displayed athletic prowess on a hanging pole, and the aerial team of Jon Joni and Queen Ravenden, performing a sensual pas de deux not very far above the audience.
And McCormick’s traditional orgiastic can-can is always a rousing crowd-pleaser.
While Company XIV’s ticket prices may be a bit of a splurge for some, they’re about even with Broadway prices and offer a unique and always memorable experience. If it fits your budget, I’d suggest the champagne couches for two, which provide an up close view and bubbly libations.
Oh, and by the way…
Earlier this year I caught a performance of Company XIV’s Cocktail Magique, performed at their new venue just a couple of blocks from Theatre XIV; just as sexy and luxurious, but more intimate, with a carnival sideshow feel.
Hosted by the terrific strip-teasing magician Albert Cadabra, a favorite of the neo-burlesque set, Cocktail Magique is a fun evening of song, illusion and ecdysiastic art.
Both shows run through January 29th, but seriously, anytime Austin McCormick and Company XIV have a new one, consider this a blanket recommendation.
I was in the first industry reading I ever attended…
It was for a charming romantic comedy called One-Sided, penned by my very talented college buddy Tom Frey. I played a commedia-type clown trying to patch up his past in a play we had done at school and in local libraries and now we felt like it was time to put it in front of New York industry pros.
It was at the Westside Arts Theatre (now the Westside Theatre), back when the upstairs lobby had a stage opposite the bar. It wasn’t exactly a reading. We did four full performances of the 75-minute piece spread through one afternoon/evening, in front of audiences enjoying free wine and cheese during the show and being schmoozed over coffee and dessert after. I don’t know how much money or interest was raised that day, but I had a swell, if exhausting time.
Since then, I’ve more frequently been in the audience for these performances, usually done just once by actors on book in a rehearsal studio before invited guests who don’t get fed until afterwards. The most memorable were the ones for various versions of The 5,000 Fingers of Dr, T, a musical based on the 1953 fantasy film about a suburban kid envisioning his piano teacher as a madman enslaving 500 children to play his newest composition on a 44,000 key piano.
Though the film was a musical, the stage show had a great new score (including one of the best 11 o’clock numbers I’ve ever heard) by Glen Roven, a wildly accomplished musician who made his Broadway debut conducting Let My People Come at age 18 and performed the same duties for Sugar Babies before reaching his 21st birthday. The clever book was by Emmy-winning producer Maria Schlatter, whose father, George Schlatter, had a huge influence on my childhood sense of humor as the creative force behind Rowen and Martin’s Laugh In.
At one reading, Glen graciously introduced me to Mr. Schlatter, mentioning that I was theatre critic, and the TV legend immediately slapped an anxious look on his face, whipped out his wallet and faked slipping me a bribe.
A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure to be invited to the first reading of Mary Astor's Purple Diary, a new musical by the married team of MAC Award winners Mardie Millit and Michael Garin (Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk winner for Song of Singapore), based on illustrator Edward Sorel’s juicy book about film actress Mary Astor, whose child custody case made national headlines when details (some of them true) leaked about a diary documenting her affair with George S. Kaufman.
Mardie Millit, Michael Garin and Edward Sorel
I first came across Michael and Mardie when press agent Beck Lee suggested I check out their cabaret act at The Metropolitan Room, knowing their quirky way with American Songbook standards from around the world would be right up my alley. When restaurants and clubs were just beginning to open up again after COVID closures, I frequently caught their antics at the West Bank Cafe and I make a pre-theatre habit of slurping oysters at the Roxy Hotel when Michael provides his brand of cerebral dapperness at the keyboard, Tuesdays through Saturdays from 6 to 8. (No cover charge and the A/C/E trains on the corner offer a quick scoot to the Theatre District.)
Though they’re accustomed to performing together, this is their first stint as a musical theatre writing team, with Mardie penning the book and Michael handling the score. Millet, who has a degree in classical music, says of her collaboration with her husband, who plays and composes entirely by ear, “I like to think of us as The Pedant and The Savant, and it works surprisingly well. We trust each other's skills enough that when one of us runs something by the other, if the reaction is, ‘Eh, that's not it,’ we don't usually fight back.”
While it’s against protocol for a member of the press to pass judgement on a work in progress at this early stage, I’ll agree with Garin that it’s a great subject for musical theatre.
“I immediately saw the book as the romcom Vonnegut didn't write,” says Michael. “A smart, intimate fairytale for grown-ups.”
Curtain Line…
And then Ali Hakim bid $100,001 dollars.