Joe Candelora Archives - TheaterScene.net

Joe Candelora

The Sea Lady

October 11, 2022

Neith Boyce’s "The Sea Lady," a Broadway-bound play in 1935, only now having its world premiere at Metropolitan Playhouse is an attempt at a Shavian play of ideas. Based on a 1901 novel by socialist H.G. Wells, this very Edwardian story resembles Shaw’s "Misalliance" but without the wit or the scope of ideas. Extremely tentative in how far it dares to go, "The Sea Lady" seems like a relic of an earlier age. It has charm but it lacks depth; its message may have been new in 1901 when the novel came out or 1935 when the play was finished, but today it seems extremely old hat. [more]

Indians

December 4, 2017

In the central character of Buffalo Bill Cody, Michael Hardart plays only the one role. The play seems to be his coming to terms with the mythologizing of his achievements. Although twice he is given the line about fearing death in his makeup, there is no sense that he gains any self-awareness in the course of the play. As a result, he does not become a tragic hero with a fatal flaw. His bland, tame performance fails to hold the play and its many scenes together. [more]

Leah, the Forsaken

February 26, 2017

Nevertheless, while the play is startlingly not politically correct, the acting is of a high caliber. In the title role, Regina Gibson (who appeared last season in the rediscovered operetta "The Golden Bride" by the National Yiddish Opera Folksbiene) gives an impassioned, persuasive performance. In the ingénue roles, Jon Berry (Rudolf) and Noelia Antweiler (Madalena) are charming. Jeffrey Grover captures all of the self-righteousness of the bigoted schoolmaster Berthold. Joe Candelora as the Magistrate Lorenz and Ron Nummi as the Doctor and Barber (which he never stops telling us) give hearty, comic portrayals. The rest of the large cast of 15 also throw themselves into their respective roles. [more]