It’s not much of a spoiler to note that the Angel in Judgment Day gets the last laugh. In fact, we hear the Angel — also known as Sister Margaret from the lead character’s childhood — laugh at several different points in the new play, the script of which actually instructs the actor to cackle each time.
And with Patti LuPone cast in the role, rest assured you hear a cackle to end all cackles, one sounding almost diabolically possessed. Recorded last summer as a benefit for the Barrington Stage Company in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts and now streaming in an encore presentation through the Stellar Events platform, the virtual play reading even throws in a few amusing outtakes for good measure.
“Shit! Motherfucker,” LuPone is heard in one blooper, right after her landline phone rings while shooting a split-screen scene with Jason Alexander. With perfect timing, Alexander interjects, “Is that God, Sister?”
In this promising debut play from veteran TV comedy writer/producer Rob Ulins (CBS’s Young Sheldon, Hulu’s Ramy), Alexander portrays corrupt, morally bankrupt lawyer Sammy Campo, who sets out to redeem himself after a terrifying Angel threatens him with eternal damnation during a near-death encounter.
He forms an unlikely bond with a Catholic priest (Santino Fontana), setting the stage for debates over timeless questions about morality, faith, religion, and human behavior. “I wanna figure out the rock-bottom least amount of good I need to do to get into Heaven,” Sammy says early upon meeting the priest, who snaps back, “It doesn’t work that way.”
Judgment Day itself works very well under the deft direction of Matthew Penn, who helps the large cast shine — a virtual roster also including Michael McKean, Justina Machado, Julian Emie Lerner, Loretta Devine, Carol Mansell, Michael Mastro, Josh Jonston, Bianca LaVerne Jones, and Elizabeth Stanley.
The end result is a production with sharp performances adding enough subtle dimension and vitality to almost help it defy reality, often looking and feeling like more than the staged play reading over Zoom it ultimately is.
Judgment Day streams through Aug. 1 on Stellar Events as a benefit for Barrington Stage. Tickets are $11.99. Visit www.StellarTickets.com.
You would think that, by now, reasonable theatergoers would be exhausted by angry, self-serving bloviates who unleash profanities and cruel language on each other and anyone within earshot.
Obviously, there is more demand for it, as David Mamet's 1984 Pulitzer Prize-winning Glengarry Glenn Ross is back on Broadway for a third time.
And, like the unwitting suckers who fall into the clutches of this predatory group of real estate sharks, audiences are quick to drop top dollar to see a starry cast comprised of Bob Odenkirk as Shelley Levene, a past-his-prime salesman looking to increase his numbers, Bill Burr as Dave Moss, another older sales guy who huffs and puffs like the big, bad wolf, and Kieran Culkin as hotshot Ricky Roma, a slick smooth talker who has no time for excuses.
Fame's a bitch. Especially when it's weighted down by baggage.
Such is the case for the Jaspers, a prominent, Chicago-based, politically well-connected Black family who continue their usual brand of chaos when Solomon "Junior" (Glenn Davis) arrives home for a visit.
He's a state senator who has just been released from prison after 24 months in prison after embezzling campaign funds and committing wire fraud. Soon, his wife Morgan (Alena Arenas) will serve her own sentence for filing false tax returns.
Nearly every family issue is fully unpacked in Purpose, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' exceptional drama that makes its Broadway debut after premiering at Chicago's famed Steppenwolf Theatre a year ago in a production directed by Phylicia Rashad.
It was Monday in the dark with Mandy Patinkin as Signature Theatre feted this year’s Stephen Sondheim Award honoree with a glowing musical tribute to his career on stage and screen. Joined by Kathryn Grody, his wife of 45 years, Patinkin sat center table at the annual gala, held for the second consecutive year at The Anthem.
The concert venue was ever apt for singing the praises of the Tony and Emmy winning performer, whose artistry in creating roles on Broadway in Evita, The Secret Garden, The Wild Party, and, of course, Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George, helped earn him the Sondheim Award, established by Signature in 2009 “to honor an individual for his or her contributions to American Musical Theater.”
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