{"id":12557,"date":"2014-06-22T08:48:26","date_gmt":"2014-06-22T15:48:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=12557"},"modified":"2014-06-22T08:55:09","modified_gmt":"2014-06-22T15:55:09","slug":"rewritten-tony-kushner-mosaic-is-brilliant-heady-funnyrewritten-tony-kushner-mosaic-is-brilliant-heady-funny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/rewritten-tony-kushner-mosaic-is-brilliant-heady-funnyrewritten-tony-kushner-mosaic-is-brilliant-heady-funny\/","title":{"rendered":"Rewritten Tony Kushner mosaic is brilliant, heady, funny"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Woody’s [rating:4.5]\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Taking center stage in \u201cThe Intelligent Homosexual\u2019s Guide\u2026\u201d are (from left) Mark Margolis (Gus), Tina Chilip (Sooze) and Joseph J. Parks (Vito). Photo courtesy of kevinberne.com.<\/p>\n

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Ensemble cast in \u201ciHo\u201d includes (from left) Liz Wisan (Maeve), Deirdre Lovejoy (Empty) and Anthony Fusco (Adam). Photo courtesy of kevinberne.com.<\/p>\n
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Tyrone Mitchell Henderson (Paul, front) confronts Lou Liberatore (Pill) in \u201ciHo\u201d as Randy Danson (Clio), Deirdre Lovejoy (Empty) and Joseph J. Parks (Vito) look on. Photo courtesy of kevinberne.com.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

To say Tony Kushner\u2019s play about a dysfunctional Italian-American family in Brooklyn meanders is to miss the point.<\/p>\n

And to say \u201cThe Intelligent Homosexual\u2019s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures\u201d runs a fast<\/em> 3 hours, 45 minutes (including two intermissions) misses it, too.<\/p>\n

What is<\/em> the takeaway, then?<\/p>\n

Like most of Kushner\u2019s work, the complex three-act drama entrenched at the Berkeley Rep is brilliant.<\/p>\n

Overflowing with passion and humor.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a heady mosaic, a verbal choreography of truncated sentences and unfinished thoughts, with Kushner hell-bent on tackling a laundry list of philosophical conceits (even as characters simultaneously try to outshout one another, crisscross themes or become tongue-tied).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Intelligent Homosexual\u2019s Guide\u2026,\u201d which the playwright originally planned as an epic novel, first opened as a tragicomic drama in 2009.<\/p>\n

But, as with previous plays, the creator of the Pulitzer Prize-winning two-part \u201cAngels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes\u201d was rewriting what his husband Mark Harris nicknamed \u201ciHo\u201d almost until the curtain went up.<\/p>\n

The result?<\/p>\n

The radiant West Coast premiere \u2014 replete with myriad subplots \u2014 probes love, parenting, familial relationships and money, not necessarily in that order.<\/p>\n

And anyone brought up not to discuss sex, politics or religion is advised to stay away.<\/p>\n

Director Tony Taccone, Berkeley Rep\u2019s artistic chieftain for 16 years, has collaborated with Kushner eight times (including the world premiere of \u201cAngels\u201d) and been a friend of his for four decades.<\/p>\n

It shows.<\/p>\n

When disillusioned Communist and retired intellectual longshoreman Gus Marcantonio announces he wants to commit suicide, his adult kids return to his brownstone with lovers and spouses to stop him.<\/p>\n

Instead, they incite tumult.<\/p>\n

Gus is portrayed by Mark Margolis, a \u201cBreaking Bad\u201d alum whose ability to let me (and the rest of the audience) share his character\u2019s inner reality is remarkable.<\/p>\n

Surrounding him \u2014 each displaying extraordinary acting chops \u2014 are Randy Danson as aunt Clio, a radicalized ex-nun; Lou Liberatore as Pill, Gus\u2019 super-tormented gay history-teaching son; and Tyrone Mitchell Henderson as Paul, a theologian enraged by virtually everyone he encounters \u2014 as well as God.<\/p>\n

Other major characters are Empty (Deirdre Lovejoy), Gus\u2019 bisexual labor lawyer daughter; \u201cV\u201d or Vito (Joseph J. Parks), Gus\u2019 son, a building contractor and the family\u2019s \u201cblack sheep,\u201d a capitalist; and Eli (Jordan Geiger), a lovesick hustler.<\/p>\n

Incredibly, the entire ensemble cast of 11 is stellar.<\/p>\n

They become figures that make Eugene O\u2019Neill\u2019s damaged characters tame by comparison.<\/p>\n

\u201ciHo\u201d isn\u2019t tidy, though.<\/p>\n

Like other Kushner\u2019s pieces, it\u2019s occasionally self-indulgent.<\/p>\n

He loves throwing in oblique references \u2014 from classic Horace to modern-day pop culture. And pithiness certainly isn\u2019t his long suit, despite pearls like:<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u201cWhat\u2019s real, the dream or the dreamer?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u201cThe only real death is to live meaninglessly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Or, for laughs, \u201cYeah, baby, talk Commie talk to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did I \u201cget\u201d everything?<\/p>\n

Hell no. Especially the more esoteric theological investigations.<\/p>\n

I suspect a second, or fifth, viewing is necessary to grok all Kushner wants us to comprehend.<\/p>\n

Taccone is skilled at interpreting Kushner \u2014 from putting the \u201cisms\u201d under a microscope, from contrasting labor unions to the union of individuals, from dissecting family dynamics.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s aided by scenic designer Christopher Barecca\u2019s bi-level set, probably best described by an Ernest Hemingway title: \u201cA Moveable Feast.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opening night, stage lights malfunctioned for a few moments. The distraction was significant, ironically, because it showed how impeccable the rest of the \u201ciHo\u201d production was.<\/p>\n

The 14-word title, incidentally, pays homage to George Bernard Shaw\u2019s economic exploration, \u201cThe Intelligent Woman\u2019s Guide to Socialism and Capitalism,\u201d and Mary Baker Eddy\u2019s \u201cScience and Health, with Key to the Scriptures.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kushner has said he\u2019s \u201calways very happy being back at the Berkeley Rep, the only theater outside of New York where I truly feel at home, in the Bay Area, the only part of the world outside of New York I consider truly habitable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although award panels have lauded him with two Tonys, three Obies and an Emmy, not everything he writes \u2014 despite endless attempts at perfectionism \u2014 is flawless, compelling, mesmerizing.<\/p>\n

But he\u2019s raised the level of American theater.<\/p>\n

This version of \u201ciHo,\u201d I\u2019m convinced deserves a rating of three brilliants and two dazzlings \u2014 or, for any who prefers the more familiar, six stars on a five-star chart.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Intelligent Homosexual\u2019s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures\u201d plays at the Berkeley Repertory\u2019s Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison St., Berkeley, through June 29. Tickets: $14.50 to $99, subject to change, (510) 647-2949 or www.berkeleyrep.org.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Woody’s [rating:4.5]\u00a0 To say Tony Kushner\u2019s play about a dysfunctional Italian-American family in Brooklyn meanders is to miss the point. And to say \u201cThe Intelligent Homosexual\u2019s Guide to Capitalism and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12557","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-woody-weingarten"},"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"