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Theater Review - "God of Carnage"
Saturday, January 23, 2016 at 2:50PM
THEATER REVIEW - “God of Carnage” Produced by: The Engeman Theater, Northport - Reviewed by: Jeb Ladouceur
The extended one-acter that opens officially at Northport’s flashy Engeman Theater on January 24th (or whenever Mother Nature permits) comes into town with some snazzy credentials, and a trio of pretty good performances. Accordingly, ‘God of Carnage’ is worth a looksee, but how this so-called comedy ever grabbed a Tony for best play in 2009 is totally beyond me.
Admittedly, I never saw the show at Broadway’s Jacobs Theater, so let’s assume it was a worthy recipient of the top accolade. After all, ‘Carnage’ did star the esteemed James Gandolfini, whom you know as Tony Soprano of the HBO ‘Soprano’s’ series … which frankly never lured me either … and the play ran (off and on) for some 450 performances until closing in June, 2010.
That said, as The Bard himself noted, “…what is past is prologue.” It is not ours in this brief passage to wonder why the Theater Wing was mesmerized by such a thin farcical show, our assignment is to comment on the production witnessed last Thursday evening in Northport. Therefore…
If Gandolfini did as well on Broadway playing ‘Alan’, as Chris Kipiniak did at The Engeman, we can easily see him winning a Tony.* Kipiniak stole the show in Northport with his incredible timing and stage presence. But it was Marcia Gay Harden (she of Oscar, Tony, and Emmy-winning fame) who took home the 2009 hardware for her Broadway interpretation of ‘Veronica’ … the part beautifully delivered in Northport by Nancy Lemenger.
Lemenger and Kipiniak were not alone in their excellence at The Engeman’s Thursday preview, though … not by a longshot … Alet Taylor played ‘Annette’ to near-perfection in this confrontation of two married couples, one of whose 11-year-old boy has slightly hurt the other’s son in a nearby park.
The apparent premise of the play is that adults … to be specific, thirty-something parents … can be every bit as childish and contentious as quibbling pre-teens, especially after Moms and Dads have had a few belts of fine imported rum. In that regard, some of the resulting lines are fairly humorous. But enough to win a Tony Award for ‘Best Play of the Year’ on the Great White Way? I hardly think so. Matter of fact, ‘God of Carnage’ isn’t even the funniest show I’ve seen in the first month of this year right here on Long Island.
Alas, inevitably we must get to the fourth member of the ‘Carnage’ cast, Mickey Solis, who plays ‘Michael,’ and here, I would take the Engeman’s casting directors Scott Wojcik and Gayle Seay to task. Solis has no business in this play. It’s not that he is lacking in theatrical talent … his stagecraft, in particular his gestures, are superb. Indeed he can doff a jacket and fling it on a couch with the best of them. But this graduate of Western Michigan and Harvard Universities simply does not possess the voice required to stand one’s ground with three other artists who project with authority.
I liked Stephen Dobay’s set with its interesting main wall mosaic, and Driscoll Otto’s lighting that highlighted it. Also, Tristan Raines’s Costumes were okay … and Richard T. Dolce’s directing is always good … though mopping up after Ms. Taylor* (we needn’t go into further detail) might have been more gingerly done if realism was, in fact, the objective.
In short … don’t give all the stars in this three-out-of-five show to Chris Kipiniak … but he deserves most of them.
*Corrections were mad by Jeb Ladouceur.
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Award-winning writer, Jeb Ladouceur is the author of eleven novels, and his theater and book reviews appear in several major L.I. publications. His newest book, THE GHOSTWRITERS, explores the bizarre relationship between Harper Lee and Truman Capote. Ladouceur’s website is www.JebsBooks.com
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