20 THENEWYORKER,MARCH16, 2020
ILLUSTRATION BY XIA GORDON
I first saw the extraordinary “Caroline, or Change” in 2003, when it
premièred Off Broadway, at the Public Theatre. With a book and a libretto
by Tony Kushner and music by the star composer Jeanine Tesori, the piece,
directed by George C. Wolfe, featured the unforgettable Tonya Pinkins
as Caroline, a black maid working in the home of a Jewish family in civil-
rights-era Louisiana. It struck me as outstanding on a number of levels,
chief among them that it was the first time since “Angels in America” that
Kushner seemed to inhabit his characters without putting ideology first.
Today, this deeply unusual musical—it feels more like a songspiel, in the
end—is being revived under the organizing eye of the director Michael
Longhurst (for Roundabout Theatre Company, starting previews on
March 13, at Studio 54). The British powerhouse Sharon D Clarke takes
the lead role, one that says as much about the human condition and the
way that power works as it does about our desire to let the world know
that we exist beyond our will to survive.—Hilton AlsONBROADWAY
for the Signature Theatre, comes alive when
the actors turn into the Cyclos to perform
songs by vintage Cambodian artists and
the contemporary Los Angeles band Den-
gue Fever.—Elisabeth Vincentelli (Through
March 22.)
Coal Country
Public
In 2010, in West Virginia, a massive explo-
sion killed twenty-nine coal miners in a
mine called Upper Big Branch. Unusually,
Don Blankenship, the C.E.O. of the com-
pany that ran the mine, went on trial for his
role in the disaster, eventually serving a year
in prison. (Perfectly unchastened, he’s now
the Constitution Party’s candidate for Presi-
dent.) This outstanding, outraged, life-filled
documentary play, with a script that Jessica
Blank and Erik Jensen built verbatim from
interviews (and which Blank directs), tells
the story from the perspectives of the miners
and their families. That would be reason
enough to see this show—but it also features
excellent original songs by the legendary
Steve Earle, which are performed in this
intimate space by Earle himself and beau-
tifully integrated into the narrative.—R.R.
(Through April 5.)Dana H.
Vineyard
In 1997, a woman named Dana Higgin-
botham was abducted by an ex-convict and
member of the Aryan Brotherhood. He
dragged her from motel to motel around
the South for five months, abusing her phys-
ically and mentally. Higginbotham happens
to be the mother of the playwright Lucas
Hnath (“A Doll’s House, Part 2,” “Hillary
and Clinton”), who turned the story into a
play. And not just any play—this is a chan-
nelling, an exorcism, and a tribute. The bril-
liant concept is that the actress Deirdre
O’Connell, alone onstage, lip-synchs—with
virtuosic precision—to edited segments of
interviews with the actual Dana H. (Steve
Cosson, the artistic director of the docu-
theatre company the Civilians, conducted
the interviews in 2015.) Directed by Les
Waters with chilling precision and his usual
skill for creating an eerie atmosphere, thisVineyard Theatre production is as stunning
as it is harrowing.—E.V. (Through April 11.)Girl from the North Country
Belasco
The songs in this musical tragedy, which
arrives on Broadway after a première in
London and a New York début at the Public
Theatre, are all from Bob Dylan’s vast cata-
logue, but it’s not really a jukebox show; few
of its twenty-one tunes are among his best
known. The playwright and director Conor
McPherson has situated them in Duluth,
Minnesota, in the final months of 1934, in
a failing guesthouse where desperate char-
acters—a boxer, a Bible salesman, a mor-
phine-addicted doctor—converge. It’s a play
about a community whose members have
a near-total inability to connect with one
another, a theme that McPherson plumbs
movingly—and one that only exacerbates
the inherent disjointedness of this songbook
musical. But that’s a minor complaint. The
cast is impeccable, and Dylan’s songs sound
unbelievably good.—R.R. (Open run.)Ivanka 2020
Joe’s Pub
Ivanka Trump didn’t plan to become a po-
litical puppet mind-controlled via a magical
whistle bewitched by Rasputin; she just
wants to shop at Bergdorf Goodman. But
Ryan Raftery’s musical comedy—inspired
by “The Manchurian Candidate” and the
1997 animated film “Anastasia,” and directed
by Jay Turton—makes things tough for the
First Daughter. Raftery himself dons Ivan-
ka’s pumps and commits to the extended
shtick. The “Anastasia” bits get old, and
easy jabs at Trump’s gross misogyny are
cringeworthy, but Raftery’s asides and me-
ta-jokes entertain, as do Ivanka’s peculiar
affects: dramatic hair flips and a unique
approach to enunciation (“qweh poh quh,”
she clucks, considering her father’s dealings
with Ukraine). It’s camp in the highest mea-
sure, with playful costume changes (from a
Givenchy Druid robe to a Republican track-
suit to a red power suit) and song parodies
of hits including “Shallow.” There’s just
enough cheesy ridiculousness to accompany
a night of drinks at Joe’s Pub.—Maya Phillips
(Through March 13.)The Perplexed
City Center Stage I
We know that Richard Greenberg can write,
as plays such as “Take Me Out” and “The
Babylon Line” attest, so you have to won-
der what is going on with his confounding
new show, now at Manhattan Theatre Club,
under Lynne Meadow’s direction—the title
may well refer to some audience members’
reactions. “The Perplexed” takes place during
a wedding of the children of two wealthy
New York clans, who attempt to forsake their
long-running feud for the occasion. Family
members exchange would-be bons mots, re-
veal secrets, and introduce plotlines only
to promptly abandon them. Conversations
take place in the foreground as other charac-
ters sit silently in the background: Are they