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By the Way, Meet Vera Stark Reviews
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Vera satifying and disappointing at the same time Review by: Diract 66, May 26, 2011 |
| A totally captivating, hilarious, entertaining drawing room comedy reminiscent of the ‘screwball’ comedies of the late thirties and early forties….for the first act!!! From that high we are brought into the second act of disappointing uninventive playwriting. There must have been a way of doing the second act by author Lynn Nottage that could be more theatrical and still get her points across to the world, or somehow structure the play as a ... read more total look back into Vera’s life that would make some sense to the second act abrupt change. Perhaps we could have had a second act, at a later time in Vera’s life, similar to the first in comedy style and structure, and still have the serious discussions of the present second act. Nevertheless, this story of an actress, Gloria Mitchell, wonderfully played by Stephanie J. Block, and her maid, Vera Stark, the even better Sanaa Lathan, ladies with a past, is a delight to watch and is telling the truths of the Hollywood caste system when it came to a black presence in movies. In Vera’s case we watch her struggle to get a part in the movie, The Belle of New Orleans, a parallel story. This is a real part with real lines, so many she stopped counting! A star making vehicle…but then what happens to Vera after that is revealed in the second act. The supporting cast is wonderful, each taking on two different distinctive characters in the play. I liked the play but wished it could be even stronger structurally, and more satisfying, till the touching ending coda between Vera and Gloria. |
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My recommendation:
Make an effort to see
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Another Winner Review by: martin, May 7, 2011 |
Only the myopic theater-goer will expect this to be the same type of play as Ruined was. Lynn is a very talented, exceptional writer with many layers, and not every play she has written or will write will be as charged as the one that won her the Pulitzer. She has both an iron fist and a velvet glove, and this play is fabulous. Those who expected the second act to be like the first are probably the blue-haired, lace curtain types ... read more more comfortable with blacks who shuck and jive. Those who nap need this wake up call.
Lynn is an amazing talent with an unique voice. This plau is just another facet of her abilities. Go see "... Vera Stark". |
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My recommendation:
must see!
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A wonderful play, well worth your time Review by: Tom Bestor, May 1, 2011 |
After viewing “Kin,” I proffered the notion that just because life doesn’t always give you what you want, you better learn how to be happy getting what you get. But after seeing “By The Way, Meet Vera Stark,” at the Second Stage Theater today, I realized that’s a statement that’s much easier to make when you’re a somewhat privileged white male. If you’re a black woman, especially a black woman in 1933, even when you get what you want it can turn ... read more out to be sorely lacking.
“By The Way, Meet Vera Stark” is the latest work from playwright Lynn Nottage, who penned the wonderful “Intimate Apparel” and the Pulitzer-winning “Ruined.” The lady of the title is maid to a Hollywood starlet -- but with big screen dreams of her own. For Vera Stark, though, the big dream isn’t to be a star, it’s simply to be cast as the maid to "The Belle of New Orleans" – who has a significant number of lines, not the usual “yes’ms ” and “yassirs” of the slaves and lackeys that made up the majority of roles for negro actors in the depression.
Without giving too much away, the first half of the show is set in 1933, and shows how Vera uses the stereotypes inflicted on her by the culture in power to make the first steps toward achieving her goals.
But it’s the second half of the show where Nottage’s brilliance (and passion) come pouring through. It’s 70 years later and a panel of black intellectuals are now dissecting and deconstructing the career of the great African-America artist Vera Stark – in part by looking back to the very end of Stark’s career, an appearance on a Mike Douglas-style TV talk show. The point of view shifts from the 2003 commentators/intellectuals in a panel discussion, to the set of “The Brad Donovan Show” in 1973.
Vera is past her prime, overdressed and just the tiniest bit drunk – but is still relatively restrained in her indictment of 1930s Hollywood. Rage is left to the radical intellectual onstage, Afua Assata Ejobo (Karen Olivo), supported (somewhat) by the less radicalized Carmen Levy-Green (Kimberly Hebert Gregory). Herb Forrester (the very funny Daniel Breaker) moderates their discussion and grounds us in space and time.
Nottage does a wonderful job of showing how much easier it is to talk about struggle than to actually live it, and the 1973 talk show appearance serves as a fulcrum between those two experiences.
The show is still in previews, so they can work on timings and tighten things a bit, but it’s already a wonderful play, well worth your time. |
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Meet Vera Stark...With Reservations Review by: , Apr 28, 2011 |
| After having seen Ruined, and Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage, I frankly expected more from her latest outing By The Way Meet Vera Stark. The themes are not as important in the greater scheme of things, although she does make her point with some barbed satire. Recommended for performances, and innovative production values. |
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My recommendation:
Go see if you get a chance
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The Plot Needs Serious Revision Review by: Carol, Apr 27, 2011 |
My husband and I went to see By the Way, Meet Vera Stark last night. We had responded to a call from the Second Stage Theatre Company and paid for two tickets to any show as well as a contribution to the theatre. We also like Sanaa Latham whom we'd seen in Raisin in the Sun and Nip/Tuck. The first act and the beginning of the second act were imaginative about how blacks break into the movies. The rest of the play was another expensive nap ... read more with the reenactment of two talk shows that went nowhere. The best part was Latham's dress, a version of which I had in the early 1970s without the feathers. My opinion: by the way, skip By the Way, Meet Vera Stark. |
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My recommendation:
Don't go
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Review by: NJGUY, Apr 23, 2011 |
| Excellent if you like to talk about ideas after you go to the theater! Sanaa Lathan is both gorgeous and a splendid actress. Dynamite--Still thinking about it! |
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My recommendation:
must see!
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Recommended for:
Romantic Date, Seniors, Tourists
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You'd better go see before it's gone!!!! Review by: Broadway Junkie, Apr 8, 2011 |
| An absolute must see! Funny, intelligent and sooo good! I'm so hard to please and believe me I was PLEASED. You will not be disappointed. This is what I pay money to see - a good show. Fantastic acting!!! The entire audience laughed. No matter your race - you will get it!!! |
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My recommendation:
must see!
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I saw this show with:
Spouse/Partner
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Recommended for:
Romantic Date, Business Assoc., Seniors
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| * Review is an opinion of a BroadwayBox user and not that of BroadwayBox.com and BroadwayBox, Inc. |
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