By Bernard Carragher
In the summertime, Broadway seems crowded with musical fare. If you are looking for a play to see, you have to head off-Broadway.
Last week I saw a good one, Someone Spectacular, by Domenica Feraud at the Romulus Linney Courtyard Theater at the Pershing Square Signature Center, located at 480 West 42nd Street.
Feraud’s topic is not exactly summer fare. It’s about a young daughter dealing with the grief of her mother’s death at age 51. At the matinee I attended, Feraud, who is also an actress, played the young daughter, Lily. She is trying to get over the bitterness she is feeling about her mother’s demise. Lily hears about a local bereavement group made up of people who have lost family members. It’s housed in a local office building in a bland conference room. The group assembled is made up of two men and four women, with their ages spanning from 22 to 56.
All are excellent actors. They are waiting around for their leader-guide Beth to arrive. Beth never appears, but the group takes up her slack, and we get some truth about what these people have been through, like the losses of a mother, a sister, a wife and even one woman’s miscarriage.
Feraud knows how to tell difficult stories in a diverting way. Her 2019 play, Rinse, Repeat, about a mother and her daughter’s eating disorder recovery, won her a New York Times Critic’s award. All the characters in Someone Spectacular want to get on with their lives and show courage and honesty and, finally, acceptance. Toward the end of the play, Feraud adds an ethereal touch — sounds of voices and flashes of lighting effects — creating an other-worldly effect to the drama’s finale.
The production has been directed effortlessly by Tatiana Pandiani with particular attention to the actors’ performances in this unusual and interesting drama, which has been extended until September 6th at the Signature Center.
Photo Credit: Julieta Cervantes