Mauritius

Manhattan Theater Club
Biltmore Theater

I saw this last weekend and I can't say enough to recommend it. It's a bit riskier than the plays MTC has shown in the past in this theater. I refer to the last season of imports and revivals. Some things played better on the other side of the ocean. They've done much better with this one, though. And, they've given a new play a Broadway premier instead of letting it work its way up through the system. This was a bolder and excellent decision.

I mean this in the best possible way: this was a professional production. Everything was at its best. I sometimes explain that a Broadway play should capture the best of everything, something performed with all of the best resources, essentially a dream production of the play or musical. This had everything you could hope for. You had five great actors who were at the top of their game (no duds, not one!) There were beautiful sets. Great theater. Good direction. And, all of this was layered over a really, really nice script.

The direction was light. This script could have taken a melodramatic turn in the wrong hands, or even easily in any other hands, if the actors had been told to be more earnest. I imagined the morose delivery of the lines in an outskirt community theater one day, and it scared me. However, the lines were delivered so lightly that this play was given a perfect amount of comic relief which it truly benefited from.

My theater companion/friend for the evening mentioned that the play could have benefited well from something she called physical stage direction, or something of the sort. I know what she meant. The fight scenes and scuffles didn't look very real. And, there were a couple of other awkward physical moments. But, while she mentioned this could have done better, she also mentioned that she was having a great time.

The benefactor of my ticket mentioned that greed and sibling rivalry are always great starting points as themes for a play. And, so they were. Many of the great themes made an appearance and drove us along to a sad conclusion at the end of the play.

This was really good theater. I don't have much to say, except for take any opportunity you have to go see it. It's just shy of must-see, maybe 8 1/2 stars out of 10, given it's easy-going nature. You can bring anyone and you're sure to enjoy some wonderful actors in a really nice play.