Two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and Obie Award winner Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (An Octoroon) and Drama Desk Award winner Lila Neugebauer (The Waverly Gallery, 2ST’s Mary Page Marlowe) invite you to one helluva reunion in the darkly comic American family drama, APPROPRIATE.
It’s summer, the cicadas are singing, and the Lafayette family has returned to their late patriarch’s Arkansas home to deal with the remains of his estate. Toni (Paulson), the eldest daughter, hopes they’ll spend the weekend remembering and reconnecting over their beloved father. Bo, her brother, wants to recoup some of the funds he spent caring for Dad at the end of his life. But things take a turn when their estranged brother, Franz, appears late one night, and mysterious objects are discovered among the clutter. Suddenly, long-hidden secrets and buried resentments can’t be contained, and the family is forced to face the ghosts of their past.
Clearly relishing their juicy roles, the dream cast has been impeccably directed by Lila Neugebauer, who burnishes the comedy and cruelty to a bright sheen. Her production would not cohere and hurtle as it does without its superbly unified design. The collective dots creates the perfect spacious, seen-better-days living room with genteel touches from the past. A pastoral mock-fresco adorns one wall, a vintage chandelier dangles from above and allows lighting designer Jane Cox the chance to cast its spidery shadow by the staircase. Cox lights nighttime scenes with intricate, textured dimness, pierced by the occasional smartphone or candle. The extraordinary soundscape by Bray Poor and Will Pickens amplifies and distorts a cacophony of cicadas between scenes, like voices of the dead clamoring for justice, punctuated by Cox’s brutal, horror-movie blackouts.
“Appropriate,” the last play to open on Broadway in 2023 and one of the best-acted productions of the year, tells the story of a dysfunctional family who reunite after the death of their patriarch to auction off all his possessions, during which we learn little by little how messed up each and every one of the characters is. But Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ resonant play also in its own wry and sly way tells a dark story of race in America. If what’s going on beneath the mordant humor on the surface is not always clear, we’re given plenty of clues that encourage us to assume, and try to root out, a deeper meaning, starting before the first line is even spoken: Projected on the stage are six dictionary definitions of the word “appropriate,” including an adjective that means proper, and a verb that means to steal.
General Rush:
Price: $45
Where: Belasco Theatre box office
When: When the box office opens on the day of the performance.
Limit: Two per customer.
Information: Subject to daily availability. The box office opens Tuesday through Saturday at 10 AM ET and Sunday at 12 PM ET.
Digital Lottery:
Price: $45
Where: rush.telecharge.com
When: 12 AM ET, one day before the performance.
Limit: Two per customer
Information: Tickets are subject to availability. Seats may be partial view. Winners will be drawn that same morning at 10 AM ET and then later that afternoon at 3 PM ET.
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