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As two youthful, snarky theater fans first discovering the idiosyncrasies of the New York landscape, myself and a comedian friend used to dream of staging a parody at the People’s Improv Theatre titled, “The Assembled Parties Gather at the Country Cottage Lakeside Family Home.” Or, something along those lines. (Okay, the title needed work.)
Set at a lakeside cottage in the country, our magnum opus would have featured multiple overlapping family reunions, all fraught with tensions as secrets rose concurrently to the surface, each interrupted only by roof pieces occasionally crashing down onto the nonplussed, tidily-dressed relatives. (“This place is falling apart!” a passing Blythe Danner would occasionally declare, before scuttling back off stage.)
The idea might sound mean-spirited, but in truth, me and my co-writer loved nothing more than a good country-home-fracas drama—particularly the finest Manhattan Theatre Club vintage. Sure, we feared the milquetoast family drama’s role in the dearth of formally ambitious work on Broadway. But all things being well-balanced, can’t there be room for both? To this day, I still love a good second-home-showdown.
So I certainly enjoyed decent chunks of The Disappear, Erica Schmidt’s routine if energetic entry into the country house canon. Now at the Minetta Lane Theatre through February 22 in an Audible production, Schmidt’s new work (which she also directs) concerns an egotistical filmmaker, Benjamin Braxton (Hamish Linklater), blowing up a longtime marriage to celebrated novelist Mira Blair (Miriam Silverman) with his pursuit of hot young star Julie Wells (Madeline Brewer). Even as their relationship crumbles, Ben and Mira are forced to work together after Benjamin’s lead actor Raf Night (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) takes a liking to Mira.
The Disappear kicks off with Benjamin hurling misanthropic, misogynistic abuse at his poor wife—”I look at you and I see my death,” is one choice line—and stays in that lane for much of the ensuing two hour runtime. Linklater is a faultlessly committed actor, and does not shy away from his character’s cruelty. (Halley Feiffer’s stinging drama The Pain of My Belligerence utilized Linklater similarly back in 2019, if to more intriguing ends.) Linklater is also unfailingly charismatic, and in a handful of tantalizing moments, his Benjamin starts to convince—if only for a few seconds—that Mira is somehow the real problem in this dynamic. Still, the role is beneath Linklater, as Benjamin ultimately has no depths to plumb. He is a manchild, and that’s all.
As his novelist wife, Silverman feels similarly overqualified for the gig. She mostly plays Mira as a wet rag, hapless and weak—that’s what Schmidt wrote, and it’s clearly what she wants from Silverman. It’s also quite uninteresting.
The supporting players fare better. Dylan Baker, always reliable, hams it up delightfully as Benjamin’s put upon agent. Brewer is highly enjoyable as Julie, finding a wackiness that livens up the proceedings (the young starlet keeps slipping in and out of a fake British accent, a fun touch). And the underrated Kelvin Harrison Jr. has presence to spare as Raf, who is amusingly irritated by Benjamin and his “tortured genius” routine.
Schmidt moves the action along briskly, but aside from little touches here and there, The Disappear never surprises. You keep waiting for the text to pull us in some unexpected direction—surely an off-beat artist like Schmidt wouldn’t write a stock country-house-fracas, just two hours of rich people yelling about nothing? But she has, reawakening my wilted dreams of ham-fisted theatrical satire in the process. Does The PIT have any openings coming up?
The Disappear is now in performance at Audible's Minetta Lane Theatre in New York City. For tickets and more information, visit here.
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Today, Joy Machine Records announced the second single from the All The World’s a Stage: Original Cast Recording and Theatrely has your listen. “Other Lives” is performed by Eliza Pagelle and is available today, while the full cast album of the new musical, which features book, music and lyrics by Adam Gwon will be released in streaming and digital platforms on Friday, February 20. Listen here:
The album features performances by Elizabeth Stanley (Grammy Award winner and Tony Award nominee for Jagged Little Pill, Drama Desk nominee for On the Town), Matt Rodin (Beau the Musical, Company National Tour), Eliza Pagelle (Texas Shakespeare Festival), and Jon-Michael Reese (A Strange Loop on Broadway, White Girl in Danger at Second Stage).
The cast album is produced by Grammy Award winner Neal Avron (Waitress, Linkin Park), Grammy Award nominee Andrea Grody (Suffs, The Band’s Visit), Drama Desk nominee Adam Gwon, and Michelle Noh (Suffs, Liberation). Andrea Grody serves as music director with two-time Tony Award winner Michael Starobin (Assassins revival, Next to Normal) providing orchestrations. The recording preserves the recent production from Keen Company, produced in association with Michelle Noh, directed by Jonathan Silverstein. To pre-save the album, please visit www.joymachinerecords.com/artists/atwas. To stream or download the new single “Other Lives,” please visit www.joymachinerecords.com/artists/otherlives.
Even the most spectacular of spectaculars must come to an end. Moulin Rouge! The Musical will play its final performance on July 26, 2026 at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre in New York City. At the time of its closure, Moulin Rouge! will have played 2,265 regular performances, and 24 previews, making it the 36th longest-running show in Broadway history.
Winner of ten 2021 Tony Awards including Best Musical, Moulin Rouge! The Musical is directed by Tony Award winner Alex Timbers and with a book by Tony Award winner John Logan, choreography by Tony Award winner Sonya Tayeh and music supervision, orchestrations and arrangements by Tony Award winner Justin Levine.
“It’s truly been the honor of a lifetime bringing this exceptional show to Broadway,” producer Carmen Pavlovic said in a statement. “We’ve always said that Moulin Rouge! The Musical is a celebration of Broadway and of the artists who, against all odds, make it possible. We look forward to six more months of celebrating the remarkable people who created this show and those who perform eight times a week. And before we take our final bow, we have more exciting announcements that we can’t wait to reveal. See you at the Moulin Rouge, Chickens!”
Based on the Baz Luhrmann film of the same name, Moulin Rouge! is a story about love — a love you’ll never forget. In a world of splendor and romance, we follow the artist Christian as he falls desperately in love with the lead performer at Paris’ Moulin Rouge: Satine. With musical mashups ranging from Offenbach to Lady Gaga, the stage musical features many of the iconic songs from the film and hits released in the past 25 years.
Moulin Rouge! opened on July 25, 2019, to critical acclaim. It halted performances due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and was one of the key shows leading to Broadway’s return the following year. It recouped its Broadway investment late in 2022, making it the only musical production to do so from the 2019-2020 season and the only show that opened in that season still running.
Moulin Rouge! The Musical runs at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on West 45th Street in New York City through July 26. For tickets and more information, visit here.
