Pittsburgh CityPaper - 23/Nov/2011

[Source]

NOVEMBER 23, 2011

Sam Bendrix at the Bon Soir

While the show at present isn't what playwright Keith Bunin wants it to be, what it is is swell.

BY TED HOOVER

Luke Macfarlane in City Theatre's Sam Bendrix at the Bon Soir.
Photo courtesy of Suellen Fitzsimmons.

Boy -- if there was ever a show with my name written all over it, it's Keith Bunin's Sam Bendrix at the Bon Soir, now world-premiering at City Theatre. Mark Rucker directs Luke Macfarlane (late of TV's Brothers & Sisters) in the role of Sam Bendrix -- a bartender at the legendary New York cabaret in 1958 -- who has coerced the owners into letting him perform for one night only. And thanks to a few too many cocktails, his between-song patter turns into self-confession.

Tony Ferrieri has designed the sumptuous recreation of the Bon Soir, made even more atmospheric by Andrew David Ostrowski's moody and expressive lighting.

Pittsburgh's musical genius, Douglas Levine, is not only music director but plays the nightclub pianist, and his terrific jazz combo runs through a list of American Songbook standards which could have been lifted directly from my iTunes.

So I was totally prepared to fall in love.

And yet I have to say that I was less than enthralled. It's not bad, certainly, and never less than entertaining. But on the whole, the show feels generic and unmoored.

Bunin has set his play in the '50s and, for the life of me, I can't tell why. Nothing in the show's plot or attitude is either necessary to, or even formed by, that time. The character of Bendrix processes the world around him with a sensibility so firmly rooted in the 21^st century that there's no way to emotionally locate him in Bunin's chosen period.

But while the show at present isn't what Bunin wants it to be, what it is is swell. And a lot of that is because Macfarlane is just about as charming as anyone has a right to be; with his honest vulnerability, there's not a second we're not cheering him on. He also happens to be quite a good singer -- but, like the script, his voice is out of place. This was an era of brooding crooning (think Sinatra), not the bright, clear, unshaded singing Macfarlane provides.

As it stands, the show needs to amp up the authenticity. But until they get that, they've got the entertainment part covered.


Sam Bendrix at the Bon Soir continues through Dec. 18. City Theatre, 13^th and Bingham streets, South Side. 412-431-2489 or www.CityTheatreCompany.org

post-gazette.com - 22/Nov/2011

[Source]
'Sam Bendrix at the Bon Soir' charms at City Theatre
Stage review
Tuesday, November 22, 2011

By Bob Hoover, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

John Heller /Post-Gazette

Luke Macfarlane brings an understated tenderness and regret tinged with hope to the one-man show "Sam Bendrix at the Bon Soir."

City Theatre has discovered an effective time machine and finely tuned it to 1958 to re-create the mood and music of that year for its charming "Sam Bendrix at the Bon Soir."

It's the premiere of Keith Bunin's emotional biography of a gay man looking for love in the wrong decade framed with evocative romantic show songs of the mid-20th century.

Reminding us a bit of "Mad Men's" Don Draper in his white shirt, narrow tie and slick hair, Luke Macfarlane plays Sam with an understated tenderness and regret tinged with hope. Bartender and fill-in singer at the tiny Bon Soir club in New York's Greenwich Village, Sam is saying farewell to his unhappy Manhattan history with a final performance.

'Sam Bendrix at the Bon Soir'

Where: City Theatre, 1300 Bingham St., South Side.
When: Through Dec. 18; Tuesday-Wednesday, 7 p.m.; Thursday-Friday, 8 p.m.; Saturday, 5:30 and 9 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m.; Nov. 30 and Dec. 7, 1 p.m. matinees.
Tickets: $35-$60. 412-431-2489 or www.citytheatrecompany.org.

Blending great songs by Gershwin, Porter, Kern, Weill and even Pittsburgh's Oscar Levant with his sad tale of searches for a lover in the closeted '50s, Sam risks all by baring his soul to the habitues of the cozy club.

Once inside City Theatre's second stage, the intimate Hamburg Studio, audiences pass through that time machine into a genuine New York basement dive. All that's missing from scenic designer Tony Ferrieri's nicely realized set is a cloud of cigarette smoke.

From the cramped bar to the small tables and the cheap wood paneling behind the band, his Bon Soir immediately evokes the feel of the times. Add the hip music from the combo led by pianist Douglas Levine and the world is 53 years younger.

Credit Brad Peterson for sound design and Andrew David Ostrowski for lighting as well.

Under the direction of Mark Rucker, City Theatre's " 'way back machine" works its magic, transporting its audiences in a way only live theater can do. Mr. Macfarlane, who logged hours on the TV prime-time soap "Brothers & Sisters," gracefully holds center stage for most of the one-act show, which is probably 20 minutes too long.

While he movingly tells the ups, but mostly downs of his character's love life in the Big City, Mr. Macfarlane as a singer seems more comfortable in the lower registers. He and the band have a great rapport, however, a tight relationship that draws the audience in on the performance.

Playwright Bunin's vision of what gay men faced in the 1950s echoes the writing of Christopher Isherwood and more closely the fine Tom Ford film with Colin Firth, "A Single Man." It's a familiar story, told afresh thanks to the great musical framework that saves the story from mawkish sentimentality.

Bob Hoover: bhoover@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1634.

First published on November 22, 2011 at 12:00 am

Luke and Keith Bunin was on Pittsburgh TODAY

Luke Macfarlane and Keith Bunin was on Pittsburgh TODAY on the 16th of November.
Original clip was posted on facebook.

Various News

Post-gazette.com A&E / THEATER & DANCE - 17/Nov/2011

TRIB LIVE | A & E - 16/Nov/2011

Playbill.com - 16/Nov/2011

Playbill.com - 12/Nov/2011

Broadway World.com - 12/Nov/2011

An announce from City Theatre - 11/Nov/2011

Photo by Justin Merriman - 10/Nov/2011

POP City - 09/Nov/2011

An announce from City Theatre - 09/Nov/2011

Sam Bendrix at The Bon Soir starring Luke Macfarlane

♪You'd be so nice to come home to
You'd be so nice by the fire
While the breeze on high, sang a lullaby
You'd be all that I could desire

Under stars chilled by the winter
Under an August moon burning above....(fade out)

Ask Luke Macfarlane: City Theatre's Backstage Blog

[Source]

Ask Luke Macfarlane.
Published November 7, 2011

ASK LUKE.

.Luke Macfarlane, star of ABC’s Brothers & Sisters joins City Theatre for the world premiere of Sam Bendrix at the Bon Soir by Keith Bunin.

He will be doing lots of interviews with the Pittsburgh media, but we thought it would be fun to let our Facebook fans have a chance to ask him questions!

All you have to do is click the “submit a question” button below and add your question in the comment box on the facebook page.   It’s that easy! We will shoot an interview with Luke where he answers your questions. Look for it on our Facebook page!