Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Richard Nelson quietly and gracefully concludes his landmark Rhinebeck Panorama with WHAT HAPPENED?: THE MICHAELS ABROAD

• By drediman
• September 9, 2021
• No Comments

Over the course of the last decade, Richard Nelson has delicately documented life in America, or at least one perspective of it, through the eyes of three Rhinebeck-residing families – the Apples, the Gabriels, and the Michaels. Despite the unassuming qualities of these plays (collectively known as the Rhinebeck Panorama), together they amount to a monumental theatrical endeavor that’s greater than the sum of its parts. The Hunter Theater Project’s production of What Happened?: The Michaels Abroad is allegedly the final entry in the series and, in a sense, marks the bittersweet end of an era. The work is a pointed departure from the other plays in that it finds the Michaels in Angers, France (on the eve of a dance festival) and not back in Rhinebeck, New York, where the rest of the plays in the cycle are set. Despite being abroad, they’re still reeling from and haunted by the passing of Rose, a celebrated modern dance choreographer and a central member of the family circle.

Thankfully, What Happened? exhibits all the hallmarks that made its predecessors such special and singular experiences in the theater, thereby quietly and gracefully concluding Mr. Nelson’s 12-play cycle (most of which was presented in close association with the Public Theater). The overarching “gimmick” of these plays is that they take place precisely in the present moment – What Happened? is set on September 8, which coincided with the timing of yesterday’s opening night at the Frederick Loewe Theater at Hunter College. Without the aid and filter of hindsight wisdom, the play authentically captures the overwhelming confusion of being caught in the web of history’s ongoing machinations. The work also poignantly mines the heartache that inevitably accompanies life, but in a refreshingly matter-of-fact, Chekhovian manner. There’s a certain resignation in this final play that’s both sad and telling – the Michaels are living in a world that’s spinning way too fast for them (and us?) to comprehend. It’s just as so that the series concludes abroad; the geographic distance from the cycle’s namesake roots is an elegant metaphor for perhaps these mostly white characters’ (and the playwright’s?) disconnect with the current trajectory of American society.

The cast is led by the incomparable Maryann Plunkett and Jay O. Sanders – a couple offstage – who have appeared in each of the Rhinebeck Panorama plays as various characters from the three aforementioned families, starting with 2010’s That Hopey Changey Thing (which is set during the 2010 midterm elections). The key to experiencing these plays is to read between the lines, and Ms. Plunkett and Mr. Sanders, two of New York’s finest stage actors, are masters at displaying their characters’ rich, often conflicted inner lives through every fiber of their beings. The rest of the impeccable cast follows suite with performances that are rife with vibrant internal drama. As with the other plays in his landmark cycle, Mr. Nelson also dons the directing cap, and he paces What Happened? with a mostly real time naturalism (e.g., a meal is prepared and consumed over the course of the play) that’s disarming in its relentless emotional and theatrical nakedness.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

WHAT HAPPENED?: THE MICHAELS ABROAD
Off-Broadway, Play / In-person
Frederick Loewe Theater / Hunter Theater Project
1 hour, 50 minutes (without an intermission)
Through October 8