Review Preview rewind: TNJ, McCarter

Neglecting my duties again as me and Mrs. Willie go into full home-improvement mode. We're refinancing to lower our rate and grab some cash for renovations. My home has been a revolving door of contractors, while evening conversations center around countertops and door sizes.
But I am getting to the shows. Following is a draft of the review we already published last Friday, which sort of perverts the whole Review Preview concept. But for the record,we post.

I'll follow with my Review Preview of Paper Mill's "The Miracle Worker."
FYI: "Me, Myself and I" closes Sunday, so if the review inspires you to go, move your booty. Also, tickets are tight.


Theater review
What: “Me, Myself and I”
When: through Feb 17
Where: Berlind Theatre, McCarter Theatre Center, 91 University Place, Princeton University, Princeton
How much: $15-49
Info: (609) 258-2787, ext.10; www.mccarter.org

What: “Flying Crows”
When: through Feb 17
Where: Playwrights Theatre, 33 Green Village Road, Madison
How much: $25-$27.50
Info: (973) 514-1787, ext.10; www.ptnj.org



By WILLIAM WESTHOVEN
Daily Record
It’s not every week that you can find two famous writers staging world premieres in New Jersey.
One of these novel stories comes from a novel, “Flying Crows,” by PBS news anchor Jim Lehrer. James Glossman adapted and directed this fascinating mystery.
At Princeton, three-time Pulitzer Prize winner Edward Albee is exploring more familiar territory, at least for him. “Me, Myself and I” is a dark, abstract, absurd comedy, full of confrontation and twisted conversation that would drive a grammar convention to the hotel bar.
“Flying Crows” is more complicated, but easier to follow. It reconstructs the life of a vagrant discovered living in Kansas City’s Union Station in 1997. Detective Randy Benton (Dan Domingues) finds Birdie Carlucci (Anthony Blaha) there during a final inspection before the historic building’s demolition.
When Birdie reveals he’s lived there since escaping from the infamous Somerset Medical Institution in 1933, Benton searches for answers. How did Birdie avoid detection? How did he eat? And what happened to Birdie at Somerset?
Benton’s only clue is the name Josh (Reathel Bean), whom Birdie says escaped with him. As Benton follows the trail, “Flying Crows” becomes a memory play. We see scenes of Josh and Birdie building a friendship and enduring hardships at Somerset, where thug-like attendants kept the peace with baseball bats.
We also see the memories of other witnesses, including a waitress from Union Station’s fabled Harvey House restaurant, who became more than a friend to Birdie back in the day.
There’s no active crime to solve, but Lehrer has crafted some rich characters and pulls you into this world of shadows.
Glossman’s adaptation moves at a brisk pace and covers a lot of ground. He’s also assembled a talented and brave cast. The problem is they are nearly overwhelmed by having to play two dozen characters in at least as many scenes.
Prentiss Benjamin spends the most time donning new skins. She begins as a narrator, although everyone takes turn providing narration that sounds like it came straight from the book. She also plays an aunt, a doctor, an EMT and the “Harvey Girl” waitress, both in flashback and in 1997.
Benjamin and Domingues know the territory, having done similar ensemble duty in Glossman’s “Sunrise at Monticello” on this stage a few years back. They are up to the task, but the audience has trouble keeping up with who’s who, where and when.
Newcomers Bean and Blaha both turn in rich performances in their principal roles. Bean’s calm, country manner and deep voice give Josh the kind of dignity his character never experienced at Somerset. Blaha is a convincing lunatic and a believable ladies man, both qualities essential to the tale.
Glossman adds a video screen with images of the station real structures that serve as the setting for this fictional story, along with datelines to remind you which decade you’re in. It helps, but so would trimming a few scenes and characters.
But as it stands, “Flying Crow” is worthy of an audience that, in the middle of a Hollywood writer’s strike, could use a good story right about now.
In Princeton, Albee’s “Me Myself and I” doesn’t offer much of a story — a mother who named both of her twin sons Otto and can’t tell the evil one from the good one. We never learn why the doctor who delivered them replaced the father who left on their birthday.
But this darkly hilarious gem is a brilliant showcase for the fabulous Tyne Daly (showing off some rarely seen comic skills) and Broadway favorite Brian Murray as the mom and the doc, who have a ball with Albee’s intricate wordplay. Artistic director Emily Mann wisely clears the set of everything but actors and a few beds, and lets them coin phrases, then twist them into knots like Eagle Scouts at a jamboree. Along the way, we learn a bit about maternal bonds, sibling rivalries and individual identity.
Like “Flying Crows,” it gets confusing at times, but the “Me, Myself and I” audience also can enjoy how the characters are as confused as they are.