Jessie Taylor
Noah Haidle's Birthday Candles is a Broadway play that premiered in 2022 at the American Airlines Theatre. The 90-minute play follows the story of Ernestine Ashworth, played by Emmy Award winner Debra Messing, and her journey through life's highlights and heartbreaks over the course of 90 birthdays. Through the metaphor of a cake baked over a century, the play explores the passage of time, the preciousness of life, and the intersection of the personal and the universal.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Playwright | Noah Haidle |
| Director | Vivienne Benesch |
| Opening Date | April 10, 2022 |
| Closing Date | May 29, 2022 |
| Theatre | American Airlines Theatre |
| Theatre Company | Roundabout Theatre Company |
| Running Time | 90 minutes |
| Main Characters | Ernestine Ashworth, played by Debra Messing; Kenneth, played by Enrico Colantoni; Billy/John, played by Christopher Livingston; Alice/Madeline/Ernie, played by Susannah Flood; Matt/William, played by John Earl Jelks |
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What You'll Learn
Plot synopsis
'Birthday Candles' is a Broadway play by Noah Haidle, starring Debra Messing as Ernestine Ashworth, a 17-year-old girl who agonises over her insignificance in the universe on her birthday. The play then progresses through Ashworth's life, from her 18th birthday to her 101st, across five generations, exploring the extraordinary moments that make up her seemingly ordinary life.
The play centres around Ashworth's mother's special birthday cake recipe, which she bakes herself every year, without any external signs of aging. The cake serves as a metaphor for the circle of life, with ingredients like "stardust, the machinery of the cosmos" and "atoms left over from creation". The set design also contributes to the theme, with a homey kitchen framed by doorless thresholds, representing passage into the house, the outside world, and perhaps even the afterlife.
The story covers the highlights and heartbreaks of Ashworth's life, from mundane to fulfilling events, as she celebrates her birthdays. It explores births, deaths, love, despair, and a range of human emotions and thoughts. The Chicago Tribune sums up the appeal of the play, suggesting it prompts audiences to "think about their families, ponder their past romantic mistakes, stare down the demons of their futures and commune with those they have loved and lost."
'Birthday Candles' premiered on Broadway at the American Airlines Theatre on April 10, 2022, after being delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 90-minute play received mixed reviews, with some critics finding it profound and moving, while others felt it fell short of its ambitious goals.
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Playwright and inspiration
Birthday Candles is a play written by award-winning Michigan-born playwright Noah Haidle. The play premiered on Broadway at the American Airlines Theatre on April 10, 2022, and was directed by Vivienne Benesch.
The play was originally commissioned and produced by the Detroit Public Theatre. The idea for the play came to Haidle when he was with a friend whose eight-year-old daughter asked whether she had wasted her life. Haidle decided to make the character older, using a series of years to give her the answers to her life's meaning and the sacrifice of love and its unyielding sorrows and joys.
The play follows the story of Ernestine Ashworth, who spends her 17th birthday agonizing over her insignificance in the universe. The audience then sees her at various ages, from her 18th birthday to her 101st, witnessing the highlights and heartbreaks of 100 years in just 90 minutes.
The Chicago Tribune described the play as:
> "precisely why people go to the theater, which is to think about their families, ponder their past romantic mistakes, stare down the demons of their futures and commune with those they have loved and lost."
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Cast and characters
"Birthday Candles" is a Broadway play written by Noah Haidle and directed by Vivienne Benesch. It is a Roundabout Theatre Company production that premiered at the American Airlines Theatre on Broadway in 2022. The play stars Emmy Award winner Debra Messing as Ernestine Ashworth, a 17-year-old who agonizes over her insignificance in the universe on her birthday. As the play progresses, we see Ernestine at various stages of her life, from her 18th birthday to her 101st, spanning five generations and an infinity of dreams.
Debra Messing, who plays Ernestine, is known for her role in the NBC comedy series "Will & Grace". She received a 2019 Golden Globe Award nomination for "Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series – Musical or Comedy" for this role. Messing's character in "Birthday Candles" bakes a real cake onstage during every performance, a tradition that her character clings to for years.
The play also stars Susannah Flood as Alice/Madeline/Ernie, Ernestine's mother, who makes a golden butter cake at the beginning of the play. Flood has previously appeared on Broadway in "The Cherry Orchard" and in Off-Broadway productions such as "The Counter" and "Make Believe".
Christopher Livingston plays Billy/John in "Birthday Candles". Livingston has appeared in other Broadway productions such as "The Great Society" and Off-Broadway shows including "On the Grounds of Belonging" and "Party People". Andre Braugher plays Matt, while Enrico Colantoni portrays Kenneth. Crystal Finn makes her Broadway debut as Joan/Alex/Beth.
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Set design
The set design for Noah Haidle's "Birthday Candles" is by Christine Jones, who has created a wondrous and practical set that blends well with the story. The play is set in a homey powder-blue kitchen, framed by three doorless thresholds on the left, right, and centre. Each of these thresholds represents a passage into or out of the house, or a more metaphysical passage into the afterlife. Above the kitchen, a night sky is filled with floating objects, including a keyboard, a tricycle, a dollhouse, an umbrella, a soccer ball, and a teddy bear. This set design neatly illustrates how the personal meets the universal.
The kitchen is a central part of the play, as the story begins with the character of Ernestine's mother (played by Susannah Flood) making a golden butter cake for Ernestine's 17th birthday. This cake becomes a tradition, baked by Ernestine over 90 birthdays, which the audience experiences in the course of the 90-minute play.
The floating objects in the night sky above the kitchen are a representation of the cosmos, with household objects taking on new significance as they hang over the kitchen like stars. This set design reflects the themes of the play, which explores the highlights and heartbreaks of 100 years of Ernestine's life, from her 17th birthday to her 101st.
The three doorless thresholds that frame the kitchen also have a symbolic significance. They represent not only physical passages into and out of the house but also metaphysical passages into the afterlife. This reflects the play's exploration of the passage of time and the nature of life and death.
Overall, the set design for "Birthday Candles" is impressive and effective, enhancing the story and providing a visual representation of the play's themes and ideas.
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Critical reception
The reviews for "Birthday Candles" are mixed, with some critics praising the show's exploration of profound themes and others finding it falls flat.
The Chicago Tribune called it "precisely why people go to the theater," and The Daily Beast deemed it "affecting," noting how it "confronts the big and small questions of existence and time itself." The New York Post described the play as "warm," saying it "bubbles up our own cherished and difficult memories of the people in our lives who’ve come and gone." The New York Times also noted the emotional impact of the show, reporting "empathetic sniffles and sighs in the audience during the performance."
However, The New York Times review also criticised the show for getting "caught in a superficial cycle of wannabe profundities and emotional pantomimes." The reviewer, Maya Phillips, goes on to say that the show "nearly suffocates in such grandiloquent pronouncements and existential metaphors."
The show is written by Noah Haidle, who received a Tony Award nomination in 2007 for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play for his work in August Wilson's "Radio Golf." The New York Times review describes Haidle as a writer of "freewheeling ambition," and his Broadway debut aspires to blend multigenerational family drama and poetic musings.
"Birthday Candles" is directed by Vivienne Benesch and stars Emmy Award winner Debra Messing as Ernestine Ashworth, alongside Crystal Finn, Susannah Flood, John Earl Jelks, and Christopher Livingston.
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Frequently asked questions
The play runs for 90 minutes.
Birthday Candles is written by Noah Haidle.
The main character is Ernestine Ashworth, played by Debra Messing.
Birthday Candles follows the story of Ernestine Ashworth and her birthdays over the course of 90 years, from her 17th to her 101st.
Birthday Candles played at the American Airlines Theatre on Broadway.
