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April 22, 2003
There's an interesting play on at the West End Theatre: RAIN, RIVER, ICE,
STEAM by S.L.Daniels. It's the rare work that has a spiritual center and
deals with transformation- a kind of surreal dream play. A miracle rain
has saved people from a fire, and it has an effect on the people of the
town. It's a little bit "Alice in Wonderland" "Drink me!"
and a touch of Carlos Castaneda as imbibing the water might make one see
like a bird. The play is experimental, inventive, and even has humor in
it as it expresses a thru-line
connection with nature. All of the acting by the cast of seven is excellent,
and I especially liked 15 year old Molly Carden. Kimberly I. Kefgen's
direction is lively, and she clearly brings out the idiosyncrasies of
each character as, for some of them, the water opens "The Doors of
Perception." Thru May 17th- 263 W. 86th St. 212/696-8931.
***1/2 Richmond Shepard--
Performing Arts INSIDER
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April 20, 2003
Act One of the revival of the musical NINE, with book by Arthur Kopit
and songs by Moury Yeston, is really two shows: one when Jane Krakowski
is on the stage, and one when she is not. She enters and the stage light
up- our eyes open wide, our anticipation tingles- something is happening!
I want it to last. Jane is a Broadway show in herself, beautiful and sensual
in her magical floaty costume by Vicki Mortimer. When she enters, drifting
down from the flies, she's an angel; her ascending exit is a moment I'll
never forget; she sings, her lovely voice reaches deep inside us. Then
there's the rest of the show. It's okay. Cute moments. Antonio Banderas
as the protagonist, the Fellini, the filmmaker, is cute, sings pleasantly.
But Krakowski is a star. A standup turn by Chita Rivera, who also fills
the theatre with her presence, is lots of fun. But the show is a different
kind of musical, with about sixteen women and one man, and it is diffuse.
People wander all over the stage. Okay, we see that Banderas has many
women, but mostly they have nothing to do except wear costumes. Thank
goodness for the beautiful, superb singer Laura Benanti in Act Two, and
the surprising
Mary Stuart Masterson as the wife. Both are powerful, intense performers,
and each brings a mastery to her characterization that helps hold the
show together. So does Mary Beth Pell as Banderas' mother. I'd like to
have seen more of Krakowski in Act Two. Aside from a lack of cohesion,
tension, and a feeling that something is really at stake here, director
David Leveaux misses one major thing (for me)-- ITALY! It's not really
there in most of this production. Should you see the show? The choral
singing, directed by Kevin Stites is super, and I wouldn't miss Jane Krakowski
for anything.
**3/4 Richmond Shepard--
Performing Arts INSIDER
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April 14, 2003
Alan Bennett has written a program of brilliant short plays, TALKING HEADS,
and each that I saw in Program "B" is a polished gem shining
with intelligence and wit. Valerie Mahaffey as a beautiful, naïve,
uneducated actress, Daniel Davis as an ineffectual man in his fifties
who takes care of his mother, and Lynn Redgrave as a woman of a certain
age who has a
relationship with her chiropodist, all give sterling nuanced performances
under the sure sensitive hand of director Michael Engler. Each piece is
a little masterpiece in all departments, including costumes by Candice
Donnelly and set by Rachel Hauck. This is a "Don't Miss" evening
of terrific Theatre.
**** Richmond Shepard--
Performing Arts INSIDER
Eddie Izzard gives
a star turn in "A Day in the Death of JOE EGG" by Peter Nichols,
now on Broadway, bringing a gentleness to the very stylized character
of the husband in a couple who have a totally disabled daughter whom they
care for. It's an odd play which unconventionally breaks the convention
of the "Fourth Wall," and each character addresses the audience
directly. Izzard gives great Fuddy Duddy as he shows us various doctors
or a vicar, and keeps his performance underplayed in what is actually
full-out
broad comedy, making this very heavy play humorous. Victoria Hamilton
as his distraught wife, Margaret Colin and Michael Gaston as their wealthy
WASP acquaintances, she icy, he blustering, Dana Ivey as his mother and
little Madeleine Martin as the spastic daughter, are all fine performers,
and they fill the stage and the theatre with their talent. Laurence Boswell's
direction on Es Devlin's fine set keeps things alive and moving. For me,
though, the play would lose nothing with a bit of trimming, especially
long speeches about the possibilities for the child. But Izzard is, indeed,
worth seeing.
*** Richmond Shepard--
Performing Arts INSIDER
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April 07, 2003
FROM WHERE I STAND is a dreamy but bright musical review, set in an upscale
bar, that is very much about New York, with hymns to the city, including
songs about Brooklyn, Manhattan, and city monuments like The
Yankees and Donald Trump. The charismatic Kim Cea, who, when she takes
the stage, makes the whole room sparkle, leads the cast of five, all good
singers, especially Adam Mastrelli. Debra Pitkin's intermittent turns
about self-destructive neurosis are amusingly well done, and Albert M.
Tapper's book and songs are quite entertaining as directed by Edie Cowan.
Lanny Meyers cooks on the eighty-eight, and lifts the songs. I very much
enjoyed the evening-- Tapper is bright, and his songs are engaging. What
does the show need to take it a step higher? One smash comedy number and
a new title, perhaps as simple as "Manhattan Bar," or "Neurosis
on the Rocks," or "I (heart) NY." Something I can remember
so I can tell
my friends. And I do want to tell my friends-- I had a good time. At the
West Bank, 407 W. 42nd St. 212/695-6909 thru April 18.
Richmond Shepard--
Performing Arts INSIDER
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April 04, 2003
Some people love old time Vaudeville: Smith & Dale in The Doctor Sketch
on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Three Stooges, British knockabout comedy
and eccentric dancing. If you're one of them, you'll love the ridiculous,
slapstick, corny, very British comedy review THE PLAY WHAT I WROTE. Sean
Foley, Hamish McColl and Toby Jones recreate the antique schtick
with flair, falls, and fol-de-rol- Foley takes John Cleese's physicality
to new heights of dementia with a rubber body like they don't make any
more. Act 2 does a sendup of "The Scarlet Pimpernel" utilizing
a guest star. The night I saw it John Lithgow cavorted with them, and
it's always fun to see a star being ridiculous. The absurd set and costumes
by Alice Power, particularly in the dungeon scene in Act 2 are hilarious,
and so is the choreography by Irving Davies and Heather Cornell. If this
foolish, funny nonsense is your cup of balderdash, you'll have a great
time.
Richmond Shepard--
Performing Arts INSIDER
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April 03, 2003
URBAN COWBOY is a really good Country-Western musical with the sexiest,
most gorgeous chorus on Broadway-all great, energetic dancers and singers,
costumed, men and women, as eye-candy by Ellis Tillman,
choreographed with great originality and joy by Melinda Roy in the most
sensuous, colorful leaps and wriggles in town. With a pastiche of old
hits, the music jumps and flows. Jenn Colella, the lead, is a real star:
gamin beauty, totally riveting charisma, with a fine voice and an amazingly
fluid body, and good lookin' Matt Cavenaugh as the self-destructive, but
sympathetic cowboy has a lovely singing voice, and the right bumpkin air
for the part. Backed by Sally Mayes, Leo Burmester, Jody Stevens, and
Marcus Chait as the perfect villain, the entire cast is top Broadway level.
The show is about working class aspirations. It's unsophisticated longings
are
presented with great sophistication by director Lonny Price on James Noone's
amazing set, all accented perfectly by Natasha Katz' s lighting. During
the dance numbers, the audience was grinning, tappin', head-bobbin', and
"Lookin' for Love in All the Wrong Places" is still tripping
in my head. We had a lot of fun.
*** 7/8 Richmond Shepard--
Performing Arts INSIDER
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March 31, 2003
Not many people could attempt to be Katherine Hepburn- the voice, the
cheekbones, the classical tone. Kate Mulgrew in TEA AT FIVE by Matthew
Lombardo gives an awfully good impression- accent, gestures, the full
look and sound, as she Hepburns around the stage as both the younger Kate,
up to "The Philadelphia Story," and the older one, complete
with tremors, to the end. Ms. Mulgrew is a fine actress, quite believable
and
quite entertaining in her role. The play, however, is not fascinating
throughout. There are some interesting insights into her life, some clever
lines, like a few John Barrymore quotes, and there's fun in the familiar:
names of movies, actors, directors, events and adventures in her shaky
rising career. In Act 2 she is the palsied older woman, and she does
command our attention. But the play seems to need some leavening with
humor, or perhaps scenes from plays or movies she did, some theatrical
excitement. Director John Tillinger has plumbed the material well, and
does his best to keep it moving on Tony Straiges fine set. Jess Goldstein's
costumes are just right, and Paul Huntley's wigs are amazing. After seeing
this performance, I'd love to see Ms. Mulgrew in a play with stature-
she's a commanding presence with great range.
*** Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER, and lively-arts.com
LIFE (X) 3 by Yasmina Reza, translated by Christopher Hampton, now on
Broadway, starts as a light domestic comedy long on a crying child for
the first 30 minutes and short on brilliance as a couple comes to the
home
of another for dinner a day early. There is a lot of domestic bickering
and an occasional funny line. Then the same night is played again, with
a different
slant, and it becomes more interesting, and then, once again, a third
time, with other mood, character and plot implications. This includes
some French
inter-couple flirtatious moofky-foofky with pretentious scientific horseshit
thrown in. With the splendid cast, Helen Hunt, John Turturro, Brent Spiner
and Linda Edmond spinning the nonsense into theatricality, LIFE (X) 3
is ultimately quite an enjoyable evening of theatre with a dash of
experimentation and a touch of intellect in it. Designer Mark Thompson
utilizes the round stage of Circle-in-the-Square with great understanding
of the space; lighting by Hugh Vanstone augments well. Director Matthew
Warchus, by allowing the irrepressible Turturro to fly where his impulses
take him, yea unto dancing, certainly "gets it" as he makes
the play as theatrical as possible.
*** 1/2 Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER, and
lively-arts.com
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March 24, 2003
Theatre lovers are in luck. One of New York's great actresses is on stage
again. Tovah Feldshuh plays Golda Meir in GOLDA'S BALCONY at the Manhattan
Ensemble Theatre, 55 Mercer St. in SoHo: 212/925-1900.
It's a powerfully-moving tour-de-force performance of the life of the
leader of Israel, a woman who is both strong and vulnerable, beginning
as a young Zionist and leading up to the fateful critical events when
she is Premier in a time of war. There is an amazing set by Anna Louizos
suggesting a bunker, which is used as the screen for projections by Batwin
& Robin. As
directed by Scott Schwartz, Ms. Feldshuh's many characterizations, accents,
physicalizations, as she becomes the people she talks about, are all clear,
clean, separate, and fully realized. In GOLDA'S BALCONY, history is vividly
brought to life by a brilliant actress in an inspired performance filled
with high drama and leavened with humor.
**** Richmond Shepard--
Performing Arts INSIDER, and lively-arts.com
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March 21, 2003
It's been a lucky week: two terrific musicals in a row. Appropriate for
the first day of Spring.
ZANNA DON'T!, is a
gay "Grease," and is as much fun as a cheery, bouncy musical
about love in high school can be. It's a topsy-turvy world where gay is
the norm, and conservatives can be shocked by the idea of heterosexuality.
There are sequins on the football captain's uniform, and he's going to
be in the school musical. Written by the very clever Tim Acito,
directed and choreographed with great flair by Devanand Janki, with a
cartoon set by Wade Laboissonniere and Tobin Ost, and a talented,
singing/dancing cast that includes probably the prettiest performer on
or off-Broadway, Jai Rodriquez in the title role of Zanna. He can really
sing,
dance, prance and camp. And Anika Larsen is a star: her strong charisma
and great voice portend a bright future. The songs are catchy and memorable;
several could be hits, including a go-fast country one. Don't
go see this show unless you want to have a great, smiling, jumpin' time
at a totally fun-filled musical.
**** Richmond Shepard--
Performing Arts INSIDER, and lively-arts.com
If a musical review is first rate, it can last, be fully entertaining
years later, if it is done well by a top notch cast of Broadway-level
singers. The current revival of A...MY NAME IS ALICE, as directed by Adam
M. Muller is as entertaining today as it ever was. It has energy, verve,
lively sparkle and real
voices, most of them directly from Broadway. Soara-Joye Ross is, to me,
outstanding, but the rest, Ellie Dvorkin, the comic lead, who did the
zippy
choreography, Jennifer Allen, Avery Sommers and Donna Vivino are all up
there with the best on Broadway. Now at The Producers Club II on 9th Ave.
thru March 30th, this show deserves to move to a bigger theatre for a
long run. It's first rate entertainment directed with great sensitivity
as well as the pulse and energy of a musical review.
**** Richmond Shepard--
Performing Arts INSIDER, and lively-arts.com
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March 17, 2003
29th St. Rep. is living up to its history of presenting exciting theatre
with Charles Willeford's HIGH PRIEST OF CALIFORNIA, a fifty year old Noir
oddity of a play. It's serious, comic, old fashioned, and very entertaining
to a contemporary audience as we see the shenanigans of a used car salesman
as he manipulates a punchy ex-boxer, and the boxer's wife. We have the
classics: a vulnerable woman and a wise guy who knows his way around the
lower levels of society, played to the hilt by a first rate cast including
David Mogentale, Carol Sirugo, James E. Smith, Paula Ewin, Jerry Lewkowitz
and Tim Corcoran. Intrigue, sex, snappy dialogue, all directed with crisp
timing by Leo Farley on Mark Symczak's fine set. Catch this one if you
can-thru March 29th. 212/206-1515.
***3/4 Richmond Shepard--
Performing Arts INSIDER, and lively-arts.com
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March 10, 2003
CABARET REVIEW:
Scottish singer Morag McLaren is a major talent with a terrific voice,
and her comedy is bright, original and brilliant. She's sort of a Lily
Tomlin in the depth and breadth of her portrayals, but the characters
she depicts are all singers. Her voice has great range: from opera to
musical comedy to a breathtaking Scottish folksong. This is a world class
performer in a honed and seasoned act who will transport you to the highest
level of cabaret delights.
**** Richmond Shepard--
Performing Arts INSIDER, and lively-arts.com
Although the entire cast is fine, there are two great performances in
the flawed but rather interesting play STRING FEVER by Jacquelyn Reingold
now at The Ensemble Studio Theatre as part of their Science in Theatre
program. Cynthia Nixon glows, and brings a total inner life and conviction
to her portrayal of a woman whose husband had a mental breakdown, left
her, and broke her heart, and her involvement with a physicist. Evan Handler
is vividly alive as her sarcastic but vulnerable friend. Flaw? Not all
that serious in an actor-driven play: Too much explanation unto boredom
about the String Theory of the makeup of the physical universe in physics.
Mary B. Robinson has directed the material clearly, putting as much movement
into the staging as she can to keep it all moving, and the two performances
alone are worth the trip to West 52nd St.
*** Richmond Shepard--
Performing Arts INSIDER, and lively-arts.com
I went to see the
current cast of Mel Brooks' THE PRODUCERS. Boy! What a show! It's still
a brilliant comedy, full of laughs, with super performances by
Brad Oscar, Roger Bart, John Treacy Egan, Brad Musgrove, Gary Beach and,
as Ulla the night I saw it, Charley Iazabella King. Robin Wagner's set
which goes beyond ordinary bounds in its extravagance, Susan Stroman's
absurd choreography, hilarious costumes by Wiliam Ivey Long, all make
this show The King of Broadway- and "It's good to be the king."
**** Richmond Shepard--
Performing Arts INSIDER, and lively-arts.com
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March 04, 2003
I saw two exciting plays this week, each full of energy, talent, imagination,
and intense theatrical depth, both produced by the Labyrinth Theatre Company.
DIRTY STORY, written
and directed by John Patrick Shanley, is at the Harold Clurman Theatre
on W. 42nd St. Shanley is brilliant, funny, scintillating, engrossing,
enchanting; he is a unique dramatist who gives us an outpouring of ideas
of real intellectual import- with a touch (almost) of Thomas Harris-or
is it?, and a bit of "Hellzapoppin'" thrown in. It's a study
of narcissism in a writer, partly Absurd Theatre, full of theatrical surprises,
with a suburb cast, each with a vivid unforgettable character: David Deblinger,
Florenzia Lozand, Chris McGarry, Michael Puzzo, all playing archetypes:
Artist, Worker, Cowboy, Bartender. Shanley's theatrics take you on a trip,
and expand the limits of what can be done. Set by Michelle Malavel, costumes
by Mimi O'Donnell and lighting by Jeremy Morris fully fulfill Shanley's
vision. The play stands on the shoulders of Brecht, and is the most oblique
anti-war statement in town.
**** Richmond Shepard--
Performing Arts INSIDER, and lively-arts.com
OUR LADY OF 121ST
ST. by Stephen Adly Guirgis, directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman, is virtually
plotless: the devise of a dead nun's body being stolen from the funeral
home gives an excuse for many of the characters in the neighborhood who
knew her to stay around and interact with each other. And they do. Black
and white, gay and straight, rough, tough, trayed, betrayed, ofayed, splayed;
brown, uptown, get down- the language is strong, the tirades long, in
and out, see, shout, love, hate, it doesn't quit. It'll hold you: domestic
bliss, piss, vinegar, the language of today: intense, dense, don't mess
with me m....r-f....r! Get it? What's the story? It's a morning glory-
a burst of color, and it's gone. Good, powerful acting, with a flavor
found only in New York.
*** 3/4 Richmond Shepard--
Performing Arts INSIDER, and lively-arts.com
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