February 12th, 2007
   
Starting with wry observations on theatre-going, Wallace Shawn is a fine monologist, an observer/commentator whose tales draw us in-- and his insights and humor hold us. There is a lot about the lot of the poor and visits to poor countries, some with revolutions, including Karl Marx's analysis of value and the relationship between product and people, and a ramble on terrorism. There are also comments on a nude beach and on Christmas present-wrapping. Jennifer Tipton's lighting of the piece (which was written by Shawn in 1979 and is as relevant today as
it was then-- maybe moreso) is innovative, sometimes lighting the audience, but leaves Shawn too dim for parts of the monologue, which otherwise is nicely directed by Scott Elliott. Basically it is a
revolutionary analysis on the discrepancy between the poor and the rich and the value of human beings. Although sometimes mildly humorous, it is basically a political tract performed by a loveable man.

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com

Mystery! Adventure on dark streets! Beautiful bad women in slinky costumes! Suave good-looking men! ADRIFT IN MACAO, the new film noir musical with book and lyrics by Christopher Durang and music by Peter Melnick now at 59E59, gives us Durang at the top of his satirical creativity, with sparkling, imaginative innovation from director Sheryl Kaller and choreographer Christopher Gattelli. The music is as profoundly enjoyable as the lyrics, and it's a kick
from start to finish. This show is so strong as an entertainment that it belongs on Broadway along with "The Drowsy Chaperone" and "Spamalot." The super cast: Alan Campbell, Michele Ragusa, Rachel De Benedet, Will Swensen and Orville Mendoza (who just
about steals the show as a scrutable Oriental), designers Thomas Lynch (sets), Willa Kim (costumes) and Jeff Croiter (lighting) all help lift this delightful, hilarious musical to as high a level as it
gets in this town. Long may it wave!

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com

January 30th, 2007
   
A SPANISH PLAY by Yasmina Reza (translated by David Ives), as directed by John Turturro, gives us a wonderful cast in a play that is stylized with style and great theatricality. It breaks stage barriers as actors talk to the audience and it uses simultaneous
video projection as we see a scene. In Reza's earlier play ART people talked about Art. In this one, actors and actresses rehearsing a play talk about Acting, and it is a very funny delving into the idiosyncrasies of actors. The detailed dialogue is fun, and so are the personal quirks of the actors whom the actors are portraying. A lot of the entertainment in the piece is the fault of the director, because although it has some good family squabbles, it sometimes rambles. Denis O'Hare performs a monologue about a courtyard and a garden that, if not done as a vaudeville piece, would be really dull. The simple set by Riccardo Hernandez works well on the large stage. Costumes by designer Donna Zakowska are excellently skewed, and she has created two awful costumes for the stunningly beautiful Katherine Borowitz that are hilarious. They are all master players with Larry Pine, Zoe Caldwell and Linda Edmond rounding out the cast. The writer is smart (and
occasionally a bit verbose), and it is the great direction with immaculate timing by Turturro, that makes this show one to run and see.

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com

TRANSLATIONS by Brian Friel, is a play about communication that starts with a lovely mute woman just learning to speak (Morgan Hallett). It is a particularly interesting piece to me since I spend
part of each year in Ireland (mostly in Derry and Donegal where the play is set) and have seen the rising use of Gaelic (now called "Irish") in common speech, particularly in the south and east. It's
1833, and the Irish speak Irish. Friel is concerned with English corruption of the Irish language and culture as the English convert the names of towns, rivers, etc., into English. Friel has everyone speaking English, but we understand when they are
supposed to be talking Irish and when English. That works well. This is a political play, written in 1979, that supports Ireland's return to Gaelic, with an interesting message: The Irish, although living in houses with dirt floors, are a cultured people with an
understanding of History, who learn Latin and Greek-- the English are uncultured barbarians who know nothing of culture as exemplified by a Nazi-like horrible English Captain (Graeme Malcolm). There is some possible hope of an occasional sensitive aberration, however, as an English lieutenant (Chandler Williams)
and an Irish girl (Susan Lynch) fall in love although they don't understand a word of each other's language. There is lots of alcohol, the traditional bane of the Irish, but here they can handle it, and be smart in spite of it. There are interesting philosophic insights on History and the Perception of History, and
a foreshadowing of the coming potato blight. The play has a political message: although living in a primitive state, the Irish are the learned repositors of ancient knowledge, but although there is a hint of disaster, it has no resolution for the main characters. The set by Francis O'Connor gives us the epitome of age and decay- the embodiment of poverty, dirt floor and all. Lighting by Davy Cunningham is brilliant in its nuances and clarity. A superb cast and Garry Hynes' sure directorial hand and understanding of these people makes this a vivid piece of Theatre.

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com

January 25th, 2007
   
Barry and Brenda Levitt's compilation show at Birdland, HER SONG, celebrating women songwriters, gives us a top-notch musical ensemble of five first class singers with four hues of hair: blonde (Emma Zaks), brown (Casey Erin Clark), black (Heidi Weyhmueller) and red (Kelly McCormick), all terrific singers and personalities, and one large black woman (which every music show needs) as the heart (and soul) of the show-- the incomparable Broadway star Carol Woods. Her "Trouble" will shake you. The musical
ensemble, Cameron Brown on bass, a sensitive, delicate drummer, Brian Grice, and Barry Levitt, a great ivory-tickler who leads and gives a sense of time a fraction above the beat, which keeps all jumpin', on piano. The women, a quartet to tickle your ears, are
fun, sing well, and are well staged as they sing Barry's arrangements that beautifully blend and utilize their voices. And Carol Woods is a National Treasure-- if you ever can have the privilege of seeing and hearing her, pay WHATEVER it costs. She'll
make your innards quiver and your heart quaver. This is a prime time show playing at 5:30 on Saturdays and Sundays. 212/581-3080.

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com

January 23rd, 2007
   
August Wilson's play TWO TRAINS RNNING is rich-- rich in content, rich in language, rich in unforgettable characters as life unwinds in a diner in 1969 Pittsburgh. There is a lot of storytelling, and Wilson is a master storyteller, putting enchantment into the mouths of his people with their hopeless
hopes, dreams, unattainable ambitions. Drama, humor-- it's all there. This is a long visit with people whom we come to know, appreciate and want to spend even more time with. Lou Bellamy has directed his terrific cast with exquisite timing, Derek McLanes's set, Robert Wierzel's lighting and Mathew J. Lefebre's costumes all perfectly enhance the proceedings. Wilson is one of the small handful of the best American playwrights- Eugene O'Neil, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams. This is a wonderful
production not to be missed-- and thanks to a grant, you can see it for $15. Thru January 29th. Hurry!

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com

January 15th, 2007
   
The antique farce ROOM SERVICE by John Murray and Allen Boretz, which The Marx Brothers did in a film in the '30's, with its ins and outs about raising money for a show, is tons of fun. With two master farceurs, Sterling Coyne and Dale Carman, a strong lead, David Edwards, two beautiful women with style, Kim Rachelle Harris and Blythe Grude, and indelible characters played by a master comic cast, director Dan Wackerman gives us a couple of hours of unrelenting fun. At the Soho Playhouse. Don't go unless you want to have a good time with lots of laughs.

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com

ISRAEL HOROWITZ'S NEW SHORTS, nine playlets, shows again what a master craftsman Horowitz is. There is a range of subjects from the internal thoughts of people at a wedding, to an insight into the universe, to a sweet play-"The Fat Guy Gets the Girl, to the strongest piece-- "Beirut Rock," which explores the unsolvable problems in the mideast, to "Audition Play" with a hot tapdancer, Victoria Malvagno, to a bright, clever play about two lost people: a mistress and a hustler, well acted by Stephanie Janssen and Francisco Solorzano, to Kendra Leigh Landon in a piece about the
consequences of suicide, to an old lady searching for a cat, and leading up to a great finish, "The Race Play," which is an actual running race. All the writing is crisp, the entire cast is excellent, and the timing and invention by directors Horowitz and Michael LoPorto keeps us engaged, thinking, and entertained.

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com

Tom Stoppard is my favorite contemporary playwright (I played the lead in his "Travesties" in Los Angeles.) His new three play saga, THE COAST OF UTOPIA, about intellectuals in Russia (and Paris) set in the 1840's is now running at Lincoln Center. Play #1 "Voyage" has a magical gorgeous opening (brilliant, breathtaking design throughout the plays by Bob Crowley and Scott Pask and great lighting by Brian MacDevitt), and then a large Chekhovian confusion of a large family in the country and its romances and
arguments. There are some clever phrases, and simple 19th Century philosophic explorations of consciousness. The scenes are short, and the action flows, with the ghastly ghostly figures of peasants in the background and as servants. There are arguments that are interesting and tedious at the same time
because I've heard the arguments before and I'm more interested in the relationships, which seem to be secondary. Lots of arm-waving tirades and histrionics obscures the arguments, and the audience chuckled at the histrionics- so performance overwhelmed ideas, especially with Billy Crudup as a literary critic.
Stoppard's wit can't help come through even in some of the bloated discourses. Ethan Hawke is fine as the young rebel, and Jennifer Ehle captured me completely. Act Two, shows us Moscow during the same time period, and at the end of the almost three hour play the action will move to Paris.

The second play, SHIPWRECK, in Moscow and Paris, includes the 1848 revolution, and the Paris set is amazing before and during the revolution. The style of the whole production is brilliant, and the stage pictures would be a reason to see it. Brian F. O'Byrne is featured, and with him singing his lines and Çrudup squeaking his, the most interesting thing about the show is that it isn't very interesting, despite being Stoppard. Of course there are some
valid comments on Art, and some intellectual smiles and titters for lines like "Apathy takes great effort." There is a Nineteenth Century love quadrangle, with some philosophic musings thrown in, but I found it all to be a somewhat marvelous bore. Stoppard's logorrhea sung to us in a loud whining song by O'Byrne, turned me off a bit. But I guess if you're spouting pretentious horseshit, you might as well declaim it. Maybe the third play, "Salvage," will capture me (if they'll let me in).

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com

January 11th, 2007
   
Steve Solomon is a genuinely funny writer who totally understands the incongruities that are the basis of comedy. And in his show MY MOTHER'S ITALIAN, MY FATHER'S JEWISH & I'M IN THERAPY he's a brilliant performer, a master story teller, who fully plays about thirty characters, each with a different voice and persona-- male, female, old, young, and about eleven accents. His tales are fascinating, continuously really funny, with unending laughs as he does complete character after character. He's a great entertainer, a warm, funny man, and the show, in addition to its humor, has deep insights into universal family relationships and great heart.

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com