October 12th, 2007
   
Impressions of Manhattan Theatre Club's MAURITIUS by Theresa Reback, directed by Doug Hughes, now on Broadway, in which two half-sisters (the excellent Alison Pill and Katie Finneran) vie for the possession of a stamp collection:
1. Stamp dealer overplayed by Dylan Baker like in a bad sitcom.
2. We in the audience all immediately get it from a character's body language that he is a crook and a con man, and those on the stage don't.
3. Behavior is a bit idiotic.
4. The con man (Bobby Cannavale), dressed and talking like a gangster, physically intrudes, and no one calls the cops.
5. Dialogue in half sentences.
6. If you had stamps worth six million dollars, would you carry them around at night?
7. Act 2 has some drama as the dynamic F. Murray Abraham negotiates into absurdity.
8. Ultimately laughable (at-- not with).
9. Fine set by John Lee Beatty, costumes by Catherine Zuber, lighting by Paul Gallo.
10. This is no "American Buffalo," which had an awful lot of believability.
11. Fagedaboutit.

October 08th, 2007
   
LIKE LOVE, a chamber musical with book and lyrics by Barry Jay Kaplan and music by Lewis Flinn, gives us a wonderful singer/actress/beauty, Emily Swallow, Jon Patrick Walker, a fine singer with the worst haircut on the NY stage, and the lively Danielle Ferland as the narrator/symbol of "The Spirit of Love." A
chance meeting, sex, no strings. Does it surprise you that strings start to attach themselves? Most of the play is sung dialogue rather than songs, and the music all fits, but the basis of the show seems false-- to keep it all anonymous. Their romantic relationship, with neither one attached to someone else, is too good for that. Actually, the two leads do not seem to be a match-- he comes across as a "Dead End Kid" with a lackadaisical style which seems to fit film acting, and she seems to come from a different crust-- a touch of upper, and a performance more appropriate for the stage. But the ways of love are unpredictable,
aren't they? So- there are few surprises, they all sing well, and, as directed by Lisa Rothe, it's all rather pleasant.

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

In WILL DURST: THE ALL-AMERICAN SPORT OF BIPARTISAN
BASHING, Durst, an engaging political comedian, takes big hits at Bush, and little taps at Hilary. It's all observational humor, and he evokes chuckles, smiles, and laughs as he skewers political figures. As the show goes on, Durst reveals himself to also be a terrific physical comedian and impressionist with broad, complete expressions of body and face that take the show into a higher dimension of comedy as he covers a wide range of contemporary topics. Whether you agree with him or not, as directed by Eric Krebs, Durst's show is incisive, profoundly funny, and very
entertaining from start to finish.

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

I love Horton Foote, and his DIVIDING THE ESTATE confirms my romance with his work. As impeccably cast and deftly directed by Michael Wilson, we seem to be part of the family interactions on the stage in the drama of a Southern family, its foibles and mistakes, and the death of a matriarch. There is not a false note in the interaction of these relatives and their economic problems which partly grew out of hopes and unrealistic dreams. I found myself totally engrossed, and, indeed enchanted by the work, the language, and nuances of the acting by the entire thirteen member cast. Who are the great American playwrights?
August Wilson, Eugene O'Neil, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, Neil Simon and Horton Foote. Each has a unique insight into the American heart, and Foote's Texas has a human universality that I love.

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

September 26th, 2007
   
Mime is driven by content, and BILLY THE MIME is the most profound there is. He has the finely-honed skills to portray his ideas, and gives us the art form at its highest level. He moves cleanly and precisely, effortlessly, and is fearless in his subject matter, which includes JFK Jr., Karen Carpenter, Terry Schiavo, World War II, 9/11, abortion, the start of AIDS, a priest and an alter boy, all in clear Mime. He observes and poignantly satirizes our contemporary world-- He closes with a clown finale. BILLY THE MIME is a great comedian in the mold of Keaton. Flea Theatre, 41 Whit St. thru Sept. 29th. 212/352-3101

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

September 24th, 2007
   
A NEW TELEVISION ARRIVES, FINALLY by Kevin Mandel, is a surreal romp involving a repressed couple and the live whirlwind of a television set who arrives in their home performed by three extremely talented actors. Bryan Fenkart's ability to subtly shift words from hesitant to tentative to unsure is high comedy.
Kate Russell has a clean comic presence and the rare ability to stop as well as to move. Victor Villar-Hauser as the intruder has great physical capabilities and plasticity, which, in the course of
the play, he displays with energy, verve, and total commitment to the absurdity. Director Kevin Kittle utilizes his terrific cast beautifully, giving us as much entertainment value as can be gleaned from this unfocussed play. It starts as a funny absurdist
comedy as the TV set arrives and expounds on all the joys that television can bring into a home. It then segues from antic humor into long tiresome rhetoric and exposition and becomes a vehicle for philosophical musings--by the TV set. The play, an overdone
agglomeration of some rather interesting ideas, becomes a vehicle for a kind of new-age therapy, and the performers, although all terrific, are betrayed by the writing which deteriorates into pretentious verbiage. Mandel shows, in spurts, that he is capable
of dramatic coherence, and I look forward to his next wild idea, hopefully performed with a director and cast as good as this one.

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

I've been a fan of the stunningly beautiful, enchanting German singer/actress Micaela Leon since I saw her cabaret of the women of the Weimar Republic, "Tigers, Muses & Jasmine." Then I became re-captivated when I saw her French Cabaret- The
Songs of Juliette Greco. Now her new cabaret show, TRANCE ATLANTIC, the songs of Marlene Deitrich, Josephine Baker and Jane Birkin, is at The Metropolitan Room, 34 W. 22nd, September 28, October 12th and 19th at 10: PM-- 212/206-0440. Leon's style is mesmerizing no matter if she is bouncing to a beat,
crooning, seducing or reflecting in her songs. She's a star of the first magnitude, one of the most beautiful, stylish women in this city of beautiful and stylish women. The narratives she writes for her shows, connecting the ideas and the times when they were performed, is clear and fascinating. Leon is classic-- the songs are old, the attraction is eternal as she does material from the 20's and 30's. She's a flapper, a vamp, a heroine, a victim, a spunky survivor of the battles of life and love, and she gets to show her talent as a serious actress as well as a lively comedian. This woman has everything. With a fine supporting musical trio, good lighting and clean clear direction by Lina Koutrakos, she gives us a top level, world class, inspired cabaret show. Want a
thrill? Listen to Micaela say "Je t'aime........" in the song that was banned by The Vatican when Jane Birkin did it. What a show! What a woman! And her "Tigers, Muses & Jasmine" resumes at Don't Tell Mama on W. 46th St. the third Friday of every month at 7: PM starting in November.

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

100 SAINTS YOU SHOULD KNOW by Kate Fodor, now at Playwrights Horizons, starts with a brief scene between a priest and a woman toilet-cleaner (Janet Moloney in a convincing portrayal as a single mother), and becomes a low level sitcom laced with profanity in a scene between the mother and her daughter. The priest (a finely nuanced Jeremy Shamos) goes home to his conservative, unforgiving Irish Mother (the wonderful Lois Smith), and gradually the main theme of the play begins to be revealed: the loneliness and frustration of a man who is not allowed to physically touch another person. But there is a second theme to the play as the rebellious daughter, played by an antic and totally believable Zoe Kazan, teases an inebriated neighbor boy (Will Rogers in an off-putting performance as he squeaks and crackles his voice-- possibly in an attempt to appear younger) into a dangerous prank. And finally the major themes are revealed: religious issues about good and evil; what is the role of the church; what is prayer; the conflicts of a gay priest-- his dark night of the soul; a cry against celibacy in the church and a very moving moment as the priest allows Moloney to stroke his head. So there are two separate stories with separate moral problems intersecting: the church-- and responsibility for the consequences of our actions (Kazan). With Ethan McSweeny's direction on Rachel Hauck's wonderful sliding, turning set, with Mimi O'Donnell's just right costumes and Jane Cox's subtle
lighting, it ultimately becomes quite an engaging play as it gives us questions without answers.

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

September 20th, 2007
   
Every once in a while a reviewer will encounter a true comedic find. I DIG DOUG gives us a comic duo that should be on television every week. They wrote it, they play the parts- they're top-level at both, and ready for Prime Time. Karen DiConcetto, a pretty, diminutive frank-faced valley-girl simulator, ala Ms Hilton and Ms Ritchie, is spot on and totally believable in her reactions to the social and political situations in America right now as two
friends drive across the country to go to the presidential caucus in Iowa, and her partner Rochelle Zimmerman, who plays about ten other characters, shows a rare range and flexibility. This is
political/social satire at its very best; these are two actress/writers who could go all the way.

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