News & Reviews from New York
       

August 24th, 2009
   
COMPLETE by Andrea Kuchlewska seems to be a commercial both for and against “The Training,” “The Program,” “The Forum.” Mostly about verbal communication, semantics, linguistics. Some of the fancy wordplay early on is interesting to an intellectual, but by the time twenty or thirty minutes go by it gets tedious as the man and woman argue. The leader, Jack, both in casting and in performance, is like a TV preacher: strong, handsome, sleek, a good speaker-- but he looks like an overweight, out of control eater/drinker- a snakeoil salesman who has not “created a healthy life.” There is Socratic dialogue with the strong character (the woman) attacking the weaker man’s positive view of “The Program.” The play is so full of redundancies, that the director (Birgitta Victorson) tried to dazzle us with footwork by having them fight physically during a boring argument. The leader speaking is like a Born Again Christian proselytizing performance, but boring because there are no hymns. There is lots of ongoing gibberish with a private cultish secret vocabulary/language. This terrible play becomes so pretentious in its smart alec discussions of word usage, that I had to fight my urge to walk out of the theatre. I found this annoying, intrusion into my life an insult to me and my artistic sensibility. They kept harping on the word “create.” I wanted to “create” a different present for myself. If its goal was to turn me off of “The Forum,” it succeeded-- I wouldn’t want to have anything to do with the people on either side of the argument. It was endless-- I had to fight not to escape. As a theatrical experience, it was worse than
root-canal.

OKAY-- as I sometimes do, I’d like to give you the comments of my compadre who attended COMLETE with me:

Nicholas Wolfson wrtes:
COMPLETE was a well-rehearsed, well-staged, well-directed (by Birgitta Victorson) production. The pace was animated, the actors made good use of the stage, and the lighting was well thought out and never missed a cue. The little girl (Evie, marvelously played by Sophia Rodyakin) absolutely conned us with her cute, mocking, insincere, sly ways, AND we liked her anyway because she dazzled us. And the feat of memorization accomplished by the lead actor, Lucy Owen – playing the part of Eve – was absolutely herculean. From lights-up to final blackout hundreds upon hundreds of lines of complicated recitation - often technical and, to this reviewer, quite obscure - flowed rapidly from her lips without falter, uncertainty, or noticeable mistake. She was less effective when she moved beyond acting and tried to connect in real time with the audience, rather like a talk-show host or a comedy club performer, which seemed to stretch her almost beyond her capacity. Less compelling than Ms. Owen was the “trainer” character, played loudly by Dylan Price, who was insufferably clumsy, bullying, and bombastic, a crude parody of someone on a mission to help people. However, because the play itself was an essentially weak vehicle, the overall impression - despite some reasonably good acting talent on stage, and despite a few good moments – was hammy and phony, full of what a fellow theatergoer called a long diatribe of grammatical masturbation, sorely lacking in such basics as a beginning, middle and end. As written, the characters were soul-less, only-partially-human spokespersons for various sides of an obscure (and occasionally amusing) argument about the science of linguistics and an equally mysterious “training” that seemed to be loosely modeled on Werner Erhard’s est. Familiarity with the enlightenment business was probably a prerequisite for anyone even beginning to understand the playwright’s thinking. And even then the point, tirelessly and vehemently argued by the lead character, seemed to be that personal work is a sorry, self-indulgent affair best kept at a distance. There was a kind of cynical, nihilistic, even bitter undertone to the play. I was left not wanting to go to any of the places these people have been to.

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


ALL OF THE ELEMENTS, written by and co-starring Tawny Sorensen, directed by Malinda Sorci, is about a couple functioning and misfunctioning sexually, and the basic conflict over having a baby or not. It’s a terrific vehicle for Sorensen, and she is totally believable in a wide range of emotions, digging deep into her psyche and truthfully expressing the feelings of the character. And in her semi-undressed state in the early part of the play she is gorgeous, reminding me of a young Julia Roberts. The conflicts over conceiving, a major deception, arguments about the state of the world, and a dramatic revelation near the end, allow this excellent actress to show her wide range and capability. The performance of her co-star, Mike Keller, is breathy, huffing, puffing, even early on, and in the later scenes he really “chews the scenery” as the play becomes stark melodrama. It’s a real conflict of styles: doing vs being. As a writer, this is a good beginning for Sorensen: the dialogue is believable, the building of the conflict works. Keep writing. (And above all-- keep acting!)

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

       

August 17th, 2009
   
Linda Olthof’s SPEK, a half hour physical action performance piece influenced by the painter Francis Bacon, gives us the concept “Without an Accident We Cannon Play.” It starts with what looks like the result of an accident: a car crash or an explosion, with the bent and broken bodies of dancers flung about and plastered on the walls and floor of the open set. The company consists of two women who dance rather nicely, one actor who moves a bit and breathily groans much anguish, and one Dancer, Evelien Riemens. There are amusing sections such as the four of them in an upright imaginary bed forming combinations, very imaginative physical postures as mannequins/robots, and an exciting section as Riemens explores wall, ceiling and the rungs of the ladder she dances and stretches on— rightside up and upside down. Her fluid flexibility as she bounces, flies, and relates to the ladder is enchanting. Olthof’s idea of her group working together intensely to create new physical-oriented Theatre each year has given us an engaging work, and I look forward to next year’s endeavor.


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

Director David Cromer has put together a mostly exciting rendition of Thornton Wilder’s OUR TOWN, now playing at the Barrow Street Theatre in Greenwich Village. With the action taking place in and around the audience, we become part of the life in the town of Grover’s Corners in the early 1900’s in this ultimate Americana play. It’s the life of the ordinary, with no surprises. My friend who saw it with me, a lifelong New Yorker, said it was like an anthropological study. There is no sophistication in this play-- some simple humor, some tendrils of real communication drift into the simplistic realities of the lives of these very average small town people with their very limited communication skills. The simple sentimentality of the simple lives of simple rural people gives us an ordinariness that is ultimately quite touching. And there are laughs. Basically people laugh at two things: recognition and incongruity. All of the laughs in OUR TOWN come from recognition— the foibles of everyday life. The large cast is mostly excellent, and best of all is Cromer himself as The Stage Manager: a clear, penetrating communication with the audience. Lighting by Heather Gilbert enhances everything, and the real set by Michele Spadaro, when finally revealed, is terrific. Costumes by Alison Siple are loaded with anachronisms: women did NOT wear pant suits to weddings back then. Booooo. Act three where the dead, in the graveyard, speak, doesn’t do it for me. The maudlin ramblings about life and death, the moralizing about our need to be aware of and appreciate every moment we are alive were a dose of saccharine I could have done without. But that’s Wilder’s fault, not Cromer’s— the totality of his production adds up to the best OUR TOWN I’ve seen.


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

       

August 11th, 2009
   
Energy! Enthusiasm! Half-naked young dancers with superb bodies jiggling, juggling, jouncing-- they dazzle us with footwork in the dance show BURN THE FLOOR now on Broadway. There is one underlying theme: sexual innuendo and blatant flirtation. It’s like a live TV show for people with short attention spans. Directed and choreographed by Jason Gilikson, most of the show is total Zip-- with great zippy steps, moves and dips, many of which are repeated often, staying within Gilikson’s vocabulary. There is a lovely classic waltz, a nice Spanish selection and a charming adagio, but mostly it’s fast and furious. The men are all agile, the women all beautiful, they’re all great, prize-winning dancers, but the story is redundant. Costumes by Janet Hine are terrific, and excellent lighting by Rick Belzer sets the proper moods and shadows. In a way, as a show, it’s as good as I hoped, but as a totality, as bad as I feared. People are going to
love them as they travel the world showing their physical feats and gorgeousness to audiences who have seen them on TV.


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

       

July 28th, 2009
   
THAT’S SHOWBIZ! is a mildly amusing Showbusiness satire by Colin Chaston and Tony Clout with a rather good cast, directed by Marc Eardley. There’s a rude, smarmy reality show host (the very strong Patrick Ryan Sullivan), battling singing Divas (Abigail Hardin and the outstanding Karen Culp), a bevy of good lookin’ dancing chorus girls (including the dazzling, beautiful Natalie Loftin Bell) who move well to Bell’s (and Andy J. Frye’s) choreography, a floor manager with a fine voice (Jeremy Zoma), good costumes by Izzy Fields, and an excellent musical ensemble. Part One is slowly paced, with plateaus, and even though everyone tries hard, what’s lacking is brilliance, real wit, subtle spice rather than crudity, and more memorable songs. Attempts at sophistication are rather shallow. Part two, mostly singing and good dancing, moves along quite well, and the totality is a pleasant experience with a quick Shakespearean revelation to end it.


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

       

July 27th, 2009
   
So- once again my compadre Nick Wolfson and I have differing views on a play, so we’ll publish them both:

Nick: Sweet Storm by Scott Hudson features two rather simple country people, one of them disabled and unable to walk, in a tree house outside of Lithia Springs, Florida on their wedding night. It is not a sophisticated, intellectual play. Neither Ruthie, played brilliantly by Jamie Dunn, nor Bo, well-acted by Eric T. Miller, have anything particularly complicated to say to each other. However, the skilful acting and competent direction (by Padraic Lillis) of this production allow the two actors, despite their characters’ simple country ways, to take us up to surprising heights of happiness and elation and down to painful depths of hurt and despair, with a good deal of humor in between. The acoustics of the little theatre on west 42nd Street are excellent, which permits the actors, who communicated with uncommon clarity, a range of subtle emotion and softly modulated expression. The lighting, by Sarah Sidman, failed to seize the wonderful
romantic possibilities posed by two attractive lovers in a tree house at night, lit by kerosene lanterns.
--Nick Wolfson

Richmond: SWEET STORM by Scott Hudson-- Interesting: A young preacher carries his bride up into a treehouse he has built for their honeymoon. She’s crippled (perhaps from polio) and might have a touch of asthma. Not interesting: their basically boring, inane verbal ramblings. These are primitive, uneducated people: he’s a moron with religious underpinnings, and she’s a hysteric. It is performed well, especially by Jamie Dunn whose emotions are just beneath the surface, and she is adept at dipping into a wide range of them convincingly. Eric T. Miller does quite well as the as the fool who would subject the woman to this idiocy. It’s all well directed by Padraic Lillis on Lea Umberger’s set which seems just a bit too much like an ordinary bedroom-- I could have used a bit more tree intruding besides the very fine huge trunk. Lighting by Sarah Sidman illuminates the area, but does not create the mood and shadows that would enhance the
supposed location. If the writer wanted to propose a philosophic concept in the play, perhaps dealing with adversity by pursuing the romantic idea despite its discomforts, I think it escapes me.


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

       

July 20th, 2009
   
JACKIE THE JOKE MAN (Jackie Martling) performs every Wednesday at 9: PM at Iridium at Broadway and 51st St. He opens with a funny dirty song, playing guitar with a really good trio, and that sets the tone for the evening-- there are a succession of very old, mostly bad, jokes, a great impression of Rodney Dangerfield, and some funny stories. Jackie IS the joke man. The strength of the evening is the music, which really cooks-- we were jumpin’ in our seats. Then the show becomes free form with jokes from the audience, and it segues into a surreal crazy night. You’ll laugh; you’ll be offended; you’ll laugh. It’s all lots of fun, and it’s rare to be entertained by a solid old time comedian who knows how to punch his punchlines, and how to capture and thoroughly entertain an audience. I’m going back. Maybe I'll tell a joke. See you there?


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

       

July 14th, 2009
   
SEAL SONGS, two well-written one acts involving seals by Jennifer Fell Hayes, directed by Kathy Gail MacGowan, gives us some interesting contrasts in style. The first, “Seal Songs,” is a sweet, charming, realistic, almost romantic piece about two middle-aged singles in England, both of whom have suffered losses: a spinster who loves to watch seals and a handyman, who tiptoe around full communication. It’s played in contrasting modes: Richard Kent Green inhabits the character of the shy workman who loves music— he IS the man. Katie Atcheson SHOWS the character and her emotions. I found the contrast a bit jarring at first, but accepted it and enjoyed the play. The second play, “Overboard,” has a totally different tone: it’s a fun trip into a fantasy about a man who pulls a Selkie, a seal who transforms into a woman, out of the sea. Here, Atcheson, in the unreality of the character, becomes real, and seems to live the part of the woman experimenting with having legs and with kissing a man for the first time. Green is totally convincing in his characterization, and he and Atcheson work well together in this enjoyable comedy. SEAL SONGS is part of the Midtown International Theatre Festival, and you can find its playing schedule at www.midtownfestival.com.


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

       

July 13th, 2009
   
PERFECT WEDDING by Robin Hawdon is a perfect play for community theatre: it is an attempt at a Feydeau farce about hanky-panky and lovers’ mish-mash as a wedding is about to take place. With simplistic writing, lots of doors opening and closing, and forced overacting by most of the cast, a lot of the idiocy that takes place is fun, and it gets funnier in Act 2 as it reaches a Shakespearean ending. All’s well, isn’t it? Dayna Grayber shines in the cast as a housekeeper— she is totally believable in the midst of the chaos ensuing. Director Teresa K. Pond keeps things physically jumping, costumes by Cherie Cunningham and lighting by Perchik Kreiman-Miller are just fine. Good luck to the enthusiastic Vital Theatre Company.

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


In MAGIC & ZONE—The Comedy Magic of Rich Marotta and Twila Zone, Marotta is an accomplished magician with a friendly underplayed presentation style and first class tricks. Zone, his orange-haired assistant is quite cute (as she should be). On the bill with them is the very funny Master Juggler Will Shaw— lots of balls, a hat, surprises. This is a world class performer whose mastery and innovation is rare. The show is clean, family oriented, and is playing right in Times Square at The Snapple Center, 50th & Broadway, Saturdays at 5: PM. Fun for all.


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


DON’T LEAVE IT ALL TO YOUR CHILDREN is a comedy and song review about Old People and Aging, performed by four old pros: Steve Rossi, Barbara Minkus, Marcia Rodd and James Dybas. There are loads of geriatric jokes and songs, and most of the audience, being antique, can easily identify with the material. Written and well-directed by old timer Saul Ilson, the jokes are funny, the performers super in both comedy and song, but it’s all on one theme: age. With performers of this caliber, I’d like to have had a divergence into some real old-time comedy on other subjects-- the kind of stuff they did when they were young, and perhaps sketches like they used to do. For some, that would be the real message: that even when old, there can be life, comedy, and new inspiration. As it is, it’s a good, entertaining show, and all of us alta kakas thoroughly enjoyed it.
phone: 212/239-6200


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

       

July 10th, 2009
   
In THE AMISH PROJECT, written and performed by Jessica Dickey, this amazing actress shows extraordinary ability to capture, with total immersion, a display of characters of all ages and both sexes with a wide range of accents, attitudes and postures. Perfectly directed by Sarah Cameron Sunde, with Nicole Pearce’s fine lighting and Amish costume and simple set by Lauren Helpern, the subject matter is painful and full of anguish- the shooting of schoolgirls in an Amish school. With some insights into Amish history and beliefs, it is still hard for most of us to believe that they would be forgiving towards the killer. The play is unrelenting—- a tough journey—- but Dickey gives a great performance as she snaps from character to character, age to age. She’s so good it’s almost scary. They don’t make many actresses as good as the marvelous Jessica Dickey.


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

       

July 07th, 2009
   
The opening scene of THE LION KING at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas is so breathtaking that it brought tears to my eyes. Director Julie Taymor’s amazing visual images of animals and vistas, the stylized masks and costumes she brilliantly designed, played on Richard Hudson’s scenic design, with Garth Fagan’s exciting choreography, augmented by thrilling rhythmical music and songs by Elton John and Tim Rice, all performed by an exceptionally strong cast, gives us a Theatrical Masterpiece. Based on Disney’s animated film with a book by Roger Allers and Irene Mecchi, this is one of the great musicals of all time, and when you’re in LV, don’t miss LK.


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

       
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