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There is No Good News – Laughing Until Your Sides Hurt (FRIGID New York 2011)

by Diánna Martin on March 9, 2011

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There Is No Good News featuring David Mogolov (Photo by Daniel Van Ackere)

There Is No Good News featuring David Mogolov (Photo by Daniel Van Ackere)

From the moment you hear David Mogolov utter the words: “When I was seven years old my parents bought me a bullwhip,” the ice is broken, the walls immediately come down, and you are brought into a world of a hilarious, yet serious, one-man show that is There Is No Good News. I found myself laughing – no, guffawing, loudly – many, many times as we were presented with a glorious diatribe on everything from maniacal boys gone wild to Katrina victims; meth addicts with a purpose to job interviewers that have odd ways of selecting their candidates. But it’s not just a comedic piece; it’s razor sharp in its wit and cynicism in a manner reminiscent of David Sedaris, Dennis Miller, Brian Unger, and Bill Mahr.

Mogolov enters the stage with a script, coffee, and water. He sits at a small table and chair, and I half expected him to begin a news broadcast, a la Saturday Night Live or The Daily Show. Instead, this idealist “Liberal NPR Subscriber” who felt that he could make a difference in the world despite his addiction to consumerism like any other American, weaves a tapestry of how he ended up where he is now: a new father who is questioning everything he ever thought and did because now what he’s doing really does make a difference.

The only issues I had with the show were that at times Mogolov talks so quickly that I couldn’t understand him – and I was sitting in the front row. I actually have to look to director Steve Kleinedler for this (although he’s done an overall fine job with the show) because I wondered if he used said bullwhip on Mogolov to talk as quickly as possible.

For the most part I was fully engrossed with the production and thoroughly enjoyed it. I’m so glad I got to see this show; it was a ray of light in a dark tunnel. But, owing to the title and nature of the piece, one of the things that makes it so enjoyable is that the ray of light is actually an oncoming train – with Mogolov as the conductor.

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THIS SHOW HAS NOW CLOSED

There is No Good News
Written by David Mogolov & Directed by Steve Kleinedler
Presented by The Plant Boston, MA
The Red Room (85 East 4th Street) $10
 Thu 2/24 @ 6:30pm, Sat 2/26 @ 2pm, Tue 3/1 @ 9:30pm, Fri 3/4 @ 8pm, Sat 3/5 @ 5pm, & Sun 3/6 @ 6:30pm
  

FRIGID New York Festival 2011 will run February 23-March 6 at The Kraine Theater & The Red Room (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Ave and Bowery) and UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place between 1st Ave and Ave A). Tickets ($10-$16) may be purchased online at www.FRIGIDnewyork.info or by calling Smarttix at 212-868-4444. All shows will run 60 minutes long or less.

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