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by Geoffrey Paddy Johnson on December 13, 2011
Younger minds may find entertainment and diversion at 3 Ghosts, this stage musical adaptation of Charles Dickens‘ story, A Christmas Carol by Pipe Dream Theatre Productions. Everything about it resonates with an enthusiastic note of, well, glee. The attractive and animated cast strut and stand about stage looking very pleased with themselves, and the energy level is up; positive; high. They know enough to drop the smiles when the mood switches to somber – as the tale of a haunted, miserly materialist may necessitate – but you know it won’t be long before the scene is lit once more with those megawatt smiles, so de rigueur for the current generation of spotlight-hungry performers. And with an ensemble cast of forty plus, that’s a lot of light, a lot of energy. There are almost twenty musical performances, several involving choreographed dancers, and all on the modest sized stage at the Beckett Theatre. Just imagine the stage direction logistics alone!
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by Geoffrey Paddy Johnson on December 5, 2011
Does being a “fan” always mean that in some sense you are intrinsically a “fanatic”? There is ample, and shocking evidence at this point in the twenty-first century to suggest that there is, well, to some degree, a measure of being “touched” in our adoration of public and performing figures, aka “celebrities”. Some performers, of course, have a more invasive reach than others, and in this regard Judy Garland emerges as singular in her ability to stir the more extreme emotions of her devotees. Mark it down to a singularity of presence and performative intensity in her case – in so many ways a relentlessly raw nerve of emotion projecting powerfully beyond the simple melodic lyrics she could sing. Several generations have been passing the torch for Judy now, and in the gay male community she has been deified many times over. “Friends of Dorothy” have given way to worshippers of the later Garland – the obviously wounded, out-of-control spitfire who could turn it on at performance and Deliver. So when a gay male performer undertakes a role invoking Miss Judy Garland, there is an immediate and heavy-breathing audience that can be relied upon. But beware, there’s a lot of it out there so you’d better be good. And really, at this point, there better be a reason.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on November 29, 2011
– How can you listen to music when your country is falling apart?
- Because music is what keeps us together
– Ghost Dancer
Playwright Robert L. Hecker’s new politically-driven play, Ghost Dancer, unfolds in a hypothetical world set on a fictional Caribbean island. So, in this way, it is both everywhere and nowhere at once. In not being beholden to the history of any one oppressed people, it allows itself to speak for all oppressed people everywhere who rise up against persecution and iniquity. But the revolutionaries you will meet on this island, and specifically in the Romero household, are not peaceful protesters who sit mutely, arms locked in silent demonstration. The people of Ghost Dancer are the splinter groups who blow things up, who sacrifice for the cause … who put the needs of the many before the needs of the one. Some are born to this world, some are called to it; some have the spirit of revolution in their blood, some must suffer before they are brought to action. What Ghost Dancer shows is that these roles are not always pre-ordained.
Ghost Dancer‘s first moments explode with life – movements of exquisite celebration; Francisco (Luis Salgado) and Rosaria (Rosie Lani Fiedelman) dance around their friends’ apartment in a whirl of passion, fire, joy and heat — even as they are being told to bring more intensity to their dance. Several hours later, Ghost Dancer ends with a violent, driven, brutal dance set to pounding tribal beats which invoke the warrior spirits as Lakota (Lilia Vassileva) and Tony (Arturo Castro) are staring down death. Theirs is a dance of a completely different sort, but there is no doubt that it spills over with a profusion of their existence.
What plays out between the initial dance of life and the ultimate dance of death is a complicated journey for a family who will be tested by the bonds of loyalty, the need for justice, the cry for vengeance, the darkness of obsession and the anguish of bloodshed.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on November 23, 2011
The concept of adapting La Strada (the 1954 film by masterful auteur Federico Fellini) for the stage is a daring one. And not just daring, but ambitious as well. It’s not easy to take a pre-existing work and re-envision it — on the one hand you’ve got to make sure that you keep the familiar bones of the piece in tact, while at the same time you must recognize and realize the opportunity for innovation.
La Strada Company, a New York based Spanish company, has done a lot of things well in their adaption and – even more – directors Rene Buch and Jorge Merced conceived a lot of things brilliantly. Yet in their excitement to present a unique piece of theatre which deviates from the film they make a few pacing choices which make this interpretation feel like two separate shows rather than a cohesive whole. There is a difference between exploring a theme and giving it a predominant vein versus letting it completely take over and run away with the first part of your production. La Strada is masterful, brilliant, beautiful, stirring, touching and wonderful — but not until about a third into the show.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on November 19, 2011
Fault Line Theatre’s new production of Frogs - the Ancient Greek play written by Aristophanes – is reminiscent of Cupcake Wars. Wait… stay with me here – I promise this will make sense in a second. So, Cupcake Wars is all about taking the basic ingredients and saying “There … there you go. You all have the same items. Now go create something magical and wonderful that I would never have expected from this. And make it radically different from the guy standing next to you”. That’s the challenge of taking a play written in 405 BC and making it both exciting, relevant and modern while still keeping the time-honored tenets in tact. Director Aaron Rossini and company not only succeed in creating something magical and wonderful, they excel.
The plot itself isn’t very complicated; it begins with Dionysus (Haas Regen) and his devoted – if overtaxed – servant Xanthias (Blake Segal) hatching a scheme which involves Dionysus pretending to be his half-brother Heracles (Matt Clevy) in order to gain safe passage to Hades to bring Euripides (Craig Wesley Divino) back from the land of the dead. So, think Crosby and Hope in “Road to Hades” where the goal isn’t so much to get the girl in the end as it is to get the dazzling poet who (one hopes) will come back topside and make everything right because if there’s one thing everyone knows … the only way to stop civil unrest is with a poet.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on November 16, 2011
Site-Specific theatre productions are all the rage now, and in a city like New York where every conceivable set already exists in real life it’s really just a matter of finding the perfect spot for your play to unfold.
It Is Done written by Alex Goldberg happens to take place in a bar, but it’s also being produced in a bar; The Mean Fiddler Bar & Grill located in the heart of the theatre district just a stone’s throw from the hustle and bustle of the Great White Way. Still, it’s a sure bet that even the patrons dining right above in the main room have no idea there’s such wicked goings-on underfoot in the lower level.
The set up is perfect, and upon entering you can’t help but think that this bar already looks like a staged set. Ease back and begin to eat and drink (that is, if you come at the suggested time, which is one hour before showtime) and you get to wear a personal groove in the seat while enjoying the It Is Done menu and knocking back your free drink (beer and wine) and soaking in the atmosphere. This is no Tony and Tina’s Wedding, however … once the show starts there is a lot of action going on around the bar, but the audience has no part in it. For all intents and purposes you all might as well be ghosts.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on November 15, 2011
Dating in the big city is tough. There are millions of people, many of them interesting, well educated, good looking. How does a single girl who works long hours and hasn’t dated since her relationship ended 18 months ago find love again?
If you’re Theresa Bedell (Kate Dulcich) you agree to be set up on a blind date with Tony (David Hudson). After all, nothing is more natural than the fix-up, right? And that’s how Boy Gets Girl by Rebecca Gilman begins. Two unattached people agreeing to meet on the recommendation of a mutual friend who actually isn’t a close friend of either. Still, why not?
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on November 14, 2011
Heading into the new play written by an “A-list lineup of writers with 2 Pulitzer Prizes, 4 Obies, 1 Emmy® and 3 Tony® nominations” I expected that the evening would make me laugh … but not till my sides hurt. I expected to be moved … but not to tears. Standing On Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays manages to take a controversial topic and give it a 360; some aspects are made endearingly simple yet never does this show shy away from the frustration and confusion that the issue of gay marriage brings with it. What Standing On Ceremony does so elegantly is show how gay marriage is just as easy as, just as complicated as, just as worthy as, just as demanding as, just the same as, and completely different from straight marriage. There are no two marriages on this earth that are the same because there are as many ways to live on this earth as there are human beings. The two people who join their lives together define what makes the union – the two personalities melding together will create the new whole. Gay, straight – these issue and roadblocks, these milestones and hurdles are to be celebrated together. That is what defines a marriage. Standing On Ceremony explores this brilliantly.
Ultimately there will be a revolving cast with writers offering up different material so your experience may vary. Currently the show is featuring ‘The Revision‘ by Jordan Harrison, ‘This Flight Tonight‘ by Wendy MacLeod, ‘On Facebook‘ by Doug Wright, ‘My Husband‘ by Paul Rudnick,’Traditional Wedding‘ by Mo Gaffney, ‘Strange Fruit‘ by Neil LaBute, ‘The Gay Agenda‘ by Paul Rudnick, ‘London Mosquitoes‘ by Moisés Kaufman and ‘Pablo and Andrew at the Altar of Words‘ by Jose Rivera.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on November 7, 2011
There are a few things that are crucial when it comes to producing a successful children’s theatre piece. First of all, your story has to be entertaining. Secondly the action has to be fast-paced. And finally, there has to be a strong lesson underneath all the funny costumes, big movements, and thick accents. Because while we want our kids to have a good time, we also hope they’re learning something in the process.
Looking Glass Theatre’s Calamity Jane Battles The Horrible Hoopsnakes (written by E. J. C. Calvert) delivers the goods, and much more! With a healthy dose of imagination provided by the audience (who is asked to participate in fun ways) the team behind Calamity Jane packs a lot into the 50 minutes, with audience members big and small finding themselves having a rip-roaring time.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on October 27, 2011
If you’re fortunate enough to live in one of those apartment buildings with a decent sized lobby, chances are you’ve come across the characters who populate Kenneth Lonergan’s Lobby Hero currently running at The Gloria Maddox Theatre. At first glance there’s nothing special about this lobby. Neat, a bit shabby, in need of a coat of paint and some new furniture, it’s maintained by the security officer who sits behind the desk there.
Who is that guy? The one asking your guests to sign in, accepting your packages for you, holding the door open for you when your hands are full? What’s his story? Unless you’ve had more than a perfunctory interaction with your lobby security guard chances are it would be as disconcerting to run into him out of uniform as it was for you when, as a child, you saw your teacher in the grocery story. Yet you know he must have a life when he’s not in uniform, right?
What’s his name again? This lobby’s hero is named Jeff. Jeff (a natural, solid Michael Black) is working the graveyard shift and seems friendly enough; affable if a bit plain. But he’s as ubiquitous to us as any other guy who sits in a lobby in a bland uniform with a blank stare and a deliberate smile. Jeff spends his time thumbing through a paper back, catching a nap (if he can get away with it) and keeping an eye out for his manager, William (Nasay Ano) who is working the graveyard shift to “weed out the bad apples”. Every so often he gets a visit from the local cops on the beat as they make their rounds. That would be Officer Bill (Joshua Sienkiewicz) and his young partner Officer Dawn (Olivia Rorick). For Dawn this is a routine check-in, but for Bill his stop to Apartment 22J is of a more personal nature.
Cops and guards – just some of the random people you pass every day. As long as they keep trouble out of your way, you’re happy. But what if trouble follows them?
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