When I was around ten years old I wrote a play based on the epic, Gone With The Wind.  There were just 2 actors in my play, myself and my 8 year old friend.  We bypassed a lot of the Civil War story line – and even dismissed the romantic plot. Instead we focused on the food.  The lack of food.  The search for food.  How hungry we were. Which of course is a tipping point in GWTW  but certainly doesn’t have the monumental payout as other plot points like, you know, the actual war.  I played Scarlet, my friend played Mammy, and we read our lines in Brooklyn-tinged southern accents as we waved paper fans we’d gotten in Chinatown to simulate staving off the vapors.

My point?  For decades (and at will) we could quote that awful play, still drawl “What’ll we dooooo?” as we waved our hands in front of our faces.  Unquestionably the memory brought as much joy as the actual play-acting did all those years ago.  I invite you to reach back into your own memory – I’m sure you have a similar reenactment at the ready, be it a diluted amalgam of the Star Wars franchise or that one scene from Indiana Jones that no backyard theatre play was complete without.  Feel the smile growing on your face? That warm glow spreading through you? Well, that means you’re starting to understand the genius that is Broom Street Theater’s Boogie of the Apes currently running as part of the 2014 Frigid New York Festival.

Director Rob Matsushita has a knack for understanding how to create a compelling piece of theatre which incorporates pre-existing material provided by Power Records, while still effectively saturating it with layers of inventiveness that are at once homage and satire of the source material.

And what source material there is!  For while Power Records in and of itself is malignable for the way in which it distills the Planet of the Apes franchise, Matsushita (who not only adapted the material but also wrote the wry commentary which bridges one story to another) also pokes fun at a franchise which made itself finite by the end of its first film, as well as its second, yet still managed to pump out more films.  Or, as narrator Jessica Jane Witham tells it “Planet of the Apes was a movie with a pretty clear end point, yet it spawned a crap load of sequels.”

Witham – who turns cool and smooth after sharing a spirited and enthusiastic opening number (choreographed by Katie Ramos) with her fellow cast members - swaggers through scenes to deliver some exposition before leaning off to the side smirking through a haze of cigarette smoke.  She is so energetic, so inviting, so enjoyable to watch that boatloads of praise need to be heaped upon her – for while this entire show is one great exciting fun present she is the instruction manual that helps you put it together so that you can enjoy the damn thing.  And we all know that no matter how much you wanted that toy – if you can’t put it together to play with it, it’s kinda not as good.

One by one, the Apes movies are  acted out using little more than the types of props kids have been using in endless rec rooms across America since … forever.  This homespun aspect is what makes Boogie so enjoyable, and the way in which each actor (notably Kathy Lynn Sliter, Anthony Cary and Dan Myers) relates with their ape nose, their toy gun or their fake mustache is where the enchantment has room to bubble up.

Witham consistently points out – in between narration and reduction – that these records just race from plot point to plot point with no thought to characterization.  But this straight-man narration affords the actors a means to live within their play while simultaneously existing outside of it.

The set up is both deceptively simple and brilliant.  Rivaling Milli Vanilli, this cast is so good at lip syncing that it’s often easy to forget that the so-bad it’s good (or actually – sometimes it’s just bad) dialogue was pressed onto vinyl upwards of 40 years ago. Instead, you’ll just lose  yourself in the kitchy goodness of these corny retellings. Don’t fret, however – if you like your dialogue delivered live and not via the magic that is the 45rpm rest assured these actors (unlike Milli Vanilli) prove how well they can act, cavort and emote on their own without the help of Power Records.  The last movie in their account (Conquest of the Planet of the Apes) is 100% Broom Street Theater ensemble and gives each actor an opportunity to drench all that camp with their own flavor.

Overall, Rob Matsushita’s direction is not only clever but kind.  Yes, kind.  Of course the Power Records are maligned and parodied.  But they’re also lovingly elevated to a richer, more playful, and far more complex piece of theatre in exactly the way it was meant to be done.

You see, the theatre of childhood which mimics pre-existing canon doesn’t HAVE to be good.  It doesn’t even have to be logical, or focus on the narrative which the original focused on.  It merely has to be something you can lose yourself in as you grab props from around the house and dive headfirst into your richly textured world where (in the case of my Gone With The Wind world) a cheaply made paper Chinese fan becomes more antebellum and less Asian and your search for food is more important than the Civil War.

So grab hold of those memories of your childhood, leave your love for anything Planet of the Apes at the door – because that’s not what this play is about.  This play is about fun.  This play is about play.  And this play will have you rifling through your old boxes for bits of memorabilia when you get home to keep that childhood feeling going – if only for a little while longer.

~~~

Boogie of the Apes
Company: Broom Street Theater
Directed by:Rob Matsushita

Remaining Performance:
Mar 03, 7:05PM

Click HERE for tickets

Running time: 1 h 0 min
Price: $16.00
Seating: General Admission

The Kraine Theater
85 E. 4th Street
New York , New York 10003
2nd and 3rd Ave

Horse Trade Theater Group will present the 8th Annual FRIGID New York Festival at The Kraine Theater (85 East 4^th Street between 2^nd Avenue and Bowery) and UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place between 1^st Avenue and Avenue A) February 19-March 9. Tickets are available for purchase in advance at www.FRIGIDnewyork.info or by calling 212-868-4444. 

Related Posts:

• Boogie Of The Apes: 10 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2014 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
• Tina And Amy: Last Night In Paradise (2014 Frigid New York Festival)
• THE CANUCK CABARET (2014 Frigid New York Festival)
• East In Red (2014 Frigid New York Festival)
• Petunia And Chicken (2014 Frigid New York Festival)

 Ten Questions. Ten Answers. And One Big Decision: Rock, Paper, Or Scissors?

Boogie Of The Apes

Production Company: Broom Street Theater

A parody of one of the best-loved sci-fi franchises of the 1970′s. With the help of vintage children’s records and other found material, we’re recapping, lampooning, and critiquing the first four Planet Of The Apes movies–in less than an hour. Also, there are dance numbers.

Show Times:

• Wed 2/26 @ 5:30pm
• Fri 2/28 @ 7:05pm
• Sat 3/1 @ 5:15pm
• Sun 3/2 @ 2:05pm
• Mon 3/3 @ 7:05pm

Answers by Rob Matsushita
(playwright and director)

1. Your tag line is out there on postcards and press releases so we know the PR version of what this play is about.  But when you talk to your family and friends, how do you explain the show to them?

RM: Remember those read-along comic books from the 1970′s? We’re taking the recordings from them, lip-syncing them, and acting them out–but the thing is, we’re acting them out based on how a little kid might interpret them. Of course, we’ve layered on a lot of jokes, and other fun stuff. We wanted it to be in the spirit of a 70′s variety show. It’s also a love-letter to the Planet Of The Apes movie franchise, and a way of getting to the bottom of why these movies were so popular. But really, it’s joke-after-joke, gag-after-gag.

2. Here’s a scenario: After the show some audience members go have a drink.  What’s the part of the show you hope they’re discussing?

RM: Generally, that it was funny, and maybe spark a discussion about all the stuff we loved when we were kids. Specifically, the shocking nature of what made it into a children’s album in the 1970′s. There was some dark stuff they allowed on kid’s records back then.

3. What drives your show – character, theme or plot?

RM: Theme, definitely. It’s strange for me because I’m usually a very plot or character based writer. But this was really something that I did because it’s fun to do.

4. In rehearsals, read-thrus, or prior incarnations, what’s the one thing someone said about the show so far that made you (or the team) the most proud?

RM: The cast just loves performing this show. This is the second time doing it for most of them, but those who returned did so because they had so much fun the first time. One cast member, on closing night, gave me a card that said “Why does it have to END?!?”

5. Let’s fantasize for a moment. Let’s take the “off-off” off. Imagine this show is on Broadway. Would that change the production itself?

RM: The ethic of the shows I’ve done that are based around children’s records (or, “Boogie Shows,” if you will) is that they should always be cheerfully low-budget. Everything should look like we’re putting it together with things we found around the house. So even if we had a high-budget, I’d like to think we’d still be shopping for props at the dollar store.

6. Taking that one step further – after paying everyone what they’re worth of course, what is the most lavish, luxurious, pointless thing you would spend money on if there was no constraints?

RM: Oh, I’d do one of those multi-poster ad campaigns, y’know, where each cast member gets their own poster design, where they’re standing in a Superman pose, looking tough, while stuff is on fire in the background or something. I’d plaster them everywhere. Maybe have special Happy Meals, too.

7. Is there a scene, a moment, a gesture … anything at all in the show that you anticipate may get a completely different reaction depending on the audience that night?

RM: There’s a sort-of implied human/ape relationship at the end of “Escape From The Planet of the Apes,” that…well, I’ll say that WE groan at it every time. But I’d never cut it, ever.

8. What’s your favorite line from the show?

RM: “Previously, on ‘Planet Of The Apes,’ the world exploded.”

9. Is the world of this play sustainable outside a theatre? In other words … do you think people live the way the characters do? Would you want a world where they do?

RM: The world of this play is barely sustainable in this play! What’s always been funny to me about children’s adventures albums is how badly they hold up under any thought at all. That doesn’t mean I don’t love them. If they made more sense I might not love them as much.

10. You scan the audience and you see a face that stops you dead in your tracks – who is it? And why are you shocked?

RM: Andy Serkis, who plays Caesar in the new movies. I’ll be honest. I’ve fantasized about seeing him at a performance.

Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament of DEAAAAATH

In the THM virtual Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament of DEAAAAATH which FRIGID Show do you take on? And what do you throw?

CHALLENGES:  Basic Help Those guys are from Montclair, New Jersey, where I grew up, so a fight is inevitable.

THROWS: Rock. Because of Eagle Rock! (Ah, a Montclair reference which totally everyone gets.)

CHALLENGED BY: Steve: A Docu-Musical who also threw rock!  So our first throw down of the FRIGID SEASON IS A DRAW!!!! Ooof.  Wow.  Don’t worry, Boogie, I took a sneak peek and you’ve been called out more than once, so keep checking to see if your rock brings you to victory in the future!

Thanks Boogie Of The Apes for participating in The Happiest Medium’s FRIGID New York Festival 2014 Q&A. And for playing our game! You’re officially ROCK in any and all challenges.  You may win, you may lose – who knows! This is how it works in the crazy world of the Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament of DEAAAAATH!

For the rest of you don’t forget to check out Boogie Of The Apes !

~~~ 

  ~~~

Horse Trade Theater Group will present the 8th Annual FRIGID New York Festival at The Kraine Theater (85 East 4^th Street between 2^nd Avenue and Bowery) and UNDER St. Marks (94 St. Marks Place between 1^st Avenue and Avenue A) February 19-March 9. Tickets are available for purchase in advance at www.FRIGIDnewyork.info or by calling 212-868-4444. 

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• The Eyes Of Orbach: 10 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2014 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
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