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by Geoffrey Paddy Johnson on August 22, 2011
Behind many a lime-lit smile beats a bruised and battered heart. Adelaide Mestre, the singer and actress whose self-authored show, Top Drawer, is playing at the Bowery Poetry Club during the New York Fringe Festival, comes with a unique understanding of this dark knowledge. Scion of a socially prominent family, whose parents were both somewhat transgressive artistic types, her upbringing was bright with the aura of musical showmanship and comfortable gracious living. Her mother was an opera-singing socialite, her father an exiled Cuban concert pianist. A heady romantic courtship between these two resulted in the end of her mother’s first marriage and an eventual elopement of the Park Avenue princess and her Latin lover accompanist. But her mother suffered from the familial assessment that her operatic abilities would never be more than fair, and her creative outlet was stymied as a result. Her father’s secret sorrow, one that would eventually prompt his suicide, was that he was homosexual, and tortured by the knowledge. As a set-up it has almost a classical ring for the evolution of a feisty young performer struggling to emerge from the professional and personal shadows of her parentage. And struggle she did in one of those unfocussed, erratic, episodically self-destructive courses pursued by embryonic divas the world over.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on August 18, 2011
Here’s the story … of The Bardy Bunch: The War Of The Families Partridge And Brady.
It’s 1974 and two families, one Brady, one Partridge are at war. Their battlefield exists in cancelled sit-com land and their weapons consist of killer dance moves, cut throat ballads and production numbers meant to slay you in the aisles. Their story is a mash up of well-known Partridge and Brady references retrofitted into such Shakespearean plays as Hamlet, MacBeth, Romeo and Juliet, among others.
The result is everything Fringe has come to be celebrated for: an innovative, enjoyable, hilarious night of theatre written by Stephen Garvey and directed by Jay Stern that isn’t afraid to push the envelope.
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by Diánna Martin on March 9, 2011
When you were growing up, did you ever have characters from TV or film that you looked up to and felt that if you could be like them, you could do anything? Cyndi Freeman sure did, and she didn’t pick any run-of-the-mill hero…she picked THE woman…you know…the awesome chick in the invisible jet who could tie up any creep with her golden lasso and bounce bullets off of her groovy bracelets…all while wearing practically nothing in red, white, & blue. Wonder Woman: A How To Guide for Little Jewish Girls is part feminist hero worship and trivia; part life story of growing up more geek than hero with family dysfunction; and part tale of using the strength within to battle some of the scariest nemeses of all: life’s curve-balls.
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by Diánna Martin on March 9, 2011
A energetic and fascinating ensemble piece, Yippie! blends fact and fiction to create a behind-the-scenes look at the rise of Jerry Rubin’s Youth International Party of the 1960s. In a “what if?” take on the Chicago 1968 riots, writers/directors Randy Anderson and Harrison Williams look at the darker side of what happens when even flower children can take a life in the name of revolution, albeit perhaps unintentionally.
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by Diánna Martin on March 9, 2011
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.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on March 7, 2011
So, what exactly is a FRIGID Hangover? Well, if you’re me, it’s the pounding headache you woke up with this morning after celebrating at the FRIGID Closing Ceremonies last night.
But if you’re one of the lucky ones a FRIGID Hangover means that – by popular demand – yours was picked as one of the shows to have an encore presentation. We’re thrilled that these wonderful performers get another chance to show off their stuff:
- Fate, Fury and Musical Theatre: A Kind of Cabaret
- Goodnight Lovin’ Trail
- Mendacity
- Paradise Lost
- Saving Tania’s Privates
- The Oregon Trail: Quest for the West!
- We Might Be Experimenting On You
- Wonder Woman: A How-to Guide for Little Jewish Girls
CONGRATULATIONS to all the shows!
FRIGID Hangovers will run March 7-13 at The Kraine & The Red Room (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Ave and Bowery).
Tickets ($18/$15 students & seniors) may be purchased online at www.FRIGIDnewyork.info or by calling Smarttix at 212-868-4444.
For more details about the shows, keep reading -
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by Antonio Miniño on March 6, 2011
Ali Kresch in Mendacity (Photo by Lauren Rayner)
Ali Kresch delivers a collage of expressions in Mendacity, (written & directed by Lauren Rayner) an experimental visually striking solo performance with a poignant and healing look into the uncomfortable yet significant and much needed subject of rape and the self destruction that could sadly ripple after. Ms. Rayner sharing her own personal stories of sexual assault for the stage is undeniably no small feat. She has also interviewed other women to develop this show that is described as a word-collage. This is a very accurate description for the show, as Ms. Kresch repeats certain words to reiterate their meanings in her story and the way different inflections create different emotions. Unfortunately this a compelling show does not make. There is no driving plot-line to keep us fully focused or to appreciate the important message Ms. Rayner is trying to convey.
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by Karen Tortora-Lee on March 5, 2011
Hi, How Can I Help You? Featuring Scout Durwood (Photo by Helene Delillo)
I’m not going to talk big and act like I know the first thing about what it’s like to work in a New York City Sex Dungeon – or even to step foot through the front door of one for that matter. For all I know, Scout Durwood’s solo show Hi, How Can I Help You? which takes place in the lounge area of a dungeon during the down time between clients on the eve of the 2008 election could be completely representational of every domination house in every city across America. Or, it could be complete fabrication. Truth is, I don’t know.
So I’m going to deal with what I do know here – and that is that Ms. Durwood is an extremely likable, engaging, sometimes goofy, sometimes heartbreaking performer who knows how to rock a huge pair of stiletto platforms while still managing to be funny, soulful, and entertaining.
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by Antonio Miniño on March 4, 2011
Papi holds Pretty Big (Pretty-n-Papi featuring Leah James Abel & Olivia Hallie Lehrman (Photo by Dana Reichma)
In Pretty-n-Papi (written by Leah James Abel, Cody Schreger, and Olivia Lehrman) Ms. Pretty Smart is pretty ready for her pretty man to walk into her life, but things aren’t looking that bright for this girl in the love department so she decides to start online dating, why not! Haunted by a radio commercial of “Princess Charmony,” she surfs the web on her ginormous macbook and creates a profile, username: PrettySmart. Continue Reading…
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by Geoffrey Paddy Johnson on March 4, 2011
Boatload (photo by Stars And Hearts)
In Boat Load the boat of the title is a metaphor representing the creative muse of Gary Bazman, an underachieving actor who has stayed too long in his small hometown. The load is the passenger list, a lifetime of Gary’s familiars – father, mother, girlfriend, professional contacts, friends, imaginary characters, even his cat, Mr. Tangerine. Gary, the boat, and its load, are all represented by writer/performer Jayson McDonald on a stage that is bare but for a single straight-backed chair. The ensuing hour of actorly tale telling will have your head spinning as you try to keep up with the action and not lose yourself in McDonald’s riveting performances.
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