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.

But my, how lightly now she seems to wear it in this musical tale of her gradual reconciliation with her history. Confused and off course as she is thrown by her up-bringing, she generously steps to the side here, allowing the swan songs of her parents’ stories the greater part of the spotlight. In a deeply touching instant, she impersonates her mother singing for the family a desperately sad rendition of “A Very Unusual Way” from the musical “Nine“. The voice, one she tellingly informs us she is more comfortable singing in than her own, is searingly rung with a sorrowful understanding of the love that sparked between mother and father, a love no less genuine for being peculiar. Ravaged by self-doubt, her mother could only ever sing before an audience with her eyes tightly closed. Surrounded by privilege as she was, it is this poor self esteem that Adelaide the artist has inherited. There are several haunting moments like this in the performance. For all her would-be Broadway swagger, Mestre has a keen appraisal of the tender, the poetic. In one allusion, as she recalls a later visit to a remote aunt in a crumbling Cuba, she speaks of a collection of family photographs that seem to have faded from too much viewing. The same aunt gifts her with a couple of old recordings of her father’s piano recitals. The vinyl records are antique, chipped and covered with mold, having languished in a tropical climate of stagnation and disintegration. The conflicted, distracted young Adelaide carelessly disposes of them amidst her household clutter, but the image prevails, lingering over the proceedings like a phantom wound. When we are eventually treated to a sample of these early, scratchy recordings, the music is fused with feeling as it drifts out over our heads in the hushed auditorium.

Mestre has a naturally winning stage presence, casually dazzling. And this is fortunate for her as, during the night of my viewing, be it first night nerves, or a want of rehearsal, in her enthusiasm to tell her tale she frequently fluffed her lines and even lost her place in the narrative, prompting her to reach for an iPad which she consults, absently dropping around stage like a favorite old clutch purse. She might stop during a line to insert an omitted word, and in one instant she actually paused her pianist to restart a song when she dropped a couplet. It is to her credit as a performer that she sails through such blunders with hardly a ruffle, her smile confidently assuring “you all know where I’m coming from”. Distracting as these moments might be, in some measure they add to the sense that you are witnessing a real individual on stage telling a real story about real people. There is an underlying modesty about her performance, which effortlessly transcends any gaffes. When she lets loose with a song you can see and hear the real artistry. She has a gem of a song at the end, “Looking for the Light”, written for her by John Mercurio, which would grace any high-end Broadway production. Her accomplished and stalwart piano accompanist is Doug Oberhamer. Coco Cohn directs with a minimum of fuss. A lovely evening awaits.

~~~

Top Drawer
Writer: Adelaide Mestre
Director: Lauren Cohn

1h 30m
www.adelaidemestre.com
VENUE #13: Bowery Poetry Club
Tue 23 @ 5 Wed 24 @ 5 Fri 26 @ 7:15 Sun 28 @ 2

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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.

Whether you’re a 70s sitcom fan or a passionate follower of the bard, all your favorites are here – beginning with the Brady kids decked out in their all-too-familiar blue and white matching outfits as they sing “We’re gonna keep on, keep on, keep on, keep on dancing all through the night!” The choreography by Lorna Ventura is spot on – something you only realize you know as you actually watch it happen in front of you.  Ahhh, memories.

But it doesn’t all belong to the kids – when Carol Brady (Susan J. Jacks) arrives on the scene she sound so much like Florence Henderson that I heard murmurs in the audience … and same for Shirley Partridge (Michelle Mazza).  So when shades of Lady MacBeth emerge in Carol while her eldest daughter Marcia is being the Juliet to Keith Partridge’s Romeo it all makes perfect sense.

What delights so thoroughly is how faithful each character remains to their Brady/Partridge origins while faithfully moving the Shakespearean plots along.  This story was just waiting to be done.  Thanks to the fantastic team of Garvey and Stern it has now been done perfectly.

The jokes are appropriately corny and garner good-natured groans from the audience. (I’d love to repeat some of them but would hate to spoil the punch of hearing them for the first time).   This show is having a laugh at its own expense and that’s the fun of it.

But don’t expect a simple comedy.  A surprisingly touching song by Jan Brady (Annie Watkins) wearing a Hawaiian lei while sitting on a dunk tank may seem the last thing you’d expect to tug at your heart, but the scene channeling Ophelia was perfectly done, and brought a note of bittersweetness to the play  — before the laughter reappeared.

Music by Logan Medland, arranged by Zach Abramson is spot on, and standouts which bring the entire cast together include “I Woke Up In Love This Morning”.  There’s very little here to complain about, and even at the point where you’re thinking “wait … what’s going on?” there’s a hilarious exposition scene that recaps everything up until that point.  Brilliant.

This is one Fringe show I wish I could go back and see again.  Tomorrow’s show is already sold out so get tickets while you can – you won’t be disappointed!

~~~

The Bardy Bunch: The War of the Families Partridge and Brady
Writer: Stephen Garvey, inspired by “The Brady Bunch,” “The Partridge Family,” and the works of William Shakespeare
Director: Jay Stern
1h 40m  
www.thebardybunch.com
VENUE #9: The Ellen Stewart Theatre @ LA MAMA
Fri 19 @ 9 SOLD OUT
Sun 21 @ 8:45 Wed 24 @ 2

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• It’s A Sunshine Day For Stephen Garvey, Writer Of “The Bardy Bunch”
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• Drowning Ophelia: A New Rock Musical – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
• The Knocking Within: 4 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (Times Square International Theater Festival 2012)
• Hamlet (Fringe Festival 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.

Freeman, no stranger to one-woman shows and a regular performer on the theatre festival and burlesque circuit (the latter under the name of Cherry Pitz), opens up about everything from a gun-toting father going after an AWOL son – to the realization that our human mentors can be disappointingly human.

Insightful and heart-wrenching as well as hilarious, Freeman has a knack for making a connection with her audience and making them feel as if they’re having a private conversation with her. With each section of the show, you feel more and more intimate with Freeman; what starts out as an interesting history of one of the most iconic female figures of the 20th century slowly becomes a more introverted perspective on how Freeman’s life was shaped. Her flair for comedy and the outrageous intersperses with moments when she reveals current personal battles that can only be dealt with by sheer will, inner strength and the confidence in yourself that you learned from your TV heroes…or maybe a rejuvenating jaunt on Paradise Island of the Amazons.

If you didn’t have an opportunity to catch this wonderful show, you’re in luck! Picked as a Frigid Hangover, there is one more performance left.

Not one to miss!

~~~

Related Posts:

• FRIGID New York Festival 2011 – Five Questions For: Wonder Woman: A How To Guide For Little Jewish Girls
• FRIGID Hangovers – I’ll Have Another Round! (FRIGID New York 2011)
• Scratch & Pitz Burlesque and Variety Hour – Seven Act Scratch (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
• Scratch & Pitz Burlesque And Variety Hour: 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 FRIGID NEW YORK FESTIVAL)
• Women’s History Month: Celebrating Women In The Arts – Spotlight On Heidi Grumelot

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.

The play is segmented in scenes that go back and forth in time to before and after the riots, from when the freewheeling energetic men and women get stoned and talk of bringing down The Man; and afterwards, when they are all brought in for questioning/trials for the accidental death of one of their own, who the police want to blame on leader Jerry Rubin. In between there are group musical numbers, and plenty of physicality by the ensemble, who work well together.

The staging was great, as were the use of the actors in a myriad of roles including simply holding the flashlight on another and becoming the interrogator. It was these moments that stuck with me the most; Morgan Lindsey Tacho as Nancy, Jerry’s girlfriend, was most memorable and her work was simply executed and exciting to watch. TJ Roberts in the lead role made some fine choices, but the actor’s continued grabbing of his crotch became, for me, more of a distraction than a character impulse. All in all the actors took the work and had a lot of fun on stage, and that’s always a joy to see, because the enthusiasm spills over into the audience.

One of the more memorable moments involved Jane and John Doe being confronted by their aunt; who is nothing more than a dress, shoes, hat and gloves that are moved/voiced by the ensemble. It was a great device as well as a metaphor for the perceived emptiness of the minds of the previous generation by the youth of the time whose mantra of “never trust anyone over 30” was uttered by the characters in the same breath of the play’s mantra “a movement that isn’t willing to risk death isn’t for shit!”. It’s small moments like that that add up to a solid piece.

Yippie!, while pushing the envelope on provoking thought as well as audience reaction, manages to, for the most part, deliver the goods on turning history on its ear and making what could have been “just another hippie play about revolution” into a really entertaining evening.

~~~

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 1sr 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.

Related Posts:

• FRIGID New York Festival 2011 – Five Questions For: Yippie!
• Women’s History Month: Celebrating Women In The Arts – Spotlight On Heidi Grumelot
• FRIGID Hangovers – I’ll Have Another Round! (FRIGID New York 2011)
• Scarlet Woman, Noirtastic Femmes (FRIGID New York 2011)
• The Mysterious Mystery of Mystery Street – A Little Too Much Mystery (FRIGID New York 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.

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.

~~~
THIS SHOW HAS NOW CLOSED

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.

Related Posts:

• FRIGID New York Festival 2011 – Five Questions For: There Is No Good News
• Women’s History Month: Celebrating Women In The Arts – Spotlight On Heidi Grumelot
• FRIGID Hangovers – I’ll Have Another Round! (FRIGID New York 2011)
• The Shorebound Swim With A One Click Kick – It’s A Tough Swim, But Worth It (FRIGID New York 2011)
• Goodnight Lovin’ Trail – What We’ll Leave Behind When We Go (FRIGID New York 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  -

MARCH 7-13 at THE KRAINE and THE RED ROOM

I could say SO MUCH about We Might Be Experimenting On You – but I’ve been sworn to secrecy. Seriously.

Click here for full review . . .

_________________________

“More than 350 years ago John Milton created the work Paradise Lost to investigate this timeless question in a timeless way. Paul Van Dyck now brings this gem to us infusing this classic with modern artistic techniques as well as with time-honored ones.”

Click here for full review . . .

_________________________

“If you only have a chance to see one show at the FRIGID this year, make Saving Tania’s Privates the one – you won’t regret it.”

Click here for full review . . .

_________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Walk into Fate, Fury and Musical Theatre: A Kind of Cabaret expecting to be drunk on talent and damn – you’ll get your elixir and more. Much more. Written and performed by front-woman Liz Wasser, Fate, Fury is Fabulous, Fun and Fantastic.”

Click  here for full review . . .

_________________________

_________________________

“…though experience with the game may help you enjoy the many inside jokes regarding the original game mechanics, this play succeeds in ways the game couldn’t….”

Click here for full review . . .

_________________________

Goodnight Lovin’ Trail

“A perfect gem found along a dusty trail; Goodnight Lovin’ Trail will leave you remembering the things you’ve lost along that road that stretches out behind you.”

Click here for full review . . .

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• FRIGID New York Festival 2011 – Five Questions For: Goodnight Lovin’ Trail
• FRIGID New York Festival 2011 – Five Questions For: The Oregon Trail: Quest For The West!
• FRIGID New York Festival 2011 – Five Questions For: We Might Be Experimenting On You

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.

Ali Kresch in Mendacity (Photo by Lauren Rayner)

Yet if I was to walk into Mendacity at the Museum of Modern Art as an installation art piece it would enrapture the audience and  get the message across. I wonder if the Kraine Theater was a disservice to the piece and how effective would it have been, rather, in Under St. Mark’s which is another one of the FRIGID venues. It’s a tricky decision to make when the show is selling out and receiving extra performances.  To find fault on this piece is very uncomfortable because of the cause it is tied to and what it tries to communicate. I found myself rooting for every second, moment and kernel  of what was being created on stage to work.

Restricted in a small black PVC tube structure, Kresch shows us her physical dexterity as she uses movement to narrate her stories as complimenting images are projected behind her. The choreography is the standout of the show, creating an urgency to her words and a vulnerability that might have otherwise been stifled. Best moments of Mendacity are when other characters are brought into the mix and we get to see Kresch skilfully portray different personas. Sprinkling more of these moments would help the show tremendously.

Mendacity would be a great piece for the high-school and college circuit; an admirable work with potential.

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FRIGID New York Festival 2011 runs 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.

Related Posts:

• FRIGID Hangovers – I’ll Have Another Round! (FRIGID New York 2011)
• Hi, How Can I Help You? – Just Another Night In The Dungeon (FRIGID New York 2011)
• FRIGID New York Festival 2011 – Five Questions For: Mendacity
• Starting Tonight! Frigid Hangovers Begin At The Kraine Theater
• Women’s History Month: Celebrating Women In The Arts – Spotlight On Heidi Grumelot

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.

Part of Ms. Durwood’s shtick is to present the craziness that is the silly world of the women in between their sessions – the cattiness that goes on as they talk trash about each other’s backgrounds, social status and habits, the personal lives that co-mingle in the air along with their cigarette smoke in the smoking room – be it one girl’s obsession with her boyfriend, another’s heartbreak over her ex-girlfriend or anything else that crosses the minds of these women in between clients who seem to be fewer and farther between thanks to strict crackdowns.

Durwood has done a good job of creating an atmosphere of controlled chaos, and without a doubt she has ways of keeping each character unique and distinguishable by giving each of the girls a specific tic, accent, stance or twang.  However, as all the girls she represent move through the dungeon and have side conversations and then rejoin each other it’s oftentimes hard to follow who is saying what to whom.  There are a few moments when the show might be better serviced if this was a two person show and Durwood had a second in command to play off of.

Having said that, the story may be at a disservice but at no point do you tire of watching Ms. Durwood do her thing.    There’s an inherent charm to her delivery that’s simply winning; and that charm is pumped into ever one of her characters at all times.

When she really has the audience in the palm of her hand is when she slows down and lets a character sink in by way of monologue. When the owner, Lisa, for instance “interviews” the new girl by way of telling her own life story Durwood’s true acting chops come forth and she is astonishing as she recounts, as Lisa, how her husband first got into S&M which lead her to discovering this life. Similarly, Durwood’s vocal talents do well with all the bells and whistles (or rather the looper, the kazoo, the ukulele and the recorder) but it’s when, as Jane, she allows her voice to ring out pure and clear as she accompanies herself with nothing but slaps to the palms and thigh that she is at her most heartbreaking – singing a song called “Whiskey on The Brain” about missing a lost love who drinks too much.  The moment was so powerful that it stopped the show for me and, I’m sure, for others.

Overall, Hi, How Can I Help You is very entertaining with moments of true brilliance.  Ms. Durwood is  skilled, funny, talented and most of all, knows how to get the audience wrapped around her finger.  My only hope would be to see some of the craziness of this show streamlined a bit so that more of these characters can be fully realized.

~~~

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.

Related Posts:

• Mendacity – Not An Easy Topic (FRIGID New York 2011)
• FRIGID New York Festival 2011 – Five Questions For: Hi, How Can I Help You?
• Starting Tonight! Frigid Hangovers Begin At The Kraine Theater
• Women’s History Month: Celebrating Women In The Arts – Spotlight On Heidi Grumelot
• Yippie! – Revolution On Demand (FRIGID New York 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. Princess Charmony (played dare I say charmingly by Rebecca Houlihan) hooks up our poor Ms. Smart with loser after loser in search for the man of her dreams, someone she can grow old with and eat pickles dunked in Fluff.  Maybe she needs to rethink her ideals? No worries, there are enough fish out in the sea; or I should say in the audience as her dates are forcibly and uncomfortably picked from theatregoers who are just looking to watch a show.

It seems the days of just connecting from your seat, making sure you turn off your cell-phone and keeping quiet are over. The “now” thing (or should I say “retro” thing) is to be part of the action. The fourth wall is smashed into a million bits to the extent that one of the actresses shoves carrots into an audience members mouth. Once the audience is interrogated by Ms. Pretty (played with spunk by Olivia Hallie Lehrman), she reenacts what her life would be like if she ended up with one of these bad connections.

All three actresses are very skilled at showcasing their comedic and physical talents but the show ends up being messy. The actresses do their best at not tripping over used props on the floor and at transitioning smoothly from one scene to the next, yet without much success. Sadly the underdeveloped material and staging of Pretty-n-Papi is not up to par with the superior cast.

Although Pretty-n-Papi was not my cup of tea, I’m sure Princess Charmony will keep trying to match them with their ideal audience.

~~~

FRIGID New York Festival 2011 runs 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 1sr 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.

Related Posts:

• FRIGID New York Festival 2011 – Five Questions For: Pretty-n-Papi
• Inside Straight: The Twisty Path Of Personal Investigation In A Modern Age (FRIGID New York 2011)
• I Love You (We’re F*#ked) (FRIGID New York 2011)
• The Happiest Medium Is Partnering With FRIGID New York Festival 2011
• Your Boyfriend May Be Imaginary – A Epic Quest Through Another Hundred People

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.

As the action begins Gary’s metaphorical boat is heading for a metaphorical iceberg.

He is facing a dead end in a thus-far dead end career path. He sees himself cast in the role of a woodland fairy princess, as part of a lackluster children’s entertainment called “The Enchanted Forest of the Bears”. He is made to skip and lisp and wear fairy wings. Really, he was made for better things. His girlfriend is breaking up with him on account of multiple betrayals. And his only faithful ally, his cat, is critically ill. Enter the opportunity, finally, to get on in life in the form of a high-profile performance showcase. All he needs is $1000 to participate. But wouldn’t you know, that’s exactly how much it will cost for an operation to save Mr. Tangerine’s life? Exactly!

It’s a set-up that’s as admirable in its simplicity as is the form of presentation breathtakingly complex in the hands of performer McDonald and his director, Jeff Culbert. Their story zags and zigs (probably in that order) through a narrative about a narrator telling an autobiographical story that will be used by the narrator in the narrative proper. Follow? And the narrator, an actor, plays all the characters himself in the story, usually deploying a gentle satire that is inadvertently satirizing himself. It’s all fiendishly clever, and that might well be enough, but it’s put across in a performance that’s as perfectly pitched as it is comically adroit. McDonald takes on at least ten roles in the telling. It unfolds at a cracking pace, though the performer has fun speeding up and slowing down the scenes as he pleases. Somehow he discovers time for imaginary flights of fancy, audience interaction, in-coming meta-narrative cell phone calls, and a guided tour of Gary’s small hometown, itself a potted biography and a forlorn note on small town decay.

McDonald’s miming of stage props – doors, drinks, packing-tape – is as physically convincing as is the arch implication that such incidents of actorly illusionism are pedantic and smug. He throws them to us with a moue of disdain and lazily self-generated sound effects (“click”, “snip”). Monologue too, you know, can be tedious and self-important he suggests (witness the impatient speed-up and slow-down of pace), never more obviously when, as contrast, he offers us, for minutes on end, the silent facial responses of one character to another’s unheard speech. Soundlessly we absorb all the information we require of the speaker in this brief, exceptional display. Our impatiences with theatrical convention are his impatiences with theatrical convention. He knows because he has to write the stuff, and deliver the stuff. But, he has a tale to tell, so…

It might all become a snide and brilliant insider joke if McDonald wasn’t so marvelously adept at conjuring feeling and life in the characters, comical and flawed as they are. His characterization of Gary’s depressed and emotionally remote mother, elsewhere dismissed to comic effect as “the Black Cloud”, is genuinely haunting as she dazedly collages feminine hygiene and healthcare packagings to create a portrait. “See, the pill is the head.” His mother recounts a recurring dream where she is treading water in a vast ocean and is visited by a passing cruise ship. Her family, friends, and doctor are all there on board, but not, as she hopes, to rescue her; merely to say hi as they pass by. Gary is not the only one with a metaphorical cruise ship operating in his imagination.

Will Gary somehow make the $1000 he needs from his shoestring existence? Will his showcase audition be accepted if he does? Will he get back with his girlfriend? Will Mr. Tangerine perish, and in so doing, teach Gary a valuable lesson? McDonald will let you know in his own unique way, and at the same time let you know what he thinks of neatly played out conclusions. The final scene sees the action slow to a natural pace, very natural. And after all the comical skewering and witty banter, we are left with an image that could not be more simple and casually heartfelt.

McDonald is a seasoned performer and writer with a string of accolades behind him in his native Canada, where he is well known on the festival circuit. His Boat Load is a mature and complex piece of comical theater, enacted by a performer at the top of his craft. Any one who enjoys comedy or theater will be absorbed and laugh. If you could purchase just one ticket in this year’s Frigid Festival season, you could not do better than this one. Go.

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