by 4 Cents Reviews on December 13, 2011
4 Cents Review – When 2 reviewers each give their 2 cents.
Today, The Happiest Medium offers a 4 cents review of The Myths We Need -Or- How To Begin. Read on as Karen Tortora-Lee and Michelle Augello-Page each give their two cents on this exciting production by Purple Repertory Theater!
Michelle: The Myths We Need -Or- How To Begin is a contemporary retelling of the story of Adam and Eve. Written by Larry Kunofsky and directed by Jose Zayas, the play offers a unique, symbolic, and provocative look at this biblical story of original sin, and how man and woman were cast from the garden of Eden and into the world.
The garden of Eden in this play is set in no specific place, but appears to be a rural work-farm. The stage set is the inside of the worker’s living quarters, and each scene takes place in some form of darkness. Low burning lanterns on either side of the stage are subtle and cleverly utilized to illuminate the stage and indicate the passage of time. Sound is also employed to provide context and setting as each scene breaks into the next.
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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 The Happiest Medium on December 6, 2011
The Happiest Medium Review by guest contributor Anjali Koppal .
I’ll admit it — knowing nothing about horses and not being an animal lover, the only reason I initially jumped at the prospect of watching ‘War Horse’ was the fact that it is directed by Steven Spielberg. Not ‘Executive Produced’, not ‘Presented By’, but directed. A sensitive story of friendship set against the backdrop of war torn Western Europe sounded like the kind of familiar territory Spielberg has explored and indeed mastered in the past, so I was ready for the return of the magic. I’m happy to report that the sparkle still exists, though it doesn’t quite shine as brightly as vintage Spielberg.
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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 December 2, 2011
I was one of the lucky ones: a woman who actually got married at an age when I was more likely to be struck by lightening (twice!) than take that trip down the aisle … or so the annoying statistic goes. As I watched my 30s rapidly skedaddling in my rear-view mirror I looked around at the landscape of men and – like main character Layla of The Show Goes On Productions How To Marry A Divorced Man – saw a lot of prospects before me who were either gay, already married, or came with a whole lot of baggage. So, what’s a great single gal to do?
And what if you do find that perfect guy? Chances are if he’s in his 30s he’s probably been married, has kids and has been through the ringer — the kind of guy who should come with his own instruction manual. Which is why Leslie Fram’s book of the same name is such perfect fodder for a musical comedy. Using her book How To Marry A Divorced Man as a guide, the story practically writes itself. The show is currently in development and I attended a Rock Musical Reading which gave a delightful work-shopping of a production filled with catchy songs (by Bryan D. Leys and Clare Cooper), fun characters, identifiable situations and an all-around good time at the theatre.
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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 21, 2011
Congratulations to the folks over at T. Schreiber Studio – their production of Kenneth Lonergan’s Lobby Hero will extend for four additional performances November 30th through December 3rd at the company’s Gloria Maddox Theatre (151 West 26th Street, 7th Floor). We loved the show and are thrilled that more audiences will be able to experience the show. Read our review here and purchase tickets here.
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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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