Elephant Larry
presents…
BOOM
Saturdays: September 24, October 1, 8, 15, 22,
29; @ 8:00PM
The PIT
Reviewed on April 23, 2005 at 9:00 p.m. by Caroline
Smith
What’s
more refreshing than snorting out loud because
you’re laughing so hard? I guarantee that
that distinctive noise hardly escapes your trunk
at other amateur stand-up nights around the
city. This doesn’t even happen while you’re
watching SNL on a good night. But on April 23rd,
I joined the circus with award-winning sketch
comedy group, Elephant Larry, and laughed like
a hyena. New Yorkers in general need to laugh
like this.
These guys were
electrifying. The funny tune that opened the
show only had a snowball effect for the remainder
of the hour. The audience loved the immediate
energy that this group brought and their outbursts
of chuckles echoed every wild and outrageous
sketch. Clever jokes aside, I had the impression
that these were five little boys having fun.
That comes with knowing, collaborating, and
surrounding oneself all the time with each other’s
talent. And I was right. All five elephants
were once members of Cornell University’s
sketch comedy group, Skits-O-Phrenics. After
graduation, their laughter moved to NYC and
BOOM! history was made. Check out their
success.
July-August 2004:
Elephant Larry presents two shows as part of
the New York International Fringe Festival.
June 2004: Elephant
Larry wins the Audience & Jury Awards at
the Bass Red Triangle Comedy Tour.
June 2004: Elephant
Larry named Backstage Comedy Best Best of 2004.
February 2004:
Elephant Larry begins their three month sold-out
run of All Aboard the U.S.S. Boatship.
October 2003:
Winner of Sketch Fights at Caroline’s
Comedy Club, awarded the title of “New
York’s Best Comedy Writers.”
May 2003: Finalist
for “Best Sketch Comedy Group” at
the ECNY’s (Emerging Comics of New York
Awards).
In all honesty,
this review has already been written. There
is no bragging necessary for this talented group.
But what I can say is that I admired the group’s
collaboration and originality. Not only were
you listening to jokes, but also you were having
a multi-media and smile-inducing experience.
Colorful, random video skits enhanced the live
skits on stage.
It’s true
that there’s a quirky and absurd quality
to the makeup of this group, but this helps
define and stretch the term, “sketch comedy.”
The city is hungry for this kind of energy.
They’re quick, smart, and keep the ball
moving. Sketches influenced by puns and “What
Year Is It?”, to name a couple, grabbed
you. But ending with the “Earth Rap”
made our hearts and laughter BOOM from our chests.
Elephants never forget and neither should you,
so get to The PIT and start your roaring. These
guys rock.
The Elephants:
Geoff Haggerty, Stefan Lawrence, Chris Principe,
Jeff Solomon, and Alexander Zalben
Tickets $8.
Call 212.563.7488 For Reservations or Contact:
917.309.5965
info@elephantlarry.com/
www.elephantlarry.com
The
People’s Improv Theater (The PIT)|154
W 29th Street
(Between 6th and 7th Avenues)
Rob Nash’s
Holy Cross Sucks!
Ars Nova
Wednesdays- Saturdays 8pm
Through October 1st.
Ars Nova
Reviewed by Yolanda Shoshana
In the 1980’s,
films such as Sixteen Candles and
The Breakfast Club captured the essence
of 80’s high school life. And it is
in the spirit of those classic teen films
that Rob Nash performs in Holy Cross Sucks!,
a one man show.
Holy Cross Sucks! is the final installation
of Nash's one man comedies that includes Freshman
Year Sucks, Sophomore Slump,
Junior Blues and Senioritis.
Holy Cross Sucks! The show follows
a group of friends through their four years
of high school at Holy Cross in Houston. The
colorful characters in the show (all performed
by Nash) will certainly remind everyone of
their high school days. There is "The
Virgin," "The Homo," "The
Punk," "The Nerd," "The
Fat Kid," and of course, "The Slut"
(no high school would be complete without
that character).
Nash plays all of the thirty
characters in the show himself and literally
can change characters in the blink of an eye.
Normally with solo shows, the performer changes
or adds costume pieces as a way to change
characters. It was refreshing to see Nash
take a different approach. He did not change
costumes or add costume pieces. The only costume
was jeans and a shirt. He used his body and
voice to change characters and it worked perfectly.
Holy Cross Sucks!
brings an honest slice of life to the theater
stage. When thinking about high school, traumatizing
memories can pop up. Holy Cross Sucks!
will definitely take you back to those
days, but this time you will come out smiling.
It is the kind of show that everyone
can relate no matter what status they had
in high school.
Tony award nominee Jeff
Calhoun is the director that teamed with Nash
in bringing the teen comedy to life The creative
scholastic design is provided by Wilson Chin
and the music that takes us back to the sound
of the rockin’ 80’s is by sound
designer Jorge Muelle.
Nash’s work has also
been produced at regional theaters such as
VORTEX in Austin, Stages in Houston, and Carolina
Theater in Durham. Nash also performs “stand
up” and has been seen on VH-1 and Comedy
Central.
Tickets are $20. To purchase
tickets call SmartTix at 212-868-4444 or www.SmartTix.com
Ars
Nova |511 West 54th Street
(Just off 10th Avenue)
John Fisher's
Joy
Monday 8:00PM
Wednesday 8:00PM
Thursday 8:00PM
Friday 8:00PM
Saturday 5:00PM & 9:00PM
Sunday 3:00PM & 7:00PM
Open Run
Actors' Playhouse
Reviewed
on August 11, 2005 by Frank J. Avella
How unoriginal
would it be to hail Joy, the new
romantic comedy by John Fisher, as a joyous
experience. But, alas, it is. At curtain,
despite the bittersweet ending, my face
was hurting from all the smiling I was doing.
Joy
is set in San Francisco and Fisher loves
the city almost as much as Woody Allen loves
New York. The plot focuses on a gaggle of
friends who, during the course of a year,
find their own type of "joy" in
romantic situations and how some nurture
and others destroy.
Joy
begins with a sweet musical rendition of
"Zing Went the Strings of My Heart"
by Gabriel (Christopher Sloan) followed
by the central character, Paul (Paul Whitthorne),
addressing the audience with the provocative
philosophy that gay sex is the best sex.
Paul is a
writer-wannabe who has penned a dissertation
that asserts that Jesus was gay. He meets
and falls for Gabriel, an undergrad on the
verge of coming out. Simultaneously, Paul’s
straight-curious friend, Kegan (January
LaVoy) falls for Gabriel’s lesbian
friend Elsa (Ryan Kelly). AND, Paul’s
professor, Corey (Ken Barnett), has a fling
with Kegan’s former bi-boytoy, Christian
(Ben Curtis). Toss Daryl (Michael Busillo),
Elsa’s possibly-gay Navy friend, into
the mix and the plot begins to stew.
Although
the Paul-Gabriel relationship is at the
center of Joy, the heart of the
play belongs to the Elsa-Kegan connection.
Both are fully developed and realized characters
and it’s a sheer joy to watch them
together onstage.
Ryan Kelly
is a particular revelation as Elsa. (And
those of us who can’t get enough of
this gifted new face should make certain
to catch her scene stealing, star-making
performance in the upcoming indie film gem
Dorian Blues, due in theatres in
late September). Kelly is charming, assured
and apprehensive, sometimes in the same
moment. Her performance appears effortless,
yet she enchants. January LaVoy matches
her scene-for-scene. These two need a spin-off!
Ben Curtis
is hilarious in what could have been a one-dimensional
turn as the admittedly "pansexual"
dude and the image of him standing holding
a giant sunflower is priceless!
Michael Busillo
is absolutely captivating as Daryl so we
can easily believe the turn the plot takes
because of him. Christopher Sloan and Ken
Barnett are very effective in their roles
as well.
Paul Whitthorn
has the most difficult task as the overbearing
Paul and becomes victim to a forced plot
machination at a drag party and Joy
does bog down a bit when it introduces what
seems like contrived conflict between Gabriel
and Paul and, in turn, makes Paul an unlikable
mess.
But this
tightly directed (by Ben Rimalower) and
nicely written work can be forgiven that
since it ultimately provides the audience
with the ‘joy’ of sharing in
these marvelous characters’ inner
journeys...if only for a fleeting while...
Tickets $65.
212-239-6200 or 800-432-7250 www.telecharge.com
Actors'
Playhouse Theatre |100 7th Avenue South|
New York, NY 10014
The Secret
of NAMT
National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT)
17th Annual FESTIVAL OF NEW MUSICALS
September 25 - September 26, 2005
Dodger Stages
Written by
Adam Ritter
September 2005 marks the twentieth anniversary
of the National Alliance for Musical Theater.
NAMT is an organization committed to preserving
the sometimes maligned sanctity of musical
theater, and according to their website,
they are the only national organization
exclusively devoted to such an endeavor.
Each year for the past seventeen, NAMT selects
a handful of promising new musicals and
showcases them in an invitation-only autumnal
festival. Featured works include the toil
of both seasoned and novice playwrights
and performers.
Members and industry professionals scour
a lattice of theatrical selections, free
to attend one or all for a sneak peek at
what could potentially become tomorrow's
award-winning Broadway smash. Thoroughly
Modern Millie, winner of six Tonys,
was one of NAMT's eight 1996 selections.
These abridged yet richly diverse vignettes
are couched in exposition; a preamble from
production representatives stippled with
post-performance audience feedback that
is volunteered in the brief window between
wonderfully passionate performances.
And how do they fare at discovering talent?
Since 1989 NAMT has introduced 170 musicals,
more than 75% of which have gone on to production
and touring.
This go-round, Dodger Stages sparked with
the charged anticipation of NAMT's overwhelmingly
supportive patrons. Selections this year
include such titles as The Funkentine
Rapture (pronounced funk-en-teen),
I Love You Because, Party Come
Here, A Little Princess, River's
End and Meet John Doe (based
on the Frank Capra movie).
Often a dismissed art form, musical theater
owes a debt of gratitude to the persistent
efforts of their faithful fans at NAMT.
The York's Theatre Company's
The Musical of Musicals - The Musical!
Open Run
The New Dodger Stages
Reviewed by Wendy
R. Williams
The
Musical of Musicals - The Musical! is a hysterically
funny musical satire depicting a simple story,
about an ingénue who cannot pay her rent,
told in the style of five musical comedy greats:
Rodgers and Hammerstein (Corn); Stephen
Sondheim (A Little Complex); Jerry Herman
(Dear Abby); Andrew Lloyd Webber (Aspects
of Juanita); and Kander and Ebb (Speakeasy).
All of this fun was written by Eric Rockwell (Music
and Co-Writer Book) and Joanne Bogart (Lyrics
and Co-Writer Book), who also appear in the show.
The very talented Pamela Hunt is both director
and choreographer of the show.
The show works on many
levels. First there is a marvelous cast:
Lovette George (the ingénue who can't pay
her rent); Craig Fols (the slightly foolish hero
who will pay her rent); Joanne Bogart (the wise
older woman); and Eric Rockwell (the villain/piano
player). They all have great voices and
to-the-nanosecond comic timing. They were
also great fun to look at. Their costumes
were simple, variations on black cabaret-type
attire, but their faces were amazing. Lovette
George, in particular, could give Jim Carrey a
run for his money in a "Who's got the best rubber
face?" competition.
Then there are the jokes - total howlers for audience
members familiar with the various composers, but
still funny enough to elicit a laugh from a musical
comedy novice. After I saw the show I was
talking about it with a relative who has performed
in musical comedies since she was a child.
I told her she had to see it, because she would
probably like it even more than I did because
she would get some of the more obscure musical
comedy references. She then asked me if
her six-year-old daughter would like it.
I thought for a moment and said, "Yes, she would.
She would not get the insider jokes, but the performers
are so funny and the musical numbers are so wonderful
that she would like it anyway." But before
you make reservations for a first grade class,
let me add one caveat: I know this kid and
she adored Phantom and Little Shop.
All the different
segments work. The show starts with a dead-on
send up of Rodgers and Hammerstein set amid the
corn fields of August, then moves on to a cynically
twisted scene set in an apartment house in the
dark world of Sondheim. Next it was time
to idolize-a-diva in the Jerry Herman scene. I
have seen many middle-aged community theater divas
ham it up as Mame, so those jokes killed me. A
total Phantom junkie, I loved the Andrew
Lloyd Webber piece. The night I attended, when
it was time for the Webber piece, someone in the
audience groaned and said, "He deserves to be
skewered." But they sure did laugh during the
scene and all the Webberesque songs were beautiful.
The show ends with a very witty Kander and Ebb
segment, with the final bits sung in many different
languages. Life is so very Cabaret!
The York Theater
has an excellent road show on their hands.
Musical has a simple set and most of
the music is supplied by an onstage piano.
This show could easily be performed in a large
cabaret space. Throughout the country there
are people who cut their theatrical teeth on musicals,
and they will be a perfect audience for this show.
I only hope that if it tours, it tours with this
cast. Bravo!
Reviewers note:
I saw this show last July at the York Theater
and wrote the review at that time. I saw it again
on opening night February 10th and it was even
more fun than the first time.
Tickets are $55
and $59.50 (Friday and Saturday evenings) and
are available through Telecharge at (212) 239-6200
or at the Dodger Stages Box Office. For information
visit www.musicalofmusicals.com.
Dodger Stages,
Stage Five |340 W 50th St
Eileen Kelly’s
My Pony’s in the Garage
August 22, 3:30PM
August 23, 5:00PM
August 25, 11:15PM
August 26, 07:15PM
New York International Fringe Festival
Collective Unconscious
Reviewed by Christina M. Hinke
Jesus Mary
and Joseph! How many times did you hear that from
your mom when you were growing up? Probably hundreds
of times if you grew up in an Irish Catholic household
full of “running-amuck” brothers and
sisters. In My Pony’s in the Garage,
Eileen Kelly, a blonde-haired blue-eyed beauty (a
slim Drew Barrymore look-alike), tells us all about
her quirky childhood and the adventures she had
while growing up in New Jersey.
The humor of this one-woman show reminded me of
a middle-class version of the film The Royal
Tenenbaums or the television show Arrested
Development. It was witty, sarcastic and honest.
Eileen made the audience laugh at stories about
her childhood such as the one where she overdosed
on St. Joseph’s Aspirin just because it just
tasted so darn good and the one about the time she
electrocuted herself when she tried to pry a cord
off the exposed outlet with a penny. And about how
she always ended up listening to her chain-smoking
mom commenting on her “incidents” with
a “well - that was dumb.”
My Pony’s in the Garage is
a well packaged one-hour show, filled with “chapters”
with weird titles like “Strangers with Kittens,”
“The Darker Side of Chocolate,” and
“Bubble Boy.” Eileen tells her stories
while standing in front of a screen which displayed
photos of Eileen and her family as music from Jersey
songsters like Sinatra and Springsteen played in
the background. Eileen Kelly’s comedy persuaded
me to laugh and also to reflect on my own strange
stories of youth.
My Pony’s
in the Garage was directed and developed by
Kimmy Gatewood.
Tickets $15. Available at
www.fringenyc.org
COLLECTIVE: UNCONSCIOUS|
279 Church Street
(Between White & Franklin Sts.)
Michael Norman Mann's
Shakedown Street
The International Fringe Festival
The Run is Over
Village Theater
Don’t
Tell Me This City Ain’t Got No Heart...
San Francisco Soul in NYC
Reviewed
on August 13, 2005 by Stephanie Lund
“Once in a while
you get shown the light in the strangest of places
if you look at it right.”(1)
Shakedown Street, a new musical
with book by Michael Norman Mann with songs by
Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter, definitely shows
the music of the Grateful Dead in a different
light. The musical features jazz renditions of
the classic songs we know and love like “Truckin,”
“Scarlet Begonias,” “Stella
Blue,” “U. S. Blues” and of
course “Shakedown Street.”
Numerous Grateful
Dead fans filled the audience on opening night
- out to support and pay tribute to the groundbreaking
band - still showing their loyalty, after all
these years.
Unlike many Broadway
shows where the orchestra is almost a hidden element
(peeking out from under the stage or tucked away
behind the scenes), the orchestra in Shakedown
Street is parallel to the stage and right
in front of the audience – reinforcing the
idea that this musical is truly about the music.
The small orchestra included a range of instruments:
keyboards; cello; clarinet; flutes; drums; piano;
saxophone; and trumpet. This range of instruments
produced an eclectic and full sound.
Shakedown Street
is set in San Francisco during the summer of 1941
and involves a murder mystery with a surprise
twist ending. While the cast proves talented,
the two leads shine the brightest. The male lead,
Michael Hunsaker, plays Duke Bishop, a private
investigator, hired to crack the case of an art
theft. Hunsaker came onto the project just a week
before opening night, and gives a nearly perfect
performance in both song and prose. The leading
female role of Lucille Lovell (the mysterious
and beautiful lounge singer) is played by Alyssa
Rae who also delivers a great performance. Rae
depicts her character with a flawless 1940’s
grace and glamour. All in all, Shakedown Street
is a good time and a different take on an old
favorite.
Tickets are $15. Call (212) 279-4488
or visit www.fringenyc.org
for
performance schedule and to purchase tickets.
(1)Words
by Robert Hunter, Music by The Grateful Dead,
1974.
Village Theater|
158 Bleecker Street
|
