It wasn't too long after
the terrorist attacks on September 11th
that the art community began to respond.
From amateur photo exhibitions that sprouted
up within weeks to Hollywood blockbusters
years later, it has recently come to a point
when the country is able to reflect on that
difficult time with a bit more ease and
receptivity. And save for country singer
Toby Keith's anthem of the narrow minded,
"Courtesy of the Red White and Blue",
most of the artistic medium has handled
September 11th with grace and dignity.
The same can be said of the newest arrival
at the Connelly Theater, Crossing Brooklyn.
To call it a musical would be doing it a
disservice as that term has come to mean
huge, flashy numbers, power ballads and
intermittent breaks for applause. Not that
there is anything wrong with that, mind
you. But Crossing Brooklyn manages
to utilize the power of song to effectively
enhance an emotionally provocative and significant
story.
The show follows the story
of a young married couple, Des and A.J.,
whose relationship has become strained a
year since the attacks, mostly because Des
is having a very difficult time recovering
from the emotional distress she faced that
day as a teacher in downtown Manhattan.
A.J is able to return to work whereas Des
cannot even leave the borough of Brooklyn,
causing A.J. to become continually exhausted
with his attempts to make her feel safe
again. Over the course of the show we are
introduced to various characters that propel
them on their separate journeys. The smart
writing of these scenes with the auxiliary
characters allows for light-hearted breaks
from the heavy storyline, along with a chance
to fully explore the cracks in A.J. and
Des's relationship.
I'm not going to lie-
this story is heartbreaking. It is emotionally
riveting and sometimes difficult to watch.
Yet it never pulls too hard or goes too
far; the performances are subtle and the
drama isn't forced. One particularly moving
scene between A.J. and one of his students,
Kevin, in any other circumstance could have
been mistaken for an after school special.
Thanks to extraordinary direction by Jack
Cummings III, the talented cast pulls off
these scenes with honesty rarely found in
dramatic theater.
The hard working cast
is does an exceptional job of propelling
the show forward with caring and meticulous
performances. Bryce Ryness (A.J.) and Jenny
Fellner (Des), besides being extraordinary
vocally, bring empathy to performances that
toe the sensitive subject matter beautifully.
Blythe Gruda is wonderful as Madeline, a
book store clerk who has a precarious relationship
with A.J. Clayton Dean Smith shines as a
homeless man who Des befriends, and the
boisterously talented Ken Triwush and Jason
F. Williams add a bit of comic relief as
owners of the Brooklyn café. A heartwarming
scene between Des and elderly birdwatchers
played by Kate Welman and Susan Lehman is
yet another gem of this piece, and the wonderful
J. Bradley Bowers as young Kevin actually
made me not hate child actors.
What really makes this
show stand out, besides its subject matter
and talent, is the overall production value.
The beautiful score by Jenny Giering is
exquisitely haunting and Laura Harrington's
lyrics seamlessly complement the piece.
As I previously mentioned, the music isn't
in the style of most traditional musicals,
rather, the songs are a delicate balancing
act between waves of underscore into song,
and back again. Sandra Goldmark's set design
is a simple gem that Cummings utilizes wholly.
And I haven't seen such incredible lighting
design in any production in years, thanks
to R. Lee Kennedy.
If you haven't already
figured it out, I loved this show. It was
emotionally gripping and spiritually satisfying.
I couldn't help but wonder, however, if
it was because the subject matter invariably
strikes a raw nerve, that is to say, anyone
who was in New York during the attack doesn't
have to be pushed too far to remember the
heartbreak and fear of that day. My friend
and I pondered this after the show, walking
down the streets of Manhattan on a beautiful
balmy October night. Who knows? I'd like
to believe that this show will have the
capacity to affect everyone, as it is also
about love, relationships and loss in general.
I'm just happy that such a relevant piece
of theater has come to the city.
The show starts off with
a man running on a large moving treadmill
to
portray the fast pace of urban life. He
is constantly confronted with obstacles
such as people and objects in his way, intense
weather conditions and brick walls. He is
determined to keep moving- a notion that
hits close to home for many New Yorkers.
The audience participates in the show by
being directed to move by the stage hands
in order to allow for the art to take place.
Movement of the onlooker
becomes a beautiful metaphor in that we
must be open to making space
for new happenings and new ways of viewing
art.
The show uses light, color,
fabric and other materials to create a sense
of in-your-face explosions of interactive
art. Harnesses are worn by the performers
to create the action of flight. The actors
do indeed fly throughout the show and communicate
with each other in a non-language that instills
a sense of playfulness and ease. Eye candy
includes gorgeous women chasing each other
and swimming at the audience through a suspended
pool playground and a DJ up on a platform
creates a set that you can't help but dance
to.
Daryl Roth Theatre
|
20 Union Square East
New York, NY 10003
Sandra Reeves-Phillips
The Late Great Ladies of Blues &
Jazz
Schomburg Center
October 22, 2007
For One Night
Only
Reviewed
by William S. Gooch
Sassy, soulful,
and sick and tired of being sick and tired
describes the songstresses of blues and
jazz conjured up by Sandra Reeves-Phillips
at the Schomburg Center in New York City
on October 22. Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith,
Billie Holiday, Ethel Ward, Mahalia Jackson,
and Dinah Washington all suffered from
bad relationships and the debilitating
effects of racism. And Sandra Reeves-Phillips
expertly infuses their joy and pain into
her interpretations.
Best known
for her supporting role in the 1989 biopic
Lean On Me, Reeves-Phillips uses
elaborate headdresses, sequined gowns
and the wonderful stylings of the All-Star
Trio to bring The Late Great Ladies
of Blues & Jazz front and center.
As hard living/hard drinking Ma Rainey,
Reeves-Phillips sings a brassy rendition
of “Strut Miss Lizzy Brown.”
“I got a weakness for young men,
makes my arthritis feel good,” says
Ma Rainey. Never one to give up on life,
Reeves-Phillips portrays Ma Rainey as
a woman who can laugh in the face of adversity
and laugh at herself.
As sad,
abandoned Bessie Smith, Reeves-Phillips
captures the heartache and pain of a woman
who can’t get beyond the limitations
of her race and her bad life choices.
“Nobody Knows You When You Are Down
And Out” is infused with all the
pathos of a woman broken by life.
Reeves-Phillips
interprets Ethel Ward as a woman with
largesse. Though refined and business-savvy,
Reeves- Phillips’ Ward knows how
to get down to the ‘nitty gritty,’
evidenced in her rendering of “Shake
That Thang.”
Reeves-Phillips
gives an uncanny portrayal of Billie Holiday
notable for its phasing and styling. Reeves-Phillips
puts her own personal stamp on “Solitude”
and “Them There Eyes” while
still invoking the melancholy sadness
of Lady Day.
Although
this performance piece is only about an
hour in length, Sandra Reeves-Phillips
is successful in the way true artist of
the stage always are. She educates, entertains,
and takes the audience back to the days
when the blues moved you to tears, and
jazz was hot. Bad jobs, bad relationships,
and bad times were all forgotten, even,
if only for one night.
Legally Blonde
- The Musical
Wednesday
2:00pm & 8:00pm
Thursday 8:00PM
Friday 8:00PM
Saturday 2:00PM & 8:00PM
Sunday 2:00PM, 7:00PM & 8:00PM
The Palace Theatre
Reviewed
by Katharine Heller
katharineheller.com
To compare Legally Blonde the Musical
to great theater would be like putting
a Twinkie up against the Miso Black Cod
at Nobu. But goddamn it, sometimes, nothing
beats a good Twinkie.
Based on
the box office hit of the same title,
Legally Blonde rarely strays
from the original script. For the five
of you who are not familiar with the premise
of the story, I'll sum it up. Beautiful
Delta Nu sorority sister Elle Woods is
crushed when her beau Warner dumps her
before leaving for Harvard Law. Elle applies
and gets
accepted to Harvard (even though I would
assume the application deadline had passed-
I never quite got that part, although
the rest of the story is perfectly plausible)
in hopes to win back her man. Long story
short she realizes she doesn't need Warner,
makes some new friends and solves a murder
case in court along the way.
The stage
translation is exactly what you would
expect, complete with spunky dance numbers,
an energetic young cast and tunes so catchy
I might consider quarantine for a good
few hours after the show. I still cannot
get the opening number, aptly called "Omigod,
You Guys!" out of my head. No, seriously,
it's pretty frustrating.
The fresh
faced and immensely talented Laura Bell
Bundy as Elle carries the show with grace
and confidence. Right behind her are Richard
H. Blake as the arrogantly hilarious Warner
and Christian Borle as her sweet love
interest, Emmett. The obvious cast standouts
however are Chico as her faithful Chihuahua,
Bruiser, and Chloe the Bulldog as Rufus.
(Rufus is the dog of Elle's friend Paulette
played
by the singly named human, Orfeh.)
The amusing
book, written by Heather Hach with music
and lyrics by Laurence O'Keefe and Nell
Benjamin, includes other engaging numbers
such as the infamous, "Bend and Snap!"
and "Gay or European". With
crisp direction and choreography by Jerry
Mitchell, this family friendly show is
a lot of fun. Just make sure those you
see it with have a sweet tooth.
Tickets
$40.00-$110.00 212-307-4747 www.ticketmaster.com
Palace Theatre
|
1554 Broadway
Charles Busch's
Die, Mommie, Die!
Tuesday - Friday @8:00pm
Saturday 7:00pm & 10:00pm
Sunday 3:00pm & 7:00pm
October 18th - February 21, 2008
New York Stages
Reviewed
by Allison Ford
When
Charles Busch floats onto the stage in
the first scene of Die, Mommie,
Die!, he is met with a wide round
of applause, both for the character he
creates as an actor, and the world he
creates as a playwright.
Besides
being an extremely gifted comic actor
and drag legend, Mr. Busch is a gifted
playwright, who creates a world that is
singularly decadent and bizarre, and lovingly
received by his dedicated audiences. His
quirky comedies are throwbacks to classic
film genres, and Die, Mommie, Die!
is one of the fullest realizations
of Mr. Busch’s warped version of
the past. Mommie takes place in the psychedelic
60’s in the life of a faded singing
sensation, her dysfunctional family, and
her surly domestic help.
Busch
plays Angela Arden, a grande dame of yesterday,
who wears ballgowns to do the gardening,
and hides a dark secret. She was a singing
sensation who married her producer, subsequently
fading into the oblivion of former star,
taking lovers and puttering in the garden.
When her husband discovers her infidelity
and threatens to divorce her, she exacts
her revenge on him, forcing her disgruntled
children to exact theirs on her. As Angela,
Busch is superb – the perfect manifestation
of self-indulgence and narcissism that
would make even Gloria Swanson proud.
The rest of the cast is equally spectacular.
The characters of Angela’s daughter
and son, based on Oedipus and Electra,
are perfect sendups of sixties archetypes
– she as the mod swinger, and he
as the hippy gay college dropout.
Mr. Busch’s
plays defy easy explanation or categorization.
Psycho Beach Party, another standout
among his works, parodies Beach Blanket
Bingo¸ Vertigo, and
classic B-movie thrillers. Die Mommie,
Die! is no exception, taking inspiration
from, as well as paying homage to, several
films from the “wacko aging star”
genre, including Whatever Happened
to Baby Jane, Sunset Boulevard,
and Mommie Dearest. Angela Arden
could be Norma Desmond on an acid trip.
In fact, there’s one of those in
the second half of the play.
Although
the world of the play is the not-so-distant
past, it never feels irrelevant or staid,
and although the setting is distinctly
American, it feels like more of a fantasy
than reality; a perfectly idealized version
of a specific place and time. The world
of this play (and the movie based on it)
is one of bouffant hairdos, housecoats,
dream sequences, minidresses, skinny ties,
and shag carpeting. It’s brightly-colored,
completely ridiculous, and incredibly
bizarre. In this world, the daughter has
an Electra complex, a poisoned suppository
is a murder weapon, and Mommie is played
by a man. The character of Angela is so
suited to Busch’s personal strengths
and comic quirks, that it is difficult
to imagine any real woman having the same
success playing her.
Mr. Busch’s
talent is to take his plays to a completely
hyperdramatic place – he follows
the crazy all the way to the top, and
the end result is grounded in some version
of reality, but obviously far, far removed
from it. This is a world where the leading
lady can utter lines like “I’ve
banished all my yesterdays,” with
all the conviction and melodrama of a
Scarlett O’Hara. And it works. Not
only is the play itself scathingly funny,
the performances of the cast are pitch-perfect;
stylish and energetic. The play is directed
by Carl Andress, a veteran of Mr. Busch’s
plays, having also directed Shanghai
Moon, and The Tale of the Allergist’s
Wife. Such a stylized and particular
play would be disastrous without the proper
energy and direction, but Mr. Andress
understands the style that Mr. Busch is
trying to achieve with his plays; the
delicate balance between melodramatic
camp and modernity. Despite living in
the past, Mr. Busch’s plays all
tend to deal with some of his favorite
themes, homosexuality (both latent and
manifest), Judaism, and pop psychology,
so the ultimate feel is very modern and
relevant.
The scope
of the story and the characters is limited
- Mr. Busch doesn’t attempt to reinvent
the wheel, or produce epics of Shakespearean
depth. His aim is to be funny. He is a
natural successor to John Waters; purveying
camp with a subversive and loving touch.
The secret, perhaps, is that even though
the world of the play is madcap and ridiculous,
we never doubt Mr. Busch’s love
for it. Only a great lover of camp and
melodrama could make us care so much about
these ridiculous characters and their
ridiculous misadventures. We’re
laughing with them, not at them.
He is one
of the best humorists working in the theater
today, and despite the fact that his plays
are most thoroughly enjoyed by viewers
who know the films he references, his
work is never inaccessible. To Charles
Busch, the over-the-top world of Angela
Arden, Die, Mommie, Die!, and
the rest of his work is a world that’s
modern, and relevant, and funny. Audiences
are so devoted to his plays and his characters
because the tongue-in-cheek humor and
the references to classic films feels
like an inside joke. Luckily, he lets
us all in on it.
Ticket
Price Info: $35.00-$91.50
Order Tickets By Phone: 212-239-6200 &
800-432-7250
New
World Stages |340 West 50th Street
New York, NY 10019
Minimum
Wage
Thursday and Friday @ 8:00 PM
Saturday @ 8:00 and @ 10:30 PM
The Green Room at 45 Bleecker
Reviewed
by Katherine Heller
http://www.katharineheller.com
There are as many
unfortunate stigmas attached to fast food
employees as there are with new Off-Broadway
shows. Both can contribute to feelings
of animosity, impatience and in rare cases,
physically nausea. But luckily when the
two merge in the new Off- Broadway musical
Minimum Wage, the result is a
night delicious and satisfying fun.
What immediately
sets this show apart from most musicals
is the fact that it's all acappella. The
talented cast of five blend harmonies,
tunes and yes, awesome beat boxing to
perform such songs as "Shake Your
Booty With Danger and Balls." Created
and written by Charlie LaGreca, brother
Jeff LaGreca and with the musical assistance
of Sean Altman, Minimum Wage
follows the lives of five fast food workers
at the fictional and aptly titled "Happy
Burger".
The show
begins when the you enter the basement
of the theater at 45 Bleecker, as the
Happy Burger staff/cast welcomes you with
gifts, paper hats and yes, a job application.
We soon learn that we are actually there
as part of a "new trainee" session
about the wonder of Hamburgerology which
includes multitudinous lessons about the
grill, french fries, Connecticut (you'll
see) and meat, to name a few. Due to a
series of unexpected events, it is up
to the Happy Burger employees to run the
seminar which has ordinarily been done
by their boss via satellite. If we, the
audience, pass the rigorous test at the
end, the eager group of workers can attend
a local acappella competition. The rest
of the hour and a half we are not only
taught about All Things Fast Food, but
we learn a little bit about what makes
each character function, facilitate and
fry.
This is
quite possibly one of the funniest shows
I have seen in a long time. The experience
from beginning to end was reminiscent
to that of a hilariously dysfunctional
family dinner, one that you wish would
never end. All of the characters were
so well defined and complemented each
other exquisitely. This is no doubt because
this is not their first run. A two-time
veteran of the New York Fringe Festival,
the cast has also been working together
for almost ten years as an award winning
acappella troupe. It's not just their
chemistry on stage that makes this show
special but the heart that goes into it.
And it's also pretty friggin' hilarious.
My favorite moment of many was the introduction
of Kooky The Happy Burger Clown, played
to perfection by Tony Daussat, who answers
audience questions with his own brand
of therapy. Other knockout moments include
the aforementioned "Shake Your Booty
With Danger" performed by the incredibly
talented, Elana Meulener, and the sweet
homage to family, "Dreams,"
which actually made me cry. I know.
Jeff LaGreca
gives a knockout performance as Hux, the
steadfastly dedicated brother of Orewell
(his real brother Charlie). Bill Caleo
is a superb as Bradbury, the troubled
yet adorable fry cook who really means
well as long as he stays away from a grill
(I'll let you figure that one out at the
show). And Charlie LaGreca should not
only be commended for his extraordinary
performance as the eager and simpleminded
Orwell, but for his stupendous beatboxing
skillz. (Yeah, I used a "z".
It's that good.) Guy Stroman's excellent
direction is very present based on the
notable ensemble work.
This is
the kind of show I would everyone I know
over the age of 14 to. While it is overall
a comedy, it is clearly not just a bunch
of sketches; the through-line of the plot
is genuinely poignant- remembering the
value of dreams. And while it may seem
like leaving a fast food job for an hour
to sing is a mediocre goal, this enthusiastic
gang reminds you that it is the little
joys that make life worth working for.
And unlike my last fast food experience,
I want to go back.
Minimum
Wage opens Saturday, October 20th
at 8:00 at 45 Bleecker. Showtimes are
Thursday and Friday at 8:00 PM and Saturday
at 8:00 and 10:30 PM. Tickets are $45
and can be purchased through www.Telecharge.com
or by calling 212-239-6200. For a limited
time, $25 tickets are still available-
check out www.burgerboys.com.
The
Green Room at 45 Bleecker
