Theater Review

More Than Skin Deep

Jay Reisberg — Sun, 31 Mar 2024 14:23:20 +0000

More Than Skin Deep Jay Reisberg March 31, 2024 - 10:23

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puppets

Epidermis Circus

Soho Playhouse, New York City

March 20 through 24, 2024

In the days when vaudeville audiences were eager for "odd" entertainment, performers--traveling the USA's various "circuits," both high and low--competed in coming up with new, different, or totally unique acts. Notoriously, Robert John Wildhack gained cachet by demonstrating a hilarious variety of sneezes (which you can still enjoy in the movie "Broadway Melody of 1938"). There was "Painless Parker's Dental Circus," whose act was pulling teeth with the help of "hydrocaine" (a cocaine solution). Let's not leave out women like Ethel Purtle, who played the Motordrome Circuit, performing the "Wall of Fire" stunt with a live lion seated in a sidecar. Today, we think we are more sophisticated, as we have "performance artists" -- and some indeed are artists, like Canadian puppeteer Ingrid Hansen, who wowed sold-out audiences at the Soho Playhouse last week with her Epidermis Circus.

The title of this zany, bawdy, and hilarious performance piece reminds me of a jest children play upon one another: dolefully warning an unsophisticated playmate that "Your epidermis is showing!". (I suppose it's the very first time kids learn that the epidermis is another term for their skin.) Ms. Hansen is called a puppeteer, with the implication that one is primarily manipulating figurines -- but her epidermis is unabashedly doing most of the work in her enormously entertaining, one-hour madcap vaudeville show. It is chock full of riotous, naughty, and mystifying vignettes using her bare hands, face, mouth, tiny toys, and a doll's head.

Ms. Hansen comes closest to conventional modern puppetry when transforming her socks and panties into a romantic couple, whose intensive interaction incorporated the outstretched arms of two audience members, whose limbs provided the platform for a tragically moving romance. Ms. Hansen's "stage," upon which all but that one sequence is performed, is a table positioned in front of a petite video camera, which magnifies and projects her manual and facial artistry onto a large screen -- with her voice providing clever chatter and sound effects.

Ingrid Hansen has performed puppeteering on television for both Sesame and Henson productions. She plays the character "Heart," a lovable orange monster, on Helpsters, Sesame Workshop's Emmy-Award-Winning series for AppleTV+. She also puppeteers and voices characters on Henson's new Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock series. For the TreehouseTV/Amazon show Miss Persona, she puppeteers "Melissa the Dog." She has choreographed and directed several music videos, including choreographing a ballet for stand-up comedian K. Trevor Wilson, which appears in the Canadian sitcom Letterkenny.

I recall as a child using my hands as imaginary animals, and Ms. Hansen propels such kid stuff to a high adult level. Her hands-only sequence of two dog-like creatures playing and probing one another was captivating, earning the audience's intense focus, only to be punctuated by gales of spontaneous laughter. My favorite vignette featured the head of a kewpie doll fastened to Ms. Hansen's hand, forming an athletically flexible human-like figure taking a sensual bath in an oversized coffee cup.

Ms. Hansen's hands-in-motion have the kind of presence that is often attributed to the greatest stage performers. Their movement, combined with her skill for vocalization, establishes colorful characters playing out their scenarios, transfixing the audience and creating pin-drop silence interspersed with spontaneous bursts of laughter.

The closing sequence was a tour de force: creating a farm scene with tiny toy animals, vehicles, and structures, each emerging from Ms. Hansen's elastically flexing mouth. This "farm" endures some intensely inclement weather -- finally being washed away, and a "The End" flag was then precipitated from Ms. Hansen's mouth to signal that the show had concluded.

In addition to this bawdy "adult" version of the show, the week's run also provided child-friendly performances.

Epidermis Circus was produced by SNAFU Society of Unexpected Spectacles and was co-created and directed by Britt Small. Ingrid Hansen is credited as co-creator and performer. Costumes were designed by JIMBO, The Drag Clown (James Insell). Epidermis Circus was also co-produced by and with creative contributions from Kathleen Greenfield. Puppetry coaching is credited to Mike Peterson and Rod Peter Jr.

For information regarding future performances of Epidermis Circus and other works produced by SNAFU, visit the SNAFU website: www.snafudance.com.

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That's Entertainment

Gary Lucas — Sun, 19 Nov 2023 19:32:00 +0000

That's Entertainment Gary Lucas November 19, 2023 - 14:32

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SABBATH'S THEATER

We went to the first preview of this tour de force and what can I say but that it did not disappoint, not by a long chalk. John Turturro was simply incandescent and brilliant as were Elizabeth Marvel and Jason Kravits. This is by far the greatest adaptation of any Philip Roth novel I've seen in any medium and the ensemble acting and direction was riveting. Hilarious, shocking, smutty, and teetering on the cusp of tragedy throughout, with as vivid and life-affirming a character as only Philip Roth could have conjured up (think Alexander Portnoy as aging artiste erotomaniac), John Turturro's Mickey Sabbath is a comic antihero for the ages, on the order of a Jewish version of J.P. Donleavy's wild Ginger Man, brimming with a comic-demonic life-force rivaling Mark Rylance's star turn as Rooster Byron in Jez Butterworth's Jerusalem, and David Thewlis's Johnny in Mike Leigh's Naked. Run, fly, but by all means see this play which is destined to be a huge hit. They're going to be raving about John Turturro's performance in this as long as people continue to go to the theater. And kudos to Jo Bonney's superb direction. Now playing at The New Group's Linney Theater on West 42nd Street.

Sabbath's Theater now extended to Dec. 17th. Tickets and info: https://thenewgroup.org/production/sabbaths-theater/

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La, la, la… The actor is me, Alora Dagnino

C. Jefferson Thom — Mon, 25 Sep 2023 20:00:26 +0000

La, la, la… The actor is me, Alora Dagnino C. Jefferson Thom September 25, 2023 - 16:00

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regional theater

I am a 44-year old playwright. I spent eight years in NYC working in the theatre and I have very little use for most things Disney (except Coco. I really love Coco). So why would I go see The Little Mermaid? Great question. Simple answer… I have a little girl in my life and if that's what it takes to expose her to the magic of the stage, then I'd even sit through a production of Cats. So while I certainly have my thoughts on this musical and this production, I feel it would far more appropriate and interesting to look at it through the eyes of Alora.

Alora is an eight-year-old girl with a vivid imagination and when I asked her about her experience seeing The Little Mermaid, these were some of her responses…

"Good. Good. I liked the amount of talking and singing. It was a good amount of talking and not all singing. My favorite songs were "Part of Your World" and "Under the Sea". My favorite character was The Little Mermaid [a.k.a. Ariel] and my favorite part about the character was the actor. I liked The Little Mermaid’s flying. Is that real flying? Can she really fly? I thought the story was good, it was great… I give it 100 points. I also liked Sebastian and how he sang the song "Under the Sea." Seeing The Little Mermaid in Seattle is sooooo cool. It felt more good than the other show [while Sondheim is more to my liking, it turns out he doesn't play as well with 8 year olds]. Ursula was so scary but I liked how it ended. It was so cool."

Alora was very interested in my typing and at one point decided she wanted to type the name of the actress who played Ariel:

dianhuey -- alora

…she missed an a, but I'm hoping Diana will understand. She also felt it necessary to type her name after as a sort of sign off.

When asked if she liked the romance in the show she spat out an initial "Yuck!," but after some twisting of the arm, but she confessed that she liked when The Little Mermaid fluttered her eyes and puckered her lips, trying to get the Prince to kiss her (this was accompanied by an spot-on demonstration). When I asked if she wanted the Prince to kiss Ariel she reluctantly admitted, "Yeeeaah." I didn't need her to tell me this, I was watching her reactions during the romantic moments and it seemed like she was getting a little swept away. While I am conflicted on the way Disney sells romance, seeing her excitement during "Kiss the Girl" was pretty endearing. We'll just put a pin in that and save some conversations about reality for a later date.

At this point, apparently not completely comprehending the purpose of this review, Alora broke out into song and wanted me to write down how she was singing… I shall indulge. She is joyful. She is happy. She makes bold and sweeping gestures. The songs touch on feelings she can relate to and she emotes with great passion.

"La la la, What is this stuff. Isn't it neat. What is that? It is my friend fish. My friend fish talks. What is this stuff. La, la, la… The actor is me. The actor is me, Alora Dagnino!" I should note, English is Alora's second language and she only started learning it this January. I wish my Spanish had come so quickly.

The affect that this production had on our little girl was self-evident. She's never seen the movie but she retained so much of the music and sings the songs back, adding a lot of her own words as you may have noticed, but getting the melody basically right. This is after seeing it once, so it clearly left an impression. She walks around acting out the scenes and assigning roles to the dogs in our house. The dogs have had a mixed appreciation for her determined direction.

We probably could have gone on like that for a while, but it was a school night and she needed to take a bath. So, did I have thoughts… sure. I almost always have thoughts where theatre is concerned but they would likely bore you here. Though I will note that Coleman Cummings was exceptionally good as Prince Eric… not the first role you would think of as standing out, but he was on point and I'd like to see him in another role someday. That being said, if you’re one who enjoys the wonderful world of Disney, I would recommend seeing this production, particularly if you have young children. I would also recommend having a little girl, if you’re so inclined to have children in your life. As it turns out, they're pretty awesome. - Alora Dagnino & CJT

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Unease in Sequence

Robert Cochrane — Thu, 13 Jul 2023 13:39:04 +0000

Unease in Sequence Robert Cochrane July 13, 2023 - 09:39

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fiction

Photo: Paul Hubbard

THEY (starring Maxine Peake)

Manchester International Festival

The John Rylands Library, Manchester, UK

5^th-9^th July 2023

The John Rylands Library is a late Victorian gothic masterpiece, an act of philanthropic largesse to the city of Manchester by the widow of the industrialist whose name it has long immortalised. It is also an unusual choice for a performance space, normally a place of hushed, almost hallowed silences, it has in recent days been the home of a uniquely inspired theatrical event.

The actress Maxine Peake is a personage not averse to risks and challenges, indeed if she were it is unlikely that she would have tackled the novel They by Kay Dick, but it is to the audience's benefit and the wider world's reward that she has. When the book appeared in 1977 anyone who held expectations of its author were in short supply. She hadn't published a novel for over fifteen years, and when this one arrived it was nothing like any of her previous works.

Set in a strange but unspecified future England it has an interlocking series of almost dreamlike vistas narrated by an observer whose gender the reader has no knowledge of. Paranoid in tone but deeply poetic in its pared down and spartan prose, it is a disturbing read. "They" are everywhere, in the distance or lurking nearby. Artists are taken away and returned if lucky as reprogrammed zombies. Paintings are removed from galleries. Pages are torn from books. It is indeed a grave new world.

The book sank at the time having garnered a cursory set of reviews, one describing it a "menopausal" and by 1980 was out of print and well on its way towards forgotteness. It is an example of the limitations of an audience's expectations of an author, a maverick arrival jars, though in the context of Kay Dick's life it makes sense. A friend of George Orwell's it was she who managed to get Animal Farm into print, hence the bleak, almost sci-fi tone of the book has antecedents. Apart from another largely autobiographical novel The Shelf, about a lesbian affair with a married woman who commits suicide, no further work emerged from the mercurial writer who died out of print and in obscurity in 2001.

What Maxine Peake (adapted and co-created by Maxine Peake, Sarah Frankcom and Imogen Knight) has done is to astutely and finely fillet elements of the story and turn it into a tightening knot of developing drama. The audience are facing each other as she prowls and paces the space between them, though some are lucky enough to be festooned in the cloisters to look down at the proceedings as though in a gallery. Peake reads from sheets. It has the feel of a lecture and sermon, combined with elements of "a happening." Her voice carries with the clarity of a birds aloft the magnificence of her setting. As she reaches the end of a page, she drops it to floor and whilst the performance progresses steps over them as though navigating a street of crazy paving. The evening darkens outside; hence the atmosphere is enhanced naturally by the fading light entering via the stained-glass windows. Her tale of grief and fear is almost too claustrophobic to sanction, but as the end nears, via the beautifully rendered prose, hope and defiance returns, and an edge of positivity remains. It is a deeply unsettling but rewarding accomplishment, deftly delivered but never overstated.

Kay Dick's novel was rediscovered and republished last year after a publisher's bidding war, to wide acclaim as a lost dystopian masterpiece with plaudits from Margaret Atwood and Edna O'Brien. Its themes of artistic sublimation and societal unease more pertinent to now than when it was written largely to be ignored. Maxine Peake's strikingly assured performance should be taken from city to city. This is a parable for our times, created long before them, that deserves to be staged, widely and in unusual places. That this one transpired in the sanctity of a magnificent library betrayed a neatness of touch, a deftness that will be hard though not impossible, to replicate.

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A Larger Awareness of Real Loss

Jay Reisberg — Tue, 09 May 2023 18:02:22 +0000

A Larger Awareness of Real Loss Jay Reisberg May 9, 2023 - 14:02

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drama

The Magazine
Written by Christie Perfetti Williams
Directed by Matilda Szydagis
The Sargent Theater, 314 West 54^th Street, NYC
(through May 13, 2023, tickets available at carnivalgirlsproductions.com/)

This is the era in which mass shootings, particularly at educational venues, are an almost weekly occurrence. The parents of children murdered in these horrific events are, one-way-or-another compelled to move towards coming-to-terms with the unthinkable. I use the phrase "move towards" because, truly, the goal of attaining a semblance of peace on the abrupt loss of a child is often a quest that can accomplish a great deal but may never totally end.

This is a topic I can address -- and judge from my family's own experience. Prior to my birth, my parents had a son, normal and healthy, meticulously cared for by my mother. It was early 1944, when out of the blue, at age six months, my mom noticed him breathing oddly, and called the family doctor. He asked her to hold the phone receiver to the baby's mouth so he could hear his breath, and then directed her to get to a hospital as quickly as possible. The boy had contracted encephalitis. The doctors at the hospital tried to requisition the new medication Penicillin, at that time only available for the military, which they determined would save him. This request, during wartime, was denied. The baby was intubated and died two days later -- and my mother was grief-stricken to the bone, and my two-year old sister stopped eating in response to her mom's intense grief. Doctors instructed that my sister be taken out of her mother's care until the intense grief reached some degree of stabilization. My mother never, ever fully recovered, and a small suit case of the baby's clothing was stored in the family garage, along with a stack of a hundred condolence letters -- items only to be tossed after my mom's death in the late 1990s. Over many years my Mother attained some peace, but the sting of her loss showed up pointedly from time to time. I mention this because it has sensitized me to what was authentic (or not) in such scenarios. The Magazine tells of the experience of a mother and father, portrayed by Lori Funk and Ric Sechrest, when their seventeen-year-old son is killed in a school shooting in an upstate New York community -- and the play begins as they are just starting out on what is sure to be a tortuous extended excursion toward some sense of closure (the kind of closure my mother's loss of a child took many years to reach).

When I first read its plot synopsis, I wondered if The Magazine which dramatizes the couple's ordeal, would be a polemic about gun control (which is being endlessly tossed about in the media right now). Instead I was pleased to be treated to an authentic rendering of what parents endure when confronted with the unthinkable. Playwright Christie Perfetti Williams vividly renders in an at once intimate and direct manner, the untidy permutations of grief and anger, including the kind of comic relief that naturally occurs even in tragedy -- and the unexpected complications that show up in such scenarios. She crafted this into reality with wonderfully naturalistic dialogue delivered by a superb troupe of seasoned actors.

The "magazine," in the title of the play stands for the secrets that are revealed when someone is suddenly removed from the family. In this play this secret is revealed to be multiple subscriptions to tawdry porn magazines which were ordered by the underaged decedent -- the cancellation of which presents humorous (and later poignant) interaction between James Hadlow and an ornery customer service worker at the porn publisher, played with panache by Arlene A. McGruder. The porn magazines comes to the attention of the religious mailman, portrayed by C.K. Allen who gets wind of the unholy contents of the Hadlow's mail and wants to save the recipients from perdition. Both Ms. McGruder and Mr. Allen, may play minor roles, but they have as much of an actor's presence as do Ms. Funk and Mr. Sechrest. This is equally so with the character of a psychic advisor played, by Kristen Vaughan, from whom our mother seeks grief counseling. Their conversations together proceed in such a relaxed and ambling manner giving them a special ring of reality.

The mother's experience of grief and loss initiates introspection regarding alternative paths she could have taken, which might have offered her a life that included the kind of adventure and freedom she experienced in her youth. This comes up during her conversations with Max Hall, with whom she attended high school and had a school girl flirtation. Max, now a widower, has had some success as a musician and comes back to his hometown for a performance. In conversations with him, our mother talks of her travels and admits she'd like to have those kinds of adventures again -- but perhaps she’s resigned to continue in her life where she's ended up.

The structure of The Magazine is played out in a series of short and medium-sized scenes, which jump cut (to use a phrase borrowed from the movies) from one to the next. This structure lacks the direct linear flow of more conventional plays. This manner of exposition, is an enhancement in that it compresses the showing of the process which the parents are undergoing as they begin to venture into the un-chartable territory of loss and grief. Of course this is just their beginning, but at least they aren't drinking nor medicating themselves into a stupor to ease the pain. They are engaged, and that is what matters, that is what is admirable, and even heroic.

Matilda Szydagis' direction rendered the action of the play as utterly natural, with nothing forced, and nothing out-of-kilter as the actors delivered Perfetti Williams' equally naturalistic words. All the players displayed the relaxed precision customary among dedicated professionals. Special kudos go to Lori Funk and Ric Sechrest for performances which anchored the atmosphere of the play, allowing the rest of the cast's acting to flow seamlessly from scene to scene. Funk gave what I consider a tour-de-force performance with a kind of focused presence which compelled me to award her my most acute attention.

Regarding theater -- or entertainment arts at large: I never want to be entertained again, and desire solely to be inspired, to have my sense of humanity and compassion enhanced and empowered. The Magazine is an inspirational play -- both in its writing, direction, and performances. When I/we read of mass shootings at schools, and elsewhere, such a work as The Magazine opens theater goers to possess a larger awareness of the authentic stories that reside beyond the mechanistic renderings of journalistic "human interest".

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Reasons Not To Be Afraid...

C. Jefferson Thom — Mon, 08 May 2023 00:38:40 +0000

Reasons Not To Be Afraid... C. Jefferson Thom May 7, 2023 - 20:38

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Musical

The cast of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at The 5th Avenue Theatre. Photo: Tracy Martin

If you're watching a slasher movie and the guy in the hockey mask doesn't terrify you, or at least present an intimidating figure, then you're facing a different kind of danger. And so is the case with the title character in Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. If Sweeney doesn’t kill it with terror, then disinterest has a real chance to survive…

5^th Avenue's present production of Sweeney Todd has a murder on its hands and evidence would indicate the blame lies with casting for vocal merits at the sacrifice of acting chops. Vocally, there is little room for complaint. This cast is stacked with strong singers, filling an essential necessity for such a powerful and challenging score. The same cannot be said for the production's acting capabilities, a problem which starts right at the top with Yusef Seevers's Sweeney. Seevers seems to struggle with capturing Sweeney as a character. He has little to no presence, which is disastrous when you have lyrics stating "…Sweeney would blink and rats would scuttle." Those rats ain't scuttling this time around, instead Seevers drifts aimlessly from scene to scene, lacking any command of the moment, and often being upstaged by his counterparts.

Two of those upstaging counterparts are Anne Allgood (Mrs. Lovett) and Jesus Garcia (Pirelli). Allgood is a revelation, giving an interpretation of the murderous entrepreneur Lovett that would stand out on Broadway. Her character is crystal clear from her first appearance on stage and continues on, supported by a confidence that allows her to completely relax into her role. She is funny without pushing and conveys her inner thoughts naturally with a subtle ease. Allgood lives up to her last name, making it look easy, and her performance alone is worth the price of admission. Garcia offers a brief but memorable performance as Pirelli, providing comic relief while knowing exactly what to do with his short time on the stage.

With these and a few other exceptions, the acting struggle is systemic, which makes all evidence point to the core issue of direction. Jay Woods fails her actors from the lack of a coherent directorial vision down to basic staging. Actors wander about as if anxious to figure out where they belong and seem to have been left rudderless on a sea of character study. The lack of a steady, guiding hand is palpable and the bold choices that are made are somewhat baffling. A striking example of this is the choice to direct an entirely ham-handed sex scene during one of the musical’s most famous and beautiful moments as four separate songs overlap into one surmounting cacophony of overwhelming sound. The intercourse comes in prematurely, causing us to rubberneck our focus on the car crash to our left instead of the stunning sunset straight ahead. This choice does nothing to further the moment and is truly puzzling. The climax is meant for the audience in hearing this euphoric moment (something which, again, the cast does well to deliver) and is better left implied for Anthony and Johanna. This confusion of choice carries over into Danielle Nieve's costume design which is oddly all over the place. Elements of Steampunk clash with Sci-Fi mixed with more realistic period attire, lacking in cohesion and resulting in looks that could be described as a Judge Turpin out of Plan 9 from Outer Space while the Beadle's costume suggests that he may have flown in on a hot air balloon from Kansas. This is all very much at odds with Lex Marcos's very competent and considered scenic design. Intimidating, pointed pikes jut up from below as elegantly sharp arches hover from the proscenium above, both threatening to come together at any moment in a world-ending chomp, successfully creating a source of constant tension for the play to fearfully exist in. That such a poignant set design should be made to co-exist with such a confused look in costumes again speaks to Woods's overall difficulty with vision and direction.

Sweeney Todd is arguably one of the greatest achievements of one of musical theatre's greatest composers, so there is much to be said for taking the opportunity to hear Sondheim's songs sung so soundly. However, many of the profound and galvanizing themes embedded in its words are left largely unexplored in this production. 5^th Avenue shows great potential but falls short of being the genuinely worldclass playhouse I sincerely hope they one day become.

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Seattle's Tromp with Sondheim

C. Jefferson Thom — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 02:01:20 +0000

Seattle's Tromp with Sondheim C. Jefferson Thom February 21, 2023 - 21:01

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Sarah "SG" Garcia, Eric Ankrim, and Cayman Ilika in Into the Woods at The 5th Avenue Theatre. Photo Credit: Mark Kitaoka

Stephen Sondheim was arguably one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century bringing the often showy and sometimes shallow world of musical theatre to depths and levels of complexity less-explored by the artform. That being said, Into the Woods is one of my least favorite of his musicals. It's long, it's wordy, and in contrast to its fairy tale façade, the content of the piece can be excessively heady and lack the basic fun one could reasonably expect from a musical adaptation of the Brothers Grimm. I brought my eight year old little girl with me to this production and her review was simple, "I thought there was going to be a wolf and there was no wolf, only a guy in a fur jacket and then they were singing, and singing, and singing…". I think there's something profoundly honest there. So this fairy tale may not have been written for young children, but how does this production fare for a more mature audience?

The cast displays a mixed level of experience with its Broadway veterans making themselves easy to spot. Eric Ankrim's "Baker" is the production's grounding cornerstone and is well complimented by Cayman Ilika with her bright and energetically charged portrayal of the "Baker's Wife." Ankrim is understated, relaxing into his role as a man who is not used to being the center of attention but is reluctantly thrust into a hero role he can only partially fill. It is an honest performance that helps illuminate some to the piece's difficult themes. Mari Nelson offers a solid "Narrator" competently steering the story's direction and setting its high energy level, though her moments as the Baker's Father are markedly less convincing. Joshua Miller's "Jack" is a sympathetic and lost little boy with an endearing quality. Sarah "SG" Garcia has a very clear sense of her "Little Red" that she follows through on from beginning to end and Sarah Russell lends her "Cinderella" a beautifully emotive singing voice.

The production design is another strong point with the lighting and set joining to create a very effective world for these characters to live in. Ben Zamora's lighting design utilizes mobile clusters of suspended tube lights to create a choreographed canvas upon which to project one's suspension of disbelief and imagine the fantastic settings that a more literal set might have spelled out. This lighting has a very dynamic affect and mingles well with the simplicity of Lex Marcos's fluid and function-focused set (which bares a bit of a nod to Boris Aronson's set from Company).

If you've never seen a professional stage production of Into the Woods then this one is likely to be one of the better ones you're bound to come across. For those more familiar with the Sondheim catalog it may offer less new revelations but is still a very respectable representation of this iconic musical. The production does not escape the musical’s inherent flaws but instead wears them well.

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RIP, Bear!

Dusty Wright — Sun, 13 Nov 2022 23:57:38 +0000

RIP, Bear! Dusty Wright November 13, 2022 - 18:57

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celebrity obit

Michael Butler (11/26/1926 – 11/7/2022)

I lost my mentor and dear friend this past week. He produced Hair on Broadway, numerous road shows, and the film. (As well as other plays and films) Though he was 30 years my senior, one would never have guessed his age when in my company. We shared many escapades in the entertainment business from 1985 through 2019. He would call me on my birthdays. His life was extraordinary... Born in Chicago, his family owned Oak Brook Farms which would later become the town of Oak Brook, IL. Their family business was Butler Paper and Butler Aviation. His father Paul made polo part of the equestrian landscape in America, winning six U.S. Open Polo Championships and four Butler Handicap titles. Michael would embrace the very expensive and posh sport, as well, collecting and befriending champions and celebrities along the way. His personal friendships with politicians (The Kennedys) and princes/kings (King Charles) and celebrities (too many to list), afforded him endless stories and memoirs. I would host dinner parties just have him share his escapades with my friends. He introduced me to Gore Vidal, someone I would interview for two podcasts. (Together, we would later option one of Gore's novels, nearly selling our excellent script to Hollyweird.). Without going too in-depth, I suggest listening to this extraordinary podcast I conducted with Michael in 2005. It is all true. Blessings to your soul, Brother Bear, you taught me how to live life to the fullest.

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On The Road To Somewhere X 2

Dusty Wright — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 15:00:00 +0000

On The Road To Somewhere X 2 Dusty Wright March 8, 2022 - 10:00

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Broadway musical

Photo Credit: d. Bindi

The following is one of two reviews of the same show.

Ian Alterman's review of the show in 2022 was preceded by Dusty Wright's original review from 2020.

American Utopia - March 9th, 2022

A touch more than two years ago (see review below), Dusty did a review of this show just before it closed due to the pandemic. The show re-opened recently at the St. James Theater for an abbreviated run, and will close, permanently, on April 3^rd. I went to see the show on March 9^th -- my first entertainment venture out of my apartment since the pandemic began.

Dusty was effusive about the show, and it is easy to see why. There has simply never been anything quite like this show in any theater anywhere. Part musical, part narrative play, part rock concert, part educational drama, and a thoroughly and deeply philosophical work of art, it focuses on the concept of "connections" (human, technological, and other). Mr. Byrne uses narrative and song (some Talking Heads songs, and some that were written specifically for the show) to delve into these connections in almost every way imaginable. He touches on the good, the bad and the ugly in art, media, race, and psychology (primarily loneliness and confusion). For a fun night at the theater (which it is), it is pretty heady stuff.

What makes this show most extraordinary is the staging. The entire "cast" of 12 are the actual musicians (there is no pit, no orchestra, no recorded music) -- and with no wires of any kind (all vocals and instruments are wireless) the cast (all barefoot) is free to move around the stage. And do they ever move around the stage! The choreography is continual -- simple but mesmerizing -- and the interplay among the cast (including Mr. Byrne) is disciplined but fun. There were a couple of moments when cast members, moving quickly, came very near to crashing into each other or tripping each other. Mr. Byrne and his team simply made fun out of those moments -- smiling, laughing, and giving quick nods -- and the audience laughed with them.

I was sitting in the center mezzanine, aisle seat, second row -- which the woman at the box office assured me was the best seat in the house. And she was right. Because even when I saw Spike Lee's film of the show, I could tell that the audience in the orchestra were missing a lot of what was happening vis-à-vis staging, movement, lighting, and effects, all of which are relatively simple, but utterly brilliant. This is a show that needs to be seen (and heard) from "above."

The show is so powerful that I found myself welling up with tears a few times due to the combination of power and performance. But for all its headiness, the show is great fun: people were invited to sing along with songs they knew, and even invited to dance, though not in the aisles. (As Mr. Byrne jokingly pointed out, "In case of fire, the people dancing in the aisles have an unfair advantage.")

The show is only open until April 3^rd. So run, don't walk, to see it before it disappears. You will thank yourself for doing so.

------------------------------------------

David Byrne's American Utopia

Hudson Theatre, NY

According to David Byrne during the encore we are all on a "road to nowhere" even if that message is delivered from the stage of the fabulously intimate and historic Hudson Theatre on West 44th Street in Times Square. This is not a musical, it is a full blown pop concert. It started as a tour for his 2018 solo album American Utopia. Many of the same musicians who graced the stage of that tour have migrated and morphed his vision onto a Broadway stage. And while it may be performed with grand theatrical gestures and choreographed movements, it is still an extraordinary theatrical performance, albeit one with intricate movements and 12 wireless musicians weaving in and out and around each other with each song. While there are songs from that aforementioned album there are plenty of crowd-pleasing songs from Talking Heads and his solo work, too. Those songs were met by clapping and yelling and standing ovations after each number -- "Slippery People," "Once In A Lifetime," "Burning Down The House," "This Must Be The Place," to name but a few.

Although this run is winding down and finally ending on February 16th, it was truly a "once in a lifetime" musical experience. Clearly it was as exciting and exhilarating as my first live encounter with Mr. Byrne's Talking Heads 40 years ago -- in full bloom and rock majesty -- played at John Carroll University in Cleveland, Oct. 31st (Halloween) 1980. (The Psychedelic Furs opened for them!) Mr. Byrne has carefully curated a celebration of his catalog while framing his favorite music with his new musical comrades.

I have always been drawn to Mr. Byrne's existentially poetic and cerebral music from the moment I head the Talking Heads' debut album 77. They were always a cut above the rest of their contemporary rock peers. Always with one foot into the future. So one should not be surprised at how forward thinking this thoughtful and artistic statement might be presented on the Great White Way.

Some of the "tai chi" soft and flowing movements have been seen on stage before both in filmmaker Jonathan Demme's iconic Stop Making Sense rock concert doc and Byrne's dance/music collaboration with choreographer/dancer Twyla Tharp for The Catherine Wheel. Regardless, the movements during the various songs was never indulgent nor redundant unless purposely redundant to make a point. With his crack 11- piece band providing all the live/wireless instrumentation, this is music performed without incident in the age of bluetooth technology. In fact, Mr. Byrne even made a point of their "music" when he introduced every cast member and their place of origin before they shared their instrument's sound with the audience. It was a very clever sequence that put to rest that they were performing to tracks!

There was also a wonderful story about the song "Everybody's Coming to My House" that was recorded by a group of teenagers from Detroit -- Detroit School of Arts featuring the Vocal Jazz Ensemble -- who completely remade the song into a more positive and uplifting version of his brooding exploration of loneliness. The version above is so far removed from his staging that both need to be seen to fully appreciate their converse relationship.

If Byrne continues to tour this pop art masterpiece, do not miss it. He will not stop making sense.

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Opera in the Wake of Rising Anti-Semitism

David Willinger — Thu, 03 Feb 2022 22:37:13 +0000

Opera in the Wake of Rising Anti-Semitism David Willinger February 3, 2022 - 17:37

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Theater Review

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opera

Photo: Alan Chin

The Garden of the Finzi-Continis

Museum of Jewish Heritage, NYC

Ricky Ian Gordon and Michael Korie's operatic adaptation of The Garden of the Finzi-Continis is a well-meaning show. This co-production between the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbienne and New York City Opera is performing in a limited run at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, appropriately billed as "A Living Memorial to the Holocaust." With the recent and steady rise of anti-Semitic attacks and outrages in America and Europe, this well-known narrative treating the Italian Jewish Community at the inception of World War II is worthy of reprise; the timing couldn’t be better. Most of us know The Garden of the Finzi-Continis through Vittorio De Sica's 1970 movie rather than from the original book of the same name by Giorgio Bassani which appeared in 1962.

The opera replicates the book in using the framing device from Bassani's novel (omitted from the film) of having the hero, Giorgio walking through the cemetery and ruined synagogue of Ferrara, the site of the story, where -- long after the war’s end -- he learns that the entire Jewish population of the city no longer exists. The eternal light the Finzi-Continis patriarch had paid to keep lit has gone out. He is joined onstage by the shades of the former Jewish community as they sing of the Ferrara of better days. This is one of the few times the ensemble appears onstage in its entirety. They are well-cast, and have haunting faces whose typicality is heightened by the period costuming. It is such a pity that we don't see much more of them as the opera unfolds. This is one of several important missed opportunities.

Other memorable scenes and nuances in the relationships from the movie are excluded or adapted in such a way as to simplify the contending dramatic forces. In so doing, the emotional impact of the piece is diminished. In the opera, Giorgio's family celebrates Passover with a seder. In the film his family -- which is characterized as cultured, sensitive, and prosperously middle class (contrary to the almost gross and brute depiction in the opera) -- is seen singing a traditional Italian-Jewish counting song. While it is evidently a children's song for Passover, all the adults quaintly participate. The song is repeatedly interrupted by phone calls from anonymous callers who refuse to speak -- intimating the sinister rise of anti-Semitic fascism and heightening the danger to the family. It would have been a natural scene to musicalize in the opera, but isn't included. Likewise in the opera, Giorgio's father who initially supports Mussolini, is depicted as a dogmatic brute who sticks to his guns, so Giorgio may come off as a misunderstood, prescient party. Their relationship -- through overlong scenes is depicted as a static impasse. But in the film Giorgio's father relents, admits that his son was right, and does all he can to strengthen their beautifully established relationship. The subtlety of those dynamics would have provided ebbs and flows that the opera misses out on.

Similarly, there is a sub-plot of the gay Finzi-Continis son, Alberto. In the opera -- opting again for the strident and reductive approach -- he is shown as hopelessly stigmatized and doomed in his obsessive hero-worship of the charismatic Socialist Gampiero Malnate. In the opera Malnate is clueless, whereas in the film all their scenes have a homoerotic (and reciprocal) charge. Even the scenes between Malnate and the supposedly exclusively heterosexual Giorgio could be read that way, providing ambiguity and layering. Likewise, in the movie, Alberto's uncle is explicitly portrayed as gay as well, and a role-model for him. De Sica's film has a lovely scene in which the uncle sits in Alberto's bedroom, languidly fanning himself at the window, a lost opportunity for a sultry duet. The uncle in the opera is given virtually no character whatever. These artistic choices sadly diminish the opera.

Photo: Alan Chin

There are positive aspects to the evening. The intricate orchestrations of the music often suggest nuances and cross-currents which the narrative flattens out. And the 14-piece orchestra under James Lowe's passionate and energetic baton plays their hearts out. John Farrell's simple, but ingenious set design allows for fluidity of set changes and transformations of locale. And Anthony Ciaramitaro interprets Giorgio with commitment and sensitivity. Yet the often clumsy and forced rhymes of the lyrics pull energy from the potentially heart-wrenching dramatic situations and cause the wrong kind of audience response. When the librettist jettisons rhyming it can be better, but that doesn’t happen too often. Maybe it would have been better in Italian; there are sub-titles in any case. This is, sadly, a tantalizing opportunity which falls short in too many ways.

Mr. Willinger is a professor at City College of New York, holds a Ph.D in Theatre, award-winning writer, and critic.