AND YOU GAVE ME MUSIC
nytheatre.com review by Codie Fitch
August 15, 2003
Ever watch someone do something they never thought they could? It can be
thrilling, nerve-racking, but most of all joyful. Although at times
discordant and a bit shocking to the ear, the evening of musical
experimentation by Maria Logis, a cancer survivor, is meant to be a
celebration by a music therapy advocate which serves as more of a
testimonial to this alternative medicine than a fully realized theater
piece.Logis decided to seek out alternative therapies for her cancer rather than subject her body to the evils of chemotherapy for her non-Hodgkins lymphoma. She’s not shy about her vocal ability and openly shares that she knows she’s no "Billie Holiday," but from the beginning we understand that this is a celebration of survival and bravery by a woman who has found her voice and cherishes the ability to use it. Logis, along with directorial consultants Tamar Rogoff and Ariel Rogoff-Heitler, experiments with her own Greek roots to use the ensemble of Charley Hayward, Valois Mickens, Sophie Poletti, and Marisa Sullivan as a kind of Greek chorus, including a masked character who behaves much like that inner-voice that too often tells us what we can not do. Logis rises above the taunting voice of self-doubt and her fear of death and learns to celebrate her newfound voice with an incredibly talented group of musicians (Justin Flynn, Jeremy Manasia, John Conte, Helen Yee, Frank Vacin and Glen Fittin) to beautifully back her up. There is much joy, reflection and courage in Logis’ performance in And You Gave Me Music, and one can only say, "You go girl!"
