FringeNYC 2013: Recipe For Success With Chef Michael Denardi
Wannabe celebrity chef Denardi (former Colbert writer Peter Grosz) shares recipes for Baked Ziti Burritos and misguided methods for achieving fulfillment... until this cooking demo gets derailed by demons from his past - like the time he almost killed Michael Chiklis!
Official production websiteShow details/ticketing at FringeNYC
Review by Lynn Marie Macy · August 14, 2013
With signature dishes like baked ziti burritos, peanut butter papaya pizza, and Thanksgiving milkshakes, Chef Michael Denardi is not likely to cook his way into your heart but actor/writer Peter Grosz may have a shot with his goofy concoction Recipe for Success at engaging your funny bone. You will have to leave any preconceived notions about real cooking and food preparation at the door.
Grosz’s character “self taught” Chef Michael Denardi promises to transform the audience’s lives with his cooking demonstration at FringeNYC. Instead Denardi gradually reveals himself a failure that has lost job after job and may have even poisoned actor Michael Chiklis is at the Miami Food Festival. He dreams of being a famous chef on the Food Network and idolizes Guy Fieri who won fame on The Next Food Network Star.
The super energetic Grosz has a disarming way of drawing you into his skewed vision of the world. He offers up life lessons considered to be his personal recipe for success with tips like “take everything personally” and “hold a grudge” . He is one of those guys who can’t seem to help making precisely the wrong decision in every circumstance. As a character, Denardi is pompous, misguided and temperamental and yet Grosz and director Mark Sam Rosenthal are remarkably still able to highlight some emotional truths when it comes to Denardi’s human frailty, resulting in a couple of surprising and welcome heartfelt moments.
Rosenthal starts the show with a bang and skillfully continues to intensify the pace and Denardi’s frenzied desperation. As a writer Grosz wrings the comedy from Denardi’s every predicament. Among many chuckle filled moments, his creative riff on bread pudding bread pudding is a riot and oddly fascinating as a sort of culinary infinity equation.
The production was suitably supported by lighting designed by Tracy Lynn Wertheimer and food slides Multi-Media designer Kate August – however, the slides of Denardi’ s bizarre dishes went by far too quickly - I really would have enjoyed a better look at those bacon cupcakes.
If you are a dedicated cooking junkie this may not be the show for you as it is pure fiction. But if you are open to a good laugh at a parody of the crazy proliferation of cooking shows that have taken over our TV screens you’ll get a kick out of Chef Michael Denardi. And while Denardi does not deliver on his promise to transform our lives - his turns out to be a journey of self-discovery - but a journey, fortunately for us, that cannot be taken too seriously.
Preview: Interviews with Artists from Recipe For Success With Chef Michael Denardi
We're asking artists from each show to answer questions about themselves and their work to help our readers get a detailed advance picture of the festival:
The Folks Back Home · Mark Sam Rosenthal (Director)
- When did you decide to become a director, and who or what inspired you to make that choice?
I decided to do it when Pete asked me! - Who are your role models as a director?
I have to say my old director Danny Tiberghein, back at Episcopal High School in Baton Rouge, was pretty solid. - Which word best describes how you think the folks back home would react to this show: SHOCKED, PROUD, THRILLED, DELIGHTED, ANNOYED. Why?
I think they'd be proud because I'm working with somebody famous. Those Sonic ads air A LOT during LSU football games. - What are the folks back home never going to forget about this show?
I think they're never going to forget those baked ziti burritos! - If grandma left you ten million dollars that you had to spend only on theatrical endeavors, how would you use the money?
I'd start an incubator agency and hire all my friends who're so talented but haven't "made it," and we'd fund some of our ideas to fruition. And then sell them to television - because you sure as hell can't make that ten million back in live theater!
All About My Show · Peter Grosz (Other)
- Complete this sentence: My show is the only one in FringeNYC that...?
Is a live cooking show with real food onstage. I play a character, chef Michael Denardi, who attempts to do a cooking demonstration but gets derailed by his own personal demons. - What do you think this show is about? What will audiences take away with them after seeing it?
It's a satire of two prominent aspects of our contemporary culture: our obsession with food and the people who make it and our obsession with celebrity and how to become one. - What aspect of the show are you responsible for, and what exactly does that entail? Please be specific, e.g., if you’re the dramaturg, what are the things that the audience will experience that you’re responsible for?
I am the writer and performer of the show. - How did you first become involved/acquainted with this show?
I first conceived of this chef character 12 years ago, when Emeril Lagasse was first becoming a huge star with his show "Emeril Live". But now the concept of a "celebrity chef" has expanded so much that the character is satirizing a much broader segment of popular culture. - Is there a particular moment in this show that you really love or look forward to? Without giving away surprises, what happens in that moment and why does it jazz you?
While I am not allowed to serve food from the stage, I do eat food myself and I think what I eat and when I eat it will be very enjoyable to the audience.
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