nytheatre Archive
FringeNYC 2003
SHOW REVIEWS ON THIS PAGE: Shirtwaist, Operation Knockout, Discordant Duets, Gypsy Tales, Bad-Ass Clown, Windows on the World, Caravan to Cairo, The Irreplaceable Commodity, Lost Cabaret Or Katandogastrophic, re, Moliere Than Thou, Mine Eyes
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SHIRTWAIST by Martin Denton |
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What I like best about Shirtwaist, the new "musical ghost story"
by Ellen Anderson, is the way it keeps taking off in unexpected
directions. It begins with a firefighter lecturing a group of unseen
small children about fire safety, and she’s a youthful Asian American
woman (named Kelly, because she was born on St. Patrick’s Day): how cool
is that? Anderson introduces us to her protagonist in the next scene, a
Brazilian immigrant named Arturo who is a botany professor at New York
University; his office is on the ninth floor of the Brown Building (this
next part is true), which once was called the Asch Building and is the
site of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. Now some history: in 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory caught fire. In just twenty minutes, 146 people perished, many of them burned to death because they couldn’t get out (management had locked the doors), others killed after jumping from the sweatshop’s ninth-story windows. Nearly a hundred years later, 141 of the victims have been identified; it’s Anderson’s marvelous conceit that the remaining five remain in the building as ghosts, reminding people every day of the terrible cost of that awful fire. Anderson of course gives her ghosts names and personalities, and again they’re a wonderfully diverse lot: Jewish Dora, who is the group’s surrogate mother; sassy Jamaican immigrant Beth; Tony, a music-loving Italian immigrant; fifteen-year-old Angelina (most of those killed at the Triangle were women under 22); and Sophie, a union organizer who, unlike the others, has forgotten all about her life before the fire. But Sophie feels an odd affinity for Arturo; how Shirtwaist links her destiny to his, entangling Kelly the Firefighter in the process, fills out the play’s rich, supernatural plot. Along the way, Anderson takes time to talk about issues like the environment, bigotry, and—most significantly—the ways that greed and indifference have kept the lessons of the Triangle Fire from enduring. Shirtwaist has a gigantic social conscience, but it wears it jauntily on its sleeve, using puppets, songs, and other devices to make its points. The result is 90 minutes of engaging and provocative theatre that reminds us of our too-easily-forgotten responsibilities as human beings sharing this planet. Shirtwaist is directed with charm by Heather Ondersma. The simple yet effective sets and lighting are by Scott Boyd; appropriate costumes are by Julie Sandy; and the exquisitely effective puppets are designed by Stefano Brancato. The actors, whose commitment to the piece is evident, are Hanna Moon (Kelly), Javier Cobo (Arturo), Wendi Bergamini (Sophie), Berette Macauley (Beth), Janet Casamento (Angelina), Mark Pergola (Tony), and Michaela Goldhaber (Dora). |
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OPERATION KNOCKOUT by David Johnston |
Operation Knockout written and directed by Karen Rothschild,
starts off as a comedic retelling of the Judgment of Paris, leading into
the Trojan War. The wife of the Swiss president, Helen Menelaus (Karen
Eke) runs off with a Mineola biology teacher (Christopher Butler.) The
play then abruptly shifts into a political satire involving the United
States and Switzerland. Switzerland threatens to cut off the world’s
supply of chocolate and the situation soon deteriorates into a nuclear
standoff. Given the current political situation in this country, this
Mouse That Roared type of satire feels oddly tame. Helen Menelaus, we are told, is the famous and beautiful wife of the president of Switzerland. Her face appears on magazine covers. But later, the biology teacher is crushed to realize she’s married, even though he’s been reading magazines with her picture on the cover and apparently never realized she is the first lady of Switzerland. Then, he forgets Helen and falls in love with his best friend. Ken Schatz, a memorable, distinctive Fool in Classical Theatre of Harlem’s King Lear, works too hard to wring laughs out of this material. He has a variety of cameos as (variously) Aphrodite’s hairdresser, the Swiss Agamemnon, a Robin Leach-type TV personality and an aide to a dim-bulb American president (the likeably oafish Brian McMullan.) By the end of the show, any pretensions to Greek mythology have been dropped—Helen is a lesbian, the Swiss have won (I think), and the President’s administration is bemoaning its lack of a suitable supply of "love" bombs. There are puppets, writhing in raw puppet sex. The puppets are fun. There’s a bit with a Swiss army knife. There are a lot of clandestine operations with names like Operation Amour. And Operation Knockout. And the greatest chocolates in the world. I may have gotten lost. In the interest of fairness, when I attended the show the audience was having a great time, laughing at gags involving French people with berets, nelly hairdressers, and a President who thinks Switzerland is in Africa. |
| DISCORDANT DUETS by Soline McLain |
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Advertised as the only show with a Christian theme in this year’s
FringeNYC Festival, Discordant Duets opened with a powerful
series of chords at the La Tea Theatre this evening. The mission
statement of the production company, Narrow Journey, declares that they
"strive to turn upside down the erroneous stereotypes that Christian
theatre consists only of pageants illustrating the life of Moses or
abstract depictions of Good and Evil." With Discordant Duets,
they have certainly achieved success. I was not really sure what to
expect upon entering the theatre this evening. As a person who considers
herself more "spiritual" than "religious," I was a little worried that
the play was going to be preachy. Instead, the piece focuses on the relationships between two different couples, Mariselle paired with Mike and Dailey in love with Rick, after they first meet and then begin to live with each other. When things begin to fall apart, the women of each relationship seek therapy. While Dailey sees a conventional therapist who tells her that it might be worse for her to stay with Rick through the rough times, by a mere accident Mariselle sees a Christian therapist who encourages her to continue her relationship with Mike and to try to work things out. Though both couples struggle, the play shows that faith in the strength of God can help lead us through hard times. Maria Bellantoni (as Mariselle) and Michael Leonard James (as her boyfriend Mike) are both strong actors who not only bring smiles to the audiences’ faces, but they also bring a sense of hope. As the struggling couple Dailey and Rick, Liza St. John and John Krisiukenas both convey such a sense of reality to their roles that their relationship truly turns from amusing and pleasant to horrifying and sorrowful. Under the guidance of director Mark Bruner, the four principals are supported by a strong ensemble cast who play friends of the couples through the "thin" and, sometimes, "thick" parts of relationships. Written by Mark and Michelle Bruner (also the artistic and managing director, respectively, of Narrow Journey Productions), Discordant Duets is a lovely crescendo of a play that is both thoughtful and inspirational. |
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GYPSY TALES by J Grawemeyer |
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Gypsy Tales is a series of mythological or folk stories
performed by "gypsies"—four beautiful women of exotic origin—and
illustrated through the medium of dance. There are three stories
in all, one from Greece, one from Spain, and one from Italy, the
premise being that each culture has been sampled and infused
with the nomadic stylings of gypsies, who, though feared and at
times shunned were sought after for their storytelling and
dancing abilities by many cultures. Through the dedication, skill and general good humor of the four dancers, we are immediately transported from Greenwich Village to an old European village. Though there is no set and very little lighting, the music and the costumes are as bright and diverse as the dancers themselves, and through the use of a few select dance moves and props they transform themselves into everything from ogresses (yes, female ogres) and princesses to moonlight, smoke and flames. The stories, which cover the basics of evil, fear and love, are narrated by one dancer and pantomimed by the other three. What is unusual about this choice is that the dances are used to illustrate or punctuate something that has already been relayed via narration, rather than actually telling part of the story, as with interpretive dance. It also seems that, based on their rich backgrounds in Middle Eastern and other forms of dancing but diluted movements, the dancers are capable of much more skillful work than what’s displayed during this show. It is possible that trying to combine many elements of different cultural dances has forced them to choose the most basic moves in order to cover their bases, but I was hoping to experience something a little more exotic. It is almost as if a ‘PG’ rating has been applied to Gypsy Tales. Watching them twirl around Washington Square Methodist church in their magnificent costumes, I felt like I was fourteen—but, then again, what’s wrong with that? |
| BAD-ASS CLOWN: A ONE-MAN EVENING OF MOSTLY COMIC MIME by Jared Robinson |
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What do you get when you mix an aggravated Johnny Cash, a contorting
model, and a priest? The answer is David Matthew Engel’s Bad-Ass
Clown: A One-Man Evening of Mostly Comic Mime. Engel shows us why
this form has stood the test of time without ever getting trapped in an
imaginary box…. but the clown car is a joy to watch. He makes mime fun
and engaging. The show consists of seven short plays about the way people appear to the world and what they’re really thinking when no one is watching. Under the direction of Laurel Brooke Johnson, Engel plays a host of characters who battle their surroundings with dexterous physical comedy and expert timing to win the day. Pantomimed objects and environments seem to materialize out of thin air, and it is easy to see the many worlds he creates. Adding audience participation to bolster the energy of the show when it begins to lag, Johnson and Engel avoid any stall in the performance. My favorite element of Bad-Ass Clown is the music. From Gershwin to Johnny Cash, the score fluidly carries the action from a river of comfort, joy, and happiness to rapids of annoyance, anticipation and bludgeoning. The music cues feed the story and give an overall mood of fun and laughs. The show is short (about an hour) but that feels about right. I did wish for about two more plays, but the old adage to "leave them wanting more" is always preferable to the alternative. I enjoyed Bad-Ass Clown; and with the music and audience participation serving as a backup generator to power the stories and crank chuckles into laughs, this show is absolutely worth the three-flight walk up to The Red Room. |
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WINDOWS ON THE WORLD by Josephine Cashman |
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Windows on the World, written by Peter Kelly and directed by
Diego Daniel Pardo, takes a difficult subject and makes it funny,
satirical, and heartfelt. This dark comedy takes a look at socialite
Inez Perce-Shallow-DelaPentaloon, her children Martha and Stewart, her
ex-husbands, her superficial sycophants, and a cater-waiter, and how
they live their lives on September 10, 11, and the aftermath. Inez is
the social-climbing, often married and hilariously vain woman who is the
centerpiece of the show: "I am a woman, and there are limits. And it
pisses me off." She is a woman and the audience can certainly hear her
roar. Windows artfully brings to life the hilariously shallow needs and wants of Inez and company, while one taxi driver plots his jihad, another Muslim taxi driver changes his mind, and the cater-waiter wonders why the hell he moved from New Mexico to live in New York. After September 11, they must all attempt to rebuild their lives as the city is flattened around them. The cast does an excellent job with the material. Carol Halstead and Elizabeth Flax give terrific performances as Inez and her housekeeper, Dizzy, and Getchie Argetsinger is remarkable as Penny Henny, the Greek chorus of the play. David Pixley also does a commendable job in four very different but funny roles. There is a splendid score by Thom Garvey, which creates and sustains the mood from scene to scene. The staging is somewhat experimental and quite cartoonish, but it is effective and adds to the satire. At times, it is hard to hear the actors over the sound and the action moves so fast that it is sometimes difficult to follow. The first act is stronger than the second, but the story is marvelously and sharply written. Filled with alliterations and verse, the text is lyrical and resonates. This show is not a dirge on September 11, it is a testament to the resiliency of humankind, and how we must all "fumble onward together—and you can’t fight that." FringeNYC 2003 is off to a flying start. |
| CARAVAN TO CAIRO by Joanne Joseph |
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The cool (hand fans supplied), dark, high-arched Washington Square
United Methodist Church is the right venue for what in the 21st
century's current horrific times in the Middle East is a salutary,
counteracting, and highly artful performance. Four women skilled in the various forms of gypsy-oriented dance from Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Greece, Egypt, Italy, Turkey, Algeria, Lebanon, and Spain, beguile with dazzling costumes, scintillating music (on tape), and dignified (clothed) undulations, gyrations, quiverings, hootings, stompings, janglings ....all light-footed and swift. Morgiana narrates the folk tale of a Djinn who marries a human, is happy for many years, has two sons with him, but eventually must return to her own kind —in the form of a dove who can nonetheless fly above the heads of her human family and console them. Morgiana also directs the evening under her longer name (Celeste Varrichio). The other three women are Samara, Andrea, and Reyna. The many impressive costume and character changes are accomplished by all with speed and ease. They even have the breath control, just barely, to speak smoothly into a microphone when it‘s time to introduce the next dance. New York Performing Artist Company, creator of Caravan to Cairo, tours through arts-in-education arrangements, and in my opinion can reach young children in schools or seniors in Assisted Living facilities and equally bring them cheer. The rest of us in between will also perceive their work with pure delight, as witnessed in tonight's opening performance. The only criticism I would give is that there is no need to talk down in their informative explanations of the origins and stories of the dances they do. Their work does not need further enhancement, but stands powerfully on its own—its messages come through. Overstating to the audience what they are about to see can diminish the experience rather than enhance it. Caravan to Cairo begins with a rousing Egyptian celebration procession, and ends with a percussion finale blending complex rhythms and full-out choreography. Since the movements date back centuries, it occurs to me that some of the ritual may serve to suggest the power of women, particularly for childbirth, not to mention conception. Aesthetically, the dances honor the continuation of the sometimes much beleaguered human race. |
| THE IRREPLACEABLE COMMODITY by David Hilder |
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Like its own protagonists, Michael Minn’s musical The
Irreplaceable Commodity needs to figure out what it wants to
be when it grows up. Hipster comedy? Spoof? Naturalistic look at
the problems of young professionals? At the moment, the piece is
an uneasy combination of all of the above, suffering from a lack
of focus. TIC centers on three top-shelf MBA students: Barbara from Harvard (Annie Edgerton), Ken from Wharton (Bryan Fenkhart), and Chad from Princeton (Matt Boethin), who arrive at an investment banking concern with the acronym DIK intent on making as much money as possible, grueling working conditions be damned. They’re assisted by bombshell Jen (Lindsey Lake) and supervised by Xavier Onassis (a sharp and funny Scott Darby). That every character’s name is a joke (Barbie Dahl and Ken, Marge Innovera, etc.), and that there are references to "President Gore" and that hit show "Thoroughly Modern Aida," indicates we’re not supposed to connect to the characters. But the show tries to have it both ways—occasionally it veers into sentiment, and it concludes with a sincere ballad, "That Was My Life," urging us all to make the right choices because the irreplaceable commodity, of course, is time. The pieces don’t exactly fit. All is not lost, however. There are a handful of catchy tunes, including the opening number, "We Do It for the Money," the slinky "Pyramids of New York," and "If You Want Your Job Done Right," a joyous ode to word processors and the execs who bribe them. Gary Slavin’s direction and choreography suit the small Wings Theatre space niftily, and the cast is solid, particularly Edgerton, who rises above the vagueness of her character, and Darron Cardosa as both a spunky word processor and a superbly realized security guard. The Irreplaceable Commodity has kernels of some interesting ideas; now Minn needs to pursue those ideas, and eliminate what doesn’t work, as doggedly and determinedly as Barbara, Ken and Chad chase success. |
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LOST CABARET OR KATANDOGASTROPHIC by Joseph Langham |
| Katandogastrophic is a
katandogastrophe. The play itself feels like a poetry reading, as it
might coming from beat poet Gerd Stern. Gerd Stern is a pretty famous
guy and a few of his fans were on hand for this opening night FringeNYC
performance. One of his biggest fans spent much of the 45 minutes
unwrapping roses with a pocket knife. We the audience couldn't stop
paying attention to this constant rattling of clear plastic and the dim
flash of the little rusted blade. Which gives a strong idea about the
play. It just didn't grab our attention. Hey you, with the knife, stop
doing that, we might miss the puppets. Some of the poetry delivered by the five performers had a nice ring to it. Stern is definitely not a bad poet. The themes of the evening are, "Don't pay too much attention to the quotes of famous people" and "Let's talk metaphorically about sex, baby." The actors all tried to give stellar performances, but with no real characters to bite their chops into, they all invariably fell flat. The acting was interspersed with a voice (that can't be described as anything but the voice of Stephen Hawking’s evil twin sister) giving us the quotes of famous people that we shouldn't pay attention to. These quotes were spelled out for us on an alphanumeric board that was so far away and with such a tiny font it couldn't be read. So, we really couldn't pay attention to them anyway. And, were there puppets? I thought there were supposed to be puppets. Didn't they give credit to a puppeteer? Some of the audience seemed to enjoy the show. They kept clapping after it was done. They smiled and nodded at each other. They shot the rest of us curious/furious looks as to why we weren't clapping any longer. Sorry, I just wasn't so moved. One thing that stuck with me, however, was a quote, from a Saudi Prince, illegible on the alphanumeric board: "Keep your words soft and sweet, because you never know when you may have to eat them." We softly chuckled in unison, providing the biggest laugh of the evening. Perhaps it was because most of us were thinking rather crunchy and salty thoughts. |
| RE by Stacey Reed |
| Dharma Road Productions’ presentation of
re at The Play Room is simply delightful. A compilation of six
dance pieces, the show is bold in its mixture of live performance and
video, often entwining the two. Each piece in the production is
choreographed and performed by a different member of the troupe. The
different styles play off one another nicely, as each piece evokes a
different emotion, presenting a beautiful collage of styles to the
audience. re begins quietly and movingly with a solo work by Aiichiro Miyagawa, on a bare stage with a simple costume. In fact, the stage is bare for most of the show, leaving the performers room to explore their very grounded and athletic style of dance. During Akiko Furukawa’s piece, performed to the music of John Lennon, I became teary-eyed. In the next segment, a video project conceived and performed by Sakura Shimada, I laughed out loud at the level of absurdity it displayed. Shimada’s ability to turn recyclables into art is truly praiseworthy. I was very impressed with the level of commitment Aya Shibahara and Noriko Yasunaga have to the forms they’ve created and to their characters. Despite a few opening night technical difficulties, they remained in character and displayed a huge amount of professionalism throughout. They seem sincerely to enjoy themselves on stage. I favor them for their talent, and also for providing the audience with lollipops mid-way through the show. Another highlight of the program was an "audience participation" section. The performers’ inclusion of the audience, mixed with their improvisation on stage, was wonderful to observe and to participate in. The only drawback to this performance is the lighting. I wanted to see more detail in the dancers’ movement. At times, dancers were lit very dimly or not at all, and their facial expressions were lost to the shadows. It was also difficult to see some of the video projections from the right side of the theater. Nevertheless, I left re with a smile on my face and a half-eaten lollipop in my hand. I would encourage theatergoers of any age to see this show, whether or not they are avid dance fans. |
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MOLIERE THAN THOU by George Psillides |
| The 17th century French farceur
Jean Baptiste Poquelin de Moliere is temporarily holding court in the
East Village, sans a French accent. None of zee usual clichés.
Mister Timothy Mooney makes a point of that with his fresh translations
of eight monologues all done in verse, accompanied only by a trunk on
stage where he changes into assorted wigs and costumes seamlessly. Each
being introduced by Moliere to the audience in the intimate Red Room. For seventy five minutes the audience is enthralled, first by Arnolphe from the play The School for Wives (1662) and. M. Jourdain/The Philosophy Master from The Bourgeois Gentleman (1670). Then Mooney takes it to another level with his translation of Tartuffe (1664-1669). Move over Richard Wilbur, Timothy Mooney is the real deal. Then it's off to the races with the trifecta of Sganarelles from Don Juan (1665), The Doctor in Spite of Himself (1667), and The Imaginary Cuckold (1661). The highlight of the evening is The Schemings of Scapin (1671), in which Scapin weaves in and out of the audience. Winding down Moliere Than Thou is Mascarille from The Precious Young Maidens (1659). A very tight performance indeed, which should be seen by any aspiring actor who wants to tread the boards The only thing to anticipate is when will there be a New York performance of a full length Moliere/Mooney play with an ideal cast, and an edition of his translations in print. |
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MINE EYES by Fred Backus |
| There has been much written about
homegrown right-wing extremism in this country, but Mine Eyes is
not the usual story of a naive and uneducated youth being seduced by
hate-mongering. Instead, Albert Lawrence Tekton is quickly revealed to
be a savvy entrepreneur whose attempts to exploit the militia movement
for his own aggrandizement "blow back" in his face, and this up-ending
of a familiar morality tale sets the stage for this intelligent and
engrossing one man show written by Michael Bettencourt. Tekton, a self-taught PR man who sees a cash cow in helping hate groups translate their message to the masses, is paradoxically the very embodiment of the morally bankrupt American consumerism his employers profess to despise in their attempt to return to an upright and pure America that never was. Perhaps what makes this character study so interesting is that Tekton is fully aware of the contradiction. By setting up in stark contrast these two conflicting visions of the American Dream/Nightmare as its intellectual underpinnings, Mine Eyes opens up the field to countless debates about the nature of patriotism, democracy, capitalism, and bigotry in America. But Bettencourt is content to allow these themes to linger as questions. Instead, Mine Eyes then turns to Tekton's attempt at redemption, and the difficulty of atoning for his actions when he knew what he was doing all along. This is sophisticated stuff, adeptly handled by the author, and he is well supported in this production. David L. Carson is excellent as Tekton, revealing a man paralyzed by an intelligence perhaps too reflective for his own good. Ed Chemaly's simple and appropriate direction allows the text to speak clearly its complex themes. In creating such an interesting and complicated anti-hero, my only regret is that the piece does not go further in taking us along Tekton's journey. When Tekton tells his offstage (and perhaps imagined) interviewer that the details of his induction into extremism are a tale for another time, I was left wishing it were told here. Although captivating, the essence of Tekton remains elusive, and perhaps the details of how he ended up on his less-trodden path would illuminate even more the wealth of ideas and questions Mine Eyes poses. Even so, it is testament to the quality of the piece all around that one is left wanting more rather than less. |
