The Twentieth Century Way
written by Tom Jacobson
directed by Michael Michette
Rattlestick Theatre
July 9, 2015 Production website 💉💉 out of 5.
The premise of the The Twentieth Century Way holds incredible promise – HELD incredible promise. Based on a fascinating piece of history of 1914, The Twentieth Century Way tells the true story of two actors, Warren and Brown, who where were hired in 1914 by the Long Beach Police Department to entrap gay men in the public bathrooms. Brown, a young man with markedly sweet looks and Warren, an older man with classic ruggedness set about to flirt with men that were giving them the eye. They would lead them into the stalls of the men’s rooms and silently encourage them to to place their penis through a small hole – “glory hole” between the stalls. Once the “pervert” inserted his penis. The actors, now vice detectives, would mark their penis with indelible ink and thus secure their arrest. Continue reading The Twentieth Century Way→
Wow! Expressionism simmer down! The theatre company Elevator Repair Service never to be blamed for making safe choices, is tackling The Sound and the Fury? Come on! Adapted for the opening section, the one told by the “idiot” — a man who had been “3 years old for 30 years.” This incredibly dense play demands a reader’s patience as a character picks up an actual copy of the Faulkner novel and begins to read it – – and from the reading comes character – and from the character we going on an epic expressionistic roller coaster. Imagine expressionism through the eyes of a three your old child?! Continue reading The Sound and the Fury→
Wow! For a funny man like Larry David on stage – – nobody and I repeat nobody in the audience coughed up more than a laugh or two for the entire two hours. My row-mates and I thought that the opening scrim with the giant fish that actually winks at you was so cute – but then the curtain opened and we were in the land of TV sitcoms. Fish in the Dark focused on how bad family can behave around the relatives – especially the ones that have just kicked up the bucket. This is always ripe for comedy – but how many times have we seen it and how much better have we seen it! Continue reading Fish in the Dark→
Something Rotten!
book by Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell
music and lyrics by Wayne Kirkpatrick and Karey Kirkpatrick
directed by Casey Nicholaw
St. James Theatre
June 20, 2015
Two massive things collide in this completely and way over the top musical: Shakespeare and Musical Theatre. And collide they do as the story takes us to a second rate Elizabethan acting company as it seeks to outdo Shakespeare fame by coming up with an entire new genre: Musical Theatre. Admittedly, I am not the biggest fan of musical theatre – – but I just found this one way to over the top – – to the point that it became ultimately tedious. It is one show-stopper after another, milking the audience for more and more attention – – begging to be loved.
A Human Being Died that Night
by Nicholas Wright, based on the book b y Pula Gobodo-Madikizela
directed by Jonathan Munby
Brooklyn Academy of Music – Fishman Space
June 19, 2015
On a Sunday afternoon after spending ten days with high school students and seeing thirteen shows in ten days, I don’t think my mind was ready to deal with police brutality in aparteid South Africa. Not really the best choice for exhausted teenagers before a flight home. Me bad. This two-hander in a jail cell; some very clinical dramaturgy and acting; and we were off and running. A Human Being Died that Night is adapted from the book by Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, a psychologist hired by the South African government to hold all the of the perpetrates of apartheid responsible for their enormous violence and human rights violations. Continue reading A Human Being That Night→
ish in the Dark
A Human Being Died that Night