Along with a good number of New Yorkers, I went to see The Christians fully ready to celebrate a roasting, lampooning and biting satire on those who call themselves fundamental Christians – – but boy did I receive a sit down and shut up moment!
From the first moment that the church choir shuffled their way on stage and that ridiculous electronic “magic organ” played I was armed and ready. The faces of that pudgy, white chorus with their sweet, sweet, oh so sweet faces and women with only reasonable makeup and reasonable shoes started to do their thing, I sharpened my fangs and thought I was in for a treat. Pastors wife was sitting there so composed and elegant with that somewhat superior smile, church elder grasping the bible (the only things older then he) and the pastor went to the pulpit. Ready, set – – oooops Continue reading The Christians→
Awake and Sing!
by Clifford Odets
directed by Stephen Brown-Fried
The Public Theatre
July 8, 2015 Production website 💉💉💉💉💉 out of 5.
Here’s a crazy idea! Let’s take the American classic Awake and Sing!, written by Clifford Odets, that tells the story of three generations of an immigrant Jewish family struggling with economic, political and familial issues – – and let’s take this oh-so-Jewish story and cast it with an all Asian cast. Crazy, huh? That is exactly what the Public Theatre did with the combination of Awake and Sing! and the National Asian American Theatre Company!
The Flick
by Annie Baker
directed by Sam Gold
Barrow Street Theatre
June 18, 2015 Production website 💉💉💉💉💉 out of 5.
I will never leave my too-buttered popcorn and giant soda in my movie theatre seat again! Set in a movie theatre in New England The Flick focuses on 3 barely paid workers trying to keep the movies playing (although no one seems to be attending) and the floor free from trash. They interact and collide with each other and basically get to know each other. BUT what makes this experience so rare is that they are getting to know each other at the very same speed that we are! This doesn’t happen quickly.
The Taj Mahal is a truly beautiful wonder of the world – – but you will NEVER be able to look at that serene building the same! Based on a popular myth regarding the Taj, director Amy Morton tells the story of the ugly cruelty that is behind so many of the beautiful things that man is able to create.
Two low level guards are set to protect the construction of the Taj Mahal. They are to insure that no one, including themselves, are able to view the Taj before it is fully complete and ready for viewing. So they stand, and they stand. Slowly we explore the Godot-like relationship of the two men: one strictly following the rules without question, the other, a bit of a radical open to questioning authority! What fun to watch this couple banter away and debate the obvious impossibility of preventing passerby from viewing the enormous Taj. How crazy is this job? But to what extent must authority be obeyed? What would be so wrong to take just the slightest of peeks to see what in the world they have been guarding for sometime. Continue reading Guards at the Taj→
Fun Home
music by Jeanine Tesori
book and lyrics by Lisa Kuhn
based on the graphic novel by Alision Bechdel
produced by Circle In the Square
June 16, 2015
Although I am not a musical theatre person, I was in the audience for the first week of the run of Rent and knew that musical theatre was going to change forever. I felt the same way sitting in the audience for Fun Home. Never have I felt the songs so connected to the story. When the show was over, it never occurred to me that the characters sang – – it was just that beautiful and that invisible! The story is about family and those crazy often toxic people that we will never be able to truly escape. They truly shape ever decision and turn that our life takes. Continue reading Fun Home→
The Christians
Guards at the Taj
Fun Home