Life and Times of Michael K Adapted & Directed by Lara Foot In collaboration with Handspring Puppet Company St. Ann’s Warehouse November 29, 2023 Production website 💉💉💉💉 out of 5.
This was simply a magnificent and near perfect production. The first half of the show was particularly very moving. I knew that I was going to be in a for a real treat when I read that the show was going to use puppets as designed by Handspring Puppet Company, who is known for their puppets used in Warhorse. This production of Life and Times of Michael K used dance, film, music and breathtaking puppetry, to tell the story of JM Coetzee’s Booker prize-winning novel from 1983, which gives dignity to a humble man. Born with a cleft lip, institutionalized and treated with contempt throughout his life, Michael gets swept up in a dystopian civil war in South Africa as he attempts to bring his ailing mother back to her childhood home on a farm.
20 Seconds – a play with music Written and Performed by Thomas Sweater Directed and Developed by Jeremy Scott Blaustein The Pershing Square Signature Center September 14, 2023 Production website 💉💉 out of 5.
This is a really tough play to review because the heart of the play is so true, so heartfelt and so important but the stage mechanics of it were so clunky. Clearly this work of love, resilience, and the undeniable “power of music to make real change in a persons’ life” belongs on the stage, but it could have used some better dramaturgy. Tomas Sweater’s autobiographical work leads us from his trouble childhood where music provided companionship to a career as a music therapist.
The Half-God of Rainfall Written by Inua Ellams Movement Direction by Orlando Pabotoy Directed by Taibi Nagar New York Theatre Workshop July 15, 2023 Production website 💉💉 out of 5.
The Half God of Rain was a mighty interesting show to see. It is not often you get to see a story about the Greek gods’ intervention in the life of a Nigerian basketball player . . . I was lucky to see it on only its second preview performance, so the cast was discovering things right along with the audience. I did have a couple of observations of the show. To begin the play was set in a stage filled with small black gravel. I thought this was a terrific idea as soon as the cast came out at the beginning and started to walk out in unison you could hear the crunch of the gravel beneath them. It was wonderful sound effect. I only wish that they had used this gravel more often during the show it was such a spectacular possibility for the show I just wanted them to exploit it further.
The Saviour Written by Deidre Kinahan Directed by Louise Lowe Irish Repertory Theatre July 14, 2023 Production website 💉💉💉 out of 5.
The Savior was a tough play to watch. The play is a one act in two parts. The first part involves an elderly Irish woman who has just had physical relationships with a much younger man who seems to bow to her every wish. The play opens with the woman in bed while the man is off stage getting her coffee. She has an extended monologue where she talks about how wonderful it is to find love and physical affection this late in her life. She attributes much of it to Jesus and how he has been looking after her for a long time. Then as we move into the second-half of this one act her son arrives with a birthday present for her. He also arrives with some bad news.
Days of Wine and Roses Book by Craig Lucas Music & Lyrics by Adam Guettel Choreography by Sergio Trujillo & Karl Puno Garcia Directed by Michael Greig Atlantic Theatre Company July 9, 2023 Production website 💉 out of 5.
Days of Wine and Roses was truly a disappointment. It is so crazy to think that with the star-studded pairing of Brian d’Arcy James and Kelli O’Hara could produce something so lame. First off, I think the story is too dated to be presented. The dynamics of addiction, and how you can’t change anyone and the advent of Alcoholics Anonymous just seems to be from old, old news – and nothing new is brought to the conversation.. What necessitate the retelling of the story? On top of that, the show had just terrible music. I always think that it’s a bad sign when you leave the theater and are not humming at least one song as you go. I can’t imagine the cast album!
