starring Patti Lupone
written by Douglas Carter Beanie
directed by Jerry Zaks
Lincoln Center Theatre at the Mitzie E. Newhouse
June 21, 2015 Production website 💉💉 out of five.
Patti LuPone is the matriarch to a community theatre in the midwest. Does it get any betting then this?! Well perhaps. Shows for Days is all to familiar for any theatre geek. Don’t we all remember that first community theatre when we walked in totally in awe of the place and the beyond-over-the-top personalities and all of their sins of drinking, smoking and post-IHOP sleeping around. I so remember my first days in these broken down store front theatres! Also, remember that one matriarch that all worshiped and who gave her entire world to keep a troupe together and push out show after show after show fighting to keep money, personalities, and even the law at bay long enough to get the show on the boards. Continue reading Shows for Days→
At the Table
produced by Fault Line Theatre
written and directed by Michael Perlman
Here Theatre
July 19, 2015 Production website 💉💉 out of five.
The off-off-off-off-off world of NYC theatre produces a one-of-a-kind experience – – a play done completely out of passion! At the Table tells the story of a group of mis-matched acquaintances agreeing to spend a few days out in the country away from their busy city lives. It came off a bit like an episode of Real Life – where MTV would place a small group of people in a confined space with obviously pre-chosen types that will collide in fights and fits of passion all for the delight of the audience. What I love about At the Table is the very close proximity of the audience. I was literally closer to the dining table then some of the characters AT the dinner party! Continue reading At the Table→
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→
Shows for Days
ish in the Dark