Review: Fosse for the Modern Age

by Michael Block

Let me preface this review with a story. When I was in sixth grade, my English teacher Mrs. Marokovich asked us to do a biography report and create a puppet for our presentation. In sixth grade, I chose to do a book report on Bob Fosse. And the puppet? A marionette. With a little cigarette of course. I chose a marionette because no other puppet could embody and emulate the movement that Fosse could do. I can’t remember what grade I received on this project. That part doesn’t matter. What matters is the impact that man had on my life. I saw that Tony winning musical that bears his name multiple times. And I knew the numbers lifted from this show for that one. I’m not a dancer. But I have an appreciation for the art form. Especially for the work of Bob Fosse. So when those formations hit the stage of the Music Box Theatre, a smile filled my face. I sincerely do not remember when a Broadway show achieved that. I’m here to say that DANCIN’ is the breath of life we need right now. 

photo by Sara Krulwich

DANCIN' is a celebration of the human form through song, dance, and the legacy of Bob Fosse.  Directed by Wayne Cilento, the revival of the 1978 production takes the skeleton of Fosse’s choreography and gives it a new skin with modern touch, proving Fosse’s body of work is simply timeless and effortlessly beautiful. Broken up into acts and further into movements, the revue celebrates Fosse’s love for theater, film, and television. Sprinkling in mini monologues and voice overs, the piece may not have a through line, yet the heart is how the show moves from moment to moment. The plotless musical doesn’t need a story as the dance speaks for itself. And what makes the dance speak? The fantastic figures that fill every inch of that space.   

There unquestionably is an explosion of talent on that stage. They all might not be the strongest triple threats, but damn can they dance! Sure, those mini monologues may not be what you’ll use in an audition for the likes of Ibsen or Shakespeare, they are simply there to move forward and fill the air before the next segment of astounding choreography. Cilento has allowed each member of his extraordinary company to master the Fosse compositions while permitting their individuality to shine through while still maintaining uniformity. All you need to do is keep your eye on a single dancer and watch their interpretation of the choreography and how it fits their body. Zoom out a moment and the formations are synchronistic and flawless. The shapes and silhouettes are a visual victory. 

There are some exceptional solos throughout the show but a special shout-out goes to the magnetizing Kolton Krause. Between “Spring Chicken” and the “Trumpet Solo” in “Sing, Sing, Sing”, they proved how beautiful Fosse’s choreography truly is. Krause is simply arresting. Other performers that caatch your eye and struck a major chord came from Dylis Croman, Yani Marin, Nando Morland, Khori Michelle Petinaud, and Ron Todorowski. But seriously, this cast is one of the best on the Great White Way. 

DANCIN’ was a piece where Fosse got to create his work of art that showcased a series of individual artists rather than a collaborative team. This allowed him to create dances to music that range from big band to Americana to rock and roll and pop. With that, the musical selection has been adjusted since it’s 1978 premiere and has continued to be triumphant. Who would have thought we’d live in a time where Neil Diamond’s “Crunchy Granola Suite” existed on Broadway in two separate shows at the same time? It’s the perfect opener as it set the tone with energy and Fosse moves that get you dancing in your seats. Benny Goodman’s “Sing, Sing, Sing” takes a well-renowned song and gives it the Fosse treatment. One of the numbers that truly celebrates the marriage of song and dance is “I Wanna Be a Dancin’ Man.” The synchronicity of the hand movements, increasing in tempo and adding in dancers, is nothing short of a visual spectacle. For those true theater lovers and Fosse fanatics, it’s the moments that Cilento’s musical staging inserts some of Fosse’s most iconic choreography, that the audience is in for a true treat. We should all be thankful that the Big City Mime sequence was brought back for the revival from its original out of town tryouts as we were gifted appearances from “Big Spender”, “Mein Herr”, and “Rich Man’s Frug.” For a bit of a deeper cut, knowing Pippin’s “Glory” and “Manson Trio” are about to make a quick cameo ascertains just how impactful Fosse’s work is. Truly, an ode to the classics. Whether you are familiar with the music prior to attending DANCIN’, music supervisor and orchestrator Jim Abbott should be recognized as the unsung hero of the show. Abbott curated mind-blowing orchestrations that were authentic yet fresh. These are the songs you know with a contemporary flair. 

To make this show tick, the production brought together an exceptional creative team that highlighted Cilento’s musical staging. Cilento staging presented the musicality of the production elements’ choreography. The symbiosis of the choreography of dance and the choreography of the production through the synchronicity of movement does not go unnoticed. Every element was intricately carried through expertly allowing the synergy and inertia of each beat to thrive. From the speed of Robert Brill’s scenic elements to the cast of the lights by David Grill to the video visuals of the projections from Finn Ross, each element’s relationship amplified the choreography of the artists on the stage. There may be a misconception that ties black dance clothing to the work of Bob Fosse but costume designers Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung showcased how fabric and textiles strengthen the storytelling. The modernization of the production highlights how fashion and clothing can help express gender expression while muting the conversation instantaneously through a genderless uniform. Once again, no matter the body, Fosse’s work speaks for itself.    

I urge you to attempt to sit in your seat and not feel the desire to move your body as the music dips and swells as the dancers do what they do best: dance. This production of DANCIN’ is important to the artform of dance. This modern realization has proven that music and dance can and will bring harmony despite the world outside the doors of the theater. We deserve a moment to release from reality and simply enjoy art. DANCIN’ is that production. Go.

Review: Drag in Live Cartoon Form

By Michael Block

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, "The Simpsons" have been a staple in the pop culture lexicon for virtually three decades. The cartoon has become timeless in the sense that there seems to never be a wrong to pay homage through parody. Now at the Laurie Beechman comes The Simsinz, a loving drag send off on "The Simpsons". Whether you’re a loyal fan of the series or simply a lover of drag, there’s something for everyone here.

photo by Michael Block

Previously representing the Beechman through her Amy Winehouse tribute show, Cissy Walken brings a bunch of her pals to the stage to become the iconic yellow-tinted cartoon American family, looks and all. Told through sound clips from the cartoon and music references from pop to Broadway, this edition of the show puts a queer lens on the characters. Is it possible everyone is gay? In Marge’s mind, absolutely. The Simsinz is a wonderfully whimsical, and slightly perverse, spin on the animated classic, littered in pop culture nostalgia. There is a semblance of a plot, though the closer you are to the franchise perhaps the easier it is to find. Marge is on the verge of a breakdown as her husband Homer and three kids, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie, aid to the chaos of her life. After a little sniff of bleach, Marge goes on a fantastical adventure as all the characters in the Matt Groening universe appear to be on a journey of self-discovery. There’s a special charm to the show that makes it a special event. The drag is spot on. The theatricality polish can be improved, but hey, it is a cabaret space after all.
The entire ensemble took the iconic characters and brought them to life with the greatest of ease, while still maintaining an essence of their own drag personas. As Marge, Cissy Walken plays the straight man in the scene. Her take on the character, comparatively, is the most grounded. With the show being entirely lip synced, Cissy does surprise the crowd late in the show with a bit of a vocal gag. As Homer, Coco Taylor goes on a fantastical journey through song and dance as Homer tries to discover his true self. Taking on the three kids, Aria Derci, Pussy Willow, and Andy Starling, as Bart, Lisa, and Maggie respectfully, dazzle in their solo moments.  But wait, did you think other characters wouldn’t make cameos? Mrs. Krabapple, Milhouse, and Ralphie all pop by, but it’s Marge’s sisters, Patty and Selma, that steal the show. With a little Side Show to cap it off, Coco Taylor and Aria Derci’s take on the Bouvier twins is one of the highlights of the night. This piece is only as successful as it’s appearance. The costumes by Pierretta Viktori and the wigs by Scott Feigr Curly are major players in Why this show works.
While there is still some tweaking and finessing to do, The Simsinz is a must do at the Beechman. There have been very few shows of this whacky nature to grace this stage.

Review: Their Cool World

By Michael Block

No matter who you are, there is an artist inside each of us. While we may express our art in various forms, being able to showcase our imagination is a gift in itself. The extraordinary team over at Actionplay, led by Aaron Feinstein, has given a wonderful gift to a group of artists by allowing them to create their own show. Since October, a group of artists on the Autism spectrum came together in the AIMS Improv Musical-Comedy Workshop to create a brand new musical. For an hour and a half for twenty-six Sundays, the company devised what we now know as Welcome to My World. The one act musical, featuring the Inclusive Actionplay Chorus, is nothing short of an artistic celebration.
Welcome to My World is a unique story about a young girl with Autism written and told through the lens of Autism. The story follows Aliza, a young girl on the spectrum with big dreams and a grand imagination. When a friend moves away for the summer, she searches for a new one and ends up finding a connection with a girl from comic book and another galaxy. Claudia is sent to Earth to study the specimen but ends up discovering a stronger bond with her new Earth friend. At the heart of the piece is a celebration of acceptance. No matter what makes you different, it’s ok!

As the driving character of the piece, Natalie Kaiser as Aliza was the pulse of Welcome to My World. The amount of heart she brought on the stage was boundless. Kaiser has tons of fun from start to finish. As her new pal Claudia, Emmalee M. Weinstein had an extraordinary journey as she had fun playing the outsider in our world. One of the highlights of the night was certainly the song “Fix It” featuring Shafer Goodkind as Dr. Dad. Goodkind played up the goofy nature of the song to become a real standout.
Opportunities to create art in a safe and uplifting environment should be celebrated and Actionplay does just that. Whether you’re a friend of the company or just a lover of the arts, this is a group to keep on your radar as they continue to share their work.

Review: Get Out of Jersey

By Michael Block

New Jersey is more than just Italian mob families and rich housewives and booze-guzzling shore-goers. There’s a rich landscape of mountains and beaches and farms and gardens. Well, itt is in fact the Garden State. Using Jersey as the backdrop, Adam Bertocci transplants the characters of Shakespeare’s The Tempest into a magical place called Stormville. But what exactly is Stormville? Buckle yourselves in for a two-act adventure called Miranda from Stormville, presented by Random Access Theatre at IRT.
Miranda from Stormville is a version of The Tempest that tells the tale of finding the time to get out and break free into the world. Miranda is a young woman stuck taking care of her decaying father, Pops Milano. Pops has a revered reputation in town where any mention of his name garners an immediate reaction. When a tempest of a storm stalls two travelers on their way to Atlantic City, Miranda takes pals Will and Steve in. Along the way, they are introduced to Ariel, a high-spirited caretaker of Pops, and Calvin, a dark and mysterious handyman of sorts. Bertocci creates a mystery that evolves as to what this world is and how these strangers are incorporated into this specific moment in time. Is it a world of fate or is it all a concoction created by Pops? Bertocci’s writing has a sense of whimsy, but with a twist. He offers a fairly accessible palette of dialogue that breaks into a heightened sense of language at times. By staying close to the plot of the source material, Bertocci has allowed the modern themes to feel reborn, despite the characters being weighed down by circumstance in Props game of chess. What’s missing from Miranda from Stormville is a sense of true urgency. A storm is happenstance in this modern world. A mechanic can easily fix the car and the boys can be on their merry way. They willingly trust the words of strangers when their overall objective of leaving is absolutely achievable. Those keys aren’t lost forever. But the source material needs them to remain even if modern logic says otherwise. If the magic and mystery is truly just a ploy to allow Miranda to go on her own way, she needs to have her moral obstacle arrive sooner as her backstory has informed us that she’s given very little thought to actually abandoning her father and running away with her heart. She seems content to being one of those people trapped in redundancy.

photo by Rachelle White

With a lack of urgency in the text, it’s possible for the stakes to rise up if the pacing gets faster. Director Jennifer Sandella allowed the play, like the set, to feel lived in. She focused in on the relationships of the various duos in the show. With so much wonderful character-focused work, the show desired to be brisker and to move from scene to scene faster. With a brave use of space from Sandella and scenic designer Roni Sipp, maneuvering from location to location with many jump cuts forced the scene changes to lag. And not all scene shifts were accompanied by a musical or ambient undertone. Bertocci’s text plays into a world mystery and magic. Sandella did an admirable job navigating the clarity when defining the rules of the world. Establishing what characters know and believe is essential for the audience to follow along. With pieces of furniture and levels to describe specific rooms and locations, Roni Sipp chose a smattering of old and new. One of the more dynamic elements of the set was the usage of items hanging down from the sky. From shades to plants to the skeleton of an umbrella, they helped to fill the space physically and viscerally.
Even as an ensemble piece, at the center of this story is the titular Miranda. Mackenzie Menter has a very ethereal way about her portrayal of Miranda. She had Miranda waver back and forth in her young emotions, seemingly having a change of heart at the flip of a dime. She didn’t quite have a hunger for more which made her move to leave that much more surprising. As the new entity in Miranda’s world, Gabe Templin’s Will certainly captured the odd man out character. He was a stranger in a strange land. As the way in for the audience, Will gets to be our eyes and ears for the unknown. The character processes a lot in this quick slice of life story and makes a discombobulated decision. Now for the magic of the world, Anna Cain and Brendan Cataldo as Ariel and Calvin respectively played on opposite sides of the spectrum of magical and realistic. Cain’s Ariel had a lot of whimsy to her. She took the playful approach without a flourish. Cataldo’s Calvin was the most interesting character and performance. As we learn in the second act, Calvin personified the legendary Jersey Devil. As a Jersey boy myself, my heart desired a reference to this creature lore so the inclusion of this plot point was icing on the cake. With a brooding demeanor and sense of mystery, Cataldo left you wanting more. And that’s a good thing.
Adam Bertocci allows Miranda to be set free at the end of the play. Even being a safe place, the moral of this story is there’s always a time to leave home for a new life and adventure. There is an ambitious concept within Miranda from Stormville that is poignant today. It just needs some tweaking to resonant further.

Review: The Many Hauxs of the White House

By Michael Block 

Throughout the history of time, the true backbone of the American presidency is the First Lady. And we’ve had some iconic ladies filling that position. Offering her unique viewpoint on history and drag, Heidi Haux has compiled a “best of” list of First Ladies sharing their story in First Haux, which made its debut at The Duplex.

photo by Michael Block

Using Melania Trump as a framing device, Melania seeks help from First Ladies of the past to help her through her newfound title. Unlike a Dickensian drama, not all of these “ghosts” have wise words to spare. From Martha Washington to Jackie Kennedy to the Bushes, the array of women offer a slice of their journey that played an impact to their moment in history. Playing into intelligent storytelling through each wifes' music and sound clip selections, Heidi takes pop culture and history and marries them into a subversive theatrical evening. There’s a fairly formulaic structure to keep this solo cabaret moving. Heidi goes from wife to wife with a number and a costume change, accompanied by an oft comedic history lesson. She has room to play with order and stray away from a mostly complete chronological timeline. At the end of the day, tone is key and insuring the balance of the hilarious moments between the dramatic bits heightens the arc of the piece. With Jackie O, Hilary, and the Bushes coming so close together, the latter half of the night becomes heavy-handed. That being said, Heidi, a campy queen at heart, delivers some extraordinarily winning heartbreaking moments. See Jackie O. Move over Natalie Portman, Heidi Haux has taken your gig. As she continues to develop this powerful piece, there is an opportunity to dive deeper into characterization and voices on mic. Distinguishing from Heidi neutral and individual First Lady assists with storytelling.
First Haux goes beyond a solo cabaret. This is a work of theater. First Haux deserves a larger stage. Heidi Haux has managed to entertain while educating through the art of drag.

Review: A Modern Party in Ancient Egypt

By Michael Block 

Breaking the mold in theater these days comes with great ambition. We create in a time where we seemingly need to recreate the wheel in order to stand out. And if you can’t recreate the wheel, you just try to do it a little better. If you can’t be better, just make sure your audience is having a blast. Taking over Chelsea Music Hall, Cleopatra takes a historical story and thrusts a modern flair into it to create a flashy theatrical event.
Immersive mania pervades Chelsea Music Hall. Mix a little Great Comet, a dash of Hamilton, and all the glitter, sequins, and rhinestones you can find in a drag queen’s closet, toss it all in a blender and you get Cleopatra. Set up like a theatrical immersive event within a nightlife experience, Cleopatra retells the infamous story of the legendary Egyptian ruler through an electronic pop and R&B score. With music by Jeff Daye and lyrics by Laura Kleinbaum and Daye, with additional material by Drew Fornarola, Cleopatra’s reimagining is less about the story and more about the experience. The creative team has ensured that at the forefront is a strong, powerful woman to reflect the endless struggle women continue to experience, but if an original story was inserted in its place, the glitz, glamour, and pulsating beat will still stand strong. This show is a party. And the way to entice an audience is to intrigue them in with a story that they are likely vaguely familiar with. The score from Daye and Kleinbaum has some club worthy bops. You might not leave the venue reciting them, but the beat is sure to remain with you. For a story about power and downfall, the downfall here is the book, or lack there of. The majority of the piece is sung through, giving it that Hamilton vibe. Unless your ear is completely keen to the words, you’re likely to miss plot points due to the vocal acrobatics in these key parts. Replacing them with pure book scenes would likely suck out the energy of the party atmosphere. Generally, the characters are thin replicas of stock characters. They lack depth and arc. Cleopatra needs to discover how to blend the book musical with an immersive experience. With that, it must establish the rules within the participatory theatrical event. Between pulling random audience members to be tied to chairs for a blindfolded lap dance and a runway walk off hosted by the Mistress of Ceremonies Dusty Ray Bottoms, the audience is invited into the story. However, the audience, some of whom are filled with liquor supplied at the bar, seems to forget that they are at the theater and lack the understanding that you cannot call out your feelings to a moment in the middle of the scene. Even further, moving chairs around to fit your personal seating needs is off limits as well. Finding the balance between the typical piece of theater and the energetic party that it is essential for Cleopatra to maintain its success.

photo by Santiago Felipe

To bring the piece to life, director and choreographer JT Horenstein ensured that the energy was high and there was no shortage of sexy. Horenstein’s choreography was filled with exceptionally athletic dance. In such a tight space, Horenstein and his company did an extraordinary job bringing high level production numbers to the stage. Horenstein’s focus seemed primarily on the choreography as the book scenes clipped along to get back to the dance. Christopher Bowser’s scenic design felt like a stereotypical modern twist on what an Egyptian-themed nightclub would be. Accents of gold were plentiful. The focal point was the almost regal thrown, which dominated the space. Costume designer Nicolas Putvinsky compiled an array of items, many of which had sequins or rhinestones on them, threw them on each performer and somehow the mismatched design appeared cohesive. Putvinsky ensured that there was more than enough skin showing for each performer. The lighting from Joe Cantalupo was theatrical as a nightclub could get. The bulb curtain above the stage allowed for the space to marry nightclub with play. With the score being electronic music, the sound design was no easy feat. Sound designer Drew Levy and electronic music designer and live DJ Lloyd Kikoler worked magic in Chelsea Music Hall.
To play the queen, you have to be the queen. Vocals alone, as the titular character, Nya is a powerhouse. Liken her to Queen B herself, aka Beyonce . She’s the real deal. She keeps a guarded demeanor as Cleopatra that longs to have a bit more emotion in the book scenes. Christian Brailsford is a walking sex machine as Marc Antony. Brailsford exudes a magnetic arura that lures you in with a silky vocal to match. Playing Iris, Sydney Parra is a true stand out, making her voice known. While the scripted character needs a bit of clarity in the book, RuPaul’s Drag Race star Dusty Ray Bottoms is an exquisite Mistress of Ceremonies. Her hosting skills are on full display, as she maintains the party atmosphere all night long. If you’re going to have a drag diva in a show, you better get the crowd gagging and Dusty certainly did. That costume reveal was everything.
The amount of ambition that went into this project is plentiful. The creative team and cast has brought their A game to the show. Cleopatra knows what it wants to be, it just doesn’t know what it is yet. I have visceral memories watching Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 down in the Meatpacking District in the tent and thinking this was a magical production. Cleopatra is probably a handful of workshops away from that. But it can get there. Immersive theater is alive and well. Cleopatra reminds us why we love it and desire more.

Review: Boudoir's Fabulous Coven

By Michael Block 

She’s like the energizer bunny. I’ve famously called her the Roomba of Drag on an episode of Block Talk. If you’ve never seen Boudoir LeFleur, you’re doing yourself a extreme disservice. Hosting a haunting Pre-Halloween treat, The Witches Rumble is entertainment spectacular hosted New York’s premiere drag witch.

photo by Michael Block

Offering a Halloween spoon, Boudoir LeFleur brings the dark magic to the Laurie Beechman stage as she throws herself across the floor to classic rock, pop divas, and a little Broadway. The Witches Rumble takes the darkness of the season and thrusts it on stage with a sexy spin.  If you’re looking for a cabaret with a semblance of a through-line, you won’t find it here. Instead, you get a stellar lineup showcasing their best. Boudoir is an effortless host, as she brings some dry wit. When she performs, she goes 150%. She’s unafraid to risk her body for the sake of the stage. Joining Boudoir is her Assassin sister Kimmi Moore, Drag powerhouse Honey Davenport, Winnifred Sanderson impersonator extraordinaire Jennica McClearly, and former American Idol standout and Broadway superstar Diana DeGarmo. The diverse lineup fit the mood of the evening as they combined live singing, dance, and burlesque. If you’ve been hiding under a rock, you've been missing out on Diana DeGarmo. DeGarmo is the real deal. Singing a pair of numbers from her upcoming album, DeGarmo is a vocal femme fatale. Her voice is a knockout of seductive poison, quite like her song. Jennica McClearly easily proved why she’s a premiere Winnifred Sanderson impersonator. If you’d never seen her before, McClearly brings a dose of burlesque to the character, and it’s everything. Assassin sister Kimmi Moore delivers an original track, but her highlight comes as she shares the stage with Boudoir for a lip sync dance duet. Honey Davenport serves exceptional looks, but stops the show with her emotion-filled rendition of “Angel Down” by Lady Gaga.
The Witches Rumble is a holiday treat among the many Halloween tricks at other venues in the city. Boudoir LeFleur concocts the right potion to captive an audience all night long.

Review: Staying Up Late With Mildred

By Ed Malin

New York’s long-running live soap opera It’s Getting Tired Mildred is the brainchild of writer-director Roger Nasser. For thirty-three episodes and counting, a large cast of eager, innovative theater people come together for a late Saturday night show and then stay for a party. Through a continuing series of amazing events (exquisitely like the classic soap operas), the residents of Mildred Springs make love, flirt with death, and, hilariously, strike poses which would normally be directed at a camera but of course end up pointing at the audience. You will laugh as you remember/discover the 1980s.
Fans of “Days of Our Lives”, “General Hospital” and “Another World” will find much to enjoy in the rather dramatic cast of characters at Sacred Corpuscle Memorial Hospital in Mildred Springs. The team thoughtfully starts this episode, entitled “Labor Pains” with a recap of past heartbreaks, accidental murders and what have you; since September’s episode was the beginning of the new season and the first in the show’s new residency at the Davenport Theater, I found this trip down memory lane most helpful. Then, the cast parade onstage to Steve Sabaugh’s theme song, each taking a moment in the spotlight to introduce themselves and suggest their murky pasts. You will chuckle when you meet the extremely handsome and aptly named doctors such as Roderick Donovan (Adam Files), Jasper Stone (Patrick Shearer), his father Angus Stone (Tom Reid), and his love interest, the exotically accented Florence Maxwell (Stephanie Cox-Connolly), who calls him “An-Goose”. Last season, it came to light that decades ago there had been a baby switch at Sacred Corpuscle. Now that Celeste Wilson (Hope Cartelli) is ready to give birth to a baby boy, the entire staff is ready to prevent any malfeasance. Unfortunately, no one has been able to overcome the vengeful hypnosis crimes of Cornelius Milton (Linus Gelber).  Otherwise immaculate nurse Constance Dranreb (Heather Lee Rogers) emerges from smothering Avery Phillips (Broderick Ballantyne) under hypnotic suggestion only to find that his twin brother Brice Phillips (Broderick Ballantyne) loves her so much he will impersonate his dead brother. Local therapist Everett Maxwell (Bryan Enk) was once under Cornelius’s sway but now is his adversary, working with Florence Maxwell to perpetrate different kinds of disasters.

photo by Roger Nasser

The show is not lacking in social commentary. Those delightful gurus of the 1980s are represented by Darvish El Ganan (Richard Lovejoy). Darvish, dressed in sunglasses and a flowing robe, has recruited Bruce Linwood (Bob Laine) and his sister Miranda Linwood (Amanda Lapergola) into his meditation society (“stop calling it a cult!”) which spreads peace and light to the world. Miranda, formerly seen to have an alcohol problem and always found carrying and talking to her dog, Lucius, is now on a healthy kick, except for any risk of hypnosis by Cornelius Milton. Twenty-something Olivia Phillips (Rebecca Gray Davis) feuds with her mother, the ‘80s-inflected Madelyne Wilson-Phillips (Melissa Roth) about her many loves. Olivia also has choice words for her half-sister (formerly her aunt; the baby switch has altered their relationship), the freewheeling Justine Wilson (Lex Friedman).  Justine is engaged to be married to Dr. Roderick Donovan but, according to Olivia, will probably break it off as she did her previous engagement to Edgar Milton (Paul Black). And then there is Madelyne’s ex-husband Baxter Phillips (Fred Backus), with whom she has reconciled.  Baxter discovers in his desk drawer the diary of a mysterious lady, Ramona Fauxdalm. (In past episodes, Baxter was hypnotized and took on the cross-dressing persona of Fauxdalm, leading to much romance with many other men at the hospital.) Dudley Vance (C.L. Weatherstone), local male stripper at Studley’s, supplies nose candy to the razor-sharp Charmaine Milton (Morgan Zipf-Meister), who forges an uneasy alliance with her sister, Justine Wilson. While OBGYN Bianca Franklin (Toya Lillard), head nurse Cassandra Phillips (Amy Overman) and surgeon Antoine Bassets (Adam Swiderski) assure everyone that there will be no security issues around the birth of Celeste Wilson’s baby and Miranda and Bruce Linwood intone positive mantras, smug Cornelius Milton (whose life was altered by the swapping of his own baby) insists on meddling yet again. Whom does the dastardly Cornelius dare manipulate this time, and would it complicate the plot if he succeeded?
If there’s a boring moment in this show, I haven’t been able to find it. Roger Nasser’s direction of the cast of 24 [including a phone call appearance from Olivia’s love interest, Max (Erik Olson)] is laugh-out-loud funny. The monthly episodes have grown to about 75 minutes in length, which really allows each character to develop (and to engage in multiple love affairs). It’s Getting Tired Mildred is an homage to soap operas, even for people who might not be addicted to soap operas. The cast is full of men with well-defined jaw lines and women with legs who know how to use them. Holly Pocket MacCaffrey has tirelessly costumed this army of performers in chic and sexy style; there were many new costumes this season, down to Bob Laine’s meditation toga. Impromptu “commercials” within the show advertise delicious Roger’s Crispie Treats, while the episodes usually culminate in a group synth dance number. The new season opened with a sell-out show. Fortunately for you, the Davenport is larger than the previous venues (Under St. Mark’s and The Brick), but you should try very hard to get a seat for the next show in the series.

Review: A Powerhouse Trio Unite

By Michael Block 

The Marvel universe has the Avengers, a super team of heroes who come together to fight the evils of the world. Each of these heroes lives in their own stand-alone story, but when they come together, it’s magical. Such is the case in You Don’t Own Me. Jackie Cox, Paige Turner, and Sutton Lee Seymour, three of New York’s premiere theater drag divas, reunite for an evening of fun, laughs, and a good time in You Don’t Own Me at the Laurie Beechman. With a silly premise to string the night along, the heart of the show is the power of community and friendship.

photo by Michael Block

After a hilarious audition of “Three Little Maid for “Handmaid’s Tale the musical,” Jackie, Paige, and Sutton vow to make a musical on their own. But how will these three different queens with three very different ideas create a jukebox musical? That’s the fun of You Don’t Own Me. This campy musicale brings together a stellar drag trifecta who have each uniquely planted their flags in nightlife and the cabaret scene. While each being a campy Broadway performer, they infuse their own brass, crass, and sass to unite a cohesive team. Whether you know them from their individual shows or at their bar shows, they bring a special version of their character and individual relationships to allow for a necessary plot and arc. Paige portrays the blonde center-of-attention determined to make a musical at any stake. Sutton shows up as the scowl-laden negative Nancy who has taken a hard turn on Broadway. And Jackie jumps in as the air-headed Disney- loving princess. Together, their blend makes magic ignite. This show isn’t all trio numbers as you might wish it were. To cover the tricks if the trade, we get moments of solos and duets that allow each queen their moment to shine.
In a world of hardship, there’s a big, bright, beautiful tomorrow when you find hope and joy in art. You Don’t Own Me delivers a night to escape this world. Love, laughs, and a perfect friendship are their keys to success. The show is nothing short of a satisfying treat that leaves you begging for the next reunion.

Review: The Best Short Play of Your Psast, Present, and Future

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Review: One Woman’s Quest to Overcome

By Ed Malin

For fifteen years and counting, The Tank has been one of the most catholic of performance spaces. Just about any kind of live performance can be found there and, even better, receives their support.
I finally visited The Tank's new space on West 36th Street, which, luckily for the artists of the world, has two stages. Playing to a packed house in the middle of a three-day run was Molly Brenner—who performs much at UCB—with her boldly personal one-woman show Molly Brenner Isn't Coming.  The show is directed by Madalyn Baldanzi.
Molly is 28 years old. She informs us she has never had an orgasm, not even the accidental ones some women get from a horse or a bannister. She was worried she might have one before the show opened and wreck everything, but she is still qualified to tell this enlightening story.
Through a series of monologues as herself and some highly-recognizable other characters, she uses comedy to talk about her body and a condition that is often not discussed without shaming.

photo by Tucker Mitchell

In brief, the lights come up on Santa Claus, who chuckles “Ho ho ho! Merry Vaginismus!”
Vaginismus is a clinical-sounding name for a fear of penetration. Molly suggests she could make herself sound sexier by telling a lover “my problem is I've got tight vagina”
We meet Sex Barbie, the doll with the right genital organs, who, if she didn’t exist, children would find it necessary to invent her.
We hear the story of a young woman who goes to high school, hears what her fellow students are up to, and thinks that masturbation has just been invented. Later, with her gynecologist, she is prescribed various exercises to help her body relax from her condition.  These dilation exercises take approximately 20 minutes, which is exactly the length of an episode of the TV show “Portlandia”.   Still later in life, she calculates that if she were ever to have an orgasm, it would take as long as two episodes of “Portlandia”.
There is a lot of universal empathy in this play.  So many things in life could happen if we didn’t get distracted wondering if they were about to happen.  Thus is “meta” the enemy of pleasure.
And here's one that may make you realize how able-bodied you are: Molly reminds us that some women have never even seen parts of their anatomy, and so are just shocked that men like to expose their own body parts. Definitely something that would disappear if more thought were involved.

Review: She Has Big Dreams

By Ed Malin

Project Y’S Women in Theater festival at IRT continues with Cindy, written by Amina Henry and directed by Michole Biancosino. This modern update of Cinderella has some surprise twists which I found very empowering for children and inspirational for me (a grown-up parent of a girl somewhere below princess age).
Cindy (Star Kirkland) is a thirteen year-old girl whose mother has died.  Fortunately, she gets good advice from her friend Rudy the rat (voice and puppetry by Zach Fifer). Her father, James (Joachim Boyle) tries to look out for her best interests, but he is not strong enough to resist his new wife, Cindy’s Stepmother (Rachel E. Evans), whose ego proceeds her. A very caring cow named Bell (voice and puppetry by Caleb Antony Green) lingers in the background, ruminating on Cindy’s future.

photo by ClintonBPhotography

Suddenly, the teenage Prince Rupert (Timiki Salinas) is ready to wed and throws a series of balls to find himself a marriageable girl who wants to be a princess.  The Stepmother’s daughters, Sarah (Veronica Cooper) and Suzy (Emily Ma) prepare to be sassy for the Prince, and make sure that Cindy will be helping them prepare for the ball rather than competing against them.  Much classical music related to Cinderella appears in this piece; Sarah and Suzy’s leitmotif is “Run the World (Girls)” by Beyoncé, sometimes thought of as a female power song.  Meanwhile, Cindy dreams of being a pilot, something she knows she would enjoy more than being a groupie to royalty.
Now, the magic begins.  Honest Rudy the rat, loathed by the Stepmother and others who prefer image to integrity, helps Cindy get to the ball.  So does Bell the cow, who has the spirit of Cindy’s late mother. They provide the glass slippers (or superfly hightops) and carriage (or shopping cart) that takes Cindy—or should I say incognito “Princess Ella”—into society and brings her home at midnight.   Prince Rupert is a tall, jewel and cape-wearing party professional.  His gold and sparkly shoes and ripped jeans mark him as cool, though Cindy is not impressed.  Dancers thrill to the sounds of bhangra and congas, while Prince Rupert finds Cindy so refreshing, he does a split.  Cindy, with a thirteen year-old’s strength of will, tells him she wants to fly, and barely gets home on time.  One glass slipper remains in the prince’s clutches.
When the prince comes to the Stepmother’s house, she happily trots out her daughters and does everything to deceive the prince into believing that they are Princess Ella.   Sarah and Suzy each have a toe chopped off, but they can’t satisfy Prince Rupert that they wore the slipper at the ball.  Finally, the prince finds out that “Ella” is Cindy.  Her friends and family all want the best for her.  But will she marry the prince or find a way to take flight on her own.
Playwright Amina Henry has written a play that appeals to young people but frees itself from the fairytale form.  Amid fanciful moments, we see a Stepmother who does terrible things to her own children and a stepchild who chooses her own destiny.  Director Michole Biancosino makes sure that the humans and animals onstage never have a dull moment. Annie Ulrich’s costumes are flashy, contemporary and exciting, and the animal puppets are haunting and beautiful to behold. Hallie Zieselman’s set includes lots of signs and clues about the play for young viewers to discover.  Sound designer Amit Prakash did a great job with fancy interlude music and exciting dance tracks for the ball. Christina Watanabe’s lighting shows us Cindy’s loneliness and difficulties as well as the love she receives from her friends and spirit animals.

Review: Slices of Intense Feeling

By Ed Malin

At the Brick Theater, The Festival of Lies continues from June 5 through July 5.
I saw Sweet Little Lies, which, as its title implies, is a thought-provoking program of short plays by talented regular artists at the theater.
Up first is Ruth: An Apology, written and performed by Bob Laine, directed by Maryanne Olson.  This is a moving solo piece about a man’s relationship with his mother—who has some of the supportive characteristics of the Biblical Ruth—as well as a woman named Ruth whom he dates during high school.  The young man liked boys more than girls, which, over time, turned out to be not just a phase but his identity.  Ruth was a year older, and wanted to be with him, and took on his interests, but this wasn’t the recipe for a healthy relationship.  From “Bartholemew and the Oobleck” to Billy Joel to the Atari game Pitfall and things you can do with a joystick, Bob Laine takes you down memory lane.
The second piece is The Three by Erin Bregman, directed by Maryanne Olson, with music by John Glover.  Ariana (Silvia Dionicio) sits at the center of a triangle of clicking metronomes.  Three observers (Jessica Marza, Clara Francesca and Roger Nasser) echo and critique in unison every word Ariana says. As the sound builds to a fever pitch, Ariana yells that it doesn’t matter, to which the replies is yes it does. Eventually, the three other voices cut out and Ariana can collect herself. For me, this is a piece about the oppressive nature of time.
The third piece is I Do Not See You by Richard Lovejoy, directed by Paige Blansfield. The Target (Morgan Zipf-Meister) tells us about how, as she ages, she believes that people actively try not to see her, except when they are looking for someone to blame. Perhaps it is true that babies get the most attention and it’s all downhill from there. In any case, she claims that a museum guard damaged an artwork and blamed her, which is why she went and broke something else in the museum.  If you’re going to get blamed, you might as well have done something, her logic goes. The other characters (Linus Gelber, C.L. Weatherstone and Daryl Lathon) loudly assail her for other minor things, like accidental littering. Finally, she is framed and carried off and beaten by two of the others, while the third tries to get some attention for himself.  He is ignored, and has to face the beaten woman in the end. Wouldn’t it be better for people to treat each other as equals?
The fourth piece is I [heart] Facts, written and performed by Alexis Sottile. The host of our presentation works as a fact checker for various publications. This important job is revealed to be a funny mixture of invention and harassment. We wouldn’t want the things we read to be inaccurate, would we? A few years ago, monologist Mike Daisey garnered some attention for his show about oppressive conditions in Chinese factories; at the same time, there was controversy about how much of the story was interview-based and/or fact-checked. Alexis’s adventures give some hope in a world where elected officials stray from the facts.

photo by The Brick

The fifth piece is Foxing by Greg Romero, directed by Maryanne Olson.
Beatrice  (Silvia Dionicio) is a bit of a personal trainer, complete with a whistle and furry animal ears.  Aaron (Linus Gelber) and Charlie (Bob Laine), two men not dressed for the gym, are put through a variety of aerobic exercises to dance music. Thus warmed up, they then sit and have a conversation, with the help of note cards which Beatrice hands out.  They apparently know each other, and raised a son who died.  It is so hard for them to talk to each other and find any kind of resolution that they try the exercise again until they can brave it all and go unscripted. Don’t knock drama therapy; it works!
The sixth piece is Level III by Erin Bregman, directed by Paige Blansfield
Anna (Morgan Zipf-Meister) and Lea (Anna Ty Bergman) are talking about their views of mirrors. Using stylized language, they explore some fears of the sun bouncing off a mirror and setting the house on fire. What is the difference between reflected and refracted? What do you call a lot of cracked pieces of glass? Versailles? Together, they are able to find their way to some very empowering resolutions.
The seventh piece is Hunkerpuss: The New Adventures, with words and sound by Chris Chappell, directed by Jesse Edward Rosbrow. Late at night, Polly (Rocio Mendez) is discovered watching those cartoons starring Hunkerpuss (Timothy McCown Reynolds), the cat who can never seem to stop chasing the lovely otter, Olivia Otterford (Clara Francesca). These cartoons combine several cute and awkward old cartoon characters such as Snagglepuss from Hanna-Barbera. Polly’s girlfriend Clare (Lex Friedman) joins her and offers a mixture of empathy for what is keeping Polly up and confusion about the appeal of an arguably sexist cartoon. As the two talk on the sofa, their roommate Brandon (V. Orion Delwaterman) appears from behind the sofa to offer his chock-full-of-semiotics perspective. On the other side of the stage, the adorable, lisping Hunkerpuss is seen reminiscing about the making of the classic cartoon. Eventually, not unlike some kids commercial, Hunkerpuss creates an energy portal to Polly, Clare and Brandon’s apartment. When the young fans (these appear to be the children of today, who are having this discussion 10 or 20 years from now) interrogate Hunkerpuss, he tells a fantastic story about his life as a cat, a very rich cat who could have invested in a progressive new Artificial Intelligence project but did not.  When Hunkerpuss died, he found himself alive again inside of the virtual world of the cartoon—which is controlled by the A.I.—continually forced to chase an otter. He moans that he doesn’t have a choice about such base desires. As technology permeates our world, are the animalistic traits of humanity refined away, or are they used against us?  It's a super-dramatic, finely-crafted and hilarious tale.
This show was delightful and ambitious.  Short plays, like cartoons (especially the one which mixes the two together) are magical sparkplugs which can launch a debate about human nature. Kudos to the versatile ensemble which brought to life so many interesting characters, and to the directors, some of whom worked on two or three plays of vastly different styles. Morgan Zipf-Meister’s lighting provides the intimacy that these works require.

Review: Look Over Here

By Ed Malin

Blessed Unrest is presenting the compelling new play This Is Modern Art written by Idris Goodwin and Kevin Covall, directed by Jessica Burr.  We experience a dramatization of a clandestine graffiti bombing of the Art Institute of Chicago which took place in 2010.  You will certainly gain new perspectives from the debate on what art is and who decides who gets to make art.  This piece was commissioned by Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater (where it premiered in 2010) and was developed by New Voices/New Visions at The Kennedy Center in 2014.  The performance I saw was followed by a talkback with the show’s Scenic Artist, veteran graffiti writer KEO XMEN.
It is Chicago in the winter of 2010. Selena (Nancy McArthur) is a young woman who hangs out with a crew of graffiti writers. In her words, "I can't draw, but I DO have a car."  As will become clear, those who don't have their own space to create and exhibit art must work very carefully together.  Selena helps keep a lookout for the police and takes her friends to safety after they put up a "piece" (i.e. a planned work, or masterpiece) on someone else's wall. Their work is often noticed and removed within a few hours, but brings immediate joy (in contrast with decades-later art appreciation) to many dispossessed people (and consternation to wealthy property owners). The Look Over Here (LOH) crew is made up of J.C. (Andrew Gonzalez), who took his new name from sports and religious personalities and Mexican populist muralists he admires, Seven (Shakur Tolliver), who is inspired by Chinese numerology, and Dose (Landon G. Woodson) who thinks MC Escher is a rapper and who doesn't see himself doing safe projects like invitation walls. LOH do not use their government names or spend much time in the "respectable" art world (which is ingeniously represented from time to time by Ashley N. Hildreth and J. Stephen Brantley as a variety of art snobs, passersby and tweeters); mistreated by the law and with racially-biased arrest records, they could never lead the carefree life Selena does.

photo by Maria Baranova

Graffiti artists, prepared for any outdoors survival situation, prefer to work at night and in fog and snow conditions.  LOH's efforts have become more and more ambitious, like the "chi" energy that reminds you of Chicago. J.C. discovers that patrol cycles and a busted security camera could give LOH enough time to piece the wall of the modern wing of the Art Institute.  They will have 14 minutes. If you've seen Blessed Unrest's work, you might be prepared for wild and crazy transformations of ordinary scenic objects.  For this show, the set is dominated by dozens of plain-looking brown boxes. During the dramatic scene outside the Art Institute, J.C., Seven and Dose turn and rearrange all of the boxes to create a very colorful work of art. They all escape with Selena and settle down to dinner (one of the boxes is opened to produce a table cloth), where they learn from TV news that their masked activities were caught on security camera.   Since we still don’t know the identities of the graffiti artists, the play ensures that they separate and lie low for a while.  Selena is even pressured by her parents to talk to a lawyer and find a way to protect herself, lest she is sued for $1 million.  While these characters find new horizons to pursue, their success is bittersweet.  Art is still largely the domain of white, elitist institutions and graffiti is hurriedly removed at taxpayer expense.
This play is well-written and fast-paced.  The excellent ensemble under Jessica Burr’s direction examine many viewpoints about art and culture which often enough are not heard in the mainstream media.  Matt Opatrny’s scenery, Heydee Zelideth’s costumes and Miriam Nilofa Crowe’s lighting keep things very real, focusing less on the urban environment than on the crew’s ability to reshape their surroundings. Things came into sharper focus thanks to the talkback with KEO XMEN.  He began writing graffiti in Brooklyn, NY in 1979, and nowadays is in demand as artist and consultant for detailed 1970s and 80s period pieces such as “Vinyl”.   His stories of the 1970s show us a time when New York City was falling apart and, perhaps, spray paint was the only thing holding some subway cars together. Urban children whom the bankrupt city couldn’t afford to educate were drawing masterpieces by age 9-15.  Such artists, who could turn urban decay into pockets of beauty for their neighborhoods to enjoy, could, working together in crews, cross areas controlled by different gangs and achieve surprising things.  Gangs might be seen guarding a graffitied handball court.   The transformative power of this art made a big impression on me.  If KEO XMEN senses the authenticity of storytelling in This Is Modern Art, I’m sure that you will, too.

Review: Three Steps Beyond

By Ed Malin

At the Brick, Theater Accident is presenting The Hollow, an evening of three short works written and directed by Matthew Freeman. Freeman and the versatile cast create captivating stories out of words, aiming to break through to places where only the imagination can go.  This is very much a coming together of skilled theater veterans, many of whom you may know from the New York Innovative Theatre Awards.
The first play is called In the great expanse of space there is nothing to see but More More More.  Seven women wearing white are seated onstage.  These actresses are: Susan Ferrara/Maggie Cino, Rohana Kenin, Dee Beasnael, Christy Escobar, Sarah K. Lippmann, Tammi Clayton and Stacey Weckstein. They talk in tantalizing phrases—sometimes completing each other’s syncopated sentences—about cancer. “The hollow, the hush” is repeated at times throughout, as are pairs of opposites, a story about keeping a urine sample in the refrigerator, and oblique references to body parts such as the “left fallopian testicle”.  The women talk about space flight and count extended lists of their blessings.   Watching this, I got a feeling of overwhelming hope.  Whether we are looking at a group of stars, or white blood cells, or even cancer cells, there is thorough exploration of all of the stages of grief and loss.  Things that real people try aggressively not to talk about all spill out here.  There is a feeling of disorientation which would accompany chemotherapy.  There is a call to abandon all hope, but instead, humor and optimism rise to the surface.  The evening is off to a fine start.

photo by Jody Christopherson

The second play is a hand emerges from the water.  David DelGrosso and Matthew Trumbull, both wearing snazzy blue suits, sit at separate tables not facing each other.  They both hold cell phones, and converse aloud together.  Something tragic has happened, something the title can only attempt to describe.  The two men talk about another person who used to connect them, yet words fail, as they have presumably failed this other person.  This play succeeds in showing how much more of life there is beyond the stories we tell.
The third play is The Language.  Moira Stone and Matthew Trumbull star in this piece, which was originally commissioned by NYU for “The Language of the Birds: Occult and Art”, a beautiful exhibition curated by Freeman’s wife, Pam Grossman, a scholar of magical practice and history.  Stone and Trumbull sit in elegant armchairs.  He is fully dressed.  She is barefoot.  Who are they?  Probably relatives, since they trade bits of a story about “your uncle’s attic”.  He holds a large, storybook-looking book.  The story is a feat of amazingness.  Moira Stone has found the motivation to go to the limits of language and beyond.  She talks about going into the uncle’s attic, and asks aloud what did I find there?  A whole lifetime of goals and exceeded expectations follow.  “The taller you get, the thinner you get.”  There are some people who are so connected, they can still understand supernatural things and can still communicate despite all the efforts of society to keep them apart; “…like the Tower of Babel missed a few.”  Indeed, she states “We were born knowing the language, but it was corrected like left-handedness and lisps.”  Yet, she has many adventures including a “library in Upstate New Mexico” and “the four winds of Hecate”.   It’s engrossing and off-kilter and delicious and builds to point where Stone freezes.  Trumbull solicitously takes her pulse, and helps make her comfortable.  In old stories, this is where someone might have had a “fit of apoplexy”.  Here, it may just be the end of the spiritual inspiration.   As I seem to keep saying about this evening, this was a wonderful thing to witness.
Theater Accident has again dared to do something awesome.  You will probably be awestruck after this show.  There is some sharp costuming courtesy of Melanie Hawks, intense music from Nat Hawks, and essential lighting of inner and outer space by Michael Gardner.  Otherwise, we are looking at the power of good writing and nimble acting by a knockout ensemble.

Review: Amios Delivers A Fresh Batch Of Brand New Musicals

By Ed Malin

Amios, the dynamic young theater company in residence at the Kraine, has a regularly monthly program of new work called Shotz.  Their two shows on the first Monday of the month are usually packed with fun-loving audiences.   I saw and enjoyed the June offering: Musical Shotz: One Night Only. Each new short musical was written to take place in New York City between 12 am and 6 am on Sunday, May 6, 2018, must have someone taking a picture, and must feature the line “We only have tonight”.   The freshly-written pieces cover a lot of ground in under ten minutes.  They are presented on a fairly bare stage which is the ground for an eruption of theatrical excitement.  By the way, Amios stands for Art and Music In Our Souls.
The program started with Kiz is Dead (Long Live Kiz) written by Liz Thaler with music composed by Ben Quinn, directed by Mario Gonzales featuring Annie Harper Branson, Kelly Chick, Cassandra Paras and Kia Sayyadi.  Here we have the coming together of a legendary punk band, known as Kiz, which is hitting the road again after 15 years.  All of the members have the first name Kiz.  As the band is about to begin what might be their reunion tour, they grant a backstage interview to a roving Rolling Stone Reporter.   Each Kiz is trying to overcome their demons (some question if there will be more than one show on this tour; they haven’t bothered to rehearse).  Cathartically, they play that one new song that isn’t really ready (most bands have one): “All is Forgiven”.
The next piece is Sonder by W Tré Davis, composed and directed by Richard Aven, featuring Meghan Grover, Emily Kitchens and Erin Roché.  Three women who have shuffled off this mortal coil find themselves together, ready to sing about the joyous things in life.  Sonder is defined as "the profound feeling of realizing that everyone, including strangers passed in the street, has a life as complex as one's own, which they are constantly living despite one's personal lack of awareness of it." Jo never lived when she was alive, although her great love was mathematics.  Rachel died young, and hears that her “guardian angel” friends have raised her daughter, who is now a grandmother.  Flower was named by a hippy mom and was a fortune teller.  Everything you like so much is right there. A chilled bottle of chardonnay magically appears.  And then the phone rings and it’s for you.

photo by Kara Overlein

The first half concludes with The Room written by Lisa Kitchens, composed by Therese Anderberg and Emily Casey, directed by Lindsey Wormser, featuring Khalia Davis, Lauren Hart, Katie Rose Krueger and Richard Sears.   This is the last night a young man is spending in the apartment he called home for nine years.  Home is a place where on a bad day you can have a glass of wine, and on a good day you can have a glass of wine. The Room itself—including fragments of memories —is played by three women.   As the night progresses, the human protagonist is pulled into a passionate dance with his Room.  As they do, random and beautiful occurrences float to the surface and elicit bemused reactions.  When you’re by yourself, you feel free.  You also feel empowered by what you have done and sad to leave it behind.  This was the most boldly experimental piece of the evening, and it succeeded admirably.
After the intermission, things take a turn for the dramatic with Deli Guys 3: Bodega Nights, written, composed and directed by Richard Thieriot, featuring Zach Evenson and Ashley Grombol as a bodega owner and his outrageous cat.  Richard Thieriot and Natalie Hegg provide narration, in Spanish and English, respectively.
The cat is loud and proud, baring her belly and then scratching her keeper when he tries to rub it   This is a tortured love.  And, like many tragic situations, there is a humorous communication gap. (Never has “carajo de mierdo” sounded more bewildering than in a straight-faced translation.)  This is a great play to ponder whether humans are superior to animals.  Also, Thieriot’s guitar is great background music for a sparring match.
Next is the engrossing Hoops written by Justin Yorio, composed by David Paarlberg, directed by Erik Saxvik, featuring Caitlin Diana Doyle, Philip Estrera, Michael Propster and Sarah Alice Shull.  We find ourselves in the middle of the basketball game that never ends.  At the stroke of midnight, the two two-player teams are evenly matched, tied at way over a hundred points each.  These are teenaged boys and girls who love the game.  The young men are in a bromance which started with their mutual love of feminist theorist bell hooks and continued when they realized they were wearing the same basketball jersey.  The young women are sisters who will never surrender.  It’s true the theme of the evening requires them to sing “we only have tonight”, but will they remain friends and chill out and see each other at the Bar Mitzvah on Saturday?
The show ends with a new beginning.   Metropolitan, written by Thomas J. Picasso, composed by Mikey Rosenbaum, directed by Emily Brown, featuring Fulvio, Dillon Heape and Leigh Williams shows us New York through the wide eyes of a visitor.  The setting appears to be the Metropolitan Bar, a gay-friendly hangout in Williamsburg.  As the new day technically begins, a young photographer from Iowa is checking out the great possibilities of the big city and hoping his hookup will call him back.  At last call, he says what used to be obvious before the neighborhood gentrified: $8 is a lot to pay for a Narragansett.  While he waits, he is privy to what goes on after hours in the bar, namely an artist salon.  The man and woman who run the place want him to share his photographs, and, just because, to share his body.  They do only have tonight since he is flying home in the morning.  Could they be lovers?  Don’t you like bars where you can hear your date?
While I heard that Shotz is on hiatus for the rest of 2018, Amios continues to produce full-length plays, many of which originate in Shotz.  Check out their upcoming shows.  This is a dedicated, large network of talented artists who always deliver an amazing show, with or without a glitzy set.

Review: A Delicious Dish

By Michael Block

Something fresh is on the menu at the Laurie Beechman. The Hell’s Kitchenettes are fresh off the griddle as they bring a new drag musical to the stage in pleasantly surprising fashion. Written by Michael LaMasa, The Hell’s Kitchenettes is a feel-good musical with a drag twist.

photo by Michael Block

Following the antics of three waitresses named Mabel Syrup, Pam Cakes, and Bette Griddler, the girls have an open rehearsal as they prepare for a competition. Should they win the cash prize, their hopes for revising “diner theater” can be realized. As a rare book musical that graced the Laurie Beechman stage, The Hell’s Kitchenettes has the potential to take off as a giant hit, it just needs a little polish and logic. The main conceit is that this is an open rehearsal for us, the audienc, to observe. It’s quite quickly that the trio forgets that there are others in the room aside from them. There are certain conversations that you’d think the girls would not want us to hear, but alas, we’re still there. By perhaps removing this gimmick and allowing us to observe solely as audience members in the classic sense will allow the piece to move along. That being said, the comedy is fabulously cheap, dripping in camp. The drag component pays homage to stories written by the likes of Charles Busch and Charles Ludlam. As this is a musical, LaMasa brings in the songbook of the Andrew Sisters as well as some modern reimagined classics like the Postmodern Jukebox version of “Oops I Did It Again.” Having these reimagined numbers that fit the characters works, yet there’s something charming about maintaining the integrity of the perceived period through the classic numbers. It’s easy to say that the trio are a sensationalized stock characters. There are moments that one for one, you could compare Mabel, Bette, and Pam to The Golden Girls, sans Sophia. Simply based on their dynamics, Mabel has the aura of Blanche, Bette is the robust Dorothy, and Pam is the dim Rose. As the show grows over time, LaMasa and co. can develop the characters so they can live in their own personality.
As the writer of the piece, Michael LaMasa did a phenomenal job allowing this trio show to be a welcome ensemble piece. LaMasa’s Bette Griddler is the glue that keeps the group together. As the show expands to become a grander piece, LaMasa could beef up Bette as she has the thinnest arc. Jackie Cox as Mabel is a fun floozy. On stage, Jackie Cox tends to be the dumb sidekick. In this piece, it’s a joy to watch her kick up the sex appeal. Mabel’s sexual innuendos and one-liners are hilarious. When it comes to comic timing perfection, James Mills as Pam Cakes steals the show. Mills makes Cakes dumb but charming. While she may be the butt of the jokes, she takes it in strides.
The Hell’s Kitchenettes may be gone for now, but they will be back and hopefully bigger than before. This is a show that can tour. It is a show that can have a regional run. It is a show that you wish you created because it’s a delicious dish.