And Sophie Comes Too (SoHo Playhouse)

By Scott

BOTTOM LINE: You should go with Sophie.


And Sophie Comes Too, a sell-out hit at this year’s Fringe Festival, has just moved to the SoHo Playhouse for a well deserved post-Fringe extended run as part of the Fringe Encore series. Sophie boasts a sharp script by Meryl Cohn, crisp direction by Mark Finley and a top notch cast, refreshingly all on the same page. Sophie tells a delightful story investigating, among other things, the complexity of familial relationships, the disparity between our internal and external lives, the search for self, and near-death experiences. The play navigates itself quite well through scenes that alternate between funny and ridiculous to touching and thought provoking. My only criticism is that the play ran out of steam about ten minutes before it actually ended and the last few “fade to blacks” were wrongly assumed to be the end. But when the play actually did end, I was glad I went along for the ride…and I was glad Sophie came too!

(And Sophie Comes Too plays as part of the Fringe Encore Series at SoHo Playhouse, 15 VanDam Street between 6th Avenue and Varick. Remaining performances are Monday, September 21 at 7pm, Wednesday, September 23 at 8pm and Saturday September 26 at 10:30pm. Tickets are $18 and are available at fringenyc-encoreseries.com or by calling 866.468.7619. For more show info visit tosos2.org.)

Joan Rivers - She's baaaack!

By Scott

BOTTOM LINE: You'll laugh.

Hey, I just read that Joan Rivers is doing stand-up at the Laurie Beechman Theater at the West Bank Café from August 4 – 20. I caught her act several months ago at the Cutting Room and she was hoot and a half! Check out that review here. And, if you are so inclined, check out Joan’s newest shtick and newest face live at the Laurie Beechman Theater at the West Bank Café, 407 W 42nd St (between Ninth and Tenth Aves, downstairs). Joan performs Tuesday, August 11 @ 8pm; Wednesday, August 12 and 19 @ 8pm; Thursday, August 20 @ 9pm. Tickets are $30: www.spincyclenyc.com or 212 352 3101.

Our Town (Barrow Street Theatre)

By Scott

5 POINTS OR LESS
minimalist • moving • engaging • all elements come together perfectly

BOTTOM LINE: Less is sometimes so much more.

Our Town is one of those plays that bears the sometimes unfortunate burden of superlatives. All too often, I have found, that expectation has out-shined actuality. I began to wonder if the play was really as good–if it really was as simple and as profound and as simultaneously singular and universal–as legend would have you belive. My curiosity was borne out of productions that simply did not reveal to me all the wonder I had been told this play possessed. And then I went to see the current production playing at the Barrow Street Theatre, and all my concerns melted away in about three minutes.

David Cromer’s magnificantly realized production literally and figuratively strips away all the excess and distractions that have plagued so many productions and in so doing sets free all the beauty and wonder of this play. It is so simple really. You have a great play as your foundation. You hire a group of talented, committed actors and a director that, for lack of a better term, “gets it,” and then get out of the way. Let it do the work for you. Impose nothing on it, just tell the story and let the play speak for itself.

For the first time I understood, viscerally as well as intellectually, what Our Town is about. It is about everything. It is about common people living common lives doing common things experiencing common emotions and doing it with their family and friends around them. It is, quite simply, about all of us. About the universality of our emotions and experiences. About the beauty of love and the temporary and transitory nature of life. About our desire to understand more than we can see and to hold on to things that we must let go. It is about our basic desire to know and to understand why. And accepting that we probably won’t ever really know.

Every aspect of this production is fully engaging, literally involving all the senses. The theatre is set up as a black box so that the audience sits on three sides. The set is two small dining room tables with chairs set around them. That is it. Everything else must be filled in by your own imagination. The house lights do not dim when the play starts, because, metaphorically, the lights do not dim when your life starts. Each piece of the puzzle has been so well thought out, and executed so subtly that audience members are invited to participate in the telling of the story by filling in all the lines in their own head. And it happens so naturally, without ever giving it a second thought. This, to my mind, is theatre at its most valuable and rewarding level.

All of this would not work as brilliantly as it does were it not for, as mentioned, director David Cromer (who also plays the Stage Manager) and his amazing, amazing cast. They were all so fantastic that I hate to mention anyone in particular for fear that it might suggest an heirarchy in my mind (which there isn’t), but at one point during the scene between George Gibbs and Emily Webb when they discover they are in love I actually forgot I was watching a play. Because I was watching life.

(Our Town plays at the Barrow Street Theatre, 27 Barrow Street. Performances are Tuesday through Friday at 7:30pm and Saturday and Sunday at 2:30pm and 7:30pm. Tickets are $69 or $40 for onstage seating and a limited number of $20 student rush tickets are available at the box office day of. To purchase tickets visit smarttix.com. For more info visit ourtownoffbroadway.com.)

Above photo is David Cromer as the Stage Manager. Photo by Carol Rosegg.

Belles (Lion Theatre)

By Scott

5 POINTS OR LESS
well acted • well directed • great set • something was missing

Kelly Strandemo, Christina Shipp, Kristi McCarson, Laura Faith in Belles. Photo by Christian DeAngelis.

BOTTOM LINE: So close and yet so far.

There is a lot to like about Belles, a play about six sisters desperately trying to connect with one another despite the distances between them, both physical and emotional. The play's strongest asset is the six actresses playing the sisters, each perfectly cast and able to effortlessly convey both the archetype she represents (successful business woman who is emotionally shut off, the flaky free-spirit who changes her name to Dust, the repressed Preacher's wife, etc.) as well as the conflict she believes to be uniquely her own. Director Marisa Voila weaves the story in and around a cozy, well appointed set that looks like your average American home. She creatively and effectively has the sisters alternating rooms until everyone has played at least one scene in every room, so that the space becomes both individual and universal, symbolic of the thread that connects each of these women. The scenes are well paced and fluid, the cast, as mentioned, adeptly navigates its way through the scenes mining the maximum emotional (when necessary) and comedic (when necessary) value while remaining grounded and believable. The costumes and lighting and all the other technical elements of the play are similarly top notch.

My only criticism is that because the entire play is a series of phone calls (45 to be exact), it means that there was never a real face-to-face connection between any of the characters. As the play unfolded and the histories and frustrations and resentments were revealed and confronted, my desire for at least two people to be in the same room at the same time and actually deal with each other live and without the protection of distance continued to grow. Because that desire was never satisfied, I left feeling like this play had unfinished business, that I wanted more. Which, perhaps is not a bad thing. And I certainly don’t mean to suggest that the creators of this production didn’t fulfill their obligation to the play, its just that for me, one of the thrills of live theatre is the opportunity to watch human beings deal with one another face to face and in real time, perhaps in ways we never would or even could in real life. As the various pairs of women stood on stage talking into their phones, though within mere inches of each other, they were figuratively miles apart. And consequently, so was I.

(Belles plays through April 12 at the Lion Theatre, Theatre Row, 410 W. 42nd Street. Performances are Mondays at 7pm, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 3pm. Tickets are $21.25 and are available at ticketcentral.com or by phone at 212-279-4200. For more show info visit heiressproductions.org.)

ZOMBIE (Theatre Row Studio)

By Scott

5 POINTS OR LESS
disturbing • one-man show • 75 Minutes • left me cold

Bill Connington as Quentin P. in ZOMBIE. c Dixie Sheridan

BOTTOM LINE: This story wouldn’t lure me into a van.

I don’t really know what to say about ZOMBIE. On paper it has all the makings of a big hit, and it probably will be. It is a carryover from last summer’s New York Fringe Festival where it enjoyed a sold-out run. It has been getting rave reviews all over town. It is based on a novella written by Pulitzer Prize nominated author Joyce Carol Oates. It is adeptly adapted and performed by Bill Connington. The production values are all crisp and top notch. Everything about this play points towards the hit that it probably will be. And yet I hated it.

Okay, maybe “hate” is too strong, but I didn’t like it. Now there is a very good chance that my strong reaction, albeit negative, is exactly what the creators of ZOMBIE are trying to achieve. And if that is the case, and if that is what you want from a theatrical experience, then you should definitely go see it. But the main problem I had with ZOMBIE was not so much the subject matter (a gay serial killer who kidnaps and mutilates young men in the Detroit area) or even the narrative structure (one man onstage breaking the fourth wall and telling his story directly to the audience), it was the complete lack of humanity revealed by Quentin P, Connington's character. I understand, of course, that we are dealing with a serial killer here, but if I am going to be asked to invest time in someone's story, particularly a monster, I need something – a hint or suggestion that there is a wounded, vulnerable human being in there that just flipped a circuit and went the wrong way – and that he needs to tell me his story for his own redemption...that he needs to be heard in order to be healed. I will listen to that. I can identify with that. I can potentially see myself in that and can project all my fears about the worst potentials of myself onto that. But ZOMBIE is written and played with an emotional distance that left me not only cold, but out in the cold.

From the moment the play started, I found it very hard to be engaged or to stay focused. This story of a man who was able to lure men into his van could not lure my attention for more than two or three minutes at a time. My mind continually wandered, and when I forced my attention back on the play, I felt only disgust for Quentin, not the requisite pathos or sympathy or even curiosity for the details of his depravity that would make this play work for me. Eventually even the production values, the harsh lighting and sparse antiseptic set started to work against me. About twenty minutes before it ended, I wanted to get out of there. The entire event was stifling.

Clearly, however, it seems to be just me. As I mentioned, the notices for this play have been incredibly positive, and the audience I saw the play with was incredibly responsive. Connington’s character work is flawless and his focus onstage effectively disturbing. But it just wasn’t enough to draw me in. And I really wanted to like this play. I really did. And while I concede that everything it does it does exceedingly well, I have to admit that all it did for me, was give me seventy-five minutes to contemplate where I was going to go for drinks after the show.

(ZOMBIE plays at Theatre Row's Studio Theatre, 410 West 42 Street, through March 28th. Performance times are Thursday-Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 3pm. Tickets are $21.25 and can be purchased online at ticketcentral.com or by calling 212-279-4200. For more info, visit zombietheplay.com.)

Fresh Kills (59E59)

By Scott

5 POINTS OR LESS
great acting • intimate setting • effective and evocative staging • predictable story

BOTTOM LINE: What happens in the truck stays in the truck.

Fresh Kills, now playing at 59E59 Theaters, is an interesting theatrical experience. While the 90 minutes or so are very efficiently used and the play is quite dramatic, it offers no real thematic surprises. So, while I did enjoy it, I must confess that I was left wanting more. I was hoping that the story would take an unpredictable turn or that a character would reveal or confess something I didn't see coming and would thus shake up the narrative. That did not happen. Okay...so Fresh Kills does not necessarily offer anything new in terms of narrative or structure, but what it does offer is an enormously effective production I challenge even the most cynical theatergoer not to be seduced by.

Staten Island couple Eddie and Marie are participants in a life and marriage that, where joy may have once existed, is now primarily filled with stress and frustration. The attempts they each make to keep the other interested and interesting are usually usurped by the exigencies of suburban family life. Feeling empty, alone, conflicted, and - quite obviously - confused, Eddie starts chatting with a young boy online. They agree to meet, Eddie claims he doesn't want sex, the boy clearly does want attention, Eddie tries to cut it off, the boy shows up at Eddie's house, Marie takes a liking to the boy she thinks Eddie has taken on as a big brother, the boy (Arnold) threatens to out him, Eddie doesn't want to lose his family...etc, etc, and so the story goes. There is nothing new here. But what makes Fresh Kills compelling theatre are two key elements essential to any good play: a fantastic staging concept that puts the audience in the middle (almost literally) of the action, and, of course, great acting.

Fresh Kills plays in a tiny black box theatre that can't have more than 50 seats. The playing area is small and in the center (taking up virtually all the space) is a large pickup truck. From the minute you walk into the theatre a sense of confinement and restriction is palpable. The seats are close together, there is not a lot of leg room - it’s as if Eddie's internal emotional experience is made physical for the audience by virtue of the space. Director Isaac Byrne takes an enormous risk by keeping his actors in a stationary vehicle for a large portion of the play, and forcing them to maneuver around the vehicle when they are not in it, but it pays incredible dividends. Most of the action takes place in the truck, and the scenes out of the truck usually involve Eddie trying to cover up what has gone on in the truck, so the ever-present truck becomes the elephant in the room. Like the truth you refuse to acknowledge, it is always there. Waiting to be dealt with. Or not. During a brief period when the truck was moved off stage, its absence was absolutely deafening. I bet these actors never thought they'd have to worry about being upstaged by a truck.

Luckily they weren’t. The cast of Fresh Kills is in absolute fine form. Characterizations aside, it is never easy to perform in a small space, with the front row of the audience literally at your toes, and to have to maneuver around a large inanimate object. That the cast does this effortlessly is a testament to the artistry of each of them individually and to them collectively as a company. Robert Funary successfully finds all the nuances of Eddie's internal struggle. I was at once frustrated by him, yet sympathetic towards him. I understood the struggle he was trying to resolve and I was on the edge of my seat hoping the delicate balance of his life would not upend. Therese Plummer brings a feisty sexiness to Marie that makes her imminently likable. Plummer never allows her character's frustrations and disappointments to overshadow her optimism and that is what makes her truly alluring. You are really mad at Eddie for any pain he may cause her. Todd Flaherty plays the hustler Arnold with a perfect snarl. His disdain for all things civilized only partially masks his deep desire for love and acceptance. And Jared Culverhouse is excellent as the brother-in-law cop that everyone has met a thousand times. He is the guy you want around to protect you when danger arrives, but not the guy you want to cross.

Fresh Kills is an enormously satisfying theatrical experience. Great acting with actors so close you can reach out and touch them (but don't) will always be a worthwhile outing. I highly recommend you check it out during its short run at 59E59 so long as you don't suffer from claustrophobia. Or even if you do. You will probably have an even more intense experience than I did!

(Fresh Kills plays at 59E59, 59 East 59th Street between Lexington and Park, through March 1 only. Performance times are Tuesday at 7:30pm, Wednesday through Friday at 8:30pm, Saturday at 2:30pm and 8:30pm, and Sunday at 3:30pm and 7:30pm. Tickets are $18, to purchase call 212-279-4200 or visit ticketcentral.com. For more information, visit 59e59.org.)

Improbable Frequency (59E59)

BOTTOM LINE: The thinking man's (or woman's) musical theatre.

During the intermission of Improbable Frequency the lady sitting in front of me turned to her companion and said, "You really have to concentrate on this one." That is somewhat of an understatement. Set in and around Dublin during WWII, the story weaves its way in and around the connections of a eclectic mix of characters, all of whom sing, mug, shimmy, dance, vogue, and speak in verse.

What I loved most about this play was the obvious craftwork that went into creating it. All the dialogue is in verse, the songs are catchy and are all quite distinctive, the set, lighting and costumes were all time and place perfect. There was not a detail left unattended to, and that includes the cast – a fantastic group of talented actors who play a range of characters with great aplomb. The entire enterprise felt like a finely tuned Cadillac purring at an auto show. It successfully merges many genres, often feeling more like a movie than a play. There is political tension mixed with farce, romanticism and a touch of film noir...something for everyone.

My only criticism is that the play may be too smart for its own good. At some point in the middle of Act II, I sort of got lost in the labyrinth and never really found my way out. At a two and a half hour running time, perhaps a few of the extraneous off shoots of the main plot could be sacrificed for time.

But that really is a minor quibble when compared to the amount of fun this play really is. And now that I think about it, maybe the woman in front of me was concentrating too hard. Maybe the whole point of the Improbable Frequency is that it is, in fact, improbable, and the harder you try to keep everything linear and wrap your brain around all the connections and interconnections, all the more improbable it becomes. Maybe the point is to just sit back, relax and enjoy the show.

(Improbably Frequency plays through January 4th at 59E59 Theaters, 59 E. 59th Street between Park and Madison. Show times are Tuesday at 7pm, Wednesday at 2pm and 8pm, Thursday and Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 2pm and 8pm and Sunday at 3pm. Holiday schedule: December 24th at 2pm, December 25th at 6pm only. Tickets are $60...to purchase visit ticketcentral.com. Visit 59E59.org for more info.)

American Buffalo

I enjoyed American Buffalo, but was not WOWED by it. I thought the performances, for the most part, were pretty solid. John Leguizamo was particularly engaging and Cedric the Entertainer certainly held his own. I was a little disappointed with Haley Joel Osment, not because he was bad in so much as it felt, to me at least, that he was a little out of his element. The entire outing seemed bigger than he was and I never felt that he really got his arms around it.

The play, as mentioned, is closing barely a week after it opened, and I can't tell you that I'm all that surprised. I don't even really know why. I like this play and i liked this production of it, but...I guess this production just never felt like more than the sum of its parts. I am a big Mamet fan, and have read and seen American Buffalo before so I certainly knew what I was in for on that front. The performances, as mentioned, were at worst capable, and usually much more than that. The other production values - set, lights, costumes - were certainly all top notch too. Everything looked and sounded great. So I don't know what it is about this production that is failing to gain traction with the theatre-going public. Maybe as the economy continues to tank and the cold dark days of winter are upon us, the masses are just looking for something a little more...inspiring. Like The Seagull.

Joan Rivers at The Cutting Room

BOTTOM LINE: Oh no she didn't...

Comedy legend Joan Rivers is working out some new material during a limited-all-proceeds-go-to-charity-engagement at the Cutting Room, and I am happy to report that her acid tounge, razor sharp wit, and perpetually reshaped face all remain firmly, brilliantly and hilariously intact.

Her set lasts (sadly, only) about an hour and mixes some bits that still need to be fine tuned with some bits that absolutely do not. But Miss Rivers continually scores comic gold throughout the evening every time she abandons the planned stuff and just riffs with the audience, a surprisingly diverse and overtly adoring crowd. It is always a thrill to see a comic, especially one as seasoned as Rivers, who is able to take risks, and really be in the moment, tailoring her comedy to what is happening in the room. It infuses everything with a sense of urgency and immediacy imperative in comedy (good comedy, anyway). And there is something particularly thrilling about watching Rivers, a veteran performer by any standard, work a room into a frenzy. As is the case with any artist and her chosen discipline, its not the ability to do it that makes you a legend, its the ability to do it brilliantly and to make it look effortless that does. It is abundantly clear which category into which Rivers falls well before she hits center stage and grabs the mike from its stand.

Ultimately, however, I think comedy has to be dangerous if it is going to be truly and legitimately funny. If the comics aren't going to say the things most people think but wouldn't dare articulate, then who will? Watching Rivers "go there," (and by "there" I mean places you don't expect most seventy-plus-year-olds to go) reminds you that if you play it safe in comedy, it's worse than boring, its unfunny. Because if you don't have at least one, "Oh no she didn't" moment, then what's the point? I was laughing so hard that I lost count of my "Oh no she didn't" moments, but suffice it to say she had many. Oh yes she did.

(Remaining shows include Wednesday, Nov. 19th at 7:30pm, Wednesday, Dec. 10th at 8pm and Friday, Dec. 19th at 7:30pm. The Cutting Room is located at 19 West 24th Street between Broadway and Sixth Avenue. Tickets are $30 and a proceeds are donated to God's Love We Deliver and Guide Dogs for the Blind. For tickets click here or call 212.352.3101.)

The Marvelous Wonderettes (Westside Theatre)

BOTTOM LINE: Shut up and sing.

There is a lot to like about The Marvelous Wonderettes. First and foremost are the Wonderettes themselves, who are in fact, quite marvelous. Farah Alvin, Beth Malone, Bets Malone and Victoria Matlock are four ridiculously talented women who shimmy, bop and sway in unison, and who sing a catalogue of 50’s and 60’s songs I defy anyone not to be entertained by. And they don’t just sing, they sing! All four women are able to mine the maximum amount of emotional value from one iconic song, then turn around and belt the shit out of another equally identifiable one. Watching them unleash their interpretive and vocal powers for two hours, one gets the sense that no matter what happens with this show, these four ladies have major careers ahead of them. And not just in musical theatre, any one of them could easily have pop, R&B or even jazz and blues success. Simply put, they are amazing – goose bumps amazing – and alone are worth the price of admission.

While nothing else that happens during the show carries the impact of the stars, several other creative touches are worth noting: the theatre has been converted into a high school gym on prom night circa 1958 (and, in Act II 1968), and all the details are there. The offstage band is hot and manages to maintain the integrity of each song, while at the same time making it sound fresh and alive. Each Wonderette is dressed in a period appropriate prom dress that, with the aid of color and cut, helps identify the archetype she represents. Wigs and glasses and other accessories and such have all been well thought out and executed. This show certainly delivers a lot to look at and listen to.

The one thing the play does not deliver, however, is anything resembling an interesting, believable or compelling plot. This is a problem mostly because after the first thirty minutes or so, you wish they would dispense with the dialogue that is meant to resemble a narrative and just focus on the music. It would have been fine with me if the plot was: “It is 1958 and you are at a Marvelous Wonderettes concert. The end.” There is no need to create one-dimensional characters and then try to find silly reasons to tie songs together and make a story. I don’t think this play exists because writer director Roger Bean had an epic story inside of him that needed to be let out. I think he wanted to celebrate and pay tribute to the songs and idealism of a more innocent time. It’s just too bad he didn’t trust the music and his Marvelous Wonderettes enough to let them do the job for him.

(The Marvelous Wonderettes plays off-Broadway at The Westside Theatre, 407 West 43rd Street. The run is open-ended and performances are Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 7pm, and matinees Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday at 3pm. Buy tickets at telecharge.com or by calling 212.239.6200. Tickets are $75. Visit marvelouswonderettes.com for more show info.)

Photo by Carol Rosegg...Front: Bets Malone; Back: Farah Alvin, Beth Malone, Victoria Matlock

Kidstuff (Kirk Theatre)

BOTTOM LINE: Why are the bad ones too long and the good ones too short?

Kidstuff is a charming play about the things we do, the things that are done to us, the choices we make, the choices others make and how hard it is to come to terms with and make sense of it all.

Partial Comfort Productions has done a lovely job staging this play and the cast is in fine form. All the players handle their multiple roles with aplomb, but ultimately it is Sarah Nina Hayon in the role of Eve that makes the play fly. Hayon is able to masterfully maintain a delicate balance of emotions that elicits true empathy but never crosses the line into pity. Watching her navigate her way through her highschool experiences as revisited in group therapy and her adult life (which looks curiously similar to her highschool one) in real time is a great ride, and Hayon proves to be a great emotional vessel. He face, body and voice are able to suggest all the physical and emotional complications of her circumstances without ever being didactic. Certainly a trap into which an actor of lesser skill could easily fall. Kudos, too, to director Erica Gould for steering the entire cast clear of the obvious – and therefore much less interesting – choices.

My only criticism is that I wanted more. Edith Freni has written a really wonderful play with themes basic to the human condition and I wanted to be engaged longer and more fully. The play clocks in at not much more than an hour, so a second act is certainly a possibility. Not really a criticism, I guess, but the topics touched upon in this play are big and emotionally packed and totally universal and I found myself wanting issues to be more fully investigated. I was curious, for example, about Eve’s relationship with her mother. I wanted to know and understand why her brother is so angry and her father so distant. The list goes on. It seems to me that the fine people at Partial Comfort Productions decided to take a less-is-more approach to this play. And while that's a rule I usually think that is a good idea, in the case of Kidstuff, maybe more is more too. Although what you do get from this show is certainly a lot.

(Kidstuff plays at The Kirk Theatre at Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd Street at 9th Ave, through September 27. Showtimes are Wednesday through Saturday at 8pm. Visit ticketcentral.com for tickets and see the show's website, partialcomfort.org for more info.)

Summer and Smoke (Clurman Theater)

BOTTOM LINE: as good as it gets.

So often great plays by great playwrights get mired by a director’s compulsion to change, re-think or re-invent what is already a perfectly round wheel. Perhaps no playwright in the pantheon of American greats has been more victimized by this tendency than Tennessee Williams. Williams’ plays, famously famous for all the things they are rightly famous for, frequently have their beauty and their power and their frailty and their humanity diluted by productions that don’t adhere to the idea that if a play is great and you have a talented creative team behind it, the best thing to do is to get out of the way.

I am happy (no, thrilled actually) to report that Big Sky Theater Company’s current production of Summer and Smoke, does just that. Director Tlaloc Rivas and cohorts have taken an incredibly engaging minimalistic approach to their current production – running, sadly only through August 31 so go when you are done reading this – literally putting forth the play, the whole play, and nothing but the play. The stage is essentially bare, there is no set save for chairs for the well-costumed actors and a few furniture pieces, there are almost no props, lighting and sound cues have been whittled down to the bare minimum. The playing space on stage looks and feels physically uncluttered, and that allows for the playing space in your heart and in your head to be likewise, and thus open to receive whatever comes at you.

And what comes at you is a moving story told without the distractions that need not be there when you have a play this rich and a cast this good. Rivas keeps the show going at a good pace, allowing moments and emotions to be fully realized, but never over indulged. The cast is pitch-perfect in every aspect – individual call-outs are unnecessary as they are a true ensemble and operate as such, with nary a weak link to be found. I can’t imagine a finer showcase for this play or for these actors.

This is no small feat. Having seen a number of productions of a number of Tennessee Williams plays, from the well-known greats, to the lesser-known not-so-greats, this production of Summer and Smoke is an absolute standout. It succeeds mostly because it adheres to the idea that I think great theatre is predicated on: you don’t need a lot of bells and whistles, movable set pieces and expensive pyrotechnics when you have real human beings experiencing real human emotions on stage. Sometimes the brush of face or the turn of a phrase or the realization of a universal truth (“Forget about pride whenever it stands between you and what you must have”) has more impact than a thousand volts of electricity.

(Summer and Smoke plays at the Clurman Theatre at Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd Street at 9th Ave. Remaining show times are Friday, August 29th at 8pm, Saturday, August 30th at 2pm and 8pm, and Sunday, August 31st at 2pm. Tickets are $18...visit ticketcentral.com or call 212.279.4200.

See How Beautiful I Am: The Return of Jackie Susann (The SoHo Playhouse)

BOTTOM LINE: See How Beautiful I Am's Fringe run is over, but it still deserves a shout-out.

The primary reason to see See How Beautiful I Am: The Return of Jackie Susann is for the return of Jackie Susann - in the form of Debora Weston. Weston so successfully inhabits the character of Susann that I never for one second thought that I wasn’t actually watching the woman who wrote The Valley of the Dolls, or VD as Susann lovingly refers to it, tell me the story of her life. I knew nothing of this woman walking into the SoHo Playhouse, but was nonetheless rapt for the entire hour or so that Weston was onstage. I think that is a testament to the real person, the person pretending to be the real person and everyone else involved (writer Paul Minx, director Paul Dubois) in this very simple, classy, and intimate one-woman show.

Weston effectively navigates her way through Susann’s life hitting what I assume to be all the major events playing both the lead and supporting characters. The script beautifully illuminates Susann’s humor and strength and vulnerability and sass and puts them all on equal display constructing not a character or caricature, but a real human being. The keep-it-simple motto with respect to set, lights and sound all work to great advantage keeping the focus right where it should be - on Susann and her story. Most importantly, however, the play communicates a real sense of affection and respect for its subject and that makes it a pleasure to watch. And don't think for one second I didn’t go home and Youtube the afternoon away watching clips of the real Jackie Susann. But, truth be told, I liked the one onstage at the SoHo Playhouse better.

See How Beautiful I Am comes from London's Off The Cuff Theatre Company. For more info visit otctheatre.co.uk

Be Brave, Anna! (The Players Theatre)

BOTTOM LINE: Funny isn’t mean, and mean definitely isn’t funny.

I am going to be completely upfront about my dislike of this play. I am not sure why I had such a strong reaction to it, but I did, and I feel compelled to air my grievances. Loudly. For the record, I am not suggesting that this play is bad. Just that it pissed me off.

First, the positive aspects: The dialogue is sharp and witty, the cast is more than capable and seems to be having a good time, and that is always fun to watch. The show moves along at a good clip keeping the mood light. The costumes and minimal set are all appropriate for the occasion. But...

Be Brave, Anna!, by virtue of its title, postures itself to be a play that is going to take a sympathetic, albeit comedic, look at the life and tragic death of Anna Nicole Smith – a woman whose name, likeness and story are both literally and figuratively the stuff of which E! True Hollywood Stories are made. I challenge you to find anyone over the age of seven who doesn’t know the major plot points of her sad, short life.

Why, then, is this play necessary? I ask this not rhetorically, but with a real desire to understand what the impetus for this play really was. If it were an attempt to illuminate a side of Anna Nicole not yet served up for public consumption by the handlers who were all too eager to make money at her expense, then, I might find it interesting. But to serve up the same old shtick – to simply paint Anna Nicole as a bumbling dumb country bumpkin and to suggest that she is absolutely nothing more than the image the media constructed for us to lust over and laugh at, is, to me at least, not funny. Obviously something about this woman touched a chord with the celebrity-crazed-reality-show-addicted American public (and, curiously, with me – who knew?), or we wouldn't be writing plays about her, but to perpetuate the humiliation she endured in her life after her death is just mean. I don’t think the creators of this show intended to be mean, but this play felt mean to me. Surely there are many things about Anna Nicole Smith that we didn’t know – a love of books, perhaps, or an allergy to flowers, a fear of flying or a freakish aptitude for math. Who knows? But surely there had to be more to her than what we saw. Why not write a play about that?

If only the creators of Be Brave, Anna! had used their collective and considerable talents and taken a more sympathetic approach to their subject, and made an attempt to see what was really going in the head underneath the bleach blonde hair and in the heart behind the big boobs. My guess is that is where the untold story and the real drama of Anna Nicole Smith really exists. And it is undoubtedly more compelling than any E! True Hollywood Story.

Be Brave, Anna! plays at the Players Theatre, 115 MacDougal Street just south of West 3rd St. Show times: Thursday, August 21st at 9:45pm; Friday, August 22 at 3pm; Saturday, August 23rd at 3:30pm. Visit bebraveanna.com or fringenyc.com for more info and to purchase tickets.

The Boy In the Basement (SoHo Playhouse)

BOTTOM LINE: I liked it a lot. You will too. Go see it. Its fun and the cast is good looking.

More than any other Fringe show I have seen over the last couple of years, The Boy In the Basement epitomizes what I think this festival is all about. It successfully manages to walk the line between serious and ridiculous; it employs a mode of storytelling that is unique (though not revolutionary) and thoroughly effective; it has a cast that is young and attractive with just the right amount of crazy thrown in for fun; and, most importantly, it has a director that has assembled all these pieces into a finely woven, immensely entertaining play that is not only very funny, but also manages to take a few unexpected turns on its way to leaving you...well, if not exactly moved, then tingly.

When a play is good, the less said the better. I walked in not really knowing what to expect and I think that is the best way to experience a play, especially one that is relatively uncomplicated from a plot standpoint, and one that intends to toy with audience expectations. I deny the play the opportunity to toy with your expectations if I tell you what to expect. Right?

Right. So, suffice to say, I really liked this play. The idea isn’t necessarily groundbreaking (what is these days), but that is okay because it is sweet and fun and masterfully executed. The cast is uniformly exceptional – each member of the ensemble has found a way to maximize the camp quotient without sacrificing any of the emotional truth necessary to keep the play from becoming frivolous. The staging is perfect for the mood and style of the play and venue, while at the same time feeling somewhat clunky and spontaneous…which worked to the play’s advantage so I am assuming it was intentional. But maybe not. Who cares? There is a keyboard accompanist too (no, its not a musical) who provides musical interludes. I am not sure what it adds, but it adds something. Music, I guess.

This play is an example of when the whole is not greater than the sum of its parts, but equal to it. It demonstrates that you can successfully mount a play that toys with theatrical conventions and audience expectations without sacrificing the basics – plot, conflict, humanity, vulnerability – and you can do it with a wink and a smile. And isn’t that the whole point?

The Boy In the Basement plays at the SoHo Playhouse, 15 Vandam between 6th and Varick. Show times: Thursday, August 21st at 11:45pm; Saturday, August 23rd at 10pm. Visit theboyinthebasement.com or fringenyc.org for more info and to purchase tickets.

For Reasons Unknown (Barrow Street Theatre)

BOTTOM LINE: Bathroom humor is funny because it is a taboo subject about a universal experience. It's rarely discussed with mixed company...maybe there is a reason for that.

For Reasons Unknown felt like a great idea for a ten minute sketch that was stretched a little past the breaking point into a ninety minute play. What had the potential to be a dirty, unusual and funny little play about poo - yes, I mean excrement - certainly a topic not frequently investigated on stage, sadly went nowhere terribly dirty, unusual, or funny. And it took a long time to not go there.

That is not to say the experience is totally void of entertainment value. The first ten minutes are quite funny. The two lead characters, Bradley and Julie (Jeff Long and Andi Teran, also real life best friends and co-playwrights), are both gifted physical comedians who give energetic performances that includes a fantastically choreographed dance number the folks in Chicago would be proud to call their own. And the supporting cast is also more than 100% capable and committed.

The central problem here is that the initial crisis (Dude, who poo'd on my couch?) does not lead to any sort of realistic conflict. I was not clear what anyone seemed to want or need, and none of the characters were terribly sympathetic so I was left sitting there with nothing to care about and no one to root for. Add to that the fact that the play takes all sorts of random detours (a neighbor with M.S.; a monologue about pigeons; a re-enactment of a pickup at a gay bar the night before), has a slew of inside jokes that friends of the playwrights got but that left me scratching my head, and an ending that offers no resolution or any sense that the last ninety minutes had any sort of impact on anyone. What you are left with is an unfocused construct inside of which talented performers get to spread their wings but never really take flight.

Perhaps with some re-writes this could be a viable play. And I certainly look forward to seeing Jeff and Andi in something that will better showcase their obvious and considerable comedic talents. Then again, maybe its just me. The rest of the audience was quite vociferous with their enjoyment of the show, some of whom were compelled to their feet at curtain call. I just can’t get that excited about someone else’s poo.

For Reasons Unknown plays at the Barrow Street Theatre, 27 Barrow St. at 7th Ave. Show times: Thursday, August 14th at 10pm; Monday, August 18th at 7:30pm; Thursday, August 21st at 2pm; Sunday, August 24th at 2:15pm. For more info visit forreasonsunknown.com or fringenyc.org.

Hostage Song (Kraine Theater)

BOTTOM LINE: Hostage Song will make you laugh, have your head bopping and fingers snapping, and induce a panic attack. How many theatrical experiences - other than the Republican National Convention - can lay claim to that?

About halfway through Hostage Song I accepted that the two main characters probably weren’t going to take off their blindfolds or unbind their hands. And while acceptance of this allowed me to experience the balance of the play without the expectation that my desire would be satisfied, it did nothing to alleviate the anxiety this play induced in me. Thank God.

Hostage Song is an incredibly effective play on many levels. It is a rock musical a la Rent and Spring Awakening, with a lively onstage band, a fantastic score and great voices bellowing out songs that will have your head shaking and your toes tapping well into the night. It is a complicated drama about two people held physical hostage in a land the authors go out of their way to not identify by name. It is a story about two people held hostage (perhaps emotionally and psychologically) by the damage, insecurities and limitations imposed on them by their families, their pasts, and perhaps even themselves. It is also enormously and unexpectedly funny. It is no small task to incorporate all of these elements and weave them into a coherent and engaging narrative that examines and illuminates the human condition, yet the creators of this fine work have done just that and more.

What I loved most about this play was the way it teased and taunted me by taking seemingly opposing tactics to tell its tale, thus leaving my expectations and desires evolving along with the narrative. As I already mentioned, many elements pertaining to the specific setting of the story were vague. It was similarly vague about most of the relationships each of the characters had to each other. By not explicitly identifying anything, it put the onus on me to label everything. The inclusion of a band on stage playing lively pop-rock songs didn’t seem to jive with a play about two hostages in a war zone whose fates seemed doomed; the music was loud and mostly upbeat which was an interesting juxtaposition to the quiet sense of slow motion that permeated most of the dialogue-driven scenes between the two prisoners. Because the two main characters were blindfolded for the entire play, there was a sense of danger and tentativeness to their movements which played in opposition to the members of the band who, with no blindfolds on, moved with grace and confidence, weaving themselves in, out and around the stage and the story.

Hostage Song is ultimately about two human souls trying to connect as they face a potentially violent end. The ability to do so is challenged because they are denied the opportunity to actually see or touch one another. Then again, maybe by denying them this opportunity, they are able to more acutely see and touch one another, and thus connect. Likewise, we as an audience are able to see and to be touched.

This play is a challenging emotional experience. The music and the humor alleviate that to some degree, but ultimately the strength of this play is its unwillingness to abandon its principles (so that I wouldn't be more comfortable sitting anonymously in the dark). If I had been comfortable, I would have been no more than a passive observer to the hostages instead of one of them.

(Hostage Song plays at the Kraine Theatre, 85 West 4th Street, until April 26th. Performances are Thursday through Sunday at 8pm. Tickets are $18 and are available by calling SmartTix at 212-868-4444. For more information visit www.HorseTrade.info.)

Photo by Samantha Marble: Hanna Cheek and Abe Goldfarb.

Liberty City (New York Theater Workshop)

BOTTOM LINE: Seriously. Go see this play. Now.

Liberty City, playing a far too limited engagement - no matter how long it runs - at New York Theater Workshop is, quite simply, amazing. It is a solo show (one awesome woman, April Yvette Thompson who co-wrote the show with director Jessica Blank) about her experiences growing up in the 70's and 80's in Liberty City, a section of Miami, Florida. I will dispense with any further plot information as I think the best way to experience this show is to walk in a blank slate and just absorb the brilliance as it comes raging at you.

Thompson commands the stage for ninety intermissionless minutes, and masterfully guides you on the odyssey of her life, passing the baton of narrator among an array of family members and friends, all of whom helped write and shape her story. Thompson inhabits each of these characters with a richness and a fullness that is spectacular in its specificity, yet loving in its reverence. Though non-linear in time and narrative voice, the play is never confusing. Though about a specific place, a specific period in history and involving a specific group of people, the play's themes of strength and struggle, of hope and dreams, of history and heritage, are completely universal. It is funny. It is heartbreaking. It is inspiring. It is, at times, uncomfortable and challenging. It is, in short, everything a night at the theatre should be, but so seldom actually is.

After the show, a group of about five of us, some strangers, some not, all from varying backgrounds and vocations, sat for hours contemplating what we had just collectively experienced. There were many facets of the play that we had interpreted differently, but our desire to discuss and debate and re-think and keep talking lasted well into the early morning hours. I can't wait to see the play again, armed with the experience of seeing it once as well as four hours of discussion about it, to see what else I can find lurking beneath the surface. My hunch is that the brilliance and complexity of this play and its luminous star are virtually bottomless.

(Liberty City is currently in previews; it opens March 4th and closes March 16th. Shows are Tuesday at 7, Wednesday-Saturday at 8, Saturday at 3 and 8, Sunday 2 and 7 at New York Theatre Workshop...79 East 4th Street. Tickets are $45 each or $20 for Sunday night performances, student tickets are $20. nytw.org for more info.)

Looking Up (Theatre for the New City)

BOTTOM LINE: The classic relationship play with a twist. Or should I say, a lift.
















Looking Up is a charming play about the complexities of love and the risks and rewards that come as one learns to navigate his or her way through a new relationship that is not yet certain to fly. Set in various locations in, around and above New York City, Trapeze Artist Wendy (Carla Cantrelle, also the playwright), and bartender Jack (Bryant Mason) do the familiar dance of two people who are drawn to each other, yet because of past hurts and lingering insecurities keep their escape routes readily accessible. Jack’s escape route, naturally, is another woman; Wendy’s is a trapeze bar.

It is indeed unusual, yet provides an interesting visual diversion to the play's main action, and also serves as a fantastic metaphor for our human desire to want to “fly away” when life is not unfolding as we planned or when things get stifling and uncomfortable. The three trapeze bars hanging in various locations around the stage serve as a constant reminder to the circus Wendy ran away from (and perhaps, at the same time, toward), and add an element of performance art to the proceedings that contribute greatly to the depth and texture of the play.

Cantrelle and Mason are very likeable as Wendy and Jack, and deftly navigate their way through their respective roles with the perfect combination of confidence and vulnerability. As I left Theater for the New City contemplating Looking Up, it struck me that the title not only referred to Wendy flying on her trapeze bar, but could also be interpreted as an optimistic comment on how finding love can change one’s outlook on life. For Wendy and Jack, things are, in fact, looking up!

(Looking Up plays a limited engagement at Theatre For the New City, 155 First Avenue between 9th and 10th Streets. Performances run Thursday through Saturday at 8pm and Sundays at 3pm now until March 2. Tickets are $18 and are available at theatremania.com or by calling 212-352-3101.)