Off Broadway (and sometimes Broadway) Reviews and Information.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Fringe: Lost & Found


Lost And Found will start on August 16th at the Fringe NY.
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From the Press Release... (it looks great to me).
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New York: TV’s Geraldine Librandi (Patty Leotardo in “The Sopranos”) and Reiko Aylesworth (“24” and “DAMAGES”) will lead the cast of the edgy and poignant new play LOST AND FOUND written by John Pollono, directed by Andrew Block, as part of the 2010 New York International Fringe Festival.
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LOST AND FOUND will begin performances on August 16 – 27 at NYC’s Cherry Pit Theatre (155 Bank Street).
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In addition to Geraldine Librandi (Patty Leotardo in “The Sopranos”) and Reiko Aylesworth (“24” and “DAMAGES”) the cast also includes: Dana Domenick (Papermill’s Meet Me In St. Louis), Joey Gambetta (“Maury”, Regional: Picasso at the Lapine Agile), Jonathan Bock (Thom Pain (based on nothing)), John Pollono (Fort McCoy,”How I met Your Mother”) and Casey Predovic (Hartford Stage’s Tom Sawyer), and Jon Krupp (Breaking the Chain,”Law & Order”).
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LOST AND FOUND is being presented by LA based theatre company, Rogue Machine Theatre. LOST AND FOUND is a brutally funny and poignant story about a Boston family of cops whose lives are thrown upside down when a mysterious stranger appears on their doorstep, forcing them to confront issues of love, grief, homophobia and regret.
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Monday, July 26, 2010

Fringe Info: South Beach Rapture


Well, the New York Fringe is coming and I thought I would highlight a show a day for a while until the Fringe is going. Things I think look fun or interesting.
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Today's is South Beach Rapture. From the Press Release...
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The Plum Theatre Company presents the world premiere of David Caudle's SOUTH BEACH RAPTURE – a new play about three stargazers who find one another during a meteor shower – as part of the 14th Annual New York International Fringe Festival (a production of The Present Company),with performances set for August 15 (7pm), August 21 (11am), August 22(4:15pm), August 23 (3:45pm), and August 25 (7:45pm) at Dixon Place(161A Chrystie Street). Michelle Bossy, Associate Artistic Director of Primary Stages, is set to direct.
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A hot night on South Beach gets even hotter when three strangers meet to watch an unprecedented meteor shower. In SOUTH BEACH RAPTURE,Cynthia (Amelia Jean Alvarez), a pretty New York socialite encounters two very different men: Albert (John G. Preston), local college professor, and Felipe (Bobby Moreno), a seductive hustler. But which meeting was written in the stars? The forty-something failed artist,or the sexy Latino rentboy? Or both?
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It plays starting August 15th

Sunday, July 25, 2010

The Irish... and How They Got That Way @ The Irish Rep

“The Irish ..and How They Got That Way” (playing at the Irish Repertory Theater through September 5th ) is a wistful, sentimental and funny journey through traditional Irish Songs and Folklore that will play beautifully for the millions that lovingly watch the St. Patrick’s Day Parades every year. If you fit that bill, this is a beautifully sung and nicely spoken trip of nostalgia that will make your heart ache, your eyes tear up and a lump rise in your throat.
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Seeing the happy faces around me, the lilting accents at intermission and the teary eyes as they expressed their love upon leaving the theater, all of this tells me it is an emotional experience that resonates with the Irish deep in their soul.




Patrick Shields, Ciaran Sheehan, Kerry Conte, Terry Donnelly,Gary Troy and Kevin D. Winebold

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On the other hand, if you aren’t schooled in Irish music and folklore, if you don’t bleed green, this show is a two hour tromp through a litany of anger, sullenness, bitterness and hopelessness.
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The show opens and closes with a cute refrain about how the Irish see music and romance in everyday life – and then proceed to drown out any spark of hope through a forced march of wrongs done to the Irish People through the years. The British get it the worst, starting from an early 1800s satirical piece in “Punch” and moving on with stops at their Empire, their food and their landed class. The Potato Famine then moves the narrative to America, where the show finds blames with the press, the politicians, the employers and the inhabitants of most major cities.
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And the show is not content with only telling the audience how much the Irish were hated, and singing about how much the Irish were hated. The cast reads selected articles and private letters aloud, writings from the 1800s by the very people that hated them the most. Frank McCourt didn’t write this show as much as dig in the archives to find the worst things ever said about the Irish and share them with us, for purposes unfathomable to me.
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The American Civil War forced them to fight brother versus brother, after which the Irish returned to (single handedly) build the transcontinental railroad, pave the streets of New York and dig Eire Canal. Intermission comes as a merciful break.
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In the second half we start with fun vaudeville and Jimmy Cagney, before trudging off to World Wars one and two. It all comes to a close with the assignation of John F Kennedy, before wrapping the show up reminding us that they are a happy people.
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Oddly, the unrelenting tales of woe don’t dampen the enthusiasm the cast brings to the show. The six member ensemble works hard to lift the mood from the dreary stories told. The ensemble of fine voices is nice, but it is the wonderful clear voice of Gary Troy that sells every song he sings.
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The odd directing choices of Charlotte Moore mainly work, unless you were sitting on the side. The Irish Repertory Theater has the main audience seating in front of the stage, but also has a significant amount of seating stage right, and this group was mainly ignored during the show. The staging features the cast primarily sitting on the detritus of travel, old trunks and suitcases, with the story teller or singer standing during their bit. It was interesting for a while, but soon ventured towards the animatronics for me. It seemed like the “The Carousel of Misery” at some depressing version of Disneyland, complete with awkward and forced comic relief.


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The Irish … and How They Got That Way.
Cast: Kerry Conte, Terry Donnelly, Ciaran Sheehan, Patrick Shields, Gary Troy, Kevin B. Winwbold
Director: Charlotte Moore
Writer: Frank McCourt


tickets

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Irish Repertory Theatre, July 22 – September 5, 2010
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Rating: If it sounds interesting to you
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What works: The songs and memories for those of Irish Heritage
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What doesn't work: The songs and memories for those not of Irish Heritage
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What you get to brag about to your friends: Hearing Gary Troy’s majestic voice soar on some well known Irish standards

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

My Friend Will Be In Julius Ceaser at the Fringe

So I saw a good friend, Brian Newkirk from Los Angeles, up in Provincetown this last week-end and he said that he was going to appear in Julius Caeser during the New York Fringe Festival.
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This is the Orson Welles' adaptation of the Shakespeare play - so I am thrilled to see it. Brian Newkirk plays the second Brutus.
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Let's go see it!
Brian, probably not as he will appear in the show.

Monday, July 5, 2010

David Duchovny stars off Broadway in September

The MCC Theater (at The Lucille Lortel) is bringing David Duchovny to New York for a show done in collaberation with The Geffen in Los Angeles. I love the Geffen - as it used to be the Westwood Playhouse and I went to school at UCLA across the street. Anyway, it sounds great.
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D A V I D D U C H O V N Y
TO MAKE NEW YORK STAGE DEBUT AT MCC THEATER IN THE WORLD PREMIERE PRODUCTION OF “ T H E B R E A K O F N O O N ” BY NEIL LaBUTE
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New York, NY – MCC Theater (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, Artistic Directors; William Cantler, Associate Artistic Director; Blake West, Executive Director) today announced that David Duchovny (“The X-Files,” “Californication”) will make his New York stage debut in the world premiere production of Neil LaBute’s The Break of Noon, directed by Jo Bonney, a co-production with the Geffen Playhouse (Gil Cates, Producing Director; Randall Arney, Artistic Director; Ken Novice, Managing Director) Rehearsals begin September 28, and performances in New York will begin at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street, NYC) on October 28; performances in Los Angeles will begin in previews on January 25 with an official opening on February 2, 2011. Mr. Duchovny will be performing in the New York portion of the run; casting for Los Angeles will be announced at a later date.
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In LaBute’s newest play, Mr. Duchovny will star as John Smith, a man who, amidst the chaos and horror of the worst office shooting in American history, sees the face of God. His modern-day revelation creates a maelstrom of disbelief among everyone he knows. A newcomer to faith, John urgently searches for a modern response to the age-old question: at what cost salvation?
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The Break of Noon marks Neil LaBute’s seventh collaboration with MCC Theater as Playwright-in-Residence, following the 2009 Tony Award-nominated Best Play, Reasons to be Pretty, and is his fourth collaboration with the Geffen Playhouse. Renowned for his darkly-comic morality plays (The Shape of Things, In a Dark Dark House), he teams up again with longtime collaborator, director Jo Bonney (Some Girl(s), Fat Pig), for this exploration of the daunting, sometimes harrowing process of “finding religion.”