Fly Me To The Moon at 59 E 59 Theaters

Fly Me To the Moon, now playing at 59E59 Theaters, is a new farce from Ireland.  Starting hardworking actresses Tara Lynne O’Neill and Katie Tumelty, it is the story of two care workers who find their elderly charge has passed away.    Before reporting the death, they decide that his meager savings and race winnings shouldn’t go to waste, and they appropriate the funds.

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But things like this never turn out easy.  Tara Lynne O’Neill plays Loretta, a woman with an unemployed husband and two kids, one of which is trying to go to EuroDisney on a school outing.  The money, even though it isn’t very much, would go a long way towards fulfilling her dreams.

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Katie Tumelty plays Frances, a Loretta’s co-worker with a son who is a recent video bootleg entrepreneur.   She has been given the short end of the stick for so long, that the money looks like just compensation for a life lacking in opportunity.

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Ms. O’Neill and Ms. Tumelty milking laughs out of the job balancing the ethics of the situation with their own guilt – but still keeping the proceedings light enough to enjoy.  The amount of money is pretty meager, but it is a lot to these women and will provide a little comfort.  The first act of the show is quick movie, relatable and very funny.

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But in the second act, Fly Me To the Moon drags a big, getting too much humor from the guilt of the women and the fear they might be caught.  This fear is compounded by an idea planted from a criminal procedure TV show, which relies on the women being dumb.  This is where the show began to lose me a little.  Too much of the humor in the second half requires the audience to accept these women are a bit slow or just plain stupid. 

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However, throughout the show, the slapstick worked expertly.  Ms. Tumelty has a bit in the second half that is hysterical, and the laughs came quickly.  My one objection is that too many of the laughs in the second half were at the expense of the women for my taste.

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Writer / director Marie Jones does an excellent job of writing in the first half, and a great job of directing through out the show.  With these two fine actresses, she pulls some real emotions and turmoil from the situation – along with plenty of humor.

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Fly Me To the Moon is a promising work, but needs a bit of tweaking to be just right for the American Audience.
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Fly Me To the Moon

Playwright: Marie Jones

Director: Marie Jones

Cast: Tara Lynne O’Neill, Katie Tumelty

website

Mary Broome: Funny, Fresh and Relevant after 101 years

Mary Broome is a 1911 comedy about an upstairs/downstairs relationship, which doesn’t seem to hold much promise of topicality in this day and age.  But watching this excellent production proves that the issues of family and class are just as relevant today as they were then, albeit in different forms.

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Janie Brookshire as Mary Bloom & Roderick Hill as Leonard Timbrell

Mary Broome, of the title, is a pretty young maid at the Timbrell residence.  She has become pregnant after a dalliance with the younger, flightier son, Leonard Timbrell.  Leonard, an amusing layabout, is coerced into marriage by his father, who has had enough of his son’s laziness.   Humor is then found as Mary and Leonard try to live up to the Timbrell’s, and society’s, expectations.  Mary proves more adapt at this than Leonard, who continues to infuriate his father and perplex everyone else.

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The smart and funny Leonard brings to mind any number of pampered and spoiled children of fame today, happy to be ironic but loath to move into adulthood.  It is an easy stereotype that crosses periods from Edwardian England to MTV.

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The acting is excellent across the board, but four actor stand out mainly due to the size of their roles.  At the heart of the story is Leonard Timbrell, played Roderick Hill.  Mr. Hill keeps the charming Leonard grounded, in a role that could have easily slipped to smarmy.  Leonard is an eternal youth, not just unaware of responsibilities, but actively ignorant of them.  As Mary Broome, Janie Brookshire brings a sweet nature to the role.  Mary takes responsibility for her actions, scandalous at the time.  But Mary is confused by her new husband, unable to decipher the meaning in his tumultuous use of language.  Ms. Brookshire handles the role effortlessly, her Mary might be uneducated, but she is smart and self-reliant.  Mr. Hill and Ms. Brookshire create a chemistry that brings the relationship to life in an utterly believable manner.

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Kristin Griffith and Graeme Malcolm play the parents, and they prove that parenting hasn’t changed much in a century.  Mr. Malcolm, as Leonard’s father, attempts to foist responsibility on his wayward son.  And Ms. Griffith, as Mrs. Timbrell, is a mother who protecting young Leonard.  Mother and son have a close relationship here, and she understands she has been too indulgent.  At the same time, Leonard sees a passion and intelligence in his mother that she has to keep cloaked in this England.  Ms. Griffith’s impression of Leonard comes through to the audience, building our tolerance of his antics.

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Finally, I would be remiss not to point out Jill Tanner, who plays two roles perfectly.  In few words, but with a steady supply of understated looks and arched eyebrows, she consistently is the voice of the viewer.  She is outstanding without ever looking like she is trying.

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The Mint Theater Company specializes in forgotten plays and they have struck gold in Mary Broome.  The perfect sense of time and place is created by wonderful sets and costumes - by Roger Hanna and Martha Hally respectively.  There is a cleaver use of pictures on stage that define one viewpoint of the proceedings.  Director Jonathan Bank has used his cast and crew judiciously to create a very relevant Mary Broome – well worth your time.

Mary Broome Cast (from left) Kristin Griffith, Julie Jesneck, Katie Fabel,
Rod Brogan Janie Brookshire, Graeme Malcolm and Roderick Hill

Mary Broome

Playwright: Allan Monkhouse

Director: Jonathan Bank

Cast: Rod Brogan, Janie Brookshire, Katie Fabel, Kristin Griffith, Roderick Hill, Julie Jesneck, Patricia Kilgarriff, Graeme Malcolm, Douglas Rees, Erica Swindell, Jill Tanner

website

Silent @ The Irish Arts Center

Silent, now playing at the Irish Arts Center, is a one man show exploring the life of Tino McGoldrig.  Written and performed by Pat Kinevane, it has a unique tone, wistful and lyrical where many would be self-pitying.   Silent comes to New York with excellent notices and awards, and proves quickly it deserves the advanced press.

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Tino is short for Valentino, his father being a great fan of film icon Rudolph Valentino.   This tie to old silent movies gives life to Tino’s storytelling.  He speaks not only verbally but physically.  The character often loses himself in the language of movement – so integral to the old silents.  Tino is wildly expressive and in moments it seems only movement can give voice to his thoughts and demons.

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Pat Kinevane as Tino McGoldrig

With this ability, Pat Kinevane breathes a unique life into the character of Tino McGoldrig; giving him the ability to engage the audience on multiple emotional levels.

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Silent is, at least in part, an explanation of how Tino had, and then lost, the middle class life.  Central to the story is Pearse, Tino’s brother, a gay young man who was bullied by the boys at school and, more cruelly, his own mother.  Mr. Kinevane inhabits the character of “mother” with no mercy.  If there were reasons for the mother’s mistreatment of Pearse, we don’t see them.  If this were a play about Pearse, this would be a problem.  But because we are looking at mother through Tino's eyes it is an explanation.

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Pearse’s later suicide weighs on Tino, ruining his relationship with his mother and leaving him progressively more guilt ridden.  He finds solace in the bottle, which corrodes his marriage.  Or does marriage drive him to drink?  Or does he just drink?  Whatever he cause, the slide ultimately leads to a mental breakdown.

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Questions arise and then hang in the air, but the character dances among them.  He chooses to answer some.  The others he sidesteps in flights of memory and snippets of Silent movies played in his head and acted out on stage.  Mr. Kinevane’s Tino looks, at first glance, like any homeless person you might see, albeit a little cleaner.  But when the light tightens onto his face and his expressive eyes, Tino is transformed into a performer on the silver screen.  The grime and tattered clothes fade away, and Tino grows in the darkness.

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Silent is a terrific piece of theater.  The direction, by Jim Culleton, is more leisurely paced than a current audience might expect or be comfortable with.  It is more paced at the speed of old silent movies, quick action but lingered reaction.  It is supported by wonderful lighting design, created jointly by the Director and the Writer/Actor.  To watch Silent is to step into Tino’s world and be entranced.

Silent

Playwright: Pat Kinevane

Director: Jim Culleton

Cast: Pat Kinevane

website

Stunt Lab’s Mark Hayward embraces second chances in his new solo show TAKE TWO: BAD GIGS GONE GOOD

Canal Park Playhouse is thrilled to present the world premiere of TAKE TWO: BAD GIGS GONE GOOD, created and performed by Mark Hayward. TAKE TWO: BAD GIGS GONE GOOD begins performances on Saturday, October 6 for a limited engagement through Sunday, October 29. Performances take place at Canal Park Playhouse (508 Canal Street, between Greenwich and West Streets in Tribeca). The performance schedule is Saturdays and Sundays at 1 PM & 4 PM. The regular ticket price is $20. For tickets or more information, call OvationTix on 1-866-811-4111 or visit www.canalparkplayhouse.com.

Have you ever smashed yourself in the face with a yo-yo in front of 800 of your peers? Thrown flaming torches into a crowd? Embarrassed yourself on national television? Stunt Lab's yo-yo champion Mark Hayward has done all of these things (and more). Now he goes solo, hilariously recreating some of his worst gigs for your entertainment. But this time he fixes the disasters. Maybe.

Part of Canal Park Playhouse’s Matinee/Brunch series, brunch at the theater’s Waffle Iron Café is available before and after the show. The brunch menu includes hot-off-the-waffle-iron spinach, mushroom, and smoked chicken sausage frittatas; French toast; and Traditional Belgian Waffles with pure Vermont maple syrup and butter, as well as the house specialty The Playhouse Pink Waffle (a pink waffle with strawberries and whipped cream) and the chocoholic fantasy the Decadent Dark Chocolate Waffle.  Entree salads and waffle-branded sliders are also available.

Mark Hayward (creator/performer) has been a variety arts performer since 1990. He is a World Yo-yo Champion, a member of a World Champion Juggling Team, and a Spintop Champion. His mom is proud. Mark has traveled the world with a yo-yo on his finger (well, mostly in his pocket), and has made appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman, America's Got Talent, and the NBC Nightly News (without committing a crime). Someday Mark hopes to perform for both the President and the Queen. Not being a convicted criminal should help with that.

Cyndi Lauper Sings from Kinky Boots Tonight

Sex Is In The Hell is a remix from the upcoming show Kinky Boots, with music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper.  It is in the top 10 Dance Chart - being the first Broadway show tune on the chart fo 25 years.  She is singing it tonight.  Here are the details from the Press Release:
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“Sex is in the Heel,” a new single remix by Grammy^® Award-winning rock icon Cyndi Lauper, composer of the new Broadway-bound musical Kinky Boots, has hit the Top Ten (#6) position on the Billboard Dance/Club Play Top 200 chart this week.  The energetic love letter to fancy footwear, which shares the Top Ten this week with Madonna, Usher and the Scissor Sisters, is the first single from a Broadway show to top the dance charts in more than 25 years. 

A free download of the chart-climbing “Sex is in the Heel” remix is available on the Kinky Boots website, www.kinkybootsthemusical.com.“Sex is in the Heel” is performed by Billy Porter’s character Lola in Act I of Kinky Boots. 

On Thursday, September 6, as part of this year’s Fashion’s Night Out, Cyndi Lauper will introduce a special performance of “Sex is in the Heel” by the cast of Kinky Boots at the Manolo Blahnik boutique (31 W 54^th Street).

New York Mag's Review of HEARTLESS

Now I quite enjoyed Heartless - even though I loaded the review with disclaimers that everyone else might  not like it (LINK to my review).  Still, I heard that perhaps I was too kind to the show.  I disagree.
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But, I recently saw the New York Magazine's Review - and I have to agree with it.  The last line, in particular, is my favorite.
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(LINK)
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Recently Opened

Sam Shepard’s headless black comedy Heartless— about an empty, Lena Dunham–esque videographer (Julianne Nicholson) with a mysterious dollar-matinee chest scar, her sixtysomething lost-soul boyfriend (Gary Cole), and her doped-up mother Mable (Lois Smith)—feels like a young man’s work, reworked and worked over and overworked harrumphingly by an older one. Director Daniel Aukin has no clue what to do with this Frankenplay, so he lets his fantastically hambone ensemble function as a jam band—with expert cantankerist Smith on lead sax. Thrilling, transfixing nonsense ensues (at the Pershing Square Signature Center through September 30). — Scott Brown

DAVID LINDSAY-ABAIRE AND NAOMI WALLACE NAMED 2012 RECEIPIENTS OF THE HORTON FOOTE PRIZE

DAVID LINDSAY-ABAIRE AND NAOMI WALLACE

NAMED 2012 RECIPIENTS OF

THE HORTON FOOTE PRIZE

PRIVATE RECEPTION TO HONOR RECIPIENTS

TO BE HELD MONDAY, OCTOBER 1

David Lindsay-Abaire

New York, NY (9/4/12) – Mari Marchbanks (Founder and Executive Director) announced today the 2012 recipients of the Horton Foote Prize, named in honor of the legendary writer, to award excellence in American Theater.  Presented biennially, the 2012 Prize for the 2010-11/2011-12 seasons Outstanding New American Play is awarded to Good People by David Lindsay-Abaire. The 2012 Prize for Promising New American Play is awarded to The Liquid Plain by Naomi Wallace. 

Naomi Wallace

Mr. Lindsay-Abaire and Ms. Wallace will be honored at a private reception on Monday, October 1^st at The Lotos Club in New York City.  To celebrate their exceptional contributions to American Theater, each playwright will be presented with $15,000 and a limited edition of Keith Carter’s iconic photograph of Horton Foote. (In the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.)

Mr. Lindsay-Abaire and Ms. Wallace were nominated by Manhattan Theatre Club and Oregon Shakespeare Festivalrespectively. 55 resident theaters throughout the country, all with a strong history for producing new work, were invited to submit a produced or unproduced play for consideration. With produced works, its premiere production must have occurred after January 1, 2010 and no later than June 30, 2012. (Eligibility dates reflect an ongoing shift by the Prize to award by theater season, rather than by year.)Nominated playwrights must be the author of a minimum of four original full-length plays which have been fully produced by professional theaters.