I have to give a shout to wordpress for having an application that runs on my iPod that let’s me blog on the subway and post when I get some wifi.
13, I saw this for free and I pretty glad I did. Jason Robert brown is okay. I’m not one of those fanboys. My favorite musical of his is the last five years. It’s haunting and has a great idea (gimmick) and the music is beautiful.
I went into 13 thinking. Is this gimmick going to work? Will I feel like I’m watching a middle school production. The answer was no and no.
The story was my major complaint with this show. A New York City kid moves to Indiana and needs some kids to come to his bar mitzvah. Simple, but the cast of characters (an antagonist on crutches) just doesn’t fit. I was actually offended by some of the book that was to simple while trying to be “hip”.
The band rocked it! Who would have thought that 13 year olds could rock it out like that.
*funny, as I write this post, the 6 train is filled with screaming pre-teens.
This could be harder than I thought. I saw this show back May 10, 2006. I can remember that I was okay and Zeljko Ivanek was one of the best things about a production.
David Schwimmer was the big star draw of this production and he wasn’t horrible, but why should we constantly have “stars” in production just because of their great draw. Unless it’s a musical, there’s no reason to have big stars in plays. I’m against it altogether, but in a 12 million dollar musical I can understand.
Caine Mutiny Court-Martial is dated, but for it’s time it was groundbreaking.
It’s still a wonder how these plays are expected to succeed, even in the short run.
I realize now that I need to write my thoughts on a piece of paper in case I need to recall some of the production.
Through the rain and the crowds of people that flood Times Square around 8pm, I made my way to the St. James Theatre.
I have to say the main reason I went to see it was for Pablo Schreiber. I saw him in Dying City and knew he’d be someone I wanted to see again on stage. Of course I got seat in the mezzanine (I’m cheap). It was a great decision too because we were upgraded to better seats before the show began.
Bacon. Bacon. Bacon. Eben (Pablo Schreiber ) comes on stage and moves “stage right” to a stove. He takes a block of something out and places it on a frying pan. I assumed it was something fake. As that’s going on, Simeon and Peter Cabot (Eben’s half brothers) are disemboweling a pig. As they cut in the pig (fake pig) and remove its entrails, I smell bacon. Sweet, crunch bacon. The smell reminded me of mornings when my mom would fix breakfast. Although this time the bacon didn’t smell that good while watching blood and entrails on the stage. Death, food and hunger. Great moment. I knew it was going to be an interesting evening. The set was masculine, large and menacing. There are huge rocks and boulders on “stage left” with the house confined to “stage right”. There wasn’t much space for the actors to move in such a confined and limited space. It’s like they’re caged and hungry to escape.
How do you play “desire”? Sexy actors alone can’t pull it off for an hour. You have to have objectives and clear tactics to achieve them. You have to connect with your fellow actors and communicate with your voice and body. At times I felt I was watching a Shakespearean tragedy because everything was big, from the set pieces to the acting.
Brian Dennehy (Ephraim Cabot) was fantastic. His stage presence was HUGE. Whenever he walked out on stage you were drawn to him instantly. I could see how he had three wives. I don’t know if the actors planned this but you could see so much of Eben in his father. Their dysfunctional relationship was played very well.
I have to mention Eben Cabot and Abbie Putnam. Since the actors (Pablo and Carla) are featured in the ads “desiring each other”, I have to comment. They were hot. Pablo fans will be satisfied to see him in certain stages of undress, but when you get over that their reactions to each other were moist and hot. I thought I was watching a mirroring exercise when I saw them on stage together. She would move and he would respond and vice versa. It was like a dance. At one point he’s on a table, by himself, and I thought I would lose it. Hopefully those ads to reel people into a night of theatre with some actors who can act. Below is an ad for the show.
I couldn’t get the sheriff (Michael Laurence) out of my head. He had no lines and comes in at the end. What a gig!
There is nothing like the smell of a thick piece of bacon cooking, frying and burning right to the point where it’s still good to eat. Just like Desire on the Elms.
My good friend has a great deal on getting plays for free or cheap. Often he hears about a play with some interesting subject matter and asks me if I want to go, I almost always say yes!
This one by Aurin Squire is about a soldier, a 15 year old boy and misrepresentation. Lonliness causes us to do many things that we shouldn’t and these two characters make some unfortunate choices.
I love independent theatre. Something like this would nev
er get produced on Broadway, but it with the amount of indie theatres in the area it becomes more possible that that idea you had could get produced. People will come if the material has the buzz.
Producing a play is like playing a puzzle. There are lot of pieces that have to come together.
Idea
Material
Money
Space
Money
Marketing
Money
The Amish Project is a one person play written and performed by Jessica Dickey. I saw it in January at the Cherry Lane Theatre. Jessica plays many different characters that center around the Nickel Mines shooting in Pennsylvania. I have to say her choice of the characters was exceptional and showed there are many sides to a tragedy.
Nothing is perfect and I found one character, a Spanish woman, didn’t sit well with me. She didn’t seem authentic for some reason. The other characters were so well thought out, but this one was a caricature and didn’t resonate with me like the others did. I’m seeing it again in June and I hope that some attention was paid to that character. Also, list the characters in the program and their relationship to the tragedy.
My hats off to Jessica! This play was moving, socially conscious and done with love. You will definitely remember this one.
Don’t forget to donate. Let’s keep independent theatre project alive.
I rarely spend full price for a ticket to the theatre. Normally I see theatre in the balcony at a cheap price or I have friends that give me free tickets. So, when Lynn Nottage (a favorite playwright of mine) won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama I knew I had to see this one.
Ruined is set in Africa, but that was about all I knew about it. From the title I knew it was going to be some emotions flying across that stage that night. Lynn Nottage, author of Intimate Apparel with Viola Davis has been a playwright to watch for some time. Intimate Apparrel was so well written and acted that I went into the ugly cry at points. Not that my crying means a play is good, but it does mean that I buy what the actors and play are selling. Her plays seem to lend themselves to people with self image and self esteem issues. Who doesn’t have issues with how they look, but Ms. Nottage really paints these character portraits of people (mainly women) who have start this journey of self love.
I picked up my ticket around 7:30pm and got a cup of coffee from a near by deli for $1.55. The theatre concessions coffee costs about $4. Recently I get coffee in case the play is bad. If I happen to be tired I will fall asleep if the play isn’t any good. I sat next to this nice couple that I chatted up with after intermission. I recommended they see Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.
One note about this the “NY City Center Stage 1″. There isn’t a bad seat in the house. I was in seat F10 and had no problem seeing anything.
I found myself looking at the program at intermission because the actors were so good. Cherise Boothe (Josephine) stood out for me because I enjoyed her physicality. Josephine lays her sexuality and body out there for the men to “have”, but as the play progresses you see how closed down and hurt she really is. Her dances, stuts and snaps all tell a story.
The men, the men, the men. Sexy, dangerous and compelling. The thick, heavy and pungent atmosphere created when they stepped on stage is a triumph to be witnessed. Keep your eye out for Kevin Mambo.
BTW, Harry Belefonte was in the audience!
Great News! Runied has been extended to June 28th! Well deserved. Actually it should on Broadway only because the production needs Tonys to be distributed.
Producing a play is like playing a puzzle. There are lot of pieces that have to come together.
I rarely spend full price for a ticket to the theatre. Normally I see theatre in the balcony at a cheap price or I have friends that give me free tickets. So, when 
