LINE
Fridays at 9:30 pm
Open Run
13th Street Repertory Company | 50 West 13th Street | NYC
www.13thstreetrep.org

Reviewed by Wendy R. Williams
Photo: Liberation Iannillo

Line, written by Israel Horovitz and directed by Edith O'Hara, is a blast from the past, a 1960's piece of Experimental Theater that is still up and running 29 years later. 13th Street Rep advertises Line as the longest running off-off-Broadway play and with the average shelf life of off-off-Broadway, there is no need to do research to verify that claim. The play is an absurdist comedy about five characters waiting in line, seemingly with no apparent purpose, other then to be first in line. They jostle, resort to trickery and trade sexual favors, all in their drive to be firstŠ..that is first at the top of a line marked only by a two foot piece of masking tape. Line is full of great "lines" and 13th Street Rep does a fine job of keeping it fresh. The show begins with Fleming, an ardent baseball fan/player, who has arrived early to be first in line. He is soon joined by Stephen, who slept a little later, and is now prepared to make up for lost time by tricking his way to the head of the line. They are then joined by: Dolan, a self- professed but not regarded "nice guy"; Molly, a hoot of an Irish slut, who is not adverse to "tricking" her way to the top of the line; and Molly's cuckolded husband, Arnall.

All of the actors gave outstanding performances. Gladys Murphy-Ryan was captivating as Molly, the Irish slut. She oozed sexuality with a decidedly feminist twist. Blake Catherwood gave a very subtle heartfelt performance as the cuckolded husband, Arnall, and Mikal Saint George gave a raw edge to his characterization of the pugnacious "nice guy", Dolan. The action of the play really took off after Saint George's entrance; he ignited the fire and started the pot boiling. Brad Holbrook as Fleming, the baseball guy, and Jesse Shafer as the Mozart- loving kid, rounded out a very solid, talented cast. Director Edith O'Hara continues to do a great job, shepherding the play through its third decade.

CAFE SOCIETY
Thursday - Saturday at 7pm
thru June 14
13th Street Repertory Company
www.13thstreetrep.org

Reviewed by Wendy R. Williams

13th Street Rep's Café Society, written by Robert Simonson and directed by Emily King, is a light tart of a play about the lengths New Yorkers will go to for a cup of coffee. The story is set in a family owned coffee shop close to Lincoln Center, which boasts the best gourmet coffee and pastries in town. The story opens with Karen (Joan Ryan) purchasing her daily fix of iced decaf coffee with a corn muffin when Lucy (Audrey Sawaya), the fifteen-year-old daughter of the proprietor, unexpectedly starts a conversation and asks to be her friend. Karen attempts a gracious noncommittal brush-off, totally unnoticed by Lucy who then invites Karen to her home for a party.Fearing that she might lose her connection to her pusher, Karen attends the party only to find that the guests are other habitués from the coffee shop, sitting in an awkward semicircle - hostage to their love of coffee and croissants. New characters are introduced: Roald Raldgold (Mikal Saint George), a children's book author with a fatwa on his head, and his studly Secret Service Agent Sean Collins (Greg Vorob). The plot thickens when Sean asks Karen for a date. A jealous Lucy insists on coming along and by threats of denied access to the coffee shop, talks the unfortunate Nathan (Kristian Leavy) into being her date. Roald, not wanting to stay home alone and totally unwilling to lose face by being seen in public without a Secret Service detail, insists on going along and coerces Karen's friend Stacy (Phyllis Sanfiorenzo) into being his date. The scene culminates in a triple date to a supper club, where the play comes to a violent climax.

Emily King directed the play with a light hand. Most of the lines were delivered dead-pan, heightening the humor of the ridiculous situations. The lighting and sets were minimal but very skillfully done and the music helped set the sophisticated yet jaded tone of the show. Mikal Saint George was urbane, sardonic and paranoid as Roald. He stole his every scene. Joan Ryan (Karen) and Lucy (Audrey Sawaya) skillfully carried the plot of the play with their totally believable developing relationship. They were hysterically funny in their final scene at the police station.

The play speaks to many universal truths. How many of us have life long friends whom we did not like when we first met them? And how many New Yorkers, living in the vastness of this city, have managed to make our lives so small that being denied access to our favorite coffee bar or restaurant would motivate us to go to amazing lengths to restore that access? We become rats who, after finding a route to a food source, will continuously run that route until someone removes our cheese. The play is double cast. I saw the very talented Cast Rouge with Peter Glismann as Sal/Mullany, Kristian Leavy as Nathan, Alberto Rey as Alfred/Waiter, Jeremy Rosen as Mark, Karen Rousso as Courtney, Joan Ryan as Karen, Phyllis Safiorenzo as Stacy, Audrey Sawaya as Lucy, Mikal Saint George as Roald Raldgold, and Greg Vorob as Sean Collins. Tickets: Adults $15; Students and Seniors $10.

Café Society
By Robert Simonson
Directed by Emily King
Thirteenth Street Repertory Company,
50 West 13th Street, NY (212) 675-6677
www.13thstreetrep.org

Review by Elias Stimac

What do you do when the nice but needy counter girl at the coffee shop you frequent every day wants to become best friends? Grit your teeth and play along with it, if you don't want to go without that delicious iced decaf.

This is the humorous premise behind Robert Simonson's new comedy, Café Society. The playwright's script is just quirky enough, matched with the surrealistic staging by Emily King and the idiosyncratic acting from two separate casts, to make this a springtime cult hit.Karen is a lowly program editor at Lincoln Center who doesn't know what she is getting herself into when she accepts a party invitation from Lucy, the daughter of a coffee-shop owner who makes all her friends while working the register. How these two end up as first "best friends" and later bitter enemies makes for a caustic and comical evening at the theatre.Simonson has slyly worked in many references here to tickle viewers' funnybones, commenting on subjects as diverse as Burger King and Norman Mailer. Director King paced the show well, allowing for many uncomfortably funny pauses when the characters simply can't find words to express their exasperation. The sets, by Tom Harlan, were simple yet successfully defined the various locations, aided by Gavin Smith's lighting.

King's actors were perfectly cast in their offbeat roles. As Karen, Joan Ryan underplayed each moment, heightening the comic potential of each absurd situation her character encounters. Less able to keep her cool is Karen's friend Stacey, and Phyllis Sanfiorenzo offered some priceless reactions as the put-upon pal. Kristian Leavy, Jeremy Rosen, and Karen Rousso were hilarious as the other reluctant customers trapped by their dependence on coffee and pastries. Mikal Saint George gave a manic portrayal of an upper-class man named Roald Raldgold, who has a price (although not a very high price) on his head. Francis McWilliams (alternating with Greg Vorob) was his Secret Service bodyguard, who himself is a target for the affections of both Karen and Lucy. Peter Glismann portrayed Lucy's "baker extraordinaire" father, and Alberto Rey was solid in dual roles. Audrey Sawaya deserved special mention as the quietly unnerving Lucy, who causes everyone to reconsider whether their morning cup of joe is worth all the trouble.

King wisely chose to double-cast the play during its long run. Alternating with the members of "Cast Rouge" mentioned above, the "Cast Bleu" ensemble includes David Thomas Crowe, Traci Hovel, Cynthia klaja-McLaughlin, Darren C. Polito, Brad Lee Thomason, and Yvonne Wright.

Texas Toast
Written and directed by Wendy R. Williams
The Red Room
85 East Fourth St. (212/841-5410)
Non-union production (closes May 28)
www.texastoastproductions.com

Review by Elias Stimac

Texas Toast is a guilty pleasure, to say the least. Between laughing at the plight of Wendy R. Williams's outrageous Southern characters, and raising eyebrows over their often lowbrow and always socially unacceptable behavior, viewers nonetheless got the sense that they were part of the family. "It's just like being at home" -- only with a dead body, a whacked-out widow, four crazy spouses, an effeminate son, an illegitimate Lolita, a horny sheriff, two dimwitted paramedics, and a curvaceous cop settled in on the couch next to you.

During the wake of recently deceased Delbert Delano, his elderly former wife Lawanda decides to bring his corpse back from the viewing room of the Perpetual Memories Funeral Parlor and invite him to the house gathering. The sight of the dearly departed on her couch sends Lawanda's daughter Doreen through the roof. The arrival of other daughter Annie, her new husband Bubba, their offspring Tiffany (whom Doreen has raised from infancy), Lawanda's son Rusty, Doreen's hubby Harley, two medical technicians, and two police officers soon fills the house with chaos, catastrophe -- and comedy of the blackest variety.Williams directed her farcical family story with an eye for physical and verbal highjinks. Moving the corpse became a constant sight gag, and entrances and exits were heightened and hilarious. Some of the funniest lines in the show were off-handed comments or offstage exclamations. So much was going on that occasionally it was hard to focus on one character at a time, but it all added to the unreal reality of the situation.

Her cast of characters is both endearing and exasperating, and the energetic ensemble went full tilt with its over-the-top interpretations. Andrea Hoffman as the elderly Lawanda portrayed the spunky senior as a life-loving lady full of honesty and raging hormones. Brian Rush, conversely, was lifeless but lovable as the corpse of Delbert. As Lawanda's daughters, Diedre Kilgore played Doreen as a beautiful but bitter debutante, while Bethany Sacks got decidedly more down-and-dirty as Annie. Brian James Grace was literally a scream as the finicky son Rusty, stealing each scene he was in with his barbed-wire remarks. Mikal Saint George and Larry Nodarse were stalwart and strong as son-in-laws Bubba and Harley, respectively. Samantha Downs was smoldering and seductive as the young Tiffany, who dreams of beauty-pageant success. Michael Kelberg got plenty of comic mileage out of his rambunctious role as Sheriff Buck Sims. Benny Benowitz and Stephen Wheeler were humorously incompetent as the unconventional hospital partners, and Remy Crane made a powerfully provocative policewoman.

Liz Driscoll, James Maher, and Chris Stanis collaborated on the lighting, while Stanis did double duty as sound designer. The uncredited black-box setting was simple, but aptly covered with props that flew across the stage by the end of the show.

GOLDEN BOY
Ring Of Truth
By Paulanne Simmons
for The Brooklyn Papers

Saint George is tender and tough in the title role. He makes up for his lack of girth with his hard-nosed defiance. Ryan has blond hair and innocent blue eyes. But she definitely is not the girl-next-door. She's a smart-alecky but sensitive broad who delivers lines like "When I came out of the cocoon I was a butterfly. And butterflies don't work," but also complains that unless Moody divorces his wife to marry her, she will continue to feel like the "Tramp from Newark." Lewis, who as head of The Impact Theatre appears on stage infrequently, proves to be a dynamo on stage. His textured performance creates a Moody who can threaten, cajole, cry and cringe. Odets has populated his play with choice parts for gifted character actors - Carp (Michael Maher) the armchair philosopher and radical; Roxy Gottlieb (Ed Ferruzza) the sleazy cigar-smoking promoter; and Siggie (Tom Clemons), Joe's whining brother-in-law. And the cast in the Impact Theatre production acquits itself admirably in the supporting roles.

This is a spare production - in fact, a bit too spare. One would have liked to see more than a few chairs and a desk as scenery. True, The Impact Theatre does have limited space, but surely a few photos of champion boxers could have been put on the walls and perhaps a trophy or two adorned the shelves in the office of a manager of prize fighters? Nevertheless Odets' evocative language creates its own landscape with lines like "A woman's place is in the hay, not in the office" and "I'll make Niagara Falls turn around and go back to Canada." "Golden Boy" has had an interesting history. It ran for 250 performances when it was staged by The Group Theatre under the direction of Harold Clurman, with Luther Adler as Joe Bonaparte, Morris Carnovsky as his father and Frances Farmer as Lorna. It not only revived the company financially, it also turned out to be the Group's biggest moneymaker.

In 1939, "Golden Boy" was turned into a film directed by Rouben Mamoulian with a stellar cast that included Barbara Stanwyck (Lorna Moon), Adolphe Menjou (Tom Moody), Lee J. Cobb (Joe's father) and the unknown 21-year-old William Holden in the role of Joe Bonaparte. The play was revived in 1952 and again in 1975. And in 1964, "Golden Boy" was transformed by Odets and William Gibson into a musical with lyrics by Lee Adams and music by Charles Strouse, and Sammy Davis Jr. in the lead role. With all the talent on stage in this production, one can only hope "Golden Boy" will continue its series of successes for The Impact Theatre.

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