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
In 1937, when Clifford Odets' "Golden
Boy" was first produced by The Group Theater, the American
people were in the midst of the Great Depression and on the
brink of entering World War II. The parallels with present-day
America are unmistakable. That may be one reason The Impact
Theatre chose to stage this play. Or they may have been drawn
by Odets' powerful language and unforgettable characters. Either
way, director Ron Parrella has staged a hit. "Golden Boy" reflects
Odets' personal battle with the temptations of profit and the
ideals of social justice and art. (Odets ended up in Hollywood.)
Joe Bonaparte (Mikal Saint George) is an Italian-American youth
whose father (Bob Melia) is grooming him to become a violinist.
But Joe, eager to make his mark in the world and escape the
poverty in which his family lives, instead turns to manager
Tom Moody (Tim Lewis), who promises to make him into a champion
prize fighter. While Joe keeps winning more and more fights,
he also wins the heart of Moody's mistress, Lorna Moon (Joan
Ryan). But his father never gives up his dream.
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. |