Oscar E Moore

If you’d like to hear a lovely a cappella three part harmonic version of the famous haunting and lyrical Welsh folksong – All Through the Night sung by three Gentile German women you will have to make a choice – just as these women had to make some very difficult choices as Hitler attempted to create a Master Race and take over the mind and spirit of every human being that he came into contact with. 

Your choice will be easier.  Whether to leave after the first act of this very muddled and unenlightening new surrealistic war drama by Shirley Lauro or stay for the second – where you will hear the song of safety and protection which is the highlight of this otherwise dreary drama.

The intentions of playwright Shirley Lauro are admirable.  The play isn’t.  It simply is not ready.  And I don’t know if it will ever be.  It has its moments but they are fleeting.  Perhaps it is in part the fault of director Melanie Moyer Williams who doesn’t fulfill her duties of clarification and coaxing powerful and moving performances from her actors very well. 

It’s confusing going back and forth between time frames and having a narrator (Ludmilla, Lesley McBurney) – who speaks to the audience like a Rosie O’Donnell stand up comic – with a terribly thick German accent start by telling us a “Once Upon a Time” story with a “Happily Ever After” motif, and then weaving herself in and out of the stories and lives of the four Gentile women who have to choose whether or not to fall under the power of the Third Reich.  The threat, the rise to power, the war and the aftermath is a lot of territory to cover.  Too much so.

There is Gretchen (an excellent Theo Allyn) poor and ambitious who in order to rise above her meager surroundings unwillingly joins forces with the Fuhrer.  She gives probably the most nuanced performance of the evening.  Angelika (Hana Kalinski) is a nurse and does her best to fight against the Regime as does Friederike (Michelle Lookadoo) whose background in musical comedy unfortunately doesn’t help her characterization.  And those accents, or should I say, lack of accents.  They are an inconsistent nuisance to listen to.  As is the strange choice of music for the production.

Andrea Sooch is required to play a quartet of Fraus – which are really one in the same person – a Head Mistress, Director of a Clinic, Administrator of Frauenwerk and a Concentration Camp guard.  She is quite believable.

Based on interviews and oral histories and inspired by actual events this episodic “All Through The Night” is produced by The Red Fern Theatre Company and will be running through October 25^th at The Marjorie S. Deane Little Theatre – 5 West 63^rd Street at Central Park West – which is a very nice little theatre.  Tickets $25.00

www.redferntheatre.org

Tags:   The Red Fern Theatre CompanyNo Comments.

Ridiculous done straight.  Sort of.  It all harkens back to Charles Ludlam and the Ridiculous Theatrical Company and his zany, clever, hysterical take on the classics.  But to be in that league you need an equally adept writer and stylish cast to carry it off. 

This time round we have playwright Chris Weikel’s “Penny Penniworth – A Story of Great Good Fortune” – which has its satirical barbs set on skewering Charles Dickens along with a cast of four thespians that knowingly and successfully carry the torch of ridiculous passed to them by former practitioners and gleefully make it their own.

With the fine tuned direction by Mark Finley which allows the four agile and chameleonic cast members to seamlessly change into the cascade of Victorian characters that inhabit Penny Penniworth,  you will certainly get your 3500 pennies worth – the cost of a ticket at the Emerging Artists Theatre – TADA – 15 West 28^th Street 2^nd floor – between Broadway and Fifth.

With names such as Hotchkiss Spit, Rupert Stryfe (Heir to the House of Stryfe), Miss Havasnort and our heroine Penelope (Penny) Penniworth you see right away where this is all headed.  Fortunes lost.  Benefactors found.  Missives delivered.  Identities mistaken.  Pirates and a Grand Ball.  Coachmen and solicitors.  Men playing women.  Women playing men.  Delicious word play and every cliché played to the hilt.  It’s all done with great élan and is great fun.

A finer polished Penny you will never find.  Jamie Heinlein is all wide eyed wonderment as she goes through life trying to find her way after her true love Honk, a Blacksmith Boy with an almost unintelligible accent (Christopher Borg) – is sent to sea after nearly killing a wealthy businessman.  Although she is only a woman her confidence slowly grows.

She is hired as companion to the wealthy and eccentric Miss Havasnort (Ellen Reilly) who seems to be part and parcel of the Addams family.  Creepy.  And that’s a compliment.  Determined to woo and wed Penny is the arrogant and slimy Rupert Stryfe (Jason O’Connell).  Of course there are twists and turns and complications enabling the foursome to take on the many other characters, including Penny’s mom, a monkey, a child singer, an actor and Mr. Pinchnose who has a speech impediment to end all speech impediments.   You’ll be howling in disbelief as the plot quickly unfolds.

Sharing the narration the ensemble cast pulls everything off like clockwork with their quick changes and even quicker vocal character changes replete with mannerisms and ticks.  All the time playing the absurd goings on for real which only makes “Penny Penniworth” all the more worth seeing.  It’s an entertaining, light hearted evening with a cast of truly ridiculous people from Merrie Olde England.

www.emergingartiststheatre.org .

Tags:   Chris Weikel · Christopher Borg · Ellen Reilly · Emerging Artists Theatre · Jamie Heinlein · Jason O'Connell · Mark FinleyNo Comments.

What to do?  Ten year old Zoe (Zoe Ettinger Hochberg), daughter of the English teacher, Mr. Turner (Voice Over), at Lincoln Elementary School in the community of Fairfield County, Connecticut has had an unfortunate encounter with the school bully – Billy (Joe Blaikie) at the water fountain – on the very same day that her dad has assigned his students to write about something “unfair in their lives”.  She has been grounded to her dad’s den (how comfy) – without a cell phone, or computer and no TV and can only come out when she’s learned something about life.  Yikes.  What to do?

In this well intentioned musical, which is a Special Event at this year’s New York Musical Festival, cast with children from ages eight to eleven (17 females/2 males) we see a white toast version of kids with problems that all kids have.

As fate would have it or rather the book writer Jill Jaysen (who is also responsible for the perky direction) has it, Zoe finds all those essays on her dad’s desk and we see them come to life in song (music and lyrics by Mark Shepard) and sometimes dance. 

We begin with “Awful Day” with everyone complaining about their individual minor problems and then get right to the heart of the matter with “Letters To Daddy” – someone is too small, another wants to be a scientist while his dad wants him to play sports, another wants to paint but at home family problems cause her dad to scream a lot more than praise her artwork.  She’s also the sister of misunderstood Billy the school Bully.

In the short two acts with ten songs, the children learn to be positive, to help one another, that competition is about having fun and not necessarily about winning, that it’s great luck to have good friends, that you must follow your dreams, that people are more than what they seem to be and that it’s not too late to change the world to be a better place.

The Bully turns out to be not so bad after all and the new girl in school – who was ignored because of rumors that she was mean and a trouble-maker, is welcomed when the rumors are proven false.  Awful becomes Awesome!

Letters to Daddy, Jr. is chock full of life’s lessons without ever being preachy – in fact it’s all done with humor and bright and catchy soft rock tunes that the kids obviously relish singing especially the wonderful “Together We Can Change The World”.

It’s great to see so many youngsters so dedicated in doing what they feel so passionate about.  They are a welcome addition to NYMF.  My only wish is that the cast was more multi-representational.

CAST:  Zoe Ettinger Hochberg, Gigi Vallone, Theo Koskoff, Emma Parry, Riley Thrush, Jamie Santarella, Lily Tarshis, Claudia Serino, Jillian Gault, Isabella Blansfield, Brooke Kessler, Colette Vynerib, Lila Weiser, Joe Blaikie, Ariane Elizabeth Hero, Julianna Shmaruk, Alin Mey Pasa, Simone Barr, Peri Kessler

www.letterstodaddy.com which is a great web site!  www.cstcompany.com

Tags:   Center Stage Theatre Company2 Comments

It helps to have connections.  Keith Huff has to think so, as he is one of the luckiest people on Broadway today.  Who is Keith Huff you may ask?  Keith Huff is a Chicago based playwright who in 2006 wrote a two character cop drama called “A Steady Rain” which was produced last year in Chicago and got good reviews.  Producers Frederick Zollo and Barbara Broccoli got the script to Daniel Craig with whom they had worked with on Casino Royale – Craig playing James Bond.  Director John Crowley came on board and suggested Hugh Jackman to portray the other cop in the “He said, He said” script.

The rest is history.  Reportedly these two Hollywood He-Men are earning over $100,000.00 a week.  Each.  In a nearly sold out, twelve week limited run at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre where nightly, hoards of “Stage Door Joanies” wait outside the stage door for their idols to emerge after watching them onstage for ninety intermission-less minutes. 

Daniel Craig is anything but the suave and sophisticated Bond.  Here he is Joey the Irish-American cop.  Best friend and partner of Italian-American Denny (Hugh Jackman).  Denny has a problem with his mouth.  Joey has a problem with the bottle.  They have been friends forever.  Work closely together.  Protect each other.  Have been passed over to be promoted to detective – three times.  Denny has a wife, Connie, and kids.  Joey is still single.  Joey is polite while Denny is in your face.  It takes a random drive by shooting into the home of Denny which seriously wounds his son to get the drama rolling.  Once it does it doesn’t stop before we hear of killings and drugs and prostitutes and friendship gone awry and lots of rain.

The only problem is that we hear about all the events.  Literally, the audience audibly gasps at the turn of events.  We do not see them happening.  They are told to us in individual monologues where the two buddies hardly ever connect with one another.  It’s a clever device which almost becomes boring.  Almost being the key word here.

Hugh Jackman is electrifying as Denny.  A regular guy with a pent up anger which he readily releases without a moments notice.  At first these two guys banter like Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton from the Honeymooners.  But that soon passes as they begin to tell their own versions of the night that changed both their lives.   Daniel Craig with a mustache, suit, tie and suspenders has the less flamboyant role but is extremely moving trying to deal with the fact that he is in love with his partner’s wife.

They are so close that at times they appear to be extensions of each other.  That they are one and they same.  Only different.  A Gemini.  A person with two radically different sides to their personality.  It’s a very interesting way to characterize these two men.

If you can still get tickets, you should see these two powerful, live theatrical performances in “A Steady Rain”.  Forget that the accents are not always precise.  That Mr. Craig sometimes stumbles over a line or two.  That their bodies are toned and seem to ripple under their clothing.  That they are two charismatic personalities which sometimes make it difficult to believe in them as just two Chicago cops.  Simply, they are two dynamic actors. 

If “A Steady Rain” was part of the Fringe Festival and I saw these two guys I would have to say that I see stardom in their future.  Well they are already stars and giving memorable performances in this bare bones production.  Long may they reign.   www.asteadyrainonbroadway.com

Tags:   Daniel Craig · Hugh Jackman · Keith Huff1 Comment

Samantha Soule & Shane McRae

Can anyone ever escape their past?  Or is it inevitable that your past will eventually catch up with you?

In Killers and Other Family (an attention grabbing title) written by Lucy Thurber (an attention grabbing writer) now running at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre Elizabeth (Samantha Soule) is working at home in her Upper West Side apartment (nicely outfitted by John McDermott) on her Ph.D which is a bit overdue.  She is calm and organized and eating an apple when she is interrupted by a knock on the door.  She thinks it might be her roommate Claire (Aya Cash).  She is mistaken and immediately starts to unravel.  It’s her brother Jeff (Dashiell Eaves) who has arrived without notice with his best buddy and her ex-lover Danny (Shane McRae) whom she has told her brother to never bring him along to the Big Apple.  They’re in big trouble and they need money.  And until they get what they want, they stay.

It is this threesome that Claire discovers when she comes home early from work making a memorable entrance and becomes embroiled in their past and present problems.  There is plenty of beer and Jack Daniels, nudity and unexpected violence that erupts as Lizzie becomes unhinged at the thought that she has to face her old demons once again and bring an innocent bystander into her past troubled world.

Abuse has many faces – physical, verbal and mental.  All three are tackled in Killers and Other Family in a play that explores this territory with a fresh insight into the dark secrets of Lizzie and Jeff and Danny’s lives.

The acting is of the highest caliber.  As all four actors embrace their roles totally we begin to get so involved (the hour and a half flies by) that they are no longer actors but those characters in a very nasty situation.

Shane McRae especially is someone to fear.  One look from him and you jump.  In a break through performance he takes over immediately, grabbing Lizzie’s apple and ordering her to get him a beer and sitting on the sofa as if he were entitled.  He’s absolutely menacing.  And attractive and charming (in his own rough manner).  We see Lizzie’s attraction and fear simultaneously.  How will she ever get out of this mess?

Jeff and she have a lot of problems especially dealing with sibling rivalry and their tramp of a mother.  They’re explosive.  Claire provides some stability and humor.  Aya Cash gives a tense, contained and most wonderfully vulnerable performance.  But it is the main character of Lizzie that we see evolve from the calm and controlled person that she is trying so desperately to be to the almost manic and desperate person that she becomes in the presence of her past.  It’s a wonderful nuanced performance given by Samantha Soule.

Caitriona McLaughlin has done a masterful job in directing this piece and is helped immensely by the fight direction of David Anzuelo who gives the cast some work out in the extremely realistic and spontaneous violence that ensues.

Killers and Other Family is a thought provoking and disturbing play that should be seen.  Through October 11^th.  Tickets $45.00

www.rattlestick.org    Photo:  Sandra Coudert

Tags:   Aya Cash · Caitriona McLaughlin · Dashiell Eaves · Lucy Thurber · Samantha Soule · Shane McRaeNo Comments.

Growing up gay in the ghetto of West Philadelphia in the late 70’s with his alpha male brothers and tell-it-like-it-is sister dragging on Newports along with his very supportive mother and not so supportive stepfather and various distinctive relatives in tow, nerdy Colman Domingo probably never imagined being on Broadway in “Passing Strange” where he played three very different characters that brought me to describe his performance as “mesmerizing”.

In A Boy and His Soul, a solo show which Mr. Domingo has written and also stars in at the Vineyard Theatre, playing all of the above mentioned characters, we get an insight into this coming of age and coming out story with a sound track of vintage soul, R&B and disco music by Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Luther Vandross, The  Commodores, James Brown and Michael Jackson among others.  Very nice touch. 

A perfect performer in the perfect theatre with a perfect show.  A Boy and His Soul is a combination of stand up confessional and juke box musical that is always interesting and entertaining. And a great tribute to his mother.  Mr. Domingo has a commanding presence and is irresistible.  It is impossible not to like him and go along with his family history where he sometimes plays a scene being three characters at once.

It all takes place in the cluttered basement of his parent’s home which has to be cleaned out in order for the house to be sold.  The dusty white Christmas tree, Disco Ball and the many vinyl recordings that he grew up with and that were so important to his family bring back memories that Mr. Domingo shares with us in this one and a half hour glimpse into the life that has brought him to here and now.

At the performance I attended, Mr. Domingo no sooner had three or four words out of his mouth when a cell phone went off.  He stopped.  Smiled.  Said he would wait.  Which he did and then restarted the show with a vengeance.  It was a beautiful moment and a great performance.

Despite a persistent cough that was bothering him he sang and danced and told his stories with humor, sensitivity and expert showmanship.  I wanted him to be singing all these wonderful songs to completion and not just highlighting aspects of his growing up.

It is finely directed by Tony Kelly with much attention to detail.  Choreography by Ken Roberson and terrific lighting design by Marcus Doshi and great sound design by Tom Morse all help the evening move along smoothly.  As smooth as all those wonderful soul songs of the 70’s.  Tickets $55.00

www.vineyardtheatre.org

Tags:   Colman DomingoNo Comments.

“MARILYN MAYE PRESENTS MORE MERCER” PREMIERES TUESDAY OCTOBER 6 AT THE METROPOLITAN ROOM

Marilyn Maye doesn’t want the celebration of Johnny Mercer’s centenary to end.  That’s why she’s following up her mega-hit Mercer show from June with more Mercer, including songs she didn’t perform in June.  “Marilyn Maye presents More Mercer” opens at the Metropolitan Room, 34 West 22^nd Street, on Tuesday October 6 at 7pm.  The exclusive 11-show engagement (Maye’s ninth since her Metropolitan Room debut there in late 2006) runs through October 17.

“Marilyn Maye Presents More Mercer” features Tedd Firth on piano, Jim Eklof (her drummer for more than 40 years) and Tom Hubbard on bass.

Performances are Tuesday October 6 @207pm; Wednesday, Thursday, Friday October 7, 8, 9 @ 9:45pm; Saturday October 10 @ 7:30pm; Sunday, Monday, Tuesday October 11, 12, 13 @ 7pm; Wednesday October 14 at 7:30pm; Friday, Saturday October 16, 17 @ 9:45pm.  Maye’s music charge is $30. For reservations call 212/206-0440 or visit www.metropolitanroom.com.

And here is my original review of her last performance at the Metropolitan Room –

“Mercer the Maye Way” has just opened for a nine performance run at New York’s Metropolitan Room through June 21^st at 7pm.  Here is the number to call for tickets, if they are not already sold out – as well they should be – 212 206 0440 or visit www.metropolitanroom.com.   But be quick if you want to see one of the most exciting cabaret shows by one of the foremost entertainers in the business – the incredibly classy, glamorous and glorious Marilyn Maye – a woman who has been around the block a couple of times but still has the power to enthrall an audience with her sultry delivery and humor – electrifying the room with her charm and vocal prowess – bringing on thunderous applause one minute and complete silence the next.  Marilyn Maye should be designated a national treasure.

She has recently won her first MAC Award – Celebrity of the Year, so that’s a good start to National Treasure status.  Marilyn Maye has a way with a lyric that is legendary and so it is not surprising that this new show is a tribute to one of the greatest lyricists ever – Johnny Mercer – a good friend and fellow martini drinker.  The sheer number (thirty five in all) of incredible, memorable and beautiful hit songs that he wrote and that she sings with such joy and reverence is enough for you to want to get on bended knee and praise them both.

She is supported by a three terrific musicians.  Tedd Firth on piano, Jim Eklof (her drummer for more than 40 years) and Tom Hubbard on bass.  A better combo you will not find anywhere.

Standing beside the piano, looking fabulous, not a glass of water in sight and discarding her on stage stool Marilyn Maye sang her heart and soul out for almost two hours.  It was an amazing performance.  By an amazing woman.  Adorable.  Lovable.  It was her “let’s just have a party” mood that captured us all from the start.  It was especially interesting watching Anne Hampton Calloway watching Marilyn Maye and being mesmerized.  As we all were.

“I’m Old Fashioned” “Out of This World” “Charade” a beautifully controlled “Skylark” a revengeful “I Wanna Be Around”  “Come Rain or Come Shine” “Moon River” the very amusing “Pardon My Southern Accent” and “Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing In a Hurry” (that she sang in Topeka Kansas when she was 12) and the knockout “Blues in the Night” and my all time favorite “Anyplace I Hang My Hat is home” are just a few of the songs that make up “Mercer the Maye Way”.

There is only one word to describe Marilyn Maye.  Perfection.

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Where else but at the legendary La Mama Experimental Theatre Club celebrating its 48^th season can you see a production of two short stories by Chekhov – The Doctor and A Joke adapted into a chamber opera and musical respectively by a Korean, Byungkoo Ahn, which are gorgeously sung in English and Korean – some translations provided – beautifully and simply designed by Jose Ho (stark and crisp) and stylishly acted by actors from Taiwan and Korea.

Experiments are good.  Both for the writers and performers and for those of us anxious to see new material written for the musical stage.

In The Doctor, music by Martin Herman – libretto by T.F. Curley we have a young boy (Sook In Em) bedridden, under the care of a doctor (Young Jun Chai) who has had some kind of relationship with Olga, the mother (In Suk Kim).  Is the child his?  Will the child die of the brain tumor?  Will truth prevail?  It’s a fascinating piece.  Pensive and haunting.  Not always easy to listen to.  It is a complicated score to sing and little melody for the listener to grasp onto.  But always interesting.  Sometimes very hard to understand the words especially when all three are singing simultaneously – although there are certain phrases that are repeated so that I got the gist of the story.

After the performance I requested a copy of the libretto which director, Byungkoo Ahn quickly supplied.  Within seconds there were three for me to read.  I have to say that I missed very little but it was a difficult journey. 

A more pleasurable journey was the second piece – A Joke.  Music by Young Hoon Lee (regarded as the father of the popular Korean love song) with additional material by Hee Sun Hailey Chang. 

The story of a young man (Steven Sun) remembering his first love Nadenka (Mi Sun Choi) when they went tobogganing down a hill and while the wind rushed by and she screamed in fear he tells her “I love you, Nadenka.”  It’s a beautiful, lyrical and poignant piece.  Much more accessible.  With translations of the three lovely songs provided in the program.  Did she hear him whisper those beautiful words in her ear or was it only the wind?

The silhouetted forest as she sings Memories Are Sadder than Love is a piece of art.  As are the songs.  Accompanied on piano (Hee Sun Hailey Chang) and cello (Jeremy Lamb).  Very fine musicians.  Very fine production. 

Through October 4^th.  Tickets $25.00  Approximately one hour long.

www.lamama.org

Tags:   Anton Chekhov · Byungkoo Ahn · La Mama · Martin Herman · Young Hoon Lee1 Comment

On a terrific, off kilter black and white set (Christopher Barreca) looking like a modern day stateroom on the Titanic as it is sinking, representing the living room of the equally off kilter Feingold family with a storm raging outside, a huge lightning thunderbolt starts off this very intriguing and satisfying film noirish tale of murder and revenge, where “family is everything” and gallows humor is ripe.

I thought that with this huge hurricane raging in New Jersey, if someone walks through that door dry I will be a very unhappy critic.  Fortunately the prodigal son arrives from Los Angeles somewhat wet with very little luggage besides his BlackBerry.

After six years, on the anniversary of his dad’s death, Martin Feingold (Joseph Urla) returns to the nest after becoming a famous writer of a novel where his father’s death seemed like murder.  In fact, his father (Dr. William Feingold -Jay Patterson) roams around the listing to starboard side living room silently entering, exiting and filling his glass up with scotch.  We soon meet his confrontational sister (Jessica – Sharon Maguire) and overpowering, sarcastic and mean-spirited mother with a heart condition (Elizabeth – Concetta Tomei) for a family reunion of sorts to tie up some unfinished business.

The unfinished business is a delight to see unfold.  Playwright Tony Glazer has written a clever, taut two act modern day Greek tragedy with a bit of Agatha Christie thrown in for good measure.  In The Daylight is full of shadows and surprises.  What actually did happen that night six years ago?

Martin soon discovers he has lost his BlackBerry in transit.  There is a knock on the door and Charlotte Fontaine (Ashley Austin Morris) enters, also somewhat wet.  She had been on the same flight as Martin and is one of his biggest fans and talks with a southern accent that you could cut salami with and knows more about him than does his family and has brought him back his precious BlackBerry.  It is what else she brings and how all these characters relate to each other and how Mr. Glazer manipulates the proceedings that make for a very rewarding theatrical experience.

Under the bold direction of John Gould Rubin the actors flourish.  They are on the edge of satire and melodrama but never fall into the abyss.  They are all perfectly cast.  I don’t want to spoil anything for you by giving away anything else.  In The Daylight is a rare find.  Exciting, suspenseful and grotesquely funny. Highly recommended.

At the McGinn Cazale Theatre – 2162 Broadway, 4^th floor between 76^th & 77^th Street.  Tickets $35.00  www.vitaltheatre.org

Tags:   Ashley Austin Morris · Christopher Barreca · Concetta Tomei · Jay Patterson · John Gould Rubin · Joseph Urla · Sharon Maguire · Tony Glazer · Vital TheatreComments Off on In The Daylight by Tony Glazer – Theater Noir

What an unexpected, fantastic, exciting, spectacular, inspirational evening of invigorating hip hop dancing and unique story telling presented by the fourteen member Groovaloos at The Joyce Theater where the ushers wear shirts imprinted with “Get Close to Dance” and where you can still catch this incredible show through September 27^th.  In a word.  Go.

You can’t get closer to dance than in the intimate Joyce Theater where you can witness the sheer brilliance of the originality of the choreography that does with Hip Hop what Michael Bennett did with A Chorus Line.  This troupe is a family.  A family of dancers dedicated to their art.  Dedicated to dance.  To freedom.  To finding their voice thorough dance.  “Life is a dance – so dance beautifully” speaks the narrator with some very beautiful and at times moving poetry by Charlie Schmidt as the dancers prove his point faultlessly.

You will be amazed at the physical dexterity of these dancers who come from very diverse backgrounds.  As diverse as the audience was.  An audience that was encouraged from the beginning to “make some noise – laugh, cry or scream” – An audience that was all too willing to do just that.

In a series of dance stories, based on the lives of the members of the Groovaloos we get to know the various reasons that brought all these people together – how they overcame obstacles, how they gave up careers, how they tried to fit in and how they try to inspire.

Conceived and created by Bradley Rapier and Danny Cistone who also directs with a precise and unique style – the dancers are simply amazing.  Aided by the most wonderful lighting design since Passing Strange by Charlie Morrison and the multi tiered set by consultant Laura Fine Hawkes – which uses every bit of space to great effect – you will marvel at what your eyes will sometimes not believe they are seeing.

One of the dancers, Steven “BoogieMan” Stanton, in the course of the development of the show, was shot.  Told he might never walk again let alone dance he was devastated.  But there he is on stage, with a cane, dancing.  One of the most moving stories recounts how he went from being shot to standing to walker to cane to performing again.  If that is not inspirational than I don’t know what is.  He is wonderful.

Other special segments include a ride on a subway and in an elevator and at a lunch break with orange boxes that is just super.  With humor and pathos these dancers are simply brilliant.  I applaud them all for following their dream and being real and honest and making us all want to get up on that stage and “free style”. 

www.groovaloo.com

Tags:   Bradley Rapier · Charlie Schmidt · Danny Cistone · Groovaloo · Steven StantonNo Comments.