Oscar E Moore

There aren’t too many celebrities with the pedigree that Carrie Fisher has that are candid enough and funny enough and ballsy enough to open up about their bouts with divorce, alcoholism, drugs and rehab, their career, death and the beyond and in this case her very extended famous family and share their experiences on stage for all to see and hear.

In her extremely amusing and wonderful autobiographical memoir of a show, “Wishful Drinking” – that has just opened at Studio 54, Carrie Fisher does just that.   In her almost two and a half hours onstage, barefoot and in lounging pajamas with lots of glitter around her eyes that make her sparkle – as if her sparkling wit weren’t enough – she showers audience members with glitter and gossip as she embarks on her tell-all journey of her Hollywood life on the rocks.

I am probably the only person in the world, no make that the universe, that has not seen Carrie Fisher in her most infamous film role – that of Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy.  I know the name from its many appearances in crossword puzzles.   

I do know who her very famous parents are.  Still alive and kicking – Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher who left Debbie for Elizabeth Taylor.   Bringing the younger members of the audience up to speed she compares them to the Jennifer Aniston, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie of their day.  Some things never change.

She opens her show singing “Happy Days Are Here Again”.  She might very well have chosen “I’m Still Here” from Follies.  She is a survivor with a capital S – and we are very thankful that she is so that we can hear all about her very public tabloid existence.

I won’t give away any of her wild definitions or one-liners.  You have to hear them straight from her.  She has a wry sense of humor and terrific comic timing that will have you laughing throughout her impeccable performance which is fine tuned by director Tony Taccone.  Aided by some nostalgic film clips and equally witty video projections by Alexander V. Nichols who is also responsible for the appropriate off kilter set and suggestive lighting.   Her family tree lesson from her parents to her daughter and everyone in between can be likened to a California Redwood there are so many involved and intertwined.  See how hard she pokes certain photos with her pointer.

Everyone warms up to Carrie Fisher immediately with her low key almost confessional style delivery.  She has got the gift of gab and of putting words together and playing with them which is a delight to listen to.  Not to mention the delicious dish.  On Paul Simon, George Lucas and Liz and Eddie and how she is accused of turning men gay and making them bald.  Enough said. 

There are times when she tilts her head just so that you can see in her face the face of Debbie Reynolds – especially in the smile which is warm and welcoming.  And at times she can be brutal and droll simultaneously

You might be even lucky enough to be chosen to join Carrie Fisher on stage with her life size Princess Leia sex doll.  Don’t let that scare you off.  It’s one of the highlights of an evening chock full of highlights.  “Wishful Drinking” is a must see.  Here’s to you, Carrie Fisher!  To Life!

Limited engagement through January 3^rd 2010  www.roundabouttheatre.org

Tags:   Carrie Fisher · Tony TacconeNo Comments.

If you can imagine a musical starring a lonely embalmer, making the dead look better than they did in life who has four brothers acting very much like The Three Stooges plus one and that his best friend Emily, has arrived dead at his family run funeral home and that the Holy Dude Dalai Lama who has grand illusions of creating a brand name (D La) and that a rich Texan wants to buy out his funeral home – and a crazy Russian who also wants a piece of the action and when Edward the lonely embalmer discovers love he also discovers that he can bring the dead back to life – well, you don’t have to – because Mark Noonan & Nick Oddy have already done so with the creation of their new musical – The Happy Embalmer, part of the New York Musical Festival.  They are two gifted writers that we should all keep our eyes on.

If you liked The Toxic Avenger you’ll want to see this show.  It’s very funny.  In a very over the top way.  Nothing is sacred here and if you are willing to go along with the absolutely zany plot you’ll have a fine time.  A bit of vulgarity and tastelessness is not beyond their talents.  The score is very smart and tuneful.  Bossa nova beats to power ballads to 50’s rock will keep you bouncing along with the insanity.  Director and choreographer Kelly Devine has done a super job in creating some original dances that erupt in spontaneous celebration – dancing in the face of death so to speak.

The Happy Embalmer is one big looney, irreverent cartoon with a heart and soul that beats well within with its message that real beauty in on the inside and when you find love you find the key to happiness.  Not an original message.  What is original is how Noonan & Oddy go about telling their tale with their delightful score.  Austin Switser has created some novel projections that especially add to the hilarity in the second act. 

The leader of the pack is Daniel Reichard who mopes about his basement embalming and bemoaning the fact that he’s lonely until he discovers his hidden talent and bursts forth with confidence and warmth.  He has an amazing vocal range and is extremely amusing and real.  He gives an inspired performance.   

Tituss Burgess as the Dalai Lama takes inspiration from Grace Jones and Eartha Kitt.  A bit shrill but nonetheless divine.  His assistant Tenzing – is a wonderful Cedric Leiba Jr.  Megan Sikora as Edward’s lost love Emily is delightful once she is brought back to life.  Their duets are right on.  They set off sparks together. 

The brothers Nando – Noah Aberlin, Tony Daussat, Brian Gallagher and Kevin Michael Murphy do their schtick with abandonment.  John Jeffrey Martin is the running joke of the show – Todd.  He is a mysterious, extra good looking fellow who is in command and for some odd reason has the eleven o’clock number.  As Mr. Nando and the mad Russian Professor Pasternov, Steven Hauck seems to be having the time of his life.  The Happy Emblmer is a show about death celebrating life.  And I have to totally agree with the philosophy of Noonan & Oddy that without laughter you’re dead. 

www.nymf.org

Tags:   Daniel Reichard · Kelly Devine · Mark Noonan · Nick Oddy · Tituss BurgessNo Comments.

Given the short rehearsal time period allotted for productions partaking in the New York Musical Theatre Festival, the entire creative team behind Hurricane – the almost entirely sung through, original two hour show with a cast of thirty written by Michael Holland (Music & Lyrics & Book) and Eric Bernat (Book) – with incredible costumes by Karen Ann Ledger, wonderful orchestrations by Jesse Vargas and directed by Michael Bush – can be congratulated for their artistic vision and their considerable artistic achievements.

In September of 1938 a totally unexpected hurricane hit southern New England without any warning from The National Weather Bureau.  It was high tide and there was a full moon during the fall equinox.  The coastal town of Napatree, Rhode Island was destroyed along with many of its inhabitants.  It is here where the musical Hurricane takes place.  It’s not your usual singing in the rain story.

From the opening notes of the oft times melodic, lush and soaring score which includes many styles we are treated to an opening number that rivals that of Ragtime.  We are introduced to the Delgado Sisters (perfectly dressed and in perfect harmony – Natalie Charle Ellis, Catherine Charlebois and Mishaela Faucher) a local singing trio – a Greek Chorus that appears throughout, who immediately set the period and tone of the show. 

We also meet the many characters that inhabit Napatree along with some ghosts who have seen it all before and are there to morally support Helen – a well to do busybody (Rita Gardner),  Margaret her long time suffering Irish maid (Karen Elliott), her daughter Lil (Brittany Lee Hamilton), and Nicky, Lil’s Portuguese fiancé (Joey Khoury). 

Then there is Caroline a wealthy housewife (a stunning Christy Morton) her husband Jeff (John Antony) their son (Alec Cohen) and daughter (Maya Frank).  Other locals include Joe Silva, a Portuguese farmer (Joseph Mahowald) his son Junior “June” who wants to be a dancer (Zachary Clause) and Norm, the bus driver (Steven Watts).  What a collection of glorious voices, especially in the ensemble numbers.  It is simply thrilling to hear them – with terrific vocal arrangements by Michael Holland.  They are all superb.

These are the folks who surround the guts of the musical.   Charlie (Steven Booth) a junior meteorologist who fears that the storm is headed North, tries to convince others that it could be disastrous.  No one will pay any attention to him, especially his arrogant supervisor Mitchell (TJ Mannix).  Both Mr. Booth and Mr. Mannix deliver Tony Award winning performances.  They are fabulous together.  Their final scene is incredibly moving.  If only the focus were more on them – with some of the extraneous numbers either whittled down, rethought or eliminated altogether – for example, the futuristic very entertaining but what is it doing here beach number with its All That Jazz vamp.

Too much time is spent on giving all the characters their time in the spotlight when a tighter focus on Charlie and Mitchell might help better shape the production.  The lyrics do not always come up to the high quality of the music – which can sometimes be breathtakingly beautiful – but not very memorable on first hearing.

Although Michael Bush always leaves his creative stamp on whatever he directs and can skillfully coax superb characterizations from his actors and keep things moving fluidly while making some lovely stage pictures the book and score need some refining and cutting down to have Hurricane reach its full potential. www.hurricanethemusical.com

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Every care has been taken, no detail overlooked to enhance the phenomenal performance of Charlayne Woodard in her solo play “The Night Watcher” which is unlike any other solo performance piece I have ever seen.  It’s exceptional.  She is exceptional.  Charlayne Woodard is that rare actress who can become any one of the characters she is portraying in a split second, her voice and body inhabiting the human spirit of those she becomes right before our eyes.

From the refined and assured direction of Daniel Sullivan, to the open and welcoming set by Charlie Corcoran and Thomas Lynch that is bathed in the most beautiful lighting by Geoff Korf to the jazz inspired music and sound design by Obadiah Eaves to the perfect projections by Tal Yarden to her simple and yet colorful costume by Jess Goldstein – the entire creative team has come up with an enveloping wrap that Charlayne Woodard wears with love and affection in her most original take on motherhood.  They have given her a beautiful space in order to be free.  Free to express her feelings about the children she never had, by choice, but was involved with over the years – not always by choice.

She is humble and tough and grounded and wise as she weaves her tale of truth and understanding of what it takes to be a mother or an aunt or a god mother with humor and bittersweet remembrances. 

The show is in two acts.  Each about an hour long.  An odd choice for a solo show.  But it pays off.  It even leaves you wanting to hear more – an incredible achievement.  The individual vignettes are in themselves complete three act plays which are unexpectedly original and amusing and filled with the philosophy that makes Charlayne Woodard first choice, sometimes over the biological parents, for her nephews and nieces and young friends to confide their secrets so that she can inadvertently help. 

Frank talk about sex, self esteem, teen pregnancy, her dog Max, her husband, mother, various friends and their children and rudeness permeate the beautifully written script which just so happens to be penned by the magical Charlayne Woodard.  Is there anything she can’t do?  She exhibits her vocal, dancing, karate and rap skills.  She is both mother and child – seeing the world through everyone’s eyes.  It’s a difficult world sometimes but Charlayne always has some choices to give as a way to cope.

See this magnificent performance.  “The Night Watcher” is brimming with brilliance.  Find out who Charlayne Woodard is and be taken on her journey of introspection and enlightenment.  I think you will come to realize that she could very well be the mother of us all.

www.primarystages.org   Tickets $60.00

Tags:   Charlayne Woodard · Daniel Sullivan · Primary StagesNo Comments.

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.