Oscar E Moore

It’s an extremely unhappy place over at the Lion Theatre on Theatre Row where Fathers & Sons, a new play written by Richard Hoehler who also costars with Edwin Matos, Jr. has just opened in a limited engagement through October 4th.   These men are not happy.   And thusly neither are we.

We meet Edwin (Mr. Matos) and Richard (Mr. Hoehler) rehearsing Fathers & Sons – the play within this play, written by Richard – which just so happens to mirror their own lives, up to a point. They are preparing for the opening – which is two days away.  A VIP from the Public Theatre has promised to attend.  The play which has its title lifted from the novel by Turgenev is a series of scenes between fathers and sons or variations of pairs of men who have intense issues with each other.  These scenes make individual sense but could never add up to a satisfying play and the VIP will surely be as disappointed with it as I was.

Richard is the older father figure.  Edwin is the protégé who is always late, always has a lame excuse, forgets his lines and more or less drives Richard nuts with his goings on.  He also is a Latino Hottie and it isn’t long before we see him shirtless.  Why does he put up with Edwin?  Is he getting too close to Edwin?  Is this really about gay/straight relationships?  There is a constant friction between the two as they rehearse the scenes wherein they portray a variety of roles: stepson/stepfather – gay mentor/protégé – uncle/mentally deficient nephew – alcoholic father/son and Latino dad/son. 

Issues of abuse, abandonment, responsibility and control are faced head on – in English and Spanish.  Back and forth between the play and the play within the play.  Both actors do a remarkable job of making each character an individual but the writing is very predictable and we really do not get the time to be involved with any of them.  Just as we are about to, the lights change and the music is cued and we are somewhere else again.

Thankfully the excellent music by Scott O’Brien and the lighting design by Michael Abrams help clarify the transitions.  But director Chris Dolman does little to bring about anything remotely interesting up on the stage.  Perhaps it’s the structure that doesn’t allow for us to get involved.  Perhaps it’s just all those unhappy people.

Richard is a frustrated playwright never having made it big.  This is his big chance and Edwin just might ruin it and he’ll have to go back teaching and coaching and writing not so great plays.  Fathers & Sons seems like a therapeutic memoir on the part of Mr. Hoehler to help explain his own life.  I hope he’s happier than the characters he has written about.

Tickets are $25.00.  Approximately 90 minutes.  No intermission.

Tags:   Edwin Matos Jr. · Richard HoehlerNo Comments.

The good news is that Devil Boys from Beyond is one of the funniest shows I’ve seen in a long time.  It’s a clever take off of all those 1950 space-ship-alien-creatures-come-to Earth movies cross pollinated with the 1940’s screwball comedy His Girl Friday. 

The even better news is that it has been chosen to be in the FringeNYC Encores Series beginning September 10^th, and so you can actually get to see this wonderful four star comedy with four, four star male actors playing the four, four star femme fatale roles.  What would the Fringe Festival be without some drag queens in attendance?

Devil Boys From Beyond, tartly written by Buddy Thomas is a far fetched fantastic voyage that director Kenneth Elliott guides beautifully from take off to bumpy landing. 

Congratulations are due all around.  Especially to the planet Pluto for sending two of the handsomest, hunkiest Plutonians (Jeff Riberdy & Jacques Mitchell) to invade Earth, taking the wind out of Florence Wexler (Everett Quinton) when their space ship lands atop her husband’s tool shed in Lizard Lick, Florida. 

Back in New York at the Daily Bugle rumors are rife and top notch Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Mattie Van Buren (Paul Pecorino) is sent by her editor (Peter Cormican) to cover the story.  Complications arise with her souse of a handsome photographer husband (Robert Berliner) who she has caught in bed with her arch rival Lucinda Marsh (Chris Dell’Armo) who is hot for him and hot on the heels of Mattie to scoop the story right out from under her pumps. 

Upon their arrival they meet up with Dotty Primrose (Andy Halliday) owner of the place where they are staying and all hell breaks loose with the alien creatures, the two rival reporters, looks that could kill, unexpected and hilarious situations and dialogue that will have you splitting your sides with laughter.  I know that’s a cliché but it is true in this case.

As Mattie Van Buren, Paul Pecorino has the walk, the gestures, the looks of Joan Crawford, crossed with Roz Russell crossed with Bette Davis down pat.  He is fabulous.  Even when he went up in his lines at the final performance Sunday – in character he took a swig from a flask and then got the lines right to great applause.  When the space ship took off at the end at blew the circuits he continued on in darkness while one of the two dexterous stage hands came out with a flashlight to illuminate.  That’s what is so great about live theatre.  And having expert actors in a very, very funny comedy isn’t so bad either.

Everett Quinton who learned his craft under the tutelage of the remarkable Charles Ludlam is in top form in his lavender teddy making out like a bandit with his naughty Mae West take off.  Delicious.  As Lucinda, Chris Dell’Armo is very Eve Arden with great comic delivery.  Andy Halliday does Dotty proud also.  As the drunken, adorable husband of Mattie – Robert Berliner has his Cary Grant hat on and it fits perfectly.  Deadpan hilarity ensues.  And Peter Cormican as Gilbert is perfect in his role of the guy trying to save his newspaper from going under – trying to get enemies to cooperate.  You can only imagine!

Great costumes from Gail Baldoni and terrific wig design by Gerard Kelly.  Mattie sings an original song “Sensitive Girl” music and lyrics by Drew Fornarola that is just one of the highlights of the show filled from beginning to end with untold and unlimited surprises.

Devil Boys From Beyond is produced by Madcap Productions.  That sums it up to a tee.

www.madcapshows.com   www.devilboysfrombeyond.com

Tags:   Andy Halliday · Buddy Thomas · Chris Dell'Armo · Everett Quinton · Jacques Mitchell · Jeff Riberdy · Kenneth Elliott · Paul Pecorino · Peter Cormican · Robert BerlinerNo Comments.

It might be very interesting to read How We Are Hungry by Dave Eggers.  That is the source material for this very strange, mixed breed of a fifty five minute show called Be the Dog.  Adapted by Emily Kaye Liberis and written as s senior thesis project at Boston University that is exactly how this show comes across: somewhat intellectual, somewhat pretentious, somewhat interesting – using mime, movement, and music with a cast of four who are called upon to represent the free wheeling, frisky, lovable, happy, running and jumping dog who comments on the lives of the humans they also portray and the nasty squirrels that they have to put up with.  Squirrels come off best.

The cast is excellent.  They give their all in suggesting that a dog’s life is just one race and leap after another and that they love it.  As their human counterparts we have a guy in a wheel chair (David Rosenblatt) who has attempted suicide, yet again, discussing his problems and life with his visiting cousin (Jared Craig) who has met a woman (Jessica Grant) who tried to pick him up along the way.  We have a couple on vacation in Costa Rica.  He’s a corporate worker there (Craig).  They have been friends for a long time and now she (Rebecca Newman) wants to sleep with him.  And another couple (Rosenblatt & Grant) deciding whether or not to have sex, frolicking on the floor of the terrific set by Kenneth Grady Barker.

All these very serious adult situations sandwiched between the happy dog vs. the annoying squirrels.  Very nicely accomplished by director Jason McDowell-Green with a minimum of props.  Very Story Theatre.  Aided expertly by his accomplished, supple cast.

Death, suicide, sex, dogs and squirrels – a very mixed breed indeed.

www.FastFastDog.com

Tags:   David RosenblattNo Comments.

Supposedly, His Greatness written by Daniel Macivor – about an aging, southern, genteel playwright that likes angelic young men, booze and drugs not necessarily in that particular order; who is having a hard time of it writing anything new or revisiting his older works for a new audience is not about Tennessee Williams.  Could have fooled me.

In this intriguing and well scripted three character play which is one of the better productions at Fringe Festival 2009, images of Mr. Williams grace the cover of the program with this inscription “inspired by a potentially true story about playwright Tennessee Williams”.  It really doesn’t matter.  It’s a work that can stand on its own as an in depth character study of three gay men thrust together by circumstances of their own making.  It makes for a very interesting two act entertainment.

Yes, it is entertaining despite the overall sadness and bitterness inherent in their lives. It could be subtitled, Hangover in Vancouver.  The Playwright (Peter Goldfarb) is there with his assistant of fifteen years, former muse and lover (Dan Domingues) for the opening night of his new opus that failed miserably in London. The assistant knows his boss all too well and has hired a young looking hustler (Michael Busillo) to escort his boss to the play and to play with his boss afterwards in the hotel room where the action is set.

The playwright is very high maintenance and their back and forth barbs remind one of Auntie Mame and Vera Charles – surface bitchiness covering true affection just below.  The playwright speaks floridly, almost like a poet.  His assistant zings into the truth and truly wants to help until the dumb young hustler appears to be taking over his role in the playwright’s real life drama.  Who is manipulating whom?  Which one is “His Greatness’?  Who is really in charge?  How will it all play out?

It’s very nicely directed by Tom Gualtieri who manages the mood swings beautifully and smoothly.  Peter Goldfarb is all ego and denial, treating his assistant like a lackey one moment and then tender with him the next.  It’s a very well defined performance sprinkled with humor and pathos.  You sense his magnetism and fear at the loss of his gifts as a writer.  As his assistant, Dan Domingues is all a flutter with his sarcastic albeit truthful observations and at odds with his desire to leave or to stay.  His comic timing is excellent in dealing with his boss and the new boy toy that he has brought into their lives.  Michael Busillo the third member of this bizarre ménage a trois is like a feral cat on the run – looking for any opportunity and once found pounces on it with his sexual prowess.  He’s just interested in going to Hollywood and meeting Warren Beatty or starring in a porn film or having that play written for him that is promised by the older gentleman before it’s too late.

Playwright, Daniel Macivor makes a point about critics here.  After the two bad reviews come out, The Young Man doesn’t understand some words but wants to fight back, declaring war on all those who judge.  I try not to judge but to enlighten.  Write about what I’ve seen and have the reader decide if they want to go or not.  In this case I’ll give a little nudge and suggest you see this one at The Cherry Lane Theatre.

www.HisGreatnessPlay.com

Tags:   Dan Domingues · Daniel Macivor · Michael Busillo · Peter Goldfarb · Tom GualtieriComments Off on His Greatness – Fringe Festival

Dear Ren Casey:

Note:  Ren Casey is the creator of this monster – book, lyrics and music of Graveyard Shift – a new zombie-musical-action-comedy which is part of the Fringe Festival.  There is some action and lots of zombies.  First error:  too big a cast.  Second error: the music is a hodge-podge of styles without being stylish.  Sometimes sounding like a faux Sondheim tune that he might have written at the age of ten; sometimes sounding like the theme from Love Boat and that haunting, haunting tune, ValueVille, that sounded very much like Xanadu.  At least everyone gets to sing his or her anthem to living life and having a dream.  You also direct.  Third error.  Always a problem for me when one person thinks he can do it all.

If you are going to attempt to write a show that is a combination of the brilliant The Toxic Avenger meets the wonderful Walmartopia then you had better write a show that is better.  Much better.  Unfortunately you haven’t even come close.  The music, as mentioned, is derivative and the comedy lame.  Dialogue – cliché ridden.  And the plot!

You start off fine with a well made video of The President of the United States warning all that a new virus is spreading from bodily fluids and that once infected you become a bloodthirsty, killer Zombie and that the only way for said Zombies to be killed the second time around is to destroy their brains.  You almost succeeded with mine.  I wished that I had that X buzzer from America’s Got Talent to stop the action.

There is some good material here but it wanders off into a satire of the Wal-Mart (ValueVille) type of store where everyone is taught to smile and where they are working for minimum wage and where everyone has a thwarted dream which they eventually get to sing about and where they are unaware of said virus.  Until Granny make her entrance. I won’t go on.  It was really difficult to get through this show – in two acts.

I will save the large, hard working cast from being further embarrassed by not mentioning their names.  They do try their best but it is difficult with the material they are given.  Late in the overlong second act there is a dance of the Zombies – pretty nifty by Sydney Skybetter but totally uncalled for.

Hopefully, Ren Casey, you will take a good hard look at what you have wrought and attempt to improve upon it which is what this Festival is all about.  Best of luck.

www.graveyardshift.info

Tags:   Ren Casey · Sydney SkybetterNo Comments.

Zippy, zestful, really lots of fun and performed with zeal.  How Now, Dow Jones which first opened on Broadway in 1967 has always been a show remembered for its clever lyrics by Carolyn Leigh and its sprightly score by Elmer Bernstein (most famous song being “Step to the Rear”) and its lackluster book by Max Shulman.

It was always a silly story to begin with and in this truncated, scaled down version – revised and directed by Ben West we get some new songs not in the original and the same silly story – which I have to admit has some great satirical moments aimed at Wall Street, some very funny lines, those great lyrics and some charming performances that are sung, praise be, without amplification.  Real live voices seem almost unreal but most welcome.  I say unreal as we have become so accustomed to hearing the amplified versions that our ears have to adjust to normal levels once again.  Terrific.

Not so terrific is the story.  Kate (a most delightful and pert Cristen Paige) has been waiting three and a half years for Herbert (a preoccupied Elon Rutberg) to marry her.  He will when the Dow reaches 1000.  Charley (Colin Hanlon who has wonderful comic timing), a down on his luck and an aw sucks kind of suicidal guy has come to seek his fortune on Wall Street but fails at everything he attempts.  Kate and Charley meet and quicker then they can get out of their clothes they spend the night together – they have much in common and she becomes pregnant.  Her best friend Cynthia (a miscast Cori Silberman) is after the top CEO Mr. Wingate (a no nonsense Fred Berman who has a mini show stopping moment – they met in a broom closet at the Christmas party) and he sets her up as his mistress only he’s too busy to spend any time with her.  Wingate discovers Charley attempting to jump off the ledge outside his office and quicker than he can be rescued he is hired by Wingate for his aw shucks demeanor to sell stocks to rich old widows who in this production are nowhere to be seen.

Dow (Shane Bland) and Jones (Dennis O’Bannion) carry out some clever choreography by Rommy Sandhu that at times is as silly as the plot and seems a bit much for the short show.  More work on the book would have been appreciated.  Ben West has some amusing directorial bits that are fun but why have Cynthia speak most of her lines upstage?  Jim Middleton as Dr. Gilman and A.K. has just the right tone and attitude for this inconsistent cartoon of a musical.

There are so many loose ends here because of the cuts but the actors are so charming and eager to please and sing their songs with great élan that the seventy five or so minutes fly by and we are left with simply having a fun time.  Nothing wrong with that.  But much more work must be done if they want How Now to have another after life.

NOTE:   I appeared as Charley in 1968 at the Canal Fulton Arena.  Summer Stock.  I was resident juvenile.  Mr. Wingate was Edward Everett Horton.  Mr. Wingate was much older than Fred Berman – which changes things considerably. It was nice to remember those times and I even remembered some of the scenes and lines after all these years.  It’s nice to know that we’re both still around and kicking.

www.HowNowDowJones.com  www.FringeNYC.com

Tags:   Ben West · Carolyn Leigh · Fred BermanNo Comments.

Politics is war.  And in this fascinating slice of history dealing with the running for President of the United States by a woman – the very first woman, Victoria Woodhull (Antoinette Lavecchia) with none other than Frederick Douglass (Mel Johnson Jr.), well known abolitionist, woman’s suffragist and orator as her running mate for Vice President we see the backroom machinations of what it was like for them in 1872.  It wasn’t easy.  It wasn’t nice.  It was politics as usual.

She was a woman who could not vote.  He was the son of slaves.  It didn’t help that he was pro Grant (Mel Johnson Jr.) whom he helped get elected.  It didn’t help that she was wealthy in her own right and fought for free love, held séances and was accused, along with her sister Tennessee (Kate MacCluggage), of being a prostitute.  It didn’t help that Douglass’ wife Anna (Brenda Pressley) feared for her life and the lives of their children and grandchildren and tried her best to talk him out of being embroiled in the political morass they found themselves in.  Yes, this is a fascinating subject matter for a play.

Jonathan L. Davidson has done a fine job in telling this story that everyone should be made aware of.  Regional Theaters take note!  It resonates right down to today’s political climate – where we have Obama in the White House and very nearly had Hillary Clinton moving back in as the first female President.  We see the many conflicts, compromises and negotiations that go on in the background – for these political pawns to be able to run for office and what they truly feel.  The characterizations are well rounded and extremely well acted.  Especially that of Anna, Douglass’ wife.  Brenda Pressley is impassioned, honest and raw in her portrayal – and even finds some humor in her performance.

An amazing look alike for Susan B. Anthony (Liza Vann) finds herself at odds with Victoria Woodhull and with the aid of Victoria’s husband, Col. James Blood (Ariel Shafir) is instrumental in causing a major scandal.

Framing the story we have Stevens V (Devin Haqq) – a television host who in a very glib manner warms the audience up to the serious business to follow – welcoming us to the black experience.  I liked this device.  It grabbed your attention immediately with the help of wonderful video projections before jumping into the intriguing history lesson that follows – where he becomes the original Damon Stevens, reporter for The New York Herald (1872) who wrote many articles following the outcome of this odd political couple.  It also closes the show with an unexpected laugh or two.

Director Charles Randolph-Wright keeps the tale briskly moving along from Rochester to Murray Hill to Washington D.C. and eventually to Italy, years after the incident occurred where Victoria and Frederick finally meet face to face.  Yes, they never met during the hectic campaign and Douglass wasn’t even aware at first that he had been nominated by Ms. Woodhull.  As mentioned, it’s fascinating – and entertaining.  At the New School for Drama Theater 151 Bank Street.   www.mosonproductions.org

Tags:   Brenda PressleyNo Comments.

Afterlight, the new play by Monica Flory, might as well have been titled Afterlife.  It’s a vague, mysterious meandering into the lives of seven townsfolk somewhere in the Northeast set at twilight dealing with the aftermath of the death by accident of a Mr. Paterson in a school bus.  Twilight would have been a better title but that brings forth visions of vampires now and so we have to settle with Afterlight and albino Monarch butterflies.  Settle indeed.

The lighting designer (Bobby Bradley) took the title literally and for most of the play the stage is dim to dark to barely visible except for the large inner lit funnel of light which is as odd as the intrusive and unintentionally giggle producing music (Kimberly Fuhr) that underscores this underdeveloped and murky piece.   

I think that Ms. Flory would have us take note that in any moment of our lives tragedy can strike and that we should live for the moment, love one another and be ready when the hammer of death strikes a beloved one down.

We have an old married couple who do not seem to have gotten along well for most of their marriage – Michael (Angus Hepburn) hears things under the floorboards and Louise (Kim Carlson) is simply bored and angry.  The reason for their discord is brought forth late in this one act play of 80 minutes. 

There is a pregnant Ann (Kimberly Prentice) , who has a blue collar boyfriend Hess (Frank Mihelich) who refuses to adopt her other child Shane (Tyler Merna) from a previous marriage who has witnessed the accident, sees the aforementioned albino Monarch butterflies everywhere and adamantly wants to attend the funeral – while his mom is beset with pregnancy problems.  The teens Pru (Allyson Morgan) and Hunter (Davi Santos) meet secretly in a cemetery where they come upon a wolf – Could it be Pru’s deceased dad or Mr. Peterson?

With names like these it could it be a morality play of sorts?  There is much confusing symbolism to the otherwise simple story which just gets in the way of everything.

The acting is uniformly good.  But to no avail.  The script leaves us wondering mostly about the life span of the butterfly and what that funnel of light is all about.  Director, Misti B. Eills does little to clarify.  Cherry Lane Theatre.

Presented by Threads Theater Company.  www.threadstheatercompany.org

Tags: No Comments.

As the Estelle Getty character, Sophia, from “The Golden Girls” would say – “Picture this” – Oscar Wilde has an idea to turn Sex and the City homosexual – giving those girls a good run for their money; Paul Rudnick is in hiding, worried that a new gay friendly playwright has something new and funnier to say and the creators of Friends are eating their hearts out for not re-thinking Friends as a gay for all comedy. 

Jason Mitchell has beaten them all to the punch in his fast paced, fiercely funny comedy The Boys Upstairs – now at The SoHo Playhouse.  When word of this extremely funny and well acted five character comedy gets out – and I’m doing my best to do just that – The Boys Upstairs will certainly have legs – and torsos and hairy chests and abs and enough witty one liners and caustic zingers to be remembered and quoted for quite some time.

This is not The Boys in the Band.  This is your new, out in the open for all to see and listen to gay guys living and trying to find sex and love and happiness in Hell’s Kitchen in the living room of Josh (Nic Cory) the Jewish would be writer and his ex-college lover and now roommate Seth (Joel T. Bauer) a teacher who is involved with an older – gasp! 30ish Matt (David A. Rudd).  Flamboyant fashionista Ashley (Kristen-Alexzander Griffith) has just arrived from Paris – making a star entrance – when the ever so attractive boy downstairs, Eric (Josh Segarra) – who has recently moved in and is straight they all assume, knocks on their door to borrow a tool which really gets the ball rolling.

In a series of quick scenes which have sit-com titles, we get to know these guys right down to their designer undies.  Josh acts as narrator asking the many questions that these scenes answer.  Or attempt to answer.  The sofa-bed  is opened and closed so may times that it resembles a pop up book with various bodies in various stages of undress and in various very funny positions.

Matthew Corozine has directed with an eye for detail and has elicited honest and wonderfully heartfelt performances from his entire cast.  In addition to playing Matt, David Rudd – who was in my favorite Fringe play last year – The Fabulous Kane Sisters in Box Office Poison –  is also asked to be all of their boyfriends, dates and tricks (he is especially on top of his game with Gabie –  a true theatre queen whose entire dialogue comes from lyrics of show tunes). 

Somehow all these one nighters look and sound alike – on purpose.  Nothing can take the place of a monogamous relationship here.  You just have to find the right one to be monogamous with.  No mean feat in this day and age.  But playwright Mitchell remains optimistic.

Ashley (Kristen-Alexander Griffith) all but steals the show with his terrific comic timing and delivery.  He is helped out by some of the cleverest costuming (Justin Couchara) on a budget you will find.  Ditto for his attractive set.

The Boys Upstairs is ultimately about friendship.  Its ups and downs and what it truly means to have a friend.  All told with great humor and warmth.  Josh has entered a writing contest with an idea that some think is terrific and that some think has a limited life and a limited audience.  Jason Mitchell should have no such worries about his fantastic new comedy, The Boys Upstairs.  With a little editing and some fine tuning it will be seen by many for quite a while.

www.TheBoysUpstairs.info

Tags:   David A. Rudd · Jason Mitchell · Joel T. Bauer · Josh Segarra · Justin Allen Pifer · Kristen-Alexzander Griffith · Matthew Corozine · Nic CoryComments Off on The Boys Upstairs – Fringe Festival

How many great nieces can so beautifully pay homage to their great aunt’s incredibly rich life? 

One of the many amazing aspects of the performance of Libby Skala is that she has rekindled the spirit of Elizabeth Polk (her great aunt Lisl) to the point of reliving her life in this bittersweet memoir of words with dance.  The use of dance is an inspired idea here.  Libby Skala has the same exuberance and élan and love for life that her great aunt Lisl obviously had.  This delicious apple didn’t fall far from the tree.

Aunt Lisl was a famous dance therapist although she preferred to be called a dance teacher.  Eunice Kennedy Shriver would have been extremely proud of her as she taught the joy of movement to emotionally, physically and mentally challenged children.  It was the love of her life and she had to surmount many problems to reach her goal – including Hitler, a couple of World Wars, a rather strange husband, bad health and a “big shot” sister Lilia Skala – an Oscar nominated (Lilies of the Field) stage and screen star.

But she had many guardian angels helping her along the way.  From the moment she was born.  And she was clever and determined.  A bright girl who could adapt at a moments notice and see the ever so small wedge of light in the doors of opportunity that she managed to squeeze through.  It is with these same traits that Libby Skala performs the life of her Aunt Lisl. 

With little more than an Austrian accent, a pink shawl, a tambourine, drum and maracas she dances through life with a knowing and mischievous twinkle in her eye and a steely determination to succeed.  Emotions flow as beautifully as her movements across the stage at 45 Bleecker Street Theatres – appropriately enough in the basement – where Lisle Polk taught her students much to the chagrin of her older and more famous sister.

Libby Skala has also written the piece from a series of taped interviews and uses the music especially produced by Elizabeth Polk.  It’s a fascinating, humorous and touching journey that you will take with them both. 

Libby Skala won “Best Solo Performer” for A Time to Dance at the London Fringe Festival.  She will undoubtedly be in the running to win the same at this Festival also.

Tickets $15.00  www.FringeNYC.org

www.LibbySkala.com    www.ATimetoDance.homestead.com

Tags:   Fringe Festival NYC · Libby Skala1 Comment