Oscar E Moore

Neil LaBute, in his new play – reasons to be pretty – which has just transferred from Off-Broadway to the big time at the Lyceum, tackles male/female, male/male and female/female relationships head on.  And I do mean tackle.

From the outset we have Steph (Marin Ireland) with rapid fire dialogue that resembles a heated tennis match, vocally and physically berating her boyfriend of four years, Greg (Thomas Sadoski) for seemingly slighting her.  Her best friend Carly (Piper Perabo) has called to tell her that Greg, while speaking with her husband Kent, (Steven Pasquale) has said something unflattering about the way Steph looks.  It’s a minor item for Greg but Steph goes ballistic and there seems to be no stopping her.  The more he tries to explain that he never used the word “ugly” the more trouble he gets himself into and cannot control this woman totally out of control.

If this sounds like an episode from Seinfeld you would be on the right track.  But there are further complications.   Without which there wouldn’t be much drama.  Well, there’s plenty here under the razor sharp direction of Terry Kinney.  Kent and Greg work packing frozen food where Carly is a security guard.  We see them often on their break – where we get insight into how they tick.  Tick, tick, boom!  Carly and Kent are having marital problems.  She is newly pregnant and he is seeing a gorgeous co-worker that we never see – Crystal.  He mentions this to Greg who is then questioned by Carly.  It’s a case of the more he says or doesn’t say, the worse it gets.  And all he wants is to read his Poe and Hawthorne and get back into the good graces of Steph.  Why, oh why we wonder.

If  they’ve been together for four years he must have seen this side of her before.  Or has see been festering so long that she just explodes over this “he doesn’t think I’m beautiful moment”?  But she loves him.  Or does she?

In another hard to accept moment – or rather scene, Steph is having dinner with someone new – who we never see.  He is inside a restaurant while Steph and Greg go at it in round two of this sparring match – outside.  It’s an awfully long time for her new date to wait.  Eventually, new date and she become engaged and Steph comes to Greg’s workplace – to explain.  Not before Greg and Kent duke it out over Greg’s refusal to cover Kent’s infidelities.

After Act I, I asked myself who would want to see the outcome of all this.  But I persevered and Act II is much better in fleshing out all of their inner problems and coming to grips with facing those problems as adults and not like some whining spoiled children.

The acting is superb.  Thomas Sadoski tries so hard to get the bitch from hell to understand that we empathize with him completely.  Marin Ireland as said bitch really isn’t, giving a wonderful insight into her insecurities and inner turmoil.  As macho Kent, Steven Pasquale deserves everything he gets.  Piper Perabo as his wife is one sharp cookie when it comes to finding out the truth.   Four characters in a dysfunctional love situation.  Despite my reservations with the script, four excellent reasons to see reasons to be pretty.

www.doesthisplaymakemelookfat.com

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In Tina Howe’s very slight, nursing home escapism epic, Chasing Manet, which is now playing at Primary Stages, we are supposed to suspend our belief of real people doing real things.  These characters are not real.  They are allegorical figures – representing the idea of escaping – the idea that if you want to get out of any said situation there is a means and that you should go for it as life is all too short, especially if you are in a nursing home where old people are sent to die.

Anyone who has had anyone close who has had to be admitted into a nursing home will find this play to be totally implausible.   

In the painting by Manet, Dejuner sur l’Herbe, which hangs over the bed of legally blind patient Catherine Sargent (a relative of that Sargent and a painter herself) played by Jane Alexander, in Room 312 of the Mount Airy Nursing Home in Riverdale – the naked woman sitting at lunch with fully clothed men is not about her nakedness but about how Manet wanted to paint an “imagined event” as a statement of “individual freedom” as explained by Catherine.

Freedom.  To escape.  To get out.  That is the mantra of Catherine.  Upon the death of her roommate she quickly gets another.  A nice Jewish lady – Rennie Waltzer – who suffers from dementia (Lynn Cohen) and as strange as it may seem these two bond.  I couldn’t accept the situation.  In a nursing home people with dementia and Alzheimer’s are kept apart from other patients.  These two women would never have been put in the same quarters.  Ever.   I know.  First hand.

Accepting that premise, Catherine plots for them to set a little fire so that they can escape and board the QE2 to go to Paris, one last time.  But Rennie, who keeps referencing her dead husband, needs to get her passport.  That’s the crux of it.

In between we meet Catherine’s only son Royal (Jack Gilpin) – she was probably too selfish to have any more children –  who hasn’t amounted to much in his mother’s estimation – he’s a teacher and writing a book on Yeats and this goes nowhere as he has to play some other characters.  The hospital, that Rennie thinks is a hotel (much of the humor depends on her mixing up words and their meanings) is populated by patients that have the dreaded Alzheimer’s disease.  Ms. Howe gets them tragically and sometimes amusingly correct.

Julie Halston, David Margulies, Rob Riley and Vanessa Aspillaga play a slew of characters that try desperately to keep this story afloat under the insipid direction of Michael Wilson.  It slowly sinks despite its uplifting ending.

www.primarystages.org

Tags:   Jane Alexander · Lynn CohenNo Comments.

Patti Wicks is one special lady.  She is an incredible jazz pianist (you could listen to her play for hours) and can more than hold her own on the vocals.  She is more an interpreter than legit singer and she would be the first to agree with her self deprecating manner, simplicity and ever so special delivery of Songs of Love and April – a program that she is performing now at the Metropolitan Room in NYC.

Her vocal quality is something of a cross between Gwen Verdon, Lauren Bacall and Yogi Bera.  But it’s not her voice that enchants alone – it is her whole being.  She sings and plays from the soul and that is the reason she performs – she loves it and it is so apparent that when she misses a lyric she just shrugs it off, makes some goofy smile at the audience as if to say well, I tried my best and continues without missing a beat.  You just want to hug her.  In an aside she muttered, “I used to know the lyrics but heart, not any more.”  It was extremely touching and it didn’t matter one bit.

Bringing back memories of Blossom Dearie, she sang a moving “Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most”.  Other standouts include – “It Might As Well Be Spring”, “I’ll Remember”, a beautiful “Where Were You in April?”  a melancholy “Spring Will Be Late This Year” and a terrific “By Myself”.  Patti Wicks is totally disarming.  Mellow.  Funny.  And just plain wonderful.

She is accompanied on bass by the most unlikely looking bassist I’ve ever seen.  Linc Milliman seems to have walked straight out of a meeting of bankers, looking very much like Edgar Bergen until he starts to play.  He is a wonder to look at with his superb musicianship and a distinct pleasure to listen to. 

Together they are just what one needs to sit back and relax and listen to two great pros performing.  As an encore, they treated us with the most beautiful rendition of “Out of This World”.  And that’s exactly where they will take you.  Try not to miss them.

www.metropolitanroom.com

Tags:   Linc Milliman · Patti WicksNo Comments.

Gavin Creel, Will Swenson and Tribe members

Over at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on West 45^th Street an incredibly exciting, exuberant and hair-raising event is happening.  It’s the ultimate Be-In.  A love fest for the young and old.  An opportunity to go back to 1968 and remember.  Or to see it live for the first time.  HAIR – the American Tribal Love-Rock Musical has got to be the best revival of a Broadway musical this season.  Or any season.  Period.

Flower power.  Free love.  Peace.  Pollution.  Meditation.  Marijuana.  Burning draft cards.  All symbols of the sixties, where hippies tried to expand their minds and find a way to co-exist peacefully with love flowing between the loins of every possible combination of sex partner.  Ah, the good old days. 

In 1968, HAIR raised and sang about all these issues.  Did we pay attention?  To some extent, yes.  But there had to be some trade offs.  The draft is gone but we are embroiled in a horrible new war.  We have been dealing with the onslaught of aids for many years.  Cell phones, blackberries and i-pods have arrived but so has the green house effect.  Not only was HAIR a terrific entertainment, it tried to shock us into the realities of living in a brave new world.

That brave new world has been vividly brought back to phenomenal psychedelic life by director Diane Paulus who has infused a pumped up, adrenalin driven cast with enough love and creativity to keep the audiences coming and coming.  They have as much fun as the audience which makes the audience have even a better time – if that’s possible.

There are forty songs.  Many became hits.  Many people know all the lyrics.  HAIR has the feeling of a rock concert where everyone is encouraged to join in.  The fabulous eclectic score – music by Galt MacDermot, lyrics and what little book there is by Gerome Ragni & James Rado still sounds fresh and exciting.  “Aquarius” “I Believe in Love” “I Got Life” “Sodomy” “Easy to Be Hard”  “Where Do I Go” “Good Morning Starshine” and “Let the Sun Shine In” are fantastically performed by the just perfect cast.

Leader of the tribe is naughty boy Berger – a bare footed, bare chested, bare legged Will Swenson with a magnetic smile and charm and enough energy to fuel a rocket.  His ad lib delivery is sensational.  A strong and sensitive Gavin Creel is the more introverted Claude who has to decide what to do once his draft notice arrives, complements and matches Swenson’s performance.  Bryce Ryness as Woof is the third wonderful member of this trio.  As the girls in their lives Sheila (Caissie Levy), Jeanie (Kacie Sheik) shine.  What incredible voices have been assembled.  Saycon Sengbloh went on for Sasha Allen (Dionne) and delivered a spellbinding “Aquarius”.  Darius Nichols as the black stud Hud, flirts outrageously with the audience and has us in the palm of his…

Special mention must be made of Andrew Kober as Margaret Mead (Dad and Tribe member) Anyone who can take the stage like he does in the middle of one of the most exciting musicals, where talent is in abundance and stop the show with his comic timing and delivery of “My Conviction” is indeed special.  He is simply amazing.  As is everyone and everything else connected to the production.  Especially the final heartfelt and moving moments.  HAIR is not dated.  It is more relevant than ever.  See it.  Love it. 

www.HairBroadway.com

Tags:   Diane PaulusNo Comments.

Is toxic waste funny?  Is an over sexed beautiful blind librarian who dreams of writing hot romance novels while bumping into walls and pouring tea into a lap instead of a cup funny?  Is a corrupt female mayor who aspires to be governor, using her sexual charms to seduce to win at all costs and to cover up ownership of a toxic waste company – The Good Earth – funny? Are arms and legs being ripped from bodies, funny?  You bet.  You’ll laugh like a hyena. 

For most of the show.  The Toxic Avenger, a cartoon type musical, based on the 1984 cult film of the same name by Lloyd Kaufman which has just opened at New World Stages, has a limited shelf life in the outrageous, over the top, distasteful humor department.  It’s a case of too far too fast.

It is, at times, hysterically funny.  And you find yourself laughing at what you would normally find irreverent, crude or rude.  As presented, certain situations become sheer madness where mayhem reigns supreme.

The plot is simple enough.  Melvin Ferd the Third (an excellent Nick Cordero) loves blind Sarah (a very funny dead pan Sara Chase).  He is attacked by two hoodlums who drop him into a toxic waste drum where he emerges as The Toxic Avenger who wants to clean up the Earth, at least New Jersey (the brunt of many jokes).   He lives with his mom, Ma Ferd (a fabulous Nancy Opel) who also portrays Mayor Babs Belgoody. 

Incredible as it may sound she portrays both characters simultaneously at one point to the immense glee of all who watch.  Ms. Opel has two show stopping numbers – “Evil is Hot” and “Bitch/Slut/Liar/Whore” – a manic duet with herself.    

The other characters – about ten – are played by the ultra talented Matthew Saldivar and Demond Green.  You have never seen so many quick character and costume changes on stage as depicted here without a hitch.  It’s fabulous frenzy.  A terrific job by costume designer David C. Woolard and hair and wig designer Mark Adam Rampmeyer help this all to work.

Joe DiPietro is responsible for the wicked and witty book and lyrics.  Music and lyrics by David Bryan.  Mr. Bryan is keyboard player, songwriter and founding member of Bon Jovi.  So if you love that sort of music, you’ll be on cloud nine here.  John Rando directs with precision, pointing up all the dark humor.  The Toxic Avenger, with its spate of Frat House humor eventually just turns silly.  But who cares!

Everyone works feverishly hard at being outrageous.  It’s a non-stop onslaught on our senses.  Some scenes in this ninety minute, intermission less rock show work much better than others.  The overall effect left me exhausted.  www.THETOXICAVENGERMUSICAL.com

Tags:   David Bryan · Demond Green · Joe DiPietro · John Rando · Matthew Saldivar · Nancy Opel · Nick Cordero · Sara ChaseNo Comments.

 YOU’VE HEARD OF EL NINO, BE PREPARED FOR LA TORO

UPRIGHT CABARET PRESENTS

NATALIE TORO

SATURDAY APRIL 25^TH 9 PM

‘STANDARDS, BROADWAY and EVERYTHING IN-BETWEEN”

 Direct from her sold out performances in New York City

Tickets range from $15-$25. For Tickets, click below:

www.uprightcabaret.com/events

Mark’s Restaurant

861 N. LaCienega Blvd.

West Hollywood, CA 90069

(310) 652-5252 

Cabaret at the Castle

Presents

Natalie Toro

Standards, Broadway and Everything in Between

Monday, April 27^th, 2009 &

Tuesday, April 28^th, 2009

At 8:00pm

 The Inner Circle at the Magic Castle®

7001 Franklin Ave., Hollywood, CA 90028

 Contact Matt Patton at mpatton@magiccastle.com for ticket information.

A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Physically Challenged Irish and American Youth Team

http://www.pcirishteam.org

Direct from her sold out performances in NYC.

“With her powerful voice, with her expressive eyes and hands, with her extraordinary range, with her wonderful flair for comedy, with her ability to touch your heart, Natalie Toro took the Metropolitan Room by storm in her new cabaret show.”      — Oscar E Moore  www.TalkEntertainment.com

“Toro displayed her vocal range in a set that included soft ballads, Broadway classics, and rousing numbers that had the audience on its feet.”     — Charlene Gianetti from Woman Around Town

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Yes, the Holocaust did happen.  Yes, it was horrific.  And yes, there is first hand proof on stage at the Walter Kerr Theatre.  Irena’s Vow, starring Tovah Feldshuh is based on the true life story of one humble yet heroic Polish Catholic girl, Irena Gut Opdyke, who had to make some very difficult choices during WW II in Poland in order to save the lives of some Jews.  Twelve, to be exact.    

Irena was there.  She witnessed the murders and the hangings.  Felt the danger.  Felt the anger.  Was herself raped, multiple times.  But most importantly, she survived to tell her very moving and powerful story that Don Gordon has dramatized into a ninety minute tribute to her strength, courage, and love of the human spirit so that it may never happen again.

Told in flashback, and sensitively directed by Michael Parva, we first see Irena speaking at a high school.  With the simple act of letting her hair down she becomes the young Irena of the past and we are invited to share in her somewhat predictable but always fascinating and gripping tale. 

How she was forced into becoming the housekeeper and then whore of one of the most highest ranking German Officers, Major Rugemer (Thomas Ryan) who discovers her secret and accepts not to reveal it if she will love him.

How she vowed to help save lives.  How it was her mission from God.

How she miraculously hid twelve Jews in the cellar of the Major’s villa, here represented by only three people – husband and wife, Lazar (Gene Silvers) and Ida (Maja C.Wampuszyc) Hallar and seamstress Franka Silberman (Tracee Chimo).  It is problematic having only three with so many references to the twelve.  It almost borders on the ridiculous as they provide banquet like dinners for the Major and with the birth of a baby boy where screams of labor are covered over by playing Wagner on the gramophone.

How she keeps narrowly escaping the eagle eye of Sturmbannfuhrer Rokita (John Stanisci) who keeps wanting to search the premises for the Jews that he believes are there.  In one very funny episode she encounters Rokita being serviced by a Fraulein in the gazebo where her secret cache of Jews is hidden below. Miss Feldshuh sure knows how to get a laugh, bringing warmth and humor to the part.

It’s a game of cat and mouse where we know what the outcome will be but it is very interesting getting to the denouement.  It is the sly and inspirational performance of Tovah Feldshuh that holds all these fragile, episodic pieces together which leaves us with a lump in our throat, an ache in our heart and a tear in our eye.

After the performance I attended, the daughter of Irena spoke and took questions from the audience.  Everyone stayed.  It was an incredible experience and quite compelling.  Perhaps, more so than the play itself.  www.irenasvow.com

Tags:   Michael Parva · Tovah FeldshuhNo Comments.

No night.  No day.  No thirst.  Nothing.  That’s what happens when you die, even with dignity, according to the absurdist playwright Eugene Ionesco in his circus-like riff on dying, Exit the King, which is being given an extraordinary production starring Geoffrey Rush and Susan Sarandon at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre impeccably directed by Neil Armfield.

If you have never thought of what happens after you expire you might want to keep the lights on at home when you retire for the evening after seeing this show.  And then again, dying has never seemed more amusing.  Go figure.

The Kingdom that King Berenger (Geoffrey Rush) rules has come into some hard times – wars and such and the treasury is nearly bankrupt (sound familiar?) – due to his lack of interest in his subjects and total absorption with himself.  And now the four hundred year old monarch is dying.  In pajamas, slippers and regal robes.  He has the length of the play to expire and we watch as he gradually diminishes before our eyes. Scepter becoming cane.  Wheelchair replacing throne.  It’s comical at first until the reality of his dying hits us in the gut and becomes heartbreaking.

Susan Sarandon as Queen Marguerite, the King’s first wife, is regal incarnate and behaves as the tower of tough realism, giving the King timely updates about his departure and giving him no hope whatsoever.  He is doomed.  She is surrounded by over the top clowns.  His second, younger wife, Queen Marie (Lauren Ambrose) all emotion, all loving, all crying with majestic mascara running down her cheeks.  The Guard (Brian Hutchison) in full armor, announcing with great difficulty the progress of the King.  The quack Doctor (William Sadler) looking very much like Professor Irwin Corey and the delightful Andrea Martin who as the maid and nurse maid to the King, Juliette – with her quick steps and quick curtsies and comic delivery and jumping over the huge trains of the very witty costumes by Dale Ferguson (who is also responsible for the fabulous circus-like French inspired set) just about pulls the trains out from the royal family, thereby almost stealing the show.

But the King will not allow that to happen.  He wants to die when he is ready.  He wants to be in control.  He does not want anyone upstaging him in life or in death.  And he succeeds. Geoffrey Rush’s performance in what theatre is all about.  Why actors want to act.  He is simply sensational.  Disintegrating before our eyes while always having one last breath, one last order, one last wish before he succumbs.  He is wobbly, weak and wondrous in his portrayal of a man, yes a man, who has ruined his country and has only thought of himself until it is too late.  Not that it matters much.  It doesn’t.  In the end there is no night. No day.  No thirst.  Nothing.

But there is and always will be theatre.  The theatrical tradition that can summon us to think.  To react.  And to be entertained.  Every other play on Broadway pales in comparison.  www.ExitTheKingonBroadway.com

Tags:   Andrea Martin · Geoffrey Rush · Susan SarandonComments Off on Exit The King – A funny way to die

I will admit that God of Carnage, a new play by French playwright, Yasmina Reza with an English translation by Christopher Hampton is funny.  Ferociously funny.  What could not be funny about two couples trying to amicably settle a dispute between their eleven year old sons which resulted in Henry having two teeth knocked out by Benjamin and having all four parents slowly, with the help of some aged rum, lose all inhibitions and self respect, tapping into their inner Neanderthal feelings – which erupt like Vesuvius – feelings that have been festering all along, but never voiced until now.  Feelings that have been dormant for perhaps the eleven years since the birth of said sons or perhaps the day they wed.  For better or for worse.  This is “the worse” and we get to laugh hysterically at them airing their dirty laundry in public for our amusement.  Poor Henry and Benjamin.

The situation is inherently outrageous and leads to all sorts of farcical shenanigans acted out by an excellent cast of farceurs led on by the crisp and antic direction of Matthew Warchus.

Alan (Jeff Daniels) the I’m all business lawyer for a pharmaceutical company who is permanently attached to his cell phone – taking calls whenever without the least respect for anyone else in the room.  His calm for the moment “wealth management” wife Annette (Hope Davis) who after puking over some very expensive coffee table art books, suddenly perks up and is ready for the battle.  Michael (James Gandolfini) a wholesaler of doorknobs and frying pans and other household articles (it must be lucrative considering the living room layout) who has just released a pet hamster out into the wild and his spouse Veronica (Marcia Gay Harden) who politely starts to lose her cool until she is tackling her husband and throwing those throw pillows at her guests, all manners cast aside.

A better foursome you wouldn’t find in any boxing ring.  Or bull fight arena.  Or jungle, where the savages roam.  From the opening music you are hit over the head with where the evening is headed.  No subtlety here.  Then the lights come up on a blood red living room.  Walls and carpet ready for the kill.  A door to the outside world that is never opened.  After a while the guests start to leave but we know they won’t because then there would be no more conflict, no more laughter, no more play.  So in true Colombo fashion they retreat only to return for more backstabbing and games in which husband and wife change allegiances, more than once.  Interrupted by the many phone calls of Michael’s ill mother – who just happens to be taking a drug that is manufactured by the company that the lawyer, Alan, represents.  It’s all very pat, very manipulative, and very very funny.

But it ends on a false note.  It’s inconclusive.  There is another phone call.  Unfortunately I cannot report what that call was about.  I could not hear what Veronica was saying (from the ninth row center) or to whom – I think it was Henry’s sister (She is briefly mentioned early on).  After all the angst and screaming most of the evening, Marcia Gay Harden suddenly retreats to whispering and whimpering, leaving us with a bad taste in our mouths after all the champagne bubbles that have preceded.

At the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre  www.GodOfCarnage.com

Tags:   Yasmina RezaNo Comments.

Having recently been invited to become a member of the Outer Critics Circle, an honor that I do not treat lightly, my yearly April in Paris vacation has been put on hold so that I can pursue my love of theatre and writing reviews.

So I am going to pass along my list of favorite, affordable Parisian Bistros so that you may enjoy them in my absence.  Perhaps one day we’ll be sitting next to one another at:

LE STADO 150 Rue Saint Honore www.lestado.com 01 42 60 29 75 metro Louvre or Palais Royal – small rugby restaurant on two floors.  My favorite.  Gateau Basque is a must.  Incredible value for three course lunch.

LA CRIEE  54, Blvd du Montparnasse www.lacriee.com  Fresh fish and oyster bar.  Grilled sardines are sublime, when available.  Excellent service; pleasant waiters.  Other locations.

AU CHIEN QUE FUME – The Smoking Dog (Breakfast and Lunch only) 19 Blvd du Montparnasse

01 45 67 12 75 The best steak tartare and pomme frites.

LA CADOLE 1, rue Mayet  Metro Duroc 01 47 83 70 05 Closed Sat. & Sun. – make reservations.  Small, cozy and excellent.  Gnochi is quite special. http://lacadole.free.fr/LA BRASSERIE SAINT BENOIT 26 rue Saint Benoit www.brasserie-benoit.fr  More for the tourist (if you miss your baked potato)  excellent food and value.

LE ZIMMER – traditional old fashioned turn of the century charm. Near Le Chatelet 1 Place du Chatelet  01 42 36 74 03

www.lezimmer.com A fabulous and affordable choucroute.

 BISTRO SAINT FERDINAND – 36 euros complete the best buy!!!! If you only go to one try this one.  They have seven locations.  3 course, aperitif, ½ bottle wine each plus coffee.  275 bd Pereire.  01 45 74 33 32 www.bistrocie.fr   bistro@bistrocie.fr

MONTPARNASSE 1900 59 Blvd du Montparnasse  01 45 49 19 00

Menu Belle Epoque 33 euros   art nouveau magnificence and excellent food.  Everything included.  Exceptional experience.

LE RELAIS DE L’ENTRECOTE – the best steak with a secret sauce.  Waitresses are in traditional black dress with white aprons and collars. Scrumptious desserts.

20, rue Saint – Bebnoit  01 45 49 16 00

101 Blvd du Montparnasse 01 46 33 82 82

www.relaisentrecote.fr

Tags:   Outer Critics CircleComments Off on Affordable Bistros in Paris – Bon Appetit!