August 24th, 2006
   
August Wilson is one of this country's greatest playwrights, and his brilliant explorations of the Black experience in Pittsburg decade by decade are being presented by The Signature Theatre on W. 42nd St. SEVEN GUITARS, a slice of life in 1948, mostly a
flashback centered on the life of a dead singer and the conflicts internal and external that lead to the dramatic conclusion, is full of folksy banter, flirtations, weapons-comparison, hot pepper eating-- the on-going activities of people struggling to survive, and perhaps get ahead in the world. The actors in the marvelous cast, all ringing true, bring us into their world and lives as they interact (and sing- flavorful music by Bill Sims, Jr.). It's more than a play, it's a show- with musical interludes and historical peeks like the Joe Louis/Billy Conn fight on the radio. The wonderful set by Richard Hoover is amazing in its detail, and is matched by the
intricacies of the performances as directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson. Jane Cox's subtle lighting and Karen Perry's costumes give flavor and depth to the production. A grant to the company makes the show available for $15 a seat. If you love live Theatre at its best, with terrific performances, don't miss it.

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com

August 23rd, 2006
   
They don't make many actresses as good as Lori Fischer. They don't make many country singers as good as Lori Fischer. They don't make many writers who can write with the depth and insight into character as Lori Fischer, and the range of melodies that can make you smile or make you feel pangs of emotion. This great talent is on view at the Lamb's Theatre where she stars in her musical BARBARA'S BLUE KITCHEN, an amazing performance of an exposition of people in a little town in Tennessee where she plays seven characters who come to or work in a luncheonette, each
a distinct, unique creation from the very old to the very young. You'd swear her ninety-year old is ninety, her young boy eight. Her final character is the desert- the icing. The play builds dramatic intensity sprinkled with Southern humor, and the songs will tickle you, move you. Kurt Zischke enhances everything as her guitarist/DJ. It is all highlighted by clear clean directing by Martha Banta and good subtle lighting by Bobby Bradley. Fischer is in the class with the best of them: Lily Tomlin, Whoopie
Goldberg, Sarah Church, Eve Ensler. She's a treasure who should be seen by all. She's phenomenal in an unforgettable performance.

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com

August 21st, 2006
   
In Paris in the 1890's there was a popular music hall performer called "Le Petomaine" who played tunes by passing gas. He was a huge star for about a decade. THE FARTISTE, book by Charles Schulman, songs by Michael Roberts, a fanciful, fun-filled look at his life, is a full-blown comic musical with a Broadway cast. It's smart, funny, full of beautiful sexy chorus girls who can really sing and dance, and sparkly clever lyrics. The choreography by Richard Move innovates on classic Can Can moves, and the women in the chorus are adept, agile and beautiful. They sing up a storm. The men, Nick Wyman, Mark Baker, Kevin Kraft, and the amazing Steven Scott, who makes all the sounds vocally into a mike, are top level performers. Jokes have a contemporary flavor, and the show is always in good taste (or scent). Jim Corti does a Gene Kelly-type dance number that, for me, lifts the show even higher into a Broadway-level show. I saw it at the Fringe, but this show, directed with great comic flair by John Gould Rubin and costumed perfectly by Melinda C. Basaca, is too entertaining not to have a long run at a New York theater.

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com

August 17th, 2006
   
A.R. Gurney's new memory play INDIAN BLOOD is a quaint
antique- a look at values and customs of the upper crust in Buffalo in 1946. It's an anthropological study of society sixty years ago, and as such, written with warm personal insight and performed by a fine cast of Broadway professionals, I enjoyed the time I spent with these people who are from my own era.
Rebecca Luker totally inhabits her part as the mother, as does Pamela Payton-Wright as the grandmother. John McMartin, playing the grandfather, is a treasure. The nuances he brings to his performance are rare, special, and delightful. Long may he wave! The matinee audience at 59E59 was mostly wealthy people
over seventy, the men wearing their uniform of navy blue blazer, either grey or tan slacks, white shirt and striped tie. The women were all dressed nicely in their afternoon outfits. A gentleman came to me in the lobby and shook my hand, thinking I was Gurney. I told him my name, but the rumor spread thru the
audience that Gurney was there. This had happened before, even though Gurney is about six inches taller than me. Towards the end of the play, when Grandma describes her relatives as "A lost tribe with peculiar old customs," she hits the nail. Although the flash of drama or comedy is not as showy as in some of Gurney's other plays, I did enjoy the time travel to his own youth and the contrast with morals, standards and behavior today.

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com

August 14th, 2006
   
Want to be well entertained while watching the process in the creation of a musical? "[title of show]", with book by Hunter Bell and songs by Jeff Bowen, now at The Vineyard on E. 15th St., is a cute, engaging lemon mousse: sweet, nice, a touch of sharpness, with enjoyable songs, and clever specialty numbers like a song about vampires (all aided and abetted by fine musical arrangements by Larry Pressgrove). The two creator/stars of the show have great charm, and it's always special to see the people who dreamed up material performing it. The two women foils, Susan Blackwell and Heidi Blickenstaff are talented performers, and Blickenstaff has all the elements of a Broadway leading lady- a great singing voice, dances with strength and fluidity, and has the energy, beauty and charisma of a star. "[title of show]" is a
Feel-Good show that gives us an insider's look at, and comments on, American Musical Theatre, and I walked out with a smile.

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com

IT'S A HIT, a Noir musical spoof about putting on a show in (perhaps) the '40's, now at The Village Theatre, has a super, Broadway-level cast: Joanna Glushak is a tall, good-looking Ethyl Merman whose voice can rattle the rafters; Donald Corren's strong voice and presence fill the stage- he reminds me a bit
of Mike Burstyn; Billy Wheelan is a taller, better-looking, better-singing, just as charming, Matthew Broderick; Rob Barnes and Kenny Morris are Broadway veterans who know how to hold stage, and newcomer Alicia Sable is right up there with all of
them. But the book by Beth Saulnier doesn't seem to know if it is a Noir satire, a nostalgic romance, or an ordinary musical murder mystery. It's a bit of this and a bit of that as it shifts around a lot, trying to be funny, missing the straight face of the Noir. A couple of the songs, while fine in themselves, seem to be out of the writers' trunk (lyrics by Melissa Lewis, music by David Weinstein) and don't have a lot to do with the thrust of the show. The "Grease" moment and the love ballad, while good in themselves, don't work for me in the context of this show. What's really missing is strong satiric bite, the spark of real innovation that excites an audience by its brilliance, or originality, or
surprises. Director Julie Kramer misses the point of satire by trying to be amusing rather than real, and choreography by Allison Easter is mostly ordinary and uninventive. But- if you want to see and hear some top-notch performers, Glushak, Corren and Wheelan are worth the visit. I look forward to their next shows.

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com

Matt Hoverman, the writer of IN TRANSIT, Lucy Ballard's super production now in The Fringe, has a great sense of the idiosyncrasies of character and a fine sense of humor as he intertwines the lives of travelers on various modes of transportation. With an outstanding ten-member professional cast and brisk but realistic direction by Padraic Lillis, it's a joyous,
engaging evening of interaction among fascinating people with just a touch of the absurd.

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com

Did you see "The Aristocrats"? The sequence by Billy the Mime was one of the funniest. BILLY THE MIME is now playing in the Fringe in NY, and it's a "Don't Miss!" He's one of the best Mimes in the country with clean clear technique, a great sense of humor and perfect timing. Although influenced by Marcel Marceau, Billy has his own sensibility, his own contemporary view of the world, and he keeps his audience entertained from start to finish with nary a dull moment. This is solo Mime at its very best by a
highly skilled totally engaging performer.
212/279-4488 thru August 27th.

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com

THE FRENCH DEFENSE by Dimitri Raitzin is a fascinating look at a chess contest by then World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik (Robert J. D'Amato) and challenger Mikhail Tal (Daniel Hendricks Simon) in 1960. I'm not a chess player, but I was completely drawn into the drama of the contest between a champ and an annoying, insulting gadfly, and by the depth of the characterization by
the actors, particularly D'Amato. The dynamic, intense direction by Aleksey Burago increased the drama of the mental swordplay by putting classical music passages during the chess moves that kept the tension building. This is a powerful, moving piece of
Theatre at its best.

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com

July 30th, 2006
   
William Mastrosimone's play A STONECARVER, at the Soho
Playhouse, is a domestic drama whose center is an impossible old Italian man (the stonecarver), his son, and the son's WASP fiancé. Poppa, Dan Luria, is being evicted to make way for a freeway exit (eminent domain), and they plan to tear down his hand-built house. He won't go, will defend his home, and has a
shotgun. His son, Jim Iorio, has come, with his girlfriend, the very beautiful Elizabeth Rossa, to try to pry him loose without violence,. Irresistible force meeting the immovable object. Conflict- perhaps the essence of drama. New World vs Old World. As the play progresses, and we discern the subtexts of this
family's life, motivations and interactions, as the performances by the three fine actors segue from a kind of thesis/antithesis into an ultimate synthesis, Mastrosimone's underlying humor in relation to this horrific situation based on his own father's life, is well brought to fruition by director Robert Kalfin. Nathan Heverin's cluttered set, including a carved Angel and Gail Cooper-Hecht's costumes are excellent scene-setters, and Josh Bradford's lighting enhances this dynamic production with strength and subtlety.
Ultimately, the play is quite enjoyable, with charm, good acting, and a catharsis that works.

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com

July 10th, 2006
   
The spectacular opening of Disney's TARZAN takes us to another dimension- at sea, under sea, changing our perspective. Director/designer Bob Crowley, one of my very favorite designers in the world, outdoes himself with these visuals. After an uninspired song, we again get great physical action as the young Tarzan (a wonderful Alex Rutherford) is revealed. There is a
shadow show, a terrific ape dance choreographed by Meryl Tankard, Cirque style aerial gymnastics designed by Pichon Baldinu, a great cast including the amazing Josh Strickland (super acrobatic with a grand singing voice) as Tarzan, Shuler Hensley and Merle Dandridge as the ape parents, Chester Gregory II as the comic relief, and a perky Jenn Gambatese as Jane (I thought
she was Mary Poppins [Disney's next musical] when she entered). However-- for me, the songs by Phil Collins, although some were cute or clever, were quite ordinary and tended to hold up the show as I waited for more visuals and action. Here was a chance to take us on an aural trip to places where no songwriter has gone before. I wanted to hear apes sing in "Ape." I wanted something as adventurous in sound as the opening was for my eyes. And- except for a Cirque butterfly and sea nymph, Crowley seems to have forgotten the set for much of the show. It's green
stringlies hanging around the whole stage, and it gets boring. Is it an entertaining show? Sure. In many areas, especially the performances, it's worth seeing. Did the audience enjoy it? Sure. Will it have a long run? Probably. But it could have been much
more. I think Crowley needs to do one or the other-- not both design and direct. And Disney has to take more chances. This show doesn't come near their other Broadway offerings: "The Lion King," "Beauty and the Beast" or "Aida" in scope, imagination or writing (book by David Henry Hwang). TARZAN will probably do
well in Las Vegas in a shortened version.

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com

July 05th, 2006
   
BUSH IS BAD, at The Triad on W. 72nd St. Thursday and Friday nights, is a first class political satire that goes far beyond the obvious. The three highly talented performers, Janet Dickinson, Neal Mayer and Michael McCoy, comedians with strong musical voices, are actors who can fully realize the many characters
each plays. Janet as Condeliza Rice is brilliant, including a riff on the piano. Michael in a faux Schumann "Das Busch is Shlecht," Neal in "The Gay Agenda," a Brechtian "Crazy Ann Coulter," an Andrew Lloyd Webber "Scooter Libby Superstar," "Conservative
Values II"-- a powerful piece about abortion: fight for a fetus until it's born-- then it's on its own, and actual quotes from the actual Bush "In his own Words" - it's all brilliant, incisive, top level
satire not limited to what we already know, but taking off in fun, hilarious invention. Joshua Rosenblum, who wrote the show, is also superb at the piano.

Richmond Shepard-- Performing Arts INSIDER and
lively-arts.com