The Fantastiks

****
Snapple Theater Center

There's nothing more charming and inspiring than a small business bravely struggling in the great American marketplace. There's a new fruit and tea flavored beverage out there called "Snapple" (pictured!) and I want everyone to go out and scour the delis and grocery stores and buy it (I'm not sure if it's just in New York or if it's made it to other cities by now)! Reason being is that even though this "Snapple" is still in its infancy as a business, it has managed to set aside what must be an enormous percentage of their profits and opened their own theater! Granted, the space is so wide that there are more seats in the side sections than there are in the center section, and granted the stage is the size of a Volkswagen and granted the ceiling is so low that there is barely any rake to speak of in the audience seating and the lights hover a foot or so over the actor's heads and granted stomping and thumping noises from The Perfect Crime directly upstairs continuously interrupt the performances but kudos to "Snapple" for giving it the old college try!

Horizon

****

NYTW

How many times have you heard the phrase "Well MY God would never..." etc? Religion is such a horribly subjective institution and playwright/performer, Rinde Eckert, has quite a few opinions of his own concerning that high maintenance, tempermental bitch known as Christianity. In a very slick, hyper-theatrical way, Rinde, playing a fired professor of theology, along with the help of a couple of well cast helper actors, walks us through a few of the parables, a few of the belief paradigms, a few of the major buzz words ("ethics" for example) and offers us his own intellectual spin. This is an excellent play of ideas that makes the controversial point that a Christian who doesn't open their mind and question their faith is not a very good Christian at all. Complete with a healthy dose of singing, busy, tight staging, and a fun play within a play concept, we have ourselves here a very lively, thought provoking night at the theater (even for an athiest douchebag like myself!).

In A Dark Dark House

***1/2

MCC

My guest who accompanied me for Neil Labute's latest made an interesting point. He said that Labute is writing too much. He is turning out plays and screenplays at such rapid intervals that his productions aren't the groundbreaking events they once were. There may be something in that as In A Dark Dark House treads the familiar territory of damaged alpha males fucking people over, without offering any insight that hasn't already been mined in his previous work. That being said, this IS a Labute and that voice of his remains sharp and acidic like a shot of Dewars with a dash of vinegar. And when you have two brothers with a dysfunctional past trying to cut through the bullshit and get down to the meat of the issue, there are some serious fireworks going off up in there. The cast of three are all excellent but what I will remember most about this production is Fredrick Weller, fresh out of Some Men, who is establishing himself as one of those hard working, über-talented chameleons who gives us a new human being once again as always. His execution of a well timed bear hug on his unsuspecting brother was my favorite moment in this production.

Also blogged by [Aaron] [Patrick]

You Can't Take It With You

Hart-Kaufman's Pulitzer-winning Depression-era classic, in which a free-spirited family of eccentrics clashes with the conservative stuffshirt parents of their daughter's fiance, can be breezy farcical fun. Unfortunately this production (at the usually dependable T. Schreiber Studio) is paced as if flatfooted and it never gets a rhythm going. What should seem zany comes off forced, labored. The best thing about this production, although it isn't enough to redeem it, is that Jacqueline van Biene and Josh Sienkiewicz are spot-on in style and tone as the young lovers.

Don Juan in Chicago

"It's either cum or Kingdom Come," is what the tag-line for David Ives's farcical retelling of the Don Juan story should be. Here, "The Don" is a nerd who sells his soul for immortality, only to find that unless he seduces another woman every night, he'll burn in hell--and end up taking his servant Leporello (the puckish Doug Nyman) with him. Owen M. Smith knows how to direct the comedy, and when I saw it, all the technical cues were on-point, giving the jokes enough freedom to succeed at a pretty speedy pace. From the effeminate Mephistopheles (Stephen Balantzian) to the beleaguered Don (Mike Cinquino), Clockwork Theater's production is charming and efficient.


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Penetrator

****

Working Man's Clothes

"It was better before" an Iraq war deserter repeats like a mantra referring to his life prior to going to war in this dark, sick, and mean play that I was very glad I saw. Set in the living room of small apartment of a coupla 20 something slackers, the hyper realistic Penetrator follows the return of an old friend who's more than just a little fucked up over his tour of duty in the Middle East. Definitely NOT for The Pajama Game set, this production's danger was intensified by being staged in the claustrophobic 22nd floor studio space at the American Palace Theater. The actors were pretty phenomenal at creating a very realistic world with a special shout out to Michael Mason (pictured) who has the look and vibe of one of those edgy, relevant indie film celebrities who never stray too far away from the New York stage. After witnessing the scandal that was fuckplays and now the intense Penetrator, I'm picking up that Working Man's Clothes has got enormous balls. I want to suck on those balls.