Iphigenia 2.0

*****

Signature Theater Company

photo by Carol Rosegg

This up to the minute re-imagining of the Greek tragedy, Iphigenia in Aulis was electrifying! Director Tina Landau and playwright Charles Mee have collaborated in creating a vibrant theatrical world exploding with rage, joy, tears and dance. Shockingly relevant and wholly accessible, this compact play was about a military leader who must sacrifice his daughter in order to gain the respect of his troops. I was reminded of Michael Moore in Farenheit 9/11 encouraging politicians to send their own children over to Iraq. The meticulously directed cast is pretty perfect featuring a scene-chomping growling Kate Mulgrew inhabiting the role of Clytemnestra, the pissed off matriarch. This production runs until October 15th. There is a discounted ticket waiting list you can sign up for one hour prior to curtain. I did this and got in. You can too. GO!! HGA!

Also blogged by: [Aaron] and [Patrick]

The Family Fiorelli

I didn't stay for the second act of this NYMF musical, but that isn't a thumbs-down on the show: I liked a lot of what I saw, especially because I honestly had no idea where the story (which begins with a marital breakup) was going to go. The performance started late, the first act ran long, and by the time intermission ended I only had half an hour to get uptown to the Passing Strange concert. A pity, because The Family Fiorelli had several things going for it: its Finn-like score was pleasing and the songs were well-placed in the story, the characters were vibrant and each at least a little offbeat (the hottie priest, the lesbian in-laws, the crippled teenage son, etc.), and the musical was clearly written for grown-ups, which was something of a relief after too many NYMF shows this year leaned toward the silly and adolescent.

True Genius

I don't mind that David Holstein's True Genius isn't a Mensa-level play, but I wish it were truer. There are some acting issues that suspend our belief of the imaginary people Scooter is dreaming up, but the plot is more disconnected than the actors. Holstein's problem may be easier to solve, however, than Jill Sierchio's challenge with her cast: his writing is already funny, and two of his characters leap off the page (Dr. Foyer, the alternative therapist, and Lila, the fantastic fabulist). But the play is stretched between father issues, psychotic breaks, absent mothers, shy first loves, and some question about who the true genius is, which seems included only as a nod to the title. There are great moments (most involving shaving cream), but they are brief spurts of energy in an otherwise dulling play.

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Enter Laughing

This Musicals in Mufti version of the Broadway flop So Long 174th Street (retitled here for its straight play source material) turned out to be one of the happiest surprises I've had at the theatre in months. The simplicity of this on-book, one-piano "staged concert" production showed the material to advantage and was a pleasure from start to finish: I'm led to wonder if the show tanked on Broadway because of some deficiencies with that production, because there's nothing out of working order here with the book or the score. The Depression-era story follows an endearing daydreamer whose fantasies of stardom lead him to audition for a small part in a play; once he gets the job his problem is amusingly obvious: he hasn't a lick of talent. On his way to a hilariously inept performance on opening night, he gets goo-goo eyed over the glamour of acting (trying the patience of his parents, who want him to become a druggist) and over the glamourous leading lady (trying the patience of his girlfriend, who loves him whether he's a somebody or not). The role requires someone with an extraordinary amount of charisma, and luckily Josh Grisetti has it to spare. There isn't a weak link anywhere in the ensemble: Emily Shoolin is engaging and nails a nifty number called "Men", Kaitlin Hopkins is delicious as the stage actress, George S. Irving turns a fantasy number in the second act into the show's highlight, Robb Sapp makes some fun choices as our hero's confidante and best friend. In addition to all that, L.A. Law's Jill Eikenberry and Michael Tucker slip right into the goings-on with class and ease. I'm not a frequent Musicals In Mufti-goer, but this is easily the most entertaining one I've seen yet.

American Sligo

****1/2

Rattlestick
photo: Sandra Coudert


With each new play, the young, prolific Adam Rapp continues to hone in on his caustic, cruelly funny, original voice as a playwright. His latest sick, mean comedy spends an evening with the Sligos, a violently dysfunctional American clan all sucking off the teat of the pro-wrestling father nicknamed "Crazy Train". This meditation on insult and aggression, two traits closely identified with American character as of late, speaks volumes on the ugly underbelly of the modern American fractured family. Many of Rapp's pet actors are back again and in top form with Paul Sparks expertly playing one of the most diabolical villains I have seen all year. Mary Louise Burke is priceless as the only polite one of the bunch hellbent on maintaining the smallest shred of decorum. Oh look! They have a Youtube clip! How post-millennium! I cannot wait to see Rapp's latest, Bingo With The Indians, at the Flea later this month.

medEia

By resetting the classic tragedy of Medea in the mode of pop lyrics, modern images, and simple English, Dood Paard (Dead Horse) is trying for the universal. Instead, they're just hitting the accessible, in an at first languorous, later vibrant way. They're removed all sense of the physical from their work--they speak out to the audience with their backs to a figurative wall--and that winds up giving medEia a ghostly quality, appropriately endowed to the chorus they speak as. But I wish the ephemeral slide-show that accompanied this work was more grounded in the words, because it all too often feels like dead air. While the cold and unflinching opening eventually gives way to sad and wistful mourning, and then to a revenge choked with rage, the simple mechanics of the performance keep the work at bay, even as the cast draws ever nearer to the audience.

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