Beebo Brinker Chronicles

****

37 Arts

Beebo is back! I went apeshit over this play in its initial run with the Hourglass Group and I raced to the new production as soon as they would let me in the door. Though I missed the edgy, underground vibe at the tiny Fourth Street Theater, taking up shop at the big, giant 37 Arts space imbued this new production with a prideful air of legitimacy- a symbolic and charming journey for a piece such as this one. I'm glad that more people are going to see this sizzling 50's style lesbohomo pulp drama. It's really worth it. And Jenn Colella as the title character? HGA!

Macbeth

There is a compelling chill-to-the-bone nastiness to director Rupert Goold's production of The Scottish Play (previously in London, now at Brooklyn Academy of Music and soon on Broadway) that makes up in visual interest and visceral excitement what is lacked in clarity. (The unacquainted would likely find this a confusing introduction to Macbeth). Thanks to rear projections (often stretching the entire width of the creepy tile and steel fit-for-a-horror-movie set) the mid twentieth-century dress production is big on sound and fury, although it isn't always clear what's meant to be signified, and there are many brilliant and effective staging choices (including a stunning directorial conceit for the pivotal banquet scene) that keep the show engaging and visually fascinating for nearly all of its three hours. Although the production is not without some missteps (the characterization choices for The Porter are so over the top that they cross the line from creepy to silly) and there are some weak performances in the ensemble, the three performances that matter most are all sensational and help to make this don't-miss, "event" Shakespeare. Patrick Stewart is masterful as Macbeth from start to finish, traveling credibly from morally conflicted sabateur to power-mad paranoid. As Lady Macbeth, Kate Fleetwood is suitably intense and driven initially, and gives the character a touch of emasculating cruelty. And finally, as Macduff, Michael Feast economically renders anguish and anger in what is the production's most lingering emotional scene.

Lower Ninth

Photo/Joan Marcus

Beau Willimon's uneven new play, Lower Ninth, suffers from a refusal to confront its circumstance -- an estranged father and son, trapped on a rooftop after Hurricane Katrina. The design, direction, and acting reduce the high stakes to jokes and melodrama; the play itself is a good look at two characters struggling to stay afloat in a sea of anger. James McDaniel, when he's not proselytizing, is utterly engaging as Malcolm, a reformed street tough who -- though he now uses his knife to cut oranges -- still has a knife, and an edge. Gaius Charles, who plays his son, Ezekiel (aka E-Z), suffers from television-actor-syndrome, and often plays to the audience rather than Mr. McDaniel, but seems otherwise legit as a troubled teen who doesn't fit in with the good or bad kids. But the real trouble comes from Lowboy: not the actor, Gbenga Akinnagbe, basically playing a softer side of his character on The Wire, but the character, who is admittedly worm-food, and whose revival is just a redundancy for what we already know about Malcolm and E-Z. There's humor and truth, but very little drama, and that's because nobody acknowledges -- in a serious way -- that these two men have been left for dead in an river of oil and corpses. I watched Lower Ninth, but at no point did I ever feel as if I -- or they -- were really in New Orleans; it was like being a tourist who keeps his head buried in the guidebook the whole time.

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Dina Martina: Off The Charts

*****
Cutting Room

You people! Dina Martina is in town! Rejoice! I have caught her thrice before and am quite obsessed with her. Who is she? What does she do? I usually just say "She's really funny and brilliant and it's hard to describe what she does because it's just so OUT THERE" but Patrick has done a great job of at least coming close to nailing down exactly what is so special about her. Really you guys, this is probably the funniest show in town right now. Doug Wright was in the house the night I went and was quite literally guffawing. At different points during the show Dina passes out gifts to the audience. My dear friend got a rubber pizza and I got Cheetos flavored lip balm. It's now hanging on my wall.

Happy Endings

First, and most importantly: yes, there is a happy ending. It's probably not the one you'd expect from a one-act play festival that commissioned nine playwrights to share their take on the sex worker industry, but it's a pretty satisfying evening all the same. There are a few rough spots that -- pardon me -- could've used more lube, by which I mean hard (or soft -- I can't stop!) revisions, the kind that I could have used to prevent this sentence from growing . . . out of control. Luckily, the evening balances between the poetic bookends (Beauty and Yes Yes Yes), absurd slapstick (Pulling Teeth), casual comedy (Switch), and calm drama (Whenever You're Ready). Whether dealing with first-timers (Peep Show), old pros (The Guest), or the dysfunctionally kinky (The White Swallow), there's something for everyone. And given the smart directorial choices regarding ambiance and musical transitions, the whole night's quite engaging.

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Dina Martina: Off The Charts

How to explain one of the freshest and funniest acts I have ever seen? Part stand up, part performance art, part drunken hallucination, new millenium drag creation Dina Martina is a little bit Phyllis Diller and a little bit Divine and maybe even a little bit Leigh Bowery but in the end a one-a-kind mold-breaking comedic genius. Her current act, Off The Charts, can be seen at The Cutting Room for the next few weekends and it's a guaranteed fun night out as Dina performs/destroys songs by Duran Duran, The Smiths, Melissa Manchester, and so on, in between her hilariously malaprop-laden banter. If you can imagine a fearlessly brave blazingly funny comic assuming the guise of a cluelessly tacky entertainer who wallows in pathos and pop culture you might be able to wrap your mind around Dina Martina in advance, but even that is more than you need to know. Dina Martina is from Seattle, but she's more downtown New York nightclub than any of us.