The Fabulous Kane Sisters in Box Office Poison

Word is most definitely out about this deliciously fun campfest, currently selling out its dates at the Fringe Festival (and assumedly destined to return in September as part of the Fringe Encores series) so you’ve probably already heard what a hoot it is. It’s the kind of crowd-pleasing drag comedy that used to be dependably found on stages in the Village thirty years ago: silly, snappy, a little dirty in the pre-code Barbara Stanwyck way and thoroughly entertaining. Co-authors Marc Geller and Bill Roulet are decked out in dresses and wigs as the identical twin Kane sisters: the show’s best running joke is that they look nothing alike and yet the other characters have a tough time telling them apart. The Kanes (Lana and Nova, ba dum ching) have been booked into a vaudeville house where someone has been offing the performers; when they learn that they might be killer-bait Lana protests ‘I want to die in my sleep like my father, not screaming like the passengers in his car!” This kind of zinger-filled camp is not easy to do well, but Geller has directed with precision and has virtually everyone in the cleverly-costumed ensemble (of 14, including himself) playing it exactly as it should be.

The Deciders

Photo/Israel, N.E. Photo & Design

With all the backhanded insults directed at the current administration, it's ironic that The Deciders, a satirical rock musical of Bush's plan to reinstate Saddam so as to stabilize Iraq and secure his legacy as a peacemaker, most deserves a backhanded compliment: this is pretty good for the Fringe. However, while Cindy Sheehan (Amber Carson) and Condi (Carla Euphrates Kelly) have terrific voices and Dubya (Erik Hogan) has the self-deprecating swagger down, the plot comes across more as a parody of an already existing parody, and, as if the winks to the audience about the "Fringe benefits" weren't bad enough, bogs down the actual message with a sub-story that features Saddam's desire to mount a musical called "Saddamn." The actual plot is tragic and familiar enough, and if Mitch Kess focuses more on songs like "Safer, Stronger" (in which Cheney feeds lines to a deceived and teary Condi) or the protest anthem "Free" and less on building Saddam up as a misunderstood Elvis ("Blues of Babylon"), this show could have some serious legs. (Getting better, less electronic instruments would help the music from being so lounge-y.) Note to the government, in re: The Deciders: there's your innovation. On a scale from 1 to 5, with 1 being "Worse than the last eight years of Bush," and 5 being "Yes, we most certainly can," The Deciders gets a 2.5.

Pieces On The Board

Although the frequent scene changes are handled unsatisfactorily with silent, pace-killing blackouts, and a couple of the scenes go on too long, I was amused and absorbed by this this slice of cold-hearted pulp fiction (by Tim O'Leary) which kept me guessing about each new plot twist. The trust no one, assassin vs assassin plot isn't new, but O'Leary adds a few fresh kinks and has a lot of fun with the play's structure, making some fresh suspense. (There's also a lot of fight choreography; even beyond Fringe standards, a good deal of it is impressive.) Those in the ensemble who strongly register (Will Poston, Victoria Levin and Michael de Nola among them) give heightened, stylized performances that befit the play's graphic novel feel.

FIVE FRINGE SHOW WEEKEND

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Other Bodies

photo: Isaiah Tanenbaum

In August Schulenburg's ambitious, fiercely intelligent new two-hander, a womanizing ad executive's cold-eyed pursuit of his female boss leads to his supernatural physical transformation; after he has his way with her, he wakes up in a woman's body. The superb first act, mostly focused on issues of gender identity, is thought-provoking and enormously entertaining; the second act, in which the ad exec's soul searching inspires new levels of his consciousness, isn't as smooth and feels unfinished - the dialogue begins to sound authoral. Nonetheless this is a fascinating, compelling play worth getting excited about, here featuring a brilliant, thoroughly convincing performance by Vince Nappo as the ad exec.

Noon Day Sun

Photo/Rebecca Woodman Taylor

It's not quite high noon over at Theater Row, but Noon Day Sun is a very nice production of a race-driven drama that starts by observing the costs of passing for white (or not), by paralleling the lives of two former lovers, but then broadens the perspective to point out that, hey, don't we all pass for one thing or another? And doesn't that just make us all a little bit more the same?

[Reviewed for Time Out New York]