Estrogenius Festival: Series A

From a marketing standpoint, the Estrogenius Festival is brilliant. But when it comes to honesty and entertainment, the first week's five one-act offerings fall short of Mensa's theatrical standards (except for Ashleigh Murray's stirring performance in Cheryl Davis's "Child of the Movement"). The festival is still a success: the playwrights show remarkable range and, even in the rockiest moments, take on an energetic, unfaltering pride in their voices. If they're tripping on anything, it's not having enough to actually talk about.

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Cyclone And The Pig-Faced Lady

Initially, we don't know why this NYMF musical asks us to watch not only a comic book serial (about a mysterious super woman who protects the just-built Cyclone roller coaster at Coney Island) but also the modern-day cartoonist creating it. The conceit does pay off, giving the show a surprisingly serious theme and some depth, but the emotional impact is lessened because the events in the modern day scenes haven't been suitably dramatized to echo into the scenes from the comic book. The (fixable) flaws in the material are especially frustrating because there are many strong elements (including an accomplished score with some hypnotic ensemble numbers) waiting to come together here for a unique musical. Nonetheless, as is it's still one of the most memorable entries at this year's festival. Paul Niebanck and David Garry are cast stand-outs.

Wig Out!

Photo/Carol Rosegg

Wig Out! looks fresh and sounds fresh, but it doesn't feel fresh. Tarell Alvin McCraney pieces his latest out of so many different styles (Motown, contemporary drag, "real nigga," Goth, glamour, &c., and that's just fashion, to say nothing of the pop-singing Greek chorus) that he ends up with a mess (only occasionally a hot mess). Good ideas and fabulous execution (from director Tina Landau, set designer James Schuette, and costumer Toni-Leslie James), but underdeveloped characters (hence confusing acting out of solid people like Erik King) and a too-glossy plot.

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Wig Out

Reviewed for Theater News Online.

Aliens with Extraordinary Skills

Photo/Carol Rosegg

Saviana Stanescu's Aliens with Extraordinary Skills walks a thin tightrope between its lighthearted characters (two clowns from Moldavia, trying to find happiness) and its serious problem (INS agents want to deport them). Tea Alagic's acrobatic direction keeps the action lively, keeping the perspective in the blissful naivety of the circus of life, and the ensemble, often juggling three balls at once, never misses a beat. This form of narrative presents a shocking sweetness, captured best by Natalia Payne's wide-eyed innocence and Jessica Pimentel's jaded but open attitude, and, with a few balloon animals and their more cartoony counterparts on stage, the play succeeds in shifting our perspective on a familiar issue (immigration) at least for a a few happy and hopeful hours.

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The Seagull

Imported from the Royal Court with most of its cast intact, this much-raved-about production of Chekhov's play (the third major Seagull in New York within a year) doesn't even aim for Chekhov's deceptively relaxed pace or for his wise humanity: the directorial concept seems to interpret the characters' unfulfilled, cross-purposed desires as evidence that no one has the slightest genuine connection. The result drains all of the life juices out of the play and cynically turns it into a gathering of sociopaths. Nonetheless there are two spellbinders in the (highly variable) cast: Kristin Scott Thomas gives that rare brand of performance that is technically precise and yet seemingly natural at every moment. And Carey Mulligan is stunning in the famously difficult part of Nina, captivating from radiant start to wounded finish.