Fringe: When Last We Flew

Photo: Karen Rusch

Harrison David Rivers's amazing When Last We Flew (directed by Colette Robert) weaves a pair of coming-of-age stories into a lyrical, touching, funny, even inspiring 2 hours of wonderful theatre (that's "wonder-ful" as in "exciting feelings of wonder"). Paul (the immensely talented and charming Jon-Michael Reese), an isolated gay teenager in Kansas, spends much of his time locked in the bathroom with a tattered copy of Angels in America, which is his lifeline, his bible, and his erotica. His mother (the lovely, subtle Karen Pittman), desperate to connect with him, tries to entice him out with plates of food, messages of love that Paul simply cannot receive. Natalie (the wry, remarkable Rory Lipede), the only African-American in an exclusive private school, is reaching the limits of her ability to remain well-behaved while being treated as "the black girl." Her mother (the intense yet perfectly restrained Tamela Aldridge) also wants to connect with her child, but more so she wants the intelligent, talented Natalie to have a life full of opportunities, even if she has to smother her along the way. When Last We Flew also features various friends, relatives, and other people, along with, yes, an angel. Particular kudos are owed Justin Gillman, as Paul's friend Ian; Gillman took over the role with less than 48 hours' notice yet performed with wit, deep emotion, and seemingly total ease. When Last We Flew left me with a kaleidoscope of images of despair, love, and glory, beautiful visions of people learning to be themselves and learning to fly.

Fringe: Lost and Found

In John Pollono's Lost and Found, directed by Andrew Block, a character says, "Love is complicated." And love is indeed complicated for the bitter cop with a secret, the angry widow with a secret, the beautiful neighbor with . . . well, guess, and the other characters in this often entertaining, sometimes touching exploration of--as the title says--lost people trying to be found. I'm curious to see the future of this show. On one hand, it's not particularly outstanding or original in terms of themes or execution and it has a large cast (seven people) for the economies of today's theatre. On the other hand, it's a good show, and the Fringe version feels like a try-out for a larger production, with a strong cast including actors from TV shows 24 (the lovely Reiko Aylesworth) and the Sopranos (Geraldine Librandi) and actual production values. Is there room today off or on Broadway for a show such as this one, which is far from ground-breaking but would rate a solid B+?

Fringe: Terms of Dismemberment

Certain basic realities seem to have escaped the people who wrote, directed, and otherwise put together Terms of Dismemberment. (1) Vulgarity is not in itself clever, funny, and/or entertaining--there needs to be some wit, point of view, and/or inspiration behind it. (2) Multiple rhymes are not in themselves clever, funny, and/or entertaining--there needs to be some wit, point of view, and/or inspiration behind them. (3) Self-referential theatre is not in itself clever, funny, and/or entertaining--there needs to be some wit, point of view, and/or inspiration behind it. (4) Abusive parents played for laughs are not in themselves clever, funny, and/or entertaining--there needs to be some wit, point of view, and/or inspiration behind the depiction of them. (5) Men playing women are not in themselves clever, funny, and/or entertaining--there needs to be some wit, point of view, and/or inspiration behind their performance. Well, you get the point.

Fringe: Open Hearts

Photo: Andrew Adolphus

Open Heart, written and directed by Joe Salvatore, is an intriguing piece of docu-theatre about gay men living in nonmonogamous relationships. Salvatore interviewed 13 couples and a therapist/researcher, and Open Heart consists of the verbatim words--including "ums," stutters, and pauses--of six of the couples and the therapist. The men are engaging company, and their discussions of the advantages and disadvantages of their lifestyles run the gamut from calm reasoned theory to blunt "hey, this is what I want" type comments. Perhaps the most fascinating moments are those in which the men seem out of touch with their actual feelings and fears. The play is split into sections, like chapters, each of which begins with a brief video introduction of repeated images and words that act as chapter titles. The videos add little, plus they are uncomfortably loud and slow the pacing (the pacing in general drags and is sometimes awkward). The actors, who play three or four roles each, are downright amazing. Each interviewee is presented in compelling, three-dimensional, carefully delineated detail, and when the show is over, it's astonishing that there aren't two or three times as many people taking bows.

Fringe: The Princes of Persuasion

The Princes of Persuasion: Recipes for Romance makes for an oddly entertaining concert, not a satisfying work of theater. Ithai Benjamin's music is catchy, Rebeca Raney's lyrics are delightfully twisted (think Roald Dahl), and the automated puppets are novel and neatly designed. But the show is mostly prerecorded, and the puppets, not Benjamin, are the characters: airy and deranged Linda, sensible Destiny, boyish but occasionally demonic Lil' Bo-tique, and the goofy Domingo (whose eyes and nose face a different direction from his mouth). There's also no plot, no momentum: it's just a loose series of conversations that serve only to segue into one of the many songs. Still, although it can't compete with the far more complete Jollyship the Whiz-Bang and Avenue Q, it's whimsically winning enough to persuade Fringe audiences to love it.

[Read full review]

Fringe: Interfaith Understanding with Rev. Bill and Betty

A sendup of TV preachers, thinks I to myself. This must have something special, something to delight or at least surprise. No one would put together a show on such a hackneyed theme—would set out to lengthily mock the so-easily mocked—without a fresh approach, would they? Or at least some really sparkling creativity at the heart?

Alas. They would. The only hints of originality in this show came in a few of the fake local TV commercials shown on video between live segments of "Rev. Bill and Betty's" supposed cable access show. The two performers, Jen Ryan and Rik Sansone, are certainly stageworthy, and Ms. Ryan especially bites into her role with dastardly, pink-haired vigor. But their timing is all off, the best lines are thrown away out of context, and a lot of the jokes just don't make sense. (What Southern holy rollers would think to josh that "if there was survival of the fittest, how do you explain Larry King on television all these years?")

For humor to work it has to be rooted in something recognizably real. Martin D. Hill's script doesn't penetrate the innards of people like this to reveal what makes them tick. Rev. Bill and Betty's ignorant, twisted versions of the history of Judaism and Islam, which give the show its title, breathe a little life into the proceedings, but they don't last long. As a result the show is mostly bluster, artifically lightened with plays on words and bearing only intermittent, uncertain laughs.