artsinternational.blogspot.com

Eva Heinemann’s Fringe reviews: Once again good plays that ended too abruptly and left me in confusion

1). Barbara Suter’s BEST NIGHT EVER is a present day Noir story where we know who died and who killed her from the start. Peg is a sexy, kinky Blonde (Briana Layon) with a bartender friend (Tiffany Hodges) who warns her about dangerous Jake (Tim Shelton) who has a gay roommate (Ryan Garbayo) who

 always covers for Jake’s misdeeds all because they were baseball buddies in college. A detective (Lou Liberatore) is gathering evidence against Jake.
Since you know who died and killed her, the only excitement is how exactly did she die and why did Jake kill her. The acting more than made up for the limited script. My friend however liked it a lot. Unfortunately I was so uncomfortable by the rickety chair and no air conditioning that it was hard to enjoy anything.
But it was a thrill to see Lou Liberatore whom I have admired since Burn This. Mixed Face that should be Happy

2). Arlene Hutton’s VACUUM has a terrific moral dilemma and dramatic conflict. Gray (Chris Stack) and his wife Amelia (Dana Brooke) have found the cure for cancer. Trouble is his brilliant wife had an accident and has trouble remembering names of things and is content as a housewife and gardener.
Johnathan (David Arrow) an unscrupulous womanizer with a slew of exes (Lynne Halliday, Polly Adams) and current flame (Katie Wren Huard) whom he keeps on the payroll of his nefarious skin care business.
Johnathan wants to use the cure for cancer to improve your skin rather than life and the reason is pretty scary. Will Gray give in for riches or keep his integrity and debts? Can he give up his love for old intellectually equal Amelia and love this new version? Everyone comes to a realization at the end. This was a first rate production with a clever set (Josh Smith) and well thought out costumes (Margarita Delgado).
HAPPY FACE but it did have a tacked on ending with an inexplicable monologue.

FRINGE FESTIVAL: THEATER REVIEWS BY BINA SHARIF
LOLPERA
BY
ELLEN WARKENTINE AND ANDREW PEDROZA
DIRECTED AND CHOREOGRAPHER:ANGELA LOPEZ

AT THEATER 80

Sometime something is so silly that it eventually become funny,not in this
futuristic ambitious opera based on the stupid pictures of cats, all kinds of cats, happy cats, angry cats, black cats, red, purple sleepy cats, catty cats and furious cats. This can sound funny or interesting at least but trust me its not. Though they are making fun of internet in the future which is a great Idea but perhaps I misunderstood, perhaps the idea of internet in the future is that it will be the most banal thing which it already is and you can't just create a whole libretto based on stupid captions of cats on the internet. Internet has millions of other stupid things posted on it, why make only the poor cats the whole focus of an opera?
The performers are very strong with good singing skills but the whole effort seems like a waste. I left at the intermission. Thank god for that ten minute interval amongst the very boring silliness of it all.

FRINGE FESTIVAL:THEATER REVIEW BY BINA SHARIF

MEDEA PROJECT
DIRECTED AND CREATED BY SANDRA BRUNELL NEACE

MEDEA is being put on trial for killing her children. Her Defense attorney claims insanity. In the case of Madea as we all know the murder was committed because she wants to take revenge on her husband Jason who is marrying much younger a woman. Perhaps its revenge plus mental illness but the story of Medea is a fiction and the other killings of children depicted in this play about the contemporary society are much more chilling in this play because those murders are real and staring at our faces as the names of all the mothers are mentioned one by one reminding us that the evil exists because mentally ill are not aware of their actions.
Its a novel idea to bring todays crimes into a greek tragedy but its never as shocking though its happening often. We seem to justify it under the defense of mental illness. Its so sad to hear the names of real mothers who killed their own children.
The performances are all by women and the costumes are silky,flowing and beautiful adding a haunting sense to the story.

FRINGE FESTIVAL: THEATER REVIEW BY BINA SHARIF
NAMES OF THE DEAD
BY
VANESSA LENZ NEITHARDT
DIRECTED BY ROBERT GREENE

A bold piece of theater staying away from the usual silly, so called, "entertaining" fringe stuff. Jared,(Michael Nrithardt) a soldier back from serving in Iraq now contemplating suicide because he is not the same person anymore and according to him is followed by the dead, his soldier friends and the civilians he slaughtered in Iraq to free them from being enslaved, Now he hits his wife who has taken his two sons away from him to save them from him. He calls a suicide hot line where he is being calmly helped by Hope, (Kendall Cornell against the idea of committing suicide for the sake of his kids. The actor playing the soldier is very melodramatic in the first scene which doesn't work for him but improves in intensity eventually. Dave,(Robert Green) who also directed plays a fellow dead soldier who appears briefly is wonderful. Its the topic which is worth exploring. The brutal, cruel, evil war which is damaging humanity and human beings in it on both sides and the loss of life and soul is completely meaningless.

LET ME SEE

Let me see if its Ok with you

To love me

Let me see if its Ok WITH YOU TO CONSUME ME ,

DEVOUR ME,

SEDUCE ME,

KILL ME.

THEATER REVIEW:

YOSEMITE

BY

DANIEL TALBOTT AT RATTLESTICK THEATER

REVIEWED

BY

BINA SHARIF

When one walks in the Rattlestick theater one almost shiver with a chill going through

one's bones because of a very effective snowy setting and one is transported to Sierra Nevada

and its huge snowy park, though the setting here is not huge but its most effective done by

Raul Abrego, the set designer.

We sit and anticipate the chilling drama which doesn't unfortunately Unfolds instead of

a big difficult effort of the actors who are quite good but somehow can't grasp the script because the script is very static and if it does move, it moves slowly.

Its a story of a down on its luck family living in a trailer. two brothers and one sister who is holding a dead infant in her lap and the elder brother, (Seth Numrich) digging a fresh grave

(Another wonderful touch in the set designing department) He digs the grave almost throughout the play and Seth Numrich is totally absorbed in his character and is brilliant.

The sister, (Libby Woodbridge) hold the dead infant in her lap and is quiet mellow depicting

the sad tragedy. Often I couldn't hear her. The script has a conflict of the sorts, it has mellow and tender poetry in it and violence but the violence's tension and the climax it would have created is missing, so we wait while the sister announces that the grave is not deep enough and the brother digs some more.

There is the second brother,(Noah Galvin) who stays silent for the most part and sits still but often shivering. He actually is very effective. Some how we feel his pain more severely than the rest of the siblings.

Than a very young looking mother of these children show up with a big gun in her hand and the writer completely gives away the surprise. The mother played by, (Kathryn Erbe) is far too young looking to play the mother and is too soft in her delivery, some times not audible.

In the beginning I thought she was one of the other siblings.

They are all broken people, all damaged souls blaming each other.

The elder son, Seth Numrich has a wonderful scene with the mother when he accuses her of being,"Guilty" He has incredible energy and can hold the stage with his enormous, slender , youthful but powerful presence.

The mother lacks that kind of intensity, kisses her children good bye and is off............

I don't want to spoil the surprise but the ending is not much of a surprise after seeing the big gun.

The script has problems where the characters are not developed, its a good scenario lacking the tension of a great tragedy.

Also it takes so long for the grave digging that one wonders about the security guard showing up..................

and questioning them, after all its a public park and they have a dead baby in their hands.

Wouldn't they rush the action, bury the baby and get done with it. At the end of the play the baby is still not buried.

I enjoyed some of the poetry in the writing and enjoyed the performance by Seth and loved the set but it becomes a kind of nice setting for a lame drama.

REVIEWED

BY

BINA SHARIF

AETSINTERNATIONAL: artsinternational.blogspot.com

Email:binasharif@earthlink.net

Tel: 212-260-6207: cell