ARTS INTERNATIONAL
Editor/Publisher, Bina Sharif
ARTS INTERNATIONAL covers THEATER, FILM, VISUAL ARTS, CUISINE, AND LITERATURE

Saturday, October 25, 2014

THEATER REVIEW




"BACK"

A TRAGEDY PARTY

POETIC THEATER PRODUCTIONS
Presents AT THE CELL 338 WEST 23rd  at 8pm and runs through October 31st

REVIEWED
by
BINA SHARIF for ARTS INTERNATIONAL

Its 1989.  We are in a Greenwich Village Gay Club on Halloween.
There are a few men and women handsomely dressed lying motionless on the floor
for quite some time.  They don't move, they don't breathe.  Are they resting from a long evening's
pleasures or are they dead after the consumption of fun, sex, drugs and passions?
We are not sure yet.

Then enters a Krishna type, finely dressed in gold and orange and glitter ( Matthew Dalton Lynch )
as  George Harris 111/Hibiscus (1949-1982 )  He is the one who put a flower into a rifle during the
Vietnam War.  He livens the room with his dancing and then who walks in?  Cookie Mueller (1949-1989) ) A party girl and John Water's actress with a cane ( fabulously played by Olivia Nice)
Now we know that the party goers are bringing the dead back and every one on the floor rises.

The party begins, lots of kissing and lots of hugging and mingling and laughter.  It makes you feel you want to get out of this awful 2014 where the fun has been replaced by constant news of war and the demise of East Village with nothing left but condos and boring people in it with no style, no sense of
fashion and no humor at all.  We are still waiting for something concrete to happen and all of a sudden
a play called,  FRANK a 1966 tragedy starring Frank O'Hara (brilliant Adam  Wennick ) starts to
unfold and that's when a sense of real theater and the impact of great poetry happens.
The mood becomes solemn, poignant and sad.  Frank wrote Meditations in an Emergency and he used to scribble poems at his lunch break which became Lunch Poems. He had a tragic death due to a car accident.

This part of the evening was my favorite.  Beautifully recited poems by Adam Wennick as Frank
were very touching and soulful.  Bello Pizzimenti as Joe LeSueur ( Frank's room mate and  lover
was just wonderful,  subtle and touching in a quiet, effective way.

After the intermission we had another treat. Another  1804 tragedy called, AARON  Starring,
Felix J. Mayes as Aaron Burr (Handsomely attired with silver heals to die) and Mateo d'Amato
as Alexander Hamilton. a life long rival of Aaron Burr. (quiet effective in an intense role)

This play was nothing if not a great history lesson.  Listening to the speeches of Alxander Hamilton
one suddenly realizes that not much has changed in such a long time.  He keeps blatantly tries to
Insult Aaron Burr who is so confident in his ability and sense of justice that he laughs away the insults most of the time thus making Hamilton so furious that he challenges Aaron Burr to a duel from which Hamilton dies a short time later.

 BACK is written by Mickey Bolmer and developed with poetic Theater Productions and directed by
Andrew Willis-Woodward.

There are other characters such as Nan Goldin, Bernice Abbott, Walt Whitman and David Wojnarowicz.  The whole ensemble is really good and they work very well together but outstanding performances are given by, Olivia Nice, Adam Wennick, Bello Pizzimenti and Mateo d' Amato.
The whole evening was thoroughly enjoyable and informative. Costumes were also very beautiful and festive. My friends who happened to be from Berlin and accompanied me to the show on their last night in NewYork Loved the whole evening.

I felt very nostalgic for the old times and for the fabulous dead.

I congratulate the Co-Artistic Directors' Jeremy Karafin and Alex Mallory of  Poetic Theater Productions for staging such a wonderful and important work.

Photo: Top with Mathew Dalton Lynch and Olivia Nice
Photo: Bottom with Felix J. Mayes and Bello Pizzimenti
BACK
A TRAGEDY PARTY RUNS TILL OCT 31st

Bina Sharif: Editor/Publisher
artsinternational
artsinternational.blogspot,com
binashariff@gmail.com
binasharif@earthlink.net
Cell: 212-260-6207








Thursday, January 9, 2014

NUTCRACKER ROUGE AT MINETTA LANE AND OTHER GREAT SHOWS OF 2013

GREAT SHOWS OF 2013
Loved by artsinternational and Bina Sharif

One of the very many great shows of 2013 such as Richard the 111, No man's Land, Waiting for Godot, Lady Day, I came to look for you on Tuesday is NUTCRACKER ROUGE directed and
choreographed by Austin McCormick based on Tchaikovsky's timeless  "Nutcracker.
The director Takes liberties and for the better to combine many formats such as dance beside the ballet,
incredibly erotic and sexy movements without ever a slightest hint of any bad taste at all, styles which are so avant garde and delicious that every second one waits for a new surprise and exotic surprises keep coming.

The director is very successful experimenting with new forms which are deliberated with great sense of fun and joy. The brilliant cast of dancers and actors have such agility and ability that at times feel humanly impossible but possible in this amazing show at every minute.

There is classical ballet,  French Can-Can, Jazz,  Rock, you name it, its there and still the show never seem overloaded.  The secret of this Nutcracker is the amount of fun and superb ability the performers are exuding at every given moment.  It shows how beautiful the human body is and how blessed the performers are to have that toned, muscular, angular and elongated muscles which with the talent mesmerize us all.

The whole ensemble is great but actors and dancers and singers such as Lura Careless as Marie Claire and Shelly Watson as Mrs. Drosselmeyer are superb.
Jeff Takacs as a co-host is lots of fun.

Lighting Design  by Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew is absolutely effective and just stunning creating an incredibly beautiful and exotic atmosphere and so is the set design by Zane Pihlstrom.

NUTCRACKER ROUGE is in the company of the best of the best theater in New York
I absolutely enjoyed this show as well as  few other above mentioned shows but NUTCRACKER ROUGE'S sensuality and erotic raw energy can't be matched.

REVIEWED
BY
BINA SHARIF
FOR
artsinternational.blogspot.com