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  It makes you feel you want to get out of this awful 2014 where the fun has been replaced by constant news of war and the demise of East Village with nothing left but condos and boring people in it with no style, no sense of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

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

I CAME TO LOOK FOR YOU ON TUESDAY

THEATER

I CAME TO LOOK FOR YOU ON TUESDAY
BY
CHIORI MIYAGAWA

DIRECTED
BY
ALICE REAGAN

REVIEWED
BY
BINA SHARIF

I came to look for you on Tuesday is a play which is hauntingly beautiful and poignant.
I came to look for you on Tuesday is a passionate poem play, an unending stunning poem of
memory, loss and reunion after natural disasters such as Japan Earthquake in 2011 and wars.
The main character in the play is a young girl named Maia who is six years old at the time of the tragedy of tsunami when she is saved by her mother at the loss of her mother's life who was only twenty years old. At the end of the play Maia is fifty years old and all her life she has tried to deal
with her loss and the reunion with her father who just can't come to terms with the tragedy of losing
his young wife and some times blames Maia for the loss.  In a heart breaking scene the father says to his daughter,"You are a thief, you stole my life."  One can never forget strong and bold writing like this.
I came to look for you on Tuesday throughout has poetry like that.
Poetry which destroys you at one point and enthralls  you at the next moment.
There are almost twenty characters in the play who are trying to deal with the loss of loved ones and trying to reunite to have some kind of closure in some ways and all scenes have great strength of
brilliant writing.
The play is also stunningly directed by Alice Reagan.  Direction is precise, clean, sharp and moving.
When one enters the theater , one encounters just a very clean room with grey walls and floor and
a projection screen.  Almost no props except some little blocks of wood and some doors, actually many
doors but not intrusive at all.  The set is just perfect for this kind of a play which is taking place all
over the world and characters inhabiting the space are also people, real people of blood and flesh
trying to deal with the loss which can never be dealt with actually, the loss which is beyond one's control but still some kind of reunion is wished for.
All the actors are brilliant.  Completely connected with their characters.  Right in-front of you they become the real people and you forget that you are watching a play.
Actors play many different roles and they are good in each one.
The playwright and the director conducted salons where they developed stories of reunion
by many artists and the result is so effective that the play stays inside of you for days.
I have been thinking about this beautiful play for a whole week.
I came to look for you on Tuesday, a lovely title, which is based on one of the characters who is looking
for his missing son and leaves a hand written message on the wall of one of the evacuation center
telling him, I CAME TO LOOK FOR YOU ON TUESDAY.
If that doesn't break your heart, just tell me what will.......
And theater should have that kind of lasting effect and this play does.
And there is another amazing thing happens here often, Laughter.
Play also has sharp and real heartfelt humor.
I just loved this play.

AT LAMAMA E.T.C TILL OCT 13

THEATER REVIEW OF WILLIAM

FRINGE THEATER REVIEWS
BY
BINA SHARIF

WILLIAM : A ONE MAN MUSICAL ABOUT WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

(Book, Music and Lyrics in Swedish by Jan-Erik Saaf
Translation into English by Owen Robertson )
Directed by Andreas Boonstra
Time of this ply is 1592
The place is London.

Many a times when we go to see a one person Shakespeare play, it turns out to be about the most famous monologues ever written by Shespeare.  That doesn't mean that those are bad efforts but when the actor do a bad job at doing,"To be,
or not to be" badly you instantly lose it and wait  eternally for more recitations of poorly done.
Not here.  Astoundingly fresh, original, witty, imaginative and intelligent from beginning to the end.

Jonas Nerbe the actor and the singer who plays William is a prince himself with an incredible stage presence and a beautiful voice accompanied by a group of handsome dames, (String Quarter) Sarah
Koenig-Ploskier, Caterina Longhi and Bridget Pasker clad in beautiful red and black skirts.
The whole motif of stage design is red and black including William's Jacket which is very effective.
With such simple touches the production achieves the most powerful vision.
In one scene the ladies of the string quartet join  Jonas Nerbe (William) and play the weird sisters from Macbeth evoking such laughter and fun.

The actor concentrate on the life of William Shakespeare during the time of 1592 beginning with
Richard the third and before the opening of Romeo and Juliet and concentrate on Shakespeare's sonnets
which he sings beautifully.  Also the play William reveals the struggle of the author, his competitive spirit with Marlow and his mysterious passions between the young Earl of Southhampton and that sexy lady always mentioned as the Dark Lady of his sonnets.

Jonas Nerbe is excellent throughout this fascinating work and its amazing that the fringe festival got him and gave us all the chance to see the dedication and sophistication with which the whole production is held together.
I would love to follow Jonas Nerbe's career in the future but since he is based in Sweden might be hard
so I would love to see this William and more of his work maybe at Public theater perhaps.
This play desreve to have a come back in NY.

THEATER REVIEW

THE DROWNING GIRLS
BY
Beth Graham, Daniela Vlaskalic &Charlie Tomlinson
DIRECTED
BY
Jessica Bashline

REVIEWED
BY
Bina Sharif

The Drowning Girls is based on a true story.  An Edwardian hustler named George Joseph Smith
ends up marrying three different wives (Bessie, Alice and Margaret ) and they all die by drowning mysteriously in their bath tubs. (Actually at the hands of their husband )

My very first Impression as I walked in was Breathtaking.  Three old style bath tubs with water sprinkling from the showers and three beautiful white bridal gowns hanging near each bath tub.
The set was absolutely pure and soothing and comforting while we already knew that we are going
to watch very sad events about three young wives. It was absolutely haunting in a beautifully
sensuous way especially for me.  I love the melodious sound the water creates when it falls on any surface.  The sound of the rain in any play will get me dreaming of the monsoon season and I was still aware that I am here not to watch a party in a rain forest but a heart wrenching story of three young lives destroyed by their own awful husband. And one more thing before I proceed was a stunning effect of the boiling hot water being poured in the bath tubs by a stage hand creating clouds of steam...
another Image of comfort and bliss which comes from going to a bath house in Tunis...
And  simple and impressive visual effect (Like a painting) created without any boring digital effects was by Daryl Embry..

At the very beginning of the play we see three young, beautiful women enter in their underwear's and
get into the bathtubs splashing water everywhere and gasping and some time even giggling.
They get out soaking wet and one by one wear their wedding gowns and starts to recount the story of
their very short encounters with  their murderous husband. All three actresses play many different roles including the role of George Joseph Smith. They recount how they met him, in one case at a park bench, how he charmed them, how he was after their inheritance and how fast the women fell in love with him and married him without ever paying any attention to the concerns of their loved ones.

The whole play has a beautifully haunting atmosphere created by dim, dark, golden light designed by
Michelle Tobias and is accompanied with original music composed by Jeff McSpadden.

Three wives are played by Kate Danson (Bessie) Marissa Porto (Alice ) and Nancy Rodriguez
(Margaret )

All Three actresses are brilliant.  They were good and sustained their characters throughout
the play (Rather short ) They touched me so much that I was constantly worried about them
 being well and warm besides the fact that it was impossible because they were all soaking wet all along
but they never gave a hint of being discomforted by the hazards of their craft.
I particularly liked Marissa Porto (Alice) in one of the scenes where she brings George to meet her mother and father and is having a heart wrenching scene with Nancy Rodrigues now playing
Alice's mother and begging with her daughter Alice to change her mind but Alice storms out
on the way to her tragedy and the mother tells us that she never saw Alice again.
Both Marissa and Nancy just broke my heart with that scene.

Jessica Bashline who is also the Artistic Director of Strange Sun Theater did a great job combining all
the best elements and talent for her show.
Its just the most beautiful show I have seen in a while...What else  can I say?

"KANE AND HABIL AT THE PIZZA PARLOR"

WRITTEN and DIRECTED

by

SERGE ERNANDEZ

at

La MaMa E.T,C.

"KANE AND HABIL AT THE PIZZA PARLOR" Is based on the ancient story Kane and Abel from the Jewish Bible

but set in a Pizza Parlor of modern times.In 'KANE AND HABIL IN PIZZA PARLOR the first family, Adam,(Missing) in this play was supposed to be of African descent and Eve,(Sheila Dabney)

had a crush on the white fallen angel and had Kane from him and Habil by Adam.  They also had a sister named,Lebuda, (Emily Alpren) who becomes the objet of desire of both brothers but she

is only in love with Habil and wants a child from him thus evoking incredible envy, rage and jealousy in Kane  who ends up murdering Habil and I am not spoiling the plot or the ending in this case

because everyone knows the story of Kane and Abel and pretty much know the ending.

This ancient story of utmost importance because its with this story the first murder in the civilization takes place and the the sin of Incest which has continued through thousands of years and the murder of brother by a brother has become a sad common story.

In"KANE AND HABILIN PIZZA PARLOR" However the story takes a contemporary shape (A license taken by the artist, writer/director) and causes some confusion because if the play takes

place in a modern Pizza parlor(Pizza parlors) are supposed to be invention of contemporary society) and in the contemporary society murders have been happening for eternity, so when its

announced in the play that its the first murder, it rings hollow as well as when Lebuda asks in horror questions the red stuff coming out of Habil's body it sounds funny because so much red blood had been shed in modern times.

Maybe I am being too literal in my take of it but thats the measure of my interpretation.

Acting in the play is pretty good especially Eve, Sheila Dabney who is majestic, powerful in a funny halting manner turning it into brooding comedy which is the intention of the writer/director.

Kofi Boakye,(Habil) also is very effective.  Dough Chapman(Kane) is smooth but seem gymnastic in his sorrow and regret after the tragedy caused by him.

The chorus played by Kirk Brown and Yossera Bouchtia covered in black shrouds have the ability of provoking tragic lament.  I wish their part was larger though.

Emily Alpren (Lebuda) was most effective in her sorrow at Habil's death bed.

It was absolutely a delight to see Sheila Dabney on stage after such a long time.  Her voice and presence is meant for the stage and she must not deprive the stage of her presence.

HAPPY FACE

REVIEWED

BY

BINA SHARIF

artsinternational.blogspot.com