The new Adam Rapp play, being produced at the downtown Rattlestick Theatre, was a must for me. I’m a fan of Rapp’s bleak world outlook, fully fleshed-out characters, and his facility with words. I’ve seen most of his New York premieres (except Stone Cold Dead Serious, the one that I think was his most commercially successful).

This show deals with one evening in Ohio. Crazy Train, aka Arthur Sligo, is a retired professional wrestler. This, on the evening of his final performance, we see him dine with his family. His family being his two sons Kyle and Victor, his dead wife’s sister (Aunt Bobbie), and a contest winner from afar (also named Bobbie) - a young, sweet wrestling fan.

As the meal progresses, we learn certain things about the family. The wrestling thing is clearly a metaphor for bad parenting and broken children. Both sons are damaged by their upbringing, but particularly tragic is Victor, the older son. Diabetic, criminally deranged, and addicted to cocaine, he does nothing but hurt himself and everyone around him. Excellent performance by Paul Sparks, who’s previous roles in Rapp plays clearly help him understand this playwright’s use of language and character.

The casting of MaryLouise Burke as the dotty, dimwit chatterbox Aunt Bobbie, did something I hadn’t seen in a Rapp play - she added comedy. Much of the first act is dominated by her, and has a much more lighthearted feel than expected. Of course the play takes a horrifically dark turn, as to be expected. But it was nice to see at least a hint of dark comedy before the full on darkness took over.

Also adding a glimmer of innocence, hope, and naivetey was the contest winner, Bobbie Bibby. He becomes an easy punching bag for Victor, and really is just an outsider who gets victimized. But beforehand he also provides some welcome comic relief.

Other than Burke, the other 2 female characters are supplementary at best, existing only to further the development of the family. Emily Cass McDonnell plays Lucy, a local checkout girl who makes the mistake of entangling herself with Victor. She is wonderfully understated and pityable. Megan Mostyn-Brown, as Kyle’s girlfriend Cammie, comes on at the very end and has a very strange role to play in the course of the action. From the second she entered the house and saw Victor there instead of Kyle, her fear of him was clear. I wonder, though, who’s choice it was to have her be so terrified from the very beginning, as she didn’t have much further terror to find as things got worse.

An exploration of family and violence and suburbia, with some excellent performances. I really enjoyed it. But I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it to the average theatre goer. Rapp’s plays often make you feel like you’ve been run over by a truck by the end. Which is why I like his stuff, but it’s definitely not for everyone.

This excellent show was horrifically marred by it’s pre-show problems.

For a 10pm show on a Monday night, I arrive at the Spiegeltent around 9:40, only to discover the theatre is not open, and the line for tickets is very long. Turns out there was only one guy working the box office, so he was both selling tickets and distributing the will-call tickets, which I had already purchased. After waiting in line for a half hour to pick up our tickets, we’re ushered into another line - the line to get into the theatre. It’s 10:10 at this point and the theatre isn’t even open yet.

At about 10:30, the theatre opens and we get inside, to discover that it’s already full of people. Not sure why they didn’t have to wait - I think there might have been some kind of Amex rewards thing where they could just go right in? Not sure. So we get inside, the venue is packed to the gills, we barely find two seats together in the second to last row and can hardly see the stage. Then we wait another 15 minutes, listening to the drunken roar of the crowd, and noting the really weird negative energy there. Precisely at 10:46, the show begins.

Now, call me old fashioned - but if a show says 10pm curtain, I expect it to be no more than 5 to 10 minutes after that. No idea if it was the fault of the venue or of the performers, but entering into the experience in this way completely marred what would have been a show I normally would have adored.

The Yard Dog’s Road Show is a self-described hobo-cabaret. They mix elements of entertainment, but basically it’s a burlesque/variety show set to a live rock band. In costume. With alter egos. Who also sing and do things like swallow swords and balloons and eat fire. Pretty awesome.

Very much like La Vie, the group is multi-talented. Both members of the brass section get their own character song moments. The girl trombone player, yeesh. Her Janis Joplin-like rock scream is certainly badass and hardcore but I guarantee she won’t have any voice left in a year if she keeps that up - it’s shot to hell as it is now. Hard for me to listen to someone destroy their voice like that, even if it is in the name of rock and roll.

Then there were the 3 burlesque dancers that came on and off to do various entertainments - there was an excellent belly dance sequence, as well as a very cool living-doll scene. Such beautiful girls with greatly expressive faces - and one of them sings too - everyone does everything!

The original rock music was, well, rockin.’ Definitely felt more like we were at a rock show than a piece of theatre, but that still doesn’t excuse the late start time, or the ridiculously rude audience. I’m not sure if these were fans of the group, or random people that wandered in, but there were several moments that the audience didn’t respect the fact that they were at a theatrical event. It was a strangely disrespectful feeling, all around.

I would definitely give these guys another shot, as their show is unique, funny, impressive, beautiful, dark, and full of gritty rock and roll. But what a strange experience, overall.

The new rockudrama (new terminology, anyone?) 33 To Nothing follows the events of one night at a rehearsal studio, during the rehearsal of a 5-piece rock band with an upcoming gig. The show follows the events of one evening in which we learn about the band’s past, the individual players, and their futures.

Written by and starring Grant James Varjas, it is certainly an interesting concept. Described as “a play with live music,” it can’t really be compared to other rock musicals (e.g., Hedwig, Rent, Spring Awakening). Here, the original rock score is mostly written by the lead singer about his ex, who is the lead guitarist. So the music furthers the audience’s understanding of the songwriter’s inner turmoil, but does nothing to further the action of the play. The text takes care of that.

An extremely awkwardly written beginning had me thinking, oh god I can’t take 90 minutes of this. Starting off like a badly written sitcom: the first 3 lines of dialogue explain exactly who was married to who, and who was the ex of who. We could have waited a few pages to get into the specifics of the peoples’ relationships, but they slam you over the head with it in the first few lines, and it comes off as forced. Also, bits of sloppy writing include all the music references and in-jokes, but none so obscure that the majority of audience members wouldn’t get them. For example, everyone knows who Michael Stipe and Morrissey and Fleetwood Mac and Zepplin are. Apparently the members of this band all have exclusively very mainstream influences. All these music references, again still mostly in the beginning of the show when the tone of the piece should be getting established, feel forced.

Then, somewhere, about 20 minutes in, the writing suddenly gets really good. The tone changes. Everything slows down. Things get heavier. And all of a sudden you care about the characters. And you want them to be happy. And you feel sad for them.

The play is mostly an exploration of adulthood. Gray, the lead singer and writer, refuses to keep a day job, and considers the band to be his job. The fact that they haven’t yet been discovered, plus his recent breakup with Bri (the guitarist), plus his sick mother, has driven him to extreme alcoholism. He gets drunker and drunker and more incoherent as the play progresses. On the other side of things, there’s the bass player and rhythm guitarist, both with day jobs (Gray considers them sellouts), who decide to start a family and move to New Jersey. They’ve decided they need to move on and grow up, where Gray is struggling with this concept for himself, and is actually what made him lose Bri.

Then there’s the drummer, Barry, who we know the least about, and exists as the goofy comic relief character. He’s not involved at all with the drama with the rest of the band. Which is perfect, because that’s how it always works in the real world - the drummer’s always kind of the outsider, and this is a perfect example of that dynamic.

The play is really quite sad, especially because Gray is such an easy character to sympathize with. He intentionally and drunkenly turns away the people he cares about, because he cares too much. He can’t communicate. He behaves like a child sometimes but you’re always on his side. This is due both to the excellent writing of the character, and the brilliant portrayal by Varjas. I guess when you’re writing a character for yourself, it’s much more possible that you can create such vibrancy and complexity. His in-depth exploration of loneliness and the aging process, along with the creative life vs. selling out, is a common theme for many of us out here just trying to make art and get by.

And the score - really pretty good. Basic rock music - not too alt, or country, or grungey - kind of straight up rock and roll. Hard to compare to anything. But really quite catchy and well played by the cast.

I love a cast that can multi-task! Sing, act and play instruments. They didn’t have to tap dance, though. That would have been impressive.

I was very excited to see that after the success of last year’s Absinthe, another show decided to set up summer residency as well. La Vie, a French-Canadian production, was not nearly as well sold as Absinthe. Perhaps because we attended the 9:30 show on a Tuesday night during a taxi-cab strike. Regardless of the small audience, and having just viewed Absinthe, La Vie ended up being the highlight of the evening.

Dark and sinister, this show is a series of dance pieces, with a central framing device. A creepy French man tells us that we are all dead. A bit of audience interaction later on made us all feel like we were part of the action, which I liked a lot. Basically the show explores themes of death and dying, and thus living, thru acrobatic/dance pieces. These pieces also incorporate music and acting.

What was most striking about La Vie is the talents of the cast. In Absinthe, the performers generally have one act that they do, and then you don’t see them again. In La Vie, the same set of performers do everything. The small group sings, dances, does crazy feats of acrobatics, gets naked, interacts with the audiences, does comedy (slapstick and verbal), manipulates the set, plays instruments - you name it. I was so surprised to see a cast that could literally do everything. Even the narrator - such a strong actor, then at the end he busts out his classical dance chops, and becomes totally romantic (previously being very cold). I’d have to say I was shocked at the performers’ versatility. Truly an ensemble piece.

There were moments during this show where you literally get lost in the bodily movements of the performers and swept up in the music. Maybe it was all the red wine, but I felt displaced in a land of dark purgatory. Particularly when the insane asylum patient got all twisted up in her bedsheets and ascends to the heavens and does a crazy sky twisty sheet dance. Really cool.

You leave the performance with a renewed vigor for life. The narrator encourages you to leave the theatre and live. Eat. Breathe. Fuck. Love. Because this is la Vie. So Existential and so French! Really poetic. Uplifting yet sad. Hmmm.

Highly, highly recommended. I hope lots of people see this. Because it made me, for the first time in my life, give a toss about the art form of dance. Normally this is the one art form I have no interest in. But the construction of this piece was not at all what I’d ever expect from a “dance” show; it’s much more theatrical in it’s conception. So perhaps they don’t need to be mutually exclusive of one another, and maybe I actually care about the art form. Who knew?

After last year’s amazing experience, had to go back for a second viewing. What this burlesque/dance/variety show from down under had to offer this time around was surprisingly quite different. Last year’s show was much more burlesque, this, more variety and comedy. And it felt like they weren’t trying quite as hard this time.

This year’s chanteuse was a wonderfully malleable drag queeney cabaret singer, with great vocal chops. His range was excellent, both emotionally and pitch-wise. His impressions of Judy Garland and Marlene Deitrich were spot on, if not somewhat predictable (this is of course, land of the cabaret drag artists).

The narrator was an excellently crass man known as the Gazillionaire. He screwed with the audience in an excellently in-your-face way. No one was safe from his lewd, offensive mockery - but even this was somewhat predictable schtick that would have worked for any audience (making fun of the gays and the Republicans in house). Not to say that his delivery of said material wasn’t brilliant, which it was. Charm and charisma and sleaze. And his very, very stupid female side kick, Penny, who has no verbal filter. She was cute as a button. And has a really amazingly offensive monologue. And meets a violently tragic and hilarious end.

In between the cohesion of these characters are a variety of acts, mostly dance and acrobatics, all with music - either sung live, or dj’d, or canned. Every piece had a distinct feel and story. Some slow and beautiful and mesmerizing (trapeze), others upbeat and exciting (the spinning couple on roller skates with the techno music).

All together it is a night of drastically varied entertainment. Not for the faint of heart (can’t believe the old man in the front row didn’t pass out from all the obscenities), this show is one of the wackiest and well put together variety acts in town. But nowhere near as shocking as last year. Definitely not as much nudity, for one thing. I wonder though, had I not seen last year’s superior show, would I be quite so judgmental? Probably not.

Last year I attended this summer stock/dinner theatre extravaganza as a normal audience member. See my previous entries for review of show. This year, I attended because it just so happened that the lovely and talented Ms. Sarah Engelke has been working there all summer as their musical director. So one year later and I’m back again.

The cabaret theme this year was Billy Joel and Elton John songs, so I was psyched. The cast was notably smaller this year; 4 performers, down from 6 last year. We weren’t planning on eating dinner there, just seeing the show, but then there we were sitting at the bar, and the kitchen brings out two dinner entrees for us, free of charge - so we had second dinner. The food was far better than last year; due to new kitchen staff. Massive improvement.

Also, the interior of the theatre itself looks like it’s undergone some major work during the off season. It still looks like a theatre in a barn, but a much more finished one now!

The main performance this year was a musical revue of Connie Francis songs. I didn’t know who that was. Music from the 50s, and an extremely weak plot constructed to link the songs together, the only one of which I’d ever heard being “Where the Boys Are.” Basically, perfectly entertaining fare for the senior citizen summer vacationers in and around Boothbay Harbor, Maine. I like my theatre a bit more edgy than this. But on the good side, this theatre operates and churns out exactly what it needs to to make these clients happy, and hopefully stay in business for many summers to come.

OH MY GOD.

Let’s just start with that.

My friend Andy garnered employment as the one adult male in this show for kids, about kids, starring….KIDS! Tween girls tell and sing stories about friendship through the ages. Easy gig for my friend, as he was in all of 3 scenes, and the little girls dominate the entire hour and 15 minute long show. If you’re a little girl between the ages of 8 and 12, this is the show for you.

The production values were excellent, actually. Live pit, excellent lighting, smoke machine, beautiful turn-table built into the stage, all made for a very pretty (sparkly!) show full of pinks and purple and glitter and unicorns.

I’m just not so into kids. Or sentiment of any kind. Especially when it comes out of the mouths of kids.

And I’m not sure if I can really even call it ‘theatre,’ when it’s tied into a huge corporate doll empire, where entitled parents take their spoiled children to purchase obscenely overpriced dolls - the show is really supplementary to their day of wasting money on a piece of plastic.

But Andy did a great job!

City Center’s limited run production, directed and put together by much of the creative team that was responsible for it’s original creation, was one of the most spot-on productions I’ve seen in a long time. Technically perfect in every way. Yet somehow I just didn’t seem to care all that much.

Perhaps it’s the fact that I’ve seen Gypsy a million times. Plus, both of the film adaptations. Gypsy suffers from overexposure. It’s one of those great shows that’s so well written that everyone just does it all the time. It has everything - great dance, comedy, drama, kids, complex relationships, sex appeal, you name it. The story of the famous Gyspy Rose Lee, told through the eyes of her pushy stage mother, is a classic tale. And this was, as I said, a technically perfect retelling.

The only thing that really interested me about the show was getting to see Patty Lupone as Mama Rose. I’ve seen a number of actresses play the role, but Patty, in her typical way, steals it, runs away with it, and makes it her own. It’s why we love her. Her version of the character is much colder and cynical and less bubbly and scattered than I’d seen in the past. Much more calculated and manipulative, yet not villainous at all. An excellently fresh interpretation of one of the greatest roles ever written for an actress.

Everything else was good too. Good but unexciting. Except for the seemingly endless applause after “Rose’s Turn,” her epic 11th hour soliloquy/aria, after which I thought the audience would never stop cheering. That was exciting.