f you missed "In My Life," or better yet, if you missed "Carrie," well, you now have a chance to see a new musical that can take its place alongside the pantheon of the best bad musicals ever written: "The Rat King." Its mind boggling badness just really needs to be experienced. Usually one can tell if a musical is intended to be serious or tongue-in-cheek. Part of what was so special about "The Rat King" was that they really never let on with a wink-wink that this was a joke that everyone was in on. Part of me wonders how anyone could think seriously think this show had any merit. And part of me just wants to go see it again so I can revel in its delicious awfulness.
The show is about a man with three arms who somehow becomes the king of the rats, and who then falls in love with the daughter or a mad scientist. There are some scenes where all of the dialogue rhymes for no apparent reason. And there are songs, and oh what songs. The show is labeled a "rock opera" but it is most certainly not an "opera" since it is most certainly not through-composed.
The show starts off a bit slow I'll admit, but maybe around half way in the songs just get so bizarre that I felt like I was in the audience of "Springtime for Hitler." There's one (hilarious) song the daughter sings about her father lying bleeding on the stairs. In another, the father sings about cutting off the rat king's sexual organ (this, while the rat chorus stands in sexually suggestive positions).
Adding to the amusement factor, was the daughter had a really really terrible voice. She was pretty much flat the entire time. I'm not sure if this was on purpose or not (I think her character may have been a bit mentally unstable) and her father wasn't much more talented in the singing department. Strangely enough, the actor playing the Rat King was actually really talented. Go figure.
Oh, and here's an odd bit of a coincidence: After deciding I need to see this show again (to make sure it wasn't a dream), I looked at the schedule I had written out for this last week of the festival... and I had already (mistakenly) written in "The Rat King" for two performance. How oddly convenient.
My other show this evening was "Kiss and Make Up" - a rather mediocre musical with an insanely talented cast. The second act is better than the first, but I just couldn't help but sit there and wonder the whole time how they got that cast together for such limp material.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Fringe Update
I ended up not sticking with my Fringe plan yesterday (to see all five shows at the Connolly) mostly because the bathroom at the Connelly broke after the third show, I decided I really didn't care about the fourth show there, and the last one was going to get out too late.
The first two shows at the Connolly ("On Off Air" and "Night") were good but had sort of confusing endings, and the third ("Animals") was just plain lousy. Interesting though, was that one of the stars of "The Medicine Show" (his name is Ryan O'somethingorother) also starred in (and wrote, in fact) "Animals." Can you imagine working on TWO Fringe shows? Oy.
So then, after I found a working bathroom and had dinner, I decided to see "Pogo and Evie" at the (*warn glow and chorus of angels singing*) Skirball Center. It's written by the guy who wrote "Urban Cowboy." The book is a godawful mess - an oh so cliched mess about two people who meet and fall in love, but... *dun dun dun dun* their families hate each other. I'm sure you can imagine how it all turns out. The jokes are basically all clunkers. Particularly strange was that they made the black guy from New York have a Jewish mother for apparently the sole reason of letting him stick random Yiddish words in his sentences. Uh huh.... Oh, and for some bizarre reason, they randomly stuck an intermission in. Not after a big song, just after a not particularly important random scene. The show is only 90 minutes long (including that intermission) so I'm not really sure why it was there. The cast is very enthusiastic and likeable, and they're all very talented except for the man playing Evie's father, who can't act (I imagine he was originally just part of the band and they decided to give him some lines) and the woman playing Evie's best friend who couldn't sing - remember that karaoke scene in "My Best Friend's Wedding" where the blonde bride-to-be gets up and has everyone sticking their fingers in their ears? She sounded something like that. Luckily she had only one song to sing in - and it was a duet. Though that song probably would have been actually enjoyable had it not been so lopsided as far as talent went. But she was pretty and could act and dance, so I guess that's how she got the part.
The music doesn't actually further the plot (more like a play with music), but is pretty enjoyable country toe-tapping type fare. By far, the best part of the show is the big dance numbers, which were really just a ton of fun to watch. They almost made me want to take a dance class so I could join in on the hoedown. Almost.
So actually, though I was cringing half the time over the book, I actually did find the show enjoyable. Call it a guilty pleasure?
And of course, The Skirball Center is the Taj Mahal of Fringe venues - air conditioned, comfortable seats, big stage, and so many seats that I don't think even "Bukowsical" would have sold out there.
The first two shows at the Connolly ("On Off Air" and "Night") were good but had sort of confusing endings, and the third ("Animals") was just plain lousy. Interesting though, was that one of the stars of "The Medicine Show" (his name is Ryan O'somethingorother) also starred in (and wrote, in fact) "Animals." Can you imagine working on TWO Fringe shows? Oy.
So then, after I found a working bathroom and had dinner, I decided to see "Pogo and Evie" at the (*warn glow and chorus of angels singing*) Skirball Center. It's written by the guy who wrote "Urban Cowboy." The book is a godawful mess - an oh so cliched mess about two people who meet and fall in love, but... *dun dun dun dun* their families hate each other. I'm sure you can imagine how it all turns out. The jokes are basically all clunkers. Particularly strange was that they made the black guy from New York have a Jewish mother for apparently the sole reason of letting him stick random Yiddish words in his sentences. Uh huh.... Oh, and for some bizarre reason, they randomly stuck an intermission in. Not after a big song, just after a not particularly important random scene. The show is only 90 minutes long (including that intermission) so I'm not really sure why it was there. The cast is very enthusiastic and likeable, and they're all very talented except for the man playing Evie's father, who can't act (I imagine he was originally just part of the band and they decided to give him some lines) and the woman playing Evie's best friend who couldn't sing - remember that karaoke scene in "My Best Friend's Wedding" where the blonde bride-to-be gets up and has everyone sticking their fingers in their ears? She sounded something like that. Luckily she had only one song to sing in - and it was a duet. Though that song probably would have been actually enjoyable had it not been so lopsided as far as talent went. But she was pretty and could act and dance, so I guess that's how she got the part.
The music doesn't actually further the plot (more like a play with music), but is pretty enjoyable country toe-tapping type fare. By far, the best part of the show is the big dance numbers, which were really just a ton of fun to watch. They almost made me want to take a dance class so I could join in on the hoedown. Almost.
So actually, though I was cringing half the time over the book, I actually did find the show enjoyable. Call it a guilty pleasure?
And of course, The Skirball Center is the Taj Mahal of Fringe venues - air conditioned, comfortable seats, big stage, and so many seats that I don't think even "Bukowsical" would have sold out there.
Friday, August 17, 2007
A Pox on the CSV Center
After seeing two good Fringe shows at the CSV center today ("Piaf" and "The Medicine Show") I made the dire mistake of pushing my luck and seeing a third show there. After seeing "not from canada" I don't believe I will ever be able to set foot in that complex again without breaking out into hives. Let me put it this way... the final moments of the play feature a guy in a giant panda suit sitting at a table trying to eat a hot dog. The panda tries to put it in his mouth, and then his eye, and then he just whimpers in defeat. Blackout. That show set a new low for badness in the theatre, and it is certainly one of the worst, if not THE worst show I have ever seen. You might want to see it just to see how bad bad theatre can be. But don't say I didn't warn you.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Really Quick Fringe Update
Okay, no energy to write reviews at the moment, but in case anyone stumbles onto this blog looked for Fringe recommendations, here you go:
Thumbs Up: THE UNUSUAL SUSPECTS (cute)
Wavering Thumb: PN1923.45 VOLUME 2 (a serious drama that was not at all what I was expecting. I guess I liked it, so possibly worth seeing - but there are better choices out there)
Thumbs Up: LOST: HOW A CERTAIN TV MEGA-HUNK STOLE MY IDENTITY (especially big thumbs up if you're a "Lost" fan, but I think I'd still recommend it even if you're not)
Thumbs Down: AN AIR BALLOON ACROSS ANTARCTICA (zzz...)
Thumbs Up: I DIG DOUG (hadn't planned on seeing this until I read all the hype. surprisingly enough, it actually was as funny as I had heard it would be)
Thumbs Up: THE UNUSUAL SUSPECTS (cute)
Wavering Thumb: PN1923.45 VOLUME 2 (a serious drama that was not at all what I was expecting. I guess I liked it, so possibly worth seeing - but there are better choices out there)
Thumbs Up: LOST: HOW A CERTAIN TV MEGA-HUNK STOLE MY IDENTITY (especially big thumbs up if you're a "Lost" fan, but I think I'd still recommend it even if you're not)
Thumbs Down: AN AIR BALLOON ACROSS ANTARCTICA (zzz...)
Thumbs Up: I DIG DOUG (hadn't planned on seeing this until I read all the hype. surprisingly enough, it actually was as funny as I had heard it would be)
Monday, August 13, 2007
The Fringe Festival: Days 2-3-4
First, a totally random celebrity siting: I was walking home from Fringe show #13 down 5th Ave and I passed Hunter and Susan from [title of show]. Maybe I should have asked them about the recent blog entry that claims the show is moving to Broadway. Not like we haven't heard that before. And not like my fingers aren't crossed. Anyway, I know no one cares about the siting, but I'm excited.
And now, even though my behind is terribly sore from the last show I saw (in an un-air conditioned theatre, with hard wooden seats), my days 2-3-4 Fringe Festival Roundup:
FARMTRUCKS. This show had a problem that I've had with many of the shows I've seen so far at the Festival - it's a good idea, that is initially very funny, but that fizzles out before the end. The premise of the crazy people who work at and visit Starbu... I mean Farmtrucks coffee shops is a very good one. And for the first two thirds or so, the show is really really funny. But at some point, I found the concept had just been milked dry, and I started to lose interest. There are only so many times I can laugh about the almighty district office, and the snooty workers at the rival franchise, and the competition for the number one shop. Things were pretty steady though, until the final section - namely the Barista Olympics, which wasn't particularly well executed. The section starts off with an overlong (and fairly random) musical number. And then we hear about the results of the competition, but we don't actually see any of it enacted. I think I would have liked that section to be a bit more like (forgive me for the comparison) the Fry Cook Games on "Spongebob Squarepants" - that, albeit obviously in cartoon form, was a well executed food Olympic parody. The writer of "Farmtrucks" would be well served to study the delightful yellow sponge. Anyway, I overall did really enjoy the show. Even with the weak ending, there was enough that was really funny and that had me chuckling when I reminisced about it to make me think this is definitely worth seeing.
DIRT. This is a solo play performed in English, but originally written in German. The original German title, according to the program, was "Dreck," and that about sums up my feelings on the play. Dreck. An Iraqi rambles either named Sad (short of Saddam) and or Ahmed, and somewhere around the age of 30, rambles on and on about... I think life in America. I kept waiting for there to be a point, but it just never came. The actor was pretty likeable, so it wasn't quite as painful as it could have been, but that's not saying much.
ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES. The Fringe guide classified this and "Farmtrucks" as "musicals. Farmtrucks had a handful of songs; this show had... I think two. The Fringe guide classification system is truly a mystery. That said, this show was a campy campy hoot. The plot, if I were to try to explain it, would sound like a generic lame murder mystery. But performed by an extremely talented cast - including a drag queen in the leading roll of the woman in the wheelchair, this was really hilarious.
BUKOWSICAL. This has commercial hit written all over it. Get your tickets while they last. The premise is that we are watching a backers audition for a musical about writer Charles Bukowski. The show is perfectly polished, with an extremely talented cast, tuneful hilarious songs, and loads of insider musical theatre references that theatre geeks just love. Not to give too much away, but my favorite section was in the middle, when the audience is randomly treated to a song from an all African-American musical version of Chekhov's "The Three Sisters" - set in the 1960s in a barbershop The song is called "Sistah Sistah Sistah" and it had me falling out of my chair laughing. When a show has a line like "I hope your musical is as successful as "Jane Eyre," well... it just can't be bad!
THE OTHER SIDE OF DARKNESS. The Fringe guide strikes again. Apparently, if there is at least one song in a show, it's a musical, and if there's at least one joke, it's a comedy. This one was labeled "Drama Comedy." After the first line, I wanted to leave. And I still had an hour to go. This is an extremely depressing soap opera, completely with drippy flowery language, and (unintentionally) over the top acting. If I had been closer to the door, I would have left before intermission. As it was, as soon as the lights were up, I grabbed my bag and ran to the door. Beware.
WILLIAMSBURG: THE MUSICAL. I was sold out of this one on Saturday night, but luckily Sunday at noon is a less popular time. Well, maybe not luckily. The show is pretty mediocre. Half of it consists of random musical numbers about how great a place Williamsburg is for hipsters. Those songs, while entertaining, seemed like they might have come from a real estate promotional event. The other half was a dreary mix of a story about an evil real estate agent (I guess that came from the desire to not make the show look to obviously like a commercial) and a really dull love story between a hipster and a Hassid. The girl who played the hipster in the romance, gave a particularly impressive performance, but not enough to make this show enjoyable. It was just a total mess, rarely funny, and not very enjoyable.
ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM. I was excited when I got my program for this, because I found out, to my surprise, that it was written and directed by Dan Fogler, and featured Sarah Saltzburg (Logainne Shwartzandgrubinierre in "Spelling Bee") as well as the original Brian in "Avenue Q." The show is an adaptation of Ionesco's "The Rhinoceros." It's not bad, but I found it far too long. This was another show where a good idea just went on too long. The entire cast was really very good, and the set - made of trunks (get it? Elephants? a set of "trunks"? ha ha) with multiple rolls of backdrops in each was quite creative. Enjoyable, but needs major cutting.
WINTER'S TALE PROJECT. Imagine if Andrew Lloyd Webber's cat wrote a musical of Shakespeare's "Winter's Tale." It might have sounded something like this. Really really awful. The whole thing is set to an 80s pop-rockish score that sounds like a bunch of ALW's reject songs. The lyrics are ghastly (lots of false rhymes). There is one song in the middle that the narrator sings about how random it is that there is a bear in the show. At that point, I wished a real bear would run on stage and slash my throat so I wouldn't have to sit through any more of this sad excuse for entertainment. Really awful.
GAMERS. A total total surprise, but one of my favorites. This is a solo show about a guy who is playing an online role playing game at work. This particular day, his group of characters is planning a major war on the elves to steal back their stolen relic. This, while he needs to deal with answering tech support questions (his job), as well as his cubicle neighbor, wife, mother, and worst of all... wife. Maybe it's just the part of me that's always enjoyed watching other people playing video games (of course here, there isn't actually a game to watch - it's all play-by-play commentary) but I was absolutely riveted and couldn't wait to hear what happened in the war. It's total fluff (duh), but I loved every minute of it. And get this - it was only 55 minutes long. Finally a show that knows how long it needs to be and doesn't try to be a full length play when it's not. I'm perfectly aware that my own particular quirks probably contributed to my extreme enjoyment of this, but there you go. AND, this was in the ghastly Independent Theatre on 8th Street - it had maybe 35 hard wooden seats, and fans instead of air conditioning. And I didn't even mind.
THE LADIES OF EOLA, HEIGHTS. Very much worthwhile. Three sisters (all played by drag queens) come together after the death of their father. And while home, they find out that their brother Jackson is now their sister June, who can only speak by lipsynching to appropriate songs from the stereo. Though the musical numbers are definitely the highlight (did I mention that she has a totally different costume each time she enters?), the whole show is really enjoyable. It starts out funny, then becomes a bit sad, and then finally had a very touching ending. So you laugh, you cry, you have a good time. I didn't really know what to expect from this, but I really enjoyed it, and definitely recommend it. You'll never think of the song "It's My Life" again in the same way again.
LOST IN HOLLYWOODLAND OR THE SLUGWOMAN FROM URANUS. Awful awful awful. At intermission, when the lights came up, no one in the audience uttered a word, but there was a mass exodus toward the stairs (at least half the audience) to escape. Part of the problem is that the show is plagued with performing in the Our Lady Of Pompeii Demo Hall (aka a musty church basement) and my chair was one of the most uncomfortable I have ever sat it. There were three types of chairs: the first three rows had cushioned chairs with no armrests, then a few rows of hard plastic chairs also with no armrests, and then finally cloth-covered chairs with armrests. I thought the cloth ones might have a little cushioning but no, the were hard as can be. Of course, if the show had been any good, I might not have mattered. But it was really lousy. A generic musical score, and the story was just some lame Faust rehash. The last musical number before intermission was about chicken croquettes. And that had been the best one so far. And you wonder why people were rushing to the door?
PRINCESS SUNSHINE'S BITTER PILL OF TRUTH FUNHOUSE. Eh. I thought this was going to be a sort of "Avenue Q"-like adult kiddie show. Which is was to an extent, but it was really very bitter and angry. And on top of that, I thought most of the jokes fell pretty flat (though the audience seemed to enjoy it). Also, this was once again in the Independent Theatre (home of "Gamers") but it seemed really warm and the chairs seemed extra hard this time. Maybe if it was in a less stuffy theatre I would have enjoyed it more. A good concept, but I guess my sense of humor was right for this show.
And now I'm all caught up. Whew. Tomorrow is the non-Fringe "Iphigenia 2.0" and then hopefully a Fringe show after that, if my butt isn't too too sore....
And now, even though my behind is terribly sore from the last show I saw (in an un-air conditioned theatre, with hard wooden seats), my days 2-3-4 Fringe Festival Roundup:
FARMTRUCKS. This show had a problem that I've had with many of the shows I've seen so far at the Festival - it's a good idea, that is initially very funny, but that fizzles out before the end. The premise of the crazy people who work at and visit Starbu... I mean Farmtrucks coffee shops is a very good one. And for the first two thirds or so, the show is really really funny. But at some point, I found the concept had just been milked dry, and I started to lose interest. There are only so many times I can laugh about the almighty district office, and the snooty workers at the rival franchise, and the competition for the number one shop. Things were pretty steady though, until the final section - namely the Barista Olympics, which wasn't particularly well executed. The section starts off with an overlong (and fairly random) musical number. And then we hear about the results of the competition, but we don't actually see any of it enacted. I think I would have liked that section to be a bit more like (forgive me for the comparison) the Fry Cook Games on "Spongebob Squarepants" - that, albeit obviously in cartoon form, was a well executed food Olympic parody. The writer of "Farmtrucks" would be well served to study the delightful yellow sponge. Anyway, I overall did really enjoy the show. Even with the weak ending, there was enough that was really funny and that had me chuckling when I reminisced about it to make me think this is definitely worth seeing.
DIRT. This is a solo play performed in English, but originally written in German. The original German title, according to the program, was "Dreck," and that about sums up my feelings on the play. Dreck. An Iraqi rambles either named Sad (short of Saddam) and or Ahmed, and somewhere around the age of 30, rambles on and on about... I think life in America. I kept waiting for there to be a point, but it just never came. The actor was pretty likeable, so it wasn't quite as painful as it could have been, but that's not saying much.
ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES. The Fringe guide classified this and "Farmtrucks" as "musicals. Farmtrucks had a handful of songs; this show had... I think two. The Fringe guide classification system is truly a mystery. That said, this show was a campy campy hoot. The plot, if I were to try to explain it, would sound like a generic lame murder mystery. But performed by an extremely talented cast - including a drag queen in the leading roll of the woman in the wheelchair, this was really hilarious.
BUKOWSICAL. This has commercial hit written all over it. Get your tickets while they last. The premise is that we are watching a backers audition for a musical about writer Charles Bukowski. The show is perfectly polished, with an extremely talented cast, tuneful hilarious songs, and loads of insider musical theatre references that theatre geeks just love. Not to give too much away, but my favorite section was in the middle, when the audience is randomly treated to a song from an all African-American musical version of Chekhov's "The Three Sisters" - set in the 1960s in a barbershop The song is called "Sistah Sistah Sistah" and it had me falling out of my chair laughing. When a show has a line like "I hope your musical is as successful as "Jane Eyre," well... it just can't be bad!
THE OTHER SIDE OF DARKNESS. The Fringe guide strikes again. Apparently, if there is at least one song in a show, it's a musical, and if there's at least one joke, it's a comedy. This one was labeled "Drama Comedy." After the first line, I wanted to leave. And I still had an hour to go. This is an extremely depressing soap opera, completely with drippy flowery language, and (unintentionally) over the top acting. If I had been closer to the door, I would have left before intermission. As it was, as soon as the lights were up, I grabbed my bag and ran to the door. Beware.
WILLIAMSBURG: THE MUSICAL. I was sold out of this one on Saturday night, but luckily Sunday at noon is a less popular time. Well, maybe not luckily. The show is pretty mediocre. Half of it consists of random musical numbers about how great a place Williamsburg is for hipsters. Those songs, while entertaining, seemed like they might have come from a real estate promotional event. The other half was a dreary mix of a story about an evil real estate agent (I guess that came from the desire to not make the show look to obviously like a commercial) and a really dull love story between a hipster and a Hassid. The girl who played the hipster in the romance, gave a particularly impressive performance, but not enough to make this show enjoyable. It was just a total mess, rarely funny, and not very enjoyable.
ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM. I was excited when I got my program for this, because I found out, to my surprise, that it was written and directed by Dan Fogler, and featured Sarah Saltzburg (Logainne Shwartzandgrubinierre in "Spelling Bee") as well as the original Brian in "Avenue Q." The show is an adaptation of Ionesco's "The Rhinoceros." It's not bad, but I found it far too long. This was another show where a good idea just went on too long. The entire cast was really very good, and the set - made of trunks (get it? Elephants? a set of "trunks"? ha ha) with multiple rolls of backdrops in each was quite creative. Enjoyable, but needs major cutting.
WINTER'S TALE PROJECT. Imagine if Andrew Lloyd Webber's cat wrote a musical of Shakespeare's "Winter's Tale." It might have sounded something like this. Really really awful. The whole thing is set to an 80s pop-rockish score that sounds like a bunch of ALW's reject songs. The lyrics are ghastly (lots of false rhymes). There is one song in the middle that the narrator sings about how random it is that there is a bear in the show. At that point, I wished a real bear would run on stage and slash my throat so I wouldn't have to sit through any more of this sad excuse for entertainment. Really awful.
GAMERS. A total total surprise, but one of my favorites. This is a solo show about a guy who is playing an online role playing game at work. This particular day, his group of characters is planning a major war on the elves to steal back their stolen relic. This, while he needs to deal with answering tech support questions (his job), as well as his cubicle neighbor, wife, mother, and worst of all... wife. Maybe it's just the part of me that's always enjoyed watching other people playing video games (of course here, there isn't actually a game to watch - it's all play-by-play commentary) but I was absolutely riveted and couldn't wait to hear what happened in the war. It's total fluff (duh), but I loved every minute of it. And get this - it was only 55 minutes long. Finally a show that knows how long it needs to be and doesn't try to be a full length play when it's not. I'm perfectly aware that my own particular quirks probably contributed to my extreme enjoyment of this, but there you go. AND, this was in the ghastly Independent Theatre on 8th Street - it had maybe 35 hard wooden seats, and fans instead of air conditioning. And I didn't even mind.
THE LADIES OF EOLA, HEIGHTS. Very much worthwhile. Three sisters (all played by drag queens) come together after the death of their father. And while home, they find out that their brother Jackson is now their sister June, who can only speak by lipsynching to appropriate songs from the stereo. Though the musical numbers are definitely the highlight (did I mention that she has a totally different costume each time she enters?), the whole show is really enjoyable. It starts out funny, then becomes a bit sad, and then finally had a very touching ending. So you laugh, you cry, you have a good time. I didn't really know what to expect from this, but I really enjoyed it, and definitely recommend it. You'll never think of the song "It's My Life" again in the same way again.
LOST IN HOLLYWOODLAND OR THE SLUGWOMAN FROM URANUS. Awful awful awful. At intermission, when the lights came up, no one in the audience uttered a word, but there was a mass exodus toward the stairs (at least half the audience) to escape. Part of the problem is that the show is plagued with performing in the Our Lady Of Pompeii Demo Hall (aka a musty church basement) and my chair was one of the most uncomfortable I have ever sat it. There were three types of chairs: the first three rows had cushioned chairs with no armrests, then a few rows of hard plastic chairs also with no armrests, and then finally cloth-covered chairs with armrests. I thought the cloth ones might have a little cushioning but no, the were hard as can be. Of course, if the show had been any good, I might not have mattered. But it was really lousy. A generic musical score, and the story was just some lame Faust rehash. The last musical number before intermission was about chicken croquettes. And that had been the best one so far. And you wonder why people were rushing to the door?
PRINCESS SUNSHINE'S BITTER PILL OF TRUTH FUNHOUSE. Eh. I thought this was going to be a sort of "Avenue Q"-like adult kiddie show. Which is was to an extent, but it was really very bitter and angry. And on top of that, I thought most of the jokes fell pretty flat (though the audience seemed to enjoy it). Also, this was once again in the Independent Theatre (home of "Gamers") but it seemed really warm and the chairs seemed extra hard this time. Maybe if it was in a less stuffy theatre I would have enjoyed it more. A good concept, but I guess my sense of humor was right for this show.
And now I'm all caught up. Whew. Tomorrow is the non-Fringe "Iphigenia 2.0" and then hopefully a Fringe show after that, if my butt isn't too too sore....
Saturday, August 11, 2007
The Fringe Festival: Day 1
Today was the first day of The New York International Fringe Festival - a 17 day bonanza of low-low-budget theatre, most of which ranges from excruciatingly bad to mediocre, with a very small sample actually being enjoyable. Being a glutton for punishment, I plan on seeing as many shows as possible.
I only went to see one show tonight, but I am happy to report that it was a success. Perhaps this is a sign of good things to come from this year's festival. Tonight's show was "Show Choir: The Musical." Not without it's fair share of problems, I have to say that it was overall very enjoyable. The show is about, as you can probably guess, "the art of show choir." Act I traces the founding and rise to fame of The Symphonic Sensations - a high school show choir that grows into an international sensation. The first act is pretty much just fun, tongue-in-cheek fluff. I will say that I found the story was wearing a little thin by the end of the act (I think it was around an hour and a quarter) and at intermission I found myself wondering why the writers just didn't end the show there, because the silly story seemed to have run its course. But then there's Act II, which is a weird sort of a mess. In the second act, we see how the show choir members deal with their newfound fame (not well), and what that does to the choir. The second act really seemed to drag in the middle, the low point being one of those epilogue scenes where each character steps out and says what ended up happened to him/her... particularly strange because the show wasn't actually over when we were subjected to that scene. Luckily, things picked up near the end and the audience is able to leave satisfied and with a tune stuck in their heads. The whole story is set up as a kind of "Behind the Music" type-story (called "Beyond the Facade") which I can't say really made all that much sense.
The choreography is very impressive - definitely a hoot to watch (lots of show choir "jazz hands"). The cast is very enthusiastic and very very talented.
Considering it's part of the Fringe festival, I didn't really expect a polished, perfect show. So with my rather low expectations, for a show to leave me entertained with a tune stuck in my head, well that's good enough for me. I don't really see this as a breakout hit like "Urinetown" (and lets face it, isn't that really the only reason most anyone really goes to see anything the Fringe Festival?) but it's certainly a fun enough was to pass two and twenty minutes.
And now, back to circling interesting stuff in Fringe Guide - I'm only up to letter 'G'. Oy.
I only went to see one show tonight, but I am happy to report that it was a success. Perhaps this is a sign of good things to come from this year's festival. Tonight's show was "Show Choir: The Musical." Not without it's fair share of problems, I have to say that it was overall very enjoyable. The show is about, as you can probably guess, "the art of show choir." Act I traces the founding and rise to fame of The Symphonic Sensations - a high school show choir that grows into an international sensation. The first act is pretty much just fun, tongue-in-cheek fluff. I will say that I found the story was wearing a little thin by the end of the act (I think it was around an hour and a quarter) and at intermission I found myself wondering why the writers just didn't end the show there, because the silly story seemed to have run its course. But then there's Act II, which is a weird sort of a mess. In the second act, we see how the show choir members deal with their newfound fame (not well), and what that does to the choir. The second act really seemed to drag in the middle, the low point being one of those epilogue scenes where each character steps out and says what ended up happened to him/her... particularly strange because the show wasn't actually over when we were subjected to that scene. Luckily, things picked up near the end and the audience is able to leave satisfied and with a tune stuck in their heads. The whole story is set up as a kind of "Behind the Music" type-story (called "Beyond the Facade") which I can't say really made all that much sense.
The choreography is very impressive - definitely a hoot to watch (lots of show choir "jazz hands"). The cast is very enthusiastic and very very talented.
Considering it's part of the Fringe festival, I didn't really expect a polished, perfect show. So with my rather low expectations, for a show to leave me entertained with a tune stuck in my head, well that's good enough for me. I don't really see this as a breakout hit like "Urinetown" (and lets face it, isn't that really the only reason most anyone really goes to see anything the Fringe Festival?) but it's certainly a fun enough was to pass two and twenty minutes.
And now, back to circling interesting stuff in Fringe Guide - I'm only up to letter 'G'. Oy.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
A Tale of Two Operas
It was the best of operas, it was the worst of operas; it was a time of beautiful music, it was a time of headache inducing screeching....
Over the past two weeks or so I went to see two operas. One was a 4-part, 20 hour epic from the 19th century, and the other a 40 minute sliver from the 21st. Well, as they say, they don't write em like they used to.
The first opera (or maybe set of operas) was the Kirov's production of Wagner's Ring Cycle. I don't think anything needs to be said about the brilliant music but on stage. I will say that both the orchestra (conducted by Valery Gergiev) and all of the singers sounded really marvelous. I had seen the Met's production a few years ago, and I think the Kirov's singer's may have actually been even better than the Met's - especially for the men, who I recall as being a bit weak. The oh so controversial sets from George Tsypin were... um... well, they sort of grew on me over the course of the operas. Some scenes worked well (the dancers who played the river Rhine, and the flaming around Brunhilde's rock were quite nice) and other parts were kind of embarrassing (the two giants were they giant rock-men who had arms that looks like the kind on those old plastic boxing figures where when one of the toys was hit the head would pop up, and the drag... well, wasn't - there were just some glowing green figures and a red section in the middle someone where the singer was hidden - I guess that was the heart). The costumes were also a mixed bag - Brunhilde looked a bit like Lily Munster, and the Valkyrie headdresses were just a bunch of black feathers. But some of the others, while not particularly remarkable, were at least not too offensive.
The second opera was the apparently new great masterpiece of the 21st century, George Benjamin's "Into the Little Hill," an adaptation of "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" with libretto by playwright Martin Crimp. Since the opera was so short, the creators decided to give the audience a taste of what was to come by presenting two of the composer's previous pieces (one was for two violins, the other for a viola). If you've ever heard a middle school student who just took up the violin, and is trying to practice, but just isn't very good - well that's about what the two pieces sounded like. I wonder a bit what the sheet music for the pieces looked like (of course, all three musicians happened to have their parts memorized) because I wonder whether the notes they were playing could actually be written on sheet music - I think they invented notes not normally designed to be heard by the human ear (I think I heard some dogs howling in the background though...). So that gave me a nice little headache leading up to the opera. Always the optimist, I figured maybe that was just some of his earlier work - surely the opera would offer a little bit of melody. Or not. I think had the libretto been read instead of sung, with the orchestral part serving as background music, I may have actually enjoyed it. I don't mean to say the two singers (one a soprano, the other a contralto) weren't talented - it's just that the music they were given to sing not only wasn't "pretty" - I can deal with ugly music if it serves a purpose, something like ugly music to fit an ugly story, but even when the mother was singing about how she missed her daughter, there was just nothing musically interesting for my brain to latch on to. It was really just too dense and pretentious for my taste. Thank goodness it was only 40 minutes long. I'm not damning all modern opera to the garbage heap, but I don't know what those British critics were thinking when raving and hoot and hollering over this.
Maybe I'm just lazy and I like my music easy and spoon fed, but I'll take good ol long-winded 'why say it in two minutes when you can take a half hour' Wagner, over one of 40 minute George Benjamin headache any day.
Over the past two weeks or so I went to see two operas. One was a 4-part, 20 hour epic from the 19th century, and the other a 40 minute sliver from the 21st. Well, as they say, they don't write em like they used to.
The first opera (or maybe set of operas) was the Kirov's production of Wagner's Ring Cycle. I don't think anything needs to be said about the brilliant music but on stage. I will say that both the orchestra (conducted by Valery Gergiev) and all of the singers sounded really marvelous. I had seen the Met's production a few years ago, and I think the Kirov's singer's may have actually been even better than the Met's - especially for the men, who I recall as being a bit weak. The oh so controversial sets from George Tsypin were... um... well, they sort of grew on me over the course of the operas. Some scenes worked well (the dancers who played the river Rhine, and the flaming around Brunhilde's rock were quite nice) and other parts were kind of embarrassing (the two giants were they giant rock-men who had arms that looks like the kind on those old plastic boxing figures where when one of the toys was hit the head would pop up, and the drag... well, wasn't - there were just some glowing green figures and a red section in the middle someone where the singer was hidden - I guess that was the heart). The costumes were also a mixed bag - Brunhilde looked a bit like Lily Munster, and the Valkyrie headdresses were just a bunch of black feathers. But some of the others, while not particularly remarkable, were at least not too offensive.
The second opera was the apparently new great masterpiece of the 21st century, George Benjamin's "Into the Little Hill," an adaptation of "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" with libretto by playwright Martin Crimp. Since the opera was so short, the creators decided to give the audience a taste of what was to come by presenting two of the composer's previous pieces (one was for two violins, the other for a viola). If you've ever heard a middle school student who just took up the violin, and is trying to practice, but just isn't very good - well that's about what the two pieces sounded like. I wonder a bit what the sheet music for the pieces looked like (of course, all three musicians happened to have their parts memorized) because I wonder whether the notes they were playing could actually be written on sheet music - I think they invented notes not normally designed to be heard by the human ear (I think I heard some dogs howling in the background though...). So that gave me a nice little headache leading up to the opera. Always the optimist, I figured maybe that was just some of his earlier work - surely the opera would offer a little bit of melody. Or not. I think had the libretto been read instead of sung, with the orchestral part serving as background music, I may have actually enjoyed it. I don't mean to say the two singers (one a soprano, the other a contralto) weren't talented - it's just that the music they were given to sing not only wasn't "pretty" - I can deal with ugly music if it serves a purpose, something like ugly music to fit an ugly story, but even when the mother was singing about how she missed her daughter, there was just nothing musically interesting for my brain to latch on to. It was really just too dense and pretentious for my taste. Thank goodness it was only 40 minutes long. I'm not damning all modern opera to the garbage heap, but I don't know what those British critics were thinking when raving and hoot and hollering over this.
Maybe I'm just lazy and I like my music easy and spoon fed, but I'll take good ol long-winded 'why say it in two minutes when you can take a half hour' Wagner, over one of 40 minute George Benjamin headache any day.
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