Monday, May 6, 2024
Comic Genius is "Fricken" funny. It's High Fidelity (Nick Horby) meets The Sopranos. Dan Frick has written a memoir style series that has a strong structure and ballsy, instantly lovable characters. The stage reading/T.V. pilot peepshow introduces the audience to the family "Frick". These are NOT descendants of Henry Clay Frick (perhaps a twisted side branch of that family tree) but are instead a band of fraudsters, con men, charmers and snakes. In this part memoir, part fantasy, Dan Frick exposes his own nuclear family's stubborn, explosive, hilarious streak. (D.B. says its 85% fact). This situational comedy is destined for digital
Author: Jacquelyn Claire
DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE: a la Burt Grinstead and Anna Stromberg
DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE -sound familiar? But this time round it is a two-hander comedic reimagining of the old classic. Burt Grinstead and Anna Stromberg are the couple that have written and perform in this NY Premiere. This entertaining production by Blanket Fort Entertainment has already garnered positive responses from the press: “DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE was praised by Stage Raw as “a highly innovative work, impressive for its delightfully morbid sense of humor and the versatility of the acting.” Broadway World said, “Both actors display a great deal of charm, courage and panache. Stromberg is nothing short of
Chasing the New White Whale at LA MAMA
Chasing the New White Whale is an homage to Herman Melville’s Moby Dick and explores the nature of deadly obsessions. In this play our Captain Ahab is Robbie Foerster – a New England fisherman chasing the “dragon”. Playwright Michael Gorman lost his older brother, a commercial fisherman, to a heroin overdose and this is the tragic wound that drives the creation of this brave work. This play has a literary quality about it in that the text is dense and like Melville’s work is not afraid to use a range of genres and theatrical styles to tell its tale. Where
My Name Is Gideon: I’m Probably Going To Die, Eventually
Gideon Irving is one of my all time favorite theater makers and I am always a little giddy with anticipation when he announces a new show. I have had the pleasure of seeing him perform in a variety of apartments across NYC and in two theaters –the experience is always unforgettable. I also like to bring friends to see his shows who have never seen his particular brand of genius kookiness and spend half the show watching them discovering him. You can literally see their inner child awaken from a long sleep and start to come up for breath. This
My Birthday at Theaterlab
My Birthday is a glorious occasion to celebrate the clown. Michaela Lind, has developed a delightful clowning framework to explore the complexities of the ritual of birthday parties and how unmet expectations around these events gives a “tragic” clown a lot of material. It is a heartbreaking and heartwarming interrogation of our need for friends and family at key moments of our lives. It’s a charming, playful and earnest little gem. Lind follows in the strong female clowning tradition that started in Greece in the 7th Century with the Dorian Mime troupes. We see female clown prowess in Medieval England as
Fancy DuCan’s Country Cabaret at The Duplex
A star is born! Fancy Ducan –can, can, can! Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit -I feel a cult classic coming on. This is comedy cabaret nirvana. You’re in send up country, you know you are here to holler and hoot as Fancy brings us a southern belle-rina full of home spun wisdom soaked in naughty innuendo. Then she opens her mouth and Bette Midler comes out and Barbara Streisand and Dolly Parton. Fancy (Jennette Cronk) has a foghorn – a powerful instrument that could lure sailors from their ships, that should launch No.1 singles, cleanse cobwebs
The Chinese Lady at Theatre Row
The Chinese Lady is a shattering story of how our western culture’s scopophilia leads us to make “freaks” of those who are different to ourselves. Our obsessive voyeurism does not lead to understanding of others but rather a desire to possess, command and sometimes destroy the objects of our incessant gaze. This is one of the most original, thought-provoking and necessary works I have ever seen. It is a production that excels on every single level – text, direction, performance and design. I am still haunted by the brilliance of the insights, the emotionality unleashed in the spaces between words
Interview with Michaela Lind on “My Birthday”
Michaela Lind is a Swedish performer who is preparing to clown around at Theater Lab, NYC on November 13, 14, 15. She has developed her own unique clowning style and created a lucky packet of extraordinary surprises with her new solo clown show entitled “My Birthday”. This original work was created in collaboration with Clown’s Ex Machina and promises to tickle your funny bones and turn your cells into Champagne as we follow a clown as she prepares and celebrates her birthday. I chatted with Michaela about this physical theater clowning experience. What was the main impetus for choosing to create or
Interview with Fancy Ducan
Fancy DuCan almost catapulted to stardom when her song blasted from a car window in a 1997 episode of Cops! She's fresh off her album tour, which includes hit songs, “Can’t Heal a Heart with More Heartbreak,” “Only Circle At The Square Dance,” and “All The Times I Didn’t Kill You.” This show features comedian, Jennette Cronk, and musical director, Frank Spitznagel. Host of the Suncoast Burlesque Festival's Comedy Night, Jennette has performed in the Del Close Marathon, New York Musical Improv Festival, in comedy clubs from NY to FL, and performs weekly at The Magnet Theater in Chelsea. I caught up with “Fancy Ducan”
Sesar at Theatre Row
Sesar is the piece all solo shows want to be when they grow up. Although, Orlando Pabotoy plays so many characters if feels like there is a huge cast peopling the stage in this astounding production. It’s an intelligent, vital discourse on the nature of birthing an artist. Sesar also tackles the use of language and how empty words can be when they are not colored in with truthful connection and understanding of context. It’s a memoir, a memory fuelled expression of navigating a war torn world and finding courage in the well worn words of a master of his