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Musical Theatre Festival , Trent Armand Kendal , New York Music , New York Theater ,
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Amazing Inspiring Funny Scary Hot Crazy Important WeirdNYMF Roundup #!: Turning 40 and
Flaming Desserts
This is the first in a series of roundups covering shows
appearing as part of the New York Musical TheatreFestival , or NYMF . Every year I attend as many shows
as I can and invariably see one or two shows that willrank among the best of the year and discover some new
talented performers and behind the scenes artists I'll
want to keep an eye on in future productions. Go to the NYMF website for more info on inexpensive
tickets.
PICTURE INCOMPLETE ** out of ****
FLAMBE DREAMS ** out of ****
PICTURE INCOMPLETE ** out of ****
THE 45TH STREET THEATREThe engaging performer Trent Armand Kendall tells the story of his life in this one man musical, but
unfortunately the picture remains incomplete. We get vague, aspirational songs and mild stories of excess(over-drinking, over-eating, over-sleeping) but nothing vivid or remarkable enough to raise eyebrows on
a daytime talk show. A story about almost setting your apartment on fire because you passed out while
cooking may be an amusing anecdote among friends but it's thin stuff in a world where Richard Pryorran down the street with his hair on fire after freebasing. Before the show has even really begun, it takes a
detour into social consciousness for a song about homelessness. Admirable, but when we're still
wondering who Trent is and why he's onstage telling us his story, it's also distracting and out of place.
Throughout the music and lyrics by longtime collaborator Michael Polese (with book and additional lyrics
by Kendall) tend towards the nebulous. We get very broad outlines of his life and desires to become a
star, a brief hint towards a road not taken (parenting) followed soon by coming out. But after watching
the entire show, here are just some of the things we don't know (without peeking at his bio): what kind ofperformer is Kendall trying to be? We know he performed in front of the Queen of England but how did
that happen? We know for one brief happy year he was making six figures. But doing what? Was he a
recording artist a la Luther Vandross? A member of a group? A backup singer? A theatrical performer inshows? (That apparently, is the case.) We know he's gay but whether he's single and unlucky in love or
happily partnered remains another mystery. Indeed, the picture is very incomplete.MOST POPULAR ON HUFFPOST 1 of 2
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What we do know is that Kendall can sing and hold a stage. The show really comes to life in the all too
brief moments when he plays other characters. A straight-talking Latina neighbor who calls everyone"gurl" is such a clear high point of the show that she's brought back for the finale. Quick sketches of hisgrandfather and others also score strongly. If Kendall had created a show where he brought to life the
people of his apartment building, peopling it with a string of characters, it might well have proven far
more illuminating than his personal struggles with weight loss and the like. As that neighbor, he's
hilarious. Kendall also shines when bantering with the audience in a stand-up style. Freed from baring
his soul, he's just plain funny and compelling and suddenly he's a person we actually want to learn more
about.
One of the few songs that delivers is "Walk-in Closet." It's just a ditty really but as Kendall dives into it he
says it's pretty catchy, isn't it? Yes, it is. It's one of the few songs that stops the introspection long enough
to create a strong chorus and melody. There's a lesson in that. I look forward to seeing Kendall again in a
show where he puts his talents to use bringing other people to life; that's when we get to know him best.
FLAMBE DREAMS ** out of ****
THE 45TH STREET THEATRE
Well, you have to give it points for originality. Flambe Dreams is a silly -- but not quite silly enough --
musical about a young man with serious OCD issues who longs to become a maitre d like his late father,
who perished in a freak flaming bananas foster fire. His journey takes him from a small town in Middle
America to New York City and the famed Le Cirque restaurant with stops along the way for friends, food
and quite a few pills of Prozac.
Our hero's name is Joe and he's played by Jarrod Spector, who has played Frankie Valli on Broadway in
Jersey Boys , among many other credits. He probably loved playing someone so innocent and gullible
after the high drama of that show and is unafraid to make Joe a naif who knows a lot about flaming
desserts but very little about anything else, including girls or even who Jay-Z is. Despite a clinging
mother and a serious regiment of pill popping, Joe takes the plunge to follow his dream, heads toManhattan, befriends the pharmacist at a Duane Reade (where he is probably their best customer) and
works his way up from a tea shop to a noodle shop to his lifelong dream of being an honest to goodness
maitre d.
The main problem is that Joe is a little too much of a naif. He's a rather sexless character (though Spector
himself is very appealing indeed). A romance might be blossoming with that pharmacist Gloria (Jillian
Louis) but only on her part. Gloria quite fancies Joe but when she disappears he only seems upset
because it throws into disarray his daily routine. When Joe storms out of the Duane Reade in fear andanger, it's not thwarted romance you think about, it's a guy who needs some serious therapy.
The only genuine heat is generated when Joe goes online and meets a girl who has a thing for maitre d's
(God bless the internet; it has someone for everyone). Their online musings about a potential date are
the emotional high point of the show and isn't that telling? Throughout Joe's mother (Catherine Cox)
keeps in touch, worried about her son, pushing him to take his pills and ultimately and unsurprisingly
hopping on a plane to check up on him before his dreams -- or perhaps even Joe -- go up in flames.
As I mentioned, the main problem with this musical comedy is that the romance at the heart of it never
even begins. But there are others, mainly a confusion about the show's message. it says that Joe's motherHOT ON FACEBOOK 1 of 2
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-- a psychiatrist who should know better than to prescribe pills for a relative, much less her son -- is
overprotective, afraid to let him grow up and filling him up with unnecessary medication. Joe keeps
referring to Gloria as being just as soothing as medicine, as if the love of a true woman was what he truly
needs, not Prozac. But we also see time and again and especially at the fiery climax that Joe is indeed at
the very least OCD and surely in need of some pills or serious therapy of some sort. And yet at the end
it's possible he's off his pills for good. I think. Anyone watching Joe when he tries to go off his regimen
can't help thinking that's not a good idea.
As the show progresses but the romance doesn't, the weight of change falls on Joe's mother and her
realization that she's smothering her son. Cox acts her way through her songs but unfortunately she
carries the bulk of the dramatic moments and her modest voice isn't quite up to the task. Similarly, Louis
was perhaps cast for her faux operatic turn as Julie Andrews in a dream sequence (her over-enunciation
is a comic high point in the show) more than her regular singing voice, which strains at times. Through
no fault of her own, their would-be romance which has no chance to grow remains sparkless. J. ElaineMarcos has a lot more fun in multiple roles, including a rote streetwalker in the Rosie Perez vein shesomehow brings a little to life (those short shorts don't hurt) and that online date with an eye for tuxes.Kevin B. McGlynn also has fun in multiple roles, especially the snooty Emile, though no one could turn
the cliched hippie River or the Japanese noodle chef Yashinoya into anything more than quickly
forgotten stereotypes. Spector holds the whole show together with his stage presence and willingness to
commit wholly to this enterprise, despite their neutered take on Joe.
Director West Hyler keeps the show moving and given its many parts and the overall silliness of it, the
more it moves the better. You don't want to think too much about this one. Most of the songs by creators
Matthew Hardy and Randy Klein have an amusing line or two, with "Chatroom" and "Perfection" obvious
highlights. But there are too many reprises of Joe's signature tune and his mom's plaintive claim she'sjust trying to help children. The intermission arrives far too late (better to tighten up the show and havenone at all). On the bright side, if they served bananas foster in the lobby during the intermission or afterthe show, they'd make a killing.
THE THEATER SEASON 2012-2013 (on a four star scale)
As You Like it (Shakespeare In The Park w Lily Rabe) ****
Chimichangas And Zoloft *
Closer Than Ever ***
Cock ** 1/2
Harvey with Jim Parsons *
My Children! My Africa! ***
Once On This Island ***
Potted Potter *
Storefront Church ** 1/2
Title And Deed ***
Picture Incomplete (NYMF) **
Flambe Dreams (NYMF) **
Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox , a weekly pop culture podcast that
reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features top journalists and opinion
makers as guests. It's available for free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog.
Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called Popsurfing and also
available for free on iTunes. Link to him on Netflix and gain access to thousands of ratings and reviews.
Note : Michael Giltz is provided with free tickets to shows with the understanding that he will be
writing a review.
Follow Michael Giltz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/michaelgiltz
Like 15k GET ALERTS
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Featuring fresh takes and real-time analysis from
HuffPost's signature lineup of contributors
Michael Giltz
Freelance writerGET UPDATES FROM MICHAEL GILTZ
Follow
NY Around Town , Theatre , Video , NY Arts , NY Theater , NYMT 2012 , New York
Musical Theatre Festival , Trent Armand Kendal , New York Music , New York Theater ,
Culture NewsReact
Amazing Inspiring Funny Scary Hot Crazy Important WeirdNYMF Roundup #!: Turning 40 and
Flaming Desserts
This is the first in a series of roundups covering shows
appearing as part of the New York Musical TheatreFestival , or NYMF . Every year I attend as many shows
as I can and invariably see one or two shows that willrank among the best of the year and discover some new
talented performers and behind the scenes artists I'll
want to keep an eye on in future productions. Go to the NYMF website for more info on inexpensive
tickets.
PICTURE INCOMPLETE ** out of ****
FLAMBE DREAMS ** out of ****
PICTURE INCOMPLETE ** out of ****
THE 45TH STREET THEATREThe engaging performer Trent Armand Kendall tells the story of his life in this one man musical, but
unfortunately the picture remains incomplete. We get vague, aspirational songs and mild stories of excess(over-drinking, over-eating, over-sleeping) but nothing vivid or remarkable enough to raise eyebrows on
a daytime talk show. A story about almost setting your apartment on fire because you passed out while
cooking may be an amusing anecdote among friends but it's thin stuff in a world where Richard Pryorran down the street with his hair on fire after freebasing. Before the show has even really begun, it takes a
detour into social consciousness for a song about homelessness. Admirable, but when we're still
wondering who Trent is and why he's onstage telling us his story, it's also distracting and out of place.
Throughout the music and lyrics by longtime collaborator Michael Polese (with book and additional lyrics
by Kendall) tend towards the nebulous. We get very broad outlines of his life and desires to become a
star, a brief hint towards a road not taken (parenting) followed soon by coming out. But after watching
the entire show, here are just some of the things we don't know (without peeking at his bio): what kind ofperformer is Kendall trying to be? We know he performed in front of the Queen of England but how did
that happen? We know for one brief happy year he was making six figures. But doing what? Was he a
recording artist a la Luther Vandross? A member of a group? A backup singer? A theatrical performer inshows? (That apparently, is the case.) We know he's gay but whether he's single and unlucky in love or
happily partnered remains another mystery. Indeed, the picture is very incomplete.MOST POPULAR ON HUFFPOST 1 of 2
Chipotle Busted For Cheating
Customers Out Of Pennies
Republican Attendees Thrown
Out After Racist Attack On
CNN Worker
PHOTO: The Queen Rolls In A
Range Rover Wearing A
Hoodie
RPatz Agrees To Meet KStew
But Is Selling Their Home
Deaf Boy Asked To Make
Controversial Change (VIDEO)
GOP Approves Abortion Ban
MAP: Hurricane Isaac's Path
Aims For Gulf Coast
Isaac Balloons Into A
Hurricane, New Orleans
Threatened
Slash Caught Fellow Rocker
Naked With His Mom
DON'T MISS HUFFPOST BLOGGERS 1 of 5
Bill Moyers
WATCH: Both Parties Give
Invisible Americans the Silent
Treatment
Dean Baker
Poverty: The New Growth Industry
in AmericaFOLLOW USArts Books Film Architecture Music TV
August 29, 2012
Edition: U.S.
FRONT PAGE POLITICS ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA ARTS TV BLACK VOICES LATINO VOICES RELIGION COMEDY LIVE ALL SECTIONS
Bill Moyers Dean Baker
John Hillcoat Bobby BowdenHOT ON THE BLOG
HuffPost Social Reading
Like 102
Posted: 07/14/2012 12:16 pm
SHARE THIS STORY
Submit this storyLike 1k
Like 13k
Like 1k
Like 101
Like 4k
Recommend 9k
Recommend 292
Recommend 699
Like 239More Log in Create Account
What we do know is that Kendall can sing and hold a stage. The show really comes to life in the all too
brief moments when he plays other characters. A straight-talking Latina neighbor who calls everyone"gurl" is such a clear high point of the show that she's brought back for the finale. Quick sketches of hisgrandfather and others also score strongly. If Kendall had created a show where he brought to life the
people of his apartment building, peopling it with a string of characters, it might well have proven far
more illuminating than his personal struggles with weight loss and the like. As that neighbor, he's
hilarious. Kendall also shines when bantering with the audience in a stand-up style. Freed from baring
his soul, he's just plain funny and compelling and suddenly he's a person we actually want to learn more
about.
One of the few songs that delivers is "Walk-in Closet." It's just a ditty really but as Kendall dives into it he
says it's pretty catchy, isn't it? Yes, it is. It's one of the few songs that stops the introspection long enough
to create a strong chorus and melody. There's a lesson in that. I look forward to seeing Kendall again in a
show where he puts his talents to use bringing other people to life; that's when we get to know him best.
FLAMBE DREAMS ** out of ****
THE 45TH STREET THEATRE
Well, you have to give it points for originality. Flambe Dreams is a silly -- but not quite silly enough --
musical about a young man with serious OCD issues who longs to become a maitre d like his late father,
who perished in a freak flaming bananas foster fire. His journey takes him from a small town in Middle
America to New York City and the famed Le Cirque restaurant with stops along the way for friends, food
and quite a few pills of Prozac.
Our hero's name is Joe and he's played by Jarrod Spector, who has played Frankie Valli on Broadway in
Jersey Boys , among many other credits. He probably loved playing someone so innocent and gullible
after the high drama of that show and is unafraid to make Joe a naif who knows a lot about flaming
desserts but very little about anything else, including girls or even who Jay-Z is. Despite a clinging
mother and a serious regiment of pill popping, Joe takes the plunge to follow his dream, heads toManhattan, befriends the pharmacist at a Duane Reade (where he is probably their best customer) and
works his way up from a tea shop to a noodle shop to his lifelong dream of being an honest to goodness
maitre d.
The main problem is that Joe is a little too much of a naif. He's a rather sexless character (though Spector
himself is very appealing indeed). A romance might be blossoming with that pharmacist Gloria (Jillian
Louis) but only on her part. Gloria quite fancies Joe but when she disappears he only seems upset
because it throws into disarray his daily routine. When Joe storms out of the Duane Reade in fear andanger, it's not thwarted romance you think about, it's a guy who needs some serious therapy.
The only genuine heat is generated when Joe goes online and meets a girl who has a thing for maitre d's
(God bless the internet; it has someone for everyone). Their online musings about a potential date are
the emotional high point of the show and isn't that telling? Throughout Joe's mother (Catherine Cox)
keeps in touch, worried about her son, pushing him to take his pills and ultimately and unsurprisingly
hopping on a plane to check up on him before his dreams -- or perhaps even Joe -- go up in flames.
As I mentioned, the main problem with this musical comedy is that the romance at the heart of it never
even begins. But there are others, mainly a confusion about the show's message. it says that Joe's motherHOT ON FACEBOOK 1 of 2
HOT ON TWITTER 1 of 2
HUFFPOST'S BIG NEWS PAGES
Celebrity
babies
Mitch
McConnell
Paul Ryan
Oasis 2012
Net Neutrality
Anatomical
Wonders
Barack Obama
Natural
Disasters
Barack Obama
2012
MORE BIG NEWS PAGES »
Slate Articles »What Would will.i.am
Sound Like OnMars?
Tunnel Vision:
Kubrick’s FavoriteComposition Gets Its
Own Supercut
You’re Doing It
Wrong: Fish Tacos
10 Plays That Protest
Power
Azealia Banks Smokes A
Condom, Gets Banned
ricky_martin
RetweetMake Room for (the New) Daddy
http://t.co/Q6eIDokm via
@huffingtonpost
feliciaday
RetweetThink on it: Cambridge scientists
say all mammals, birds, many
others including octopi, have
human-like consciousness.
http://t.co/aF6W2ZQh
FOLLOW CULTURE
-- a psychiatrist who should know better than to prescribe pills for a relative, much less her son -- is
overprotective, afraid to let him grow up and filling him up with unnecessary medication. Joe keeps
referring to Gloria as being just as soothing as medicine, as if the love of a true woman was what he truly
needs, not Prozac. But we also see time and again and especially at the fiery climax that Joe is indeed at
the very least OCD and surely in need of some pills or serious therapy of some sort. And yet at the end
it's possible he's off his pills for good. I think. Anyone watching Joe when he tries to go off his regimen
can't help thinking that's not a good idea.
As the show progresses but the romance doesn't, the weight of change falls on Joe's mother and her
realization that she's smothering her son. Cox acts her way through her songs but unfortunately she
carries the bulk of the dramatic moments and her modest voice isn't quite up to the task. Similarly, Louis
was perhaps cast for her faux operatic turn as Julie Andrews in a dream sequence (her over-enunciation
is a comic high point in the show) more than her regular singing voice, which strains at times. Through
no fault of her own, their would-be romance which has no chance to grow remains sparkless. J. ElaineMarcos has a lot more fun in multiple roles, including a rote streetwalker in the Rosie Perez vein shesomehow brings a little to life (those short shorts don't hurt) and that online date with an eye for tuxes.Kevin B. McGlynn also has fun in multiple roles, especially the snooty Emile, though no one could turn
the cliched hippie River or the Japanese noodle chef Yashinoya into anything more than quickly
forgotten stereotypes. Spector holds the whole show together with his stage presence and willingness to
commit wholly to this enterprise, despite their neutered take on Joe.
Director West Hyler keeps the show moving and given its many parts and the overall silliness of it, the
more it moves the better. You don't want to think too much about this one. Most of the songs by creators
Matthew Hardy and Randy Klein have an amusing line or two, with "Chatroom" and "Perfection" obvious
highlights. But there are too many reprises of Joe's signature tune and his mom's plaintive claim she'sjust trying to help children. The intermission arrives far too late (better to tighten up the show and havenone at all). On the bright side, if they served bananas foster in the lobby during the intermission or afterthe show, they'd make a killing.
THE THEATER SEASON 2012-2013 (on a four star scale)
As You Like it (Shakespeare In The Park w Lily Rabe) ****
Chimichangas And Zoloft *
Closer Than Ever ***
Cock ** 1/2
Harvey with Jim Parsons *
My Children! My Africa! ***
Once On This Island ***
Potted Potter *
Storefront Church ** 1/2
Title And Deed ***
Picture Incomplete (NYMF) **
Flambe Dreams (NYMF) **
Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox , a weekly pop culture podcast that
reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features top journalists and opinion
makers as guests. It's available for free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog.
Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called Popsurfing and also
available for free on iTunes. Link to him on Netflix and gain access to thousands of ratings and reviews.
Note : Michael Giltz is provided with free tickets to shows with the understanding that he will be
writing a review.
Follow Michael Giltz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/michaelgiltz
Like 15k GET ALERTS
Comments 0 Pending Comments 0 View FAQ
Post Comment Preview Comment
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