Theater Metromaniacs Disco Maniacs And Dypsomaniacs

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FRIDAY, APRIL 27, 2018 THEATER: METROMANIACS, DISCO-MANIACS AND DYPSOMANIACS THE METROMANIACS *** out of **** SUMMER: THE DONNA SUMMER MUSICAL * out of **** THE SEAFARER ** out of **** THE METROMANIACS *** out of **** RED BULL THEATER AT THE DUKE ON 42ND STREET What, pray tell, is a "translaptation?" It's a nonsense word made up by playwright David Ives to describe his free-flowing communion withFrench farce. He adapts them and translates them and ultimatelytransmutes them into something sort of new-ish that owes a heavy debt to the original but is all his own...and yet is not. Oh, to hell with this mania for authorship. What Ives has created with his string oftranslaptations is a body of work that is positively delightful. Despite a slow start, The Metromaniacs proves to be a fine addition to that corpus delicti of playful plagiarism. The title refers to a mania for poetry and is an Ivesian translaptation of a 1738 play by Alexis Piron.Ignored by the Académie Française -- despite penning an "Ode To ThePenis" which was understandably lengthy -- Piron had his revenge onthe snobs. How? By celebrating another snubbed poet, a man who was himself spurned by the Académie but had his revenge. How? By publishing rustic poems and pretending to be a backwater poetess;"she" was immediately celebrated by one and all, including Voltaire,who offered to marry the little known versifier. (If you haven't guessed,the show's backstory is as entertaining as the show.) When the truth came out, Voltaire was humiliated, the once-unknown poet revenged...and then revenged once more when Piron made the scandalinfamous all over again with his play. In steps David Ives, who uses the structure of the play to create his own Shakespearean comedy. Lovers are mistaken and misused mostMICHAEL GILTZ AT WORK Michael Giltz is a freelance writer based in NYC and can be reached atmgiltz@pipeline.com FAVORITE LINKS Americablog Five O'Clock Lightning baseball blogDeep Pop -- Lori Lakin's Blog The Back Page -- Jason Page on ESPN Radio Cine-Blog -- George Robinson's Blog Documents On Art & Cinema - Daryl Chin's Blog Brucie G's Wondrous Blog Of Adventure and Mystery -- Bruce Greenspan's Blog BLOG ARCHIVE ▼ 2018 (18) ► June (1) ► May (6) ▼ April (6)willingly until all confusion is banished and most everyone paired off at the finale, even if the gender imbalance of five men and two women calls for some rather inventive inverting of our expectations. I will NOT outline the plot too clearly. It's a monster of conspiracy andconfusion, with the show itself stopping to explain matters severaltimes over and then throwing up its hands (script? pentameters?) andtelling you not to bother. Still, let's have a go. The Metromaniacs takes place in the lavish home of Francalou (Adam LeFevre), who has written his own play and looks forward to seeing it performed for his guests. A sylvan wood has been constructed in a large foyer/lobby/whatever as a setting. He has a lovely daughter Lucille (Amelia Pedlow) who is besotted with poetry and is himself asecret poet of some renown. Only their servant Lisette (Dina Thomas)knows the truth. Enter various young men. The dim Dorante (Noah Averbach-Katz) would sorely love to couple with Lucille, but she will only couple with a master of couplets. The poet Damis (Christian Conn) is a friend ofDorante and offers up his own scribbles so Lucille can be wooed.Damis himself is pledged to the unseen, unknown poetess all of Franceis talking about, the poetess who is -- in fact -- the amiable father ofLucille. Dorante's servant Mondor (Adam Green) and Francalou's Lisette do what servants do: talk back to their masters while masterminding the stratagems to pair off lover with lover and bringabout a happy ending. And a happy ending there is, despite some modestly rough going. ActOne was not the sheer delight of other recent shows by Ives, such asThe Liar, The School For Lies and -- no lie -- The Heir Apparent. I was already wondering how to describe this more earth-bound, butengaging work. After the first act, I judged it was still champagne, if alittle flat. Then Act Two began and somehow the show picked up steamuntil the bubbly finale was so fun that all was forgiven. Each actor had their moment, with Thomas a saucy servant supreme, Pedlow pouting away, Averbach-Katz incapable of conning anyone,Green breaking the fourth wall with a well-timed smirk and PeterKybart grousing nicely as a necessary plot device/legal aide. If thewinning, handsome Conn is not precisely the lead, he certainly has the charm of one. And LeFevre as always provides such generous warmthTHEATER: "HENRY V" CONQUERS ACCENTS, NOT AUDIENCES... THEATER: METROMANIACS, DISCO-MANIACS ANDDYPSOMANI... THEATER: "SANCHO: AN ACT OF REMEMBRANCE" THEATER: "MLIMA'S TALE" OF SHAME; "CHILDREN OFA L... THEATER: "MEAN GIRLS" PLAY NICE; O, HARRY CONNICK,... THEATER: WRESTLING WITH "ANGELS IN AMERICA" ► March (4) ► February (1) ► 2017 (6) ► 2016 (2) ► 2015 (14) ► 2014 (2) ► 2013 (5) ► 2012 (18) ► 2011 (15) ► 2010 (10) ► 2009 (43) ► 2008 (86) ► 2007 (781) ► 2006 (2412) ► 2005 (5)and presence that any nonsense that revolves around him becomes immediately plausible and indeed pleasurable. Somehow the set by James Noone didn't delight -- the forest glade in the foyer somehow wasn't incongruous enough for my taste. That's neither here nor there since it provided plenty of hide-aways for loversto canoodle behind. All other elements were fine and it coalesced in acttwo with enough artistry to make me forget the pacing/plotting/something-or-othering of act one that prevented me from immediately enjoying the proceedings. So (eventual) credit todirector Michael Kahn. As with all of the plays by David Ives, I lookforward to seeing The Metromaniacs revived in years to come. Unlike many others, I can imagine it being improved. But even if they merely match the standard set here, it will be worth it for farcical-maniacs like me. SUMMER: THE DONNA SUMMER MUSICAL * out of **** LUNT-FONTANNE THEATRE Well, what did we expect? Actually, all we expected were some disco balls, disco dancing and a great singer belting out some disco classics.Unfortunately, it took Summer: The Donna Summer Musical until the finale to really deliver the goods. Before that, we trudged through the admittedly interesting life of disco queen Donna Summer. When you learn that Donna Summer was sexually abused by a preacher as a little girl, witnessed a murder and fled the country infear of her life, moved to Germany when touring with a production of Hair, learned the language, married, had a kid and then left her husband to pursue stardom...well, you can understand why this sounds like a life worth dramatizing. Unfortunately, Summer never moves beyond a TV movie version of that life, dutifully showing our heroine fend off an attacker in her home with an oversized fashion magazine, being born again thanks toher siblings and in the show's most egregious scene, seeing not one,not two but three daughters off to college and the world in three separate scenes that -- needless to say -- are repetitive and dull to anyone who is not actually the parent of said child. Blame book writersColman Domingo, Robert Cary and Des McAnuff (who also handledthe no-nonsense direction that keeps the 100 minute show moving). By the time we learn she's a poor driver, loves Jesus but also loves a married man, considered suicide and then face the not-so inevitable moment where Summer defensively explains away an anti-gaycomment just so all the boxes of her life can be checked, this undertwo hour show begins to feel awfully long.What a pity. The knee-jerk reaction is to eye-roll over another jukebox musical. But this one had some clever ideas. Most of the cast and chorus are women, which symbolizes the female power and #MeToovibe they were going for. Donna Summer wasn't just the Queen ofDisco, they argue, but a trailblazer for women everywhere. I'm notsure switching labels from Casablanca to Geffen qualifies as such, but I would have been happy for the show to make its case more convincingly, or at least more artistically. When the show begins withSummer backed by a "band" of all-female musicians, the impact of girlpower is painfully undercut by the fact that the women are almost allsimply miming the playing of instruments or doing so with only rudimentary skill. Hey, they're dancers and singers and work hard nonstop throughout the show so full credit to them. But when you'retrying to make a statement, simply pretending to be a musician really doesn't cut it. And that's just the start. Another good idea? Summer begins dissecting how she and Giorgio Moroder and others created their hits: all their songs began with a bass line, she tells us. The show hints at but never quite delivers onthis premise. Why not excitingly demonstrate the creative process forone of her hits, letting the audience hear a bass line and then watch as they toss in element after element, like the synths and arrangement and lyrics and give the audience the thrill of hearing it all cometogether. Yet these lessons in crafting a pop hit and femaleempowerment are never followed through. (Though Summer's signingwith a new label does boast one of the better production numbers: "She Works Hard For The Money.") At least the three leads do indeed work hard, playing Donna Summer at various ages, not to mention her mother and her children in thebargain. Storm Lever has the least interesting part as the young Donna. But Ariana DeBose does well as Disco Donna and LaChanze is the only reason this show is bearable for bringing life to Diva Donna,despite having to deliver some truly leaden exposition. She's a truepro. So is the game cast and creative team, with Paul Tazewell doingthe best work with the costumes that capture an era without being jokey.Then there are the bad ideas, like indicating the abuse Summer faced as a child early on but waiting until a late moment in the show to spell it out. Since we already understood what was happening, what's the point of delaying? Even worse, the book continually interrupts thesongs for the plot. Who the heck wants to hear half of "MacArthur Park" or any of her others hits? These aren't songs that push the plot or reveal character. They are pop hits and they work best in that context. Jersey Boys managed the trick of teasing out the growth of the band in act one and then revealing their hitmaker status todramatic effect. This show doesn't attempt that and worse, for far toolong it doesn't even give us the songs. It's like a jukebox musical that keeps jumping to the next track before the last one is over. And why the heck are we plodding our way through the life of Donna Summer and inserting lesser songs just because they work for the plotwe never care about anyway? My God, we have to wait until the veryend for not one, not two but three giant disco balls to finally startspinning. "Hot Stuff" is the best moment of the show -- a full-on dance number with the song presented in all its glory, backed by a big chorus of disco dancers doing their moves. That's immediately followed by"Last Dance" -- also given its due -- and you think, what the heck werethey waiting for? Maybe it should have been staged immersively OffBroadway with a full-on disco floor and the audience surrounding and amidst a cast of pro dancers and maybe they should have lots of disco songs and not just Summer and a VIP section for high-payingcustomers where you can mingle with Andy Warhol and Liza andperhaps cocaine for the full 1970s effect and -- ok, that's not what they wanted to do here. That's just a disco party. Like the recent Motown musical, this would have been better as the ultimate Donna Summer show rather than a tired bio-pic. Yes, Summer without her life story would just be a glorified concert. So what? At least it would be fun and we'd all remember the reason for six years no one was played on the radio as much as Donna Summer. THE SEAFARER ** out of **** IRISH REPERTORY THEATRE The bad news? A second visit to playwright Conor McPherson's scary little Christmas story confirms the suspicion that this is one of his lesser plays. The somewhat good news is that the brilliant Matthew Broderick continues to shake off the ennui that has enveloped his stagework in recent years. Friends said his work in Shining City (also by McPherson) felt like a reawakening for this talent. He doesn't quitescore in The Seafarer, but it's not as good and at least his offbeat little rhythm remains anchored in the tale at hand. That tale is a sad and shaggy one. Sharky is back at home, tending to his alcoholic, recently blinded mess of a brother Richard. They live insemi-squalor, with Richard petulantly refusing to be shaved or bathedon Christmas Eve, since surely he'll want to do it on Christmas Day and why bother doing it twice? A Charlie Brown-like tree sits sadly on a table and that's about it for holiday cheer. All Richard really wants is to drink and drink and drink. Sharky might want to drink to forget his shattered marriage and -- apparently -- a dashed romance with amarried woman that he has fled home to avoid. But Sharky has swornoff the stuff, at least for a day or two, much to Richard's disgust. The two brothers bicker and fight over nothing, joined by the equally dissolute Ivan, who would rather drink then head home (on ChristmasEve!) to face his wife and kids. She'll give him an earful for being outand drinking on Christmas Eve, so he puts off the dreaded showdown, which means she'll be all the angrier so he puts it off again and so on and so forth. Norman Rockwell, it isn't. The tedium is broken only by the unwelcome arrival of Nicky, the man shacking up with Sharky's ex-wife and driving his car, no less. Nickybrings along a stranger named Mr. Lockhart. Whebn the others are off searching for drink or messing about with this or that, Mr. Lockhart calmly informs Sharky that he is the devil, come for a rematch. Itturns out Sharky played cards with the devil and won his freedom afteraccidentally killing a man. But he promised to play for his soul in thefuture and now that the devil has tracked him down, it's time to playfor keeps. And the devil has every intention of winning. McPherson is a marvelous spinner of stories, with his ghost story TheWeir perhaps the most famous. (Irish Repertory Theatre mounted a peerless revival of that one which deserved to run for years and did right by his Shining City as well, I've been told.) Here the story is fine enough, though it's like a less than scintillating story told by an old friend who is usually a dependable raconteur -- you need to indulgehim a little to keep it going and don't mind, not really. He's told betterstories before and will do so again. Of the cast, Andy Murray made the strongest impression as the put- upon Sharky while the rest were quite variable, I fear. Broderick inrecent years has seemed to enter Brando territory, searching for someinternal rhythm or just maybe bored by the process or something to the point where one wants to shake him awake. Here, he is stilldelivering an odd, distant turn but it feels a little more rooted in theproceedings. I'll take hope where I can, especially in a play with precious little of it. Colin McPhillamy as Richard is overshadowed by the ghost of performances past. (More on that soon.) The shambling set by Charlie Corcoran and stained costumes by Martha Reilly make sure we never hope for a holly, jolly Christmas. But the original music by Ryan Rumery was played at such a jarring high volume it's impossible to judge the merits of the tunes on theirown. Do I blame director Ciarán O'Reilly for this and other faults? Ordo I blame my memory of the original Broadway production? Eventhen I had reservations about the play. But Ciarin Hinds was a more menacing devil. And as the alcoholic Richard, actor Jim Norton delivered a performance so indelible, so remarkable I'll remember itfor the rest of my days. He won the Tony for it and if he hadn't,everyone who saw the show would have stormed the stage like Kanyeand demanded a recount. Poor McPhillamy (hell, poor Olivier or poor Mark Rylance) could not compete with that memory. I'd suggest you might enjoy this production more if you'd never seen it before, but I enjoyed thatproduction primarily because of Norton. Unwrapping this Christmas story a second time does it no favor. THEATER OF 2018 Homelife/The Zoo Story (at Signature) *** out of **** Escape To Margaritaville ** Broadway By The Year: 1947 and 1966 *** Lobby Hero *** Frozen ** Rocktopia * Angels in America ** 1/2 Mean Girls ** 1/2 The Sting ** Mlima's Tale ** 1/2 Children Of A Lesser God ** 1/2 Sancho: An Act Of Remembrance ** 1/2 The Metromaniacs *** Summer: The Donna Summer Musical *The Seafarer ** Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the creator of BookFilter, a book lover’s to BookFilter! Need a smart and easy gift? Head to BookFilter? Wondering w categories, like cookbooks and mystery and more? Head to BookFilter! It’s a w you do in a physical bookstore, provides comprehensive info on new releases e personal recommendations every step of the way. It’s like a fall book preview category. He’s also the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox , a weekly pop culture podc of the day and features top journalists and opinion makers as guests. It’s avail website. Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also iTunes. Note: Michael Giltz is provided with free tickets to shows with the understan are in New York City unless otherwise indicated. POSTED BY MICHAEL GILTZ AT 12:54 AM NO COMMENTS: Post a Comment Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)Newer Post Older Post Home

Theater Metromaniacs Disco Maniacs And Dypsomaniacs

📄 Theater Metromaniacs Disco Maniacs And Dypsomaniacs

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