Joe, Author at TheaterReviewsFromMySeat

About This Reviewer - October 22, 2019

Ride the Cyclone (Jungle Theater, Minneapolis, MN)

I missed an opportunity to see Ride the Cyclone when it appeared Off-Broadway in 2016. As someone who once drove west and made an overnight detour to Cedar Point, the proclaimed “roller coaster capital of the world,” this material seemed right up my alley. Indeed it was. I am very fortunate to have waited to enjoy this riotously hilarious production at Minneapolis’ Jungle Theater.

Confidently and creatively written by Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell, this charmingly spooky musical begins with a headless girl singing the mournful “Dream of Life.” She and five others have perished in a horrific carnival accident when the coaster’s inversion goes awry. Karnak is the host of this show. For those who remember the fortune telling machine Zoltar, this version is a dryly sarcastic and very funny caricature. Karnak informs the dead kids there will be an afterlife challenge. As a result, one winner will return to the living.

A ghoulish cabaret emerges from that offbeat premise. Ride the Cyclone is filled with memorable character songs and laughs galore. Karnak doesn’t exactly relish his job. “To be told the time and place of your death with a mouthful of corn dog is the opposite of fun.” One by one, the recently departed will make their case. More accurately, they sing about their personalities, dreams, worries and assorted teenage angst.

These kids are all members of a chorale group. You can guess the stereotypes on display. Ultra peppy Ocean (Shinah Brashears) has a catch phrase. She boasts “Democracy Rocks!” Her sidekick best friend is Constance (Gabrielle Dominique), thrice voted the nicest girl in homeroom. Her inner turmoils will be exposed. Noel is the gay kid who fantasizes about being “a hooker with a heart of black charcoal” in arguably the show’s best number, “Noel’s Lament.”

Rounding out the gang of corpses is the adopted Ukranian Mischa, the sickly Ricky and Jane Doe. Mischa fancies himself a rapper and pines for an internet love. Ricky (Jordan M. Leggett) had crutches and couldn’t speak when living but now has freedom in death. Jane Doe is the poor soul who lost her head and was never identified. She is hauntingly portrayed as a creepy mannequin.

Ride the Cyclone is silly fun from start to finish. This show combines Halloween-style chills with musical comedy thrills. The joke-filled book is very funny and the songs are varied and clever. This musical is a cabaret concert set in an old school carnival which has been unearthed from dusty memories of yesteryear. The period set was designed by Chelsea M. Warren and was nicely lit by Marcus Dillard.

Production values were high across the board from the energetic direction by Sarah Rasmussen to the zany choreography by Jim Lichtscheidl. Each performer stands out in their spotlight moments and effectively provides ensemble support. The stage is often a whirl of activity with deftly conceived quieter, moody moments. Projections designed by Kathy Maxwell conjure nostalgic memories while also adding significant visual appeal to this staging.

Only one song came across as flat and overlong. The musical numbers were hugely engaging, deliciously irreverent, a little sweet and occasionally sour (and sometimes all of those at once). The goofy delights never cease although the show contains an underlying melancholy. This deepens the material from fun-in-purgatory kid’s concert to a more subtle and briefly rueful meditation on the gift of life.

Jim Lichtscheidl was a fantastic Karnak, snarky and mechanical. The kids may be nerdy stereotypes but this talented cast winningly made them come alive, even in death. I especially enjoyed Becca Hart’s ethereally headless Jane Doe, Michael Hanna’s deep voiced Ukranian lover and alcoholic-to-be Mischa and Josh Zwick’s memorable channeling of Marlene Dietrich (and others) as Noel. Everyone, however, made me laugh hard and frequently.

Ride the Cyclone is a winner. This musical comedy is a lightly edgy amusement which has been sprinkled with the macabre and dipped in ridiculousness. Purchase your ticket, get on and take a ride wherever you can find this little gem.

Ride the Cyclone completed its run at The Jungle Theater on October 20, 2019. Their next show will be the holiday themed Miss Bennett: Christmas at Pemberley.

www.jungletheater.org

About This Reviewer - October 19, 2019October 19, 2019

Snow White (Children’s Theatre, Minneapolis, MN)

The wedding of Corey and Emily was the planned celebration for this trip. Earlier this year when visiting the Minneapolis Institute of Art, I witnessed an excited group of children and adults energetically buzzing about. The Children’s Theatre Company performs in a space attached to this museum. I heard their work was terrific. They won the Regional Theater Tony Award in 2003. A visit to see an exceptionally entertaining Snow White confirmed all of the hype.

Entering a vast room, the seating arrangements clearly follow the troupe’s mission. When picking up tickets, we worried about blocking the view for a child. The box office told us the show was designed with a four year old in mind. The risers were indeed high enough and everyone seemed to have a great and full view. (If only Broadway was equally thoughtful, Linda Vista).

Mikail Kachman’s scenic design was large and menacing but also warmly inviting, like the tale. Tree roots reached up to the ceiling. The trunk stretched along the stage. Limbs and leaves were painted on the floor and were also hung high from the ceiling. The lighting (Rebecca Fuller Jensen) was atmospheric. Sunlight was peeking through the forest. One child remarked that she saw a rainbow on a tree trunk. Indeed she did. Good eye.

The story of Snow White is so well known thanks to Disney’s first full length feature cartoon in 1937. This version was much closer to the original Grimm story. The darker sections could be frightening to children such as when the evil queen’s huntsman is chasing poor Snow White through the forest. Ingeniously, Greg Banks’ adaptation and direction created a beautiful balance between faithfulness to the story while clearly delineating a world of make believe.

Joy Dolo and Dean Holt begin the performance. As Snow White, Ms. Dolo is ready to start. Mr. Holt is Four, one of the seven dwarfs. Where are the other six? Not here yet. Oh well, they begin hoping for a late arrival of the rest of the cast. That never happens. This Snow White is a two person play. Since the fourth wall is broken early, there is a lightness to the playacting. The darker elements are indeed a bit creepy but the children are trusted to absorb a fictitious tale.

Both performances are stellar. The actors switch roles as the story demands. When the dwarfs return home from the mine, Mr. Holt has to play all seven of them. I could return to see this production just to watch him turn a hat, change voices and use body language to amusing effect. That one’s Grumpy! That one’s Dopey! Dean Holt is impressively hilarious and physically astonishing with his almost cartoon-like physicality.

Joy Dolo was just as effective in her interpretations. Tie a simple skirt around her waist and she is Snow White. Put a shawl over her shoulders and she is the evil queen asking the mirror who is the fairest one of all. This is an evil queen for the ages and Ms. Dolo seemed to bare her fangs with exquisite delight. Not a shred of goodness to be found in this wicked one. Both performers are ably supported by musician Victor Zupanc and his memorable assortment of sound effects.

As I was leaving the show, I was overjoyed by the subtle messaging in Greg Banks’ production. The children could recreate this wonderful play with simple props and pieces of fabric lying around the house. The storytelling and make believe came first. That is the magic of superb theater. The tale itself, not the often overproduced spectacle which can overwhelm and bury the heart of a show.

Even more compelling, this production embraces a fairy tale world that is gender and race neutral. Snow White can be black and also play the prince. Four can not only morph into seven dwarfs but can also be Snow White when the storytelling requires. That both performers marvelously play nearly every character – and none of this is ever confusing – is something for theater lovers to get a kick out of.

Princeton University Press published a version of the first two editions of Grimm’s Original Folk and Fairy Tales in 2014. That book is still sitting in a pile at home. With all its darkness and interesting spins on life and friendship, Snow White has inspired me to finally crack open this collection of 156 stories.

This Snow White is everything theater for young people should aspire to: smart, entertaining and supremely engaging. That is how live theater will thrive into the future. The children seemed enthralled. The adults were even luckier to have tagged along. Bravo!

Snow White will be performed at Minneapolis’ Children’s Theatre Company through December 8, 2019.

www.childrenstheatre.org

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About This Reviewer - October 18, 2019

Victor (Axis Theatre)

A gorgeously haunting ghost story is summoned up in the memoir Victor by Edgar Oliver. The ghosts are many. A man named Victor. The way of life for marginalized New Yorkers from decades past. Memories of people loved and lost. Regrets and joys in abundant proportions.

Mr. Oliver is a member of Axis Theatre and has worked with Director Randy Sharp before in the company’s productions and his previous solo pieces. There is a relaxed, mysterious and lyrical easiness to this performance which is beautifully realized in the always atmospheric environs in Axis’ Greenwich Village space.

A friendship story both intimate and flamboyant, these two men first crossed paths when Victor was 39 and Edgar was 28. Their lives joined together around an East 10th street rooming house. During the last sixteen years he lived there, Mr. Oliver was the only resident. Fascinating observations witnessed of the denizens of the lower east side are recalled. They provide a glimpse back to a world of a seedier (and perhaps more romantically interesting) period in our city’s colorful history.

Edgar considered Victor a “real man.” He loved women but was, what they might say today, gay friendly. Edgar worshiped this bald, barrel chested, muscular man with his huge biceps. Victor reminded him of the cartoon character Popeye. Two cans of Popeye brand spinach, a present from Victor, are still in Edgar’s possession.

Victor loved movies and vodka. They enjoyed watching them together. They’d often drink or smoke pot on the stoop. This melancholy remembrance is filled with detailed imagery, both softly reflective and vividly prismatic. As an actor, Mr. Oliver is a riveting presence. He floats around the stage with an ethereal fairy-like grace. His words are poetic and punctuated with reminiscences both pensively reflective and revealingly personal.

Mr. Oliver is eulogizing a friend who spent many years as a homeless man. Why didn’t he stay with Victor one day until the film From Here To Eternity ended? He asks a lot of questions of himself and enriches his tale with a view only achievable in one’s later stages in life. Edgar remembers Victor, the man he obviously idolized, fondly. He wonders what he’s meant to the various men he loved through the years.

A effectively simple set by Chad Yarborough contains black boxes in different heights suggesting an ominous and vague city outline. David Zeffren’s lighting design bathes Mr. Oliver in a moody glow which references the black and white movies Victor and Edgar loved to talk about. Paul Carbonara composed the perfect amount of melodious original music for three musicians which nicely elevates this unique memoir.

At the end of this show, linger in the lobby for a few minutes to view the memorabilia collected by Mr. Oliver. There are many writings Victor would drop in his mailbox through the years. The Popeye cans of spinach are on display. Is this a summation and consideration of regret in a life lived marginally on the outskirts of mainstream society? Or is this a life brimming with creative expression? An alternative approach to existence, survival and the search for connection, love and meaning?

Victor is a wonderful theatrical experience no matter which interpretation captures your fancy. Artists who lived during this period are and will be continuing to decline in number. Catch Edgar Oliver’s imaginative retelling. Feel the spirit of a soon-to-be forgotten slice of New York history which attracted and accommodated all sorts of quirky, colorful and memorable citizens.

Victor is being performed at the Axis Theatre Company through October 26, 2019.

www.axiscompany.org

About This Reviewer - October 16, 2019

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Robert Frost wrote this poem in 1923. “Nature’s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.”

Chad Beckim’s play of the same name similarly addresses decline. In this case, Eden is a small town in Maine. Grief makes its presence felt in a number of ways. Most tragically, this family will experience its own taste of America’s opioid epidemic. Knowing someone who’s family has experienced this first hand should have made this material resonate emotionally for me.

Clay is off to college and his long-term girlfriend Jess is not. His mother (Mary Bacon) takes her in while he is away at school. Jess is having difficulties at home with her new stepfather. We hear about a lurid “underwear twirling” incident. She manages to get a job in a chicken processing plant and things go south from there. They chat face to face on their computers to stay connected. You can sense their worlds are slipping apart.

Clay has a tough as nails sister named Tonya who has a neglectful baby Daddy. Jess’ brother Jamie is an EMT in training. He is demonstrating father skills and has joint custody of his daughter. Both of their unseen partners are described as assholes of one sort or another. Will the stated opposites Tonya and Jamie (who are clearly not opposites) attract?

The play is written in short episodic scenes which felt clinical. Obviously with this subject matter, there is going to be some serious tension. Jokes are placed bizarrely throughout. The audience laughs as intended but any sort of dramatic momentum is derailed. Unseen girlfriend Amanda is “as useless as a white crayon.” Funny, yes. Inconsequential to the plot and throws off the mood? Most definitely.

The acting is strongest by the the two supporting siblings played by Peter Mark Kendall and Adrienne Rose Bengtsson. There is heft and depth to their characters. They are people stuck with bad relationships and regrettable decisions. However, the complex individuals underneath the messy situations register loud and clear. We feel compassion and empathy towards them. The performances are confident with strongly drawn portraits of living, breathing survivors. Every scene containing at least one of these two characters is the strongest parts of the play.

The more challenging acting assignments are reserved for the underwritten central roles of Jess and Clay played by Talene Monahon and Michael Richardson. Their relationship is very basic. I was reminded of the old after school television specials. A very topical drama leading to a lesson to be learned. In this case, there will be healing before going back to playing Uno.

I suppose the play may be more concerned about the collateral damage caused in families forced to confront this epidemic. The two young people should probably be a little less bland to sell the all-consuming tension they create. Perhaps their blandness is the point being made here. This adversity could happen to anyone.

Nothing Gold Can Stay was efficiently directed by Shelley Butler. Scenes and locations were clear within a one room set. The story is a sad one and much sadder than “dropping an ice cream cone.” Chad Beckim’s play warns of the small town dangers for a misguided, disheartened and disillusioned young American generation. “This place is like a spider’s web. You stay long enough, you’ll get stuck.”

Nothing Gold Can Stay is presented by Partial Comfort Productions at A.R.T. Theatres and runs though October 26, 2019.

www.art-newyork.org

About This Reviewer - October 11, 2019November 6, 2019

Linda Vista (Second Stage)

Two men are moving boxes into apartment 217 in the San Diego community of Linda Vista. They are long-time friends. Dick Wheeler is middle aged and has been divorced for two years. He wallows in negativity. This reboot represents his new lease on life. Wheeler may not be a fully realized curmudgeon but he’s on his way. He is a supremely hilarious character in Tracy Letts’ very funny dark comedy.

Is Wheeler ready to take on a next phase in life? He says so. “New friends are better than old people.” Loyalty is not a trait he values as it “leads to camping with Hitler.” Our anti-hero is also a progressive thinker. Can he find a middle ground with Trump voters? He cannot as they are “too stupid” and believe “humans walked around with dinosaurs.”

The barbs fly frequently in many directions. He thoroughly rejects the restaurant industry’s propensity for putting foam on a plate. “Does someone in the kitchen have rabies?” The humor is crotchety and cranky, like him. Regarding hippies: “I’m afraid of joy killers eating chick peas out of my skull.” The zingers go on and on.

Wheeler used to be a photographer for a Chicago newspaper but agreed to move with his wife when children arrived. They relocated to be near her family. That long ago life decision is one of the the storm clouds hanging over his head. “A lot of couples have offspring to distract them from their shattered dreams.” Now he works as a repair man in a camera shop.

Linda Vista is both a look back on life’s regrets as well as a commentary about living in today’s world. How does a snarky, self-flagellating, doughy underachiever reconnect with the world? His friends Paul (Jim True-Frost) and Margaret (Sally Murphy) will set him up on a date. Jules (Cora Vander Broek, terrific) arrives as a free but guarded spirit. The double date? A karaoke bar.

Ian Barford is outstanding as Wheeler. It is not possible to like him but occasional glimpses of goodness shine through the sarcasm. He meets a young woman in a bar in an awkward and very funny display of creepiness in today’s #metoo era. Chantal Thuy is exceptional as Minnie, a wisecracking, vulnerable, strong and misguided person. I expect she’ll have similar life regrets when she reaches fifty years old.

The last two characters in this situation comedy are Anita (Caroline Neff) and Michael (Troy West). Wheeler works with them at the small shop. These scenes showcase why the movement to eliminate inappropriate workplace environments took hold. Mr. Letts has written an enjoyable comedy with ample edginess. The plot, however, occasionally strains credibility through its 2:40 running time.

Now for some unfortunate news. As in every Second Stage production I have seen in their new Broadway venue (the Helen Hayes Theater), there is preshow seat drama. The first five rows are ridiculously crowded together. People were discussing their unhappiness with the ushers and some moved to open seats at the back of the house. Neck pains should be expected if you sit in the front row. When will they finally take a row out?

The bigger crime is Todd Rosenthal’s set and Dexter Bullard’s direction. Both were fine if you can actually see the whole play. More than a few times characters were positioned so far stage left that we could not see them at all. This was not obstructed view seating. The ticket price was not different than center orchestra. Here’s an idea, directors: try sitting in multiple locations during rehearsals to see if the blocking works for all the theater patrons. Nifty and considerate!

Originally presented by the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, Linda Vista is a very entertaining comedy. As the ornery Wheeler, Ian Barford scores big in the laugh department but he’s sad and pathetic too. The character is large and so is the performance. I highly recommend this play as long as your seat is better than mine.

www.2st.com

www.steppenwolf.org

About This Reviewer - October 7, 2019October 7, 2019

Slave Play

Take your seat and stare at the mirrors on the stage facing the audience. An image of a large white plantation home is reflected from the front of the mezzanine. Slave Play is the name of Jeremy O. Harris’ mind-blowing and audacious work which has moved to Broadway after a successful run Off-Broadway last season. The play, the production and the performances are phenomenal. This is theater for people who demand excellence, embrace discomfort and revel in brilliant character writing.

In order to experience this devastating satire, it is likely best to go in, like I did, with little knowledge and a vague assumption about what the titular word slave will mean. I have no intention of spoiling the extraordinary surprises which unfold so let’s simply ponder the opening scene.

Kaneisha enters with a broom and does some light sweeping. She can feel the music in her and begins dancing. She is a black slave stereotype of the era. Jim enters next carrying a whip. He is the overseer on the plantation, not the master. He thinks it is devilish to move one’s body like that, “dancing like a raccoon in heat.” He is a white southern stereotype. Will there be a whipping of this “negress?”

The politics of sex, power and race take center stage in Slave Play and never leave until the emotionally raw final scene. Mr. Harris is using American history (or a fantasized, comedic version) to consider and illuminate interracial relationships. Can a white man and a black woman ever be free of the Kaneisha and Jim dynamic? No matter how hard you laugh – which will happen very, very often – the edges here are bitingly sharp and thought provoking.

When the play ended, there were two camps. The majority seemed blown away by the masterful and thoroughly riotous dissection of our contentious racial issues and their long-lasting impact. The not tiny minority, notably older white couples, gave the impression that they desperately had to flee the theater as quickly as possible during the curtain call. If you like shows which are, so to speak, white-washed trifles of easily digestible and inoffensive history, Slave Play is not for you.

For everyone else, this experience is both mentally challenging and wildly entertaining. Mr. Harris has written eight roles, all of which are infused with unique personalities, beliefs, attitudes and vulnerabilities. Robert O’Hara directed this masterpiece which effectively lands every joke and dramatic sting. Mr. O’Hara’s own play Barbecue similarly mined stereotyped racial profiles with comedy, tension and surprises.

The entire cast is stellar. Joaquina Kalukango and Paul Alexander Nolan portray Kaneisha and Jim. The elements of farce are spot on while the gut wrenching realness of true love and inbred wiring are painful to observe. There is a lot of observation in Slave Play. Clint Ramos’ playfully simple set design works its magic throughout the production. The mirrors always face the audience. This is you. This is all of us.

Annie McNamara’s mistress of the plantation is nothing short of a tour de force. Her scene with Sullivan Jones is a comedic pairing for the ages. They will make you howl with laughter as you squirm in your seat. As Dustin the not really white guy, James Cusati-Moyer nails an exceptionally written monologue in a play overflowing with them. The entire cast is superb.

Time will tell if Broadway audiences will embrace this remarkable work. When was the last time I saw a play this rich with such well-written characters across the board? Hard to say but this one feels like a classic. Boundaries are pushed. Themes hit hard. As they should. Sex, race and power struggles are no laughing matter. Thanks to playwright Jeremy O. Harris, that statement is incorrect. Bold and adventurous theatergoers should grab a ticket to this one-of-a-kind fantasia. There is so much more to this play than even mentioned here.

www.slaveplaybroadway.com

About This Reviewer - October 5, 2019

The Fez and The Sandalwood Box (The Flea Theater)

The last two entries into the Flea Theater’s festival of Mac Wellman plays are the never before staged The Fez and a revival of The Sandalwood Box. Both are short works included in the five plays produced with the theme “Perfect Catastrophes.”

The Fez was originally commissioned as a T-shirt play in 1998. As written, the play is simply a descriptive paragraph. Mr. Wellman’s words are often highly specific and overflowing with poetry, incisiveness and jibberish. Sometimes in equal measure. This one is descriptive and, yes, short enough to be printed on a shirt.

Any of the “better class of contemporary classic American or British play” begins this piece. Mr. Wellman suggests the chosen work should be “properly inflated with moral updraft of a clear and paraphraseable kind.” The classic chosen in this production is universally recognizable. Rora Brodwin is a delightful exaggeration of Eliza Doolittle.

As the retelling unfolds “Something Strange” happens. The Fez takes its place as a ceremonial object center stage. Mystifying and silly dances seem to represent rituals of worship. Those sections have names like “Fur-Lined Hangover.” In the process, the staid theater of the past is shaken up, allowed to swim in its kookiness and simply be “The Fez.” Downtown mayhem and the Surfari’s song, “Wipe Out.”

Whether or not you will be engaged will depend on your ability to be a ball of yarn to a mischievous cat. This is, after all, a perfect cat-astrophe. After this bouncing lunacy of theatrical excess, the mood changes but is still futuristic. The Sandalwood Box takes place in the rain forests of South Brooklyn.

Dorothea Gloria is Marsha Gates, a student at City College. In a voice over, she tells us that she lost her voice in 1993 as a result of an act of the Unseen. This one’s going to be mysterious, you quickly conclude. Indeed as she warns “if you think you cannot be so stricken, dream on.”

At a bus stop Martha meets Professor Claudia Mitchell (Ashley Morton) whose specialty is human catastrophe. (Ah, the theme!) What follows is a lot of words, especially from the Bus Driver (Ben Schrager). A busy man, he says “we dream, gamble, seek, deserve a better fate than Time or Destiny, through the agency of the Unseen, allows.” If you want to enjoy this ramble, Mr. Wellman may be saying, just get on the bus.

The Sandalwood Box of the title is where Professor Mitchell stores her collection of catastrophes. Some will be revealed. In accordance with a prophecy of the Unseen, 25,000 Serbian soldiers were massacred clearing the way for Turkish mastery of the region for over half a millennium. The history of the human race is filled with disasters ruled by the dark Unseen’s id.

Many of Mac Wellman’s works are difficult to follow. The language can be a tropically effusive thicket of imagery and random thought bubbles. Not The Sandalwood Box. This one is a little mysterious and playfully edgy. Marsha has many questions as we all do. The one that stood out for me was this one: “Why is one person’s disaster not a catastrophe for all?”

These two plays, like everything in this festival, offer an interesting glimpse into the Wellman world. He plays with the convention of theater. He gets angry at the darkness of the human race. He confuses and challenges his audience. For a taste of this unique (and possibly acquired) taste, these two eccentric offerings are sure to both confound and entertain. Put your fez on and really think about what the messenger is saying. We had differing thoughts about meanings and definitely did not understand everything. Maybe that’s the why they call these catastrophes perfect.

The Fez and The Sandalwood Box, part of the five play festival Mac Wellman: Perfect Castastrophes, is running through November 1, 2019. Only have time to try one? Definitely try The Invention of Tragedy, my personal favorite, followed by Sincerity Forever.

www.theflea.org

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About This Reviewer - October 3, 2019October 3, 2019

(A)loft Modulation

“If you want to know what’s wrong with this country, go ask a jazz musician.” Jaymes Jorsling’s new play (A)loft Modulation is a lot like jazz. Some sections are scintillating, magical and transporting while others are elongated and incongruous. Patience, however, will reward those who travel this path. A fascinating time capsule view into a vivid and complicated world of artists, dreams, demons and drugs awaits.

In 1955, W. Eugene Smith, a celebrated photographer quit his job “when Life Magazine was practically the internet.” He left his family and moved into a dilapidated loft in Manhattan’s extremely seedy flower district. Smith was in search of himself, his vision and his art. Hall Overton, a Julliard teacher, was his neighbor. Their adjoining lofts were the late night haunts of famous musicians (Sonny Rollins, Theolonious Monk), painters (Salvador Dali) and other colorful characters.

Between 1957 and 1965, Smith took 40,000 pictures of life in the loft. He also wired the entire building as a recording studio and made 4,500 hours of audiotape. Music, conversations and cats having sex. A writer named Sam Stephenson researched all of this material for thirteen years. He wrote an extraordinarily well-received book called The Jazz Loft Project in 2009. Jaymes Jorsling’s play is inspired by this extensively documented slice of artistic New York life near the end of the heyday of jazz.

The character of Myth Williams is the Smith person from history. His need for art is intense and raw. The driving force? “I want to matter!” His loft has no door and is filled with cameras, pictures, booze and drugs. Upstairs, the Julliard pianist Way Tonniver is composing and jamming late into the night. Reggie Sweets is the brilliant drummer who everyone cannot praise enough.

One of the richest veins found in this play is Reggie’s mind. When things are good, “it’s all a percussive orchestra.” When he sees “the Picassos,” however, the pain hurts and his music suffers. Myth asks who the Picassos are? They are the “eyes of people not giving me 100%… in backs of heads… from sides of their necks… judging eyes, sprouting from everywhere…like fungus.”

Reggie turns to drink and drugs, as do many who frequent this loft. Skyler is the prostitute who Myth befriends. Chip is a junkie. This world is alive with creativity, angst, self medication, joy and hardship. The Cuban missile crisis and the assassination of JFK weave into this messy fabric. In between scenes, improvisational jazz is played. Directed by Christopher McElroen, the mood setting of the period feels right.

(A)loft Modulation also takes place in 2019. Like the original researcher, the character of Steve Samuels (Kevin Cristaldi) discovers this treasure trove of images and piles of unlabeled audiotapes. His intensive perusal through these artifacts becomes our journey. Time shifts back and forth. There is a moment late in the play when Steve listens in on the early days. After all of the drama already endured, it was jolting to see the inhabitants returned to vibrancy and possibility. The last line was quietly heartbreaking and utterly perfect.

This play does need some editing. The scenes which are least effective are between Steve and his wife (Julia Watt). She’s in real estate and introduced Steve to this forgotten museum. His passion and drive to be consumed by something resonates strongly. As someone driven by a passion for theater and writing after decades within the business world, I related to his desire to be immersed and energized by something non-linear and personally mesmerizing. The simplistic bickering between the two, however, added little to the significant depths and themes of the overall story.

As piano player Tonniver, Eric T. Miller may have been beamed in from the era. His physicality and presence were astonishingly real. Why can some artists frequent this loft and yet not be consumed by their darkest impulses? Mr. Miller’s performance as someone straddling the creative and pragmatic nicely hinted at a possible answer to that question.

PJ Sosko plays Myth Williams and is completely believable in the role. I love that I did not like him even though I do admire tenacity. As portrayed by the excellent Elisha Lawson, Reggie was the most contrasted individual with the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Even the grifter Chip (nicely embodied by Spencer Hamp) devolved as time progressed.

Humor is often employed by these individuals. They seemed to enjoy each other, their collective dreams and quests for excitement despite the obvious potential for destruction and chaos. Horn player Charlie Hudson III (Sleepy Lou Butler, terrific) may be the character who most helps us see the fun in this loft. The female roles were tougher to swallow. Christina Toth’s Skyler did not seem like a drug-addled prostitute from the period but she was effective in her relationship chemistry.

All of the action occurs on a memorable multi-level set design by Troy Hourie. The building is presented as a cross-section with every room wide open for observation and study. A large scale diorama with sound and movement ingeniously captures then and now (lighting by Becky Hiesler McCarthy).

This story is for those people interested in New York history, the creative mind, a willingness to pursue life unfettered by societal norms and the fragility of the human spirit. (A film would not surprise me at all.) As a play, A(loft) Modulation is a bit too slow and measured. The vast amount of thought which came to me afterward nevertheless makes this production worthwhile. Here’s an opportunity to listen to ghosts and consider the meaning of life and art. That does not happen everyday.

A(loft) Modulation is presented by the american vicarious at Alliance of Resident Theatre/New York (A.R.T) and is scheduled to run through October 27, 2019.

www.art-newyork.org/theatres

www.theamericanvicarious.org

About This Reviewer - October 2, 2019

Freestyle Love Supreme

In 2002, Freestyle Love Supreme was created by the Tony winning team which would eventually soar into the theatrical stratosphere with Hamilton (2015). Composer Lin-Manuel Miranda was also awarded a Pulitzer Prize for that effort. Thomas Kail has directed four Broadway shows and the recent (and superb) Fosse/Verdon on television. These two co-created this show with Anthony Veneziale. What were these future geniuses up to after their fortuitous meeting at Wesleyan University?

Freestyle Love Supreme was presented by the then much smaller arts incubator Ars Nova back in 2005. With the gazillions being raked in every week by Hamilton and a film of Mr. Miranda’s first Broadway musical In The Heights on the way, this show was revived off-Broadway earlier this year. A successful run prompted an uptown transfer to the relative intimate Booth Theater.

This incarnation is my first encounter with the piece. When I left the theater, I felt that I had been awash in a sea of positive joo joo. There is a noticeable sense of community between the audience and the performers. Without question there is some good-natured ribbing (“life as a white guy on the upper east side”). There is also a “we did it!” spirit as this little engine that could finally emerges into the grand spotlight.

The show is described as a “freestyle, hip-hop, improvisational, never-before-seen comedy ride.” When it begins, the players are introduced with labels such as microphone one and two. They ask the audience for verb ideas. In the performance I attended, run, gesticulate, impeach and vomit joined a litany of audience inputs. From that, a hip-hop musical number is made up on the spot.

Kaila Mullady AKA Kaiser Rözé is the 2015 and 2018 World Beatbox Champion. She is phenomenal throughout and impressively delivers the vocally impossible. Our main storytellers are Utkarsh Ambudkar AKA UTK the INC., Andrew Bancroft AKA Jelly Donut and Aneesa Folds AKA Young Nees. All of them are talented, funny and surprisingly adept at conveying delightfully warm and heartfelt reminiscences.

Mr. Bancroft (or should I say Mr. Donut) is the emcee of this freewheeling (and obviously structured) enterprise and his level of infectiousness is very high. When we move onto “things you hate,” the expected shout outs for Trump and Mitch McConnell are of course hurled at the stage. They were followed by the New England Patriots and guns. Things started to get interesting when flip flops and humidity were added into the mix. Those provided some of the best material (and belly laughs) of the evening.

The spoken performers were joined onstage by musicians Arthur Lewis AKA Arthur the Geniuses and guest artist on keys Ian Weinberger AKA Berger Time. They added to the merriment, riffed with the cast and noticeably celebrated humorous high points. Guests are and will be a regular part of this show. I attended a Monday night performance at 10:00 pm. Lin-Manuel Miranda joined Freestyle Love Supreme at the earlier 7:00 pm show. Lest we feel cheated, Mr. Donut killed in his impersonation and the audience convulsed with laughter.

Our guest that evening was introduced as a relative newbie to the troupe. Ashley Pérez Flanagan AKA Reina Fire was the centerpiece of the finest segment. The Muppets were chosen as the main topic for the things we love portion of the show. The riffing on those puppets were indeed funny but also veered into the intimately nostalgic. Tales of childhood. A show which could appeal to adults as well.

Perhaps that is the essence of Freestyle Love Supreme. A clever wink at our amusing differences and quirks laced with a knowing lampoon of our crazy world. Add in a major dash of quick intellect and a refreshing nod of sentimentality and sweetness.

I enjoyed Freestyle Love Supreme from start to finish. Ticket prices, however, range from $59 to $199. I’m not convinced the upper end of that scale is a reasonable value proposition. The show is only eighty minutes long. If you can snag a reasonably priced seat, however, there is a lot of smiling and good vibes to be had.

www.freestylelovesupreme.com

theaterreviewsfrommyseat/hamilton/chicago

About This Reviewer - September 27, 2019October 6, 2019

Podcast Episode 23

Podcast Episode 23 is now live. Pick your favorite service through these links: iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify or by clicking the Buzzsprout link below.

This month’s episode is packed full of Off and Off-Off Broadway gems including a play from Scotland about kids on a playground, another which mourns the passing of St. Vincent’s Hospital in Greenwich Village, three pieces staged at the Theater For the New City and three plays from the Flea Theater’s festival called Mac Wellman: Perfect Catastrophes. If you’ve got a strained relationship with your parents – or America – or both, this is the episode for you!

The mission of theaterreviewsfrommyseat is to record my experiences without plot spoilers in order to share my passion for live theater. I hope to inspire you to see a play, musical or theater company you may not have known about. Free email subscriptions for newly published reviews are available at www.theaterreviewsfrommyseat.com.

I hope you enjoy the September 2019 Podcast. Comments and suggestions are always welcome. Please send any thoughts to this email: theaterreviewsfrommyseat@comcast.net.

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