Tag: Performance

“I’m old enough to remember Jim Crow.  It may have been waning but it had a heartbeat.  So during Obama it was hard to see it coming back.”  A 2019 descendant from slavery begins and ends the journey through The Black History Museum… According to the United States of America.  This immersive and interactive piece honors “the lives of ancestors stolen from Africa” on the 400th anniversary of American slavery.

Conceived and directed by Zoey Martinson from Smoke & Mirrors Collaborative, this museum tour is an expansive review of and commentary on black history through the use of powerful words, expressive dance, biting satire and historical objects.  Visitors will tour through rooms and hallways of HERE’s entire downtown space.  What makes this material even more compelling and fresh are the questions it directly and indirectly asks.  None more powerful than “what would you say when you found out you were not human?”

After a farcical reenactment of some of the Founding Fathers codifying white privilege into the constitution, the historical tour commences.  A hallway with portholes leads the viewer into a wooden pen.  The joy of freedom is celebrated through dance and video (choreography by Francesca Harper).  The horrors of captivity then flood the screens and change the dancers forever.  The Founding  Fathers are observant and silent.  This beginning is powerful, uncomfortable and very effective.

A recording is played as the audience gathers in the lobby before the performance begins.  “What is black?” is the question asked to multiple individuals.  The replies are thoughtful and personal observations.  Combining a broad outline of black history with insightful details enriches the storytelling from history lesson to emotional interpersonal journey.  Everyone in the room regardless of race faces this truth in their own way.  The piece can seem angry, exhausting, goofy, heartbreaking, heartwarming and cleverly stylized.  Ambitious and a little unfocused at times, there is a ton of intellectual stimulation to absorb.

The surprises continue as you walk through this museum.  People were visibly straining through two hours of standing.  That discomfort is surely intentional.  I believe the middle section where there is time to wander through some exhibits should probably be shortened.  Breathable air in the basement space was less than desirable.

The charms contained in this section, however, enlighten and enrage.  A shrine to Bayard Rustin, the civil rights leader who was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama.  Written communication between people such as a father’s 1914 letter to his daughter.  The recurring themes of individuality and connectivity to ancestral bonds is harshly projected against the overt racism of the questionably believable American Dream.

A poster from a Darryl Zanuck film Pinky! caught my attention.  The tagline was “…She passed for white!”  The second most popular movie of 1949, it was nominated for three acting Oscars including one for Ethel Waters.  Marshall, a city in Texas, banned the film.  The depiction of a white man retaining his love for a woman after he knew she was Negro was too much to bear.  In a segregated theater where blacks watched movies from the balcony, the owner showed the film and was fined.  Joseph Burstyn, Inc. vs. Wilson became the landmark free speech case whereby the Supreme Court gave movies first amendment protection.

Finding these gems of history (and researching their import afterwards) adds a museum-like authenticity to the performed scenes of dark humor and guttural outrage.  I jotted down a note when I saw sheet music for a Bert Williams’ song entitled, “The Phrenologist’s Coon,” written in 1901.  Here’s a sample lyric: “Now by us scientists ’tis often said/If a coon has an egg-shaped head/Means chickens he will steal.”  Another well chosen artifact to help illuminate the countless and deliberate debasements of a race of people in a country whose formation is a legacy of genocide.

The Black History Museum, like many works of art, requires its audience to put some of themselves into the piece.  This production is meant to be experienced.  In my head, I heard my relatives.  When a black woman would be performing on television when I was a child, they sometimes referred to her singing as “coon shouting.”  That memory came flooding back.  Like all worthwhile pursuits, it takes effort to make up one’s own mind between right and wrong when indoctrinated with the often misguided teachings of parents, governments and religious organizations.

Near the end of this play, there is a short section which asks the question, “Did You Know?”  Significant and hardly known accomplishments of black citizens throughout American history are recounted.  The point being made is critical and on target.  How much black history is being taught in schools and in history books told through the lens of the white perspective?

The problems continue today.  The permanent prison class which has been created “to legalize slavery” grows and grows with the overt support of both Republican and Democratic Presidents since the Civil Rights Act.  Ms. Martinson, along with her co-writers Kareem M. Lucas, Jonathan Braylock and Robert King, can hit hard and it stings.

So many people were horrified by the confederate marches in Charlottesville.  The movement has definitely been reignited with the election of Donald Trump.  The Supreme Court is rolling back voting rights.  Dark skinned immigrants are the current target but who knows who’s next on the list of the righteous.  Imagine being a child born here on a family tree containing centuries of slavery.  Imagine her seeing white men carrying flags and torches which can only mean a desire to return to that period.

The Black History Museum makes you listen to a black perspective.  The scope is overwhelming and intimate at the same time.  If you plan to attend this slightly uneven and ultimately rewarding piece of theater, wear very comfortable shoes.  Dress with the knowledge that the rooms can be very warm (coat check is provided).  So many thoughts went through my head during and afterward.  That’s the sign of a successful trip to a museum.

The Black History Museum is presented by HERE and Smoke & Mirrors Collaborative through November 24, 2019.

www.here.org

www.smokemirrors.org

Arriving at New York University’s Skirball Center, I was handed two green cards.  The Oedipus card contained this quote from Sophocles:  “How dreadful the knowledge of the truth can be when there’s no help in truth.”  Heading down the stairs into the waiting lobby, the walls were adorned with information about the Greeks and current headlines about various disasters.  So begins the site-specific experience appropriately titled Bad News! i was there…

Eight actors begin this piece on the stairs above the crowd.  They introduce the players of Athens.  We hear “no greatness comes without disaster.”  Audience guides who double as the chorus split the groups by color.  There are four separate areas where messengers from classical drama share shocking stories from the ancient world.  The famous tales of madness, murder, warfare and infanticide are performed from the works of Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles, Racine and Brecht.

The monologues are spoken and sung in English with a handful of other languages thrown in occasionally.  Presumably this is meant to underscore the universal nature of the human condition.  In certain sections, there is a contemporary feel rather than a more traditional, classical presentation.  When it is announced that “Orestes is dead,” the next line is “fake news.”  That is followed by misinformation about one of our current presidential candidates.  “AOC opposes daylight savings time because it hastens climate change.”

From each double monologue, the group is escorted to the next location with song.  Mine was “Paris, Priam, Hector, Hecuba.”  It will be days before that melody leaves my head.  All of this bad news is punctuated with “I was there and I will tell you everything.”  Creator and Director JoAnne Akalaitis is drawing parallels between these horrific histories to our current obsession with first person narration of bad news.

My last group section was Medea and Thyestes which hilariously began with Jenny Ikeda holding something which could easily represent a book report.  She mischieviously looks up at us and promises “Medea – the high points.”  When you hear the line “passion is stronger than reason” it is up to each person to interpret the connection to current events.

In the final part, all of the audience comes together to see citizens waiting for the return of their men from war.  “Never in the history of the world did so many men die on the same day.”  Fake news now!  The human race has certainly bettered the death count in modern times.

Bad News! i was there… is more interesting than successful as a piece of theater.  The group transitions were slightly bumbling.  Companies like Third Rail Projects have memorably orchestrated how intriguing and mystical those movements can be as part of an entire experience.  All of the individual performances were good, however.  It was certainly curious hearing other stories simultaneously occurring in the background while listening to the section you were in.  Therein lies the problem; a lack of focus.  Perhaps that is a commentary on modern times as well.

www.nyuskirball.org

La Mama Experimental Theatre Club has programmed a month-long series called the Stonewall 50 celebration.  Coinciding with this month’s World Pride event, 13 Fruitcakes arrives with a few instructive sentences about New York in 1964 when the World’s Fair was opening.  The mayor orders the city’s social pariahs off the streets including the homeless, druggies, prostitutes and homosexuals.  That’s a far cry from rainbow windows at Nordstrom’s in midtown today.  Halleloo!

From this ominous opening, video projections wind backward through time until 6th Century BCE.  The first of the vignettes is the story of Harmodius and Aristogeiton.  These two male lovers became known as the Tyrannicides, the preeminent symbol of democracy to ancient Athenians.  (Wouldn’t it be fun if Tyrannicides was the word origin for “tranny”?)  These men assassinated the authoritarian tyrant.  With minimal storytelling (projected sentences), each scene incorporates a sung poem from a gay author set to an original score.  For this first vignette, they used Walt Whitman’s We Two Boys Clinging Together.

The story of Dong Xian in the 1st Century BCE follows.  He was a Han Dynasty politician who quickly gained fame and power, rising to be the most powerful official in Emperor Ai’s administration.  Both were married but the two men had a sexual relationship.  King Hyegong of Korea’s Silla kingdom in the 8th Century was murdered because he was effeminate.  Historians describe him as a man by appearance but a woman by nature.

Byungkoo Ahn wrote and directed this production featuring the Singing Actors Repertory from South Korea.  The beautiful and intricate song cycle was composed by Gihieh Lee.  The poem’s words were always projected to allow their meaning to be clear whether or not sung in English.  The style was frequently operatic and deeply emotional.  The singing by the accomplished cast was excellent as was the choreographed movement and silent acting.

The show travels through history presenting artistic vignettes of major “fruitcakes” from history.  Serious, somber and occasionally playful and silly, the show incorporates music, dance, costumes and drama with a major Korean drag artist as a Mistress of Ceremonies named Orlando.  More Zimin lip synchs her songs which are performed live by the gloriously big voiced Jayoung Jeong.  Along the way, the show covers Leonardo da Vinci, Tchaikovski and Eleanor Roosevelt seen in many, many photos kissing women.

One particular story is told with simplistic and heartbreaking poignancy.  Alice B. Toklas lived with Gertrude Stein for 38 years.  Ms. Stein was an avid art collector of works by her friends and had assembled a treasure trove of paintings.  When she died, Ms. Toklas had no legal standing as the women were not married.  She died in penury.  The projection first showed an empty room, then chairs, then the women and finally the whole room was filled in with paintings adorning the walls.  A visual representation of an unfair society powerfully told through a single photograph.

The sad, horrifically unjust tale of Alan Turing is another slice of fruitcake.  It remains unfathomable that the man who was pivotal in decoding Nazi communications for the Allies and saving millions of lives would be sentenced to chemical castration for his homosexuality.  Twenty years later British sex farces with transvestites would be considered great fun in the West End.

Using a little comedy to lighten up the proceedings was welcome in the section about Hans Christian Andersen.  His love letters to Edvard Collin survive but Mr. Collin married and was not gay.  Scholars believe Andersen’s The Little Mermaid, written at the same time as the communication between these two men, is reflective of his personal story of loss.  Oscar Wilde’s Wasted Days provides the poem to accompany this piece.  A wedding ceremony is staged where three groomsmen hilariously horse around with dildos.  This is partially a drag show after all.

Much of the pacing in 13 Fruitcakes is very slow with transitions that could be shortened.  All of this blooming artistry is accompanied by Los Angeles Laptop Collective who, dressed as nerdish angels, add layers of electronica noises throughout the show.  It’s jarring and different than anything on the stage.  The effect seemed to be a different generation looking back in time from the perspective of today.  That remains important and added an interesting element.

Dripping with style and grace (and, of course, a fabulous headdress), More Zimin ends the show with a climatic peak.  The whole cast is singing and she saunters offstage returning with chains carried overhead only to throw them to the ground.  The cast sings “we must go through yet we do not know who called or what marks we shall leave upon the snow.”

There is only one weekend to see this experimental work of art in the midst of a historical pride month from an overseas company who brought their singular vision.  Patient theatergoers will be rewarded with a celebration of some of the best fruitcakes ever tasted.

www.lamama.org

Flesh Mob is a performance collective which created this interdisciplinary dance-theater work about sexual education.  From their website:  “sex is funny, stupid, gross, elevated and base, and we’ll never stop being titillated or uncomfortable about it.”  MISEDUCATED: an oral history of sexual (mis)education is based on interviews they conducted.  The performance is a combination of documentary theater, movement, humor, nudity and live music.

The show started awkwardly which, given the subject matter, is likely intentional.  Co-creator Ben Gorodetsky banters with the audience about youthful experiences learning about sex or misconceptions at the time.  With his Russian background, he debunks his own notion that “sex isn’t drinking pee out of a condom in a Soviet way.”  (The story is very funny.)  He opens up the floor and asks for audience participation.

Eventually the lights dim and a staged work begins.  In multiple scenes, movement akin to modern dance is utilized both to celebrate sexuality and also consider its awkwardness and its variety.  A dance with Mr. Gorodetsky and his co-creators Peekaboo Pointe and Hilary Preston begins in unison.  Their movements are aligned.  As the dance progresses, they go out of synch and then back again.  The idea of this choreography seems to be the physical manifestation of one’s sexual exploration which morphs and evolves over time.

Chanan Ben Simon composed exceptional original music for MISEDUCATED which elevates the performer’s movements.  Quotes and story are often layered over the score and electronically repeated.  When the lighting was perfect, the audio and visual components really showcased what these artists were trying to accomplish.

There are many serious moments in this piece.  A Greek woman recalls her abstinence class which required her to sign a pledge card.  Two especially poignant voice-overs dealt with embarrassment suffered from having a period and a young man’s trying to pray his gay away.  As archaic as this sounds to many, many people, religion’s antidote for the “devil’s temptation” is “just don’t have sex.”

Not every minute of this well-conceived blast of creativity was as effectively realized.  The idea of sharing quotes from interviews was certainly interesting, even if many felt commonplace and obvious.  Being shared from notes while the performers slow tumbled down the stairs was overlong.  This part was neither visually as strong as the other sections and the words were too quickly tossed aside.

Early on, when MISEDUCATED begins to probe the unfortunate traps of something so very natural to human beings, a strip tease occurs.  In this moment, the giddiness of youthful exploration of the body of the opposite sex is endearingly portrayed.  It seemed so very natural and in direct counterpoint to the shame so often hurled at the young.

Flesh Mob attempted “to braid together the threads of absurdity, hilarity, awkwardness, shame and trauma, implicating ourselves, our community and the audience in the process.” Mission accomplished.  The idea for this piece is clearly provocative and the execution was nicely constructed.  Maintaining the best parts while tightening the interview storytelling might make this creative endeavor soar to orgasmic levels of entertaining performance art.

www.thetanknyc.org

www.fleshmobnyc.com

An exceptionally creative set design is on display at the Abrons Art Center.  Entering the theater for TILT, a large wooden pinball machine has been built.  A multi-piece, theater length wooden track zigzags overhead.  At the start of this show, a ball will travel on that track high above the audience, making its way to the machine.  The ball return!

The program notes that a typical pinball game gives the player three balls.  In Cervantes’ Don Quixote, the hero goes on three “sallies” or journeys from home.  Tilt uses that framework to present what it calls “a visceral experience of a delusional brain.”

A pair of legs appears to be playing the pinball machine.  We only see the bottom half of a person tap dancing.  A side cabinet opens and piles of wood fall out.  Wood is the medium by which this story will be told.  Fans of woodworking and puzzles will be enchanted by the creative combinations assembled.  Naturally you expect a windmill.  How and when will it come together?

The bells and dings make you feel like you are inside a pinball machine.  I saw images that suggested bumpers and flippers.  Movement is always swirling and spinning to put the wooden components together artistically.  Music underscores the dance-like performance.  By the time the third part (third ball, third sally) occurs, you can understand use of the term “multiball.”

As a show, TILT feels too long and is very slow moving.  The pacing appears to be deliberate though.  Sometimes the assemblage takes more time than is advisable to hold our interest.  It starts to feel repetitive.  More tapping, more spinning and more music with a feeling of a storyline lightly threading through.

The creation of this show and its delightful set and props must have been great fun.  Leaving the theater, we remarked that we would love to see a play or musical performed using this memorable aesthetic.  This level of creativity certainly deserves a “high score.”

www.abronsartcenter.org

Are five holiday shows in one season too many?  No!  For my final dive into the seemingly inexhaustible choices of merrymaking (aka moneymaking) in December, I popped into the Laurie Beechman Theatre to catch Alaska & Handsome Jeremy:  Christmas in Space!  The year is 2368 and we are aboard the USS Thunderfun.  Alaska and her piano playing sidekick Jeremy are currently obsessed with the year 2018.  Isn’t it amazing how the spaceship has so realistically recreated the look of a basement nightclub from that particular era?

I’ve seen a few of Alaska’s shows at this venue.  Including this one, all of them are hilarious fun.  There’s singing, of course.  There are jokes aplenty.  There’s a cinched waist, naturally (or not).  There’s a semblance of plot to hold the hour long show together (and allow for a costume change).  And, most critically, there’s Alaska.  Maybe in 2368, there will be a universe where someone this talented will repeatedly be invited to appear on the nighttime talk shows to entertain us with their wit and style.  Until then, we’ll have to take our most welcome doses in intimate basement locations with cocktails and like minded revelers.

Unlike many drag acts, this performer does not rely too heavily on risqué or blue material to keep us laughing.  The physicality, timing and vocal expressiveness are the focus here.  Her persona is unique, a combination of ditzy and subversive, served with a generous wink.  In a 2013 interview, she cited Divine and Marilyn Monroe as role models as “they’re both blonde, beautiful and dead.”  As an homage to Star Trek for this show, Alaska’s ears were bedazzled with crystals which gave the impression of Dr. Spock having boldly encountered a hot glue gun.  The spaceship we are travelling in does have an energy crisis and we almost die.  Thankfully, Alaska saves the day and we all survive to see her next riotous outing.

Is Christmas in Space! a holiday show?  Well, it ran for a week in December so I guess that counts.  Alaska and Jeremy are worth your time if this type of frivolity suits your tastes.   All four of us remarked that everything going on in our heads when we arrived – work, traffic, general holiday busyness – had vanished by the time this show ended.  Instead we were universally entertained in the best possible way.  That’s undeniable Christmas magic and a present I’d like to receive no matter what the century in whatever galaxy.

www.westbankcafe.com/laurie-beechman-theatre

As an adjective, spectacular is defined as beautiful in a dramatic and eye-catching way.  As a noun, spectacular is defined as an event such as a pageant or musical produced on a large scale with striking effects.  The Radio City Christmas Spectacular began in 1933.  Can it really still be spectacular?  Without question, the answer is yes.

The family of four sitting in front of me was probably indicative of the typical reaction one could have at this show.  The father was just sitting there unreactive (or maybe bored).  The mother was preoccupied filming as much as she could on her phone.  Her daughter was bouncing around in and out of her seat not paying attention but waving some sort of wand and seemingly content.  Their son, however, was enraptured by the whole experience.  His joy never faded as fantastic number after fantastic number flowed from this historic stage.  I identified with the kid.  The only word to describe this show is spectacular.

Directed and choreographed by Julie Branam, the ninety minutes fly by.  The Rockettes are simply phenomenal.  You expect high kicking and you get that with subtle variations that are interesting and, of course, precise.  Their costumes are holiday sparkle magic.  There is a small storyline which emerges amidst the pageantry that is cute but doesn’t get in the way of fun.  The result is a Santa number that is eye-fillingly superb.

What’s the best part of this spectacle?  The large orchestra which pops up from the depths every once in a while?  The Christmas in New York section which reminds you how lucky you are to live in or visit this amazing city?  The ice skaters who perform spinning lifts?  The Parade of the Wooden Soldiers routine, essentially unchanged since the inception of this show?  I cannot decide.

I will, however make three observations.  First, I have seen this show before and thought it a pleasant diversion.  I had felt the nativity scene went on too long and the live animals were overkill.  Mercifully the scene is now reasonably short and visually arresting.  Second, the  projections and digital content (Sam Buntrock) immersed the entire music hall with imagery that demanded my attention so I had to take my eyes off the stage in appreciation.  The finale seemed like a prelude to the future of this show – traditional spectacle with new technology flourishes. 

My third and perhaps most important observation is about the cast.  I attended a performance on a Monday morning at 11:00.  There are many performances every day.  The show came across as remarkably fresh.  Every face was engaged in delivering the promise of a title that includes the word spectacular.  I made a point to look hard and I never found anyone phoning in their performance.  This is not a cheap entertainment.  Isn’t is wonderful that the Radio City Christmas Spectacular is appropriately named and worth every penny?  I’m not someone who could sit through this show year after year.  I am, however, someone whose holiday season was made a little more sparkly for having invested the time to watch the Rockettes kick ass.  Just give in and go.  It’s delightful from start to finish.

www.rockettes.com/christmas

Admittedly feeling a little “witchy” that evening, Taylor Mac’s Holiday Sauce begins metaphorically by throwing some things into a cauldron.  E coli from romaine lettuce was tossed in.  Then the zinger follows and it’s classic Taylor Mac.  judy (his preferred gender pronoun) marvels at how four people died from e coli and, within 24 hours, all the supermarkets across America were cleared of this menace to human life.  Thousands die from guns each year but nothing happens.  That’s all thrown into the cauldron (mixed with a few other choice targets) hoping to make something good.  Judy succeeds.

This particular show skewers Christmas as only a politically charged, emotionally communicative and wildly talented drag performer can do.  On the raunchy side, there’s the never-to-be-forgotten sing-a-long version of “O Holy Night.”  In a Bollywood-esque variant, Mr. Mac aggressively sings about “tidings of comfort and joy” from “God Rest Ye, Merry Gentleman.”  This version is angry.  There are a lot of bad memories from his youth related to Christmas and religion in general.  His grandparents stopped inviting him when it became apparent he was gay.

Similar to his monumental A 24-Decade History of Popular Music, this show puts a glitter microscope on the heteronormative narrative of America and religion as a  patriarchal fable.  Holiday Sauce is very funny, musically accomplished and often silly but there are chestnuts of wisdom here and there to give the evening some real depth.  A song began “Six o’clock in the morning / I feel pretty good…”  The tempo was different and I could not place the lyrics but knew them.  At the refrain “I’m flying in Winchester Cathedral / Sunlight pouring through the break of day,” I had a little Christmas joy remembering this great Crosby, Stills & Nash song I had long forgotten.  The words still have bite forty years later, presented here as an anthem:  “Open up the gates of the church and let me out of here! / Too many people have lied in the name of Christ / For anyone to heed the call / So many people have died in the name of Christ / That I can’t believe it all.”

Taylor Mac’s Holiday Sauce is dedicated to his drag mother, Flawless Sabrina, who passed away last fall.  In the true meaning of Christmas, he recounts her wisdom and the love of family found.  Flawless Sabrina, I later learned, was a pioneering drag artist in the 1960’s and toured the country hosting drag beauty pageants.  The Queen was a documentary about the Miss All-America Camp Beauty Contest filmed in 1967 and presented at the Cannes Film Festival.  Drag is now a much bigger business and RuPaul’s pile of Emmy Awards is proof of its more mainstream appeal (at least in big, open hearted cities).

What else to add?  Oh, the costumes!  There are not many of them but they’ve been created with a dash of the divine by Machine Dazzle.  One particular outfit must be described as Sally Field “Sister Bertrille” couture with her signature headpiece populated with a mini-forest of snowy evergreen trees.  This show has lots of moods not unlike the holidays that it hates and adores.  I left the theater understanding why “Cathedral” was part of the show.  “I’m flying in Winchester Cathedral / it’s hard enough to drink the wine / The air just hangs in delusion / but given time / I’ll be fine.”  judy is indeed fine.  I’d add that Mr. Mac is very merry as well.  This particular Holiday Sauce is clearly not for everyone.  As our host reminds us, there’s always the exit.  That’s the definition of a free country.

Taylor Mac’s new play, Gary:  A Sequel to Titus Andronicus, opens on Broadway this spring.

www.taylormac.org

theaterreviewsfrommyseat/a24decadehistoryofpopularmusicpartI

theaterreviewsfrommyseat/a24decadehistoryofpopularmusicpartII