Thoughts on some Off-(and Off-Off) Broadway plays

 Somehow, even though I'm a bit cash poor, this became a three show week.  Of course, perhaps this is why I'm cash poor.  Moving on.  Also, I am TIRED.  Tonight is my second go-round at Horton Foote's The Old Friends (a friend of a friend gave me a ticket), so I know I'll enjoy myself there.  Tuesday night, I saw a dear friend in a piece he'd been telling me about for quite a while, and last night I went to the second preview of Donald Margulies' The Model Apartment at 59E59.  I'll just offer some thoughts, since I'm TIRED and also because of my 'little to no perspective' thing.

When my dear friend described his dear friend Johnna Adams' play Lickspittles, Buttonholers and Damned Pernicious Go-Betweens to me, I thought it sounded delightful.  Then, when he got cast in the Boomerang Theatre Company's production of it, I knew I must go.  Lickspittles is an audacious comedy with surprising layers.  One conceit of the play is that different characters speak in different poetic forms throughout.  The lead characters, also known as the butt-kisser, blowhard and, uh, go-between, speak in Alexandrine rhyming couplets.  Another character speaks in sestinas, another in sonnets (with an absolutely riotous staging device), plus there is haiku, limerick, free verse, and I'm sure other forms I'm forgetting.  I was tremendously impressed with the writing, how all these language forms and plot machinations were kept aloft. I mean, this is some of the boldest writing I've heard in years.  I thought the cast was first-rate (and if I preferred the men to the women, I'm sure it's more that I love my dear friend so much, his co-horts just caught my fancy more) and the direction was quite good.  The costumes were terrific, and the sound design was also very good.  I will admit that I thought the play was a little long at two hours, twenty minutes, though my extreme tiredness may have had something to do with that.  I also admit that my extreme tiredness may have contributed to my being a tad confused about all of the whirling machinations at certain points.  I just couldn't keep up.  But I definitely think that was me.  If you want to see an ingenious play, smart beyond belief, and a cast having a heck of a lot of fun, hie thee to Lickspittles, Buttonholers and Damned Pernicious Go-Betweens.  [I may have borrowed that production photo from the internet.  I may be disgruntled if forced to remove it, but will of course do so, if I must.]

Last night, I was fortunate to receive a ticket to the second preview of Donald Margulies' The Model Apartment, produced by Primary Stages at 59E59.  Since it's so early in the run, and they're still working, I'll only say a few things.  I've never seen this play before and it has been years since I read it, but I am, as a rule, a huge fan of Donald and his writing, so I went in predisposed to love it.  Actually, now that I think about it, I'll only say one thing:  this play completely devastated me.  In the best theatrical way.  I was a complete and utter mess by the end.  Somewhere, somehow, I was just profoundly moved by the visceral rage, pain, guilt, regret, love...everything.  There is so much in this 80-minute play, I can hardly describe it.  And I'm close to crying again as I try to.  Beginning as a bittersweet and tender comedy about a long-married couple who finally arrive in Florida to begin their retirement, the early scenes in no way prepared me for the vitriolic ride I would be taken on once their adult, mentally ill daughter arrives.  There is still humor and tenderness, but there's also discomfort and brutality.  I am in awe of Donald getting so much emotion on the page - in other hands, this subject matter and production could've gone so wrong very quickly.  But the team assembled is exceptional and already in wonderous shape for just a second preview.  I feel as if I want to go back later in the run to see how the show has tightened, but part of me wants to leave this powerful memory alone.  I don't know.   I'll have to think about it.  But, please, you should go see The Model Apartment.  It's so worth it.

 

Random observations about hair and Flea Markets

It is a very bad habit of mine, but I tend to wait WAY too long between haircuts.  One: I'm lazy.  Two: I'm usually broke, and my darling stylist charges WAY too much money.  Especially since he's not at a salon anymore.  Even though I love him, and he's been doing my hair for over ten years, I also really miss a salon - the shampooing, the pampering, the shampooing.  So, last weekend, I did the terrible thing I've been dreading.  I cheated on my stylist with a salon.  I feel so cheap.  Well, not cheap, exactly.  You can't really use the word 'cheap' when describing anything related to hairstyling in NYC...

 

Warning - this will probably be FAR too much information about my haircut.  :)  I did an internet search to find a nice salon near my apartment.  When I found one that had won a Time Out New York award, I thought that sounded fine.  I made an appointment online for last Saturday.  Late Friday night, they sent me a text to confirm the appointment.  Good thing I didn't go to bed very early on Friday.

 

After doing a little necessary pre-Flea Market shopping, I went Saturday to my appointment.  The salon was nice and airy, and I was happy to see I was neither the oldest customer there, nor was I the youngest.  It looked like a nice mix of neighborhood gals.  The stylists and the staff seemed very friendly.  I took a seat and waited a bit for my appointment.  The receptionist offered me many choices of beverage, but I decided to wait a bit.

 

I waited maybe fifteen minutes past my appointment time, but with today's smartphones, I kept myself occupied.  Finally, an attractive gentleman introduced himself, apologized for being late, and took me over to his station for a consultation.  After he told me his name, I realized the owner of the salon would be doing my hair.  Well, ok then.  We chatted for a few minutes, I told him what I thought I might want.  He said the shape of my current cut was fine, it just needed trimmed and perhaps texturized on top.  I agreed, so he sent me to be shampooed.

 

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, a salon shampoo.  There's nothing like it.  I just adore it.  And this gal was quite good, with a nice strong style and a bit of a head massage included.  Very nice.  She then took me back over to the station and began blowing my hair dry.  I thought that was a bit odd.  But I figured the owner/stylist liked hair to not be dripping wet.  But she continued to blow my hair dry, then she got out the brushes and begain styling my hair.  All of sudden I began to worry I had only made an appointment for a consultation and not a cut.  So I asked her, by using the international sign of turning my fingers into scissors, was I getting a cut, too?  She said, yes, he would be cutting my hair.  Whew.

 

I'm not really very chatty when I get my hair cut.  I like to chill out and just be quiet.  Also, since I don't have my glasses on, I can't see a thing, which makes me uncomfortable and also makes me hear less well.  I have no idea why, but it's true.  The owner/stylist, though, sat in a chair and brought my chair to his level.  While he trimmed my hair, he chatted away.  I tried to keep up my end of the conversation as best I could, and he was quite charming, but I was grateful when he stood up to do the rest of my hair, and he stopped chatting.  All of a sudden, he says, "you have much more hair than I thought.  I'll thin it out," and he proceeded to swipe the scissors, over and over, through the thickness of my  hair, along with trimming the length. 

  

All in all, I was probably in the salon 45 minutes.  When I put my glasses back on, my hair was a bit shorter than I expected, but it was much better than the out-of-control monstrosity I went in with.  When I went to pay up front, the bill was higher than the pricing on the website, because the owner had cut my hair.  Hmmmm.  So, I'm sorry to admit, I did not tip the owner.  I did a little internet research, and there's no consensus on that, so I do feel vaguely guilty.  But I did give the shampoo gal a larger tip than I usually give a shampoo gal, since she also blew my hair dry.  All told, I spent more than I had expected when I walked in, but still less than my dear longtime stylist charges.  So, in six or eight weeks, I'll have another dilemma - do I go back?  But I'll have to cross that bridge when it comes. 

 

Yesterday was the annual Broadway Cares Flea Market, and boy I wish I had also had my hair dyed when I got it cut!  So many photos, so much gray hair!  But I digress.  I just love the Flea Market - it's always such a fun day and, as always, I had a lot of great volunteers to help at our table.  Happily, the rain stayed away and we all had a good time.  Even though it was pretty windy in our area, it was mostly warm and a great day to be outside.  We sold lots of merchandise and our table was really busy all day, which isn't always the case.  Our celebrity book signers were both delightful and I think the people who stopped to meet them enjoyed themselves.  As always, the Halloween candy I put on our table was a big hit, and it was funny seeing the miscellaneous merchandise that Broadway Cares gave us to sell - Drowsy Chaperone luggage tags, Mary Poppins magnets, Spamalot compasses, Rent tattoos, Lion King mint tins (that had no mints in them) - and one of my wonderful volunteers brought funny swag from the movie company where he works.  All in all, we had an eclectic and fun mix of items.  There were a couple of crabbypants throughout the day - one guy told me I lost his business when I wouldn't let him start shopping AN HOUR AND A HALF BEFORE THE START OF THE FLEA MARKET.  Sigh.  And one guy just would not meet my price on an item.  I know it was a flea market, but still.  It's for charity.  Everything can't cost ten cents, especially a script signed by the author.  Hello. 

 

Considering most of the stuff we sell is priced at around $1, we did really well!  We didn't make as much money as last year, but oh well.  I also forgot to get a photo with all of my volunteers, especially a handsome chum who is always such a big help to me, but there's always next year.  I purchased more magnets for myself (last year, I got Free Man of Color, this year I got Macbeth and The Nance), and I also couldn't resist buying something from a young Newsies sales/paperboy.  He was pretty adorable.  Even though my feet were killing me last night and my back is really stiff today (standing for eight hours just isn't in my wheelhouse anymore), it was a great great day.  Thanks to everyone for all their help and support.   

 

LIVE UPDATE:  Yet another reason to love NYC?  As I type this, they're broadcasting opening night of Eugene Onegin at the Met on the big screen across from my office.  I'm listening to opera as I finish blogging (sorry it's a blurry photo, but you get the idea).  I really and truly love it here...

 

 

 

Review - stop.reset.

Last night, I went back to my home-away-from-home, Signature Theatre, to see my second subscription play: stop.reset., by Regina Taylor.  I've been a huge fan of Regina Taylor's acting over the years, but this is the first time I've seen a play that she's written (and directed, as it turns out).  The reason I selected this particular date was because there was a talkback scheduled after the performance.  I do love a talkback.

When you walk into the theater, the set is consumed with text - words are everywhere, on the walls, the set pieces, everywhere.  One wall is completely covered with books.  There are many interesting things to read and try to absorb, plus there's a call to tweet your opinions after the performance.  I enjoyed reading much of the material (I've even put a couple of the books on my reading list), plus I found the projections and video interesting and the sound design very evocative.  My seat neighbor kept getting confused by the sound and would stand up and look around to see where it was coming from. As always, the production photos are taken from the internet and my standard disclaimer applies (I think all these photos were taken by Joan Marcus).



stop.reset. is set in the offices of a Chicago publishing house, which specializes in African-American literature.  As each employee enters the office, you can see that they are tense about something.  We discover that today is the day one of them is going to be let go.  I found much of the office politics very compelling, though the fact that each employee was rather a stock character and didn't seem to have much more than surface-y things going on was a bit troubling.  Carl Lumbly plays the owner of the publishing house, and he is stuck between keeping the status quo and figuring out a way to move into the future.

The future is represented by the character J., who is first seen as a janitor in the office, but it's quickly apparently something else is going on with his character.  I started to think he was an avatar in a video game come to life, but I'm not quite sure that's what Taylor was going for.  stop.reset. is a play that takes a serious look at how ever-moving-forward technology is making current forms, like books, irrelevant.  It's an intriguing premise and one I think about a lot, to be honest.  I find new technologies interesting, but sometimes it feels as if they're taking over lives and making everything so impersonal.  I think that Taylor is trying to walk a path between finding the idea of losing ourselves to technology repellent, but yet finds it an interesting notion to consider if it makes the categorizations by race/gender/sexuality phase out of society with the impersonalization of everything.  Uh, does that even make sense?

I found the more concrete, interpersonal connections more compelling than the technological arguments, so maybe I'm the perfect test case for this play.  :)   Carl Lumbly, when he's rhapsodizing about books - their feel, their smell, their (seeming) permanence - is very moving.  Each of the employees, when they're trying to keep their jobs, make understandable mistakes and have situations that were familiar to me.  But I found the moving into more surreal territory imagining what we can do with technology a little harder to grasp. 

Ultimately, I think I just felt overwhelmed by everything that was happening in this play.  I felt as if there were too many topics being thrown at me (ageism, sexism, racism, technology, infinity), but maybe that's the point.  Maybe the future will just be information being thrown around and you glom onto what interests you.  I guess when I'm a captive audience, and I'm not doing the legwork for myself, I need a little more order.  But that could just be me.

The talkback afterwards was wonderful and very illuminating.  A few of the actors took questions from the audience and their answers were all very thoughtful and actually pretty helpful in untangling a very tangled (for me) play.  I do wish Regina Taylor had been able to be there too - I think it would've been so interesting to hear her thought process on some of the choices she made.  But one of the actors mentioned that he thought she perhaps intentionally wrote the play to be a bit ambiguous, for audiences to be able to take different things away with them.  That's admirable, but maybe there were just a few too many choices for my taste.  I was certainly interested throughout much of the play, but I'm just not sure what it added up to.

I was happy to see a very diverse audience, unlike when I was at NYTW last week, where nearly everyone in the audience looked a lot like me.  Which surprised me.  It was nice to see a more diverse crowd and a lot of people stayed for the talkback and actually asked some pointed questions.  Sometimes at these things, the first question you get is, how do you learn all those lines?!  I'm pleased to report no one asked that question.  Yet another thumbs up for Signature Theatre.  I'm already looking forward to my next trip there...

Review - Fall for Dance

As I'm sure you've noticed, I love dance.  When I got the e-mail reminder that City Center's Fall for Dance festival was starting soon, and that the Delacorte Theater would be hosting the first two evenings, I jumped onto my e-mail to enter the virtual ticket lottery.  I didn't win Monday's lottery, but I did win on Tuesday!  It's always such an uplifting thing to win a ticket lottery - at least I think so.  I found a wonderfully handsome guest and was on my way...

Both performances at the Delacorte featured the same program: The STREB Extreme Action Company, Ronald K. Brown/Evidence, New York City Ballet and the Paul Taylor Dance Company.  I am familiar with the last two and love them both, but had (sorry) never heard of the first two companies.  I was intrigued to see what they would present.  All of the photos of the dance companies are from the internet.  I'm happy to take them down if so asked.

First up was Human Fountain, presented by STREB Extreme Action Company.  According to the program, the company members are all highly trained in ballet, modern dance, martial arts, acrobatics and the circus arts.  Well, all of the that training was on full display in Human Fountain!  It was amazing, if, maybe, a tad too long.  Again from the program, "Inspired by the Bellagio Fountains in Las Vegas, Human Fountain takes place on a three-story, honeycomb structure that 20 dancers occupy and leap from to create ongoing cascades of airborne liquid muscle."  Actually, that describes the piece way better than I can.  It was aerodynamic, lyric and very exciting.  The shapes the bodies made, both on the structure and through the air/space, were incredible.  And at some points, they did create movement that looked like a fountain.  All of the performers had charm and talent to spare, and they kept coming up with ways to top themselves.  The audience kept gasping with excitement, especially when the performers leapt off the top rung, which was nearly 30 feet up, though I will admit that the piece became a little redundant by the end and maybe cutting a couple of minutes would really tighten things up.  But maybe I wanted it trimmed because I was cold and needed another sweater.  More on that later... ;)

 

They got that scaffolding down really quickly and set up a few musical instruments for the next piece, Upside Down, by Ronald K. Brown/Evidence.  This company is focused on combining traditional African dance and contemporary choreography.  I think this piece is a really good example of their focus - there was joy and exhiliaration in the group pieces and a lot of percussive movement.  The piece starts and ends with a funeral-like procession, and seems to flash back and forward on life and what happens afterwards.  There was a great mixture of celebration and loss.  The live singer, Wunmi Olaiya, was fantastic - she was performing music by Fela Kuti and Oumou Sangare, and the onstage drummers and DJ were also terrific.  I found this piece quite engaging and enjoyed seeing all the stage pictures, plus the exuberance of the dancers was wonderful.  I would definitely be interested in seeing more from this company.

 

After the intermission, New York City Ballet performed Red Angels, a piece I'd never seen before.  Choreographed by Ulysses Dove, with music by Richard Einhorn, the piece featured a live electric violinist, Mary Rowell.  Electric violin is always fun.  Red Angels is an abstract ballet for four dancers, and each dancer is shown both dancing for themselves and dancing for their partner.  There is a lot of strengh and beauty in the choreography.  It's not linear, but it's very dramatic and it was superbly performed by four incredible dancers.  Their movement was sharp and strong, yet still silky and seductive at the same time.  I didn't love the music, but I loved how the dancers occupied the space inside the music, if that makes sense.  I liked this piece very much.

 

The last, and my favorite, piece of the evening was Paul Taylor's Esplanade.  It was the perfect ending to the evening.  Set to Bach, Esplanade is fast and free, with so much emotion and spirit happening inside all of these seemingly everyday movements.  Watching the dancers run across the stage was so freeing and exciting to watch (though the gals behind me started laughing at it and left.  whatever.), and the relationships formed during the adagio sections were lovely.  There was one brief duet where the gal was dancing on top of her partner, who was lying on the stage.  It was beautiful and scary at the same time.  And then, in the last movement, as they jumped and threw themselves into each other's arms, and dived across the stage, it was like a call to the human spirit.  Be brave.  Jump right in.  I just loved it.  :)

 

I loved loved loved seeing this concert and I loved spending time with my handsome guest.  But, it was FREEZING last night!  Thankfully, I had taken with me not one, but two sweaters.  I wish I had taken a hat, gloves and a blanket, too.  It's amazing how cold you get on the first chilly night of autumn.  But it was a glorious night to watch such wonderful dancers in a gorgeous NY spot.  The moon was beautiful and the sky was clear.  Stunning.  I loved it and I hope the Delacorte hosts more dance concerts in the future.  I'll just know to bring a seat cushion and a thermos of hot chocolate next time...

A Day of Laughter, Love and Hope

I've stayed pretty close to quite a few of my undergrad pals - we went through a lot together, oh so many years ago, and since we all started using Facebook, it's been a wonderful way to reconnect and keep in touch.  When an undergrad friend posted that he'd be visiting New York last weekend, I tried to clear my calendar so I could see him and his dear partner.  When he later posted that he'd become engaged, I wondered if something was afoot...

And I was right, there WAS something afoot!  Last Thursday afternoon, I got a text asking, "Hey, do you want to come to a wedding?!"  WOULD I?!?!  How exciting!!  I haven't been to a wedding in quite awhile - in fact, I think the last wedding I attended was another undergrad pal's happy day.  Hmmmmm.  :)

At first, I was worried.  I mean, a gay wedding should be a classy affair, right?  And this was going to be my first gay wedding!  I generally don't dress up very often.  I figured my dresses for work events were a little TOO much.  Happily, my newly betrothed pals said they were going to dress down and we all should, too.  Whew!  I was happy to not feel guilty about wearing jeans and sneakers, though I did pretty myself up a little bit with a bright yellow jacket and some sparkly jewelry.  I got out of the habit of wearing jewelry after my surgery - it always bothered me for some reason.  I really need to get back into the habit.  Sparkly jewelry is always a good idea.

I looked up the courthouse website and found the address, then did a subway search so I'd know which stop to use.  It looked pretty easy, thankfully.  I tend to get confused when I'm all the way downtown.  Who knows why?  I got off the subway and was a tad early, so I stopped in a deli for a bottle of water and a bagel.  Of course, that took FOREVER!  And then of course I got confused about which courthouse was the right one.  Thankfully, there was a nice parking/traffic guard who pointed me in the right direction.

And there they were, the happy couple!  What a joyous day and what fun we had throughout the entire process.  We waited outside the courthouse for all the friends to arrive, then we got in line inside.  First, you had to check in at the front desk.  Then, you had to go back and get a number.  The first time they called the number, it was time to sign all the forms and pay the marriage fee.  Then you had to wait again for them to call the number when the chapel was available.  All told, we were probably there a couple of hours.   Of course, being tremendously fun people, we made the waiting fun.  Anytime we heard the number, we yelled "Woo hoo!"  And I was almost levitating with excitement the entire time.

I was sort of surprised there were so many people in the court house, although a lot of stuff is processed there. But still! Apparently, a clerk told my friends that it would either be really crowded because it was Friday the 13th or it would be really empty. Really crowded is how it turned out. I thought it was funny that there was a florist in the middle of the courthouse lobby, but I guess it makes sense. There was also a souvenir stand there. One stop shopping, as it were. I was surprised there wasn't a Starbucks, though. For as many people as there were, and for as long as the line got as the day went on, you'd think Starbucks would try to get in on the captive audience.

I was honored when the happy couple asked if I'd like to be one of the witnesses.  My name and signature is on their marriage certificate - forever!  That's just so awesomely movingly cool.  My handsome pal (who could be a professional photographer) got a great photo of my beaming witnessing.  I'm attaching it here.  The ceremony itself was brief, but the clerk who performed it was fantastic!  He took his time and made it all very GRAND.  I think he knew we were theater people.  I tried to be very present in the moment, along with taking photos, since it was such a lovely and important event.  I'm glad some other friends got video, though, so I can go back and smile through my tears whenever I want.

Then, suddenly, they were married!  What a rush!  There was more hugging, kissing and laughing.  We did more photo ops at the appropriately themed Wedding Garden, then we went to lunch at a very nice place, Philip Marie, in the Village.  It was terrific, with very yummy food and the wait staff and other customers were very happy for the happy couple.  I'll have to go back and try more of the tasty-looking menu.  My butternut squash soup and fried green tomatoes were very yummy.  But everything tastes good when you're so happy.  :)

It was truly a glorious day, one of the best days of my life.  I smiled for many hours.  We all had so much fun, laughing and sharing each other's joy.  I admit I cried with happiness several times.  But I also welled up at the poignancy of the day, once I started thinking about how unfair it was that this wonderful, committed couple had to wait 27 years to get married.  I know some straight people who have been married multiple times, one lovely galfriend of mine has been married four times.  And there's no judgement there - whatever makes her happy is fine with me.  But why should some people be allowed to marry over and over, when there is a whole segment of society who live and love together, but yet they can't marry, even once, everywhere?  It's so unfair.  But I forced myself to push aside the unfairness and revel in the love.  The love that surrounds these wonderful men and the lucky friends they invited to share in their love.  The love I hope to find someday.  And the hope that someday soon, the love is all that will be important, not the gender or the preference or the legality.  Because that's the way it should be - 'the greatest of these is love.'

photo credit: Nicholas Wuehrmann

photo credit: Nicholas Wuehrmann

photo credit:  Nicholas Wuehrmann

Review - Fetch Clay, Make Man

I was very fortunate to receive free tickets to New York Theatre Workshop's production of Fetch Clay, Make Man, by Will Power.  I was also very fortunate that a handsome pal was available to join me.  I remember reading about this show when it played at the McCarter a few years ago and thought it sounded fascinating.  As I believe I've mentioned before, I come from a sports-viewing family, so I've been watching Muhammad Ali for practically my whole life.  To see a play that deals with ideas from such an incendiary part of Ali's life and career was very appealing to me.  I'll admit I hadn't seen any of playwright Will Power's work before going into last night's show, but I was aware of his previous success around NY.

 

It's bold to take two such iconic figures in African-American history and see how they fit together - I can't even imagine wrapping my brain around seeing a photograph of Muhammad Ali and the 30s film actor Stepin Fetchit together, but the playwright did see such a photo.  And from that photo, and a broad imagination, came this enjoyable exploration on how they possibly came together in 1965, before Ali's second fight with Sonny Liston.   There is definitely boldness here.

I did enjoy myself - the production is extremely well-acted, directed and designed, and there's a lot of humor and sharp, provocative dialogue throughout.  But to be honest, I was left vaguely unsatisfied, and I'm not quite sure why.  I'm really struggling about it - I wanted to love this play because it was inherently so interesting to me.  But I didn't love it.  I liked it.  Perhaps I didn't love it because there are so many subplots, which although they all dealt tangentially with the main relationship between Ali and 'Step', they just seemed to add busywork instead of more layers to the main story.  Perhaps it's because I'm not quite sure what I was supposed to take from the piece.  Perhaps I was looking for something that just wasn't meant to be there.

 

I thought K Todd Freeman was spectacular as Stepin Fetchit, a man trying to pull himself out of obscurity by hitching his wagon to the ascending star that was Muhammad Ali.  He does brief snippets of Fetchit's old vaudeville routines and they're wonderfully juxtaposed with the bitter, articulate man he is in the scenes with Ali.  I was tremendously moved by his performance in the press conference scene - after it was over, I wished I had been moved more throughout.  The inherent pathos should've taken me all the way and it didn't.  [all the production shots are from New York Theatre Workshop's website - they were taken by Joan Marcus.  my standard disclaimer applies.]

 

It can't have been easy to find a tall, strong, attractive young man, who looks and sounds like Muhammad Ali, and is also a good actor, but they found him in Ray Fisher.  I thought he was charming and captured the bravado of the young Ali, and I could see now and then how maybe his naivete about his real life contrasted with his visions of his career, versus Fetchit's naivete about his career but no illusions about his real life.  Maybe if that had been explored even more, without so many other subplots, I might've been more completely engaged throughout.   

 

Richard Masur was terrific as the head of Fox Studios, and one of Fetchit's earliest champions, but his scenes felt shoehorned in.  Although it was interesting to see how Fetchit manipulated the movie studio system, it still became a stretch (and distraction) to see how Fox tried to equate his struggle out of poverty to Fetchit's life as an African-American man in America.  Nikki M James was wonderful as Sonji, Ali's first wife, chafing at the restrictions of being the wife of the new star of Nation of Islam.  Her struggle was also interesting, but perhaps also distracting. 

 

John Earl Jelks was fantastic as a Nation of Islam devotee assigned to protect Ali.  The subplot of how his character tried to recruit Fetchit was interesting, but again, maybe distracting to (what I think was) the main story.  It's as if there are three or four really interesting plays in here, sort of jumbled into one.  I would've enjoyed a piece just about Stepin Fetchit outwitting Hollywood, then losing everything, or a play about how Ali was manipulated by the Nation of Islam, or a play about Ali the man vs Ali the legend.  I don't know.  Still struggling.  I guess it's a good dilemma to have - maybe I'm so frustrated because so much of this play was terrific.  The press conference scene, as I mentioned before, was great, as was a scene where Ali and Fetchit are talking about making a movie together.  When the characters actually made a dramatic connection, there was the good stuff.  A lot of the time, though, it just seemed as if things happened just because the plot dictated it.  Does that even make sense?  This blog post is pretty jumbled itself.  Sorry.  Maybe I should just stop and leave it at I loved the acting and the physical production, the idea of the piece, and enough of the script itself to say "you should go." 

 

Just a brief seat neighbor report - actually, a house fly report.  There was a GINORMOUS fly in the theater and it drove me INSANE.  At one point, I had to shoo it off my face.  I told my handsome friend that the house manager should assign the ushers to killing it before the second act.  Hmmmmm.  Maybe they did.  I don't remember seeing it during the second act.  Hmmmmmmm.

 

Oh, and on our way to the subway, we passed a very strange food truck, but it didn't seem to have food in it.  It was, however, completely bedazzled and played a tinkly little tune.  It looked like it was selling headbands, stuffed animals and anime merchandise, but I don't know.  But I do love a bedazzled not-food-truck.  And, then, I had to get one more photo before the end of the night.  Most of the day, I could forget what day it was yesterday, but seeing the lights brought it back again.  I went home and watched too many 9/11 special reports.  Maybe some day I'll do a 9/11 post.  Something to think about.