Review - Teenage Dick, plus a little extra

A couple of years ago, I was lucky enough to get to see a lab production of a new play called Teenage Dick.  I was interested in it for several reasons - I like the author, I like adaptations of Shakespeare and I like seeing plays that deal with disability (and uses disabled performers) in an authentic manner.  This play hit my targets all the way around.  I've been about talking Teenage Dick ever since and I was especially thrilled when My-Yi Theater Company paired with the Public Theater for an Off-Broadway run.  I bought my tickets months ago and finally got in to see the show last week.

I'll cut to the chase:  this play (and production) is fabulous!  GO SEE IT!  The run keeps getting extended, so you should definitely check it out.  Even if they tell you the performance is sold out, still go.  There were a very-few empty seats around me last Friday and you could've been the person to fill the seat!  It was so heartening to see a full, diverse audience watch this play that is so relevant to what's happening right now.  The experience of seeing it moved me and the play itself left me quite undone.  I highly recommend it.

To get more into things, Teenage Dick is a riff on Shakespeare's Richard III.  Shakespeare's character is one of the more famous disabled characters in theater history, so it was fascinating to see how a contemporary take could be expected and yet completely unexpected.  Lew's Richard, in an amazing performance by Gregg Mozgala (who is rapidly becoming one of my very favorite actors), is a high-school junior who has finally had enough with the bullying and lack of acceptance for who he is, so he sets out to systematically destroy the people who might be in the way of his becoming senior class president.  There's a lot of humor and a lot of concealed rage in Mozgala's performance, who makes this character charming, realistic and oh so damaged.  The scene in the dance studio, where his character attempts to describe what it feels like to be inside of his body (the actor and the character have cerebral palsy), is astounding.

photo credit: Carol Rosegg

But most of the scenes are astounding.  I was quite breathless throughout, either from laughter or emotion.  This play has some really bold storytelling, dialogue and performances.  And I love boldness on stage.  I also really love the fact that this is a story that uses disability, and disabled actors, to reveal more about the world.  A world that has disability in it, goshdarnit.  We can't have enough of these stories, if you ask me.  The production is also wonderfully directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel; there are quite a few images that will haunt me for a very long time.  And this acting ensemble is one of the best I've seen.  Obviously, I really recommend Teenage Dick.  Please, go see it.  Go see what theater is capable of being.  Bravo, Mike Lew, I can't wait to see what you bring us next.

photo credit: ME!

Here's the little bit extra - last night, I made a return visit to ABT, for my final ballet night of the summer.  I saw Whipped Cream, which delighted me last year.  It delighted me even more last night, but I was looking at my review and it was pretty spot-on.  So I'll just paste a link:  WHIPPED CREAM review.  I will say that last night's cast was even better than last year's and oh my gosh, those dancers wearing the giant heads are my heroes (take a look at that photo below!).  Remember the photo on the right from last year?  Such an enchanting design - and during the curtain call, the pink yak was bopping around and just made me chortle with glee.  I hope ABT keeps Whipped Cream on the roster for many years to come, it makes me so happy.  The rest of the audience seemed to agree.  In these dark times, enchanting delight and happiness is oh so necessary...

photo credit: Gene Schiavone