Life After Bush

It’s no small coincidence that the stock market is plunging, the war is ongoing, and the scathing critiques of the current administration are all coming to a head currently. We are but a few short weeks from the 2008 Presidential election; with the lines between our nations free economy and the storied images of freedom blurring into nothing; it’s ever more important that we be paying extra special attention to this one people. So it goes that Nero Fiddled is spelling out their final chapter (one can hope) of the Bush Legacy with their latest work “Life After Bush” playing at hERE (145 Sixth Avenue) in Manhattan’s West Village.

This show could have easily been called “The Idiot’s Guide for Reasons to Vote Obama in 2008,” as anything else, but despite the play’s very left-leaning sensibilities, neither side was spared the rod. With Joe Biden dressed as Peter Pan, Hillary singing her “Evita”-laden concession, and Barack Obama done up in a Super-Bama outfit, even the democrats were not beyond caricature.

“Life After Bush,” was conceived in reality but written by cast members Noah Diamond and Amanda Sisk (who are also co-artistic directors of producing agent Nero Fiddled). The rest of the cast includes Kim Moscaritolo, Avi Phillips, Tarik Davis, and AEA members Brian Louis Hoffman and Sadrina Johnson. David Hancock Turner is listed as the accompanist in the playbill and he did a fine job playing DJ Thacker’s musical arrangements.

The real thing which this reviewer took away from this musical-comedy was actually the dire seriousness about this year’s election. There were a number of fun and funny moments like nearly every time the “McCain” or “Bush” actors entered the scene, with their military fatigued helmet and “Barney” the dog, respectively; the tune “Corporations Are People Too,” and Rudy Giuliani’s eponymous number. While all art is satire and life should never be taken too seriously, the fact is that for all its fun and bravado, “Life After Bush,” never strays too far from the actual reality of what has happened and the stakes which we all will be subjected to.

Two examples which stood out to me occurred at the beginning and the very end; “It’s Been A Bad Eight Years,” and “The American Dream.” During “…Eight Years,” there was a startling photo montage which came up along the back of the auditorium where we are reminded of all the horrific events which have gone on during this current administration: the levees in New Orleans, Terri Schiavo, Cheney grabbed his gun, the tragedy of Tony Snow, “shock and awe” in Iraq, the even sadder tragedy of America’s Mayor, Bush as “the decider” and so much more. These were all made fun of, yes, but the photographs actually were real; these events actually happened outside of the realm of The Soup; an unsettling realization, indeed.

The rest of the action in this musical includes things which we’ve all seen (unless you’ve been living underneath a rock since the late 1990’s) and swoops around full circle to the end. The cast of characters all come on in plain clothes during the stirring “The American Dream” and each take their turn at the mock voting machine, driving home the importance of every person doing their part. For a comedy piece, this song is a somber piece which tags the shows closing and tugs on all the right reflexes with lines like:

“The American Dream is starting with nothing, arriving at something, finding a way
The American Dream is faith in the future; The American Dream will be real someday.”

The show had its technical problems (in a space like hERE, especially when you’ve got such fun and cutting lines, everyone should have had mics) but the performances were all pulled off with an insightful amount of skill, humor, and attention to detail.

Many people have already had enough of this year’s election; they’d rather not consider the repercussions of the last eight years; they may just be ready to turn the page. However for others, all the psycho drama leading up to the events which will go down on November 4th and beyond, we geeks are totally jazzed and ready to roll. In “Life After Bush,” there is humor, there is pathos, there is reason to laugh, there is reason to cry, but most of all there should be reason to have hope. That was the driving message in this musical; that all we can hope for, for our future; is some kind of hope for some kind of change.


** Tarik Davis as Barack Obama, Avi Phillips as John McCain. photo by Tom Huben
**Brian Louis Hoffman as George W. Bush. Photo by Tor-Evert Johansen.

Ensemble Studio Theatre Marathon of One Act Plays

Marathon Goes Gasping

by Jesse Schmitt

When I first attended a show at the Ensemble Studio Theatre more than 10 years ago I was dazzled at their wall of pictures of previous performers. One picture always caught my eye; a show at EST from 1986 starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Elias Koteas. The picture caught my eye not so much for her as, at the time, she was not nearly the superstar she is today (though, at the time, I was able to appreciate her performance in Steve Martin’s “LA Story”) No, it was for Mr. Koteas as he had starred as the renegade Casey Jones in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie from my youth.

Another thing that I noted was the creaky, slow, small elevator, the tepid cough from the air conditioning unit, the cramped seating arrangements, and that big pillar which runs right through their second floor theatre.

I guess that was what was always impressive about the Ensemble Studio Theatre; what had happened there before. Being an eternal optimist when I first arrived here, I imagined some young scribe gazing up to the wall in the future and seeing a photograph of a show of mine and listlessly imagining themselves as I did before.

Time and experience changes a lot of things, but the spaces at the Ensemble Studio Theatre are a bit like Time in a Bottle. The elevator is the same, the waiting area is the same, the air conditioning is still lukewarm, the seating is still the same, and the same pictures still hang on the wall. Though the inside may have been moved around and the paintjob appears to be fresh, I wonder about what’s new that’s going on at EST. When I found out that the historic 30th Anniversary of their popular “Marathon of One Act Plays” series was taking place, I quickly jumped on board and made my way to series C.

Let me take a step back and say that the outgrowth from EST is really quite amazing. To think not even of Ms. Jessica Parker and Mr. Koteas, the list of those who the entertainment media have been or are currently associated with the popular off Broadway venue is awe inspiring indeed: Sam Shepard, John Patrick Shanley, Jon Voight, Cassandra Medley, Billy Aaronson, Leslie Ayvazian, Lewis Black, Leslie Caputo, Danny DeVito, Richard Dreyfuss, Christopher Durang, Horton Foote, Amy Fox, Richard Greenberg, Romulus Linney, William H. Macy, David Mammet, David Margulies in addition to the late Wendy Wasserstein, Shel Silverstein, and of course the former artistic director Kurt Dempster, among countless others. So it is not that a great many talented people are not regulars at EST. In addition, two very excellent playwrights with whom I studied; Christopher Ceraso and Edward Allen Baker regularly have their work showcased at EST and they may even still be teaching through the theatre.

So needless to say, more than 10 years hence and my being quite cynical about the state of things in general, the bar was set quite high in my mind for the caliber of work I would be seeing at Series C of the EST Marathon. I had been to the Marathon in years past and one thing which I was always impressed with was the brevity I felt in seeing the plays. 5 one act plays, some as short as 10 minutes, showcased with talented actors, minimal staging, few scene changes, and important themes.

The first play of the evening, “Piscary” by Frank D. Gilroy, directed by Janet Zarish was a relationship play set around a Scrabble board. The “He” character, played with nervous abandon by Mark Alhadeff was having second thoughts about his marrying the “She” character, ably played by Diane Davis. He starts the play zoned in on his fish tank, feeling like they should call off the wedding which is set to go down in three weeks. She reacts with an unreal amount of calmness in the eyes of this reviewer who was just married within the year (that, or my new wife is quick to pull her punches; the truth, I’m sure, lie somewhere in between) Maybe Ms. Davis’ character is used to this crazy talk from Mr. Alhadeff which would be considered by some a role reversal for genders, but who’s keeping track?

The embattled couple get down to brass tacks when he declares that she is no good at Scrabble; that’s the reason he wants to call off the wedding. They decide to square off in a mano-e-mano game of winner-take-all Scrabble, the house, the stuff, the fish tank. He is confident, she is cool. When she opens up her verbose vocabulary and takes him to the ropes, he is despondent. The ending is something of a compromise and really speaks to the amount of marriages that are rushed into by late in life couples (ugh! Late 20’s!)

The second play, “In Between Songs” was written by the popular comedian Lewis Black and directed by Rebecca Nelson. Starring Jack Gilpin as Chaz, David Wohl as Ed, and Cecilia DeWolf as Grace, this play stands as a trippy retrospective on a life lived. At the outset, the indistinguishable characters are all sitting, listening to a Bob Dylan record; then the song stops. All the rest of the action of the play takes place before the music gets going again.

This play really seemed more like an homage to how good life is (particularly when fueled along with cannabis) and how good their life had been. They all feel “interconnected;” Grace hits the bowl, literally, of some Stove Top stuffing, like it was like warmth for hypothermia sufferer and that was the whole point, I imagine. That we all need things, sometimes for much longer or much greater than we are conscious of; and when we get these needs fulfilled, we have a very hard time letting go.

The third play in the series, “Flowers” was written by Jose Rivera and directed by Linsay Firman. Starring Raul Castillo as Beto and Flora Diaz as Lulu this play is a fantasy trip of the imagination of children. Beto and Lulu are brother and sister and Lulu, slight elder, is 12. She has begun sprouting acne and she feels this is a revelatory event that her video game playing brother should take note of.

One thing that these two did in the play which really got to me was they addressed the audience directly. One thing I learned in my studies as a playwright (especially my more advanced studies at EST) was that breaking down that fourth wall should only be of absolute necessity and should be used sparingly. Every time the other character left the stage, the one left would talk to the audience and fill us in on all the back-story. If you can’t tell the story in the present moment and if what is going on onstage isn’t interesting enough for us to be engaged, then you probably shouldn’t be telling said story.

This was, by-and-large, the case for “Flowers.” Lulu’s acne began sprouting branches and these branches began flowering. This idea was a little strange premise for a play that otherwise seemed so real.

It was after this play that the intermission took hold. It was almost 105 minutes in! I deciphered my other obligations for the evening (I had to be at work at 11PM) and bolted during intermission. I hastened to even write a half-baked review of this series, but apparently I had a lot to say.

I do hope for the reinvention of the Ensemble Studio Theatre; I imagine a day when I can return there and see challenging work from unknown playwrights and be satisfied that the time spent there was at least thought provoking. However I have to say that this latest go-round, with three tapped out old stoners, two kids with wild imaginations, and a bickering couple, pre-marriage, is nothing all that new.

Ensemble Studio Theatre
549 W 52nd St
New York, NY 10019
(212) 247-4982
www.ensemblestudiotheatre.org

No More Waiting: A New Musical Comedy

Musical Comedy With Legs and Arms Reaching

by Jesse Schmitt

There is definitely something to be said for a good ending.

In cinematic art, in television, in politics, in real life, and especially in the theatre, when there are unexpected, harmonious chords struck around the resolution to a situation, it is a gentle reminder of the true synthesis of life. Despite the fact that we’re all on this earth, searching, roving, digging, trolling, turning up the bottom feeding scum of said planet, in the hunt for that ever illusive intangible called “happiness,” or “fulfillment,” or whatever else; when there is a collective exhale of the crowd, when you can turn to your best friend of years and share an unspoken acknowledgement, when your pending doomsday ends up coming up roses of its own volition, there is that moment when the individual is reminded that the world does not always have to be such a predictably unfair or callously unfamiliar place.

So it is in the new show playing at The 13th Street Repertory Company (50 W 13th St. New York, NY – 212-675-6677) “No More Waiting,” which follows the lives of five waiter/actors as they seize opportunity when it is afforded them at the cabaret style venue where they serve. The talent for the evening has been stricken and the wait staff, through the coxing-cheerleading of one of their own, rises up and briefly overthrows the mantle of control for what the audience will see this night.

This is a show which may obscure some who are not at all familiar with the life of the New York City theatrical artist. While not too many passers by frequent the very local, Greenwich Village establishment (13th St. Rep is a destination, generally), the “in-talk” and some of the more subtle themes did not go unnoticed.

Many of the leaps the audience is asked to take with these performers are fantastical, exaggerated, or outrageous. For example, not that it hasn’t happened at cabaret style venues in the past, but the premise that the management of a dining/entertainment establishment would go off notice of what was going on at their business and five of their staff would go off the service floor for more than an hour is something of a cut at restaurant management of the world and not altogether likely. I’m sure I will get replies to my inbox, “this happens to me all the time!” – I’m just saying. Also the quickness with which Samantha (Jenny Paul), the Che Guevara of the group, is able to throw together costumes and such is a little far fetched. For that matter, their piano player was right in lock step with them, making the transition from non English speaking bus-boy to virtuoso musical theatre pianist at the drop of a hat (even thought they qualify the latter). However if you’re able to get beyond all that, you should have a good time.

This is a piece which operated in the “Kiss Me Kate” style of musical; the play-within-a-play thing has been done before, so it should not ring all that unfamiliar. There were moments when the narrative of the “story” and the “story-within-the-story” and the “story-within-the-story-within-the-story,” got a little fuzzy (thinking specifically about the elevator scenes) but, again, all that fell away in the end.

The musical begins with these five disaffected artists; drudging through their lives; feeling listless and needing something exciting to happen to them. This is not an uncommon theme in stories told ever, but it makes me wonder about expectation. It appears as though the subtext is “well, I’m doing this for now, but any moment from now my big break will come and I’ll be starring in a show at 13 St. Rep,” or something like that. The glossing over seems to be with the tough years that come before that and all the work that needs to be done after even your first successes.

Once the scenes got going, they reminded me often of a recurring vision of Patti LuPone to Peter Gallagher in the recent revival of “Noises Off” – “We’re putting on a show! We’re putting on a show!” There was bedlam after the waitering crew decides they are going to perform this night. The scenes switch often and while it’s going on, as an audience member, you aren’t really sure whether or not there is a running through line, but the viewer is brought into the fore at the plays end.

In terms of writing, many of the plays songs were cute. Many of the lyrics though, to this reviewer, seemed contrived. Lyric writing is not easy but there were occasions when I felt like the lyrics delivered took the easy way out. That said many of the actors seemed to take to their roles such that the character seemed to become the actor, so even though Chris Widney’s name is on the Book & Lyrics in the program, I’m not sure how much of a collaborative process this was or if and when the director took any creative liberties.

Brian C Curl as Robert took a very stylized approach to the character as well he should have. His performances were good; his timing was great, his delivery was funny, and he even did a little tap dancing for the room. But I might have made different directorial choices with him in instances where he operated outside the box. His performance shone when he was where he was most comfortable.

Dustin J. Harder was Steve and he was a riot. In general, he hit all the right notes in his portrayal of a perverted businessman and an aggressive go-getter who hides behind his own bravado. However his moment happened when he donned a mullet and became the leader of a rock and roll hair-band “Cujo” while at once trying to settle down to his suburban existence. The keystone moment for the lyricist in this show was right before the mullet comes off and the business suit goes on, the bandleader, singing about his wife/questioning his life: “She has an answer/Sometimes I hadn’t even asked a question/Have I ever made a right decision in my entire lifetime?” His pain was hilarious and his confusion was palpable.

Jeni Incontro as Jen was quite fetching. Unfortunately for her, she’ll probably be cast as the ingénue so long as she keeps her doe-like appearance; she should be vigilant against this, if she enjoys the ACT in acting. She had some moments in this show, whether it was her effortless Salsa dancing, her portrayal of the (eventually pregnant and bitter) love interest of Mr. Harder in the “Cujo” scene, or her turn as an older mother in a different scene where she was able to shine. Looking over her bio, she played Mae in Sam Shepard’s “Fool For Love,” which is a massive role in and of itself, so I have no doubt of her capacities.

Benjamin Mirman as Elliot was a very engaging character also. Mr. Mirman is still a little wet behind the ears as is evidenced from his sophomore year in college entry onto his bio, not that it translated in his performance. He is blessed with a certain Linus like quality which will always keep him employed so long as Charlie Brown is getting work. I thought the staging of his arc was good in that they kept the Elliot character restrained until the very end and his very sweet “Take A Chance” song, which was unquestionably the highlight of the show.

And of course Ms. Paul as Samantha. Her role was really underused, to effect; there was a moment towards the very end of the play when I realized I hadn’t seen her in a great many minutes. There was a reason for that and the beauty of live theatre shone through in her final moments onstage.

Mark T. Evans was the pianist as well as Vasily the busboy at the very beginning and Shannon O’Neil was the Voice From Beyond which gets these thespians rolling on their rollicking musical theatre journey.

The cast of “No More Waiting” may have a little more waiting while they earn their stripes but you have a few more days to head over to The 13th St. Rep and see these struggling waiter/actors reach for it.

“No More Waiting” plays at
13th St. Repertory Theatre
50 W 13th St.
New York, NY (b/w 5th & 6th Ave)
212-675-6677
http://www.13thstreetrep.org/
http://www.theatermania.com/

Running time is 90 minutes.
“No More Waiting” is performed without an intermission.

Music by David Christian Azarow
Book & Lyrics by Chris Widney
Directed by Samantha Saltzman

A Candid Interview with Alex Lyras, Star of The Common Air

Picking the brain of the versatile solo performer

by Jesse Schmitt


Alex Lyras is as direct as they come. His handshake is firm, but easy, his temperament is relaxed, yet forward leaning, his message is direct, but coded. Alex Lyras is a performer. Artist. Actor. But he also has a very sensitive ear for things: words, inflection, intention. Alex Lyras is currently playing in a recently extended run of a show in Los Angeles called "The Common Air."

"The Common Air," is a very distinct, very original show. It's a show we've seen before because it's the story of our modern lives. However the distinct and original part of this show is not just in its telling but also in that it is told through the voices of many and the vehicle of one; it is a solo show. While many people, this scribe included, may recoil at the thought of a "solo show" and think only "Ego, indulgence, repeat;" the fact of the matter is that this is a very sensitive show. It is sensitive because it is in flux; it is moving it is pulsing it is changing. The show has undergone a number of small aesthetic changes which have made it even more powerful as it embarks on its second tour of duty in the perpetually bored, always changing market that is the Los Angeles theatre scene.

"The Common Air," had been playing for the last 12 weeks at the Lillian Theatre in Los Angeles on Mondays & Tuesdays and has recently been promoted! It has made the jump to The Asylum Theatre where it has received its own time slot on a pair of much more favorable nights; Friday and Saturday.

This is a show which has spent a great deal of time in the making. It is still being changed and altered and modified and upended and you, as an audience member, are all the more likely, on any night, to see a slightly different show then on the night before. This makes the tickets for "A Common Air" that much more of a highly prize item; the fact that whatever you're seeing may never be seen again. Mr. Lyras has been doing solo shows for years and this latest birth is a true gem which deserves your scrutiny and attention.

"The Common Air" tells the story of our modern dilemma; the fact that we can't walk past someone of a certain countenance without reflexively hearkening back and wondering; the fact that there can't be an "alert" without raising all kinds of red flags in our own minds which borders on psychosis; the fact that we as a society are having a hard time getting beyond certain generalizations which are corrosive, barbaric, obsolete and sad.

This is the world that we live in and Mr. Lyras is front and center with his astute commentary. But this is not a thing which is new for this seasoned performer; he's been doing this same sort of performance in production since 1999. Prior to that even, as a student of improv and of theatre he had decided he was going to write his own monologues for audition.

This is one of the things which sets Alex Lyras apart from a large majority of actors in the world today; he is participatory all the way up and through what he says, where he stands, and how he moves through the scene, through the story, and through to the end.

I recently had the fortunate opportunity to sit down with this versatile performer and pick his brain about the entertainment industry in general, his show in specific, and the way of the world which we are all constantly swaying every which way with every day.

As a child of parents from the Midwest growing up near New York City in the 1970's was a life altering experience, even if he wasn't aware of it. Born in the Bronx and growing up in Westchester, Mr. Lyras and his parents spent a great deal of time in the city as a youth; particularly the epicenter of avant garde live performance: Greenwich Village.

Alex Lyras is the son of a mother chef/author and an entrepreneur businessman who had very early exposure to the theatre bug: "I saw my first Broadway caliber show in London when I was five. It was Carmen."

Needless to say, this event had a large and decisive impact on the young man. Regardless, he went to college with the intention of becoming a business major. Fortunately for him he realized after seeing the course load that this was not what he wanted to do.

"I got there and seeing the course load, 'Business 101, Business 201; Accounting 101, Accounting 201;' I knew it wasn't for me." Making the life altering decision, he jumped ship and quickly switched majors in the Amish land of Bucknell, Pennsylvania in a Philosophy program.

When I asked how his college major affected his solo shows, he seemed hesitant.

"Philosophy is best for ideas." Mr. Lyras draws from the long tradition of our ancestors and subscribes to the storytelling aspect of the theatre. It's where he's gotten his best creations including the six characters in "The Common Air." But he didn't get here alone.

"Rob McCaskill is a coach I'd met and he's influenced me a lot." It is with the direction and co-writing of Mr. McCaskill that "The Common Air" has lifted off and appears destined for a long journey through the skies.

Mr. Lyras seems to be a realist about the current precipice theatre artists walk with their hesitant audience. "If you're going to bring people into the theatre and ask them to sit in the dark for 90 minutes, you have to give them more. They have to trust you; it has to be a journey, it has to be a story."

While the arc of the story is the beautiful dance in "The Common Air," the standout vehicle in this story is the performance of Mr. Lyras. When I brought that to his attention, he demurred: "It takes a long time for things to catch on...it's a faster world. So with email things spread and word spread."

Alex Lyras is a man who has had a great deal of success and his own share of failures. As is evidenced from his own work, it takes a great deal of trial and error. As he said regarding the work for his solo shows, "developing layers takes a lot of pictures and stories."

Alex Lyras doesn't claim to be any sort of sage. In fact, here is a full grown man who seems to still have the curiosity of a child. About his own travails he did tell me though that the "best advice for actors and writers is have some people who are honest around you."

Honesty is what has gotten this performer this far; his honest portrayal of these characters is illuminating indeed. Anyone interested in honest theatre in an apathetic world should make a point to see "The Common Air." While the east coast audience will need to wait for their fly-by, Mr. Lyras assured me, "the show is being developed for New York." In the meanwhile the skies the limit for this solo performer and folks out west should catch this bird before it's gone.

More resources

www.laweekly.com/index.php?option=com_lsd&task=theatersearch&letter=U&Itemid=108

http://www.calendarlive.com/stage/cl-et-common22feb22,0,6165896.story

VARIETY REVIEW http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117936875.html?c=33

Little Velvet Square: "Almost an Evening" Touches That Tender Little Spot...Almost

Feeling Around With A Little Velvet Square:

by Jesse Schmitt

When F. Murray Abraham’s God (“Who Judges”) character begins his stumping about humanities perpetual misinterpretation of the Ten Commandments, it seems intended as an eye opening experience for the audience assembled in the theatre. It also is addressed universally towards the-audience-within-the-audience that his character is playing to. However a line is soon crossed which sets off Mark Linn-Baker (“God Who Loves”) and sends them off into a battle royal which could have only been punctuated by a Springer character running on with a steel chair. It’s the message that gets muddled for both Mr. Abraham and a pair seeing the show-inside-the-show, after their show, as they discuss the merits of Mr. Abraham’s God over dinner which sets off a disagreement which evolves into a fight which could only be punctuated by a Springer character running on with a steel chair. It is only then that Mr. Abraham the actor who had “played God” arrives at the very restaurant where these two audience members are discussing his performance from just previous…

And on and on it goes.

Perhaps the description of this closing piece “Debate,” from the playwright himself could have better prepared us for this circuitousness when in the playbill we are warned: “Cosmic questions are taken up. Not much is learned.”

This is the feel of the evening in the trio of short works from Mr. Ethan Coen which make up “Almost an Evening,” his current presentation of short works at The Theatres at 45 Bleecker Street, currently running in New York City. There is plenty of pathos, plenty of wrath, and plenty of humor in the nearly 90 minutes of stage time in the three short pieces. I dare not call them “plays” in the traditional sense so much as vignettes or scenes; pieces of human interaction strung together to take the audience on a fully self-aware evening of theatre.

Mr. Coen is one half of the Oscar saddled Coen brothers; the Hollywood dream team who are responsible for such instant classics as "Raising Arizona", "O’Brother Where Art Thou", and "No Country For Old Men" just to name a few. However far from the glitz of Hollywood Bleecker Street is, the playwright did not come to the party empty handed. Many may recognize Mr. Linn-Baker as “Cousin Larry” but there is a whole talented troupe including Mr. Murray Abraham, J.R. Horne, Jordan Lage, Mary McCann, Del Pentecost, Joey Slotnick, Johanna Day, and Tim Hopper; each under the watchful eye of director Neil Pepe.

However, much to the benefit of the audience, this is not some self-congratulatory Hollywood ‘in crowd.’ While George Clooney does make a brief appearance on a magazine cover in Hell, the location of his appearance seems not at all coincidental. No this group are ensemble performers and they all approach the words of Mr. Coen under direction of Mr. Pepe with careful consideration. Many of the players are actually members of The Atlantic Theatre Company (William H. Macy & David Mamet’s theatre school) who is a producing agent for this show.

And their performances were all generally really good. So I hesitate to say anything more about the evening...But I will.

Here's my biggest gripe. In “Almost an Evening,” the heightened reality and overall story arc are predominantly absent. I feel like many of the lines spoken in these pieces are done so into the mirror; as though Mr. Coen himself were onstage, feeling shy. This, from one of my favorite filmmakers is outrageous; I'd certianly expected a lot more "Pop!" Some of the scenes in this evening reminded me of Larry, Curly, and Shemp more than Coen Brothers favorites like "Fargo" or "The Big Lebowski." Heck, even "The Man Who Wasn't There," has a beginning, middle, and end; it's the "Almost" in this evening which was the biggest qualifier and, unfortunately, it is also the biggest let down.

But my tone is all off because the acting was great! There is a fun irony which the players are able to pull off with grace and elegance. Everyone seemed to hit their spots and they all remained largely connected. Still, the conflicted tenor leaves one exiting the theatre as a maudlin drunk. The banter the actors share is delightful, and while some of their phrasings are witty; the spectacle is apparent; the bickering, jarring; the dynamism, relative. “Rage Against the Machine: If That’s the Way You Feel.”

I get it that Mr. Coen didn't want to take any playwright's milk money; so much of what is said in the theatre has already been said before. But we come to the theatre exactly for that; why do you think Shakespeare is continually remounted? It felt as though Mr. Coen saw the vertical distance in the pole vault, set his bar down and just walked away rather than giving it a go.

That said, “Almost an Evening,” more than lives up to its name. There is a certian "yuck-yuckiness" to the pieces which, in the end, is disappointing. Mr. Coen even evokes Mr. Mamet at one point and like a damsel, tied to the tracks it seemed as obvious as the freight train’s coming in the distance. And to be there is exactly where I felt I was. What this show does have going for it is just about everything else; the players give it their all and each are able to shine at moments; the direction is snappy; the production is nice. While the endgame is par for the course, if you’re looking for an enjoyable, but not impressively memorable evening at the theatre in the Village, “Almost an Evening,” is as just as good an option as any.

Carnage: A Comedy

I was pumped to go into The Actors Gang Theatre (9070 Venice Blvd - Culver City, CA) and see a really amazing evening of theatre with their current revival of “Carnage: A Comedy.” I felt like the show held promise and with a well respected name like Tim Robbins attached as one of the writers of this 20 year old satire, I knew I was in for the full treatment. I must say though it never quite congealed for me. When I was watching it, the acting was good and everything appeared to be as it should; upon further reflection, I have a few problems.

Perhaps it was the fact that, as Mr. Robbins, the artistic director, says in the liner notes “The play you will see tonight is the same play (which premiered in 1987). Except for one line referencing our current war in the first scene the play is unchanged.” Why would this be a problem? We’re still parsing our syllables over Shakespeare 400 years after the fact. To go back to the liner notes, “(When) we first performed “Carnage: A Comedy…we were a young and impassioned group and the play addressed issues that concerned us at the time. It was a vital and visceral experience…”

Okay. That’s fine. We’ve all had “vital” and “visceral” experiences which have helped to shape who we are today. But, haven’t you changed from those young minds at all? Yes, there are still hucksters telling us lies, trying to blow smoke back in the exhaust, turning water into wine and urine back into water; and yes, the sad but true fact is that statistically there is a sucker born every minute ready to buy what that shyster is selling, but really? Is that all there is?

We’re an educated group that goes to the theatre; what you’re telling us as an audience is that we don’t deserve any more nuance than one sentence from what you’d written twenty years ago when you were in your twenties yourselves! That’s not progress! I’d like to hope that everyone that was in that audience doesn’t still hold the same set of beliefs about people that they did twenty years ago. Yet, when Cotton Slocum gets into the cannon and the lights go black except for the little plastic action figure on a string lit up above the audience head by a spotlight to simulate “distance” I had a sudden realization that felt like Paul Reubens giving me his Big Top Pee Wee impressions of the way of the world. The Gospel According to Pee Wee. Let Us Pray.

More to the point of what your play was trying to say; Jerry Falwell is no longer with us; Pat Robertson is not nearly as relevant as he once was. We’re moving away from this type of thought into a more enlightened moment. With re-hashing of old stories and the airing of old grievances, we’re not moving the discussion forward in any kind of a productive manner.

Not to even get into the army segment of your show! I felt like I was in an Orwellian/Heller nightmare there for half of your play. But we can’t keep talking about the present as though the past were the only viable template. The Wild West, bible thumping, halleluiah that ya’ll were peddling is yesterday; let’s talk about right now. And tomorrow. That is our only course for safety and salvation on this earth.

I can’t go back to that place. I fell out with Pee Wee a long time ago. So, I think, did Reubens!

You Say "Anything" - Little Bit of Love

A Sweet Piece of Humanity in a World Turned Asunder

by Jesse Schmitt

Many people who come into The Lillian Theatre (1076 N Lillian Way; Hollywood) to see the world premiere of Tim McNeil’s new play “Anything” may have some preconceptions for what is about to go down. They may think that they’ve heard this one before; the story of a reclusive, grief-stricken widower from the deep, deep south of Mississippi and a thrown out on her ass Hollywood transvestite who is one the brink of self annihilation can only mean one thing; porno.

In fact this premise can be something else entirely as Mr. McNeil and the players from the Elephant Theatre Company pull off quite well. With a little bit of theatrical magic they’ve created a sweet story of an older man looking for companionship and a tranny that is well beyond her years and is also looking for, well, companionship. This is the one piece which works like a charm in this small little story; it goes from being the premise for a smut video and becomes a story about two desperate people who have both hit their rock bottom and as a result are fully clinging to one another with nowhere to go but up.

The show starts us in a classically appointed apartment as our hero, Early Landry is just moving in following the death of his wife of years. Mr. Landry is not familiar with apartment life; in fact he’s not even familiar with this time zone as he’s from the deep south of Mississippi and he’s landed into the heart and heat of Hollywood. There are some things which he does take a storied hand at; for instance banging on the ceiling when his pair of upstairs bong-smoking neighbors are “rocking out” too loud, too long, or too late (ah! how I wish we all had such agreeable neighbors!)

Then there’s Freda. A beautiful and exotic transvestite who is found to be on the losing side of an argument for her boyfriend to stay with her. She’s jealous, he’s had it, and Early is there to peek in on what’s going on in the apartment next door. In typical nosey neighbor fashion he hears the whole disagreement and a bond is struck almost immediately.

Like Thelma & Louise for the apartment set, this is a story of two wildly different people who need to be able to trust in each other to save themselves. In doing so they are able to learn about themselves and save one another. Tender, touching, hilarious, and lovely; you only have a little while longer but if you get the opportunity you should certainly see Anything; a fairy tale love story for the 21st century.

www.plays411.com/anything
www.elephanttheatrecompany.com
www.myspace.com/elephanttheatrecompany