Since I been gone

An update on Ricky's life, in parts:

Part One: Turkey

Thanksgiving break went well. I visited plenty of family and ate. And played Cranium.

Part Two: Busy, Busy, Busy

Having returned, a harried week lay ahead. On Tuesday, I frantically wrote a paper for my journalism class. I also went to a DramaTalk about Spring Awakening held at Cantor Film Center featuring members of the cast and creative team, all but one of whom were associated with or went to NYU.

Part Three: Dressing for 'Spring'

On Tuesday night, Susan Hilferty, the costume designer for Spring Awakening, hinted that a change in costuming would occur on Wednesday. Curious, I went back for a return visit. This time, I got an onstage ticket. Due to the nature of the staging, the action occurs on a platform in the middle of the stage, with 2-3 rows of audience members to either side who sit alongside some of the performers and the ensemble, who are dressed in contemporary clothing and join the cast for certain songs as "back-up singers," per se. This is vaguely visible to the left of the picture below, though that picture is from the off-Broadway production, so it's a somewhat different arrangement for Broadway.

The experience sitting onstage was much different from seeing the show in the orchestra. Despite the fact that it was cool to be in the middle of the action and sitting next to a lot of the incredible performers, I preferred sitting in the audience. It didn't so much bother me that I saw some of the action from a side or back view, but it was much harder to hear the lyrics and dialogue because the performers were singing out toward the audience and I was sitting too close to the band (especially the drums). All in all, though, it was a worthwhile experience, especially since I was already aware of the plot.

The big costume change that was hinted as was that, during the finale ("The Song of Purple Summer"), the performers used to come out in their period costumes in keeping with the rest of the show, but instead the cast came out that night in contemporary dress to sort of provide a comment as to the relevance of the story to today's society. I wasn't sure (and still am not) what I thought about it -- whether it made the fact that the characters use rock music to express themselves in song more effective or whether I was too distracted by the disconnect between the characters I'd been watching for two and a half hours and these new contemporary cast members who were commenting at the end of the show. At the end of the show, I could see the creative team swarming together at the back of the theatre to discuss what they'd thought of it. I wonder if they'll keep that idea or not.

As a side note, the onstage seats (which formerly could only be purchased at the box office) are now on sale online. More information is available at the official website.

Part Four: Slow Woman Plodding

On Thursday night, I saw Two Trains Running by August Wilson at the Signature Theatre Company as part of my August Wilson class. The play was originally one of my least favorites to read, but it definitely has grown on me. Once you've read the entire 10-play cycle by Wilson, each of the plays feels like an essential piece of the puzzle at least in one way or another.

The production was mostly fine. Frankie Faison and the most of the cast really put in fine performances, but the pacing of the show, directed by Lou Bellamy was saggy. Clocking in at 3 hours and 10 minutes, the show's weak link was January Lavoy (pictured at left), who, playing the sole female role in the play, should be one of the strongest keystones of the cast. As it stands now, her acting choices are spotty at best. Though she is sometimes affecting toward the end of the second act as her character, waitress Risa, softens to some extent from her position as a hardened woman, so afraid of attention that she cuts her legs to make them unattractive, Lavoy makes the choice as an actress to spend the entire length of the play plodding across the stage blankly, click-clacking her heels in a slow and steady rhythm that nearly drove me mad, spitting out lines in a disaffecting manner that seemed more abrasive and harsh than wounded. Reading the play, I've always envisioned her character as undertaking a journey from broken woman to a place where she sees the beginning of the road ahead of her toward happiness, but Ms. Lavoy's interpretation left out the necessary warmth that is necessary to endear her character to an audience. This is most likely a choice that was made by Ms. Lavoy along with the director, so the blame shouldn't fall entirely on her, but I was baffled by how her character was able to bog down the entire show. If she had sped up the pace of her walk, at least 10 to 15 minutes of running time could have been trimmed.

Still, any Wilson play in New York is worthwhile fare, and at $15, you can't beat the price. There are a lot of juicy monologues in the play, and most of the cast was excellent, especially the aforementioned Frankie Faison in the role of restaurant owner Memphis, Arthur French as the wise old man Holloway, and Ron Cephas Jones (who was previously excellent in Satellites at the Public Theater) as numbers-runner Wolf.

Part Five: The Top 3 Artforms

Video games are not one of them. Period.

Part Six: High Octane 'Fidelity'

On Friday night, I went to see High Fidelity with Austin for free through Roundabout. I didn't really know what to expect since I hadn't seen the movie with John Cusack or read the book by Nick Hornby, but I had expected the music to be upbeat and the performances to be top-notch, and that's what I got.

Though in its style it's conspicuously similar to this past spring's The Wedding Singer (also an adaptation of a popular romantic comedy using a contemporary-ish score), I felt it was ultimately more successful. The book, by David Lindsay-Abaire, though sporting a few holes (Rob is hugely unlikeable -- at least in my opinion -- and his change at the end is abrupt and obvious), avoids some of the cloying cliches of The Wedding Singer, and the score, with music by Tom Kitt and lyrics by Amanda Green, manages to be more clever than The Wedding Singer's as well. Curiously, no song list was included in the Playbill, so I can't really expound too well about the various songs. There are also plenty of clever comedic sequences (including one triple-take trash talk sequence done in varying styles) that keep things fresh to the credit of director Walter Bobbie.

At its heart are the two leads -- Rob, played by young Broadway veteran Will Chase, and Laura, played by Jenn Colella (both pictured at right). The two manage to play their characters earnestly and engagingly, surpassing any potholes in the script. Will Chase was a favorite of mine last year in the short-lived Lennon, and here he proves that he can captivate an audience and provide a powerhouse star turn. The audience left mostly humming him, one man even naiively proclaiming that he was destined to win the Tony Award. Nonetheless, these two did a wonderful job selling the material, and Christian Anderson as Dick, Rob's record store pal, provided warm-hearted comedic relief as well in a series of clever little songs.

All in all it was a fun show. It should appeal to tourists and those who want to see a show where the husband/boyfriend can be just as entertained as the wife/girlfriend. Don't go in expecting high art and you should be fine.

Part Seven: A Parade of Plays

As part of an artistic vision she had a few years ago, Suzan-Lori Parks (pictured at left) set out to write 365 plays in 365 days, a goal that she accomplished within the allotted period of time. This year, a vast partnership of theatre companies across the country are banding together through regional centers to present the plays one week at a time. At the Public Theater, the NYC regional flagship company, the First Sundays series presents (on the first Sunday of each month) the previous month's plays performed by the respective theatre companies.

Having read a few of the plays, I wasn't expecting much, but the individual theatre companies were able to add their own touches and give the plays a new life through the tone and approach that isn't there when simply reading the plays on paper. That seems to be an inherent quality in Parks's work. Some of the plays are better than others and some of the theatre companies were better than others, but all in all, it was an interesting experiment in theatre, and, since the First Sunday presentations are free, they're worth checking out. Reservations can be made using the instructions at the Public Theater website. The next First Sunday is a presentation of the December plays on January 7th.