Half Straddle Sings!

Come see Half Straddle Sings!

HALF STRADDLE makes plays, performances, videos and music—often about girls and usually an attempt to portray the weird, sometimes unsettling ecstasy that emerges in the everyday. Half Straddle’s The Knockout Blow, a girl-glam musical mashup, had a sold-out run last summer at the Ontological Hysteric Theater and ran at HERE Arts Center in February 2009. In the past year, Half Straddle has also shown work at Dixon Place (Corey and Pam) and in the Catch! performance series (Amazing Miracles, or Nurses in New England).

ONE NIGHT ONLY!

Saturday, January 9th, 2010
at HOME SWEET HOME BAR
from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

FREE! (with Complimentary Cocktails!)

Featuring:
Heather Christian * Erin Markey * Joseph Keckler * Lena Moy-Borgen
Becky Yamamoto * Eliza Bent * Rae C Wright * Julia Sirna-Frest
and MORE!

See shining stars of downtown theater sing and shimmy to favorites from the Half Straddle cannon– including songs by Chris Giarmo from FAMILY by Tina Satter– just chosen as one of the TOP 10 of 2009 by Time Out!

It’s simple: make an early evening pit stop for fabulous entertainment that comes gratis, sip on a Plotzed Plunker (the signature Half Straddle cocktail) and enjoy the awesomeness from a company "full to the brim with killer talent…" – Helen Shaw, Time Out New York.

Home Sweet Home Bar
131 Chrystie Street
(between Delancey and Broome - F V trains to 2nd Ave or Essex St., J M Z to Essex St., B D to Grand St.)

She couldn't be whiter

Oh my goodness. I can only assume that you all are checking in on my blog, waiting for me to finish my cupcakes. And I will! I promise. It's just that I've been a little bit busy working on a new Off-Broadway musical. Want to check it out? It's really good.



Shafrika the White Girl
By Anika Larsen
Co-Conceived & Directed by April Nickell

With a name like Shafrika, it's gotta be a blonde girl from Cambridge,
Massachusetts, right? In Jaradoa Theater’s joyous new musical,
discover how Anika Larsen's unique and movingly quirky exploration of
race, identity and family uncovers the truth about growing up with Black,
White, Asian, Latino, and Native American brothers and sisters.
10 kids. 5 races. One family. Go.

June 12, 13, 15, 18, 19, 20, 22, 25, 26, 27 @ 8:00pm
June 20 & 27 @ 2:00pm; June 21 @ 7:00pm; June 28 @ 3:00pm

The Dimson Theatre at the Vineyard Theatre
108 East 15th Street, between Union Square & Irving Place

Tickets $18, 212-868-4444 or www.smarttix.com

Choreographer Luis Salgado Musical Director Karl Mansfield
Assoc. Musical Director Brian Usifer Scenic Design Josh Zangen
Lighting Design Herrick Goldman Costume Design Andrea Varga
Sound Design Mike Farfalla Assoc. Sound Design David Stollings
Propsmaster Brandon Giles Production Manager John Martinez
Projections Ben Demarest Assoc. Lighting Design Susan Nicholson
Stage Manager Lena Moy Borgen Asst. Stage Mgr. Catherine Lynch
Asst. Choreographer Alison Solomon Asst. Director Katrina Stevens
Press Rep Jim Randolph Asst. Producer Daryl Ray Carliles
Associate Producer Robert E. Schneider
Original music composed by Tim Acito, Joshua Henry & Janice Lowe

Featuring Chloe Campbell, Anthony Comis, Joamer González,
Stephen Gelpi*, Chris Harbur, John Harrison, Ricardo Hinoa,
Amanda Hunt, Anika Larsen*, Stephanie Martinez, Zonya Love*,
Liz Piccoli*, Elizabeth Racanelli*, Eileen Rivera*,
Lawrence Stallings*, Shelley Thomas*, Gregory Treco*

This production has been made possible in part
by Jack Sharkey and R.Evolución Latina.

*actors appearing courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association;
an Equity-Approved Showcase

For tickets (and they're going fast), click here.

A shameless plug, but not for me

So one day last year, I was running around Manhattan and I bumped into someone that I had done a show with, back in California - Lyndsay Faye. We were in South Pacific back at the Willows Theater together. I've got a picture!


I'm in army fatigues, and Lyndsay is the nurse on the left.

I didn't have time to stay and talk, but I said hi, gave her my card and continued on to Pilates class. We became friends on Facebook and I noticed that in her profile that she said she had a book coming out - Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson (you know, like Dr. Watson from Sherlock Holmes). Not sure if this was a joke or not (she always had a wry wit), I googled her and lo and behold, it was true! Well, this book has finally come out. Here it is on the shelf in Barnes and Noble!


It's not a great picture, but I was amused. I bought the book and so far, I am very pleased. It's an old fashioned mystery about Sherlock Holmes and his investigation of Jack the Ripper, written from the perspective of Dr. Watson. The one problem is that I get a little squeamish reading about serial killers before bed, so I can only read it during the daytime.

She's also got a food blog (who doesn't?) that I enjoy reading. So, check out her blog, buy her book, and all that jazz.

Come Watch Me Sing

Do you sit at home thinking, gee, if only I could hear Lena sing AND
make a tax deductible donation to a charity that helps underprivileged
kids at the same time? Well this is your lucky day. Come and support
Arts for All (one of the awesome organizations I work for) by watching
me sing "Breathe" from In the Heights and "A Summer in Ohio" from The
Last Five Years.

All the info is below......(and hey, if you don't live in the area,
but still want to donate money to our organization, well that's good
too - see below!)


ARTS FOR ALL CABARET: A BENEFIT FOR IN-NEED CHILDREN

Arts for All, Inc. is a non-profit arts outreach organization serving
in-need children in the greater New York City area. Since 2003, Arts
for All, Inc. has led professional artists of all disciplines to share
moments of joy and creation with disadvantaged youth.

This year, we are relying on you to support our mission, by coming to
a cabaret of songs and true stories of the inspiration that brought
art into the lives of our performing artists when they were children.
We need you in the audience, to help us continue to bring that kind of
inspiration to the children we serve!

Please join Arts for All, Inc. at the renowned Flea Theater, located
at 41 White Street, between Broadway and Church Street, on Sunday,
April 26th, and Monday, April 27th, at 7:00pm, to benefit New York’s
in-need youth.

Performers
JUSTIN BRILL* ROBIN CANNON NANCI DOORLEY* SUSIE HAND* AMANDA HUNT
KRISTIE KERWIN* PAUL MARTIN KOVIC* MEGAN JIMENEZ* JENNY LONG
HARRIET PICKER ANNA ROBERTS* CHANA ROTHMAN LENA MOY-BORGEN ALAN
OSTROFF* TOM PATTERSON ANDREW RASMUSSEN* JASON ROSENBAUM
MIRANDA SHEILDS ADAM SHORSTEN*
*Appears courtesy of the Actors’ Equity Association

Production Team
CO-PRODUCERS-ANNA ROBERTS OSTROFF, ALAN OSTROFF, DIRECTOR-TINA MARIE
CASAMENTO, ACCOMPANIST- DAVID LIBBY, STAGE MANAGER-ARIENNE PELLETIER*

Dates
Sunday, April 26th and Monday, April 27th

Time
7:00PM

Location
The Flea Theater
41 White Street
Between Broadway and Church

Subway
A, C, E, N, R, Q, W, 6, J, M, Z to Canal Street or the 1 to Franklin Street.

Suggested tax-deductible donations will be credited on our website as follows:

$25 - $49 - Stagehand
$50 - $74 - Artist
$75 - $99 - Director
$100 and up – Producer

TICKETS AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR, OR SEND A DONATION AND RESERVE IN
ADVANCE BY EMAIL: info@arts-for-all.org. For more information, call
212-591-6108 or visit www.arts-for-all.org

For Horton

Horton Foote died last night. Most of you probably don't know who that is, so I'll tell you. He was an amazing playwright and screenwriter. He won the Pulitzer Prize and two Oscars. He wrote the screenplay for "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "Tender Mercies." I didn't know any of this when I was a kid. But I did know that he wrote a play called "A Young Lady of Property," which I did a scene from in my Advanced Acting class at the A.C.T. Young Conservatory. I always remembered that through the years.

When I graduated college, the first job I had was as an onstage production assistant in an Off-Broadway production of Horton Foote's "The Trip to Bountiful." I had to do crew duties backstage and assist the stage manager, but for about 10 minutes a night, I got to sit onstage in costume, in full view of the audience on the same stage as Lois Smith and Hallie Foote. In the official script of the production, there are stage directions that pertain to me and "my character," so if I ever stop believing for a minute that I wasn't really in that show, I can remind myself that I was.

Horton was there in the rehearsal room with us, smiling, nodding along. He was very gracious and quiet, but he was such a presence in the room. As an aspiring actress on her first big show in New York, it was like being in a room with a former president (one of the good ones that you really liked). I went into work every day not really believing that this was my job, that I was so lucky to get paid $100 a week to work my ass off, just so I could be in the same room as him.

On opening night, he gave every member of the cast and crew signed copies of his memoirs. When I opened mine up, on the title page was inscribed "To Lena, thanks for your lady traveler - Horton."

Somewhere in the archives of the Signature Theatre Company, there exists a picture of the four production assistants onstage with Horton. I wish I had a copy, but even though I don't, I will always remember Horton Foote. His plays will live on, I have no doubt.

Something is rotten in the state of....Germany?

What happens when you cross a downtown composer, an up and coming playwright, a beautiful orchestra, and 19 talented actors? You get KASPAR HAUSER, an unlikely new musical from the Flea Theater.

Based on a 200 year old story of "Germany's Orphan," KASPAR HAUSER follows the life of a young boy, raised 14 years in isolation and finally brought out into the world with shocking results. Elizabeth Swados, the show's composer and director, has created a dark, dynamic show, filled with haunting melody lines and exciting nonstop movement (I must compliment the movement director, Mimi Quillin - a former assistant of Bob Fosse's, for some truly excellent musical staging).

The show has a slew of wonderful images that stick in your brain well after you've left the theater. John McDermott (Set Designer), Jeanette Yew (Lighting Designer), Normandy Sherwood (Costume Designer), and Sam Goldman (Sound Designer) have all helped transform the space at the Flea into a distinctly European world. The picture below demonstrates just one of the show's searing images.


19 talented actors share the stage at the Flea, each with a distinct personality and set of crazy facial expressions. I was very impressed with the musicality of the cast. It is a fantastic ensemble show, with some distinct standouts. Preston Martin, as the title character, has much of the show on his shoulders. He gives a strong performance, but seemed to be slightly overpowered vocally by the ensemble the night I saw it. Eliza Poehlman (underused in my opinion) as Kaspar's mother, has an amazing soprano voice that breaks your heart as she sings about her lost son. And Carly Zien, playing a host of different characters, made me laugh and drew my focus whenever she was onstage.

This is a different kind of show for the Flea. It clearly wants to be in a larger space (there are some slight sight line problems), but in today's economic climate, does such a place exist? Time will tell, but don't miss KASPAR HAUSER while you have the chance here at the Flea Theater.

It's showtime, folks

I haven't been doing much lately. Zack has though. He is so busy all the time. He works and works and works and then instead of taking a break, he signs up for more work. I get lonely by myself. You should probably come hang out with me.

But you could also go to see the show that Zack designed. Here's a picture.


And here's some info:

THE KNOCKOUT BLOW
Written and directed by Tina Satter

Starring: JESS BARBAGALLO * ELIZA BENT * JULIA SIRNA-FREST

An infectiously strange and ecstatic musical spectacle about dislocation, heartbeats and trying to communicate.

Half Straddle stages shows that might have been inscribed in the margins of a teenage back-up singer's spiral-bound notebook or improvised in the van after ballet class – girly, enigmatic and utterly hot pink.

Music & Sound Design: CHRIS GIARMO
Lights & Design: ZACK TINKELMAN
Art Design: DEBORAH SATTER
Stage Management: WAYNE PETRO

HERE Arts Center
145 6th Avenue
(between Spring and Broome)
New York, NY 10013-1548
Entrance on Dominick Street

Fri, Feb 13, Sat, Feb 14 & Fri, Feb 20 at 10:30 p.m.
Sat, Feb 21 at 7 p.m.

Tickets: $15
www.here.org or call (212) 352-3101
www.halfstraddle.com

Subway: C/E to Spring St.; 1/9 to Houston St.; N/R to Prince St.

This production is being presented through HERE's Supported Artist Program, which provides artists with subsidized space and equipment, as well as technical and administrative support.

You may recall I've written about this show before, both here and here. It's still good! Go see it. And then tell Zack to stop working so hard and to hang out with me more.

Not the story of my life

Last week, a new musical started previews on Broadway. What? You haven't heard of it? Yeah, I'm not surprised. You're probably better off staying in the dark.

My friend Jamie scored us some free seats to The Story of My Life. I was looking forward to it - a new show, starring Will Chase and Malcom Gets, two actors that I've always liked. Unfortunately, my faith in the American musical proved unfounded.

The basic story is this: A guy is trying to write his best friend's eulogy - in an undisclosed place - maybe it's "God's library," maybe it's the inside of Will Chase's head - who really knows? - when his best friend comes back (from the dead? inside his mind? again, who knows?) to talk with him about the eulogy. And that's pretty much it.

On the plus side, the actors are very talented. They are both excellent singers and actors. They are trapped with some unfortunate material. I wish them the best of luck in their next projects....and that may be all I can come up with. This kind of bums me out.

On the slightly more negative side, the show is too small to be a musical. This is not because there are only two actors. It's that the story itself is too quaint and just not very musical. Musicals work best when they are full of big ideas - the collapse of a way of life (Fiddler, Rent, etc), a revolution (Les Mis), etc or larger than life characters (The Producers, Hairspray). This musical is a collection of tiny stories - a butterfly flapping its wings (seriously), two kids making snow angels. They're nice stories. They may work well in book form, but they're not that theatrical.

Here's the thing: this show is clearly meant to be a kind of "every man" story, the kind we all can relate to. You know, everyone has a best friend, a first grade teacher, etc. And sure, we do all have those things. However, the overall tone of the show is so quaint, so old fashioned, that it becomes unrelatable. The show is ladled with far too many references to Frank Capra and Mark Twain. I'd be hard pressed to find a couple of average men that make constant references to It's a Wonderful Life, all the time, throughout their entire lives. Mix that with old fashioned costumes (do a lot of men wear three piece suits?), a setting called "Angel Falls" (Bedford Falls, anyone?), and constant mentions of God make this show feel like it takes place 50 years ago. In a small town. That never existed. Except in Frank Capra's most boring thoughts.

On top of all that, the story arc as a whole is so unsatisfying. No real conclusions are ever really come to - there are no big revelations and there aren't supposed to be. But all I could think was, that's it? I sat through 90 minutes for this? In the final song, one of the characters is talking about the lack of answers that the show comes to. "Isn't it refreshing?" All I could think was "no."

A few last minute thoughts and observations:

This show has huge well of untapped homoeroticism. I kept waiting for the two characters to make out or declare their love for each other. That never happened.

Jamie fell asleep about five minutes into the show. This is a girl who stayed awake through In My Life. I'm just saying.....

Go see a show. Right now.

Hey, you know how I was yelling at you to go see theater and you were all like "well, I would go, but I never know what to see. Why don't you just tell me what to see?"

Go see this:



Red Terror Squad
Family Bed / A Completely Different Circumstance

Friday & Saturday | January 16-17, 2009 at 8pm
$15 General Admission | $8 Low-Income
Rservations : call 708.832.0018 or visit BAX

ALSO FEATURING : Ivy Baldwin & United Theater Broadcasting Company

The Red Terror Squad is way cool. Plus, Zack has a cameo in the performance. That's right, Zack on stage! When was the last time you saw that? Probably never. If you go on Saturday night, I'll sit next to you (unless you smell bad).

Get up, get up, do something

I realize that I haven't been writing about theatre much lately. This doesn't mean that I haven't been seeing things - in fact, in the last month I've seen Diving the Estate, Speed the Plow and Equus. I haven't written any reviews because by the time I catch up on my food posts, the shows have closed, or the actors have left or the show will be closing in less than a month. Did that mean I didn't enjoy the shows? No. I enjoyed them very much.

This is a scary time for theatre. Theatres all over the country are closing, and not just podunk little operations, huge regional theaters are shutting down left and right. 13 Broadway shows will close (or have already closed) this month and at least two more are scheduled for next month.

What does this mean? Should we stop going to the theatre? Should we just give up?

No! For god's sake, stop reading this blog and go see a show. Get a cheap ticket (rush tickets are really easy to get now that no one is going to see anything), get an expensive ticket if you can afford it and just go. It doesn't have to be a Broadway show. See something downtown. See something your friends are in. Just see anything (or even better, invest in something theatrical. But if you're reading my blog, you probably don't have that kind of money).

It'll be better than sitting at home thinking about how broke you are, watching reruns on tv. I promise (unless you go see Phantom of the Opera or The Little Mermaid or something....then you may be better off with Top Chef reruns).

One Borough at a time

Still no camera cord, folks. So I'm going to take this moment to tell you about the super amazing play that I saw that I think you should see too (if you live in the New York Area anyways).


Have you ever heard of Danny Hoch? Chances are, you haven't. I'm still not sure why I have. He's an actor/playwright/director who writes and performs in these really great shows and started the Hip Hop Theater Festival (maybe that's why I've heard of him - I performed in the 1st and 2nd Annual SF Hip Hop Theatre Festivals - believe it or not). I'd seen some of his work on video, but never live before.

His new show, Taking Over, is about the gentrification of Williamsburg (Brooklyn, not colonial). Like his previous shows, Hoch played several different characters who relate to their surroundings in various ways. There's the guy who grew up in the neighborhood who hates the way that it's changing, the girl who just moved in and sells t-shirts on the streets, the developer, the real estate agent, the guy who speaks only Spanish and runs a car service - well the list goes on and on. It's a great slice of the changing neighborhood and Danny Hoch is a great performer. He's got an amazing ear for the rhythm and cadence of people's voices.

I saw the show on the free interborough tour (Danny Hoch is a man of the people - bringing free theatre to those of us who don't live in Manhattan), but the rest of you can see it at the Public Theatre starting November 7th.

Curses, foiled again

Once again, ladies and gentlemen, I have lost my camera cord. I own two of them, to avoid moments such as this, but my messy apartment has foiled me again. Well played, apartment. Well played.

Check this out in the meantime - it's not my cast of Like You Like It (we're sooooo much better) but it'll give you an idea of what's to come.

It all ends up like you like it

So the reason that I've been so busy lately is that I'm in a play that opened on Saturday night! It's called "Like You Like It" which is based, as you might have guessed on Shakespeare's As You Like It, except it's set in a mall in the 1980's - kinda like a John Hughes movie. You can see it at the Gallery Players in Brooklyn on all these dates:

Performance Schedule Extended by popular demand!
Saturday, October 18th at 8 pm - opening night- sold out!
Sunday, October 19th at 3 pm - matinee
Thursday, October 23rd at 8 pm
Friday, October 24th at 8 pm
Saturday, October 25th at 8 pm
Sunday, October 26th at 3 pm - matinee
Thursday, October 30th at 8 pm
Friday, October 31st at 8 pm
Saturday, November 1st at 2 pm - matinee w/author talkback
Saturday, November 1st at 8 pm
Sunday, November 2nd at 3 pm - matinee
Added performances!
Thursday, November 6th at 8 pm
Friday, November 7th at 8 pm
Saturday, November 8th at 2 pm - matinee
Saturday, November 8th at 8 pm
Sunday, November 9th at 3 pm- final performance!

You can read more about it or buy tickets here. You know you want to see it. I play a Goth Girl and have awesomely hilarious hair and makeup. There's singing and dancing. What more do you need to know?

No, it is not based on the Holly Hunter movie

What happens when you want to write great musicals, but you also want to steal Wicked's audience and make money? Inevitably, you end up doing neither. I'm sure this is not a great shock to any of you out there.

A few weeks ago, Zack's dad asked me to recommend a show for all of us to see when he and his family visited us in New York. It is very very hard to try to pick a show that both Zack and his 13 year old sister (Nomi) would be willing to see. Nomi likes fun awesome musicals and Zack....doesn't. I looked ahead in the Broadway schedule and saw that 13 (the musical) would be in previews by this time. 13 is a new musical composed by Jason Robert Brown (one of my favorite composers and not a traditional "show tune" sound, so I figure Zack might not refuse to enter the theatre). When I take a look at the show info, I see that Brian MacDevitt (one of the only commercial lighting designers in New York that Zack respects) is designing it. We're in like flint, baby. Tickets are bought, dinner reservations are made and away we go.

13 is not based on the movie of the same name. When it opens, we see a typical New York teenage life (if you can believe the media hype) - a young Jewish kid on the Upper West Side, lots of kids running around on cell phones with shopping bags, skateboarding and drinking lattes. For the first five minutes, I wonder "Is this Gossip Girl: The Musical?"

But then our main character, Evan, moves to small town Indiana and we are smack dab in the middle of your typical after school special. Will Evan bend to peer pressure and be mean to his new best friend? How far will he go to be popular? And hey, what's really important, your friends or being "cool?"

And suddenly, I feel really old. I know this musical is aiming towards a younger crowd than me. But when did I become older than the target audience? As someone who watches Gossip Girl religiously and saw The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 in the theater, I do not feel like I'm above silly high school entertainment. But the lives and trials of eighth graders? This is a little much, even for me.

It doesn't help that the entire production smacks of a public school musical. The production values are high, but executed poorly. The entire cast is under the age of 18 - no parents, no teachers, just kids, kids, kids. I like kids. I like kids in theatre. I teach kids in theatre and have done so for the past 11 years. But a group of teenage kids are just not enough to carry a large scale Broadway musical. At least, these kids aren't. It's not their fault - it's the adults who cast them and lead them in this direction.

- a side rant - why do adults insist on giving kids shows where they have to act so damn earnest all the time? Kids aren't great at earnest - they don't really have the life experience to mine deep feelings and carry that across on stage. You know what kids are great at? Comedy! I swear. -

That being said, there are some genuinely enjoyable moments in this show. A song which I am calling "Hey Kendra" about a young boy (complete with backup singers) trying to ask out the cheerleader of his dreams is a great send up of "smooth" r&b classics. The jokes come a mile a minute and some of them land extremely well (one unfortunate girl can't land any of her jokes....it makes me sad). And the kids are enthusiastic and there's a lot of cute dancing and clever staging.

To me, this whole show can be summed up in one line from the finale. Evan sings about how he needs "a little less pressure, and a little more time." Indeed. If this show did not have the pressure of a Broadway opening just one week away, it might get to relax, fix its problems and open quietly in a regional theatre somewhere (of course, it's done that - twice - maybe there's just no helping it). While I love Jason Robert Brown and all the songs he composes, this is not his best work. I don't know if this show will find an audience. I'd be surprised if it did.

You've gotta wait

I'm cooking, ladies and gentlemen, but I'm also watching this:



ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway - I saw it in theatres with Ana last year and loved it. If you have ShowTime (or Netflix), you can see it too.

Cooking tomorrow, I promise.

I've been remiss, my friends

I should have given you more warning about The Knockout Blow. Only two more nights!

Starring: JESS BARBAGALLO * ELIZA BENT * JULIA SIRNA-FREST

"Those actresses were the cutest buttons we ever had in this place. And they dance good."
-Margie Gillis, Silkweed Manor Care Facility, Oneida, NY

Tina Satter, a Brooklyn-based theater artist, creates a weird and dissonant, raucously sing-along world where a contemporary werewolf explores conveyance, connection and saying really stupid things when you want to say the most important thing of all.

Music & Video: CHRIS GIARMO
Light Design: ZACK TINKELMAN
Set Design & Costumes: ASTA HOSTETTER
Stage Management: WAYNE PETRO

AUGUST 13 - 16, 2008
8 P.M. NIGHTLY WEDNESDAY to SATURDAY

The Ontological Theater (in St. Mark's Church)
131 East 10th Street (2nd Ave & 10th St)
$15 General Tickets/$12 Students

Reserve tickets in advance at
https://www.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/48921 or call 212-352-3101

THE KNOCKOUT BLOW is produced in association with the Ontological-Hysteric Incubator.

If that's not enough of a plug, check out this picture:


That's from my previous blog post about this show. You can read about it here.

Go see it!

I love freestyling.....

Have you ever heard of Freestyle Love Supreme? Chances are, you haven't (unless you're directly related to one of them - or are a huge Lin-Manuel Miranda fan). But I'm here to tell you that you should go seek them out! They are pretty awesome.

Freestyle Love Supreme is (and I hope I'm describing this correctly) a hip hop improv comedy troupe. The show is improvised (with some cues from the audience) and the players change from show to show. Jamie heard that they were playing at Comix, and so we headed all the way over to 9th Avenue to check them out. It was pretty awesome. I mean, who doesn't love freestyling about Angelina Jolie, booty calls or supercalifragilisticexpeladoious (some motherf***er put this here to make me sound atrocious - hilarious).

What I want to know is this - how did I know so many people in this group and never heard of them until Jamie looked it up? Two members of the group went to NYU (they were even in my studio! While I was there!) and one was in plays at the Willows Theatre! Shouldn't I have heard of them? And why hasn't anyone introduced me to Lin-Manuel yet?

Anyways, they're great, they have another show on Monday, August 11 at 9pm at Comix. Lin-Manuel won't be there (but maybe Chris Jackson will be - that's for you In The Heights fans). It's worth seeing! Check it out!

[post about self referential musical]

Last night, Ana and Sarah took me to see [title of show] for my birthday. For those of you who don't know, [title of show] is a musical by two guys (Hunter Bell and Jeff Bowen) who decided to write a musical about two guys writing a musical. The names, places and characters have not been changed. They are literally recording exactly what they said at the time and repeating it in the show (or at least I assume they are). "Wait, so everything I say from now on could actually be in our show?" "Yeah." "Like this?" "Like this." "And this?" "And this." It's all very meta.

This is the kind of musical that's written for people like me - giant musical theatre dorks. There's a reference to "Henry, Sweet Henry" in the first five minutes of the play. (I assume that most of you have no idea what that is, and so, I recommend that you watch this. But back to the point.)

I enjoyed the show, especially the first half. The second half veered off into a fairly typical "showbiz drama" plot line, which was a little predictable, but what can you do. The whole "will we compromise our ideals to get to Broadway?" thing was a little silly. I mean, they're already on Broadway. They left in all the swearing and nakedness and insider jokes. Obviously, it all was fine.

A lot of the show really resonated with me - especially the song "Nine People's Favorite Things." The lyric goes "I'd rather be nine people's favorite thing than a hundred people's ninth favorite thing." If only the rest of the song had touched me so much. But I couldn't help but see this show, just two ex-temps who dreamed of making a Broadway show, finally doing their Broadway show, and think, "maybe that will be me some day." And then I felt very naive.

I would really like it if someone who doesn't like musicals (or at least, doesn't have an insane fan's knowledge of it) would see this show and tell me what they think of it. I'm so curious to see if it really is a universal story or if I just think that it could be since I'm so close to it. That's your homework for the evening. Go see it and let me know.

If you don't have plans tonight....

Tonight there will be no cooking because my short play goes up at The Flea Theater with 4 other short plays. Read about it here. It's a part of "Two Evenings of Pataplays" (one of which was last night).

Patty Montesi directed it (as always) and she's great. This is our fifth collaboration as director and playwright (which seems a little crazy to me). It features Miyoko Conley, Elizabeth Romanski, Eva Visco, Kelvin Ortega and Mark Turetsky.

The Flea Theater
41 White St
Friday, July 18 at 7 p.m.

Who's Got the Pain When They Do the Mambo?

I would suspect Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon have got the pain when Jane Krakowski does the mambo in City Center's production of Damn Yankees. Don't get me wrong - she's not horrible in any way. She gets through all the singing and dancing just fine, her leg extending not quite as high as her dancing partners, her voice tiring just a smidge, but she just can't shake the ghost of Gwen Verdon - especially when she's stuck slavishly recreating the show's original choreography. I'm getting a little ahead of myself though - let's back it up.

Damn Yankees, for those of you who don't know, is one of those "classic" musicals from the 1950's. The basic plot is an old (and by old, I mean 50) guy trades his soul to the Devil so that he can be a great baseball player and save his team, the Washington Senators (who eventually went the way of the Brooklyn Dodgers and disappeared), so that they can win the pennant and beat the Yankees. However, he has an "escape clause" that allows him to trade back one day before the season ends. It is just as silly as it sounds.

As far as the current version goes, it's not bad. The dancing shines in numbers like "Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, Mo" and "Two Lost Souls." Basically, any group number looks great. I felt sorry for poor Jane Krakowski though. She's immensely talented (I love her on 30 Rock), but she just can't quite inhabit the character of Lola - particularly when she's dancing. The movement seems inorganic in her body - which makes sense, since it was modeled after Gwen Verdon's specific mannerisms.

Sean Hayes makes an entertaining Devil. He can't quite separate himself from "Jack" on Will & Grace, but I didn't really expect him to, so I wasn't let down. His big number "Those Were the Good Old Days," broke away from the mold and showed off his piano playing, which was a nice surprise.

One thing that really turned me off from the production was the tongue in cheek, wink-wink-nudge-nudge attitude of the whole thing. Yes, the book is silly. Yes, the material is dated. But if that's what you're working with, respect it and try to take it as seriously as it was taken when it was first written. Hey, it worked for South Pacific.

If you enjoy classic musicals and Fosse dancing, by all means, go get a ticket. If not, this is one for you to skip.