René Grayre - Rene Grayre Theatre reviews blog

As You Like It — Hamlet Isn’t Dead

7/25/2018

Clever and fun

Delightful
Funny and fresh
Great ensemble
Great direction

See it if
You're up for another refreshing take on Shakespeare by the always fun, inventive & energetic Hamlet Isn't Dead Company. This all-female version all sweetness & edge.
Don’t see it if
You don't like your Shakespeare cut, stripped down, joyously knockabout or simply fun and engaging. An As You Like It for our here and now.

Hamlet Isn’t Dead is a young, energetic and consistently inventive company committed to producing the entire Shakespearean canon — and in order. It’s also a company that always finds and presents a disarming amount of fun, joy and silliness along the way, all of which reminds us each time how fresh the originals must have been in their time.
Little bits of modernity are usually tossed in, which only serves to remind us how timeless and yes, modern these plays still are after more than 400 years. The language just sings, and it’s always something of a revelation.

As is their current all-female As You Like It, which literally sings with a great spirit and a terrific sense of fun, freedom, liberation and great camaraderie. Done in the round, the evenly matched ensemble constantly engages and includes the audience. The uncredited costumes were casually wonderful — no small feat — and the direction sharp and clever as usual. Only disappointment is the brief run; but maybe next time...

Photos by Andy Ingalls

The Saintliness of Margery Kemp — Perry Street Theatre at the Duke

7/21/2018

Quirky
Ambitious
Too long
Fun but disappointing
Entertaining

See it if
You're up for a fine cast holding up a literate, well written if uneven but too-long script.

Don’t see it if
You're expecting a full-blown comedy or morality tale, or dislike modern dialogue and attitude in medieval dress.

Strong, witty and surprisingly audible performances across the board from this solidly pro cast make the most of this wordy if literate script. Voices are casually projected with an ease and clarity that's rare these days, a relief to encounter.

With her range and energy, Nichols somehow achieves an over-the-top performance without ego and without ever going over-the-top; O'Connell, terrific in the recent Happy Birthday, Wanda June, again brings a surfeit of wit and presence to his several roles here; and the ensemble, doubling or tripling roles, brings great individuality to each.

In the end, though, Wulp's script ruminates much more than it declares, never quite finding its edge — or its point, for that matter. The mercurial Margery Kemp as written here never really changes. Vanity and self-regard intact, she never transforms, ends up where she started, having learned nothing except the value of good press, for posterity.

Jason O’Connell and Andrus Nichols (foreground) with Micheal Genet, Timothy Doyle and Thomas Sommo Photo by Carol Rosegg

Fire in Dreamland — The Public Theatre

7/20/2018

Intelligent
Terrific ensemble
Sharp direction and staging
Well written effortless dialogue
Refreshing

See it if
You're up for a compelling meditation on stories & storytelling; witnessing & being part of the stagecraft that makes it possible.

Don’t see it if
Unless you're looking for a perfect play, no reason not to. It's always a pleasure to see fine actors working well in layered performances.

Stories—hearing them, telling them, retelling them—are pretty intrinsic to our species. So here's a story about telling stories wherein a character embodied by the terrific Rebecca Naomi Jones tells us a story—and in so doing fills the stage and conjures up the oldest and most direct form of theatre. It's an ancient, wild, primal and almost tactile moment; a rare thing to see onstage these days, but Rinne Groff's script, with its effortless, spontaneous dialogue pulls it off neatly, in no small part because of the engaged, present and convincing cast.

Jones, Enver Gjokaj and Kyle Beltran work seamlessly, naturally, Marissa Wolf's direction sharp and invisible. A pity, then, that the slim present-day plot resting on the making of an indie film about the 1903 fire that destroyed the Poor Man's Riviera and its circus animals has to carry so much weight. Its emotional plot points are predictable a mile away, and the play never quite gels, but Jones' powerful performance just about pulls it through, and if you listen well, you might well be transported.

Kyle Beltran, Enver Gjokaj, Rebecca Naomi Jones Photo: Joan Marcus

July 12th, 2018

7/12/2018

Actors inaudible
Slow
Unfocused
Indulgent
Anachronistic

See it if
You're up for good costumes holding up a too-long script made indecipherable by an inaudible cast. Plot and character points lost upstage.

Don’t see it if
You're expecting a clear plot, actors projecting or some idea of Amsterdam, 1943 or the Resistance in WW II.

Who knew that a long night in 1943 Amsterdam could sound like Depression-era Memphis or New Orleans? And with a rap tune thrown in to boot? Only the three-word program note gives a clue.

It's difficult to know what playwright and lead Erika Phoebus had in mind here, since the cast, quite often drowned out by the competent if weirdly joyless onstage band, didn't project vocally, leaving plot and motivations muddled. Isaac Byrne's direction seemed to take a back seat to Phoebus's energy, leaving all lax, long and unfocused.

Still, the concept of Resistance assassins as "rusalkas" — seductive, dangerous female spirits (often mermaids) luring young men to their untimely ends — according to myth, is novel. Too bad, the dip into melodrama, compounded by many things, including that extra pistol in the prologue — "Chekov's gun" may be an old the theatrical concept, but it's certainly sound.

Phoebus and Elizabeth Kensek were well matched, even if Kensek seemed lost at times, and T.E. Hackett on drums held all together.

Elizabeth Kensek, Harlan Short, Anna Stefanic, Erika Phoebus, Grant Parker, Ben Quinn, and Chris Cornwell in Rusalka. Photo by Felipe Beltran.

Mummenschantz — You & Me Gerald Lynch Theatre at John Jay College

7/7/2018

Entertaining
Delightful and funny
Visually striking and amazing
Inventive & imaginative
Edgy

See it if
You're up for a very fun bit of pure non-verbal theatre that transcends language and exercises the imagination. Silence and movement create

Don’t see it if
Since silence and movement create their own expressive music and vocabulary, don't go if the idea bores or if kids around you intimidate.

It's amazing how quickly the human mind adapts to a basic vocabulary of the imagination, a universal visual tongue understood easily and instantly by children, and a little less quickly by those who’ve grown too “adult.”

This current iteration called You & Me is a little long, even at 80 minutes, which might have been quickened by sharper direction or deeper curating of their extensive repertoire, but that’s a minor complaint. The cast is in amazing shape physically, including Floriana Frassetto, the last original co-founder still performing, and the visual effects are still stunning, the troupe making themselves visible and invisible at will.

Much has changed in the almost 50 years since Mummenschantz debuted — the original sketches were wittier, more adult-oriented and themed — but that says more about our modern, more reserved culture than anything else; children are pleased and most audiences won't remember. In any case, the toilet paper is missed.

Cast: Eric Sauge, Sara Hermann, Oliver Pfulg, Christa Barrett, Floriana Frassetto and Kevin Blaser

Ghost Story - Little Spoon, Big Spoon Productions

2/23/2018

Absorbing
Convincing
Intense ensemble performances
Thought provoking
Cathartic

See it if:
You're up for an emotionally intense, affecting & raw but ultimately cathartic drama about cancer with an unusually brilliant female cast.

Don't see it if:
No reason not to, unless honest & heartfelt emotion onstage disturbs, cancer is too close or recent, or you really need a linear timeline.

An at times difficult yet welcome conversation about cancer—dealing with it, living with it, dying of it, surviving it—this Ghost Story is more than worth seeking out for its amazing female cast.

Randa Karambelas, Elissa Klie and Chelsea Smith deliver terrific performances and are all in—present, intense, totally convincing; their give and take, in-the-moment honesty and controlled emotional chaos ricocheting from stage to audience and back again remarkable and heartbreaking. And clear; you might never think about cancer the same way again.

Though not a stitch is dropped, there's a lot of nakedness onstage in this emotionally intense and truthful production, Big Spoon, Little Spoon proving once again that some of the best & strongest work in the city quietly goes on in the Off- Off- companies all around us. This is more good work by a fearless and gutsy, socially conscious company that should be supported and seen; by all means, go.

JOSEPHINE: A BURLESQUE CABARET DREAM PLAY Soho Playhouse

2/15/2018

98
Brilliant & fresh
Sexy
Strong & seamless performance
Refreshing
Must see

See it if
Harris is as gorgeous & stunning as her work onstage, her command of stage & character a remarkable tour de force, worth many trips downtown
Don’t see it if
Absolutely no reason not to—unless you’re a lot less comfortable in your skin than Ms Harris is onstage.

Solo performances are hard enough to pull off and bios — especially of performers — even more so, but the seriously talented Tymisha Harris is literally so comfortable in her skin she’s able to pull off the amazing feat of being simultaneously sexy and funny, seductive and goofy.

By no means an impersonation, this is instead a unique tribute from one amazingly poised and self-possessed performer to another, Harris’s spirit and humor filling the room much like Baker’s must have.

From the sexy/racy/goofy knockabout signature Jungle Banana Dance number, her killer vocal on Afraid to Dream, the beautiful subtle lines of her Fan Dance, to the unexpected Dylan showstopper at the end, Harris’s command of the material & ability to work the room are exceptional; she makes it all look so easy, and very much her own.

Costumes are inventive and gorgeous, as is the staging and choreography. The script is clever & the evening all too short. We'd like more time with Harris, but in the meantime, wishing her well — and a career as long and fulfilled as Ms Baker’s.

Sqeamish - Beckett Theatre

11/11/2017

Amazing performance, Edgy, Challenging, Intelligent, Absorbing

See it if You want to see a seamless & engaging tour de force by Fraser, fully on, committed & inventive, to the smallest gesture, & in total control.

Don't see it if You have no patience, don't like monologues, solo plays or the dark — literal or figurative.

Also Alison Fraser delivers a quiet, subtle and thoroughly engaging tour de force here, a virtual master class on risk, going all in, fully inhabiting a role and commanding attention for the duration of this difficult script.

Seated in the dark for its 90 minute length, Fraser's every small gesture, curl of toe, shift of weight has meaning and propels the narrative action, and she manages to totally inhabit several characters, each distinctly etched by gesture and small adjustments of voice. Even the voice of her main character is layered with depth and hint of a varied past. It's a remarkable performance that carries, makes plausible and almost pulls off the end, the weakest part of the evening, and the script.

The Exterminating Angel

11/3/2017

One will either love it or hate it. It's an interesting idea, well done visually with great costumes; it looks terrific and certainly aspires; however — the abstract score was pretty awful, especially when sung in English, both not the most lyrical of vehicles for an opera. A Spanish libretto might have helped, at least a little; in English it simply bordered on a Loony Tunes parody of opera. The score would make a great stand alone concert piece, though. Still, there aren't two memorable notes or melodies in the entire thing, an odd sort of accomplishment. I kept wishing it to be an operetta instead, and all that kept running in mind at intermission was Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life.

A Piece of My Heart (The Onomatopoeia Theatre Company)

10/25/2017

Well intentioned, Lifeless, Flat, Cramped, Slow

See it if You're a fan of Shirley Lauro's work & care to hear what sounds like an uncut reading of her script in an evening that's more tell than show
Don't see it if You don't know the story; much is belabored & much won't be clear. Also, if you're familiar with any other versions, this will fall short.
Also Director Gordon has managed to make the worst of an awkward and difficult space, for the most part trapping the cast onto a cramped, noisy three-step platform along the house-left wall. Huddled together at times in often severe lighting, the young actors often seem left to their own devices.

As directed, they stomp around the set, repeatedly acting out unnecessary physical details (carrying benches as gurneys, pantomiming bandages, etc.) and endlessly sorting out obvious, needless small costume changes, they never cohere into an ensemble of any sort, or even seem to come to terms with the audience—is there a fourth wall or not?

Also, for a company whose notes claim a heavy focus on sound, there's a distinct lack of music, the unifying language of the 60's and the main reason for the Maryjo character.

Unusual for two productions of a play to run in a season, this version pales next to the earlier thought-through Little Spoon Big Spoon one; it's an educational, unfortunate contrast.