"Celibacy is the only sane response to a world gone wild. My porno films feature fully clothed men making business deals."

I haven't had the mental capacity to post on anything too brainy recently. Work is busy and annoying, which unfortunately leaves me in a mood to post more about Travolta's embarassing antics than about the state of American Theater. However, I have to take a break from the fluffernutter to talk about my new favorite show, Passing Strange.


Comparisons between Passing Strange and Spring Awakening are kind of inevitable - they both are about youth, growing up, and challenging authority, they both have hot lighting by Kevin Adams, and they both not only have rock scores, but succeed in actually rocking.

However, where Spring Awakening is tight and purposeful, Passing Strange is loose, messy, and interpretive - and all the more engaging for it. The story follows an African-American teenager as he gets the hell out of Dodge (Dodge being beige-colored suburban LA), finds passion in music, and experiments with art, revolution, sex, music, and love. His search for love, understanding, and "the real" is set against the backdrop of Amsterdam and Berlin in the 1970's, when words like freedom and love and revolution were said with passion and without irony.

Daniel Breaker plays Youth, with a small ensemble representing everyone from his mother's conservative church friends, to the free thinkers of Amsterdam's hash bars, to the bizarre anarchists of Berlin's artistic underworld. The entire ensemble is really, really remarkable. They use different accents, movement, choreography, all kinds of stuff that could smack of grad-school interpretive acting class, and make it communicate in an completely authentic, never schticky way. Props also go to movement coordinator Karole Armitage who doubtless played an important role in keeping the movement organic and central to the storytelling.

The conducter of the train is Stew, the co-creator, narrator, and band front man who has the perspective needed to tell this story of his own youth with gravity, wisdom, charm, and humor. He also is a powerful performer who rallies the audience, transforming us from a room full of strangers into a community in a way that I've honestly never experienced in a theater.


As is sometimes the case with shows like this that evolve out of a non-theater idea, and take non-traditional routes with storytelling, the show is a bit patchy. The momentum chugs along, but is occasionally derailed by an extraneous plot turn or narration when there should be action. But between the poetry, depth, and humor of the piece, and the kick-ass cast, Passing Strange is pretty transcendent. Don't miss it.

Public & Culture Project produce a high-school banned play

Note to all high school principals: cancelling a student-written play doesn't always make people sit down and shut up. The Public Theater AND The Culture Project will stage "Voices in Conflict", a play written and performed by high schoolers, originally as part of a class project. The play is about the Iraq war, and reportedly consists of monologues from soldiers' points of view. The high school production was cancelled by Principal Timothy H. Canty, who claims he was worried about the reaction from locals, "who had lost loved ones or who had individuals serving," and also questioned the capabilities of the students by citing concerns about "political balance and sourcing." Since when is it the job of a play to achieve political balance or equality? Isn't being fair and balanced the job of the news? Oh wait...

If you're something of a geograph-ist like me, you might assume that the high school is located somewhere in the conservative midwest. Nope - it's Wilton High School, in Connecticut. It's actually not surprising that liberal areas can still be very limited when it comes to the freedom of speech for young people. When I was in high school in New Jersey, our school got a lot of attention for a scandal involving some nasty hazing going on within the wrestling team. Though it was all over the Star Ledger and other papers, our newspaper was explicitly instructed not to write a word about it. Of course, the main perpetrator of the hazing (which had involved students tying a pre-freshman kid down to a chair and doing *horrible* things to him) had been the son of the school's superintendant, so it came as no great shock that we weren't allowed to cover it. The two stories aren't really that similar, but my experience makes me all the more happy to see the Connecticut students getting so much attention for their play.

They were also on Good Morning America a few weeks ago to talk about the banning of the show in their school. ConnecticutBlog has clip of the appearance, and quotes:

Senior Seth Koproski said the play is not about politics. "We didn't want to spew propaganda," Koproski said. "We wanted to create a discussion."

The slightly defensive tone of Koproski's statement says a lot about how attacked the students must feel - I'll bet there have been a lot of accusations that spewing propaganda was, in fact, their aim, whether consious or unconsious. The Public has announced that the show will be staged on June 15th (tentative date), with a performance at The Culture Project the preceding weekend.

Update: Both Isaac at Parabasis and Gothamist have picked up the story. Looks like Wilton High is getting more attention than it's principal bargained for!

Jack Goes Boating

I totally, totally LOVED Jack Goes Boating. It's one of those rare productions when material, direction, design, and performances all work perfectly together and create a really magical, delightful evening of theater.

The story is amazingly normal: married couple Clyde (John Ortiz) and Lucy (Daphne Rubin-Vega) introduce their single, socially anxious friend Jack (Philip Seymour Hoffman) to sweet but equally troubled Connie (Beth Cole). Jack and Connie's hesitant courtship is juxtaposed by Clyde and Lucy's sometimes-rocky-but-pretty-typical marriage. Ultimately, it's nothing more (or less) than a story about Jack trying new things, branching out, and becoming just a little bit adventurous in hopes that he might find a companion, and even a little romance. In fact, a good song for this show would be Rilo Kiley's "More Adventurous".

The simplicity and detail of this production are astounding. David Korins' set effortlessly creates a modest but comfy apartment, a dingy telesales office, and a public pool with humor and style. And the final moment , when Jack rows Connie across what we imagine to be a glassy lake, is stunning.

The performances are also achievements in simplicity, honesty, and fun detail. John Ortiz is so charming, and Daphne Rubin-Vega is delightful and perfectly cast - refreshing after seeing her working so hard in Les Miz, where she was clearly a square peg in a gigantic, overwrought, revolving hole. Philip Seymour Hoffman is magnetic, and does so much with so little. The play might disintegrate in the hands of a lesser actor, but Hoffman's sensitive, light touch is so watchable that any flaws in the writing are rendered invisible.

Also: it's really nice to see a play where the characters use drugs, and it doesn't feel like an infomercial. The drug use in Jack Goes Boating informs the characters, and furthers the action, and tells us about these people's lives, and that's it. It doesn't aim to warn us of the terrible consequences of drug use, aside from burning dinner. So, SO many people smoke pot these days, and it's really nice to see it represented in a truthful way - not a positive way, not glorifying it, but not making it into the devil's handiwork, either.

Review: King Lear

This never happens to me. I didn't like it, and I can't figure out why. Lapine is a good director, the cast are all skilled actors, and the playwright isn't too bad himself, but somehow the whole thing isn't cohesive as a story, and I sat there watching feeling nothing.

First off, I'm developing a theory that it's a bad luck to sit next to an obnoxious audience member. I sat next to a rather rotund gum-chomper, and I'd love to be able to brush that off, but loud chewing is my worst pet peeve, and I sat there listening to her cow-like masticatation through the whole first act (she left at intermission). It seems like whenever I get stuck next to someone like this (the snoring old guy with legs splayed wide, the kid who bounces on her seat and talks to mom) the show ends up being a stinker.

I'll give you the good news first: Kevin Kline is an excellent Lear. He masterfully creates the king's spiralling journey into madness, and is sympathetic enough to make you feel for him, even through all his terrible missteps. Larry Bryggman is a fantastic Gloucester, impressively matching Kline's ease with the language. The agile Michael Cerveris is perfect as Kent, Lear's servant whose unswerving allegiance could be tough to render believable in the hands of a lesser actor. A few other performers stand out: Philip Goodwin's Fool is spot-on, and Brian Avers has brilliantly crafted Edgar's journey from geeky student to Poor Tom to a courageous leader at the end.

So why did several people leave at intermission? And why was the woman behind me applying hand lotion instead of paying attention, and why were others falling asleep, and why was I so utterly unstirred?

Let's start with the three daughters. Angela Pierce just ain't my thing - her performance seemed inorganic and uninteresting, overplaying key moments rather than just making smart choices and letting us come to her. Kristen Bush is fine. I like her command of the language, and I appreciate her Cordelia not being a pushover, but I just didn't like Cordelia, and so her death felt like no big whoop. Maybe I just don't like Cordelia, period. I really like Laura Odeh, and I initially enjoyed her take on Regan as a vulnerable middle sister who defers to Goneril and gets led astray, but by the end it felt like we were watching her work really hard, and the performance seemed like "acting" rather than living believably in the role.

I had so looked forward to Logan Marshall Green's Edmund, but his performance felt overwrought, too, and so his moments of real fury or emotion felt stagey. Edmund is such a pragmatist, and there are moments where you can tell that Green gets that, but he still doesn't seem as centered and calculating as Edmund really is. Again, the "acting" thing - his work seemed effortful.

Lapine's staging is smartly executed, but feels uncompelling. The set has many levels which are made good use of - my seat was quite far over to the right side of the 3/4 house and I saw almost everything. However, it seems like the giant industrial set doesn't add much, if anything, to the story, other than providing some different exit and entrance points for the actors, and vantage points for overhearing things. The downside of the set's giant pillars and looming scaffolding is that it remains in place while Lear is raving across the countryside. It seems like we're always inside, and I wonder how much greater his suffering would affect us if Kline was given a full stage for that scene, rather than just a large patch downstage. It feels cramped and even claustrophobic for what could be a really visually sweeping show. In fact, there are times when the actors shove each other around, and I was actually worried about them falling off the platforms. King Lear has so many references to our place in the world, the stars, the country, and so much of it is outside in the open in the elements. I hungered for some kind of physical representation of all that imagery, beyond the sandbox that is the stage for outside scenes or the blue curtains that cascade down to represent rain.

So, there you have it. I guess I didn't like it because the bad just outweighed the good. There's a lot of well-intentioned effort gone wrong here, not just in one area, but scattered throughout the production. No element is a total failure, but a lot of things aren't quite working. I still think this Lear is a don't miss - Kline, Bryggman, and Cerveris together are amazing. I only wish this was the top-notch production that they deserve.

Romeo and Juliet at the Delacorte this summer

The ever-delightful Rocco over at What Blows has got a great scoop - The Public announced EPAs for this summer's production of Romeo and Juliet in the park. Now begins the guessing game of who will be cast. Rocco's top picks include John Gallagher Jr. and Alison Pill, and I'm hard pressed to think of anyone who would be better.

As long as it's not that hacktress Emmy Rossum, the Moxie she is very pleased.

CORRECTION: The JG Jr. & Alison Pill idea was, of course, Jamie's. Many kudos to Jamie! Spread the word and start the grassroots campaign: "Theater Bloggers for the Casting of Alison and JG Jr."

I've Got A Golden King Lear Ticket!

Here's a story for all y'all who knock All That Chat. Yeah, a lot of the posters on it are cracktards with an axe to grind, but when you have a desk job, reading has it's perks. Embarassing it is, I will admit that I check ATC several times a day. This is mostly due to how slow it's been at the office lately. I've also taken to reading the finance section of the Times and writing snarky letters to the editor of the Village Voice (increasingly stupid these days, isn't it?). I am bored.

So a few weeks ago, I noticed that someone had just posted "King Lear ticket on Shoppin' Broadway". Well! I jumped on the post, and immediately emailed the guy, begging and pleading (in a classy, dignified way, of course) for the prize to be mine. Though he preferred to trade the ticket for another performance, he agreed that if he was unable to trade it, the ticket would be mine! Lo and behold, nobody volunteered to trade tickets, and we agreed to meet. After stern warnings from my boss about men who prey on young women seeking off-broadway theater tickets, yesterday in front of the Forbidden Broadway theater, I handed over a wad of cash in exchange for one very beautiful and altogether real ticket. I embark on my journey to LearLand February 28th. Whoopee!!!

King Lear Casting Gossip

Moxie cannot WAIT for The Public's production of King Lear! Kevin Kline will play the aging monarch. Kline is at the top of a short list of older actors Moxie has a big fat crush on, ever since seeing the silly but delightful French Kiss (a certain bug-eyed actor featured in Earth Girls are Easy is also on the list). There's no doubt that he'll be incredible, and compared with some of the stage roles he's played in the past few years, which have been only so-so roles for him, Lear seems like a perfect fit.

What Moxie is even more excited about, though, is the casting rumors she's heard circulating. Logan Marshall Green will play Edmund ("Now Gods, stand up for Bastards!") and Michael Cerveris will play Kent! This is so perfect, I could just purr.

Now, who will play the women? For Cordelia, Moxie would love to see The Public cast someone with some backbone and spunk. The last thing I feel like watching is another pretty Juliet type with a lovely speaking voice and nothing interesting or edgy going on. Why not Alison Pill? Bryce Dallas Howard would also be fierce, as would Amy Ryan.


Regan and Goneril... I always think of them as the real politicians of the group, old-timey Condoleeza Rice and Hillary Clintons, if you will. If there were a god in heaven, they'd cast Tina Benko, delicious viper that she is. Being an agnostic, I guess we'll just have to wait and see.