Theatre: The Last Five Years

at Actor's Express.

God, what a sad show. I think this is the saddest musical ever written. I cried just a little the entire time.

The actors in this production were completely awesome, with strong voices and lots of presence. Kathy was especially amazing. The set was neat, but I wonder if it didn't cause the people sitting on opposite sides to have different reactions to the characters. Kathy faced our side the most, and I felt for Kathy the most. But maybe that also was because of the writing? I can't tell.

Anyway, awesome show. best thing I've seen in a while.

Theatre: Richard III

at Georgia Shakespeare.

Let me just say this straight out: no one compares to Ian McKellen, and no one ever will.

That said, there were aspects of this production that I liked. The set was amazing as always, utilizing fabric and reflective surfaces in cool ways. The coronation scene and the dream sequence stood out in that respect as visually quite stunning.

Theatre: The Wolves in the Walls

based on the children's book by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean.

The trip up to New York to see this play was my birthday present from my mom, and it was totally and completely worth it. What a terrific production. The songs were fun, the technical aspects were amazing (Dave McKean's drawings done in light on the walls), and the puppets were so much fun to watch. There were even a few truly scary moments. And Pig Puppet was the cutest thing ever. I just can't say enough good things about this show.

Theatre: dark play or stories for boys

Jenny and I went to see this show at Actor's Express because a friend was in it, and because the Express has never let us down. It was quite good, in a way that surprised me. The premise is rather simple, even possibly silly: the twisted danger of the internet and the way this effects boys. But the lead actor carried the show (it's mostly told in monologue), our friend Brent was surprisingly amazing, and the whole setup was almost always interesting to watch.

Theatre: Doing Good Things

at 7 Stages.

A German fairy tale of sorts, about two girls in the woods, trying to do good things. It's harder than they imagine. This performance was crazy--very interesting but very dark and, well, German.

Theatre: Pericles, Prince of Tyre

Thursday preview night at GA Shakespeare means Jenny and I get in the door without needing tickets. I didn't know anything about Pericles prior to sitting down to this.

What a weird show. Interesting story, but almost completely lacking in dramatic tension. Pericles is good from the start (in a fairy tale way--he's generous), and then bad things happen to him, and then all is restored. Hero's quest without any real work done on his part. Without any work ever needing to be done. His daughter saves herself (and this is interesting, but wasn't incredibly well-acted in this production). His wife serves the Goddess after she is brought back from death, and when Pericles honors the Goddess as he is told, she is returned to him.

I can understand why this one isn't wildly popular. In a way, ambiguity makes a story. Will he or won't he--the entire question behind Hamlet, behind Macbeth, behind Othello.

Still, the production had some really solid elements, the set being chief among them. Neat tricks: the storm at sea done with fabric, the hand-held light symbolizing resurrection, the pieces added to change settings. Very very pretty to look at. Worth seeing for that stuff, but I'm glad I didn't pay.

Theatre: The Servant of Two Masters

by Carlo Goldoni, directed by Dan McCleary.

Last night was the final dress rehearsal, and a bunch of us were asked to come so the actors could have an audience, see when/where people laughed, etc. The premise of this play is a little convoluted-sounding, so I was worried that, when it officially opens, the patrons aren't going to get it.

I pretty much forgot all about the logistics by the time the actors started doing their thing. This play is funny. Like, pee-in-your-pants funny. There's a ton of improv, topical humor, penis jokes (and indecent-looking pants), physical comedy, running gags, and other hilarious stuff. Oh, and a splash zone.

Definitely the best comedy I've seen in a while.

Theatre: Karibu

created and performed by Teatro del Milenio

I don't usually see shows at 7 Stages, because I'm too busy working, or because I've been burned in the past. But Karibu was one of those shows I just couldn't pass up. An Afro-Peruvian piece of dance theatre, comparable to Stomp but performed in Spanish--how do you say no to that?

The first fifteen minutes or so had me worried that I was about to get burned again. But the cheesy, showboating quality of a show-within-a-show put on in a Peruvian restaurant (think Telemundo, really) only served to make the rest of the performance that much more transcendent. The waitstaff/performers became still, stared off into the distance behind the audience, and the real heart of the piece began.

This heart consisted of traditional dancing, something like what I imagine Peruvian ritual dance to have been like, before the Spaniards arrived. The dancers pounded out the rhythm with bamboo poles, whirling dangerously close to the front row. They shook palm fronds, which shed dust and dry leaf bits all over the stage.

Watching all this from the second row, close enough to smell the plant material, to breathe in the dust kicked up, I couldn't help but think about the movements in relation to the book I'm currently reading, Prayer: A History. This dance had a ritual quality to it; but more than than, it served to move me in a way other spectator events have not. The smell, the taste of the dust, the dangerous and messy quality to the whole thing--it all served to reinforce not only the idea of the dance as a demonstration of prayer, but as a very real form of praying going on at that moment. It's hard to write about, and I'm feeling tripped up in my sentences, but I'll lay it out as simply as I can: those dancers were praying for all of us in the audience, and I prayed right there with them.

My concentration was drawn mostly to the principal female dancer, who had the kind of radiant beauty that makes me think of divinity. She shone like the goddesses. And then she left the stage, reemerging in a traditional shaman outfit with a goat (?) mask. I've never seen a shamanistic dance like that in person--it absolutely blew me away. Tears, joy, the whole range of emotions, all with my heart straining towards something bigger, something beyond.