Review Roundup: ONE NIGHT ONLY (RUNNING AS LONG AS WE CAN) at the WP Theatre

The world premiere production of ONE NIGHT ONLY will play at the WP Theatre through October 8. The show features performing partners Monica Bill Barnes and Anna Bass. It's got just as much heart (and potential for failure!) as last year's World Series, except there are no balls, no bats, and it's only 63 minutes long. Everyday movements will be taken to monumental new heights in a night of unexpected joy from manic finger snapping, competitive spinning, and non-stop athleticism.

ONE NIGHT ONLY was created by and stars Monica Bill Barnes, Anna Bass, and Robert Saenz De Viteri. Scenic and costume design is by Kelly Hanson, with lighting design by Jane Cox, and choreography by Monica Bill Barnes.

Let's see what the critics had to say!

Hayley Levitt, TheatreMania: And yet, once all the strangely entertaining nonsense percolates, you're left with a stack of thought-provoking nuggets. After all, as Barnes and Bass blend theater into sport, sport in the traditional sense begins to look a lot like theater. Does either one warrant the glory we attribute to the practitioners who go to such extremes?... Boasting a history of unflagging fortitude, it's impossible to tell how keenly Bass and Barnes feel any of that underlying baggage. But in sports, as in art, it's the game face that matters.

Elisabeth Vincentelli, The New York Times: Tellingly "One Night Only" is not so much about rivalry as it is about complicity. Ms. Barnes and her stage partner, Anna Bass, have been collaborating for years and clearly share a near-telepathic bond. Then there is the rapport they establish with the audience - sometimes friendly and sometimes less so... Effort and pain are always present. Tendons bulge, veins throb. At one point we're told all the injuries and ailments that Ms. Barnes and Ms. Bass have endured over the years. They would make a linebacker wince. You understand, then, why the dancers take refuge in humor. They know all too well the toll of their exertion.

Adam Cohen, Theatre Pizzazz: A lucky winner is chosen to read the litany of injuries performers Bass and Monica Bill Barnes have experienced - concussions, pulled muscles, operations. The moment creates a sense of the sacrifice, training, dedication, passion engendered within sports, theater, and artists. And it compels the audience with appreciation and good will for the performers while being mind boggling in completeness... The dancers are a joy to behold - expressive with big and little movements. There's a lot to think about in this rumination on accomplishment and mortality.

Mari S. Gold, New York Arts: You can't help but admire the physicality of the women although the number in which they danced in a backwards circle while an audience member read a litany of the injuries each has sustained over the years seemed mostly a painful-in every sense of the word-time-filler.

Photo: Joan Marcus

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