BWW Reviews: Portland Stage Presents Probing and Poignant BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS
Portland Stage opened its 2014-2015 season with a probing and poignant production of Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs, the first of Simon's so-called 'Eugene Trilogy.' The 1983 autobiographical reminiscence tells the story of a Jewish boy growing up in a colorful, often dysfunctional extended family in Brooklyn during the Depression. That Simon's play retains so much of its original impact is a tribute to his gifts as a playwright, especially his ability to mingle humor and pain in the crucible of memory.
Portland Stage has mounted an attractive, atmospheric production which owes no small measure of its appeal to Brittany Vasta's sprawling, multi-tiered set, comprised of small eclectically cluttered cubbies evoking the straitened family circumstances. Director Samuel Buggeln makes imaginative use of the space as he draws taut, expressive performances from each of the seven actors, who are all virtually note perfect in capturing the Brooklyn accents.
KDNY Dance Presents Presents GOING, 3/18
New York-based contemporary dance company KDNY Dance is pleased to announce their 2011 Season, an evening of World Premieres choreographed by Kathleen Dyer and set to original music by Cristina Spinei and Zoe Keating, lighting design by Dans Maree Sheehan, and video projection by Heather Kemp. Going will play four performances only at The Ailey Citigroup Theater, The Joan Weill Center for Dance (405 West 55th Street at Ninth Avenue, NYC). Performances begin Friday, March 18 and continue through Sunday, March 20.
KDNY Dance Presents Presents GOING, 3/18
New York-based contemporary dance company KDNY Dance is pleased to announce their 2011 Season, an evening of World Premieres choreographed by Kathleen Dyer and set to original music by Cristina Spinei and Zoe Keating, lighting design by Dans Maree Sheehan, and video projection by Heather Kemp. Going will play four performances only at The Ailey Citigroup Theater, The Joan Weill Center for Dance (405 West 55th Street at Ninth Avenue, NYC). Performances begin Friday, March 18 and continue through Sunday, March 20.
Incubator Arts Project Announces Upcoming Events And Shows
Formerly a project of the Ontological-Hysteric Theater, the Incubator Arts Project supports independent, experimental performing artists through a series of programs aimed at offering production opportunities and guidance with long-term growth and artistic sustainability.
Incubator Arts Project Presents THIRST(Y)
Three desperate souls adrift at sea await a maddeningly cruel fate bestowed on them by an angry God-a comedy which may or may not have absolutely nothing to do with race. (oh my god I am so) THIRST(y) is a slight adaptation of one of Eugene O'Neill's earliest plays, THIRST (1914), written while the playwright was confined to a sanatorium in rural Connecticut. THIRST had a single production in 1916 with the Provincetown Players, in which O'Neill himself originated the role of the Negro Sailor. The play subsequently sank into obscurity. Despite its rough edges, THIRST hints at O'Neill's later experiments with expressionism and American myth, as well as his forays into the dark underbelly of modernity. Creating a new work based on this public domain text, Little Lord exploits O'Neill's wildly imaginative assault on the very nature of performance and the possibilities of the theater. (oh my god I am so) THIRST(y) is at once grotesque melodrama, gothic horror, campy musical theater, and engrossing telenovela- a fantastical mix of No Exit, Waiting for Godot, The Count of Monte Cristo, 'Amos and Andy,' and Open Water.
TV: NYMF 2009 - PLAGUED
THE NEW YORK MUSICAL THEATRE FESTIVAL and Kim Vasquez/ GRAY LADY ENTERTAINMENT, INC. team up again with this year's PLAGUED - A LOVE STORY with book and lyrics by VYNNIE MELI and music by CASEY L. FILIACI. Directed by SAMUEL BUGGELN (Bedbugs!) with musical direction by ZAK SANDLER.
PLAGUED Makes NYMF Debut Friday, 10/9
THE NEW YORK MUSICAL THEATRE FESTIVAL and KIM VASQUEZ/ GRAY LADY ENTERTAINMENT, INC. team up again with this year's PLAGUED - A LOVE STORY with book and lyrics by VYNNIE MELI and music by CASEY L. FILIACI. Directed by SAMUEL BUGGELN (Bedbugs!) with musical direction by ZAK SANDLER.