Love, Loss, And What I Wore (The SOB Review) - The Westside Theatre, New York, New York*** (out of ****)I'll readily admit that I'm most certainly not in the target audience for
Love, Loss, And What I Wore.
You don't even have to enter Off-Broadway's Westside Theatre to grasp that this is an intimate evening aimed first and foremost at females of all ages.
But like every guy, I have a mother. I even grew up with an older sister. And fortunately for me, I'm blessed with a host of very special relationships with some exceptional women. So while
Love, Loss, And What I Wore is made for women, it's certainly strong enough for men with tale after familiar tale that will recall everything we know and love about the better sex. Male or female, we can all relate.
Blessed with a rotating cast of five,
Love, Loss, And What I Wore is a much more accessible
Vagina Monologues for the 21st Century. Please don't misunderstand. I found
Eve Ensler's groundbreaking selections of staged readings from the last decade to be potent, brave and empowering. But let's face it, the title alone translated to my being one of relatively few men in its audience. In fact, I felt every bit as conspicuous there as I did the time I took in an "Oprah" taping.
While there were more masculine faces in the Westside Theatre, it's really deserving of significantly more. That's because regardless of our gender, most of us should be able to identify with this dramatic, funny and often poignant reading of "an intimate collection of stories" from the mother/daughter team of
Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron.
Even though it's not afraid to wear its outsized heart on its beautifully crafted sleeve,
Love, Loss, And What I Wore stitches its myriad swatches of vignettes ranging from marriage, infidelity and divorce to breast cancer with a common thread: essentially how profound passages from disparate women's lives are accessorized by memorable apparel. But rather than serving as window dressing, the attire constitutes quintessential landmarks for remembering the milestones in these ladies' lives.
When I caught this past Sunday's show, it not only featured
Tyne Daly, who continues with
Love, Loss, And What I Wore through November 15, but also
Samantha Bee,
Katie Finneran,
Natasha Lyonne and
Rosie O'Donnell. Even though this is staged as a reading, it became apparent very quickly that each of the actresses had taken their assigned sketches to heart, rarely glancing at the music stands in front of them as if only to turn the page.
With a graceful maturity, Daly grounds the production throughout. The Tony-winning Finneran handled most of the heaviest lifting of the show's particuarly weighty topics, but she did so with a calming ease, almost as if she was merely putting on a lightweight coat. Lyonne offered a no-nonsense approach, while Bee added a delightful dose of humor, especially as a German shrink. Yet it was the warmhearted O'Donnell who surprised the most in mining the most laughs, but in a most reverential fashion.
Clocking in at a mere 85 minutes, director
Karen Carpenter paces
Love, Loss, And What I Wore with style and care. With topics that will touch the hearts of both sexes, what would I tell any guy asking if the show is worth seeing?
Womanly yes, but I liked it, too.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Delia Ephron, Katie Finneran, Love Loss And What I Wore, Natasha Lyonne, Nora Ephron, Off-Broadway, Reading, Rosie O'Donnell, Samantha Bee, The SOB Review, Tyne Daly
Winnipeg's Lucrezia Borgia At The FringeRegular readers will recall that over the Memorial Day holiday, I traveled to Winnipeg where I took in a reading for a promising new musical by
Joseph Aragon called
Lucrezia Borgia. At the time, it was still under development.
Since
I promised to chart its progress, I wanted you to know that the work apparently is complete and ready to roll
in toto at the
2007 Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival.
Directed by Jeffrey Kohut and Carson Nattrass,
Lucrezia Borgia will be presented nightly at 7:00 p.m. Winnipeg's Gas Station Theatre, July 18-28 (except for July 23). Tickets are just $8 Canadian.
Lucrezia Borgia is described as:
[A]n original musical that presents a new perspective on the legendary daughter of Pope Alexander VI and her bloody legacy. The Lucrezia of legend has been the subject of countless novels, plays, films and operas -– but was she really the heinous monster history has painted her to be? Historical fact brings to light a different Lucrezia Borgia -– a proud, passionate woman who sought beauty in an ugly world.
This musical explores a side of Lucrezia Borgia history has chosen to ignore – one that focuses on her strength, compassion and vitality for life, as well as her constant struggle between the desire to follow her own heart, and her loyalty to her family and the Borgia name.
Andrea Houssin, who winningly created the role of Lucrezia at the
Carol Shields Festival of New Works, will reprise her turn in the complete production.
Since I won't be able to make a return visit to Winnipeg, I invite those who see the performance to comment on the production.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for Fringe Festival tickets.Related Stories:Lucrezia Borgia (The SOB Overview) (May 30, 2007)
Flitting Around Square Winnipeg (May 25, 2007)
Labels: Canada, Carol Shields Festival of New Works, Gregory Maguire, Joseph Aragon, Lucrezia Borgia, Musical, Reading, Winnipeg
Lucrezia Borgia (The SOB Overview) - Prairie Theatre Exchange, Winnipeg, Manitoba, CanadaLast weekend, I journeyed to beautiful Winnipeg where I took in a reading of
Joseph Aragon's
Lucrezia Borgia -- a budding new musical that's only partially complete -- during the
Carol Shields Festival of New Works. Since the festival itself was billed as a showcase for "staged readings of new plays and works in progress," it would hardly be fair to judge what I saw with a formal review.
But I can tell you that this promising original musical offers intrigue aplenty. While only six full tunes have been completed, it offers a new twist on the original "
material girl," who reputedly participated in murders carried out by her father (Pope Alexander XI) and brother (Cesare) and possibly engaged in incest with both of them.
The tuner is described as an exploration of "a side of her that history has chosen to ignore -- one that focuses on her strength, compassion and vitality for life, as well as her constant struggle between the desire to follow her own heart, and her loyalty to her family and the Borgia name."
If the misunderstood nature of Lucrezia Borgia sounds a bit like
Wicked, then perhaps it's no surprise that author
Gregory Maguire used Lucrezia for his inside-out "
Mirror Mirror," which reimagined the tale of Snow White in Renaissance Italy; however, Lucrezia became the personification of the wicked stepmother. In
Lucrezia Borgia, Aragon strives to make Lucrezia a sympathetic, mournful character, despite the fact she has indeed committed murder to preserve her family's prestige, privilege and reign.
While Andrea Houssin's characterization of Lucrezia as a tortured soul feels genuine, Aragon still has plenty of work to do to make this piece flow, particularly in winnowing down the number of paths he wants to pursue. One of the more intriguing elements of the entire work is that far from infallible, its pope is malevolent, corrupt and greedy and certainly didn't practice what he preached -- the allegory to contemporary religion could easily be amplified.
Having been impressed by several key elements of the reading, including the opening number and an entertaining tune centered on a Spanish cow, I'll certainly be tracking this work as it nears completion.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Related Stories:Flitting Around Square Winnipeg (May 25, 2007)
Labels: Canada, Carol Shields Festival of New Works, Gregory Maguire, Joseph Aragon, Lucrezia Borgia, Musical, Reading, Wicked, Winnipeg
That's Andy-Tainment?
Tip of the hat to Boston-area (as near as I can figure) theatre director/musician/blogger
Corey Jackson at the Bullroar Report for his insider perspective on what sounds like a very promising reading for a new musical called
That's Andy.
The musical is about a young child who dreams of someday portraying
Annie -- only catch is that the young child is a
boy. Sounds like quite the original premise.
Describing the show as "
Music Man meets
Urinetown," Jackson is downright exuberant: "The crowd went crazy and wild and I think this show is on it’s way to something big. You heard it here first. Or maybe you heard it on
Playbill or
Broadwayworld first, but you heard it here second if not first. So there....This is a gold mine."
Well, Corey, although stories on That's Andy were included in those various places, they escaped me. So in my book, I heard it from you first. Thanks for sharing! I'll be looking forward to That's Andy arriving on the Great White Way before the end of the year.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Annie, Beth Leavel, Blogs, Broadway, First Word On New Show, Lauren Kennedy, Musical, Reading, That's Andy, The Bullroar Report
