Category Archives: Arts

FAME, Theatre

The Art Of A Great Bamboozle

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This season the essence of C.S. Lewis is alive and well on stage.  One incarnation of the atheist turned Christian apologist, novelist, lay theologian and academic was in the form of the man himself in Freud’s Last Session, a drama depicting a fictional meeting between Lewis and Sigmund Freud.  The other appears in an adaptation of The Screwtape Letters, one of his most popular works, by the Fellowship for the Performing Arts.  The book, published in 1942, is a series of letters authored by Screwtape (a senior demon in the dominion of hell) to his nephew Wormwood (a junior tempter just recently sent into the world).  Screwtape’s annotations offer the young demon a guide on how to lead a man down the path of damnation towards “Our Father Below” (the Devil) and away from “The Enemy” (God).

Playing at the Westside Theatre, The Screwtape Letters is a 90-minute mental gobstopper.  As the play opens, His Abysmal Sublimity Screwtape is addressing The Graduation Banquet at the Tempters College for Young Demons.   As the spirits of Hell feast on the numerous human souls they have swayed from “The Enemy,” Screwtape reminds the neophytes that although the substance of their supper does not have quite the same zing as true evil-doers like Hitler, there are plenty of humans willing to take the slow methodical road to the underworld by committing smaller sins.  His chilling speech is an eerie reminder of the phrase, “We are in the last days,” an expression my aunt would always say when adding her two cents about the news.  But it was not until I witnessed this scene that I realized the last days did not mean the 20th or 21st century, in fact, my aunt was referring to every day after the infamous apple bite.  Following the banquet scene, the rest of the production is carried out in Screwtape’s office, which is constructed of bones. 

Besides his scowling, transforming minion Toadpipe (played by Beckley Andrews), Screwtape is the only character that appears on stage.  Wormwood, “The Enemy”, “Our Father Below”, Slobgob, “The Patient” (The young man Wormwood is attempting to beguile) and “The Woman” (The Patient’s love interest) are all unseen characters that are vividly resurrected through Screwtape’s salacious soliloquy.   The Screwtape Letters is a timeless piece of work that needed to be reintroduced to the public more than ever before.  Indeed with the global economic state, constant threat of terrorism and conflict and the slow disintegration of man’s respect for nature and his fellow man, there is not one human being that can afford to miss this production.

Max McLean co-wrote and co-directed this adaptation and brings the letters to life in glorious fashion.  As Screwtape he is evil personified.  The disdain he exhibits for humans and God as well as the lusty pleasure he receives from devouring souls is completely convincing and compelling.  I was gobsmacked by the God smack that was delivered to my state of consciousness.    In fact, amusement is only one of the functions of this show, the other (and I believe chief) reason for this production is to present a thriving, thorough account of how man can be so easily led down the primrose path.  Screwtape, Wormwood and those who work for “The Enemy” are spirits, humans, as Screwtape puts it, are “amphibians—half spirit and half animal.”   It is the animal half he instructs Wormwood to target when tempting “The Patient’s” spirit.  He outlines how pride, religion, pleasure (a device created by God) can be viable tools for manipulation.  He details how prayer can cause immediate action by “The Enemy” and a demon’s best time to strike is during quiet times of reflection.  But the most significant disclosure Screwtape shares with his nephew is the law of Undulation which is, “the repeated return to a level from which they (humans) repeatedly fall back, a series of troughs and peaks.”  The satirical commentary ends with Wormwood losing “The Patient” to “The Enemy” and becoming worm bait for Screwtape and Toadpipe.

Revelations 20:20 is an idiom I say when referring to the clarity that is gained by hindsight.  Watching The Screwtape Letters brought to life on stage offered more of a revelation than I ever anticipated.  The audience learns that every transgression counts.   In the end, all of Screwtape’s devices to entice us with vices leads to one well-known (but often forgotten) conclusion, the Devil and his sycophants are liars whose misdirection is the most direct passageway to becoming tasty morsels at Hell’s buffet.  Hats off to Max McLean for reminding us that we are all soldiers in the war for our souls, The Screwtape Letters ends its New York run on January 9, FAMERS make sure this show is the only trip to Hades you ever take.

Photos:  screwtapeonstage.com/gallery

Theater

Mistakes Is a Good Thing

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Mistakes Were Made could be an apropos slogan for the Democrats considering the colossal clobbering they received on November 4 in Washington, but in this case Mistakes Were Made happens to be the title of a riotous play written by Craig Wright, directed by Dexter Bullard and showcasing the extraordinary talent of Michael Shannon.

Shannon plays Felix Artifex a man with big dreams and even bigger failures.  He is a B-List (teetering on C-List) Off-Broadway producer whose character can best be described as one part good guy and three parts BS artist.  Felix is obsessed with three things: bringing Mistakes Were Made to Broadway, contacting his estranged wife and feeding is fish to the point of peril.  The audience is introduced to him sitting in a cluttered office filled with scripts, board games and posters of past pedestrian productions.  Believing that Mistakes Were Made will emancipate him from the lackluster life he has led, the slippery slope Felix rides to utter insanity, then clarity begins with him on the phone trying to convince the Hollywood actor du jour to star in Mistakes Were Made, a play based on the French Revolution.  When the actor begins to edit the script, Felix goes into schmooze mode feeding the actor a line of malarkey longer than 5th Avenue in order to get what he wants.   He then does the same to playwright who refuses to change the play.  With all the lines of his telephone blowing up, Felix slides deeper into an abyss of bombastic blunders as he tries to cajole then bully the young writer into altering his original vision all while desperately attempting to reach his wife and back out of a business deal gone awry.

The only thing keeping him sane is the reflective talks he has with Denise, his fish, while overfeeding her.  He shares with her his dreams of making Mistakes Were Made a smash hit and of the mediocre career he has led which will surely be rectified with this show.  The fish is the perfect reflection of his personality.  Her ambition to eat every pellet of food will ultimately lead to her destruction as Felix’s half-truths will lead to his debacle.  His constant reference to the title Mistakes Were Made is suitable considering he is making so many on his road to glory.  Eventually his zealousness leads to an epic explosion of his dreams and the death of his beloved Denise.  As he sinks to the floor in utter despair, I could not help but focus my eyes on the Sorry board game resting underneath a shelf.  Perhaps that game exquisitely sums up his attitude about the events that have transpired.  As the play closes Felix begins to earn the redemption he so desperately seeks as he ventures to repair the damage that he caused by calling the playwright to extend an olive branch.

So I ask can mistakes be a good thing.  Absolutely when it involves Michael Shannon, he holds this riveting character study on his shoulders with the same ease as Atlas lifting up the world.  Shannon makes Felix a shyster with a soul.  His desire to become greater and repair past errors is relatable and commendable and the manner in which he does it is amusing as hell.  Fueled by great dialogue, Mistakes Were Made is hands down the wittiest show I have seen all season. It is a comical glimpse of what happens behind the scenes of a production before it hits the stage.  Mistakes Were Made will be playing at the Barrow Street Theatre until January 2, any theatergoer that misses this show will themselves have engaged in a folly that is unforgivable.  

Photos:  Ari Mintz

Arts

SAMO and OZ in NYC

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A Preview of Ugly-Kid Gumo

To create graffiti is to engage in urban guerilla warfare.  Renegades of refinement, graffiti artists take cold, inanimate slabs of concrete and other disregarded objects from our society and manufacture fleeting masterpieces.   The fact that these works are both illegal and transient is what makes this medium one of the most authentic forms of expression and those who lurk in the shadows of night, spray cans in hand, to partake in this illicit act, mavericks of culture.    In the ‘80s, graffiti art was an extension of hip-hop, a subculture emerging from the Bronx that also fused a particular style of music and dancing.  Street artists also started to become recognized as rising stars in the international art scene – artists like Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat, who along with Al Diaz created the SAMO Graffiti in the late ‘70s and also signed his early work as SAMO.   

Following along the same vein as these iconic artists is a young street artist from France named Ugly-Kid Gumo.  Gumo was born in France in 1980 near Paris, the same year in which Basquiat began to kill the SAMO legend by writing “SAMO IS DEAD” all over downtown.   Using the raw electricity of the streets as his canvas, Gumo uses his art as a mirror to reflect back to society the Babylonian condition in which it finds itself.  On November 20, I received a slight introduction to the chaos Gumo evolves from when I attended OZ le visage du mal, a single-evening preview of his work.  Using spray paint, photography and other heterogeneous schemes, Gumo related a story that was a stark, unflinching dose of reality.  It was jarring, emotional, pensive and powerful, causing my stomach to stir from the intensity.  Crude faces illustrated on white pieces of paper and posted against a cardboard backdrop exuded the essence of street culture and were reminiscent of Basquiat’s work.  The amalgamation of early ‘90s American and Parisian hip-hop added to the gritty element of Gumo’s chaos. 

While walking around the preview, meticulously ingesting all of Gumo’s art, I was ensnared by the soul of the pieces, which may be Gumo’s true intention.  I was particularly attached to the series of faces constructed from scrapings of graffiti Gumo completed.  With these pieces Gumo accomplished a rare feat – he transformed a momentary work of art into a fresh conversation piece.    Another series that captivated my attention were spray painted faces with heads shaped like keyholes.

 

As I looked through what appeared to be a keyhole into the primitive faces of Oz, I realize these striking images speak. They speak for the same impoverished people that used mattresses as trampolines, cardboard boxes as dance floors, parks as clubs and trains as canvases.  They speak for the youth that carry their discontentment on their shoulders like backpacks.  Oz is omnipresent – it is New York City, Paris or any place where there is a disconnect with certain members of the community, where people are lost and slip through the cracks.  It is there that Gumo finds the chaos and translates it the world.

Adding to the compelling artwork is Gumo’s personal story.  He is not a man that comes from the ghetto, in fact he was raised in the suburbs, but he identifies with a struggle most people choose to overlook in their quest for recognition and riches.  I find his empathy to be extremely admirable.  It also transforms him from a mere artist to a griot, chronicling the history of our time through mixed-media and poetic expressions.  Gumo is represented in New York by the Marianne Nems Gallery.  The preview was only to wet our appetite for a full scale exhibition coming in March 2011.  Gumo’s work transported me back to the New York City of my youth, where the grit was as thick as the humidity in the summertime.  Before Times Square received consumer-driven porcelain veneers and hip-hop lost its soul.  I am eager to see more of Gumo’s work – it is definitely not the same ole shit.

Photos and Slideshow:  F.A.M.E NYC Editor

Arts, FAME, Theatre

Buddy the Elf Comes To Broadway

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Buffalo two step over Rockettes, this year Buddy the elf descends on Manhattan to spread some hilarious holiday cheer to the world’s most impatient, rude and skeptical citizens.  This Christmas, Broadway gets into the ho-ho-ho spirit of the holidays in a major way with Elf, a new musical based on the 2003 comedy starring Zooey Deschanel, James Caan and the hysterical Will Ferrell. 

Much like the movie Elf tells the story of Buddy, a human who grows up in Christmastown amongst Santa and his elves and believes he too is an elf.  Upon discovering that he is actually human, he also learns his father is Walter Hobbs – a man that does not believe in Santa, is on Santa’s naughty list and lives in New York City.  Determined to build a connection with his father and prove that he is the world’s greatest son, Buddy sets out for the Big Apple to find Walter and spread the spirit of Christmas to New Yorkers – a necessary commodity considering Santa’s sleigh is powered by the people’s belief in Christmas. 

 

Upon arriving in New York City Buddy finds that his father has a new family, a demanding job publishing children’s books and has no time for them or him.  Eventually, Buddy does develop a relationship with his family, and along the way he delivers Christmas cheer to Macy’s, falls in love with a girl, gives his dad a great idea for new Christmas tale and helps raise Santa sleigh after he crashes in Central Park by convincing New Yorkers to believe in Santa and the true meaning of Christmas.

Elf is not just a regurgitated story with song and dance routines crammed haphazardly throughout the show, instead it is a cultivated production enhanced by super cute music and lyrics.  Songs like “Christmastown”, “A Christmas Song”, “Never Fall in Love” and “The Story of Buddy the Elf” are catchy tunes that will add to your roster of favorite X-Mas jingles.  The simple choreography works well with the upbeat music.  Elf is not overly complicated theatre.  It is a feel good family musical about the most wonderful time of the year.  And the cast help to make this make this musical an above average film to theatre adaptation.

 

Sebastian Arcelus is a delight as the naïve, sugary sweet Buddy.  His childlike demeanor is endearing and hilarious.   Amy Spanger is entertaining as Jovie, Buddy’s love interest.  Mark Jacoby as amusing as Walter Hobbs, the hard-ass that discovers he has a new son and a heart.  Beth Leavel and Matthew Gumley are equally enjoyable as Emily and Michael Hobbs.  Their duets are two of the best numbers in the show.  George Wendt as Santa can bring a smile to anyone’s face.  The sets are interactive and animated and are reminiscent of a children’s 3D pop up book.

 

 

The true charm of this production is that it is giddy, warm-hearted and leaves you with cozy, nostalgic feelings about Christmas – a necessary commodity since Christmas today seems more about ensuring retailers make their bottom line than spending time with loved ones, showing kindness to your neighbor and the birth of Jesus.  Elf is playing at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre until January 2 and will bring out the kid in everyone.  I recommend it for anyone that needs a good ole dose of Christmas spirit.  You will have Sparklejollytwinklejingley time!

Photos: Joan Marcus

Arts

Pinta Brings Premiere Latin Artists to NYC

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From November 11 to 14, Pier 92 played host to Pinta The Modern & Contemporary Latin American Art Show.   The artwork was divided in three sections: the Galleries, Solo Exhibitions and Art Projects with selections by curator Pablo Leon de la Barra.  Galleries from the U.S., Europe and Latin America presented abstract, concrete, neo-concrete, kinetic and conceptual art, as well as of other contemporary art movements. The works hailed from Chile, Argentina, Mexico, Columbia, Brazil, Bolivia, Venezuela and Cuba.  During the opening, patrons sipped wine and ate popcorn from jars strategically placed throughout the venue. Displaying various mediums and providing a consistent platform to showcase Latino artists, it is my belief that Pinta NY 2010 was a triumph.

Arts

Three Dimensions, One Mind

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Jason Bryant is a man with a subtle disposition and an exquisitely beautiful soul.  During his openings you can find him with a glass of wine in his hand, humbly chatting in the corner or in a circle of guests; traces of his southern roots are hardly recognizable in his accent.    It is almost as if he has forgotten that the night is about him, instead he allows his work to speak volumes.  Devoid of eyes, Bryant’s work challenges the viewer to see the world through his point of view.  The realistic quality of the closely cropped images unearth an alluring elegance and symmetry that otherwise might not be seen if the entire inspiration of the work had been simply replicated on canvas.  In this way, his artistry gives direct insight into Jason Bryant the man.

Trilogy, Bryant’s latest solo exhibit at Raandesk Gallery, provides further entrée into the mind of this talented artist.  Using three diverse concepts, Rubric, Merging Iconography and Symbolic Portraiture, Jason Bryant offers an intimate view of classic Hollywood, skateboard culture and the exhibition of the human form.

Rubric is a series of four paintings whose source images are derived from vintage Hollywood movies such as Wild One with Marlon Brando.  Although the eyes are edited out, one can clearly see from the lifelike quality of the paintings that faces belong to Brando, Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn and others.  Instead of becoming just a painting from a movie scene, Bryant transforms the images into something else entirely through thought-provoking copy.  The paintings like the films that inspired them are black and white and are no less as crisp and captivating as Bryant’s works in color.   Evoking nostalgia and social commentary, Rubric is a luscious addition to Jason Bryant’s body of work.

Merging Iconography are two paintings that successfully blend the realms of skateboarding and film stills.  Bursting out of the frame are bold, colorful graphics.  Both chic and cheeky the pieces grab you and shake your ideas of pop culture to the core.  Equally beguiling as Rubric, Merging Iconography create an elevated, symbiotic union.

Music is as important to who we are as the foods we consume.  Symbolic Portraiture cleverly offers viewers a human profile without a face.  Instead, the audience sees the back of two women, one dressed in a hoodie, the other in a t-shirt.  Album covers on the back of the clothing replace features and expressions.  Although, the faces are hidden, viewers see a deeper perspective of the women in the painting.  By revealing the album cover that best represents their personality, you get a more profound understanding of who they really are. 

 

 

Not even torrential rainfall could keep me from attending the opening of Trilogy on September 16.  I found myself doing laps around the gallery space constantly changing my mind as to which piece was my favorite.  Time after time I find myself entranced by the meticulous, flawless art of Jason Bryant.   Trilogy will be on exhibit at Raandesk Gallery, located at 16 W. 23rd Street, until November 12 so you still have time to introduce yourself to the art of Jason Bryant. 

Photos:  Courtesy of Raandesk Gallery

Slideshow:  F.A.M.E NYC Editor

Arts, Theatre

Time Is On Their Side

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In some ways a trip to the theatre can be compared to a photograph – it is a moment that encapsulates a specific period of time and emotions.   The only difference is one image is recorded in your mind, the other recorded on a glossy sheet of paper.  After the moment is over, life goes on and like other memories that fade or become altered with age, the image one captures from a theatre experience will not change, nor will a photo.  Inside the Cort Theatre awaits an unforgettable experience that will leave an indelible impression on the consciousness.  Time Stands Still is a timeless piece of art that will leave viewers captivated and questioning the world around them.  Written by Donald Margulies, the play premiered in February 2009 at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles with Anna Gunn, David Harbour, Robin Thomas and Alicia Silverstone performing the play’s four characters.  In January 2010, it began its initial run on Broadway with Laura Linney, Brian d’ Arcy James, Eric Bogosian and Alicia Silverstone as the only cast member to reprise her role.

When I first heard about Time Stands Still it was creating quite a stir and receiving rave reviews.  Tickets were as hard to find as the Willie Wonka golden chocolate bar wrapper.  By the time its first Broadway incarnation at the Manhattan Theatre Club’s Samuel J. Friedman Theater ended on March 27, the play had garnered two Tony Award nominations for Best Play and Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play for Laura Linney.  I had thought I might have been jipped out of one the best shows of 2010 and was ecstatic to read that the show would resume in September after a brief hiatus to allow Ms. Linney to fulfill scheduling commitments for The Big C, a new series on Showtime.  Now playing at the Cort Theatre, the original Broadway cast has reprised their roles with the exception of Alicia Silverstone; Christina Ricci was cast in her stead.

With Time Stands Still, Donald Margulies has crafted a modern masterpiece; it is a sociology exposition done right.  He scrupulously places the elements of new millennium relationships, beliefs and society under a microscope, dissecting each aspect until its essence is exposed and theories are challenged.  The play involves two couples Sarah (Laura Linney) and James (Brian D’Arcy) and Richard (Eric Bogosian) and Mandy (Christina Ricci), but centers on the relationship between Sarah and James.  Sarah and James are war correspondents; she is a photographer and he is a reporter.  For nine years they have been shacking up together and documenting the most gruesome aspect of the human condition.  As the play opens, Sarah had just been severely injured in a car bomb explosion in Iraq and has returned to their Brooklyn apartment to convalesce.  James recently survived a jarring experience which led him to leave Sarah in the Middle East and is now wracked with guilt.  Shortly upon their arrival back from a hospital overseas, they are visited by Richard, a photo editor and friend, and his newest love interest Mandy.  Richard suggests that since Sarah is recuperating, her and James should collaborate and create a coffee table book of their experiences in Iraq with her photos and his commentary.  But as Sarah and James begin working on the book, infidelities are revealed and life as they know it also questioned.  James is ready to try a more conventional life and Sarah is addicted to the adrenaline rush and is reluctant to change.

The cast brings this stellar story to life with compelling conviction.  Sarah finds solace in the square of the lens.  The moment she clicks the chaos of her surroundings, the world is silent (hence the title Time Stands Still).  She finds excitement and a sense of duty by showing the world the atrocities of war.  Most of all she is unabashedly unconventional.  Laura Linney is one of the most inspiring actresses of this century.  Her talent enriches the complex relationship Sarah and James share.  She is able to penetrate the core of Sarah’s personality and bring across all her fearlessness, flaws and vulnerabilities in a poetically human performance.  Laura Linney’s Tony nomination was well deserved; her depiction of Sarah is one of the most riveting displays of acting prowess that was offered this year. 

Brian D’Arcy’s acting chops have been well-honed on stage and his portrayl of James is another magnificent testament to a skillful Broadway veteran.  James is a man who has hit a wall going 100 mph and is on the precipice of change; in fact, he needs it in order to move forward.  The subtle desperateness D’Arcy exudes as he struggles to hold on and fix a relationship that is slowly disintegrating is genius and vividly sets up the tug-of-war aspect as the future of Sarah and James’ relationship is explored.

Eric Bogosian is probably best known from the 1988 film Talk Radio and his role on Law &Order: Criminal Intent as Captain Danny Ross, but he is also an accomplished novelist and playwright. His understanding of character development has served him well with an engaging portrayal of Richard.  In the wrong hands Richard could easily become a less memorable character, but Bogosian brings him alive with wittiness and grace.

 

 

Charm and exuberance are two traits Christina Ricci has in ample supply; she is one of the most interesting young actresses in Hollywood.  She could not have made a better Broadway debut than the role of Mandy.  Mandy’s youthful, naïve way of seeing the world and her devotion to Richard is the catalyst that inspires the questions and sparks the conflict in Sarah and James’ relationship.  Ricci turns a character that could be perceived as a bubblehead into a sweet, profound young lady.  She and Eric Brogosian’s performances are the perfect compliment to acting superiority of D’Arcy and Linney.

This play lacks nothing.  By the final curtain close I was rushing to my feet to give this show and its cast an enthusiastic standing ovation.  Time Stands Still has all the elements of 007 martini – all the best ingredients shaken to perfection.  Mature and momentous, to miss this show is to deprive yourself from a truly enthralling and entertaining theatre experience. 

Photos:  Joan Marcus

Theatre

First and Triumph

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Baseball is America’s pastime, but football is America’s obsession.  The National Football League amalgamates the combat of Roman gladiatorial games with the dramaturgy of a Greek tragedy, all played out in front of hordes of screaming fans in a huge amphitheater.  From September to February, Sunday belongs to the pigskin and its disciples. Vittles that are served at a Superbowl or tailgate party can easily eclipse a Thanksgiving turkey dinner.  Nothing unites families around a television like football, and fantasy football can create virtual warfare at the jobsite. 

The NFL, originally named the American Professional Football Association, has spawned many titans and gods since its inception in 1920, but of all the immortal figures that have been a part of the NFL’s history, none is as legendary as Vince Lombardi.  And finally all the theatrics of football’s greatest coach have been brought to Broadway in Lombardi.  Vince Lombardi was Brooklyn born, Bronx made and had the attitude of a winner wired in his DNA.  Raised in the Sheepshead Bay area in Brooklyn, Lombardi began his lifelong journey with football at Fordham University after accepting a scholarship and becoming part of the famous Seven Blocks of Granite, the nickname given to team’s offensive line.  He is most well known for being the head coach of the Green Bay Packers, but he was also the assistant coach and head coach for St. Cecilia High School in Englewood New Jersey, assistant coach for West Point and the New York Giants and head coach for the Washington Redskins.

Based on the book When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi by Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Maraniss, Lombardi mainly takes place during a one week period in December 1965 as Vince Lombardi and his Packers pursue another championship (Lombardi had lead the Packers to a championship in 1961 and 1962 but had not been to the big show in two years).  Look Magazine reporter Michael McCormick goes to cheese-head country and stays with the Vince and his wife Marie observing Vince at home and on the field with his family, which includes his wife and his players, in the hopes of returning to Manhattan and writing a breakout article that will finally showcase his abilities.    

Playwright Eric Simonson crafts a beautifully poignant script and an excellent testimonial to a great man.   Vincent Lombardi’s love and passion for winning, football and his family are well represented.  Most football novices know the legend of Vince Lombardi and his single-minded drive to succeed, but the play also provides the audience with a sense of what Lombardi was like at home.  Yes, he was a monolithic figure that ruled with a steel fist and iron shooting from his larynx, but through his harsh language the audience sees and feels the love and passion that made him equally flawed and brilliant. Vince Lombardi not only wanted those he loved to be the best, he desired to be the best for them. 

The audience bears witness, watching him interact with his players –pushing and praising all from the same heartfelt place.  But I believe Lombardi’s “push and praise” attitude is best represented in the relationship he develops with the young reporter.  During the play the audience discovers that Vince knew McCormick’s father, who was an editor for a paper in New Jersey.  Absent from the production are Vince’s children.  As the week progresses, Michael has trouble following Lombardi’s rules as well as authoring an uncompromising story that will surely land him in peril with his editor and Lombardi.  The tension, love and acceptance that a father and son experience as the son struggles to find his voice in the world is impressively explored through the bond between Vince and Michael.  For one week they provided each other with the stand-in each needed to heal past hostilities each may have had for their family member, and gives audience members a possible peek into the mind of Vince Lombardi the father.  The fallible side Lombardi is displayed when the play briefly goes back in time to New Jersey. Vince contemplates the idea of leaving football for a bank job, and shows even an individual whose destiny is clearly mapped out can sometime wrestle with doubt.  More obvious, is the stomach pain that pops up and rears its head during the production – a tell-tale sign of shadows to come.

Lombardi is as fascinating to watch as Brett Favre bomb to Randy Moss in the end zone during a Monday Night game, only this show is played with no time outs.  There is definitely a certain mana permeating in the Circle in the Square Theatre that the cast absorbed and used to perform masterful portrayals of their characters.  Dan Lauria, best known as the dad from The Wonder Years, is truly exceptional as Vince Lombardi. The devotion he gives to his performance is evident through each growl and command.  I could wax poetic for another paragraph about the authenticity of his depiction, but NFL legend Floyd Little, who was in the audience the night I attended, provided the confirmation that Lauria scored a touchdown.  During the brief Q&A after the show, Little stated he thought he was watching Vince, a compliment sure to be uttered several times over as other members of the NFL see the show.  Judith Light is simply a joy to watch.  As Marie Lombardi she has all the great one-liners and she delivers each time.  She and Lauria are the heart and soul of this show, their banter is energizing and intruiging to watch.  One of the most hilarious points in the show is when Marie breaks out an atlas to try to find out where Green Bay is.   Keith Nobbs portrayl of eager reporter Michael McCormick is a refreshing departure from the sell your soul for the exclusive approach in which journalists is sometimes depicted.  His exchanges with Lauria are some of the best in the show.  Bill Dawes, Robert Christopher Riley and Chris Sullivan round out the cast as the devil-may-care Paul Hornung, hardworking Dave Robinson and non-talkative Jim Taylor, with each of these Packers, the audience views another side of Vincent Lombardi the coach, slightly adapting his no-nonsense methodology to deal with each of the players. 

Like Vincent Lombardi’s Packers, this cast works like a well-oiled machine and like the championships Green Bay garnered for their efforts I am sure there will be nominations and awards in Lombardi’s destiny.  Another reason why this show will be successful is due to the support of the other star of this production, the NFL.  During the Q&A the actors expressed how the league and the players have assisted with this production.  In fact, the audience walks into a shrine with Lombardi memorabilia and photos littering every inch of the lobby.  Adding to the experience is The Circle in the Square Theatre itself.  The open stage of the auditorium is similar to a football field and provides a 4-D theatre experience.  You do not have to know what a nickel defense or west coast offense is to see this play.  The love of football is not necessary.  This play crosses over gender, chronological and ethnic lines because at its heart it is a great story.  This production is filled with raw emotion and hits harder than a 250 pound blitzing linebacker.  Well worthy of the man who exemplified the will to win, Lombardi succeeds in glorious fashion.

 

Arts

CARNIVORA

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The Time of Men: The Forest Glen | pigment print | 45" x 60"

While walking to the opening of Jason Covert’s CARNIVORA at 540 W 28th St, thunder bellowed through the atmosphere and lightening flashed the sky.  The charcoal clouds moved ferociously.  Suddenly rain fell from all directions, too much for my mini-umbrella to shield.  I had no choice but to submit to the elements as I trudged forward.  It was almost fitting that such a primitive rainstorm would usher me to this exhibit.  I felt as if I had been sucked into the universe and thrown onto an alternative plane.   I entered Jason Covert’s world drenched and amazed with works on display.

CARNIVORA is a multi-media extravaganza that fuses mysticism, ancient entities and primordial cultures.  Through intricate ink and pencil sketches, eye-popping photography, crafted jewelry, a vibrant chandelier, aboriginal garments resting in ancient soil and headsets to provide the soundtrack, Jason produces a labyrinth of powerful, agathokakological beings and the children they spawned.

The potency of the entire exhibit was undeniable.  The raw beauty of the works made me desire a time when nature was not just a program on the Discovery Channel and fire was a treasured commodity. CARNIVORA captivated my vision and absorbed my thoughts.  It is a cosmos worth visiting.

Later I had the opportunity to ask Jason a few questions regarding the exhibit and the inspiration behind it.

 

 1.   What was the initial inspiration for CARNIVORA?

The imagery that is present throughout much of CARNIVORA, namely the

dueling faces, came about in the early part of 1994, almost 16 years

ago. I was doodling while sitting in a political science class –

working on sketches for a project whose purpose was to show you one

image when you looked at it from the left, and another when you looked

at it from the right, much like the fancy baseball cards from when we

were kids. In those original sketches the male and

female sides were separate, but over time the imagery evolved to

embrace both images as one. Even back then, however, the color schemes

were fairly consistent, with the female portion favoring warm tones,

while the male image contained cooler colors.

 

2.   How did the discovery of “The Sacred Texts of Carnivora”

guide you in shaping the exhibition?

The discovery of “The Sacred Texts of Carnivora” was pivotal in the

genesis of CARNIVORA as it has become today. Quite simply, without it,

the exhibition would not be. As the translations were gradually

offered to me in real time, by the head of the discovering agency, I

was able to let my imagination run wild, pulling out details and

offering them a greater sense of meaning, or alternately suppressing

elements that didn’t appeal to my aesthetic and story-telling

sensibilities. I had long been intrigued by creation myths in general,

and to have access to something that no one else (or very few) had

seen before was almost too much: as though it were fated to be. The

myths informed the imagery by fleshing out the back-story to ideas I

wished to convey graphically, and gave me a general sense of the

overall “story” I was struggling to tell. Shockingly, it fit in

remarkably well with the themes I had already been exploring – the fit

was a near perfect one.

 

3.   Why did you decide to fuse so many mediums in this exhibition?

In creating the world of CARNIVORA I longed to transport the viewer to

a place of elsewhere: I wanted to remove them from the here and now.

Though my intent first and foremost is of an artistic and aesthetic

nature, I also aimed to create a museum-esque atmosphere to help

celebrate this long forgotten world. As the best writers will tell

you, the Devil is in the details, and as such I wanted to offer as

complete a tapestry, woven of as many plausible elements from the

world of CARNIVORA as I could. It was my belief that by showcasing

these various elements that represented the World of CARNIVORA I could

more completely bring it to life for those that cared to view it.

 

4.   Are you a believer in ancient myths?  If so, which ones

inspire your art?

I’m a believer in the power that a myth wields regardless of the

religion or belief system it bookends. As to whether I believe in

certain myths, I would beg out of the question by stating that the

truth of a myth is less important than the actions it inspires in

those that do believe it.

 

As to which myths have inspired me through the years, I can easily

point to the myths of the Greeks and Romans, as well as those of the

Norse, the Egyptians, various African cultures, those of the Indian

subcontinent as well as from the Christian faith, the Native American

peoples, and the South and Central American tribes, and of course, the

first peoples of the far North Americas. I know it sounds as though

I’m pulling from all corners of history and the world, but that is

exactly what I’ve done in bringing CARNIVORA to life. More directly: I

am first and foremost intrigued by creation myths, or those that

explain how the world came to be. Those hold the most power for me

personally.

 

5.   Art like beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  But if you

had the power to program the viewers of your art with certain ideas,

how would you like the viewer to perceive this exhibition?

An open mind and a childlike sense of awe for those things that have

come before. It is a pleasure to think of a viewer strolling through

the exhibition and nodding sagely at the work and craftsmanship that

went into creating so many different pieces of art, but if there were

even only one viewer who could remove themselves so completely from

the hustle and bustle of everyday life and view the objects contained

in the exhibition with a sense of historical reverence it would make

the show complete for me. Above all else I seek to create a

transporting experience for my audience. 

Photos and slideshow: F.A.M.E NYC Editor

Theatre

What Lies Underneath

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In 1965 a teenage girl and her polio riddled sister entered the Indianapolis home of Gertrude Baniszewski.  As the landscape of America radically shifts with the Vietnam War, civil rights movement and the Beatles, the reality of this 16-year-old girl also dramatically changes, she is systematically tortured for three months by the woman who was suppose to take care of her and her sister.  Baniszewski also enlists neighborhood kids and her own children to assist in the torture.  On October 26, the young girl died of a brain hemorrhage, shock and malnutrition; her name was Sylvia Likens.

Just in time for Halloween, Axis Company resurrects the spirit of Sylvia Likens and the events surrounding her death in Down There.  From the moment you receive the program (a blank white sheet with the words “down there” written in lowercase and outlined in red crayon) the awareness that the production will not be a regular night at the theatre becomes heightened. Down There is playwright Randy Sharp’s chilling, dark multimedia showcase of an individual’s spiraling descent into madness and violence.  Although the play is based on the torture and murder of Sylvia Likens, the plot mainly centers on Pat Menckl (Gertrude Baniszewski).   A sickly, unhappy woman, Pat Menckl and her boyfriend Frank appear to be on the edge of destruction and the hint of abuse is apparent in the opening scene.  Her kids Jim and Paula and Rickie and John (the other teenagers entrusted to her care) are the poster children for dysfunction.  This thrown-together family unit appears to be experts on the trickle down theory – Frank humiliates Pat who demeans Paula who degrades John.  The only time the audience is presented with some modicum of family harmony is when forced smiles are presented as Casey Kindens (Sylvia Likens) and her sister Joyce are dropped off and later when Casey becomes the object of their abuse.

Pat is woman who has clearly grown up and lived “the hard way.”  Her frail figure, red lipstick and vacant eyes look more macabre under the naked spotlight and she wears her dysphoria like a church frock.  Casey’s bubbly, talkative personality not only clashes with Pat’s “misery loves company” approach, but seems to set Pat on her path of terrorism.   She seems hell-bent on breaking Casey’s spirit and showing her the harsh reality of life.  The violence Casey endures in the basement of the Menckl home is not graphic, but the suggestions of torture coupled with visions of Casey’s innocent smile on the monitor and her voice as she recites a note she is forced to write her parents explaining her bruises, haunt the audience with the reality of Casey’s demise.

The cast is comprised of Axis Company members; they deliver fright better than any modern horror flick.  Laurie Kilmartin portrayal of Pat combines all the elements of a villainess – she is Mrs. Bates, Mrs. Voorhees and Cruella De Vil rolled into one.  Lynn Mancinelli gives a convincing depiction of the Casey, her naivety and her eagerness to make the best of her situation is as compelling as her smile.  David Crabb and Brian give the scariest performance in this production as Rickie and John.  The willingness to participate in Casey’s torture and the fiendish pleasure they take in doing so tingles the skin with itches that cannot be stratched.  Britt Genelin and Jim Sterling are equally as troubling as Paula and Frank.  They give stark portraits of unbalanced people.  The set displays a dreary home and the mute Joyce, played by Regina Betancourt, becomes part of the bleak backdrop.  Her somber disposition and unwillingness to speak adds another layer of torture to this production.

Morbid and uncomfortable to witness Down There leaves the audience without a cathartic experience or sense of understanding as they rise from their seats.  Other than the fact of pure lunacy, the reason for their heinous acts remains a mystery.  But what is clear is that sometimes what lurks below a smile and display of normalcy can be a beehive festering with evil – a thought more disturbing than the boogeyman under the bed but necessary to know.  Down There will be playing at Axis Company, located at 1 Sheridan Square, until October 30.

 Photos courtesy of Axis Company