Summer Re-View

School's over...what now?

The PxP Summer Re-View, of course!

Ploggers take a second look at shows already covered online or in print, reminding you of the shows that you have been meaning to see.

Do you have a Re-View of a show that we've already covered? Email it to juliar@tdf.org!

Fuerza Bruta

by Sam Norton

For those of you who have seen one too many abstract performances and have declared “Enough!” I may just have the performance to shake you off your wagon. Aesthetically and sensationally pleasing, Fuerza Bruta (which in Spanish means “Brute Force”) may be abstract, but it is much, much more.

Upon entering the Daryl Roth Theater, the first sign that this is no ordinary show comes with the complete absence of seats. Instead, you find yourself thrust into a throng of people, huddled at the center of an enormous fog filled room. The show follows the story of a lone man, ever persevering through the endeavors with which life unabashedly chucks at him, while he walks on a giant treadmill. This would seem to be the plot, however as the actors begin to dance, you begin to realize that the story has taken an unexpected turn. The very ground on which you are standing becomes a dance floor, and you are expected to shake your hips. If you are the kind of person who stiffens with the prospect of dancing, you may think that this is a cruel joke, but as the audience starts to flail and jump wildly with the dancers, you feel the music’s infectious techno-funk rhythm impossible to resist. You, too, become another flailing jumping idiot in the middle of a flailing jumping crowd.

“Look Up,” say the poster, which you noticed upon entering the show. "For what?" You might ask yourself, until you notice a woman, illuminated by bright beams of light, sifting through a small see-through pool directly above your head. She descends as if from the heavens joined by three others, until the pool becomes close enough to you to touch your nose to the pool.

The true oddity of Fuerza Bruta, is that the show is just as alive as the performers. At any time, it might awe you from one end, creep around you from the corner and tap you on the shoulder. No one movement can be expected--every action as authentic as the next. For better or for worse, Fuerza Bruta has been burned into your head, standing out above all the rest. The originality of the show leaves you flabbergasted; its zany dances and delectable imagery are enough to warm the heart of even the iciest critic. While the plot still remains a mystery, you leave the show feeling invigorated. You want to bring this feeling out onto the streets, and give everyone in New York City a taste of Brute force.

Tickets: $25 general rush • Daryl Roth Theatre, 101 E. 15 St.

Next Fall

By Ben Ellentuck

Next Fall brings together the past and the present to tell a story of family and faith. Much of the play takes place in flashbacks, which chronicle the romantic relationship of Adam and Luke. Luke, a devout Christian, meets Adam, a sarcastic, culturally-Jewish-but-really-atheistic urbanite There is an instant attraction and a very serious romance blossoms, despite the fact that they have opposing views of faith.

The other part of the play, the present, takes place in a hospital waiting room after Luke is hit by a car. The accident brings together Adam, Luke’s parents, and friends, who all try to cope with the situation.

The play explores different kinds of family: There’s the biological family, who are there whether we like them or not, and the family of friends, whom we’ve chosen for ourselves.

Adam’s accident incorporates everyone into one big family —where they, even literally, catch each other when they fall—united for a common cause, at least temporarily. Though, it seems that something lasting may be forming in that waiting room.

TICKETS: $26.50 student rush, 2 per valid ID • Helen Hayes Theatre, 240 W. 44 St.

The Addams Family

By Grace Lisandrelli

The delightfully dismal The Addams Family has returned as a musical.

Gomez and Morticia’s daughter, Wednesday, has fallen in love with Lucas Bieneke, an all-American boy from Ohio. Wednesday forsakes her affiliation with all things grim and gruesome in favor of a positive approach to life, much to her family’s dismay. When Lucas’ parents arrive for dinner, Wednesday begs her family to act “nor­mal” for just one night. Lucas asks the same of his parents, two rather conservative Midwesterners. Hilarity ensues when these polar­ized families spend the evening together, posing an interesting question: what, exactly, is “normal”?
The Addams Family is irresistibly funny, full of clever one-liners that had the audience laughing out loud. The script did have an overabundance of modern political jokes, though, which fell flat and affected the show’s equilibrium.

The strong bond among the members of The Addams Family is clear. The cast interacted naturally with one another, which made them appear very much like a real family.

The Addams Family is a fun relic for fans of this “creepy, kooky, spooky” but loveable family.

TICKETS: $41.50 student rush • Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, 205 W. 46th St.

The Addams Family Dramaturgy

By Christa Tandana

Do you remember that cartoon show The Addams Family? Is the theme song stuck in your head now?

Well, guess what? The ghoulish cartoon about the beyond abnormal family has been transformed into a musical which is now on Broadway, starring Nathan Lane as Gomez and Bebe Neuwirth as his wife Morticia!

Before it was even a television series, The Addams Family was an original single-panel cartoon that appeared in The New Yorker Magazine in the 1930s. It was created by an American cartoonist named Charles Addams. These cartoons were about a not-so-typical American family. But as far as they were concerned, what was normal?

The cartoon evolved into a television series in 1964 which lasted for two seasons. The original characters in the cartoon were nameless, but Charles Addams was asked to come up with the names for them for the television show. The bizarre family did not get their own cartoon show until 1973. After this, the family went on to star in other cartoon shows, tv movies and films and have been part of pop culture history.

The most recent of The Addams Family is now on the Broadway stage. The musical opened on April 8th, 2010, and was recently announced to hit the road on a national tour in September of 2011.

American Idiot on PlogTV

American Idiot

By Nunny Reyes

American Idiot follows Johnny (John Gallagher, Jr. from Spring Awakening) and his friends, a group of young people trying to break free from the society they have grown to know and hate. These characters don’t want to slip between the cracks of our hypocritical society. The play highlights how easily someone can self-destruct when rules don’t apply anymore and freedom is taken in large doses. For example, Johnny meets a girl, Whatsername (Rebecca Naomi Jones from Passing Strange), and they choose drugs to enter an alternate world.

Those of us heading off to college or making a new life transition can easily relate to the difficulties Johnny and his friends face. We are afraid of looking back, but share the same passion to find an escape and discover something new about ourselves and the world. With music by Green Day, the cast fills the theater with unforgettable vocals. The elaborate set displays images, sounds and videos of events that have made a significant impact on our lives.

In theater, we expect to be challenged. American Idiot goes beyond that and truly depicts what life is like for teenagers in our time. With each passing song, the musical became more realistic and more truthful.

Read Nunny's Interview with John and Rebecca here

Read more about American Idiot here

TICKETS: $27 lottery rush • St. James Theatre, 246 W. 44th St.

American Idiot Dramaturgy

By Christa Tandana

Green Day is back onstage…on Broadway? Yes, my friends, it’s true! The hit song “American Idiot” is also now the name of the newest rock musical to hit Broadway!

Packed with angst and set to a punk rock soundtrack, American Idiot is certainly not your average trip to the theatre. The story is a coming-of-age story about American youth in suburbia who are trying to find meaning in a post 9/11 world.

Director Michael Mayer came up with the idea for this show by listening to Green Day's Grammy Award winning album. He then collaborated with Billy Joel Armstrong from the band to write the book for the show.

Michael Mayer won a Tony Award for Best Director of Spring Awakening. John Gallagher Jr., who played Melchior in Spring Awakening, is now starring in American Idiot as Johnny. Rebecca Naomi Jones, who was in the rock musical Passing Strange, is now playing Whatsername – (Note: I didn’t make a mistake, that’s the character’s actual name.) These are just a few names of the best and talented in theatre today – and they all collaborated on one show!

Fences

By Monikha Reyes

For me, Fences can be summarized simply—a father doesn’t approve of his son’s interest in football. Denzel Washington plays that father, Troy Maxson, who is a garbage collector in Pittsburgh in the 1950’s. He once dreamed of having a career in baseball, but by the time black players were admitted into the major leagues, he was too old to join. In order to “protect” his son from disappointment, he attempts to prevent him from following a similar path.

Family is a crucial part of Troy’s life. However, finding a balance between his home life and job causes him grief—so much so that he begins to stray from his path as the perfect husband and father. He is the type of man who wants to fence in his family, which only backfire.

When intermission came, I blinked in surprise, realizing that the world on stage wasn’t real. The actors stay true to their roles in the play and the dialogue flows naturally.

If you can handle rough language, you will enjoy Fences. 

TICKETS: thru 7/11, $26.50 standing room only • Cort Theatre, 138 W. 48th Street

Fences Dramaturgy

by Sabrina Khan

Fences, by August Wilson, is a 1983 play that reflects of the African American struggle for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—rights owed to every US citizen—during the Civil Rights Movement era. Set in 1957 through 1965 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the play explores complex themes of family conflicts and relationships, unwavering friendship during trying times, and integration among blacks and whites.

The play portrays the reality of the Black experience in the US in the midst and wake of Jim Crow laws. One such way the play alludes to historical context to serve as the foundation of the story is through the family name “Maxson,” a play on the words Mason and Dixon, from the Mason Dixon line, which was an imaginary border that separated the slave states from the free in 1820. It conveys the connection Troy bears between the unjust South he had leaves early on to become an urban citizen and the North that serves him little better.

Late playwright August Wilson, a prolific and influential writer to this day, told such a story by weaving together the threads that were the conditions of his own life. Wilson was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1945 and was raised in an environment where he became intimately familiar with poverty and racial discrimination. A remarkably intelligent individual, Wilson felt his academic curriculum unchallenging and often encountered prejudice in school. He educated himself in the local library, immersing himself in great works, and wrote poetry and short stories. Though Wilson wanted to be a writer, he and his mother were at odds because she wanted him to be a lawyer, and so he was compelled to leave home. He then enlisted in the US Army in 1962 for a year and returned to working odd jobs afterward.

In the 1960s, Wilson established himself as a playwright through the Yale School of Drama where the Dean of the Drama School, Lloyd Richards, saw extreme potential in him. Wilson and Richards collaborated on Broadway, and Wilson created the first of many works thereafter, Black Cart and the Sacred Hills. Fences soon followed, along with Joe Turner's Come and Gone, The Piano Lesson, and more. Fencesand The Piano Lesson both won Pulitzer Prizes for Drama in 1987 and 1990 respectively.

Fences opened in 1987 to great critical acclaim, and earned many Tony Awards, including Best Play. Since then, an entirely new cast has taken the responsibility to show another generation the still extremely relevant and poignant the story of Fences.

La Cage Aux Folles

By Alyssa Zakaryan

La Cage Aux Folles is filled with snappy jokes, attitude, long legs and feather boas.
 

Kelsey Grammer plays Georges, owner of the nightclub La Cage Aux Folles. He is married to the star of the club Albin—known onstage as Zaza—played by Douglas Hodge. Grammer and Hodge work very well together, making their characters’ 20-year marriage seem very authentic.

Georges has a son, Jean-Michelle, who was raised by Albin because his birth mother left when he was four years old. When Jean-Michelle falls in love with a woman and proposes to her, he wants to introduce the families. The only problem—his fiancée’s parents are not only conservative, but are trying to shut down Georges and Albin’s beloved club. In a desperate attempt to hide his family,  Jean-Michelle begs everyone to “straighten up”—which means that Albin has to leave the picture.
 

The musical leaves you not only with laughter, but with questions that make you reevaluate who a mother is—is it someone who gives birth to you or is it the person who takes care of you, stays up with you when you’re sick, and sacrifices for your benefit?
 

TICKETS: $36.50 student rush • Longacre Theatre, 220 W. 48th St.

Blue Man Group

By Sami Bonilla and Adina Abercrombie

SAMI: Blue Man Group is an amazing show for all ages. It takes music and humor to a whole new level.

ADINA: The Blue Men don’t speak, but that doesn’t stop them from being heard. They express themselves through color, sound and art.
 

SAMI: During the show, two lucky people are chosen to come onstage and “help” the group with a skit. I was lucky enough to be given a bowl of cereal. No, I didn’t eat it, but I did feel awfully special!

ADINA: The way that the performers interact with the audience show that without the audience, there wouldn’t be a show at all. The Blue Men make you feel as though you are a part of the cast and just as important.
 

SAMI: I love the way they interact with each other. If one of them does something wrong, the other two give him the “why are you like this?” look—the look an older brother gives to his younger brother. They are a family.
 

ADINA: Blue Man Group shows that you can express yourself loudly without saying a word. How cool would it be to have a whole conversation without uttering a single word?
 

TICKETS: $29 student rush (except Fri/Sat night) • Astor Place Theatre, 434 Lafayette St.