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Archive for the ‘Theater’ Category

She Loves Me (Hamilton Murray Theater, Murray Dodge Hall, Princeton, NJ, June 20, 2013)

Posted in Acting, Dance, In the Good Old Summertime, Jerry Bock, Joe Masteroff, Marriage Trouble, Miklos Laszlo, Play (Drama), Romance, Sheldon Harnick, The Shop Around the Corner, Theater on July 4, 2013| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: June 20, 2013] She Loves Me

SheLovesMeI won free tickets to this show in Murray Dodge Hall, and olde theater in the heart of the Princeton University campus.  Sarah and I were delighted to discover that the theater held only 190 people and that our seats were in the fifth row!

This is student theater, but, as I said to Sarah, these are seriously good acting students (better than most of the students that I went to school with, anyhow).

She Loves Me is a musical based on the drama Parfumerie by Hungarian playwright Miklos Laszlo.  Before being adapted in 1963 as She Loves Me, (Music by Jerry Bock, Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, Book by Joe Masteroff) it was previously adapted as the 1940 film The Shop Around the Corner and the 1949 musical In the Good Old Summertime.   It was also revisited in 1998 as You’ve Got Mail.

If you’ve seen any of these adaptations, yo know the story.  And if you haven’t, it is this: two shop workers who dislike each other are secretly each others’ pen pals.  In this version, they each write to a lonely hearts column, and plan to meet for the first time very soon.  It’s a simple enough story.  But what sold me in this version was the music—which was simple and catchy and very very funny. (more…)

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One Hot Summer (J.P. Case Middle School, Flemington, NJ, May 18, 2012)

Posted in Alice Cooper, Bowling for Soup, Dance, Frank Mills, One Hot Summer, Phineas and Ferb, T. on May 19, 2013| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED May 18, 2012] One Hot Summer

My five-year old daughter T. was in her second recital last night.  Last year she performed in one routine and this year she moved up to two–a ballet routine and a tap routine.

And my little girl got to lead the group out on stage!

She performed in two routines, “Ice Cream Ballet” (to the tune of Frank Mills’ “Music Box Dancer”) and “Hot Dog!” (the closing theme from the Mickey Mouse Show).

As with last year, I have no intention of critiquing any performances on the stage tonight.  Every girl and boy tried his or her best and they all did better than I could do.  However, I want to make some general observations about the performance.

This year’s theme was all about summer, so imagine my surprise when the first act was a dance routine set to “School’s Out” by Alice Cooper!  I feel like one of the big things that the dancers need to learn is to really exaggerate your excitement on stage–really get into it.  I know it is very hard to let loose in this way (although I noticed some of the boys really got into it), but if you just think about the sentiment of “Schools Out” you’d expect these kids to be wildly excited–exaggeratedly so. (more…)

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Cirque Zuma Zuma (RVCC Arts, Branchburg NJ, May 3, 2013)

Posted in Acrobats, Big Apple Circus, Branchburg, NJ, C., Cirque Zuma Zuma, Futurama, Peking Acrobats, RVCC Arts, Set in New Jersey!, T. on May 5, 2013| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 3, 2013] Cirque Zuma Zuma

zumaCirque Zuma Zuma was the final theater show of our 2012-2013 season.  When I bought tickets for this I didn’t realize that it was designed as an all ages show (hint, shows that start at 7PM are for families, shows that start at 7:30 are for adults only).  So I felt a little bad that the kids didn’t come as there were so many kids there.  And they would have enjoyed this, although it’s probably just as well that they had a nice night with their grandma.

So Cirque Zuma Zuma is an African-based show of dance and acrobatics.  There was a large banner that said that Cirque Zuma Zuma had been on America’s Got Talent.  Now, I don’t quite understand this as the announcer of the show seemed to say that the performers were from countries in Africa.  How could they be on America’s Got Talent if they are not American?  I don’t get it.

zuma2Anyway, the show got off to a rousing start with drumming.  Lots of drumming.  There was a man with two drums (big bass drum sounding drums) and then two drummers who were playing what I thought of as an African bongo but which I believe is called a Djembe.  And, man, they pounded the hell out of these things.  It was amazing how musical three (or four) drums can sound.  They played lead drum parts while the bass drum kept a steady rhythm.  And then the dancers came out.  Two women and a man dressed in what I assume is a traditional outfit.  And they danced.  Ecstatically.  Nonstop.  For about eight minutes.  And what frenetic and crazy dances they were.  They moved with such force and power.  It was really amazing and it looked exhausting.

Then came the acrobatics.  And was surprised at just how many of the acrobatic pieces were the same as ones done by the Chinese acrobats.  It strikes me as odd that two very distinct cultures would do the same kinds of things.  Are these just standard feats that contemporary performers learn?

The first was the climbing of and doing handstands on a stack of chairs.  The big difference here was that these chairs were very large (as opposed to the many tiny ones the Chinese acrobats use).  It was still impressive, and the chairs looked quite wobbly, but it was weird to open with a show stopper from another Cirque.

Other things that they did which we had already seen were jumping through hoops, spinning hula hoops, foot juggling and hat juggling.  It was very strange to see these same things.  The big difference was the music, which was African as opposed to Asian. (more…)

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MOMIX: Botanica (McCartre Theater, Princeton, NJ, April 25, 2013)

Posted in Dance, McCarter Theatre, Momix, Moses Pendelton, Princeton, NJ, Set in New Jersey! on April 27, 2013| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: April 25, 2013] MOMIX Botancia

momixb

I didn’t realize that we attended a Momix show almost exactly one year ago.  But that’s when it was.  That show was called Remix, and it was a collection of great bits from Momix shows.  This year’s show, Botanica, is an older show and there were bits of it in Remix.  This gave me the most unique (for me) experience of seeing a dance troupe perform things that I had already seen!  What was fun was that the dancers were (I believe) different and, it felt like perhaps the pieces were performed a little bit differently too.

One of the fun things about the show was how the pieces segued into one another–most routines didn’t end so much as meld into the next one (and you can see how picking pieces out for a Greatest Hits might require some restructuring).

We saw this show at the McCarter Theatre, where, once again we had the $20 seats (knocked down to $18 with a AAA discount!).  For this show the seats were a bit of a hindrance because Momix is definitely about spectacle, and there were a few pieces where the spectacle was lost from our angle (which was a little below the stage and off to the right).  On the plus side, being able to see the dancers up close (we were literally three rows from the stage) brought a new level of experience to the show that you don’t get when the performers are interchangeable (hey, that’s the sweaty guy, that’s the blonde lady, that’s the guy with the amazing muscles).

The show opened with a waving sheet which looked like snow.  As the sheet began rippling dancers revealed themselves underneath and starting popping up, like flowers or dolphins or gravity defying skiers.  It was very cool.   Then a giant flower-like item came out on stage and women danced around it.  There followed a wonderful sequence with black light paint as three performers with neon arms and legs made wonderful shapes–animals, faces, bodies–using their limbs.  Our cheap seats hindered this piece somewhat. (more…)

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Śląsk [McCartre Theater, Princeton, NJ, March 21, 2013]

Posted in Le Mysterè des Voix Bulgares, McCarter Theatre, Princeton, NJ, Translation, Śląsk on March 24, 2013| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 21, 2013] Śląsk

slask1Pronounced “shlahnsk” according the announcer, Śląsk is the national Polish folk song and dance troupe.  They are named after the Silesia (“Śląsk”) region. Śląsk originally focused on the folk traditions of Upper Silesia and has since expanded to include all Polish regions.

When I saw the listing at McCarter I was really curious.  I had literally no idea what to expect from the show.  In theory I was celebrating my heritage, but it was completely alien to me and could have easily just been a bunch of guys on stage with accordions.  Thankfully that proved to not be the case.

The ensemble consists of 80 members, including a choir and dancers dressed in stunning and intricately decorated traditional costumes.  And boy, were the costumes spectacular.  Pictures could never do justice to the beauty of these clothes.  slask2I can honestly say I have never seen blues as rich as these or violets as powerful as these.  And the intricacy of the design work (all hand-made) was stunning.  Most of the dancing consisted of the women spinning (a lot).  And their dresses were designed in such a way that the final six inches or so would face down while the rest billowed out.  Even Sarah, no slouch in the seamstress department, couldn’t understand how it worked.

We had cheap seats (really cheap–$20–and these two were the only $20 seats to be had I don’t quite understand why).  We were on the left side of the stage, practically below the stage and right in front of the minimal orchestra (about six people on stage, although I couldn’t see them all).  The crazy thing is that people just one row ahead or even two seats over paid a much higher price, so I guess our seats couldn’t have been that bad.  The major downside to sitting where we did is that you couldn’t see the overall patterns of ten or twelve women spinning around as well as you could from the balcony.  Indeed, center balcony seats would be amazing.  The advantage to our seats was that we were very close to the stage (six rows away) and could see the clothes very closely, and I believe the colors may have even been more vibrant. (more…)

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C!rca: Wunderkammer (RVCC Arts, Branchburg NJ, March 16, 2013)

Posted in Acrobats, Barry Adamson, Branchburg, NJ, C!rca: Wunderkammer, DJ Yoda, Einstürzende Neubauten, Jeri Southern, Kate Bush, Laibach, RVCC Arts, Set in New Jersey!, Susanna And The Magical Orchestra on March 23, 2013| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 16, 2013] C!rca: Wunderkammer

circa1 As part of our theater-going experience, I bought Sarah and I tickets to C!rca’s Wonderkammer show.  I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect (but we’ve has such good luck with shows that we didn’t know anything about that  I wasn’t worried).  The blurb about C!rca reads:

In this exquisite cabaret of the senses, a diva melts into a rope, balloons and bubble wrap discover their artistic souls while bodies twist and fly.  Seven performers of unbelievable ability bend the very fabric of reality.  Sexy, funny and explosive, Circa presents a breathless cocktail of new circus, cabaret and vaudeville.  Control and abandon, skill and humour, lyricism and anarchy all meld into a sinuous fugue of profound beauty.

So, you sort of think you know what you’re going to get, but in many ways that descriptions is kind of meaningless.  It may help to say that C!rca are from Australia (meaning it’s unconventional).  But really nothing prepared me for what we saw. (more…)

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Big Apple Circus: Legendarium (TD Bank Ballpark, Bridgewater, NJ, March 9, 2013)

Posted in Acrobats, Big Apple Circus, Bridgewater, NJ, C., Circus, Illusion, Magic, Peking Acrobats, Set in New Jersey!, T. on March 11, 2013| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 9, 2013] The Big Apple Circus

bigappC.s Cub Scout pack got tickets to the Big Apple Circus again this year and we decided to go.  Once again the Circus came right on the heels of Chinese acrobats, so I didn’t think I would be impressed, but once again, the circus did a very good job.  I’ll get my one gripe out of the way first.  Our seats were awful.  Not the circus’ fault obviously, but they claim that there are no bad seats.  And while ours weren’t bad (we were to the back right of the circus floor), all of the action is played to the front, so we missed a lot of the most dramatic poses, we missed the backdrops that they put up and clearly missed the overall feel of the show.  And given how many seats were empty in the good section, I was a little bummed.  Because the show itself was spectacular.

The signature character of grandma was gone, replaced by a funny clown couple (Acrobuffos), who did a lot of grandma’s interactions with the crowd, but as more of a jealous couple routine.  They were quite funny and I’m impressed that the woman had some kind of playballs in her pants making her rear enormous–and she was able to actually bounce on them.

I also didn’t realize when we went that there was a story/theme of the history of the circus or the history of New York, or some kind of history (Legendarium!).  Including a penny farthing bicycle!  So there were stories about circuses of old and some story about Broadway and arrowheads.  The ringmaster was decent but nothing special.  But again, you go for the acts, not the ringmaster. (more…)

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The Golden Dragon Acrobats present Cirque Ziva (RVCC Arts, Branchburg NJ, March 3, 2013)

Posted in Acrobats, Branchburg, NJ, C., Golden Dragon Acrobats, RVCC Arts, Set in New Jersey!, T. on March 4, 2013| 1 Comment »

[ATTENDED: March 3, 2013] Cirque Ziva

zivaIt’s Chinese Acrobat time again!  One year ago we saw the Peking Acrobats at RVCC and this year it’s time for the Golden Dragon Acrobats!

The Golden Dragon Acrobats performed a series of exciting and amazing feats on stage.  It was not quite the spectacle of last year’s Peking Acrobats, although there were many similar elements.  The Peking Acrobats were completely over the top.  Cirque Ziva felt a little smaller but with more flash in costumery and sets.

ziva1It opened with a series of…wheels?  Round cage-like apparatus that you climb in and roll around–C. and I actually saw these in a Jackie Chan film recently–they seemed to be a part of Chinese military training (somehow).  But the Golden Dragon Acrobats did much more than Jackie did with them.  With different sizes and numbers of participants they used these wheels to wondrous effect–spinning and rolling and climbing on and off.  It was mesmerizing.

And then it was time for the women to show off.  The first item was called “Thousand Hands.”  Six identically dressed women (with super long golden nails) stood one behind the other and then their arms spread out in a wild and wonderful array.  They worked in beautiful synchronicity and it looked amazing.  For Peking we were upstairs in the balcony, and being able to see all six women from the top spoiled the effect somewhat, it was much more impressive here.  Then they moved onto more, amazing contortions (see the poster above which I don’t even understand even though I saw her do it).  They did both group formations and an individual performance (and we all agreed the woman was mind blowing and a little gross). (more…)

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Stephen Tobolowsky–The Dangerous Animals Club (2012)

Posted in Airlines, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Community, Deadwood, Essays, Frou Frou, Glee, Groundhog Day, Heroes, History, imogen Heap, Keep My Grave Open, Memoirs, Pranks, Stephen Tobolowsky, That 70's Show, The Mindy Project, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Theater on January 17, 2013| Leave a Comment »

tobo3SOUNDTRACK: iMOGEN HEAP-Speak for Yourself (2005).

heapI really liked Heap’s first album i Megaphone, but I didn’t really think to much about her after that.  Sometime last year I heard a track she was in with Frou Frou, which I liked.  So I thought I’d get this album which was highly regarded.

The problem with it is that I have listened to it a bunch of times, often several times in a row and it really just never sticks with me.  I keep relistening to see if it ever does but it’s just a kind of nebulous dancey pop.  Heap has an interesting voice–she can hit major highs, but she can also do a raspy voice that is unusual and intriguing.  But I suppose the problem is that there’s so much going on that she is effectively lost in the sound.

The standout track is “Hide and Seek” but that’s because her voice is manipulated by a vocoder, making her sound like a machine. It’s a very cool effect, especially when she hits a very high note, but it can’t really be a good sign that the most memorable track on the album is the one where you sound like a machine.

This is not to say that the album is bad–there are a number of interesting moments on it, unfortunately there aren’t a lot of great songs.  When I was looking this disc up to see other comments about it, I see that it was very highly regarded in the dance genre.  And maybe given those parameters I should revise somewhat as well.  As dance music this is more interesting than your average four on the floor stuff.  I can see how it led to the duet of Frou Frou.  And yet, compared to i Megaphone, I fear that it’s a lot less exciting.

[READ: January 12, 2013] The Dangerous Animals Club

I don’t often read autobiographies or memoirs.  I really never even look for them.  But I was waiting online at the library and this book jumped out at me.  I don’t really know why.  The title is kind of interesting and catchy.  And the author’s named seemed, if not familiar, then at least compelling in a very-long-and-Polish-or-Russian way.  So I started flipping through it.  And it sounded interesting.

But who the hell is Stephen Tobolowsky?  Well, if you have seen just about any movie or TV show, you have seen him.  He has been in a ton of things.  He was in Groundhog Day, he was in Heroes, he is in Glee, he was in The Mindy Project briefly.  Community? yup.  The New Adventures of Old Christine?  you bet.  Deadwood for a lot of the show.  That 70’s Show for one episode.  He was in the unaired pilot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  He was even in a 1976 movie called Keep My Grave Open!

So who is he?   (more…)

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The Moscow Ballet–The Russian Nutcracker (RVCC Arts, Bridgewater, NJ, December 8, 2012)

Posted in Ballet, Branchburg, NJ, C., Children's Books, E.T.A. Hoffman, Fables, Fantasy, Moscow Ballet, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Russia, RVCC Arts, T., Toys on December 9, 2012| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: December 8, 2012] The Russian Nutcracker

nutcrackWe decided to take the kids to see The Nutcracker this year.  Fortunately, it was being performed at our beloved RVCC by the Moscow Ballet!  I saw The Nutcracker performed by the Boston Ballet about a dozen years ago, and the performance was stunning (it was also expensive).  This performance was definitely scaled down compared to that one, and it was also shorter (which was good for our kids).

I honestly don’t remember all that much from the Boston Performance (except that when the tree gets bigger, I was blown away).  There wasn’t much blowing away with this show.  As I say, it was scaled down tremendously–the stage itself was about half the size.  But that said, it was charming and the performers–especially the men–were amazing.

I really enjoyed the opening which was quite simple, with the families approaching the castle for the Christmas party–it was fun seeing the adults dressed as kids skipping about while the proper adults strolled casually.  Typically the first act is longer than the second and it’s certainly less exciting.  I don’t know the ballet well enough to know if they cut any of the scenes, but it didn’t seem quite as long as I remembered.  The kids were a little less excited by the grown up fancy ball dancing, but they held up very well.

I enjoyed the sequence where Masha (she’s not Clara in The Russian Nutcracker–I wonder just how different the two are) and her brother have a fight over the Nutcracker.  Masha’s brother was quite funny and the broken Nutcracker was amazing in his life-less-ness.  Indeed, all of the “toys” were incredible. (more…)

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