Born in 1938 with a Christian minister for a father and a mother who was a leader in Nigeria's anti-colonial women's movement, Fela was sent to London for an education in medicine, but was sidetracked by an interest in music; his first influences being Miles Davis and Frank Sinatra.  Fusing the jazz and pop styles he heard in London with the rhythms and chants of his homeland's Yoruba and high life, he created the Afrobeat sound and began touring and recording with his band, Koola Lobitos.  Influenced by the 1960's Black Power movement through the writings of Malcolm X and Eldridge Cleaver, his lyrics began taking swipes at Nigeria's military government in songs like "Teacher Don't Teach Me Nonsense" ("Who is the government's teacher? / Corruption and perdition.") and "Zombie" ("Zombie no go think unless you tell him to think."), the song that infuriated the state so much with its depiction of the military that it led to his brutal beating (one of many he endured along with his over 200 arrests) and a fatal attack on his mother, Funmilayo.

Conceived by its director/choreographer/co-bookwriter Bill T. Jones, co-bookwriter Jim Lewis and Steve Hendel, Fela!'s performance-within-a-performance structure sets the piece at the artist's regular haunt, a nightclub he named The Afrika Shrine, at a 1977 farewell concert given shortly after his mother's death as he prepares to exile himself to Ghana.  The contemporary Afrobeat band, Antibalas, led by music director Aaron Johnson, portrays his onstage musicians (they also supply the arrangements) and Jones' fiercely energetic ensemble of dancers passionately undulate the erotically charged movements of nyansh, but despite the abundance of talent on stage, Fela! is, in spirit, a one-man show.

That one man is grandly personified by Sahr Ngaujah, who is given a theatrically Herculean task of acting as host ("Everyone say yeah yeah! Yeah yeah! Feeling good tonight?"), narrating the story of Anikulapo-Kuti's political struggle, singing, dancing, delivering rimshot-worthy one-liners ("Take my Grandfather, they did!") and even giving the audience a lesson in the proper way to move ones hips to his music while rarely having a moment off-stage and continually being the center of attention.  Ngaujah is admirably up to the challenge but while the authors allow him to effectively show us a bruised and battered artist determined to laugh in the face of oppression, the thin text denies the actor a chance to be the complex center that can truly light up the evening.

The beautifully voiced Abena Koomson gives warm tones to her supporting role as Funmilayo, paying a visit from the other side, but she and Sparlha Swa (as Sandra, his activist muse) are there to play symbols rather than people.

But if the script is lacking, the music radiates and Jones and his crew never allow Fela! to be less than visually entrancing.  Set and costume designer Marina Draghici turns the entire auditorium into The Afrika Shrine with colorful murals and portraits painted on the walls and dresses the cast in an appealing mixture of traditional and 1970's contemporary.  Robert Wierzel's lights are appropriately clubby and Peter Nigrini's videos nicely accent key moments.  Most importantly, the kinetic force of the hard-working dancers and the talented star ably steer attention from the evening's shortcomings.  A little bit of well-placed dramaturgy and Fela! might have turned out as interesting as it is accomplished.

Photo of Sahr Ngaujah and company by Monique Carboni

Posted on: Monday, September 08, 2008 @ 03:30 AM Posted by: Michael Dale

Now, this is a widely discussed subject and I certainly respect any educated opinion.  Jason Robert Brown's answer comes closest to my own belief that opera is an art form where the music and its presentation is traditionally allowed to supersede the needs of the drama, while musical theatre is a collaboration of art forms whose primary function is to serve the story and characters.

But I was physically angered by the words of last season's Tony winner for Outstanding Book, Stew, who explained, "I think it's confidence - musicals lack the confidence that operas have in music's ability to get the job done alone and tell the story."

What.

The.

Hell?

Confidence?  Because musical theatre gives significant focus to the power and charm of words you believe that shows a lack of confidence?

Did Betty Comden and Adolph Green display a lack of confidence in Leonard Bernstein's music when they wrote funny scenes and touching lyrics for On The Town?

Would My Fair Lady have been a superior piece if Frederick Loewe had the confidence to allow his music to overwhelm Alan Jay Lerner's words?

Was Oscar Hammerstein a detriment to the work of Jerome Kern and Richard Rodgers?

You certainly have every right to dislike musical theatre's unique balance of spoken word, sung word, music, design and movement, but it's ignorant to put down an entire art form because its goals are not to your taste.

The beauty of great music and its ability to bring out emotions is undeniable.  But music can never be as specific as words.  From Lorenz Hart and George Abbott to Dorothy Fields and Peter Stone to Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, musical theatre became what it is because great lyricists and bookwriters added wit, drama and specific meaning to the work of great composers.

It's called Musical Theatre, not Theatrical Music.

Posted on: Thursday, September 04, 2008 @ 04:38 PM Posted by: Michael Dale

-- Edna Ferber

The grosses are out for the week ending 8/31/2008 and we've got them all right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section.

Up for the week was: SPAMALOT (14.8%), RENT (12.6%), GYPSY (9.8%), AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY (8.5%), THE 39 STEPS (7.6%), AVENUE Q (6.7%), BOEING-BOEING (6.6%), XANADU (5.1%), MARY POPPINS (5.0%), TITLE OF SHOW (4.4%), CHICAGO (3.8%), LEGALLY BLONDE (3.4%), GREASE (2.6%), THE LITTLE MERMAID (1.3%), A TALE OF TWO CITIES (0.7%), JERSEY BOYS (0.5%), MAMMA MIA! (0.4%), SOUTH PACIFIC (0.1%),

Down for the week was: HAIRSPRAY (-2.5%), SPRING AWAKENING (-1.4%), IN THE HEIGHTS (-0.9%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (-0.3%),

Posted on: Tuesday, September 02, 2008 @ 01:57 PM Posted by: Michael Dale

Posted on: Monday, September 01, 2008 @ 02:03 PM Posted by: Michael Dale

While his soft baritone is admittedly not the voice of a highly-trained singer, it's still very pleasant and Geiger embraces each selection with enjoyable gusto.  Being a summer baby himself, the evening is a charming remembrance of the performer's days of summer camp, summer jobs and summer loves.

There are (very) old standards like George Evans and Ren Shields' 1902 classic "In The Good Old Summertime" and Harry Carroll and Harold Atteridge's 1914 gem "By The Beautiful Sea," which he sings with nostalgic sweetness, but he can still rock out to a hot tune like "Summer In The City" (John Sebastian/Steve Boone/Mark Sebastian) and even make a cocky Danny Zuko singing "Summer Nights" (Warren Casey/Jim Jacobs) with Greenwood serving as his Sandy.

Memories of a summer heat wave in Paris inspire an exhausted rendition of Cole Porter's "Too Darn Hot."  And while later on he playfully zings the comedy of Noel Coward's "Why Do The Wrong People Travel?," he ends the evening with rousing choruses of "Those Were The Days" (Gene Raskin), inspired by nights abroad in a little cabaret in Greece.

My favorite selection though, was a quiet introspective arrangement of Lennon and McCartney's "She Loves You" (omitting the yeah, yeah, yeahs) sung as a lovesick teenager driving home on a lonely night with only the radio for company.

Wearing a tropical shirt and a big wide grin, Marty Geiger comes off as a fun, loveable guy who's just happy to be there.  While enjoying the talent and charm of that summer baby, I was quite happy to be there, myself.

Posted on: Friday, August 29, 2008 @ 12:07 PM Posted by: Michael Dale

Gossip columnist Claire Cunningham (Jen Jamula) is young, fabulous and at the top of her field, so naturally she's horribly depressed.  Determined to lounge on her well-stocked rooftop for the remainder of the summer, her former child star brother Austin (Billy Magnussen) has taken an emergency leave from the Guam set of his latest surfer movie to help her deal with her breakdown in his own supportive way.  ("I am offering to take you somewhere where they muddle their own sour mix!")

Paper Dolls squeezes its juice from a setup where the scandal hunter finds her own sexual hi-jinks, an affair with a married columnist from another publication, have become front page news.  The story was penned by her former assistant Tammy (Allison Goldberg), who had been working for Claire's lover and used her under covers skills to help establish a name for herself.  ("You slept with the competition.  That's enterprising.  I slept with the boss.  That's slutty.")  Meanwhile, drunken party girl Isabel (Ashley Morris) proves to be more than just a one-nighter for Austin.  (Oh yeah - Tammy used to sleep with Austin, too.  Would you like a scorecard?)

Director Gaye Taylor Upchurch and her terrific cast play up the strengths of the script very well.  Jamula and Magnussen have Claire's dry depression ("You know how WASPs show sympathy?  With hot love and cocktails") and Austin's genial dumbness ("My publicist says if I can get into a fight without incurring serious damage I can get a major role.") bouncing off each other with warm sibling affection.  Goldberg and Morris each offer interesting variations of intelligent, resourceful women who hide their brains and put their sexuality and bubbly personalities in the forefront in order to get what they want.  Morris also shows excellent comic instincts, getting howls from well-delivered straight lines, and Goldberg gives the most interesting performance of the night as the ambitiously cunning woman on the rise who is inexperienced enough to make rookie mistakes.

While Paper Dolls has the makings of a real crowd-pleaser, as she stands now there isn't enough empathy to support its complicated plot and the laughs, while certainly potent, aren't frequent enough to sustain the ninety minute piece as a flat-out comedy.  The production crawls for the last third of the play, where the plot resolution turns somewhat serious.  And I'm sorry, if you're going to have the characters continually commenting about how there's no wall at the edge of the roof, please have the decency to have one of them fall off it by the play's end.

Photo of Jen Jamula, Allison Goldberg, Ashley Morris and Billy Magnussen by Jonathan Dubuque

Posted on: Thursday, August 28, 2008 @ 03:35 AM Posted by: Michael Dale

While stars like Harvey Fierstein and Elaine Stritch are often praised for their high attendance records, would you feel entitled to a refund if you saw a performance by a Broadway star that was obviously under the weather or vocally tired?  Let us know in our new poll.

Posted on: Wednesday, August 27, 2008 @ 03:21 PM Posted by: Michael Dale

Posted on: Tuesday, August 26, 2008 @ 01:21 PM Posted by: Michael Dale

-- Robert Sherwood, regarding cowboy movie star Tom Mix

The grosses are out for the week ending 8/24/2008 and we've got them all

right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section.

Up for the week was: CIRQUE DREAMS: JUNGLE FANTASY (6.5%), SOUTH PACIFIC (0.1%),

Down for the week was: LEGALLY BLONDE (-11.2%), SPAMALOT (-10.0%), XANADU (-8.1%), HAIRSPRAY (-6.6%), GYPSY (-6.0%), MARY POPPINS (-5.3%), GREASE (-4.8%), THE 39 STEPS (-4.8%), RENT (-4.6%), AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY (-4.6%), TITLE OF SHOW (-4.0%), CHICAGO (-3.3%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (-3.1%), IN THE HEIGHTS (-1.3%), THE LITTLE MERMAID (-1.2%), JERSEY BOYS (-0.5%), SPRING AWAKENING (-0.5%), AVENUE Q (-0.2%), BOEING-BOEING (-0.2%), MAMMA MIA! (-0.2%),

Posted on: Monday, August 25, 2008 @ 03:17 PM Posted by: Michael Dale

Anita Gillette

(Think about it.)

And speaking of Anita Gillette, there's a terrific interview with her in Gay City News where she explains how Ethel Merman saved her job, Nanette Fabray made her change her dress and David Merrick billed her for $90.

******************************

I see Beverly Hills 90210 will be having a story line where Brenda directs a high school production of Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater's Spring Awakening.  I assume this will be the episode where the school gets a cease and desist order for trying to put on a musical while it's still on Broadway and the amateur production rights have not been made available, helping high school kids all over the country learn that it's wrong to do a play without securing proper permission from those who own the performance rights.

Or perhaps not.

Posted on: Saturday, August 23, 2008 @ 04:45 PM Posted by: Michael Dale

Chris Haas is a rebellious Hamlet growing madder by the moment, plotting revenge against a slick, corporate Claudius (Christopher Yates) with the help of Sherman's preppy Horatio.  And while much of the evening is sharp-edged melodrama (emphasized by Andrew Sherman's music) there are some very effecting moments such as a scene where Hamlet and Ophelia (Monique Vukovic) converse via phones through the glass partition of the prison's visiting room and another where Claudius' confessional scene is played to the imprisoned prince.  But more typical of the 90-minute piece is a lively episode where the gravedigger is re-imagined as an administrator of electro-shock therapy (Zachary Zito) and Hamlet's reaction to the treatment is expressed with a choice quote from the original's fencing scene.

Unless you're a complete stranger to Hamlet, Bound In A Nutshell may prove more amusing than emotionally involving, as its high points come with the discovery of how the creators re-imagine Shakespeare's text.  But with a very good cast giving fully committed performances, the evening smacks of good ol' fashioned prison drama and makes for a kick-ass time.

Photo of Gregory Sherman and Christopher Haas by Dixie Sheriden

*************************************

I'll admit to becoming a bit of a Victoria Woodhull junkie since seeing one of the last previews of the legendary closed-on-opening-night Broadway musical, Onward, Victoria!  Her story is a great chunk of American history and one that has been frequently adapted by playwrights.  (The 2005 New York International Fringe Festival featured the terrific The Suffrajets Present A Musical Séance.)

Woodhull and her sister, Tennessee Claflin, had already made history in post Civil War New York by becoming the first women in America to run their own brokerage firm and, as publishers of their own weekly newspaper, printing the first English translation of Karl Marx's The Communist Manifesto, when, in 1872, she became the first woman to run for President of the United States.  But leaders of the suffragist movement feared she could hurt the cause with a platform that was extraordinarily radical for it's time; not only calling for equal rights for women, but for legalizing prostitution, making birth control accessible, outlawing the death penalty and, most controversial of all, advocating free love.  Her belief that men and women, even while married, should be free to take as many lovers as they please without shame and her openness about the many men she's been with no doubt shocked many voters even more than her selection of Frederick Douglass as her vice-presidential running mate.  (He never acknowledged the nomination.)  And when she published a story that the extremely popular Reverend Henry Ward Beecher, whose sermons denounced her as "The Wicked Woodhull," was having an affair with the wife of journalist Theodore Tilton (who she herself was having an affair with) advocates for women's rights such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton saw no choice but to withdraw their support.

All the above is covered in Liza Lentini's Woodhull: A Play About the First Woman to Run for President, but the didactic and episodic piece, combined with Mary Geerlof's frequently lethargic direction, fails to convey any of the heat and excitement of the story. The heavy-handed dialogue has the men coming off as colorless and the women speaking as though they're quoting textbooks.  Rev. Beecher, a major obstacle in the drama, never even appears.  Recorded voices, perhaps a nod to Woodhull and Claflin's practice of clairvoyance, and the use of their carnival outside talker father as a host are ideas that aren't fully explored and come off as somewhat gimmicky.

Rachel McPhee, as Tennessee Claflin, injects some much-needed energy into the proceedings, though her character is ridiculously written as a dim-witted harlot whose favors for Commodore Vanderbilt finance the presidential campaign.  As Victoria Woodhull, Katherine Barron is quite good when simply standing still and delivering political speeches directly to the audience.  It's only then when Woodhull shows some spark.

Photo of Katherine Barron by Jason Specland

Posted on: Saturday, August 23, 2008 @ 11:26 AM Posted by: Michael Dale

Yeah, yeah… I know… Katie Holmes is a famous actress and her presence is supposed to help increase box office sales - and for all I know she may wind up being spectacular in the role - but c'mon, folks… can we drum up a little excitement for the fact that one of Broadway's great dramatic stage actors (Requiem For A Heavyweight, M. Butterfly, The Changing Room…) is starring in a revival of Arthur Miller's first commercial success?  (Not to mention the welcome presence of Dianne Wiest and Patrick Wilson.)

The last time I saw All My Sons on Broadway was opening night of the 1987 revival starring Richard Kiley.  Unfortunately, I was pretty sick that night and really shouldn't have gone to the theatre.  By no fault of the production I spent most of the evening nearly (or maybe completely) asleep, only being jolted to alertness whenever a character suddenly yelled a line.

I look forward to being wide awake for this one.

Posted on: Friday, August 22, 2008 @ 03:28 PM Posted by: Michael Dale

The newest bit of sexy fun frolicking through the South Street Seaport's intimate Spiegeltent, Desir takes place in a kind of old Parisian carnival/cabaret and treats the eyes to a lavish spectacle of dancers, acrobats, showgirls and contortionists.  While the performers have all joined the show with well-developed acts, director Wayne Harrison, choreographer John "Cha Cha" O'Connell and music director Josh Abrahams blend them into a world where bending the body in remarkable ways, leaping to amazing heights and daring the laws of gravity become a kind of lovemaking.  With dreamy work by David Quinn (costumes), Josh Zangen (set) and Martin Kinnane (lights), Desir is romantic, captivating and playful.  And yes, there is whipped cream involved.

There's also a plot - I think - concerning a healthy young sailor (Olaf Triebel, who is just spectacular demonstrating his strength on a trio of balancing posts) who has a definite connection with Babette (Annie-Kim Dehry), a woman doing splits and other creative feats while flying overhead on a hoop.  But soon the stage (and the air above) is paraded by a splendid crew of colorful characters.

Marawa, who presents herself in the eccentric style of young Josephine Baker, twirls dozens of hula hoops around her body simultaneously.  Evolution, a team of four teenage Russians (Evgeny Belyaev, Nikolay Shaposhnikov, Anton Smirnov and Nikolay Titov) show great strength and balance in their floor gymnastics before hurling the youngest (Smirnov) high in the air, where he blithely tumbles before being caught.

Arielists Marieve Hemond and Annie-Kim Dehry practically drip down each other like beads of sweat in the evening's steamiest encounter.  Raphaelle Boitel, draped in oversized fabric, performs a graceful butterfly dance, but later she's teamed up with Auger for a very funny routine where, with the lady obviously strapped to ropes, they perform literally impossible balancing acts.

The music is recorded, though often sung live by the lovely Victoria Di Pace.  And while a few odd selections like "Close To You," "Motherless Child" and "Shakalaka, Baby" do stick out a bit, they don't break the mood of Desir's frisky entertainment.

Photos by Joan Marcus:  Top:  Olaf Triebel; Bottom:  Evolution

Posted on: Tuesday, August 19, 2008 @ 10:07 AM Posted by: Michael Dale

--Dorothy Parker

The grosses are out for the week ending 8/17/2008 and we've got them all right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section.

Up for the week was: RENT (4.3%), THE 39 STEPS (3.1%), THURGOOD (2.8%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1.5%), TITLE OF SHOW (1.1%), THE LITTLE MERMAID (0.3%), MAMMA MIA! (0.2%),

Down for the week was: A CHORUS LINE (-10.2%), LEGALLY BLONDE (-4.5%), IN THE HEIGHTS (-4.4%), SPAMALOT (-3.8%), AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY (-3.4%), HAIRSPRAY (-2.8%), AVENUE Q (-2.2%), MARY POPPINS (-1.8%), CIRQUE DREAMS: JUNGLE FANTASY (-1.8%), XANADU (-1.6%), BOEING-BOEING (-1.3%), GYPSY (-1.0%), CHICAGO (-0.4%), SPRING AWAKENING (-0.2%), SOUTH PACIFIC (-0.1%), GREASE (-0.1%),

Posted on: Monday, August 18, 2008 @ 04:00 PM Posted by: Michael Dale

But my favorite part of the interview is the way she describes her first reaction to meeting her eventual husband, Tim Hower:

"When I met him my ovaries were screaming, I knew he was the father of my children."

Ah, those reserve and understated Brits.

Posted on: Monday, August 18, 2008 @ 02:43 AM Posted by: Michael Dale

The first time I heard her sing it… well, she probably sounded about the same as the first time you heard her sing it.  The last time I heard her sing it was at a benefit concert held shortly after 9/11, where she silently planted herself center stage and, with a calming nobility that settled somewhere between a national anthem and an art song, reassured a still-shaken audience that we will all somehow get through this.

But on stage at The Metropolitan Room, where she's just opened an eight performance stint, there is a cooling hipness she brings to Martin Charnin's open-hearted lyric set to Charles Strouse's lightly back-beated march.  With a mature glint that comes from someone who knows the ins and outs of that song better that anyone, she exorcises any hint of corniness and delivers it as a confident woman (in a fabulous dress, by the way) who knows that every new day brings an opportunity to turn any bad situation around.  She's grown up and she's made the song grow up with her.

With a stage resume loaded with musicals set in the past, Andrea McArdle has never played a contemporary New York gal on Broadway, but in a cabaret setting she's all Manhattan sass and style.  Her clarion belt floats deep, smoky tones through warm and textured vibratos; the kind enthusiastically favored by her music director and piano accompanist, Seth Rudetsky.  She laughs at her post-Annie career stumbles (like playing Arnold Horshack's little sister on Welcome Back, Kotter), shows a non-sappy admiration for legendary colleagues like Dorothy Loudon ("She didn't like a lot of kids, but she liked me.") and Carol Channing and very impressively holds her own while bantering with the always very funny Rudetsky.  This is, quite simply, a knockout of a show.

With Steve Singer on drums and Jeff Gans on guitar, her set delves a bit into the past - Annie's "N.Y.C." is, of course, her New York tribute of choice, and Jimmy Hanley's "Zing! Went The Strings Of My Heart" recalls the thrill of playing young Judy Garland in the TV bio-pic, Rainbow - while keeping an eye on a possible future.  It's hard to argue with Rudetsky's insistence that she'd be perfect starring in Mame after hearing her bite into Jerry Herman's "If He Walked Into My Life" with stinging regret.  Styne and Sondheim's "Some People," written for the role she's wanted to play since she was eight, explodes with confident power from her full belt.  ("Annie was the last big musical without mics.  It was such an easier business when there were only thirty of us who could hit the back wall.")

She visits Mr. Sondheim three more times; coloring the lyric of "Everybody Says Don't" with the vocal dexterity of an Olympic gymnast maneuvering around the uneven parallel bars, slowing down "You Can Drive A Person Crazy" into a snazzy flirtation and adjusting the lyric of "Broadway Baby" into a plea for a good role.  ("I need a show 'cause I'm a wreck / Maybe Disney's thinking of a female Shrek.")

Speaking of possible roles for Ms. McArdle, after the performance I found myself chatting with Paul Lambert, lead producer of the Broadway bound musical based on The First Wives Club, who wanted to point out that the evening convinced him she could make a terrific Brenda, the role essayed by Bette Midler in the film.  She certainly showed a funny side with a novelty number penned by Martin Charnin (my quest to find out who composed the music continues), where she played an audience member who is shocked to see that the little girl she once saw in Annie has now developed more than just her vocal range.

She's also developed into a dynamic and thoroughly entertaining cabaret performer.  Andrea McArdle's Metropolitan Room engagement plays through August 25 and whether you have fond memories of a curly-headed orphan or not, I think you're gonna like it here.

Posted on: Saturday, August 16, 2008 @ 04:43 AM Posted by: Michael Dale

That's right, kiddies, Daniel Bedingfield.

I had no idea who Daniel Bedingfield was.

So Richard figured it would help if I knew he was the brother of Natasha Bedingfield.

Ah…..

Didn't help.

See, I spend 3 or 4 nights a week going to the theatre and the other nights writing about it.  To me, gossip is finding out that Norm Lewis and Cherry Jones were caught making out on the Wonder Wheel.

So I did some Googling and found out he's a pretty popular British pop singer.  And I liked the snippets of music on his web site.  Like they used to say on American Bandstand, it's got a good beat and you can dance to it.  He's a little too old for Spring Awakening and a little too white for In The Heights, but maybe if he shaves the beard off he can come to town sometime and play Danny Zuko for awhile.

Hope you enjoyed Absinthe, Daniel.  I sure did.

Yes, the frisky and funny mini-cavalcade of eye-popping athleticism has propped up its Speigeltent at the South Street Seaport for a third straight year, offering Gothamites another summer to admire their feats of strength, acrobatics and death-defying (or at least serious injury defying) acts performed with minimal clothing and maximum intimacy in the one-ringed, in the round venue.

Some familiar faces and some new ones populate this year's edition which is once again hosted by the foul-mouthed, multi-offensive and so damn funny sleaze ball known as The Gazillionaire (Voki Kalfayan), who takes the time to make sure every audience member feels belittled; from the "boring white people" in the center section to "the young sluts in the back."  Audience participation for The Gazillionaire may include a 1970s porno flashback if any gentleman in the crowd happens to have a scalp full of thick bushy hair.  (I'll spare you the details.)  He's assisted by a scraggly moppet named Penny (Anais Thomassian), his adorably warped foil who delivers moderately well-timed rim shots and partakes in a hilariously grotesque little routine involving a gun and an apple.

The less dangerous acts include vocalist Kaye Tuckerman, an attractive power balladeer who at one point goes into the audience asking patrons to spank her as she sings  "Nasty, Naughty Boy" (What gentleman would refuse?) and the talented burlesque diva Julie Atlas Muz, who manages to get her nearly nude and quite sparkly body entirely within an enormous bubble.  She also has a very funny bit concerning a disembodied hand and the removal of her clothing.

Shirtless and impressively buff, Adil Rida muscles himself high in the air on long strips of nylon that he uses like gymnastic rings in quiet, almost meditative fashion as Tuckerman softly sings "Alleluia."  The flexible Princess Anya, billed as the most beautiful woman in the world (straight guys – remember to tell your date that Anya's maybe the second most beautiful woman in the world), proves herself a mistress of muscle isolation and rhythmic gymnastics as she contorts her body while twirling hula hoops.

Sergey Petrov and Sergey Dubovyk, a/k/a The Duo Sergio, simmer an underlying eroticism as they balance themselves on each other while sporting no more than pairs of tighty-not-exactly-whities, while the Duo Ssens (Geneviève Landry and Maxime Clabaut) positively steam up the place with their sexually charged trapeze act.

Roller skaters The Willers (Jean-Pierre and Wanda Poissonnet) are the most gasp-inducing act, as he uses centrifugal force to fly her through the air while making tight circles around the tiny stage, but the most jaw-droppingly impressive moves of the night (and the most fully clothed, too) are executed by the Anastasinis Brothers.  Giuliano, who doesn't look old enough to drink, lies on his back with his legs stretched upward while Fabio, who doesn't even look old enough to join China's Olympic Women's Gymnastics team, tumbles above his big brother, landing perfectly on the soles of his feet before getting propelled back in the air for more.

I don't know what Daniel Bedingfield thought, but damn, I was amazed.

Photos by Joan Marcus:  Top:Julie Atlas Muz; Bottom:  Giuliano and Fabio Anastasinis

Posted on: Thursday, August 14, 2008 @ 02:34 AM Posted by: Michael Dale

Posted on: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 @ 02:32 PM Posted by: Michael Dale

Posted on: Monday, August 11, 2008 @ 05:19 PM Posted by: Michael Dale

With clean-cut suburban dad Galt MacDermot composing a score that fused rock with funk, rockabilly and showtune, Hair premiered in 1967 with a 6-week stint as Joseph Papp's first Public Theater production and played briefly at a discotheque named Cheetah before making it to Broadway's Biltmore.  With more songs that have nothing to do with the plot than a typical 1930s Cole Porter musical and such thinly-developed characters that one of a cynical nature might refer to them as The Flesh Failures, Hair, in its time resembled the kind of rebellious vaudeville that recalled Marx Brothers anarchy at its most political.  (Although I doubt if Groucho ever said to an audience member, "Hey lady, will you hold my pants for me?"  Then again…)  But its playful comedy, as in a sweet ditty about air pollution, an angry list song about every derogatory name you could call a black person and a biting patriotic salute by the good citizens of Selma, Alabama, was balanced by gut-twisting and controversial moments like the public burning of draft cards by scared, but committed young men, a horrify drug-induced war fantasy and a rock funereal dirge that leads to an anguished plea for hope, "Let The Sun Shine In."

Today, once again being presented by The Public, but this time at Central Park's Delecorte Theatre (and with a revised script adapted from the original Off-Broadway text and the significantly different Broadway one), Hair is both an exhilarating reminder of a time when an optimistic youth believed it could bring peace and love to a violent world gone mad and a cute nostalgia trip where grandparents can take the kids to see what life was like when they were their age and tap their feet to catchy songs with lyrics like, "Black boys are delicious," "Masturbation can be fun," and (the positively brilliant) "Answer my weary query, Timothy Leary, dearie."

Director Diane Paulus' production, choreographed with more spirit than invention by Karole Armitage, may lack surprises, but there's plenty of fun and poignancy in her straightforward mounting that, despite some truly moving pictures, could stand a little more visual variety its group scenes.  The loose structure of Hair's often unrelated line-up of songs and routines can get a little tiresome by the middle of the second act without a director who can firmly hold our attention and keep the audience from checking their programs to see how many songs there are until, "Good Morning, Starshine."

But the summer's night sky over set designer Scott Pask's simple grassy stage, a little worse for wear with dirt patches, with music director Nadia Digiallonardo's 12-piece band rocking out upstage, is a downright magical setting for this festive evening of musical ritual.  The knockout cast sounds beautifully blended in their full-company vocals of shimmering compositions like the mystically moody "Aquarius" (led with the creamy-toned warmth of Patina Renea Miller), the merrily mod "Manchester, England," the grimly poetic "The Flesh Failures" and the wildly exuberant title song.

The uncomplicated naiveté of sweet-singing Jonathan Groff gives Claude a puppy-dog appeal that makes it unthinkable to hand a gun to this innocent and tell him to kill.  The charismatic Will Swenson gives Berger the confident swagger of an adolescent who hasn't accepted boundaries.  One of the musical's most noticeable weaknesses is the underdeveloped relationship between Berger and his college activist girlfriend Sheila, the only member of the tribe actually doing things to try and change the country for the better.  (After returning from the legendary anti-war protest where demonstrators tried to levitate The Pentagon, Shelia excitedly tells her friends, "You shoulda been there."  She's right.)  Caren Lyn Manuel gives the role a healthy dose of maturity and spunk and puts strong pipes behind a thrilling "Easy To Be Hard" when Berger's immaturity threatens their relationship.

Fine turns are also delivered by Bryce Ryness as Woof, who denies being gay despite a sexual obsession with Mick Jagger; Daurius Nichols, whose Hud relishes the uneasy effect his black skin has on white people; Kacie Sheik, who gets the biggest laugh of the night as the slightly air-headed Jeanie and the pairing of Megan Lawrence and Andrew Kober as Claude's antagonistic but genuinely loving parents.  Kober also scores with his rendition of "My Conviction," an anthropological waltz he chirps as a character named after Margaret Mead.

The tricky part about Hair, and this unavoidable in just about any theatre piece that is so of its time, is re-creating the sense of urgency that made its plea for peace so immediate 40 years ago.  Sure, you can say that once again we're in the middle of a seemingly endless and unpopular war, but it's just not the same without the threat of forced military service looming over every young American male's head.  And with nudity, cursing, racial epitaphs and distrusting the government so much more a part of our popular culture today than 40 years ago, the only thing left in Hair to shock a contemporary audience is the sight of a pregnant woman smoking pot.

But such matters are probably of little concern to the throngs who joyously accept the company's invitation to sing and dance with them on stage for an extended celebration at the show's conclusion.  Yesterday's perceived threat to society is once again today's family entertainment, and I'm sure the cute little girl who was happily bouncing on an actor's shoulders during the band's final blasts on the night I attended had a swell time.

Photos by Michal Daniel:  Top: Tommar Wilson, Will Swenson and Bryce Ryness; Bottom: Jonathan Groff and Company

Posted on: Monday, August 11, 2008 @ 03:52 AM Posted by: Michael Dale