There is that moment, when the house is dark and just before the curtain rises, that sends a small shiver down your spine. Let's capture that moment together!
Lights dim, the curtain goes up. Suddenly, we are transported into the imagination of a playwright and actors we do not know! The stage is set for magic and fireworks.
Naturally impersonation is about creating an illusion.
Jessica Walker in "The Girl I Left Behind Me" at 59E59. Photo by Carol Rosegg.
In "The Girl I Left Behind Me," playing at 59E59 Theaters through May 19th,co-author and performer Jessica Walker salutes the women who wore the pants in Victorian and Edwardian era music halls and on America's vaudeville stages.
These ladies in trousers, like Miss Hetty King, Ella Shields, or the 6-foot Gladys Bentley from Harlem, dressed the part but sang in their natural register. Hiding in plain sight, in men's clothing, achieved great success and had a large following. Walker and her co-writer, Neil Bartlett suggest that their admirers were complicit co-conspirators in women-worship.
Jessica Walker in "The Girl I Left Behind Me" at 59E59. Photo by Carol Rosegg.
It's a fact that some of these professional cross-dressers may have been lesbians. One, Annie Hindle, in fact managed a marriage by signing the certificate with a man's name. Nice tidbit, and there are some others in "The Girl I Left Behind Me" that will amuse and edify. But, unfortunately, the historical thesis of the show is neither shocking nor all that interesting.
Joe Atkins at the piano with Jessica Walker in "The Girl I Left Behind Me." Photo by Carol Rosegg.
In full gentlemanly attire, with tails and tophat-- one of several she doffs for her performance,--Walker shows off a finevoice and a nice way around a variety of musical styles, even the operatic.
"The Girl I Left Behind Me" is presented by Jess Walker Musical Theatre and is part of the Brits Off Broadway. Learn more about "The Girl I Left Behind Me"at www.59e59.org.
Is it only the idealists among us who search for the unattainable? Can the melancholic also pursue it?
The premise in "The Hunchback Variations, A Chamber Opera," at 59E59 Theaters through July 1st, is a doomed collaboration between Ludwig von Beethoven (George Andrew Wolff) and Quasimodo (Larry Adams) to find a sound that will fulfill a stage direction in Anton Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard."
Quasimodo and Beethoven, both deaf and more than a touch ornery, are holding a series of panel discussions on the inevitable failure of their project. The attempt to create "the Impossible, Mysterious Sound" and "the Effects on Love and Friendship of Rehearsing the Creation of the Impossible and Mysterious Sound" are the subject for "The Hunchback Variations, A Chamber Opera." The sound is "impossible" because it is one of nostalgia for something lost or missing or not existent. Beethoven and Quasimodo are trying to find something that eludes the senses.
Mickle Maher, an original member of Chicago's Theater Oobleck which brought the musical play east, adapted the chamber opera from his eccentric little play "The Hunchback Variations." His libretto is set to Mark Messing's score for cello (played by Paul Ghica) and piano (Christopher Sargent.)
Adams and Wolff both have a wry demeanor and pleasant voices. They tell the tale well, revealing the details of the relationship between Quasimodo and Beethoven over the course of eleven "variations."
Quasimodo asks, "Where do we put the happiness that has not been forged?... Where is the room for keeping all the nothings?" Beethoven responds "I would like to think that such a room exists."
For a schedule of performances, visit www.59e59.org To learn more about the producing company, Theater Oobleck, visit http://theateroobleck.com
Bruce Joel Rubin (book & lyrics) has adapted his Academy Award winning film into "Ghost the Musical," in the Lunt-Fontaine Theatre for what may prove to be a very long run. (See videos from the show at www.ghostonbroadway.com.)
"Ghost the Musical" merges the cinematic with the dramatic into a spectacular spindrift of song, dance and romance. Matthew Warchus helms a musical play with many moving parts all of which contribute to the atmosphere of other-worldly excitement. The visual tricks (Illusions by Paul Kieve and Video & Projections by Jon Driscoll in a prodcution designed by Rob Howell) will convince the greatest cynic that there are ghosts among us. Ashley Wallen's dynamic choreography, with additional movement sequences by Liam Steel keep up the pace and tension in "Ghost the Musical" even for those of us who have seen the iconic movie.
Like the movie's plot, "Ghost the Musical" is a simple romantic fantasy. After he is murdered in what looks like a street robbery gone bad, Sam Wheat (Richard Fleeshman) can find no peace until he makes an honest psychic out of the con woman Oda Mae Brown (Da'Vine Joy Randolph). In "Ghost the Musical," Sam comes to rely on Oda Mae to keep his girlfriend, Molly Jensen (Caissie Levy) out of harm's way and to avenge his untimely death.
Whoopi Goldberg's fans won't be disappointed in Randolph's sassy Oda Mae, who turns out to have a gift for leading souls to their rest. Randolph is a triple threat star, acting, singing and dancing; her Oda Mae has swagger and vulnerability as she reluctantly befriends Sam's ghost.
Fleeshman develops his character well showing first Sam's bewilderment at what has happened to him, and then his tenacity at making things right. Carl Bruner (Bryce Pinkham), Sam's colleague who hits on Molly a little too soon, is swarmy and appropriately a little creepy. Levy and Fleeshman are pretty to watch adding the heat to this love story.
Even the technical glitch that held up the conclusion in act two at the preview performance this reviewer attended kept everyone in their seats. It was taken as a time to talk amongst ourselves and wait patiently.
Please visit www.ghostonbroadway.com for tickets and to learn more about the show.
