The Fab Marquee

The Fab Marquee review by David Stallings.

A Perfect Couple, by Brooke Berman, is having its world premier at the beautiful DR2 Theater on Union Square. WET (Women’s Expressive Theater) continues their tradition of tight, well-worked productions presented by female writers and directors with this crisp evening. Berman’s anthropological look at what happens when you finally have everything you ever wanted in a relationship and are still unhappy is the event that brings a fantastic team of artists together.

James Waterson as Issac & Annie McNamara as Emma

Amy (Dana Eskelson) and Isaac (James Waterson) have everything at forty that Amy ever wanted. After fifteen years of dating, Amy has finally convinced Isaac that he wants it too. They are a happy couple that lives in the country—in a home inherited from Isaac’s eccentric stepmother—and gladly gives advice on how the people around them need to fix their lives to be as perfect as they are. Perfection does come at a cost, the fresh-faced forty year olds have learned to compromise on many things in order to get on Amy’s “baby track”, but on the surface they seem like any functional couple at that stage. Perhaps that is what is so frightening. A weekend in their country home with the New York single friend, Emma (Annie McNamara), and the twenty-three year old stoner next door, Josh (Elan Moss-Barach), leaves Amy wondering if these lost souls might have more going for them in the long run. Having everything together soon proves that Amy is left with nothing for herself. Amy’s world seems to be shattered when she finds the diary of Isaac’s deceased stepmother, which claims that Isaac always truly loved Emma (although he never knew it). This revelation—unsubstantiated by any evidence—destroys the relationship Amy has with both Isaac and Emma. The revelation of course is that Amy was always looking for an out. She had grown tired of always looking for the right track, taking care of friendships she may have outgrown, and living up to standards that ultimately are unfulfilling.

Dana Eskelson as Amy & Annie McNamara as Emma

WET’s production of A Perfect Couple is excellent. The cast is formidable, headed by the lovely Dana Ekelson as Amy. Her voice is perfectly matched with the role, finding easily the humor and pathos of her character. James Waterson is lovely as the handsome Isaac, who appears to have everything a woman would want in a partner, yet somehow falls short. A real standout is the whimsical Annie McNamara as Emma. Ms. McNamara is captivating on the stage, with many quirks and witty remarks, yet always maintaining a grounded sensibility. She is easy to watch with a wonderful presence. Elan Moss-Barach is an audience favorite as the comic relief of the evening in the role of Josh. Although his presentation of the stoner garnered many laughs, it came a little too easy and at the loss of some more subtle nuances that I think lurked in the text.

The immaculate set by Neil Patel is stunning. The blue image of a perfect home serves as the backdrop that works perfectly for the many short scenes taking place both inside and out. Matched marvelously by Matthew Richards’ lights, the technical aspects of the show are beautifully effective. Maria Mileaf’s direction is solid and clean. There is not a misstep in her staging and in the many transitions.

Annie McNamara as Emma & Dana Eskelson as Amy

A clean and crisp evening for a sophisticated mind interested in the study of a woman forced to breaking by a seemingly meaningless event, a Perfect Couple is sure to please any avid theatergoer.
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WET presents
Brooke Berman’s
A Perfect Couple
June 9th-July 12, 2008 (Opening Night June 19th); Mon-Sat @8pm
DR2 Theatre

Tickets range from $25 - $35, available at 212-239-6200 or www.wetweb.org.

DR2 Theatre | 103 East 15th Street | Manhattan.

The Fab Marquee Review by Preston Wise.

Something extraordinary is happening on 13th Street; Target Margin’s Old Comedy transcends what we think a play can do. Inspired by Aristophanes’ satire The Frogs, this adaptation doesn’t feel like the play is from old times, but a young art form. It has the unrefined rage of a brilliant teenager. This production takes so many risks, breaks so many taboos, challenges and inspires the audience so often that it seems absurd to compare it to a typical theater experience.

Pedro Pascal as Dionysus & Derek Lucci as Xanthias.
Photo Credit: Joe Dore

The play loosely follows the structure of The Frogs. Dionysus (Pedro Pascal), the god of Wine and Drama, and his slave Xanthias (Derek Lucci) travel to the underworld in search of a poet and preside over a verbal duel between Euripides (Purva Bedi) and Aeschylus (Anthony Mark Stockard). Xanthias begins with a razor-beautiful speech comparing the decline of ancient Athens and the end of the ‘American century.’ The play teems with images from throughout human history. A forest out of The Inferno is haunted by a Wendy bird. Heracles thinks he’s special because they changed his name and made him a cartoon. Charon makes a brutal prophesy that no checks and balances can save a government whose people have become corrupt.

As you may guess, the play is smart as it is fearless. As it is funny. While each actor has a standout moment, the comedy team of Pascal and Lucci ignite the show. Sometimes with a flamethrower. As they drop in and out of character, commenting on the action they drive, many of the laughs are of “I can’t believe they just said that” humor. Followed quickly by humor of recognition. The ensemble, working seamlessly as one, finds and discards caricatures by the second.

Somewhere between political commentary too angry to be called satire and a paean to writers who shaped the human soul, the play starts to be something more than play. It’s entertaining and thought-provoking and then it becomes something else. Maybe it’s a reminder that theatre can be a life-changing, not just a night out. Maybe it’s just an experience.

Early in the play, it’s pointed out that Xanthias is a literary first: the clever slave. He will be followed by any number of servants, slaves, and fools who are wiser than their masters and say to them what no one else would. That’s a good analogy for the play. Its production values, while clever, are not ornate. The musical numbers, whether through acoustics or conscious choice, often seem dampened. Sometimes one can see the outline of what a moment could be with stronger musical support. It doesn’t have the smooth polish of Broadway or the Off-Broadway subscription season.

(Front L-R) Purva Bedi, Davina Cohen,
(Rear L –R) Charles Hudson III, Michael Levinton & Anthony Mark Stockard
photo credit: Joe Dore

Like Xanthias, the production uses its humility to say what we don’t like to think, much less hear out loud. There are riveting indictments of our leaders, our art, and the populace that follows them. Rather than anger or defensiveness, they make us laugh or ruefully shake our heads. After the play, something has changed.

And that is a stunning achievement.

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Target Margin presents
David Greenspan’s
Old Comedy from Aristophane’s Frogs
directed by David Herskovit
Closing May 31st @ 8pm

The performance schedule for Old Comedy from Aristophanes’ Frogs is Tuesdays – Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays at 3:00 p.m. Single tickets are $45 for weekday performances and $50 for weekend performances and may be purchased online at www.classicstage.org, by calling 866-811-4111, or in person at Classic Stage Company, 136 East 13 Street, between 3rd & 4th Avenue, Monday – Friday 12-6pm, or by visiting www.targetmargin.org.

Classic Stage Company | 136 East 13 Street, between 3rd & 4th Avenue | Manhattan.

Today are the final performances of Emerging Artists’ shows in repertoire at the Baruch Performing Arts Center. You still have time to try and catch these shows.

The Triple Threat shows are:

• Sisters’ Dance @2pm
  by Sarah Hollister
  directed by Paul Adams
• The Play about the Naked Guy @5pm
  by David Bell
  directed by Tom Wojtunik
• Claymont @ 8pm
  by Kevin Brofsky
  directed by Derek Jamison

Tickets are $50 and are now available online at www.eatheatre.org or by calling 212-247-2429. Tickets may also be purchased in person at Baruch Performing Arts Center (55 Lexington Avenue) –Monday - Friday: 10Am - 7PM. The Box Office will also be opened 2 hours before each performance.

Baruch Performing Arts Center | 55 Lexington Avenue | Manhattan.