 |
|
(Mini Reviews to Die For) by Marjorie Shapiro
The staging was excellent. The performances by James Naughton &
Patricia Kalember were great. Unfortunately, I found the play itself a
little disappointing. My problem with it was that the big discovery that
destroyed the lives of the people involved seemed too ordinary. Isn't
there any other terrible secret thing that a person can do that isn't some
sexual perversion? I felt "oh no, not that again." However, on the
positive side, it was not boring & in our cyber times not irrelevent. Y2K
I have always been interested in the place of "the Jew" in American
life. What do people really think of us & what do we as Jews think of
ourselves? This play tries to think back to the time after WWII when Jews
couldn't be "too Jewish" & everyone was very confused about Jewish
identity. Ron Liebman gives an over the top performance & I liked
Christopher Evan Welch as well. It's not a perfect play, but the issues it
discusses are important. The production values were excellent & it was not
boring.
If you haven't seen Fuddy Meers, I really suggest it. J. Smith Cameron is so good she alone is worth the visit. I enjoyed the play tremendously with all its wacky, zany characters. It's definitely not for the very serious types who might be offended by some slightly un-"pc" characters. I would like to see the show again, which I would say is my highest form of praise. Fuddy Meers A one man show- 1st part Elsa Maxwell, 2nd part J. Edgar Hoover, 3rd part
both. Lasted about 1 1/2 hours - no intermission - seemed like 3 1/2
hours. My aunt came along and slept through most of it, however she will
tell you it was very interesting. We were there on opening night & I
suppose the most eventful part of it was when a 100 year old lady decided
that she had seen enough just before Bob Kingdom decided that he was going
to be both Elsa & Edgar at the same time. It was surreal to watch her
navigate over people in the first row & up the aisle without killing
herself while poor Mr. Kingdom was giving his all to the most emotional
section of his play. I really couldn't recommend this show unless we hired
the lady to repeat her performance. Editors Note: Elsa Edgar completed its run and closed prior to publication
|
