The Arts in New York City | Baruch Fall 2013 Macaulay Seminar 1

All the Faces of the Moon (at Joe’s Pub): Review

Posted on October 2, 2013 by Jake George Greenberg

Jake Greenberg

Professor Sheehan

IDC, Arts of NYC

Due Date: 10/2/13

All the Faces of the Moon (at Joe’s Pub): Review

I walked into Joe’s Pub with nothing but skepticism; as they took my ticket and I walked into the little theater, my entire view changed. Upon entering, the set up took you back to an earlier time in the city where the local bars would sponsor, or at least support, local start-ups and it was impossible not to feel a bit giddy. The crowd felt intimate just like a small crowded bar, but the man on stage was no rookie; he was calm, cool, and collected as if he controlled the audience on puppet strings. As I sat down in a comfortable booth, much different from the uncomfortable bar stools at a real pub I was able to order restaurant quality food as my eyes became hooked to the stage. I was about to hear a monologue, and yet every one of my senses was on edge.

I had never been to anything remotely close to this performance. It had the general crowd you would find at an art gallery or Broadway show, an older and seemingly abstractly sophisticated bunch, but it felt so welcoming that my friend Rebecca and I, mere college students, didn’t feel the slightest bit out of place. After looking past this disheveled but confident character on stage, one could see the main purpose for being here, the piece of art labeled, “Saturn Is a Father Devouring His Children”. Now that my attention turned to the seemingly correct place I began to study the painting, trying to make sense of this innocent looking picture with such a dark title. As I continued to scan it I suddenly squinted, as I wasn’t sure what I had just seen. After shaking the cobwebs clear I was able to convince myself that what I saw was really there; a holy, yet ominous pair of solid black eyes peered from the top right corner of the easel onto the baby in a set of hands. Chills ran through my body as the title now made sense and reverberated in my head. And then, just like that Mike Daisey, the performer, began to speak.

As the theatre set the mood, Mr. Daisey’s voice set the scene. He began to discuss current events worldwide and then slowly became more specific until he reached New York City as the scene of his discussion. The discussion began to be about the recent Mayoral race and poking fun at past mayors in a very informal, but very romanticized way. I felt myself changing slowly from skeptic to addict as I was dragged into the story. As previously stated, I have never been to anything of this sort so my assumptions of a discussion of the painting seemed logically to be what would happen. While that thought still rang in my head, the ring became more and more distant as if my ears wouldn’t let anything take away from his capturing story and voice. It was a room of approximately 150 people, yet it felt as spellbinding and intimate as being told a ghost story by your friend over a fire in the dark woods.

Regardless of Mr. Daisey’s political views as a whole, about 30 minutes into the show it was clear his story had focused even deeper onto a character he saw as somewhat of a tyrant or puppeteer, Michael Bloomberg. It was at this point where he began to go on three or four different rants, somehow weaving in such obscure characters from “The Grey Lady”, whom lives underground, to Bruce Willis and Die Hard, into one giant story about a bad guy labeled as: “The Short Man”. It was here that I turned to my friend in complete confusion wondering how a talk about NYC current events could branch into this fairy tale. We shook our heads together and then focused back on the show as if under a spell. Although neither of us knew what was going on, we couldn’t turn our heads from the stage, it was mesmerizing.

In order to spare you from me going on a rant of my own, I will make his complicated story similar and concede that The Small Man is metaphorically, and at the end admittedly, Mayor Bloomberg. He had Mr. Daisey’s wife captured at the top of the Freedom Tower but with a bit of Bloomberg’s ego and a lot of Daisey’s story made magic, the couple escapes and the story ends. Mike Daisey stands up, points in the direction of the painting, thanks the crowd, and leaves. As I left the theatre with my head cocked, mouth slightly ajar, and brain racing I could not get my head around what had just happened. I had just witnessed one of the most aesthetically enhancing events of my lifetime, but what about the painting? Wasn’t the whole point of this monologue to discuss the artwork?

It took me days, some of them spent thinking hard about the performance and others spent trying to push the show out of my head, but finally I came to an understanding; Mr. Daisey was being more than a storyteller, he was being an interpreter. Art as a whole is to be looked at in many different ways, sometimes even abstractly, but I had been too caught up looking head on at what was going on. Like the dance performance of The Metamorphosis compared to the actual book by Franz Kafka, it was meant to be how this group of people felt by the original piece. That was what Mike was able to do. Rather than speak and describe the tangible characteristics of the painting, he took the viewers on a journey into his mind and the story that this painting spoke to him. It was vague and it was abstract, but that was the beauty of it. For Mr. Daisey, Saturn and Mr. Bloomberg are one and the same. Instead of simply giving his opinion that Bloomberg is to power hungry, he eloquently interprets a painting in which the “evil” devours his children, which is a clear sign of trying to obtain more and more power and ties that into a story with Bloomberg as the main character.

This was an outstanding performance in every aspect. The scene, mood, and feel of the monologue tapped into every sense and left them pleased and wanting more. I do not believe that any performance at this theatre and by Mike Daisey are the same but it wasn’t the specific content, rather, how it was expressed, that made this show such a success and thus any show being performed by him should take you consideration.

Critical Review: Opera Never Get’s Old!!!

Posted on October 2, 2013 by Nicholas Arniotes

It is a grand night at the Metropolitan Opera. Patrons are dressed in fabulous clothing, the lobby is packed with people eager to get into the theater, and the Metropolitan Orchestra is warming up for a long night of playing. People of all ages are here tonight at the opera. I sat next to a dapperly dressed old couple on one side and an aspiring young composer on the other. This is the scenery of a Saturday night performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera Cosi fan tutte on September 28^th. I am sure that those of you reading this review may wonder if an opera is entertaining whatsoever. A common view among younger audiences is that opera is aging in style, overly dramatic, and a genre of music adored by very old people. From the perspective of a young adult just like the rest of you, I assure you that Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte is far from boring; it is actually quite a joy to watch.

The plot of Cosi fan tutte is very entertaining despite being in existence for over two hundred years. The audience first sees a discussion between Ferrando, Gugliemo, and Don Alfonso, played by Matthew Polenzani, Rodion Pogossov, and Maurizio Muraro respectively. Gugliemo and Ferrando believe that their fiancés Dorabella and Firodiligi (Isabel Lenard and Susanna Phillips) are pure in heart and would never betray them. Don Alfonso, being much older and wiser than the men, believes that he can prove to them how all women, no matter how pure, are naturally unfaithful. The men put a wager on the issue and Don Alfonso uses Ferrando and Gugliemo in his scheme to catch the women being unfaithful. Don Alfonso tricks Dorabella and Firodiligi into thinking that Ferrando and Gugliemo have left for war. In disguise, he introduces the women to two “Albanian” men (Ferrando and Gugliemo) who wish to court them. The women, as Ferrando and Gugliemo hoped, initially deny them of their presence because of their love to their fiancés. Don Alfonso then seeks help from Despina (Danielle de Neise), Dorabella and Fiordeiligi’s maid, to assist him in making the women fall in love with the two “Albanians”. This is the foundation of a rather humorous and enchanting work composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte.

In terms of the score, the Metropolitan Orchestra does a fabulous job in performing this classic opera. James Levine conducts a Metropolitan Orchestra that never misses a note and is flawless. The orchestra excels at painting the emotions and actions of the performers on stage. The orchestra makes its presence known when Dorabella and Fiordiligi yell at the disguised Ferrando and Gugliemo in rage. Along with this emotional and engaging orchestration, the orchestra achieves a sense of balance with the performers. Personally, my favorite instance of this was in Fiordiligi’s aria, Per pienta ben mio, in the opera’s second act. The dazzling solos of the horns do not steal the show away from the marvelous singing by Susanna Phillips. The horn and the rest of the orchestra are just as important as Phillips in conveying the senses of grace and sincerity of Fiordiligi’s character to the audience. I originally anticipated that the music of Cosi fan tutte would be dull and repetitive like some other Mozart works, but I would say that I was pleasantly surprised by the dynamics and character of this score.

The performers are not just great opera singers: they are convincing actors as well. Maurizio Muraro, a bass-baritone, brings life to the character of Don Alfonso. In comparison to Ferrando and Gugliemo, Muraro’s Don Alfonso is clever, looks at life more realistically, and does not act through emotion like the rest of the cast. His charming bass-baritone voice is the most distinguishable of the cast and its warm timbre is pleasant to listen to. Murraro’s ability to paint the music with strokes of his technique is evident throughout the opera. My favorite instance was a scene where he sings of his voice sticking to his throat. As he sings, each note is pried out of his throat as if the music is actually sticking! Like Don Alfonso, Danielle de Neise’s Despina gazes upon the four lovers with humor because of their unrealistic views of love. Despina is the opera’s greatest comedian and delivers some of Cosi fa tutte’s best jokes. Towards the end of the opera, Neise makes Despina sound like a little old man as she is in disguise. Danielle de Neise and Maurizio Muraro work well together as their character’s struggle to get the two women to “cheat” on their fiancés.

Isabel Leonard and Susanna Phillips play more traditional roles as Dorabella and Fiordiligi, two typical noblewomen in 18^th Century Naples. Their characters are extremely stubborn about their love to Ferrando and Gugliemo. They can be annoying about their repetitive vows of love to their fiancés, but I think that they were written like this intentionally for a humorous affect. One is supposed to laugh at the mentality of these women and await for the moment their psyche cracks and they cave into cheating on their fiancés. Leonard and Phillips prove to be fantastic sopranos through their arias and ability to belt. The women are the center of Don Alfonso’s plot, so their role is massive. In the end, they deliver a stunning performance.

The only characters I felt fell short where Ferrando and Gugliemo. Rodion Pogossov and Matthew Polenzani do what they can to make the characters as intriguing as possible; it does not help to make the characters seem less shallow. They lack the depth of Dorabella and Fiordiligi and fall into common male stereotypes: they are stubborn as mules; the men aim to look better than each other and Don Alfonso; and they see nothing wrong with toying with the women. Don Alfonso acts similarly as the men, but he at least acts with reason while the men behave through passion. I cannot judge their singing as much as the others because they were not as involved the singing portion of the opera. From what I heard in duets and in larger scenes, the men do sing well. They contrast from the brazen voice of Murrario and the angelic voices of the three sopranos.

The unsung heroes of any production, the lighting, set, and costume designer, shine in Cosi fan tutte. Set and costume designer Michael Yeargan created incredibly unique sets for this production. The set of the opera varies from a pleasant beach, moving ships, a multilevel house, and even a pastoral garden. The sets are incredibly detailed and give off an atmosphere that has depth. Dorabella and Fiordiligi, for example, look out at the ship that moves before their very eyes from a beach. I thought that this depth with the set made this production unique from any previous production of Cosi fan tutte. The lighting, designed by Duane Schuler, adds to the affect the set creates towards the audience. The lighting is the finishing piece that immerses the viewer into the world of Don Alfonso and company. The costume design is great as well. One of the reasons why I liked Don Alfonso so much was because of the way he dressed. When the opera begins, the old man is dressed in a morning suit fit with a hat and cane. He had at least three different costumes throughout the opera and each one stuck to me. It made me think of how I would want to look like if I was a wealthy old man! The dresses for Dorabella and Fiordiligi are glamorous and Ferrando and Gugliemo boast elegant robes in their disguises.

The Metropolitan Opera’s rendition of Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte is excellent. Despite its age, the opera is a blast to watch. The strong performances by the orchestra and the performers are impeccable and the technical aspects of the opera make it unique. Some people may wonder about the dated themes in Cosi fan tutte concerning the role of women. The title, when translated, means “All Women Act Like That”. If one can accept the opera as a piece of art and ignore its social aspects, Cosi fan tutte is an entertaining opera that I recommend all to watch.

Critical Review: “The Recommendation”

Posted on October 2, 2013 by Diana Perlov

With expectations at ground level and my head pounding from a migraine, I began to dread the start of the three-man show called, “The Recommendation”, as I took my seat in a tiny theater that resembled a black box. The Flea Theater is much smaller than I’d imagined, but I realized only later, how well it fit the plot. But more on that later on. I took my seat with low spirits but when I heard Wiz Khalifa playing in the background I was already in a slightly better mood. However, it wasn’t till the actors came out and made the first few jokes, that I found myself suddenly relaxed and laughing along. I’m big on humor and if a script is clever and witty, I couldn’t be more engaged. Kudos to the playwright, Jonathan Curan, who managed to incorporate both qualities into the story. This off- off- Broadway show was originally playing from August 23 through September 22, but fortunately it was extended to play from September 27- October 7 due to praise from critics.

The praise is certainly earned. “The Recommendation” achieved a balance of entertainment and information that aroused our minds to open up and pushed the limits of our imaginations. Sitting so close to the actors, I literally felt like I was living the experience vicariously through them. Under the direction of Kel Haney, the play created a new take on the values of friendship and played on the race and class stereotypes that are still existent in our country today. Set in modern times, the play depicted the transition between college life and adulthood and as a result I was drawn into the play’s relevance. Because it was a coming of age story, I was able to easily relate to the struggles the young adults faced – the frustration of fitting in, the constant internal conflicts, and the amount of responsibility it takes to handle the newfound independence.

Aaron Feldmen, played by Austin Trow, was the white, rich guy who had it all and he developed a life long friendship with his half black roommate at college, Iskinder Iodoku who went by “Izzy”, played by James Fouhey. But things got complicated when a third character stepped into the picture. Dwight Barnes, played by Barron Bass, portrays an African American convict who is “saved”. The white, rich kid with the money, the half black kid who half makes it, and the African American in prison, are the three stereotypes often still acknowledged by society, because of existent systems such as “affirmative action”. And it is still true that those with the connections or legacies make up a large sum of the populations of Ivy League universities today. Taking these existing practices into account, the three actors interact in a way that I haven’t seen, each sharing individual stories that unravel in suspense. Predictable is the last word that comes to mind when describing the unique events of this particular play. Stereotypes in the play extend outside the realm of the three characters and are incorporated into the additional characters the actors take on. James Fouhey also plays the “crackhead” in prison. A “crackhead” is someone we associate with poverty and jail – a low class drug. However, that’s definitely a stereotype, because there are rich people who do crack as well, we just don’t think of them as the “crackheads” of society. I think Curan was trying to show another class level in society and he used the “crackhead” as someone who was even below Dwight. On drugs and incapable of functioning in a social setting, it almost seemed as if he was bowing down to Dwight, and it was interesting to see this kind of interaction.

The actors were all equally talented and I particularly like what they did with their roles. They made them their own and it worked. Not only did it work individually, but also there was chemistry between the actors as well. Going even further, there was chemistry between the actors and the audience. There were definitely some technical mechanisms used in the creation of the play that worked to enhance the experience, such as breaking the fourth wall. This means the actors interacted with the audience. In addition, Curan used flashback to show scenes from younger days and scenes that happened outside the chronological sequence of the play to help the audience put together the bits and pieces.

The set designer, Caite Hevner Kemp, didn’t have much space to work with due to the dimensions of the theater as previously stated. However the props were chosen to help set what little they could possibly fit. To capture a jail scene, they set up four poles behind the actors and dimmed the lights, creating a prison- like atmosphere. For “poolside” scenes, a wooden board was used as a lounge chair. It was modest, but nonetheless fitting. Another enhancement was definitely music. The sound designer, Elisheba Ittoop, used mainstream hip- hop music throughout the play to capture the either the chill mood at parties or the serious tone in jail. Tone is something that carried the play along because there was such a wide range of emotions. At times, the play was serious and other times it was playful and humorous. The most successful scenes incorporated humor into a serious tone.

An uncomfortable moment arose during a wrestling scene in a sauna between Feldman and Izzy when both men in their towels fell to the ground and in a heated moment flashed the audience intentionally during the fight. Although the nudity was certainly unexpected, I liked that addition at the end simply because something like that is no longer considered taboo. Nudity in theater is a part of art and as part of the audience we accept that and appreciate it. This not only pushes our boundaries but also the boundaries of Feldman and Izzy’s friendship.

Review of ‘Uncle Space Ranch’

Posted on October 2, 2013 by hannautkin

Black painted floors, a disco ball and house music set the scene for the Monday night sketch show at the underground theater of the PIT, one of NYC’s most prominent Improv venues. The players were a team called ‘Uncle Space Ranch’ , a group of people comprised of mostly Jewish Generation Y members, now corporate sell outs working for the machine. I use the term sell-outs loosely because while it does have a derogatory ring, it does accurately impose the impression that these players were clearly of a certain type. Although their somewhat creative venture (a sketch comedy group) seemed really small and extra-extra-curricular, they still seemed to have a ton of ambitions for the project. They asked the crowd to like and follow them on all forms of social media and repeated their team name several times before and after the show. I use the term Jewish not because there were Jewish jokes involved but because I spotted some ‘Chai’ necklaces among the players and could just feel the Birthright experience oozing out of them. The latter characteristic is abstract but relevant to the overall impression of the performers. Even though they were all still in work clothes (sans ties) they brought on stage with them a variety of party shop bought props and a few dress changes. This gave me the impression that the show was at least planned and actually ardently awaited for. In hindsight, I feel that if they didn’t have props, they could have been a more entertaining team as they frequently relied on the props for jokes and plot. They didn’t actually have to rely on the props as they were funny actors themselves, however I suppose since they already put in the effort to buy them they wanted to use them to the fullest extent. The overall vibe the actors gave off was casual but meaningful- as though they were rather blasé about performing since they had better projects to worry about but in all actuality they really did want to shine onstage.

The first sketch presented to the audience was based on a humorous play on the cookie brand ‘Famous Amos’, which they played on as ‘Famous Anus’. The man playing Amos described the bodily way his cookies were made while the remaining cast members, playing children, continued to eat actual Famous Amos cookies. The box was then passed around to the audience, who was more or less disheartened about eating the cookies. Amos goes on to drink a bottle of corn syrup in order ro demonstrate his cookie making abilities, at which point the cast members cough out their cookies. This is a type of joke the 30 somethings in the audience enjoyed as they were all well aware of the stigma that corn syrup and other bad food ingredients have to the yuppie Whole Foods Trader Joes going crowd, which they attend to religiously. This type of self-deprecating humor was fairly amusing and refreshing to see as 30 somethings take themselves too seriously in this sense and seeing some of their most profound beliefs nullified made it entertaining. The jokes that followed expanded on this concept. The probably-NYU educated team joked about how excited they were to have an NYU intern in the office, as since he came from NYU Tisch he must have experienced the best education in the world and have learned all the right acting methods (“Give us a monologue.” “Can’t. We only learn monologues after 2 years of study”) at his school. That one got a lot of grumbled laughter from the crowd which was probably also NYU educated and thus very much could relate. Then they had a few generic sketches like a good cop bad cop lawyer, a public access fall decorating show starring Michael Shannon, and an inept doctor all of which strongly smelled of Saturday Night Live copycatting. Their most poignant skit, the one perhaps most set up as social commentary, was their skit at a bar, where a corporate sell out is no longer welcomed by his friends since he turned 30. He, while sipping on an organic beer, explains to his borderline 20 something friends (depicted drinking discounted beer and wearing backward baseball caps) how it’s not so bad being 30, as he now has the credit score to finance a condo with his fiancé, go on day trips to Long Island using the company’s Zipcar, and order Seamless at work. As soon as another cast member comes in, holding a glass of red wine, and asks if he could turn on a CD, the 30 something calls the 40 something a ‘douchebag’ and regains his status with his friends. All in summary, these jokes somewhat cleverly played on the audience’s perception of their lives and gave them something very relatable and very in tune with current culture. Their work was not professional but clearly well-rehearsed and done by team members with obvious experience in comedy and improv. While I found some of their jokes and especially their props to be crude and overdone, I felt that they had done a good job expressing their lives and their interests through the act of comedy and use of an open safe space such as the PIT’s underground stage.

Despite my ill prospects for the show, the venue was full of people- every chair was filled on the ground was filled, even the bar. Many latecomers were even standing in the back for the entire duration of the forty-five minute show. While the atmosphere was friendly and laid back- the cast members stuck around to speak to some people in the crowd- there was a clear mutual comradeship among the people there, evidently themselves performers. This gave me the sense that although the performances at the PIT can be casual, the players themselves are serious about their craft and their passion for creating and performing good work for an audience. For those interested in making entertainment contacts or finding a creative tribe, the PIT is a place that encourages interaction and experimentation even if the resources provided are feeble- closer to Black Box theater- than bigger comedy stages elsewhere. Going to see ‘Uncle Space Ranch’ gave me a good example of just hundreds of NYC sketch and improv teams that perform every day of the week to well-connected 30 something crowds and interested parents, friends and onlookers.

Critical Review: The Center For Jewish Culture

Posted on October 2, 2013 by Michael Mamiye

Last week, I visited the Center For Jewish Culture in Manhattan along with a fellow classmate. The museum is made up of various exhibitions that were created with the help of their several partners, which include the American Sephardi Federation, … Continue reading →

Review of “The Recommendation” at the Flea Theater

Posted on October 2, 2013 by adonagjoka

Review of “The Recommendation”

The writer, Jonathan Caren, conveys an important life lesson while reaching out to all age levels by combining straightforward language and comedy in “The Recommendation”. The cast, Barron B. Bass, James Fouhey, and Austin Trow, is quite talented for they each perform more than one role in the play. Directed by Kel Haney, “The Recommendation” presented at the Flea Theater on Monday, September 30 teaches a lesson of friendship and overcoming life obstacles as two young characters enter adulthood.

“The Recommendation” starts out with the main character, Iskinder Iudoku, also known as Izzy, entering a new life as a college student with a strict immigrant father from Ethiopia. At Brown University, Izzy meets his future best friend, Aaron Feldman. Aaron Feldman is described as the perfect jock that gets everything and anything he wants because he comes from a wealthy Caucasian family. In college, Aaron invites Izzy into a world with things he’s never had before: wealth and popularity. Izzy had to work his way up the ladder to get into Brown because nothing ever came easy for him, so Aaron became his gateway to the world of money. Aaron’s generosity towards Izzy continues throughout the entire play; for example, he tells his father to put in a good word to help Izzy get into UCLA’s law school. As money becomes a key factor in the play, Aaron and Izzy’s lives start changing for both the better and the worst. Still living on the idea that his father’s wealth can get him anywhere, Aaron finds himself in jail for a broken taillight. After realizing his parents aren’t going to come to the rescue and bail him out, Aaron becomes so desperate in jail that he starts asking for help from Dwight Barnes. As Izzy is working at a fancy firm, Aaron is making a deal with Dwight; he promised to get his father to help with his case if Dwight protected him in jail. Aaron also foolishly tells Dwight of a crime he committed when he was 15 years old. Aaron’s laidback attitude throughout the play negatively impacted his life because he relied too much on his parents and too little on himself.

Jonathan Caren leads us to the climax of the play by putting Aaron and Izzy’s friendship on jeopardy. When Aaron finally gets out of jail, he has trouble escaping his past because Izzy decides to take on Dwight’s case to help him get out of jail. Aaron is scared of Dwight because he never kept his promise and confided in him about his crime. Even though Aaron begs Izzy not to take on the case, Izzy goes behind his back and not only takes Dwight’s case, but gets him out of jail. By taking on this case, Izzy, for once, is doing something for his own benefit without Aaron’s involvement. Dwight not only represents a friendship barrier between Izzy and Aaron, but also the only thing in the play that Aaron couldn’t use his money to run away from. When Aaron confronts Dwight in the real world, he shows his true colors by belittling Dwight because he is a convict with no social class. Izzy steps in as Aaron and Dwight are arguing in a sauna room and confronts Aaron himself. The director, Kel Haney, incorporates an action scene into the play as Izzy and Aaron battle each other to forgiveness. The friendship between the two characters was true, but Aaron’s wealth and power always made Izzy feel inferior to him. I believe Izzy took on Dwight’s case to prove that he doesn’t follow all of Aaron’s orders and has a mind of his own.

I enjoyed “The Recommendation” not only for its comic relief, but I could easily relate to certain scenes and its theme of friendship. Even though this play is technically for any age group, I think young adults can relate best to it. The play starts with two 18-year-old boys and slowly shows them maturing as they enter their 20’s. Many of the comedy scenes involved sexual jokes or the actors singing funny songs. The audience consisted mostly of people anywhere from 25 to 30-years-old. I was relieved that the audience was relatively young because I thought it would indicate that the play was meant for a younger people, which turned out to be somewhat true. I noticed everyone laughed occasionally and seemed very attentive throughout the entire play. I didn’t expect the play to be interesting because the building didn’t look too professional. The space was relatively small and in a basement; also, there were only about 60 chairs set up for the audience. “The Recommendation”, however, fit perfectly into the small space with only four props because the acting was so vivid that it didn’t need an abundance of decoration. The main props used were blinds, two chairs, and a table. The two chairs and table represented different things throughout the play. They were used to represent Aaron and Izzy laying on their dorm beds, riding in the backseat of a car, sitting by a pool, eating at a restaurant, sitting in a sauna room, etc. The lack of props showed the theater was working with a low budget, but didn’t take away from the overall meaning of the play.

The lighting designer, Nick Solyom, and the sound designer, Elisheba Ittoop, did exceptionally well in fitting with the mood of every scene. The lighting portrayed changes in scenes and when necessary, focused on specific people on stage to highlight what they said. When the narrator spoke to the audience, the lighting was positioned in front of the stage to focus in on him; when Izzy’s father spoke, the spotlight would shift to the back of the stage to turn the audience’s attention to him. I also liked the use of the fog to create suspense as Aaron sat in the jail cell nervously waiting for his parents who were never going to arrive. The background music also enhanced the scenes because it fit well into the mood of whatever was happening. The music was suitable for the type of audience because it consisted of mainstream hip-hop songs that everyone seemed to be at least familiar with.

Overall, “The Recommendation” was an enjoyable, but a bit unrealistic play of two young men from complete different worlds overcoming life obstacles together and finding true friendship in each other. The combination of a well-written story, trendy music, remarkable acting, and good lighting made this play truly unforgettable.

Natural Connection or Just Plain Strange?

Posted on October 2, 2013 by Nicole-Amanda Merchan

Last Friday, September 27^th, I decided to spend my afternoon at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, or the MET for short. As a child, I visited various New York City museums for school field trips, the MET being one of them. Last week was the first time I went in years and I still remember the feeling of walking up that grand staircase to enter the building. My favorite exhibit was always the Egyptian Art wing as the various artifacts collected from hundreds of years ago fascinated me.

I decided to see a new exhibit, one that was temporary and exclusive to the museum. The exhibit, Balthus: Cats and Girls—Paintings and Provocations, attracted my attention and definitely left an impression on my curious mind. When I first approached the exhibit I expected to see a bunch of sculptures or paintings of girls and cats. While curious, I did not have high expectations of what the exhibit would show me and I surely did not expect that something so seemingly simple could be so artistically sophisticated.

When entering the exhibit, the first thing visitors see is a sign that warns about disturbing images that may unsettle guests. Coming in with this mindset, I immediately thought that the pictures would be inappropriate or upsetting. Walking in with an open mind was key to understanding the artwork. The room has a large open space in the center for people to walk around without crowding around the paintings. One specific painting that struck me as unusual was of a young girl, most likely in her early teens, lying down on a chair with her legs spread out. Any typical person would assume she was posing in a provocative sense. Upon further analysis and a closer view of her position, I thought she was merely exhausted, as any pre-teenager would be, because she was on her menstrual cycle. I immediately felt her pain because, being a female as well, I have gone through the same experience.

Balthus, the artist, purposely chose models that were in the beginning of their adolescence and portrayed them as lonely, withdrawn girls whose only companion was a cat. He wanted to show viewers the innocence that surrounds a young girl and how it transforms into something completely different after they have experienced puberty. This transformation is seen through the order in which a person walks through the exhibit. Shaped like a horseshoe, the exhibit draws you in walking straight, then curving over a hook to the left, and back down straight. This sequence is designed for visitors to obtain a better understanding of what Balthus is trying to show in his art, which is that innocence is present through a girl’s life, even after adolescence, but it changes into a more complex characteristic.

The first section focuses on young girls, while the second puts more emphasis on older girls, primarily in their mid-teenage years. These portraits convey them as more accustomed to their natural situation, but still displaying an aura of pure innocence. In this section, Balthus paints two portraits that are almost identical and the gallery places them parallel to each other. Standing in the center of the open room, I glanced to my right and to my left to view the paintings, and was able to notice few differences, such as the fact that one has a cat and the other does not. Many people would be confused and wonder why the artist bothered to paint another and merely remove the painting of the cat, but I delved further into this idea. I thought it represented this transformation of a young girl into a young woman and how she doesn’t need the feline companion anymore to accompany her when she was a child. This essence of maturity encloses every woman, but it almost always occurs after they have completely experienced puberty.

The third section, which was the end curve of this U-shaped exhibit, displayed portraits of young women no longer girls. Balthus showed this through his paintings of completely naked women who, as it seemed, embraced their body and finally came to be wholly comfortable. This type of innocence is on a different level, a much more enhanced one. Although most people tried to avoid staring directly at the naked women because of embarrassment, the fact that people, especially women, were able to appreciate this art shows that they too are comfortable with the female body. Even though Balthus is a man and cannot understand what a woman goes through with puberty and adulthood, he sympathizes with them and wants to show the world that women are innocent in many aspects and shouldn’t be focused on because of their bodies.

The final section returned back to portraits of young girls, but unlike the first section, these paintings had no cats in them and these girls were not just lounging around, they were lively and completing activities. I came to understand these paintings as the end result of adolescence for girls, that once they become content with their bodies and appreciate the trails of puberty, they can enjoy life as it is and make the most of it. One painting had a girl casually looking out of her window and observing the beautiful view of nature. This section embodies the entire exhibit and the meaning behind Balthus’s artwork.

Unfortunately, I was unable to take pictures of the portraits as the museum did not allow it, but I encourage everyone, not just women, to experience this exhibit firsthand. Balthus was not trying to express his feelings solely for women to understand but also for men, and for any age. Everyone can align with what the paintings suggest, but each paintings symbolizes something different for everyone because each person experiences their own unique transformation. It’s about finding your own sense of embodiment and determining how to use that to shape your post-adolescent life.

Philip Goes Forth

Posted on October 2, 2013 by jiajunwu

I am already fifteen minutes late as I enter the Mint Theater Company. I take the elevator up to the third floor, hurry down the hallway, and find the room presenting George Kelly’s 1931 play, “Philip Goes Forth.” In the pitch black lounge, the usher tells me that my front row seat has been given away. I’m too exhausted from running across mid-Manhattan to even argue. I follow him through the dimmer room and into the theater. As I take my seat in the corner of the seventh and last row, the entire audience turns its attention to me. I cannot help but notice that the majority of the audience was older, gray-haired people; nevertheless, I am excited. I strap myself in, cast my eyes on the brightly lit stage, and go along with Philip to experience the humor, fury, love, thrill, trauma, and disappointment in his pursuit to become a playwright in New York City.

The first act is set in an elegant, classical sitting-room “in a City five hundred miles from New York.” The golden light from the chandelier reflected off the pure white love seats, spotless rug, engraved mantle, and fresh white flowers to create a very formal and noble overtone. In the seats are Philip’s extremely proper aunt, Mrs. Randolph (Christine Toy Johnson), and her foil, the pompous friend, Mrs. Oliver (Carole Healey). Mrs. Randolph explains Philip’s decision to leave his father’s business to be a playwright in New York City; both women are taken aback and seem unable to accept his decision. Then, they move on to gossip about Cynthia (Natalie Kuhn), Mrs. Oliver’s daughter, and Philip’s relationship, with Mrs. Oliver giggling the whole time. Soon after, Mr. Eldridge (Cliff Bemis), Philip’s father enters. Stating that her ship is leaving soon, Mrs. Oliver takes her leave, but not without harmlessly teasing Mr. Eldridge, leaving him red-faced and speechless and the audience, including me, hollering with laughter. After Mrs. Randolph leaves with Mrs. Oliver, Philip (Bernado Cubría) enters the room. The pleasant mood immediately shifts to a heavy and ominous atmosphere. Philip’s confirmation of his decision immediately rouses a curt reprimand from Mr. Eldridge, “Don’t imagine, whenever you get tired floating up there in the clouds that you can drop right back into your place down here; that isn’t the way things go.” Mr. Eldridge essentially breaks his ties with Philip and storms out, slamming the door behind him. Just as Philip droops into the sofa, Cynthia comes into the room. Philip brushes himself off and proceeds to learn that Cynthia is going abroad to have a vacation with her mother. Hearing that, Philip can’t help but say that he is leaving to New York City. To his surprise, Cynthia is completely supportive of Philip’s vision. Furthermore, she says that she will definitely go to see one of his plays. They stand closer and closer until they are no more than a foot from each other. I can practically see the cupids of love floating above their heads. Finally, Cynthia gives Philip a quick peck on the lips. Philip, all wide-eyed, yells, “Oh, Cynthia!” and takes her in his arms and gives her a passionate kiss square on the lips, much like the kiss from the photograph V-J Day in Times Square. Just like young people in love, Cynthia giddily leaves the room and Philip jumps in joy, ending Act One.

The second act takes place six months later in a common room in New York City. The room is very artistic and unique with mint-green walls clad with abstract paintings, richly colored curtains and sofas, a writing desk, and a piano. Mrs. Randolph, visibly concerned about Philip, enters the room and asks for Philip. The owner of the boarding house and famous actress from many years ago, Mrs. Ferris (Kathryn Kates), explains that he is just about to arrive. She also answers Mrs. Randolph’s anxious questions by asserting that Philip is very determined and diligent; he is working very successfully as a salesperson during the day, and typing away on his typewrite in the dead of night. As Mrs. Ferris takes her leave and Philip enters the room, Mrs. Randolph quickly brushes away her tears. Mrs. Randolph settles down, and then pleads Philip to return home. She stresses that he can continue to write plays back at home; also his proof that he can support himself will make his father reconcile with him. Philip is furious; he rejects her offer and insists on staying. Mrs. Randolph finally accepts Philip’s decision. She invites him to dinner and exits. Almost immediately, Mrs. Ferris comes in with a stern face. She declares that Philip should go home. She states that she has met many people with aspirations to achieve a career in the arts, and with her experience, she says that Philip does not have it in him. Philip rejects this and Mrs. Ferris continues by revealing that Philip has not touched his typewriter in two months and that his first play, regarded as a joke and a waste of time by the theater company, was sent back. Philip continues to circumvent this by arrogantly saying that there are more theater companies out there. Suddenly, a shot goes off. The house assistant, sobbing, barges in and exclaims that the pianist, ironically the one who was depressed and unsuccessful, shot himself. The situation keeps plummeting south, taking a turn for the worst.

The third and final act takes place on the next day. Upon hearing the shooting, Mr. Eldridge rushes over to see Philip. After finding out that Philip is fine, they run out of things to say, forcing them to have a strained conversation about the wonderful tapestry. Out of the blue and to my surprise, Philip says that he wants to return home. The men try to be strong, but the quivering in their voices and their actions of looking away reveal that they subtly agree with each other. They forgive and forget and sit beside one another, joking about Mr. Eldridge’s botched attempt at writing a play, as the curtains close.

I am certainly astonished by the ending. Philip’s ambition and spunk remind me of myself, so, through the ups-and-downs of the play, I still rooted for Philip to reach his goal. However, “Philip Goes Forth” depicts a very real perspective of the achievability of the American dream. Many people dream of going into big cities and completely transforming their lives. Stories make it sound easy, but in reality, it is not. The road to one’s dreams can have many twists and turns, as demonstrated by Philip’s experience. But the message is not to discourage big dreams; rather, it is to take in and learn from the experience. As Greg Anderson wisely said, “Focus on the journey, not the destination.”

Comedy on a Friday Night

Posted on October 2, 2013 by Khrystyna Melnyk

Drawn like magnets to the Magnet Theatre

As you walk into the dimly lit room covered in photographs and cartoons, you have trouble finding who was in charge. There are table all around and when you finally make your way over to the cashier, she has three tattoos and three piercings to match. The Magnet Theatre really scared me at first and I couldn’t believe that it was the second best improv comedy show in the city. After paying for our tickets, we were offered a sheet of questions and told we could answer any of them anonymously and the comedians would use them up on stage. This I was familiar with so we wrote down something funny and we then asked to wait as the show wouldn’t start for another ten minutes.

My friend and I decided we needed to use the restroom so we had to go into the auditorium where the cast was rehearsing. Standing in the line, all we heard the comedians doing was saying the name of male genitalia in different voices. My friend and I looked at each other and the couple in line next to us put it perfectly, “Thank goodness this only cost $10.” However, everything changed when we were allowed to go to our seats and the show began. The comedians had an outline of the show they had in mind, but also needed to include audience suggestions. So during an interview, when one of the male comedians looked at his piece of paper, he had to incorporate “fear of bomb falling on my head” into his parent teacher conference. This was the best part of the show. The comedians had such a connection that they could easily bounce ideas of each other and even fix a skit when something was going wrong.

One of my favorite parts of the show was when the comedians would make the skit harder for each other. One of the male comedians was sitting behind the wheel of a fake car and was fighting with his “wife”. He wanted to start an argument about the wife’s mother, but then another comedian came onto the stage and pretended to be a police officer. He pulled the couple over and asked why the steering wheel was so high. The look on the “husband’s” face was priceless as the comedian tried to rearrange his skit. It was refreshing to see how the comedians weren’t scared to try something new and step out of their comfort zones for a laugh.

The Magnet Theatre is located on 254 W29th St in Manhattan and is rather small compared to the hype it has received from audiences on the Internet. The auditorium is divided into three sections that face a small 7×7 stage. The comedians that aren’t on stage hide out behind the pillars, but certain sections of the audience can still see them and how they would try not to laugh at what was going on onstage. However, that would have been annoying, if it wasn’t for the hyenas in the audience who started laughing as soon as the comedians introduced themselves and didn’t stop until closing. And this would have even been okay if something funny happened, but how would you like to be sitting in the audience trying to hear the punch line when all of sudden a boom of high pitched laughter hits your ears and ruins the joke. After being shushed a few times, they lowered the volume of their laughter, but not the quantity.

The comedians succeeded in proving that this was really a comedy club and got some good jokes in that we original and creative. They didn’t use any clichés or old jokes reinterpreted in different ways, which I have noticed from other comedy shows and this has caused me to be cautious of improv comedy. I was really glad that I had listened to my friend’s pleas to go with her because this show revived my love of comedy and made me want to come back again and again. And they didn’t need to use foul language, which I feared after watching their warm up. One of the worst mistakes of many comedians is that they feel they need to be vulgar to get a laugh, which sometimes is true, but this isn’t a genuine laugh because something was funny. When an audience member laughs at a cuss, it’s usually because they do not hear it in their everyday lives so it becomes more of a shock laugh than a real laugh. These five comedians rarely used any bad words and still had us clinging our stomachs from laughing too much. day29b

Overall, the Friday Night Improv show at the Magnet Theatre was a refreshing and fun experience. I was uneasy about going because I had been to many cheesy and overdone improv shows before and they had made me regret going so I was worried that this would have been the same thing. Boy was I wrong. I didn’t know just how wrong until the lights went on again and I realized that not a single thought of leaving or boredom came into my mind throughout the entire show. The personalities of the comedians themselves and the personas they embodied came together in an energizing mix of humor and innovation. A must see for lovers of comedy and anybody just looking for a good time on a Friday night.

The Art of The Brick Review

Posted on October 2, 2013 by Evans Charles Augustin

On September 28, I ventured to the exhibit Discovery Times Square in New York City with a classmate. There we saw the art gallery The Art of the Brick created by Nathan Sawaya. It is hard to believe but the whole gallery consisted of pieces created entirely out of Lego bricks. At the start of the gallery a short clip of Sawaya is shown where he offers some insight about why he chose Legos to create his art. Sawaya explains that he originally studied law at New York University and then practiced law for a few years. After work he would relieve his stress by building with Legos. He goes on to say that art can be made of anything and that it has no boundaries, he chose Legos because he finds them fun and he has loved building with them as a boy. In the exhibit Sawaya reveals mastery to the craft of Lego art and a progression in the order to which the pieces are displayed.

Upon entering the gallery I was astounded by the level of detail and skill put into the works. The first part of the exhibit displays Sawaya’s skill by displaying Lego replicas of famous artworks such as “The Scream” and “The Mona Lisa”. In particular Sawaya’s replica of “The Scream” accentuates his ability. In this piece Sawaya displays depth and dimension by making the Screamer in the piece to be three dimensional while placing the environment of the original piece as a flat background. In his replica of the “Mona Lisa” he uses flat Legos rather than the standard rectangular bricks to give the illusion of paint on canvas. It is astonishing how his use of Legos can create vivid colors and textures in the piece, but in this perspective it is less of an exact copy and more of a blurred resemblance. Sawaya presents a new perspective to these classic pieces and being made out of Lego bricks adds to create a new piece as a whole. This is not only seen in Sawaya’s replicas of paintings but also in his replicas of tapestries and textiles.

There is something mystical about creating something from tiny Lego bricks. Nathan Sawaya’s use of Legos provides a childish position to major pieces. The pieces are so complex and the order to which he places each piece takes intricate and precise planning. This produces a contrast by how Legos are a simple child toy. One piece in the gallery was a replica of a Moai figure found in Easter Island, Chile. This piece was one of the largest sculptures Sawaya ever worked on, it took him months to complete. The final sculpture is to scale with the original and took 75,450 Lego pieces to create. The most impressive aspect of Sawaya’s work is creating curved lines and rounded edges with the use of rectangular pieces.

From replicas the gallery moves on to showcase some of Sawaya’s original works. Sawaya seems to draw inspiration from his everyday life and his emotions and experiences. One piece “Yellow” is displayed as the main advertisement for the exhibit and can be found in the center of the gallery. This piece is made entirely out of yellow Lego bricks and displays a man opening up his chest with his bar hands. As the man pulls open his chest more yellow Lego pieces pour out. I feel in this piece exemplifies a greater message. In that sense the color yellow is sometimes associated with fear or the phrase “yellow belly,” so the figure in the piece could possibly be releasing his fear or anxiety. Emotions are a large focus displayed in this gallery especially the emotions love and fear.

Sawaya focuses on love in the gallery when he creates images of his wife in portrait styles and sculptures of hearts and couples in situations. Again, there is a shift in the tone of the gallery from Sawaya’s more playful and jovial pieces to a darker and ominous mood. In this stage of the gallery the pieces seem to focus on the evil in the world. The gallery’s presentation adds to the feeling of suspense and mystery by placing these pieces in a black walled room with menacing music playing. The pieces in this part of the gallery consist of sculptures were figures are contorted or disfigured in grotesque way. The images if given in a more traditional style such as marble may be hard to look at, but as in Lego form the pieces are easier to look at and more welcoming fro viewers to take a closer look and try to understand Sawaya’s message. One piece was called “Grasp” and it had a completely red Lego figure being pulled toward a grey Lego wall by arms protruding from the wall. When I saw this piece and read the description I understood that in life sometimes there are hindrances that hold us back, but we need to keep moving forward and shake off the emotions and fears that have a hold on us. I believe the color scheme also adds to the emotion of the piece, while the red figure gives the connotation liveliness and spirited the grey arms and wall produce a dulling sensation.

Nathan Sawaya’s Lego gallery is an extraordinary example to answer the question what makes art. Art can be made out of anything you want it to be. Nathan’s gallery showcases art at multiple levels of understanding, being that all the pieces are made out of Lego bricks allow children to view in wonder and opens the world of art to them. The gallery can also inspire children to try to make the next big art style. For the older crowd Sawaya’s work provides perspective and can provoke contemplation and insight. Overall, I greatly enjoyed the experience, it made me think of new was to make art and to stat playing with Legos again. I look forward to seeing what new and creative pieces Sawaya plans on putting in the gallery in the future.