Home is where the greasepaint is
conceived & directed by Deborah Mathieu-Byers
musical direction by Stephen Byers
Streetlight Productions, at the Lion Theatre on Theatre Row
Equity Showcase through November 23
reviewed by Louis Lopardi November 20, 2003
This was a cut above the usual "actors' life" musical reviews, while still having the ensemble feel of an acting class production. While not particularly profound, the "book" - an assemblage by varied authors and composers - did strike a real note thanks to careful editing and shaping by director Deborah Mathieu-Byers. This was a classic showcase - in which it is the performers after all who are the prime focus. And they were supported by good hands. The set (by Deborah Mathieu-Byers) of a holiday bar and grill was a perfect balance of suggested and real, enhanced by Scott Aronow's oaken constructions. Annemarie Duggan and Christopher Reising made a simple but effective lighting design. Sound engineering by Mike Gonzalez was sensitive throughout, balancing Eric Baum's careful accompaniments.
For such a wide ranging showcase, the entire cast was versatile and mostly at ease with their rapidly shifting characters; everyone had their moment. Erica Dixon opted for a simple honesty which worked for her. Jennie Nau, a sensitive dancer, took a more complex path, hindered only by diction. Jerome McIntosh managed to strike the bargain between spoof and reality in his brief cameo. Tiercell Schwartz as a hovering waiter became a master of the double-take. In Garry Michael Kluger's "The Soap Opera," William Gregg Harris, funny throughout, was best when savaged by a wonderfully abusive director (Rachel Eve Moses).
Andre Rodriguez displayed a wide range and ease with characterizations - for instance, as a "natural actor" in Garry Michael Kluger's short and delightful casting-office skit. Michael Shimkin easily went from being perplexed, to deliciously evil. In the brief but engrossing "The Seventy Three" by Jean Kristen Hedgecock, an actor, (an excellent Stephen Byers) is only 73% sure of his imminent marriage. The utterly believable Amanda Weeden gave her best work of the evening as his now panic stricken fiancee.
Wonderful as they were, we saw I think only a few facets of the adaptable Sonia Mari: poignantly self-effacing in a casting office skit; delightfully shrewish as a critic's wife; etc. She has the potential to be a comedienne of great depth. Jean-Paul Lavoisier, an endlessly inventive and intelligent actor, brought an energized tour de force to Linda Eisenstein's "Acme Temp Services."
Rachel Eve Moses (perfect in Ken Friedman's "The Waitress Rag") was one of the heartstrings that bound the whole evening together with her combination of charisma and control. She opened and closed the first act with a riveting a-capella version of "No Business Like Show Business," making her destruction in Act Two (where she excelled in another fine Friedman piece "Going Home") all the more poignant. I'll never forget her achingly silent exit during the finale (in which the ensemble explains "Why I Want To Be An Actor") as she presumably goes home to Ken Friedman's Buffalo. She simply showed us all the pain; and quite rightfully so. Of course it hurt. It's supposed to hurt. You've been privileged - for however short a time - to have touched the stars. And no one comes away from that unscathed.