this week in theater

REVOLUTION IN THE ELBOW OF RAGNAR AGNARSSON FURNITURE PAINTER

Asrun (Kate Shindle) and Mayor Manuela (Cady Huffman) go at it in REVOLUTION IN THE ELBOW OF RAGNAR ANGARSSON FURNITURE PAINTER (photo by Carol Rosegg)

Minetta Lane Theatre
18 Minetta Lane between MacDougal St. & Sixth Ave.
Tuesday – Saturday through September 20, $48.50-$68.50
www.revolutionelbow.com
www.minettalanenyc.com

Unfortunately, the best thing about Revolution in the Elbow of Ragnar Agnarsson Furniture Painter is its awesome title. The rest is just a well-intentioned but convoluted mess. Inspired by Jesus Christ Superstar and Tommy, Icelandic author, musician, and former journalist Ívar Páll Jónsson (book, music, lyrics) and his businessman brother Gunnlaugur (executive producer) collaborated on a story about the devastating 2008 economic collapse in their home country, turning it into a rock opera about a town living in the elbow of a grungy couch potato furniture painter named Ragnar Agnarsson, whose personage is projected onto the back wall of the stage prior to the show and during intermission. In Elbowville, Peter (Marrick Smith) has invented a prosperity machine that prints promissory notes, allowing him, Mayor Manuela (Tony winner Cady Huffman), and her right-hand man, Kolbein (Patrick Boll), to get rich in a pyramid scheme that eventually comes tumbling down. Meanwhile, Peter cruelly steals Brynja (usually played by Jesse Wildman, but we saw a fine Karli Dinardo in the role) from his shy brother, Alex (Graydon Long), and the third brother, Stein (Brad Nacht), gets caught up in all the money madness with his wife, Asrun (Kate Shindle). “If you act like you know what you’re doing, they will think you know what you’re doing,” Peter tells himself as his carefully created world starts falling apart, but that saying doesn’t apply to the brothers Jónsson, who act like they know what they’re doing in their first production but clearly need a lot more experience.

Rick Faugno, Marrick Smith, and Michael Biren strut their stuff in rock opera about economic collapse (photo by Carol Rosegg)

The live band, under the leadership of bassist Matt Basile (Mother Feather), plays decent indie rock, but the lyrics to such songs as “Midas Reborn,” “All We Need Is Confidence,” and “We Play the Game” are flat and emotionless, letting down a talented cast. Edda Gudmundsdottir’s costumes, following a black, red, and white color scheme, range from very funny to way over the top, while Lee Proud’s choreography comes and goes, then throws in an inexplicable tap number just for the heck of it. Bergur Þór Ingólfsson’s choppy direction doesn’t quite know what to do with Petr Hloušek’s cool set, consisting of stairs and a balcony, with projections that allude to Agnarsson’s insides. Perhaps the strangest decision was to strip the show of all references to Iceland itself, so it turns out there is nothing Icelandic about this production, save for the people behind the scenes — and a seemingly endless supply of visual and spoken lobster jokes. Revolution, which has just posted an early closing notice, has the feel of a bunch of friends getting together to put on a show but not really knowing how to really do that.

PUBLIC WORKS: THE WINTER’S TALE

Central Park
Delacorte Theater
September 5-7, free, 8:00
www.publictheater.org

The Public Theater’s high-profile outdoor summer season might have come to a close when King Lear starring John Lithgow and Annette Bening ended its run on August 17 (following on the heels of Hamish Linklater and Lily Rabe in Much Ado About Nothing), but there’s more free Shakespeare to be had this weekend when the Public Works community initiative program brings The Winter’s Tale to the Delacorte. Last year, the project was initiated with a musical version of The Tempest, directed by Lear deBessonet, choreographed by Chase Brock, and with music and lyrics by Todd Almond; that same trio is back with the Bard’s mysterious romance, featuring a wide-ranging cast that combines professional actors with members of community organizations from all five boroughs. “We believe that theater has a specific role to play; it always has,” Public Theater artistic director Oskar Eustis says in the above promotional video. “It’s a democratizing impulse, it’s an empowering impulse, it’s a participatory impulse, and what we’re trying to do is spread the glory of that so that everybody in the city has the chance to have that experience.” The musical, which will have some two hundred people onstage in total, stars Almond (Girlfriend, Melancholy Play) as Antigonus, Christopher Fitzgerald (Wicked, Young Frankenstein) as Autolycus, Isaiah Johnson (Peter and the Starcatcher, The Merchant of Venice) as Leontes, Lindsay Mendez (Wicked, Dogfight) as Hermione, and David Turner (Arcadia, Sunday in the Park with George) as the Clown, along with men, women, and children from the Children’s Aid Society, the DreamYard Project, the Fortune Society, the Brownsville Recreation Center, and Domestic Workers United. In addition, there will be group cameos by Sesame Street, the New York Theatre Ballet, DanceBrazil, Rosie’s Theater Kids, the Shinbone Alley Stilt Band, the Staten Island Lions, and AATMA Performing Arts. The show runs September 5-7, and free tickets are available the same day in Central Park and through the Public’s online virtual ticketing lottery or by advance donation of $75.

RACHEL FEINSTEIN’S “THE LAST DAYS OF FOLLY” PERFORMANCE FESTIVAL

“Rococo Hut” is one of three sculptural pieces that make up Rachel Feinstein’s “Folly” in Madison Square Park (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

FOLLY
Madison Square Park
23rd to 25th Sts. between Madison Ave. & Broadway
Wednesday, September 3, free, 5:30 – 8:30
Exhibition continues through September 7
www.madisonsquarepark.org
folly slideshow

At first look, Rachel Feinstein’s site-specific “Folly” installation in Madison Square Park appears to be a trio of fragile ornamental structures, seemingly crudely made out of paper (they began life as handmade paper models), that could serve as backdrops for a high school play. Echoing fairy-tale-like nonfunctional garden decoration from eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Europe as well as Nymphenburg porcelain, the three pieces — “Cliff House,” inspired by Ballets Russes sets; “Rococo Hut,” influenced by Marie Antoinette’s château Le Petit Triannon; and “The Flying Ship,” based on a Commedia dell’arte skit about Punchinello — are actually constructed from powder-coated aluminum. The works, which also give nods to Federico Fellini, Marlene Dietrich’s portrayal of Catherine the Great in The Scarlet Empress, and Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s real and imagined landscapes, might look like they could collapse at any moment — “Rococo Hut” features crooked steps, “The Flying Ship” uses a tree for balance, and “Cliff House” looks supremely unsafe — but they are sturdy enough to be home to a wide-ranging collection of performances on September 3. “The Madison Park Conservancy has given me the opportunity to marry my early interest in theater and performance with my later obsession with the handmade in one of the most spectacular settings. I picture ‘Folly’ as an empty Fellini-esque set dropped into the middle of a lush green wonderland in the historical Flatiron district of New York City,” the New York City-based Feinstein (“The Snow Queen”), who was born in Defiance, Arizona, and raised in Miami, said in a statement. “I have always been driven by the stark contrast between good and evil in old fairy tales. Having this setting, a hidden natural jewel situated within the tall skyscrapers of yesterday and today, will be the perfect backdrop for my theater, where the real people who occupy the park every day will stand in as Commedia dell’arte performers.”

Rachel Feinstein’s “Folly” will be home to a wide-ranging performance festival on September 3 (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

On Wednesday, “The Last Days of Folly” will consist of My Barbarian performing its “Broke Baroque Suite”; a procession through the park led by artists Allison Brainard and Cara Chan; musical segues by Jarvis Cocker based on Maurice Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé for the Ballets Russes; Sofia Coppola directing six Joffrey Ballet School ballerinas dancing to Isao Tomita’s version of one of Claude Debussy’s Arabesques; a sound-and-movement piece from multidisciplinary artist Tamar Ettun; Little Did Productions’ magic lantern interpretation of parts of the Ramayana with Luke Santy on sitar and Jessica Lorence on vocals; an improvised dance by Lil Buck set to music by Paul Cantelon and cellist Wolfram Koessel; Kalup Linzy’s “Romantic Loner” and “One Life to Heal,” with live music by Mike Jackson; Molly Lowe’s nude costume incorporating numerous performers; a music set by Angela McCluskey and Cantelon, joined by Lil Buck and others; a puppet show from Shana Moulton; a new video work by Tony Oursler collaborating with Constance DeJong; a sound installation by Carlos Vela-Prado; and “Folly”-inspired fashion from Giles Deacon, Duro Olowu, Zac Posen, Narciso Rodriguez, Cynthia Rowley, Proenza Schouler, and Madeline Weinrib. We have no idea how this is all going to be squeezed into a mere three hours, but we can’t wait to find out.

CROSSING THE LINE 2014

Fernando Rubio’s “Everything by My Side” takes place on seven beds in Hudson River Park as part of FIAF’s Crossing the Line festival

French Institute Alliance Française and other locations
Florence Gould Hall, 55 East 59th St. between Madison & Park Aves.
FIAF Gallery, 22 East 60th St. between Madison & Park Aves.
September 8 – October 20, free – $35
212-355-6160
www.fiaf.org

One of the best multidisciplinary arts festivals every year, FIAF’s Crossing the Line is back for its eighth season, featuring another exciting lineup of dance, theater, music, installation, exhibitions, and hard-to-describe events. Cocurators Lili Chopra, Simon Dove, and Gideon Lester explain it thusly: “This year’s edition of Crossing the Line brings together fifteen extraordinary international artists and companies, each of them offering unique perspectives on the world we all share. We invite New Yorkers to explore their meticulous and deeply considered work, both the familiar and the unknown, and find inspiration, provocation, and pure pleasure.” Hosted by the French Institute Alliance Française and taking place there as well as several other locations, CTL offers numerous opportunities to “find inspiration, provocation, and pure pleasure.” Palais Galliera director Olivier Saillard gets seven former supermodels to open up in Models Never Talk, a world premiere at Milk Studios. Trajal Harrell continues his Twenty Looks or Paris Is Burning at the Judson Church with a week of special performances at the Kitchen. Justin Vivian Bond is joined by special guest Miguel Gutierrez for the one-night-only Love Is Crazy, consisting of songs and stories about love and romance.

Prune Nourry’s “Terracotta Daughters” will stand guard at 104 Washington St. for eighth edition of CTL

Patti Smith, her daughter, Jesse, and Soundwalk Collective examine the death of Nico in unique ways in Killer Road at FIAF. Swiss choreographer Gilles Jobin and German visual artist Julius von Bismarck use motion-sensor technology and lighting to delve into physics in Quantum at BAM Fisher. Jessica Mitrani and Pedro Almodóvar regular Rossy de Palma pay tribute to Nellie Bly in Traveling Lady at FIAF. The audience is encouraged to participate in Aaron Landsman’s free Republic of New York: Perfect City Discussions at Abrons Arts Center. Fernando Rubio’s Everything by My Side is a fifteen-minute rotating performance on seven beds in Hudson River Park. The works of French choreographer Xavier Le Roy will be re-created at MoMA PS1. Prune Nourry’s “Terracotta Daughters” exhibition at 104 Washington St. challenges gender roles in China and the world. Julie Béna’s site-specific “T&T Consortium: You’re Already Elsewhere” at the FIAF Gallery puts visitors into a fantastical setting. The star of the festival is Japanese electronic artist Ryoji Ikeda, whose Park Avenue Armory installation “The Transfinite” dazzled New York back in 2011; the mathematical mastermind will present the immersive, multimedia Superposition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a gallery exhibition at Salon 94, and “Test Pattern [Times Square],” which can be seen on nearly four dozen screens in Times Square as part of the “Midnight Moment” program each night in October from 11:57 pm to midnight. CTL is also one of the most affordable festivals, with nothing costing more than $35, so you have no excuse not to check out at least a few of these ultracool events.

TICKET GIVEAWAY: RED EYE OF LOVE

RED EYE OF LOVE
Amas Musical Theatre at the Dicapo Opera Theatre
184 East 76th St. at Lexington Ave.
Tickets: $35-$45 August 27 – September 3, $35-$55 September 4-28 ($10 discount codes available here)
www.amasmusical.org

Billed as “a Girl-Meats-Boy Love Story,” Red Eye of Love is a new musical comedy about Selma Chargesse (Alli Mauzey), a woman who is forced to choose between materialistic meat store baron O. O. Martinas (Kevin Pariseau) and young idealist Wilmer (Josh Grisetti) in a fantastical New York City. Filled with double entendres that are likely to infuriate PETA — watch out for the dancing cows — the show is directed by Tony winner Ted Sperling (The Other Josh Cohen, The Light in the Piazza), with book and lyrics by the late Arnold Weinstein and John Wulp, based on Weinstein’s 1961 play, which earned Wulp an Obie as Best Director; the music is by Sam Davis. The costumes are by Martha Bromelmeier, with choreography by Lainie Sakakura and Alex Sanchez; the sets are by American artist Robert Indiana, from a 1998 revival of the play. The Amas Musical Theatre production also features Dylan Boyd, Katie Chung, Daniel Lynn Evans, Tracie Franklin, Katie Hagen, Daniel May, and Sam Tanabe. There are several special postshow talk backs scheduled, including “Conversation and Collaboration from Play to Libretto” on September 7, “Conversation and Collaboration from Libretto to Musical” on September 11, and “Further Conversation with Author John Wulp” on September 21.

TICKET GIVEAWAY: Previews for Red Eye of Love begin August 27 at the Dicapo Opera Theatre, with the opening set for September 2, and twi-ny has three pairs of tickets to give away for free for performances through September 28. Just send your name, daytime phone number, and favorite, or least favorite, meat food product to contest@twi-ny.com by Friday, August 29, at 12 noon to be eligible. All entrants must be twenty-one years of age or older; three winners will be selected at random.

INSTANT TICKET GIVEAWAY: PHOENIX

A one-night stand goes a long way in PHOENIX, starring James Wirt and Julia Stiles

PHOENIX
Cherry Lane Mainstage Theatre
38 Commerce St.
Monday – Saturday through August 28 (extended), $56-$66
212-989-2020
www.phoenixtheplay.com
www.cherrylanetheatre.org

Scott Organ’s Phoenix, a play about a one-night stand that gets rather complicated, has been extended for four more performances at the Cherry Lane through August 28, and we have a pair of tickets to give away to this poignant one-act drama. Julia Stiles stars as Sue, a traveling nurse who has set up a meeting with James (James Wirt) to let him know that there has been an unexpected result of their previous coupling. What follows is a verbal cat-and-mouse game as they each try to figure out who they are and what they want out of life — and whether there is any kind of future for them together. (You can find out more about the show here.)

TICKET GIVEAWAY: There are only a few nights left to see Phoenix, which concludes its limited engagement at the Cherry Lane on August 28, and twi-ny has a much-coveted pair of tickets to give away for free. Just send your name, daytime phone number, and favorite play with the name of a city in the title to contest@twi-ny.com by Monday, August 25, at 3:00 to be eligible. (Yes, that’s today.) Please also include two preferred dates to see the show. All entrants must be twenty-one years of age or older; one winner will be selected at random.

BABY GIRL

Christa Meyers (l.) is delightful as a young woman investigating her sexuality and family history in Fringe hit BABY GIRL

New York International Fringe Festival
The Kraine Theater
25 East Fourth St. between Second Ave. & Bowery
Sunday, August 24, $18, 12 noon
www.fringenyc.org
www.babygirltheplay.com

Conceived during a New York City writing workshop, writer-director Kim Ehly’s semiautobiographical Baby GirL became a hit in South Florida and has now come north for the eighteenth annual New York International Fringe Festival, where it plays its last of five performances on August 24 at noon at the Kraine Theater. That’s not a typo in the title; Ehly wants to emphasize the “L” in LGBT, a community she has been part of for many years. Baby GirL is about a young woman sharing her compelling, and very funny, story about being adopted, coming out as a lesbian, and going in search of her birth mother, ranging from 1968 to 1995. Christa Meyers is delightful as Ashley, easily gliding between re-created scenes from her life and speaking directly to the audience as her character explores her sexuality and family history; it’s easy to see how she recently played Vanda in a Cleveland production of Venus in Fur. (An unfortunate distraction, however, was that Meyers slowly sweat through two gray shirts during the show; hopefully the costume designer has since adjusted her wardrobe so the focus can remain where it belongs, on her splendid performance.) The other seven members of the uniformly strong cast all portray multiple roles, including Amy Bizjak as Ashley’s adoptive mother and birth mother, Joe Wissler as her adoptive father and husband of her birth mother, Samuel Floyd as various men in her life, and Nori Tecosky as her current girlfriend and other women, in addition to Jessica Farr and Noah Levine, but it’s Lucy McMichael who nearly steals the show, playing a series of mostly bitter and cranky old ladies; after a few of them, just her mere appearance onstage as a new character gets much-deserved laughs. A production of Ehly’s Fort Lauderdale-based Kutumba Theatre Project, BabyGirL might not delve too deeply below the surface, but it has an inviting, charming warmth that is just right for the Fringe.