Pageant [Play]

Play: Pageant
Author: Robert Longbottom
Performance: Cygnet Theatre San Diego, CA

Pageant is clearly a parody of beauty pageant that was both funny yet smart. The gag is a simple one which is basically to take a beauty pageant and make it over the top, the catch, instead of female actors you have men in drag playing the part of the contestants. From the second these men step on stage the hilarity ensues and everything they do is silly yet plays on female stereotypes.

Continue with the stereotypes there were six contestants each from a specific part of the US including: Miss Texas, Miss Deep South, Miss Great Plains, Miss Industrial Northeast, Miss Bible Belt, and Miss West Coast. The final two characters were Frankie Cavalier (the MC), and the old Pageant winner who is later played by the same guy who played Miss West Coast.

All these character focus on the stereotypes of woman in the region so Miss West Coast is airheaded, Miss Deep South is prissy, and Miss Bible Belt is extremely religous. This came out in all types of performances with the confines of a beauty pageant such as the talent contest which had a hilarous country western dance by Mrs Texas. Plus a number of music and dance numbers, ball gowns, and commercial auditions.

All the actors did a great job but there was an amazing performance by David McBean who was in Burn This.

The set was well done and fitting for the play but nothing really amazed me. Overall, a ton of fun and I think the Cygnet Theatre is becoming one of my favorite venues for plays.

Reverse Psychology [PLAY]

"Reverse Psychology" is a play by Charles Ludlam and was done at the Diversionary Theater. It was the last performance and it was a lot of fun.

Not know anything about the play I would catgorize as absurd or farse in that it is theater that is just wild and silly. My favorite absurd writer was Eugene Ionesco who was a French writer and absolutly hilarious. The only other time I had experience with absurb theater was when I saw "Baby and the Bathwater" by Christopher Durang which I also love.

So, it is easy to say that I am a big fan of absurd theater and "Reverse Psychology" did not dissapoint. At its simplest level it is the story of two married couples who have marriage difficulties and end up having affairs with each others partners. This is a classic farse set up with switcheroos and one character walking in as another walks out but "Reverse Psychology" takes it to the next level into the absurd especially halfway through.

The performance itself was fairly strong starting with a male psychologist and the wife of a painter running into a sleezy motel with the woman wrapped around the guys waste. Though the scene grabs your attention it seems slow as it starts to set thing up.

The end is the exact opposite going over the top to the point where the actors would start giggling at themselves... during the final show! Of course the audience couldn't contain themselves and even the end had a nice twist.

The performances were solid and everyone did a great job. With the exception of slipping out of character to giggle and few screwed up lines during this all the actors were solid and funny. At first I didn't like Mike Sears who played Freddie, the painter, but by the end he practically stole the show and really shined.

Set and lighting was average with nothing in particular to notice. One nice effect was when the characters would take a drug, called Reverse Psychology, which would cause them to sneeze and pass out. When they sneezed the entire stage would turn blue creating a surprising affect.

Overall a ton of fun and the best play I've seen in San Diego if not just for the subject matter.

"I Heart Huckabees" and "Million Dollar Baby" [MOVIE]

This weekend was nice and consisted mostly of helping Jonathan move into his new place and hanging out with Stephanie. I saw two movie with her this weekend: "Million Dollor Baby" and "I Heard Huckabee." MD Baby was real good but Huckabees was awful, almost painfully bad. I always thought presenting philosophical ideas through literature or entertainment was a great way to present those ideas so everyone can understand and probably help the writer understand then as he has to present them in a way he isn't use to. I H Huckabees failed at this using philosophy buzz words and practically preaching to the audience. It wanted to be a college course starting with Dustin Hoffman explaining the universe with a blanket and ending with no resolution or understanding. I came to the conclusion the the theme of the movie is that philosophy makes you miserable because whenever any of the characters hire the existenial detectives they make them miserable.

"Millions Dollar Baby" was much better and a lot of fun. I keep hearing a lot of people have a problem with the ending which involves assisted suicide which I don't have a problem with at all. I knew walking into the movie that it was suppose to be said but I came out in high spirits.

Something that surprised me was that I had only seen on of the Oscar nominees before the list was released and that was Sideways (which, while it was good I don't think it was that good). Stephanie mostly like drama movies which is what we have been seeing skipping most genre films. The other big one was "Ray" and Stephanie can't decide which she liked better, MDB or Ray. I have been resistant toward the film because it doesn't interest me at all I never cared for Ray Charles' music.

Burn This [Play]

Stephanie and I went and saw "Burn This" at the Cygnet Theater last weekend. I love these dates. The play wasn't great but still a ton of fun just because live theater is a ton of fun. Here is the description of the play given by the theater.

Cygnet Theatre begins the new year with its revival of Lanford Wilson's Burn This, an intense and sexy comedy/drama with a serious side, a passionate love story about two lovers who are terrified of each other, and a play about art and the need to express the unexpressible. Burn This has a "voracious vitality," says Jack Kroll of Newsweek, "and an almost manic determination to drive right into the highest voltage that life can register."

The play was odd and the lead actress, Jessica John was incredibly hot. I know I'm suppose to comment on there "acting" but, well, she was hot. The acting itself was ok. There was some problems with the actors remembering lines which is an amateur mistake. Jeffrey Jones, who plays Pale, had the best performance. He starts out over the top but later really shows how the character changes and grows. Jessica and Jeffrey both managed to capture the New York accent which annoyed me slightly reminding me of my noisy neighbor from Boston.

I was also impressed by the lighting. Scenes shifted between night and morning and the morning lighting, bright beams appearing from stage right actually made if feel like morning. It was a very nice transition between realistic and thematic lighting.

A part I feel indifferent about was the character Larry, a gay advertiser, played by David McBean. McBean did an excellent job. He reminded me of the gay character in "Kids in the Hall" he was outragous and funny. But I found it strange that the gay guy was the comical relief. As though the only way we can deal with gays is by laughing at them. It wouldn't have been so bad if he served another purpose but the play would have changed little had the character been removed.

Something else that bugged me was that it was dripping with liberal rhetoric. Now, this shouldn't bother me but it did as the last play I had seen was "The Goat." Both plays featured heavy liberal characters, artists, architects, gays ex ex. It made me feel that American theater was lossing its vision and could only write about itself. "Burn This" was written in 1987 so it is excused but "The Goat" is recent. I'm now itching for rural Willy Loman style drama and sticking my finger back into the dirt that is American Theater.

The Goat [Play]

Play: The Goat (or who is Sylvia)
Author: Edward Albee
Performance: Hortan Plaza San Diego, CA

It has been years since I saw a real play. I did see "Cabaret" and "Kiss Me Kate" over the summer but those were musicals. And I probably saw the Christmas Carol somewhere in there but it has been a long time since I've seen are real play that is original and thought provoking.

And what a play to pick. "The Goat" grabs you by the balls and doesn't let go until the end and after that your balls ache for hours afterward. You might ask if that is a good thing and I would say no but it does get your attention.

------Spoilers (highlight)---------

The Goat is about an immediat family, father who is a world famous architect, his wife and there gay son who is in college. The only other character is that father's best friend. The play opens and you see that the family is incredibly happy but something is wrong with the father as he can't remember anything. The mother and son leave and the best friend shows up to interview the father on his new success of designing the city of the future but he is distant and can't do the interview. His friend pokes and prods and discovers he is having an affair... with a goat. Not a metaphorical goat but a literal goat. For the next hour or so his secret is revealed and procedes to tear the family apart with lots of yelling and breaking of the set until finally the wife comes in having slit the neck of the goat.


------Spoilers---------

So, The Goat comes off as being really shocking but redeams it from being a piece of Maralyn Manson shock rock. I kept looking for something but the subject was so confusing and so extreme it was hard to wrap my head around it. The subject matter was bizzare but certainly no more bizarre than fish people coming out of the ocean to chat with people on the beach.

In between the yelling and screaming there is something there and it defianitly touched me personally. NO! I've never had sex with a goat. The gay son talks about his perfect democratic family and how he was raised with understanding and acceptance. And it is understanding and acceptance that is at the heart of 'The Goat." I'm just trying to figure out exactly what "The Goat" is saying about acceptance.

Past that the production was good and the acting was ok. Overall, a lot of fun (if not a painful fun) and reminded why I have loved theater for all these years.