By Ron Levitt

Florida Media News

ENV magazine

MIAMI LAKES, FL – it is always revealing to watch a small, local theatre company produce a well-known play without benefit of big-money-sets and extravagant lighting and sound.  One never knows exactly what to expect.  Despite such budget shortfalls in the technical department, lighting expertise by Skye Whitcomb and recorded music – along with four magnetic  actors – allow The Alliance Theatre Lab  to take over  the Main Street Playhouse’s tiny venue in Miami Lakes  with topnotch quality in a David Mamet revival of the 1970s hit – Sexual Perversity in Chicago. It was this language-peppered play which put Mamet on the artistic map.

This play hits its mark thanks to some astute direction  by  Albert Acevedo  but also  by a cast of  twenty-something actors who explore  relationships  ferociously among the working class in the Windy City circa 1970 and do it with such realism that one may forget he or she is watching outrage on tiny stage set up to reach 50 seats in the audience.   If ever actors deserve applause, it is this foursome “making mad” in  Miami Lakes.

David Sirois,  Travis Reiff, Bertha Leal and Jehane Serralles     are the quartet who find their relationships falling apart because of the caustic nature of their vocabulary – enough profane words to set records for insulting and  arguing in any year.  Sirois and   Reiff  in particular, shine for two different reasons:  Sirois for underplaying his low-key character and Reiff for his volatile performance of the womanizing best-friend. Mamet has always been strong in his male character depiction and dialogue and these two actors – thanks to Director Acevedo – fill Mamet’s character progression.

One might think a 1970s play would not be relevant to the new Century.  But, despite its reflection on a time past, it could be any moment, anywhere as relationships sour.  This production is not played as a period piece, It is not dated, even with outdated references to the Equal Rights Amendment and other cultural highlights.

Mamet’s play originally was all about language and how it can be used.  Is this truly “gutter talk” or is  just “stylized filth” – the way this generation talked!  Like others before, you can decide!’

The plot is primarily about the relationship of Danny (Sirois)  and Deborah (Leal),  who go from sexually attracted individuals to uncomfortable people living together.   Their pals  ( Reiff) and (Serralles)   add to the confusion as they talk about what they consider usual man-woman subjects.  In a nutshell, their friends  help to poison the relationship    This play is perfect for ensemble-size theatre groups with paltry budgets.  It is also a class-A  production to showcase individual actors.

As for the Mamet of 1972, he forces his audience to examine  society’s attitudes toward love and romance, those rebellious years when the idea of a stable, committed relationship had become a modern-day perversity. His ability with dialogue is well-tested in film and on stage.   His works range from Glengarry Glenn Ross, Wag the Dog to his recent mainstream  success, Speed-the-Plow.  Returning to see his earliest success gives theatre-lovers a chance to compare Mamet’s story-telling evolution.

The show runs through Nov.  22.  Call  305.259.0418

By Ron Levitt

Florida Media News

ENV Magazine

The singing – as my grandkids would say – is awesome.  The dancing is near-perfection.  So, what more could anyone want out of a performance of Bubbling Brown Sugar – another of Broward Stage Door’s  truly enjoyable musical productions.

There is no question of just how much the audience appreciated  the rhythmic talent at this Coral Springs musical emporium which — in recent months — has produced knock-em -dead productions of La Cage Au Faux and its rendition of the  Broadway-bound revival, A Little Night’s Music,  Once again, Dee Bunn / David Torres and their  staff at  Broward Stage Door have done themselves proud with a fun musical, even though the storyline is minimal.

It’s the music – some 30-plus hits from the 1920s to 1940s – which make this an event worth seeing.  The cast is good – some, exceptionally good – but it is Director Dan Kelley, Musical Director Mark Goodman and Choreographer Chrissi Ardito who deserve the biggest bows.  Yes, their work is “awesome.”   Their handiwork makes this cast light up the stage.’

Bubbling Brown Sugar is a look at the music which came mostly out of Harlem during a 20 year span.  No matter what your age, you’ll find those rhythm and blues standards  irresistible  and – if you grew up in those days – you’ll come out humming and singing songs you may not have thought about in some time,

No, let’s not take anything away from this cast. All 16 of them sparkle in this seldom-seen treat.   Allison Semmes performs a Duke Ellington torch song so convincingly that the audience rousingly cheered her efforts; Nadeen Holloway, a Carbonell nominee, is a show-stopper with her “The’ll Be Some Changes Made”; and Roslyn Seale’s “God Bless the Child” showed a range of notes oblivious to the recorded music’s normal zone.   Chris Patterson, Rendell DeBose,  Jerrial Young are pure dynamos vocalizing and tapping; John Ramsey and Liz McFarlane are a joy to watch and hear;  and Broward Stage Door regular Marcus Allen continues to show off his amazing talent in song and dance.

Add to our list of budding entertainers  Teisha Duncan, David Menendez, Walter Kemp and a terrific ensemble – Amanda Bailey, Alicia Lawson, Jarvis Manning  Jr, and Shain Stroff  – and it’s the making of a terrific production.

Can  there be any doubt that this production elicits enthusiasm?

This show runs through Nov, 22. Don’t miss it! .  Call 954-344-7765.

By Ron Levitt

Florida Media News

ENV Magazine

The season’s kickoff at the  usually  reliable Florida Stage in Manalapan – has all the makings of a fine story – based on a real happening – the last two Jews left in Afghanistan, living in a bombed out synagogue in Kabul, with high hopes of resurrecting their religious community and finding a Torah  amid a violent war.

The subject seems ripe for sympathetic and enriching scripting, but author Seth Rozin – founder and director of Philadelphia’s Inter-Act Theatre company —  wrote it as a comedy, and  it is being promoted as an odd couple Afghan version of Neil Simon’s Sunshine Boys or Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. It is neither!  Although the concept of the play sounds interesting (in fact, several writers have tried to pen this true story), somehow – despite two brilliant actors, fine direction by Louis Tyrrell  and a superb set, Two Jews Walk into a War, an 85 minute excursion into what has happened in Afghanistan,  is no laughing matter.

The story – based on two real persons (Isaac Levin and Zebulon Simontov) – made headlines awhile back when Allied forces found the two men living in the Kabul synagouge  shortly after the fall of the Taliban in 2001.  Though the men had family in Israel and the U.S., they stayed on, hoping to rebuild the Jewish community there.  At that time, the media had dubbed them “the last two Jews in Afghanistan.”

Playwright Rozin has taken those headlines and given them some Borscht Belt humor in attempting to show them as two grumpy old men who detest each other. It is played for laughs admirably by two South Florida talented and loved actors (Avi Hoffman and Gordon McConnell) and – not until the final scene – is the symbolism of their attempts to have their faith live on in this devastated land portrayed dramatically or spiritually.

Set Designer Richard Crowell provides a realistic set – rigged to have stone walls and dust exploding onstage in this war zone.  The set drew special praise from the audience.

There are dozens of short scenes, noting the elapse of time, and there are moments when one is in awe of the acting  abilities of Hoffman and McConnell.  But, is this a realistic snapshot of the Afghan Jews?  Don’t  ask me. I’ve never met an Afghan Jew in my life.  So, what do I know?   Perhaps, they do sound like Catskill comedians!!!

Call  561-585-3433 for tickets; performances are Wednesday through Sunday, through November 29th.

by Ron Levitt

Florida Media News

ENV Magazine

There are many reasons to attend the current GableStage theatrical production – terrific direction, topnotch performances, admirable  set and technical showmanship – but most of all, stimulating theatre and quality writing about all-too-real, angry people.

It is ‘reasons to be pretty”  — the highly successful play by Neil LaBute – which is getting one of its first regional openings since it wowed audiences  on Broadway last year. And, this production – directed by visionary artistic chief Joseph Adler — will be around until Nov. 22.

This show by LaBute – a successful screenwriter — is his first play to be staged on Broadway (a Tony nomination) even though he has written a string of notable works including The Shape of Things and Fat Pig which have been seen locally as well as nationwide.   This latest success seems to be the final installment of a trilogy which focuses on our nowadays obsession with physical appearance.

‘reasons to be pretty” centers on a working class foursome who are friends and lovers  who begin the realization they are trapped in dead-end situations.  That may over simplify the intense script, but those who recall seeing productions of LaBute’s other plays produced at GableStage will be astounded on the realism of the script and may even have to admit that they  know people (especially young people) in such situations.

This play pulls no punches with vocabulary.  A wonderful Erin Joy Schmidt opens the show with a blistering attack, filled with four letter words and other expletives that may surprise and make uncomfortable even veteran audiences of LaBute plays. The opening scene is pure fireworks (with Schmidt attacking her boyfriend Greg (Ricky Waugh), at full throttle, with every epithet one might hear in a lifetime. Even a  salty, ill-mannered, sailor friend I recall from my Navy days would blush!

But, it also pulls realistic punches as two friends – played by the brilliant young actors  Waugh and Todd Allen Durkin – finally come to blows   in one of the best fight scenes we’ve seen on local stages.

Meanwhile, Amy Elaine Anderson is a pregnant lady who thinks (and smartly knows) her man is playing around with a hot number from the factory where he works.

This play really grabs your attention.        The language may make you squirm; the characters may make you think; and – as the anger spills out – you may wonder whether it reminds you of anyone you know – not necessarily a blue collar crowd —  but anyone in your living experience.

So, hail to LaBute, This is more intense in anything he has written before  and the superb foursome which bring this play to life at GableStage makes one realize how such anger in individuals and dissatisfaction with their life can spark so many situations.

We would be remiss in not emphasizing how these four characters elicit compassion from a thinking audience.  Everyone wants a better life  — but to visualize how some people are trapped in their situations is a downer in one regard yet uplifting in the fact that they face such reality and try for something better.  LaBute sends a powerful message and queries his audience!

Director Adler once again has a quartet of super actors at his disposal.   Ricky Waugh is a standout. He gets better (if that is possible) in every show he’s in.   Todd Allen Durkin,  mucho award-winning actor, once again shows why he is a South Florida favorite;  Amy Elane Anderson is perfect as a security guard/soon to be a mother who is coming of age with serious questions.  However, Erin Joy Schmidt – who lets loose on her boyfriend when she learns he has described her as “regular” –  is a complete  knockout as Waugh’s girlfriend.  That one could consider Schmidt ‘regular” is questionable but it certainly makes you wonder about the importance of physical beauty.

And, that may be what it’s all about!

A final note on the script and the acting,  When Schmidt’s character lets loose in a crowded restaurant a catalog-full of everything wrong with Greg’s  (Waugh’s) appearance – body parts all included – it is a riveting moment.  It makes for great theatre, no matter how uncomfortable such a scene might be in real life.

Kudos  to Lyle Baskin for the set; Jeff Quinn for the lighting; Matt Corey for the sound and Ellis Tillman for the factory attire of his characters.

Call 305-445-1119.  It could be the hottest ticket in town!