The Stone Carver

Well, let's just say it's been a slow summer for NYC theatre - and this show is no exception. The Stone Carver, at the SoHo Playhouse is a show that actually ran for the first time over ten years ago with a different title, and was directed by Doug Hughes (one of the "hot" directors right now, most known for Doubt), interestingly enough. It's taken all that time to get the show to NYC - probably the pinnacle of its run.

You wouldn't know it from the title, but the show is actually centered around the topic of eminent domain. Set entirely in a kitchen, we are drawn into the life of an elderly stone carver (played by Dan Lauria better known as the father from The Wonder Years), his son, and the son's fiancee. As the show opens, we see this stone carver shoot at someone who tries to enter his property. This someone turns out to be his son, who he hasn't spoken to in over five years. The son brings his fiancee for the first time to meet his father. We learn that their real intention here is to convince the old man that he must give up his house. This is the last day before it is about to be bulldozed by the state to make way for a new road which will be a freeway exit.

The three of them exchange many words to each other throughout the bulk of the play - since the father and son are Italian, the dialogue is sprinkled with Italian phrases. I do have to say that in most cases hearing bits of Italian thrown into conversation can feel overdone, and it has certainly been used tremendously in the past. Here, though, Dan Lauria seems to bring a nice new energy to his role - I really appreciated what that he did as much as he could with what he had to work with. We learn that the father and son had a rough childhood together - never getting along. The old man's wife has passed away several years ago and since that time, a huge rift has grown between he and his son. There's one absurd part of the show where they stage a boxing match in the kitchen; it lasts for about 10 minutes and during that time the fiancee bangs a metal spoon against a pan about 20 times - ANNOYING to say the least. But that's probably the nicest compliment I could give to this actress who played the fiancee. She was really awful - I think someone off of the street could act better than this woman.

Regardless, the play did have some relevant points. Growing up in VA, I can remember several people's properties being seized by the county or state to make way for new roads. It's a terrible situation to be put in - and worse, one that you have no control over. I sympathized greatly with this old man, this stone carver, and understood that his entire life and all of his memories (esp of his wife) were centered around this home he had built. I just wish, however, that all of the scenes I had to endure to get to the meaningful moments would somehow have been better structured and better directed.

All This Intimacy

The current show at Second Stage Uptown plays like a sitcom. All This Intimacy is the story of one man who gets three (yes..three) women pregnant at the same time. Sounds like a sticky situation, huh? Yep - that's about right. This new play comes from playwright, Rajiv Joseph - whose previous show, Huck and Holden, I saw at Cherry Lane Theatre a few months ago. (That was a very different type of show, about a young Indian boy trying to adjust to being a student in America.)

The play starts, and we immediately meet the main character, Ty, whose life seems to be just about perfect. He's just had his first volume of poetry published and it's doing extremely well. Because of this, he's offered a job teaching a class on poetry at Columbia. He's also got a beautiful girlfriend whom he "claims" to love very much. At 30 years old, he seems to have things pretty much in line.

And cut to the drama.... Through a series of flashbacks and flashforwards, we learn about the twisted goings-on of the leading man. Ty begins to have an affair with his next door neighbor - a 40-something married woman with an adopted child. He also begins to fool around with one of his students - all the while still being with his girlfriend. And this is how Ty gets himself into big trouble. Somehow all three women manage to find out about each other and things turn pretty badly in the end of the show. Two of the women end up keeping the children - but Ty never gets to meet them. I personally was happy to see the show with a less than happy ending.

The comic flair of the writing and timing of (most of) the actors seems to work pretty well for this show. I really enjoyed Thomas Sadoski as Ty - thought he had great delivery and was very believable. Again, I can see him being on the next Everybody Loves Raymond or something on CBS - but alas... The women were all three mediocre - and some parts were better than others. My friend Alison seemed to love the girl who played the student - Krysten Ritter - and her credits list her as a character on the WB show, Veronica Mars - so maybe she's used to this type of "TV" style theatre. All in all, it's a cute show that's good fun for a nice summer night - nothing more, nothing less.

Amajuba - Like Doves We Rise

The current show at 45 Bleecker, Culture Project is a show featuring tales of South Africa, called Amajuba, Like Doves We Rise. All of the performers are originally from South Africa and that is where the show was actually born. It passed through the Edinburgh Festival and now is here in New York.

The five performers on stage are really very powerful and absolutely passionate. Each tells a personal story intertwined with South African song and dance. They give so much energy during the performance that you can tell it's a huge workout for each show. I personally had wished to learn a bit more about each of the actors - the stories have not stuck with me that well. But perhaps that's not what they were going for. The show really made me examine how lucky I am to have been born here in the US and how privaleged I am.