UPDATED: More Mario at the Midtown International

Reporter and photographer Mario Claudio toured the Midtown International Theater Festival’s Autumn Arts 2016 Series contributing images and interpretations:

“Finding Fellini” starring and written by Megan Metrikin, was an absolute wonder of her journey to find Frederico Fellini. I was entranced from the moment the projector came on. The lighting started in a way that induced the imagery of a black and white film, devoid of color but full of nuance that forewarn an interesting artistic vision. I felt I was watching a Fellini film the entire time, with unique music and light cues that enhanced every scene. Megan Metrikin, expertly takes us on the journey from her home in South Africa to Italy filled with quite a few near misses on her adventure to just talk to Fellini and how his work had moved and inspired her. Wonderfully Done

Mescaline by Natalie Lifson, composed by Nick O’Brian was an interesting take on a superhero rock musical. It follows the story of a girl named Ava who is a sidekick called Sister Strike to her adopted father and mentor Red Eye (ala Batman and Robin), and her journey to college to have a normal school experience. This leads to befriending two girls that are her roommates and the RA that turns out to be the villain Mescaline, who goes on a rampage to kill students that would interfere with her making money to pay off her student loans. It a silly bit of a show and sometimes gets carried away. The characters could use more development, they come off as cheesy over the top super hero / villain tropes with overacted vocals, gesticulation and the classic evil laughter. The music needed more variety, it felt like the same song was playing but with different lyrics.

At the end times when an unknown virus causes people to be susceptible to cannibalism, can you still find friendship, or love? This artistic piece called “It Is Wrong to Eat People” dives into that topic though not as deep as one would hope. In a series of vignettes that piece the lives of 4 people (3 Women and one Man) that were left behind to survive a catastrophic because they lacked the funds to board a spaceship off the Earth to a colony. The vignettes felt disjointed, with events that seemed to happen in the past blending with the events in the present and no clear demarcation of where they were in time. No real outstanding performances from the actors, it felt even energy between them all.

The Actual Dance is a beautiful one-man journey through his wife’s cancer diagnosis and the inevitable metaphysical last dance they must share before she passes on. Chuk Obasi masterfully drives us through the ups and downs of Samuel A. Simon’s play and delivers over and over.

Shields of Blue is a powerful one-act that delves into the lives of a three generation family of police officers. Whose world is upended when Micheal (Ian Potter) may be charged with battering a confession out of a witness. This caused conflict with his father, the current police commissioner, Thomas (Douglas Cameron Duncan) who has to decide on family or duty. With the guidance of Thomas’s father,  Walter (James P. Stanton) and his other son, Henry (Rob Glascott), he decided to put Micheal on desk duty until the situation blows over. The calm is then cut by a much immediate need to help Kerry (Phoebe Wright), the grandchild of Thomas, from her abusive boyfriend, William (Micheal Metta). It really drives home that they much like everyday people cannot do anything outside of the law, even for their own family members.

Ciao Bambino is an interesting story about an illegal Italian immigrant who moves to New York City in 1965 hoping to create a new life, and ends up finding herself through music, laughter and love. It started out strong but floundered soon after with too many songs, some don’t move the story along. The show felt like a mashup of Sister Act 2, with Elizabetta teaching music to a rag-tag ensemble of student; Hairspray, with the style of music coming off as Doo-Wop mixed with Mediterranean flair and incidents with the law.
Most confusing is the introduction of the love interest halfway through the performance that later comes to Elizabetta’s aid from the immigration officer by offering to marry her to keep her in America. Only to have her refuse and get deported back to Italy, I was left thinking what the hell just happened?

Peace and Quiet is a family story about an ailing husband, Simon (Tom Cappadona) and his no nonsense caretaking wife Diane (Ginger Grace) coming to terms that thier son Mike (Tom Burka) wants to put his father in a home because he is losing his memory due to advance Alheimers disease. With the help of his alcoholic wife Linda (Kate Greer) and thier budding actress daughter Ashley (Lizzy Ana Lincoln), they eventually convince Diane to see that Simon is not getting better and his memory is failing rapidly. Afterwards when the Mike and his family leaves, Diane and Simon have an argument because Simon has regressed to his childhood and doesn’t recognize his wife anymore. Leading to the culmination of Diane accidently stabbing Simon in the neck with her knitting needles just to finally have some peace and quiet.

By far my favorite show was The First Woman President by Keith Burridge, stars a phenomenal one woman performance by Bonnie Roe as Edith Wilson. It takes a great amount of talent and courage to perform solo and still keep the audience engaged and entertained which Bonnie Roe excelled with flying colors. She created a lovely and believable Edith Wilson and was charming and funny in her delivery. Honestly the only downside is that I was left wanting more, which i guess is a positive.

Atalanta, I did not enjoy at all. Moody lighting, unclear story journey that felt long in most places and rushed in others.

 

 

Warmth is a comedy-drama play by Diane Rissetto. It’s about a  woman’s journey through an existential guilt of past violent human aggression and how she hopes to mend one Holocaust survivor tragic story. Diana DiCostanzo plays the conflicted Gemma, an Italian millennial often confused for being Jewish who lives in NYC with her comedic gay cousin Luke (played by Lev Harvey). Gemma becomes overwhelmingly obsessed with the atrocities of the Holocaust that she decides to volunteer to help survivors in Europe. This leads Gemma to start a writing contest where the winner will receive an all expense paid trip to NYC this introduces Magdelone. Magdelone, who is played by Stacey Lightman, is a Polish woman that harbored refugees on her family farm and fell in love with a Jewish man who later died on a death march before the end of the war. But what won her the contest is the fact she was impregnated by her lover and had to send her son to America for a better life in Long Island, this prompts Gemma to reunite the mother and son. Much to Gemma’s dismay she finds that Magdelone’s son had passed away a few years before the fated meeting and is survived by his daughter-in-law, Lydia (Taylor Henkin) and grandson Victor (Matthew Dean Wood). Throughout the play Diana and Taylor’s character meet at different Holocaust museums and events which in my opinion greatly foreshadows the evident meeting between Gemma and Victor and their budding relationship. All in all, this was a very touching and heartwarming tale on how sometimes you have to take chances and reach out from your heart to help mend pains.

Wimberley by Julia Rae Maldonado is a tale of two friends reconnecting after 3 years apart set in Wimberley, Texas. Peter Ferraiolo plays Todd, a young guitar playing quiet gay man, while Josh Trent plays Evan, Todd’s rambunctious jocular adopted brother. It is very obvious from the beginning that there was a past event that makes their interaction palpable. Which leads to Evans desperation to mend the rift that he caused in his relationship to Todd. Both actors breath realistic life into their characters and portray interesting nuance and history. Though I enjoyed the journey, I was a bit let down by a lack of a solid resolution.

Germaine and Diane was inspired by the photo session between photographer Diane Arbus (Ceren Zorlu) and her subject Germaine Greer (Linda Alago) in the Hotel Chelsea, the fiction can be more tantalizing than reality. Ceren Zorlu portrays Diane Arbus as a sapphic powerhouse that will push most social boundaries to absurd levels just to capture the essence of a pure moment from Germaine. While Linda Alago’s portrayal of Germaine Greer as a secure dominant woman in her own right, that can see through most of Diane’s machinations with such ease and poise. This leads to a challenging tango confrontation that is electrifying since neither actress will submit to the others demands until the energy gets erotically physical.

An interesting cabaret of select songs from songwriters Brel, Weill and Aznavour. I loved Vickie Phillips stage presence and energy. Most notable was her pianist Gerry Dieffenbach who accompanied Vickie both in Piano and Voice. 

Little Invisible Backpacks, written and directed by Magda Cychowski is a play about a family struggle to recover from the death of their mother due to stomach cancer. It’s a raw story that is expressed wonderfully by the cast, from their struggles within themselves to drugs and even a comical interaction with a family therapist.

A Night with FieFie is an inspirational young star in the poetry world. Insightful poems about loss, anger and love. Wonderful performance tonight. Absolutely touching, raw and introspectively honest.

Mescaline by Natalie Lifson, composed by Nick O’Brian was an interesting take on a superhero rock musical. It follows the story of a girl named Ava who is a sidekick called Sister Strike to her adopted father and mentor Red Eye (ala Batman and Robin), and her journey to college to have a normal school experience. This leads to befriending two girls that are her roommates and the RA that turns out to be the villain Mescaline, who goes on a rampage to kill students that would interfere with her making money to pay off her student loans. It a silly bit of a show and sometimes gets carried away. The characters could use more development, they come off as cheesy over the top super hero / villain tropes with overacted vocals, gesticulation and the classic evil laughter. The music needed more variety, it felt like the same song was playing but with different lyrics.

A heartbreaking tale of promises and betrayal. “Julia” written, directed and starring Eddie Shields is a tale of a southern debutante, Julie (Sarah Elizabeth Bedard) and the one time affair she has with her fathers house servant, Jean (Eddie Shields). Though Jean was betrothed to Kristine (Maria Jan Carreon), he confesses his love for Julia and promises to runaway with her to France. The main betrayal happens after Jean rapes Julia and discards her when he discovers that she doesn’t have any money to her name for their “romantic” gettaway. This leads to the ultimate sacrifice, where Julia deprived of her love and maidenhood resorts to suicide, leaving Jean and Kristine to face the pending consequences. I really feel that the actors gave an excellent performance and portrayal from the sleazy Jean, to the naive Kristine, and drunken heart torn Julia. Eddie Shields brings Jean to life as a loving caring guy that is looking forward to his wedding of Kristine, then takes a sharp twisted to a deplorable rogue. It’s a shocking change in character for both the audience and the characters in the performance as well. Sarah Elizabeth Bedard, portrayal of Julia is very much on point of a spoiled, entitled debutante, which makes her change to a derailed scorned love that much more heartbreaking. I honestly hoped she would make it to France without Jean, though she tried to convince Kristine to come with her.

Solicitudes by far was not my favorite productions, it was dictated stereo instructions done in the guise of a Jane Austin novel. Most of the production was said to the scripts in hand and not to the audience. No acting other than the costumes made for the period and even that was a stretch. It was painful and grueling experience, which was a sad sad day for Jane Austin.

A beautiful work of artistic poetry and acting, inspired by the poems of Matthea Harvey, Federico Garcia Lorca and Lord Tennyson. “De Profundis” by Ran Xia was a interesting interwoven tapestry involving settings from modern day Staten Island, to Cuba in the late 1800s and underwater. It tells the story of a Mermaid (Juliana Philippi) who longed to hear sound above the waters of the ocean. The story of an inventor Antonio Meucci (Jim Sherwood) who wants to build realistic sounds for his ailing wife, Esterre Meucci (Rosanne Rubino) who slowly becomes tormented by the slightest of sounds and the pressure upon her old bones. Another story about an adopted mother, Lyndall (Juliana Philippi) who collects seashells from different times in history and her ward, Clementine (Therese Dizon) who is saddened when she must leave Lyndall when her family comes to find her, only to find that no one ever heard of Lyndall Esterre. To the final story of Clementine and her fiance Guy (Adrian Burke) that want to buy and rebuild a theatre where they discover a magic mirror that reveals things they are not ready to let go of.

How far would you go to satisfy your true love? In “The Good Life” by Joe Hoover, we experience that even though you can be a pure and honest person like Tommy (Tyler Brown), it can be too much for his girlfriend, Jane (Devon Ahmed) to handle. This caused Jane to call for a break with Tommy, who she feels is repressing any bad behavior because he must be in constant control of his life. When a mutual friend, Cindi (Jessie Ruane) is due to be married and supervises Tommy about how selfish he is being with his need to control events in his life, this leads to an “Oral” interaction between the two and the eventual break up from Jane. The moral I gather from this play, staying true to yourself is much harder when it makes others feel bad about themselves in comparison.

“Breastless” starring and written by Laurel Turk, was a beautiful and honest view about breast cancer survival. Laurel takes the audience on a journey of the ups and downs of surviving breast cancer, from diagnosis to lack of sexual intimacy to possible reconstruction of her breast using the TRAM flap surgery that involves using ab muscles. For a serious topic, it is uplifted with comical interludes from the other cast members, Dorian Gregory who sparkles the stage with wonderful ukulele playing and her comical timing as well as playing Laurels lover. Emily Bloch, also sings and dances on the stage as well, and plays a photographer for Laurel to remember her breasts. Emily Fox also helps to elevate the brevity as Laurels Doctor and close friend. Possibly the most intimate and beautiful moment is when Laurel appears on stage after her Bilateral mastectomy surgery, only to show that the breast she had in the beginning of the performance were actually prosthetic. I was moved to tears and deeply touched to experience such a personal unabashed moment.

The Elbisnopsers! or How Do You Say Their Damn Name?
Written by Katrin Arefy and directed by Tana Sirois, this 30 minute one act was by far too funny to end in such a short time. I absolutely enjoy absurdist comedy and i felt this one ended way to soon. It’s a story of an unnatural fear of the Elbisnopsers that had the three actors (Patrick Hamilton, Shelley Valfer, and Ann Herberger) comedic mispronouncing and misspelling, to condemning neighbors of having a barbaric genetic disease, and searching a globe for the home of the Elbisnopsers. The most interesting point was when the actors broke the fourth wall and started questioning the playwrights logic of the whole show, even Ann Herberger took off her characters wig. It was hilarious through and through and I wanted more.

To what length will you take a small innocent misunderstanding to win the affection of a stranger? “Centennial Casting” written by Gino Dilorio and Nancy Bleemer, directed by Alessandro Colla, was a lovely Rom/Com with genuine heart and charm. Lou Martini Jr. plays Vincent DiDonato, who inherits a metal casting shop called Centennial Casting in Manhatten. Along with his two co workers, Doo Doo (Anthony Patellis) and Carmine (Alessandro Colla), who concoct a plan to set Vincent up with a girl who accidentally sent her Head Shot to the company under the illusion it was a casting company for actors. Alicia Harding plays the starving actress, Edi Keaton, who works with her best friend Michelle (Janine Molinari) at the Moon Dance Diner. This leads to a 90min foray into comedy, where Doo Doo act as a Italian director of a foreign independent film about the horses called, Sea Biscotti, with Carmine as the uninspired Jockey. All the while Vincent wants to tell Edi the truth because of the guilt that he feels in deceiving her. The most stand out actor in the group, in my opinion, was Anthony Patellis who stole every scene with his comedic timing and all around outlandish character.

“Save The Robots: The Musical” book by Jacques Lamarre, Clark Render, and Rob Susman, with music by Rob Susman and Hagatha. David Rigano, directed the show in a very interesting style along the lines of Little Shop of Horrors and Rocky Horror Picture Show. The story revolves around Professor Friedrich Freeze (played by Alexander Robin Kass) and his former assistant, Dr. Bridgette Oskendosky (played by Sandra W. Lee) and their plan to create a bio degradable, hydroponic, zero carbon emission robot. But due to work wardrobe differences, Dr. Bridgette likes to wear lingerie outfits to work where Professor Friedrich likes lab coats, they parted ways and created their own robots that look like the other. This leads to the next two characters Donna Matrix (Lindsey Lavin) who is an unassuming secretary with a dominatrix side when pushed, and Onyx Sardonyx (Matthew Dyer) who was a former custodian for Dr. Oskendosky and Professor Freeze and subjectively fired because he wasn’t very good at it. Both are employed by the mysterious group called Mysterian and the leader (Olivia Hoffman) is actually an alien from Planet X in the EnEnEnEnEnEnth (actually said in the show this way) dimension that wants to devour all life on Earth but are threatened by the robots.The show is hilarious and silly, with lots of risque scenes of BDSMesque whippings and squeaky leather clad running around. Music and vocals from the entire cast was TOP NOTCH, fully voiced not forced and confident in style and technique. Kass and Lee work double duty as their roles and as the robots that the other created. Where as the whole cast doubled for the Red robe claded Mysterian aliens while Hoffman was narrating and helping the show move along in a steady pace.