Catching up, and the TOP 3 of 2007

YIKES! I haven't posted anything in so long, even though I've seen tons of shows and movies.

Here's a super quick run-down of some stuff:

Harry Partch's Delusion of the Fury at JS. Ambitious and interesting concept, but not really a theatrically watchable piece. Best part, besides Partch's original instruments, were John Jesurun's projections on the ceiling of the theater.


Saga Theater's Homesick at the OHIO. A physical and musical ensemble play about search for community and identity and an indictment of greed. A lot of material generated over the company's 3.5 week rehearsal process, with much more exploration and sculpting to be had.

The Baby Jesus One-Act Jubilee: The Second Coming at the Brick. A series of ten-minute plays loosely about Christmas and Christ-related themes, for the most part hugely ironic. I only caught the Josephs. Highlights: Joseph is a single dad looking for a wife and mother to his son Jesus, but Joseph is also afraid of sexual intercourse since it led to the death of his first wife, Sheila, during childbirth (what??). Or the play about finding out your ex-girlfriend is now a dyke, at or around Christmas time. I had a cup of the theater's rum-heavy hot cider before the show, so it was hard for me to stay awake...

Pappa Tarahumara's Ship in A View at BAM. I AM biased -- Pappa T is one of my favorite companies ever, of all time. Their combination of visceral imagination, stunning stage, light, and sound designs, unparalleled dancers and singers are something to behold. This particular piece, though, was not my favorite. It was dragging in tempo and the transformations seemed murky.




Min Tanaka at PS1. I'd never seen him live, but loved his performance in the film Tasogare Seibei (The Twilight Samurai) so I thought I'd head out to Queens. Was not crazy about this performance alone (which essentially consisted of sitting in the whipping cold attic of PS 1 while Tanaka rocked, writhed and convulsed like an Alzheimer's patient for 45 minutes); however the meal afterwards was definitely worth it.

Lulu at BAM. The Wedekind play about the life and descent of a woman who employs herself and body as a commodity. Hmm. Best thing in it was the huge white wall that started far upstage and almost unnoticed advanced incrementally throughout the play so that by the last scene, it pressed the actors practically up against the audience.



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2007, what a wild year. All-in-all, the general level of activity was very intense. I'm feeling a bit jaded about theater. My top 3 will be pretty quick:

3. Bobby's Yudkowski Returns! (at the Brick) was a real surprise and a real joy to watch.

2. Young Jean's Church (at PS 122) -- I haven't laughed that hard in the theater in a really long time.

1. TR Warszawa's KRUM (at BAM) sincerity in the theater still exists, thank you very much. What I felt as a truthful portrayal of all the anticlimaxes of life and the fantasies needed to sustain them.

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I did enjoy many more movies this year, and by far my favorite was the Coen Bro's No Country For Old Men. The story is framed by Tommy Lee Jones' narrator character who is an (old) man who expects the world to function according to societal consensus and order, and the antagonist murderer played by Javier Bardem who is a man who imposes his own order upon the world which he knows to be without. Thrilling to the end.