Paul's planet
A critic can't be objective about
her friends' work, and she shouldn't try: it's wrenching--and dangerous to friendship.
Still, I feel safe in saying that my friend Paul Lazar is FANTASTIC--so charming and ridiculous, and inadvertently wise--in his starring role as the center of the whirring asteroid that is "1965UU," a one-act play about language and its human predicaments--about love and inertia--by inveterate "scribbler" (as he puts it) Mac Wellman. "1965UU" plays the Chocolate Factory, by the East River in Queens, just through October 4. So run!
The only way a shadow happens on this unabatably bright planet is by a thickening of light. And that's how sense and story work here too--leaping so high into the comical, weightless absurd that they become their opposite. Imagine Beckett by way of Monty Python, or the Little Prince, but after he grew up and no one thought he was so cute anymore though he still had an arresting angle on things. While it's probably especially pleasing to people who love the stickiness and slipperiness of words, "1965UU" never has the curdled cleverness you get when language isn't hoping to snag fact and romance from the world.
I think its success is largely due to Paul, whom you may know for his performances with the Wooster Group or the stupendous Big Dance Theater, which he directs with his wife, Annie-B Parson. As a wise fool whose name may or may not mean "radish," Paul galvanizes the rest of the asteroid population (and an excellent small cast). Also spot-on: the direction, with perfectly placed special effects, by Stephen Mellor.
"1965UU" plays two more weekends only!!! Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 pm one stop east of Grand Central Station. (Take the 7 from Manhattan or, if you dare, the good old reliable G from Brooklyn. If you live in Queens and can bring a bill to prove it, the show is FREE on Thursdays.)
For details, here's the Chocolate Factory website.
And I just discovered Foot contributor Eva Yaa Asantewaa's delicious review on her website, Infinite Body.
Still, I feel safe in saying that my friend Paul Lazar is FANTASTIC--so charming and ridiculous, and inadvertently wise--in his starring role as the center of the whirring asteroid that is "1965UU," a one-act play about language and its human predicaments--about love and inertia--by inveterate "scribbler" (as he puts it) Mac Wellman. "1965UU" plays the Chocolate Factory, by the East River in Queens, just through October 4. So run!
The only way a shadow happens on this unabatably bright planet is by a thickening of light. And that's how sense and story work here too--leaping so high into the comical, weightless absurd that they become their opposite. Imagine Beckett by way of Monty Python, or the Little Prince, but after he grew up and no one thought he was so cute anymore though he still had an arresting angle on things. While it's probably especially pleasing to people who love the stickiness and slipperiness of words, "1965UU" never has the curdled cleverness you get when language isn't hoping to snag fact and romance from the world.
I think its success is largely due to Paul, whom you may know for his performances with the Wooster Group or the stupendous Big Dance Theater, which he directs with his wife, Annie-B Parson. As a wise fool whose name may or may not mean "radish," Paul galvanizes the rest of the asteroid population (and an excellent small cast). Also spot-on: the direction, with perfectly placed special effects, by Stephen Mellor.
"1965UU" plays two more weekends only!!! Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 pm one stop east of Grand Central Station. (Take the 7 from Manhattan or, if you dare, the good old reliable G from Brooklyn. If you live in Queens and can bring a bill to prove it, the show is FREE on Thursdays.)
For details, here's the Chocolate Factory website.
And I just discovered Foot contributor Eva Yaa Asantewaa's delicious review on her website, Infinite Body.
Categories:
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About Last Night
Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City
Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City
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Andrew Taylor on the business of arts & culture
blog riley
rock culture approximately
rock culture approximately
critical difference
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Laura Collins-Hughes on arts, culture and coverage
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Richard Kessler on arts education
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Douglas McLennan's blog
Dog Days
Dalouge Smith advocates for the Arts
Dalouge Smith advocates for the Arts
Flyover
Art from the American Outback
Art from the American Outback
lies like truth
Chloe Veltman on how culture will save the world
Chloe Veltman on how culture will save the world
Life's a Pitch
For immediate release: the arts are marketable
For immediate release: the arts are marketable
Mind the Gap
No genre is the new genre
No genre is the new genre
Performance Monkey
David Jays on theatre and dance
David Jays on theatre and dance
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Paul Levy measures the Angles
Paul Levy measures the Angles
Real Clear Arts
Judith H. Dobrzynski on Culture
Judith H. Dobrzynski on Culture
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John Rockwell on the arts
John Rockwell on the arts
State of the Art
innovations and impediments in not-for-profit arts
innovations and impediments in not-for-profit arts
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Jan Herman - arts, media & culture with 'tude
Jan Herman - arts, media & culture with 'tude
dance
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Apollinaire Scherr talks about dance
Apollinaire Scherr talks about dance
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Tobi Tobias on dance et al...
Tobi Tobias on dance et al...
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Jazz Beyond Jazz
Howard Mandel's freelance Urban Improvisation
Howard Mandel's freelance Urban Improvisation
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Focus on New Orleans. Jazz and Other Sounds
Focus on New Orleans. Jazz and Other Sounds
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Doug Ramsey on Jazz and other matters...
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Jeff Weinstein's Cultural Mixology
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Martha Bayles on Film...
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Fresh ideas on building arts communities
Fresh ideas on building arts communities
The Future of Classical Music?
Greg Sandow performs a book-in-progress
Greg Sandow performs a book-in-progress
Overflow
Harvey Sachs on music, and various digressions
Harvey Sachs on music, and various digressions
PianoMorphosis
Bruce Brubaker on all things Piano
Bruce Brubaker on all things Piano
PostClassic
Kyle Gann on music after the fact
Kyle Gann on music after the fact
Sandow
Greg Sandow on the future of Classical Music
Greg Sandow on the future of Classical Music
Slipped Disc
Norman Lebrecht on Shifting Sound Worlds
Norman Lebrecht on Shifting Sound Worlds
The Unanswered Question
Joe Horowitz on music
Joe Horowitz on music
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Jerome Weeks on Books
Jerome Weeks on Books
Quick Study
Scott McLemee on books, ideas & trash-culture ephemera
Scott McLemee on books, ideas & trash-culture ephemera
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Drama Queen
Wendy Rosenfield: covering drama, onstage and off
Wendy Rosenfield: covering drama, onstage and off
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Public Art, Public Space
Public Art, Public Space
Another Bouncing Ball
Regina Hackett takes her Art To Go
Regina Hackett takes her Art To Go
Artopia
John Perreault's art diary
John Perreault's art diary
CultureGrrl
Lee Rosenbaum's Cultural Commentary
Lee Rosenbaum's Cultural Commentary
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