Crazytown

LA LA BASURA?

When a theatre filled with movie stars turns to television to honor cinema sometimes crazy things happen.
By Owen Panettieri (playwright, lyricist)

Oh the 89th Academy Awards. You would not be denied your place in Oscar History. Sure, maybe some folks at the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences were thinking, let's just put up a pleasant endless evening of televised awards with not too many theatrics and bells and whistles and save the big fireworks for when we hit the big 9-0 next year. But, oh no. You would not be denied. Instead, you gave us some true triumphs and a shocking reversal of fortune at the finish line that left jaws dropped. Love it or loathe it, the 89th Oscars will be remembered. Good luck topping this insanity, #90.

On my way to watch the Oscars, I passed this Anti-Ll La Land sign outside a bar. I really enjoyed La La Land. I thought it was good. I didn't really think it was the best film I ever saw, or the best film I saw all year, but there was a lot to recommend about it. Definitely a lot I truly enjoyed about it. But as it won more and more awards throughout the season, the hype around it made it harder for me to just enjoy it and instead I started focusing on its faults. Was it really a better than Hidden Figures or Moonlight just to name two other high quality films released this year? Was it worthy of a record-tying 14 Oscar nominations. I became more and more skeptical. I don't think it's basura, or that LA is basura, but I went in to the Oscar telecast rooting for the underdogs in every category and certainly didn't want to see a sweep. Outside of that I wasn't sure what the telecast itself would bring. 

At the end of it all, I liked the Oscars this year. If the 2009 (Kanye-v-Taylor Swift) VMA's had a love child with 2015 Miss Universe Pageant (Steve Harvey Announces the wrong winner, it would grow up to be the 2017 Academy Awards. Wrong winner announced? Check! Awards speech interrupted? Check! Living people included in the In Memoriam? New! And also: check! Plus Junior Mints, Cookies and Donuts were parachuted into the auditorium Hunger Games-style. If this had all happened in 30 minutes instead on over 3.5 hours, it would have been the most excited show of the year. As it was, there was a lot stuff to sit through, but let's focus on the positive!

WE'RE ALL MAD HERE.

In this review: SPOILERS for the experience of seeing Then She Fell. You've been warned.
By Alisha Giampola (writer/performer)

I am a sucker for immersive theatre experiences. I loved Sleep No More. I want all of my future theatre experiences to involve snacks and/or alcoholic beverages and even slightly intense prolonged eye-contact. Perhaps because I know what it feels like to be on the actor's side of the fourth wall, I love shows that totally destroy that wall and ask the audience to step over the crumbled ruins of it and into the action. If Sleep No More offers a voyeuristic haunted house for guests to explore masked, unguided, and at will; Then She Fell is a much more intimate, playful, disorienting experience that you engage in alone but constantly accompanied by members of the cast as well as nurses and orderlies of the institution. Oh, did I mention that you'll be spending the evening in a Victorian mental hospital? 

Inspired by the works of Lewis Carroll and his real-life, possibly romantic relationship with the child Alice Liddell, Then She Fell is a theatre piece I have come to, rather typically, several years after it started getting rapturous reviews in the Times. Honestly, it fell under my radar for a while, and then when it popped onto my radar I had to wait to rationalize the ticket price (admittedly, not cheap, but then the experience is WORTH IT), which I'm glad I did because they have a closing date of April 30, 2017. They've extended before, but who knows? So if you want to definitely go see this amazing production, I recommend getting tickets now and seeing it this spring.

Knowing that you're seeing a wildly popular show that only sells 15 tickets a performance is intimidating. For most of it, you are being directly performed to. I spent several minutes sitting silently across from an actor who was a sort of non-literal representation of the White Rabbit, painting a white rose red with a tiny paintbrush, feeling a genuine stress that we wouldn't be done in time. I participated in a mad tea party, smashing my tea cup on the table with the White and Red Queens, Rabbit, and Hatter, and then sipping a deliciously brewed concoction that I had helped choose before being whisked away again for a bedtime story (and being literally tucked into a crisp, white bed). I watched two Alices dance through a mirrored glass, once from inside the Red Queen's luxurious apartment, and once from inside a sparkling fairy burrow, while being fed purple grapes by the White Queen. Later, one of the Alices had me hand her clothing after her bath, all while asking me questions about love. At the end of that scene, we were looking directly into each other's eyes between the bannister of a staircase and she queried if I had lived happily ever after with that first person, that first person I ever loved. When I laughed lightly and said "No," her face darkened abruptly, and she ran up the stairs in a huff, too fast for me to run after. 

After the show, my husband Daniel and I tucked ourselves into a nearby bar and over a nightcap excitedly exchanged stories of everything that had happened to us since we'd been split up. We had seen part of the show together. For a few scenes, like when the Red Queen spiraled into insanity with a bottle of pills in a locked ward, we had been the only two audience members watching. But once we were separated, Daniel was led off by the Mad Hatter, a redheaded chanteuse whom we'd watched dance on top of a wardrobe earlier in the evening, and was asked riddles. I was redirected into a room with a gramophone and instructed to open increasingly large books with bottles hidden inside as a Doctor concocted me a cocktail. Then he left me alone with a stack of letters to read and the voice from the gramophone reciting The Walrus and the Carpenter. I barely had time to skim the first letter before the White Rabbit retrieved me to come paint roses with him. Meanwhile, Daniel peeled and ate an orange with one of the Alices while I, somewhere else in the building, was watching the other Alice wrestle with the Red Queen. 

Like Sleep No More, this is dance theatre. Most of the scenes have a movement-heavy element driving them. Unlike Sleep No More, the experience feels tailor-made for you and you alone. You aren't eavesdropping on these people, they are inviting you to take part, have a sip, take a bite, answer a question. "Do you take dictation?" the actor playing Lewis Carroll asked me in a room that would have been a regular writer's study, except for the pools of water sinking into the floor in unexpected places. After I wrote his letter, he signed it, placed it in a bottle, and waded into the black water barefoot to send it off with all the others. The Doctor retrieved me and brought me upstairs to play a game of chess with him. I knew immediately that it was the chess game from Through The Looking Glass. He explained the entire sequence of moves to me, guiding me through playing Alice's white pawn, as if he was reading a particularly perplexing case study. At the end, he handed me a cup of tea, retrieved the ring of keys I'd been entrusted with during the performance (and encouraged to use on any lock I found), and suddenly orderlies began bringing the 14 other people of the audience, including Daniel, into the room where I sat. The show was over. I had been the only one, maybe, to play chess with the doctor. I definitely had been the only one to finish my stay in Wonderland with the chess game scene. 

As a long time lover of Lewis Carroll's Alice books, I was delighted to recognize so many moments from the stories and from the sad and strange real-life tale of Carroll and Alice. The show is a beautiful and beautifully sympathetic exploration of duality, sanity, reality, and the magic of childhood. At the beginning of the show, just as the audience members are starting to be whisked off by different actors to begin their own personalized journey through the piece, the Doctor offers a definition of liminality. From the Latin limin, meaning "threshold". We get our English word "lintel" from here. Liminality is the quality of ambiguity and disorientation experienced by participants in a ritual, usually magical or spiritual, that occurs midway through- before the participant has been changed completely by the ritual, but are no longer what they were before they began. The show attempts to make adolescent Alices of us all. Not quite big, not quite small, not quite having drunk all of the bottle yet, but definitely having taken a nice sip. Few shows have touched me and haunted me as much as this one has, and I am excited to see more from Third Rail Projects, who developed this and other immersive pieces, as theatre like this becomes more and more prolific and available. I look forward to the day when the idea of seeing a piece of theatre that isn't located in a repurposed warehouse space in Brooklyn is unusual. 

The only photo here that I actually took (after the show was over of course) of my "prescription" for the tea I chose during the Mad Tea Party and the stamped program I was given at the end of the show. The two other pictures in this article are press photos. The current company of Then She Fell can be found here.

 

ALISHA GIAMPOLA is an NYC based actor/teacher/writer who did gyre and gimble in the wabe.
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AND NOW, A REGULARLY SCHEDULED BREAK FROM THE REVOLUTION.

By Alisha Giampola (writer/performer) 

Three recommendations for some short film watching this Oscar season that are all better than La La Land:

This year, my favorite Oscar-nominated live-action short film was a gut-wrenching, timely French piece that evoked the current refugee crisis and general political climate...Enemies Within. 

My favorite Oscar-nominated animated short film was a SANDPIPER film about a BABY SANDPIPER and featuring OTHER SANDPIPERS including an adorable MAMA SANDPIPER. Watch the whole film here and die of adorableness:

Devastating, yet deeply vital to see, is my favorite Oscar-nominated documentary short: the Netflix film about the heroic efforts of the rescue team currently working to save innocent lives in Syria, White Helmets.

SUPER BOLD MVP

On a weekend full of sports ball heroics, the ballsiest performance still belongs to a woman.
By Owen Panettieri (playwright, lyricist)

I like the Patriots. I like that they always win. I like going into work after any given Sunday during football season with the likelihood that my team of choice has done better than my coworkers who favor the Giants or the Jets. I don't like the politics of their owner, their coach or their star quarterback Tom Brady. I don't like the fact that they consistently season after season run into big problems with bending the rules in their favor. Anyone who's not a fan of the team, believes they are the world's biggest cheaters and those who are fans would counter that they're simply the best cheaters. And don't I deserve the best?

Everyone who hated the Patriots wanted them to lose badly to Falcons. For 3 quarters, it looked like they were going to get their wish. The trailed 28-3 in the third, and no team had ever come back in a Super Bowl by more than 10 points. And the lopsided nature of the first three quarters made the game pretty boring. Tom Brady was way off. It wasn't like his receivers were dropping the ball, he was overthrowing and under-throwing. They had no success running the ball. They were completely out of rhythm for most of the game. But just when it looked like the Falcons were going to put the final nail in the coffin in the 4th quarter, their fortunes totally reversed. A holding penalty on the Falcons offense and a tremendous sack by the Patriots defense, knocked the Falcons out of field goal range and from that point on it was all Patriots. That launched the most improbable comeback in Super Bowl history, scoring 25 unanswered points, forcing the game into a first-ever overtime and snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. The ending couldn't have been more dramatic. People are calling it the best Super Bowl ever. It might be the most surprising, but I feel like I've seen better back and forth matches that were more exciting to watch from beginning to end. Still a win is a win, and the Patriots are the champs again!

THE HAPPY SLAM

The 2017 Australian Open was a thrilling start to the tennis season, as newcomers and veterans thrilled crowds with excellent play and four of the greatest players of all time made their way back to the finals once again.
By Owen Panettieri (playwright, lyricist)

It's been a rough 2 weeks, y'all. Things in the United States? They ain't good. It seems almost every day came a new horrifying executive order from the President. It's been a lot to deal with. People are upset. People are scared. People are protesting. The anxiety is practically inescapable. But during these past two weeks, a shining beacon of welcome relief was being transmitted into our TVs each night. When the sun went down, the Australian Open was waiting for us shining brightly with tomorrow's sun. With progressive round of play, it became clear that this was one of the best tennis tournaments I have ever seen.

Going into this Major tournament, no one really knew what to expect. Federer and Nadal had take most of the last year off to heal lingering injuries. Their absence meant that their ranking would drop them both out of the top 8 for the first time in over a decade. This meant that they wouldn't get an automatic slot in the 8 corners of the 4 quarters of the draw and could wind up pretty much anywhere. Also, who knew how they were going to play when they showed up? Beyond Rafa and Roger, could Andy Murray maintain his dominance as the new #1? Would Novak Djokovic bounce back after a disappointing second half of 2016? So much drama to unfold!

On the women's side, several big names were not present and several question marks surround the health of Serena and Venus Williams. Serena missed the WTA Finals in 2016 with a shoulder injury. She relinquished her spot at the top of the WTA rankings. Would the Aussie Open be a chance for her to reclaim #1 and give her a 23rd career championship trophy? So much at stake!

Every day of the tournament featured incredible matches with unbelievable outcomes. And the level of play was SO HIGH. In the second round, No. 117 Denis Istomin became just the 2nd player outside the top 100 to defeat Djokovic in the last seven years. The shock wasn't that Novak played badly, but how Istomin played the match of his life beating Novak in 5 sets that lasted just under 5 hours. Istomin went two more rounds deeper in the draw after that as well. In the 4th Round, Murray met another shocking fate when he was handily beaten by #50 Misha Zverev. 7-5, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4. Again all credit to Zverev who played such an intense and unusual attacking style that left Murray completely confused. It was incredible! Through it all, the two veteran champions Federer and Nadal kept winning. No matter the challenge, no matter how many times a match went the distance to 5 sets, they kept finding solutions. Pretty soon tournament directors, commentators and spectators dared to dream - could we see another Rafa and Roger Grand Slam final?

On the women's side, Serena and Venus tore through their draws in remarkable fashion. But there were other amazing stories as well. The US Women went deep into the draw. Unseeded Coco Vandeweghe almost got bounced in the third round, but hung tough. Then she dialed in to her power game, knocking off No. 1 and reigning Aussie Champ Angelique Kerber in the Round of 16 and reigning French Open champion Garbine Muguruza to face Venus in the semis. Again we all dared to dream - Could we see an another All-Williams Grand Slam final? On Serena's side of the draw we had the improbable run of Mirjana Lučić-Baroni. I'm not sure if there was a more emotional story in the tournament than hers. A teenage phenom, Lucic-Baroni had very difficult years to get through getting away from her controlling abusive father. She did not make an appearance at a Major tournament for more than seven years from 2003 to 2010. Here she was at 34 ranked #79, kicking ass and making her way through the draw like she'd never been gone. She delighted in every moment.  After reaching the quarterfinals in her on court post-match interview she said, “I’m a tough little cookie, and really, really stubborn. When I want something, I will work really hard and I will do whatever it takes to get it. It’s not a guarantee, by any means, that you’re gonna get there, but, man, what a satisfaction I feel right now. Incredible. And I will tell it to anybody struggling out there. 'F-' everything and everybody who ever tells you you can’t do it. Just show up and do it with your heart.” How can you not love this woman? She couldn't beat Serena in the semis, but her performance for the whole tournament was nothing short of inspiring.

A NECESSARY CONSEQUENCE OF DOING SOMETHING NEW

Feeling inspired after the Women's March? Creativity Inc might help keep those ideas flowing.
By Owen Panettieri (playwright, lyricist)

Continuing on the path in reading more in 2017, this week I am reporting back on Creativity, Inc.Ed Catmull with Amy Wallace. Catmull is the President of Pixar and Disney Animation Studios and boy does he have a story to tell! A good friend of mine gifted this book to me and my sweet boy Josh last year. Knowing how much we liked Disney and were creative folks in our own right, she thought it'd be the perfect match. And it should've been! Except... except...

Several times I planned to pick it up last year, but honestly I was scared. I felt like here would be this incredibly successful innovator telling me his story and making a pretty clear case as to why I'm not doing enough with my life. And I already feel like I'm not doing enough, you know? Like I'm doing okay, but am I doing my best? Am I doing the right things? What if there are all these other steps that I'm supposed to be doing instead, and I'm not doing them, and changing from what I am doing now is too haaaaaard? What then?

Obviously, while my fears of not wanting to find out I'm doing the wrong thing is natural, it's also a bunch of bullshit. Bullshit is natural, y'all. The book was actually very affirming. Of course it was the EXACT book I needed to read. Catmull talks about the need for candor in a creative environment and a business environment and ultimately that's what this book is: a candid look at the journey of the people who created Pixar and how they worked with diligence to maintain an environment for creativity, innovation and artistry to flourish. The subtitle of the book is "Overcoming the unseen forces that stand in the way of true inspiration." And there are always unseen forces. The book explores how to create an environment to root out the sources and make changes to address them. It's a great read.

Her Again (Again)

2017 starts off with a resolution to read more books, starting with those books we didn't finish in 2016. 
By Owen Panettieri (playwright, lyricist)

Ah, a new year! The promise of adopting new habits, setting new goals and achieving new achievements. To be honest, I wasn't sure if I was going to continue blogging this year. In the face of this incoming administration, I wasn't sure what I wanted to say about the world we're living in and what's to come. I find it all very stressful and couldn't see myself staying sane if I was going to jump into writing politically-minded posts. That's not to say I won't be involved or stay aware of what's happening in this country, but I just didn't want to feel like I had to comment on it as it was happening. So I was thinking I wouldn't actually blog for the winter, but then I never got around to actually telling anyone at Crazytown that was my plan, and suddenly it was time to start up again! So rather than leave people in a lurch, here I am!

2016 had been a very full and artistically satisfying year for me, but one thing that was missing was books. I haven''t make time in my day for books. I've felt their absence in my life. Having time to read has been an issue ever since I moved from Astoria into Hell's Kitchen over two years ago. I used to read on the train and now that commute has been considerably shortened. What I was spending a lot of my time on was web-browsing and reading online. I consider web-browsing the empty calories of reading. It occupies your mind until you're full, but it doesn't really provide you the nutrients you need. I felt if I could cut an hour of web-browsing out of my day and use that time for book-reading I'd be much better off.

Several friends have also chosen to recommit to reading this year and are doing Reading List programs to diversify the kind of books they're reading. I'm working off of BookRiot.com's list and also this other list that friend's have sent me - I'm unaware of the original source.

I decided to put my hour of reading time at the start of my day, since my sweet dog Lucy wakes me up for her morning walk LOOONG before I actually need to get up to start my work day. So now after we get up and go for her walk and giver her breakfast, I keep my computer closed and leave my phone out of reach and read for an hour in the quiet and stillness of my living room. I'm hoping to get through 3 books a month this way, but maybe I can stretch it to four. I enjoy taking my time with books, so we'll see how it goes. We're halfway through January and I'm 2/3 the way through book #2. (My sweet boy Josh is also doing the reading challenge, but reads much faster than I do and I expect by December he'll be through double the amount of books.)

The first book I choose for 2017 was Her Again: Becoming Meryl Streep, by Michael Schulman. This checks the box for both "A Book You Previously Abandoned" and "A Biography." Michael and I go a long way back. In the mid-2000's I was dating his roommate and we spent a lot of time together at their apartment. In the early morning hours of one memorable night, I came down with a violent 24-hour bug. I tried to make my way to the one bathroom in the apartment before throwing up, but I did not make it in time. Instead, I threw up on the floor of the living room, slipped in my own vomit, had both of my legs flip out from under me, landed flat on my back and then proceeded to throw up all over myself as I lie there. I can see it all happening again as I write this and I laugh at the absurd sight it must've been, but at the time it was just really gross. I remember thinking - as I dragged myself to the bathroom so I could continue to throw up into the toilet like a respectable human being - about how badly I left about throwing up on Michael Schulman's floor. Michael and I shared better moments than this one. We also performed in a Muppet Cabaret at Don't Tell Mama and that was a total delight. Evidence of me singing "Piggy's Fantasy" can be found here.

ON LA LA LAND

On the Bandwagon
By Sam Perwin

Damien Chazelle's gorgeous film La La Land, about an actor and a musician who fall in love, dance, and sing their way through modern LA, is by no means perfect. You'd think, for all the praise it's been receiving, that it's the Citizen Kane of our time, but in truth, it's much more like the Singin' in the Rain of our time: a movie that believes wholeheartedly in the saving graces of music, dance, and movie magic. 

Watch that broken wrist, Ryan!

There's been a lot of talk about the political situation we're currently in and its many apt comparisons to the rise of the Hitler and the Nazis in 1939. Things were bad - downright terrifying, and out of that climate cinematic artists brought forth some of the most beautiful, lasting, and important films in history: The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind just to name a few. La La Land is arriving at a similar time. It's charm is so undeniable and it's message of believing in yourself and your dreams so important right now, that we and all the critics, are able to overlook its minor flaws and get swept up in its magic.

For example, as much as I adore both Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling as actors (and both do a wonderful job in that department), neither has the singing or acting chops to really sell the musical numbers. This is a shame, because, well, they're delightful. The choreography (by Mandy Moore! Yes, girl!) is playful and perfect. The songs by beloved NYC composers Pasek & Paul (whose Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen is also getting some pretty strong raves), are heartfelt and meaningful. This could have been a wonderful opportunity to give some of the hard working Broadway singers and dancers some well-deserved love. Imagine Tony Yazbek as Sebastian or Pippa Soo as Mia. It's a whole different experience.

But, as I said, these are small gripes. The filmmaking and cinematography are so stunning and the seamlessness of the musical numbers so expert that Chazelle has really pulled off a miracle: a movie musical that is both completely, believably contemporary yet whose heart is firmly, romantically in the past. For me, it was a reminder to keep the faith. [SPOILER ALERT] Both characters get their dreams come true, if not with each other. You just have to believe in a little bit of magic.

SAM PERWIN Actor. Singer. Writer. Tall. www.samperwin.com
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PRETTY GOOD YEAR?

Even if 2016 wasn't the most awesome year on record, are we actually looking forward to 2017?
By Owen Panettieri (playwright, lyricist)

I've heard a lot of people complaining recently about 2016 and how overall it was an awful year that they can't wait to see in the rear view mirror. I don't share that opinion. I'm not looking for the year to be over. Personally, 2016 was pretty good to me. I did what I resolved to do back in January. I lost roughly 30 lbs, I traveled to places in Europe I'd always dreamed of visiting and I had a production of my latest play A Burial Place play in NYC that was as artistically enriching as anything I've ever done. I was seated in front of Anna Wintour at not one but TWO fancy events. I got to go on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride again - several times. I was surrounded by the love of family and friends. I ate good food. I slept comfortably in a nice home, I took lots of cute pictures of my dog sleeping ridiculously on our couch. I consider myself very fortunate, In a lot of ways, 2016 and I are cool with each other.

But I'll share with you one personal story that kinda sums up 2016's big problem. As I mentioned earlier, Josh and I went on a trip to Europe in July. It was a fantastic experience through Paris, Vienna, Salzburg, Munich and London. However, every single day we'd wake up to some sort of horrible international incident having happened either back home or nearby. There was the terrorist attack in Nice, the failed coup in Turkey, train attacks in Germany, mass shootings, police shootings, the creepy awfulness of the whole Republican convention. Very heavy shit happened every day and we felt it. It finally caught up with us head on in Munich, when there was a mass shooting not far from the Olympia shopping mall. Ten people, including the shooter, were killed and dozens were injured. The city went into lockdown during dinnertime. There was no public transportation. We were held inside our restaurant and under the impression there were as many as three active shooters still unaccounted for in the area. It was under those conditions we had to walk around the locked down area for an hour to get back to our hotel. The truth of the situation was that the lone shooter was dead and the threat was over, but we had to walk home believing that maybe we could be shot to death at anytime. It was scary. And it was very sad.

CATS IS AWESOME

Guys. CATS is Awesome.
By Owen Panettieri (playwright, lyricist)

Ladies and G's, your attention please. You've heard of CATS, right? The iconic 80's musical that's back on Broadway? Well, it's awesome. You should go see it. It's great. 

"Owen," you ask, "I don't know anything about the theater, nor its marvelous history of musical productions. Explain to me: What is this CATS you're raving about? A revival? Tell me more!" Well, let me tell you. Composed by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot (I know you've never read it, it's fine), this fantastic musical was originally directed for Broadway by Trevor Nunn with choreography by Gillian Lynne, It was nominated for 11 Tony Awards and won 7 including the Tony Award for Best Musical (obvs, it's amazing). and 2 for TS Eliot - who'd already been dead for 28 years! You hear that, writers? There's hope you'll get yours eventually, even if you're already dead for decades! Never stop writing!

So CATS continued to play on Broadway for an astounding eighteen years. Even more astounding is the fact that my parents never took me to see the musical during its entire original run from 1982 until 2000. Oh, how I begged and pleaded with them in my youth to see this incredible theatrical production! The answer was always NO. The reasoning behind their refusal was never fully explained to me, although I came up with few theories over the years. First, my parents grew up in Brooklyn but were pretty big cityphobes by the time the 80's rolled around. I can't entirely blame them. It's not like Times Square in '85 was the height of safety for a family evening out. Second, our family was on a very tight budget in the 80's and Broadway tickets were not a luxury we could afford. Third, and perhaps most importantly, I think the main reason I was not allowed to see the musical CATS as a child was because I really loved cats and I think my parents (rightfully) feared that if I saw the show, my insistence on getting a cat as a pet would have been undeniable. And they did NOT want a cat (years later, they caved and got me a dog, when I honestly still wanted a cat, but whatever - a pet! hooray!). So I never saw the original show.