Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Quick Hit Theater Review: The Illusion

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The Illusion
By Tony Kushner, adaped from Pierre Corneille's "L'Illusion Comique"
Directed by Michael Meyer

Summary:
Pridamant of Avignon (David Margulies) would like to reconnect with his estranged son Calisto/Clindor/Theogenes (Finn Wittrock), so he enlists the help of a sort-of sorceress, Alcandre (an utterly delightful Lois Smith) and her hapless piano-playing slave, Amanuensis (Henry Stram) . With her magic, Primadant is able to view his son's life -- or several versions of his life -- which involve falling in love with Melibea/Isabelle/Hippolyta (Amanda Quaid), whose father wants her to marry someone else like the cruel, but socially lofty Pleribo/Adraste/Prince Florilame (Sean Dugan) or the older living caricature of a fool Matamore (Peter Bartless). Reluctantly aiding her mistress in her quest for true love is the heroine's maid, Elicia/Lyse/Clarina (Merritt Weaver) who is in love with Pridamant's son herself.

Highlights:
The design team (Christine Jones, set; Kevin Adams, lighting; Bray Poor, sound; Nilco Muhly, music) creates an ethereal atmosphere. We are whisked from Alcandre's cave, with it's dripping water, to a garden created with nothing more than a plastic plant and some cable lines. The full visual settings created by minimal lines and props are enhanced by Designer Susan Hilferty's 17th-century costumes. Don't take your eyes off of Smith as she and Margulies linger just on the edges of the action. Her reactions and facial expressions communicate reams through the silence and distance. There are some hard-hitting questions underneath the fairytale-like setting, like "What does love mean and what does it look like?" and "How do you measure the importance of a father?" and how are those two questions related?

Lowlights:
A little confusing at first.

Information:
The Illusion is the third Kushner play this season at the Off-Broadway Signature Theatre Company, 555 West 42nd St., NYC. It runs through July 17. For tickets visit http://www.signaturetheatre.org/.

Christians might also like to know:
God's name taken in vain
Language
It's a little on the dark side for young kids
Posted by Lauren Yarger at 5:00 PM

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My Bio

Lauren Yarger is Executive Director/Producer with Masterwork Productions, Inc. She has written, directed and produced numerous shows and special events for both secular and Christian audiences. She co-wrote a Christian musical version of “A Christmas Carol” which played to sold-out audiences of over 3,000 in Vermont and was awarded the 2000 Vermont Bessie (theater and film awards) for “People’s Choice for Theatre.” She also has written two other dinner theaters, sketches for church services and devotions for Christian artists.

Yarger trained for three years in the Broadway League’s Producer Development Program, completed the Commercial Theater Institute's Producing Three-Day Training and produced a one-woman musical about Mary Magdalene that toured nationally and closed with an off-Broadway run.

In 2008 she was a Fellow at the National Critics Institute at the O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT. She writes reviews of Broadway and off-Broadway theater with a Christian perspective for Masterwork Productions (http://reflectionsinthelight.blogspot.com/) and is Connecticut theater editor for CurtainUp http://www.curtainup.com/, a national theater web site based in New York and editor of The Connecticut Arts Connection, an online source for news and reviews (http://ctarts.blogspot.com/).

She also worked in arts management for The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford and for the Hartford Symphony Orchestra.

Yarger writes news and inspiration for Christian artists at http://christianpeformers.blogspot.com/ and teaches theater workshops at conferences around the country.

She is a freelance writer and member of The Drama Desk, The Outer Critics Circle, The American Theater Critics Association, the Society of Professional Journalists, the CT Press Club, the National Book Critics Circle, the Connecticut SPJ, the Connecticut Critics Circle and Christians in Theatre Arts.

A former newspaper editor and graduate of the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, Yarger lives with her husband in West Granby, CT. They have two adult children.

Copyright

All material is copyright 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 by Lauren Yarger. Reviews and articles may not be reprinted without permission. Contact reflectionsinthelight@gmail.com

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Key to Content Notes:

God's name taken in vain -- means God or Jesus is used in dialogue without speaking directly to or about them.
Language -- means some curse words are used. "Minor" usually means the words are not too strong or that it only occurs once or twice throughout the show.
Strong Language -- means some of the more heavy duty curse words are used.
Nudity -- means a man or woman's backside, a man's lower front or a woman's front are revealed.
Scantily clad -- means actors' private areas are technically covered, but I can see a lot of them.
Sexual Language -- means the dialogue contains sexually explicit language but there's no action.
Sexual Activity -- means a man and woman are performing sexual acts.
Adultery -- Means a married man or woman is involved sexually with someone besides their spouse. If this is depicted with sexual acts on stage, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.
Sex Outside of Marriage -- means a man and woman are involved sexually without being married. If this is depicted sexually on stage, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.
Homosexuality -- means this is in the show, but not physically depicted.
Homosexual activity -- means two persons of the same sex are embracing/kissing. If they do more than that, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.
Cross Dresser -- Means someone is dressing as the opposite sex. If they do more than that on stage the listing would include the corresponding "sexual activity" and/or "homosexual activity" as well.
Cross Gender -- A man is playing a female part or a woman is playing a man's part.
Suggestive Dancing -- means dancing contains sexually suggestive moves.

Other content matters such as torture, suicide or rape will be noted, with details revealed only as necessary in the review itself.

The term "throughout" added to any of the above means it happens many times throughout the show.

Our Reviewing Policy

Our reviewer Lauren Yarger receives free tickets to Broadway and Off-Broadway shows made available to all voting members of the Outer Critics Circle and The Drama Desk, the two professional critics organizations with journalists covering NY theater. Journalistically, she provides an unbiased review and is under no obligation to make positive statements. Sometimes shows do not make tickets available to reviewers. If these are shows our readers want to know about (we review all Broadway shows and pertinent Off-Broadway shows), Masterworks purchases a ticket.

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