PICKET TICKETS: DYI WILLIAM FINN "TWIN BILL"

A Broadway show that is running despite the strike is the delightful 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, with music and lyrics by the gifted William Finn.

What makes this a special time for Finn and Finn's fans is that Make Me a Song, a revue of his music, is running about a block away from Spelling Bee. The production of this song sampler is a little rough around the edges, but it's a great complement to Spelling Bee, an opportunity to immerse onself in Finn songs from the Falsettos trilogy as well as relatively obscure shows such as A New Brain and Romance in Hard Times, which I regret missing. Plus there are the one-shot numbers. At the performance that I attended, attendees were encouraged to vote for their favorite Finn songs—it was really tough to choose! I hope that the run of this show leads to more productions of Finn's other works, if only so I can catch up with them.

Here's a song that's not in the revue: "Joe Papp" from Elegies: A Song Cycle. The video isn't great, but it's got spirit!



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Photo from Spelling Bee: Joan Marcus

BLIND MOUTH SINGING

In June I wrote favorably of the revival of Falsettoland produced by the National Asian American Theatre Company (NAATCO). The barebones production resembled a reading, so it was something of a revelation for me to see the company's attractive, fully-staged production of Blind Mouth Singing, running at the equally attractive Baruch Performing Arts Center (pictured) through Saturday, October 6, 2007.

Written by Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas and directed by Ruben Poléndo,
Blind Mouth Singing is a psychological family drama revolving around Reiderico (Durango's Jon Norman Schneider), a timid young man under the spell of Lucero (Alexis Camins), who somehow lives within a well. The play unfolds at a deliberate pace, perhaps just a little too slow in spots, as the two interact with each other and Reiderico's embittered mother (NAATCO artistic director Mia Katigbak), secretive aunt (Sue Jean Kim), and bullying brother Gordy (Orville Mendoza). An air of allegory permeates the work, but the play also has a sense of flux that keeps matters from being too sharply defined or heavy-handed.

Just as Falsettos was cross-culturally enriched by casting Asian American actors in Jewish roles, this production blended ethnic influences. I especially liked what I considered to be Japanese touches, from Zachary Zirlin's set design to the Kabukiesque musical cues for Gordy. (Musician Adam Cochran also accompanied a cutting remark from Reinaldo's mother with an exquisitely subtle knife-sharpening swoosh.) And the work seemed to have a strong affinity with the fiction of Haruki Murakami, too.

Consider giving this play a try; ticket discounts will probably be available at most of the usual places.

FALSETTOLAND AND BEHIND THE LID

I recently attended two intimate limited-run productions that might be of interest to BAT readers.

Falsettoland is the third in a trilogy of one-act musicals following the story of a Jewish-American family in which the father comes out as gay. Witty and touching and filled with love, this revival of the well-received National Asian-American Theatre Company revival at the Vineyard Theatre (renamed The Dimson Theatre for this production) isn't some fancy-shmancy affair. The staging is rudimentary, like that of a reading. And the Jewish-American characters are played by actors from Asian-American backgrounds. Yet the strengths of this collaboration between songwriter William Finn and book writer James Lapine still come through movingly, with Manu Narayan and Ann Sanders especially well-cast in their roles as Whizzer and Trina. Discounts might well be available for the performances, scheduled to run through July 1, 2007.

Behind the Lid, an artsy collaboration between the late avant-gardist Lee Nagrin and innovative puppeteer Basil Twist (who seems to assemble some of the friendliest and most competent troupes ever), is only open to 18 people at a time. The audience assembles at the entrance to Nagrin's Silver Whale Gallery then descends into a surrealistic environment that offers a sense of Nagrin's life and times...and her feelings about art and country. This often confounding and hardly seamless 90-minute work won't appeal to everyone, but it brims with creativity and, like this Terrapin Industries duplex, shows how an urban interior can be radically transformed. (If you aren't afraid of spoilers, you can find write-ups of Behind the Lid here and here.) If you decide to give this a try and you can still get a ticket before the scheduled run ends on July 7, I suggest arriving about 15 minutes early and reading the program before beginning your descent down the mysterious Silver Whale rabbit hole (below). Hang around afterwards to show your appreciation.
























Photo: David Marc Fischer