Showing posts with label Ben Stanton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ben Stanton. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
The Lion ***
Benjamin Scheuer, the talented singer/songwriter who wrote this autobiographical one-man musical at Manhattan Theatre Club's Stage II, is a most appealing performer. With his mop of chestnut hair, open face, charming smile, strong voice and phenomenal guitar technique, he wins the audience over almost instantly. In this cycle of 15 songs lightly interspersed with conversational remarks, he charts the course of his life from the age of 8 when his father built him a toy banjo out of a cookie tin. The lifelong love of music his father instilled has served him well through a series of traumas that include losing his father when he was 14, being uprooted to England for the next four years, finding and losing love upon his return to New York, and suffering a near-fatal illness. How he finally resolved his conflicted feelings about his father and became his own man both personally and musically is a central theme. Neil Patel's simple set with two chairs, a table and seven guitars is sensitively lit by Ben Stanton. Sean Daniels's direction keeps things on an even keel, skillfully avoiding the maudlin or sentimental. The extravagant praise by the critics raised my expectations a little too high, but I nevertheless enjoyed the evening. The enthusiastic audience was much younger than the usual MTC demographic. Running time: 70 minutes, no intermission.
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Murder Ballad **
(Please click on the title to see the complete review.)
This through-sung rock opera by Julia Jordan and Juliana Nash, which received positive reviews at Manhattan Theater Club Stage II last year, has reopened at the Union Square Theater, which has been reconfigured for the occasion. Traditional seats in a U surround a central area set up as a bar, complete with pool table and cabaret seating for those who want to be in on the action. The four characters are lovely Sara (Cassie Levy), who, after a tempestuous affair with hot bartender Tom (Will Swenson), settles for marriage to Michael (John Ellison Conlee), an older, less photogenic professor of poetry. (Too bad the professor wasn't available to assist with the lame lyrics.) When Sara gets the seven year itch and resumes her affair with Tom, there's trouble, as sexy narrator (Rebecca Naomi Jones) tells us. I wish I could join the chorus of praise for the show, but it did not engage me at any level. The tabloid-worthy tale, the deafening music, the pointless running to and fro and standing on chairs were turnoffs for me. I did not particularly care who would be murdered or who did it. The performances are energetic and the voices are fine when they can be heard over the musicians. The large set, designed by Mark Wendland, diffuses the action too much. Jessica Pabst's costumes are apt. Ben Stanton's garish lighting in neon colors is bilious. Trip Cullman's direction seems to be based on the idea that if you keep the actors running around enough, no one will notice the thinness of the material. I might have liked it better had I not seen the other far better environmental pop opera ("Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812") first, but I doubt it. Fairness compels me to state that most of the audience seemed to be enjoying it. Running time: 80 minutes without intermission.
This through-sung rock opera by Julia Jordan and Juliana Nash, which received positive reviews at Manhattan Theater Club Stage II last year, has reopened at the Union Square Theater, which has been reconfigured for the occasion. Traditional seats in a U surround a central area set up as a bar, complete with pool table and cabaret seating for those who want to be in on the action. The four characters are lovely Sara (Cassie Levy), who, after a tempestuous affair with hot bartender Tom (Will Swenson), settles for marriage to Michael (John Ellison Conlee), an older, less photogenic professor of poetry. (Too bad the professor wasn't available to assist with the lame lyrics.) When Sara gets the seven year itch and resumes her affair with Tom, there's trouble, as sexy narrator (Rebecca Naomi Jones) tells us. I wish I could join the chorus of praise for the show, but it did not engage me at any level. The tabloid-worthy tale, the deafening music, the pointless running to and fro and standing on chairs were turnoffs for me. I did not particularly care who would be murdered or who did it. The performances are energetic and the voices are fine when they can be heard over the musicians. The large set, designed by Mark Wendland, diffuses the action too much. Jessica Pabst's costumes are apt. Ben Stanton's garish lighting in neon colors is bilious. Trip Cullman's direction seems to be based on the idea that if you keep the actors running around enough, no one will notice the thinness of the material. I might have liked it better had I not seen the other far better environmental pop opera ("Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812") first, but I doubt it. Fairness compels me to state that most of the audience seemed to be enjoying it. Running time: 80 minutes without intermission.
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