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Entries in Reviews (34)
Friday Apr 22 2011 The House of Blue Leaves @ The Walter Kerr Theatre - 4.13.11
Friday, April 22, 2011 at 11:00AM
Ben Stiller and Edie Falco headline The House of Blue Leaves, a revival of a 1971 Tony nominated play about the intersection of religion, celebrity, and delusion. The show is now in previews for a "strictly limited engagement."
NOTES
--SYNOPSIS: Stiller plays a middle aged songwriter who's past his prime and never made it. But on this day, the stars begin aligning. The pope is coming to New York City. He's in love with a pretty young thing. And Stiller's bigshot Hollywood friend from childhood took his phone call. Although Stiller is saddled with a wife who's slipped into dementia, a son who's gone postal, and the reality of his limited talent--things are looking bright for the first time in a long time. Until of course, they stop looking bright.
--Stiller is great but Edie Falco gets the win for playing his sad, manic wife who gently meanders around the stage subtly twitching and fidgeting like a real crazy person. Imagine the anxiousness on your dog's face when he needs to go outside. She kinda looked like that for two hours.
--FULL CIRCLE: Ben got his big break doing this play 25 years ago in a 1986 revival at Lincoln Center. 15 years before that, his mom, Anne Meara, starred in the original. You can expect his kids, Ella and Quinlin Stiller, to star opposite each other in the 2026 revival on the moon where we will all be living by then.
--I picked the wrong day to wear my pleated, sausage casing-like khakis: noted Vogue editor Anna Wintour was sitting right behind me! She was there with a Louis Vuitton clutch and a man who was basically a life-sized version of a Louis Vuitton clutch. Where was Roger Federer??
--Jennifer Jason Leigh's character has a one-liner in the show about how she reads Vogue to know what she'll be wearing 3 years from now. I looked back for Wintour's reaction and it was blank.
The Apiary | 1 Comment | 2 References tagged Ben Stiller , Broadway Week , The House of Blue Leaves in EXCLUSIVELY at The Apiary , Reviews Tuesday Apr 19 2011 The Motherf**ker With the Hat @ The Gerald Schoenfeld Theater
Tuesday, April 19, 2011 at 1:27PM
The phone conversation with the operator from Telecharge went like this:
"Hi, I'd like 2 for, uh.. the er... M.F. with the hat."
"Oh do you mean, The MOTHERFUCKER with the Hat?"
"Yeah... that one."
I was as embarrassed to say it as she was overeager.
The filthy language didn't stop in that sordid phone chat. It continued into the night, all throughout the play. I generally find swearing to be a lame way of adding limited shock value to ideas and statements that aren't strong enough to stand on their own without it. For example, if you start an improv scene with "Fuuuuuck!" it's kind of weak, right? You're going to get laughs, but that vulgarity up front comes with a cost. You lose some of the audience right away and you have to continually top it or else you'll lose the rest of it. To prove that point, the play actually opens with a girl snorting drugs while talking to her mom on the phone--oooh, shocking!
But I didn't come to this to hear swear words and see drug usage. I came for Chris Rock in his Broadway debut.
For someone at Chris Rock's level, the theater is his final frontier. Or I guess maybe politics? The same motivation pushes rappers to become comedians and Christina Aguilera to become a gameshow judge--there's simply just nothing left to do in your field.
The premise of the play is that Bobby Canavale finds some mofo's hat in his girlfriend's apartment. After Bobby puts his nose to the bedsheets and smells "Aqua Velva and dick," they fight and he moves in with his AA sponsor/supposed friend, Chris Rock, a married man who aside from having a bitter wife, seems to have his life together. The identity of the mofo is later discovered and more fighting (stage combat!) and swearing ensues.
It's decent!
PREVIOUSLY ON BROADWAY
* La Bete
* The Pee Wee Herman Show
The Apiary | Post a Comment | 1 Reference tagged Bobby Canavale , Chris Rock , MF with the Hat in Reviews , Show Recap Wednesday Mar 16 2011 The 7th Annual ECNY Awards @ 92YTribeca - 3.14.11
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 1:43PM As custom has it at the ECNY Awards, Andrew WK somersaults on stage then announces the winner of the Emerging Comic Award: Paul Downs! | Photo: Rose Callahan
The stars of NYC comedy made their way to 92YTribeca Monday night to celebrate and party down at The 7th Annual ECNY Awards.
Congrats to all of this year's winners!
Best Male Stand-Up Comedian
Kurt Braunohler
Best Female Stand-Up Comedian
Andrea Rosen
Best Sketch Comedy Group
Serious Lunch
Best Variety Show
Hot Tub with Kurt and Kristen
Best Improv Group
Death By Roo Roo
Best Website
The Comic's Comic
Best Host
Kurt Braunohler and Kristen Schaal
Best Flyer of Postcard Design
The Paul Downs Syndrome – Rylan Morrison
Best Technician
Beowulf Jones
Best Comedy Podcast
Risk! True Tales, Boldly Told
Best Book
The Sexy Book of Sexy Sex – Kristen Schaal and Rich Blomquist
Best Comedic Video (Short or Series)
“Marcel the Shell With Shoes On” – Jenny Slate and Dean Fleischer-Camp
Best Comedy Event
The 12th Annual Del Close Marathon
Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Tweeting
@chrisgethard
Best Storyteller
Tom Shillue
Best Musical Comedy Act (Group or Solo)
Adira Amram
Best One Person Show
“Prison Freaks” – Shannon O’Neill
The Emerging Comic Award
Paul W. Downs
The awards were hosted by Jon Friedman, with trophies presented by past winners Eddie Brill,Glennis McMurray, Gabe Liedman and Max Silvestri, Paul Briganti & Jared Nuemark of Landline.TV, Carol Hartsell, Sara Benincasa, Myq Kaplan, Snakes, Reggie Watts and Morgan Murphy. They were joined by Andrew WK, Eliot Glazer, Livia Scott, Chelsea White, The Moon, Mark Normand, David Cope, and Bobby Tisdale.
With musical performances by:Grease 3: Threase, Stuckey & Murray, Ben Lerman, and Adira Amram & The Experience.
NOTES
--Kurt Braunohler set a new world record for ECNY trophies by taking home 4 of them. One was for The Sexy Book of Sexy Sex, so it wasn't actually his, but still - Kurt is going to need a new mantel in his apartment. The only person to handle more silver donkies that night was ECNY girl, Katherine Bryant Flaherty.
--A record might've been set too for most awards won by people who have starred in NY Lottery commercials - Andrea Rosen and Serious Lunch's Billy Keenly.
--Stuckey and Murray performed in their patented Fuxedosand I gotta say, the only difference between a Fuxedo and a Dior tux is the zipper running through the middle.Jon Friedman revealed he bought one and plans on wearing it to an upcoming wedding.
--The Moon put together some sick intro videos, here's one that I'm quite partial to below. You can check the rest out here.
--During his presentation for Best Female Stand-up, Seth Herzog reminded the crowd of the ECNYs humble beginnings: it was started for the sole purpose of driving traffic to a website called Bald Alien Pimp. How about that! I caught up with Seth on the red carpet before the show and had flashbacks of last year when he got in a HEATED SCOLDING MATCH with a reporter for not knowing who he was. Seth says he's now friends with the victim of his verbal tirade, so everything is cool you guys.
--Speaking of the red carpet, Wrestling Teamwas this year's official interviewers. They said they'll have videos up shortly.
--If you're wondering why the event wasn't at Comix this time around, it's because several ECNYs planners had the foresight to see that the venue was barreling towards closure. Places the show could've been if they stuck with Comix and had to scramble last minute to find a venue: a back alley, an abandoned condo development, or the bike lanes along Prospect Park West (which no one uses).
--The bar area was a bit boisterous and it made hearing the presenters and performers somewhat difficult unless you were close to the stage. Everyone still had fun though, right??
--I hit the FREE Lagunitas beer pretty hard during happy hour and kept chugging the stuff all night. I woke up yesterday morning literally surrounded by 5 different bags of potato chips and a SlimJim wrapper. Fortunately for my body mass index, none of the bags were opened. I sort of recall having a craving for chips at some point on my walk from the subway to my apartment--I guess I just bought as many as I could carry then passed out. I also recall purchasing a salad from Burger King at 3 in the morning too but can't find the receipt.
--Anyway... here are some more photos from the show. All pics courtesy of Rose Callahan Photography.
Adira Amram and the Experience sing a memorable ode to their tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny vaginas.
Mark Normand and David Cope Eddie Brill
Andrea Rosen and Kristen Schaal react to an amazing story from Best Storyteller, Tom Shillue | Photo: Rose Callahan
More Party Photos from the 7th Annual ECNY Awards
The Apiary | Post a Comment tagged 7th Annual ECNY Awards in Reviews , Show Recap Monday Feb 21 2011 Looking Back At: Waiting for Obama: A Night in the Hall of Presidents
Monday, February 21, 2011 at 1:30PM By: Lucas Hazlett
In honor of President's Day, The Apiary takes a look back at Caitlin Tegart's one-act play Waiting for Obama: A Night in the Hall of Presidents.
Photo: Ari Scott First performed at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in 2009 in the wake of President Obama's inauguration into Disney World's 'Hall of Presidents' attraction, and recently staged as a finalist in the 19th Annual Strawberry One Act Festival, Waiting for Obama is a fascinating exploration and challenge to the often-times hagiographic legacies American presidents are historically assigned.
Set on July 3, 2009 in the Hall of Presidents at Disney, seven animatronic presidents (George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Rutherford B. Hayes, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan) eagerly await the arrival of animatronic Barack Obama and testify why each of them is best suited to stand next to America's first black president. At first, each president assumes the archetypal mantel onto which they've been historically placed: Washington touts delivering democracy to the new nation, Lincoln boasts about freeing the slaves and Roosevelt champions his New Deal. A good amount of comedy stems from the fact that Rutherford B. Hayes, an obvious odd-man-out amongst great leaders, lacks much of a leg to stand on.
It is here where Tegart's writing emerges, for it is after each president states their generic historical sound bite that they begin taking each other to task for their shortcomings and the audience is treated to the nitty-gritty of who these men really were. Presidents who start on their high horse are ultimately bucked off and thrown to the mud (Kennedy is constantly taken to task for not actually accomplishing much in office despite history's shining depiction of him). And presidents who start off as assholes, Eisenhower and Reagan, are ultimately portrayed as being the most logical and likable of the group. Particularly Eisenhower, who despite being played early as the wise-cracking peg-knocking villain of the group, ultimately reminds his fellow presidents (and us!) that he was responsible for holding down the national debt, keeping inflation in check, fighting for balanced budgets and prophetically warning the American people about the growing influence of the military-industrial complex. While not as easily distilled into a high-concept brand, Eisenhower defends his time in office as being far more dimensional than history's penchant for chocking entire presidencies up to mere freeing of the slaves or being the first.
Waiting for Obama isn't all sobering lessons from American History 101 though. Being a comedy, there are a ton of delightful bits that run throughout the piece. Each of the dramatic beats are punctuated by an ongoing gag where the presidents take their positions in anticipation of tourists entering the hall, only to be disappointed by the revelation that the tourists are merely disgruntled Disney employees sneaking off for a quick screw; opportunities each of them take advantage of for dirty wordplay ("Looks like Mowgli was showing off his bare necessities"). And President Reagan, God bless him, is always apt for comedy, herein making countless references to popular 80s movies in lieu of actual presidential accomplishments.
Waiting for Obama is an entertaining and hilarious show, and its strength lies within its central critique: what does a man really stand for? Are all of our flaws forgotten and forgiven in exchange for one historically well-perceived course of action? Are all of our great deeds defiled by one mistake? As President's Day rolls on, and the saintly talk pervades, it's nice to know that comedians like Tegart are asking the real questions: where does Obama stand? Well, according to the real Disney World attraction, the answer is center stage, sandwiched between a sitting Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant.
Lucas Hazlett is a comedy geek who improvises with anyone he can. He can be seen performing at the People's Improv Theater (123 East 24th Street) every Wednesday at 8:00PM as part of Super Free Wednesdays.
The Apiary | Post a Comment | 2 References tagged Caitlin Tegart , Waiting for Obama in Reviews , Show Recap Friday Oct 01 2010 La Bête @ The Music Box Theatre - 9.25.10
Friday, October 1, 2010 at 4:45PM
I generally don't see a lot of Broadway shows because the tickets are too pricey, but someone offered me a comp for La Bête and how can one resist? -- it features AbFab's Joanna Lumley! -- I bit. La Bête is a comedy that made its Broadway debut in the early 90's, lasted a couple of weeks and was buried for nearly two decades before someone decided to cast an undead spell on it and run it past London audiences with the intent of bringing it back to New York. So now, the show is back for a "strictly limited engagement" which may or may not be Broadway speak for "We have a hunch that approximately 2 people will like it! But if more than that do, then I guess we'll keep it going."
Click to read more ...
The Apiary | Post a Comment | 2 References tagged Broadway , La Bete , The Music Box Theater in Reviews , Show Recap Thursday Jun 17 2010 The Bonnaroo Survival Guide
Thursday, June 17, 2010 at 4:51PM Bonnaroo is hard to do. If it's not the heat that gets you (as it did this unfortunate soul), then it's the lines at the port-o-potties, the overpriced beer swill, the crowds, and, if you're me, it's the lines to get into the Comedy Theatre.
The Comedy Theatre seats a defying 1,600 folks, and was packed to overflow capacity for the majority of the showcases (especially Conan O'Brien's two shows, and Aziz Ansari's four shows). Kids queued up as early as 7 a.m. for Conan's first show, scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday. They weren't even queuing up for actual seating -- they were staking their claim to a little orange admission ticket that would allow them into the tent when it was time to seat. For Conan's shows, overflow kids were relegated to the neighboring Cinema Tent for a live feed of the performance.
Unfortunately for media (and especially, impatient, sunburned media), there were no special in/out privileges for the Comedy Tent. It was strictly first come, first serve. I was able to catch a few peeps performing in the tent, and some random around-the-fest spottings. Otherwise, the inside of the air-conditioned tent remained a stranger to me for a good majority of the festival. Judging from the lines that existed from morning until night for all scheduled performances, festival-goers were excited to take breaks from the Tennessee sun and the music stages to take in some truly world-class comedy.
Click to read more ...
kristymangel | 1 Comment | 10 References tagged Bonnaroo 2010 in Reviews Wednesday Jun 09 2010 Reviews From Someone With Questionable Sensibilities: Marmaduke
Wednesday, June 9, 2010 at 5:36PM
By: Brian Perry
Don't believe what you hear America - this long overdue big screen adaptation ain't no dog - Marmaduke is a best of breed family comedy.
Marmaduke is a movie that is going to grab you by the scruff of your neck and tell you in plain language exactly what is happening and why. Be warned that it won't ever let go until it pulls you along to the hilarious, heartwarming, flatulent conclusion.
While the average family comedy tends to either bend focus too far in the direction of the simple tastes of children or the sophisticated needs of their parents (most Pixar films make this mistake, except for the exceptional Cars), Marmaduke finds the perfect balance for all ages. It’s all in there--an elaborate cast of characters easily identifiable by telltale stereotypes, bodily function humor of the number two and oft-overlooked number one variety, drug references, and extremely specific pop culture references (Almost Famous, Titanic and The Fugitive just to name a few). See this film with your loved ones and you’ll hear every member of the family laughing simultaneously the whole time.
The acting in this film can't be overlooked. Owen Wilson--who's thankfully no longer on suicide watch--truly owns the iconic role of Marmaduke. I can only imagine that Owen's agent must've handed him this life-affirming script moments after he slashed his left wrist, thus preventing him from opening up his right one, sticking them both in the toilet and flushing all the blood from his body. (Get well soon!)
Whether Marmaduke is playing Dance Dance Revolution, riding in a convertible with sunglasses on, or winning a surfing competition, Wilson truly embodies the awkwardness and size that defines the character. Supporting players also come close to stealing the show here. Carlos Mencia gets the biggest laughs of the film as "Cat." And in one of a handful of non-animal roles, William H Macy smartly keeps the focus on the hilarious talking animals. I was happy to see him finally downplay some of his showier acting tendencies here as I found that his work in Fargo distracted me from the snow and other peoples' funny accents.
While there is a lot to love here, I do have my gripes. The film spent very little time on subplots featuring members of Marmaduke’s human family--and very little time is far too much in a film like this. Why spend any time on developing the family when you’ve got a sure thing--talking, dancing animals? And although you can see every penny of the films $50 million dollar budget on screen, I couldn't help but wish that it was converted to 3D prior to release.
Issues aside, Marmaduke is at its core an extremely successful film. I've got my fingers crossed that the upcoming Heathcliff adaptation starring Tom Hanks works this well, but without the same creative team involved I’m not holding my breath. I'd love to see director Tom Dey move on to other sources begging for a big screen take like Family Circus or Hi and Lois, but in the meantime we’ve got a home run on our hands right now.
No reeking pile of dog shit here, this film is a marmamasterpiece!
The Apiary | 1 Comment | 12 References tagged Marmaduke in Humor , Reviews Tuesday May 25 2010 REVIEW: MacGruber
Tuesday, May 25, 2010 at 4:29PM
I had a feeling that ticket supply might surpass demand when I noticed I was the ONLY person speed-walking from the N train to the cinema in order to buy MacGruber tix 45 minutes before showtime on opening night.
"Two for MacGruber," I instructed the teenage girl working the booth (who was super bored), "It's not sold out yet.. is it??"
"No."
"Oh, thank God... the last one sold out probably, right?"
"Uh... no."
She slid me some stubs and went back to sexting. I had time to kill so I stopped by a liquor store and picked up two pocket-shaped bottles of Jim Beam and loitered at a nearby Duane Reade, paging through the latest GQ while I waited for my friend Kelly, who showed up, predictably, 15 minutes after the start of the movie. She brought with her some pretzel rods, a bag of jelly beans, and 2 bottles of cola for the whiskey.
We settled into our seats and concocted refreshments just as a gratuitous soft-light love scene between MacGruber and Vicki played out on screen. As sultry music swelled in the background, Vicki poked MacGruber's hairy belly button, he gnawed on her willowy toes, there was a shot of a glistening butt, and then a cut to a horrific wide shot of MacGuber grunting and going to town. You can see Kristen Wiig look away from the camera to laugh as Will Forte coos into her face, "I'm gonna fill you up."
The following chain of events in the movie made very little sense because I realized this Loews we were in had foolishly put two MacGruber screenings side by side and we were in the one that started over an hour ago. What's up with that!
So we scurried into the half-full theater we were supposed to be at in time for a sight gag of MacGruber assembling incognito WWE superstars like Chris Jericho, Mark Henry, and the Great Khali for an anti-terrorist dreamteam to take on MacGruber's nemesis, Dieter Von Kunth. Years ago, Dieter had jealously blown up MacGruber's bride-to-be and MacGruber had vowed to exact revenge one day by "ripping off Kunth's dick and shoving it down his throat."
The WWE appearances explain last month's 2-hour MacGruber advertisement on Monday Night Raw, but they don't explain why no one else laughed at the aforementioned gag besides me. Did wrestling fans/the target demographic forget this movie was coming out? Maybe no one got the WWE reference, like this turd from the NY Post. There was no time to dwell on it too much because the wrestlers' roles were cut into cameos as they all perished one scene later in an unfortunate exploding van accident which left MacGruber helplessly pacing and muttering, "No no no no no no!"
Anyways, the film was doused with tons of ridiculous MacGruberisms like, "You think your shit don't stink. But guess what? It does. And it smells like shit," and fun-liners like the ghost of Maya Rudolph moaning, "Wow, wow, wow," in a second gratuitous sex scene.
The strength of MacGruber lies in Forte's killer timing and the character's banal idiocy in the face of grave danger--all of which was gratifyingly speckled throughout. The script is explosively funny and there was great online buzz, so I'm not sure if Relativity Media dropped the promotional ball or what. By the time we made our 3rd move to an even-more-empty theater to catch the very beginning of the movie, my suspicion of a dismal box-office opening was all but confirmed.
The Apiary | 1 Comment | 10 References tagged MacGruber in Reviews Page 1 2 3 4 5 ... 5 Next 8 Entries » Copyright © 2011, [theapiary.org]. All rights reserved.