August 2010

A Creek, A Cave, A Beer, A Theme And 1001 Nights

by Karen Tortora-Lee August 19, 2010 Event

Sometimes you just need a break from all the Fringe going on all around you.  Alternately, maybe you’re just looking for some good guacamole and chips with a side of laughs.  Or you just want to hang out with your friends at the bar downing some beers with the cozy feeling of a room full [...]

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Gate B23: Getting There Is Half The Fun And Double The Heartache (Fringe Festival 2010)

by Stephen Tortora-Lee August 19, 2010 Festivals

What do you do when you’re waiting….And waiting….AND WAITING…. At Gate B23 (written and directed by Debbie Slevin) we watch as 7 people try to figure out what to do when they are forced to look more deeply into their lives – because this time they’re not allowed to just gloss over  all the situations [...]

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PigPen Presents: The Nightmare Story (Fringe Festival 2010)

by Karen Tortora-Lee August 18, 2010 Festivals

If you’re looking for a simple little story, told in a simple little way, but one which deceptively leaves you with the feeling that you’ve just seen a full scale production, The Nightmare Story is the show for you. Taking a cue from old folk tales, the men of PigPen begin to weave a tale [...]

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De Profil: ‘Le Concert’

by Anne Jordanova August 18, 2010 De Profil

I don’t ordinarily feature films in the ‘De Profil’ section on THM, but I figured this is a grand exception.  As I walked past the Aneglika today in Manhattan, I saw a film poster for “The Concert” starring a wonderful French actress named Melanie Laurent. I decided to check it out, and was blown away [...]

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Happy Birthday Mom – Her Daughter Would Not Have Approved (Fringe Festival 2010)

by Lina Zeldovich August 17, 2010 Festivals

Dressed in leather, excited and nearly flying around her house, Elizabeth (Janice Lynde) is setting up her living room with candles and flowers in preparations for her fifty-fifth birthday date, when her college-age daughter Olivia (Michelle Glavan) unexpectedly shows up. She has flown in to celebrate Mom’s special day, only Mom’s not excited one single [...]

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Driving The Saudis – How It Nearly Drove Her Crazy (Fringe Festival 2010)

by Lina Zeldovich August 17, 2010 Festivals

“The worst job I ever had,” is how writer and actress Jayne Amelia Larsen describes her staggering experience of being a driver for a Saudi family on their Beverly Hills vacation. The family (along with their entourage) took up several floors in a luxury hotel, keeping one room as a tea room, and embarked on [...]

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Classically Trained, Practically Broke – Beautifully Done (Fringe Festival 2010)

by Karen Tortora-Lee August 16, 2010 Festivals

Get seated early to see Classically Trained, Practically Broke (Franca Vercelloni’s solo show, directed by Myrna E. Duarte and John David West) and you’ll get an earful of what Franca is subject to on a nightly basis – the caterwauling of half drunk patrons who gather around her piano at the bar she works at and [...]

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Ruby Wilder – The Wilder The Better (Fringe Festival 2010)

by Karen Tortora-Lee August 16, 2010 Festivals

I hadn’t intended to see Ruby Wilder, but boy am I glad that I mistakenly stood in front of the wrong theatre for 20 minutes waiting for my show to begin; it gave me an opportunity to meet and chat with a terrific new talent –  Eric Hoff – who I hope I can interview [...]

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Omarys Concepcion Lopez Perez Goes To Israel (To Speak To God At The Wailing Wall) – (Fringe Festival 2010)

by Antonio Miniño August 16, 2010 Festivals

This one woman show at the New York International Fringe Festival is the stuff we live for here at The Happiest Medium; as managing director Karen Tortora-Lee will tell you, our mission is to highlight, showcase and celebrate our favorite medium, and that is exactly what writer/performer Leila Arias does in Omarys Concepcion Lopez Perez [...]

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Macbeth – Behind Every Good Man . . .

by Karen Tortora-Lee August 16, 2010 Manhattan

This may not be a popular theory, but I always felt that if Shakespeare were alive today and writing this Scottish play the plot might very well be the same . . . but the title would be Lady Macbeth and the emphasis would be completely different.  For without the devious, devilish, deliciously deceitful Lady [...]

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SHINE: A Burlesque Musical With A Story To Tell (Fringe Festival 2010)

by Lina Zeldovich August 15, 2010 Festivals

Shine Mionne (Cass King) runs her operation on a corset string, but she stands by her ideals: a true edgy burlesque show with no glitzy Broadway feel. The roof leaks, lights break, the performers don’t get paid sometimes, but everyone is family and a star, including the real big girl Lucy Von Doozy (Andra Boo Green), [...]

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Special Edition Giveaway – Fringe Edition

by Karen Tortora-Lee August 14, 2010 Festivals

We couldn’t let this month go by without offering a very special Fringe Edition of The Happiest Medium Giveaway. So even thought we already gave away tickets this month – we’re doing it again! After graciously doing an interview, the team at Banshee of Bainbridge has offered to dontate 2 tix to some lucky winners. [...]

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Celebrating Life, Love, And Connections – Congratulating Carol Carpenter

by Karen Tortora-Lee August 13, 2010 Festivals

The Happiest Medium was honored to be a Media Partner of the 2010 Planet Connections Festivities. Not only did we, as a team, get to interview some of the most talented writers and directors than any festival (or festivity for that matter) has to offer, but we made some lasting connections.  One of them is [...]

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Friday The 13th Unlucky? Nonsense! It’s Opening Night For Fringe 2010!

by Karen Tortora-Lee August 13, 2010 Festivals

We take our festivals very seriously around here, in case you hadn’t noticed.  Show me a festival and I’ll show you a THM contributor sitting front and center, scribbling furiously in the dark.  But there’s no denying, there’s a festival, and then there’s the Fringe Festival – the one we all wait for  . . [...]

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4 Cents Review: The Princes Of Darkness – They Just Need Love Too

by 4 Cents Reviews August 13, 2010 4 Cents Review

4 Cents Review – When 2 reviewers each give their 2 cents. Today Stephen Tortora-Lee and Karen Tortora-Lee give their 4 Cents about The Princes Of Darkness which is playing at Theater for the New City. Before The Princes of Darkness (written and performed by Bill Connington)  even begins there’s an ambiance created by sound [...]

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An Interview With The Creative Team Behind “Banshee Of Bainbridge” (Fringe Festival 2010)

by Karen Tortora-Lee August 12, 2010 Festivals

We’re very lucky here, at The Happiest Medium, to have such talented contributors.  Our very own Diánna Martin is on a roll – having just directed Good Lonely People for The Planet Connections Festivity she now is working with Jim Tierney’s gritty, gripping play, Banshee of Bainbridge, which will be part of this year’s Fringe [...]

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Too Much Of A Good Thing Can Be Wonderful! – Mae West’s Birthday Bash

by Karen Tortora-Lee August 11, 2010 Event

If the name Mae West means nothing to you, then you should come up and see me some time . . . and I’ll fill you in. My knowledge of this woman – her life, her career, her philosophy – is so encyclopedic that a friend once suggested I teach a college course on her. [...]

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