Brooklyn

  There is a very telling moment which comes two thirds of the way into Mariah MacCarthy’s play The Foreplay Play which is currently being produced by CAPS LOCK THEATRE  at a site-specific location (WAY off-off Broadway) in Williamsburg.  This dramedy about the tension which builds between two couples as they tentatively (and sometimes not so tentatively) lay [...]

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  Even casual readers of The Happiest Medium know that when it comes to Company XIV and Austin McCormick I am reduced to a screaming fan-girl.  I am older, of course -not a girl, so my screaming is done on the inside (most of the time), but when it comes to this neo-baroque dance ensemble [...]

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  David Lawson’s solo show, VCR Love, had a limited engagement recently at The Brick Theater.  Bold and innovative, this show explored the consequences, both positive and negative, of the increasing availability of porn in American society as seen through his own experiences. The story begins with Lawson’s first “exposure” to explicit nudity at the impressionable [...]

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Wasabassco Extravaganza: Better Than Promised … Night One

by Karen Tortora-Lee November 5, 2011 Brooklyn

      Temperatures were rising last night at the first evening of the two part celebration for Doc Wasabassco’s 7th Anniversary Extravaganza. The blazing hot belles were ravishing, revealing and  resplendant as they strutted, sauntered and slowly stripped their way across the stage of The Bell House last night. But that was only part of [...]

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The National Acrobats Of The People’s Republic Of China

by Geoffrey Paddy Johnson November 4, 2011 Brooklyn

With the rise (and rise) of circus performances in the mold of Cirque de Soleil, western audiences have become more familiar with the astounding acts of physical ability acrobats can achieve, and also increasingly with an old school notion of razzle-dazzle to accompany such acts. Sets and costumes have evolved to elaborately frame these displays [...]

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Wasabassco Burlesque – Celebrating Seven Years And Still Going Strong

by Karen Tortora-Lee November 3, 2011 Brooklyn

If you’re any kind of regular reader of THM then you know that around here we sure love Burlesque.  Lucky us!  Living in New York City as we do, there is no shortage of fantastic Burlesque performers who constantly and consistently have us hooting and hollering and calling out for more. If you, too, are [...]

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Wing-Man Soars (Amuse Bouche – NY Clown Theatre Festival)

by Karen Tortora-Lee September 25, 2011 Brooklyn

I’d say that Mark Gindick had me at “hello” with his one-man comedy performance Wing-Man (directed by Barry Lubin) but he actually never said “hello”.  In fact, he didn’t say anything.  For a solid hour Mark Gindick doesn’t really say a word  but as surely as he arrives on the scene with a rose and [...]

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Neon Lights – Brighter Than The Sun … And Twice As Funny (Amuse Bouche – NY Clown Theatre Festival)

by Karen Tortora-Lee September 25, 2011 Brooklyn

  I don’t even know how to start explaining how or why Neon Lights (created and performed by Chris Manley and Jeff Seal) became the show that had me laughing so hard that I was literally wheezing.  Truthfully, if I gave you a rundown of everything they did in their act it would sound like I’m [...]

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Barry Lubin: From Grandma To Wing-Man

by Karen Tortora-Lee September 24, 2011 Brooklyn

Barry Lubin as Grandma I’ve known Grandma The Clown for as long as I’ve known the Big Apple Circus.  Grandma is as much a part of that circus arena as the sawdust and the trapeze rigging.  But it wasn’t until I saw the PBS documentary CIRCUS that I got to know Barry Lubin – the [...]

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Morro And Jasp GONE WILD – No More Stops Left To Pull Out (Amuse Bouche NY Clown Theatre Festival)

by Karen Tortora-Lee September 18, 2011 Brooklyn

Morro and Jasp Gone Wild is what happens to two teen sisters when, on their way to the beach for Spring Break, they take a wrong turn and find themselves with a wrecked car, a trunk full of props, a book outlining Maslow’s Theory of Hierarchy some possibly mood altering substances, and the threat of [...]

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Mark Gindick Explains The Serious Business Of Clowning Around

by Karen Tortora-Lee September 16, 2011 Brooklyn

  Mark Gindick in Wing-Man (Photo by Florence Montmare)   If you were lucky enough to catch the PBS documentary Circus then you’ve already met Mark Gindick whose antics as a Big Apple Circus clown were prominently featured in that six-part mini series which followed the lives of the performers and crew during their 2008 season.  Or, [...]

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The Domestic Crusaders – Fundamentally Challenged

by The Happiest Medium September 14, 2011 Brooklyn

The Happiest Medium Review by guest contributors Anjali Koppal and Saurabh Paranjape   It has been a rocky decade for America’s relationship with the Muslim world, and while we have heard the voices of everyone from politicians and pundits to ‘Islam experts’ and firebrand evangelicals about the motivations, implications and myriad other ‘-ations’ of the [...]

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Flocked (Amuse Bouche – NY Clown Theatre Festival)

by Karen Tortora-Lee September 11, 2011 Brooklyn

If you were a bird and your entire kingdom consisted of the tiny cage where you slept, ate, drank, preened and otherwise just hung out you’d feel really threatened if another bird came along and tried to knock you off your perch, as it were.  Let alone another bird with habits, styles and affectations much [...]

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She’s Mad But She’s Magic: LOVER. MUSE. MOCKINGBIRD. WHORE

by Karen Tortora-Lee April 18, 2011 Brooklyn

I’m glad when they arrive and I’m glad when they leave. I’m glad when I hear their heels approaching my door and I’m glad when those heels walk away. I’m glad to fuck. I’m glad to care. And I’m glad when it’s over. And since it’s always either starting or finishing I’m glad most of [...]

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Doctor Frankenstein’s Magical Creature – Cries In The Dark

by Karen Tortora-Lee April 1, 2011 Brooklyn

  I had seen Rabbit Hole Ensemble’s The Tragic Story of Doctor Frankenstein (written by Stanton Wood and directed by Edward Elefterion) just a few short months ago  and was so deeply impressed with the way it was presented that I was eagerly anticipating the second of the series  Doctor Frankenstein’s Magical Creature.   Another joint [...]

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Seussical: One Cake, Two Cake, I Have A Toothache

by Karen Tortora-Lee February 4, 2011 Brooklyn

I’m going to be right up front:  I don’t have kids.   I have a darling inner child that I spoil and dote on every chance I get, but as far as a flesh and blood child . . . none exists.  So if I’m a bit cynical when it comes to children’s theatre  . [...]

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Nutcracker Rouge – The Way The Nutcracker Should Be

by Karen Tortora-Lee December 17, 2010 Brooklyn

I’m not going to say a word.  First – take a look at this.  Then we’ll talk. NUTCRACKER ROUGE (Extended Teaser) from Austin McCormick on Vimeo. Just when you think that an Austin McCormick experience can’t get any more divine, any more sensual, or any more stunningly wicked, he whips up another tray of tempting [...]

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