‘How I Got Rich in a Year…’
How I got Rich in a Year, Using That Secret
Flashpoint Mead Theatre Lab
Remaining performances:
Saturday, July 19 @ 4:30 PM; Sunday, July 20 @ 7 PM; Thursday, July 24 @ 7:30 PM
They say: ”Last year, writer/performer Laura Zam wowed audiences with a sold-out show the Washington Post called ‘Smart’…’Funny’…and ‘Beautiful.’ This year, Zam is back with a new solo play about synchronicity and extreme success. Can our heroine manifest wads of cash? Can she cure her friend’s cancer? If not, heaven help us.”
Marianka’s take: Woman in a man’s dress suit plays 6 one-dimensional characters defined and distinguished only by their ACCENTS:
- Sleazy Southern motivational speaker Ken who likes to speak “fake German,” and his unseen, unheard wife.
- Diffident second-generation holocaust survivor and quirky performance artist Laura, lusting for a luxury apartment in Betty Friedan’s building.
- Noo Yawk heckler and his sickly new-age wife.
- Prissy British cult competitor.
Guess what? All except Ken achieve their dreams!
There’s no set, no costumes, no props (sorry, I forgot about the little bongo drum and a couple of chairs), no heft, no “saft” (look that up in your German dictionary), only some forgettable soundtrack for character transitions.
According to the program, this writer-performer has an impressive bio, glowing endorsements, and many helpful friends, but that’s so last year. Her technique is as tight as her drum, but this year’s material is as thin as a fringe.
See it if: You are a believer, skeptic, slob, and/or a friend of Laura’s.
Skip it if: You are not, and you have other choices.
Tags: accents, How I Got Rich in a Year, saft
July 18th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Gosh! What’s up with the City Paper reviewers? WHO are they? Except for a few shows that got nice reviews, they seem to be taking a sick pleasure of trashing Fringe shows, and what’s worse, in quite a mean mocking way too. I didn’t see this show, I can’t speak for it, I didn’t see most shows you are trashing here, fair enough, but I can’t help noticing an air of grumpiness and even annoyance in these reviewers. Seriously guys, take it down a notch, there are real people behind these shows. And just for record, I am not related to Laura or to anyone in any other show, I’m just a reader. And by the way, who is this Marianka? Under what rock did SHE came out?
July 18th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
This is kind of a poor review. I get that Marianka did not like it, due to its lack of props, lavish sets and expensive costumes. But I’m not sure if she understands the pont behind Fringe shows. I wonder if she has even seen much theatre before now. Her quote “but this year’s material is as thin as a fringe” is very ambiguous. Does she mean the show is well placed within the Fringe Festival? Or perhaps she is dissing the Fringe altogether? Who knows? The City Paper should really screen their guest reviewers or their credibility will go down the drain with these amatures. Being able to comment on an MTV clip does not a theatre reviewer make…
Maybe Marianka shouldn’t be reviewing shows if she doesn’t like going? I think I will refrain from reading any more of her rants and take suggestions from DC Theatre Scene instead. At least they know what they’re doing over there!
July 18th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
I have to agree. The guest reviewers seem to vary widely in theater-going experience and review-writing abilities. I’m sure that CapFringe and the City Paper have a nice contract going, but it sure would be lovely if they aligned their goals. With the tagline of “Unjuried, Risk-Taking Independent Performing Arts”, you’d think the CapFringe folks would be more interested in encouraging artists, instead of posting reviews by “critics” who are uninterested in seeing something challenging or who (like in an earlier review) leave halfway through the performance.
July 18th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Jody–
I must tell you that there is no sick pleasure to be had in writing an unfavorable review. A reviewer at a show is like a director at an audition: he or she wants the performance to be good. After all, in both cases the benefit is mutual–a good review and a good time in the theater.
I am looking at the current first page of our blog right now, and I see 3 negative reviews: this one, Life is a Dream (which I wrote), and Power House. The rest of the posts are positive, and several of them are positively glowing (take, for example, Black Jew Dialogues, MANIFESTO, and Dizzy Miss Lizzie). Not that there is or ever should be a quota to meet in terms of “positive” reviews or “negative” reviews. Our goal–or mine at least–is always to provide a thoughtful critique of the show at hand.
There are real people behind these shows, indeed. There are real people behind these blog posts as well. When you display something you have created, you submit yourself to the world’s critique, be it a critic’s review or a comment on a blog post. There are a lot of shows in this festival (120), and it is impossible to see all of them. For Fringe-goers who wish to spend their time and money wisely, a blog like this–which includes opinions that run the gamut, from professionals, amateurs, and commenting passers-by–can be a very useful tool in parsing out what is worthwhile to them. The comments can also be useful to this end, so if you do end up seeing a show that we have railed on but you happened to enjoy, I encourage you to say so in the comments, and then let the reader filter the information and decide for herself.
July 18th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Sounds fair, and please let me clarify: “some” reviewers seem to take a sick pleasure.
To me, this is unnecessary and mean:
“See it if: You are a believer, skeptic, slob, and/or a friend of Laura’s. Skip it if: You are not, and you have other choices.”
Thanks
July 18th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
In response to Fringe Enthusiast and GG:
First off, I would like to make it clear that our unpaid guest reviewers are always noted as such.
Second, with this year’s F&P blog you are witnessing an experiment not unlike a Fringe production. Just as a Fringe Festival attracts a different kind of artist, so does it attract a different kind of audience. Our thought was that perhaps a professional reviewer wasn’t always the right perspective to have on a Fringe blog, and so we tried to capture the diversity of the festival in our stable of guest reviewers. We’ve got a few budding playwrights, a few Fringe fanatics, a woman over 65, a Brit, an MFA in dramatic criticism from the Yale Drama School, and a few who have never reviewed a show before. It is a motley crue indeed–not unlike our readership–and we submit it to you humbly in the hopes that you take our opinions for what they are worth and leave them for what they aren’t. This is “Unjuried, risk-taking” criticism.
July 18th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Responding to all the above,
I did, in fact, see this play last night. I was attracted by the title so I went on a whim. And I loved it! I agree with those that said the reviewer seems inexperienced. As far as I could tell, the show was a satire that also touched upon some very deep issues — faith in a universal benevolence, the function of faith when dealing with terrible life circumstances, and the unique brand of hope offered by our current new age movements. Plus, the show seemed to pack a fun/thoughtful punch with very little in the way of production elements — thus no set or expensive costumes or props. Isn’t this the spirit of Fringe??? It seems like the reviewer just didn’t get it, frankly.
I know that two people can see the same show have TOTALLY different opinions. I also understand, Brian, that the reviewers are people too. That said, they influence people’s attendance at events like this so they should have some knowledge of theater, or dance, or whatever they are reviewing. Not liking a play and saying why is valuable information. Taking pot shots at the theater artists because of the people they thanked in their program is just being mean.
That’s my opinion.
Julia
Also the owner of an MFA (in Dramaturgy)
July 19th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
According to the program distributed at the Mead Theatre lab, the full title of Laura Zam’s play is
HOW I GOT RICH IN ONE YEAR, USING THAT SECRET: A PLAY FOR BELIEVERS, SKEPTICS AND SLOBS, thus my comment