Diamond Dead (Continued…)

The Baldacchino Gypsy Tent Bar

Remaining performances: July 25 7:30

They say: A new Maverick rises to do battle with the forces of evil in the continued adventures of the zombie rock band Diamond Dead.

Joan says: Spinal Tap meets Re-Animator in this irreverent rock opera.

Whenever you agree to see a play about a band, you wonder whether the actors can can really mount an effective band.  Well no worries here—the Landless Theatre Company hits this one right out of the graveyard.  I will be first in line the day the soundtrack becomes available.  And talk about death metal—4 out of 5 of the band members are actually dead!

As if the premise wasn’t surreal enough, the plot takes a very twisted turn as zombie Sara Palin and the former Miss California (but currently living human) Carrie Prejean crash the concert to battle evil and homosexuality.  Needless to say, the battle doesn’t end well, but the play certainly does.  As the finale says, “You go to heaven for the halo, you go to hell for the rock and roll.”  And surely this rock and roll is worth going to hell for.

See it if: Republicans vs. Zombies is your dream match-up.

Skip it if: You have something against necrophilia and cannibalism.

Jack the Ticket Ripper

Remaining performances: July 18 6:00, 19 2:30
They say: Jack the ticket-taker has never missed a performance in 25 years.  When his job is threatened Jack refuses to be downsized.  A hilarious revenge comedy that will have you asking “Who will Jack off next?”

Joan says: Living is easy, comedy is hard, comedy about slaughtering your coworkers is magnificent.

I have a theory that playwright John Morogiello went to see Sweeney Todd and said to himself afterwards, “What this show really needs is some laughs”.  How right he was!  Jack (delightfully played by Jim Gagne) is a pompous usher.  You don’t like him, but you have to love his boyish enthusiasm for murdering his equally pretentious coworkers.  Each slaying has a surreal sort of  Hannibal Lecter-meets-Elmer Fudd quality to it.  You scream both in horror and delight—and you laugh, and laugh, and laugh.

Jack the Ticket-Ripper is filled with hilarious theater stereotypes, physical comedy, and brilliant one liners.  Julie’s (Charlene Smith) very clever rendition of “He Slays Me” is a particular highlight.   The supporting cast (Stefan Aleksander, Erik Morrison, Ian Blackwell Rogers, Thierry Barston, Shari Lewis and Jacida Bronaugh) all displayed excellent comic timing, and made their characters real and memorable in the brief time they had before Jack exacted his revenge.

I haven’t seen such outrageous fun since Debbie Does Dallas: the Musical.  Jack should be on everyone’s Must See list.

See it if: You thought what Noises Off! needed was some serious blood.

Skip it if: Even Johnny Depp wasn’t enough to entice you to see Sweeney Todd.  But seriously, don’t skip it.  You’ll hate yourself in the morning.

Bag Lady

Remaining performances: July 17 6:00, 23 9:00, 26 noon

They say: “Meet Clara, Russian Empress, Survivor, The Virgin Queen.  She’s the Empress of New York with a bench, a doll, a realm to rule.  Travel light.  Only Essentials.”

Joan says: Ranting and rambling raised to an art form.

Playwright Jean Claude van Itallie premiered this one-woman show 30 years ago in New York City.  I used to spend a lot of time in New York during that period.  The protocol for passing a bag lady was eyes averted.   Now all these years later I have been shown the bag lady in all her madness and glory and I know why I was afraid.

Elizabeth Bruce portrays Clara the Bag Lady with an eerie accuracy.  She exudes a wildly oscillating personality, or perhaps personalities—it’s hard to tell.  Sometimes singing with joy, sometimes cursing in bitterness, she maintains a non-stop patter of stories and philosophy.   It seems that  much of what she says is fantasy—but is it?  In her sad condition, does it even matter?

Though this is technically a one-woman show, the production features recorded voices of people Clara overhears on the street.  They aren’t speaking to her, of course, but their conversational fragments form  the canvas of normal folk on which her art is painted.  And they don’t seem any happier than Clara—which, in this deftly aching show, is perhaps the message.

See it if: You appreciate good acting for its own sake.

Skip it if: Mental illness gives you the screaming heebie-jeebies.

Remaining performances:
July 11 at 6:15 pm;  Jul 12 at 9 pm; Jul 18 at 11 am

They say: Life Inside an Open Kaije covers certain memorable chapters of the playwright’s life while dealing with diabetes and how he was able to overcome each obstacle through narration.

Joan says: Everything you ever wanted to know about living with diabetes but were afraid to ask.

Playwright Kevin Ray Johnson unflinchingly chronicles his metamorphosis from a newly diagnosed 8-year-old into a 20-something man who has finally made peace with the disease.  The normally rocky process of growing up becomes so much more gut-wrenching, thanks to the physical and mental tolls of his disease.

Gregory Joseph Twomey stars as the afflicted Kaije through every stage of his life—which given the breadth of ages is a rather impressive feat.  The supporting cast of two men (Joey Ibanez and Rob Loreto) and one woman (Rosanna Haddad) are left with the daunting task of playing everyone else of import.  Usually the changes in character are clear; occasionally they add a bit of mental vertigo until you recognize their new role. A compelling story, with the actors stretched beautifully to portray a dizzying array of doctors, nurses, friends and family.

See it if: You’d like to become more compassionate courtesy of a behind-the-scenes tour of living with a chronic disease.

Skip it if: You’d rather not need a scorecard to distinguish the players.