Moon #3: “The Magician and the Fish” “Roll for initiative.” Episode 3 of All the Faces of the Moon finds storyteller Mike Daisey in top form. Focused, funny, and full of promise about the overall direction of the piece, this chapter recounts Daisey’s early days playing D&D in rural Maine and the events that led to his becoming a monologist. It culminates with a fateful … Continue reading REVIEW: ALL THE FACES OF THE MOON PART 3
Moon #2: “The Fool Who Walks Through Walls” “There’s something beautiful about it, if you’ve ever gone to an open mic and seen someone dash themselves against the wall of night.” The second installment of Mike Daisey’s All the Faces of the Moon further explores the theme of change. But it’s not just urban change, like the closing of a fondly remembered lounge and amateur performance venue called “Happy Ending” that … Continue reading REVIEW: ALL THE FACES OF THE MOON PART 2
Moon #1: “Playing the Hand You’re Dealt” “I’m going to bore you to tears with the very heart of me.” About halfway through the first installment of Mike Daisey’s All the Face of the Moon, he uses the quote above to liken his monologing to a kind of therapy. It’s a bizarre relationship from his perspective, wherein he talks and talks about his inner life … Continue reading REVIEW: ALL THE FACES OF THE MOON PART 1
Monologist Mike Daisey is currently in the midst of an epic 29-night “theatrical novel” called All the Faces of the Moon. Each night from September 5th through October 3rd, Daisey has performed and will perform a new “chapter” at Joe’s Pub. When I first heard about this ambitious format, my first instinct as someone who (wrongly) considers himself a hardcore theater commentator was that I … Continue reading ALL THE FACES OF THE MOON PRE-GAME
Two or three years ago, I had a reading experience that Carl Sagan would probably describe as downright “numinous.” With a few exceptions, my reading is exclusive to the Audible audiobook app. This allows me to read while commuting between White Plains to Manhattan and doing stuff around the house. Despite nearly everyone’s protestations that I am “not really reading” when I listen to audiobooks, … Continue reading Gestalt Reading: Sagan, Shakespeare, and Human Error
I finally read John Scalzi’s novel Old Man’s War after seeing it on one of those 100 best sci-fi books lists that makes you feel bad for just how little of the sci-fi canon you’ve read. I’ve had a copy on loan from a friend for a year, but have just now gotten to it. My reaction to this was identical to the last book I … Continue reading REVIEW: OLD MAN’S WAR
The future of playwright Peter Zachari’s New York Fringe offering The 3rd Gender promises all kinds of high-tech wonders: ray-guys, body-synced super-smartphones, and talking holograms. Just one catch – if prenatal tests indicate you are not going to be born into the elite sexual class – called the “3rd Gender” – the doctors will use a creepy glowing abortion crystal to terminate you in utero. … Continue reading FRINGENYC REVIEW: THE 3RD GENDER
We’ll begin with a seminal scene from director Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather: It’s a testament to Coppola’s masterful filmmaking that in this scene, when Hollywood hotshot Jack Woltz wakes up in his bed with the severed head of his prized stallion, the horror is so invasive and so telling of the reach of Don Corleone that no one ever gives a second thought to … Continue reading FRINGENYC REVIEW: HORSEHEAD
The Lollapacoacharoozastock Music Festival descends upon the NY Fringe Festival via the Groundlings comedy troupe from LA! The lineup features killer music from the likes of Disney Channel stars Eli Porter and Destyn Reign, country music crooners The Meadow Muffins, 90’s alt-rockers Simon Never Said, and power ballads from the legendary rockers of Plymouth Voyager. Here’s the thing – they are all the same people. … Continue reading FRINGENYC REVIEW: THE LOLLAPACOACHAROOZASTOCK MUSIC FESTIVAL
Harold Bloom, the most muckity of literary muckity-mucks, frequently refers to the works of William Shakespeare as the secular scriptures. Bloom always tends toward hyperbole when talking about Shakespeare, but he’s certainly on to something here; for the intellectuals who find no solace in the Psalms, there are the Sonnets. For the cynics who do not share good news of Jesus, there are plenty of … Continue reading FRINGENYC REVIEW: OLD FAMILIAR FACES
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