Applause! Applause! Review of Mart Crowley's The Boys In The Band at Studio Theatre Long Island by Dr. Thomas Robert Stevens

This review of Mart Crowley's The Boys In The Band at Studio Theatre Long Island was written by Dr. Thomas Robert Stevens and published in Volume X, Issue 5 (2015) of the online edition of Applause! Applause!

The Boys In The Band
Written by Mart Crowley
Directed by David Dubin
Studio Theatre Long Island
141 South Wellwood Avenue
Lindenhurst, New York
Reviewed 7/17/15 at 8:00 p.m. 

The Boys In The Band opened off-Broadway on April 14, 1968 at Theatre Four where it ran for more than 1,000 performances. A feature film of the same name was released by Cinema Center Films in 1970. The play had a brief revival at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in Greenwich Village, opening on August 6, 1996 and closing on October 20, 1996, and, in 2010, the Transport Group Theatre Company converted a 12th Floor Penthouse at 37 West 26th Street in Manhattan (with a view of the Empire State Building) into a 99-seat theater for another revival of the play that ran from February 12, 2010 to March 28, 2010. The Boys In The Band has been said to be the first play that showed "uncloseted gay men in their natural habitat" while "celebrating the humanity of every nelly, self-flagellating gay stereotype" that exists. While that is a bit harsh, it is also somewhat accurate.

The play is set in an apartment in New York City in 1968 where Michael is hosting a birthday party for his friend Harold, who is turning 42 in this production. He invites Donald, Emory, Bernard, Hank and Larry but Emory also brings Cowboy as a present for Harold, and Alan, Michael's straight friend from college, also shows up unexpectedly with something he claims he needs to get off his chest. During the exceedingly depressive and non-festive party, we learn more about the backgrounds of each of the characters. After he falls off the wagon and starts to drink again, Michael, the host, turns increasingly nasty pushing the party guests to play a game where each calls someone they once loved on the telephone and reveals that secret to him. The vicious and ill-spirited game was concocted by Michael to try to get his friend Alan to admit he is gay and loved Justin, an old college friend he was very close to, but the plan backfires and Alan calls his wife instead reconciling with her after experiencing the collection of freaks, misfits, and dysfunctional individuals he has met at the party. Ironically, after causing all this trouble, Michael heads out to midnight mass at St. Malachy's leaving Donald on the sofa reading a book by Franz Kafka suggesting the story we just saw was Kafkaesque in nature (i.e. senseless, bizarre, disorienting, and nightmarishly complex).

David Dubin, the director, wrote in a note in the program, that "the rationale for producing this play at our theatre at this time is to show by contrast how far our society has evolved." To drive home the point, Mr. Dubin opens this production with a television newscast reporting the Supreme Court's decision legalizing gay marriage throughout the country followed by a flashback to demonstrations fighting for more funding for A.I.D.S. and more police involvement in stopping hate crimes against the homosexual community. However, this play, far from being outdated, is as relevant today as it was when it opened in 1968. If anything, with the advent of A.I.D.S. and the epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases, having gay sex has become more risky and problematic than it was back in the day. Sure, the days of wearing a butterfly and asking someone if they were "a friend of Dorothy" are mostly over, but now everyone has their "type" and given the smaller pool of those inclined to engage in same gender sexual encounters, many gay men and lesbians are as lonely as ever and the "hook-ups" that do still occur are almost exclusively about engaging in sex, except now with more specificity and likes and dislikes than ever, promoted and reinforced by the easy accessibility of pornography on the internet.

It is easy to recognize the characters in this play, no matter what time period it is set in. Larry is a fashion designer who prefers multiple sex partners and previously slept with Donald, who is undergoing psychoanalysis and has moved out of the city to get away from the homosexual "lifestyle." Hank is Larry's live-in boyfriend, an athletic former basketball player who is separated from his wife, passes as straight, and would like to be in a monogamous, and not an open, relationship with Larry. Bernard is an African-American, who still pines for the wealthy white boy who lived in the house where his mother once worked as a maid. Bernard's friend, Emory, is flamboyant and effeminate (he says he "still hasn't finished reading Atlas Shrugged, which he began back in 1912"). Cowboy is an attractive, young, not-too-bright hustler everyone makes fun of and expects to keep quiet (someone actually asked him "to wait over there with the rest of the presents"). Harold, the birthday boy, is an aging "pock-marked, Jew fairy" by his own description who takes pills ("Give me Librium or Give me Meth"), smokes marijuana, and is always on the verge of committing suicide. Michael, the host and Harold's frenemy, is a recovering Roman Catholic alcoholic, who still feels guilt about being a homosexual, and is a nasty drunk. Alan, Michael's friend, is an upright, married, self-identified straight man who will fool around with other straight-acting men so long as the sex is viewed as simply "giving each other a helping hand" as opposed to being homosexual in nature. After all, it is one thing to experiment and quite another to self-identify or be identified as a faggot.

This production of The Boys In The Band features a very talented ensemble cast. The four standouts are Michael Harrison Carlin (Harold), Robbie Dema (Cowboy), Ryan Nolin (Emory), and Joe Marshall (Michael). I should mention that Michael Harrison Carlin is a member of the Beaux Arts Society, Inc., a prestigious group of artists founded in 1857. His talent was quite evident in this show. Robbie Dema, making his professional acting debut in this production, is a very charismatic actor with a strong stage presence. I look forward to seeing more of his work. Ryan Nolin acts as if he were born to play the part of Emory. I was very moved when, even after having been beaten on by Alan, he was still concerned about getting him a plate of food. Joe Marshall, the Founder, President and Artistic Director for the Alternative Theatre Company based in New York, portrayed Michael as a positively hateful and self-hating individual. Fine performances were also delivered by Angelo DiBiase (Alan), Eugene Gamblin (Hank), George Ghossn (Larry), and Jeff Greene (Donald). 

I highly recommend you go see this production of The Boys In The Band. Far from finding it a relic from another era, you will find the material fresh and relevant, and the characters familiar and true-to-life. Sure, nothing much of note happens at the party, and there aren't many funny lines but you will get some insight into the motivations and thoughts of the various characters attending the party. You will be reminded, straight or gay or somewhere in-between, that sometimes the meaning you placed on a sexual encounter with another individual, is not viewed with the same meaning or intensity as you perceived it. You will understand why some people need to get drunk in order to engage in "the love that dares not speak its name" and then claim they can't remember a thing about what happened the night before. After all, if you don't talk about it, it never happened!

The Boys In The Band plays at Studio Theatre Long Island through July 26, 2015. Tickets are $25.00. For more information, call 631-226-8400 or visit: https://www.studiotheatreli.com/

Applause! Applause! Review of 702 Punchlines & Pregnant: The Jackie Mason Musical at The Broadway Comedy Club by Dr. Thomas Robert Stevens

This review of “702 Punchlines & Pregnant: The Jackie Mason Musical" at The Broadway Comedy Club was written by Dr. Thomas Robert Stevens and published in Volume X, Issue 5 (2015) of the online edition of Applause! Applause!

702 Punchlines & Pregnant: The Jackie Mason Musical

Book, Music & Lyrics by Ginger Reiter

Additional Material by Ian Wehrle

Orchestrations by Noriko Sunamoto

Choreography by Lara Clear

The Broadway Comedy Club

318 West 53rd Street

New York, New York 10019

Reviewed 7/15/15 at 2:00 p.m.

According to Ginger Reiter, she and Jackie Mason had a passionate, seasonal love affair for ten (10) years from September, 1977 to December, 1988. If you ask Jackie, he might say they fooled around once in the back seat of a Chevy. In any case, due to Ginger wearing a diaphragm "most of the time," a little package of joy was born. A paternity suit confirmed baby Sheba was, in fact, Jackie's daughter and he paid Ginger child support until Sheba turned eighteen. Jackie Mason was more interested in fooling around than having a wife or child, so he has remained estranged from his daughter to this day. 702 Punchlines & Pregnant: The Jackie Mason Musical is an honest account of their relationship from Ginger's perspective. Her daughter, Sheba Mason, plays her in this surprisingly upbeat musical. Ginger still lives in Florida, while Sheba Mason, just like her father, is a stand-up comic appearing in most New York City comedy clubs including The Broadway Comedy Club, The New York Comedy Club, The Comedy Corner, and The Comic Strip. 

Ginger Reiter is an extraordinarily talented composer, lyricist, and playwright. This musical contains twenty (20) original songs you will want to hear over and over again, such as "The Breeze Is Sweeter In Miami," "Ode To The Early Bird Special," "Much Truth In Jest," and "What Do They Want From Me Anyway." The show opens in Wolfie Cohen's Rascal House Restaurant (whose slogan is, "You'll be glad when you're fed, you 'rascal' you!") in Miami Beach, Florida, where they first met. Ginger's mother definitely encouraged her daughter to continue to see Jackie, who would call her each year when he was performing at hotels and comedy clubs in the Miami area during the Winter Season. Once he left the area, there were no phone calls. However, Ginger and her mother were convinced Jackie had a special appreciation for and connection with Ginger, a teacher of the hearing impaired who was a belly dancer on the side, as opposed to the other women he slept with "for his ego." Jackie would often say, "love is not in my vocabulary, but I have strong feelings for you." As for marriage, he supposedly said, "It's like a yacht. If you're not in the market for a yacht, it doesn't matter how good the yacht is."

Ian Wehrle is a remarkably talented actor and impersonator. He does a spot-on Jackie Mason and has all his gestures and intonations down pat. My only criticism is that he should speak a little slower so the audience can understand everything he says. Ian is a composer, an arranger, and a founding member of the Identity Theater Company. Sheba Mason, who plays herself and her mother Ginger, is a vivacious force of nature; a bright light and a charismatic presence on stage. Eric Anthony Lopez is making his Off-Broadway debut in this production in the role of Nelson Zee. He recently appeared as a Featured Contestant on American Idol on FOX and clearly has the voice and acting talent to make his mark in this musical. Trevor Crane, who is originally from Canada, does a good job playing Wooley the Schlepalong (Jackie's wing man), who delivers invitations to young women to attend Jackie's shows and to have dinner with him. Jennifer Yadav, who was extraordinary as Mrs. Olivier, Ginger's mother, is Managing Director of the classical acting workshop Shakespeare Without Fear. The two Rascal House waitresses were Mary Lauren (Trixie, dressed as a French maid), and the hilarious Jasmine Renee Thomas (Rosa, the Cranky Waitress dressed in black leotards and bunny ears). Although there was no intermission between Act 1 and Act 2, you still get to see Rosa bent over cleaning up the restaurant. All I will say is that you will get to see the dark side of the moon, up close and personal!

I highly recommend you see 702 Punchlines & Pregnant: The Jackie Mason Musical. It is a magnificent, undiscovered gem with a talented ensemble cast and inspiring, well-written music. I saw the show the last time it had a run in New York and I became a big fan of the music. Unfortunately, the songs are not yet on CD, although you can hear most of them on YouTube. Still, there is nothing like hearing them in person in the context of the show. At one point, someone asked who would want to see a show like The Vagina Monologues and an audience member shouted out, "I would! I would!." That audience member was John DeMaria, President of The Jackie Mason Musical Fan Club and the only Intellectually-Challenged Adult Working Actor appearing in an Off-Broadway show. He asked me to tell you that he thinks this musical is "the greatest show in New York." It is certainly one of the best Off-Broadway musicals currently playing and I encourage you to go out of your way to see it. For more information and tickets, visit http://www.thejackiemasonmusical.com/   

Sheba Mason ends the play as herself with the following line, "my father has gone on to do eight (8) one-man Broadway shows, movies, TV shows and became a legend...and as for me - well, I just hope that I have a pinkie finger worth of his talent and a quarter for every early bird special my parents went to when they were in love!" If Jackie Mason would ever speak to me about this topic, I would tell him he has a lovely, talented daughter and that he should reconcile with her before it is too late. Accepting her, having a few dinners here and there would go a long way to healing the emotional wounds Sheba has suffered through no fault of her own. I am told that the last time Sheba saw her father having the early bird special at the Apple Jack Diner in Manhattan, she went over to him to say hello, and recognizing her, he told her to get away from him. As for the musical, Jackie Mason sued to stop it but was unsuccessful since it was written wholly by Ginger Reiter. His comment afterwards was, "I hope she makes a million dollars, as long as she doesn't ask me for a penny."

Applause! Applause! Review of Tim Ruddy's The International at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater by Dr. Thomas Robert Stevens

This review of “The International" at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater was written by Dr. Thomas Robert Stevens and published in Volume X, Issue 5 (2015) of the online edition of Applause! Applause!

The International

A Play by Tim Ruddy

Directed by Christopher Randolph

Peter Jay Sharp Theater

at Playwrights Horizons

416 West 42nd Street

New York, New York 10036

Reviewed 7/15/15 at 7:30 p.m.

The play opens with three people viewing abstract art paintings in a modern art museum somewhere in the world. Each eventually takes a bench and alternately tells us their story. Two were directly involved in an unnamed armed conflict and one watched the conflict on television. All were individually traumatized by what they saw and experienced. Although no particular war or battle was mentioned, it is clear to me that playwright Tim Ruddy has written about the siege and overrunning of Srebrenica in July, 1995 by units of the Bosnian Serb Army of Republika Srpska aided by a paramilitary unit from Serbia known as the Scorpions. In April, 1993, the United Nations declared the enclave of Srebrenica in the Drina Valley of Northeast Bosnia a "safe area" under United Nations protection. In July, 1995, there were 370 soldiers from Dutchbat (Dutch Battalion) under the command of the United Nations in UNPROFOR (United Nations Protection Force) that were fired upon and failed to prevent the town from being overrun by Bosnian Serb forces. It is estimated that 8,000 Muslim Bosniak men and boys were killed, 6,838 of which were identified through DNA analysis of body parts found in mass graves.

With Bosnian Serb units advancing through the countryside, UNPROFOR's "Blue Shirts" advised the local Muslim population to travel to Srebrenica so they could get food and water and be under the protection of the United Nations International Force. Upon entering the enclave, all Bosnian men and women had to surrender their weapons. Because Bosnian Serbs held the high ground around the town, not only did snipers continue to kill people on an hourly basis but food deliveries also came to a halt. The little food that made it to the town via the black market was sold to the few refugees who had money. UNPROFOR's soldiers were under strict orders not to fire back unless directly fired upon and the Muslim refugees had surrendered their weapons so they could not fight back. Air strikes that were called in never fully materialized and eventually the town was overrun and the Dutch UNPROFOR soldiers were forced to surrender. There was a general feeling that the International Community did not do enough to prevent this massacre from taking place. While that certainly is true, it is an issue that continues to come up. Should we have done more to protect the Jews during World War II? What about the estimated 1,500,000 people who died due to starvation, execution, disease and overwork during the brutal regime of Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge movement in Cambodia from 1975-1979? Where was the world community when a million Tutsi and moderate Hutu were killed in Rwanda during a 100-day period from April-July, 1994? Should we be doing more to stop Boko Haram running riot and kidnapping little girls in northern Nigeria? What about the ISIS executions and oppression taking place today in the territory they control between Syria and Iraq in the Middle East? Tim Ruddy, the playwright, has an answer to these questions, that goes well beyond the need for government action. Mr. Ruddy calls for individual action and individual responsibility. He says,"All of us are now colluding in international massacres because we sit back and hope that our politicians will do something about it, but when they don't, we don't either."

While all these problems are bigger than the life of any one person, The International reminds us that individual people are, in fact, deeply and personally affected in every war and every conflict. Many die, others lives will never be the same. One of the three main characters in this play is Irena, a bright, passionate farmwoman who watches her idyllic village life shattered by an encroaching conflict. She is excited about attending a wedding in the town square when a group of non-Muslim soldiers show up and slice the throat of a small male Muslim child, simply because they can. Irena tells us about her family's 15-kilometer trek to the "safe area," describes conditions there, and recalls how she offered up her body to the enemy so they would spare the life of her ten-year old son, only to see him shot in the face by his schoolteacher, who she considered a friend. Hans is the second major character in the play. He is a well-meaning international peacekeeper, one of a battalion of Dutch soldiers who were unable to protect the Muslims who had trusted them. At first his outpost is overrun and he watches two of his comrades die. Then, while in the "safe area," he experiences the frustration and helplessness of watching people around him get killed, without being able to do anything about it. Hans eventually is forced to kill a Bosnian Serb sniper, a child soldier, who was about to kill him. He now suffers from PTSD. Dave, the third character in the play, is an artist and truck driver who lives in Los Angeles. He has watched this whole crisis unfold on CNN and is shocked that no one is coming to help the people who are trapped and starving. Eventually, he cynically bets the enemy will destroy the local population before anyone comes to help them. Dave ends up winning the bet but is traumatized by his inability to have done anything about the situation. Perhaps Irena best reflected the feelings of all three characters and their experiences when she says at the end of the play, "There is no one left who knows who I am." 

The International will give you insight into what it is like to be touched by war and human brutality. You will feel the frustrations and see the logic behind the decisions that people make during times of crisis, disease, hunger and death. You will question bureaucratic decision-making and find out why the inability to act and to defend yourself and others can cause more stress and anxiety than giving yourself a fighting chance against aggressors. You will observe why it is so easy to become detached from the horrible violence taking place in the world especially when you are in the process of planning a Disney vacation or trying to deal with your own domestic family life. Finally, you will be reminded how violent and sadistic individuals can become, especially in time of war, when they are unrestrained and view their enemies as sub-humans. With Timothy Carter as Hans, Carey Van Driest as Irina, and Ted Schneider as Dave, this brilliant and talented ensemble cast will take you on an emotional roller coaster leaving you feeling drained by the end of this engaging 80-minute journey. The International is a powerful, moving and honest drama that provides insight into the souls of all three characters, who now find peace in the quiet of a modern art museum where abstract art best represents the chaos of the inner conflicts each has individually experienced.

Three years ago, Origin Theatre Company commissioned Tim Ruddy to write a ten-minute piece, with the support of The Cell, that specializes in incubating new work. That piece, The International, was eventually expanded to 40 minutes and then 80 minutes. At Origin's 1st Irish Theatre Festival 2013, The International won awards for Tim Ruddy as Best Playwright and Carey Van Driest as Best Actress. The International premiered Off-Broadway for a four week run at The Cell from April 3-May 4, 2014 (with the opening on April 10, 2014). The show is now back for 21 encore performances (thanks to Urbanite Theatre from Sarasota, Florida), from July 15-August 2, 2015. Tickets, which are $45.00 to $65.00, are available via Ticket Central by phone at 212-279-4200, or online at www.ticketcentral.com 

Applause! Applause! Review of the book Russian Optimism: Dark Nursery Rhymes To Cheer You Right Up by Dr. Thomas Robert Stevens

This review of Ben Rosenfeld's Russian Optimism: Dark Nursery Rhymes To Cheer You Right Up was written by Dr. Thomas Robert Stevens and published in Volume X, Issue 5 (2015) of the online edition of Applause! Applause!

Russian Optimism: Dark Nursery Rhymes To Cheer You Right Up 

Edited & Translated by Ben Rosenfeld

Illustrated by Dov Smiley

ISBN: 978-0-9908552-0-0

Reviewed 7/13/15 

Ben Rosenfeld was born in the Soviet Union and immigrated to the United States when he was four years old. He spoke Russian at home and soon realized the biggest cultural difference between his native and adopted country was the level of optimism. As Ben wrote in the introduction to his book, "Generally speaking, Americans expect each generation to accomplish more than the previous one...Americans view suffering as a temporary setback whereas Russians see it as inevitable." Of course, Russians don't view themselves as pessimists but as realists. The oxymoronically titled Russian Optimism: Dark Nursery Rhymes To Cheer You Right Up contains thirty (30) dark "nursery rhymes" divided into seven (7) ironically titled chapters. Each micro-story contains a colorful illustration by Dov Smiley, the rhyming Russian-language text, a non-rhyming English translation and a phonetic spelling of the original Russian in case non-Russian language readers want to try to impress their Russian friends.

I see many of these stories, not so much as nursery rhymes, but as jokes that try to find humor in the bad circumstances Russian people found themselves in. So, for example, when a weak economy brought about a shortage of meat, Russians turned to dark humor to make light of their inability to have meat on the dinner table. In "Dinner," Volodya is found to be too tall to fit into the oven. The English translation is,"Mom looked at Volodya with sorrow: No, he won't fit into the stove! His dad went to the closet looking for the saw, They really need to serve roasted meat at dinner." In "Gamey Meat," a similar scenario is played out. It reads, "Dad chewed meat in the kitchen. 'This is really gamey,' he said. Little Peter lowered his eyes in embarrassment. 'I boiled Aunt Fannie for a really long time!" Other stories involve murder, suicide, mutilation, attempted rape, terrorist attacks, as well as being blown up by land mines, grenades, and run over by trains, cement trucks, bulldozers, and lawnmowers. Just in case those themes are too tame for your taste, you will also encounter a story about a dad who gave his daughter a razor blade telling her it was a "lip harmonica" and a father whose testicles are chewed off by a rat hiding in a toilet bowl. There are a few less gruesome stories in the book, such as one where a grandmother rushes to the window after her grandson fell from the second floor relieved that he didn't knock over her flowerpot, or the one where Grandma Vera punishes children who steal cherries from her yard by coating those trees with poison. As this last story reflects, some of the stories are intended to portray a moral message. Others not so much.

The stories contained in Russian Optimism: Dark Nursery Rhymes To Cheer You Right Up are best read in Russian. However, whether you speak English or Russian, these morbid tales should be shared and discussed in a group setting. Everyone will have something unique to add as they consider whether a particular story is a morality tale, reflects a social or cultural phenomenon, is an expression of youthful rebellion, or an attempt by parents and grandparents to squash their off-spring's deviant and disobedient behavior. In any case, you will find the book entertaining and insightful. To purchase the book, go to http://russianoptimism.com    

Ben Rosenfeld is a comedian and writer who has appeared on FOX's Laughs, CBS This Morning and Rooftop Comedy. He has been featured as TimeOut New York's Joke Of The Week, twice headlined at Caroline's on Broadway, hosted at Lincoln Center and performs nightly in New York City. Each week, he co-hosts the Passive Aggressive Podcast and recently released his first comedy album, Neuro Comedy, both of which are available on iTunes. Ben Rosenfeld was mostly recently invited to perform at the Summer Soiree of the Beaux Arts Society, Inc., founded in 1857. For more information, visit his website at http://www.bigbencomedy.com/  

Applause! Applause! Review of Churchill at New World Stages by Dr. Thomas Robert Stevens

This review of “Churchill" at New World Stages was written by Dr. Thomas Robert Stevens and published in Volume X, Issue 5 (2015) of the online edition of Applause! Applause!

Churchill

Adapted & Performed by Ronald Keaton

Directed by Kurt Johns
New World Stages 

340 West 50th Street

New York, New York 10019
Reviewed 6/25/15 at 8:00 p.m.

Churchill is the first project of SoloChicago Theatre, the only Equity theatre in the country dedicated to promoting the art of solo performance. Ronald Keaton, who adapted and stars in this one-man show, gives a compelling portrayal of Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill in this warm, witty, engaging and entertaining show. Churchill was a hit in Chicago during its run at The Greenhouse Theater Center. It opened Off-Broadway at New World Stages in February and is still going strong. Ronald Keaton presents us with a warmer, gentler, reflective man who enjoys painting and spending time with his family and children but who is also resolutely committed to defending Britain from Nazi aggression and to making his mark, which to a large extent he believes to be his destiny. The play is set in 1946 and Churchill is speaking to an American audience about his life, challenges and adventures. His story is told primarily in chronological order with images flashing on the back wall from the various time periods of his life (e.g. military school, a scene of battle, his wife). The play opens with Winston Churchill dabbing his brush at a canvas and announcing that he prefers to paint in oils because doing so allows you to fix mistakes. The closing image has him back at the canvas, hoping that when he gets to heaven, he will be able to spend the first few million years painting. His famous quotation about death is, "I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter."

Winston Churchill was born in a bedroom in Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire on November 30, 1874, six weeks premature. His father, Lord Randolph Churchill, the third son of John Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough, was a successful politician, and his mother, Lady Randolph Churchill (nee Jennie Jerome) was the daughter of American millionaire Leonard Jerome. As he joked, "my mother wasn't a Yankee; she was a Dodger, having been brought up in Brooklyn." From age two to six, he lived in Dublin, where his grandfather had been appointed Viceroy and employed Churchill's father as his Private Secretary. With limited contact with his parents, Churchill became very close to his Nanny, Elizabeth Ann Everest, whom he called "Woomany." He reports he might have had five conversations with his father his whole life and his mother's heart was not in the nursery so at age 7, he was sent off to Boarding School. Still, his love of his mother made him feel very close to the Americans and his father's success as an orator and politician inspired him his whole life. One day his father asked him if he would like to join the military, to which he readily agreed. Excited that his father may have seen some potential in him, he later overheard his father telling his mom, "There are only four options for the lad: the land, the law, the church and the military. He has no land. He's too stupid for the law and he's too obstreperous for the church." So he was off to the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, the British Army's initial officer training center, where he trained for the cavalry and graduated 8th in his class.

He recalls his military service in India, Sudan, and South Africa as well as how he became a writer and was paid as a war correspondent. He describes how he met and proposed to his wife and tells us a bit about his children including his daughter Marigold, who died young. He goes into some detail regarding the political and appointed positions he served in and mentions some of his successes and failures, highs and lows, and how he reacted to them. He may have been depressed at times "believing all human beings are worms," but he would eventually come around to the recognition that he, at least, "is a glow worm." In this regard, Ronald Keaton presents Winston Churchill as a human being, not some caricature. The play is full of accurate details regarding Winston Churchill's life. It also successfully introduces you to both his vulnerable and stubborn side. On the one hand, he and his wife Clementine have pet names for each other (Winston: Pig or Pug; Clementine: Pussycat) and sometimes the whole family crawls around under the dining room table making animal noises. On the other hand, he is willing to insult every member of Parliament when they don't view an issue with the same importance as he does. Ronald Keaton also highlights Winston Churchill's sense of humor. He tells the story of meeting a potential voter when he was first running for office. The man told him, "I'd rather vote for the Devil" to which Churchill responded, "I understand but just in case your friend isn't running, can I count on your support?"

In the political arena, Churchill described Socialism as "a philosophy of failure, a creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy" with "its only inherent virtue being the equal sharing of misery." He defined an appeaser "as someone who feeds a crocodile hoping it will eat him last." When elected Prince Minister in a unity government prior to World War II, he said he had nothing to offer but his "blood, toil, tears and sweat." When Ambassador Joseph Kennedy was predicting Britain's defeat and urging its surrender, Winston Churchill gave a speech in which he said, "We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets. We shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender." In the darkest hours of the Battle of Britain, Winston Churchill was confident the New World would come to the aid of the Old World, not just with the Lend-Lease program, but eventually with troops. Once Pearl Harbor was attacked and FDR told him, "we're all in the same boat now," he felt it was only a matter of time until the Allies emerged victorious. Winston describes a very personal meeting he and FDR shared after a conference in Casablanca as well as his experiences with Harry Truman, who became President after FDR died one month before V-E Day.

I have only touched on some of the many interesting stories you will hear while watching this play, and it is amazing that after 1946, when this play is set, Winston Churchill remained active for another 19 years, serving as Prime Minister from 1951 to 1955, and dying on January 24, 1965 at age 90, 70 years to the day after his father's death. Ronald Keaton based the script on Churchill's voluminous writings (he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953), and on a 1980s teleplay by James C. Humes. The knowledge of what this extraordinary man did during his life as well as his many talents, is not common knowledge among the general population. It is for this reason I highly recommend you see this play. However, you will not only obtain new knowledge but also have a grand time in the process. I will leave you with one last quotation. Being an anti-Communist, Churchill was once asked how he could send aid to Russia, who was also fighting the Nazis. He responded, "If Hitler invaded Hell, I would make at least one favorable reference to the Devil in front of the House of Commons."

To learn more about Churchill, visit www.churchilltheplay.com. To purchase tickets to see Churchill before the run ends, go to https://www.telecharge.com/Off-Broadway/Churchill/Overview where you can buy tickets for the very low price of $67.00. You will be glad you did!

Applause! Applause! Review of Adam Fried's Misunderstood: An Unrequited Love Story at The Duplex Cabaret Theatre by Dr. Thomas Robert Stevens

This review of Adam Fried's Misunderstood: An Unrequited Love Story at The Duplex Cabaret Theatre was written by Dr. Thomas Robert Stevens and published in Volume X, Issue 5 (2015) of the online edition of Applause! Applause!

Misunderstood: An Unrequited Love Story 
Written & Performed by Adam Fried
Music Direction by Peter Tinaglia & Rachel Whorton
The Duplex Cabaret Theatre
61 Christopher Street
New York, New York 10014
Reviewed 6/21/15 at 9:30 p.m.

In Misunderstood: An Unrequited Love Story, Adam Fried takes us along on his journey to find love and career success in New York City. Having grown up in Ohio and then getting his B.A. in Musical Theatre from Ball State University (in Muncie, Indiana), a wide-eyed, optimistic, charismatic Jewish boy flies into the Big Apple from Cincinnati to seek fame and fortune. He also hopes to fall in love and to spend the rest of his life with his soul-mate. Leading with his heart instead of his head, he jumps into numerous relationships, which fail to work out. Flashing back in time to Ohio, Adam reports his first relationship embarrassment involved a girl who came to his family's home for Passover. He fell in love with her and thought the "A" and "F" on her shirt the next day meant Adam Fried, when it really meant Abercrombie & Fitch. Next came a fellow actor he met at the Barn Theatre in Augusta, Michigan, who was his first boyfriend. Both were confused regarding their sexuality. They only had secret midnight encounters with each other and never mentioned their involvement to anyone else. Eventually, they stopped speaking.

Once in New York, Adam took acting and dance classes and tried to pursue his career goals. Eventually, he got a role in a national tour of a play and earned his Actor's Equity card. Eventually, he dated a guy from London, who he met in a gay bar. Just as the love bug bit, his boyfriend's work visa wasn't renewed. Next came "an asshole with a Napoleon complex" and a blond-haired lawyer who turned out to be an alcoholic. Online dating put him in contact with a lot of people who looked good on paper but with whom he had no chemistry. As he sang, "there is a fine, fine, line between love and a waste of time." As a result, he has decided to invest his time in his "family, friends and career." He understands now that "life moves really fast. You need to know and own who you are. Life is one big journey. It's O.K. to enjoy that journey and let life happen as it may. If I meet someone, they can come along for the ride."

Misunderstood: An Unrequited Love Story originally opened at The Laurie Beechman Theatre. It then moved to Don't Tell Mama, and most recently, The Duplex Cabaret Theatre. Adam Fried is moving to Los Angeles to be closer to his sister and to be a guncle (i.e. gay uncle). He intends to reprise the show in Los Angeles. It contains a number of songs but my favorite was his rendition of Kooman & Dimond's "To Excess." Adam Fried shares his personal experiences with us in a funny and heartfelt manner. Most people will be able to identify with the experiences and challenges he has faced. We are all not that different. We'd like love and career success but also, in time, we come to realize the importance of family, friends, and most importantly, ourselves. Adam Fried's secret weapon is that, while he too gets depressed from time to time, he also has a positive, optimistic attitude about life and his future. His friend Jen didn't nickname him "Shiny" for no reason.

For more information about Adam Fried, visit www.AdamFried.com or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/adamfriednyc 

Applause! Applause! Review of Ben Rimalower's Bad With Money at The Duplex Cabaret Theatre by Dr. Thomas Robert Stevens

This review of Ben Rimalower's Bad With Money at The Duplex Cabaret Theatre was written by Dr. Thomas Robert Stevens and published in Volume X, Issue 5 (2015) of the online edition of Applause! Applause!

Bad With Money 
Written & Performed by Ben Rimalower
Directed by Aaron Mark
The Duplex Cabaret Theatre
61 Christopher Street
New York, New York 10014
Reviewed 6/21/15 at 7:00 p.m.

Ben Rimalower opened the show singing that little ditty, "I'd Like To Hate Myself In The Morning," first performed by Judy Garland in the final stretch of her life. John Meyer wrote a memoir called Heartbreaker about his relationship with Garland, how when he met her, she was homeless, couch-surfing, desperate for the 200 bucks he could get her to sing at a piano bar, dependent on the kindness of strangers just for a glass of gin to calm the DTs (i.e. the shakes). Ben said, "I've always related to Judy Garland as a fellow alcoholic. Even before I acknowledged my own problem, before I came out - if you will - I identified with a sort of glamorized Rat Pack image of Judy throwing back a highball. I've been a Garland fan all my life, but what I learned reading Heartbreaker was that another enormous problem Judy faced was colossal, crippling debt. There is nothing glamorous about Judy's debilitating financial problems. I never wanted to identify with that aspect of Judy Garland. And yet here we are."

During this one-hour, one-man show, Ben candidly reveals his addiction to spending beyond his means and how that led him to betray friends, embezzle money, steal items from places where he worked, engage in prostitution, and eventually to committing grand larceny by charging over $10,000 on his boss's credit card. As he accurately described the pleasure-pain ratio associated with the addiction, he makes one "questionable decision at the cash register" but even though he doesn't have the money to pay the credit card bill, he still gets to keep the stuff he bought. Similarly, he might get a call from the salon when his check bounces, but his "hair is still cut." Instant gratification without consequences, thanks to those who have enabled his addiction over the years. First on the list of enablers are his parents who continued to bail him out, and second are his boss and business partners who didn't press charges against him. He also got lucky by not getting arrested as a prostitute or for smoking and possessing crystal meth. The result has been that Ben Rimalower is still struggling with his addiction. As he says near the end of his monologue, "I'm just vomiting up war stories. I'm standing here telling you this story but I'm still stuck in it."

More tragedy than comedy, Ben reveals that as kid, his grandparents learned they could keep him quiet by simply buying him things. When he spent the $300.00 his friends gave him for the rental of the limousine for their prom, his parents bailed him out. They suggested he get a job, which he did, at a record company, but when his employer mentioned he could take a CD or two gratis, he ended up filling his car multiple times over with CDs he stole from the company's storage room. He recognized his family was not poor but "even though they were able to squeak through the gates, they couldn't keep up." He "never had enough money" to spend the way his friends did at the mall. He attended the University of California at Berkeley in 1994 and accepted a credit card with an $800.00 limit so he "could build his credit score." His plan was to buy a $37.00 dinner to celebrate getting the card plus a $13.00 CD and to then pay it off by the end of the billing cycle. Within months, he maxed out the card and when they raised his credit limit to $1,000.00, he used that too. When his parents found out, they paid that bill as well. In Junior year, he found out that his friend Tim's parents would pay for a trip to Europe for him and his boyfriend, so he proceeded to climb on top of Tim to bring their friendship to the next level. The audience laughed and Ben said that Tim "thought it was funny too." Ben always is keeping an eye out for "a good story" he can "one day include in his one woman show."

Without money, Ben next considered prostitution. He called an Escort Agency and wanted to make sure they were not legitimate, so he asked whether they would expect him to sleep with the clients. They responded, "prostitution is illegal in the state of California but if our clients want to walk around the block, we expect our employees to walk them around the block." However, when he went in for an interview, they told him they wanted more of a "frat boy" look than a "drama major" look so he decided to go out on the street and simply be a prostitute without going through an escort service. He went out to Polk Street in San Francisco but soon realized he had overestimated the price he could get for what he was willing to give. He expected to be paid $100.00 for a hand job while johns were willing to pay him $40.00 for anal sex. He met an eclectic mix of people during his time as a hustler. A rich guy gave him $300.00 plus $50,00 for transportation just to help him out. Another gave him $40.00 for oral sex and two Japanese dudes invited him to participate in a party that lasted almost two days. Ben told everyone he was a prostitute but even when doing so, he always felt he still had a secret, namely, that it was true since many would have questioned whether he had the build or looks to be an effective and successful rent-boy. 

After the two-day sex and drug party, Ben Rimalower decided to go straight and become a nice Jewish boy again but he still had no money so he decided to cash in the IBM stock he got as gifts at his bris. It came to $10,000.00, which he deposited into a fund with Charles Schwab. Within a short time, he not only used the entire $10,000.00 but somehow ended up owing Charles Schwab an additional $1,200.00. After graduation, he finally got a job paying $650.00 a week but after using the money to pay back debts, get hundred dollar haircuts, buy Broadway theater tickets and dinners, he always ended up with no money by the end of each week. His boss had given him a credit card to buy items he was instructed to purchase but he started using it for dinner, Kiss Me, Kate tickets and splurges at Banana Republic. He rationalized it at first by saying that he could explain away the first wrong charge by saying that both his credit card and employer's card were blue and that he made a mistake, but that excuse was completely blown away after Ben charged over $10,000.00 on the card. When caught, the boss didn't press charges and simply fired him. 

When Ben and two friends produced Joy at the Actor's Playhouse, he started embezzling small amounts of money from the fund of investors returning some of it but ultimately taking $1,500.00. This destroyed the trust of his friends and hurt their chances of attracting other investors. His friends interpreted his actions as his giving them "a big fuck you" which made them "sad rather than angry." It didn't stop there. He bounced a check when producing his own cabaret show and in 2010, he got a $5,000.00 bonus only to find that weeks later he had minus $600.00 in his checking account and he still hadn't paid his rent or his monthly bills. Recognizing nothing would get better until he was sober, he contacted his parents about entering rehab at Hazelton. Insurance brought the $28,000.00 bill down to $17,000.00, which his parents paid. They addressed his alcohol and drug addictions but not his problems with spending money. He eventually realized that even rehab was just another scheme, wherein he hoped to reinvent himself, which is not possible since there is no getting away from money. Alcohol and drugs are easy to stop in comparison but the underlying needs and addictions to "stuff" is something you can't abandon cold turkey. Even therapy hasn't helped him.

Ben eventually reveals he is not drinking anymore and that he is not stealing anymore. However, he put this show together in the hope of putting it all behind him but none of his big schemes to solve everything has worked. His whole life is still unmanageable and he recognizes that even if he won one hundred million dollars in a lottery, he'd spend it in a year and, if he started drinking again, it would be gone in six months. He finally confesses he "always saw himself as an emerging talent," but that what he really is "is a criminal lucky to have lived such a privileged life." He ends the show as if he is introducing himself at a Debtors Anonymous meeting, saying, "My name is Ben and I'm Bad With Money."

Bad With Money opened at The Duplex Cabaret Theatre on September 4, 2014. It was developed within the Theaterists Group for Writers at The Public Theater and was named The Advocate's #1 Solo Show of 2014. Ben Rimalower continues to perform this play around the world. It is not a particularly funny show because Ben has chosen to reveal some of the darkest and most embarrassing aspects of his private life. There is nothing funny about stealing, embezzling and betraying those who love and have trusted you. He shares his struggles with addiction in all its forms and doesn't hold back from telling the audience exactly how it was and how it is. But Ben never gives us any indication he is taking the steps necessary to deal with his problem. Has he destroyed all his credit cards? Has he told his friends and parents not to lend him any money, even if he asks? Has he cut his ATM cards in half so he has to withdraw money physically from his checking account? Has he limited the amount of money he withdraws? Is he keeping track of all his income and expenditures, placing himself on a short leash? We never hear any of those steps so we are left without an indication as to how his story will end. Will he one day get arrested for writing bad checks or for embezzling money in the future or will he finally get his act together? We just don't know but we do leave the show feeling he should have accepted responsibility for his actions many years ago. Ben Rimalower is just terrific in Bad With Money. He shares his soul with the audience and holds nothing back. 

You can learn more about Ben Rimalower on his website at www.BenRimalower.com or by following him @benrimalower on Twitter. He is also on Facebook, Instragram, and YouTube.