 |
| Charlene Baldridge Photo by Ken Howard |
How We’ve Grown
If/Then and The Va Va Voom Room
If/Then and The Va Va Voom Room
I should have known that If/Then would be gnarled and dense. It’s the same team that brought us Next to Normal, Tom Kitt (music) and Brian Yorkey (book and lyrics).
I drove through Noye's Fludde Wednesday night to see the touring production of If/Then, and when I arrived they were sweeping said Flude away from the Civic Theatre doors and laying down the biggest sandbags ever. After dinner at Downtown Johnny Brown’s, my tickets and I were united and I was ushered in through a side door and to a excellent seat facing the stage in Row F. Things looked somewhat better even if I was a bit damp around the edges.
 |
| Company of If/Then |
 |
| Idina Menzel as Elizabeth and James Snyder as Josh Photo by Joan Marcuss |
 |
| LaChanz as Kate and AnthonyRapp as Lucas |
The gimmick: Elizabeth (Menzel), the protagonist, is so uncertain that she lives two simultaneous story-line fulfillments, neither of which has a happy ending, maybe. She’s a brilliant urban planner who’s just moved back to New York City after a failed first marriage. She renews old friendships, forms new ones, gets a super job, sleeps around, marries (or not), and in one existence procreates. She may also die, although that’s up in the air (pun intended). The other singers, all scrumptious, male and female, are her confidants, competitors, bosses, lovers and a former lover
The book is sophisticated, funny and insouciant. I’m so glad I did not read about it ahead of time, and now I will.
Michael Greif was the director. I loved Mark Wendland’s evocative scenic design of New York City. A three piece traveling orchestra joined by nine locals, all members of the AmericanFederation of Musicians of the United States and Canada, was conducted by Kyle Norris.
Performances remain tonight, Saturday matinee and eve, and Sunday matinee at Civic Theatre. broadwaysd.com
Fever with Justin Tuazon-Martin.
Two Ladies with Jessica Aliva, Travis Ti and Michael Smeltzer
Justin Tuazon-Martin with Michael Smeltzer, Jessica Avila and Travis Ti.
![]()
"Cotton-Eyed Joe" with Nicholas Strasburg, Andrew Holmes and Eric Fager
In the Va Va Voom Room
Conceived and choreographed by Michael Mizerany
Photos by Raymond Elstad
You still have time to catch a performance of In the Va Va Voom Room at Diversionary Theatre, 4645 Park Blvd., January 8th @ 8pm, January 9th @ 6pm & 10pm, January 10th @ 2pm
Performances remain tonight, Saturday matinee and eve, and Sunday matinee at Civic Theatre. broadwaysd.com
Fever with Justin Tuazon-Martin.
Two Ladies with Jessica Aliva, Travis Ti and Michael Smeltzer
Justin Tuazon-Martin with Michael Smeltzer, Jessica Avila and Travis Ti.
 |
| "Fever" with Justin Martin-Tuazon |
In the Va Va Voom Room
Conceived and choreographed by Michael Mizerany
Photos by Raymond Elstad
You still have time to catch a performance of In the Va Va Voom Room at Diversionary Theatre, 4645 Park Blvd., January 8th @ 8pm, January 9th @ 6pm & 10pm, January 10th @ 2pm
The subtitle says it all, A Night of Contemporary Burlesque. Mizerany's new work for Diversionary is fun, in your face and ever so titillating without going into lower Broadway strip. It’s “family” fare, and the family was there, appreciating every double entendre physical and verbal, and enjoying the frolic.
No two shows are exactly alike, and I attended Thursday at 7. The show lasts barely an hour without interval, and I use the term barely loosely. Barely consists of barely clad performers mostly male (I think) and that’s part of the fun, guessing what lies underneath the g-string.
The best fun, however, is watching familiar performers stretch farther in new ways than ever before. The evening is emceed by Justin Tuazon-Martin, Gypsy Rose Lee of the banjo, who sings, dances, strums and tells stories, all the while cluing one in as to who are the dancers who just finished (they’re still picking up discarded feathers and furbelows, bending over seven ways from Sunday). Tuazon-Martin also announces who and what come next, though considering Mizerany’s cadre of collaborators and capacious imaginations, one never knows what to expect.
The best fun, however, is watching familiar performers stretch farther in new ways than ever before. The evening is emceed by Justin Tuazon-Martin, Gypsy Rose Lee of the banjo, who sings, dances, strums and tells stories, all the while cluing one in as to who are the dancers who just finished (they’re still picking up discarded feathers and furbelows, bending over seven ways from Sunday). Tuazon-Martin also announces who and what come next, though considering Mizerany’s cadre of collaborators and capacious imaginations, one never knows what to expect.
My favorite part, being a tremendous fan of dancer Nicholas Strasburg, was discovering how deeply his sense of fun extends. He enters disgruntled, clad in outrageous black suede heels, wielding a broom like a bored, overworked stage hand, and he keeps up the unwilling persona most of the evening. Needless to say, his job means he has to bend over many, many times. And furthermore he is hysterically funny in Mizerany’s “Cotton-Eyed Joe” (music by Rednex) danced with Eric Fager and Andrew Holmes. The three are aptly referred to in the text as “backwoods boys of the bayou.” Knowing a few of those good ole boys, I’d say they captured the spirit.
My other favorite sections were “Sister, Sister” (music by Irving Berlin), choreographed by Ami Ipapo-Glass, danced by Desiree KC Fejeron and Minaqua McPherson; and “Two Ladies” (music by Kander and Ebb) choreographed by Jessica Avila and performed by her, Michael Smeltzer and Travis T.
 |
| "Sisters" with Desiree KC Fejeron and Minaqua McPherson |
The opening number, “Fever,” was choreographed by Mizerany and performed by Tuazon-Martin with Holmes and Fager.
The minute details are what make any show like this move like clockwork. Humor and talent help a great deal. One went home feeling very refreshed and expecting the sun to return.
See you soon.
See you soon.