Exhausted Paint: The Death of Van Gogh at Big Couch October 8-18
[Exhausted Paint: The Death of Van Gogh played at UNO in 2022. Fat Squirrel will be presenting the production directed by Carly Stroud and again featuring Drew Stroud at Big Couch October 8-18. The following is an excerpt from my March 2022 “An Appreciation” of Drew Stroud (as well as another young actor).]
Drew Stroud, a second year graduate student in UNO’s theater program, just completed a run in Justin Maxwell’s new one-act play Exhausted Paint: The Death of Van Gogh at UNO.
While there have been many works about the renowned post-Impressionist artist, Maxwell’s script is unique. Other than its beginning and ending passages, its twelve inner sections are done in a different order each performance, their sequence determined by randomly chosen audience members before the start of the show.
Stroud inhabited this hour-long monolog flawlessly, occasionally interacting with folks in the front rows with confidence and bravado. His van Gogh questioned his place in the world, the value of his art, and what he gave up to achieve what he did.
If Maxwell may not have covered any new ground (yes, we know van Gogh sold only one canvas in his lifetime and now they go for millions and millions of dollars) and one or two of the sections could be omitted as a slight sense of repetitiousness accrues after a while, I’d certainly be interested in attending Exhausted Paint again, not only to see how a different ordering affects the piece’s effect, but to have the opportunity to take more in from this dense work.
Drew Stroud in Exhausted Paint
And to see Stroud again. Cocksure but insecure, spiritual but not religious, charming but off-putting, his dazzling portrait of an artist as a youngish man, regardless of the order of the sections it seems to me, took us on an involving journey to a deeply emotional conclusion. I expect to remember Stroud’s van Gogh for a long, long time.
[For tickets and more information, go to https://fatsquirrelnola.square.site/product/exhausted-paint/VWYUHBAU7AV34D2YW3VD5XLC?cs=true&cst=custom]
Kimberly Akimbo at the Saenger Theatre October 7-12
[After a successful off-Broadway run in 2021, Kimberly Akimbo played on Broadway from Nov. 2022 through April 2024 and won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Its touring production, with substantially the same creative team, comes to the Saenger Theatre October 7-12. The following are excerpts from my September 2023 review of the Broadway production.]
I had seen Kimberly Akimbo, the Tony Award-winning Jeanine Tesori/David Lindsay-Abaire musical, two years ago off-Broadway and loved it. Would it make the transfer to the bigger confines of Broadway intact? Indeed it has.
Based on Lindsay-Abaire’s dramedy of the same name about a teenage girl who has a rare disease that causes her to age rapidly and prematurely, the musical version retains the play’s quirky humor which, for some reason, seems more plausible in a musical, and adds four geeky high school classmates of Kimberly’s to winning effect.
It takes a little while to enter Kimberly’s absurd world, but once the intros are done, disbelief fades and it’s easy to surrender to its high quotient of charm as the emotionally resilient Kimberly deals with her crazy family members (Mom, Dad, Aunt), and strikes up a tentative relationship with a nerdy (but quite charming) classmate of hers for one of musical comedy’s oddest and yet most beguiling romances. Jessica Stone directs with a light hand, giving the story clarity and a cinematic flow.
Victoria Clark, Justin Cooley, and Steven Boyer in the Broadway production of Kimberly Akimbo (photo by Joan Marcus)
As with her Tony-winning score for Fun Home, you may not exit the theater humming any of Tesori’s tunes, but at least they’re zingy and individualistic, and don’t all sound the same as so many other shows’ songs do. And, like Fun Home, I suspect some of the numbers such as Anagram, How to Wash a Check and the touching The Inevitable Turn will grow on you with subsequent listening.
Anagrams play a supporting part in Kimberly Akimbo, and I’ve been trying to find an appropriate one by transforming “Kimberly Akimbo” or “Jeanine Tesori” or “David Lindsay-Abaire”. I’ve flunked that effort, so will just say “Go see it” and let you do the anagramming.
[For more information and tickets, go to https://www.saengernola.com/events/kimberly-akimbo/]
New in New York
It’s all about expectations, eh?
I was excited to see the new musical Saturday Church at the venerable New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) in the East Village (running thru Oct. 24). After all, James Ijames, whose Pulitzer Prize winner Fat Ham I adored, co-authored its book, and it features music & lyrics by Sia whose Chandelier is one of the best pop songs of this century. And Tony winners J. Harrison Ghee (Some Like It Hot), and Joaquina Kalukango (Paradise Square) head up its cast.
Based on the movie Saturday Church, written and directed by Damon Cardasis, the show’s other co-author, the musical deals with the challenges of queer youth especially in the Black community. The young protagonist Ulysses’ aunt (Kalukango) doesn’t want him singing in their church’s choir, much as he yearns to, because he’s too “flamboyant”. Trouble ensues.
It’s a worthy topic, but the musical reduces it to the dimensions of an ABC Afterschool Special in which everything is neatly resolved by the end with virtually no dramatic tension to give it a necessary oomph. Worse, Sia’s songs offer cliched lyrics and instantly forgettable melodies. With its cast of drag queens and trans characters who run the eponymous Saturday Church, a vital refuge for queer youth, twenty years ago this might’ve been cutting edge; now, not so much.
At least the entire cast sports great voices and imbues the stage with a vibrant spirit. Interestingly, I found myself wishing that the script more deeply explored the inner life of two of its supporting characters, Ulysses’ recently widowed and overworked mother (a winning Kristolyn Lloyd), who seems much more understanding of her child’s sexuality than her domineering sister-in-law, and Ulysses’ newfound beau Raymond (beautifully underplayed by Jackson Kanawha Perry), who’s homeless due to family trauma and must resort to sex work to support himself.
The company of Saturday Church (photo by Marc J. Franklin)
Next up at NYTW (Nov. 28-Jan. 11) is Molière’s Tartuffe in a new version by Lucas Hnath starring Matthew Broderick and NOLA’s very own Bianca Del Rio. Amen to that! (https://www.nytw.org/)
At the newly renovated Frick Collection, after all the $$$$ spent on it, I expected to be wowed from the moment I entered, but as I went through the first floor, which I’ve visited many times, I was glad to see it reopened but felt “what’s the big deal–doesn’t look that much different to me.”
Then I ascended to the second floor and was wowed indeed.
Previously closed off to the public, the second floor was where the Fricks had their sitting rooms and bedrooms so the feel is more intimate than the grander areas downstairs. In a series of about a dozen rooms, you now get to see the artwork up close as well as the magnificent organ that overlooks the Grand Stair Hall.
And what incredible art it is! Gerard David’s somber “The Deposition” shares a room with Hans Memling’s naturalistic “Portrait of a Man”. The charming “Procession of Italian Comedians” hangs in Frick’s bedroom with Ingres’ iconic “Comtesse d’Haussonville” and Goya’s “An Officer”, still quite the hottie 200+ years later.
“An Officer” by Francisco de Goya y Lucientes
Individual rooms are dedicated to medals, to ceramics and to clocks & watches. Constable’s airy studies of clouds float just outside the Impressionist Room where Monet, Manet and Degas congregate. The entire floor is so rich with goodies, all thoughtfully displayed so that everything has a chance to breathe, that you’ll want to go through it at least twice to make sure you haven’t missed anything. At least I did. (https://www.frick.org/)
As for Red Eye, Daniel Nardicio’s pleasure palace/entertainment complex not far from the Broadway district, I went there expecting to see Norma Tears who had impressed me when she did a number here during Decadence’s Bette Bathhouse & Beyond; chatting with her later, she mentioned she’d be performing at Red Eye the following Monday when I’d be in NYC. I assumed it would be a solo set and was looking forward to it.
When I got to the club, however, it turned out that she was one third of the weekly Tres Leches show along with Melisma and Castrata, seemingly the diva-in-chief. Was I disappointed? Not at all as Tres Leches provided three times the fun, talent and entertainment.
Tres Leches at Red Eye
After the trio opened with a hi-energy rendition of Everytime We Touch, they proceeded to each do two solo songs along with group numbers. Some of them I recognized and could almost–almost–sing along with. Melisma scored with How Deep Is Your Love, Castrata channeled Cher with Take Me Home, and Norma shone with both Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black and Tina’s Simply the Best. There were also songs by Billie Eilish, Sara Bareilles and Yebba, a name new to me; these young’uns I couldn’t sing along with which might be just as well.
Now just to be clear, all of these songs were done LIVE. Each and every member of Tres Leches is ridiculously talented and, together, they provided a thoroughly enjoyable evening. Drag has come a long way from when it was all (or mostly) lip-synching. I couldn’t help thinking that, back in the day, Tres Leches would’ve been on The Ed Sullivan Show. And deservedly so.
The evening ended with the ladies doing karaoke; the more you tipped, the more likely they were to do your request. I asked for Shirley Bassey’s version of Get The Party Started in honor of Daniel’s attempts to present Dame Shirley in NYC over the years; Tres Leches did it full justice.
Melisma, Castrata and Norma Tears of Tres Leches
A few days later, I returned to Red Eye for Come For Daddy, a dance party with two floors of fun, much of it X-rated. As it was my first time at a CFD party, I arrived with few expectations. After a few hours of great music from the DJs throughout the club, tremendously friendly (and HOT) go-go boys, and a festive & very diverse crowd, I left at 2am-ish with a smile on my face, my expectations having been met and far, far exceeded. (https://redeyeny.com/)
