SPENT!

Last night I went out with my wife--something that only happens occasionally--and enjoyed a great show and a fine meal.  All of it happened quite locally in the fine borough of Queens.  It was an easy drive to all of it--another impressive feat in the City of New York.  I should keep that on the down low just in case the NYC DOT finds out.  The real reason I am writing is that the show we saw was beyond extraordinary!  The play is called SPENT.  My wife bought the tickets quite some time ago based on the look of it and reviews and because it was playing at the Queens Theater (in the Park), which we'd had good experiences with.  I was pleased because it promised to real theater, not another musical.  We drove into the Flushing Meadows Corona Park--one of the largest of NYC's parks where the theater is based and parked quite close by the actual building.  The Queens Theater is a nice new building in the park.  We walked in to find that the main theater was being used for a dress rehearsal and that our show was going to be in a smaller chamber on the lower level.  The theater was smaller, less seating, but I was able to get a front row seat in this relatively informal setting.  I took a seat next to a reserved seat sign.  The "stage" was on level with the audience, but set back rather deep and painted black. It was to be two actors and the stage, nothing more.

Let me tell you, it worked.  It better than worked--those two guys nailed it!  Read the NY Daily News blurb on it here.  The Toronto Sun is quoted as stating, "Inspired Lunacy!"  I agree with the inspired part, but the content is anything but lunacy.  The pace and number of characters these two actors play is lunatic, but they nail it!  If they erred I cannot tell.  The play is about the financial crash that has recently befallen us.  The same one that the press and media try to tell us has come to an end, though for who I don't know.

According to the Playbill, the two actors are Ravi Jain and Adam Paolozza and the directors are Dean Gilmour and Michelle Smith.  The writers are the same four--talk about multi-tasking!  Frankly, I lost track of how many characters the actors played, but they never did.  The impressions of media personalities were especially entertaining.  Their transition from character to character often occurred at breakneck speed, yet each time it was convincing!  It was a very physical performance, but far from exclusively so.  Both the play and performance had razzle dazzle and depth at once, and all this on an empty stage.  Did I mention it was funny!  This happened in the basement of the Queens Theater in Flushing Meadow Corona Park--the world should know!