The Royal Ballet Return to NYC is a DREAM Come True

The Royal Ballet founded in 1931 is recognized as Britain's flagship Nat'l Ballet Co.  It is highly regarded throughout as one of the world's leading ballet comanpies.  This week, the much lauded Company is welcomed back to the Koch theater after more than a decade.  It's interesting to note only 3 of the 16 principal dancers are British.  Its noteworthy because ballet is an art form driven by elite talent which defies nationality and ethnicity.  The Royal Ballet is also branching out into works by contemporary choreographers such as Wheeldon, Scarlett and McGregor while still holding onto their classic heritage.  Frederick Ashton's "Dream" ballet based on William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer's Night Dream," heralded in the company's arrival on this side of the pond. "DREAM" premiered in 1964.  Ashton's choreography provides the Royal Ballet a repertoire that rivals Balanchine's for NYC Ballet.  I question the choice of "DREAM" as it appears often on both NYC Ballet & ABT's programs.  "DREAM" was ephemeral, performed with whimsy, lyricism and elegance.  Oberon (Steven McRae) and Titania (Sarah Lamb) were regal in their dancing and paired beautifully.  I enjoyed more the harmonious & comic interplay between the 2 misconstrued romantic couples.  Their interactions were fluid and graceful, including the feline fighting.  Still, the highlights for me were Puck and Bottom.  Bottom danced on pointe and his theriathropy was spellbinding (his wig was garish.)  Puck's dancing stood out.  His lithe athleticism and grande jetes defied gravity.  Puck flew through the air like magic.  I look forward to seeing the new choreographic pieces the Royal Ballet will be performing.  

Picasso's "Le Tricone" on View @ NY Historic Soc.

Pablo Picasso's "master theatrical creation" had hung in the Four Seasons for more than 50 years.  It's recently been donated to the NY Historical Society by the Vivendi Co., & the NY Landmarks Conservancy as a "gift to the city." This is a priceless work by Picasso created as a stage curtain for the Ballet Russes' "Le Tricorne:" The Three Corner Hat.  The ballet premiered in London in July of 1919.  It has been restored from years wear & tear from exposure.  Public viewing at the Four Seasons provided only limited access.  It now proudly hangs at the NY Historic Society.  The restoration in itself is remarkable. The colors & fabric have been restored from its faded and tattered state.  The figurative & whimsical composition is a stadium with several prominent, life size spectators.  "Le Tricorne" hangs in dialogue across from the large, vibrant tapestry "Settlers Landing on Manhattan Island" by Belgian artist Floris Jaspers for the NY World's Fair 1939. It's predominate color is blood red. The atmosphere appears serene. Ships are seen off the coast. Large figures depict Native Amer. Indians in suplicant postures wearing tribal clothing; the women are nude.  The Belgian settlers are dressed in full 17th C garb with helmets, holding tall pointed spears.  The Belgian Capt. is presenting beads to the tribal leader. Reference is made to the purchase of Manhattan Island from the Amer. Natives in 1623 for $24. In the same hall there are magnificent oil paintings by prominent Amer. artists:  Nadelman, Bellow & Hassam.  You'll find interesting ballet artifacts: old hair combs & shawls and recent items; worn toe shoes signed by NYC Ballerina Heather Watts.  My favorite painting was alongside Jasper's tapestry by cubist painter A. Manievich (b. Russia 1893) "The Bronx 1924."  It is a visionary representation of NYC today painted in shards of emerald & crimson. Visit Picasso's "Le Tricone" and discover various treasures in the NY Historic Society.    

Looking for a Fun Exhibit-Seek Hirschfeld's (Nina) Drawings at Nat'l Historic Soc.

Al Hirschfeld is a beloved, prolific caricaturist whose drawings are as innate to Broadway as George M. Cohan. Hirschfeld's line drawings pack more voltage than all the wattage of Broadway's marquees. With minimalist strokes from his pen, Hirscfeld captured the essence of an actor, a play, a singer, a dancer or celebrity and made them easy & fun to recognize.  His exaggerated features and fluidity on paper pack a surreal wallop and visceral response.  There's magic in his sketches.  You are overcome with a sense of having been in the audience.  Al & Dolly Hirschfeld had one daughter Nina. Her name is synonymous with Al's drawings.  Proud dad, Al heralded his daughter's arrival in 1945 by inserting her name into several caricatures.  This clever trademark was meant to be temporary.  But, once he stopped including her name with the clue of how many times it appears in the drawing, there was so much fanfare he resumed this amusing, additional twist until Nina turned 21.  "Nina's Revenge" is a lovely drawing of his daughter at 21 and his swan song to using her name.  (He switched to hiding Al & Dolly in his pictures.) This incredible collection of works is a treasure grove of delights.  A few highlights for me were: The Defiant Ones with Tony Curtis & Sidney Poitier, The Miracle Worker with Anne Bancroft & Patti Duke and the images of Fred Astaire, Ella Fitzgerald and Jerome Robbins. Hirschfeld died a day before his 100th birthday in 2013.  His flair and talent are gifts to be celebrated.  Give my regards to Broadway Show, Al Hirscfeld's entertaining exhibit.

Guggenheim "Storylines" Too Much to Tell-A Must See Show

The new exhibit at the Guggenheim is "Storylines: Contemporary Art."  The motley, exciting and thought provoking collection is a mixed bag of recent works by Int'l artists.  The vast majority created within the last decade. The mediums include, videos, photography, sculptures, installations, paintings and works that defy categorizing.  As you spiral around the museum, there are "Golden Chains" suspended from the doorways leading to side galleries by Cuban born artist Felix Gonzales-Torres.  I consider this exhibit as a trip to OZ; following the yellow brick road.  Expect the unexpected. Be open to an engaging narrative that marries art, syntax & literature.  Some works land close to home and others are intentionally off-putting.  These pieces address cultural, racial, political & sexual attitudes.  Writers were asked to add poetry or prose in response to some of the artists' works. Attached to the installation by Natascha Haghighian "I Can't Work Like This,"of protuding nails with nails & hammer scattered on the floor is a poem by Neil Gaiman.  The poem in part reads "Nothing endures:  My soul remains: complaints in a dead letter office, written with a finger on water and hard words whispered onto foggy glass."  Two works I found deeply stirring were Glenn Ligon's "Prisoner of Love" which appropriates Jean Genet's poetry.  And, Kevin Beasley's "Strange Fruit" a hanging sculpture comprised of large sneakers and wires which calls to mind gang violence & echoes Billy Holiday's reference to lynchings.  "Homelesslamp, the Juice Sucker," by Chilean artist Ivan Navarro fashions a shopping cart using neon lights causing us to observe what we may choose not to see.  Much is left to interpretation but this stimulating show will arouse contemplation.

ALVIN AILEY's NO LONGER SILENT choreographed by Robert Battle

NO LONGER SILENT originally choreographed by Mr. Battle in ('07) for the Julliard School premiered with the Ailey Company this June.  NO LONGER SILENT is a powerful dramatic piece set to Erwin Schulhoff's "Olegata."  Schulhoff was a Czech composer whose life ended under the Nazi regime in 1942 at age of 48.  His works are relatively unknown but thanks to Battle's courageous choreography, it will speak for millions of lives destroyed in the Holocaust.  "Olegata" has a relentless percussive pulse entertwined with complex harmonies using strings & winds.  Schulhoff wrote the piece in 1923 for a ballet based on American Indian culture.  NO LONGER SILENT grabs the audience by the guts and remains embedded.  The large cast remain onstage in its entirety. The haunting & macabre mood becomes terrifying. The lighting remains dim except for glaring\ searchlights. Everyone wears identical baggy, dark prison uniforms. The choice to blur & dehumanize the individual is deliberate. The dancers move frenetically in a medley of erratic formations.  The pounding of feet reverberates with strength & defiance.  Still, the sense of desperation & confinement is prevalent. The dancers become united in line with hands held up in the air with their backs to the audience.  Spotlights glare out into the audience making us aware that everyone is subject to oppression and we all maintain the responsibility to end persecution, genocide & cultural destruction.  NO LONGER SILENT is not merely a masterpiece work of art it is art that blares like a cannon for peace.

The film DOPE-Dare I Say Pussy Nigger?

Hey, I'm just repeating what I heard said in the film.  Hearing nigger every other word is an exaggeration, but only slightly.  Also, scenes of high school student Malcom (Shameik Moore) masturbating while looking at videos of lascivious ladies overshot the mark, for me.  Malcom & his 2 hapless sidekicks made it clear to whitey that if he used the word he'd get slapped.  This movie was produced by Oscar winner Forest Whitaker and written and directed by NAACP Image Award winner Rick Famuyiwa.  Actor Shameik Moore brought more than enough to his role to arouse my interest in his character despite looking way too old to be in high school.  The plot or farcical caper centered around Malcom who defines himself as cliche "the poor black kid with a single parent trying to get into Harvard."  He follows a girl, played by Zoe Kravitz to a nightclub where his school back pack gets unknowingly packed with drugs & hear during a shootout.  I didn't stick around for more than 1/2 hour to find out how this disturbing & yet, somewhat compelling film turns out.  This film will most likely appeal to a specific niche but I'm not that Bee itch.  

PIXAR's INSIDE OUT Hits it out of the Park

By now you can bet that any animated movie that Pixar puts out will be adorable and appealing to kids & adults, alike.  INSIDE OUT the latest charming & entertaining Pixar film is no exception.  The clever concept behind the picture is the behind the scene look, literally, from inside out of 11 year old Riley's brain.  We begin with Riley at infancy whose borne to loving parents & with a pixie-like fairy inside her head named Joy.  As a small child, life is one big, solo Joy ride.  As Riley grows older, she develops other anthropomorphized emotions: Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness that take-up space alongside Joy; the Capt. Kirk of head space.  The 5 emotions venture to the control panel from time to time.  Often they are overridden by Joy.  Riley is a happy girl who loves ice hockey & her life in MN.  When she turns 11 her family moves to San Francisco (SF.)  It's not long before there are new, mixed emotions that erupt inside Riley who is now the new kid at school in SF. There is plenty to enjoy & cheer except when Joy & Sorrow take a wrong turn and take a tedious journey which derails from the pleasures of the film. (And how sad is it for a kid to move from MN to SF?) Pixar's 1st short animated film featuring a desk lamp has become their trademark.  So too is their short animated film before the feature.  The new short has much to lava.  Where will Pixar venture next?  Perhaps they're preparing to take their pubescence fan base along through puberty.  I certainly hope so.  I also recommend this original & delightful animated film.

ALVIN AILEY's Premiers EXODUS-by choreographer Rennie Harris

Alvin Ailey Dance Co. has the world's most artistic, athletic & adaptable dancers.  Provide the dancers a challenging new work and the choreography will combust into a pinnacle of astonishing power.  Famed choreographer Rennie Harris, established the 1st hip hop touring company.  Harrris' new piece EXODUS, commissioned by Ailey incorporates intricate & astonishing fleet foot work.  EXODUS' stunning strength emanates from its imagery & poignancy.  The piece starts with dancers strewn across the stage in corpse like figures.  The hazy, austere scene has several rays shining down. Sombre music and lulled motion provide a melancholy ambiance.  A female  embraces a lifeless male on the floor and her grief reverberates throughout her body.  She is gently pulled aside and the motionless figure begins to stir in response to an ephemeral presence.  The other dancers dressed in street clothes are now fleeing in individualized, jilted movements.  The pace of the music by various artists accelerates & the dancers fling themselves in strident, pulsating movements.  The inchoate choreography is bound with fearlessness, and intense energy.  The dancers have transformed in all white clothing.  They form a loosely knit group except for one individual standing alone.  A gun shot rings out and the lone figure falls as does the group in an agonizing ripple. The dancing is breath taking and the prescient message is piercing.  The mass of young lives being taken by gun violence is intolerable.

Everyone Must See the Movie ME and EARL and the DYING GIRL

Me and EARL & the Dying Girl breaks through a multitude of movie oeuvres creating its own ingenious genre.  It tugs at your emotions and your heart strings. This is why we go to the movies, to experience something so powerfully we become transformed.  A new Oscar category for creativity & excellence should be levied for this lovely, thoughtful, wake-up and smell the tulips film.  The 3 young leads give award winning, virtuoso performances; Thomas Mann (Greg), Olivia Cooke (Rachel), and a star making performance by RJ Cyler as Earl.  Greg is ME, a high school sr. who skimmed through school by maintaining superficial relationships with all the various social strata groups without truly engaging.  Earl is Greg's longtime companion & co-worker.  They continually makes quirky, fun short films together.  Earl is the closest relationship akin to friendship that Greg acknowledges.  "It's just that we share so many things in common."  Rachel has been diagnosed with Leukemia.  Greg's mother & Rachel's mothers are friends. Greg's mom induces him to visit Rachel out of kindness regardless they  barely know each other.  Do not peg this as a coming of age, love story genre between a dying girl & boy.  Dismiss preconceived notions and lower your emotional barriers.  Greg, Earl & Rachel are all incredible & intriguing individuals. Earl films a heartfelt message to Rachel, "Knowing you has been a blessing."  This movie had a miraculous impact on me.

Israel Film FAREWELL PARTY Exposes Euthanasia Issues

FAREWELL PARTY is an Israeli film with English subtitles.  The serious subject matter dealt with openly & intelligently is euthanasia.  As serious subject that fares well as a comedy, drama  philosophical dilemma.  Should assisted suicide be legalized or does this constitute murder?  When does  love, mercy, compassion overrule the law, if at all?   A group of septuagenarians & octogenarians in an assisted living facility are facing the indignities & pain of loved ones with terminal illness & debilitating dementia.  The jocular mood of the movie begins with Zelda, an elderly woman speaking to God on the phone.  Zelda is not delusional.  It is Yehezkel, a fellow resident pretending to be God.  He tells Zelda there are no vacancies in heaven at present ad she should continue living.  Yehezkel is a much loved & revered husband, father, grandfather and friend.  His well meaning intentions lead to his playing "God."  He witnesses the suffering & degradation of his dear friend. Both his friend & his wife implore Yehezkel to assist with a merciful, painless suicide.  After serious contemplation Max agrees despite its illegality in Israel & his wife's strong objections.  Reluctantly, Max becomes the leader of a pack of cronies who are sought after to provide the same service for their loved ones.  Faced with the threat of blackmail, the senior squad perform acts of mercy or murder, depending on your views.  An elderly homosexual couple comprise part of this motley crew.  The film establishes compelling arguments against outlawing & demonizing both homosexuality & euthanasia as being outdated & narrow minded.  FAREWELL PARTY is outrageously funny & tender.  It is a poignant forum for presenting euthanasia dilemmas.  

Is It Possible PERMISSION is by Same Playwright as HAND to GOD?

Robert Askins is the brilliant playwright of Hand to GOD which garnered 5 Tony nominations, including best play.  PERMISSION is Askin's play at the Lucille Lortrel Theater is a contender for worst play. Similar themes of religious irreverence & sexual awakenings are found in both of these 2 act, 5 character plays. And, Religion is lampooned by condoning behavior in the name of Jesus in both. However, HAND to GOD is mercifully an engrossing intelligent play while PERMISSION is merely  gross & ridiculous.  PERMISSION revolves around 2 married couples.  The husbands have been longtime friends. The marital tension is palpable over dinner with both couples:  Michelle & Zach and Eric & Cynthia.  A sidebar meeting in the kitchen between Michelle & Zach is burst into by Eric & Cynthia where they're shocked to discover Cynthia being spanked by Zach.  Eric & Cynthia make a hasty exit ending an engaging, short 1st act.  The second act was an abominable eternity.  Zach explains to Eric that he & Michelle adhere to (CDD) Christian Discipline Domestic.  Zach informs Eric he must be (HOH) Head of Household and the wife subservient; subjecting her to corporal punishment.  Eric & Zach's marriage & lives are in turmoil.  They adopt CDD along with spankings (OTC) Over the Knne, which oddly enough seems to be working for them.  The play degenerates into an absurdist orgy that most of the audience funny found hilarious. I thought it Horrible, Offensive and Hardly worth the time.  I grant PERMISSION to pass on this Completely Disagreeable Caper.  Instead, I command you to see HAND to GOD which by some miracle, is by the same playwright.

OF GOOD STOCK @MTC is Packed with Great Stuff

OF GOOD STOCK is a family comedy/drama the circles around & collides with the 3 Stockton sisters: Jess, Celia & Amy.  Three sisters who love each other but they don't always (hardly ever) like each other.  Jess is married, Amy engaged and Celia pregnant with her new "dude."  Amy is played by B'wy  & film star Alicia Silverstone.  Silverstone played her role with precociousness that was wearing.  Heather Lind (Merchant of Venice v. Al Pacino) as Celia, the funny & impetuous sister was winning.  The girls & their guys are gathering at the family home in Cape Cod to celebrate Jess' birthday.  Playwright Melissa Ross has written a verbose play which swings between annoying & adorable.  In between, the play connects with family dysfunction, sibling dynamics & male/female relationships.  Topics of mortality & legacies felt overburdened  I tottered towards disliking this contemporary take of King Lear's 3 daughters fighting to claim their stake when I was struck by how funny and close to home the family fueds faired.  The high point placed the 3 inebriated sisters altogether on their pier to pour forth their rants along with their dad's $2,000 bottle of scotch and a 3 carot diamond engagement ring tossed in for extra bling.  The sister's ganging up on each & their own self-critique was brilliant.  The heart to heart cancer talk between Jess & her husband felt forced.  The play continuously teeters between silly and sentimental.  Still, OF GOOD STOCK is full of the stuff that makes for an entertaining play that asserts to seize the day.    

TESTAMENT TO YOUTH-A Masterpiece WWI Film that is a Tribute to Peace

Downton Abbey fans, Masterpiece BBC fans, (even Game of Throne Fans,)  the British Film TESTAMENT TO YOUTH is aimed at you and armed to destroy any notion of glory in war. I maintain all war movies are anti-war. Based on the memoirs of Vera Brittain, this sumptuously shot film blazons the horrors & devastation wrought by war.  Vera was among the 1st females admitted to Oxford in 1914 just as Britain declared war.  Her brother Edward, her beau, Roland & friend Victor were all jubilant in their plans to head to Oxford together. The upheaval of war decimated all  peacetime plans.  The young men enlist & Vera volunteer as a nurse on the frontlines.  We see the optimism of youth & frivolous social restraints of the day disintigrate under the harsh brutalities of war. There is a beautiful, tragic love story between Vera & Roland and the love between brother & sister is heart wrenching.  The cast & cinematography are exceptional.  Vera (Alicia Vikander "Ex Machina") is a phenomenal actress.  Roland (Kit Harrington "Game of Thrones") rules on screen as Vera's fiancee.  Elite British actresses Miranda Richardson & Emily Watson prove there are no small parts.  TESTAMENT TO YOUTH is flawless film.  It is an agonizing testament that war razes everything leaving behind only grief and pain.  "No to war. No to the endless cycle of revenge. No more."      

SPY-Nobody Plays it Better for Laughs than Melissa McCarthy

Bond pictures will live & never die.  Except they all tend to blend; big explosions, incredulous car chases, gizmo gadgets & gorgeous girls.  The 007 franchise begs for parody.  Nobody brings more hilarity to the action/spy-comedy genre than Melissa McCarthy.  Susan Cooper (McCarthy) is not your typical cool sleuth.  Susan has been undervalued & deeply underestimated.  Given the opportunity to go undercover to intercept the sale of nuclear weapons (really?) and revenge the killing of agent Bradley Fine (Jude Law,) she proves quick thinking, fearless & fast acting.  Her rapid banter hits laughs with machine-gun fire.  The preposterous plot is background noise to the humorous repartee in-between fight scenes.  McCarthy gets comic support from British comedic actress Miranda Hart.  British action star, Jason Stratham, plays a gruff rogue CIA agent.  His tough & belligerent demeanor makes him a great straight man for McCarthy's wit.   Rose Byrne (Bridesmaids) plays a villianious vixen who keeps  coming but falls to McCarthy's cannon fire mouth.  The Brits have talent, style & agent 007 but nobody does it better than Melissa McCarthy.  She is just that good; she's the best.

ENTOURAGE-ARI GOLD Plays God Among the Stars

ENTOURAGE the movie is more of the same and in this Hollywood fame game, that's plenty.  The wolf pack is back growling, prowling and baying at the moon.  The entire entourage of characters are all on board:  Adrian Grenier, Jeremy Piven, Kevin Connolly, Kevin Dillon & Jerry Ferrara.  There's a bevy of beauties along with cameo guest spots that keeps things extra hot.  (Watch for Kelsey Grammer's hilarious turn.)  What's the plot?  Same old, same old…Ari Gold (Piven) is driven like the tazmanian devil.  Grenier has his brood of brothers to help keep things real.  Kevin Dillon who plays Grenier brother (but looks nothing like him) steals scenes with his self-absorbed narcism.  In the Hollywood world of glamor & glitz, more is more.  If you're already a fan of the series this movie lives up to the hype.   For those who "never watched" the show, if you see this hilarious romp & claim not to like it, you're a fake.

ALOHA-An ALL STAR CAST GETS this MOVIE to SOAR

ALOHA has enough star power to make the solar system spin.  Fortunately, because of its A list group of actors and minor rising stars this movie soars.  The plot for this movie is a bomb. It would be a major dud if not for the winning wiles & smiles of Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone, Rachel McAdams and John Krasinski.  Cooper plays Brian, a former Iraqi ace reconnaisance pilot. He's seriously wounded on a mission and leaves the military.  He is hired by Bill Murray, a multi-billionaire exec. to a covert satellite joint mission with the armed forces.  Murray plays the devil incarnate with wicked charm.  "I've danced with the devil & I liked it," says Allison (Stone.)  She is a crackajack airforce capt. assigned to Cooper as his omnipresent lackey.  Allison doen't lack for effervescent enthusiasm and indomitable abilities.  Cooper plays the brash, battle weary cynic whose in it for the payout.  Added to the dynamics is Brian's ex-love Tracy (McAdams.)  She is married to airforce pilot Woody (Krasinski.)  The sexual tension between Brian & Allison and Brian & Tracy is combustible.  Krasinski gets more across with fewer words spoken than most topgun actors.  Col. Lacy (Danny McBride) gives comedy a big hands up. Tracy & Woody have a daughter (who looks like McAdams) & son.  Do we care if Brian is the biological father?  Are we vested in this ridiculous Austin Powers' plot?  If not for the star power that lifts this film it would have been a sappy melodrama.  But, it's a movie you won't regret seeing.  It scores a hit to the heart and may launch some waterworks.

HAND to GOD-I Swear, See this Miraculous Play

The sensational play HAND to GOD at the Booth Theater is unlike anything I have ever experienced in the theater.   Playwright Robert Askins won the Obie ('14) for his play which has moved to the Great White Way.  Perhaps you're expecting this to be a religious/philosophical play.  And you would be right and you would also be wrong. This play touches on just about everything under the sun, and the bathroom sink.  This play that causes you to think.  It also makes you gasp, laugh and cringe.  HAND to GOD rewrote the rules for comprising a compelling drama.  The story evolves around Jason, a shy, troubled teen who communicates through his omnipresent, ulter ego hand puppet, Tyrone.  Jason's mother Margery heads a teen puppetry church group with Jason along with Jessica & Timothy.  Margery may head the class but she's not in control. Timothy makes lewd & hostile comments towards Margery, Jason & Jessica.  Pastor Greg oversees the flock of this chuch.  He's a schemer aiming to know Margery in the biblical sense.  Margery is a manic screamer & sex offender.  However, the heart & soul of this compelling & entertaining play is Jason.  He is seen as vulnerable, sympathetic and then vicious & deranged.  Or, you may believe he's possessed by the devil and needs an exorcism.  Expext to be perturbed, disturbed - anything other than inured to the troubling events in this brilliant play.  The acting from the ensemble cast is celestial.  Steven Boyer who plays Jason/Tyrone is so incredible in his duo role it creates doubt in what to believe.  You only have yourself to blame if you don't choose to attend this play 1st hand.

French Film LOVE at FIRST FIGHT-Survivalist Romance Blossoms

Boy meets girl in a wrestling match.  Girl brings him down and he resorts to biting her arm.  Not a whole lot of charm in that or in the entire film for that matter.  Madeline (Adele Haenel "In the Name of My Daughter) plays the militant ingenue preparing for an apocolyptic future by enlisting in the French army to hone her survivalist skills.  Arnaud is the young man who needs a muzzle. Why he becomes so besotted with Madeline that he enlists remains a puzzle.  Does love blossom or do fists prevail?  Madeline's angry with the world mentality does soften as Arnaud's combat/leadership skills harden.  A shrinking violet or Pvt. Benjamin she is not, but still, she's pretty hot.  Her disdain for any signs of weakness gets weary.  Arnaud must have been infected when he bit her cause he goes a wall from the army to set up housekeeping with her in the forest.  Survival means adaptation and Madeline grows accostumed to his face.  Too bad they can't survive without the human race.  Oh blah di oh blah dah, this movie is merely comme ci comme ca.

Amanda Seyfried in THE WAY WE GET BY-Got Way on My Nerves, I Say No Way

The 2nd Stage Theater's production THE WAY WE GET BY marks Amanda Seyfried debut on the NY Stage.  What a disappointing way for this talented actress (Les Miserable, Mama Mia!) to grace the stage.   Established playwright Neil Labute's 2 actor, 1 act play was one long tedious rant. Labute known for his hostile, combative dialogue between the sexes (Reasons to be Pretty, The Money Shot) failed to provide anything but hot air Seyfried (Beth) and Thomas Sadoski (veteran Bwy & TV actor "The Newsroom") who plays Doug.  The setting is a NYC aptmt. late at night.  Doug surreptitiously slinks around the aptmt. in his boxers & inadvertently wakes Beth.  She joins him and their passive/aggressive banter is both annoying & innane "You were really zonked out."  "That's a nice console shelf thingy."  Beth asks the pertinent question "What are we doing here?"  It appears that Doug is poised to dash & avoid the awkward morning after awkwardness.  They both delve into shallow waters of regret and desires.  The sorry revelation that Beth & Doug are step brother/sister is a big letdown.  The back/forth & circuitous repartee was relentless.  It never rang true. There was nothing titilating in this tedious production.  I couldn't wait for the play to end & get on my way.