Welcome back to labor, everybody. Summer’s fled, and all we have ahead of us is the prospect of unremitting toil. But at least now we’ve got our wits about us—summertime laze is a terrible state in which to ask the tough questions. In early August, when the Double Edge Theatre in Ashfield, Massachusetts, hosted one of its Conversations—this one about Art & Place—my brain was still lightly sauteed by the heat. Now—looking back through a soberer September lens—it strikes me that the panels and talks at this unassuming, comfortable weekend in the Berkshire hills struck right to the heart of the most tenacious problems of art-making, and the issues brought up there have wriggled into my consciousness. Read more »

Following in the path of her fellow SNL veterans Ana Gasteyer, Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan (whoops, scratch that last one—he bailed out of The Frogs), Molly Shannon is bound for the Great White Way. She who created Mary Katherine “Superstar” Gallagher will be playing ditsy dipsomaniac Marge MacDougall for a limited 11-week run from October 12 through December 26. Shannon will have some very funny, wobbly heels to fill after Tony-winner Katie Finneran leaves Promises, Promises on October 10. But we’re excited to see how Shannon makes the role her own.

Eateries have Restaurant Week, and each year, several Off Broadway venues follow suit with 20at20. The program offers, yes, 20 different shows for $20 a seat. Some of the participating shows are actually worth it: Orlando at Classic Stage Company, Zero Hour at the Actors’ Temple, The 39 Steps at New World Stages. Granted, there are some shows you couldn’t pay us $100 to revisit (we’re looking at you, It Must Be Him and Power Balladz), but check out the site for genuine deals to be had.

Why is Jason Craig, in full-on Beowulf drag at left there, clenching fist to forehead? It may be because he’s concerned that you don’t know Beowulf: A Thousand Years of Baggage has come to Joe’s Pub—the lair this rollicking yawp of a musical should have been in all along. Last season, Beowulf raged its arm off at Abrons Arts Center, and while I completely applaud that venue’s adventurous programming, the theater there—well—looks like my granny’s living room. Acres of light wood paneling, adorable globe sconces…Abrons does not exactly scream “dirty, lowdown rock-opera.” Beowulf,  on the other hand, does scream, and should you mosey down to Joe’s Pub on Thursday the 2nd at 9:30pm or Saturday at 7pm, your ears will bear bruised testament to that. This stripped-down version of Banana Bag and Bodice’s metamusing on the Old English epic (90 minutes, two new cast members and fresh directing flourishes by Mallory Catlett) seems funnier and more terrifying than ever: When Jessica Jelliffe—playing Grendel’s anguished mother—stalked howling past me, I nearly spilled my drink. A venue can make a show, and in this case, cramming the eight-piece orchestra onto the Pub’s tiny stage and letting the performers prowl along the tops of our booths infuses the piece with all the danger it was missing at Abrons. Raise your mead high, ye Danes! Beowulf is back.

Pope! An Epic Musical

This year’s Fringe Festival is finally over! Which means, of course, that’s its time for the FringeNYC Encore Series. This postfestival festival starts on Thursday, September 9; tickets are $18, and can be ordered by phone at 866-468-7619 or online here. Of the 21 shows in this year’s extension program, we have already covered a lucky 13; see the list below for a list of Encore offerings as well links to our written reviews and video insta-reviews (and in some cases, both). And we are happy to announce that our popular video reviewers, AndrewAndrew, have volunteered for another tour of duty, so check this blog in weeks to come for new dispatches from the dynamic downtown duo.

Meanwhile, here are the selections in this year’s Encore Series:

Amsterdam Abortion Survivor (AndrewAndrew video review)
Bunked! A New Musical (Adam Feldman’s three-star review) (AndrewAndrew video review)
Faye Lane’s Beauty Shop Stories (AndrewAndrew video review)
Getting Even with Shakespeare
Hearts Full of Blood (Emily Hoffman’s four-star review)
How My Mother Died of Cancer, and Other Bedtime Stories
The Hurricane Katrina Comedy Festival (Jonathan Mandell’s four-star review) (AndrewAndrew video review)
Jurassic Parq: The Broadway Musical (AndrewAndrew video review)
Just In Time: The Judy Holliday Story (Aaron Grunfeld’s three-star review)
Lost and Found
Made in Taiwan
Over and Over
PigPen Presents The Nightmare Story
Pope! An Epic Musical (AndrewAndrew video review)
Running (Robin Rothstein’s four-star review)
Saving Throw Versus Love
The Secretaries (Helen Shaw’s three-star review)
South Pathetic (Jonathan Mandell’s three-star review) (AndrewAndrew video review)
The Twentieth-Century Way (Jonathan Mandell’s five-star review)
Viva Los Bastarditos!
When Last We Flew (Adam Feldman’s four-star review)

There have been plays about the September 11 terrorist attacks. There have been musicals that make reference to the events of that day, too. But as far as we can remember, no one has written a full-blown rock musical about it. Now comes Clear Blue Tuesday, about the lives of 11 New Yorkers irrevocably affected by the tragedy. Sounds like it could be a cringeworthy musical at the York Theatre Company. Instead, you can do your cringing at the multiplex.

CORRECTION: Rob Weinert-Kendt of StageGrade and blogger at the Wicked Stage points out that, indeed, this material began its life on stage. Thanks a lot, NYMF.

Dream of the Marionettes / La Rêve des Marionettes
***
It’s appropriate that this mild musical from Louisiana is playing at La Mama: Its retro feminist sensibilities recall the political shows that might have played this venerable venue four decades ago or so. A puppet master/emcee (the leering Bruce Coen) controls a bevy of beauties, each representing a female archetype: the wife, the virgin, the whore, etc. The slaves sing, sashay and tease—until one revolts and kills their keeper and, left to their own devices, these “puppets” must break out of their predetermined roles. Johanna Divine and Christine Leichty’s libretto is as scanty as the cast’s costumes, and is really just an excuse for a lovely and impressive parade of original old-school songs (with music by Divine and Daniel Coolik), notably the sassy “A Little Class.” Sadly, save for Jessica Jouclard and Apiyo Obala, the performers aren’t very titillating (or often on key). For this show to work, it might best be reconceived as a burlesque revue, with stars who know how to really make the most of their…parts.—Raven Snook

Hearts Full of Blood
****
Presented by Chicago’s the New Colony, James Asmus’s 90-minute tragicomedy revolves around the dark secret at the root of a couple’s infertility, and Sarah Gitenstein (acting opposite Gary Tiedeman) makes the climactic moment of truth genuinely breathtaking. A strong supporting cast—Evan Linder and Mary Hollis Inboden do wonders as friends of the unhappy couple—anchors the work in the specific realities of young, upper-middle-class America, and turns Hearts into a meditation on happiness and normalcy. This is something of a letdown; the play is stronger when it focuses on taboos and perversity. But the play’s snappy dialogue, shocking subject matter and remarkable leading performance give the Fringe a welcome infusion of quality. —Emily Hoffman

Garage
****
At the opening of Garage, David (Nathan Riley) returns to his Arkansas home after sixteen years, bragging in a high-pitched rant about his plans to bulldoze the auto-repair business that he’s just inherited from his abusive father. While the rest of Dive Theater’s collectively written show is equally aggressive, it is tempered with nuanced acting and poignant remembrances that might do Sam Shepard proud, as David faces the demons represented by his redneck foster brother, Brandon (a tremendous Bryce Kemph), and tries to reclaim his manhood before his wife, Susan (Jenna Kirk), leaves him. Although beer cans flood the stage, the writing remains clear-eyed in the driver’s seat. The characters’ motives aren’t as simple as they seem, and Michael Hogwood’s direction heightens the drama with equal attention to striking physical action (such Brandon “hugging” David by the throat) and hidden motivations (like the tension between Susan and Brandon). There’s a lot going on under the hood in Garage, and its surprises have real horsepower.—Aaron Riccio