First a note: comparison between this Closing Weekend Cabaret and Thursday Nights Cabaret. From Thursday Nights Cabaret with almost all the exact same acts doing the same things, what a breath of fresh funny air and great time. The difference between the two Cabarets was the host. Where Renaldo who tortured and abuse everyone going on for eternity, hosts Lord Oxford and Patty O’Pattiecake (again no program to tell who anyone was – but I think Patty O’Pattiecake is Audrey Crabtree) they where great moving the show along. Not staying on stage longer than the needed. We all left feeling we had great evening and maybe even wanting more. Leaving them wanting more is something extremely important to learn from the Thursday Night Cabaret disaster created by host Renaldo for reasons listed in Thursday night’s blog. The only thing I would add is – seeing Renaldo’s band without Renaldo would be interesting. If you are going to host Lord Oxford and Patty O’Pattiecake is a lesson in how to do it right. The result all the act where much better as well.
Red Bastard – was funny as &%#! - his usual. Dodi Disanto was in the audience one of the experts in Bouffon and she loved the Red Bastard saying some exceptionally complementary thing about him to me. Which I will not repeat for fear of it going to Red Bastard’s head or bouncing ass.
John Leo and his star Peanuckle where excellent. John’s movements in his dance where crisper than in his first show in the festival, which resulted in a much better performance. Liked his energy. His piece did start to drag in the middle a little. Over all it was great and Peanuckle the star was excellent. 3.5 Heads where great it will be nice to see how this group develops this beginning piece. Coo No More were effective in us not understanding – but I think I did understand some. There was a fellow that did a great thing with his back as a face. Very affective use of a back as a puppet. The story I would like to hear is how he developed that piece.
Great Closing Cabaret.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
Kill Me Loudly: A Clown Noir: Friday September 26, 2008 Tonight at 10:30
Congratulations to Deanna Fleysher star clown of Kill Me Loudly. I was listening to NPR and suddenly I hear a story about clowns. To my surprise it was about our NY Clown Theatre Festival and there was a short interview of Deanna Fleysher and she sounded great. She plugged the Festival and her show. Great job.
Concluding Comment
Concluding – every little and big thing one does on stage matters. In this art and business that most of us struggle to make a living at - competition to make that living can be very tough. So everything you do on stage is important. After all we want people in these tough economic times to take their hard earned money and pay to see us perform to move them emotionally, put a smile joy through out there bodies and souls and in some cases or many take them away from their daily life. We make that magic that happens in the theatre wherever we create it come to be. This is why every moment on stage matters.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Clown Cabaret - a great lesson
Clown Cabarets
Host: The Renaldo The Ensemble
Graspy McTakeitall – Audrey Cabtree
3.5 Heads
Coo No More
Dog Ski
This was a great lesson in what turns an audience on so every person in the audience is totally engaged. Of course a lesson also covers the other side of that. You know the side where you look around the audience and no one is laughing just sitting there with blank looks on faces.
The totally engaged lesson… Graspy McTakeitall – Audrey Cabtree, every person in the theatre was alive involved … also awake. She was topical – had a great time and was totally involved in every moment she was on stage and she really did wake people up. She was also funny as hell - and all the laughs in the audience where real and not forced.
3.5 Heads has some nice moments and the dancer was great. There has been a lot more dances in this clown festival by women combining clown, theatre and dance - it has been great.
Dog Ski was interesting and Coo No More I have no idea if they went on or not because the Host really did not introduce anyone so people could understand who was coming on.
The Host … it was not the members of the group it was the leader of the host. There is a type of entertainment where the entertainers torture the audience, and some people enjoy this. The leader of the Host was this type of performer. Maybe it is just me, but it seems like the host is responsible for feeling the energy of the audience and making sure the evening is moving along. When the energy goes down and needs a pick me up the Host comes in and pulls something out of his or her bag of tricks to get the energy of the audience up for the next act. Also making sure everyone knows everything about the act coming on that the performers want the audience to know. Especially when there is no program. The leader of the Host was into abuse torture the audience theatre. If you looked around the audience you saw lots of totally blank looks on peoples faces or the uncomfortable ugly laugh once in a... He did more than that; he started preaching about god - nothing to do with his act. He just wanted to tell people what to think and how to think about god. It does not matter if you’re pro or anti god. You want to start preaching about religion– go start your own religious house of worship or un-worship as the case maybe – but please keep it out of the clown festival. Especially when you are there to move the evening along and introduce the acts. If you want to do political theatre, great – clown political theatre even better - but first it must be theatre, if we wanted to hear preaching about god - we would go someplace else. Some other members of the band had some nice moments – but the leader often stepped on their moments when he could get away with it. Instead of moving the show along – we got everything this entertainer has ever created – or at least it seemed like it. Now if you are into abuse and torture of the audience theatre you really missed a great show. After the Cabaret went past its second hour with no break and it looked like this guy was coming on for another ??? hours - a member of the audience bolted for toilet – I followed. The sad part of all this – the host did a great disservice to the performers of the evening.
Host: The Renaldo The Ensemble
Graspy McTakeitall – Audrey Cabtree
3.5 Heads
Coo No More
Dog Ski
This was a great lesson in what turns an audience on so every person in the audience is totally engaged. Of course a lesson also covers the other side of that. You know the side where you look around the audience and no one is laughing just sitting there with blank looks on faces.
The totally engaged lesson… Graspy McTakeitall – Audrey Cabtree, every person in the theatre was alive involved … also awake. She was topical – had a great time and was totally involved in every moment she was on stage and she really did wake people up. She was also funny as hell - and all the laughs in the audience where real and not forced.
3.5 Heads has some nice moments and the dancer was great. There has been a lot more dances in this clown festival by women combining clown, theatre and dance - it has been great.
Dog Ski was interesting and Coo No More I have no idea if they went on or not because the Host really did not introduce anyone so people could understand who was coming on.
The Host … it was not the members of the group it was the leader of the host. There is a type of entertainment where the entertainers torture the audience, and some people enjoy this. The leader of the Host was this type of performer. Maybe it is just me, but it seems like the host is responsible for feeling the energy of the audience and making sure the evening is moving along. When the energy goes down and needs a pick me up the Host comes in and pulls something out of his or her bag of tricks to get the energy of the audience up for the next act. Also making sure everyone knows everything about the act coming on that the performers want the audience to know. Especially when there is no program. The leader of the Host was into abuse torture the audience theatre. If you looked around the audience you saw lots of totally blank looks on peoples faces or the uncomfortable ugly laugh once in a... He did more than that; he started preaching about god - nothing to do with his act. He just wanted to tell people what to think and how to think about god. It does not matter if you’re pro or anti god. You want to start preaching about religion– go start your own religious house of worship or un-worship as the case maybe – but please keep it out of the clown festival. Especially when you are there to move the evening along and introduce the acts. If you want to do political theatre, great – clown political theatre even better - but first it must be theatre, if we wanted to hear preaching about god - we would go someplace else. Some other members of the band had some nice moments – but the leader often stepped on their moments when he could get away with it. Instead of moving the show along – we got everything this entertainer has ever created – or at least it seemed like it. Now if you are into abuse and torture of the audience theatre you really missed a great show. After the Cabaret went past its second hour with no break and it looked like this guy was coming on for another ??? hours - a member of the audience bolted for toilet – I followed. The sad part of all this – the host did a great disservice to the performers of the evening.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
The Soiree
By: Amanda Huotari
Amanda or I know her a Mandy – is a superb performer and she can do almost anything on stage and it would be great. The characters I have seen before and each time she does them they get better. It is a nice evening of entertainment. How she engages with her audience is wonderful. Mandy has a full plate as she also runs the Theatre Barn in South Paris Maine. Soiree holds together as a show. It looks like Mandy is trying to move on to another level and I look forward to her taking chances that she is not thinking of both solo and working completely new material with new faces and new blood.
The next performances of Soiree are Friday the 26th at 9 PM and Saturday at 8:30.
Amanda or I know her a Mandy – is a superb performer and she can do almost anything on stage and it would be great. The characters I have seen before and each time she does them they get better. It is a nice evening of entertainment. How she engages with her audience is wonderful. Mandy has a full plate as she also runs the Theatre Barn in South Paris Maine. Soiree holds together as a show. It looks like Mandy is trying to move on to another level and I look forward to her taking chances that she is not thinking of both solo and working completely new material with new faces and new blood.
The next performances of Soiree are Friday the 26th at 9 PM and Saturday at 8:30.
Number’s Up!
Written and Performed by: John Leo
Director (or Directorial Consultation {depending if you read the Festival Program or John’s Post Card}): Audrey Crabtree
John’s Co-Star: Machopeachu or Pinochle (Not Credited: in the festival program or John’s post card.)
Knowing that Audrey Crabtree – also one of the main festival directors, directed John Leo and from seeing John last year and concluding with an excellent director this performer and John’s show can really be spectacular, I was prepared for a treat. With Audrey’s hands directing – all of those dead moments would be alive and active. John has the possibility of achieving greatness with his show – and it is a nice show. John has the ability of achieving much, much, much more than this audience saw. His ideas are excellent – but the performance lacks a punch, pushing of the envelope, at moment’s quietness that is needed and a further extension of this physicality. There was an over all feeling that part of the show seemed lost and undirected. There were magical but it was spotty moments that happened through out the show. Of course the best moment and part of the show that got the most laughs was with John’s co-star Pinochle. Pinochle is always 100% in the moments. Pinochle doing what Pinochle does best. Pinochle spends the right amount of time on stage and would love to see more of Pinochle. For me one of the important things for a performer is to believe that they are 100% there. Pinochle achieved this, Pinochle’s co-star did not. In the show “Party Of One” with Noël Williams in her Saturday night late show she left everything on stage. When she finished she was totally drained. Would love to see John come off stage like that, leaving everything on stage. That does not mean he must run around as fast as he can to get tired. You can pour out all your energy just standing on stage being very still.
As to the direction – from speaking with Audrey after the show - she was surprised that she was credited. She did do some directing of John Leo but from what I understand not that much and they have not worked together in something like 2 months. If you choose to have a director or a director/developer/co-creator of your show, it is someone that you should trust and you should put your show in their hands, trusting what they say and follow their direction or at least try it out in performance, developing your working relationship between you. Finding the right director for you is important. Do one or two sessions to see if you like working together. I have no idea the details of this performer creator and director relationship - but with strong direction John and his show or a new show can be a great powerful show. I look forwards to seeing the developement of John Leo and Pinochle's show but only if there is real direction.
John and Pinochle has two more shows. (Thursday 9/25 at 7 PM and Saturday 9/27 at 7 PM) but sometimes the program is wrong so check the web site or call the box office
Director (or Directorial Consultation {depending if you read the Festival Program or John’s Post Card}): Audrey Crabtree
John’s Co-Star: Machopeachu or Pinochle (Not Credited: in the festival program or John’s post card.)
Knowing that Audrey Crabtree – also one of the main festival directors, directed John Leo and from seeing John last year and concluding with an excellent director this performer and John’s show can really be spectacular, I was prepared for a treat. With Audrey’s hands directing – all of those dead moments would be alive and active. John has the possibility of achieving greatness with his show – and it is a nice show. John has the ability of achieving much, much, much more than this audience saw. His ideas are excellent – but the performance lacks a punch, pushing of the envelope, at moment’s quietness that is needed and a further extension of this physicality. There was an over all feeling that part of the show seemed lost and undirected. There were magical but it was spotty moments that happened through out the show. Of course the best moment and part of the show that got the most laughs was with John’s co-star Pinochle. Pinochle is always 100% in the moments. Pinochle doing what Pinochle does best. Pinochle spends the right amount of time on stage and would love to see more of Pinochle. For me one of the important things for a performer is to believe that they are 100% there. Pinochle achieved this, Pinochle’s co-star did not. In the show “Party Of One” with Noël Williams in her Saturday night late show she left everything on stage. When she finished she was totally drained. Would love to see John come off stage like that, leaving everything on stage. That does not mean he must run around as fast as he can to get tired. You can pour out all your energy just standing on stage being very still.
As to the direction – from speaking with Audrey after the show - she was surprised that she was credited. She did do some directing of John Leo but from what I understand not that much and they have not worked together in something like 2 months. If you choose to have a director or a director/developer/co-creator of your show, it is someone that you should trust and you should put your show in their hands, trusting what they say and follow their direction or at least try it out in performance, developing your working relationship between you. Finding the right director for you is important. Do one or two sessions to see if you like working together. I have no idea the details of this performer creator and director relationship - but with strong direction John and his show or a new show can be a great powerful show. I look forwards to seeing the developement of John Leo and Pinochle's show but only if there is real direction.
John and Pinochle has two more shows. (Thursday 9/25 at 7 PM and Saturday 9/27 at 7 PM) but sometimes the program is wrong so check the web site or call the box office
Monday, September 22, 2008
Contact list and communication
Would you like to post your web site or contact information to keep in contact with other performers at this festival or post a show or a run your doing somewhere else? Who knows it could lead to a paying gig. There are people that read this blog in other countries as well. So post your contact information to the world here and tell us what show your were doing and a little about yourself. Or if you did a show in the past or planning on doing a show, post it here.
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