AmericanTheaterWeb Original News & Reviews

Dixon Place continues its 17th annual HOT! Festival this week with presentations of Kenny Mellman's Say Seaboy, You Sissy Boy?, a new musical in development by this man generally identified as being Herb of Kiki and Herb fame. Mellman's performance at Dixon Place as part of the annual celebration of Queer Culture is brief (just 30 minutes), yet as Mellman performs songs from the show at a piano in this intimate venue, you get a sense that he's created what might be an exciting, and potentially groundbreaking, new musical.

"Seaboy" focuses on a dark piece of news from the early 1990s: the murder of U.S. Navy Petty Officer Third Class Allen Schindler, Jr. in a men's room in Sasebo, Japan. Schindler was savagely beaten by two of his shipmates. In addition to detailing Schindler's life as a child, his experiences in the Navy, and ultimately, the trial of the two men who beat him, "Seaboy" includes several fantasy sequences which pull us into the years following Schindler's murder, and digressions into simultaneous erotic and violent nature of men's restrooms for gay men. Mellman describes personal attacks that he suffered as a young teen in junior high bathrooms, and recounts some of the history of New York's tearooms during his performance of "Seaboy."

While these latter aspects greatly enhance Mellman's very personal and emotional performance of "Seaboy," these are elements that, in all likelihood, would need to be jettisoned should the piece move forward as a more "traditional" musical. Given the strength of Mellman's primary and secondary narratives and the songs that he has created for each of them, this material, though fascinating and moving in the context of Mellman's solo performance, does not ultimately feel crucial to "Seaboy" as a whole.

What is crucial are the invigorating solos – almost mournful arias – that Mellman has created for Schindler. In the first, Schindler describes his life at home and how he came to aspire to a career in the Navy. In the second, which feels as if it might become an early 11 o'clock number in the musical, Schindler comes to the realization that he must out himself to his shipmates. Elsewhere, Mellman has written a haunting number for Schindler's shipmates. It's a variation on the children's song "The Famer in the Dell," except here the navy men sing ""There's a faggot on this ship." (If one listens to the cadences, the phrase mirrors "The farmer takes a wife" perfectly. During this sequence, it's possible to envision "Seaboy" in full performance.

Mellman's lyrics for his diverse score – which also includes a dark honky-tonk number and a ravishing blues-infused tune – are evocative and deeply felt, and make "Seaboy," even at this embryonic stage, a truly touching and rewarding theatrical experience.

---- Andy Propst

----------------------------------------------

Say Seaboy, You Sissy Boy? continues at Dixon Place (258 Bowery) through August 9. Performances are Thursday through Saturday at 8pm. Tickets are $12-$15 and can be purchased by calling 212-219-0736 or visiting www.dixonplace.org

Broadway In Chicago has announced that the hit Broadway musical Xanadu will premiere in Chicago at the Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place beginning January 16, 2009.

Xanadu opened at Broadway’s Helen Hayes Theatre to critical acclaim on July 10, 2007 as the first new musical of the 2007-2008 season. Since the 2007 opening, the musical has an Outer Critics Circle Award as Best Musical, and a Drama Desk Award for Oustanding Book of a Musical.

Based on the cult movie of the same title, Xanadu tells the story of the nine magical muse-daughters of Zeus, who come to earth in 1980 (disguised in roller skates, leg warmers and Australian accents) to inspire humans to create truly great work and discover the meaning of the universe's greatest secret. Zeus' most important decree is they can’t fall in love with any mortals! But all that changes when the young Kira meets the handsome artist Sonny, who needs her help in achieving his greatest dream. It is only when Sonny teaches Kira the true meaning of inspiration, that the secret of Xanadu is revealed.

Xanadu features a book by Douglas Carter Beane, and a score by Jeff Lynne (writer and producer for the Electric Light Orchestra (E.L.O.)) and John Farrar (responsible for most of the hits performed by Olivia Newton-John in the 1970’s), The musical features the top 20 Billboard hits, "Magic," "Xanadu," "All Over the World" and "I’m Alive." Award-winning Christopher Ashley directs with choreography by Dan Knechtges.

Performances begin January 16, 2009 at the Drury Lane Theatre Water Tower Place, 175 E Chestnut St. Tickets will go on-sale at a later date to be announced. For further information, visit: www.broadwayinchicago.com or www.xanaduonbroadway.com

Culture Project has announced the two new shows that will comprise the 2008 fall season – it will next present the New York Premiere of the award-winning play In Conflict and Ronan Noone's critically-acclaimed one-man-show, The Atheist, starring Campbell Scott.

It was also announced today that Culture Project will depart its Mercer Street theater following the run of its current production, Expatriate. The SoHo space, which houses the organization's main performance venue and offices, has been sold, after a valiant effort on the part of Culture Project to compete for its acquisition. Culture Project‟s fall productions will now be presented at the 199-seat Barrow Street Theatre in the West Village (27 Barrow Street at 7th Avenue South). The search for a permanent Culture Project home remains ongoing.

The first of the productions that will be seen at the Barrow Street Theatre this fall is In Conflict, a portrait of Iraq War veterans speaking out on duty, loss and the fight to stay alive. Based on Yvonne Latty's acclaimed 2006 book of the same name, the stage version of In Conflict, adapted and directed by three-time Helen Hayes Award-winner Douglas C. Wager, will begin performances on September 18.

Noone's The Atheist will begin performances on October 12. In this one-man play, Scott plays "Augustine Early," a crooked reporter who will do anything to get his next front-page story. When Augustine turns a prominent local politician‟s tawdry predilections into front page news, the scandal threatens to undo the one person Augustine thought was immune - himself.

The company's program will also include a collaboration with the venerable Judson Memorial Church (55 Washington Square South), a self-described "sanctuary for progressive activism and artistic expression," creating a varied series of events. The works will include a music series, an initiative that explores the debates surrounding the ratification of the constitution and a recurring "Guantanamo vigi"" that recognizes the current illegality of the administration's actions, and rejection of basic human rights, freedoms and protections under the law. Buchman says there is no better venue in New York for the presentation of such work.

"Our long-term plans involve a permanent home," Buchman says, "to include a theater, screening room, a lobby/exhibition space, a concert/lecture hall and a resident café where politically-charged conversation can flourish. Our move gives us a perfect opportunity to collaborate with like-minded organizations throughout the city while we continue our search."

For more information about Culture Project and its productions, visit www.cultureproject.org. Culture Project at the Barrow Street Theatre is located at 27 Barrow Street at 7th Avenue South.

A new work from Obie Award-winning theater artist Mac Wellman will take to the stage of the Chocolate Factory in Long Island City in September. Wellman's 1965UU will run at the theater from September 11 - October 4.

More than two years in development, 1965UU is a solo performance written by Mac Wellman, whose recent plays include Bitter Bierce at PS122, Jennie Richee with Ridge Theater, and Antigone with Big Dance Theater. 1965UU is adapted from Wellman's own group of short stories about the imaginary histories of real world asteroids (Wellman obtained a list of all the named little worlds).

1965UU was written expressly for performer Paul Lazar (of Big Dance Theater) and director Stephen Mellor (frequent Mac Wellman collaborator, received his first Obie Award in 1990 for his performance of Wellman's Terminal Hip, and his 2nd in 2003 for Wellman's Bitter Bierce).

Performances of 1965UU will be Tuesday through Saturday at 8pm at the Chocolate Factory (5-49 49th Avenue in Long Island City). Tickets are $15.00 and can be purchased by visiting: www.chocolatefactorytheater.org

Chicago Dramatists will kick off its 30th anniversary season with resident playwright Marisa Wegrzyn’s new comedy Ten Cent Night, running September 18 - October 26.

Wegrzyn's play focuses on country singer Hewitt Finley who has shot himself in the head, and his daughter, Roby, who is hitting the road, hoping to leave behind her failed music career and the boyfriend who can’t say her name. With a folding chair handcuffed to one hand and a guitar case full of stolen cash in the other, Roby hitchhikes home to Burkeville, Texas to save her heart-sick little sister. Roby’s twin, Dad’s mistress, and the owner of the stolen cash all end up on the Finley porch, renewing sibling rivalries, the fight over Dad’s royalties, and their hatred of the song that made him famous.

Wegrzyn’s The Butcher of Baraboo was produced in Steppenwolf Theatre's First Look Repertory in 2006, and premiered off-Broadway at Second Stage last summer. Her play Killing Women was produced by Theatre Seven of Chicago. Wegrzyn is currently working on commissions from Steppenwolf, Yale Rep, and Actors Theatre of Louisville. Her other plays include Psalms of a Questionable Nature and Hickorydickory. Her work has been produced or read at Chicago Dramatists, Washington University in St. Louis, Eckerd College/WordBRIDGE, Geva Theatre Center, Lucid by Proxy, The Hourglass Group, The Women's Project, Centerstage, and The Magic Theatre.

Performances of Ten Cent Night will be at Chicago Dramatists (1105 W. Chicago Ave. in Chicago). Performances are Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 3 p.m. Tickets are $15 - $30 and can be purchased by calling 312-633-0630 or by visiting www.hottix.com. Further information is available online at www.chicagodramatists.org