Gwen Orel
By Gwen Orel
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The Schmooze Manipulating Shostakovich
A wall comes to life. Arms appear in what had seemed like empty black suits hanging on them. The seven actors in the company, in evening dress, whom we’ve seen singing, playing with pieces of paper, join hands with the arms. Together the actors and the limbs on the wall do a kind of Hora….
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The Schmooze Less Than Actual Abraham Joshua Heschel
Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) was a fascinating individual. Too bad Colin Greer’s play, “Imagining Heschel,” is such a yawn. Heschel was born in Poland, and got out before the Holocaust; he was a poet, teacher and author of influential works including the 1955 classic, “God in Search of Man.” He believed that Jews should fight…
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The Schmooze ‘Shlemiel the First’ Just as Good the Second Time
Is there room for a klezmer musical on Broadway? I think so. The band for “Shlemiel the First,” led by the Folksbiene National Yiddish Theatre’s Zalmen Mlotek, is so good that during the exit music a sizeable portion of the audience drifted down toward the pit instead of up to the exits. Costumed as an…
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Culture Puppet Golem Strikes Again
In the Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre’s production of “Golem,” the people are puppets (except for a ghost), and the man of clay is danced by a human being (Steven Ryan). And that’s how it should be, for although he doesn’t speak, Golem is a stand-in for man. He’s a creature who didn’t ask to be born,…
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The Schmooze Big Clay Man, Writ Small
The story of the Golem has been told in literature, film and theater, including a puppet production created in 1997 by the Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre. Now that show is back as part of La Mama Experimental Theatre Club’s 50th anniversary season, featuring music by The Klezmatics trumpeter Frank London. Unusually for the company, the show…
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Culture For Playwright Itamar Moses, Rambling Comes With Craft
Itamar Moses rambles. It’s a distinguishing, endearing facet of his conversation. “I’m not sure what my point is.” He was working on changes to his new play, “Completeness,” when we spoke on the phone a few weeks before its September 13 opening at Playwrights Horizons. The characters in it also ramble, but they have a…
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The Schmooze The Complete Meta-Guide to 21st-Century Love
Photo by Joan Marcus There’s a moment late in Itamar Moses’ new play “Completeness,” running until September 25 at Playwrights Horizons, when the shifting scenery stops shifting. Lights blink. Eventually two of the actors appear, talking about how since their characters don’t reappear they have come out to keep the audience engaged. Now, you don’t…
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The Schmooze Friday Film: Paul Rudd as Holy Fool in ‘Our Idiot Brother’
Nicole Rivelli/The Weinstein Company I don’t know when I’ve seen a mean hippie on screen before. But that’s just one reason to see “Our Idiot Brother.” Another is Paul Rudd’s adorable, innocent character, Ned. He’s a latter day hippie we first meet selling vegetables at a farmer’s market. A cop flatters his zucchini, then coaxes…
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