SITE GUIDE
SEARCH
REVIEWS
REVIEW ARCHIVES
ADVERTISING AT CURTAINUP
FEATURES
NEWS
Etcetera and
Short Term Listings
LISTINGS
Broadway
Off-Broadway
NYC Restaurants
BOOKS and CDs
OTHER PLACES
Berkshires
London
California
New Jersey
DC
Connecticut
Philadelphia
Elsewhere
QUOTES
TKTS
PLAYWRIGHTS' ALBUMS
LETTERS TO EDITOR
FILM
LINKS
MISCELLANEOUS
Free Updates
Masthead
A CurtainUp Review
The Bilbao Effect
|
The case was made for using architecture to revitalize the economies of post-industrial cities by establishing a brotherhood of 'superstar' architects who would generate spectacles bolstered by our reviews, creating 'architourism', or what has become known today as the 'Bilbao Effect'. .mdash; Alexandre Nusinovitski
|
(l - r): Ann Hu (Mitsumi Yoshida), Marc Carver (Bill Watertsand) and Joris Stuyck (Erhardt Shlaminger)
(Photo: Carol Rosegg) |
The title is a term used for a practice that became common after Frank Gehry built the Guggenheim Museum in the poor industrial port city of Bilbao, Spain. The museum subsequently became such a popular tourist destination that it prompted other struggling cities to cast about for celebrity architects who could design equally alluring buildings to boost their economies.
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) an apt site specific setting for Safdie's use of a mock trial as his basic theatrical conceit. We meet the Clerk (Tommy Biggiani), Judge Bill Watertsand (Marc Carver), prosecuting attorney Mitsumi Yoshida (Ann Hu), defense attorney Allen Kaufman (John Bolton), plaintiff Dr. Paul Bolzano (Anthony Giaimo), starchitect Erhardt Shlaminger (Joris Stuyck), and a renowned architectural critic Alexandre Nusinovitski (Joel Van Liew).
Consider this hearing as a mating of the American legal court system with the AIA protocol, and to add a bot of democratic flavor, the audience is invited to be the stand-in jury. Oh, and expect this court to allow all manner of detours into absurdism.
While the trial is a comic device, Safdie's is also bent on exploring the serious theme of the glamourizing of architecture so that urban planning involves a search for what's come to be known as "Starchitects" whose names attached to mega urban centers can be compared to the way Hollywood A-list actors are secured to insure film financing.
Some scenes possess a dark Kafka-esque atmosphere. For instance, there is a mysterious entrance of Shlaminger's mother Ettie Hillman-Shlaminger (Lorraine Serabian) from the back of the theater. And when the defense attorney calls her as a witness, whose raison d'etre seems to be in providing off-beat anecdotes about her son's precocious childhood. Another late witness is the posh Belgian avant-garde furniture designer Grole Andacht (Jay Sullivan). There's so much frantic energy in this play that one can easily lose track of the storyline.
The acting is broad, as is Brendan Hughes's direction. If I were pressed to pick the star turn of the evening, the honor would go to Ann Hu as prosecuting attorney Mitsumi Yoshida. She's entertainingly tenacious and not quite the cool lawyer she appears to be.
Architecture aficionados will enjoy Shlaminger's slide show of great contemporary buildings and his insider's facts and funny stories about these iconic urban centres. To wit: the Sydney Opera House ran 1, 400 percent over budget,and it leaked like a sieve.
There's no question that the playwright knows his architecture. As the son of the famous architect Moshe Safdie, he grew up in Montreal in Habitat '67, one of his father's signature building complexes. He later studied architecture at Columbia University, but took a different career path after taking a playwriting class.
The Bilbao Effecthas character as well as thematic links to Private Jokes, Public Places, but you don't need to have seen the first play to catch on to the theconnection. Each play is structured to stand independently. It's the somewhat uneasy mix of thought provoking issues and off-the-wall comedy that tends to point to structural weaknesses. But then weren't all those starchtects competing to memorialize the World Trade Center tragedy a sad and absurd spectacle?
Editor's Note: This is certainly a season with new plays that put the spotlight on art and architecture. As The Bilbao Effect opened, so did a new historical drama, The Glass House about the famous Farnsworth House designed by a man who was a starchitect long before the term became popular, Mies van der Rohe. The Broadway hit Red puts the focus on an artist creating murals for van der Rohe's Seagram Building. And at New York Theater Workshop in the East Village, playwright/performer Claudia Shear looks at the restorer's art in a play called — what else— Restoration. . I'll be reviewing it later this week. To read my review of Private Jokes, Public Places when it played at this same site-specific venue go here.— elyse sommer
|
The Bilbao Effect Written by Oren Safdie Directed by Brendan Hughes Cast: Tommy Biggiani (Clerk), Marc Carver (Bill Watertsand), Ann Hu (Mitsumi Yoshida), John Bolton (Allen Kaufman), Anthony Giaimo (Paul Bolzano), Joris Stuyck (Erhardt Shlaminger), Lorraine Serabian (Ettie Hillman-Shlaminger), Joel Van Liew (Alexandre Nusinovitski), Jay Sullivan (Grole Andacht). Sets: Jisun Kim Costumes: Tristan Raines Sound: Ben Arons Lighting: Cat Tate Starmer Production Stage Manager: Mary Ellen Allison Fight Director: Matthew R. Wilson Center for Architecture at 536 LaGuardia Place street address phone 212/352-3101 From 5/12/10; opening 5/15/10; 6/05/10. Wednesday through Saturday @ 8pm. Running time: 90 minutes with no intermission Tickets: $18 Reviewed by Deirdre Donovan based on May 13th press performance |
|
REVIEW FEEDBACK Highlight one of the responses below and click "copy" or"CTRL+C"
Paste the highlighted text into the subject line (CTRL+ V): Feel free to add detailed comments in the body of the email. . .also the names and emails of any friends to whom you'd like us to forward a copy of this review. You can also contact us at Curtainup at Facebook , Curtainup at Twitter and at our Blog Annex |
|
Subscribe to our FREE email updates with a note from editor Elyse Sommer about additions to the website -- with main page hot links to the latest features posted at our numerous locations. To subscribe,
E-mail: esommer@curtainup.comesommer@curtainup.com
put SUBSCRIBE CURTAINUP EMAIL UPDATE in the subject line and your full name and email address in the body of the message -- if you can spare a minute, tell us how you came to CurtainUp and from what part of the country. |
South Pacific
In the Heights
Playbill Broadway Yearbook
