CurtainUp
CurtainUp
The Internet Theater Magazine of Reviews, Features, Annotated Listings
HOME PAGE

Search Curtainup

SITE GUIDE

REVIEWS

REVIEW ARCHIVES

ADVERTISING AT CURTAINUP

FEATURES

NEWS

Broadway
Off-Broadway

NYC Restaurants

BOOKS and CDs

OTHER PLACES
Berkshires
London
California
New Jersey
DC
Philadelphia
Elsewhere

QUOTES

TKTS

PLAYWRIGHTS' ALBUMS

LETTERS TO EDITOR

FILM

LINKS

MISCELLANEOUS
Free Updates
Masthead
A CurtainUp Review
City Of

I won't seem so strange
In Paris
Where pasts become present
And dreams become true
Where one can be whole
In Paris
City of
City of
— Dash, Cammie, and Eleanor
cityof
Cheryl Stern & Steven Rattazzi(Photo: Matthew Murphy)
"To sleep, perchance to dream," as Hamlet famously pondered.

Well, there's not much sleep in evidence during Anton Dudley's at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater, but there are dreams galore. Not that you're ever quite sure what's real and what's reverie. And therein lies the play's fleeting charm.

Paris, the City of Light and so much more, is hands down the star of the show. It's the one dream that's constant throughout. Other dreams come and go, the domain of any one of the show's four protagonists. But Paris is the dream they share. Each feels that in Paris they will somehow be their true — or at least truer — selves. And, for the most part, they're right.

Dash (Devin Norik) and Claude (Jon Norman Schneider) meet in New York, at MOMA, where Claude is admiring Rousseau's The Dream while Dash is admiring Claude. Each notes the similarity of the acronym "MOMA" to the word Momma, and we eventually learn that each of their dreams is centered on their mothers. Claude, an orphan, wants to find his birth mother, and Dash seeks a connection with his deceased mother, a wealthy art collector who owned the Rousseau on display.

Meanwhile Cammie (Colby Minifie), who's never been to Paris before, meets Eleanor (Suzanne Bertish), an older seasoned traveler, at the airport. Cammie's dream, we soon find out, is to sing at the Paris Opera. In fact, she'd carrying an aria around in her handbag. She doesn't like to check bags, so she has five pairs of shoes in her coat pockets. One falls out (along with her ticket) and Eleanor helps her retrieve them. Eleanor's dream is the least clearly articulated, which is a shame since Bertish is an authoritative actress, deserving of a more definitive through line. She starts out looking for her father, an old painter who's probably dead, then somehow her quest evaporates and she spends most of the rest of the play in a white nightgown, somewhat addled.

At various times the four principals address the audience as a group, speaking all at a time or two at a time or alternating lines. It's an arresting presentation the first time but gets tiresome upon repetition. The play includes cameos by French poet Paul Verlaine and painter Maurice Denis. There's also a subplot about a gargoyle on the church of Notre Dame (Steven Rattazzi) courting a pigeon (Cheryl Stern) who regularly rests on an adjoining ledge. Dream or drama — take your pick. It seems to be intended to provide some comic relief, but it doesn't

. When City Of works, it can be quite beguiling. Fact flows smoothly into fiction and each sheds light on the other. This is especially true when two of the characters' dreams come true.

Upon arrival in Paris, Cammie heads for the Paris Opera, which she finds chained and locked. Undaunted, she asks everyone she meets throughout the play to come and see her when she sings there. Sure enough, she has her debut which is both funny and fresh. We never expected her to pull it off, but she does, at what level of consciousness we're not sure but can guess. It's clear that her singing voice is piped in, which somehow makes it even funnier.

Claude's successful, if fortuitous, discovery of his mother is another high point. She's a bag lady of sorts – sporting sweaters instead of bags – and their connection is quite moving. She finds an elegant dress and joins Dash and Claude (now an established couple) to see Cammie at the Opera.

Dash's encounter with the spirit of his dead mother is less satisfying. She paints his arms, one red and one blue, for no apparent reason. Since we don't even know for sure what Eleanor's dream is, it's hard to find any satisfaction in its fulfillment.

Cameron Anderson's set is a mostly unadorned space, an appropriate landscape for dreaming. The Rousseau painting and a bed appear (at different times) to the side and/or back of the stage. Director Stephen Brackett adroitly positions his actors to take maximum advantage of the largely empty playing area, aided by lighting designer Brian Tovar.

Anton Dudley's script is certainly ambitious, but it keeps our attention only in fits and starts. The moments of true interaction are moving, even enchanting, but there's too much white noise in-between.

City Of by Anton Dudley
Director: Stephen Brackett
Cast: Suzanne Bertish (Eleanor), Colby Minifie (Cammie); Devin Norik (Dash); Steven Rattazzi (Actor); Jay Norman Schneider (Claude); Cheryl Stern (Actress)
Scenic Design: Cameron Anderson
Costume Design: Paul Carey
Lighting Design: Brian Tovar
Sound Design: Matt Hubbs
Props Design: Anna Demenkoff Song Composer: Michael Cooper Production Stage Manager: Megan Schwartz Dickert
Running Time: 90 minutes

Peter Jay Sharp Theater, 416 W. 42nd Street; www.playwrightsrealm.org
STARTING DATE: January 27th; opening February 5th; closing February 21st
Reviewed by Michael Bracken based on February 10, 2015 performance
REVIEW FEEDBACK
Highlight one of the responses below and click "copy" or"CTRL+C"
  • I agree with the review of City Of
  • I disagree with the review of City Of
  • The review made me eager to see City Of
Click on the address link E-mail: esommer@curtainup.com
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.

For a feed to reviews and features as they are posted add http://curtainupnewlinks.blogspot.com to your reader
Curtainup at Facebook . . . Curtainup at Twitter
Subscribe to our FREE email updates: 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.
The New Similes Dictionary
New Similes Dictionary


Slings & Arrows  cover of  new Blu-Ray cover
Slings & Arrows- view 1st episode free




Book Of Mormon MP4 Book of Mormon -CD
Our review of the show
amazon




©Copyright 2015, Elyse Sommer.
Information from this site may not be reproduced in print or online without specific permission from esommer@curtainup.com