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
My Mother Has 4 Noses
|
Our last two years together were a detour from my 'real' life for sure. But they were rich. And we were a pair. I was 'getting it down.' —Jonatha Brooke remembering her mother. |
|
Depressing, right? Actually not.
Brooke, a slim, vibrant storyteller, creates an instant rapport with her audience at the Duke Theater, narrating the journey with powerful humor and spirit. She illustrates her feelings with original folk/country-flavored songs that she performs on acoustic guitar and piano.
Nicknamed "Boolie," Brooke reveals memories of her mother (called "Stoney") with candor and great affection.
Stoney was strong-willed, stubborn, an irrepressible drama queen whose natural theatricality spiraled up to the bizarre heights of dementia. She saw her life as an adventure and after her many outlandish outburst, she would ask, "Are you getting this down, Boolie? This is good! We should make a play out of it!" And Boolie did just that.
But four noses, what's with that? Brooke tells how years before, her mother had a small blemish near her nose. A Christian Scientist, Stoney ignored the mark, which turned out to be malignant. It eventually spread into the sinus cavities, right eye socket, hard palate and almost to her top lip, leaving her face scarred. She was given four prosthetic noses she called, "winter, spring, summer, fall." Through the years, there were other medical emergencies yet Stoney still insisted she was a devout Christian Scientist. Until there was a crisis.
Most harrowing to watch, yet with impossibly funny anecdotes, was her mother's dementia. The disentangling of Stoney's mind caused havoc in both their lives. Dementia's one advantage, Brooke points out, is complete presence in the moment. "I could only marvel at her audacity... and her loneliness... and this strange disease taking over her brain."
While Brooke's recounts the steps of the illness it is her complex music that highlights the emotion with poetic candor. Singing "Time," she plays the kalimba, acknowledging her mother's approaching death — but pleading, "Please don't come today, tomorrow's not good either 'cause I know it'll mean forever."
The women's connection helped as they shared the crazy unbearable moments. Brooke was forced to struggle with decisions that would affect her personal life and career, yet these conflicts built her own strength and self-confidence. She battled exhaustion with an unbelievably cheerful irony.
What is most poignant is the love in this story. Jonatha Brooke did not take on the care of her mother because of a sense of duty or tradition, or responsibility. In one song she questions, "What Was I Thinking?" knowing it would be she who would "clean the cages." Yet she admired, respected and loved her mother fiercely.
Caite Hevner Kemp designed an uncomplicated setting. On one side is Stoney's chair and table holding a lamp, poems, a Christian Science Bible, some stuffed animals, a case holding her four noses and Chanel No. 5. On the other side of the stage sits a piano. Personal photos and titles are projected on a back screen and Ben Butler on electric guitar and Anja Wood on cello provide Brooke's harmonic backup.
Directed by Jeremy B. Cohen, the sparseness of the set is enlivened by Jonatha Brooke's energy with graceful and expressive physical movements, her emotions floating across the stage into the audience with laughter and tears.
|
My Mother Has Four Noses Written and Performed by Jonatha Brooke Directed by Jeremy B. Cohen Music Direction: Ben Butler Instrumentals: Ben Butler (guitar), Anja Wood (cello) Scenic Design: Caite Hevner Kemp Lighting Design: ML Geiger Sound design: Paul Mitchell Production Stage Manager: Anne Lowrie Musical Contractor: Antoine Silverman Running Time: One hour and 45 minutes. One intermission. Theater: The Duke on 42nd Street, 229 W 42nd Street (between 7th & 8th Avenues) Tickets: $70 most tickets. Performances: Tues, Wed at 7:30pm; Thurs. Fri. at 8pm; Sat. at 2pm and 8pm. Sun at 2pm Previews: 2/14/14 Opens: 2/20/14. Closes: 5/4/14--closing early on 4/19/14 Review by Elizabeth Ahlfors based on performance 2/18/14 Act One Musical Numbers: Are You Getting This Down? Sleight of Hand In a Simple Way I Love You — Heather and the Band The Wind What Do I Know? What Was I Thinking? Act Two Musical Numbers: My Misery How Far You'd Go For Love Scars Time Mom's Song |
|
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. 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. |
|
Book of Mormon -CD