CurtainUp
The Internet Theater Magazine of Reviews, Features,
Annotated Listings
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CurtainUp The Internet Theater Magazine of Reviews, Features,
Annotated Listings |
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A CurtainUp Review
The New One
That he was able to meet and marry Jen, a woman who apparently could deal or actually embrace his peculiarities, even to serve him lovingly as an unregistered, unauthorized practical nurse, is more than commendable. When he is home in their apartment, she has the job of zipping him up in a special sleeping bag so he won't be tempted to walk in his sleep and jump out the window. He has a very real sleep disorder that you should let him describe in all its astonishing detail. He also has no intention of keeping his serious bouts with cancer and diabetes and some other below the belt line issues a secret. Instead he wants us to know how he has braved one alarming condition after another and coped with them without making excuses. In short, he has learned to turn them into an on-going and mostly hilarious story of his life. . .so far. This latest episode in the life of this lapsed Catholic who admits that he loves nothing more than collapsing on his sofa after a tour is mostly concerned with the unsettling news of impending fatherhood, a condition or rather a state he was intent on avoiding at all cost. There are really funny digressions of his experiences as single man in Amsterdam's Red Light District and to other journeys off-the-beaten-path (imagine this last as a double entendre). But how Jen actually gets pregnant is a good portion of his story as told with jokes that spring so naturally from his narrative that we are hardly aware of the set-up. Under the unobtrusive direction of Seth Barrish Birbiglia ambles with ease about the stage. There is an Oriental carpet, a sofa and a few props but there is also a coup de theatre that is a stunner and that gives this eighty minute solo an unexpected jolt with its crafty wizardry. This grand visual comes just at the right time when we think that all of Birbiglia's funny spiel about not wanting to be a father has run its course. He does run through a litany of reasons and excuses that should absolve him from all responsibilities. We also begin to see how it is programmed to backfire. The joy of his narrative is that he unconsciously (but of course consciously) becomes open and receptive to a life he wanted to avoid like the plague. There are times when I could sense the audience wanting to shout back at him disapprovingly as he seems to be enforcing and reinforcing his own neurotically enabled reasons for not changing or adjusting to the inevitable. One of the funniest episodes has him sharing what it was like to be present at the birth of his daughter and not knowing how to respond. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do." Birbiglia is so good at this deception that his inevitable epiphany comes as a wonderful surprise and a heartwarming conclusion to another unique chapter in this very talented man's life. |
Search CurtainUp in the box below PRODUCTION NOTES The New One Written and Performed by Mike Birbiglia Scenic Design: Beowulf Boritt Lighting Design: Aaron Copp Sound Design: Leon Rothenberg Production Stage Manager: Lauren Cavanaugh Running Time: 1 hour 20 minutes no intermission Cherry Lane Theatre, 38 Commerce Street. Tickets: $61- $81 Performances: Tuesday - Sunday at 7:30pm, Saturday matinee at 4 pm. From 07/18/18 Opened 08/02/18 Ends 08/26/18 Review by Simon Saltzman based on 4 pm performance on 08/11/18 REVIEW FEEDBACK Highlight one of the responses below and click "copy" or"CTRL+C"
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