What do you get when a bunch of folks from the neighborhood decide to put on a show ? and coincidentally they happen to be some of the best theater professionals in town?
You get ?Krisit,? which has the charm of being by a group of Clifton residents in the tiny storefront theater space of Clifton Players (of course Clifton, where did you think?) and the advantage of top-notch production values rarely achieved on the smaller, semi-pro theater scene.
They came together because they specifically wanted to do this play by Y York, who lives about three minutes drive further down Ludlow Avenue.
What is ?Krisit?? Actually, it?s a who, played by Dale Hodges, whose presence alone could probably sell-out the show?s run, given that there?s seating for maybe 60, evenly divided on either side of the stage.
A red carpet and red velvet rope connects a massive whirlpool tub at one end and a cocktail bar set up at the other.
Hodges has a ball playing a reclusive and peevish former movie star who hasn?t left her home in 25 years. When the show opens she?s lolling in her tub, wearing make-up and flashy jewels and being the sharp, brooks-no-argument grand dame?with her new maid Lulu (Landree Fleming).
Lulu is clearly role-playing. She?s entirely too knowledgeable about who?s who and who?s doing what to who in Hollywood. She reads the industry press a little too avidly and she?s awfully eager to lure Krisit out of retirement.
In no time Lulu is taking a meeting with director Peter (Kevin Crowley), who has a history with Krisit, and a stalled career that makes him desperate to have a project green-lighted.
York uses the set-up to have fun commenting with engaging (and occasionally brutal) honesty on many things, including the insults of aging. Krisit has a leakage issue; Peter trades in wives for younger models to convince himself he still has whatever it is he needs to tell himself he has.
The neat comedy doesn?t break new ground but York?s voice is distinct as she reminds us how myopically we see ourselves even as we are blind to key truths; and about our relentless pursuit of ambitions which are generally not worth relentless pursuit.
York also shows off a demented imagination with things like her solution for what to do with liposuctioned fat.
?Krisit? is dominated by Playhouse in the Park staffers, small wonder that it?s a couple of giant steps beyond what you normally see at a small theater. The program lists almost 100 people who donated to the project and their money went to good purpose.
Mark Lutwak (Playhouse Director of Education) expertly directs and Anna Goller (Playhouse props manager) is responsible for the polished scenic design.
The contribution of costumer Gordon DeVinney (Playhouse resident costume designer) is inestimable. What with Krisit being in a tub, it?s DeVinney who makes her so much better than naked, in an artful unitard that makes the reality of aging hilarious and sympathetic.
It?s a joke with real power that endears the show to its audience. In the second act it?s Lulu who?s in the tub, and of course the audience is hoping for a trifecta and gets it.
Fleming, a former Playhouse intern now based in Chicago, is very good as wannabe Hollywood player Lulu and Crowley, a member of Clifton Players, is funny and sad as Peter, who seems trapped in the ?70s with his guiding crystal and leisure suit and David Soul hair, despite the play?s time being set as ?a few years before the end of the last century.?
?Krisit,? 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday through June 1. Additional performances 7 p.m. May 19 and 3 p.m May 26. Clifton Performance Center, 404 Ludlow Ave., Clifton. Tickets $20. (513)861-7469.
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Posted in: Updates
Source: http://cincinnati.com/blogs/arts/2013/05/18/review-krisit-clifton-players/
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