I’ve been diving into a great new podcast (The Variety Artist Podcast) that features variety artists talking about their work, how they got involved, and tips and tricks for both beginners and working pros. It’s something that I think many readers of this blog would be interested in. (And it makes me a little envious that I didn’t start doing […]
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I had the chance to see a great production recently at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. The show is called The Complete Deaths by Spymonkey, a British troupe of clowns/physical comedians. Â If you’ve been to Las Vegas, you may have seen their work, as they created all of the comedy numbers in the Cirque du Soleil show Zumanity. Â They are known […]
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We saw the opening night of Cirque du Soleil last night.  As I wrote in my preview article, the show is not a tent show, it’s an arena show, full of puppets, projections, and acrobatics, based on the movie Avatar by James Cameron.  Here’s the plot summary I wrote in my previous article: When a natural catastrophe threatens to destroy […]
Read moreDrew the Dramatic Fool, whose projects have embellished this blog more than once, (Here, Here, and Here, at the least) is in NY for a run of shows at the Canal Park Playhouse, a tiny gem of a theatre in Tribeca. The theatre seats 50, and is mostly dedicated to family and vaudeville/variety shows. Drew is presenting his fabulous one […]
Read moreKeeping with the theme of international circus/clowns, I recently was invited to see a show that has just opened up at the Union Square Theatre. It’s by a wonderful troupe from Montreal called Les Sept Doigts de La Main (The Seven Fingers of the Hand) I was in a circus with two of the 7 fingers in the early 1990’s […]
Read moreOn Sunday, I got a chance to celebrate the end of Commedia month with the 3 pm performance of Piccolo Theatre’s A Servant of Two Masters at the Evanston Art Depot in Evanston, IL. The theatre is housed in a working train depot, and it was quite an interesting place. You can read the full history of the depot on […]
Read moreI was just on a family vacation in Argentina, and noted with dismay that a circus festival started the week after I left. Â WEBSITE: Â http://www.festivalpolocirco.gov.ar/ When I was unmarried and child-less, I might have stayed for the week and changed my ticket, but my responsibilities as a husband and father made that impossible. Â Fortunately, my brother lives in Buenos Aires, […]
Read moreMy show was recently featured on Chicagoland Television. Here’s an embedded video of it. If you can’t see the video, visit their website. I’ve started a new blog to house reviews of the flea circus at www.acmefleacircus.blogspot.com so feel free to check that out also. It even includes a couple of people who blogged about seeing the show. Not sure […]
Read moreThe Birdmann is an Australian circus/vaudeville/sideshow performer who combines magic, theatre, circus skills, and inspired nonsense to create a show that is unique. Acts include plastic-bag juggling, knife-throwing, and nostril tea-drinking. The act has displayed in fifteen countries internationally, and goes directly from the NY Clown Festival back home to the Melbourne Fringe in Australia. Here’s what The Groggy Squirrel, […]
Read moreBill Irwin’s show The Happiness Lecture has been extended for one week in Philadelphia. If you have the opportunity, you should see it! I drove down from NY on Saturday to see it. Overall it was great (Hey, it’s Bill Irwin!) And a company of 9 very talented Philadelphia area artists. (including a friend from Dell’arte, puppeteer and performer Aaron […]
Read moreCirque du Soleil has created a new “christmas” winter show called WINTUK, about a city boy who craves snow, and who goes to a magical winter wonderland called Wintuk. It’s playing at Madison Square Garden, which is a HUGE venue, and very unlike the expensive and beautiful tents that Cirque is used to playing. I’ve read the previews which make […]
Read moreClownifornia featured two acts, both who trained in California at the SF School for Circus Arts under Jeff Raz. Both acts showed promise, but didn’t quite hit the mark in the show I saw. A Sudden Gust of Gravity featured NY Clown Jeff Seal as he talks about physics, the universe, and gravity. Jeff has an affable likable presence, and […]
Read moreThis French cabaret was a big hit at last year’s festival, and with good reason. It’s got a number of things going for it, but most of all, the acting and the relationships between the characters are what make this a remarkably fun evening at the theatre. You are greeted by two clownish characters wearing mini-skirts and wigs (although Phillipe […]
Read moreBouffon Glass Menagerie promises a lot to its audience members– and delivers on every promise. It’s a fantastic show that is well-conceived, well-directed, well-designed, and very well-acted. Basically it’s a parody of Tenessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie: which was Tennessee’s first commercial success, and a play that has a long history of being parodied and mocked. And mock it they […]
Read moreNYTheatre.com has two reviews of Festival shows up, and so far, the festival has charmed the reviewers. I saw both of these guys at the opening, and I’m sure their individual shows are a lot of fun. Sadly, these are two more shows I won’t get to see. (Part of the problem of living in the town where the festival […]
Read moreWent to the first cabaret tonight– it was very full (I’d say over sold, but the tickets were free, and the fire marshal may not be happy to hear about it- so let’s just say that it was full of people.) It was my first time at the Brick, which is a nice and cozy space. Although they had a […]
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