|
Beate Hein Bennett
FLO(wing) In and Out "Flo" by Toby Armour How about the ultimate transactional deal, a deal with the Devil, whoever that may be? In the case of the present TNC production “Flo,” it is not the medieval polymath, Faust selling his soul to the arch fiend, Mephisto for youth, sex, and power but Flo Weinberg, an upper Westside wheelchair-bound elderly widow who wants Life (writ large) with all the sparkly benefits of wealth, beauty, and social power—in short the American Dream (style) of a happy life. Enter friend Max, a glittering snaky charmer who promises her all that she desires—youth, beauty, wealth, social prominence and influence, and power. Under the direction of Joan Kane, Toby Armour’s fantastical satire of the American Dream blends magical realism with philosophical ruminations about identity, morality, happiness, and the question whether we are endowed with a soul, and what that means for each of us in our time that is riven by strife, greed, and corrupt power.
The production is a colorful, quixotic romp through Flo Weinberg’s journey to discover her essential Self or Soul, capable of the power of empathy, as she sheds one illusion after another. Joan Kane together with choreographer Tatyana Kot and composer Peter Dizozza have shaped a talented cast of eight actors into an ensemble capable of shape-shifting to fit various locales from familiar NYC settings to a desert in Africa and worlds in between, all illustrated by large backdrop projections designed by Roy Chang. The action is ironically underscored with familiar American Songbook tunes sung by various members of the ensemble. Sound designers Joy Linscheid and Alison Nola created the sound scape. Mark Marcante und Litza Colon designed the set with lighting by Bruce A! Kramer and props by Max Kilsheimer. Red figures liberally on the set and the props as well as on the costumes, designed by Billy Little, which are also endowed with a dose of black and bling. After all, it is a ‘devilish’ bargain that Flo signs with her peculiar friend Max.
The two protagonists, Flo and Max, are superbly played by Mikayla Petrilla as Young Flo and John Cencio Burgos. Ms. Petrilla shows all the emotional colors as she tangoes through her various stations of desire, from being a young lover to becoming the greedy fame seeker until her final coup, when she literally wrests Max’s power out of his hands to affirm her true soul, that of a compassionate human being. Mr. Burgos snakes his way into Old Flo’s heart by promising to fulfill all her worldly desires, of course, at a cost. He is also very funny with a kind of film noir over the top evil glint in his eye—his obliging charm is slathered with oil—until he is “cheated” out of his bargain and deflates like a balloon. Jenny Taher plays the elderly widow Flo Weinberg, who being confined to a wheelchair is bitter about her unlived life and full of complaints about the homeless woman in her neighborhood who feeds the pigeons. Max dangles the possibility of starting her life over IF she is willing to sell her soul. She doubts the existence of a soul and has no feeling for such a religious concept—Jenny Taher plays the proverbial “quetch” to the hilt—yest she signs off on the bargain, with a required drop of her blood no less, wondering about that detail a bit. To her fatal surprise, Max’s trick works, and she is relieved of her old body by flying out of the window (and her wheelchair) and being metamorphosed into Young Flo, now embodied by Ms. Petrilla. Jenny Taher subsequently takes on different roles within the ensemble.
Upon entering the theater, the audience first sees Juli Harkins sitting alone on a bench in front of a scrim projection of Broadway with a clearly visible Zabar’s; she quietly talks to the pigeons—they’re lined up on a red wooden slat in front of the red bench-- and feeds them out of a paper bag. Later Ms. Harkins performs various roles and with a powerful voice, she belts out one of the familiar Songbook tunes. Another member of the ensemble, Anthony Cedeno is charming as Flo’s amorous cat Sam; he also shape-shifts into being the Furtive Man and a Young Cleric. Darrel Blackburn plays different characters, among them, an Old Cleric; at one point, he also steps to the mic belting out another appropriately ironic American Songbook tune. Last not least, two actors complete the ensemble: JC Augustin as President and a Policeman and Temima Hyman who plays Old Flo’s daughter Daniela. After participating in an anti-ICE demonstration, she comes to see her crotchety mother only to discover with shock that Flo literally flew the coop, i.e. disappeared out of the window in her Upper Westside apartment. Ms. Armour thus brings the theatrical gambol through Flo’s fantasy around to present day reality with an emphasis on the critical need for humanity to remember its capacity for empathy and find its true soul in acting on this recovery.
|
| recordings | coupons | publications | classified |