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Photo by Don Kellogg

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Where's My Money?

The Animus Theatre Company is presenting a fantastic stylized work, Where's My Money, by playwright John Patrick Shanley.  An homage to the Film-Noir style in the cinema, this stage production is an attempt by both the playwright and the actors to bring it to life in a live theatrical presentation.

The 3 mysterious and provocative stories unravel in the play eventually all come to intersect in a grand crescendo.  The youthful actors all portraying characters seemingly at least a decade older do a stand-up job at fostering the ominous sense of mystery and sense of impending danger that in a movie would be done with camera work and dark music with an occasional "gotcha" riff.

One stand-out performance was that of Sydney (Jeff Todesco).  He seemed to really absorb the sense of the style and use the "did you hear that" moments and his many darkly humorous lines to bring a real sense of the genre to the stage.  A quirky and off-beat Natalie (Amy Northup) used her deep dark secret and social awkwardness to induce many laugh.

I'd have to say that the one role I wished I could have was that of Tommy (Jamahl Garrison Lowe).   He utters the titular lines of the play (and not much else), wears the only color in the entire production, but still manages to bring the entire stage to their knees with fear!

For an inexpensive and fun day or night in the theatre, head down to the Cherry Lane Theatre and check out what all the buzz is about in the Studio space.   I'm going to guess that you will find a dash each of Mind, Spirit, Courage, Passion and Wrath.