See This, Not That – February 28-March 2, 2014
Epic love stories come in all shapes and sizes. Some, like the recently-opened The Bridges of Madison County, require millions of dollars to produce, complex sets, and a live orchestra. Others, like Petunia and Chicken, now showing at the FRIGID New York Festival, have nothing but 2 actors, a shawl, a hat, and two spoons.
If you want to witness true theater magic, Petunia and Chicken is your choice. Set in Nebraska at a time when fields were plowed with oxen and records played on hand cranked phonographs, performers Carrie Brown and Karim Muasher play all the roles and the scenery and the props. It is a feat of storytelling using old-fashioned physicality and imagination. It is gorgeously wrought, highly recommended, and tickets are only $15.
You have not one but two martial arts-based theater performances to consider right now. Rocky is a musical based on the movie Rocky. Kung Fu is a play about legendary martial artist Bruce Lee by the playwright David Henry Hwang.
We hear Rocky isn’t bad (it’s in previews so there aren’t any critics’ reviews), good seats, however, will run you $200.
Kung Fu is open and we loved it. It is supremely entertaining. The performers jump, flip, twist, chop, spin, and punch with wonderful precision and style. Even at their most expensive, tickets to Kung Fu are $75.
If you’re weighing what to see this weekend and looking for something splashy, you could see Wicked (although personally we wouldn’t) or you could catch Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 (that’d be our recommendation).
The Great Comet is an “electro-pop opera” based on Tolstoy’s War and Peace. It is performed in a Russian supper club temporarily constructed in Times Square. Critically, it is closing on Sunday, March 2nd so this weekend is your last chance to see it.