Crazy Head Space

From “Addiction” to “Zoophilia,” Crazy Head Space, the premiere production of nascent theater company Abraxas provides a musical interpretation for an alphabet’s worth of psychiatric disorders. Though its efforts to be all encompassing stretch the production a little thin, the talented cast is the best part of the production.

Reviewed by Ilena George

Pulling diagnoses from the DSM IV and covering a variety of musical genres, Crazy Head Space is a literal A(dditction) to Z(oophilia) revue of mental disorders. Like the eclectic (bordering on overly eccentric) costumes and make-up, each letter’s song doesn't always quite fit into a cohesive whole. For instance, some of the numbers play up the seriousness of mental illness--from the hollow emptiness of borderline personality disorder to the self-destructive compulsions that drive eating disorders--while others are more celebratory of life on the tail ends of the Gaussian distribution, including a hilarious and colorful ode to "shop[ping] without a wallet" in "Kleptomania."

The sections caught between the lights and darks of disorders end up coming off badly. For example, in “Relapse,” the humor isn't dark enough to keep the jokes from feeling a little too easy (a recovering alcohol turns to vodka to solve the problem of her overbearing mother’s visiting)-- and it takes the really kooky numbers to “even out” the show, as with “Vagina Envy” (“God lost her genius when/She made the penis”). It’s not exactly subtle, but that’s when Crazy Head Space is at its best, for then it strongly evokes a mood or a feeling, exploring the way mental disorders can entrap and confine, or celebrating people who push the envelope of what's expected.

Despite a huge cast (brimming with talented singers and dancers), the small space makes for an intimate production. However, if the point is to put a human face to some mental diseases (as shown in the closing number), where is the humanity? There’s no bridge between the scenes (only wacky off-stage muttering), and that limits the evening to a characterless revue. Crazy Head Space is a varied and somewhat unpredictable romp through a wide range of mental disorders, but it needs to work on those side effects.
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Crazy Head Space
Directed by Errickson Wilcox
Lyrics by Elisabeth S. Davis, Music by Elisabeth S. Davis and Michelangelo Sosnowitz
March 6th-April 5th
@ Seaport! (210 Front Street at Beekman Street)
For tickets: www.dogrunrep.org

Fringe/Tim Gunn's Podcast

Taking Project Runway’s dapper and avuncular mentor Tim Gunn’s podcast and turning it into a one-man chamber opera is certainly, in the Runway vernacular, "taking a risk," but Make It Work Productions makes it work with a production that captures all the drama of the sewing workroom in a fresh and unexpected way.

Photo/Larry Komarow

Review by Ilena George

For those unfamiliar with the premise of Project Runway, a quick synopsis: one of few reality shows where contestants do more than hook up and argue with each other, Runway pits fashion designers against each other through one-to-two day challenges ranging from “make a dress out of items you can find in a grocery store” to “make a high fashion outfit for an ice skater to compete in” to “make a dress inspired by New York City at night.”

This particular “podcast” focuses on the second episode of the third season, where the designers were challenged to create an evening dress for Miss USA winner Tara Connor to wear during the Miss Universe pageant. Think “red carpet, not pageant,” advises Gunn. In this episode, two of the season’s wackiest designers—Vincent and Angela—butt heads when they are paired together to complete a dress.

Another essential facet of Runway includes its judges’ colorful invectives and jubilant praise; Gunn’s podcast is no exception, with references to Judy Jetson’s birthday party, the Yule log, and a “homely bag of garbage.” While you need some familiarity with the third season’s characters to fully appreciate Podcast’s play-by-play of the contestants’ interactions, John Schenkel’s portrayal of Gunn is enjoyable to both fans and newcomers. Schenkel’s rich baritone and the expressiveness of the music’s phrasing conveys all the drama and horror of ruching-gone-wrong, partnerships made in Hell, and the importance of making your client happy. Steering away from parody, the production refrains from mimicking Gunn’s mannerisms, letting the words do most of the heavy lifting. Clever and engaging, Tim Gunn’s Podcast is far from one-note.

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Tim Gunn’s Podcast: A Reality Chamber Opera
Directed by Linda Lehr
Book and music by Jeffrey Lependorf
The Jazz Gallery (290 Hudson Street)

MITF: Sympathetic Division

Terse, well-executed and poignant, Sweeter Theater’s production of Sympathetic Division effectively parallels neuroscience with familial and spousal relationships to illustrate how a smart couple’s drawn-out unraveling deeply affected their daughters.

Reviewed by Ilena George

Caught between her cold neuroscientist professor father and her mentally unstable mother, Julie (Colleen Allen) is a wise-beyond-her-years academic over-achiever who provides her family with a degree of stability, at a high personal cost. Encouraging her dyslexic sister Charlotte (Robyn Frank) to apply to college, handling her father George’s (Ron Stetson) estrangement, and monitoring her mother Sheila’s (Charlotte Patton) medication takes its toll, and Julie turns to prescription meds to cope. The action flips backwards and forwards in time, and each scene is introduced by the research topic members of the family were pursuing at the time.

The narrative is predicated partly on the conceit that neurological phenomena correspond to human interactions. For instance, divorce is compared to splitting apart the two hemispheres of the brain, accomplished by severing the nerve bundle that connects them. This generally works quite well as it also illustrates the family’s difficulty toeing the line between brain function (and dysfunction) as an academic exercise and as a brutal reality.

The minimal set, consisting of lecterns, a table, and chairs, complemented with several props, allows the pace to remain fast and the transitions smooth. Summer Lee Jack’s costumes, including a bow-tied and argyle socks-wearing professor’s uniform, help establish the time frame as well as the ages of the characters.

Although not all the cast’s performances were on the level of Ms. Allen’s, the playwright’s realistic dialogue and the ensemble’s restraint keeps the action from verging into melodrama. As part of the Midtown Theater Festival, the show was staged in the Dorothy Strelsin Theatre, where the denouement physically unfolds almost too close for comfort but in an emotionally honest way that compels you not to look away.

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Sympathetic Division by Gia Marotta
Directed by Maura Farver
Dorothy Strelsin Theatre (312 W. 36th Street)