Well, we made it to the last evening performance of Banana Spheel at the Beacon Theatre on the Upper West Side.
It wasn’t as bad as I expected given the rumors. But, I did find myself thinking, while sitting in the theatre, “God, I do love good book musical!”, which this wasn’t.
A proscenium stage is like a book. I expect to be carried on a journey by the story…
The juggler with the dyed red hair had mannerisms that reminded me so much of the late Ryder Schwartz, who was always working towards a perfect 8 minutes when we were working the same gig in Nagasaki, Japan back in 1991-92.
I would have enjoyed it very much if the bald clown had stayed in the cute tiger costume for the entire second act while trying to get the show back on track. He was an adult man, a clown if-you-will. But clowns are like children. In my mommy life, I have not found much that is funnier than a 4-year-old in a superhero or vicious animal costume, who expects to be taken seriously, and doesn’t understand why he or she isn’t.
My Kid was “Spiderman” for Halloween when she was 4. She refused to wear the mask that came with the costume. She had golden curls and wore sparkly red Mary-Jane shoes with her Spiderman costume. AND YET SHE WAS OFFENDED if anyone called her “Spider Girl.” I thought that was hilarious! She didn’t.
What is it about circus people and black light displays?
David Shiner must have hated this ending, it’s so not him.