The Girl Who Jumped Off the Hollywood Sign (HFF2021)

 Spoilers ahoy!

The Girl Who Jumped Off the Hollywood Sign is a live show from Australia.  It marks a return to the Hollywood Fringe from 2017, when I sadly missed it.  From "sadly" you can guess at my genuine joy at catching it this year.

First of all there is actor Joanne Hartstone's powerful performance of the fictional would be starlet Evie Edwards, who grew up in the Depression and went to Hollywood during WWII, eventually trying to be a star.  Sounds so much like a cliche does it not?  Why is it not, though?  Because she created (in pretty much every way, since the script emerged from her pen) not a stereotype but a fierce individual, one with a unique relationship to her hard-working, hard-drinking and very loving father.  Likewise here is someone who connected to specific stories, to individual movie stars who echoed her own life before and after.  Who pushed and worked and tried, with a specific soul getting ground down.

I will remember Evie Edwards for a long time, thanks to Hartstone.  Pretty but not beautiful.  Good but not great.  But someone who wanted so much to be great, to be beautiful, to have her talent recognized and so transformed.  In hard, hard times, she pursued her dream and it proved as heartless as the men who sold it.

Second, I must mention the music, not just the songs but the poignant power in each performance, full of nuance and truth.  Some folks can hit a note, and bleed their souls into yours.  It helps to sing the right songs.

Just as the right set, the right costume, the right music, the right lights all contribute to this deeply moving show.   One where I saw a pretty young woman in black climb up onto the Hollywood Sign, and within seventy minutes I recognized her as me.  

As of this writing, two performances remain, on Tuesday August 24 2021, 8pm, and Sunday August 29 2021, 8pm at the Stephanie Fleury Studio Theatre, 5636 Melrose Ave.

Deconstructing Holly (FF2021)

Spoilers Ahoy! 

Deconstructing Holly, represents one of an explosion of really well-crafted, well-performed solo shows over the last couple of years in Los Angeles live theatre.  It nicely combines both focus and genuine drama in ways worthy of praise.

I'm going to start with one criticism, which is pretty much the only one on offer.  Just to get it out of the way.  The entire ebb and flow of the writing remains very much "on the nose."  Each revelation this character goes through (a refreshing if a bit daunting multitude) is faced in the abstract, we are given a tiny speech, and voila Holly has learned her lesson.  Frankly, this does not seem very human to me.  It feels more like a cliffnotes version of her growing up with both gender and body issues, rather any kind of a journey.  A lot of issues were brought up, then dropped, or glossed over.

Having said that, What is right in this show works extraordinarily well.  Me, I'm a man, so I tend to face a different (sometimes related) set of issues and expectations, yet without a doubt the feelings Holly go through resonated.  An entertaining delivery coupled with genuine heart, genuine pain, accomplishes much.  It certainly did here.  Our one character we follow began life with false expectations, a low sense of self worth, and a definition of self too shallow to work for long.  Escaping from all that in an effort to find Love and become a Mother has within it several paradoxes Holly explores in ways which ultimately hurt.  Her pain is one we recognize.  I could feel it from the audience, but also in myself quite vividly.  

Probably the strongest part was when she all-but-screamed, Job-like, at the unfairness of it all.  She had spent years reshaping herself into a better person, a wiser person, a stronger one--yet in the end her "reward" was to be alone, betrayed, her body surgically altered into something that no longer feels like her, rendering her infertile as well as even more self-conscious about her appearance!  It is WRONG.  It is UNFAIR.  It should NOT happen!

But it did.  And facing that, then going forward, takes a lot.  Holly honored us by sharing the power and (yes) the glory of that effort.

Deconstructing Holly plays at  the Broadwater Black Box, 6322 Santa Monica Blvd, on Saturday, August 21 at 5:30pm as well as Friday, August 27 at 8pm.

Yes, No, Maybe So (HFF21)

 

Spoilers ahoy!

I will admit the fact Yes, No, Maybe So lists itself as a solo musical gave me pause.  But less than five minutes in that worry evaporated.  Instead I simply went along for the ride, one woman's journey into that most heady of all adventures--making a decision.

Catherine Barnes' show (developed and directed with Jessica Lynn Johnson) focuses on a medical exam which proves very creepy indeed, and then Barnes must figure out what to about this.  Because the creepiness in this case went beyond a few of the lines that medical professionals should not cross.  Yet, hasn't everyone been rude or creepy sometime?  Aren't there more serious problems the powers that be should address?  How much time and effort will be needed to even start the process?  These and at least a dozen other considerations come to mind, only to have her own inner dialogue proceed about the pros and cons.  Barnes' own ability to play a wide variety of characters serve her (and the audience), with some special words should go towards the physicality involved.  Such a delight to see and appreciate!

But what about it being a musical?  Well, the rule of thumb I read once, which still seems valid, goes "Songs are for those moments, feelings, understandings for which at that moment there are no words."  This show achieves precisely that.  And with some lovely touches in terms of style, touches which IMHO work best live rather than streaming (but then, that is a pretty good rule of thumb for live theatre in general).

As of this writing, the HFF website lists one more performance on Sunday August 15 2021, at 7pm at the Broadwater Black Box 6322 Santa Monica Blvd.

I Heart Maroc (HFF21)

Spoilers ahoy!

The Hollywood Fringe Festival is back and I've seen one of the first shows!

I Heart Maroc is a one person show written and starring Azo Safo,  I have personally known Azo for a few years and was frankly astonished at how much I learned about her in this piece.  Never had a clue she spent two years in the Peace Corps, living in a small Morrocan village.  But more than those bare facts, interesting they may be (and are), what I really got out of her show was how this experience shaped and taught her.

Solo shows remain popular at the Fringe for often purely logistical reasons, and generally they fall into two groupings.  One is a naked exposure of some kind of trauma or pain.  The other shares wonder and joy learned, a delight kindled amid life lessons.  Sometimes the two blend.  I'd clearly say this one falls into the second category, helped in raw showmanship by Safo's marvelous characterizations and humor.  We can see her acting out how the people she knew (and recreates) impacted her enough to become who she has become today.  Honestly, I felt not only touched, but honored.  Which brings me to the one specific fault I can find.

This show is too short.  At roughly forty five minutes I seriously believe it could and should be expanded to twice that.  One can feel the material off stage as it were, eager to jump into the follow spot and shine.  I am left with an aching sense of what else I don't know about my friend, and about this interesting young lady I only thought I knew.  She lived there for two years--and I'm certain lots more stories, lots more moments to touch the heart and stir the imagination, remain to be told.  Hopefully she'll get around to telling some more.

I Heart Maroc has only two more performances--Sunday the 15th at 3 pm and Sunday August 22 2021, at 10:30pm (which can be viewed virtually).  I recommend highly you do not miss out!