Actor, mime and raconteur Bill Bowers speaks up in IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING at Two River Theater — while Matthew Gumley and Michael Nathanson continue through February 20 in A THOUSAND CLOWNS.
By TOM CHESEK
With winter regrouping for a second-half assault on the senses, the trick is to stay busy into the lamb-y end of March. It’s a point well taken by the folks at Two River Theater, who are seeing February out with a flurry of activity that includes a current mainstage production, the latest in the Flashes of Brilliance series of solo pieces, and an intimately scaled side project presented at a neighboring Red Bank landmark.
That big-stage offering is a revival of A Thousand Clowns, the 1962 comedy by Herb Gardner that was previewed right here in the pixelated pages of redbankgreen last week. The show stars Michael Nathanson as Uncle Murray — a happy-go-lucky, gainfully unemployed case of arrested development, and semi-legal guardian to his nerdish but savvy nephew Nick. Matthew Gumley, a 14-year-old Broadway trouper who we’ll all probably be seeing a lot more of (and who popped up as an answer on a recent telecast of Jeopardy!), co-stars with a solid cast of character players, among them Tony nominee Lou Liberatore.
Employing the jargon of the want-ads, Star-Ledger reviewer (and dean of Jersey theater crits) Peter Filichia called the show “an ‘excInt oppt’y’ to meet one of Broadway’s first nonconformists,” and capped his enthusiastic take on the show with “everyone’s batting a thousand in A Thousand Clowns.” You can read his freshly posted review here — and you can find much more happening on this side of the river, right after the jump.
Crystal Finn and Michael Nathanson are two directionally challenged New Yorkers who find each other in A THOUSAND CLOWNS, now onstage in Red Bank. (‘Clowns’ photos by T. Charles Erickson)
Just a few blocks east of Two River’s Bridge Avenue performing arts complex, a troupe of TRTC players drops in at the Red Bank Public Library this Saturday between the hours of 2:30 and 4:30p — the occasion being the viewing of an exhibit called Storytellers in Cloth.
A display of one-of-a-kind African-American quilts, Storytellers examines a tradition that originated in the days when slaves would convey their cultural history through quilts made of such available materials as discarded clothing and feed sacks. Event co-sponsor (and Frank Talk founder) Gilda Rogers will introduce the Storyteller group’s Gloria Douglas and Michelle Lewis in a presentation called “Preserving Our History.” Rogers (whose Frank Talk program is seen each week on Brookdale Community College TV) will also be taking part in a reading of the short play Gee’s Bend, a portrait (by Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder) of the people in a remote Alabama community as they “survive the life struggles of the individual, the family, and the culture with grace, faith, and resilience.” The event is offered free of charge, and there’s no registration required.
It goes without saying that, as an acclaimed mime (one who actually studied with the legendary mime king himself, Marcel Marceau) and an “animal” performer in Broadway’s Lion King, actor-educator Bill Bowers is paid to keep quiet the way some farmers are paid not to grow soybeans. In his one-man show It Goes Without Saying, however, Bowers breaks the code of silence for a compelling presentation on his own life and times — from his isolated childhood, career triumphs and personal tragedies, to the on-the-job injuries and weird professional detours (shopping mall mechanical man, for instance) that exist between the lines of a modern stage rĂ©sumĂ©.
Beginning next Thursday and running three more performances through the weekend, the touring show directed by Martha Banta takes over the black-box Marion Huber space at Two River Theater, as the latest in TRTC’s 2011 series of Flashes of Brilliance: The Alchemy of Life solo pieces. Showtimes are at 8p on February 17, 18 and 19, with a 3p matinee on Sunday February 20 — and immediately following Thursday night’s performance, Bowers will meet with LGBTQ youth and their advocates for a Talk-Back session with Bowers that will touch upon such topics as “growing up gay in rural Montana” and “the artistic process.” It’s one of several events presented this season by TRTC in partnership with the Monmouth County Consortium for LGBT Youth, and it’s open to all who attend the show.
Two River Theater Company artistic director John Dias will soon be making the first of several announcements regarding an all-new series of workshopped musicals in Red Bank. In the meantime, tickets for It Goes Without Saying are $20 for all seats. Tickets for A Thousand Clowns start at $35 (with a new discounted price of $24 for anyone 30 years and younger), and reservations for all shows can be made by calling the TRTC Box Office at (732)345-1400, or visiting the TRTC website for schedule details and availability — as well as info on dinner/show packages and other special-event performances.
