![]() Most performances range from inept to grating, with overly sexualized depictions that are simply embarrassing. While the cast is clearly dedicated to the larger than life moments - of Dracula’s being possessed and disoriented in an asylum - none are believable in their roles or able to retain an authentic dialect for their characters. ![]() Instead of generating a sense of horror, the opening induces a sense of pathos, which permeates the entire production. Whether Watts or Johnson’s choice, the play begins with the ensemble’s females (each aptly named in the program as “succubus”) moving like spider creatures from hell, murmuring and caressing furniture like deranged lovers while Mina Murray (Rachel Zink) stands stock still in the center wrapped in white gauze like a half-dressed mummy. The thin text goes unsupported with unspecific, wandering direction by Sophia Watt, who also directed the NYC production. If Johnson made any revisions, it is still a frail telling of the 1897 gothic horror novel by Bram Stoker. The script, adapted by Jayce Johnson, apparently received a wonderful production from the New York chapter of the 68 Cent Theatre Group last year. 2, Draculaįrom the Company that brought you the acclaimed Adam & Eve and Steve this summer at the Hollywood Fringe comes this abysmal production of Dracula. Rounding out the cast are Dennis Madden and Gary Patent. Pete Hickock provides a neatly designed and handsome apartment mock-up, Kim DeShazo’s costumes are equally striking, while Leigh Allen adds a cleverly conceived and highly effective lighting schema. Notwithstanding its heavy melodramatic contours and dated signature, this is a compelling play by Odets (one that is often viewed as a backseat passenger to his Waiting for Lefty), and this excellent revival is powered by superb cast performances. In the course of two hours, this clan’s homey arrangement blows up with a “disgraceful, out-of-wedlock pregnancy, an arranged marriage, a tragic suicide, a tempting insurance policy, and heated discourses about the virtues of capitalism versus socialism. Richard Fancy portrays Uncle Morty, a tough-as-nails millionaire who doesn’t share a dime of his fortune with his family and harbors a blistering disdain for the poor. Her husband Myron (Robert Lesser) is a nice fellow, but a plodding milquetoast, unlike her outspoken, rabidly Socialist father Jacob (Allan Miller.) Then there is son Ralph (James Morosini), and daughter Hennie (Melissa Paladino), both of whom chafe under Bessie’s maniacal need to control their lives, and Moe Axelrod (David Agranov), a crippled war veteran and bookie, who rents a room. Bessie (the outstanding Marilyn Fox) is the family’s anchor and taskmaster, who rules the roost with an iron will and is a font of bitterness and disappointment. Among these is director Elina de Santos, who helms this show with consummate perception and skill.Īwake & Sing is about the Bergers, a lower-middle-class Jewish family living in a Bronx apartment who are doing their best to get by in hard times. The Odyssey Theatre’s sturdy revival of Clifford Odets’s Depression-era drama brings together some familiar faces from the much heralded 1994-95 production that ran here for nine months.
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