On-Air Alien Invasion

You'd be hard pressed to find a piece of theater that ignited more mass hysteria than the now-infamous 1938 production of H.G. Wells's The War of the Worlds. Transforming the fictional story into a realistic-sounding radio broadcast, director Orson Welles convinced listeners all over the country that aliens had invaded a small New Jersey town called Grover's Mill, and the result was widespread panic. The story's general premise is most likely something that most audience members will know when they walk into the Kraine Theater for the performance of Dan Bianchi's take on the tale. But what he does with it

Religion on the Rocks

A meditation on divorce and the Catholic Church, Rosaries and Vodka chronicles the story of Posey Malone, a staunch Irish Catholic whose life is shaped by her ineligibility (as determined by church doctrine) to remarry after an abusive marriage. This could be a fascinating topic to tackle, but rather than being a fascinating life, hers is just depressing. As a result, the play focusing on it doesn't fare much better than the marriage; both are doomed from the start. On the eve of their wedding, Posey's fianc

Doo-wop, Shakespeare-Style

An updated version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Fools in Love interchanges ancient Athens for West Athens, Calif., and sets the play in the 1950s. This condensed, one-act adaptation is aimed at children, and, with copious amounts of physical comedy and a soundtrack of pop music, it proves that Shakespeare can be understood and enjoyed by even those generally (and wrongfully) deemed too young for it. The show opens with four lovers convening at a diner to sip sodas and lament their tangled love lives. Helena (Annelise Abrams) loves Demetrius (Antony Raymond), but Demetrius loves Hermia (Erika Villalba). That would be all well and good, as Hermia's parents want her to marry Demetrius, but her heart belongs to Lysander (Matt Schuneman).

Hermia and Lysander decide to elope, and both Demetrius and Helena follow them when they flee into the forest, where a group of resident fairies attempt to unravel and realign their heartstrings. Lovers' spats are also present in the woods, as Oberon (Andy Langton) and Titania (Margaret Curry) squabble over their own feelings and argue over the possession of a changeling child.

A cappella accompaniment to the action is provided by a group of doo-wop singers who drift in and out of the action singing 50's and 60's pop songs as a kind of Greek chorus. The oft-covered "I Will Follow Him" accompanies Helena's mad dash as she chases Demetrius deep into the forest, and when Hermia and Lysander sleep in the woods, the singers perform a snippet of the classic "Goodnight, Sweetheart." What the group occasionally lacks in pitch, they more than make up for with enthusiasm.

Besides that addition, however, the rest of the play stays the same. Though it is considerably cut down (while still running nearly two hours without an intermission), there have been virtually no changes to the language itself. Some characters have been tweaked ever so slightly to suit the time period, but little else needs to be changed to help kids get Shakespeare's comic characters. In this version, we have a pocket protector-wearing Lysander, and Peter Quince (Tom Falborn) and his gang are the diner's chef and busboys. The delightfully over-caffeinated Puck (Brandy Wykes) is constantly whipping out a steno pad on which he takes notes from the leather jacket-wearing Oberon.

Fairies flit throughout the play, and their sheer number is what allows children's involvement in the show. Children (and the occasional adult audience member) are invited up onstage to take part in the group scenes. They are welcomed with open arms by the fairies, who all do excellent work guiding the children. The fairies also rev up the energy in the theater, clapping along and chattering amongst themselves.

Sometimes, however, the fun gets a little overwhelming, as the chorus chitchat can draw too much focus away from the main action. Particularly when trying to keep kids following the story line, distractions like these are dangerous.

Some actors failed in making the material accessible, while others were wildly successful. Some actors were funny but lacked the overt comedy that's needed in shows for kids. The actors who were triumphant in their efforts

Before the Eviction

The mythical Second Avenue subway has finally come into being. But the line is set to run right through the apartment of three young people living together on the outskirts of Harlem. ...A Matter of Choice chronicles the conflict that arises between the roommates as they face their inevitable eviction. The occupants of the apartment are an unlikely trio. Diggs, a white boy who grew up seven blocks from where they currently reside, is a direction-less, pot-smoking ex-messenger who endlessly defends his recent promotion to head of the mailroom. Chastity (Sarah Hayon) is a no-nonsense Latina girl and a loner (whether by choice or by circumstance is essentially the crux of her character development). Webb (Nyambi Nyambi) is an educated, gay black man involved in a tumultuous relationship with his boyfriend Michael (John Summerour).

Despite their differences, they are extremely close

Not Your Normal Cops-And-Robbers

There is laughter in the darkness. The lights come up on what seems to be a grandson listening to his grandfather tell a joke. That illusion of innocent fun is instantly broken when the younger man shouts,

Bawdy Game Show

Everyone wants his or her 15 minutes of fame, and those desiring an hour and a half can find it at the Belt Theater in This or That! Parodying a low-budget game show, This or That! is a strange hybrid of game show, burlesque performance, and reality television. It is hosted by The Great Fredini (Fred Kahl), a wonderfully formulaic host dressed in a purple polyester leisure suit and a gaudy gold chain. Also hosting is his sidekick (Julie Atlas Muz), who plays up her significant physical assets in just a purple bustier, thong and fishnets, and whose comedic facial gestures are worth a thousand words, though she stays mostly silent. The production is clever and has great stock characters, but it's also raunchy. There is definitely an audience who will enjoy the show tremendously, even if it doesn't include this critic.

The game's gimmick is choosing real audience members. Four men and four women are plucked from the audience and told to fake an orgasm onstage. The audience then votes on the one female and one male whom they want to participate in the show. The audience vote cleverly rigs the situation, as, without fail, they choose the biggest hams.

The selected audience members are just as funny as the actual performers; these seemingly normal people morph into real characters when thrust into the spotlight. In fact, one would swear they had been planted. (They're not, but I was only sure of that after asking later.)

The audience's involvement is one of the highlights of This or That! The Belt Theater is not a large venue, but it is ideal for a show like this. The house lights stay on throughout the performance, and alcohol flows freely (you can refresh a drink during brief commercial breaks). Some competitions involve the entire audience, as Fredini promises a prize to the first person to produce a Texas quarter, a blue lipstick, or a colored condom. Theatergoing is seldom so communal an experience.

One man and a woman competed for $500 in "absolutely worthless This or That! dollars," as Fredini explained. They traded clothes onstage and picked cherries out of whipped cream using only their mouths, and the winner got to choose between the "This" or "That" curtain. Depending on which curtain they chose, either a great or awful act would come out, Fredini said. (Earlier he had admitted during a spin-the-wheel game that "where the wheel stops...makes absolutely no difference at all," acknowledging the fixed nature of much of the game despite the randomness in the audience participation.)

It was during the banana-eating contest between the two participants (both teamed with burlesque performers) that I started to feel uncomfortable. It descended into a potassium-ingesting orgy, with people putting bananas in all sorts of unmentionable places and then writhing in a heap onstage. Whereas prior acts had been in a spirit of fun, now I just felt bad for the poor souls who had somehow been seduced by the spotlight's lure into humiliating themselves so profoundly. (The production is actually taped and played on a New York City cable channel on Sunday at midnight, so the audience witnessing any humiliation is even larger then.)

In the moments when the bawdier aspects took a backseat and true burlesque talent was on display, the show really shined. The special guest performers

This Ace Is Wild!

They met at an open call in Las Vegas for the 80's Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Starlight Express. He was wearing a metallic cat suit and says that she was "a vision in gold lame." Twelve and a half years later, the duo has come straight from their stint as nightly performers at the Bonne Chance Lounge in the San Remo Hotel and Casino to New York to headline in A Touch of Vegas. Trent and Trudy Lee, the fictional creation of Kyle Barisich and Genna Ambateilos, are the stars of this Vegas-style parody playing at the Dominion Theater. Though the set is simple