RED Randy

Feb 23, 2012 20:50

Last weekend I went to New Brunswick, NJ to see Randy in RED. This was a two character play. Bob Ari plays the abstract impressionist painter Mark Rothko and Randy is his assistant Ken, a young art student he hires to help him prepare a series of paintings for the Four Seasons restaurant and over the course of 90 uninterrupted minutes, they talk and yell and paint a huge red canvas. Rather than talk about the play's arguments about art and creativity which frankly was not that interesting to me, I'll give my impressions of what I saw.



I loved the set which was a painter's studio with canvasses and paint and drop cloths and it reminded me of Justin's apartment from season 5. Randy cleans brushes, mixes paint, prepares canvasses and fetches food and cigarettes. At one point, he is eating Chinese from a container and talking the whole time which was reminiscent of the scene when he is eating spaghetti at Mel and Lindsay's. He has to eat this for every performance so whatever it was I imagine he will be sick of it by the end of the run. When he first appears on stage he is dressed in a suit with his hair slicked back like the way he wore it to the prom. Later when he is in his work clothes, and a few of his work shirts look strangely familiar, a lock of his hair hangs down on his forehead he looks like a young artist. His facial expressions and body language are as always fun to watch. I really liked the physicality of this role and a highlight is watching them frenetically paint the canvas together. Paint was flying and when you sit in the first row it's a concern. When they are done, Randy falls to the stage exhausted. Both Ari and Randy are excellent as Rothko and Ken but this is one of the few plays that I really don't have to see again. I generally see Randy's plays at least twice and often three times specifically to make sure I hear all the dialogue and catch every nuance but I don't plan to go to Cleveland to see this one again. One good viewing was enough.

I attended a matinee so Randy did not appear afterward though Bob Ari walked out of the theatre and walked across the street to his hotel. I really didn't expect to see him but I was looking forward to meeting predec2 who will be flying to Cologne with me to the QAF Convention. She was there to see the evening performance but came to the theatre after the matinee hoping to see Randy and maybe me:)

Since he is taking the play to Cleveland next month, I doubt that he will be doing another play before the convention so I assume that's when I will see him next and then there is always hope for a new play in the Berkshires this summer.
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