The Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College Archives

The Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College

The Mikado or, The Town of Titipu (NYGASP)

December 31, 2019

The framing device is not a completely elegant solution to the problem, but it gets the job done. Gilbert gets knocked out cold while examining the contents of the trunk. While incapacitated, he imagines the members of the company playing the roles that he and Sullivan will eventually create. In this fantasy 'Mikado," the citizens of the town of Titipu are more British townsfolk than Japanese villagers. They dress in bright Victorian-era costumes by Quinto Ott. The set by Anshuman Bhatia includes a railway depot from which the characters who have arrived in town emerge (giving a multiple meaning to the lyric “Comes a train of little ladies…”). The cast consists of actors of various racial backgrounds. [more]

Ballet Contemporáneo de Camagűey

March 19, 2019

The Camagűey troupe danced Ruiz’s work as if born to his vigorously eclectic style. His choreography is an amalgam of ballet, modern dance, break-dancing, folk dancing and Latin ballroom. He seems to be influenced by the work of Nacho Duato (himself a Jiri Kylian protégé) with his complex, body-interlocking lifts, bent torsos and a step-to-every-note. [more]

The Pirates of Penzance 2018 (NYGASP)

January 2, 2019

In the plus column, it was easy on the eyes. Scenic designer Lou Anne Gilleland created agreeable though not particularly elaborate sets: a rocky stretch of seashore for the first act and a gloomy ruined chapel for the second. Lighting designer Benjamin Weill gave us a kaleidoscope sky that turned lavender or red or some other dramatic shade, according to the changing moods of the story. And Gail J. Wofford and Quinto Ott’s costumes were bright and playful, especially the flouncy sleepwear (Queen Victoria’s Secret?) worn by the female wards of Major General Stanley, the operetta’s famed “Modern Major General.” [more]