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| We are pleased to announce that we have added a full week of performances, and will now close on September 1st! |
Readers of the White Rhino Report are fortunate that the producers at Bad Habit Productions were able to extend the run of "Rooms - A Rock Romance" for an additional week. You now have a chance to make s trip to Boston's South End to the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts and experience for yourself this very moving two person play. The story - book, music and lyrics by Scottish artist Paul Scott Goodman - is largely autobiographical.
"It's the late 1970's in Glasgow as Monica, an ambitious singer/songwriter meets Ian, a reclusive rocker. The two quickly become entangled creatively and romantically. Their music takes them first to London and ultimately to New York City, where they discover the vibrant new music scene and create an intimate partnership, their love deepening while their personalities drive them apart. A rock band accompanies these two characters as they search for the balance between ambition and happiness."
Ian Wallace is the reclusive guitarist and composer whose self-confinement in his bedroom in his widowed mother's home in Glasgow is both safe and stultifying. Played superbly by Michael Levesque, Wallace reluctantly accepts a paying gig to write a song for an upcoming Bat Mitzvah. The baldly ambitious songstress, Monica P. Miller has been hired to provide the music for the occasion, and she needs help writing an appropriate personal song for the young girl-about-to-become-a-woman. In many ways, the Bat Mitzvah motif fits the dramatic arc of Monica's rough road from ambitious girl to knowing woman. Ashley Korolewski (soon to become Ashley Levesque!) as Monica leads her character- and leads the audience - through a coming of age journey that is palpable and moving. If I were to describe three of the stages of Monica's development,I would offer the metaphor that she begins the story as starched linen, then during her Punk Period pretends to be burlap, and finally resolves into a very comfortable velveteen. Like the "Velveteen Rabbit," she is truly loved and becomes "real."
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| Michael Levesque |
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| Ashley Korolewski |
Levesque and Korolewski are superbly cast in these two roles. Their chemistry sizzles. The voices dip and soar, from soft and reflective to Punk Rock brittleness complete with spit and snarl. Levesque's sweet falsetto could melt butter. There was a point when Korolewski was sustaining a note that seemed to hang in the air forever. I watched her perfectly formed mouth, and listened to the unwavering sound that came bouncing out of that echo chamber and I thought: "This may be the most perfect single sung note I have ever heard!"
The play, which had an Off-Broadway run at the New World Stages on 50th Street, feels as if Goodman were standing on the shoulders of Jonathan Larson when he wrote this story - the Jonathan Larson of "RENT" fame - with a wee Scottish brogue. The music has a very Larsonesque feel, made even more so by the fine band of Jason Smith on bass, Courtney Petersen on drums, Jakob Reinhardt on guitar and Rebekah Hardeson and Meghan MacFadden on keyboards. The Direction by Daniel Morris and the Musical Direction by Antanas Meilus was flawless. he overall feel of the story is a bit of "RENT" meets "Once."
I loved the play, and I believe most of you will too. You have until the end of this week to find out. week to find out.
Extension Week Performances:
Thursday, August 29 @ 7:30 PM
Friday, August 30 @ 8:00 PM
Saturday, August 31 @ 8:00 PM
Sunday, September 1 @ 2:00 PM
Bad Habit Productions
Enjoy!
Al
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