Review of "The Girl from Berlin" by Ronald H. Balson - A Compelling Tale of the Aftermath of the Holocaust

Ronald H. Balson knows how to craft a compelling historical novel. In "The Girl from Berlin" he examines the insidious practices of the Nazis in trying to capitalize on valuable properties that were confiscated from Jews and other Holocaust victims. In this masterful tale. Octogenarian Gabi is in danger of having her villa, Villa Vincenzo, taken over by the corporation that controls all of the surrounding Tuscan vineyards. A local court has ruled that VinCo holds a valid deed to the property. Gabi has only a few weeks to vacate the property that she has called home her whole life. Three local attorneys have failed to help her find a way to prove her legitimate ownership of the property.

A distant cousin in America promises to help, sending his friends, Catherine Lockhart and Liam Taggert to Italy to try to pull the fat out of the fire. Catherine uses her skills as an attorney and Liam employs his bag of tricks as a private investigator to get to the heart of the complex conspiracy that has been promulgated against Gabi.

The story unwinds as Catherine and Liam read a diary that Gabi has told them they must read. It was written by Ada Baumgarten, daughter of the concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic. Ada, a gifted violinist in her own right, writes of her struggles as a young woman and a Jew in the escalating tensions in Nazi Germany. Embedded within her tale, a microcosm of Hitler's Final Solution, are clues to the provenance of Villa Vicenzo.

The novel is brilliantly written, with each character limned with bold strokes. We come to care about both Ada and Gabi, and wonder right up until the denouement how their stories are connected. It is a virtuoso performance by a gifted writer.

Enjoy!

Al

Review of Pathogen Protocol" by Darren D. Beyer - Second Installment of the Anghazi Series

Author Darren D, Beyer spent ten years working with NASA on the Space Shuttle program. He draws on broad technical knowledge, as well as a childlike sense of wonder, in crafting a fascinating series of books about a galactic war for scarce resources. "Pathogen Protocol" is the second in his Anghazi series.

Mandi is the intrepid daughter of a mother who is a legend in the space exploration community, having perfected techniques that make interstellar travel possible, utilizing something called The Casimir Bridge. Mandi and her cohorts, Jans and Grae are fighting against Gregory Andrews, who has taken over part of the monopolistic Applied Interstellar Corporation (AIC). At stake is the limited supply of the rare element that enables interstellar travel. The action of this thriller is spread among a dizzying array of planets, moons, space stations, and space craft.

Author Beyer has crafted a gut-wrenching chronicle of escalating conflicts that move at close to the speed of light. Mandi and her allies are fighting against the considerable resources controlled by the Machiavellian Gregory Andrews. There are a number of battles, some land-based and others in orbit. Romance is in the air - or in the vacuum of space - as Mandi stresses over the status and health of Grae, who has been in mortal danger on more than one occasion. The stakes are high - nothing less than the future survival of humanity.

Enjoy!

Al

"Evil Winds" by Dr. Michael Shusko - A Compelling Look At Suffering In Darfur

Author Michael Shusko brings his protean skills and diverse background to bear in crafting a story that is both enlightening and heart-rending. Most Americans are aware that thousands of men, women, and children in Darfur suffered mightily under the reign of terror that spilled over the border with Sudan, compounded by violence perpetrated by competing warlords. Most of us had no idea what the scope of that suffering was, or what it felt like at an individual,family, and village level. Shusko's compelling story shines a bright light on the plight of Darfur refugees through the lens of the misadventures of reporter Angie Bryant and NGO physician/CIA operative Jason Russo. They meet in the hospital of a refugee camp, and find themselves ensnared in an escalating web of violence and danger as warlords find their inquiries into war crimes to be threatening. Whole villages are annihilated, the men murdered, the women raped, and the girls taken as pawns in a complex human trafficking enterprise.

Dr. Shusko has degrees in medicine and public health, and has served as a US Navy and US Marine Corps officer. His work with the intelligence communities and with medical missions allows him to paint a vivid and detailed picture of the suffering of those in Darfur. His brilliant writing engages the mind and imagination of the reader. It also compels us to ask the question: "What took the international community so long to respond with appropriate levels of help?"

"Evil Winds" is a breath of fresh air by this gifted writer and committed change agent.

Enjoy!

Al

"Defying Gravity" - Second Edition by Carol de Giere - This Book Has Been Changed . . . For Good!

In 2008, Carol de Giere released the fascinating chronicle of the creative career of composer Stephen Schwartz. My review of that first edition can be found here.

Blog Review of First Edition of "Defying Gravity"

In the intervening ten years, Mr. Schwartz has continued relentlessly creating new works of art and tweaking a number of his earlier projects. So, Ms.de Giere and her publisher have made the wise decision to issue a second edition of this book, adding four new chapters and an insightful Foreword by longtime Schwartz collaborator, Alan Menken.

The first of the four additional chapters covers the worldwide expansion of the hugely successful "Wicked," The next chapter deals with adapting the movie musicals "The Prince of Egypt" and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" into productions for the stage. The next chapter examines his growing body of work with Hollywood, with the release of "Enchanted," and several projects still in the pipeline, including a film version of "Wicked," Finally, a potpourri of recent projects, including the Tony Award winning revision and revival of "Pippin," a new production of "Rags," writing musicals for the cruise industry, and many other projects and collaborations.

This new version of what had been an already an impactful book offers deeper and wider insights into the creative mind of Stephen Schwartz. The new edition is one that Schwartz fans will want to pick up. And if you are not already a fan of this man with protean talents, reading this book will make you want to go out and get tickets to all of his works. Alan Menken offers a unique perspective in his Foreword on what it is like to collaborate with Mr. Schwartz.

As she did in the original edition, the author has captured not only the genius of the man, but his spirit, as well. The book would make a great holiday gift for any lover of musicals.

Enjoy!

Al

"The Field" by Ian Dawson - Art Imitates Life In A Story of Abduction and Rescue

In "The Field," Ian Dawson digs deep into his boyhood memories to craft a page turner about an adolescent who is abducted and tortured by two older teenagers. Daniel Robinson and his best friend, Kyle, have claimed for themselves an empty field near their homes as their own private kingdom to be explored during their free time. In a misguided choice to get in a quick visit to a special part of their field to play a game of hide and seek, Daniel finds himself isolated from Kyle and is defenseless against the older and larger boys. They take him to their lair where they have already imprisoned a younger boy. The sociopath, Austin, has bullied and enslaved the weaker James to serve as his accomplice. The mayhem they have in mid for Daniel and young Colby is terrifying. Kyle is determined to find his missing friend and do whatever it takes to return him to safety. The resulting action is non-stop and fascinating.

Along the way, as he develops the compelling narrative, the author explores many themes that will resonate with young readers: bullying, the awkwardness of puberty and raging hormone, young love, the difference between true friendship and obsession. Mr. Dawson perfectly captures the voice and the emotional state of the typical middle school student looking to figure out who he is and what his place in the world should be.

Enjoy!

Al

Playwrights Horizons Presents the World Premiere of "The Thanksgiving Play" by Larissa FastHorse

"The Thanksgiving Play" cast
by Larissa FastHorse
Playwrights Horizons
Through November 25th

Playwrights Horizons has a long and rich history of developing new plays and encouraging new playwrights. That tradition continues with the current production of "The Thanksgiving Play" written by Lakota tribe member Larissa FastHorse. For many in the cast and crew of this play, this is their first experience collaborating with a Native American. She uses "reduction ad absurdum" in skewering the traditions of Thanksgiving celebrations, and misguided "White guilt" efforts at being "Woke" in trying to swing the cultural pendulum in a non-paternalistic direction. The result is a madcap scramble among four characters who struggle to craft a middle school play for the annual Thanksgiving assembly. Ms. FastHorse uses fire to fight fire - utilizing hilariously absurd stereotypes to throw a glaring spotlight onto many of our societal stereotypes - the white liberal academic, the Hollywood bimbo, the zen-infused couple whose "decoupling ritual" is hilarious.

This four-hander is perfectly cast. Jennifer Bareilles is wonderfully uptight as Logan, the militantly vegan play's director who agonizes over crafting a play that covers all of the bases and satisfies all of the sensibilities of the funders who have written grants for this production. Her partner in life is the street performer, Jaxton, played wonderfully by Greg Keller. Greg is into Eastern religion, meditation, and is smitten with the buxom Hollywood actress, Alicia, who has been hired in the mistaken belief that she is Native American. Margo Seibert is wonderfully ditsy as the very blonde Alicia. Equally besotted with Alicia's charms is Caden, played with low key brilliance by Jeffrey Bean. Caden holds a Ph. D. in history, but is underemployed teaching at the elementary level. He sees helping to write and present this play as his big breakthrough. The audience on the evening that I saw the play was heavily weighted with theater people, and Caden's line about the disrespect accorded dramaturgy got the biggest laugh of the night.

Greg Keller as Jaxton, Jennifer Bareilles as Logan

Jeffrey Bean as Caden, Margo Seibert as Alicia

"The Thanksgiving Play"

by Larissa FastHorse

Playwrights Horizons

Through November 25th

Like a visual artist who makes creative use of negative space, Ms. FastHorse uses the absence of any real Native American characters or voices in this play to highlight the chronic invisibility of Native Americans in the American dialogue about race, genocide, and broken treaties and promises. This sardonically comedic play offers laughs that cause us to also pause and think about the past, and our responsibility to learn from it.

Moritz von Stuelpnagel deftly balances the elements and actors of this play. Scenic Design is by Wilson Chin, Costumes by Tilly Grimes, Lighting by Isabella Byrd, Sound by Mikaal Sulaiman.
The play runs through November 25th at Playwrights Horizons, 416 42nd Street.

Enjoy!

Al

Premieres Presents "Inner Voices" - A Musical Theater Trilogy In One Evening - A Must See!

Every two years, Premieres produces "Inner Voices," three new one act musicals for solo performer. This year's three choices for "Inner Voices" are each extraordinary, both in terms of writing and performing. Taken together, they function as a triptych, each panel telling its own story while echoing themes from the adjoining works of art.

Let's begin by discussing the middle piece, "Costume," with extraordinary Words and Music by Daniel Zaitchik and Directed by Noah Himmelstein.  Deborah Abramson provides Musical Direction with Patti Kilroy and Ludovica Burtone on violin. Young Finn Douglas is simply transcendent portraying an 11 year-old on Halloween Eve in 1954. The action centers on lonely Leo, feeling sad that this year he has no Halloween costume because his mother is locked in her bedroom amidst one of her many frequent "spells" of depression. He is enlisted by a neighbor to help to nurse back to health a wounded pigeon who has landed on the neighbor's lawn. Leo voices the fact that he feels that he is "not the right man for the job." We later learn the complex reasons why he feels this way. The metaphor is obvious and powerful; Leo and his mother are both wounded birds, living with the aftermath and emptiness of Leo's father never returning from WWII. Finn Douglas takes us through a wide arc of emotions as he ponders the difference between a "Good quiet" and a "Bad quiet." The actor's stage presence and ability to handle the burden of memorizing and flawlessly delivering a large volume of material is precocious and impressive. Two of the emotional high points of this beautifully rendered piece are the moment when the healed bird flies out of the open window, never to return, and the moment when Leo improvises a personally thematic Halloween costume.

Finn Douglas in "The Costume"
"Inner Voices" by Premieres
at TBG Mainstage Theatre
Photo by Russ Rowland

The opening musical is "Window Treatment," with Words by Deborah Zoe Laufer and Music by Daniel Green, Directed by Portia Krieger and Musical Direction is by Paul Masse with Brandon Wong on vibraphone. Farah Alvin plays a physician whose dysfunctional emotional universe is limited to her fantasizing about a relationship with the man across the apartment-house courtyard in Apartment 4G. The desperation that Ms. Alvin portrays is palpable as she peers through her binoculars wondering why her fantasy paramour has broken his predictable pattern of arriving home at precisely the same time. She is broken-hearted when she spies out the reason why he went shopping on his way home. Seldom have OCD and stalking been written about and acted more hilariously.

Farah Alvin in "Window Treatment"

"Inner Voices" by Premieres

at TBG Mainstage Theatre

Photo by Russ Rowland

The final piece of the puzzle is "Scaffolding," with Words and Music by Jeff Blumenkrantz, Directed by Victoria  Clark and Musical Direction by Benji Goldsmith with Yari Bond on Cello. Rebecca portrays a single mother teacher returning exhausted from her harrowing commute after another day in the classroom. She is stressing out over helping her brilliant son get into MIT. We learn that he is on the autism spectrum, but she has not made him aware of being on the spectrum. She has been supporting him - "Scaffolding" him - to compensate for his social awkwardness. Her misguided efforts at being a helicopter Mom have devastating consequences as his MIT interview ends in disastrous paralysis. Our hearts break along with Mom's as her wounded bird flies out of the window, apparently never to return.

Rebacca Luker in "Scaffolding"

"Inner Voices" by Premieres

at TBG Mainstage Theatre

Photo by Russ Rowland

Premieres' Producing Artistic Director Paulette Haupt has woven together the individual voices of three play-writing teams, and has found a way to harmonize them with one another to sing about loneliness as experienced by individuals from three generations. The result is one of the most moving and satisfying evenings of theater I have experienced this season. This production is a MUST SEE, running at the TBG Mainstage Theatre on 312 W. 36th Street through November 17th.

Enjoy!

Al