from nytheatre.com
THE BROKEN JUMP

nytheatre.com review
Robert Weinstein · July 21, 2007

Baby Hippopotamus Productions' The Broken Jump takes place during the Influenza Epidemic of 1918 and tells the story of Julius McGowen, a wise-cracking, small time comic who has worked 20 years to realize his dream of hitting the big time. It begins with Julius and his partner, Milton Kean, arriving at a theatre in Grand Rapids, Michigan to find that their headlining status has been taken over by a 12-year old singing sensation named Christina Bell. To add to this slight, Christina is accompanied by her mother, Natalie, who Julius walked out on 13 years earlier to pursue his career. The child is not his but the sight of Natalie throws him for a loop: he still carries feelings for Natalie and her appearance acts as a reminder of what his life has not become.

The theatre is run by an ex-boxer named Jack Ruby and Jack has some problems of his own. A silver-haired, smooth-talking senator named Irving Drew is waging a crusade against the declining moral climate in the midst of the epidemic and targets the theatre's employment of the underage Christina as an example of this decline. Ruby's life, it seems, consists of fending off Senator Drew threats, paying health-related fines to an attorney named Mr. Klein, or patiently humoring a boisterous comic named Desmond Donegal, who spends all of his offstage time in Ruby's office, pushing at the bounds of his sanity. All this would seem to lie outside the sphere of Julius's responsibility but when tragedy strikes within the theatre, he is forced to take charge of the colliding events and, unexpectedly, an honest look at his life.

The Broken Jump lacks strong narrative cohesion. The sum of its parts don't come together in a way that allows the actions to build momentum and the characters to blossom, but the play is definitely worth looking at for the parts making up its sum. King Talent's script is especially effective at evoking the energy, atmosphere, and sheer tediousness of lives lived on the road. He is especially attuned to the dynamics of relationships forged between colleagues and competitors who are reconciling the pursuit of their dreams with the fear and disappointments which the chase has dealt them.

Director J.B. Lawrence also stages some wonderful vaudeville routines utilizing the smooth talents of his cast. King Talent as Julius McGowen and Tony King as Milton Kean successfully convey the impression that they've been working together for years. Caitlin Mehner proves her versatility by taking on the lead and the straight man in two very different sketches. Tony King also has some solo bits which capture the manic intensity of his character's desires. And don't venture too far from the lobby during the intermission: Jack Boice as Desmond Donegal belts out a tune that is sure to leave you laughing and happy.

Copyright ©2007 The New York Theatre Experience, Inc. All rights reserved.

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from Show Showdown
THE BROKEN JUMP

Sunday, July 29, 2007
MITF: "The Broken Jump"

OK, so these days, vaudeville really isn't that funny. However, watching actors like Jack Boice ham it up in a flattering homage of the old days; that's comedy. The Broken Jump isn't just a comedy, though, and that's what makes it pretty good, too. King Talent's script tells the story of an elder performer, Julius McGowen (whom he also sagaciously plays) coming to terms with the life he left when he fled the ill-repute of his ex-prostitute lover, Natalie (played by Melissa Jo Talent) to pursue an eventual Broadway act. Fifteen years later, and McGowen's a dying breed who finds a breath of fresh air in Natalie's precocious daughter, Christina Bell (Caitlin Mehner). Unfortunately, his partnership with young Milton Kean (Tony King) is threatened by his big plans for Christina, and by the aggressive politics of conservative Senator Irving Drew (Greg Homison), who'd like to ban children from the inappropriately lascivious messages of "the theater." The show bustles along, building relationships and lovingly embracing the history of vaudeville, and it's not until the abrupt, mood-changing finale that The Broken Jump appears to be broken.

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from TheaterOnline.com
WEASEL EROTICA

By: Fred McKinnon
August 8, 2006

A Shakespearean comedy it is not. Nor is it in the realm of Molière satire. Oscar Wilde's wit is nowhere to be found. It, indeed, is what its press material promises it to be: "madcap farce." Baby Hippopotamus Productions' "Weasel Erotic" is-without a doubt-wacky, zany and frenzied with an implausible plot, outlandish characters and copious amounts of comic shtick.

As the play opens, zoo employee Harry is attempting to drum up business for his boss when Mr. Grimm, the bad guy, reveals that he wants to close lovely Alison's animal enterprise so that he can use the property for greater financial gain. Enter wealthy widow Ms. Rittenrotten, who is nothing like her name suggests, and a plan is hatched to acquire two Brazilian Trouser Weasels (double entendre?) to generate customers and prevent the struggling animal park from folding. Professor Wagstaff, whatever his name suggests, is then enlisted to take care of the rare animals (Kitty and Ray-Ray), who eventually-in the guise of puppets, enthusiastically manipulated by Kimi Winkler and Jennifer Sandella-perform a mating ritual dance during which Roy (Allison's boyfriend) does a striptease. But that is not before Wagstaff, for perhaps some hidden meaning, relates "The Story of the Haunted Ship." There is also a scene in which the Monster-From-Under-Your-Bed makes an appearance, disrupting a romantic encounter.

These are just a few of the entanglements in Act I of this theatrical romp under the unpredictable direction of Melissa Jo Talent, who also had a hand in the chaotic script, along with King Talent ... The cast of nine do a fine job in what, I suppose, they are supposed to be doing, but particularly outstanding for me (unambiguously a high point) was Ms. Rittenrotten's (Rebecca Sponseller) singing rendition of the Gershwins' "Embraceable You."

After free refreshments being offered during intermission, Act II resumes where the play left off and swiftly (in less than a half hour) comes to a happy, if not completely logical, ending with a coda of a dancing musical finale.

Earlier in the evening I had asked the couple sitting next to me what brought them to this particular not-so air conditioned subterranean theater on a steamy summer night. Their answer sang the praises of Off-Off-Broadway. "This is the New York tourists don't know about. You're never sure of what you might see, but the actors and actresses give it their all. They always seem to be having fun." After my experiencing this production, that seems like the most reasonably rational conclusion for wanting to attend "Weasel Erotica."

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from Newark Star-Ledger
THE PASSION PLAY

"Rich Warren -- a non-Equity actor, by the way -- gives the best performance as Pontius Pilate, though villains are often the easiest characters to play.  [He] has a deadness in his eyes that shows Pilate has made one important decision too many, and that he no longer believes the shekel stops here. To him, Jesus is just another annoyance in a busy day." -- Peter Filichia, Newark Star-Ledger, April 2006

Additional Press

A nytheatre voices cyber-interview with The Talented Talent Brothers - August 16, 2005

Article on Hudson Shakespeare production of Hamlet, Jersey Journal - June 11, 2005

Article on Hudson Shakespeare production of Hamlet, Kenilworth (NJ) Leader - May 26, 2005

Article on Hudson Shakespeare production of Coriolanus, Union City Reporter - July 4, 2004

Coriolanus photo layout from Cranford (NJ) Chronicle - July 2004

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