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WHAT'SJenny Chow.
intelligent and funny
n
T
H
i-
r
A
R
T
Solid premise, striking
performances combine
I
k
.
^\
By
Bethany Gibbons
?> ¦arts@barnstablepatriot.co m
PRESENTATION OF THE SELF IN EVERYDAY LIFE - Agoraphobic genius
Jennifer Marcus (Teresa Lim) is pleased with her outgoing creation (Julia
Chan), in The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow.
"She's infinitely more com-
plex than anything out there
and she's afraid." So says
Jennifer Marcus about her
brainchild , the fully func-
tioning android Jenny
Chow. In describing her
creation, the intelligent
designer lets slip the
truth of her own exis-
1 tence; brilliance dogged
by fear.
The Intelligent Design
of Jenny Chow, playing at
the Wellfleet Harbor Ac-
tors Theatre , is a smart ,
sharp show. A 2006 Obie Award-win-
ning play, it is at once refreshingly
youthful and decidedly wise. Play-
wright Rolin Jones ushers the audience
into a swiftly moving modern take on
unfulfilled expectations and the quest
for belonging.
Jennifer Marcus is an adopted Chi-
nese-American genius who excels in
mechanical engineering but is so pho-
bic she cannot step outside her front
door. Her world is strikingly limited in
comparison to her incredible talents.
Jones portrays his lead not as amisfit,
but as a master of her domain, albeit
with a distinct degree of immobility.
Her computer is her lifeline to the
world, providing everything she needs
for companionship, communication,
and opportunity, with a few excep-
CONTINUED ON PAGE C:2
JIM DAIGLISH PHOTO
Shakespearian slapdash
Clever Academy show
is smashing fun
By David Steward
arts@barnstablepatriot.com
ROBERT TUCKER/FOCALPOINT STUDIO PHOTO
TO THE HILT - Rich McKey, left, and Todd
Yates Gosselin take making fun of the Bard
to the hilt in the spirited ensemble The
Compleat Works of William Shakespeare
(Abridged) at the Academy of Performing
Arts in Orleans.
When Shakespeare 's plays come
to mind you may think of tights, silly
dialect and sorrow. By taking those
elements andmixingthem withhumor-
ous antics similar to those of Monty
Python'sFlyingCircus and Mel Brooks,
you have The Compleat Works of Wil-
liam Shakespeare (Abridged).
This play is two full hours of non-
stop laughs and transvestitism from
the Academy of Performing Arts '
members Rich McKey, Rick Smith,
and Todd Yates Gosselin. This one-
of-a-kind trio takes all of the Bard's
34 plays and compresses them into a
night of unpredictable and downright
silliness.
As the play begins in the small,
yet intimate theater, McKey tells the
audience that he and his comical
comrades are takingthe audienceinto
the future by going back to the time
where pink tights became the latest
fashion craze.
This compilation of Shakespeare 's
works is not what the average English
teacher would expose to the class. For
example, presenting TitusAndronicus
in the style of a cooking show, and
turning Othello into a pathetic rap
song that would make the New Kids
on the Block sound like Snoop Dogg.
As dicey as some of the material is (not
including Shakespeare 'swriting),this
play is ahigh-roller for the teenage and
adult crowd.
Judy Hamer, the director and light-
ing designer,felt truly optimistic about
the Academy'ssummer season opener.
"My aim as a director," she said, "the
biggest aim, I should say, is to convey
the message of the play to the largest
population. This is not just a play for
only the Shakespearian audience , it is
a knockout , drag-out comedy for all
to see." After two standing ovations
from a crowd ranging in age from 13
to 80, it seems that Hamer 's aim has
met its mark.
You don't have to have a Masters
from Harvard or the IQ of Bill Gates to
understand that The Compleat Works
is a night of laughs and high jinks .
as you will be absorbing the Cliff' s
Notes versions of the works of one of
England's most famous playwrights.
This play has everything the Shake-
speare scholar is looking for - sword
fights with light sabers , audience
participation , complicated love tri-
angles mixed with heart-wrenching
soliloquies , and sock puppets.
As complicated as some of Shake-
speare's work might be, his compete
and abridged catalog is the perfect
show to open up the Academy 's sum-
mer season, leaving you intrigued as
you ponder how three men can perform
all of his plays in two hours, leaving
the audience laughing. Don't miss out
on all the fun!
The Compleat Works ot William Shakespeare
(Abridged) will be at the Academy ol Perform-
ing Arts in Orleans June 1-4 and every Monday
throughout the summer. Shows begin at 8 p.m.
and tickets are $18. Call 508-255-1963 or 508-
255-3075 lor more information.
Ice cream book
is a scream
Local author delights
with new Idiot 's Guide
By Kathleen Szmit Manwaring
kmanwanng@barnstablepatnot.corr
1 I scream, you scream, we really
li do scream for ice cream, although
,1 some of us may not be quite sure
1¦
why. The Complete Idiot 's Guide to
I « Homemade Ice Cream aimsto an-
II swer any and all questions about
ftw the frozen treat , even those no
\sL one thought to ask!
#\ |After more than 50 years in
\ ¦
the ice cream business , Dick
Lr ill Warren felt it WaStimet0l)rin g
jal a bit of his knowledge and
ftl more than 200 intriguing
l^» recipes - to the masses.
0000 As the owner of Four Seas
Ice Cream in Centerville, War-
ren knows his stuff. Along with free-
lance writer Bobbi Dempsey, Warren
has put together a tome that is part
informative and part cookbook ,but is
wholly entertaining.
The book kicks off with abackground
about the origins of the creamy delight ,
noting that it dates back to the Roman
Empire when emperors flavored snow
with fruit.
It was in Europe that ice cream really
caught on - but only after a precious
recipe for the delicacy was leaked to
commoners - before eventually cross-
ing the ocean to America where the
first ice cream shops opened in New
York City in the late 1700s. Records
kept by one merchant indicate that
President George Washington spent
nearly $200 on ice cream during the
summer of 1790. That explains those
woden teeth.
The Complete Idiot' s Guide to Home-
made Ice Cream is filled with such sa-
vory trivia as each chapter beginswith
a bit of history about that particular
aspect of ice cream. Warren certainly
covers all toppings, er, topics from the
most basic ice cream base recipe, to
flavors , beverages, desserts and even
a how-to on throwing your own ice
cream party.
CONTINUED ON PAGE C:2
__^__
Bf Ata W. MriK**
THE WRITE STUFF
Sex Collectors: The
Secret World of Con-
sumers,Connoisseurs,
Curators , Creators ,
Dealers , Bibliogra-
phers and Accumu-
lators of "Erotica "
(Simon & Schuster,
$25)
We may not want
to admit it, but all
of us -yes, even you
- have at one time
or another owned
a sexual artifact .
. think porn tape ,
"dirty"magazine.But
a true sex collector
takes the erotic em-
brace much further,
acquiringand hoarding objects that sometimes stagger
the mind.Author Geoff Nicholson introduces readers
to amyriad of sex-obsessed fans -meet the 69-year-old
Florida widow whose 4,000-piece collection is worth
$5 million (including the giant phallus wielded by
Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange) and Eric
Godtland, the manager of the rock group Third Eye
Blind, whose collection of "men's magazines" clocks
in at 80,000 volumes. Funny, smart and irreverent ,
Sex Collectors is a welcome look at the meld of art
and pornography.
mbkUmtf ml
Sail Awa y
(DRG Records)
Noel Coward
conquered mov-
ies, TV, caba-
ret , the stages
of the West End
and Broadway.
He published a
novel , several
volumes of short
stories and com-
posed aballet.He
wrote, he direct-
ed, he starred ,
but, mostly he twinkled like some Olympian wit, and
chased his talent to amuse all of his life. Late in his
career, he wrote and directed and cast his only com-
pletely American work, Sail Away. (He even designed
the show's poster!) DRG has finally reissued the cast
album to the 1961musical,along with acompanion disc
of Coward himself singing the material. Although the
cast is strewn with popular performers of the day,the
only one remembered nowadays is the indestructible
Elaine Stritch in this, her second Broadway musical.
There are some nifty songs here - none ever reached
the hit parade, but the ballads "Later Than Spring "
and "Something Very Strange" are quite moving, and
Stritch is hysterical in the novelty numbers, especially
"Useful Phrases" (combining phrases from a Berlitz
Book with very funny, very obscene results) and "Why
Do the Wrong People Travel (When the Right People
StayBack Home?)," pretty much a searing indict-
ment of American tourists. A perfect companion for
a relaxing cruise!
FOR THE RECORD
Mommie Dearest: Hollywood Royalty Edition
Is there a guiltier pleasure than this 1981 big-screen
take on the life of Joan Crawford? Faye Dunaway
chews, swallows and spits out the scenery, the script
and the co-stars - subtlety and sensitivity take aback
seat glaring color, great thumping plot points and a
diva'sperformance that would make the best of Bette
look rank. Miss D'sperformance is so over the top and
so incredibly awful that the release of the DVD is a
blessing -we can now control the Dunaway Dosage,
and watch it a bit at a time.
The new DVD release has great bonus tracks,includ-
ingaudiocommentary by John Watersand three all-new
featurettes: The Revival of Joan , Joan Lives On and
our favorite, Life with Joan , a fabulous look into the
making of the
film with ex-
clusive behind-
the-scenes sto-
ries. There are
also, of course,
the obligatory
original the-
atrical trailer
and photo gal-
lery. Mommie
Dearest is true
trash. It'sloud,
crass,unbeliev-
ably uncom-
fortable,taste-
free and, ulti-
mately, pretty
stupid. But ,
hey, isn't that
what guilty
pleasures are
about?
DVD QUICK PICKS