A Theatre Movement Bazaar Production
Reviewed by Amalisha HuEck
An exuberant, joyously unrestrained, and enthusiastic musical comedy TINY LITTLE TOWN by Theatre Movement Bazaar at Broadwater Theater is enchantingly entertaining with high energy from the beginning until the very end. Affectionately adapted from Ukrainian playwright Nikolai Gogol's 1836 Russian play, 'The Government Inspector' TMB's co-founders, Tina Kronis and Richard Alger, in collaboration with composer Wes Myers created the all-ages musical spectacle. The combination of folk-dance music and the American pop music is a courageous, clever, entertaining, and totally refreshing way of the theatre expression, the art you've never seen before. The movements are original and show the full spectrum of the talent of its creators to every single actor on that stage.
Even though the story's main subject is the bribery, the narrative is all about a little town where nobody wants to come, because there is nothing to be seen there, 'A little bit of nothingness, tucked into nowhere.' The inhabitants with its leaders the mayor, judge, health commissioner and school superintendent are ready and waiting for something really good to come, yet the inspector from Washington is announced to come and inspect the facilities. Everyone is terrified and in a state of emergency. Those strange circumstances nudge the residents of this generic little American town to corruption. It is fascinating how the story from 1836 is lavishly adapted into the modern play of 21st Century, where one can sense the characters from 19
th Century with their hairdos', the way of dressing and the company's unique approach to storytelling. Everything is uniquely stylized in this production from dialogues, movements, group positions, expressions, to singing and dancing. What an imagination!
The creative ensemble of twelve members (Nick APOSTOLINA, Joey AQUINO, Mark DOERR, Prisca KIM, Ishika MUCHHAL, Jesse MYERS, Isaiah NORIEGA, Lamont OAKLEY, Nikhil PAI, Paula REBELO, Kasper SVENDSEN, Eddie VONA) tell the story through great singing, dancing, acting and is offering audience an extraordinary experience of what theatre movement is all about. Congratulations to all the actors and especially to their creators Tina Kronis and Richard Alger, as well as Wes Myers.
The Book is by Richard Alger & Tina Kronis, with Lyrics by Richard Alger. Produced by TMB and Associate Producer Justin Okin under the fabulous direction and choreography by Tina Kronis, this production of a TINY LITTLE TOWN is a MUST-SEE production.
The Costume designer is Ellen McCartney, Sound designer John Zelewski, Set designer Evan Bartoletti, Lighting Design Aaron Francis & Richard Alger, Graphics O&K Design, and the Production stage manager Anna Kupershmid.
Bravo to the whole TEAM!
The company's unique approach is eloquently expressed by Kronis, 'Theatre Movement Bazaar is a company dedicated to creating original performance work with an emphasis on physical action. We merge elements of dance, text, cinema, and media from diverse sources into a complex performance. Started in 1997, co-founders Kronis + Alger have been co-creators on all TMB productions. To pursue their unique brand of physical theatre, they have collaborated on adaptations (with Kronis directing and Alger writing) from source material from writers like Anton Chekhov, Tennessee Williams, Robert Louis Stevenson, Fyodor Dostoevsky, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Inge, August Strindberg, Chretian de Trois, as well as several Greek Myths.'
The performance on Saturday, Feb.2nd at 2:30 pm at the Broadwater Theater Main Stage, 1078 Lillian Way in Los Angeles, consisted of the audience of all ages, who were greatly and utterly entertained.
The show is running until February 18 Thurs - Sat at 7:30; Sat and Sun at 2:30. Tickets are ($15-$22), as for Sunday, Feb 11 at 2:30 pm tickets are 'Pay What You Can'.
The ticket link is: https://theatremovementbazaar.ludus.com/200447012
For info on the company:
https://theatremovementbazaar.org/