Sex and Screw Ups and Theater Reviews

This entry has nothing to do with sex or screwups, but Plotnik has noticed both of these appear to be more popular with his readers than the theater. So he has stopped linking all of his theater reviews to this page -- except when one knocks and rocks his socks. "Animals Out of Paper" is one of those shows.

Yes, we know that many of you live out of town, but those down in Stiletto City may be interested to know that playwright Rajiv Joseph's newer play "Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo" opens at the Kirk Douglas Theater in Stiletto this April.

Many of you who do live in town can seldom get to the theater, for obvious reasons. And "Animals Out of Paper" is not the show to bring you in -- although it has everything including some terrific music. A $40 ticket is a hard sell and Plotnik knows this as well as anyone. With the exception of The Great Mushnik and Silent Bill, and occasionally Plottie's old movie reviewer partner Hanky Girl, almost none of his readers have had a chance to experience live theater as much as Plottie has since he started reviewing ten years ago.

But do read the San Francisco Theater Blog review of "Animals Out of Paper" here. It's a rare beauty of a show -- intelligent, funny and surprising. And there is sex and there are screwups. More screwups than sex, actually, but it's interesting that sometimes you don't get one without the other.

And who should be sitting next to Plotnik and Ducknik at the Premiere but the young star's parents? Aly Mawji's dad was next to Plottie and Aly's mom was one seat down. When Mawji, playing a young hip-hop loving genius, received an ovation as he left the stage after his first explosive scene, his father just about popped. He was squirming with pride, if you can envision that -- a proper gentleman who wanted to jump out of his seat and scream but felt he musn't -- so he did the emotional equivalent: he smiled so hard his eyebrows cracked.

One of the underlying themes of the show is that Andy, a high school calculus teacher, has decided that everything that has happened to him in his life, good or bad, is actually a blessing. He keeps a blessings book -- since he was 12 he has written down thousands of small occurrences in this book. He is the eternal optimist -- and is up to somewhere above 8,000 blessings as the play progresses.

After the Premiere there was a reception in the lobby at San Francisco Playhouse. Plotnik spotted Aly Mawji's parents and congratulated them again. His father was very happy, but his mother had the best line. She said: "I am very happy. I have written this evening into my book of blessings."

This is the best part about being a reviewer -- you sometimes get to tell people how good they are. Actors -- all performers, really -- hope this is true but they are never, in their own minds, any better than their last screwup. They remember the line they said incorrectly more than the 100 lines they did beautifully. And even superstars are always surprised and grateful to receive praise.

And parents? -- who drove the kid to acting class since he was eight -- and who maybe were thinking this acting thing was just a phase the kid was going through, that soon he would become the doctor they had envisioned, or come home to work in the family grocery? They need to hear it too.

Plotnik is thinking about his book of blessings this morning and the trials of some of his good friends. He thinks what you do is first get through the trial, put it behind you. Then you can decide whether or not you should write it down.