Theater Review. Breaking the Story
"Breaking The Story" is written by Alexis Scheer and its premise is about journalists in war areas around the world. The ninety minute play at the Tony Kiser Theater goes back and forth from war torn countries to Marina's (Maggie Siff) newly purchased home in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
Like "Bad Cinderella",( in which Scheer adapted the book), the plot runs thin and narrow. The audience never gets a full, clear picture of what is trying to be portrayed here. The plot also goes in many directions which are questionable...Marina's daughter, Cruz (Gabrielle Policano) who is a rock star of some sort, is an on again-off again young woman about to begin her freshman year at college. Cruz throws out many thoughts which never land any relevance in regards to the play; she is young and acts like someone much younger than her actual age. Policano never brings much to the table during her performance. In fact, many of the actors seem to be going through the motions and that falls directly on director Jo Bonney. Both Bonney and Scheer never bring this play to where the possibilities could be endless, or at least to it being more interesting.
The play does have some good things working in it, however. Maggie Siff Julie Halston as Siff's mother, Geneva Carr as Sonia and Tala Ashe as Nikki are all very good in the play, but their excellence is not supported by the rest of the cast, rather, they are dragged under by the lack of talent by the other cast members. Louis Ozawa as Bear is the love interest of Marina. He never rises to the level of believability and isn't in Siff"s league as an actor. As the two interact we never feel the warmth of a relationship. As Fed (Matthew Saldivar) never really portrays any depth throughout the evening.
As the show vacillates from good to not-so-good, the lighting too went in and out. Jeff Croiter has very inconsistent lighting: at times it was difficult to focus on the actors, at other times even seeing the actors on stage and other times his lighting was right on the mark. It was almost fitting for a play that was at times out of focus and at other times on point.
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Robert Massimi.
CEO., Gimme Shelter Productions,LLCwww.gimmeshelterproductionsllc.com|NYC,NY
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