 |
|     THEATER REVIEWS LA's THE PLACE Is it Jim? Some people say Jim Morrison is still alive.
Well, this is definitely true at the art/works Theater right now. Jim
died with some unresolved issues to put it mildly, and one final time
Flaxman seeks to resolve them not only for himself, but for anyone else
who is fascinated by the myth of Morrison, or still grasping for straws
to bring some form of closure to the turbulence that was the 1960’s, or
for those too young to remember: a chance to learn.
Based on historical accounts of Morrison, Jim (DAMON SHALIT) preens around on stage taunting, mocking, primping, challenging, and oftentimes annoying people to tears as was his notorious wont during life. But this time, his opponent is a new rival. It is not another human being, it is the white suited and dignified Al (ABNER GENECE), an entity whose origin initially is unclear, though his purpose is brutally clear: to bring Jim to terms with his own demise. Al pulls Jim out of the bathtub in the Paris hotel where he died in 1971, sits him up, and forces Jim to face himself, and to reveal himself, and to come to terms with the cataclysmic events of the 1960’s that defined that turbulent era for those who lived through it: race riots, rock god demagoguery, Vietnam, and the mentality of the politicians who sent them Americans to die there. But Jim does not have to go it alone. He is visited by other figures from the Great Beyond who were part of the most polarizing events of the times: the other Jimi-Hendrix (RUSSELL RICHARDSON), a shy southern girl simply known as the Fan (CORRYN CUMMINS) who was killed at that riotous Miami concert, a young black woman beaten (SARAH SCOTT DAVIS) to death with a Billy club in the Detroit chapter of the national race riots, a Senator (STEVEN SHAW), a Vietnam soldier (JAKE BERN) and the ever-present Al his guide. By listening to the stories of their demise, Jim gets closer to understanding his place and role in the times in which he lived. Whether you want to re-live the past darkly, or learn more not only about Morrison but more importantly about the era in which he lived, this play is inspiring in that it is the work of a sincere aficionado not only of Morrison but of the times, and the idealism and optimism and naiveté that the ’60’s represented that was taken away forever by an unknown quantity of dark and powerful forces. Yet this is not the work of a furry band of nostalgists. The play is unique in that the exposure of the actors to the individuals they portrayed was limited, bringing out the best of their own dramatic interpretations based on the preparation they did for each role and their personal committment to their craft, and providing a needed sense of dramatic distance to the authenticity of the dramatic approach. So is Jim really dead? Gary Flaxman takes on the
challenge of answering this question; while he cannot be inside the
mind of Jim Morrison, Morrison as a celebrity represents a part of many
people of the time, and thus all members of the public have a personal
stake to answer for themselves what Morrison meant. We learn what the infamous "incident" in Miami did to Morrison, and how profound that effect was on his life. When the powers that be finally got to Morrison, and through career homicidal and financially ruinous prosecution drained him of the millions of dollars he had made as a celebrity, they turned Jim the role that Morrison always invited and embraced, but clearly could not bear to realize: social outcast. Delving into issues of race: (Hendrix: "Do you think because I was famous no one could see the color of my skin?") to Conservatism in the golden era of spiritual idealism (Congressman: "you spit on everything that was holy") to war (Soldier: "You were in a restaurant drinking champagne with some actress while I was in a rice paddy asking myself if I was going to die today!"), Morrison must face the question of whether he lived a good life, and if he really did anything meaningful, musing the question in his passage from the Here and Now of his Paris hotel room to the Great Beyond. Yet all the world’s a stage, and this remains the crowning truth in Jim’s life, and the source of the most precious possession he had: the connection with his audience. Flaxman, like Jim, never forgets his audience, and that is the most pleasing aspect of this play. As Al says to Jim: "Like the hero in our dreams, they work for us on our behalf." Jim is the hero of many dreams, but it is his audience that worked to
maintain his image and his myth for their own sake. Because we all need
something to believe in. At the art/works Theater, through the
impassioned commitment of an intimate collection of fine actors and the
artistic vision of Rose and Flaxman, hopes–and myths–are still alive
and flourishing today, marching towards an inevitable but surprising
conclusion. --Lior Rozenman  NEW YORK FRIAR'S CLUB"CLOSE-UP" Here's a show guaranteed to 'light your fire." Friar Judith Rose announces the premier of Gary Flaxman's Swimming to the Moon- a dramatic two act play about American music icon, Jim Morrison, which she has produced and directed. Unbelievably, it has been forty years since the Los Angeles rock band, The Doors, burst onto the national scene with their opening salvo of Light My Fire. Ultimately, it was Jim Morrison, the singer and lyricist for the band, who became the enduring icon so adored by millions of fans. A magnetic performer who prowled the stage, slithering in his black leather-skinned attire, Morrison imparted an image of poet, shaman, mystic, Celtic baritone, sexual lothario and sorcerer. At least that was the visual and aural image that he conjured up. Swimming to the Moon takes place in Morrison's hotel/apartment in Paris, 1971, on the day Morrison died. And whether you are a die-hard fan who pilgrimages to Paris every July to weep at the gravesite of the late Lizard King- or are just now developing an appreciation for his work, this show is guaranteed to get your 'Mojo Risin'. Tickets are limited, so call right away! (Seriously. We're not kidding. Put down this flyer and go dial the telephone right now. Go! And no stopping off in the kitchen for a snack!) LAStageScene The Beatles’ hit “When I’m 64” came out in 1967, the same year that Jim Morrison recorded the most famous Doors hit, “Light my Fire.” Interestingly, had he not died under mysterious circumstances in 1971 (at the age of 27), Jim Morrison would be turning 64 this year. Swimming to the Moon, a world premiere play by Gary Flaxman, imagines a meeting (in a Paris hotel room) between a just dead Morrison (Damon Shalit) and an angel/messenger named Al (Abner Genece), and various people who lived (and died) during Morrison’s lifetime and who were influenced in some way by him and/or by the turbulent times in which he became a rock superstar. Besides the mountainous Al, there’s Jimi Hendrix, a female fan from West Virginia, an African American woman from Detroit, a U.S. Senator, and a young American GI. At stake is the divine decision whether or not Jim will be “recycled,” which of the two upstage doors (hmmmm) he will exit through. “We’re here to get to the root of you,” explains Al, and what follows is a kind of trial, with the above mentioned characters as witnesses. At first Jim refuses to believe that he’s dead. He tells Al, “I’m afraid you’ll bore me to death,” to which Al replies, “That would be redundant.” Still, Jim avers that he is still breathing, still able to sing (using a much imbibed from throughout the show) bottle of Jack Daniels as a mike. Little by little, though, Jim begins to take the proceedings more seriously. He meets a slinky Jimi Hendrix. in checkered platform shoes (Russell Richardson, bearing an uncanny resemblance to the rock star). Corryn Cummins is a gushing fan, a coal miner’s daughter with flowered bellbottoms who “once listened to ‘Break on Through’ 33 times” and tells Jim “You moved me out of my prison.” A young black woman who was at the Detroit riots (Sarah Scott Davis) mourns her 4-year-old son (beaten to death “by men gone mad”), and wonders to Jim, “I’m not sure why they brought you here to meet you.” An elderly US Senator (Steven Shaw) argues with Jim about good and evil. “Who exactly are the good guys?” asks Jim, to which the Senator replied smugly, “We stand for good. The others for evil. We are on the side of God.” Not so, replies the young soldier (Jake Bern) killed in the Vietnam War. “Why wouldn’t you tell me what we were fighting for?” he cries. Swimming to the Moon gives some biographical details of Jim’s life: being born the son of a US Admiral and Jim’s witnessing of a car accident in the desert as a child, at which time he believed that a shaman had “entered” him. There’s also a flashback to the 1969 Miami concert at which Jim was arrested and charged with 1 felony and 3 misdemeanors (including inciting a riot and indecent exposure). For the most part, however, Swimming to the Moon is not a Jim Morrison bio, but rather existential look at his life and times. “You were given greatness,” says Al, “and you wasted it for no reason other than that you could.” The performances of the seven-member cast could not be better. Director Judy Rose has clearly brought the best out of each of them, each actor fully inhabiting his/her character to the point that one wonders if these are actors or the very people they are portraying. Set, costumes, sound, and lighting design are also first rate (especially the brightly lit pair of upstage doors), though in these days when so many performers are comfortable with brief nudity, one wonders at the coyness of the two blackouts when Jim enters and later rises from the onstage bathtub in temporary darkness. The audience’s interest in Swimming to the Moon will depend on their affinity for lengthy existentialist discussions. Those preferring a more linear biography will be less likely to respond to the production than those of a more philosophical bent. Still, no one can quibble with the level of acting talent on stage at the Art/WorksTheater in Swimming to the Moon. There are seven fine performances up there. --Steven Stanley ACCESSIBLY LIVE OFF-LINE
[JIM MORRISON: SWIMMING TO THE MOON, Gary Flaxman's play of one of the legions of rock who meets his fate in life after the fact, makes its world premier at the art/works Theatre in Hollywood. The scene in an apartment hotel room in Paris; July 3rd, 1971. Just seconds before, the lead singer of the L.A. based rock group The Doors, Jim Morrison (Damon Shalit) had died while in a bathtub. His spirit arises, giving him the option to move to a "hereafter", but that option doesn't arrive quite yet. He meets a rather robust man just named "Al". (Abner Genece). Al isn't an angel, or not in the so-called traditional sense. He serves as a being that presents Jim a chance of seeing what had occurred within in his life. Not necessarily in a professional stance, but within his personal state of mind and body. Al shows Jim a notion to face himself through other people. One of these was a contemporary of his in the field of rock music; Jimi Hendrix (Russell Richardson), who had expired nearly a year before. And their were others that were anonymous, from the "groupie" girl from West Virginia (Corryn Cummins) who died in some unknown cause, the "Negro" woman from Detroit (Sarch Scott Davis) who was beaten to death by an angry mob during the urban uprising taking place in her city, the elderly bureaucrat Senator (Steven Shaw) that questions him about his infamous episode while in Miami (did he expose himself or didn't he?), and the young soldier (Jake Bern) who was drafted to fight in a war only to come back in a pine box. These people are connected through Jim in some sort of way. But the questions remain; Is Jim ready to enter a heaven, a hell, or a purgatory? This production examines the truths and/or the myths of one of popular music's legendary icons who died way too soon. Damon Shalit as Jim plays this man down to a "T', using all of the mannerisms that "the lizard king" (as Jim was known by) projected both on and off a stage. As the rest of the cast is just as fitting. The real heart in this play comes in the second act where Jim faces the political side of a nation that he had left both physically and spiritually. Judy Rose directs this piece that gives a different insight to Jim, providing that it was more than just the music! It goes to show that some people become legends once they leave this world as we know it, while others fade away without anyone taking notice. Jim Morrison is one of those icons that is still looked upon thirty plus years after his death. If he had lived longer than his 27 years, perhaps he would have been affixed as somebody totally different. But this didn't happen. Then again, what did or didn't occur? --By Rich Borowy   Here's what LA Times READERS are saying about the show: September 30, 2007
David Finkle Los Angeles, CA  Thank you, Mr. Flaxman. September 30, 2007
Leena R. Los Angeles, CA I saw the play today and felt like Mr. Flaxman has made a pact with the devil in exchange for an opportunity to tap into the unconsciousness of Jimmy Morrison, and probably my own as well. During the play I felt as though I have connected with every part of the "disconnected" character on multiple levels. It is one of those rare occasions when the mastery of the writer is matched by the perfomance of the actors involved. I would like to be recycled to go see it again... September 28, 2007
Kelly Silver Lake, CA
This play is fantastic.It made sad and made me mad! Jim Morrison Rocks! Were is he today when we need him again? September 21, 2007 Elaine Los Angeles, CA I go to the theater to get what I CAN'T get from movies and TV: real, raw emotion that is now, that is immediate, that is right in front of me, so close I can touch it. Swimming to the Moon may be about Jim Morrison, but the feelings and subjects it deals with - death, war, politics - are as relevant today as they ever were. This play is beautifully written, flawlessly directed & acted, and will make you FEEL. Take a friend because you're going to want to talk about it for hours afterwards - I know I did. September 20, 2007 Michele Los Angeles, CA I went to see this play not knowing more about Jim Morrison then the song "Light my fire". He and I would be the same age today. I never knew what impact he had on people. He was a genius ahead of his time. So much in this script is like today, what is happening politically, corporately and more. The cast, directing and lighting were very good. Totally recommend for all to see this great play! September 18, 2007
R Ellis Los Angeles, CA RAVE "Takes you right back to the turbulent 1960's. A well rounded portrait of a many layered genius artist icon, Jim Morrison of The Doors fame. Spectacular acting with a taut script and superb direction. A must see play for its relevance to today's continuing culutural vs political conflicts. Well worth a second viewing!" September 14, 2007 Brian L. Santa Monica, CA RAVE "Very well cast --- Everyone was great --- The women were perfect. this is a clear juxtaposition of ideals; corrupt, corporate, political power Vs. Peace, Love, cooperation and Freedom. The parallels with our current dilema are astounding. This complex exposure "warts and all" reveals the political, potential greatness of the writer and director. The denoument, also revealing, tells us "It isn't the destination --- It's the TRIP" 
The Ticket Stub SWIMMING TO THE MOON Jim Morrison, was described as a schizophrenic/genius/clown or according to Jimi Hendrix in this play as "just one more member of the planet born with the f----up gene". His life as portrayed in Swimming to the Moon is hardly the usual theatrical retrospective of a dead cultural icon. Rather it is a deeply moving, poetic stream of consciousness and exploration of an enigmatic man and the era he personified. The play is propelled by uniformly exquisite performances from a sterling cast of seven who pull you deeply into the conflicts, illusions and consciousness of the fertile late 60's and early 70s. The setting is a hotel room in Paris, France right after Morrison is found dead. He is being interviewed by the transporter, brilliantly played by Abner Genece, who is helping Jim decide if he is to be recycled or sentenced to move on forever. What makes Swimming to the Moon irresistable is that the dialogue resonates on such a deep level of existential truth as Morrison wrestles with the inexplicable experiences of his life. He encounters various representatives of this period; a Vietnam vet, a Black female victim of the Detroit riots and an obsessed but clueless female fan. It is impossible to single any one actor out though Damon Shalit and Russell Richardson are perfect counterparts as Jim and Jimi. Of course, none of this special theatrical experience could have happened without the writing of Gary Flaxman and the direction of Judy Rose. When these elements are so finely manifested you notice neither because all just flows and allows the audience to go swimming to the moon.  DON"T WAIT, SEATING IS LIMITED. BOOK NOW! BUY TICKETS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
