Andrew Grosso . net

Directing:

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Thu, 29 Jan 2015 00:37:00 +0000

Photo Credits: Jim Baldassare, Eliza Brown & Carol Rosegg

Reviews

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 00:35:00 +0000

Perfect Harmony at Theatre Row

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 23:34:00 +0000

July 6 - August 9th.
The Clurman Theatre at Theatre Row.
410 W. 42nd St.
Presented by The Essentials

Sold Out. Extended into Off Bdway Mini Contract
Selected for Smith & Krause:

Best Male Monologues 2009

Best Female Monologues 2009

Best Scenes 2009

Perfect Harmony has “an abundance of heart. This likable music-filled comedy, by Andrew Grosso and the Essentials, features rival high-school a-cappella groups, the Acafellas and the Ladies in Red, who, in the course of preparing for nationals, train, freak out, stop speaking, and overcome their differences—and that’s just within the teams themselves. Written and performed with an acute understanding of the anxieties and quirks of young achievers, the show derives much of its charm from the strange, horrible magic of the a-cappella genre: the exacting deployment of pitch, harmony, and musical arrangement joined with irony, pop culture, and earnestness. The singing and acting are strong, and the song choices hilarious.”
- The New Yorker, July 28, 2008

“Perfectly sweet. The cast is outstanding. Perfect Harmony is pure joy. It would be easy to envision this production having a Broadway address in the very near future.”
-Jason S. Grossman, NYTheatre.com

“Unbearably funny. Riotous. Never fails to delight.”
-Matthew Murray, Talking Broadway

“Talented singers, a delightful combination of silly and sophisticated humor, endearing characters, and many opportunities to find yourself laughing out loud. For an evening of wide-range entertainment, this one hits just the right note.!”
-Laurie Lawson. Electronic Link Journey

“Nearly indescribable hilarity. Perfect Harmony’s extraordinary cast and impeccable script combine for a performance whose non-stop comedy must be seen to be believed.”
-Sara Hottman. Show Business Weekly

“The vocal harmonies are undeniably impressive, and the consistently funny troupe of actors creates a true ensemble piece. It’s topical and silly and you’ll have a great evening.”
- Mary Block. The L Magazine

“So perfectly, gorgeously wicked. Amazing cast. We will be seeing Perfect Harmony for a long time to come!”
- Eugene Paul. TheatreScene.Net

“The Essentials takes a high school a cappella championship and turns it into winning comedy and drama. Perfect Harmony is young, exuberant, over-the-top, and at times, unexpectedly moving.”
- Paulanne Simmons. Curtain Up

“I loved it. It’s laugh out-loud funny.”
- Retta Blaney. LIFE UPON THE SACRED STAGE

“Thoroughly entertaining. This show is a guilty pleasure. The writing is full of tiny, quick verbal surprises and original moments, and the cast is uniformly high energy.it. It’s laugh out-loud funny.”
- Suzanne Lynch, offoffonline.com

“This play nailed the earth shattering impact that (the a cappella) scene can have on a awkward teen looking for something to believe in. Thumbs up.”
- David Bell, ShowShowdown

“The performances are funny without being trivial; these actors can not only do comedy, but they sing and do precisely choreographed movements while singing and acting, all to the level of perfection the scene calls for. Snaps to them and everyone involved.”
- Jeremiah Tash. Edge New York City

To be fair and balanced, here's the Bad Review: “Enduring “Perfect Harmony” at the Clurman last week, I kept thinking that if Max Bialystock of “The Producers” had found this show before stumbling on “Springtime for Hitler,” he might have been spared jail time. Ghastly, superficial… one of the most trivial and tedious shows of recent memory, the show apparently trades on the assumption that an uninitiated audience will laugh at close harmony, easy listening arrangements of Def Lepard… The cast of charming mostly young actors is largely blameless.”
- Christopher Byrne. The Gay City News

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noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 03:52:00 +0000

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noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 00:15:00 +0000

andrewgrosso.net

Taming of the Shrew

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 05:47:00 +0000

(photo by Jim Baldassare)
January 16th & February 10th, 2007, Roundtable Ensemble
Presented by the Roundtable Ensemble
at the American Theatre of Actors, 314 W. 54th St., NYC
Wed, Fri, Sun @ 8pm; Sat @ 3pm

Flavorpill Pick!
Hi-Five Pick of the Week!
Chosen one of The NewTheatre Corps Five Favorites!
NYTheatre.com Editor's Pick!

In this highly engaging production of Shakespeare's classic battle of the sexes, seven actors play 23 roles in a fast-paced play within a play.... Under Grosso's inspired direction, B. Brian Argotsinger, Arthur Aulisi, Tom Butler, Autumn Dornfeld, Jonathan Kells Phillips, Alex Smith, and Paul Whitthorne showcase their versatility in highly physical, energetic ensemble work.... It's a delightful production; the acting is surprising, the stage business brims with life, and the Elizabethan text leaps off the page, becoming entirely accessible.... This Shrew is a highly theatrical, entertaining production... See it.
- Nancy Ellen Shore, Backstage

The Round Table Ensemble's latest production uses seven actors for the 23 roles of Bill Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, doling it out as a 90-minute booster shot for one of the Bard's more misogynistic pieces. The fact that Katrina is played by a man in this production may assuage feminist fears; that the entire show takes place behind the scenes of a USO production of Shrew should ease the "been there, done that" trauma of bad festival productions and 10 Things I Hate About You. A postmodernist Shakespeare would be proud. (FK)
-(FK) , Flavorpill

The principal pleasure of the Roundtable Ensemble's current production of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew is the cast's ability to convince us that the whole play is being improvised. Director Andrew Grosso's concept that the whole thing is being played out backstage at a USO show as a sort of competition between military officers and entertainers gives the actors a good excuse to madly switch off characters, and seemingly riff off each other's cues... it's a great showcase for this acting talent.

The basic story is well-known: As a joke, a group of men convince the drunken Christopher Sly that he actually is a nobleman and perform a play for him. The play involves a Signor Baptista's two daughters: ill-tempered Katherina and beautiful Bianca. Lucentio wants to marry Bianca, as do two other suitors, but Baptista won't marry Bianca off until Katherina is married first. Petruchio, seeking a wife who will make him rich, arrives and agrees to woo Kate. She puts up quite a fight, demeaning him with volley after volley of invective, but Petruchio still announces they will be married. Her insults are returned when he shows up late to the wedding and then proceeds to deprive her of food, claiming that it isn't good enough for her. Bianca and Lucentio are married after a series of incidents involving disguises and mistaken identity, and Hortensio marries a widow (in this production Christopher Sly is inspired to jump into the on-stage action to portray the widow), and all are surprised that it is Bianca, not Kate, that is uncooperative at the group wedding banquet.

The production moves quickly and is performed in one 90-minute act... The size of the cast is economical, too: each of the actors (aside from Kate, Petruchio, and Sly) plays multiple roles and often they are frantically switching between characters... the cast does a very good job of keeping it clear who is who, even when performing several roles within one scene! They excel at putting on various accents and genders, not to mention costume pieces, and it's all done to great comic effect.

Each of the players is worth mentioning. Tom Butler's Petruchio is a swaggering soldier at the beginning, but layers of depth are revealed as he pursues and "tames" Kate. Paul Whitthorne is a prissy, sour Kate, which is appropriate, but he makes his journey to her final submission a believable one and becomes a much warmer presence. Autumn Dornfeld is terrific in several roles including Bianca and Gremio. Jonathan Kells Phillips has come up with some very funny characterizations, including a Pedant who seems to owe something to Jim Backus of Gilligan's Island. B. Brian Argotsinger puts his nebbishy persona to good use throughout and Alex Smith proves to be the most chameleonic, taking on no less than 9 roles, sometimes switching characters from line to line.

Ironically, however, it is the actor with the least stage time who makes the most lasting impression. Arthur Aulisi is genuinely touching as the drunkard Sly, who watches the whole play from the first row of the audience and is so moved and enchanted by the spell of the storytelling that he joins the actors on stage to play the widow in the final scene. For the conclusion of the play, Aulisi plays Sly as more childlike than drunk, and Grosso adds in Rosalind's epilogue from As You Like It for Sly to deliver following his "performance" as the widow. Again, Aulisi is gentle and touching in this humorous "apology" for the bad behavior of both men and women in Shrew:

I charge you, O women, for the love you bear to men, to like as much of this play as please you: and I charge you, O men, for the love you bear to women—as I perceive by your simpering, none of you hates them—that between you and the women the play may please.

The staging includes a good deal of expertly-executed slapstick (Teddy Cañez is credited as fight coordinator). The set mostly consists of the Chernuchin Theatre's permanent catwalk which is smartly used, and there are some appropriate period props on the stage. Becky Lasky's costumes communicate character clearly, and she has dug up some very funny, very over-the-top costume pieces, for the actors to relish and play with.

-January 20, 2007, Matt Schicker, nytheatre.com review

The actors putting on this “Shrew” are variety players in a USO show who pass the time backstage playing cards and annoying each other with their warm-ups until a drunk (Arthur Aulisi) stumbles in. They throw him in a robe, start calling him “Lord” and plant him in the front row of the audience for the duration – or at least until he makes his own stage debut in the final act. Complicit in the duplicity, the audience is roped along into the show, with six actors tackling 23 parts (with the help of identifying props and accents).

It makes sense that for the play-within-a-play to work, there has to be some doubling. And the double casting sets up some interesting juxtapositions: If the same actor (in this case Alex Smith) plays Bianca’s father Baptista and her eventually successful suitor, Lucentio, then her eventual choice of him is both natural – after all, it’s a type she knows and of which he must approve – and slightly alarming, in its confirmation of Baptista’s power over her. (She couldn’t have made it work with the suitor Gremio, whose part actress Autumn Dornfeld takes with a pair of thick glasses and an old man’s affect.)

But the most surprising change about the Roundtable’s adaptation is the male player who takes the role of Katarina – or is forced into it, having assigned all the other parts. Once we’ve gotten over actor Paul Whitthorne’s mustache and his player’s disdain for the role, it presents us with a series of questions about the shrew’s own nature. Having seen her state, why does Petruchio (the swaggering Tom Butler) continue to pursue her? Is “shrewish” just a synonym for “too much like a man?” (Whitthorne drapes himself with a blue checked apron but makes no pretense of raising his voice to play her, foregrounding the difference.)

And it changes the titular taming: With a man in Katarina’s shoes, the struggle between her and Petruchio takes on an erotic subtext which was present in the original play when all the parts were played by men, but which our modern castings have allowed us to forget. Instead of being physically overpowered by him, the implication is that she chooses to submit. There is no pretense at unending love here: Katarina’s final speech to her fellow wives seems like a performance, rather than a lecture, and is thus easier to swallow.

The play ends on an unresolved chord; we’re left pondering Butler’s rendition of “You Belong To Me” and wondering how much truth there is in it for Baptista’s daughters.

-Ellen Wernecke, New Theatre Corps

Contact:

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 07:00:00 +0000

Holla? (e) web@andrewgrosso.net (m) 347.564.4136 Thanks.
	Photo by Jim Baldassare

Program Bio

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 04:35:00 +0000

Andrew Grosso: is the Artistic Director & Ringleader of The Essentials, where he wrote and directed Perfect Harmony (Theatre Row, FringeNYC, FringeEncores). NYC credits include: Wrong Way Up! with the rock band, The Niagaras (The Belt Theatre), the NY Premier of William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, (Ohio Theater/ Chashama) which he adapted for the stage, Billionaires for Bush, The Musical!, Roberto-Aguirre Sacasa's The Ten Minute Play about Rosemary's Baby (Soho Rep), David Weiner’s Purple Hearts (HB Playwright’s White House Plays), Love Song of the Apocalypse, La Arana (both at HERE), Jason Grote’s This Storm is What We Call Progress (Soho Rep Writer's Lab), and Waiting for Godot in 2001 FringeNYC. ASSISTANT DIRECTING: Judgment at Nuremberg on Broadway (SSDC and Shepherd Traube Fellowship), a season in residence at The Shakespeare Theater in DC, and The Almeida Theatre in London. TEACHING/GUEST DIRECTING: NYU Dramatic Writing Program, Fordham University, Falconworks's Off the Hook program, The Urban Assembly School for Law & Justice, and The Shakespeare Theater. Alum of the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, & Duke University. Member of SSDC.

When not talking about myself in the third person, I live in Brooklyn with my wife. My hobbies include struggling with the crossword puzzle, struggling to qualify for the Boston Marathon, and struggling with technology usability and customer experience projects.

Perfect Harmony

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 16:02:00 +0000

August 2006, The New York International Fringe Festival, The Harry de Jur Playhouse
September 2006, FringeNYC Encores Series @ The 14^th Street Y

Perfect Harmony is sharp as a blade. The performances are magnificently hilarious. The harmonies — typically absurd versions of pop songs — range from lovely to ridiculous to riotous. They help to make Perfect Harmony as close to perfect as any Fringe show can be.
- August 24, 2006, Leonard Jacobs, Backstage

Pitch perfect! A hysterical look inside the high-pressure world of high school a cappella singing, Perfect Harmony reminds us of why we have the prolific Fringe Festival: to find the plays that deserve bigger stages and, if possible, a longer applause.
-August 23 2006, Rachel Wynn, Show Business Weekl

Well-nigh perfection, as the title promises!
August 22, 2006 David Finkle, TheatreMania

Perfect Harmony is a charming mockumentary. Terrific. It was a joy to watch such sensational performers!
- September 4^th, 2006, David Hurst, Next Magazine

Wrong Way Up

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 16:02:00 +0000

December 2004, The Belt Theater, New York City

“It's a high-spirited, feel-good rock show interspersed with pop, blues, excursions into larynx-wrenching Broadway-type ballads, and miniature mock production numbers. ... a gritty, freewheeling version of "Wonderful Town. The whole package, smartly wrapped in Andrew Grosso's direction, delivers some 90 minutes of titanic energy whipped into idiosyncratic, highly entertaining theatricality.”
-Ron Cohen, BACKSTAGE

”This show—the most fun I've had at a new musical in months, maybe years—is all about the jubilation that comes from figuring out and then following your path. The actors, musicians, and audience share in the sheer joy of the thing and when it's over, just about everybody is in a great mood. What Mamma Mia! And Brooklyn hope to do, Wrong Way Up actually does, in spades. It's a swell way to spend an evening having a blast with a roomful of strangers. The entire show is staged with zing and simplicity by Andrew Grosso. Wrong Way Up! never feels like it's overstaying its welcome. Quite the contrary: when it reaches its giddy, exalting climax, nobody seems to want it to end, on or offstage. What a kick. ”
- Martin Denton, NYTHEATRE.COM

The cast of Wrong Way Up! is superb…(and) have perfected the banter and seamless interaction of a vaudeville duo, breaking into song, dance and comedy whenever the story requires it. Joyful and life-affirming, without being cheesy. Wrong Way Up delivers on all the sweet, strange, hilarious and loving promise - and ups the ante. The energy is infectious and intense. And like some mildly pornographic revival, soon enough the audience is clapping and singing in gratitude.
- Jessica Cogan, NEWYORKCOOL.COM

I couldn’t have chosen a better show. Wrong Way Up’s high energy cast are accomplished performers who can make an audience laugh or cry with their inspired commitment to a song’s heart tugging poignancy then quickly turn around and deliver witty lyrics that make Andrew Grosso’s direction worthy of his reputation”.

- Larry Litt, NEW YORK THEATER WIRE

As I Lay Dying

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 15:59:00 +0000

May 2004, The Ohio Theater, New York City &
December 2002, Chashama Theater, New York City
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”How does one translate a peek into the minds of a poor, southern, gothic family into dialogue? How does one create an action-filled plot out of the cyclical, repetitive, detached consciousness of these characters? How does one dramatize such a literary text and still retain its author’s signature poetry and subtle irony? These questions, and others, are answered with ingenuity and boldness in this production. Performed by an impressive and intelligent cast, the text comes to life in a way that is sharp and intense and darkly comic. Grosso directs the play with strength and artfulness ... seamlessly and lovely design... the ensemble work is pitch perfect... Engaging, poetic, and clever, this play is a must see.”
- Julie Sharbutt, OFFOFFONLINE.COM

"Director Grosso, helms a starkly beautiful version.... The audience knows this is the stuff of good theater: Something will be made of almost nothing.... (Adaptations) always call for excellent ensemble work. As I Lay Dying is no exception either in its demand or in how the demand is met. Director Grosso has brought together a handsome cast... "
- David Finkle, THEATERMANIA.COM

"The gutsiest, craziest adaptation effort I can remember, Andrew Grosso and the Basement Flat company take on AS I LAY DYING... a noble job!"
- Helen Shaw, NY SUN
“This is an ambitious and praiseworthy undertaking.”
- Victor Gluck, BACKSTAGE

“As I Lay Dying marks my introduction to the theatre work of Andrew Grosso; this talented young man, who adapted this play from William Faulkner's novel and also directed it, is definitely someone to keep an eye on. His achievement here is to make a big novel into a stageworthy drama; with one eye on storytelling and the other on economical presentation he has rather miraculously managed to do justice to a host of colorful characters and storylines in a tiny basement theatre space (a former meat locker!) with eleven actors, a rickety bed, a dozen chairs, and little else. Grosso and his actors render the tale with vivid detail; it's an enormously successful demonstration. Grosso has earned a fan here; I will eagerly look forward to what he does next.”
- Martin Denton, NYTheatre.com

Waiting for Godot

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 15:55:00 +0000

August 2001,East River Amphitheater, New York City

“Director Grosso, confronted with a crumbling, badly disintegrating East River Amphitheater … proves that “Waiting for Godot” will work anywhere, anytime, and under any circumstance imaginable… The integration of the East River Amphitheater into the very heart of the play itself comes as both a surprise and an indicator of the care with which this production was put together. Make no mistake: this is a solid, decidedly worthwhile production of the play, well cast and universally well performed.” - Joseph Hurley, IRISH ECHO

All’s Well That End’s Well

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 15:54:00 +0000

February 2000, At HERE Theatre, New York City

“Director Grosso should be commended for his wise and ruthless choices he makes here. He’s created a brisk, no-frills evening that brings Shakespeare’s central themes into sharp relief.” - Eric Grode, Backstage

Love Song of the Apocaplypse

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 15:53:00 +0000

October 1998, The Etcetera Theatre, London

“Director Grosso sustains a cracking pace and extracts wry humor from the quintessentially American passion play hostage drama that ensues. Three people that you wouldn’t want to get involved with end up making for an enjoyable evening.”
- Charles Godfrey-Faussett, TIME OUT LONDON

“Outstanding performances and superb direction make this one of the best evenings I have ever spent in the theater.”
- Jane Marlow, HAM & HIGH, LONDON

“A triumph of style … the standard of acting is impressive”
- Andrew Aldridge, THE STAGE, LONDON

Resume

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 04:52:00 +0000

Here's a pdf copy of my resume.

Directing:

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Mon, 08 Jan 2001 06:21:00 +0000