Review: FRIGID NY Festival 2022: Show Biz is a Dog's Life in "And Toto Too"

And Toto Too

Written and performed by Megan Quick

Directed by Alyssa May Gold

Presented by Lizzy Ana Lincoln and Dani Turner at The Kraine Theater

85 East 4th Street, Manhattan, NYC

February 18-26, 2022

Photo credit: Arin Sang-urai
Anyone familiar with the film The Wizard of Oz (which, especially in comparison to other 80-plus year-old films, is a lot of people) knows exactly who Toto is. Fewer people probably know that Dorothy's canine companion was played by a female dog named Terry. As Terry, playwright and actor Megan Quick (dog) dishes on these and other topics in And Toto Too in funny, ultimately touching fashion. And Toto Too is currently playing as part of FRIGID New York's 16th annual festival, in which one hundred percent of the proceeds go to the artists. For a full schedule of shows, all of which can be experienced in person or via livestream, visit FRIGID New York's website.

A Hollywood veteran looking back over her career, Toto's Terry–conjured with little more than a tail, minimalist make-up, and Quick's first-rate performance–is a bit of a diva. She wastes little time after an introductory clip from her most famous film letting the audience know how lucky they are to be spending time with a bona fide star. As Terry dives into details and dons a pair of heels (ruby red, of course), she frames her story as one of a little dog from humble beginnings who made it big, drawing attention early on to parallels between Terry's story and the movie industry experiences of many human performers, including an explicit comparison at one point between Terry's relationship to her trainer and Judy Garland's to her mother. And Dorothy's own journey from Kansas to Oz provides yet another echo of both human and non-human actors' journeys. As part of Terry's confessional, she, like any good old-school Hollywood diva, performs a few musical numbers, accompanied by Camille Harris, introduced as a classic film feline.

But although such parallels certainly stand out, some of these points simultaneously stand on their own as commentary on the effects of the commodification of canine (and, by extension, other non-human) performers. While the show is foremost a comedy and Quick an excellent verbal and physical comedian, amidst the panoply of dog jokes, there are hints of melancholy, of the tragedy of lost possibilities, that creep in, culminating in a poignant ending that makes good on its bold performance choice. We can't say that you will gain any courage by seeing And Toto Too, but your brain and your heart will surely thank you.

-John R. Ziegler and Leah Richards

More FRIGID 2022 reviews:
Are You Lovin' It?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: The Immersive "American Blues: 5 Short Plays by Tennessee Williams" Takes Audiences on a Marvelously Crafted Journey

Image
American Blues: 5 Short Plays by Tennessee Williams Written by Tennessee Williams Directed by Jim Niesen Presented by the Irondale Ensemble Project at The Space at Irondale 85 South Oxford St., Brooklyn, NYC October 27-November 26, 2023 Shadenia Savid in Moony's Kids Don't Cry . Photo by Natasha Rotondaro In 1948, Tennessee Williams published American Blues , a collection of five one-act plays, and a remarkable new production of this collection by Brooklyn's Irondale shows that these works have lost none of their power to both entertain and challenge audiences in the intervening three-quarters of a century. Comprising plays written in the decade between 1936 and 1946 - Moony's Kids Don't Cry (1936); The Dark Room (1939); The Case of the Crushed Petunias (1941); The Long Stay Cut Short, or, the Unsatisfactory Supper (1946); and Ten Blocks on the Camino Real (1946) - American Blues represents the second part of Irondale's American Century, the first install...
Read more

Review: "How To Eat an Orange" Cuts into the Life of an Argentine Artist and Activist

Image
How To Eat an Orange Written by Catherine Filloux Based on the writing of Claudia Bernardi Directed by Elena Araoz Presented by La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club at The Downstairs at La MaMa 66 E 4th St., Manhattan, NYC May 30-June 16, 2024 Paula Pizzi. Photo by Steven Pisano How To Eat an Orange , making its world premiere at La MaMa, does in fact include a real orange as a prop, and its multifarious symbolizations–evoking at different points cultural specificity, family history, matriarchal inheritance, and even a skull–are representative of the play's boundary-blurring, non-linear presentation of memory. The memories in question belong to visual artist, educator, and activist Claudia Bernardi , who lived through several years of her native Argentina's military junta, which held power from 1976 to 1983, before departing her country and eventually settling in the United States. How To Eat an Orange , from Catherine Filloux, a French Algerian American award-winning playwright,...
Read more

Review: From Child Pose to Stand(ing) Up: "Yoga with Jillian" and "Penguin in Your Ear" at the Women in Theatre Festival

Image
Yoga with Jillian Written by Lia Romeo Directed by Andrew W. Smith Presented by Project Y Theatre and Richard Jordan Productions in association with The Pleasance June 2-17, 2023 Penguin in Your Ear Written and performed by Eliza Bent Directed by Jess Barbagallo June 10, 2023 Part of the Women in Theatre Festival , presented by Project Y Theatre at A.R.T./New York Theatres Michole Biancosino. Photo courtesy of Project Y Theatre This June, Project Y Theatre Company presents the eighth annual installment of its Women in Theatre Festival (WIT), which showcases new work by women and maintains "more than 50% female representation of all artists involved." This year, the festival includes a lobby installation project, titled In the Betweens , from scenic designer Chen-Wei Liao, through which audience members pass on their way into the theater proper. One first chooses first between "light" and "dark" rooms and then moves into "the gardens" before re...
Read more