Review: "47 Chairs" Recounts Four Stories from One Life

47 Chairs

Written and performed by Ziggy Klett

Presented at The Barrow Group Performing Arts Center

520 8th Ave., 9th Fl., Manhattan, NYC

April 26-27, 2024

Photo source: Media | Ziggy Klett
47 Chairs, the title of a solo show from Michigan-based stand-up Ziggy Klett, refers to a nun's admonishment when he misbehaved in elementary school about the limited spots in heaven, but this image could perhaps also stand in for the luck or karma to which the show alludes, the way things can take a good turn despite unlikely odds. Klett shares several of these good turns, which occur in the context of struggles imposed by family, romance and marriage, and more, including what the show perceptively divides into "wrong choices" (which can be fun) and "bad decisions" (which can derail one's entire life). Over 72 funny, poignant minutes comprising four stories titled "Cancer," "5th grade," "Fast Daters," and "Alma Mater"–echoed in the quartet of chairs that begin the show in a pile on the stage and serve as occasional props–47 Chairs offers an engrossing experience that, like the childhood first love that it touches on, is over all too quickly.

During one of the show's stories, Klett talks about discovering the power of being able to make others laugh, and that ability is on full display in 47 Chairs, even when he is talking about the times when he wanted to give up on his cancer treatment or about his brilliant, rage-filled, emotionally and sometimes physically abusive mother. Klett wrings a lot of humor not only from events themselves but also from his liberal employment when discussing them of striking, often hilarious similes and comparisons. A superb storyteller, Klett evinces a flair for detail that engenders a vivid sense of place, whether a midwestern winter or the run-down upstairs room of a restaurant where he tries out speed dating, and individual character, from the women he meets to the medical personnel he encounters to God himself. With the show's deft admixture of comedy and sincerity, acuity and pathos, by the time the performance ended on a deeply moving note, Klett had brought the audience to that enthralled hush that bespeaks complete immersion. While there's a lot of fun to be had, seeing 47 Chairs is far from a wrong choice.

-John R. Ziegler and Leah Richards

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