Today’s Wise Madness is a theater review, the show Cindy of Arc,
Written and Starring: Cynthia Kaplan
Featuring: Michael Hunter & Anthony Norman
Additional Orchestrations by: Christopher Jahnke
Music Direction by: Michael Hunter
Music Supervision by: Nate Patten
Directed by: Dani Davis
Sound Design by: Rob Lariviere
Set Decoration by: Ashlyn Inman
Press Representative: Katie Rosin/Kampfire Films PR
Associate Producer: Georgia Monroe
Performed at Dixon Place | 161A Chrystie Street, New York, NY 10002
Future performances on March 7 and 14 at 7:30 PM
This is my second theater review but my first in 19 years. I was upset I didn’t win a Pulitzer for my review of Cheaper by the Dozen so gave theater criticism a break. As I am up to date on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, I have learned from Abe Weissman that a theater critic is supposed to wear a cape. If I don’t win a Pulitzer this time it’s because I am handicapped by a lack of sartorial splendor. Like Mr. Weissman I am reviewing the work of an Upper Westside Jew of long acquaintance. Unlike Abe I do not get to experience the joy of utterly trashing something deserving. I have to settle for sharing my love of the show. I am the scorpion, but Cindy of Arc is no frog.
Before getting into the review, I need to rid you of any false expectations based on the poster art. Ms. Kaplan at no time appears in armor on the stage, neither does Patty Smythe performing The Warrior. Nobody [with a speaking part] is burned at the stake. The dog is sung about but does not appear on the stage.
Cindy of Arc is in the glorious tradition of comic rock show often shortened to co’ck show. The apostrophe is not pronounced but to leave it out of the spelling is a barbarism. It is a one-woman show, Cindy is the one woman, backed by two men, Michael Hunter and Anthony Norman as the orchestra. The most important things to make clear is that Ms. Kaplan is epically funny, and hyper-intelligent. In other words, she’s insane in the best sense of the word. The show is filled with politics of the left wing sort, word play, and a world view shaped in equal parts by being a woman and a Jew. I was told that it was inappropriate to say that Cindy is beautiful, so I won’t even though she is.
The show’s cold opener and tone setter is You’re the Nazi, castigating those that lump all Nazis together as evil as the president of the United States proclaimed there were very fine people on both sides. I suspect she might have been sarcastic when she sang “If you hate all the Nazis, you’re the Nazi.” If you thought Springtime for Hitler was funny not offensive this is for you.
Between the songs which are not just laugh out loud funny but also work musically Cindy gives are thoughts on live without rhyming or melody. Here’s a theological thought I’m shocked I never had on my own. In the Abrahamic religions all the evils in the world are Eve’s fault for eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge and then making Adam take a bite too. Adam does not get any of the blame. It’s all the woman’s fault. In the Greco-Roman religions the source of all evils is Pandora opening her eponymous box. Men really do like blaming everything on women.
Everything isn’t political or feminist Avocado Toast is the tragic tale of her dog Otis, you know the one in the poster with the cone of shame, eating an avocado pit and needing surgery that cost $4,000 to remove it. I laughed but I also felt bad for Otis and I’m feeling for him again as I write this. I am not a monster, unlike those that don’t laugh or don’t feel for Otis.
The set is minimalist and effective.
I first saw Cindy, enough with “Ms. Kaplan” and the NY Times guide to style, I’m sure that the Village voice for whom Abe Weissman wrote did not have such stuck up rules. Oh wait. I never finished that sentence. Let’s try again. I first saw Cindy in What I Like About Jew a revue of satiric Jewish humor. I still see her most years in it’s descendent, Jewmongous by Sean Altman. As you have already heard satiric Jewish humor is Cindy’s sweetspot. She interpolates songs that from that into Cindy of Arc; Merry Fucking Christmas, Kaplan’s Messiah, and Bride of Christ. Did you know that I would use “fuck” in my blog when quoting others? I’m much too fuckin’ well-mannered to use it on my own.
By law, any satiric work performed in the last two years must include a COVID-19 song. Cindy’s is Why Won’t You Let Me Be Free? That’s a sing-along. I sang along. When you see it, you should sing too. About that, I believe that next week’s show is almost sold out, so you are best off ordering your tickets to the May 14 performance right now. Click Here to Buy Tickets. You should not be reading this until after you bought your tickets. Make sure to buy for your friends that might want to go. If your friends don’t then find better friends and go with them.
For those concerned with safety, proof of vaccination was mandatory as was mask wearing. Hey, we’re Jews, we think the coronaviruses are Nazis and want to kill us. That’s how we have survived for 3000 years in a world out to get us.
Abe Weissman’s initial review was “Your mother will like it.” The quick review of Cindy of Arc is that your friend that has to work at not laughing at inappropriate moments, aka your best friend, will love it. I’m supposed to work the word irreverent into this. It’s how I described Cindy to River. She’s that friend. As I wrote when writing the album, this show is designed for Eric Schwartz. Let’s summarize If you like The Producers, Eric Schwartz, or me you’ll love the show.
Wise Madness 