No walk on the beach: "Summer's Different"

Tamar Rogoff's new work, Summer's Different--which I was invited to see at one point in its late development and talked about in a previous post--has formally opened at La MaMa's Ellen Stewart Theatre, competently shaped by focused performances all around and well-served by Joe Levasseur's lighting. The story of a family suddenly challenged by the revelation of a father's enjoyment of women's clothing, it still spends too much time establishing the beach-iness of its setting and not enough time delving into the lightning-struck core relationship at the crossroads--husband (Brandin Steffensen) and wife (the superb Emily Pope-Blackman). What's there in the interaction between these two sensitive, intelligent and gutsy performers, though, remains a compelling nugget of a story. Forgive me if, even within the finished piece, the extended family context--kids, grandparents--continues to interest me far less. I'm a shark drawn to the meat and heat of real drama.

For more information on Summer's Different, click here. For information on Rogoff's La MaMa season and to purchase tickets, click here.

La MaMa (Ellen Stewart Theatre)
66 East 4th Street (between Bowery and Second Avenue), Manhattan
(map/directions)