Word: derrah
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...loft's cavernous elevator emerge some of the play's best performances. Sissy Bemiss Darnley (J. Smith Cameron), Nan's horrid daughter, rages through the studio proclaiming with monosyllabic hillarity--"It's hip, it's hot, it's space, it's art, it's a loft." Marcus (Thomas Derrah) and Katrin Dowling (Francine Torres, Ma Ubu of "Ubu Rock"), a pair of kooky magazine publishers and the token true hipsters of the production, persuade Alex to photograph their daughter Guernica's sixth birthday party...
...Captain Trash, Thomas Derrah amazes. Trash looks like a gum-chewing heroin addict, but in his escape from prison (the unbelievable number "Rat Seraban") and trip to Russia ("Russia's a big motha," he says), he proves he is more than just a whining yesman. "I think we should rip off their necks and piss down their throats," he suggests matter-of-factly. Derrah has never been more funny...
...musical numbers in "Ubu Rock" are wonderful. Most of the songs are catchy rock tunes with whacked-out lyrics, but the most infamous is "The Button Song." Derrah (in another role as a crotchety general) screams obscenities at the audience in between verses of the marching song: "My jacket has three buttons, three buttons. My jacket has four buttons, four buttons. Fuck you, you lazy assholes!" and so on. He and his back-up singers won't stop the song until the audience throws something at them: water bottles, bananas, broccoli, chickens. Really...
Francine Torres, on the other hand, perfectly plays the maid Dorine as a cross between Roseanne and Carol Burnett. Her lengthy scene with Orgon (the always amazing Thomas Derrah), in which she tries to stop him from forcing his daughter Marianne (Jessalyn Gilsig) to marry Tartuffe (Alvin Epstein), is riotous. She can make vacuuming funny...
...juxtaposing the Milanese court's clothing, based on the clothing of seventeenth-century European aristocrats, with Prospero's shaman costume. Ariel and Caliban, dressed and body-painted like native islanders, also contrast effectively with the conservatively outfitted Milanese. The butler Stephano (Charles Levin) and the jester Trinculo (Thomas Derrah) who boast more colorful costumes, go through several changes-including some cross-dressing-after they discover a glistering wardrobe...