A lost weekend with not much to say

What a difference a day makes. I considered stopping in on the “First Fridays” open mic night at the library in Narrowsburg, NY this weekend, but opted out at the last moment... therefore: not much to say.

Late Saturday afternoon I heard through the grapevine that Victoria Lesser was hosting the Lost and Wandering Blues and Jazz Band at the fabulous Old North Branch Inn in (you guessed it) North Branch, NY theoldnorthbranchinn.com ... therefore, I hightailed it over there to hear two full sets from legendary jazz artist Danny Fitzgerald and his merry band of cohorts.

Whenever Danny is in town the hills are, indeed, alive with the sound of music. Appearing on street corners from Atlanta to Stockholm, in jazz and blues clubs from Paris to San Francisco, the band “enjoys an ever growing enthusiastic audience around the world.”

Joined by some all-time favorite local musicians, Fitzgerald once again commanded the stage and wildly entertained the crowd who braved the snow in search of great jazz and blues with a genuine New Orleans vibe.

Earthy, gritty and sometimes (in my humble opinion) downright sexy, the band played on as admirers and newcomers chose to eat drink and be merry while basking in the inn’s uncompromisingly wonderful atmosphere.

Boasting “rooms to let,” Wi-Fi, a wine bar, restaurant, bowling alley and movie theater, the Old North Branch Inn has a little bit of “something for everyone.” Since I was listening intently to the masterfully performed sets by these multi-talented musicians, for something completely different, I had (you guessed it) not much to say.

On Sunday, I once again traveled to the Liberty Free Theatre libertyfreetheatre.org to catch two one-acts. Ara Watson’s disturbing “Final Placement” has played to audiences all over the world. Described as “brutally candid,” the play focuses on social worker Mary Hanson (Rebecca Robbins) and a former client known only as Luellen (Dana Priebe). The audience is privy to the history between the two women via voice-overs that inform as the piece unfolds.

I found myself drawn to Priebe’s performance in a visceral way. The actor has an uncanny ability to embody the character she inhabits and her plaintive interpretation of an angry, sad and sometimes frightening “woman on the edge” deserves recognition.

Paul Austin’s newest work, “Not Much To Say,” is described as “A comedy caper about two lovers caught stealing money.” Austin himself claims that the piece was written as an homage to Nobel Laureates Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter. Coming on the heels of the theatre’s recent production of Pinter’s “The Dumbwaiter,” the piece might have been better served (IMHO) with some time placed between the two productions... since for me, it was impossible to not compare the two. That, coupled with actor Mike Frizalone appearing in both productions, blurred the lines even more. Austin’s play is built on a device—using no more than one word in succession between the characters, which should allow for multiple interpretation of the meaning—depending on intent, inflection and purpose.

Personally, the humor somehow escaped me, although there were plenty of laughs from other members of the audience. It might have been the staccato word play that was possibly intended to echo the impending threatened hail of bullets, or it might have been the interpretation of the individual words. It might have been me.

Tom DelFavero, Michael Frizalone, James Sullivan, Dana Priebe and Valerie Mansi performed the play which was also directed by Austin. It’s not that I didn’t “get it,” I’m just not sure that I “got it.” As I have said many times, “art is subjective,” and for whatever reason, this piece left me cold, perplexed and unmoved.

There are still three performances left of this double-bill which runs through December 13 and I would encourage all to attend. Performances are free. That way, when we run into each other, we can engage in lively discourse. (As always, I want to know what you think too!) As an exercise for actors, I can understand the validity of the process. As an audience member... I was left with not much to say.