loneliness | The Sleepless Critic

REVIEW: From loneliness to lovestruck: Oscar Animated Short films Nina Gantz’s ‘Wander to Wonder’, Loïc Espuche’s ‘Yuck (Beurk)’, Nicolas Keppens’s ‘Beautiful Men,’ ‘In the Shadow of the Cypress’ and Daisuke Nishio’s ‘Magic Candies’

Posted on March 3, 2025 by The Sleepless Critic

Please note that the Academy Award for Best Animated Short film winner was In the Shadow of the Cypress announced at the 97^th Academy Awards on Sunday, March 2. All the Academy Award nominated films including the winner are available online and now playing at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, Massachusetts through Thursday, March 6. Click here for more information and for tickets.

From loneliness to love struck, this year’s Oscar nominated Animated shorts mixed lighthearted comedy and tragedy covering a wide range of issues including the effects of trauma, bullying, and PTSD.

Nina Gantz’s dutch and international stop motion animated short Wander to Wonder is a poignant and strange reflection of days past. It runs 14 minutes.

Though the short is about a children’s show, it is not for young children and features some disturbing content.

Flies swarm as a group of tiny performers are trapped inside an old studio and fighting for survival where 80s Belgium children program Wander to Wonder was filmed after its originator Uncle Gilly, depicted by Neil Savage, passes away. Wander to Wonder has a sorrowful and dank feel to reflect how much time has passed since the gleam of this beautiful and eccentric, if not widely watched children’s show was on the air. Delivering moments of wacky humor, Toby Jones as Fumbleton, Amanda Lawrence as Mary and Terrance Dunn as Billybud express an inherent yearning as they reflect upon the fond memories of the program and make an awkward attempt to recreate some of them while trying to survive which can be bereft, odd and gruesome. I felt for their sad situation, but didn’t find myself invested enough in the characters as they struggle to adapt.

Written and directed by Loïc Espuche featuring bright and inviting two dimension animation, French short film Yuck! (Beurk) is a 13 minute long sweet tale about discovering first love.

A group of children revel in spying on others at summer camp and are disgusted as they watch couples kiss. However, Leo discovers he has a crush on his friend Lucie. Yuck explores the discovery, joy, confusion and heartache of life through the eyes of a child. It is a brief and endearing tale that is worth every minute.

What if you can learn the truth about life around you?

Written by Baek Heena and directed by Daisuke Nishio, Magic Candies is an insightful 21 minute Japanese CGI animated short about a lonely boy named Dong Dong who purchases a pack of mysterious candies and runs 21 minutes. However, these colorful candies have a compelling and unexpected power that takes Dong-Dong by complete surprise.

With the exception of the distinctive characters, the settings are incredibly realistic. From Dong-Dong’s textured jeans to each detailed strand in the dog’s fur to the layered patterns in Dong-Dong’s wrapped blanket to sweeping fall foliage, Magic Candies unfolds is an aesthetically pleasing manner and is a must see film that is funny, moving, silly, clever and heartwarming.

Directed by Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi, Iranian short film In the Shadow of the Cypress, winner of the Academy Award for Best Animated Short, delves into the strained relationship between a father who suffers from PTSD as the result of war and his daughter which is nearing a breaking point.

Both live together in an isolated seaside house. The two dimensional 20 minute animated film boasts finely delicate details that enhance the rippling waves, the slender and stylized design of each of the characters right down to the father’s long striped beard. Its remarkable sound design embellishes a storm of seagulls, an alarming ship ablaze, and the subtle triggers that set the father off as he struggles with his harrowing conflict within. It can be slow at times, but it is worth watching for its captivating conclusion.

How far would you go to look your best?

Balding brothers Steven, Bart, and Koen travel to Istabul to have hair transplants. However, it is quickly discovered that only one appointment is available. It traces each character’s nature, insecurities, and how they handle the situation as this error becomes known.

Nicolas Keppens’s Beautiful Men is a two dimension 19 minute international comedy drama short which combines cut out stop motion and white board animation and contains some adult content and nudity. It is at times a candid short that explores just how far one would go for self improvement.

Each of Academy Award nominated films including the winner is available online and at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, Massachusetts through Thursday, March 6. Click here for more information and for tickets.

REVIEW: Make time for The Huntington’s unique ‘Stand Up if You’re Here Tonight’

Posted on February 28, 2024 by The Sleepless Critic

In some ways, Stand Up if You’re Here Tonight seems to be about nothing and everything all at once.

With a magnificent and probably one of the most gracious introductions to a production, Stand Up if You’re Here Tonight delves into the art of theatre, the luxury of Netflix, love, loss, loneliness, comfort, and all the idiosyncrasies of life that may or may not drive a person crazy. Part standup, part existential crisis, and part play-within-a-play, this original comical theatrical experience is hosted by a man who has had just about enough.

Jim Ortlieb of The Huntington’s production of John Kolvenbach’s Stand Up If You’re Here Tonight, directed by John Kolvenbach; photo Nile Hawver. Running January 20 – March 23, 2024 at the Maso Studio, Huntington Theatre. Boston, MA 02115.

Written and directed shrewdly by John Kolvenbach, The Huntington presents Stand Up if You’re Here Tonight live and in person at the intimate and immersive Maso Studio at the Huntington Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts through Saturday, March 23. The production is general admission and runs 60 minutes with no intermission with a special happening at the end of the performance. Do not miss a moment of this show because it is worth it. Click here for more information and for tickets.

Introduced by breezy 60s lounge music and surrounded by various vintage furnishings including lit chandeliers, doorways off their hinges, a ladder, a metal bird cage, and what starts out as a wooden lectern by Kristine Holmes and Sam Galvao, Stand Up if You’re Here Tonight is unveiled with frenetic urgency and earnestness expertly navigated by host Jim Ortlieb.

In a gray suit making a casual entrance, Jim Ortlieb guides the surrounding audience into a performance so engaging and interactive that this critic barely has time to take notes which was a joy. Lighting designers M Berry and Makenna Harnden’s rhythmic and atmospheric lighting acted as its own character perfectly timed with the quick pace and tricky transitions that lead to the most unexpected places.

All of this production’s surprises will not be revealed here. With a welcoming grin and a dose of self awareness, Ortlieb delves into some of his own vivid memories, imagination, and experiences with relatable and sometimes dark humor, but what is most important is that audience is here, present, and in the present. Laugh and be moved. That is what really matters.

REVIEW: ‘Deadclass Ohio’ at New Ohio Theatre’s Ice Factory captures the past, loneliness, grief and disconnection with an unlikely witness

Posted on July 29, 2023 by The Sleepless Critic

Imagine seeing a relative’s picture for the first time. Ever wonder what was happening when that moment was captured? What is the significance behind it and what was going on through their mind? Photos from the past bring up a great deal of curiosity and Deadclass Ohio imagines some of these possibilities as a woman attempts to pay tribute to long lost relatives who were Holocaust survivors in a Jewish cemetery.

Based on Tadeusz Kantor’s documentary Umarla Klaza and directed with experimental complexity by Mitchell Polonsky and Chloe Claudel, The Goat Exchange’s Deadclass Ohio offers various perspectives on a photo and situation with a mix of humor and poignancy as it tackles loneliness, grief, and disconnection while capturing a harrowing time in history. It also explores the nature of the past.

New Ohio Theatre’s ICE Factory continues streaming The Goat Exchange’s play Deadclass Ohio through August 12. The production is approximately one hour. Click here for more information and how to view this play.

A lone bench, an escalating pile of laundry, a dining room table, a scrambled TV set and a floral arrangement is the foundation of two unique and related scenes on a dark and minimal stage. Two people enter a cemetery and commiserate about a photo of a woman’s grandmother as they contemplate what is behind the photograph and what happened when the photo was taken. Featuring Paul Lazar, Marcus Amaglo, Chloe Claudel, and Juliana Sass with Jim Fletcher, Deadclass Ohio holds many revelations which should not be unveiled here except it invites a sense of déjà vu and reaching into history.

Marcus Amaglo and Chloe Claudel Photo credit Hana Mendel

Each skilled member of this intimate cast faces a challenging task of bringing emotional depth to each scene as well as presenting a new perspective to each scenario. This is all while the plot progresses in unexpected ways. Little nuances of each actor’s performance shift the perspective and the production becomes more personal while it simultaneously delves into the unusual. Two memorable scenes metaphorically explore the nature of pigeons while the other echoes a haunting rendition of Too Young by Nat King Cole.

Mitchell Polonsky’s vivid sound and media design and Abraham E.S. Rebello Trujillo’s quirky costume design lends to the production’s mysterious atmosphere. Enhanced by a poignant violin score performed by Sasha Yakub, Deadclass Ohio contains some absurd and meaningful humor through some clever blocking, but it also keeps the viewer guessing at different points during the production. The show does not always make its intentions clear, but it does deliver the stirring emotional weight of loneliness, loss, disconnection, and a longing to be understood which becomes more prevalent as the production continues.

New Ohio Theatre’s ICE Factory continues streaming The Goat Exchange’s Deadclass Ohio through August 12. The production is approximately one hour. Click here for more information and how to view this play.

REVIEW: Hingham Civic Music Theatre’s compelling musical, ‘Oklahoma’ a stompin’ good time

Posted on April 27, 2017 by The Sleepless Critic

From the first few angelic notes from one of Oklahoma’s most popular songs, Oh What a Beautiful Morning sung a capella by Jack Cappadona as charismatic Curly, it is easy to see that Hingham Civic Music Theatre’s (HCMT) spring musical is something special. Celebrating its 75^th anniversary, Hingham Civic Music Theatre’s Oklahoma! combines elegant costuming, an impressive, distinctive cast, and an interactive set that makes the audience settle into its own home on the range. With its wealth of historical references weaved into Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic soundtrack capturing the spirit of the time, it is no wonder that Oklahoma! won the Pulitzer Prize for musical composition in 1944 and remains relevant today. Hingham Civic Music Theatre delivers the show’s joyous zest for life, comedy, and, make no mistake, dark moments with zing and suspense.

HCMT Oklahoma Peddler and the Territory Boys

Michael Andre as Ali Hakim and the cast of ‘Oklahoma’ Photo courtesy of Eileen McIntyre/HCMT

Directed by Nathan Fogg and musically directed by Sandee Brayton with choreography by Tara Morrison, Hingham Civic Music Theatre offers two remaining performances of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical, Oklahoma! on Saturday, April 29 and a Sunday matinee on April 30 at the Sanborn Auditorium in Hingham, Massachusetts. Click here for more information and for tickets. Tickets are also available at the door.

Based on Lynn Riggs’ play, Green Grow the Lilacs, an interactive, colorful, and rustic set rewinds the clock to the Oklahoma Indian Territory at the turn of the century, equipped with softly flickering lanterns, vintage photos, bales of hay, colorful blossoms, lush greenery, and interactive props hanging on the walls. In this particular production, the lighting is its own character, effectively setting the mood from a soft, rising sun to a nightmarish hue.

The splendid costumes, by Kathryn Ridder, are meticulously-detailed from gold embroidered shirts, brightly-colored satin costumes to delicate, richly-designed dresses with thick bows and petticoats. Whether it is a cow scarf adorning an outfit or a carefully matched wicker hat, those details wonderfully capture the authenticity of the time.

Ruggedly dressed in suede chaps over khaki pants with a button down shirt and cowboy boots, Jack Cappadona portrays Curly McLain with an imaginative streak and a confident and at times, a mischievous smile. Whether engaging C.J. Hawes as Laurey in a whimsical carriage ride during the playful song, The Surrey with the Fringe on the Top or musing about life in Oh What a Beautiful Morning, with silvery vocals, Jack slides right into the role as Curly with a natural charm. With curly red hair and green striped overalls, C.J. Hawes portrays sassy, levelheaded Laurey with great comedic timing and sardonic wit. Jack as Curly and C.J. as Laurey are enchanting together and their soaring vocals make beautiful harmony.

Jack Cappadona as Curly and C.J. Hawes as Laurey Photo courtesy of Eileen McIntyre/HCMT

With thick curly hair, bright eyes, and a deep drawl, Rylan Vachon portrays Will as fun loving, somewhat hotheaded, and spontaneous. Will’s rendition of the song, Kansas City, has never been more fun with lively vocals and slick choreography as The Territory Boys stomp, slide, and perform various stunts. The entire cast captures the distinct spirit of Oklahoma! in all its stomping, sweeping joy.

Rylan Vachon as Will Parker and Jess Phaneuf as Ado Annie Photo courtesy of HCMT

Jess Phaneuf as Ado Annie brings a wild-eyed vivaciousness to the role. She seems to know how to take command of any room she is in one way or another with a wink and a grin. Her interaction with any cast member is fascinating and her comic timing is infallible. Her chemistry with both Will and Michael Andre as bewildered peddler Ali Hakim, have their own distinct charm. Michael Andre as Ali Hakim does a great job of balancing a dynamic character with comedy and cleverness.

Jess Phaneuf as Ado Annie and Michael Andree as Ali Hakim Photo courtesy of Eileen McIntyre/HCMT

Athan Mantalos portrays disheveled, hired hand Jud with a slow burn and deep, compelling, operatic- sounding baritone. Athan masters this role in the quiet moments, adding tension and making his character that much more mysterious. His scenes with Curly are especially powerful and their vocals have seamless harmony.

Athan Matalos as Jud Fry and Jack Cappadona as Curly Photo Courtesy of Eileen McIntyre/HCMT

With spectacles and a high collared dress, Kate Fitzpatrick brings sensibility and a bit of sarcasm to the role of Aunt Eller, who is much wiser than she lets on. Emily Gouillart as Gertie Cummings is a great deal of awkward fun with an unmistakable laugh.

Hingham Civic Music Theatre’s Oklahoma! offers its share of romance, comedy, and plenty of uproarious moments, but dark moments as well. Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote their second musical, Carousel, shortly after Oklahoma’s success and both shows share some of the same themes. Hingham Civic Music Theatre delicately weaves in the themes of loneliness, temptation, and violence effectively, balancing this timeless tale.

Hingham Civic Music Theatre offers two remaining performances of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical, Oklahoma! on Saturday, April 29 and a Sunday matinee on April 30 at the Sanborn Auditorium in Hingham, Massachusetts. Click here for more information and for tickets. Tickets are also available at the door. Be sure to follow Hingham Civic Music Theatre on Facebook and click here to learn how to support HCMT’s upcoming productions.