Spiderman | The Sleepless Critic

REVIEW: Fandom takes an all-consuming turn in Samantha Hurley’s dark comedy ‘I’m Gonna Marry You Tobey Maguire’

Posted on 8 Days Ago by The Sleepless Critic

This is not your average teenage crush.

A wild-eyed teenager is determined to make her dreams come true…even if he is under duress.

With zany direction by Sydney T. Grant, Yorick Ensemble continues Samantha Hurley’s dark comedy, ‘I’m Gonna Marry You Tobey Maguire’ live and in person through Saturday, September 13 at Hovey Players in the D’Angio Building in Waltham, Massachusetts. This semi-interactive fringe production is not limited to the stage, contains some mature language and humor and runs approximately two hours with an intermission. Click here for more information and for tickets.

Demi DiCarlo in Yorick Ensemble’s ‘I’m Gonna Marry You Tobey Maguire’

Set in 2004 in secluded South Dakota, I’m Gonna Marry You Tobey Maguire infuses online fandom and Y2K pop hits into a dark coming-of-age comedy with hints of Misery for beginners and a whisper of Carrie. However without the gore, not quite a horror movie and never really takes itself too seriously.

Alexa Erb’s illustrative scenic and props design produces a brightly colored bedroom with traces of Shelby’s various obsessions including a princess petal bed canapé, flowered walls covered in Tobey Maguire photos, gleeful frog printed bed sheets, Barbie dolls and a curious chart of Tobey’s whereabouts. Josh Telepman keeps up the show’s seemingly cheerful façade in jungle prints, fanciful pink layered ensembles with lace gloves and a fanciful wedding dress.

Crossing a soft smile with a seemingly vacant stare, Demi DiCarlo impresses and is occasionally sympathetic as intense Shelby who may be calculating but not diabolical, at least according to her trusty issue of Cosmopolitan Magazine. She quips, “I’m not bad. I’m romantic.” However, her anxious smile, madcap reactions and unsettling actions hint at something more just underneath the surface.

Demi DiCarlo in Yorick Ensemble’s ‘I’m Gonna Marry You Tobey Maguire’ Photo by Josh Telepman

Socially awkward and an only child, Shelby spends her days after school in a basement bedroom as President and founder of the Tobey Maguire Fan Club communicating to members through a handheld camera disassociating and fantasizing about actor Tobey Maguire. Secluded from the rest of the house, her basement bedroom almost seems like she was sent there to be ignored except when her nagging mother needs something.

Learning the facts of life through Cosmo, fairy tales and all things Tobey Maguire, delusional Shelby has deduced that the only solution to her isolation and loneliness is to capture and marry Tobey Maguire at the ripe age of 14.

To make matters more absurd, teenage Shelby does (seemingly impossibly) capture Tobey Maguire and has him chained in the basement. Where is security or his entourage? It is also hard to imagine Tobey Maguire afraid of a 14 year old, but the Tobey in front of her is not the Tobey she imagines. Sam Hackett is quite fittingly not a Tobey Maguire doppelganger portraying far from that sparkling example of optimism and well meaning persona amplified in Spiderman’s No Way Home. Never meet your heroes, right?

Alison Butts and Demi DiCarlo in Yorick Ensemble’s ‘I’m Gonna Marry You Tobey Maguire’ Photo by Josh Telepman

As Shelby’s illusions shatter, things really start to get out of hand.

Alison Butts does double time portraying various roles that move the plot along from the voice of Shelby’s mom to a kooky real estate agent.

With flashes of Y2K nostalgia, I’m Gonna Marry You Tobey Maguire has its moments of intriguing self-aware humor, a wealth of pop culture references and a special appearance which will not be revealed here. It would do better without its share of superfluous and raunchy gags that do not advance the plot and would benefit spending more time fleshing out what makes Hackett’s egotistical, complaining, irascible and drug-addled Tobey tick.

Alison Butts in Yorick Ensemble’s ‘I’m Gonna Marry You Tobey Maguire’ Photo by Josh Telepman

I’m Gonna Marry You Tobey Maguire is a cautionary tale of obsession, loneliness, isolation, trauma and infamy which, like Shelby, loses itself a bit along the way. As someone who has loved something teetering beyond reason, this outlandish tale stretches the imagination to conceive a dark comedy of what happens when fantasy and reality collide.

Demi DiCarlo and Alison Butts in Yorick Ensemble’s ‘I’m Gonna Marry You Tobey Maguire’ Photo by Josh Telepman

Yorick Ensemble continues Samantha Hurley’s dark comedy, I’m Gonna Marry You Tobey Maguire live and in person through Saturday, September 12 at Hovey Players in the D’Angio Building in Waltham, Massachusetts. Click here for more information and for tickets.

REVIEW: Creativity runs wild in Andrew Garfield’s Oscar-nominated portrayal as Jonathan Larson in Netflix’s ‘tick, tick…BOOM!’

Posted on February 17, 2022 by The Sleepless Critic

Though at times he has traveled under the radar from stage to screen aside from his turn as our friendly neighborhood Spiderman, Andrew Garfield has most deservedly been on the map lately. Though he was sadly overlooked by the Academy as the emotional center of David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin’s 2010 acclaimed drama, The Social Network, Garfield has finally scored an Academy Award-nomination for the musical hit, tick tick…BOOM! available on Netflix. Garfield has a knack for dynamic performances and though everyone is looking at Jessica Chastain as Tammy Faye Bakker in The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Garfield also brought a wealth of humor, quirkiness, and manipulative prowess to his portrayal of TV Evangelist Jim Bakker.

Once an Off-Broadway play, tick, tick…BOOM’s film adaptation is available now on Netflix and directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda. The film is currently Oscar-nominated for Best Actor for Andrew Garfield and Best Film Editing and Garfield has a Screen Actors Guild nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

As Lin-Manuel Miranda was once a struggling writer himself, it is not surprising he is the director of the Academy Award-nominated musical tick, tick…BOOM!, a fascinating semi-autobiographical story about Jonathan Larson, a struggling writer living in New York City years before he created his hit rock musical, RENT. A writer writes about what one knows and so much of this story offers glimpses into Larson’s inspiration for that wildly-successful musical.

However, this is about the struggle and this musical film is brimming with it. The painstaking work of creativity and all that could go wrong illuminates tick, tick…BOOM! as Larson struggles to keep it all together to achieve what at times seems impossible, especially in New York City. tick, tick…BOOM! is not only about Jonathan Larson’s frantic life, but it is also an ode to the writer and the struggle to live that extraordinarily competitive dream while just skirting out and skimming by trying to get a chance.

At its center is narrator and lead Andrew Garfield who brings a driving intensity and delivers an electrifying performance as the frenetic Larson on the eve of Larson’s 30^th birthday. The unconventional, deeply creative, and quick-thinking Larson divides his time between writing and working at the Moondance Diner. Look for Lin-Manuel Miranda as a short order cook. However, music and writing naturally pours out of Larson’s soul and he is often consumed by it at the expense of everything else. For forward-thinking Larson, turning 30 is a looming chasm that soaks up every ounce of his time until that odious deadline as he demonstrates in the catchy and memorable number, 30/90. Thirty is not old, but maybe Larson always felt like he was running out of time.

The musical features a dynamic, infectious, and multi-dimensional soundtrack about living in your 20s in New York City and how life changes. RENT’s influence is unmistakably evident in the lighthearted and humorous numbers, Boho Days and No More. It is also easy to recognize the roots that will develop Larson’s future work. Inside the Moondance Diner, Sunday features beautiful harmonies that include some of Broadway’s biggest stars. Therapy is a fantastic and humorous number about the miscommunication of love. The rap-infused Play Game depicts the struggle between living out the uncertainty of your dream or entering the corporate world which is a prevalent theme throughout the film.

tick, tick BOOM! explores the little victories, the bigger victories, and the gut-wrenching defeats in Larson’s personal and professional world. However, what is genuinely important becomes painfully clear and what truly inspires his work changes as the film progresses.

tick, tick BOOM! is currently streaming on Netflix. Click here for more information on RENT’s 25th Anniversary Farewell Tour.