LIFE SUCKS WHY NOT SHARE IT: THE BLOG OF
STEVE BLUESTEIN
click the blog button AT THE VERY TOP OF THE PAGE
for today’s entry
Welcome to the blog of comedian /playwright Steve Bluestein. You’ll find funny blogs, serious blogs, irate blogs, silly blogs, political blogs but mostly you’ll find the honest writings of a guy in show business who really should own a pet shop.
He has tried to be as open as he could be in his writing. He’s just put down his feelings for the world to see letting the chips fall where they may. In some cases it’s been an eye opening experience and very freeing. In other cases it’s been very painful and has alienated him from his family. But whatever it is its been life changing for him.
The blog is now over 700 pages long. If you’re new to Life Sucks, good luck. It starts back in February of 2006 and continues to the present. He suggests you start there and take your time as he progresses through his experiences.
Steve is presently working on three projects, a play:
“REST, IN PIECES “
which is going to Broadway ;
a book,
“IT’S SO HARD TO TYPE WITH A GUN IN MY MOUTH”
and
“TOTIE”
A play with music about the life and times of comedian Totie Fields, (written with three time Emmy winner Arnie Kogen. )
Thanks for visiting the web site. If you want to get in touch with Steve there is an email link at the bottom right of almost every page.
_________________________________________
THE FIRST REVIEWS ARE IN:
'Pieces' looks at family
By BOB ROSE
Special to The Post-Star
Published: Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Steve Bluestein’s stage play, "Rest, In Pieces," now in its world premiere run at the Charles R. Wood Theater, combines much humor with moments of tragedy’s aftermath and proves to be capable of holding the audience’s attention.
It is impressively acted by Marcia Wallace starring as Leona, the self-centered wife and mother with an overwhelming attitude. She shares the stage with Bob Arnold as her character’s mild-mannered husband Ben, whose greatest relief comes when he escapes by death.
Also suffering but able to cope most brilliantly is their son, Stevie, played by Mark Boyett. Both men prove capable of surviving Leona’s insatiable desire to rule the roost, but their task is at times overwhelming, to say the least.
We watch the three-part dramatic comedy, performed without intermission, with fascination and delight as these seasoned thespians deliver Bluestein’s clever lines with intense and often humorous form.
First we see mother and son sparring after the demise of Ben, who seems most grateful to exit his narrow world. Then the two men react to the demise of Leona, followed by Leona and Ben coping with the death of Stevie.
Through it all, we get to know the family both outwardly and, more important, inwardly, and we learn some valuable lessons about how to treat others and how to show our true feelings often kept hidden under outward displays of superficial behavior which we seem unable to control.
"Rest, in Pieces" is a brilliantly written look at how families might react to the loss of one of its members. Furthermore, it is beautifully staged to arouse both laughter and sympathy and, perhaps most important, to make us stop and think about how we interact with our loved ones.
John Bowab’s superb direction shows the three equity cast members at their best. It is a great honor for Glens Falls that this new play has its initial run here.
Don’t pass it up.
Broadway Bound:
“Rest, In Pieces”
by Cynthia Citron
for ReviewPlays.com
My friend Ted Seifman invited me and 98 other people to the 99-seat Pico Playhouse to listen to a reading of a new play that he will be producing on Broadway later this year. So hang onto this early review, because after Broadway, can L.A. be far behind?
The play is called “Rest, In Pieces” and it was written by Steve Bluestein who, in another life, is a hilarious stand-up comedian. Which explains why “Rest, In Pieces” is laugh-out-loud funny. Even though it’s a play in which everybody dies. (Or as the old joke goes: “In a Russian tragedy everybody dies. In a Russian comedy everybody dies. But they die happy!”)
This play, like my favorite Broadway play from last year, “Faith Healer”, tells its simple story from three different points of view. In each segment one member of a close-knit family dies and the two survivors have to adjust and cope with the loss. And their anger, their unspoken emotions, and all the unfinished business. And right from the beginning, it’s a family you care about.
In this presentation the family is Jewish. The mother and father are played by Lainie Kazan and Stuart Pankin and their son is played by Richard Israel. Since it was a reading, there was also a narrator, John Sala, who provided all the stage directions.
It’s Bluestein’s intention to have a revolving cast---different actors who would each do the parts for a limited period of time, like the very successful “Love Letters” of a few years back. And, since families are families no matter what their ethnicity, he plans to have versions of the play in which the protagonists are Italian, or African American, or Asian. With a change of jokes, it would certainly work. After all, every family has its own recognizable mishigoss.
In this version, the action takes place in an apartment on New York’s Upper East Side. And as in so many other comedies, (see any Neil Simon play) the venue has its own quirky personality. As does Lainie Kazan, who is nothing short of terrific. She is a drama queen, a tragic and poignant wife and mother, and a superb comic who brings the lead character to vibrant life. I hope Steve Bluestein and my friend Ted will keep her for the Broadway production. The role belongs to her!
But no matter who’s in it when it gets to L.A., you’ll want to see it. It’s very nearly a completely perfect play.
I just found a clip of Gary Shandling, Gallagher and me on MAKE ME LAUGH. Just to see the hair alone is worth the watch.
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=G9aTfJa0LQU
Some favorite links:
Contact me here (link at bottom right) or on facebook.
Welcome to “LIFE SUCKS WHY NOT
SHARE IT”
