LIKE THEY DO IN THE MOVIES

REVIEW By Celia Ipioitis

Bounding from the wings, a man in a sparkly black caftan executes  a funky, hip hop style dance ditty. Yes, it’s the one and only Laurence Fishburne, the man with the stentorian voice who commands characters on stage, TV and film.  

The one man show at the Perleman Performing Arts Center runs  a little over 2 hours and thirty minutes and is composed of stories both from Fisburne’s life and other’s experiences.

Written by Fisburne and directed by Leonard Foglia, he opens strong, spinning tales about his upbringing. Clearly the child of talented but emotionally compromised parents, whenever Fishburne relays a tantalizing story poised to unmask his family relations, he puts a stop to the tale with the refrain “more about that later.” This set-up creates a real thirst for the denouement. And although one or two of those memories are wrapped and tied with a bow, others are not.  That choice becomes frustrating — it’s like being promised your favorite homemade meal only to be served carry out.

By all accounts a shy boy, his mother, who we find out later suffers from a narcissistic personality disorder, pushes him into trying out for a play. Little Lawrence steps on stage and realizes that’s his home. Neil Patel’s spare set includes no more than a desk and chair giving space to Fishburne’s imagination.

At intermission, there’s an assumption we’ll get closer to his upbringing, his familial circle, but instead the spotlight moves to other spicy and tragic characters. Fishburne veers into stories told by other narrators. There’s the harrowing tale of the doctor huddled in the only active hospital during Hurricane Katrina’s rage on New Orleans. Desperate for help, they see Air Force 1 overhead, but instead of landing, President Bush simply flies over and ignores the people on the roof of the hospital pleading for help.

From Katrina he transforms into a hyper squeegee guy colorfully recounting survival in NYC streets and the habits of New Yorkers, particularly celebrities. In one of the most vivid yarns, we see Fishburne sitting in a chair knitting in front of Elaine J. McCarthy’s projections of movie trailers. This hard bitten man has seen the law work from both sides of the fence. In between shooing nosey, sometimes aggravating people away from the “star,” he proselytizes the virtues of knitting.

Near the end, Fishburne returns to his family portraits–his charismatic mother Hattie, an imposing father called Big Fish, and a circuitous search for paternity. In the ultimate act of love, despite some powerfully devastating confessions of parental exploitation, Fishburne emotionally embraces his named parents, attending to, and caring for them at the end of their lives. 

Like They Do In The Movies underscores Fishburne’s acting and observational skills plus his ability to inhabit, with humanity and dignity, a galaxy of characters. However, he is most potent in his depictions of those people who forever engraved themselves on his soul–his parents.

EYE ON THE ARTS, NY — Celia Ipiotis