A Brooklyn Dream

Immersive theater has become very popular when "Sleep No More" ran at the McKittrich for 14 years. Now playing at Rector St in the Wall St area, "Life and Trust". Both of the aforementioned are big productions. At "A Brooklyn Dream", the venue is small, but for the most part comfortable.

Set on the second floor at Brooklyn Pop, audience members are brought back to the post world war era. Great hot dogs, popcorn and soda are served as if we are transported to an easier era of when Coney Island was popular; the Brooklyn "bums" are starting to win. Mr. Kaves who wrote and directed the play, brings forth family, friends and relationships nicely. In an era where less is more, Kaves is deft in directing the people featured in this show.

The play follows Kaves as a young man and his journey as an artist. Clearly we see his thoughts as they permeate through the walls of this make shift theater. From the traditional Brooklyn; its old values and moires, and onto the graffiti , hip-hop and storytelling in the modern, post modern, Kaves has a lot to say.

The show has many scenes that deal with direct periods of Brooklyn history. While Brooklyn has many famous people that grew up there, the writer pin points certain artists, entertainers, athletes. It was interesting who he brought into the play and how he tied it all out. Some segments were down right great! Giving note to "The Worriers", the movie was really terrific. The 1979 classic was filmed at a time when New York City was both dirty and crime ridden. How this segment of the show was done was pure brilliance... the costumes and makeup hit it out of the park.

As young Kaves and his mother (Alba Albanese) move through the one hour and fifteen minute show, she guides him as best she can. Having difficult decisions to make, Albanese tries to balance her turbulent life and lead her son on the straight and narrow. While she encourages her son, he has many ups and downs. It is his music that keeps him moving forward. The times have changed and his grounded mother supports him.

For the most part the sets are memorable. A few problems occur in the Streisand scene as well as the one before her. A narrow hallway makes it uncomfortable for the audience to gather around and watch and fully enjoy the actors voice as well as acting chops. Well written and acted, the area was too tight to fully enjoy. The mob scene too was a bit tight. Watching Joseph D'Orofrio (Good Fellows, Bronx Tale) was a treat and so were the other actors who performed this back room scene; was hampered, however, by the standing room that was afforded to us.

"In The Do The Right Thing" segment, the actor who portrayed Danny Aiello was spot on, his cadence, voice was spot on. The scene itself was not as intense as the others. I thought it could have been written a little better by the way of deeper, more insightful. Where the movie had great dialogue between Aiello and Lee, this scene went more through the motions.

One scene that was confusing too me was when a few black men were run down and killed. I was of the opinion that 1990's -ish confrontation took place in Howard Beach which is in Queens. Even still, this part of the show was confusing... was the writer trying to bring race into Brooklyn? The "Do The Right Thing" or the Jackie Robinson pieces did that. Brooklyn has way more history than race and racism. The Williamsburg or Crown Heights incident was way bigger news than the Howard Beach crime and I thought it was unnecessary.

In immersive, crowd and direction control are a must. Having actors sitting on the flooring made it at times impossible to see and even hear the dialogue. The lay out of the theater too made it difficult at times to both see and hear. The show on its face is well written and acted. The actors poured great effort into the show and I recommend seeing it and feeling the decades of Brooklyn, New York.