Play: Chinese Clown Cabaret
Reviewer: Preston
Reviewer Email: pnspeaker@yahoo.com
Rating: 4 Stars
The multi-talented Jane Chen and her wonderfully irreverent mother deliver
a performance that's at once goofy and classy, heart-warming and funny,
traditional and counter-streotype. Jane if you read this review I want to
invite you to the college where I work to do a show - seriously. You're
one-of-a-kind!
Play: Chinese Clown Cabaret
Reviewer: Diana Galligan
Reviewer Email: diana@peppermillmedia.com
Wonderfully charming, very funny and amazingly performed. Jane and her mother
are a sharp, strong comic team. Wonderful clowning, rich emotional moments
and very funny! An excellent show!
Play: chinese clown cabaret
Reviewer: Liebe Wetzel
Reviewer Email: lunfan@mindspring.com
Rating: 5 Stars
Jane chen is a genius. jane's mother is a genius. go see this show. if you
see nothing else at the sf frigne see this show. great work Jane. you are
brilliant. I wish I could give it more stars
Play: Chinese Clown Cabaret
Reviewer: carrie pa
Reviewer Email:
this was a magical night of comedic in-the-moment lightness and of emotional
depth, of a relationship between mother and daughter, between being chinese
and american, and of being alone and being with love. there were so many
ha ha moments.
Play: Chinese Clown Cabaret
Reviewer: jes'fine
Reviewer Email:
Rating: 5 Stars
I felt more uplifted by this show than anything else I've seen at the Fringe
and the good feeling it generated has carried over to the next day. Absolutely
delightful , engaging , funny ..one of those rare shows that helps you to
feel how neat it is just to be alive.....Has moved to the top tier of my
favorites. This show is a jewish mother's dream. "So you can't take
me on stage like Joan does with her mother...?" This is a small 49
seat theatre so I'd be EARLY. PS For being from New Jersey I was impressed
at how well how mother spoke Chinese.
Play: Chinese Clown Cabaret
Reviewer: Jim
Reviewer Email:
Rating: 5 Stars
the show started before i walked in even though i was 5 mintues early. jane
was in full gear yucking it up with the early comers for her sold out performance.
one guy screamed to a friend across theater that he had to check out the
show next door because there weren't any seats left. i dont normally attend
clown cabarets. in fact i didnt know clown cabarets even existed. when i
heard about jane's show, i had to check it out. no one is doing fresh, edgy,
"this is me with a red nose on" type performance. so much of today's
performers get to hide behind something...electronics, a script or other
people. sure jane and her mother practice but the raw talent bleeds through
the clown costume leaving the audience chuckling softly or spontaneously
busting out the roars. jane attracted a wider cross section of people of
all ages and colors. for 45 minutes though, we were all kids. i loved her
rendition of the little mermaid song and her chop stick song on the toy
guitar. most of all, her finale pushed you back against the chairs, holding
your breathe to soak in the moment because the chinese clown blossoms into
something else. the finale ties together a show that has all the components
of the title, chinese clown cabaret, but then you realize that there's more
behind the red nose and jane just showed us. there's mad talent in her.
i'll never make fun of a clown again. oh, as an aside, the strangest moment
of the night was when jane removed her nose and spoke in a normal voice.
the audience made a noise to adjust to her self. part of me was bummed that
the clown wasnt real. the world needs more clowns!
Play: Chinese Clown Cabaret
Reviewer: Stephen M.H. Braitman
Reviewer Email: braitman@mindspring.com
Rating: 5 Stars
Jane Chen is a find! She's a star, and "The Chinese Clown Cabaret"
is a fresh, charming, original production. She and her mother make for a
dynamic post-modern duo, the dynamic of which between mother and daughter
adds to the faux tense comedy and slapstick geniality. The cross-cultural
currents throughout are artfully off-kilter. When she sings Italian opera,
it's startling, exhiliarating, strange, yet works as part of a whole in
just the right way. This is a "little" show with both big laughs
and big heart.
Play: chinese clown cabaret
Reviewer: jay
Reviewer Email:
Rating: 5 Stars
i enjoyed the show. the pace was pretty quick and hella funny. jane chen
and her mother really work well as a team, a very natural chemistry. i was
really impressed with the jane's range of musical expression, whether singing
an original song about some crush or a traditional chinese song. and the
show definitely appeals to all. i saw two young audience members sitting
near me really enjoy the antics.
Play: chinese clown cabaret
Reviewer: Glen
Reviewer Email:
Rating: 4 Stars
Jane Chen is an accomplished musician and performer who's constantly on
the move. I hope she eats a large pile of potatoes after burning the energy
through this show! She's multitalented and has gotten her very cute mom
onstage to narrate and play with her. This is one of the best things I've
seen at the SF fringe in several years. There was an awfully happy audience
and an awfully funny couple of people up on stage on opening night.
Play: chinese clown cabaret
Reviewer: gwen
Reviewer Email:
Rating: 5 Stars
Outstanding show. Jane Chen is a true performer -- both dynamic and *present*
throughout. The Chinese Clown Cabaret is a series of musical skits neatly
weaved together by the MC'ing of her mother, Tair Chen, who does an amazing
job as the character, Mom. The duo are reminiscent of Buster Keaton's early
days in Vaudville with his father Joe (though Tair doesn't throw Jane across
stage like a football!). What made this show so enjoyable was Chen's presence
-- she is alive, open, vulnerable, and infectiously energetic as she ad-libs
with the audience from start to finish. For those who want to see what being
an actor means -- especially a physical actor -- see this show! |