Chinese Clown Cabaret
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Abducted
Action!
Asian for Dummies
Ball and Daisy Chain
Can You See Me?
Certain Things...
Chinese Clown Cabaret
Cincinatti
Come Fly With Me Nude
Comedy on the Square
divagation
Faker
Flame and the Stone
Flower Murderer
Framework
Future Folkloric
Hollywoodland
Home/Darkness
Hooray for Speech...
It's Stupid to Steal...
Late Night With God
Long-Form Improv &...
m.i. blue's TWILITE...
Magic @ the Fringe
Moliere Than Thou
nEO-sURREALISTS Present
Other American Stories
Oui Be Negroes
PAIN
Quarter Into It
Rabbit Causes Dog
Rap Canterbury Tales
Reframing the Hourglass
Short and Sweet...
some life
Subhuman-True Tales...
This Love Train...
Thrilling Adventures...
Tonight: The Harsh …
Under the Counter...
Viva Karaoke!...
Viva Vivi
Wrestling an Alligator
Young War
Zeppelin Beach Improv
 

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!