A Very Busy February... And it begins with EMPIRE OF THE SON at the Citadel


By my latest count I have 12 shows to see this month... That's not quite 1 every two days, but pretty close... I'm earning a few nights off by booking matinees on Saturdays! It's all in the planning.

I kicked off the month of theatre tonight at Opening Night of Empire of the Son at the Citadel (full disclosure - you all must know I work there),  a touching and resonant one-man show created and performed by Tetsuro Shigematsu about his relationship with his distant and seemingly unemotional father. Shigematsu is an effective and likable story-teller who clearly loved and respected his father but who also found it hard to really communicate with him. He's crafted this story of his life and that of his father well, sharing the remarkable details of what his father witnessed (Hiroshima, tea with the Queen, Marilyn Monroe's birthday serenade to JFK...) and contrasting his awe against his father's placidity.

It's a story that everyone can relate to and Shigematsu's charm easily drew in the entire room. It's filled with ups and downs, but underscoring the controlled emotion of both himself and his father, it's very layered and avoids sentimentality and hysteria, and it's funny often drawing laughs of recognition from the house. It's a human story. One that everyone can relate to - either as a parent or a child - because it's really about that generational gap that occurs to some degree between every parent and child. And while this is a specific relationship, because it is about simply seeking to understand the other person more fully, we all can connect.

It's also quite beautiful. Projections illustrate remembered conversations with whimsy, the lighting is gorgeous, and the set transforms from lecture hall, to a house of falling sticks seeking order as they descend.

Empire of the Son runs to February 18th in The Club at the Citadel.
Click here to learn more or purchase tickets.

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