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“The Flying Karamazov Brothers' show is so much fun that anyone you take to see it will want to go to bed with you”. - Bury St. Edmund, Chicago Reader
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| See 4PLAY! It's playing now in NYC at the Minetta Lane Theatre, |
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:
Wednesday at 2:00pm & 8:00pm, Thursday & Friday at 8:00pm, Saturday at 2:00pm & 8:00pm, Sunday at 2:00pm & 5:00pm
Additional Performances:
Monday, August 9 at 7PM
CLICK HERE for more information and to purchase tickets. |
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| New York Times raves for FKB |
Read the full review here: http://theater.nytimes.com/2010/02/17/theater/reviews/17flying.html
And get your tickets for the NYC run here: http://www.ticketmaster.com/Flying-Karamazov-Brothers-4Play-tickets/artist/1401521
Pizza, Butter and a Cupcake, With the Greatest of Ease
By KEN JAWOROWSKI
Published: February 17, 2010
The Flying Karamazov Brothers are a low-tech triumph. Employing a simple collection of props and a large supply of talent, the troupe’s current show, “4Play,” is as close to a sure thing as can be found onstage, 100 minutes of cleverness and comedy that go by in a flash at the Minetta Lane Theater.
The Karamazovs have been around in one form or another since 1973. In “4Play” they spend their time beating rhythms on cardboard boxes, singing songs and dancing a goofy ballet. And throughout it all, there is juggling. The four men juggle glowing balls in the dark. They juggle while playing musical instruments. They juggle treacherous objects, including a butcher knife and a flaming stick.
In their trademark bit, audience members bring items to be juggled, and three of those objects are chosen by applause. At a recent show a droopy slice of pizza, an unwrapped stick of butter and a fluffy cupcake were the winners. Paul Magid (the group’s sole remaining original member) juggled them with remarkable ease. It’s a skit the Brothers have been doing for years, yet the challenge still comes across as fresh and genuinely funny.
The Karamazovs’ stage smarts are equally impressive. Their patter is filled with puns and intentionally bad jokes, part Marx Brothers, part Monty Python. (An egg is “a build-your-own-chicken kit”; the preshow announcement ends by saying there will be no preshow announcement.) And the occasional error or dropped prop is used as an opportunity for a witty ad lib. This welcome, ragged-around-the-edges feel adds a charm that is often missing from slicker, more special-effects-laden shows.
With such an abundance of entertainment, it seems nitpicky to point out that a few of the gags in “4Play” get lost amid all the action; punch lines or comments are sometimes delivered too softly for an enthusiastic, cheering audience.
Then again, if you wanted to be really picky, you could also point out that the Flying Karamazov Brothers don’t fly, aren’t related and have no apparent connection to Russia. Yet there’s no disputing that these guys are great fun to watch.
“4Play” continues through March 7 at the Minetta Lane Theater, 18 Minetta Lane, Greenwich Village; (212) 307-4100, fkb.com.
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