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Seattle Times
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Entertainment News : Friday, February 20, 2004
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The Flying K's are high on 'Life'
by Misha Berson
Seattle Times theater critic
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The Flying Karamazov Brothers bring their new juggling, music and comedy show, "Life, a Guide for the Perplexed," to ACT Theatre.
Chatting with Flying Karamazov Brothers co-founders Paul Magid and Howard Patterson, you might not guess these guys have been juggling and cracking wise together for more than 30 years.
They actually sound as excited about their new show, "Life, a Guide for the Perplexed," as if it were their first. Or their eighth. Or maybe their 16th?
Well, who's keeping track? Let's just agree that the Flying Karamazov Brothers have been concocting and performing shows for a very long time now. And that more than a few of their juggling, music and comedy extravaganzas have been developed and premiered at Seattle's ACT Theatre - most recently "Catch!," back in 2002.
Describing "Life," their latest spectacle, Magid gets really excited. "It's completely new, and as different and wonderful a show as we've ever done," he declares.
"It has lots of juggling, but way more music and dance than ever before. And it's directed by Michael Preston, who used to perform with us. He really knows juggling, so he's been very helpful."
Patterson, Magid's former classmate at University of California, Santa Cruz, and three-decade partner in mirth, is also high on "Life."
"We hesitate to be too excited about a show at this stage of the game, because we don't want to jinx it," Patterson says. "But, hey, this one's feeling pretty good."
"Life," Magid informs you, was born last year while he was on vacation in rural Italy with his family. "The people in this little town in Umbria found out I was a performer and asked if I'd do something in their outdoor theater. I said sure.
"I wrote a script and did the whole thing in Italian. My wife, Rebecca, was in it, and our two kids. It went over really, really well and I thought, maybe there's something there to look into."
The basic premise for the piece was borrowed from the Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides, whose influential 12th-century book "A Guide for the Perplexed" attempts to explicate some of the knottier aspects of the Hebrew Bible.
"Our show is basically about a book created just for you that helps you out, gives you guidance, in times of crisis," says Magid.
But the Karamazov show owes more to neo-vaudeville clowning than to theological ruminating. Once again, Magid and Patterson will interweave juggling feats with low comic high jinks, and musical segments (composed by Seattle's own Wayne Horvitz and Amy Denio, among others).
"It has a Monty Python-esque feeling to it," points out Magid. "A lot of characters keep coming back - even if you wish they wouldn't!"
The Flying K's still like putting odd technological inventions into their act, though "Life" has fewer such gizmos than the high-tech "L'Universe," introduced at ACT in 2000.
"The main thing we're using here is the jugglatron, a walk-in, circular keyboard of electronic drum-pads that plays six octaves, and runs 7 feet across," Patterson explains.
Entering the jugglatron as well will be the two other current members of the Karamazovs, Roderick Kimball and Mark Ettinger. "They've been with us five years," Patterson tells you, "which is quite a while, but a minuscule period in Karamazov Time."
After a long stint in Port Townsend, Magid now resides in New York and Patterson in Portland. Their troupe still travels a lot, appearing often with symphonies and at regional theaters.
But the Flying K's stay connected to the Seattle scene, particularly ACT. "The relationship has been such a good one for so long," states Patterson. "Everybody knows us there - the crew, the costumers who've been fitting us for 20 years. All the forces come together so well."
Seattle is also where Magid grew up. Recently, he sought out his old family rabbi, at Sephardic congregation Bikur Cholim.
Magid told him the new K's show was inspired by Maimonides and asked if that was, well, kosher. "Fortunately the rabbi said, 'That's OK,' " he reports. "He told me, 'It's fine, we approve.' "
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