Page 18 Thursday, August 13, 2015 The Westfield Leader and The Scotch Plains – Fanwood TIMES A WATCHUNG COMMUNICATIONS, INC. PUBLICATION
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New Jersey Premiere of American IdiotRocks Rahway’s Hamilton Stage
Photo Courtesy of Rich KowalskiALTER EGO NAGS…In the Fearless Production of American Idiot featuring thesongs of the band Green Day, Johnny (Adam Korner) is plagued by drug pusherSt. Jimmy (Brian Remo), above. The show runs this weekend. For tickets, call(732) 499-8226 or go to www.ucpac.org.
By SUSAN MYRILL DOUGHERTYSpecially Written for The Westfield Leader and
The Scotch Plains-Fanwood Times
RAHWAY – If you are a fan ofRent or the band Green Day, you’llbe enthralled by the New Jersey pre-miere of American Idiot, the punkrock opera now playing this week-end at Union County Performing ArtsCenter’s Hamilton Theater inRahway. The show takes heartyvoices, strong dancing skills andpassion. Presented by Fearless Pro-ductions, it’s just that: fearless inabandon and theatricality.
Garage band atmosphere enve-lopes the stage with a lazy boy chairstage left, a loveseat stage right anda mattress mid-stage that offer thethree playing areas. The Broadwayshow’s been called a “coming ofage” story of three musical friendswho wend their way through earlyfatherhood, join the military andmuddle through the enticement ofdrugs. In this version, produced byBrian Remo, musically directed byBruce De La Cruz and directed andchoreographed by Patrick Starega,the three stars are supported by anensemble that almost steals the show.
There are a number of TV screenson stage that give clues to interiormonologues or a point being made ina song. The two-tiered set upstagehouses six musicians on the secondstory while keyboard and drums areneatly nestled underneath. Relent-less, pounding energy suggests thatno decaf lattés were consumed be-fore curtain. High octane only with acan or two of Red Bull beforehandprobably was the norm for theseyoung performers whose sweat-drenched bodies are put through fre-
netic, amazing dancing moves.Visionary director/choreographer
Starega, assisted by Phillip Solomonand dance captain Alicia Cordero,present a stunning visual with 18 to22 bodies on stage simultaneouslygyrating and head banging to thepunk rock music.
The storyline is simple. The musicloving teens, after 9/11 are disen-chanted with America and filled withrage against the establishment, me-dia and the world in general. Theytake three different paths; Johnny(Adam Korner) is the leader of thetrio and the one who gives the narra-tive skeleton of the story to the audi-ence through his “Dear Mom” notesexplaining some of what’s happen-ing to him after moving from boringsuburbia to the big city. Johnny roamsthe city and meets a beautiful girl,Whatsername (played poignantly byJoelle Zazz).
Will (Michael Drake) grabs hisguitar and has every intention ofjoining the young band on the roaduntil his girlfriend Heather (NatashaKurilew) tells him he is about tobecome a father. He stays with herbut becomes withdrawn into his ownworld of booze and bongs.
The third band member, Tunny(Timothy James) in patriotic zeal goesoff to war, meets someone known asThe Extraordinary Girl (Nikki Ashe),and is changed forever.
The subplot of Johnny’s experi-ence becomes the all-too familiarone of teens getting lured into drugs.He meets St. Jimmy (Brian Remo)the literal and figurative embodi-ment of a drug pusher/destroyer ofdreams. St. Jimmy, a Lucifer figureand perhaps alter-ego of Johnny,
ensnares everyone. Mr. Remo elec-trically plays the plum role of evilincarnate with his monster grimacesand diabolical grins.
It’s not 100% head banging music,however. “I Walk Alone” is effec-tively done as a reflective, poignantpiece that starts out with solitaryguitar played nicely by Mr. Korner,and then is joined by lush strings ofcello and violin and finally keyboard.The familiar “Wake Me Up WhenSeptember Ends” is a respite from
the required cacophony of most ofthe songs. From Green Day’s award-winning album, the songs by BillieJoe Armstrong tell of teens trying tofind what they believe in a world ofhypocrites.
One of the most famous songs –“Good Riddance/Time of Your Life”closes the show. The lyrics are pro-phetic: “It’s something unpredict-able, but in the end is right, I hopeyou had the time of your life.” That’sAmerican Idiot in a nutshell.
Tru Vue Glazing Gives TrueView to Historic Portraits
SCOTCH PLAINS – The portraitsof Aaron Miller Osborn (1790-1827)and his wife Harriet Manning Osborn(1791-1829) were donated to the His-torical Society of Scotch Plains andFanwood by a direct descendent, Pro-fessor Bradner W. Coursen. The dona-tion dictated the portraits be hung in thesmall Osborn-Cannonball Museumwhich the Society manages. The Mu-seum is the home that Jonathon Osborn,Aaron’s grandfather, built in the mid1700’s. The portraits were attributed tothe now well-known New Jersey itiner-ant artist Micah Williams (1782-1837).These portraits were further unusual inthat Williams painted them in oils, nothis typical pastels, making them furtherspecial and valuable. Both portraitswere in need of conservation, whichwas done by nationally known Paint-ings Conservator (Dr.) Joyce Hill Stonerat the Winterthur/UD studio. Indeedshe made them “good as old.”
Tru Vue Optium Acrylic glazing isthe ultimate glazing product! With itsanti-reflective nature, its filtering out ofharmful UV wavelengths, its reductionof glare, its anti-static quality and itsabrasion resistant quality, it is no won-der it is used by 75 percent of museumsworldwide.
Tru Vue is also generous. It teamswith the Foundation of the AmericanInstitute for Conservation of Historicand Artistic Works to offer two awardsper year known as FAIC grants. One of
these grants enabled the small Histori-cal Society of Scotch Plains andFanwood to protect donated and valu-able historic portraits.
After painting conservation, a sec-ond serious conservation problememerged: providing the proper climatefor the portraits in the historic museumthat does not have any air conditioning.The humidity fluctuates wildly, whichwould be very deleterious to the por-traits. Research yielded the answer ofmicroclimate boxes, which totally en-close an artwork and provide a constantprotected climate. The Tru Vue OptiumConservation Grant provided the mu-seum quality glass and the funding tohave the portraits framed at the Conser-vation Center for Arts and HistoricArtifacts in Philadelphia, PA.
These magnificent Osborn portraitsby Micah Williams now hang in theOsborn Cannonball Museum totallyprotected. Many for generations willenjoy them. The museum is open thefirst Sunday of every month and byappointment. Please come to see theseincredible portraits conserved to theirformer glory and now protected insealed packages. Many thanks are owedto Tru Vue and to the NJ HistoricalCommission for their grants which madethis project possible for a small, allvolunteer Historical Society.
The Osborn Cannonball Museum islocated at1840 East Front Street, ScotchPlains.
The Visual Arts CenterAwarded Humanities Grant WHS Students Receive
Honors in Italian Nat. ExamWESTFIELD – Students from
Westfield High School participatedin the Italian National Exam this yearcompeting against students from 140schools across 21 states. The exam,consisting of five levels was taken bymore than 5,570 students. A total of27 Westfield High School studentswho study the Italian language re-ceived honorable mention:
Italian 1 – Aliyah Barnes, BryceDannevig, Anna Masciandaro,Alberto Ortis, Michael Paglialunga,
Gianna Ricerca, Cameron Scalera,Angelica Suris and Jake Tooley.
Italian 2 – Nicolina Albano, OliviaAurigemma, Alyssa Capone, SamathaDella Fera, Christina Di Bella,Michael Gagliardi, Emily Oster,Corinne Petersen, Henry Sacco andAlessandra Sabba.
Italian 3 – Julia Di Bella, VeronicaGrycan and Kathleen Nogan.
Italian 4 – Megan Blutfield, LisaCalello, Melanie Nettler, MichelaSabba and Katelyn Zepko.
SUMMIT – The Visual Arts Centerof New Jersey recently received a grantfrom the New Jersey Council for theHumanities, a state partner of the Na-tional Endowment for the Humanities(NJCH) in support of Fall 2015 Exhibi-tions and Programs. The grant will fundthe exhibition installation, fully-illus-trated exhibition catalog and relatedprograms for the exhibition by NewJersey artist, Casey Ruble: EverythingThat Rises.
The exhibition, on view Sunday, Sep-tember 20 through January 17, 2016,focuses on the meaning of place, trans-gression, and memory. It features a
series of fifteen paper collages depict-ing two types of sites in New Jersey:former Underground Railroad safehouses and places where race riots havebroken out. The artist has traversed thestate researching and documenting thesesites, most of which today seem histori-cally unremarkable. Scattered acrossNew Jersey—in areas urban and rural,wealthy and poor—these sites are nowabandoned buildings, restaurants, hairsalons, empty fields, and private homes.
For more information on the ArtCenter’s upcoming Fall 2015 Exhibi-tions and Programs visitwww.artcenternj.org/programs.
