Review
Cincinatti Post
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Living : Wednesday, July 26, 2000
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Make sure you catch the Karamazovs
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Theater review by Geoff Williams, Post staff reporter
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In another lifetime, the Flying Karamazov Brothers might have been furniture movers. Though they might have had trouble with the sofa and refrigerator, you can just imagine the lamps, clocks and jewelry soaring into the air in a repetitive circular motion, and the homeowners screaming, ''No! You'll drop it!''
No, they won't.
They aren't brothers, and they don't fly, and their names aren't really Karamazov. But boy, can these guys juggle.
In the middle of a stint at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, the Flying Karamazov Brothers will be juggling every night - and days, too, on the weekend - through Sunday. If you're a juggling fan, this is a must-see. If you're also a science nut, this is a can't-miss. If you're neither, you'll probably still have fun.
The Karamazov Brothers are Paul Magid (Dimitri), Howard Jay Patterson (Ivan), Mark Ettinger (Alexei) and Roderick Kimball (Pavel). Magid, with his thick mustache, looks something like a refugee from a Groucho Marx fan club. Which is fitting, not because they're performing in the playhouse's Marx Theatre but because the act seems to answer the age-old question, ''What if the Marx Brothers had become physicists?'' Or musicians? Or philosophers?
Juggling is what the Karamazov Brothers are known for; the act has been juggling since 1973, and they were at the Playhouse three times between 1980 and 1990. But in their stage show, L'Universe (get it? Looney-verse), it's not just juggling that the zany ''brothers'' do. History, philos ophy and a lot of science is prodded and poked fun at, and lots of musical instruments are played. Meanwhile, groaners are tossed into the air as much as the bowling pins:
When one of the brothers suggests to the other that he ''plunge ahead,'' the other grabs a plunger and presses it against his head.
And there's even some audience participation. With all of the theories being thrown about and discussed, it's possible to be confused during the show, but never bored.
The juggling is spectacular. While it would have been nice to have seen some juggling of lamps, clocks, chain saws, turtle wax or what have you, the troupe sticks to small balls and bowling pins. But what they do with them is art.
And watching them perform musical instruments while simultaneously juggling -- that's probably worth the price of admission alone.
Magid, Patterson, Ettinger and Kimball toss those balls and pins into the air, at each other and underneath tables and legs with absolute glee. That energy is apparently infectious. During intermission, two young boys in the front row were trying to juggle balls they had purchased at the concession stand. They may never become world-class jugglers, but who knows? The Flying Karamazov Brothers had to start somewhere, too. | |
