My overall impression
BORN AGAIN BOHEMIAN IS A RHAPSODY
Located in the lovely Open Fist theater on Santa Monica Blvd., Summer Rain stars in her auto-biographical one woman show, “Born Again Bohemian,” one hippy chick’s psycho-spiritual journey spieled out through music dance and spoken word. Ms. Sinclair walks us from a conflicted childhood as a love child to Hollywood’s most elligible bastardette. Shunned by a deadbeat druggie dad and smothered by a Pentecostal Christian single mater, Summer goes on a godquest through hobbies, higher education and chemical experimentation. A video projector augments the narrative with family photos and vacation snaps. Her story seems honest and compelling, swinging on the pendulum of parental extremes. Like many Fringe pieces in recent years, Born Again rants personal angst and cosmic insight into an entertaining and enlightening experience. The writing was crisp, directing precise, although I was lost one or twice in the transitions between the colorful characters in her cavalcade, The storyline veered off track once or twice with too much attention, but not enought detail to extended family members. The techical side of the show suffered from a small forgivable flaw, Sound. Maybe it was the acoustics, but Summer’s voice was not strong enough to carry the day. Wireless microphones like those used in Les Mis would have enhanced the singing performance for us and not interfered with her energetic and at time acrobatic staging. This one act gem is definetly worth your time. MY RATING: FOUR OUT OF FIVE BUZZERS.
