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Love & Taxes
By Jenny Sandman
Josh Kornbluth
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It looks like his latest piece, Love& Taxes--a collaboration with director David Dower--will be just as successful.
Despite his California residence, Kornbluth is the prototypical Jewish New Yorker, and he's right at home at the Bank Street Theatre. Love & Taxes details his financial and romantic foibles.
Raised by Communist parents, he has a somewhat lax sense of civic duty, and so he feels no guilt over not filing his taxes for seven years. But the IRS, like death, catches up with us all. When Kornbluth's career as a monologuist begins to take off, he accepts a lucrative writing job in Hollywood. This nets him little more than a huge tax bill, however -- with his accountant's bill not getting any smaller, either. The problem balloons to an $80,000.00 problem and Kornbluth realizes this is not just affecting his checkbook: He can't marry his pregnant girlfriend, because she's not eager to assume his tax burden. He can't make a movie with his brother because investors are scared off by his debt. Result: He has to face reality and make a lot of tough decisions all at once.
Interestingly, the moral of the story is not "Pay your taxes" or" Open envelopes from your accountant." What it's about is accepting change and compromise as an inevitable part of life. It's a morality tale that's a perfect fit for Kornbluth's self-deprecating, confessional sense of humor. As a seasoned solo perfomer he's able to draw in the audience and make them feel right at home. He's also an energetic guy so that the piece feels full of shifts and movement, even though he spends much of it behind a desk.
The small stage is the right size for such an intimate story, but one man and one desk can only take up so much room. Flying Moose Pictures has provided some innovative video design to help fill out the space and director Dower keeps Kornbluth on the move
Everyone has a story about the tax man. It takes Josh Kornbluth to turn his into a money-making endeavor and, more importantly, into a funny and touching experience
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LOVE & TAXES Written and performed by Josh Kornbluth Directed by David Dower Production Design by Chris Jones Video Design by Flying Moose Pictures Music composed by Marco d'Ambrosio Running time: 2 hours with one intermission Bank Street Theatre, 155 Bank Street, 212-868-4444 Wed through Sat @ 8pm; Sun @ 2pm and 7pm-- $25 Wednesdays and $35 all other performances 12/04/03 to 1/11/04; opening 12/08/03 Reviewed by Jenny Sandman based on December 8th performance |
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Leonard Maltin's 2003 Movie and Video Guide
Ridiculous!The Theatrical Life & Times of Charles Ludlam
Somewhere For Me, a Biography of Richard Rodgers
The New York Times Book of Broadway: On the Aisle for the Unforgettable Plays of the Last Century
6, 500 Comparative Phrases including 800 Shakespearean Metaphors by CurtainUp's editor.
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