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“Bridge & Tunnel” is Path to Incisive, Biting, Sensitive Political ComedyPersonal and political anguish, rage, sensitivity, insightBy Lucy KomisarGladys Bailey (Sarah Jones), a Jamaican, is commenting that job possibilities for someone of her ethnic background are few. She says, "One is to become secretary of state. Another is to take care of children. Either way, it's the same. You have to run after an over-privileged baby who can barely form sentences. Then you have to clean up his messes for him while he takes a nap." Colin Powell is, of course, Jamaican. For political comedy, this is pretty good: astute, literate, clever. And there's more at Sarah Jones's one-woman show "Bridge and Tunnel," which answers the question, "Where are all those cutting-edge comic commentators now that we need them?" One – Jones -- is at the 45 Bleecker Street, just west of Lafayette in Greenwich Village. The title of Jones' show isn't about the bridge & tunnel separations between "the burbs" and Manhattan, which is what the phrase usually conjures up. It's about the connections that exist between people even though their cultures might seem to drive them apart. It's a smart and smarting (prickly) challenge to ethnic stereotypes.
Jones is Ali, as she is every one of the 14 characters in the play, brilliantly recreating them with amazing shifts in accent and facial muscles, very physical body language and only a few props - a shawl, a jacket, a cap. She is an extraordinary mimic and actress. Ali, who describes himself as a red-blooded Allah-fearing Republican, has been ordered, after 9/11, to appear before immigration authorities. His wife is being hassled by the FBI. But he is unperturbed and genially introduces the ethnic smorgasbord of readers.
Bao Viet Dinh, a Vietnamese-American teen, spits out an angry hip hop verse: "This is not a model/minority poem./ It won't fold your shirts./But it may air your dirty laundry. Juan José, a Chicano union organizer, tells the chilling, heart-rending story of his wife Veronica, who sought to enter the country from Mexico hidden in the ceiling compartment of a smuggler's bus. He hasn't heard from her; he fears she is dead. Juan is in a wheelchair, the result of a construction accident that crushed his legs. It's the saddest story of the lot. There's also Monique Barnes, an artist, who comments about her hated ex-lover: "Because you are the human/ Equivalent of second-hand smoke/ Because you seemed harmless/ And are killing me." Personal and political anguish, rage, sensitivity, insight, perception: Sarah Jones is the best there is now on that score in her genre “Bridge and Tunnel.” Written and performed by Sarah Jones. Directed by Tony Taccone. Conceived by Sarah Jones & Steve Colman. 45 Bleecker Street Theatre, 45 Bleecker Street. Tues-Sat 8, Sat & Sun 3. Running time: 1:20. $49.50. $25 general admission day of perf. 212-307-4100. Images by Brian Michael Thomas |
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The conceit is that there is a poetry "slam" taking
place at a café in South Queens. By the locale, you know that these people
are not moneyed or trendy, or they would be in Manhattan. The banner onstage
says "I AM A POET TOO." Mohammed Ali, a mild, middle-aged Pakistani Muslim
accountant, who is the master of ceremonies, says the letters also mean
"Immigrant and Multi-culturalist American Poets or Enthusiasts Traveling
Toward Optimistic Openness." The set is a minimal space with
graffiti-covered street signs.
In addition to the Jamaican, the poets include a
Jordanian businesswoman, a Vietnamese teenager, a young Brooklyn rapper, a
Jewish senior citizen, a Chicano, a Russian, a Haitian exile who escaped
under threat of death, a homeless woman, a teenage Dominican, and more. 
A crowd favorite is Lorraine Levin, a
Polish-German-Lithuanian-American who regularly presents her poetry at a
senior citizens center's "Almost Deaf Poetry Jam." In an excruciating Long
Island accent, Lorraine, who has difficulty walking, recites her bus and
subway poem "No Really, Please Don't Get Up." She remarks that her grandson
likes "Puffy Daddy, no Diddy Piddy." Obviously a lady of sophisticated
political understanding, she notes that, "We have freedom to decide what
happens in our country. We even get to decide what happens in other peoples'
countries!"