“Triplicity”- Uniquely Captivating

By Alix Cohen

If work by Talking Band has escaped your radar, Triplicity is an opportunity to rectify its notable absence. The genre-defying collaboration, “in the place where speech and music meet”, has been mounting intriguing, entertaining theater for fifty years. It’s garnered 18 Obie Awards with nearly 50 original productions touring the United States and the world.

Triplicity seamlessly combines dialogue, both live and recorded music, and choreography/movement- none incidental. Three very different New Yorkers appear in alternating, thru-line parentheses. Weather anomalies puzzle. Connection eventually occurs, apparent to the audience, though not to them.

Retired bookkeeper Frankie (Lizzie Olesker), in her 70s, looks like a somewhat quirky librarian. “There’s nothing to say. I live alone. I take a walk around the block everyday at noon and eat a cheese sandwich when I get home…” Her daily schedule is safe and monotonous. Each time the agenda is repeated, more information is added. Frankie is not unaware. Scheduling helps her feel a little less at loose ends since being widowed. Later, inadvertent acquisition of a cell phone offers purpose.

Oleskar, a member of Talking Band, manifests a whole person- adrift, resigned, a little bitter, buffeted but not defeated; sympathetic.

Extravagantly attired street performer, Calliope (El Beh), scats, sings, and dances, expertly wielding a series of rhythmic instruments. Something of a troubadour, lyrics summarize lives of the others or the state of things. The rain is raining sideways/Like it never does/Buzzing like broken doorbells/the kitchen fills with water/We gotta have some strategies. Recorded music adds evocative background.

El Beh is a colorful triple threat- actor, musician, dancer. In an observant connective role, they inventively bridge vignettes and report as well as lighten. That they often work with Taylor Mac is no surprise.

Norma (Amara Granderson), an aspiring author in her 20s, has several roommates who annoyingly call her “our little writer.” She works five jobs and is understandably frustrated. Reactions to a parrot in the freezer- “Sometimes when I go to grab a frozen burrito I grab Pete by mistake”, a runaway dog, and an accidental pet snake are telling.

Granderson is warmly familiar and understated. The actor communicates wry humor without bringing attention to it, is empathetically frustrated and vulnerably happy.

Danny (Steven Rattazzi), an exterminator in his 50s, supports an extended family in Bay Ridge Queens. He’s surprisingly sensitive about pest control and reads Virgil as a “hobby.” One day, he sees “a scrum of giant brown bees buzzing like broken doorbells” outside a window. The next, he discovers an enormous hive in the attic and finds it not incentive to pest control, but rather magnificent.

Rattazzi, a member of Talking Band, brings out the poet in Danny. The character emerges genuinely sweet (not cloying), unconsciously poetic. That he surprises himself is infectiously delightful. Rattazzi practically conjures the bees nest. We see what he sees and feel with him.

Songs by Ellen Maddow are expressive, not flowery, often bearing subliminal message. Varied music aesthetically suits without distracting.
Synchronized Choreography (Sean Donovan & Brandon Washington) is buoyantly fresh.

Set Design (Anna Kiraly) is made up of effective, minimalist panels.
Costumes (Olivera Gajic) are splendid, each character specifically him/her self. Calliope’s ensembles are inspired.

Director Paul Zimet utilizes chairs on wheels to place and reconfigure his characters keeping narrative fluid. Frankie is aptly a bit proper. Norma exudes youthful energy even when still. Danny delivers a subtle Queens accent. Deadpan, somewhat dazed expressions during synced choreography are priceless. Overall stage composition pleases. Pacing is just right.

Playwright Ellen Maddow convinces us each character had a life before and will continue after. Links between people are subtle and artful. Imagine how many exist beyond awareness, she seems to suggest.

‘Truly original, wonderfully entertaining.

Photos by Maria Baranova
Opening: El Beh, Lizzie Olesker, Amara Granderson

Talking Band in association with Mabou Mines presents
Triplicity
Written and Composed by Ellen Maddow
Directed by Paul Zimet
Through October 26, 2025
Mabou Mines 150 First Avenue
Talking Band: https://talkingband.org/