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August 8, 2010

As a topic for crowdsourcing, there could hardly be a better subject than New York’s subways. Who doesn’t have a story, or 10, to tell about something they’ve seen or someone they’ve been jammed next to down under?

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August 9, 2010

New Yorkers are sure to be laughing in recognition at Tales From the Tunnel, currently playing the Bleecker Street Theatre following a successful run at last year’s New York International Fringe Festival. Based on hundreds of interviews with riders and subway workers that were conducted by writers-directors Troy Diana and James Valletti, the piece is an entertaining and occasionally heartfelt collection of stories that are brought to life by a terrific six-person ensemble cast.

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August 9, 2010

In Tales from the Tunnel, originally performed in last year’s Fringe Festival, six gratingly cheerful actors caper around the stage in matching MTA T-shirts, like the Mouseketeers of public transit, reenacting subway happenings. Purportedly culled from interviews with real straphangers, these tales seem more fantastical than historical, equal parts urban legend (he’s not sleeping, he’s dead!), caricature (a stuffy Madison Avenue matron who deigns to mix with the plebes) and gross-out contest (remember when that crazy lady defecated on my shoe?). If there weren’t so much urine, feces and public sex in this material, it could be repackaged as a zany Nickelodeon show for urban tweens.

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Talkin' Broadway
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Matthew
Murray

August 9, 2010

A play about the New York City subway must be really sure of itself if it dares to start by subjecting you to an omnipresent saxophonist, a panhandler who “earns” his money by singing “This Little Light of Mine” and shaking a cup of change, and a schoolgirl selling candy to raise money for her high school uniforms. Yet Tales from the Tunnel, which just opened at the 45 Bleecker Street Theatre, has every reason to be confident. These opening events may be enough to send experienced transit riders screaming away into the night, but the show itself is much more entertaining than your average (or above-average) ride on the N train.

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