This is a review of the play: Soul Samurai, if you haven't seen it and are in the NYC area, go see it, it's awesome. If you have seen it, then enjoy this review

 

Let me tell you a story:

 

Once upon a time, during the desolation of NYC by war and crisis, two young girls fall in love in the midst of warring gangs. One of the girls is killed by a vampiric gang in a drug buy gone bad. The one that lives, under the tutelage of a wise Shogun, begins her quest for revenge.

 

This is the backdrop for Soul Samurai, an off-broadway play directed Robert Parker, written and choreographed by Qui Nguyen, and presented by Vampire Cowboys. It's an eclectic tale using Samurai-Revenge and 70's Blaxploitation with a touch of The Warriors. It strongly features martial arts and weapons fighting that ranges from samurai swords, to bokken, to tonfas and nunchucks to a pimp cane.

 

Yeah, a pimp cane.

 

The fighting was impressive, especially the climactic battle. But the real shine comes from the multitude of characters throughout the story, made all the more impressive by the fact that there are only five cast members. Each one of them stands out on their own

 

Maureen Sebastian stars as Dewdrop, a philipino college librarian-cum-samurai badass. She also plays younger Dewdrop, who is more bashful (up until tragedy strikes) As easy as itmay sound, the switch between blood spilling to book slinging is seamless. Also, she manages to pull off attitude and vulnerability, a balance not easily maintained in the warrior woman types. Sebastian is definitely the centerpiece of the play

 

Playing opposite Maureen is Bonnie Sherman, who as Sally December, the street smart poli-active tough-girl, is the perfect romantic foil for young Dewdrop. As Lady Snowflake, lieutenant of the Vampiric Gang known as the longtooths and overall Ice Bitch, she is the perfect dramatic foil for battle-hardened Samurai Dewdrop. Sherman and Sebastian have a chemistry in both instances that makes interactions seem natural and flawless.

 

On a side note, in regards to Sherman's character of White Chocolate, a silent lady who'd feel right at home on The Point. I think I speak for most of the audience members with a Y chromosome when I say God DAYUMN!

 

Sheldon Best wowed me in terms of character acting. It took me a second to realize that the actor playing Boss 2k, the seemingly immortal leader of the Longtooths (Longteeth? whatever...bloodsucking, purse snatching villains), and the Engrish speaking master Leroy Green were the same guy. Best seemed to switch over from one character to the other literally within the drop of a body.

 

John Hoche is responcible for two of the most memorable characters in the show. Supafly Shogun, Grandmaster Mack, and the altruistic (though slightly delusional) Pastor. He also made the audiences laugh during the puppet segmet (yes folks, there was a pupper segment) as the typical New Yawker puppet as well as the tempermental world puppet. Also, as a novice Fight Choreo student I'd like to give Hoche his propers as Fight Captain.

 

Finally, last, but definitely not least, is Paco Tolson, who practically moonwalked off with the crowd as rapping samurai wannabe Cert (as in "Death CERTificate"). Tolson's comedic rhythm did not skip a beat throughout the show, whether it be badmouthing fallen foes or trying to get in revenge obsessed (and totally uninterested) Dewdrops pants. Tolson, however, holds the distinction of having all of his characters killed off throughout the play. Seriously, the guy's died more times than Daniel Jackson, and all of them incidentally killed by Sheldon Best's characters, one or two of them a minute after the other. I'm not sure if that means anythin, but if I were Tolson I'd have one eye open (jk)

 

The fight choreography in Soul Samurai in beautiful as it is bloodthirsty. As I said before, I am currently learning fight choreo through NY Jedi (cheap plug, ftw), and I am slowly coming to realize the amount of time, energy, commitment and trust it takes to do a fight, and to do it well. Three fights stand out to me. The second fight between 2k (Best) and Cert (Tolson), which eventually breaks out into Capoeira, or for those without a martial arts background "Hey, they're breakdance fighting".

 

Another is the fight between a severely beaten Dewdrop (Sebastian) and the last remnants of the Longtooths (Best, Tolson and Hoche). Pretty much everything but the first front row seats are used as weapons in this fight. They even managed to throw in some humor with one poor Longtooth being stabbed, removes the blade just to get it kicked back in, and kicked again.

 

The best was of course the Ultimate Battle between Dewdrop (Sebastian) and Lady Snowflake (Sherman). The fight between them managed to be personal yet epic all at the same time. There were even points where the action managed the go into slow motion, something I never would have thought of in a play. This aspect is also one of the reasons why I enjoyed SS. The play doesn't actually feel all that much like a play. There is a cinematic quality in the action that makes you forget that the actors are working on a relatively small, static stage. You get the feeling, through music and the actors mannerisms, that Dewdrop and Cert are being chased halfway through Brooklyn, that you are witnessing the obligatory fight-training montage between Dewdrop and Master Green, that someone actually jumped on a Mack Truck and fought three guys off of it, causing to crash, and that Dewdrop is actually limping across the Brooklyn bridge and not just pantomiming. A part of me saw this play, and thought "hmm...this could be turned into a sweet little film". A part of me would like to see Maureen Sebastian and Bonnie Sherman go blade-to-blade on the actual Brooklyn Bridge.

 

Finally, I found the music to be engrossing. Especially during the end, where Dewdrop is limping across the Brooklyn Bridge, as well as the music during the Ultimate Battle. Tell me, Vampire Cowboys, is it normal for someone to ask about a play's soundtrack?

 

In the end, Soul Samurai is an awesome play that entertains with humor, action, and style. My only problem was that I did not see it before it's last week in theaters. I look forward to more shows, from Vampire Cowboys and the actors and crew in general, and overall hope for Soul Samurai 2: The Search for more Bozu