While painting The Birth of Venus, famed artist and bon-vivant Sandro Botticelli becomes entangled in sexual and political brinkmanship that puts a lot more than his masterpiece at stake. Caught in a web between the powerful Medici family, the Church, and his young lover, he must choose between art and survival. This is the plot of Jordan Tannahill’s BOTICELLI IN THE FIRE and one of Columbia University’s MFA Directing Thesis for 2023.
It can’t be more timely and relevant as the director Dmitri Barcomi’s whole cast and team are all transgendered. At the end, she spoke to the audience that unfortunately this play cannot be played in all the 50 states in US as we all know about the current transphobia in red states.
Noah Pizyk of NAKED BOYS SINGING led the cast as Boticelli. He is in shirtless or in his underwear in multiple scenes but only showed his bubble butt quickly at the end of the first act.
Mari Moriarty as Leonardo Da Vinci had a lengthy scene when he was incarcerated by the Medici. He was without any clothes and was singing about his agony.
