New York Critic

  Tennessee Rising — Written and performed by Jacob Storms — Directed by Alan Cumming — June 2 to June 23   — AMT Theatre, NYC — Elaine Stritch (whose one-woman show show Elaine Stritch at Liberty was highly successful) was once asked what dramaturgical rules make a successful one-person show. She replied "Don't bother with any of that, honey. Get 'em to like you."   And this is just what Jacob Storms does in his one-man show Tennessee Rising . In this brief solo play, which he wrote and performs, he presents us with the young Tennessee Williams from the period from 1939, when he arrived in New Orleans, to 1945, when The Glass Menagerie opened on Broadway. Mr. Storms enters holding a drink and impishly saying "Look what I found”. The young Williams tells us about his many experiences. Some of what we’re told is familiar, some not, and what is familiar bears repetition in Mr. Jacobs’ soft southern dialect There’s much name-dropping, some famous — Lana Turner, M