By BEN BRANTLEY and JASON ZINOMAN
Published: January 14, 2009

"A thugged-up Campbell's Soup kid" is how one of his former girlfriends described Lemon Andersen as a cocky teenager. The tag still fits the arrestingly paradoxical presence of this performance artist, whose "County of Kings: The Beautiful Struggle" is part of the Public Theater's Under the Radar festival. Mr. Andersen - an alumnus of the youthful, adrenaline-charged rhyme fest "Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on Broadway" (2002) - retains the air of a choirboy with a shiv in his robe, forever putting the world on notice that he's way tougher than his cherubic face suggests... read more

By ANDY PROPST
Published: January 14, 2009

Lemon Andersen's one-man show County of Kings: The Beautiful Struggle begins with a moment of jubilation as he recalls the night that he and his castmates won the Tony Award for their work in Def Poetry Jam. His excitement and coolly comic nonchalance captivate instantly, and his grip on theatregoers continues for nearly two hours in this lyrically moving piece that recounts his childhood and young adulthood in Brooklyn.

Anderson's narrative -- a mix of hip-hop and poetic prose, English, and occasionally... read more