THEATREWORLD
Internet
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INTERNATIONAL NEWS AND REVIEWS
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
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Reviews from
–
Click to view:-
Bay Area Bay Area – listing of current shows
Broadway – listing of
current shows
Current
Broadway Shows
– last updated January 17, 2012)
Anything Goes - Musical - Stephen Sondheim Theatre - stars Sutton
Foster and Joel Gray
Gore Vidal’s The Best Man – Drama - Gerald Schenfeld Theatre – opens April 1st
The Book of Mormon - Musical - Eugene O'Neil Theatre
Chicago - Musical - Ambassador Theatre
Chinglish – Comedy - Longacre
Theatre
The Columnist – Samuel J Freidman Theatre – opens April
25th – closes June 3rd 2012
Death of a Salesman – (Drama) - Ethel Barrymore Theatre –
opens March 15th until June 2nd – stars Philip
Seymour Hoffman
Don’t Dress for Dinner – Farce - American Airlines Theatre
– opens April 26th until June 17th 2012
End of the Rainbow – Play with music - Belasco Theatre –
opens April 2nd – stars Tracie Bennett
Evita – Musical – Marquis Theatre – Opens
April 5th 2012 – stars Ricky Martin and Elena Roger
Ghost the Musical – Lunt-Fontaine Theatre – opens April 23rd,
2012
Godspell – Musical - Circle in the Square Theatre
Harvey – Comedy – Studio 54 – opens June 14th
until August 5th – stars Jim Parson and Jessica Parsons
How to Succeed in Business Without
Really Trying - Musical -
Al Hirschfeld Theatre
Jersey Boys – Musical compilation re Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons - August Wilson Theatre
Jesus Christ Superstar – Neil Simon Theatre – opens March 22nd
Leap of Faith – Musical – St James Theatre –
performances from April 3rd
The Lion King - Musical - Minskoff
Theatre
Mamma Mia! - Musical / compilation - Winter Garden Theatre
(check performance schedule)
Mary Poppins - Musical - New Amsterdam Theatre
Memphis - Musical - Sam S Shubert Theatre
Newsies – Musical – Nederlander
Theatre – opens March 29th until June 10th
Nice Work If You Can Get It – Imperial Theatre –
performances from April 22nd – Stars Matthew Broderick
On A Clear Day You Can See Forever – Musical – St James Theatre –
stars Harry Connick Jr. until January 29th
Once
– Musical – Bernard B Jacobs Theatre – opens March 18th
One Man, Two Guvnors – Comedy – Music Box Theatre –
opens April 18th
Other Desert Cities – Drama – Booth Theatre - stars Stockard
Channing, Stacy Keech, Judith Light and Thomas Sadowski
The Phantom of the Opera - Musical - Majestic Theatre
Porgy and Bess - (Musical drama) – Richard Rogers Theatre
Priscilla Queen of the Desert - Musical - Palace Theatre
Rebecca - Musical – Broadhurst
Theatre – opens April 22nd 2012
Relatively Speaking – Brooks Atkinson Theatre
The Road To Mecca – Drama – American Airlines
Theatre until March 4th 2012
Rock of Ages - Musical / compilation – Helen Hayes Theatre
Seminar – Comedy /Drama – John Golden Theatre – until March
4th,
Sister Act - Musical - Broadway Theatre - stars Patina Miller
Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark - Musical – Foxwoods Theatre
Stick Fly – Drama – Cort Theatre
Venus In Fur – (Drama) - Lyceum Theatre - opens February 7th
until June 17th
War Horse - Vivian Beaumont Theatre
Wicked - Musical - Gershwin Theatre
Wit
– Drama – Samuel J Friedman Theatre – until March 18th
2012
THEATRE NEWS & REVIEWS
(kindly
provided by Meaghan Greyson)
*************************************
Dates, titles, and other information subject to change.
The
Shakespeare Theatre Company
2011-2012
Anniversary Season
January 17- March 4, 2012
The
Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare, directed by PJ. Paparelli at the Lansburgh
Theatre
March 27 – April 29, 2012
Strange
Interlude by Eugene O’Neill, directed by Michael
Kahn at the Sidney Harman Hall
May 15- July 1, 2012
The
Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni, adapted by Constance Congdon and directed by Christopher Bayes at the Lansburgh Theatre
June 12 – July 15,
2012
The
Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare, directed by Stephen
Rayne at the Sidney Harman Hall.
***************
(kindly provided by Dr. Kedar K. Adour, MD)
*************************************
Reviews for San
Francisco Bay Area are:-
Food Stories: “Sorry Fugu”
and “Enough”
ARMS AND THE MAN: Comedy
by George Bernard Shaw.
Directed by Nancy Carlin
Center REPertory Company, Lesher
Center for the Arts, Margaret Lesher Theatre, 1601
Civic Drive, Walnut Creek, CA. (925)943-SHOW (7469) or www.centerrep.org.
Through February 25, 2012.
ARMS AND
THE MAN EARNS A SWISS BOQUET OF
CHOCOLATES
Once again CenterRep
in Walnut Creek has come up with a dazzling, gorgeous, hysterical and
impressive production that surely will have an extended run but just in case it
doesn’t get your tickets now. Would you believe the list of adjectives
describing the show is for a George Bernard Shaw play? Dazzling, gorgeous,
hysterical? You had better believe it.
Shaw is notorious for being long
winded and preachy with his plays often lasting up to three hours. CenterRep under the guidance of Artistic Director Michael
Butler and the astute direction of multi-award winning Nancy Carlin have pared
the play down to fast paced two hours and ten minutes of fun in a
farcical/comedic manner. Opening night was perfect with the exception of Gabe
Marin unintentionally entangling his unwieldy costume in the back of a chair.
The cast must be complemented for their professional response and only breaking
into suppressed smiles without laughter.
Apparently Arms and the Man is Shaw's most popular play and he displays his
antipathy to war, marriage and social class distinction with a comic scenario
that has been turned into the very successful operetta The Chocolate Soldier. It is 1885, Bulgaria and Serbia are in a
senseless war and both armies are populated with incompetents. The leader of
the Bulgarians is the aging wealthy Major Perkoff
(Michael Ray Wisley) and his equally unqualified
aide-de-camp and leader of the cavalry, Major Sergious
Saranoff (Gabe Marin). On the Serbian side we only
meet the Swiss mercenary Captain Bluntschili (Craig
Marker) who carries chocolates rather than bullets in his ammunition belt.
Alas, poor Bluntschili
breaks into the bedroom of the young romantic Raina Perkoff who just happens to be betroth to Sergious whom she romantically fantasizes as the epitome of
heroic love unbeknownst to her that Segious is an
“accidental hero” with an amorous eye for the maid Louka (Kendra Lee Oberhauser).
Bluntschili’s breaks into Raina’s
bed chamber simply to avoid capture and the possibility of death. He describes
the ridiculous cavalry charge led by Sergious on a
runaway horse that earned him the title of “Hero.” Bluntschilli’s love of chocolate and his gracious
demeanor convinces Raina and her mother Catherine( Lisa Anne Porter) to smuggle our erstwhile
“chocolate soldier” to safety disguised in Major Petkoff’s coat. That deed will come back to haunt
them . . . sort of.
Shaw cleverly uses humor to
espouse his philosophical/social tenets about the foolishness of war,
idealistic notions of heroism, romance and the folly of social class
distinction. To this purpose he often gives some of his most intellectual lines
to servants. He displays his support for the working classes’ pride in
work by imbuing servant Nicola (Aaron Murphy) with admirable qualities of
loyalty. Examples of Nicola and Louka’s pithy
dialog about class distinction can be found in many of Shaw’s plays.
However in CenterRep’s production Shaw’s
cutting philosophy is secondary to the staging since the acting is so stylized
that one would expect the actors to break into song at every turn as their
intricate shenanigans pile up one after the other.
The two level stage set (Kelly
James Tighe) without walls is highly original with
the pale blue rear stage adorned with heart-shaped stars. The shocking colorful
costumes (Victoria Livingston-Hall) emphasize the farce/comedy motif to match
the broad acting technique that uses melodramatic gestures to great effect.
Gabe Marin’s depiction of Segious’
hysterically bombastic idiocy is the most visible (read voluble) humor but he
must share a great deal of the jocularity with the scene stealing Michael Ray Wisley who has pitch perfect comedic timing.
Director Carlin astutely allows
Craig Marker to be the apotheosis of decorum as contrasted to the broad acting
of most of the cast. This contrast works very well and the scenes between Mason
and Marker are highlights with split second timed glances, biting observations
displaying the necessary chemistry and tension.
One might wonder what George
Bernard Shaw’s reaction would be to this exuberant concept production
being again described as a “dazzling, gorgeous, hysterical and
satirical” by this reviewer.
Kedar K. Adour, MD
LITTLE BROTHER: Drama
Adapted
from the book by Cory Doctorow
Directed by Josh Costello
The Custom Made Theatre Co., 1620 Gough St (at Bush) San Francisco, CA
94109 info@custommade.org.
January 13,
2012 – February 11, 25, 2012
Too often theatre marketing directors/publicists
along with their artistic directors bemoan that young people are not going to
legitimate plays. The Oregon Shakespeare Company (OSF) has a substantial grant
to produce concept versions of Shakespeare’s plays as an inducement to
attract those youthful non-theatre goers. Those who are complaining should
visit the Custom Made Theatre to find out what they are doing right. The Sunday
evening performance of their latest hit Little Brother was another
sold-out house populated with young attentive, appreciative people. The run of
this show is being extended two weeks just as the previous 2011-2012 season
plays were. They do it without grant money. To replenish their coffers they are
having a Valentines Day on line auction. They deserve
to be supported.
Not being familiar with the writings of Cory Doctrow did not interfere with understanding the hi-tech
sci-fi world that abounds in his books. For those who are in my league, he is
(craphound.com) a science fiction author, activist, journalist and blogger --
the co-editor of Boing Boing (boingboing.net). The
voluminous press kit provided more cogent information that must be bypassed in
order to complete a concise review that will encourage the reader to visit
Custom Made’s upgraded venue at Gough and
Franklin.
Adapter and director Josh Costello has impeccable
credentials and is the Artist Director of Expanded Programs at Marin Theatre
Company and a founder of Impact Theatre. His latest local directorial stint of Reborning, a world premiere at SF Playhouse,
was a stunner. He now has earned another accolade with Little Brother that
further showcases his enormous talent. He also must share those accolades with
his three member cast and production crew.
Although there are only three actors, one remains
in character and the other two deftly change costumes on stage and become multiple
other characters without a break in the action. It is a true ensemble affair by
Daniel Petzold playing Marcus the titular protagonist
although Marissa Keltie as his teenage love interest Ange and Cory Censoprano as best
friend Darryl often reminds Marcus that the action they are pursuing is not
about him. It is about the “cause” although that word is never
used.
Brilliant, charismatic, hyperactive Marcus is a
computer whiz who has ability to hack into any system as he did breaking into
the High School computers. Similarly, Ange who
becomes Marcus’s love interest confesses to similar deeds while trusting
best buddy Darryl just happens to go along for the ride.
It is about government intrusion into private lives
and the erosion of civil liberties by “the government.” In this
story it is the mysterious, scary Home Security Force (HSF) that has
constitutional rights in the name of thwarting terrorism after the San
Francisco Bay Bridge and Bart tunnel have been blown up. Our three teenagers
are swept up by the HSF and brutally interrogated only because they were on the
street when the explosions occurred. While Marcus and Ange
are reluctantly released, Darryl “disappears” into a secret
detention center on Treasure Island. You can rightly make an analogy to the
Guantanamo Bay incarcerations.
Danger is everywhere, not only for our intrepid
trio that is now reduced to two. They do not remain two for long when ingenious
Marcus reconfigures Microsoft’s X-Box gaming computer to hack into the
government’s Internet network. They recruit a band of those under 25 (the
only ones you can trust) into their cadre and disruption of the HSF begins and
Marcus is water-boarded before being rescued.
Director Costello has astutely changed the tone and
pace in the second act that is appropriately in direct contrast to the hectic
acting in act one. A charming love affair between Marcus and Ange gives them human tender dimensions to counterbalance
their dangerous political moves. With Darryl secretly locked in prison on
Treasure Island, Costello is able to morph Cory Censoprano
into the many characters needed to create a universality of Doctorow’s
philosophical predictions that are actually in place today.
This flawless production is bolstered with stunning
visuals and perfect technical timing. The projections on the back wall are in
themselves amazing but the actors are the make the evening a joy even if you
are over age 25 and no matter what is your political persuasion. Running time a little over 2 hours.
Kedar K. Adour, MD
by Lee Hall adapted from the book by William Feaver
Directed by
Leslie Martinson
TheatreWorks, Center For The Performing Arts, 500 Castro
Street, Mountain View, CA. 650-463-1960 or www.theatreworks.org.
Through February 12, 2012.
TheatreWorks has created a two hour and 20 minute of stimulating, entertaining
evening from a rather didactic, a bit overly long script that should not be
missed. The superb acting by a cast that is a who’s
who of the Bay Area, spirited direction by Leslie Mitinson
and stunning production values coalesce in this West Coast premiere of The
Pitmen Painters.
Author Lee Hall, who wrote Billy
Elliot, the movie and the book
for the musical, has taken William Feaver’s
story and wrote the play on commission for a Newcastle Upon
Tyne, England theatre. It is based on the true story that took place in the
Northern coal mining area of Ashington Colliers. A
group of miners, proud to be hard worker socialists “pitmen” became
noted throughout England for their paintings.
The miners, most of who had
left school for work in the coal
pits by the age of 11, had no background in art and none had ever been to a museum. They are accidentally introduced to art appreciation when a progressive-minded art teacher Robert
Lyon (Paul Whitworth), through a
scheduling error arrives to teach a
class set up by the Workers Education Association. The inspired Paul Whitworth steals the show as the somewhat pretentious teacher who
insists that art has no boundaries proving his point by encouraging them to
paint subjects familiar to themselves. This they did with remarkable results, eventually exhibiting their work at galleries in England gaining fame the name as the
Ashton Group of Pitman Painters.
Art is where you find it and
is without borders. In this play the art arises from coal mines where
appreciation and creation of art transforms this diverse group of men into a
cohesive unit although each has diverse physical and emotional traits. These
traits are made distinctive by the pitch perfect acting of the entire cast that
includes (alphabetically) James Carpenter,
Jackson Davis, Dan Hiatt, Patrick Janes, Nicholas Pelczar, Marcia Pizzo, Kathryn Zdan and the fore mentioned Paul Whitworth.
Throughout the play Hall,
through his cohesive Ashton Group emphasizes team effort, politics and social
class distinction. He allows each to be hypercritical of the others works with
candor that is often humorous, cutting but never divisive. When one is offered
an opportunity to work in a real studio for the extraordinary sum of two pounds
and 10 shillings a week, the offer is declined even though the group
individually and collectively encourages him to accept the offer.
This cohesiveness and
individual performances are fortified by projection designer Jim Gross’
beautifully projected images of their paintings. It completes the memorable
acting and inspiring storyline that is rounded out by the entire cast singing a
hopeful song to end the play. Whereas Billy
Elliot begins with the Maggie Thatcher era, this story takes place from the
1930s, through World War II until the late 50s when the mines were nationalized
and Universal Health Service was established. It is ironic that those two
cataclysmic events are hailed as a prelude step to a perfect socialistic state
that we know was not to be from the facts Hall depicts in Billy Elliot.
Kedar K. Adour, MD
by Gina Gionfriddo
Directed by
Amy Glazer
SF Playhouse, 533 Sutter Street (one block off Union Square, b/n Powell
& Mason), San Francisco, CA 94102. 415.677.9596 or www.sfplayhouse.org.
January 24th through March 10th, 2012
This review is being written from
a very personal standpoint and is unfairly biased. Having attended the
mesmerizing world premiere of Becky Shaw at the 2007 Humana New American
Play Festival at Actors Theatre in Louisville, expectations for SF
Playhouse’s production were high and would not have been missed. You too
should not miss their stunning, superbly acted and directed staging but there
is a caveat.
It is the perfect vehicle for the
cutting edge philosophy espoused by this top-notch group and they obviously
have lavished a great deal of ardor in mounting the show. Artistic director and
designer Bill English is a master at creating fantastic, intricate sets that
have often received honors. The set(s) for this multi-scene play is a marvel of
moving walls that seamlessly change depicting the diverse locales. And
here’s the rub: Those scene changes with entire walls being moved on and
off stage detract from the intense interaction of the characters and compete
with the story line.
That viewpoint was not universal
since half the audience rose to their feet at the end of the play. That
response, rather than the usual standing ovations for previous shows, may have
been triggered by the ambiguous ending written into the script.
Dysfunctional characters and
relationships abound in Becky Shaw and it is what you could expect from
Gina Giofriddo who is a main-stay writer/producer for
TV’s Law and Order. The play was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize
having an extended run Off-Broadway and a similar run in London before this
West Coast premiere. The title character Becky Shaw does not make an appearance
until late in the first act. It is a jaw dropping entrance that Lauren English
handles with assurance depicting Becky’s insecurity and reticence on
meeting her blind date Max (Brian Robert Burns).
Before that spectacular entrance Gionfriddo masterfully sets up the other characters with
consummate skill and line by line clearly defines the interactions but never
suggesting the bizarre complications that are to come. In the tightly written
first scene we meet psychologist Suzanna Slater (Liz Sklar)
who is still bemoaning the death of her father four months earlier. Max, her
adoptive brother is a successful investor looking after the dwindling family
estate of the widowed mother Susan Slater (Lori Holt) who, very shortly after
her husband death, has taken on an unseen unsavory lover even though she is in
the early/later stages of multiple sclerosis.
When the scene shifts it is 4
months later and Suzanna has married would be writer Andrew (Lee Dolson) who supports them (sort of) working in a dreary
office. Becky happens to be working with do-gooder Andrew who arranges for
Becky and Max to meet even though Suzanne knows that Max is a
“part-timer, meaning that after three months he dumps his girlfriends. It
just happens that Becky who has screwed up at her Ivy League University
scholarship, been dumped by two black boyfriends and cut off by her racist
family is desperately looking for true love. Thus it is when Becky arrives in a
red seductive, strapless, mini-dress for the first date. Wow! The audience
gasps.
It is a disastrous date that gets
short circuited by a holdup involving a gun, then a trip to the police station
and an eventual sexual tryst in a hotel room even though Max dislikes her.
Further complications ensue and the play just gets better with the unraveling
of true feelings leading to unsettling consequences that Gionfriddo
mines with her consummate writing genius.
And there you are with the story,
but that is only the framework on which Gionfiddo
hangs her brilliant thoughts on morality and our responsibility to strangers
with one line F-laced zingers that explode across the stage apron. The line
that Bill Clinton’s sexuality cost Hilary the Presidency created an
explosion in the audience. All actors play their roles flawlessly and they
clash with vigor yet work as an ensemble.
The evening is thoroughly
enjoyable with delicious wisecracks, tense drama, sharp acting and spot on
directing by Amy Glazer.
And there you are with the story,
but that is only the framework on which Gionfiddo
hangs her brilliant thoughts on morality and our responsibility to strangers
with one line F-laced zingers that explode across the stage apron. The line
that Bill Clinton’s sexuality cost Hilary the Presidency created an
explosion in the audience. All actors play their roles flawlessly and they
clash with vigor yet work as an ensemble.
The evening is thoroughly
enjoyable with delicious wisecracks, tense drama, sharp acting and spot on
directing by Amy Glazer. Liz Sklar gives a tour de
force performance as the emotionally damaged Suzanna and is equally matched by
Brian Robert Burns’ portrayal brutally honest, non-politically correct
Max. Lee Dolson makes the most of the passive
personality written into his role and Lorri
Holt’s acting ability shines through in the role of a physically
challenged individual maintaining a strong personality.
Running time is about two hours
plus a 10 minute intermission.
Kedar K. Adour, MD
BROADWAY
BOUND
by Neil Simon
Directed
by Phoebe Moyer
Masquers
Playhouse. The playhouse is located off of Highway 580
(Richmond Parkway exit) at 105 Park Place, Point Richmond across from the Hotel
Mac. 510-232-4031 or www.masquers.org.
January 29 – February 5, 2012
Those living in the San Francisco
Bay Area are fortunate to have a plethora of small non-equity theatres that
mount high quality productions to supplement the handful of larger professional
theatres. The Masquers in charming Point Richmond is
one of those 99 seat community venues that consistently receive accolades. For
their first production in the 2012 season they have engaged professional
theatre jack-of-all trades Phoebe Moyer to direct Neil Simon’s play Broadway Bound.
Broadway Bound (1986)
is the last play in Neil Simon’s semi-autobiographical trilogy that
includes Brighton Beach Memoirs
(1983) and Biloxi Blues (1985). In
all the plays the family name is Jerome and Eugene is the personification of
Neil Simon. From top to bottom the cast includes Grandpa Ben (Avi Jacobson), married daughters Kate (Marilyn Hughes) and
Blanche (Georgie Craig), Kate’s husband Jack
(Timothy Beagley) and their sons Stan (Chris Dewey)
and Eugene (Zac Schuman).
The younger Eugene and Stan his
older brother and mentor have ambitions to become famous comedy writers. They
still live at home in the post-World War II Brighton Beach neighborhood of
Brooklyn, New York. Their mother Kate is the stay at home stable influence in
the play while the others come and go. Husband Jack is mysteriously absent and
this is the clue that will switch the emphasis of the play. The all out
hilarious opening comedy sequences by Eugene and Stan’s interaction with
almost senile Grampa Ben switches seamlessly into a
family drama.
At the time Eugene and Stan are
seeing their careers take off their parent’s marriage is falling apart.
Comedy and drama collide when the boys use the family situation to write a
successful comedy sketch that receives national attention on CBS radio
showcasing new writers. When the Jerome family has gathered around the radio to
hear the sketch, parental pride quickly turns to accusations as the older Jeromes realize they are the brunt of the humor. It is no
longer a joking matter and mirrors Jack and Kate’s crumbling
relationship.
Simon uses the device of breaking
the fourth wall with cogent and often hysterical asides to the audience by
Eugene and is a master at mixing the drama with his comedy lines that keep the
totality of the play in balance. Every actor is given lines that define
character without ever requiring exposition.
It may be inappropriate to single
anyone out of the cast for special mention but Avi
Jacobson who was trained in Israel is absolutely believable and superb with his
pitch perfect timing and demeanor. Although Zac
Schuman as Eugene and Chris Dewey as Stan are marvelous ensemble performers
unto themselves, it is Marilyn Hughes as mother/wife/ caretaker who is the
dominating force with her spectacular under playing of her role.
Phoebe Moyer’s directorial
skills are on display as she never allows the interrelationships to get out of
hand with her perfect pacing and unobtrusive stage directions.
Director Moyer also has the
luxury of having a charming two level set on which to move her actors about.
Oddly, there is no mention of a set designer, just a listing of 10 set
construction workers. Bravo to them and the entire production crew who have
added greatly to the fine acting making Broadway
Bound well worth the trip to Point Richmond.
Kedar K. Adour, MD
by Oliver
Goldsmith
Adapted and
directed by Judy Holmes
Ross Valley
Players, Barn Theatre, Marin Art & Garden Center, 30 Sir Francis Drake
Blvd., Ross, CA. 415-456-9555 x1 or www.rossvalleyplayers.com
January 20
– February 19, 2012
Ross Valley Players (RVP) are
greatly admired in the Bay Area and have no qualms about undertaking
adventurous journeys with their selection of plays. This time around, for the
second half of their the 82nd (count them) season they have mounted
Oliver Goldsmith’s 18th century comedy She Stoops to
Conquer adapted and directed by Judy Holmes on another marvellous set by the always inventive Ken Rowland. They have also pulled out all
the stops with period costumes that are a tribute to the versatility of Michael
A. Berg. The plethora of styles in the play are very
problematic, and can be treacherous to any production, yet the talented cast
avoids many of the pitfalls and give delightful performances.
It is difficult to categorize the author’s
style, since the elements suggest a comedy of manners, social satire, class
distinction, mistaken identities, love run amok and farce. These elements
require a director to balance this multiplicity to give unity to evening.
Director Holmes has all the credentials to helm Goldsmith’s opus from
page to stage and has done a masterful job of adapting a five act play into a
tight two hour and 20 minute well paced evening. She
begins by dropping the opening prolog, dispensing with multiple characters,
selecting only pertinent and impertinent scenes. For inexplicable reasons she
has cast an overacting neophyte in a pivotal role that emphasizes farcical at
the expense of a polished performance. That being said, RVP’s production
is clever, joyous, stylish, charming and funny enough to satisfy the most jaded
theatre goers.
The majority of the action takes place in the
countryside Hardcastle Manor where Mr. and Mrs. Hardcastle (Alex Ross and Maureen O’Donoghue)
are expecting the arrival of Charles Marlow (Sean Mirkovich)
as the potential suitor for the hand of his daughter Kate Hardcastle
(Jocelyn Roddie). It is the second marriage for both
the Hardcastles. Her ne'er-do-well son Tony Lumpkin
(don’t you love the name?) is notorious for his wastrel life and time
spent at the rowdy Three Doves Tavern. He has a penchant for tom-foolery. All
this comes to light in the charming first scene that Ross and O’Donoghue nail with pitch perfect acting, completely
as ease dressed in their voluminous costumes, setting the tone for what is to
come.
What are to come are Charles Marlow and his chum
George Hastings (Adam Roy), who get lost. They meet the notorious Tony Lumpkin
(the miscast, misdirected Josh Garcia-Cotter) who convinces the two foppish
Londoners that Hardcastle Manor is a country Inn and
the Hardcastles are merely innkeepers and they treat
them as such. Throughout all this the perplexed Hardcastles
maintain their cool with oft made journey to the stage apron to reveal their
true feelings. This breaking of the fourth wall is used by all the major
characters to great effect allowing the audience to share in the confusion.
There is a secondary plot involving cousin
Constance who lives with the Hardcastles and is
promised to the reluctant Tony while she is secretly in love with the soon to
arrive “commoner” Hastings who is secretly the heir to a fortune.
Within this unfolding scenario is a box of jewelry that is intricately (well
sort on intricately) worked into the plot and really belongs to Constance.
It also seems that Marlow has a psychological
aversion to courting well mannered ladies but feels
completely at ease and sexually attracted to common women. He is unable to look
at elegant Kate, his potential wife, but is fascinated by Kate whom he thinks
is a barmaid at the “Inn.” This is the origin of the play’s title.
She will go along with this charade as “she stoops to conquer”
Marlow.
All these entanglements get untangled with an
obligatory restoration comedy scene involving those who need to know hiding
behind a screen hearing the real truth. Roy and Mirkovich
are two handsome gentlemen who handle the tricky dialog with professional skill
matching the fine acting of Jocelyn Roddie and Kushi Beauchamp, the objects of their affection.
Kedar K. Adour, MD
“Pleasure is pleasure”
Word for Word
Presents
“Sorry Fugu” by T.C. Boyle and
“Enough” by Alice McDermott
Directed by John Fisher
Word for
Word Performing Arts Company, Z SPACE at Theatre Artaud,
450 Florida Street, (Near 16th Street BART), San Francisco. (800) 838-3006 or www.brownpapertickets.com.
Through
February 4, 2012.
FOOD
STORIES at Word for Word a feast of the senses.
The name of the theatrical group
“Word for Word” is so much more than an expanded Reader’s
Theatre. Yes, in true Reader’s Theatre manner, they use all the words on
the printed page including “he/she said” “she showed complete
dismay” etc. but this fantastic performance ensemble is so creative one
does not want the evening to end. They take word for word concept further by
acting out the story and adding theatrical staging without changing the
interpretation. Their productions of the Tobias Wolff stories are unforgettable
and there has always been a sense of expectation and trepidation when attending
every opening since then.
Trepidations were dispensed with
and expectations were met on opening night of Food Stories being given a fun, thoughtful and should not be missed
staging on the voluminous Theatre Artaud stage with
the action taking place within a few feet of the first row. They have brought
aboard John Fisher, artistic director of the Rhino Theatre, to direct and
gathered an ensemble that work together with precision each being
individualistic characters in a symbiotic whole.
In the first offering, Sorry Fugu by
T.C. Boyle is set in a restaurant kitchen and dining room, and Alice
McDermott's New Yorker story Enough, brings to
life one woman’s sensual relationship with food that carries over into
social/sexual life cycle. Both are more than appropriate for the plethora of
food groupies that populate the narcissistic world of San Francisco. Be assured
there is no necessity to be a “foodie” to be smitten by the on
stage shenanigans.
Have you ever wondered about the
personalities of restaurant critics and the effect of their reviews on chefs
who own their establishments? Wonder no more. T.C. Boyle has created Chef
Albert D’Angelo (a multitalented Soren Oliver), his faithful assistant and paramour Marie
(the one and only Delia MacDougal) and a staff with personal traits that all
will recognize. With the exception of Oliver and MacDougal the other four cast
members double in 20 distinctly different characters. To mention a few of them,
they include a bitchy sexy critic Willa Frank(the gorgeous Molly Benson) her
kindly co-worker (Patricia Silver), a self-proclaimed food expert called
“The Palate” (Gendell Hernandez), a
waiter Eduardo (Rudy Guerrero), and proverbial non-English speaking Mexican
dish washers.
The story takes place in
mid-1980s Los Angeles and revolves around the anticipation of three visits and
the arrival of the tough restaurant reviewer. The hectic kitchen activities and
responses in the dining room are brilliantly staged by Fisher and acted by the
cast. Set Designer Mikiko Uesugi
has created a full professional stainless steel kitchen and a moveable swinging
door frame that seamlessly moves the action form the work space to the dining
room. The denouement will have you chuckling throughout the 15 minute
intermission in preparation of an entirely different switch on food and its
life consequences.
In Enough Delia MacDougal and Patricia Silver have the honor of being
the ones without character changes. MacDougal plays
the younger woman with an insatiable lust for ice cream and Silver the older
woman who compounds that lust into a life time of social/sexual behavior well
into her 90s insisting that “pleasure is pleasure” no matter where
in originates.
The ensemble cast is incredibly skilled,
talented, clever, with perfect timing, often outrageously funny and handle
Fisher’s energetic directions without missing a beat. Sorry Fugu
runs about 45 minutes Enough about 30 minutes. The evening is a
feast of the senses.
Kedar K. Adour, MD
GHOST LIGHT: Drama
By Tony Taccone
Directed by
Jonathan Moscone
Berkeley Repertory's Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. (510)
647-2949 or www.berkeleyrep.org.
Through
February 19, 2012
GHOST LIGHT at Berkeley Rep is opaque and abstruse
Having missed the world premiere of Ghost Light , a combined production by
Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) and Berkeley Rep as part of “American
Revolutions : The United States History Cycle“, a special trip to the Bay
Area was undertaken from Palm Springs to see the play. The trip was not
rewarding, the production confusing and fragmented giving a strong feeling of
being a “play in progress.”
Ghost Light is the inspiration of two celebrated Bay Area Artistic directors,
Berkeley Rep’s Tony Taccone and California
Shakespeare Company’s (CalShakes) Jonathan Moscone. In November 1978, a week after the murder of
Congressman Leo Ryan and the mass suicide of the People’s Temple at Jonestown,
San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and gay Supervisor
Harvey Milk were assassinated by homophobic Dan White. It caused a cataclysmic
outcry from the gay community and apparently a long lasting internal conflict
within Moscone’s 14 year old son Jonathan.
Using that as its postulate the author weaves a convoluted a bizarre tale of
father and son relationship through actual fact, added fiction and physical
non-ghostly apparitions.
The over dramatized assumption is that young
Jonathan (hereby referred to as Jon) showed early signs of emotional trauma
when he refused to leave the coffin of his slain father. Jon carries this
turmoil over into his adult life as a director when he struggles to stage the
Ghost scene in Hamlet. (As a
side note, CalShakes is mounting Hamlet at the Bruns amphitheater as part of their 2012 season)
The first act is composite series of real actions and unconscious dream
ramblings accentuating not only Jon’s inner demons/turmoil but also the
actual turmoil his screwed up psyche induces in those around him. The battles
within him are hardly that of good and evil, rather the battle of mind over
matter in deciding his future personae.
As written, and under Moscone’s
direction, Jon’s character as an adult stage director takes a verbal
/visceral beating from the overly gay gyrations of actor Christopher Liam
Moore. Those overlong scenes emphasizing Jon’s fixation on the Ghost
father in Hamlet in ineffectivel and beats to a pulp the obvious metaphor of
living in the shadow of his dead father. There is a metaphoric reference to
"ghost light" being the single bulb stand used to illuminate a bare
stage. Taccone is listed as the author (in
collaboration with Moscone) and the writing shows the
weaknesses of a first play and surely will be revised. The scenes involving
teenage Jon (Tyler James Myers) and imaginary lover (the hunky Danforth Comins) are well handled. The dream (ghosts) antagonists
played by Peter Macon and Bill Geisslenger do not add
depth and are actually confusing.
Berkeley Rep has had a string of fantastically
successful home grown and imported productions. Their quality production values
are legion and once in a while they do “deserve” a faux pas.
Running time is 2 hours and 40 minutes but it seems longer.
Kedar K. Adour, MD
THEATRE OPENINGS JANUARY 2012 IN THE SAN
FRANCISCO BAY AREA:
January 4 – February 1: THE
TWO CHARACTER PLAY by Tennessee Williams. Directed by
John Fisher. Theatre Rhinoceros Presents at the
Eureka Theatre, 215 Jackson Street, between Front & Battery, SF, CA 94111
Box office: www.TheRhino.org.
1-800-838-3006 (24-hour ticket Hotline). Tennessee Williams as you've never
seen him. The Two-Character Play is his scintillating study of sex, madness,
theatre and the ghosts that haunt all artists. Williams called The
Two-Character Play his favorite work, his most auto-biographical and his most
terrifying.
January 6 to 22 :
THE
39 STEPS, Adapted by Patrick Barlow. From the Novel
by John Buchan, based on the film by Alfred Hitchcock. Directed by Craig A. Miller. 6th Street Playhouse, Studio
Theatre, 52 West 6th Street, Santa Rosa, Calif. 95401. Action-packed,
comical version of the famous Hitchcock film with four actors playing all the
roles.
January 11 – February 13: GHOST
LIGHT conceived and developed by Jonathan Moscone
and Tony Taccone. Written by Tony Taccone. Directed by Jonathan Moscone. Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s Thrust
Stage, 2025 Addison Street, Berkeley, CA 94704
January 12 – February 5: DOUBLE
INDEMNITY. By James M. Cain. Adapted for the stage by David Pichette
& R. Hamilton Wright. Co-production with ACT - A
Contemporary Theatre, Seattle. Kurt Beattie (Director), San Jose Repertory
Theatre, 101 Paseo de San Antonio, San Jose.
408.367.7255 or online: www.sjrep.com.
January 12 – February 5, 2012. HUMOR ABUSE. Created by Lorenzo Pisoni and Erica Schmidt, Directed by Erica Schmidt.
A.C.T., 415 Geary Street, San Francisco, CA 94108. 415.749.2228 or online at www.act-sf.org. In this hilarious
stage memoir filled with stupendous physical feats, Pisoni
takes us under the big top with the incredible true story of growing up as the
youngest member of San Francisco's Pickle Family Circus. Celebrating the
complicated, no-holds-barred life of a performer, Pisoni
shows off the tricks of the trade he learned from his father, Pickle cofounder
Larry Pisoni. A hilarious and heartfelt event that
will delight audiences of all ages, Humor Abuse dazzles with unforgettable
stories and mesmerizing routines—all performed by the "one-man
whirlwind." Presented in association with Seattle Repertory Theatre
January 13 - February 11: LITTLE
BROTHER, adapted by Josh Costello from Cory Doctorow’s New York
Times best-selling novel. Custom Made Theatre Company Stages World Premiere,
Custom Made’s home, the Gough Street Playhouse,
1620 Gough Street (at Bush) in San Francisco. Little
Brother has been compared to Orwell’s 1984 and Huxley’s Brave New
World for its warnings of a society controlled by a strangling bureaucracy. At
the same time, it is a “techie love story” with youthful romance
set against a world which forces the first-time.
January13 to February 5: DROWSY
CHAPERONE. Music and Lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg
Morrison. Book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar. Directed by Gene Abravaya. Musical direction by Janis Wilson. 6th Street Playhouse, 52
W. 6th Street, Santa Rosa. What happens when a lonely man has a love affair
with his favorite Broadway musical? "The Drowsy Chaperone," a
classic, jazz-age musical-comedy and all its hilarious characters come to life
in his living room. The Tony awarding-winning Broadway hit "The Drowsy
Chaperone" is the ultimate love letter to musical theater as it delights
with pure escapism when a man's vivid imagination transforms his drab apartment
into a glittering showcase of show stopping singing and dancing,
January
18 - December 2: XANADU book by Douglas Carter Beane. Music and Lyrics by Jeff
Lynne and John Farrar. The New Conservatory Theatre Center
(Decker Theatre), located at 25 Van Ness Ave. near Market St. in San Francisco.
(415) 861-8972, or online at www.nctcsf.org. Based on the 1980
cult classic film, Xanadu is the story of a
beautiful Greek Muse named Clio who descends from Mt. Olympus to inspire
struggling Sonny, a struggling artist. This musical spoof of the 1980 film is
full of tongue-in-cheek banter, laughable villains, roller-skating divas, and
comical spectacles that will have you singing and dancing through 80’s
nostalgia.
January 18—February 12: THE
PITMEN PAINTERS, By Lee Hall, Directed by Leslie Martinson. TheatreWorks,
Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. Phone: 650.463.1960, boxoffice@theatreworks.org. West Coast Premiere. Six spirited 1930s miners take up
painting and become sensations of the British art world in this funny,
exhilarating tale from the author of Billy Elliot.
January 24 - March 10: BECKY SHAW. Regional Premiere. by Gina Gionfriddo Directed by Amy Glazer. SF
Playhouse, 533 Sutter St., SF 94102. 415.677-9597 or www.sfplayhouse.org.
From their first blind date, which includes an unscheduled visit to the police
station, this couple, along with the newlyweds who set them up, surprise us
–and themselves– in a comedy thriller The New York Times called
“as engrossing as it is ferociously funny, like a big box of fireworks
fizzing and crackling across the stage!”. This
play asks what we owe the people we love the most and the strangers who land on
our doorstep. A 2009 Pulitzer Prize finalist.
January 27 - March 4: BODY AWARENESS. By Annie Baker. Directed by Joy
Carlin. Aurora Theatre Company, 2081 Addison Street,
Berkeley. (510) 843-4822 or www.auroratheatre.org.
It's "Body Awareness Week" on a small Vermont college campus and
feminist professor Phyllis and her partner, Joyce, are hosting a male guest
artist who specializes in female nude photographs. The couple is already
struggling as they try to counsel each other.
January 28 – February 25 ARMS
AND THE MAN by George Bernard Shaw. Directed by Nancy
Carlin. Center REPertory Company, 1601 Civic
Drive, Walnut Creek, CA 94596-4299. 925-295-1413 or www.centerREP.org.
Arms and the Man is a charming tale of romance going awry with unexpected
turns, mistaken identities and of course, the author's always surprising
opinions - on war and marriage, and everything else!
FEBRUARY 2012 THEATRE OPENINGS IN THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY
AREA:
January 24 -
March 10: BECKY SHAW. Regional
Premiere. by Gina Gionfriddo
Directed by Amy Glazer. SF Playhouse, 533 Sutter St., SF
94102. 415.677-9597 or www.sfplayhouse.org. From their first blind date, which
includes an unscheduled visit to the police station, this couple, along with
the newlyweds who set them up, surprise us –and themselves– in a
comedy thriller The New York Times called “as engrossing as it is
ferociously funny, like a big box of fireworks fizzing and crackling across the
stage!”. This play asks what we owe the people
we love the most and the strangers who land on our doorstep. A
2009 Pulitzer Prize finalist.
January 27 -
March 4: BODY
AWARENESS. By Annie Baker. Directed by Joy Carlin. Aurora Theatre
Company, 2081 Addison Street, Berkeley. (510) 843-4822
or www.auroratheatre.org. It's "Body Awareness Week" on a
small Vermont college campus and feminist professor Phyllis and her partner,
Joyce, are hosting a male guest artist who specializes in female nude
photographs. The couple is already struggling as they try to counsel each
other.
January 28 – February 25 ARMS AND THE MAN by George Bernard
Shaw. Directed by Nancy Carlin. Center REPertory
Company, 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek, CA 94596-4299. 925-295-1413
or www.centerREP.org.
Arms and the Man is a charming tale of romance going awry with unexpected
turns, mistaken identities and of course, the author's always surprising
opinions - on war and marriage, and everything else!
February 1 – March 25: JESUS
IN INDIA by Lloyd Suh. Directed by Daniella Topol.
Three years after his hit play, American Hwangap,
Lloyd Suh is back with a contemporary take on the
lost years of Jesus Christ. Teenaged and wayward, Jesus of Nazareth journeys to
the East with his friend, Abigail of Galilee, toward a spiritual haven full of
Maharajas, punk rock, and some really good weed. Magic
Theatre, Bldg D, Fort Mason Center, SF. (415)
441-8822 or at magictheatre.org.
February 2 – 26: A STEADY RAIN.|
West Coast Premiere. By Keith Huff. Directed
by Meredith McDonough. Denny and Joey are two of Chicago’s
less-than-finest – one’s a racist bully, the other, a spineless
drunk. In this uncompromising neo-noir crime drama, the two beat cops confess
to the misdeeds and mistakes that have tipped their lives into violent chaos.
After a bitter street hustler gets shaken down one too many times, Denny and
Joey’s lifelong friendship, their badges and Denny’s family all
come under fire. Playwright Keith Huff won the 2008 Jeff Award for Best New
Work for his exploration of the complex relationship between these two deeply
flawed men. Finally playing on the West Coast, this lurid national hit will
have you holding your breath with its in-your-face storytelling. Marin Theatre
Company (MTC) 397 Miller Avenue, Mill Valley, CA 94941. (415)
388-5208 or at marintheatre.org.
February 10 – March 14: BAREFOOR
IN THE PARK
by Neil Simon. Director Dennis Markam. It is 1963 and
Corie and Paul are settling into their new married
life in a tiny apartment in Manhattan. Sounds simple enough, but Neil Simon
takes the simplistic and brilliantly weaves in an eccentric neighbor, a
meddling mother, and plenty of laughs to create one of theatre’s sweetest
and funniest romantic comedies. Contra Costa Civic Theatre is located at 951
Pomona Avenue (at Moeser). www.ccct.org or
510-524-9132.
February 10 – 25: LEGALLY BLONDE, THE MUSICAL, Diablo Theatre Company,
WHERE: Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Drive,
Walnut Creek (925) 943-7469 ; www.lesherartscenter.org, www.diablotheatre.org
February 14-March
3: 52 Man Pick Up Written & Performed by Desiree Burch.
Directed by Isaac Byrne. Regional
Premiere. Masterfully mixing lush language, bold presence, razor wit and
epic perspective, Desiree Burch presents a salacious evening of storytelling
about sex and the city that
never sleeps...with the same person twice. With an intimate encounter for every
card in the deck, Burch invites audience members to help her “go
fish” through these “sometimes raunchy… sometimes funny…
always honest. Brava Theater, 2781 24th St (at York), San
Francisco, CA 94110. 415-647-2822 / www.brava.org
February 15 -
March 25: A DOCTOR IN SPITE OF HIMSELF. Written by
Molière. Adapted by Steven Epp
and Christopher Bayes. Directed by Christopher Bayes.
Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s Roda
Theatre. 2015 Addison Street, Berkeley, CA 94704. (510)
647-2949 or visit berkeleyrep.org.
******************************************************************************************************************
(kindly provided by Ruth Smerling
PLEASE
NOTE: Ruth has certain Chicago Theatre reviews archived
She
may be contacted by e-mail at the following address:
Reelgodess@aol.com
*************************************
Reviews from Chicago are:
People buy new clothes to see a
David Mamet play. After a Mamet play closes, the next play is highly
anticipated. People rush to Google and Wikipedia every chance they get to find
out what Mamet is up to. David Mamet is an icon. He’s inspired
generations of actors, playwrights and people on line at the supermarket quote
his works. What’s wrong with me? I just do not get David Mamet. Every
time I watch a Mamet play I feel like I’ve walked in in the middle and
have missed some vital piece of information. I never catch up. I never catch
on. I always feel out of the loop. I have never had the earthshaking Mamet buzz
everyone else knows.
Fortunately for Mamet and his
theatergoing fans, I’m in a class by myself. The rest of the world oohs, aahs and waits in long lines
for Mamet shows. They come out raving about the clever technique he uses when
revealing a tawdry situation. They get something out of a Mamet play that that
becomes their next heartbeat. Maybe my lack of admiration it has something to
do with what Mamet himself told the Village Voice in an interview in 2008
“I do not think that people are basically good at heart. “ Mamet
says “That view of human nature has both prompted and informed my writing
for the last 40 years. I think that people, in circumstances of stress, can
behave like swine; this, indeed, is not only a fit subject, but the only
subject, of drama.” I see the world through rose colored glasses. Mamet
just fogs them up for me!
Race, directed by Chuck Smith, now on
stage at the Goodman is meeting critical acclaim and incredible enthusiasm.
Director Chuck Smith says “Race,
to me, is the most in-your-face play that I’ve dealt with on the subject
of race in America, and David Mamet does it in an intriguing and effective way
– sharp, precise, right to the point. There are uncomfortable questions
raised in this play, but I think it’s every theatre’s job to address contemporary issues and mirror
our society. Race carries on a conversation that is essential to us
individually and collectively.”
Race opens in the prestigious office
of two lawyers, Henry (Geoffrey Owens) who is black and Jack (Marc Grapey) who
is white. They are right in the middle of a consultation with a prominent white
client, Charles (Patrick Clear) who is charged with the rape of an African
American woman. Charles insists that what he has was consensual sex because he
and the woman were in love. The lawyers accept the case, despite the problems
it will case with the help of their new associate, Susan (Tamerla
Perry) a young Ivy-Leave educated black attorney. Through a series of
one-liners and questions skirting the sensitive issues, the lawyers try to
build a case, deciding how they will manipulate the press to make their client
look as pristine and respectable as possible, while trying to harness their own
prejudices, soon realizing that nothing has ever prepared them for the scope of
this land mine of a case.
Marc Grapey,
is the fast-talking, matter of fact dynamo, Jack. Grapey, a young actor with
enough warmth to sell snowballs to Eskimos makes the story engaging and amusing
for the first 15 minutes. Soon it becomes crystal clear that the more these
people talk, the less they have to base a case on. They have to present details
and circumstances in a way that will not only work for a jury, but will be
palatable in their own minds. Their defense is so flimsy that even their
assistant needs to poke holes in it. Race
flays a societal wound, but fails to leave anyone bolted to their seat in
guilt, shame or horror. Despite a chorus of bravos and a standing ovation, Race is just another Mamet muddle for
me.
Race is approximately 90 minutes with
one intermission and runs through February 19 at the Goodman’s Albert
Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn. Phone 312-443-3800 for tickets and information or
visit www.goodmantheatre.org.
Over the last few years, the
Court Theatre has gone to great lengths to become a major force in American
Theatre, choosing talented and imaginative actors and directors, creating
memorable, strategic sets and costumes and utilizing rich, quality stories.
Court Theatre Artistic Director Charles Newell and Executive Director Stephen
J. Albert have taken the Court to an even higher level, presenting the world
premiere stage adaptation of Ralph Ellison’s groundbreaking and stirring
novel Invisible Man, adapted for
stage for the first time by Oscar nominated filmmaker Oren Jacoby and directed
by founding Classical Theatre of Harlem artistic director Christopher McElroen.
When the curtain comes up on Invisible Man there is what looks like a
million lightbulbs hanging from the ceiling. Just as
you appreciate the artistic quality of this luminous array, enter an anonymous,
young black man (Teagle F. Bougere).
He proceeds to introduce himself and explains that he lives in a small part of
a basement, in a building exclusively populated by whites. He has collected
this huge number of lightbulbs so that light is shed
all the time and nothing slips past him. He is not like “you”, the
rest of the population, people who think he is invisible. He is someone who may
assault you on the street and do great harm to you, yet you think he is
invisible. Just someone far away or someone you read about. Ralph
Ellison’s spooky monologue penetrates every nerve ending to get readers
to pay attention, and it works for me.
Soon our protagonist explains
that this tiny basement residence and lightbulb hobby
was not his goal, but rather what he ended up with through a series of
misunderstandings, betrayals and just getting involved with the wrong people.
Through Alex Koch’s exciting projection design we follow him back when he
started out as a talented speaker, at the top of his high school class. He was
awarded a scholarship from a Southern all-Negro college. With a letter of
recommendation he comes to Harlem to find that his credentials are worthless in
the white world. The man who signed the letter had later said he disgraced the
school. From there he finds a job in a paint factory being threatened by a
labor union. He has no stable ground to stand on until he meets someone who
wants to make him a labor leader spokesperson. It’s only a matter of time
before he sees the duplicity of his new mentor and rolls on to the next
disappointment and disaster.
As he recounts his story, he is
cultured, sophisticated, well groomed, but stripped of everything by white
bigots. Bill McGough and Lance Stuart Baker quickly
change character in nearly every scene playing the powerful men that have
exploited and deceived him. They share the quick change dressing space with Kenn E. Head who plays all the characters from his true
world, where he is family, friend and cohort. When the journey comes to an end
he realizes that the American Dream he was trying to pursue is for someone
else. He basks in the light of his knowledge in a tiny corner of the world.
Invisible Man is a
work of intellect and poetry and a thrilling tale of struggle and survival in a
dangerous and devious world. Adaptor Oren Jacoby says “Invisible Man has thrived for a long time
as an American Classic. So long perhaps, that some of the timeless insights
about the search for identity is now taken for granted.” He says
“This is an opportunity to adapt this work for a 21st century
audience so that they can be startled from their sleep by Ellison’s
troubling revelations.”
Invisible Man runs
through February 19 at the Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis. Phone 773-753-4472 or
visit www.CourtTheatre.org
for tickets and information.
A Red Orchid
ensemble member Brett Neveu has combined the ultimate
– apocalyptic vision with high energy comedy in Megacosm,
directed by Dado.
“Megacosm is a comedy about chaos, humanity and new product
development” says playwright and A Red Orchid ensemble member Brett Neveu about his latest work. “Megacosm
will make you laugh out loud, both in horror and joy” says A Red Orchid
Artistic Director Kristin Fitzgerald.
Larry Grimm is
Chris, a meek scientist who has discovered a way to change the world. On the
advice of a neighbor, he brings his project to Britt, a pioneer in the
scientific industry who will definitely be interested. Danny McCarthy is Britt.
Britt is fast talking, has the attention span of a tiny insect but is extremely
likeable. It takes Chris a while to demonstrate his project because Britt is
always forced outside to stop a revolt against previous projects his company
has implemented. Britt comes back in, blood stained and disheveled and wants to
pick up where they left off.
In order to
work for Britt, a person has to be as dedicated as his right hand man, Sam (David Steiger) a man
exposed to God knows what, leaving him covered with tumors and in permanent ill
health. Britt himself has sacrificed three fingers. Just as Britt lays the plan
out for Chris he has to leave again. Chris is now about to wet his pants when
Sam, drops the limp and wheezing and goes into greed mode and tries to take
Chris’ project for himself.
Larry Grimm is
hilarious as Chris a man who’s ground keeps
crumbling underneath him, reducing him to a quivering mass, constantly looking
for an escape hatch. Danny McCarthy is all adrenaline as Britt, charming and charismatic, you almost forget what a sleazebag he is. The
great surprise of Megacosm is at the end with the
entrance of America’s next child star sensation, Eden Strong, a
revolutionary who threatens everyone in the room.
Megacosm is
probably best enjoyed after a couple of beers. It’s zany, scary and
ultimately outrageous. Brett Neveu never claims to be
a scientific expert, so much of the transaction
between Chris and Britt is vague. There are no outrageous scientific concepts
to alienate the audience, but at times the action is a little confusing. Still,
Megacosm is a fun show with a lot of energy and some
great gags, and a palatable context for extreme paranoia.
Megacosm runs through February 26 at A Red Orchid Theatre, 1531 N. Wells Street, phone 312-943-8722 or visit www.aredorchidtheatre.org for tickets and information.
If you’ve ever had the feeling
that you would have liked to have been a fly on the wall of an important
person’s chambers, the Lookingglass Theatre
will be happy to give you your chance. Mr.
Rickey Calls a Meeting, written by Ed Schmidt and directed by ensemble
member J. Nicole Brooks recalls a meeting between Brooklyn Dodgers general
manager, Branch Rickey and baseball legend Jackie Robinson who, on April 9,
1947, one week before opening day of baseball season, arrange a deal that opens
doors to an industry previously dominated by all white baseball teams.
Chicago treasure and legend Larry
Neumann, Jr. is Branch Rickey, a man who has a dream of making baseball the
national pastime for every American, regardless of race, starting with one of
the world’s greatest athletes, Jackie Robinson (Javon
Johnson). They meet in secret in a hotel, suspiciously populated by sports
reporters. Joining them to seal the deal are boxing champion Joe Louis (Anthony
Fleming III), activist and actor/singer Paul Robeson (James Meredith) and Bill
“Bojangles” Robinson (Ernest Perry). No
one is allowed into the room except the bell hop, Clancy Hope (Kevin Douglas),
who cannot believe his eyes when he realizes who he’s serving tray after
tray of cherry cokes.
As the gentlemen assemble, Rickey
works to get their support and endorsement for his controversial move. Neumann
recreates the same fervor and conviction we saw a few years back in The
Cider House Rules. He pulls no punches making a convincing argument in
favor of having Robinson join the team, and begs these moguls and role models
to understand that Robinson must follow a rigid path for the next few years, so
that people can gradually come to accept more and more talented athletes of
color. All three of the men warn Robinson that no matter how sincere Rickey is,
he still has to deal with the harsh realities of racism and inequality held
dear by the society at large. Well known Shakespearean James Meredith as the
eloquent and dashing Paul Robeson proffers the strongest warning, raising spine
tingling doubt and almost quashing the whole deal.
He may have gotten away with it
if not for the opposite extreme, Ernest Perry’s Bojangles
Robinson, who has invested money in other sports ventures, is all good faith
and wisecracks until pushed by Robeson to the point of actually pulling a gun.
Anthony Fleming III, a longtime Lookingglass ensemble
member and always an intense and exciting actor, surpasses all previous
performances as the once invincible but now bitter, depressed and hard drinking
Joe Louis, the retired boxer who has very little interest in anything more, and
could care less about the fate of American sports.
Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting relives a great but challenging moment in history
that seemed to be made of flimsy cloth loosely sewn together. The performances
are electric and keep you ever on the edge of your seat. None of these people
leaves the meeting at peace, or in a fond embrace, yet at that moment, in that
room beautifully crafted by scenic designer Sibyl Wickersheimer,
the entire world of sports was changed forever.
Mr. Rickey Calls a Meeting is definitely worth the trip downtown. Tickets are
available by visiting www.lookingglass.org
or by phoning 312-337-0665. The Lookingglass Theatre
Box Office is located inside Chicago’s historic Water Tower Water Works,
821 N. Michigan Avenue at Pearson. Play Ball!
GET TICKETS TO CASCABEL! As you
read this review, people from all over the globe are in line (even today, a day
snowed under!) waiting to get into Frontera Grill,
one of Chef and anthropologist Rick Bayless’
famous Mexican restaurants. Bayless has collaborated
with the Lookingglass to present Cascabel,
a love story combining excellent theatre with great cuisine. Tickets are on
sale and going fast, the extremely limited engagement spans four weeks –
March 21 through April 22.
Some of the most memorable
theatrical works involve snow. Many years ago, when the Chicago Shakespeare
Theatre performed at the Ruth Page Theatre on Dearborn, the beautifully lit
production of A Winter’s Tale
finished with the lightest dusting of snow falling on the actors at night. The
effect was enough to wring tears out of the crustiest audience member, a
breathtaking, beautiful sight. A few years ago The Writer’s Theatre in
Glencoe performed William Inge’s Bus Stop, starring Bill Brown. When the
stranded passengers tried to make the best of their situation in the warmth of
a tiny truck stop, the stage mounded up with the glow of postcard pretty snow.
Chicago Dramatists’s resident playwright and
Julie Harris Playwrighting Award winner joins the
ranks of the most celebrated playwrights with another snowfall, Blizzard ’67, under the direction
of Artistic Director Russ Tutterow, set right here in
Chicago’s loop, chronicling a day in the life of four ordinary men
suddenly forced to battle the cruelty of nature during one of the worst storms
in the history of Chicago, January, 1967, leaving the city helpless and shut
down for days.
The story unfolds with all the
graphic detail and panic a ’67 blizzard survivor would have. Everything
begins in an office in Chicago where four businessmen are hard at work on just
another day. They have an inkling that snow is coming, but they don’t
panic, they have work to do. John Gawlik is Landfield, a frustrated man who has a pretty stiff neck
from looking over his shoulder, believing he’s the target of some
corporate conspiracy to undermine him. He shares his suspicion with Emery (Andy
Lutz), a younger man struggling to find his own place in the company. They
carpool with Bell (Andy Hagar) and Henkin (Stephen
Spencer), two more average guys, trying to do their jobs, make ends meet and
not be too conspicuous. When the snow starts to pound down relentlessly, they
all get into the car and drive home. On the way, stuck in the
snow, the car stalls. There’s no visibility, just whirling snow
and wind. Landfield, agitated over something he
thinks may have happened at work suddenly fears the men in the car. He loses
his temper and storms out into the night. The rest of the men are left to pray
that they get home safely and that Landfield will
turn up soon.
Each actor, accompanied by
projections of actual pictures taken during the ’67 blizzard narrates a
segment of the story. Pictures of blocks and blocks of stranded cars and buried
Chicago streets give the story breed terror. The trials and tribulations of the
men trying to find their way out of the storm are fueled with equal parts of
comedy and anxiety. Blizzard ’67
is a perilous journey and a brilliant way to relive an historic city of Chicago
moment questioning what is important and what is worth living for, looking at
the lives of four people who may have set their priorities in the wrong place. Gawlik, Lutz, Hagar and Spencer are all studied actors with
finely honed comic sensibility, and know how to ease the tension with a few
laughs subtly folded in.
Blizzard ’67 runs
through February 12 at Chicago Dramatists, a few minutes from the Loop at 1105
W. Chicago Avenue. Tickets can be obtained by visiting www.chicagodramatists.org.
Definitely put this one on the must see list.
A Red Orchid Theatre introduced
Chicago to playwright Irish playwright Enda Walsh
with The New Electric Ballroom, a
creepy tale of three sisters relive a near romantic encounter like a frame out
of Ground Hog Day for an hour and a
half. The costumes and the characters were spectacular, but the monotony was
paralyzing.
Nevertheless, in his operatic
beginning of each play, Walsh has some of the same genius as celebrated playwright
Edward Albee, but at this point, still needs to dive deeper to get to the
extent of Albee’s accomplished. That may be what he was trying to do when
he wrote Penelope.
Based on Homer’s epic The Odyssey, Penelope is the matron who
waits and waits and waits and waits for her husband to return from war. She
remains buttressed in her home, but she is alone by choice. Just below are
legions of soldiers who all want her hand. Walsh comes in at a point in her
sojourn when only four soldiers remain. They are headquartered in an empty
swimming pool below her and each take turns trying to win her over.
Ensemble member Amy Morton
returns to the helm. Pulitzer prize-winner Tracy Letts is Fitz, a scholar who
tries to get to Penelope with poetry promises. Letts is filling in for John
Mahoney who was called away on an emergency and deserves double applause for
learning his lines so quickly and creating a character so credible. At a
glance, it seems like he may have some competition from Dunne played by the critically
acclaimed Scott Jaeck. Then Jaeck
disrobes and Fitz is back in the running.
Jaeck, a dedicated and very handsome actor has bulked up
Raging Bull Robert DeNiro style for the role. Dunne is happy-go-lucky and
complacent but would think nothing of cutting someone’s heart out. Burns
(Ian Barford) is the youngest of the bunch and his
affection seems the least aroused. By this time, Penelope, played by the very
beautiful Logan Vaughn, is no spring chicken. His aggressive behavior is geared
more toward the happy hour they have everyday. The
aggressive award goes to the charismatic Yasen Payenkov as Quinn, who not only plans on winning
Penelope’s hand, he works to eradicate the thought of all other men from
her mind. His determination makes him a front runner, and he has no idea where
how his competition will reveal itself.
Just like Edward Albee’s
shady characters quarantined in all the trappings of respectability, like the
home in the suburbs, the good paying jobs and all the top shelf liquor they can
drink, Walsh envelopes his characters in an invisible bubble. These men are
warriors growing fat and old. They are patient but ready to snap into battle at
the slightest hint of movement, but they never really have to go anyplace. They
just think about what they would do if they had the chance.
There is tremendous profundity in
Enda Walsh’s work but only for a good 20
minutes. After that thoughts of things like a load of laundry and a pot roast
that needs defrosting start to flood in. Walsh needs to imbue his characters
with a little more strength, then even if they try and
fail against their oppressors, they will have put up a good fight. His folks
are a little mushy.
Penelope is the still an early work in Walsh’s
career. The play is filled with symbolism, and good acting but a story that
starts out furiously strong but runs out of steam a little too early.
Penelope runs through February 5 at the Steppenwolf Theatre
main stage, 1650 N. Halsted. Phone 312-335-1650 or visit www.steepenwolf.org for tickets and information.
For
more details - email: GPowner@aol.com