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In Paris in the 1890s there was a popular music-hall performer called "Le Petomaine" who played tunes by passing gas. He was a huge star for about a decade.
The French Defense by Dimitri Raitzin is a fascinating look at a chess contest by then World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik (Robert J. D'Amato) and challenger Mikhail Tal (Daniel Hendricks Simon) in 1960. I'm not a chess player, but I was completely drawn into the drama of the contest between a champ and an annoying, insulting gadfly, and by the depth of the characterization by the actors, particularly D'Amato.
Another successful Actors Alliance Festival program begins with The Secret Royal Order of the Feminine Gender by James Caputo and produced and directed by Julie Clemmons, with Aja Oberlies-Rodrigues and Emma Shea.
The two stars, I am told, are ten years old. They are shopping for that something special at the local Salvation Army store. They talk "the talk", i.e. dating and boy swagger. They sing and dance. There is even a booming voice-over of mother. Aja and Emma are excellent; don't miss them.
Program Three of the Actors Alliance Festival was yet another success. On the Corner of Art and Solita Street, by Sandra Ruiz, with Bryant Hernandez directing. The cast includes Sylvia Enrique, Megan Fonseca, Larissa Garcia, John Harris, Sophia Kostas and Sandra Ruiz. It's Christmas at the Cortez family home. Mom is a beautiful woman with two lovely kids and, as usual, her husband is away on a "business trip." Her mother and father are there along with her sister, who apparently doesn't have the wealth experienced by her younger sister.
Program Four was one of the best of this year's crop of the Artists Festival. The Elixir of Genius written, produced and directed by George Soete, with Lori Pennington and Jonathan Sachs on stage. Soete captured the essence of the frustrations facing a fiction writer. Jake (Jonathan Sachs), a playwright, is slamming headlong into a major block. He immediately gets into a fight with his female protagonist, Laura (Lori Pennington). The rewrites don't work. She berates him, cajoles him, even becomes seductive. His block is monumental.
A Fare Ride written, produced, and directed by Matt Thompson with Colleen Kollar and Ted Reis sharing the stage. Kollar plays a stereotypical taxi jockey in any big city. She does everything her own way; that's her style, which includes singing, humming, as well as chewing and popping her bubble gum. She picks up a gun-toting bank robber wannabe (Ted Reis). What develops is a strange relationship. The taxi driver takes everything in stride as she tools down an L.A. freeway at 80 miles per hour. (I don't recall ever being on an L. A.
Ion Theater and InnerMission Productions has brought us David Ives' delightful, six-act, All in the Timing. First performed in 1996, the play has garnered acclaim as well as awards for its wit, intellect, satire and just plain fun. This production is no exception. Let's take a quick look at the six vignettes by this artful word master.
Bush is Bad is a first-class political satire that goes far beyond the obvious. The three highly talented performers -- Janet Dickinson, Neal Mayer, and Michael McCoy -- are comedians with strong musical voices and actors who can fully realize the many characters each plays. Janet as Condoleeza Rice is brilliant, including a riff on the piano.
Haley, like the title character in "Mildred Pierce" -- a film of which she constantly reminds us -- is a single mother who runs a successful NYC restaurant. Having divorced a druggie in her native Texas, she was never about to get near drug dealings or laundered money. Her place of business, though, is suspected in both. Police are always asking her questions. Until recently, she hasn't had time for dating. Now that she has, she's found it hardly worth the time it takes to choose the right outfit and particularly the perfect shoes to wear to a date.
Neil Simon's first play, Come Blow Your Horn, took three years to hone before it premiered on Broadway in 1961. Simon was already a successful writer, with his brother Danny, for radio and television shows. The play has aged well and certainly reflects some of the same values almost 50 years later (e.g., single men will be men, and their conquests will sooner or later change their ways). At OnStage Playhouse, the show makes for an enjoyable evening visiting a time past, a much simpler time than today.
Some shows, like Dames At Sea, can only be described as joyous. The George Haimsohn and Robin Miller musical, with Jim Wise's music, began as a short piece in 1962 at the Cafe Cino in New York City. It starred a 17-year-old newbie, Bernadette Peters. The creators were determined to fashion a big musical with only nine actors and succeeded admirably. Dames At Sea is an affectionate spoof on the Hollywood musicals of the 30s.
Perhaps a subtitle for Fiction should be "Or Fact?" Like playwright Steven Dietz, characters Linda and Michael Waterman are authors who keep us wondering what's true. Having met in a Paris cafe where their stimulating conversation (at least as remembered by Michael) led to a marriage of 20 years, both have successful careers. After early "dry" attempts at creating literature and a month at Drake Writers Colony, he became a best-selling novelist with annual movie adaptations.
Two and a half years ago, I wrote a rave review for David McBean's performance in the absolutely hilarious Becky Mode play, fully committed [sic]. It would be just too easy to go into my files and lift that earlier review. McBean stars as Sam, a reservation operator for a trendy Manhattan restaurant. Often these restaurants give one the impressing they are doing you a favor to reserve a table for you and then relieve you of $150 to $500 per person.
The spectacular opening of Disney's Tarzan takes us to another dimension: at sea, under sea, changing our perspective. Director/designer Bob Crowley, one of my very favorite designers in the world, outdoes himself with these visuals. After an uninspired song, we again get great physical action as the young Tarzan (a wonderful Alex Rutherford) is revealed.
And let the plays begin. It's summer in San Diego, and the 16th annual Actor's Festival is underway. (San Diego is fortunate to be the site of several short play festivals, which begin in the summer and run through the fall.) This festival opened with two very, very funny comedians: Travis Sentell and Phil Johnson. The entered stage center, seated themselves and began a dialogue as two reviewers of the Festival. They gave all of us reviewers a bad name, panning show titles, actors and the festival in general.
David Hare writes such good dialogue that he virtually dares his detractors not to appreciate his mostly disappointingly crafted plays. Amy's View is a case in point: annoyingly obvious in the point of view of its supposedly two-sided debates and typically depressing in its story of decline -- decline of the theater, decline of the economy, decline of the arts and appreciation of art, decline of the family, and, of course, decline of the British Empire. But it plays well and, despite having four acts, never tires.
You're invited to a borrowed Manhattan apartment to a prospective backers' preview of the world's most expensive musical: a history of the universe. So get there early and up-front for the cheese and crackers. Soon all the food -- as well as utensils, lampshades, drapes, clock, dishes, plants, pillows, ottoman, chairs -- will become props and costumes for frantic Gary Marachek and smooth Wayne LeGette to act and sing out scenes from "The Big Bang" (in darkness) to a not too enlightened "Twentieth Century."
Ion Theater's new space, World Stage, on 9th, puts them almost back-to-back with 10th Avenue Theater. A new downtown theater district? World Stage is a very welcoming facility complete with a roomy lobby and a modest-sized theater space with tiered seating providing great sight lines. Their opening offerings are definitely for the serious theater patron. A Tuesday-through- Sunday performance schedule alternates between two Samuel Beckett plays and one Ionesco play. There are a variety of curtain times, varying from 2:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Remember when one of the joys of being an actor was the opportunity to play characters of all kinds of social and ethnic backgrounds? In these politically-correct times, thanks in part to the brouhaha over Jonathan Pryce and Miss Saigon, that sort of opportunity is temporarily in abeyance. Thus we have this Class A staging of Evita, perhaps the most powerful and most likely to last of the Lloyd Webber musicals, in which the three principal characters are played by Latino actors.
Ten years ago this sure-fire crowd-pleaser was a huge hit at Geva Theater directed by Pamela Hunt with musical direction by Corinne Aquilina. Now with the addition of choreography by Mercedes Ellington, it promises to be an even bigger success. The music, mostly R&B and mostly by Louis Jordan, is mostly iresistible, and six gifted and charismatic artists perform the hell out of it.
In John B. Keane's The Field, strongly directed by Ciaran O'Reilly at the Irish Rep, an elemental battle in rural Ireland in 1964 pits a brutal cattle farmer, who needs the field for grazing and access to water, against and another man who needs the field so he can put in a quarry business (so that his sick wife can return to Ireland). It's the irresistible force meeting the immovable object; neither can compromise.
Despite our habit of slighting designers in discussing theatrical productions, I suspect that all reviewers will pay serious attention to the designs for this entirely glorious London Assurance -- Brian Bedford's first go at directing this madly stylish treasure of elegant Victorian farce. He has not only proven himself a master of such witty comedies but actually played this lead role triumphantly in an earlier Broadway production.
If you think this is a resurrection of the perhaps too "Big" musical that failed on Broadway in 1996, you're in for a pleasant surprise. You'll find this a satisfactorily simplified theatrical version of the movie that should bring out the fun-loving child in you.
All elements are in top form and work together in The Promethean Theater production of Blue/Orange: worthwhile play, direction with a vision, performances that deliver, and sound and light designs that set the stage, then get out of the way. TPT knows how to make an entrance: This is its first production as resident professional theater company at Nova Southeastern University.
Through the years, Cirque De Soleil's shows have grown in sophistication as they explore new themes in entertainment in which the human body goes beyond ordinary circus skills into unbelievable, thrilling dimensions full of surprises.
We know how to make some noise!" says one of the Southern church ladies who celebrate their traditional black women's "hattitude." Wearing these "crowns" takes them back in history to when their enslaved ancestors could congregate only in church. There, they honored the Lord by covering their heads with dignity and pride, a tradition that led to hats as signs of status. Stories connecting family histories to hats get told in scenes of gatherings for fellowships to funerals, mostly augmented by gospel music but also departures such as hip-hop. All noisy, indeed.
Patio Playhouse's production of The Diary of Anne Frank, under Jay Mower's direction, is given an appropriately stark design by Judy Conlon. The plainly painted four rooms and hall are on several levels, with suggestions of some walls, allowing for a variety of playing areas. This, along with Kat Perhach and George Daye's lighting design, provide for the many intimate scenes. This is the prison for two years of the Franks, Mr. Frank's business partner's family, the Van Daams, and Mr. Dussel, a dentist and friend of the family.
There was a time when many of us talked about a generation gap, but I never really experienced one until seeing and hearing Hedwig, a transgendered German expat and self-described "almost famous" rocker. Oh, I could appreciate the musicianship of his/her Angry Inch combo, the way s/he knocked about and still had breath control enough to elucidate sad autobiographical facts. But I found much of them boring.
Hot Feet, ultimately a rather good dance show conceived, directed and choreographed by Maurice Hines, throws us off by an over-zealous opening of dancers wigglin', jigglin', jumpin' and humpin' like really good cheerleaders with colorful Arabian Nights costumes (by Paul Tazewell). But a lot of it can be seen every weekend for free at Broadway and 50th Street. It takes a while for us to realize that they are doing a version of The Red Shoes and that there is a coherent show here.
I found the new vampire musical, Lestat, book by Linda Woolverton, music by Elton John, lyrics by Bernie Taupin, to be visually interesting (set by Derek McKean, lighting by Kenneth Posner, costumes by Susan Hilferty) but not engaging. They didn't know whether to be campy or serious, so they went serious, and the few laughs show that it might have worked if it took a different tack.
Could there be a more apt representation of the heights Tarzan reaches -- and the depths to which it swoops -- than the rope from which its titular teen swings? No sooner does Bob Crowley, the Disney musical's set designer, costume designer AND director, make a butterfly flutter through the air with the greatest of ease, than he nooses himself with poor blocking, hyper-stimulation and silly mistakes.
Domestic angst in Dublin. In Shining City by Conor McPherson, directed by Robert Falls, the actors (Brian F. O'Byrne, Oliver Platt, Martha Plimpton, Peter Scanavino) are all excellent, the set by Santo Loquasto, Christopher Akerlind's lighting, costumes by Kaye Voyce and the choice of music are all quite good, and they do properly fulfill the piece. But the play didn't engage me because of the ordinariness of its lengthy expositional passages. It's basically a long psychotherapy for Platt's character, in which he goes on and on in not-fascinating stories.
Richard Greenberg's Three Days of Rain, now on Broadway, is two plays. Act 1 in 1995 shows us the consequences of events in the early lives of three people, and Act 2 is 1960 and gives us the parents of the characters in Act 1. That's where we understand the references and what the title means.
The Wedding Singer, book by Chad Beguelin and Tim Herlihy, music by Matthew Sklar, lyrics by Chad Beguelin, starts us off with a big grin and the lively energy of a wedding party with jukes and joops and doodoops. It's all lots of fun -- a new Grease that works because all the elements come together with a great sense of humor and endless creativity. The magical quickly-transforming set by Scott Pask, lighting by Brian MacDevitt and super costumes by Gregory Gale fulfill the vision.
Clifford Odets' Awake and Sing, written in the depths of the depression in 1935, is full of stylized poetic phrases in the dialogue that are ripped from the gut and express the anguish of love, of poverty, of aspiration unfulfilled. The themes are as powerful (and sometimes funny) now as they were when Odets wrote them. However, this production, for me, is miscast and misdirected (by Bartlett Sher) with a lot of energy and lots of missteps including the wrong dog (what's a black poodle doing in the arms of these poor working-class people?
The proscenium of the Welk Theater is a huge barn entrance. The center offers a raised stage framed by another barn-like background, representing many of Patsy Cline's singing venues. To the right of the stage is a bar interior and to the left is Louise Seger's kitchen. We are entering into the land and history of Miss Cline and about to hear a retrospective of her best songs in Always...Patsy Cline.
Just as New York has its famed Performing Arts High School, so has Sarasota. Both have sent graduates on to careers in each's locale. This year, Sarasota's VPA Program at Booker High School has some "4s" who are likely candidates for success in college and/or arts venues.
If ever there were a perfect match between a production and its audience, it's FST's whirl Around the World in 80 Days. Against a backdrop mapping out the globe's two spheres, marvelously stiff-upper-lipped Phileas Fogg (Dan Matisa) races to win his bet with fellow 1872 Reform Club members to accomplish the play's titular feat. What complicates the journey further is a bank robbery that Detective Fix (Eric Hissom, a combined pseudo-Sherlock and bumbling Clouseau) aims to pin on Fogg.
The Royal Shakespeare Company production of Antony and Cleopatra is made dramatic and distinctive by a strong triumvirate of male performances topped by Patrick Stewart's electric Antony. Passionate, emotional, lusty and exuberant, this is quite a change from Stewart's cerebral roles in "Star Trek" and Arthur Miller's The Ride Down Mount Morgan. Yes, he has grey hair (as Shakespeare's text specifies), but his body is lean, and his movements are athletic.
Belle means beautiful. The name so aptly describes not only the heroine of Beauty and the Beast but also Heather Beirne, who portrays her and sings so beautifully in Golden Apple's enchanting production. Because the story's so well known, suspense lies in how it will unfold. Director Ben Turoff produces pleasure with every "pleat" -- from the posturing of Belle's unwanted suitor, conceited Gaston (boisterously bragging Stephen John Day), to the Beast learning to be a gentleman toward her and his servants.
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