Judy Richter

By Judy Richter

What does it take to be elected to Congress? To start with — money.

Money is undoubtedly the most important factor, but others stand in line, too. That’s what a promising young politician learns in Kenneth Lin’s “Warrior Class.” Presented by TheatreWorks, “Warrior Class” is a fascinating back room look at politics today.

The politician is Julius Weishan Lee (Pun Bandhu), an Asian American, New York assemblyman and decorated Marine veteran who’s viewed by some as the Republican Obama. An eloquent speech after the 9/11 attacks, in which his sister died, has thrust him into the spotlight. Now party operatives are looking into his background to make sure there are no red flags.

This vetting process is mainly undertaken by the savvy, smooth-talking Nathan Berkshire (Robert Sicular). All looks good until Nathan unearths information about unwise behavior toward a girlfriend when Julius was in college.

The ex-girlfriend, the wary Holly Eames (Delia MacDougall), contends that Julius’s behavior after their breakup caused her great mental anguish. Nathan tries to persuade her to keep quiet about the incident, but she keeps raising the stakes.

In the meantime, Nathan tries to steer Julius toward an Assembly committee that has the power to benefit one or more of the party’s major donors. Julius finally realizes that if he wants their backing, he must bow to the big money men.

In the meantime, it turns out that both Holly and Nathan have their own problems. No one looks all that great by the end of this two-act play, which runs just under two hours with intermission.

Director Leslie Martinson elicits outstanding performances from all three actors. The interchanges and conflicts between them ring true and intrigue the audience.

The action takes place in a Baltimore steak house and Julius’s home  in New York City. Erik Flatmo’s set, lit by Steven B. Mannshardt, easily accommodates the scene changes. The contemporary costumes are by Noah Marin with sound by Brendan Aanes.

The ending might leave some viewers looking for more resolution. However, it needs to be ambiguous because decisions need to be made now that all the dirt has been dished. Thus viewers are left to ponder what the characters will do after they’ve had more time to think. The main question is whether Julius will go along with the money men or stick to his principles.

One can easily imagine that many real politicians have faced, are facing or will face the same dilemma.

“Warrior Class” will continue through Nov. 3 at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St., Mountain View. For tickets and information call (650) 463-1960 or visit www.theatreworks.org.

Judy Richter

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Judy [rating:3] (3/5 stars)

By Judy Richer

William Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale” is a story of miraculous reunion and redemption after a long period of atonement.

People who aren’t familiar with the play would scarcely discern that theme in California Shakespeare Theater’s production, called “A Winter’s Tale.” Director Patricia McGregor conceives the play as presented by a traveling troupe with a small group of players.

Therefore, everyone plays multiple roles. That’s not unusual in contemporary Shakespearean productions, but it presents a serious problem here.

L. Peter Callender is first seen as Leontes, king ofSicily. He later is seen as a Bohemian shepherd who, in the play’s climax, travels to Sicilyto reveal crucial information.

However, since he can’t be two characters at once, this production cuts this scene, instead glossing over it with a hasty, almost incomprehensible narrative. Hence, the power and emotion of the final scenes are diluted.

In another misstep, an audience member is asked to play Time, who opens the second act and explains what has happened during the 16 years between the opening scenes in Sicilyand the following scenes in Bohemia. This narrative would be better delivered by an actor.

The director also has Autolycus, the roguish cutpurse played by Christopher Michael Rivera, grabbing too often at his crotch a la Michael Jackson.

The story focuses on Leontes and his pregnant wife, Hermione (Omozé Idehenre), who have been hosting the king’s longtime friend, Polixenes (Aldo Billingslea), king of Bohemia. Eager to return home, Polixenes spurns Leontes’ invitation to stay longer, but acquiesces when Hermione asks him.

Their conversation ignites an insane jealousy in Leontes, who accuses his wife of adultery, has her arrested and rejects their young son. After she gives birth to a daughter, he orders a courtier to abandon the baby in some forlorn place. When he is told that both his wife and son have died, he suddenly relents and begins a long period of regret and mourning.

In the meantime, the shepherd finds the baby and raises her as his daughter, Perdita (Tristan Cunningham). When she turns 16, she’s being wooed by Florizel (Tyee Tilghman), son of Polixenes.

When Polixenes learns of their courtship, he cruelly orders his son to give her up or be disowned. As was the case with Leontes 16 years earlier, Polixenes’ reaction is too extreme.

However, thanks to the shepherd, who knows that Perdita is a princess, she has a joyful meeting with her father, and Florizel is reconciled with his father.

Then the real miracle occurs. Paulina (Margo Hall), a lady in waiting, brings out a lifelike statue of Hermione, who comes to life before everyone. This production omits some lines that reveal what happened to her during the 16 years.

Although most of the principals do well, Callender is outstanding as his Leontes descends into irrational jealousy. On the other hand, Idehenre sometimes speaks so fast that her Hermione is difficult to understand. Similar problems occur sporadically with other characters.

Cal Shakes has been trying to reach out to more diverse audiences, as evidenced by this production, but in this case with this director, the Bard is not well served.

This production will continue through Oct. 20 at the Bruns Memorial Amphitheater, 100 California Shakespeare Theater Way(off Hwy. 24), Orinda. For tickets and information, call (510) 548-9666 or visit www.calshakes.org.

Judy Richter

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Judy [rating:5] (5/5 stars)

By Judy Richter

“Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” alludes to some of Anton Chekhov’s best-known plays, but Christopher Durang gives them his own contemporary spin. In the process, this winner of the 2013 Tony Award for Best Play evokes rounds of laughter.

The first three people in the title are siblings whose literary parents named them after Chekhovian characters. Vanya (Anthony Fusco) and Sonia (Sharon Lockwood), who was adopted, live in the family’s handsome house in Bucks County,Pa. Both in their 50s, Vanya is gay but celibate, while Sonia has never married. They live quiet, going-nowhere lives and often bicker. However, they enjoy looking at ther pond and grove of cherry trees (Sonia calls it an orchard).

Their housekeeper, Cassandra (Heather Alicia Simms), issues prophecies and later shows herself to be well versed in voodoo.

The routine is disrupted by the arrival of their younger sister, Masha (Lorri Holt), a movie actress, who doesn’t reveal her age but who’s probably in her 50s, too. With her is her 29-year-old boyfriend, Spike (Mark Junek) who’s more sexy than smart.

Masha has been invited to their neighbors’ costume party and plans to go as Snow White from the Walt Disney movie. Spike is to be her Prince Charming, and she has brought costumes for Vanya and Sonia to be two of the dwarves. Sonia refuses, saying she’ll go as the evil queen before she turned ugly. Therefore, Masha enlists the neighbors’ niece, Nina (Caroline Kaplan), an aspiring actress who has stopped by to meet her.

Act 2 takes place the next morning, when everyone is nursing a hangover. Vanya and Sonia are upset that Masha, who pays the household expenses, wants to sell the house. This is where Cassandra and her voodoo help out.

In the meantime, Vanya and Nina decide to enact a play that he has written that supposedly is the play written by Konstantin in Chekhov’s “The Seagull.” In a scene that goes on too long, it turns out to be an awful play about the end of humanity when only molecules survive.

Spike, puzzled by it all, texts on his smart phone, eliciting a (too long) diatribe from Vanya, who talks about the good old days of rotary phones, licked postage stamps, Howdy Doody and other icons of the ’50s and ’60s, before the age of electronics and multi-tasking. However, Spike’s transgression leads to a major discovery and important insights for Masha.

In a welcome return to the Bay Area, director Richard E.T. White makes excellent use of three veteran Bay Area actors — Fusco, Lockwood and Holt — along with three relative newcomers. Except for his Act 2 outburst, Fusco’s Vanya is low-key. Much of the humor in his performance comes from just the slightest change in expression. Lockwood’s Sonia tends to complain a lot, but she has great fun wearing her sequined evil queen gown and imitating Maggie Smith.

Holt’s Masha is a self-centered, egotistical woman who has been married and divorced five times, and she can’t understand why she’s had no luck with romance.

Simms earns several bursts of applause as her Cassandra launches into a near-frenzy of predictions along with allusions to the mythological origin of her name. Junek’s athletic Spike takes pride in his sexiness, sweeping Masha into passionate embraces and twice stripping down to his briefs. Kaplan is appropriately wide-eyed and sweet as young Nina.

The action takes place in the comfortable sun room of a handsome stone house typical of Southeastern Pennsylvania (set by Kent Dorsey, complemented by Alexander V. Nichols’  lighting). Highlighted by the hilarious Snow White outfits, the costumes are by Debra Beaver Bauer. Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen created the sound and original music.

The play runs about two hours and 45 minutes with one intermission, but, except for a few scenes, it speeds by with plenty of chances for laughter. You don’t have to be familiar with Chekhov’s plays to enjoy it, but if you are, the fun is all the greater.

“Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” will continue in Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s Roda Theatre through Oct. 25. For tickets and information, call (510) 647-2949 or visit www.berkeleyrep.org.

Judy Richter

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By Judy Richter

 San Francisco’s Magic Theatre is opening its 47th season with what it calls a legacy revival of Sam Shepard’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Buried Child.”

The Magic presented the play’s world premiere in 1978 while Shepard was playwright in residence from 1975 to 1983. The current production uses Shepard’s 1995 revision.

This compelling drama about a ultra-dysfunctional family takes place in a rundown farmhouse in Illinois. Dodge (Rod Gnapp), the family’s patriarch, is in his 70s and spends most of his time on a ratty sofa in front of a TV while he coughs and takes frequent swigs from a bottle he hides behind the cushions.

His younger wife, Halie (Denise Balthrop Cassidy), is first heard nagging at him from upstairs. Before long, she leaves to have lunch with her minister-lover, Father Dewis (Lawrence Radecker).

Their elder son, Tilden (James Wagner), has recently returned after getting into unspecified trouble in New Mexico, where he has lived for many years. Tilden is a large, zombie-like man who makes his first appearance bearing an armload of freshly picked corn. He says it came from their backyard, but Dodge says nothing has grown there in years.

Another son, Bradley (Patrick Kelly Jones), who lost a lower leg to a chain saw, lives nearby. He seems to be evil personified. A third son, Ansel, died in a motel room.

Tilden’s son, Vince (Patrick Alparone), unexpectedly stops by to visit his grandparents and to see where he grew up. He’s in his 20s and has been gone about six years, but no one admits to recognizing him at first.

With him is his girlfriend, Shelly (Elaina Garrity), who’s initially upset by the situation and eager to leave, but Vince insists on staying. It’s Shelly who extracts the family’s long-held secret, which gives the play its name.

As the play ends, Shelly and the other outsider, Father Dewis, wisely depart, leaving Vince to rejoin the family in an eerie way.

Artistic director Loretta Greco’s direction is outstanding as the actors fully inhabit their characters. There’s much underlying tension and menace from the men of the family, especially Gnapp as Dodge. Even though he’s sickly and feeble, he can be scary. The same is true of his two sons and even Vince.

The creative team complements the drama with the set by Andrew Boyce, lighting by Eric Southern and costumes by Alex Jaeger. Jake Rodriguez’s sound is notable for the rain that pelts the house throughout the first act.

The play is often cryptic. Even though the family’s major secret is revealed, other questions remain, leaving them open to speculation. That’s part of the fascination of this fine play.

Having been extended for a week, “Buried Child” will continue at the Magic Theatre, Building D, Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, through Oct. 13. For tickets and information, call (415) 441-8822 or visit www.magictheatre.org.

Judy Richter

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By Judy Richter

It’s 1929  in Berlin, where the tawdry Kit Kat Klub epitomizes the atmosphere of anything goes. In the ensuing months, however, tensions rise as the Nazis move closer to power.

That’s the setting for “Cabaret,” the memorable musical by composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb, now enjoying a noteworthy production by Broadway By the Bay in Redwood City. Director Brandon Jackson employs an effectively minimalist staging that keeps the action flowing smoothly and propelling the plot.

Much of the action takes place in the Kit Kat Klub, where the leering Emcee (Alex Rodriguez) oversees overtly sexual performances by the six Kit Kat Girls and the four Kit Kat Boys. The club’s star performer is an Englishwoman, Sally Bowles (Amie Shapiro), who insinuates herself into the room and bed of a recently arrived American writer, Clifford Bradshaw (Jack Mosbacher).

They live in a rooming house owned by Fräulein Schneider (Karen DeHart), an older spinster. Fräulein Schneider figures in a major subplot along with Herr Schultz (Stuart Miller), a kindly widower who owns a fruit shop. They contemplate marriage, but his being Jewish proves to be an insurmountable barrier in the face of the Nazis’ anti-Semitism.

“Cabaret” was a Broadway hit that first came toSan Franciscoin 1987. It has been seen locally several times since then. BBB staged it in 2004 at the San Mateo Performing Arts Center.

For many fans, though, the benchmark production is the 1972 film starring Joel Grey as the Emcee and Liza Minnelli as Sally Bowles. They set the standard against which subsequent performers are judged.

Rodriguez’s interpretation of the Emcee is far different from Grey’s, but it works well in the context of this production. He sings, dances and acts well.

Likewise, Shapiro’s Sally Bowles is far different from Minnelli’s. Minnelli is the better dancer, but choreographer Kristin Kusanovich wisely simplifies Shapiro’s dance moves. Shapiro paces the emotions and volume well in such songs as “Mein Herr” and “Maybe This Time,” but pushes in the title song. Her acting is generally good, but she can’t quite capture the neediness and vulnerability that motivate Sally.

Mosbacher does well as Cliff, a role based on author Christopher Isherwood, who penned the stories on which the play by John Van Druten and this musical are based.

Supporting characters are solid, especially DeHart as Fräulein Schneider and Miller as Herr Schultz. However, Brandon’s direction dilutes the tragic sadness of her decision not to marry Herr Schultz because of how the marriage might affect her livelihood.

Melissa Reinertson does double duty as a Kit Kat Girl and Fräulein Kost, a prostitute who also lives in Fräulein Schneider’s house. Warren Wernick plays Ernst, who befriends Cliff on the train to Berlin but who is revealed to be less innocent than he seems at first.

The show works best in the first act, when Brandon’s staging relies mainly on a few chairs to set the scene on the two-level set by Margaret Toomey. She also designed the character-appropriate costumes. The staging doesn’t work as well in the second act as emotions and the tensions heighten.

Kusanovich’s inventive choreography is one of the show’s highlights, as well as the musical direction by Sean Kana, who directs the excellent onstage orchestra from the keyboard.

Lighting by Michael Rooney sometimes misses the main speaker in a scene. Jon Hayward’s sound design provides the right degree of amplification for comfortable listening — something that’s not always the case in contemporary musical productions.

Taken as a whole, this production, though not perfect, has much to recommend it. It continues at the Fox Theatre, 2215 Broadway St., Redwood City, through Sept. 29. For tickets and information, call (650) 579-5565 or visit www.broadwaybythebay.org.

Judy Richter

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By Judy Richter

With today’s Congress sharply divided, “1776” seems quite timely. In fact, one of its main characters has a song, “Piddle, Twiddle,” in which he describes the failure of the Second Continental Congress to agree on much of anything during the hot early summer of 1776  in Philadelphia.

The major point of contention is whether the 13 American colonies should oppose British rule and declare their independence in this 1969 musical play that opens the American Conservatory Theater season. The main spokesman for independence is the prickly John Adams (John Hickock) of Massachusetts. His principal opponents are Edward Rutledge (Jarrod Zimmerman) of South Carolinaand John Dickinson (Jeff Parker) of Pennsylvania.

AfterDickinson insists that any vote on independence be unanimous, Adams proposes that Congress have a declaration to make its intentions clear. Adams, Benjamin Franklin (Andrew Boyer) of Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson (Brandon Dahlquist) of Virginiaand two others are appointed to write it. The actual writing is left  to Jefferson.

After some delays, Jefferson comes up with a document for debate. He agrees to many changes, but the big sticking point comes when Rutledge says that unless a passage opposing slavery is removed, he won’t vote for the declaration, thus scuttling it. Adams and Jefferson reluctantly agree, and the Declaration of Independence is eventually approved and signed by delegates from each colony.

Even though anyone who has studied American history knows how the story turns out, composer-lyricist Sherman Edwards and book writer Peter Stone imbue the show with high drama fueled by personality conflicts and story-compelling songs.

The names are straight out of American history, even legend, but director Frank Galati and his cast of 24 men and two women create flesh-and-blood characters with all the complexities that go into real people. Hence, “1776” isn’t just some routine history lesson. It’s an insightful look at how our system of government began to evolve.

While some characters take on larger roles and do well, everyone in the topnotch ensemble cast has at least a moment in the musical or dramatic spotlight. Led by musical director Michael Rice from the keyboard, the individual and ensemble singing is excellent, as is the 10-member orchestra.

Costumes by Mara Blumenfeld, set by Russell Metheny, lighting by Paul Miller and sound by Kevin Kennedy lend an air of authenticity. Peter Amster’s choreography enlivens several songs.

The two-act show runs about two hours and 45 minutes, but most of it speeds by because it’s so well created and executed.

It continues at ACT’s Geary Theater through Oct. 6. For tickets and information, call (415) 749-2229 or visit www.act-sf.org.

Judy Richter

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By Judy Richter

Colorful boas, tie dye and peace symbols are back in vogue as San Jose Repertory Theatre opens its new season with “One Night With Janis Joplin,” a tribute to the ’60s musical legend and the black women singers who influenced her.

Kacee Clanton as Joplin, joined by four other women singers and an eight-man band, sings an array of Joplin’s greatest hits. In addition, Tiffany Mann as the Blues Singer recreates Joplin’s inspirations such as Bessie Smith, Etta James, Nina Simone, Odetta and Aretha Franklin.

In between songs, Clanton’s Joplin talks about growing up in Port Arthur, Texas. Her mother, a big fan of Broadway musicals, would buy one cast album per week and play it so much that Joplin and her two siblings knew every song by heart. She also gave the three kids singing lessons.

Eventually Joplin made her way to San Francisco, where she sang with Big Brother and the Holding Company and other bands. She quickly became an icon of rock ‘n’ roll with her raw, passionate interpretations of her own and others’ songs. No one had ever sung quite the same way before, and no one has sung exactly that way since. However, Clanton does a great job in this demanding, high-energy role.

Likewise, Mann is terrific in songs like “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out,” which she sings by herself. She’s also joined by Clanton in other songs like “Spirit in the Dark” and “Little Girl Blue.”

They’re backed vocally by the three Joplinaires: Cari Hutson (the alternate for Joplin), Shinnerrie Jackson and Tricky Jones. The instrumentalists sometimes chime in vocally.

Created, written and directed by Randy Johnson, this show is opening simultaneously on Broadway with a different cast but the same director.

Rick Lombardo, San Jose Rep artistic director, announced on opening night that the show was proving to be the biggest seller in the company’s history, resulting in a week’s extension.

While the show has an abundance of gems forJoplin fans, it’s not content with highlighting the music. Instead it’s greatly overproduced, especially the lighting and projections. Matthew Webb’s lighting design often sends blindingly bright lights into the audience. Some of the almost nonstop projections by Colin Lowry are interesting, especially the psychedelic posters from the period and examples of Joplin’s artwork, but other images amount to visual overkill.

Cliff Simon’s workable set features stacks of the huge (though nonworking) amplifiers used in rock concerts. Bottles of Southern Comfort whiskey, which became a Joplin trademark, are placed around the stage, but the script makes scant mention of her excessive drinking. Nor does it touch on the drug usage that led to her untimely death in 1970 at the age of 27.

Steve Schoenbeck’s sound design is expectedly loud. Susan Branch Towne has designed some eye-catching costumes for the women.

Because the show is so visually overdone, it’s not as effective as the earlier “Love, Janis,” which played atSan Francisco’s Marines Memorial Theatre in 2006. Still, many people in San Jose’s opening night audience seemed to love the show, especially when it showcased hits like “Piece of My Heart,” “Down on Me,” “Me & Bobby McGee,” “Ball and Chain” and “Mercedes Benz”.

“One Night With Janis Joplin” will continue at San Jose Repertory Theatre, 101 Paseo de San Antonio, San Jose, through Oct. 6. For tickets and information, call (408) 367-7255 or visit www.sjrep.com.

Judy Richter

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By Judy Richter

Playwright Amy Herzog looks at what happens when an idolized ancestor turns out to have been human in “After the Revolution,” staged by Aurora Theatre Company to open its 22nd season in Berkeley.

This two-act play focuses on three generations of the Joseph family, who proudly call themselves Marxists. Their venerated ancestor is the late Joe Joseph, a Marxist who worked for the Office of Strategic Services, a World War II forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency. When he testified at a congressional hearing during the infamous communist witch hunts during the early 1950s, he denied passing U.S.secrets to Russia and refused to name possible communists, thus being blacklisted.

Now his 26-year-old granddaughter, Emma (Jessica Bates), a freshly minted law school graduate in 1999, has started the Joe Joseph Foundation dedicated to fighting injustice. When she learns that what she had been told about her grandfather isn’t entirely true, she triggers a major family crisis aimed mostly at her father, Ben Joseph (Rolf Saxon), for having withheld the information from her.

His partner, Mel (Pamela Gaye Walker); his brother, Leo (Victor Talmadge); Emma’s sister, Jess (Sarah Mitchell); their step grandmother, Vera (Ellen Ratner); and Emma’s boyfriend, Miguel (Adrian Anchondo); all get involved in the father-daughter rift. The person who seems to be the most helpful is an outsider, 77-year-old Morty (Peter Kybart), a major donor to Emma’s foundation.

Director Joy Carlin keeps the action moving briskly and has a solid cast. Bates as Emma is onstage through most of the two-act play and carries the heaviest load in a role that temporarily devolves into depression that can seem self-indulgent.

Saxon is convincing as the caring father who has to admit that he made mistakes. Talmadge as Leo and Walker as Mel come across as reasonable and caring as they try to serve as peacemakers. Mitchell’s Jess is refreshingly blunt as a young woman trying to get through rehab. Ratner as Vera is feisty as she portrays an aging woman beset by difficulties hearing, walking and remembering words. Kybart embodies Morty’s generosity, wisdom and sense of  humor, while Anchondo is caring and then conflicted as Miguel.

Because the plot tends to be detailed, one must listen carefully. This is especially true in Aurora’s intimate space, where the audience sits on three sides of the stage. If an actor is turned away from one side, he or she might be difficult to hear.

The play makes extensive use of telephone calls, especially in the second act when Ben is trying to get through to Emma. J.B. Wilson’s set design plays up this device with telephone poles and wires upstage.

Sound designer Chris Houston helps to prepare the audience with protest songs from the likes of Woody Guthrie heard in the lobby and theater beforehand. The lighting is by Kurt Landisman with costumes by Callie Floor.

For the most part, “After the Revolution” is an involving drama with believable characters and circumstances.

It will continue at Aurora Theatre, 2081 Addison St., Berkeley, through Sept. 29. For tickets and information, call (510) 843-4822 or visit www.auroratheatre.org.

Judy Richter

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By Judy Richter

The title character in “And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little” does indeed drink, not just a little but a lot.

That’s apparent in the opening moments at Dragon Theatre in Redwood City as Catherine Reardon (Sheila Ellam) pours two bottles of alcohol into an ice bucket, briefly holds a third (presumably vermouth) over it, and then fills a tumbler for herself.

She refreshes that drink throughout Paul Zindel’s two-act play as rancor and craziness fill the apartment that she shares with her younger sister, Anna (Lessa Bouchard).

Soon to join Catherine and Anna for dinner in their late mother’s apartment is their married sister, Ceil Adams (Kelly Rinehart). Ceil, the superintendent of a Staten Islandschool district, wants to persuade Catherine, an assistant principal in that district, to have Anna committed to a mental hospital.

Anna, who teaches high school chemistry in the same district, has been deteriorating emotionally ever since she and Catherine traveled to Italy, where Anna was bitten by a stray cat. Despite evidence to the contrary, Anna believes that she contracted rabies from the bite.

Her irrational behavior has recently led her into an inappropriate encounter with a male student.

Anna also has become a vegetarian, making zucchini and fruit smoothies the dietary staples for both herself and Catherine. In fact, Anna abhors all animal products, leading her to shriek and jump onto the sofa when she sees them.

Those reactions are caused by the unexpected arrival of Fleur Stein (Mary Lou Torre), a guidance counselor at Anna’s school, and her husband, Bob (Kyle Wood). Anna first sees Fleur’s fur wrap, followed by the fur-lined leather gloves that Anna’s colleagues have given her as a get-well gift.

Repeatedly ignoring hints and then requests that they leave, Fleur and Bob bicker with each other and with the sisters.

The couple become so obnoxious that they trigger a rare display of unity among the sisters, who gleefully forgo their sibling rivalry and come up with an extreme way to get the invaders to go.

While Ellam’s sarcastic Catherine is casually neat, Bouchard’s Anna — her long, red curls unfettered — is disheveled.

Ceil is a stark contrast to both with her tailored business suit (costumes by Kimberly Davis), prim hair style and no-nonsense glasses. Her attire reflects her uptight persona. Her sisters’ outfits are similarly reflective of what they’re like.

Because it’s a dark comedy with generally unlikable characters and themes, “Miss Reardon” requires skillful directing and acting to bring out subtleties.

In this case, director Shareen Merriam and her cast fall short of that goal, resulting in mostly one-dimensional characters and emotional excesses leading to screaming matches. On the other hand, this play is not as well written as Zindel’s earlier Pulitzer- and Obie-winner, “The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds.”

‘Miss Reardon’ will continue at Dragon Theatre, 2120 Broadway St., Redwood City, through Sept. 22. For tickets and information, call (650) 493-2006 or visit www.dragonproductions.net.

Judy Richter

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