Hillbarn Theatre has begun its 74th season with an ambitious musical undertaking, “Funny Girl.”

Loosely based on the life of comedienne Fanny Brice, the show premiered on Broadway in 1964 and became a popular film in 1968. Both starred Barbra Streisand as Fanny.

Melissa WolfKlain takes on that daunting role in this production and does it more than ample justice with her terrific singing, acting, dancing and comic timing.

Written by Isobel Lennart, the story takes place shortly before and after World War I as Fanny breaks into show business and becomes a star in the Ziegfeld Follies. During that time, she meets the handsome, charming Nick Arnstein (William Giammona), a gambler. Giammona looks the part of Nick, but his acting can be stiff, and there’s not much chemistry between him and WolfKlain.

They marry and have a daughter, but his involvement in a shady bond deal lands him in prison for 18 months and leads to the end of their marriage.

Jule Styne’s music, with lyrics by Bob Merrill, includes such favorites as “I’m the Greatest Star,” “People” and “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” all sung by Fanny.

Besides Nick, another important man in her life is her longtime, loyal friend, Eddie Ryan (Justin Travis Buchs). He’s a vaudeville dancer who coaches her early in her career and quietly carries a torch for her. Buchs is an accomplished dancer who stands out in “Cornet Man” and “Rat-tat-tat-tat.”

Other major figures are Mrs. Brice (Tracy Chiappone), Fanny’s mother; Emma (Jenifer Butler), her friend and assistant; and Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. (Dennis M. Lickteig), Follies producer.

The Hillbarn production features an outstanding ensemble of dancers executing choreography by James Zongus. Seated on a platform behind a new wall in the theater, the 17-piece orchestra is led by musical director Joe Murphy.

Hillbarn’s new executive artistic director, Dan Demers, directs the show and does his best to keep it moving smoothly. However, it has many different scenes, and Hillbarn’s stage is small. Despite the unusual use of a proscenium setting (design by Kuo-Hao Lo), the many set changes lend an episodic feeling, especially in the second act.

Costumes by Lisa Cross provide WolfKlain and the women dancers with one lovely outfit after another. Don Coluzzi’s lighting design isn’t up to his usual standards.

Fanny Brice was born in New York’s Lower East Side in 1891 and died in 1951 at the age of 59. Besides her stage and film work, she created a popular radio character, Baby Snooks.

“Funny Girl” will continue at Hillbarn Theatre, 1285 E. Hillsdale Blvd., Foster City, through Sept. 21. For tickets and information, call (650) 349-6411 or visit www.hillbarntheatre.org.

Broadway San Jose is hosting a touring production of “Wicked” that has retained all the elements that have made the musical such a huge hit ever since it opened on Broadway nearly 11 years ago.

“Wicked” is regarded as a prequel to “The Wizard of Oz,” the 1939 film that remains popular today. Audience members will have fun identifying sly references to the film.

“Wicked” (book by Winnie Holzman based on a novel by Gregory Maguire) is primarily the story of the two witches in the film. However, the wicked one doesn’t start that way, nor does the good one begin as quite so virtuous.

Elphaba (Emmy Raver-Lampman, the standby for Emma Hunton) is the green-toned young woman who goes to Shiz, a college in Oz run by Madame Morrible (Alison Fraser). Shunned by nearly everyone, the studious Elphaba is there to take care of her younger sister, Nessarose (Jenny Florkowski), who uses a wheelchair.

Also arriving at Shiz is Glinda (Chandra Lee Schwartz), a beautiful, conceited, devious, vacuous blonde. Much to their mutual consternation, they’re roommates.

The two develop a friendship even though both are attracted to another new student, the handsome, rich Fiyero (Nick Adams), who prides himself on “Dancing Through Life.”

In the meantime, Elphaba realizes that there’s oppression of people who are different or who espouse opposing views in Munchkinland. Therefore, she decides to tell the Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Tim Kazurinsky). She’s bitterly disappointed when she learns the truth about him, but she also discovers her magical powers.

As she endures more disappointments, she vows that “No Good Deed” will go unpunished and becomes known as the Wicked Witch. For Glinda’s part, she matures and becomes more insightful and good.

Stephen Schwartz’s music and lyrics are memorably tuneful. Two of the best songs are “Popular,” sung by the bouncy Glinda as she decides she’ll give Elphaba a makeover, and “Defying Gravity,” sung mainly by Elphaba and Glinda as the rousing end to the first act.

Touring productions can sometimes seem tired and low-budget, but not this one. The singing, dancing and acting are all first-rate, especially by Raver-Lampman as Elphaba and Schwartz as Glinda.

Original director Joe Montello has kept the large cast razor-sharp, just as the original musical stager, Wayne Cilento, has done with the choreography.

Fanciful costumes by Susan Hilferty and ingenious sets by Eugene Lee also come from the original production, as do the sound by Tony Meola and lighting by Kenneth Posner. The fine orchestra is led by music director Andrew Graham.

“Wicked” had its pre-Broadway world premiere in San Franciscoin May 2003.  It returned to the city in 2005, 2009 and 2013 and has been seen throughout the world.

The capacity crowd in San Jose was buzzing with anticipation as the curtain rose and roaring with appreciation during the large cast’s bows.

“Wicked” will continue at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts, 255 S. Almaden Blvd., San Jose, through Sept. 14. For tickets and information, call (800) 982-2787 or visit http://broadwaysanjose.com.

 

Those who stay a week or so in Ashland, Ore., can see up to nine plays ranging from Shakespeare to world premieres in the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s three theaters.

Altogether, the company stages 11 plays in a season that runs from mid-February through Nov. 2.

Currently playing in the outdoor Elizabethan Theatre are the Bard’s “Richard III” and “The Two Gentlemen of Verona” (with an all-female cast) plus a musical, Stephen Sondheim’s “Into the Woods.”

The indoor Bowmer Theatre features Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” and Irving Berlin and George S. Kaufman’s “The Cocoanuts” along with two world premieres: Tracy Young’s “A Wrinkle in Time,” based on the book by Madeleine L’Engle, and Robert Schenkkan’s “The Great Society.”

Finally, the more intimate Thomas Theatre is the venue for Shakespeare’s “The Comedy of Errors” and the world premiere of Stew’s “Family Album.” After going on hiatus in June, Quiara Alegría Hudes’ “Water by the Spoonful” will return to the Thomas on Sept. 4.

Lorraine Hansberry’s “The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window” has completed its run in the Bowmer.

My recent visit included “Richard III,” “Into the Woods,” “The Comedy of Errors,” “The Cocoanuts” and “The Great Society.” Here are brief rundowns on each.

THE GREAT SOCIETY

Of those five, Robert Schenkkan’s “The Great Society” was by far the most powerful and intriguing. It’s the successor to Schenkkan’s “All the Way,” which premiered at OSF two years ago and went on to Broadway to win this year’s Tony Award for best play.

“All the Way” focused on President Lyndon Johnson’s first year in the White House, following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963. It looked at Johnson’s successful effort to secure passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act followed by his campaign against Republican Sen. Barry Goldwater to win the 1964 election.

Featuring many of the same actors from “All the Way” and the same director, artistic director Bill Rauch, “The Great Society” looks at Johnson’s push to enact a package of bills focusing on education, anti-poverty programs and medical care, including Medicare for seniors. With black people increasingly demanding an end to segregation and easier access to the ballot box in the South, he also wanted Congress to enact a voting rights bill.

All of this takes place against a backdrop of increasing social unrest, starting mainly with civil rights campaigns that encountered strong resistance in the South by the likes of Alabama Gov. George Wallace, other officials and the Ku Klux Klan. The resultant violence spread throughout the country to such places as Watts in Los Angeles and the slums of Chicago.

In the meantime, the nation became more deeply mired inVietnam, a war that exacted huge costs in American lives and money. The war was so polarizing that Johnson announced in 1968 that he wouldn’t run for a second term. Instead he was succeeded by Republican Richard Nixon.

Once again Jack Willis plays LBJ, a Texan who might have come across as homespun, but he was wily and politically astute. Willis brings all of LBJ’s contrary traits to the fore and convincingly conveys his increasing anguish over the war and social unrest.

The large cast also features Danforth Comins as Sen. Bobby Kennedy of New York, LBJ’s nemesis; Peter Frechette as Vice President Hubert Humphrey; Jonathan Haugen as Wallace, Nixon and others; Kenajuan Bentley as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; Mark Murphey as Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and others; and Richard Elmore as FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.

Those individuals and more populate this ambitious re-enactment of one of the most turbulent periods in recent history.

Immediately after closing, this play and many of its actors will move to Seattle Repertory Theatre, which commissioned it and co-produced it with OSF. It will run in rotating repertory with “All the Way.” Presumably it will undergo some needed tightening and other improvements.

In the meantime, it evokes vivid memories for those who lived through those painful times and teaches some important lessons to those who were born later. It’s a brilliant accomplishment.

RICHARD III

Shakespeare’s “Richard III” makes strong demands on the title character, a man who left a trail of bodies in his quest for the English throne. Dan Donohue ably meets those demands, making the deformed Richard charming when doing so suited his aims and revealing all of his callous evil at other times.

Director James Bundy moves the action smoothly, thanks to a strong supporting cast, including Robin Goodrin Nordli as Queen Elizabeth, Judith-Marie Bergan as the Duchess of York, Franchelle Stewart Dorn as Queen Margaret and Jeffrey King as George, Duke of Clarence.

William, Lord Hastings, is played by Howie Seago, a deaf actor who delivers his lines in American Sign Language, voiced by Omoze Idehenre as Mistress Jane Shore. She also uses ASL to convey other characters’ lines to him.

Bucking a trend to place the play in another time or place, costumes by Ilona Somogyi and the set by Richard L. Hay are contemporary to Shakespeare’s time.

This is an excellent production of one of Shakespeare’s masterpieces.

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS

An example of moving a Shakespeare play into another time and place is the OSF production of “The Comedy of Errors.” This time the play of mistaken identities takes place the late 1920s, the dawn of the Harlem Renaissance.

Hence most of its actors are black, and Ephesus becomes Harlem, the play’s main setting. Syracuse, the visitors’ homeland, is Louisiana.

The main characters are two sets of identical twins who were born on the same day. One pair, both known as Dromio, are servants to the other pair, both known as Antipholus.

The Dromio-Antipholus pairs were separated in infancy, with one pair landing in Harlem and the other pair returning toLouisiana with Egeon, father of the Antipholuses.

As the play opens, Egeon (Tyrone Wilson) has traveled to Harlem to find the Antipholus and Dromio who had lived with him until setting out in search of their brothers.

As luck would have it, Antipholus and Dromio of Louisiana have just arrived in Harlem, where they are immediately confused with their counterparts, who have lived there for many years.

Although some productions use four actors for the two sets of twins, this one uses only one actor, Tobie Windham, for both Antipholuses and one actor, Rodney Gardiner, for both Dromios. The only exception comes at the very end, when both sets must be on stage at the same time. In this case, two other actors (not identified) are used.

The production is full of pratfalls and slapstick, but director Kent Gash never allows the action to get out of hand. Still, he overuses one gimmick: a chime that sounds at every mention of a ring that is pivotal to the plot. In the midst of all the physical comedy, Mark Murphey, who plays a butler and an Irish cop, is one of the funniest performers because he manages to keep a straight face throughout.

Overall, it’s a fun production.

THE COCOANUTS

In contrast to “The Comedy of Errors,” the antics in “The Cocoanuts” tend to go over the top.

With music and lyrics by Irving Berlin and a book by George S. Kaufman, this adaptation by actor Mark Bedard supposedly features the Marx Brothers as the main characters. Bedard is Mr. Hammer, the Groucho character, while Eduardo Placer is Robert Jamison, the Zeppo character; John Tufts is Chico,  and Brent Hinkley is Harpo.

The setting is the Cocoanut Hotel in Florida in the 1920s. It’s owned by Mr. Hammer, who’s in financial straits but who hopes to get rich by auctioning off some lots during Florida’s land boom. Robert is his beleaguered desk clerk who’s in love with one of the guests, Polly Potter (Jennie Greenberry). She’s the daughter of the very rich Mrs. Potter (K.T. Vogt), who wants her to marry another guest, Harvey Yates (Robert Vincent Frank), who has his own plan in mind with his longtime cohort, Penelope Martin (Kate Mulligan).

Bedard, Tufts and Hinkley are the principal makers of mayhem. Hinkley wears the nonspeaking Harpo’s silly grin and runs around squeezing a horn.

Bedard and Tufts deliver most of the deliciously awful puns. However, they let the silliness get out of hand during the first act when they come down from the stage and involve the audience, taking a woman’s room key and a man’s phone and shoe. They even climb over the seats and venture up several rows to interact with audience members. It’s a ploy that goes on too long.

It should be noted that Bedard, Tufts and Hinkley also were featured as the Marx Brothers in “Animal Crackers” in 2012. It was a far more enjoyable yet still hilarious show because the director had them showing some restraint. The current director, David Ivers, seems to have given them free rein.

It should also be noted that the majority of the audience seemed to love the show.

The rest of the cast, which includes David Kelly as a detective, does well. Special mention goes to Greenberry for her singing.

The colorful set is by Richard L. Hay with costumes by Meg Neville.

INTO THE WOODS

Also in the musical mode is “Into the Woods,” featuring music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Lapine.

Sondheim and Lapine bring together several fairy tale characters and show them getting their wishes in the first act, when presumably they all live happily ever after. The second act is the ever after, when things aren’t nearly as ideal as the characters had imagined.

Directed by Amanda Dehnert, who does double duty as musical director, the uniformly excellent cast features, among others, Miriam A. Laube as the Witch, Rachel Warren as the Baker’s Wife, Miles Fletcher as Jack (of beanstalk fame), Robin Goodrin Nordli as his mother, Jennie Greenberry as Cinderella, Jeremy Peter Johnson as Cinderella’s Prince and Kjerstine Rose Anderson as Little Red Riding Hood. The versatile Catherine E. Coulson plays Cinderella’s stepmother, Granny, the giant and Milky White, the cow.

With the 25-member orchestra seated upstage, scenic designer Rachel Hauck employs minimal scenery in this outdoor production. Costumes by Linda Roethke are a different story. They’re wonderfully colorful. Some nifty stage magic also helps.

Of course the real stars of this show are Sondheim’s intricate music and lyrics. He’s a genius with both.

 

After heavyweight champion boxer Cassius Clay had joined the Nation of Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Ali, death threats caused the promoters to move his much-ballyhooed rematch against Sonny Liston to Lewiston,  Maine, in 1965.

Presented by Marin Theatre Company, Will Power’s “Fetch Clay, Make Man” goes behind the scenes into Ali’s locker room (set by Courtney O’Neill with video by Caite Hevner Kemp) as he prepares for that fight.

He seeks help from an unlikely source — actor Stepin Fetchit. Fetchit, whose real name was Lincoln Perry, had created a character that was the epitome of stereotype, a lazy, shiftless Negro. Audiences didn’t perceive how clever he was, but he was the first black actor to become a millionaire.

Ali invited him to serve as his secret strategist before the fight because he had worked with another famous fighter, Jack Johnson. Ali wants Fetchit to teach him the secret “anchor punch” that Johnson had used so successfully.

Eddie Ray Jackson embodies Ali’s dancing footwork as well as his enormous ego. Roscoe Orman is the canny Fetchit, who seems to know the right thing to say and do to protect himself and to defuse some of the play’s tensions.

Much of that tension comes from Jefferson A. Russell as the menacing Brother Rashid, Ali’s bodyguard and strict adherent to Nation of Islam beliefs. Although the relationship between Ali and his wife, Sonji Clay (Katherine Renee Turner), is loving at first, it becomes more dicey when she refuses to wear Muslim garb for women (costumes by Heidi Leigh Hanson) and mentions parts of her past.

Completing the cast is Robert Sicular as William Fox, founder of the Fox movie studio. He’s seen in flashbacks as he and Fetchit negotiate the actor’s contract.

Each in his own way, Ali and Fetchit represent pioneering black men trying to succeed in American society. Playwright Power and director Derrick Sanders weave their stories and relationship into compelling theater.

“Fetch Clay, Make Man” will continue at Marin Theatre Company, 397 Miller Ave., MillValley, through Sept. 7. For tickets and information, call (415) 388-5208 or visit www.marintheatre.org.

 

Real and virtual families connect in “Water by the Spoonful,” an intricately constructed, intriguing drama by Quiara Alegría Hudes.

Presented by TheatreWorks, this Pulitzer Prize-winning play focuses on two kinds of families.

The real family is two cousins, Elliot (Miles Gaston Villanueva) and Yazmin (Sabina Zuniga Varela), in a Puerto Rican neighborhood in North Philadelphia. An aspiring actor, Elliot was wounded in Iraq and now works at Subway. He’s haunted by a ghost (George Psarras) from Iraq. Yazmin is a recently divorced Swarthmore professor of music.

Their aunt, whom Elliot calls his mother and whom he cared for, dies of cancer. She reared him after her sister, his crack-addicted mother, gave him up.

In the meantime, his estranged birth mother, Odessa (Zilah Mendoza), who has since kicked the crack habit, administers a virtual family on an anonymous online chat room for other crack addicts in various stages of recovery. Her handle is Haikumom.

This disparate group includes the 50ish Chutes&Ladders (Anthony J. Haney), an IRS employee; the 20ish Orangutan (Anna Ishida), a smart-mouthed Japanese American; and the newest member, Fountainhead (Patrick Kelly Jones). He’s a 30ish entrepreneur on his way down because of his addiction, which he tries to hide from his family. He’s having a hard time kicking the habit.

Over the course of the two-act play, several characters take tentative strides to improve their lives and/or to connect with others, but it’s not easy.

Intelligently directed by Leslie Martinson, each actor portrays a distinct, interesting character confronting challenges.

Erik Flatmo’s multi-level set creates defined spaces for the action, augmented by Erik Scanlon’s projections and Steven B. Mannshardt’s lighting. The character-specific costumes are by Anna R. Oliver. The sound design by Gregory Robinson includes works by pioneering jazz saxophonist John Coltrane, whom Yazmin cites in one of her lectures.

All of these elements add up to a compelling theatrical experience.

“Water by the Spoonful” will continue at the Mountain ViewCenterfor the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St., Mountain View, through Sept. 14. For tickets and information, call (650) 463-1960 or visit www.theatreworks.org.