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Jul 30 2014
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Foodies! The Musical played at San Francisco Towers.

By Kedar K. Adour

FOODIES! THE MUSICAL: A Revue. Written & Directed by Morris Bobrow. AWAT Productions; Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter Street, San Francisco. (800) 838-3006 or www.foodiesthernusical.com.  Open Ended Run

Foodies! The Musical played at San Francisco Towers. [rating:4] (4 of 5 stars)

This reviewer has been amiss for not attending Morris Bobrow’s most recent hit that has been playing at the intimate Shelton Theater in downtown San Francisco. Lucky for me and the residents of the elegant San Francisco Towers retirement facility the show has been brought intact with the original cast and plethora of props for a special evening of entertainment for the residents.

Morris Bobrow, who was introduced before the show began is a true auteur pianist, playwright, actor, director and last but hardly least an accomplished composer and lyricist. The ageless Bobrow burst onto the Bay Area musical scene working with Gerald Nachman and Rita Abrams for the highly successful revue New Wrinkles that won all sorts of prizes and has been played throughout the U.S.A. including a highly praised run in New York City.

When he went out on his own handling the whole shebang of writing, directing and producing he came up with a string of winners that played for years in the Bay Area and Canada. These included the revues Are We Almost There? (about travel), Shopping, Party of One (about being single), followed by Party of 2 – The Mating Musical and others. His latest opus is Foodies! a highly satirical musical revue that skewers all the foibles we have encountered with dining out and the pretentiousness of food and wine faddists.

Bobrow’s wicked sense of humor and ability to rhyme incongruous words is legion. The exceptional four member cast put their hearts into the show’s concept making us feel the character’s pain while we laugh with them. You surely will recognize the characters and their foibles and even find yourself being satirized in skits of how we act and react to food and restaurants.

After a compulsory opening number “High Hi” that we get from drinking Red Bull, the cast remain on a high with “OMG” (Oh, my god) with the cell phone mania of calling each other to rave about the new places that are opening up. Next up to be skewered are the wine snobs with “ Taking The Waters”with  the host having a fully stocked water cellar giving a water tasting party in Fremont. (Black mountain and its “brash icongruity).Water never to be taken on the rocks.

There are 20 skits ending with “A Thank You” for staying awake. To mention just a few highlights, be assured there are many.  “Organ-ick” with the emphasis on “ick”y never to eat tongue and chitlins etc.  “Doctor’s Orders”: How often on your yearly check-up has your doctor advised healthy eating and you dreamed of eating everything from French fries to pizza? For those who order sensibly, you will never order salad again after you listen to what the cast adds to their “Salad.”  Only Bobrow would come up with the  “Salad for a main course leads to remorse… but you can add cheese, ham etc.

“Switches” starts out with “My name is…” and “What’s yours?” followed by the waiter’s life history before there is a switch to busboy and then the pasta chef with David Goodwin  doing a superb Danny Kaye skit describing every possible pasta name.

Gary Danko’s and the French Laundry, where it is almost impossible to make a reservation , take their lumps in the hysterical “The Blue Tulip” that starts out with a couple meeting the ‘reservation counselor’ before a down payment of $7000 is made for a September 2017 reservation.

“Cook Like Me” skewers Julie Child and every TV Chef and you will never watch one of those shows again especially the ones that puts a pinch of this and that making a concoction Monsanto would be proud of.

A brief summary of other vignettes without picking a favorite:

-“Breath Threat”: The mania for having good breath and the need for Altoids and having “breathless affair.”

-“Bad Timing”:  Whether to go out to dinner before or after the theatre.

-“Meals on Wheels”:  Food truck fad.

-“Bargain Bites”:  The coupon disaster from Groupon.

– “Food of the Moment”: Ultimate dining; “We don’t actually serve food!”

-“ Food Talk”:  Food phraseology. The waiter has mastered the 5 must of what to say. 1. I’m your waiter. 2. Is everything OK? 3. How are we doing? 3. May we take that or are you still working on it. 5. To Go! Learning the culinary cornucopia will be good enough to get a job at IHop

There are many more. Advise: It is a great show of 90 minutes without intermission that is highly recommended.

Featuring:  L-R (Front) Deborah Russo &  Rana Kangas-Kent, (Back) Kim Larsen & David Goodwin.

Accompaniment by Angela Dwyer.

Artistic Staff: Jim Mc Cunn, Stage Manager &Lights; John Ramirez, Set Design.

Kedar K. Adour, MD

Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com.

Jul 29 2014
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‘South Pacific’ comes to Los Altos Hills

By Judy Richter

Many reasons explain why “South Pacific” is so enduring in American musical theater annals.

Composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II created such memorable songs as “Some Enchanted Evening,” “There Is Nothi”ng Like a Dame,” “Younger Than Springtime,” “Bali Ha’i” and many, many more.

Hammerstein and Joshua Logan based the 1949 Broadway hit’s book on James A. Michener’s “Tales of the South Pacific,” published in 1947. Now Foothill Music Theatre is just the latest company to stage this beloved show. Carefully directed by Milissa Carey, it features outstanding singing along with some good acting.

Set on a Navy outpost in the South Pacific during World War II, “South Pacific” tells the story of the budding romance between a young Navy nurse, Ensign Nellie Forbush (Madison Genovese), and a middle-aged French planter, Emile de Becque (Daniel Cameron), who lives on the island.

There’s a parallel romance between Marine Lt. Joseph Cable (Sergey Khalikulov) and Liat (Amanda Nguyen), daughter of Bloody Mary (Jacqueline De Muro), an entrepreneurial native woman who sells souvenirs like grass skirts and shrunken human heads to the sailors.

Racist attitudes from their upbringings — Nellie’s in Little Rock, Ark., and Cable’s along Philadelphia’s Main Line– interfere with both romances. In Nellie’s case, the problem is that Emile was married to a Polynesian woman, now deceased. Nellie does like Emile’s two children from that union. Cable knows that his social set wouldn’t accept a Polynesian woman as his wife.

Both Cameron as Emile and Khalikulov as Cable are outstanding singers, but their acting can be stiff. On the other hand, Genovese as Nellie and De Muro as the bawdy Bloody Mary both act and sing well. Genovese tended to switch from classical to pop style in her first song, “A Cockeyed Optimist,” on opening night, but she settled into an appropriate legit style thereafter.

Supporting roles are ably filled by Steve Boisvert as Luther Billis, an irrepressibly enterprising sailor; Doug Brees as Cmdr. William Harbison and Vic Prosak as Capt. George Brackett, the base’s leaders.

The men’s and women’s chorus of nurses, Seabees and sailors do well as singers and dancers (choreography by Michael Ryken).

The energy level seemed low on opening night, perhaps because of how scorchingly hot it was during the day (the theater is air conditioned, though). Another reason might be that musical director Mark Hanson’s tempos seemed too careful. A faster pace might have helped.

Kuo-Hao Lo’s set is simple yet effective, especially with Michael Ramsaur’s lighting.

“South Pacific” won 10 Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It’s easy to see why in this FMT production.

It will continue through Aug. 10 in Smithwick Theatre, Foothill College, 12345 El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills. For tickets and information, call (650) 949-7360 or visit www.foothillmusicals.com.

Jul 29 2014
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Hershey Felder brings Chopin show to Berkeley

By Judy Richter

After regaling Berkeley Repertory Theatre audiences with his one-man shows about composers George Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein, Hershey Felder has returned with yet another. This time it’s composer-pianist Fryderyk Chopin in “Monsieur Chopin.”

As directed by Joel Zwick, the multi-talented Felder frames the one-act show as a piano lesson taught by Chopin in Paris with the audience as his students on March 4, 1848. However, since the “students” are presumably beginners, he does all the of playing to demonstrate his points.

Chopin was born in Poland in 1810, wrote his first composition at age 7 and spent most of his youth there. Hence, Felder speaks with a Polish accent.

He left Poland in part because of the Russian occupation and wound up in Paris, where he spent most of the rest of his life. During that time, he became known as a prolific composer and performer as well as teacher. He also had an eight-year relationship with author George Sand, whom he called Madam. After ailing for several months, he died in Paris in 1849 at the age of 39.

One of Felder’s most interesting stories concerned what happened after Chopin’s death. At his request, his heart was removed from his body and returned to his hometown of Zelazowa Wola Poland, where it was given a place of honor in a pillar in a church. When the Nazis laid waste to the town in World War II, a Nazi officer, apparently an admirer of Chopin, removed the heart, kept it safe and returned it after the war, when it was eventually installed at the restored church.

Felder plays excerpts and full versions of some of Chopin’s best known works on the Steinway grand piano that dominates the simple set by Yael Pardess. Lighting by Richard Norwood and projections by John Boesche and Andrew Wilder enhance moods and scenes.

After completing his scripted presentation, Felder, still in his Chopin persona, called on the opening night audience to ask questions. In one response, he said that his favorite composers are Bach and Mozart, but he doesn’t think much of Beethoven.

The post-performance session was highlighted by the Polish consul general of Los Angeles, Mariusz Brymora, who gave Felder a medal for promoting Poland and a drawing of a scene in Kraków. Felder’s father was a Polish Jew but left Poland when the Nazis threatened.

Having been thoroughly entertained by the music and the story, the audience moved to the BRT courtyard to enjoy pierogi, a Polish favorite.

“Monsieur Chopin” continues in Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St., Berkeley, through Aug. 10. For tickets and information, call (510) 647-2949 or visit www.berkeleyrep.org.

 

Jul 29 2014
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Magic in the Moonlight — Film Review

By Joe Cillo

Magic in the Moonlight

Directed by Woody Allen

I spent most of this movie wondering why it was made.   It is not a movie about characters and plot and story line so much as it is a movie about contentious grappling with big philosophical issues.  Does God exist?  Is there an afterlife?  Is there a “spiritual” realm apart from the world we see and experience, and do some people have special access to it?  How much faith should we put in science and rationality?  Do we need our illusions to maintain our humanity?  A rather esoteric constellation of topics for a mainstream movie.  The characters are rather simplified and cartoonish.  The plot is contrived and manipulative.  Yet the film is so well made, so well acted, and there are enough surprises that you are prevented from being bored to death with these tiresome philosophical arguments.

Woody Allen seems to like Europe, the 1920s, Dixieland jazz, and the well off and educated.  There are allusions to books and writers like Nietzsche, Shakespeare, Dickens, Freud, etc.  You have to have gone to college and studied liberal arts to watch this movie.  The characters have some intriguing qualities, but he is not interested enough in them to develop them or their relationships in any depth or complexity.   The girl, Sophie, (Emma Stone) is beautiful, but he seems hostile toward her.  She starts out attractive and appealing, but then morphs into a deceitful, conniving, low class, criminal.  He can’t seem to make up his mind whether to let a romance develop between her and Stanley (Colin Firth).  Finally, with her exposure as a fraud, the romance angle is repudiated once and for all, but then turns around yet again as the curtain is coming down in a very unconvincing reappearance for a happy ever after ending with Stanley.  It reflects the confused, indecisive character of this whole film.  There is some humor that works.  It works to some extent on the level of light entertainment, but the simplified, distorted characters lack the substance to give weight to the serious issues that the film wants to be preoccupied with.  I just didn’t get the “message” that this film was trying to get across, but it did seem to be trying to get some kind of a message out.  Some people in the theater applauded at the end, but not me.

Jul 28 2014
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South Pacific scores a hit at Foothill College

By Kedar K. Adour

SOUTH PACIFIC: Musical byRichard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. Directed by Milissa Carey. Foothill Music Theatre, Smithwick Theatre, Foothill College, 12345 El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills, CA 94022. (650) 949-7360 or www.foothillmusicals.com.July 24 –August 10, 2014

South Pacific scores a hit at Foothill College [rating:5] (5 of 5 Stars) (All photos by David Allen)

Foothill College keeps its reputation as a top notch venue for summer musicals with South Pacific under the direction of Milissa Carey who replaced the legendary Jay Manley in 2012. Last year’s production of Damn Yankees hit a three bagger just missing a home run but this year’s production rounds all the bases.  There are top-notch singers, an energetic ensemble in all shapes and sizes who sing and dance up a storm with humor and pathos.

Luther Billis (Steve Boisvert) and Sea Bees

Since the original 1949 Broadway production that won all the major awards being handed out, the show has made the rounds of community theatres and touring companies and was adapted into a slick over-produced 1958 motion picture. The 2008 revival at the Vivian Beaumont Theater received wide acclaim and showed up in San Francisco with a 25 piece orchestra with an expected first class professional production. 

Thanksgiving Follies with Billis and Forebush

With all its spit and polish of that show, the Foothill staging is more satisfying with sets (Kuo-Hao Lo) that seem appropriate and what we would expect on a Pacific Island. It is hardly a simplistic staging but they cleverly use the actors as stage hands to effortlessly move the props as a musical interlude plays between scenes without a wasted minute.

This Pulitzer Prize-winning 1949 musical based on James Michener’s Pulitzer Prize winning book “Tales of the South Pacific” tells the story of four star-crossed lovers caught up in the war in the Pacific and emotionally torn due to ingrained racial prejudice. Woven into the romantic story line are the shenanigans of full-bodied native Bloody Mary (Jacqueline DeMuro) and a group of Sea Bees led by Luther Billis (Steve Boisvert). Madison Genovese playing Nurse Ensign Nellie Forbush is a perky “Cockeyed Optimist” with a charming soprano voice that is not quite a perfect match for the magnificent operatic baritone voice of Daniel Cameron as plantation owner Emile de Becque. Their rendition of “Two Soliloquies” within the first scene sets the hesitant tone of their initial relationship that melts away when Cameron sings “Some Enchanted Evening.”

Bloody Mary sings Bali Ha’i to Luther and the Sea Bees

“My Girl Back Home” Nellie & Cable

 

Sergey Khalikulov’s’entrance as Lt. Joseph Cable is recognized as a “sexy b—–d” by Bloody Mary who selects him to be the husband of her teenage daughter Liat (Amanda Nguyen). Not only is he sexy and tall he has a superb tenor voice to sing “Younger than Springtime”, “This Nearly Was Mine”, and heart tugging “You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught” that expresses the internal and external racism of that era.

The show is loaded with classic Rogers and Hammerstein gems: “Bloody Mary”, “There is Nothing Like a Dame”, Bali Ha’i”, “I’m Gonna Wash that Man Right out of my Hair”, “A Wonderful Guy”, “Happy Talk”, “Younger than Springtime”, “This Nearly Was Mine”, and heart tugging “You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught.” Khalikulov creates a lump in your throat with his viscerally plaintive singing of the final song mentioned.

De Becque’s  mixed-race children Ngana and Jerome are played on alternate nights by youngsters Anika Amrikas-Armstrong and Deepti Kumar  and Mathew Mammen and Akshay Thakur repectively. There was no mention on opening night of who played the role, never-the-less they were a joy to watch and hear with their duet of “Dites-Moi.”

This musical has been said to be a play with music and director Carey has added emphasis to that concept with adroit staging allowing the major characters to slowly tread the small runway surrounding the orchestra to sing their highlight songs in concert style. With a minor complaint that the 11 piece/14 instrument (including a Harp) orchestra could be a bit more upbeat the evening is a complete success.

As an added note, my seat companion, a veteran Navy pilot who flew Torpedo Bombers during the time frame of the play, wished to commend those responsible for finding actors who resembled the Sea Bees he knew during his tour of duty. He even sought out the production supervisor (Bruce Mcleod) to congratulate him on the smooth transition of the scenes and the director saying this was the most satisfying production of South Pacific that he has seen.

Running time 2 hours and 30 minutes with an intermission.

CAST: Madison Genovese as Nellie Forbush; Daniel Cameron as Emile de Becque; Stephen Boisvert Luther Billis; Sergey Khalikulov Lt. Joseph Cable; Jackie DeMuro as Bloody Mary. Others: Vic Prosak, Doug Brees, Amanda Nguyen, Joey Montes, Anika Amrikas-Armstrong, Mathew Mamman, Will Bowmer, Chris Cruz, Paul Joseph Estioko, Remi Ferguson, Patrick Hagen, Steven Ho, David Kirk, Andrew Kracht, Vaughn Mayer, Jerris Ramirez, Kevin Reid, Erik Scilley, Jeff Taylor, Max Walters, Jake Weissman-Sharer, Mike Weiland, Carolyn Bacon, Megan Coomans, Nique Eagen, Cassandra Grilley, Dana Johnson, Elizabeth Lawrence, Ellen Presley, Minna Rogers, Kazmeira Tarshis, Marlena Westley, and Chernee’ Young.

Creative Team Crew: Director, Milissa Carey; Musical Direction by Mark Hanson; Choreography by Michael Ryken; Lighting Designer, Michael Ramsaur; Scenic Designer, Kuo-Hao Lo; Costume Designer, Robert Horek; Production Supervisor, Bruce McLeod; Sound Designer, Andrew Heller; Prop Design, Ruthe Stein.

Kedar K. Adour, MD

Courtesy of  www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com

Jul 28 2014
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‘The Book of Liz’ is a farce with serious undertones

By Woody Weingarten

Woody’s [rating: 2]

Sister Elizabeth Donderstock (AJ Davenport) describes the joys of making cheeseballs to Rev. Tollhouse (Justin Gillman) in “The Book of Liz.” Photo by Jay Yamada.

Brother Brightbee (Stefin Collins) consoles Sister Butterworth (Teri Whipple). Photo by Jay Yamada.

My silliness-appreciation gland may have malfunctioned.

At precisely the wrong time:

While watching “The Book of Liz,” a one-act revival written by a comic brother-sister team, David and Amy Sedaris.

Because my gland wasn’t throbbing properly, I couldn’t fully marvel at the queen-sized Mr. Peanut costume, the Cockney accents of two Ukrainian characters, the Pilgrim-suited alcoholics who staff the Plymouth Crock restaurant, or references to a Chastity Parade that red-flags the “danger of casual glancing.”

Nor did the intentionally fake beards of the black suited, black-hatted Squeamish clergy, a crypto-Amish spoof, make me chuckle.

I was, admittedly, among a small stone-faced minority though.

Many in the sold-out audience laughed loudly, and they applauded vigorously at the play’s end.

Brian Katz, artistic director, and Leah S. Abrams, executive director, co-founders of The Custom Made Theatre Co., which operates out of the Gough St. Playhouse in San Francisco, obviously believe in the 80-minute farce without qualification.

This run marks their company’s fourth time.

It was only my first.

Amy Sedaris, best known for portraying Jerri Blank on Comedy Central’s “Strangers with Candy,” in 2002 originated the off-Broadway role of Sister Elizabeth Donderstock, a disgruntled nun who runs away from the order because she’s undervalued and bullied by its leader, the Rev. Tollhouse, and newly arrived Brother Nathaniel Brightbee.

In this production, AJ Davenport plays that devout cheeseball-making nun with mock-seriousness (“Cheeseballs are practically my life — aside from God”) coupled with the comic conceit of wiping prodigious sweat from her face and brow.

Justin Gillman skillfully injects faux hypocrisy into his role as Tollhouse, and Stefin Collins capably portrays Brightbee as a highly flawed interloper.

Although all four actors play multiple roles, Teri Whipple becomes the numerical all-purpose champ by taking on half a dozen.

I’ve long found David Sedaris’ style of humor stimulated my funnybone better than Amy’s.

His writing most often seemed to me personal, witty and sophisticated while hers frequently struck me as off-kilter and sophomoric.

To me, “The Book of Liz” feels as if Sister Sedaris pushed infinitely more computer keys and concocted a Saturday Night Live sketch that went on too long.

David’s fame stems from his radio essay “SantaLand Diaries” (which detailed his experiences as an elf at Macy’s), his countless New Yorker pieces and a series of books, most of which rely on exaggerated tales of his life, his gay lover and the Sedaris family.

 

Typically he’s droll, although he leaned heavily on gravitas in a New Yorker piece late last year after his sister Tiffany killed herself.

Not everything in “Liz” is intended to be comical either; intermittently a serious undertone surfaces (“Why is it I had to dress like a peanut to feel human again?”).

Maybe I should have been checking my earnestness-appreciation gland all along.

“The Book of Liz” plays at the Gough St. Playhouse, 1620 Gough St. (in the basement of the Trinity Episcopal Church, at Bush), San Francisco, through Aug. 2. Tickets: $25 to $35. Information: (415) 798-2682 or www.custommade.org.

Jul 27 2014
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RVP Presents “Old Money” by Wendy Wasserstein

By Flora Lynn Isaacson

For the final production of their 2013-1014 season, Ross Valley Players is presenting “Old Money,” a comedy of manners that explores the differences between “old money” and “new money” in New York City, by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning-author Wendy Wasserstein.

Under the imaginative direction of Kim Bromley, in an appropriately gorgeous house designed and built by Michael Walraven and showcasing a Gary Marsh sculpture, the company of 8 actors are all double-cast because the play is set in two eras, the early 1900s and the beginning of the 21st Century. These 8 actors move effortlessly from one time period to the other at a dinner party in a lavish mansion on the fashionable Upper East Side of Manhattan.

The host, Jeffrey Bernstein (Geoffrey Colton), a contemporary master of high risk arbitrage in the present day, alternates with Arnold Strauss at a previous dinner party in the past. So it goes with the rest of the cast. Bernstein’s guests of today include a Hollywood director Sid Nercessian (Johnny DeBernard) who becomes the outspoken robber baron Tobias Pfeiffer in the past. Bernstein’s aggressive publicist, Flinty McGee (Karen Leland), becomes socialite Florence DeRoot in the past. Film director Sid Nercessian’s wife Penny (Trungta Kositchaimongkol), an online lingerie designer, becomes Betina Brevoort, in the past. Other guests include the film director’s rebellious daughter Caroline (Gillian Eichenberger) who alternates as the maid Mary Gallagher, also in the present. Robin Wiley plays the not-so-cutting-edge sculptor, Saulina, who becomes Sally Webster, in the past. Veteran actor Wood Lockhart portrays the academic Tobias Vivian Pfeiffer III who taught the history of New York City for 50 years in the present and becomes the architect Schuyler Lynch, in the past. Observing the whole play and commenting to the audience is Jeffrey’s college-age-son, Ovid Walpole Bernstein (Jesse Lumb, in a great performance).

Trips to the garden allow these 8 actors to switch into the costumes required for their double roles. Having this happen so often is confusing for the audience. This applies to all 8 actors and the 16 characters they play. In this continual dance of rich story-telling and social commentary, it becomes strikingly clear that while old money has become new, little else has changed over the years.

“Old Money” is running at Ross Valley Players from July 17 through August 17, 2014. Performances are Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., with Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. All performances take place at the Barn Theatre home of the Ross Valley Players, located at 30
Sir Francis Drake Blvd. in Ross CA. To order tickets, call 415-456-9555, extension 1, or visit www.rossvalleyplayers.com.

Coming up next at Ross Valley Players to begin their new season will be “The Fox on the Fairway,” a hilarious farce by Ken Ludwig, September 12 through October 12, 2014.

Jul 21 2014
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Marin Shakes celebrates 25th Anniversary with As You Like It

By Flora Lynn Isaacson

[rating: 4.0]

Marin Shakespeare kicks off its 25th Silver Season with a classic production of As You Like It , Shakespeare’s exuberant comedy  set in the Forest of Arden.  At its recent Silver Anniversary Gala, the Company announced that it has been given an anonymous donation of one million dollars. “This gift will create new jobs, touch more lives and ensure the future of Shakespeare in Marin,” said Managing Director, Lesley Currier.

The opening night at Dominican University’s Forest Meadows Amphitheatre had lots of pre-show speeches from various politicians, and it was announced that all performances of this first play of the season are “pay-as-you- like- it.”

Director Robert Currier presents this charming production in a classical style with authentic classical Shakespearian costumes by Tammy Berlin, with a minimal set by Jackson Currier which clearly turns into the Forest of Arden, accompanied with beautiful songs composed by Billie Cox.

As You Like It begins in the Court of evil Duke Frederick (Scott Coopwood) who sees the dukedom from his good brother (also Coopwood). The exiled duke’s daughter, Rosalind  (Elena Wright), is suddenly exiled by the evil Duke, and she goes off to live in the Forest of Arden dressed as a man with her cousin, Celia (Livia Demarchi) going along as her faithful companion.  Right before she left, Rosalind fell in love at first site with Orlando (Teddy Spencer), a young nobleman with an evil brother of his own (Davern Wright). Orlando also has to flee the Court to avoid being killed, so everyone winds up in the Forest of Arden. Tagging along with Rosalind is a clown, Touchstone (Adam Roy).  Attending the good Duke is Jacques (Glenn Havlan), a melancholy intellectual who has one of Shakespeare’s most famous speeches (“All the World’s a Stage”).  Julian Lopez-Morillas, who has either directed or performed in every existing Shakespearian play, is wonderful as the old shepherd, Corin.  A realistic wrestling scene in the First Act between Orlando and Charles the wrestler (Jeffrey Lloyd Heatherly) is brilliantly choreographed  by Richard Pallaziol, Fight Director.

As You Like It performs in repertory with Romeo and Juliette through August 10, 2014, at Forest Meadow s Amphitheatre, 890 Belle Avenue, Dominican University, in San Rafael.  Due to the million dollar grant, admission is free; however admission donations of any amount will be greatly accepted at the door. Order tickets on-line at www.marinshakespeare.org  or call 415-499-4488.

Coming up next at Marin Shakespeare will be Romeo and Juliette, directed by Lesley Schisgall Currier from July 18 through September 28, 2014.

Flora Lynn Isaacson

Jul 20 2014
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TheatreWorks’ New Works Festival features ‘The Great Pretender’

By Judy Richter

In “The Great Pretender” by David West Read, a grieving man begins to recover from his wife’s untimely death and to connect with people other than his wife for the first time in his adult life.

The middle aged man, Roy Felt (Steve Brady), has been the low-key host of a TV hand-puppet show for children along the lines of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” His wife, Marilyn, had operated one of the puppets, Francis. The other, Carol the Pony, was manipulated by Carol (Suzanne Grodner).

The show has been on hiatus for about a year after Marilyn’s death when its director, Tom (Michael Storm), convinces Royto give a tryout to the young, overly eager Jodi (Sarah Moser), who can do a right-on imitation of Marilyn as Francis.

Thanks to Jodi and the friendship of Tom and Carol, Roy realizes that it’s time to stop grieving and move on with his life.

This world premiere play was the hit of TheatreWorks’ annual New Works Festival last year and was chosen as the mainstage show of this year’s festival. It deserves the honor.

Director Stephen Brackett has a rock-solid cast with Brady creating a gentle, genial Roy and Moser creating the somewhat ditzy Jodi, who proudly makes her own pants. Grodner has some of the play’s funniest lines as the salty Carol, while Storm’s Tom, who is gay, does a good job of trying to keep the other characters on track.

Read also wrote songs for the sweetly sentimental, yet absorbing show. David Valentine created the whimsical puppets. The TV studio set is by Daniel Zimmerman with lighting by Paul Toben, sound by Cliff Caruthers and costumes by Cathleen Edwards.

Running about 100 minutes without intermission, “The Great Pretender” will continue through Aug. 3. It will be followed by the rest of TheatreWorks’ 13th annual New Works Festival, featuring staged readings of three plays, two musicals and a late-night extra Aug. 9 to 17.

All performances are at the Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. For tickets and information, call (650) 463-1960 or visit www.theatreworks.org.