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Aug 04 2014
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CalShakes produces a winner with Pygmalion.

By Kedar K. Adour

Ovid’s Pygmallion

PYGMALION by George Bernard Shaw. Directed by Jonathan Moscone. California Shakespeare Theater, Bruns Amphitheater, 100 California Shakespeare Theater Way, Orinda, CA 94563. (just off Highway 24 at the California Shakespeare Theater Way/Wilder Rd. exit, one mile east of the Caldecott Tunnel). 510.548.9666 or www.calshakes.org. July 30 – August 24, 2014.

CalShakes produces a winner with Pygmalion. [rating:5] (5 of 5 Stars)

Modern audiences know the plot of George Bernard Shaw’s 1914 play Pygmalion from seeing the musical comedy My Fair Lady. Shaw mostly lifted the story from Ovid who was born in 43 BC. In that story Pygmalion was a sculpture who created a beautiful statue of a woman named Galatea. The statue, whom he fell in love with, came to life when he touched the marble. In Shaw’s play the erstwhile sculpture is Henry Higgins a professor of phonetics and his creation of a “princess fit to be a consort for Kings” is a scruffy London flower girl named Eliza Doolittle. Unlike Ovid’s Pygmalion who fell hopelessly in love with his creation, Shaw insists that is not so with his Pygmalion, now named Henry Higgins. Although many directors of the play have toyed with that idea Jonathon Moscone sticks with Shaw’s premise.

There are several editions of the play Pygmalion that are in print. Shaw’s original premise of the final relationship between Eliza Doolittle and Professor Higgins is one of equality. Directorial whims have often changed that. Shaw recognized the difficultly of staging the play and the need for “exceptionally elaborate machinery.” He thus suggested scenes that could be omitted.  These facts did not dismay the always inventive director Jonathon Moscone who apparently has used the original text although truncated version staging the play in two acts rather than five. He has gathered a superb cast that received a standing ovation on opening night at the chilly open-air venue.

When entering the outdoor Bruns Amphitheater there is a colorful relatively bare stage with an unadorned semicircular stairway stage right leading to an upstairs exit and a central stage level open area. As the lights dim and are relit the opening scene is Covent Garden vegetable market and a diverse group are caught in a rainstorm. There are those elegant ones leaving the Theatre mingling with the street workers including a scruffy flower girl Eliza Doolittle (Irene Lucio). We are immediately treated to Moscone’s inventiveness when members of the crowd are simply one-dimensional life-size cutouts of men and women in elegant dress. Three of the real live patrons are the Eynsford-Hills, mother (Julie Eccles), daughter Clara (Elyse Price) and hapless Freddie (Nicholas Pelczar).

Into that scene weaves a strange man taking notes and is assumed to be a ‘copper’ but is really Henry Higgins. Through a series mishaps there is an encounter between Higgins, Eliza and Colonel Pickering (L. Peter Callander) with Higgins making a flippant remark that he could pass off the “squashed cabbage”  flower girl as a duchess merely by teaching her to speak properly thus setting the scene for the rest of the play.

(L to R) L. Peter Callender as Colonel Pickering, Irene Lucio as Eliza Doolittle, and Anthony Fusco as Professor Henry Higgins, photo by Kevin Berne

Setting the scene is a marvel of ingenuity with the ensemble adeptly moving bookcases, sofa, chairs, tables and other paraphernalia onto stage creating a stylish working bachelor flat for scene two. Pickering has moved in with Higgins and they are exchanging their knowledge. Into this bucolic setting ruled over by housekeeper Mrs. Pearce (Catherine Castellanos), intrudes Eliza offering to pay for lessons to improve her speech so that she could get a job as a shop girl. The interaction between four characters is a marvel of superb dialog that was lifted practically verbatim by Lerner and Loewe’s My Fair Lady.  In fact those creators of the musical wisely use Shaw’s words for many of their songs that you might even sing to yourself . . . but please don’t.

Enter dustman Alfred Doolittle (James Carpenter) Eliza’s father and once again Shaw’s brilliance combined with Carpenter’s dynamic stage presence and his ability to sub serve his own personality becoming the character he is playing is worth the cost of admission. His re-entrance in the penultimate scene dressed in the wedding finery befitting his new station in life saddled with “middle-class morality” is a gem.

In fact, the entire play is a gem. Anthony Fusco is the perfect Henry Higgins and makes the pivotal role his own. Irene Lucio has a fitful start with her Cockney accent in scene one but grows beautifully into the role deserving her rousing applause when she gracefully challenges the bullying Higgins while standing on the upper level of the set. Is Moscone telling us that she has the upper hand?

Again Moscone’s ingenuity is apparent as he has elected to by-pass the tedious lesson scenes with talk-overs to indicate the passage of time allowing the ensemble to reset the stage for the sitting room of Henry’s mother (Sharon Lockwood). He is there to test Eliza’s ability to mingle with London Society. With the Eynsford-Hills in attendance Higgins passes off her remarks as “the new small talk”, and Freddy is enraptured. When she is leaving, he asks her if she is going to walk across the park, to which she replies, “Walk? Not bloody likely!” (This is the most famous line from the play.)

Although the versatile L. Peter Callender creates the caring personality of Pickering with great nuance, it is the ladies of the cast who are most memorable. Catherine Castellanos gives authority to her role as Mrs. Pearce. Beautiful Julie Eccles is elegant as Mrs. Eynsford Hill and Sharon Lockwood as Mrs. Higgins steals the scenes with her full authority being unbowed by her badgering son. Nicholas Pelcazar and Elyse Price hold their own in lesser roles and the ensemble could not be better. Three cheers for Anna Oliver for her marvelous costumes and Annie Smart for her ingenious sets.

This is a must, must see show and Moscone has pared Shaw’s verbosity down to two hours and twenty minutes including the intermission.

Featuring: Anthony Fusco* (Professor Henry Higgins); L. Peter Callender* (Colonel Pickering); Irene Lucio* (Eliza Doolittle); James Carpenter* (Alfred Doolittle); Sharon Lockwood* (Mrs. Higgins); Catherine Castellanos* (Mrs. Pearce); Nicholas Pelczar* (Freddy Eynsford Hill); Julie Eccles* (Mrs. Eynsford Hill); Elyce Price* (Clara Eynsford Hill); Ponder Goddard* (Parlormaid/Ensemble); Catherine Luedtke (Ensemble); Caitlin Evenson (Ensemble); Charles Lewis III (Ensemble); Liam Callister (Ensemble).

Creative Crew: Designed by Annie Smart (set designer), Anna Oliver (costume designer), Stephen Strawbridge (lighting designer; Jake Rodriguez (Sound designer); Laxmi Kumaran (stage manager); Lynne Soffer (dialect & text coach).

Kedar K. Adour, MD

Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com

 

Aug 03 2014
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Image Great Artists Steal (L to R) Mélanie Tanneau, Siva Nagapattinam Kasi, Cédric Mérillon. Photo: Theatraverse

Edinburgh Fringe: Theatraverse’s “Great Artists Steal”

By Jo Tomalin
(Above  L to R) Mélanie Tanneau, Siva Nagapattinam Kasi, Cédric Mérillon. Photo: Theatraverse
Review by Jo Tomalin

Wonderfully Absurdist Bilingual Play…

Image Great Artists Steal (L to R) Mélanie Tanneau, Siva Nagapattinam Kasi. Photo: Theatraverse

Great Artists Steal
(L to R) Mélanie Tanneau, Siva Nagapattinam Kasi.
Photo: Theatraverse

New Absurdist bilingual French/English play Great Artists Steal written by Belfast based Seamus Collins and Directed by Joanne Allan is running at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival: The Space, Venue 45 on August 2-9, 11-16 and 18-23 at 8:35pm (20:35).

This fascinating well acted 50 minute play is set in the future after an unknown apocalyptic event and the three characters – The Woman, The Man and The Younger Man – seem to have regressed, prompting compelling questions about relearning how to live and the importance of inventing bread and even the wheel, in the spirit of Beckett with a touch of humor.

Image Great Artists Steal (L to R) Mélanie Tanneau, Cédric Mérillon. Photo: Theatraverse

Great Artists Steal
(L to R) Mélanie Tanneau, Cédric Mérillon.
Photo: Theatraverse

The Theatraverse company from France specializes in French/English bilingual theatre and often teach bilingual theatre workshops or conferences with their productions. All three actors and Allan, the company director return to the Festival after a very successful and highly praised run of Theatraverse’s Rhinoceros at the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe. In this 2014 production of Great Artists Steal Allan collaborated with author Collins on the development of the play, and her staging  and design is influenced by Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota, Peter Brook, and Robert Wilson.

Image Great Artists Steal (L to R) Mélanie Tanneau. Photo: Theatraverse

Great Artists Steal
(L to R) Siva Nagapattinam Kasi, Mélanie Tanneau.
Photo: Theatraverse

Allan’s cast of bilingual actors are energetic, physical and precise. The Woman played by Mélanie Tanneau, is a strong and complex character who (re)invented singing and bread. Tanneau is vibrant, bold, sensitive and at times clownesque. Siva Nagapattinam Kasi is wonderful as The Man, an inventor, who is solid and strong, a bit naïve but with an ego.  Cédric Mérillon’s The Younger Man is smart and Mérillon plays him so well – fresh, lively, nuanced and charming. Interestingly,  the relationships among the characters change as the characters realize they have  feelings and inventions develop.

This is a production of quality and finesse, with a bit of quirkiness. Collins’s words play with language in a regressive and witty way, the actors are outstanding, and the director has created a spirited and stylish production that is ready for prime time. Go and see it!

For more information:
theSpace @ Venue45 (Venue 45)
63 Jeffrey Street
EH1 1DH
Box office: 0131 510 2381

Theatraverse
Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2014

   Jo Tomalin Reviews Dance, Theatre & Physical Theatre Performances

www.forallevents.com Arts, Travel & Lifestyle
Jo Tomalin, Ph.D.
More Reviews by Jo Tomalin
TWITTER @JoTomalin
Aug 03 2014
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Writer chews on overheard chit-chat

By Woody Weingarten

 

“I’m all ears,” asserts eavesdropper Woody Weingarten. Photo: Nancy Fox.

No, of course I don’t eavesdrop on purpose.

But I do unintentionally pick up conversational crumbs during my dog-walking stints or other Ross Valley meanderings.

I’ve learned the vicinity is a veritable hotbed of amusing or thought provoking verbal tidbits. Such as the following, extracted from the pile of Post-it collectibles on my desk:

A pair of girl bicyclists rests, cross-legged, on a downtown San Anselmo sidewalk. Says one, “When I first met my boyfriend, he was feral.”

Chatting outside a Sleepy Hollow residence, a redheaded midlifer tells a male companion, “I thought Hostess was defunct, but I was wrong. Twinkies and Ho-Ho’s have new outlets. Which confirms what I’ve always believed — they have a shelf-life that ensures they, along with the cockroaches, will inherit the Earth.”

“When I see how many of my gismos, thingamajigs and appliances are breaking down, some after only 30 or 40 days,” laments a white-haired geezer to a checker in Fairfax’s Good Earth Natural Foods, “I hate to think about what’s going on in my body after 92 years.”

At the dog park behind Safeway in Red Hill, a grinning twentysomething guy rhetorically asks a chum, “Did you hear that canines here communicate via pee-mail?”

Husband in tattered shorts to overly loud wife in basic black outside Ross Post Office: “I heard what you meant.”

A blue-hair leaning on a cane at the Rino gas station in Fairfax says to a driver, “I don’t know about you but I can never rest in a restroom.”

Angry young woman to red-faced young man in Bolinas Park in Fairfax: “I am not a stand-in in your movie.”

As they both caress an assortment of nuts and bolts at Fairfax Lumber & Hardware, a young man with a nose-ring tells his girlfriend, who has both eyebrows pierced, “He got his B.S. degree in B.S.”

Succinctly, on the lawn of Town Hall in San Anselmo, a female teenager tells a gal pal, “I don’t do boredom.”

A forty-ish guy on the Kentfield campus of the College of Marin tells a younger classmate, “When anyone calls a celebrity ‘a legend,’ that means the person being referred to is old, old, old — or dead.”

At the Ross Valley Veterinary Hospital in San Anselmo, a mom asks her daughter: “When all the newspapers disappear, will puppies be trained on Kindles?”

Unsteady gray-haired guy in front of the San Anselmo’s Lincoln Park wine bar who clearly did more than taste: “My life can be measured in troublesome channels. When I was five, it was Guadalcanal. Now, it’s my alimentary canal.”

While discussing her daughter’s new boyfriend, a stylish Fairfax woman heading into 19 Broadway in Fairfax tells a companion, “My inner jury’s still out.”

Says one smiling matron to another as they window-shop at Fairfax Variety, “Having just learned that an American Headache Society exists gives me a headache.”

“She’s a magnet for desperadoes,” says one twinkle-eyed blonde in front of Andronico’s in San Anselmo to another.

A man in a 49ers’ cap says to a cop near the Parkade in Fairfax, “Oh, how quickly we forget. I wonder whatever happened to Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Sperminator.”

Couplet overheard at the hub bus stop in San Anselmo: “Greeting cards are getting expensive.” “Yeah, but now they talk, sing and do your laundry.”

A redhead sips a latte in San Anselmo’s Marin Coffee Roasters and gripes, after her second date with the new man in her life, “I have yet to find his sense of humor or personality.”

An acne-ridden teen boy, licking a spoon in front of Gelato on San Anselmo Avenue: “I believe in stating the obvious — because most people overlook it.”

“I’m 87 years old and still very much a work in progress,” says a woman to her companion in Fairfax’s Siam Lotus.

In the doorway of the Sunshine Bicycle Center in Fairfax, a youth whispers to himself, “She’s somewhere between perfect and oh, my God.”

A housefrau enters Seawood Photo in San Anselmo telling one friend about another: “He lives partly in Manhattan, partly in Florida, and wholly in yesterday.”

Drake High School student describes a verbose acquaintance thusly: “He’s a wordaholic.”

And here’s my personal favorite:

A bald philosopher-king outside MC23 Salon in Ross says, “My recommendation for a bumper sticker is: ‘Life is not a bumper sticker.’”

You can contact Woody Weingarten @voodee@sbcglobal.net.

Aug 03 2014
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‘Boyhood’ deserves Oscars for best picture and directing

By Woody Weingarten

Woody’s [rating: 5]

Ellar Coltrane (Mason Jr.) at age 6 in “Boyhood.”

Ellar Coltrane (Mason Jr.) as a pre-collegian in “Boyhood.”

It’s way too early for me to crawl out on this particular limb, but I’m impetuous enough to do it anyway.

The best flicks of any year, the sure-fire Oscar contenders, typically are released in December, often a day or two before year’s end.

That ensures eligibility.

And, usually, a booming box-office.

This year, a vibrant film I just saw breaks with the tradition.

“Boyhood” is Richard Linklater’s cinematic masterwork, a groundbreaking work of scripted fiction that took 12 years to film. It feels real.

Indeed, it’s the most emotionally nourishing movie I’ve seen in eons.

I expect it to cop the Oscar as 2014’s best.

Forget the competition.

For a dozen consecutive years, the director-writer’s cameras filmed the various actors while they grew up, grew furrowed, grew chunkier.

In three or four-day annual shoots.

Ellar Coltrane stars as Mason Junior, a youngster who loses his baby fat and innocence while we watch.

Lorelei Linklater, the director’s daughter, realistically portrays the boy’s officious cinema sister, Samantha. Olivia (Patricia Arquette) and Mason Sr. (Ethan Hawke) come off as his blemished but loving parents.

All four are understated.

The veteran filmmaker overcame his gimmick by making the movie a non-formulaic exploration of human development — without the usual cinematic clichés.

Except for an abusive husband-drunk.

The characters seem transparent, even when internal mini-crises envelop them.

Mostly, though, Linklater, 54, examines the impact ordinariness has on human beings.

His novel-like study — based in Texas, where he was born and yetlives — meanders, but generally focuses on the less showy flashes that can influence life: sibling squabbling, routine schooling, cussing, parental guidance and lapses, Bible- and gun-toting, revolving haircuts and facial hair, juvenile bewilderment and sexuality.

Linklater’s finest scenes exude humor, including gutter bowling and blue fingernails.

But his characters are genuine enough to have been my neighbors in Clearwater, Florida, or Willingboro, New Jersey.

For some viewers, namely those who prefer high drama to watching inch-by-inch life changes, “Boyhood” may seem plot-less. Other moviegoers may suffer from a lack of zitzfleisch, the project’s 165-minute length tough on their bony backsides.

I had no such problems.

Rather, I found the film to be epic — not in the sense of explosions or thousands of warriors and computer-graphic stunts, but epic in the sense of zooming in on people reacting to life’s commonplaceness.

I’ve long been a Linklater fan — especially the documentary “Fast Food Nation,” the fact-based black comedy “Bernie,” and his fictional trilogy, “Before Sunrise,” “Before Sunset” and “Before Midnight,” which tracks a loving but contentious couple.

If there’s an antecedent to “Boyhood,” it’s director Michael Apted’s “7-Up,” a documentary series that took 14 seven-year-old British pupils from varied soci-economic backgrounds and revisited them every seven years for the next 49 so far.

The fabricated “Boyhood” has vastly more impact, however.

For me, it creates a time machine.

Although my coming of age didn’t resemble Mason’s in the least, it lets me relive the warmth and angst and crossroads I faced while growing up.

So, thanks, Mr. Visionary, for skipping a cinematic stone over the water’s edge and letting the ripples of my past glisten in the sun. Thanks, too, for reminding me that a parent can be only as joyous as the least happy child.

And thanks for verifying that there’s always a little kid inside an older body.

“Boyhood” will grab no prize for taking more than a decade to complete. Hitler propagandist Leni Riefenstahl started a script in 1934 but didn’t release “Tiefland” until 20 years later. The longevity winner, however, is an animated feature, “The Thief and the Cobbler,” which took 28 years — mainly because writer-director-head animator Richard Williams ran out of money.

No movie this year should be more prize-worthy than “Boyhood,” though.

Linklater has planted the right cinematic seeds to merit his harvesting Academy Awards as best director and best film.

I predict he will.

“Boyhood” is playing at the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Rafael Film Center in San Rafael, the California and Piedmont theaters in the East Bay, and the Embarcadero, Sundance Kabuki Cinema and UA Stonestown Twin in San Francisco.

You can contact Woody Weingarten at voodee@sbcglobal.net.

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.