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Aug 31 2013
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“Noises Off!” Pacifica Spindrift’s Spot-On New Production

By David Hirzel

Noises Off!  It’s been called the funniest comedy ever written, but it takes the hand of a wise director and the clock-work timing of a very talented cast to make Pacifica Spindrift’s new production of Michael Frayn’s play the laugh-out-loud hit of the season.

Veering between vaudeville, slapstick, and satire, this backstage look into play within a play (there are two playbills, one for the Spindrift production of Noises Off! and one for the spurious Nothing On), staged on a stage of the home of a pair of British tax-exiles.  The characters of Nothing On include a befuddled housekeeper, a lecherous rental agent with a potential client, a playwright and his wife, a director and his crew.  The characters of Noises Off! are the cast of the fictitious play.  Confused?  Don’t be.  Come and see this new production, and all will make complete sense, or nonsense.

The key to the comedy is the seamless flow of rapid-fire verbal exchanges, seasoned with exquisite comedic choreography—remember this:  “doors and sardines; getting on, getting off”—elevated to a high art.  An ensemble piece like this demands a lot of everyone involved, in equal measure, and the entire cast is up to the task. Even though I know it’s work, they make it look like fun.

The first act sets the stage for what will happen next, and each actor has a chance to shine on stage and oil the gears for everything is to follow.  The laughs are genuine and frequent, with well-done physical comedy and witty repartee; the plot thickens as more and more people enter the house, unknown to each other.

The set has two sides, and we get to see them both, in the ingenious constructions of master carpenter Mike Calderaro.  The second act set shows us the backstage Nothing On, now in performance on the road and  falling apart as we watch.  This is where the choreography really shows; you’ll have to go see the play to know what I mean.  We the audience loved every minute of it. Take special note of the individual performances going on simultaneously, while the play plays out before us on on the other side of this backstage set.

The third act turns the stage around again, and Nothing On, now as polished as it’s every likely to be, continues into its inevitable dissolution.  This production has got to be the funniest thing I’ve ever seen on stage, or anywhere, for that matter.  I complimented director Debi Durst after the show, and she of course gave all credit to her cast and crew, who really worked hard to make this show work so well.  It was a challenge for all, with the temporary closing of the Spindrift Theater and the subsequent scramble to find rehearsal and this performance space at Serramonte del Rey, 699 Serramonte Blvd., Daly City CA.  Everyone—and I mean everyone—in this show gets a rave review for an all-out effort, but my personal favorites are Dominic J. Falletti’s Garry Lejeune and Dianna Collett’s PoppyNorton-Taylor.

This new temporary performance space has plenty of room, and you won’t find a better theater experience anywhere, so come on down to see this run of Noises Off! before it ends September 15.

As for me, I’ll never think of sardines in the same way again.

Box Office:  650-359-8002

Website:  Pacifica Spindrift Players

David Hirzel:  www.davidhirzel.net

Aug 29 2013
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AMERICAN DREAM a worthy world premiere at New Conservatory Theatre Center.

By Kedar K. Adour

(L-R) Will Giammona, Ulises Toledo

American Dream: Sueño del Otro Lado: By Brad Erickson. Directed by Dennis Lickteig. New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness Ave., S.F. (415) 861-8972 or www.nctcsf.org.

Through September 15, 2013.

AMERICAN DREAM a worthy world premiere at New Conservatory Theatre Center.

World premiere plays by emerging playwrights can be problematic for many reasons including the tedious process of multiple staged readings and allowing subsequent outside input to change text, construction and purpose. Brad Erickson’s American Dream: El Sueno del Otro Lado was developed by several groups, with staged readings at the Throckmorton Theatre in Mill Valley, New Conservatory Theatre Center (NCTC), and Winding Road Theatre Ensemble in Tucson. In its world premiere at NCTC there is a suggestion that it has been put together by committee.

As a political drama it covers the hot-button issues of gay marriage (the Defense of Marriage Act), immigration and personal policy-making agendas.  As a love story with complications it is very touching if not believable due to plot twists that are questionable. These presumed flaw by this reviewer does not detract from the professional production and competent acting by the cast of seven.

Architect Tom (William Giammona) now divorced from Cara (Dana Zook) after 20 years of marriage due to his acknowledging that he is gay. They have a 16 year old daughter Julie (Katherine Roberts). Even though they are separated an enduring family bond exists and Dan’s minimal homosexual behavior is accepted. Complications arise when 42 year old Dan takes a trip to San Miguel de Allende in Mexico and falls in love with Salvador (Ulises A. Toledo) his 28 year old Spanish teacher.      In a 17 scene first act the Erickson builds layer on layer of dialog without action defining relationships between the major characters and introducing Minutemen border guards (Dale Albright and Justin Gillman) that express their general and specific reasons to keep out illegal immigrants from the U.S. In the characterization process he also explores the social attitudes of Mexicans toward homosexuality in general and the intense personal bonding of Dan and Salvador. In touching final first act scene, director Dennis Lickteig cleverly stages Cara down-stage right, Dan upstage center and Salvador mid-stage left expressing their individual love and angst.

In the year since the divorce Cara has become sexually but not emotionally involved with Richard (Jeffery Hoffman) an influential, politically astute Republican lawyer who for his own personal reasons concocts a scenario for Dan and Salvador to marry then sneak Salvador through the border fence out of Mexico.  This leads to the only bit of action in the play and as staged is extremely dramatic.

The almost denouement that Erickson creates in the final scene is very touching with all the major characters on stage and each having their say. Accolades go to Giammona, Robbins, Toledo and Zook for their understated and understanding portrayals, to Justin Gillman for the ferocity of his diatribes and quiet republicanism of Jeffery Hoffman.

Lickeig’s deliberate pacing does not do justice to the script but his movement of the characters on the Kuo-Hao Lo’s ingenious surrealistic utilitarian set lighted by Christian Mejia is meritorious.

Kedar K. Adour, MD

Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com

Will Giammona, Ulises Toledo

Aug 29 2013
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GOOD PEOPLE another winner at Marin Theatre Company.

By Kedar K. Adour

ZZ Moor (Kate), Amy Resnick (Margie) and Mark Anderson Phillips (Mike) in the Bay Area premiere of David Lindsay-Abaire’s Good People at Marin Theatre Company, now through September 15. Limited engagement! Photo by Ed Smith

GOOD PEOPLE by David Lindsay-Abaire. Directed by Tracy Young. Marin Theatre Company, 397 Miller Avenue, Mill Valley, CA 94941.(415) 388-5208 or www.marintheatre.org.

August 22 – September 15, 2013

GOOD PEOPLE another winner at Marin Theatre Company.

It has been an auspicious four days for theatre goers in the Bay Area with two stunning productions of plays with strong women lighting up the stages, first at TheatreWorks and last night at the Marin Theatre Company (MTC).  The social milieus depicted in each play are as far apart as the 50 miles that separates the two venues. In Other Desert Cities by Jon Robin Baitz we share a slice of life of the intellectual and affluent while in David Lindsay-Abaire’S Good People we are transported to the struggling less educated blue-collar class in South Boston. The play opened in New York to rave reviews in 2011 and has gone on to become the most produced play of 2012-13 seasons in the United States. MTC’s staging is the West Coast premiere and should not be missed.

Although not semi-autobiographical, David Lindsay-Albaire the 2007 Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Rabbit Hole was born in South Boston, struggled to become successful and the verisimilitudes of his characters is genuine.  Margie (brilliant Amy Resnick) is a single mother with an adult mentally and physically disabled daughter who requires full time care causing her to be consistently late for work as a cashier in a Dollar Store.  This leads to her being fired by the manager Stevie (Ben Euphart) whose mother was a friend to Margie as well as a local loveable though eccentric character whose exploits provided many laughs for the denizens of the neighborhood.

We discover the depth of Margie’s plight in a tightly constructed second scene when she is sharing a cup of coffee with her two best friends Dottie (Anne Darragh) and Jean (Jami Jones). The interaction between these three top-notch actors is a study in how ensemble acting should be staged. It helps that Lindsay-Albaire is a master at writing colloquial dialog that defines character and carries the plot forward. Margie’s main concern is finding another job to afford paying for the rent and her daughters care.

A local newspaper has published an article about a former schoolmate and boyfriend Mike (Mark Anderson Phillips) who has become a successful doctor living in upscale Chestnut Hill. Dottie and Jean encourage Margie to approach Mike to seek a job. She does and after an uncomfortable exchange of pleasantries and coercion, Mike reluctantly offers Maggie an invitation to his birthday party.

Back at the church Bingo parlor, the trio of Maggie, Dottie and Jean, with a bingo addict Stevie an uninvited player, the discussion about Margie’s up coming trip to the party is interrupted by  a telephone call.  It is Mike calling to say his daughter is ill and the party has been canceled. The women are not winners at Bingo but Stevie is. This leads to an explosively humorous curtain line for the end of Act one.

 At the home of Mike and his black wife Kate (a stunning ZZ Moor) they are discussing appointments for professional marriage counseling when Margie arrives into their “lace curtain Irish” home. Slowly with intricate sub-rosa dialog and climactic confrontation between the three Margie’s revelations, that may be true or false, threatens Kate and Mike’s family life. Kate becomes a tiger at that threat and ZZ Moor lights up the stage with her ferocity. You will not learn more in this review other than to say the definition of “good people” takes a beating. It is in a final scene, a true epilog, that “good people” is given a spoken definition.

Anne Darragh (Dottie), Amy Resnick (Margie), Jamie Jones (Jean) and Ben Euphrat (Stevie)

Although Amy Resnick and Mark Anderson Phillips are the featured actors and deliver outstanding performances, the supporting cast adds depth to the evening with solid acting. One wonders why ZZ Moor not been seen more often in the Bay Area. Her performance, although limited to the second act, is absolutely memorable.

Director Tracy Young keeps a tight rein on the cast and Running time is about 2 hours and a 15 minute intermission

Kedar K. Adour, MD

Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com

 

 

Aug 29 2013
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Siobhan Davies Dance: “ROTOR” in London

By Jo Tomalin
(above) Siobhan Davies Dance: “ROTOR”  Photo by Jo Tomalin

Review by Jo Tomalin

Timepiece by Conrad Shawcross
(Photo by Jo Tomalin)

Fusion: Siobhan Davies Dance with Sculpture

In August 2013 the Siobhan Davies Dance Company performed three short dance/theatre pieces called ROTOR. ROTOR was devised as a counterpoint to a continually moving faceless clock sculpture – the Timepiece installation by artist Conrad Shawcross, at the historic Roundhouse in Camden, London, an arts and new media performance centre.

The twenty-five feet wide Timepiece Sculpture was suspended from the high Victorian dome ceiling in this mysterious circular space made of wrought iron and wood. Articulated electronically by gears and pulleys, Timepiece’s continuous turning movement was silent and smooth with bright lights on the ends of three narrow rods. Below, the audience members stood or sat around the edges of the vast open floor space.

Siobhan Davies Dance: ROTOR with Timepiece
Photo by Jo Tomalin

Four dancers began the first piece Live Feed (a play written by E V Crowe and directed by Ramin Gray) starting in a line in the centre – three female and one male. “Do it as you want” said one of the actor /dancers, “It’s a shift” said another, “Relaxed?” as they walked together around, going faster, slower, creating some conflict on their journey through words, direction and speed changes.

In the second segment – A Series of Appointments (Choreographed by Siobhan Davies), each of the four dancers mirror the movement of a clock hand as they approach the centre of the space then walk backward, silently  switching formations – chasing a partner – it seems random, but is it? They speed up, go forward and back, sometimes gliding across or exploding from the group. Then they change dynamics and slow down…almost floating for a second or two. This is playful time keeping.

 Siobhan Davies Dance: ROTOR with Timepiece
Photo by Jo Tomalin

In part three – Songbook (Composed by Matteo Fargion) the audience is asked to move to the centre, while the dancers stand with microphones making vocal sounds and moving rhythmically with strong gestures, claps and bends, counting and whistling. The sculpture moves above the audience, and its shadows suggest a sundial gently brushing each person. In the final moments, the sounds and movement become more abstract and physical – like an exaggerated form of absurdist sign language.

This was a fascinating, devised program of movement, dance and theatre, which was well received by the audience. The nature of the performance was certainly unpredictable – yet experimental work fusing art and performance is often found in leading European museums and galleries – and in this case Shawcross, Davies and the always provocative Roundhouse produced a creative interlude to make us slow down our own pace of life to experience time passing in a different way.

Siobhan Davies, prior dancer and well-known choreographer at the London Contemporary Dance Theatre leads Siobhan Davies Dance, which is one of the UK’s foremost contemporary dance companies. The Roundhouse has combined this dance company with Shawcross’ sculpture in an interesting series of dance/theatre and fusion performances – preceded earlier in August by notable choreographer Wayne McGregor’s Random Dance company and the Timepiece.

 

More information:
YouTube link to Conrad Shawcross’ Timepiece:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkSl7KlnQm8

The Roundhouse, London:
http://www.roundhouse.org.uk

Watch Siobhan Davies Dance: ROTOR
http://www.roundhouse.org.uk/whats-on/productions/siobhan-davies-dance-presents-rotor

Siobhan Davies Dance:
http://www.siobhandavies.com

Conrad Shawcross:
http://conradshawcross.com

  

Jo Tomalin Reviews:  Dance & Theatre Performances

Jo Tomalin, Ph.D.
More Reviews by Jo Tomalin
TWITTER @JoTomalin

Aug 28 2013
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Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart shine in pre-Broadway play

By Woody Weingarten

Ian McKellen (left) and Patrick Stewart star in the pre-Broadway engagement of “No Man’s Land.” Photo: Kevinberne.com.

What’s real?

That’s the real question behind many an absurdist Harold Pinter play.

The query’s especially pertinent — when the playwright’s elongated pauses and word-spurts are done — with “No Man’s Land,” which is entrenched at the Berkeley Rep through the end of the month.

The play’s been around since 1975, at which point its debut starred Ralph Richardson as Hirst, the drunken upper-class person of letters, and John Gielgud as Spooner, the failed poet who also knows close-up and personal the decaying consequences of alcohol. Now Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart exquisitely fill those roles. But only through Aug. 31 at the Rep before moving to Broadway.

Is Spooner an old university classmate of Hirst’s, an inner- or outer-circle chum who shared acquaintances and relationships?

Maybe.

Is he a liar, a charlatan — “a lout,” as Hirst declares at one point?

Maybe.

The mystery of who Spooner really is — or was — is left to the audience’s verdict as the final curtain rings down.Along the way, however, Pinter’s consistently rapier-sharp dialogue evokes copious laughter from his sporadically impenetrable, always serious-minded and thought-provoking reality vs. fantasy brainteaser.

Sir Ian, 74, a world-renowned British Shakespearean actor, has also mastered fantastic “X-Men” and “The Lord of the Rings” characters. Sir Patrick, 73, likewise an adroit British Shakespearean actor, saw his fame go viral not when he portrayed “Hamlet” but as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard in “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”

Both had wrung the last drop of evil out of the “MacBeth” title role. Now they’re whipping the intellectual crap out of “No Man’s Land” at the Rep.

And starting Oct. 26, the two (as well as supporting actors Billy Crudup and Shuler Hensley as a pair of possibly gay manservants) will take the classic to the Great White Way and alternate performances with “Waiting for Godot,” a standard from the pen of Pinter’s mentor/friend, Samuel Beckett.I went to “No Man’s Land,” which I hadn’t previously seen, with huge expectations.

After all, Pinter, who died in 2008 after writing 30 plays (including “The Homecoming,” “Betrayal,” “The Caretaker” and “The Birthday Party”), had won the Nobel Prize for Literature, hadn’t he?

And hadn’t the Swedish Academy cited his work for unveiling “the precipice under everyday prattle”?

I wasn’t the least bit disappointed, even when forced to strain on occasion to hear McKellen’s mumbled words (which alternated with ultra-precise diction in his characterization of a staggering, impossible-to-pin-down drunk).

Or when, once in a while, Pinter’s use of British slang made clarity momentarily impossible.I found McKellen’s performance so magnetic that even when he was a ragtag background figure clutching his overcoat and a bottle of booze, and another character was speaking, I often watched him.

But Stewart (almost unrecognizable with hair) also could be compelling, depicting Hirst’s underlying insensitivity and threats with a simple look. He could exhibit, too, social differences that can be delineated with few words. Such as, “This is another class…it’s a world of silk.”

I loved that director Sean Mathias wisely let his actors display all their theatrical gifts and thereby heighten the vaudevillian humor of set pieces (McKellen’s bouncy movements while tying the laces of his tennis shoes, for instance).And I adored that Mathias let the often-enigmatic quality of Pinter’s pithy phraseology float unshackled in the air: “I will be kind to you” and “I have known this before…a house of silence and strangers.”

And allow, as well, seemingly irrefutable statements to stand on their own: “I am too old for any expectations,” “I am yours to command” and “Do I detect a touch of the hostile?”

I found the lone set — an elegant, sparingly furnished room designed by Stephen Brimson Lewis — big enough to dwarf the players and put their human transience and frailties in proportion.With both leading thespians being about my age, I was exceptionally pleased to find they’re still perfecting their stagecraft, with majestic, nuanced brilliance.

Opening night of the most star-studded play seen in the Bay Area in many years, the audience gave all four actors a standing ovation and multiple curtain calls.

They earned them.

For their superlative interpretations of characters who, despite its frequent splashes of humor, reside in a “No Man’s Land” that disturbingly “never changes [but] remains forever icy and silent.”

And perplexing.

“No Man’s Land” plays at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre‘s Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison St., Berkeley, through Aug. 31. Tickets: $17.50 to $135, subject to change, (510) 647-2949 or www.berkeleyrep.org.

Aug 28 2013
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Monty Python’s Spamalot by Eric Idle & John DuPrez, 6th Street Playhouse, Santa Rosa CA

By Greg & Suzanne Angeo

Barry Martin (left), Eric Weiss

 

Reviewed by Suzanne and Greg Angeo

(Photos by Eric Chazankin)

Stunningly Silly and Good For You, Too

We all know civilization needs silliness to survive. It’s essential to human life. But let’s face it – far too many people are scared to death of being silly. They need somebody else to do it for them so they can get their minimum daily requirement. The Monty Python troupe has been a premier provider of this vital nutrient for more than 40 years.  Through their landmark BBC series and films, it’s been said that they influenced comedy as much as the Beatles did music. They made sheer, unadulterated silliness the driving force behind their work. “Spamalot”, by Python veteran Eric Idle and composer John DuPrez, is their only stage musical comedy to date and one of their very best offerings, a guaranteed antidote for whatever ails us.

The original 2005 Broadway show was directed by Mike Nichols and received 3 Tony Awards, including Best Musical. During its initial run of 1575 performances it was seen by over two million people, a most definite sensation. Artistic Director Craig Miller and the crew at 6th Street rightly decided that this would be the ideal show for the kickoff of their new season “Journey With Us”.

The plot is a cheeky send-up of the already cheeky “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”, a Python film from 1975, although there are jolly diversions from the original story. At its most basic, it’s a skewer-and-roast of the Arthurian legends. King Arthur, Sir Lancelot, the Lady of the Lake and the various Knights of the Round Table are on a haphazard quest for the Holy Grail. They encounter assorted mishaps along the way, snotty Frenchmen, and some characters so bizarre they defy description.

For the most part, the show is as tight as a drum with really professional bits of business, like a performer catching a hat and cane, launched from the wings, with suave assurance and not missing a beat. Sets and props are scooted on and off stage in medieval carts and baskets with nary a blink, a smooth and well-oiled machine. One small issue may be that some in the ensemble cast have not yet attained this polish. But the lead and supporting performers shine so brilliantly the reflection is shared by all.

Taylor Bartolucci DeGuilio

There are some truly outstanding musical numbers, especially “He’s Not Dead Yet” and “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life”. As Lady of the Lake, the always amazing Taylor Bartolucci DeGuilio really has a chance to belt ‘em out and be the diva she was born to be. She steals the show in “Find Your Grail” and “Diva’s Lament”.  Her cohort King Arthur, underplayed to droll perfection by Barry Martin, ably serves as the almost-straight man, a foil to the constant buffoonery. But wait – who’s that guy following close behind Arthur everywhere he goes, clip-clopping a pair of coconut shells? It’s his faithful stooge Patsy, played with great comic sincerity by young Eric Weiss. Trevor Hoffmann (Sir Robin) has Broadway flair in his truly fine singing and dancing. His real tour-de-force is “You Won’t Succeed on Broadway” performed with the ensemble cast. Another notable triple-threat player is Natalie Herman in two male parts: Not Dead Fred and Prince Herbert. She has a sweet, winsome quality and a remarkable voice.

Choreography is by the superb Alise Gerard, a Sonoma County native who is visiting from her new home in New York, where she went to try her luck on Broadway. The small orchestra’s horn section seems to dominate the proceedings, and with occasional off notes is a bit of a distraction. Maybe a slight adjustment in the sound would make a difference.

Miller keeps the faith: his savvy direction of “Spamalot” is mind-numbingly silly and high-spirited, irreverent enough to offend and inspire just about everyone. He has infused his cast and crew with the rare and elusive Pythonesque essence. It’s that special something that’s hard to describe, but you know it when you see it – a blend of surrealism, futility, courage, death and dismemberment. Oh, and silliness.

 

When: Now through September 22, 2013

8:00 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday

2:00 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

Tickets: $15 to $35

Location: GK Hardt Theater at 6th Street Playhouse

52 West 6th Street, Santa Rosa CA
Phone: 707-523-4185

Website: www.6thstreetplayhouse.com

Aug 27 2013
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All’s Well That Ends Well—Shakespeare’s Problem Comedy at Marin Shakespeare

By Flora Lynn Isaacson

 

Bertram (Adam Magill) is “not that into her” and not too keen on marrying Helena (Carla Pauli) even though the King demands it in Marin Shakespeare Company’s outdoor production of “All’s Well That Ends Well.” Photo by Eric Chazankin

 

According to Director Robert Currier, in his curtain speech preceding the play, in 1895, George Bernard Shaw liked this play very much because it was not a sugar-coated comedy.  Shaw viewed this play as being like real life.

To quote Marin Shakespeare dramaturg, Cathleen Sheehan, “All’s Well That Ends Well invites us into a world strikingly different from the earlier, jubiliant, Elizabethan comedies.  So different do we find this so called comedy that some resist the label entirely and refer to the play as a “problem play.”

In this play, the characters are riddled with flaws and the ending, despite the title, is not a feel good, fairytale, happy-ever after conclusion.  The name of this play expresses the saying, “all’s well that ends well,” which means that problems don’t matter as long as the outcome is good.

This production boasts five outstanding guest artists—Lucas McClure as Lavatch, the wise fool or clown, who also composed some orginal songs for this production;  Jessica Powell as the Countess Rousillon, a great lady, as charming as old Lafeu; Scott Coopwood who is a true French gentleman; James Hiser as Parolles, companion to Bertram (Adam Magill), son of the Countess, a soldier with false bravado; and finally, Jack Powell as the King of France in an amazing performance.

In addition to these five Equity actors, we have rounding out the cast, the leading romantic couple, Bertram and Helena (Carla Pauli) who are not romantic and shouldn’t be a couple. Helena is determined in her desire to win Bertram and Bertram is not.  To escape Helena, Bertram heads off to war in Italy with Parolles in tow.  Helena then sets out to follow him and arrives in Florence in the guise of a pilgrim and lodges with a widow (Heather Cherry) whose daughter Diana (Luisa Frasconi) is the newest object of Bertram’s affection.  With Diana’s help, Helena aims to trap Bertram and there in lies the play.

Judging by Abra Berman’s wonderful Costumes and Billie Cox’s Sound Design, it would seem that Robert Currier set his play in the 1940’s.

With an entire cast of skilled Shakespearean actors, Currier stresses the comedy and doesn’t worry about the problem.  So we’re all in for an evening of fun!

All’s Well That Ends Well runs August 24 to September 28, 2013.  Performances are at Forest Meadows Amphitheatre, 890 Belle Avenue, Dominican University, San Rafael. For tickets, call 415-499-4488 or go online at:

www.marinshakespeare.org\pages\ticketorder.php

Flora Lynn Isaacson

Aug 26 2013
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‘Other Desert Cities’ probes family schisms, secrets

By Judy Richter

By Judy Richter

Family schisms and secrets are at the heart of “Other Desert Cities” a compelling modern drama by Jon Robin Baitz.

Presented by TheatreWorks in association with the Old Globe of San Diego, most of it takes place Christmas Eve 2004 at a home inPalm Springs.

Brooke Wyeth (Kate Turnbull) and her younger brother, Trip (Rod Brogan), are joining their affluent parents, Polly (Kandis Chappell) and Lyman (James Sutorius), for the holiday. Completing the family gathering is Polly’s sister, Silda Grauman (Julia Brothers), who is living with the elder Wyeths while continuing her rocky recovery from alcoholism.

Polly and Silda once co-wrote a popular movie series, while Lyman was a successful actor who became active in Republican politics. Trip produces a popular TV game show inLos Angeles.

Brooke, a writer, lives on the East Coast and hasn’t been home in six years. During that time, her marriage dissolved and she went into a deep depression.

The gathering begins amiably enough, but the differences in politics quickly become clear, with the elder Wyeths as staunch Republicans and the other three on the more liberal side.

Another sour note emerges as Brooke brings up the name of her late older brother, Henry. Like many young people in the ’70s, he rebelled against his upbringing. He fell in with a radical group that bombed a military recruiting station and inadvertently killed a janitor. Remorseful over that event, Henry apparently committed suicide.

Brooke has just completed a book — a memoir, she calls it — about her family and Henry. It has been sold to a publisher and will be printed in The New Yorker in February. After reading the manuscript, her parents beg her not to allow its publication. They say it will cause immeasurable harm to themselves and the family.

Brooke’s conflicting loyalties to her family and to her belief in her book along with her desire for independence lead to painful, intense confrontations for all.

Although the play is fraught with such emotional moments, Baitz leavens it with sharp humor, much of it coming from Trip and Silda. When Brothers exits after Silda’s first scene, for example, the audience applauds because Silda is so honest and down to earth.

Sutorius as Lyman and Brogan as Trip try to be the peacemakers as Brooke and Polly clash, but they get drawn into the fray, too.

Director Richard Seer skillfully guides the ensemble cast through shifting moods, helping to keep the audience enthralled.

The handsome set by Alexander Dodge was influenced by a 1960 Palm Springshouse called “The House of Tomorrow” as well as “The Elvis Honeymoon Hideaway.” Its modern design features a wide living room with an expansive view of bare, rugged mountains.

Lighting by Steven B. Mannshardt reflects changes in exterior light as well as shifting moods. Costumes by Charlotte Devaux help to define the characters. The sound is by Paul Peterson.

After its New Yorkpremiere in 2011, “Other Desert Cities” went on to win several honors, including finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It deserves such accolades because of  its sharply drawn characters and because it’s a riveting drama that speaks not only to family issues but also to American politics and the history of recent decades.

It will continue at the Mountain ViewCenterfor the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St., Mountain View, through Sept. 15. For tickets and information, call (650) 463-1960 or visit www.theatreworks.org.

 

Aug 26 2013
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OTHER DESERT CITIES a beautifully staged and acted pot-boiler at TheatreWorks.

By Kedar K. Adour

Polly (Kandis Chappell, left) reads her daughter Brooke’s new manuscript while (from l to r) Polly’s sister  Silda (Julia Brothers), Trip (Rod Brogan), Lyman (James Sutorius), and Brooke (Kate Turnbull) look on in TheatreWorks’ Regional Premiere of  OTHER DESERT CITIES by Jon Robin Baitz,  playing August 21 – September 15  at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. Photo credit: Mark Kitaoka

OTHER DESERT CITIES: Comedy/drama by Jon Robin Baitz. Directed by Richard Seer. TheatreWorks at Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts 500 Castro Street, Mountain View, CA. (650) 463-1960 or www.theatreworks.org.

August 20 – September 15, 2013 

OTHER DESERT CITIES a beautifully staged and acted pot-boiler at TheatreWorks.

Having spent the past 10 winters in Palm Springs there was a personal interest in seeing this play that takes place in the desert. It is understandable that it is a pot-boiler and the stuff of TV sit-coms since the author honed his skills as the creator of TV’s Brother’s and Sisters and is working on another sit-com for an upcoming season. He is also a produced playwright and screenwriter. His play A Fair Country was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1996. 

We learn early in the play the meaning of the title. As you approach the desert area from the West there is a huge sign “Palm Springs and Other Desert Cities.”  Palm Springs used to be the Mecca for Hollywood and Los Angeles glitterati and relies on its past reputation to attract tourism. Now you must go to the ‘other desert cities’ such as Indian Wells to meet the type of characters with the financial means to live in the beautiful ostentatious style home created for this play (Alexander Dodge). Overheard at intermission, “The set is the play!” That comment is only partially true since the play is skillfully constructed in the Aristotelian concept with all the action taking place within 24 hours with an epilog attached to add finality to the plot. 

The basic plot has been used before by, notably by A. R. Gurney in The Cocktail Hour (not to be confused with The Cocktail Party by T. S. Eliot) where a family member turns up with a soon to be produced play script that bares the foibles of his family. Gurney’s play is a true comedy with a touch of discomfiture.  In Other Desert Cities comedy is at a minimum allowing the engrossing dramatic details to unfold scene by scene.

The Wyeths have gathered in the family home on Christmas Eve 2004. The patriarchs are Polly (Kandis Chappell) and Lyman (James Sutorius) with their mature children Brooke (Kate Turnbull) and Trip (Rod Brogan). Living with the Wyeths is Polly’s sister Silda Grauman (Julie Brothers) a recovering alcoholic. The elder Wyeths are affluent right wing Republicans active in the desert political life and members of an elite country club.  Brooke is a liberal left-leaning successful novelist who has written a book that may be a roman a clef. It could have devastating effects on the family unearthing deeply hidden secrets that would devastate the lives of the entire family.

 Author Baitz is a master at revealing layer on layer of the tangled web leading to a terrific climax. The play is produced in association with The Old Globe, San Diego where is received rave reviews. A big reason for those raves must have been the brilliant acting of Kandis Chappell who reprieves her role in the TheatreWorks production. She is ably matched by Kate Turnbull in the demanding role of Brooke and the marvelously under played performance of James Sutorius. He is completely believable when he breaks the staunch demeanor and explodes to take control . . . if only for a brief moment since it is Polly who dominates the family.

Rod Brogan has the right touch to add the few snatches of humor while being cast as brother Trip who moderates the tension boiling between Polly and Brooke. Local favorite Julia Brothers makes the most of her secondary but at one point pivotal role as Silda who refuses to be a sounding board for domineering Polly but is fully aware of her dependence on sister’s beneficence.

Director Seer, who is a mainstay at San Jose Rep, has directed both the San Diego and Mountain View productions and does a superb job keeping the characters in balance, moving them around like chess pieces leaving the outcome in question until the final brief epilog scene that takes place 10 years after the initial confrontation. Running time about 2 hours with intermission.

Kedar K. Adour, MD

Courtesy of  www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com

 

Aug 26 2013
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“All’s Well That Ends (especially) Well” at Marin Shakespeare

By David Hirzel

Marin Shakespeare has taken on “All’s Well that Ends Well,” one of Shakespeare’s more challenging plays, and pulled it off well.  Deeper than a comedy, funnier than a tragedy, the Bard’s careful look at character and deception has plenty of laughs (especially as served up by James Hiser), and a generous helping of insight into the potential depths of character that (we hope) exist in all of us.  The plot, like many of Shakespeare’s has its unique convolutions that don’t lend themselves readily to synopsis in a brief review like this.  But the language, much of it in rhymed couplets, can soar in unexpected flights.  Suffice it for me to say, the cast and direction here do yeoman work to keep the audience up to speed on the machinations at hand, as female lead Helena (superbly portrayed by newcomer to Marin Shakes, Carla Pauli) deftly plots her way into the  shallow heart of the playboy Bertram (also new here, Adam Magill).

A mesmerizing performance by Jessica Powell alternates between her heartfelt maternal care for the future of her ne’er-do-well son Bertram, and the tender intimacy she shares with her handmaiden Helena, the daughter she wishes were her own. The first half fairly hums along, alternating between laugh-out-loud comedy (Lucas McClure as Lavatch, Hiser’s clowinish Parolles, and Scott Coopwood’s Lafeu) and lovelorn pathos, and the miraculous cure of a perceptibly dying King of France (Jack Powell, another talented and familiar actor).

The second half is even better.  Once the actors really get warmed up, the complex pacing slips into gear, and the show takes off when the scene moves into Florence and the Shakespearean boudoir deceptions are plotted and then executed. Heather Cherry, as a flamboyant Widow of that fair city, fairly owns the stage every second she is on it.  Parolles, at last humbled by his own web of lies, reveals a hidden soul that brought a round of applause from the audience.  And I must confess, the final scene’s emotional outburst by Luisa Frasconi as Diana brought a tear to my eye.  In the end, all these troubled souls come to the understanding that, for all their (and our) weaknesses, there always exists the possibility that “All’s Well That Ends Well.”

Through September 29, 2013.  Box Office:  (415) 499-4488

At:  Forest Meadows Amphitheatre, Dominican University of California in San Rafael

Website:  Marin Shakespeare

David Hirzel’s Website:  www.davidhirzel.net