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May 27 2013
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ABIGAIL’S PARTY a dynamic resurrection at SF Playhouse

By Kedar K. Adour

Full cast: Angela (Allison Jean White*) Tony (Patrick Kelly Jones*), Sue (Julia Brothers*) Bev (Susi Damilano), and Laurence (Remi Sandri*)
Photos by Jessica Palopoli

ABIGAIL’S PARTY: Comedy by Mike Leigh and directed by Amy Glazer. SF Playhouse, 450 Post Street, @ Powell, San Francisco, CA 94102 . 415.677.9596 or www.sfplayhouse.org.

May 21 to July 6, 2013

ABIGAIL’S PARTY a dynamic resurrection at SF Playhouse

English drama underwent a critical change in the 60s and 70s with plays being infused with social conscience depicting ordinary people. Early on in that era the noted Arnold Wesker wrote a play titled The Kitchen Sink and that was partially the origin of the term “kitchen sink realism.”  Mike Leigh a contemporary of Wesker’s, but 10 years younger, was nurtured in that milieu and Abigail’s Party, written 35 years ago in 1977, is part of that genre.

Probably a major difference is the intellectual construct of the play that became Leigh’s unique methodology. Rather than write a finished script he started with improvisation after selecting actors for specific roles and allowing them to interact spontaneously. When they had sufficiently “become” that character, Leigh produced a script. So it was with Abigail’s Party. By using this method the final product did have minor topical social significance but truly was a script for directors and actors to demonstrate their wares.

SF Playhouse, in their trademark over-the-top productions, has grasped that quality and under Amy Glazer’s tight but free form direction with brilliant actors has come up with a sparkling production unfolding on another of Bill English’s fantastic sets.  That set is symbolic of the upward mobile “wannabes” of English society reflecting wealth without artistic taste.

The occupants of the house are financially successful and hyperactive estate agent Laurence (Remi Sandri) and his trophy wife Beverly (seductive Susi Damilano).  They are giving a cocktail party, complete with Hors d’oeuvre that include toothpick skewered pineapple-cheese  bites and music that includes a Donna Summer record. Significantly, in a clever plot twist that actually defines a trait in Laurence’s character there are no olives out on the huge coffee table.

Presumably, the reason for the party is to get to know the neighbors.  Angela (Allison Jean White) a nurse and Tony a husky working class bloke (Patrick Kelly Jones) have moved into the upward mobile area two weeks ago. The other guest is Susan (Julie Brothers) divorced 2 years ago whose 15 year old daughter Abigail (who never appears but is tied into a significant plot twist) is having a party at her home down the street.

In the opening scene Laurence has returned home late and in their banter is the first suggestion that their marriage is a bit tenuous. The neighbors are virtually strangers so why were they invited? Apparently for Laurence to display his artistic/affluence showing off his leather bound set of Dickens’ work, his garish overstuffed leather furniture and his love of classical music. Beverly’s motive is not specifically identified but apparently is an attempt to seduce Tony. After the alcohol takes effect, she overtly flirts with Tony.

That is the simple storyline that unfolds in less than two hours in two acts with an intermission. It is the acting that is absolutely superb making this show a must, must see production. Susi Damilano’s in a form fitting, bodice displaying gown exudes sexual attraction as bounces around the stage and garners your attention. The non-verbal performances of Julie Brothers and Patrick Kelly Jones who have minimal dialog would rate Tony Awards. Allison Jean White who initially is a motor-mouth dingbat for most of the evening swings into a gyrating dance late in the play bringing gales of laughter.  When the crisis occurs she switches demeanor adroitly taking charge as the virtual curtain descends.

Kedar Adour, MD

Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com

 

 

May 27 2013
Love0

The Foreigner by Larry Shue opens in NTC’s New Theater

By Flora Lynn Isaacson

Frederick Lein as Charlie and Johnny DeBernard as Froggy in NTC’s The Foreigner

The opening of The Foreigner represents a long overdue homecoming to Novato because it is the first play to be performed in Novato Theater Company’s new theater space at 5420 Nave Drive and the first play of the 2012-13 season performed in Novato.  While hunting for their new home, NTC produced the other four shows at San Rafael locations.

Director Jerrie Patterson has assembled a cast that seems almost tailor-made for this production.  Charlie Baker (Frederick Lein) is a shy Englishman traveling in rural Georgia with his friend, Froggy LeSueur (Johnny DeBernard), a member of the British army. The two men visit an inn run by Froggy’s old friend, Betty Meeks (Cat Bish).  Charlie is in the midst of marital problems so Froggy decides to leave him at the inn for a few days so he can enjoy some peace and quiet, but Charlie is terrified of having to make any conversation with the inhabitants of the inn, who besides the gregarious Betty, include a crooked Reverend (Robert Nelson), his pregnant fiancé Catherine (Rachel Brogdon) and her slow-witted little brother Ellard (Parker Neely).

Froggy has an idea.  He will tell Betty that Charlie is a foreigner and speaks no English. This gives Charlie the peace he wants as well as providing excitement for the others who have never seen a “real live foreigner” before. This also leads to many hilarious situations—and eventually to a run in with the loathsome Owen Musser (John Conway) and his Ku Klux Klan boys.  But Charlie, through sheer cleverness and courage, defeats the Klan and all ends happily.

The Foreigner incorporates many accents and notions as cultures collide in the Deep South.  This play needs thick Georgia accents, one cultured British and one Cockney accent. All of the cast give flawless performances. Charlie/Frederick Lein makes up his own dialect and tells one entire story in it. He really comes into his own and steals the show in which Charlie must tell a story in his “native language.”  Johnny DeBernard does a great Cockney accent as Froggy, the cheerful British army man who teaches the use of explosives.  Cat Bish plays the lovable southern lady, Betty Meeks with the right mixture of hillbilly charm and sensitivity.

Other standout performances include Robert Nelson as Reverend David Lee, a charming villain, Parker Neely’s sympathetic portrayal of Ellard and Rachel Brogdon’s self-effacing Catherine.  Parker Neely shines in the scenes where he’s teaching Charlie to speak English.  Rachel Brogdon’s Catherine starts out as a stereotype then beautifully unfolds into something much more complicated. John Conway, one of NTC’s best actors, gives an outstanding performance as Owen Musser, a dangerous racist.  Bravo to Michael Walraven who designed and constructed the set. If you can find a seat near the front-middle of the theater, it truly does feel like you’re in the living room of a rustic lodge in rural Georgia.

Jerrie Patterson directs The Foreigner as a warm, heartfelt drama rather than a farce.  In her words, “One man is forced to act and, in the process, becomes more alive, more connected with others and more aware of him self. As he grows, so do those around him.  By putting on the mask he finds the freedom to be him self…”

The Foreigner runs at Novato Theater Company, May 24-June 16.  The new location of the Novato Theater Playhouse is 5420 Nave Drive, Suite C, Novato, CA.  Performances are held at 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday.  For tickets, call 415-883-4498 or go online at www.novatotheatercompany.org

Coming up next at NTC will be The Lion In Winter by James Goldman, August 30-September 22, 2013.

Flora Lynn Isaacson

 

 

May 26 2013
Love0

WHO SAID FIRST IS BEST

By Joe Cillo

WHO SAID FIRST WAS BEST?

A first child is your own best foot forward,
And how you do cheer those little feet as they strike out.
Barbara Kingsolver

In all things in life, being first is considered the best.  You win the game, you get the scholarship, you pass the test. You are a winner, that is, everywhere but in your family.

I was my mother’s first born.  She had never HAD a baby before but she was pretty enthusiastic about motherhood until the last three months before I emerged.  She read books about how delightful little babies are with their cute, cuddly ways and she expected me to be a bundle of exquisite joy.  When, at last, I came crashing out of her uterus, I left the warm amniotic fluid that encased me and landed in a cold, hospital room. A bunch of strangers pummeled me to make me cry, cleaned me up and snipped my umbilical cord without so much as a kiss or a word of comfort.

I never got over it.  And neither did my mother.

It appears that all first-born children are emotionally and physically bruised just by being first.   My own mother never expected to have to deal with a crying, spitting, demanding sleepless infant.  She never forgave me for her stitches, the pain, the endless labor she endured for a very questionable reward.  “You almost killed me,” she said, every time she looked it me.

She may have been more verbal than most new mamas, but she was actually no different than every new parent when they have to deal with the unexpected rigor of that first baby.  The crying, the diapers, the pulling at your breast….  …not to mention the terrible guilt because they are not REALLY enjoying the process.

Everyone knows first-borns seem smarter, more aggressive and more successful than their siblings.  This is because they are constantly proving to their parents and themselves that they were worth the pain and suffering they caused. First-borns are usually taller than their siblings because they are the ones that have to reach up to get the dishes off the shelf to feed their little brothers and sisters. They are thinner too and that is probably because parents are always more careful to feed the first one proper food and teach them the good eating habits child care books tell them are best.  I had to eat my spinach or else while my sister dined on leftover pie and gallons of pudding.  The result was that she tips the scale at 400 pounds and I have yet to top 100.

All that stress and responsibly can kill a person and we now know that it actually does.  Researchers in New Zealand discovered that the oldest child from the most well-meaning families suffer more heart attacks, higher blood pressure and have a stubborn resistance to insulin that makes them susceptible to diabetes.  That means that the child born first will probably be the first one to go to the other side.

By the time the second kid comes along, the parents are more relaxed.  They don’t really notice the germs or the squealing and besides they have the older one to baby-sit.  It is the oldest child who ends up being a substitute parent to the others.  He is the one who establishes the family reputation in school for industry and intelligence. Band most unfair, when he kicks off, the younger ones get the inheritance.

It doesn’t seem right, does it?  That is why I now call on all older children to unite!!!!  When that new little nipper comes into the house, use those brains that made you the smart one and smother it with a pillow before it gets out of line.

May 25 2013
Love0

BIRDS OF A FEATHER an anthropomorphic evening of serious fun.

By Kedar K. Adour

“Birds do it, bees do it- Let’s fall in love!”
L to R: Dave Levine as Roy, Luke Taylor as Tango, Elissa Beth Stebbins as Zookeeper and Christopher Morrell as Birder

BIRDS OF A FEATHER: Comedy by Marc Acito and directed by Tom Bruett. New Conservatory Theatre Center, (Walker Theatre), located at 25 Van Ness Avenue near Market Street in San Francisco, 94102. (415) 861-8972 or online at www.nctcsf.org.

Through June 29, 2013

BIRDS OF A FEATHER an anthropomorphic evening of serious fun.

An excellent way to make a controversial point palatable to an audience is to give animals human traits known as anthropomorphism and allow them to convey your ideas/words. You see this every day in cartoons. Marc Acito, author of the comic novels How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex has taken actual events involving birds and humans coming up with this clever play Birds of a Feather receiving its San Francisco premiere at the New Conservatory in the intimate Walker Theatre.

One of the three major elements of the story involve a real pair of male penguins who nested together and were allowed to hatch an egg and raise the chick with both sharing the nesting duties. This story of ‘gay’ penguins inspired the children’s book And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson. Alas, the book was banned from school library and it also raised the hackles of conservatives because of the homosexual nature of the penguin’s relationship.

The second part of the story involves a pair of red-tailed hawks, Pale Male and Lola, who built a nest on the upper floor of a luxury high rise building and became a viewing sensation for New York City and beyond. The nesting pair were the darlings of millions of people with the exception of those who lived in the building because of half-eaten rats and pigeons and bird s—t. The nest was taken down but the uproar of the populous was so great the condo rebuilt a platform for future nests. Pale Male and Lola never produced another chick in that nesting area.

The third element involves the humans Paula Zahn and her husband who were the darlings of the paparazzi who documented their nasty divorce proceedings in all the tabloids and on TV.

Four fine actors play multiple (25+??) roles and change swiftly in and out of costumes changing their demeanor to fit that specific character. The two penguins are Silo and Roy (Luke Taylor and David Levine) and the two hawks are the same pair playing Pale Male and Lola. Levine slips from the female caricature of Roy to the macho male image of Pale Male and vice versa for Taylor from male penguin Silo to female hawk Lola. It is all a lot of fun with serious over-tones of gender specific roles being unacceptable since each pair of birds is a ‘family’ sharing child rearing.

Elissa Beth Stebbins as the Zookeeper and Paula Zane give the most professional performance without infringing on the actions of her fellow thespians. The other ‘human’ is simply called Birder and Christopher Morrell who has to play it mostly straight is a great match for Stebbins. In the play those characters are loners but Acito has a charming semi-epilog who find the first tentative stirrings of love as the story of Roy and Silo comes to an end.  They discover each other reaffirming that being love is tough but is a hell of a lot better than loneliness.

The dialog and physical action is supplemented by projections including a video of  the hawks flying under the “Everywhere of Blue” so admired by penguin Silo. Running time about 90 minutes with an intermission.

Kedar K. Adour, MD

Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com


May 25 2013
Love0

Stoppard’s abstruse ARCADIA is beautifully staged by A.C.T.

By Kedar K. Adour

Rebekah Brockman (Thomasina Coverly) and Jack Cutmore-Scott (Septimus Hodge) in A.C.T.’s production of Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia, directed by Carey Perloff. Photo by Kevin Berne.

ARCADIA: Drama. By Tom Stoppard. Directed by Carey Perloff. American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.), 415 Geary Street, San Francisco. (415) 749-2228 or www.act-sf.org. Through June 9, 2013.

Stoppard’s abstruse ARCADIA is beautifully staged by A.C.T.

The love affair between artistic director Carey Perloff and Tom Stoppard continues with a stunning staging of the esoteric Arcadia that is considered Stoppard’s masterpiece. A.C.T.’s first go around with Stoppard began in 1969 with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and continued with Jumpers, Travesties, Night and Day, The Real Thing, Hapgood, Arcadia I(1995), Indian Ink U.S. Premiere), The Invention of Love (U.S. Premiere), and lastly Rock ‘n Roll.  With the exception of Arcadia this reviewer had seen all of the plays listed and was impressed.

It behooves those of us who have never seen nor read Arcadia to do research about the concepts discussed in the two acts, seven scene, and three hour play before going to the theatre. Even then there will be difficulty understanding the interaction of two generations one who has lived and the other living 200 years later in a very large country house in Derbyshire, England. The scenes shift from1809 to the present with the final scene a confusion as Stoppard has taken a page from Alan Ayckbourn’s How the Other Half Loves having the two families, although in different eras, sharing the same space. The first scene is a joy to watch with fine actors romping about and capturing the audience with its self-contained storyline wrapped in humor with marvelous tongue-and-cheek direction.

It is 1809 and the place is a room on the garden front of the mansion. Intellectually precocious 13 year old Thomasina Coverly (Rebekah Brockman) is studying mathematics with her tutor Septimus Hodge (Jack  Cutmore-Scott). She is trying to prove Fermat’s last theorem but she is

Jack Cutmore-Scott (Septimus Hodge) and Nicholas Pelczar (Ezra Chater)

more interested in having a definition of “carnal embrace” since the word has spread that Septimus was seen in the gazebo having such an embrace with Mrs. Chater married to second-rate poet Ezra Chater (Nicholas Pelczar).  Ezra, with Captain Brice (Nick Gabriel) as his second is attempting to induce Septimus into a duel.  Pelczar plays the role of Ezra with flamboyant indignation while Cutmore-Scott’s Septimus parries with brilliant delicious aplomb and flattery that wins the day. It helps that San Francisco icon Ken Ruta plays the role of Jellaby the butler.

From this point on, Stoppard indulges in his trademark intellectual banter with each major character getting his turn to emote and carry the storyline as the time frame shifts between 1809 and the present. To Stoppard’s credit and Perloff’s direction the relationship between the family characters becomes understandable and the unraveling of who did what to whom is plausible.

Lord Byron is introduced into the mystery of what happened to Ezra Chater. Did Byron have a fling with Chater’s wife and did he kill Ezra in a duel? This allows Stoppard to introduce Bernard Nightingale (dynamic Andy Murray) a present day literary critic and chronicler of Lord Byron’s life into the mix. Murray’s time upon the stage adds greatly to the humor and his parrying with Gretchen Egolf playing author Hannah Jarvis whose book has been belittled by Nightingale is first rate theatre.

Interspersed with the individual gems of acting are longwinded stretches of dialog where Stoppard is conveying to us the dictum that he is an intellectual giant. That may be so, but with almost hours of running time Arcadia is not for everyone.

Kedar K. Adour, MD

Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com.

 

May 24 2013
Love0

Much to savor in ‘Sweet Charity’

By Judy Richter

The title character in “Sweet Charity” is Charity Hope Valentine, a hopeful yet hapless dance hall hostess who’s just looking for love. As played by Molly Bell for Center REPertory Company in Walnut Creek, she’s lovable and irrepressible.

She’s also a terrific singer, dancer and actress as Charity finds herself in some unusual situations. Director Timothy Near has surrounded her with a cast of triple-threat performers who deliver songs by composer Cy Coleman and lyricist Dorothy Fields with high energy and precision dancing, thanks to choreographer Jennifer Perry.

Much of Perry’s choreography reflects the influence of the late Bob Fosse, who conceived, staged and choreographed the original 1966 Broadway production starring Gwen Verdon. He also directed and choreographed the 1969 film starring Shirley MacLaine.

This stage production is more satisfying than the film in part because Bell has an air of naivete that’s more suited for the title role and in part because the final scenes are clearer about the motivation of Charity’s latest boyfriend, Oscar (Keith Pinto).

Moreover, the film feels bloated at times, whereas everything in this stage production stems logically from the characters and Neil Simon’s book.

The first act introduces Charity as a sunny but overly generous young woman who is literally dumped by a boyfriend.

Next comes the memorable “Big Spender,” performed by Charity’s jaded dance hall colleagues, including her two best friends, Helene (Brittany Danielle and Nickie (Alison Ewing).

The entire company is featured in production numbers like “Rich Man’s Frug” and “The Rhythm of Life,” the latter featuring James Monroe Iglehart as religious leader Daddy Brubeck.

Some of Bell’s more memorable moments come in “If My Friends Could See Me Now” and “Where Am I Going.”

Bell, Danielle and Ewing team up for the emphatic “There’s Gotta Be Something Better Than This.”

Other featured performers are Colin Thomson as Herman, the dance hall boss, and Noel Anthony as Vittorio, an Italian movie star.

Complemented by Kurt Landisman’s lighting, Annie Smart’s set design helps to keep the action flowing smoothly. Christine Crook designed the eye-catching costumes.

All elements of this show add up to a thoroughly entertaining evening that’s well worth the trip to Walnut Creek.

“Sweet Charity” continues at the Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek, through June 22. For tickets and information, call (925) 943-7469 or visit www.CenterREP.org.

 

May 24 2013
Love0

PRELUDE TO A KISS at CustomMade charming but flawed

By Kedar K. Adour

Nick Trengove as Peter in Prelude to a Kiss

PRELUDE TO A KISS: Comedy/Fantasy by Craig Lucas. Directed by Stuart Bousel. CustomMade Theatre Company, Gough Street Playhouse, 1622 Gough Street, San Francisco. 415-798-2682 or www.customMade.org. May 21- June 16, 2013

PRELUDE TO A KISS at CustomMade charming but flawed

The intimate CustomMade three sided stage is awash with blue clouds and a symbolic tree of life anchored with a full set of roots soaring to the full height of the theatre in front of a screen for projection of moving clouds. It is a perfect setting for Craig Lucas’s 1988 Pulitzer Prize finalist Prelude to a Kiss. The title is taken from a Duke Ellington torch song and is an affirmation of life for the young and old. You will leave the theatre with a warm glow.

Protagonist; Peter (Nick Trengove) must share that classification with his true love(s) Rita (Allison Page) and Old Man (adorable leprechaun like Richard Wensel).  Peter is working in the digital world in a dead-end job of converting microfilm to miniscule discs. Rita is a bar-tender and a political socialist who is afraid of life and has no desire to bring children into the world. The adage is “opposites attract” and so it is with Lucas’s lovers. After a three month whirlwind affair they marry. At the wedding a strange Old Man purloins a kiss from the bride and they have an ethereal exchange of their souls.

The fateful Kiss of Rita and the Old Man

Peter kisses Old Man/ who has Rita’s inner soul

On their honeymoon in the Caribbean the formerly reticent Rita has a complete change of personality and now espouses living life to the fullest “Just take things as they come and enjoy them – that’s what life is for.”  She now has a great desire to bear children. Peter wondering what has happened finally deduces that the kiss from the Old Man was responsible. When he tracks down the Old Man who now has all the inner traits of his beloved Rita, he falls in love again. It is Lucas, who is openly gay, is telling us that love can bloom no matter what the physical forms of the lovers are. He emphasizes that point with a passionate kiss between the Old Man/Rita and Peter.

In act 1 the relationship between much too voluble and one-dimensional Nick Trengove and Allison Page in the lead roles does not ignite the spark necessary to do justice to Lucas’s dialog. That being said, the quality of their acting in the second act had sufficiently improved to give a warm ending to the evening. The supporting cast of Will Leschber, Charles Lewis III, Jan Carty Marsh, Elena Ruggiero and Dave Sikula were competent with Leschber’s small part deserving accolades. Running time under two hours with intermission.

Kedar K. Adour, MD

Courtesy of  www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com

May 24 2013
Love0

“The Sound of Music” — Magic on Mt. Tam

By Judith Wilson

An enthusiastic audience celebrated the opening of the Mountain Play’s 100th season on Sunday, May 19, with a production that fills the hills with the sound of music and provides playgoers with a supremely satisfying experience.

The von Trapp children sing for Maria. (Photo: Robin & Chelsea McNally)

“The Sound of Music,” is one of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II’s most popular musicals, and the Mountain Play does justice to the Tony-Award-winning Broadway hit, with crowd-pleasing songs, engaging characters and a mountainside setting that makes it easy to get into the spirit of the show, which includes a love story, memorable music and the looming threat of the Nazis as they make inroads into Austria in the late 1930s.

Most members of the audience will be more familiar with the award-winning film from 1965, which starred Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, than the Broadway show that preceded it, premiering in 1959 with Mary Martin and Theodore Bikel in the lead roles. The Mountain Play, however, follows the stage production more closely and includes less familiar songs that were part of its playlist but didn’t make it into the film, so anyone who hasn’t heard the original soundtrack can expect some surprises.

The show opens with the nuns at the Nonnberg Abbey assembling for evening prayers, but someone is missing. Maria Rainer, portrayed by Heather Buck, is a postulant and a dreamer, who has lingered outdoors to enjoy the evening on the mountain, expressing her appreciation for the alpine environment in the signature song, “The Sound of Music.”

The nuns don’t know what to make of Maria, and so the Mother Abbess decides she needs a change and a chance to reflect on God’s plan for her, so she sends Maria to serve as governess to the seven von Trapp family children, who have lost their mother. Maria is enchanted with the children, and they quickly develop a bond through music, in songs such as ‘Do-Re-Mi” and “My Favorite Things.”

Buck captures Maria’s evolution deftly, as she makes the transformation from being a confused girl who is unsure of herself to woman who is decisive and confident as she takes action to save her family from danger. Meanwhile, Ryan Drummond as Captain Georg von Trapp goes from authoritarian to gentle as he gradually recognizes Maria’s beneficial effect on his children and eventually falls in love with her, while his fiancée Elsa Schraeder, ably played by Mountain Play favorite Susan Zelinsky, observes Maria with a wary eye.

The children are delightful, from Liesl (high-school senior Emily Libresco), the oldest, to Gretl (Elena Gnatek), the youngest. Claire Lentz, 12, has an important role as Brigitta, who never lies and whose perceptions are more astute than those of the adults. Chas Conacher as Rolf Gruber gets cheers from the audience for a heroic gesture, even as he espouses the Nazi party line.

Mother Abbess (Hope Briggs, left) inspires Maria with her advice in “Climb Ev’ry Mountain.” (Photo: Robin and Chelsea McNally)

Hope Briggs as the Mother Abbess is a standout in “Climb Ev’ry Mountain.”

The ensemble of actors and dancers, musical director Deborah Chambliss and a 16-piece orchestra behind the stage, costume design by Patricia Polen and choreography by Dottie Lester-White all contribute to the overall effect.

Whereas film is fixed, every stage production is a different interpretation of the original, with its own characteristics to make it unique. That is demonstrated most obviously in the work of Ken Rowland, whose scenic design captures the time and place with clever revolving sets (with chairs attached) that make quick work of scene changes from the abbey to the von Trapp home to the Katzburg Festival’s concert hall.

Director Jay Manley adds his own special touches—the addition of brothers from a nearby monastery among them— and makes good use of the environment, so Mt. Tamalpais itself becomes part of the show, as Maria and Georg look to it in planning their escape over the mountain to Switzerland.

“The Sound of Music” is based on Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse’s book documenting the real-life von Trapp’s family’s flight from the Nazis, and that aspect of the story takes the production into some serious territory. The menace was real, and beyond the uplifting songs, the story is about the courage of one’s convictions and standing up for what is right. “I will not be heiled,” says Georg, after Leisl’s friend Rolf gives him the Nazi salute.

The Mountain Play’s endurance is a result of the quality of its production values and the loyalty of its supporters, and in its centennial season, “The Sound of Music” shows just how far it has come. It’s another fine chapter in a Marin tradition.

Performances are every Sunday through June 16 and on Saturday, June 8. Tickets range from $20 to $40 general admission, and children under 3 are free. Reserved seating, with cushions, starts at $56.

The free Mountain Play Express run shuttles from Tamalpais High School and the Manzanita parking lot every 15 minutes from 10 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. and takes playgoers back down the mountain after the show.

For more information, go to www.mountainplay.org.

 

May 24 2013
Love0

“All My Sons” — A Moral Dilemma

By Judith Wilson

Family is everything to Joe Keller in “All Our Sons.” It’s the way he defines his place in the world and motivates many of his actions. But money also affects his decisions, and the two aren’t mutually exclusive, so when he takes a risk, everyone feels the repercussions.

Conflicting values and the morality involved are at the heart of Arthur Miller’s “All Our Sons,” the Ross Valley Players’ fifth production of the season, which opened at the Barn Theatre at the Marin Art & Garden Center in Ross on Friday, May 19. The play, set in the 1940s following World War II, captures one family’s unraveling in the course of one long day, as secrets come spilling out, shattering the fragile reality each of its members has built.

As the first act opens, we see a backyard that suggests a comfortable life—roses growing on a fence, a rocking chair on the porch, a basket of apples on the steps. The scene looks pleasant enough, but something is amiss. On one side, a tree—a sapling really—is broken, and we learn that Joe and Kate planted the tree in honor of their son Larry, who disappeared during World War II and whose memory casts a shadow over their lives as words go unspoken.

Bert (Elliot Clyde, left) and Joe (Craig Christiansen) enjoy a lighthearted moment as Chris (Francis Serpa) looks on. (Photo: Robin Jackson)

Joe’s wife, Kate, refuses to believe that Larry is dead, creating a dilemma for the Keller’s surviving son Chris, who is convinced his brother is dead and wants to marry his fiancée, Ann Deever. While Joe and Kate welcome Ann into their home, her presence also makes them uncomfortable, partly because she was engaged to Larry, but also because her father, Steve, is in prison after being convicted of supplying defective airplane parts to the military, resulting in the death of 21 pilots. Joe is the owner of the plant that manufactured the parts and thus Steve’s employer, and although Joe was absolved of any complicity in the case, doubts linger.

The story gets intense when Ann’s brother George (Philip Goleman) arrives for a visit, setting into motion action that leads to an argument and a slip of the tongue that unleashes revelations and culminates in a searing conclusion.

Caroline Altman’s direction, with brisk pacing, makes the production absorbing, as does a strong cast. Craig Christianson, as Joe, brings anger and passion to his role, showing a range of emotions. He undoubtedly believes Larry is dead, but supports Kate’s belief that their son will return, saying that newspaper reports, “Every month, someone shows up out of nowhere.” In contrast, accusations that Steve is a murderer make him angry, and he defends his former employee in an outburst that seems inexplicably excessive.

Kristine Ann Lowry is masterful as Kate, portraying a mother’s anguish as she tries to maintain the status quo, often conveying her feelings in heartfelt facial expressions without saying a word as she insists her son will reappear and at the same tries to protect her husband.

Kate Keller (Kristine Ann Lowry, left) listens to words of advice from Dr. Jim Bayliss (Javier Alarcón). (Photo: Robin Jackson)

Amber Collins Crane, who portrays Ann, manages to convey a kind of innocence mixed with experience as a young woman who possesses a devastating secret. As Chris, Francis Serpa shows the frustration of a man who has experienced war and wants to do the right thing, but is torn between his parents and the woman he loves.

The supporting characters, from Javier Alarcón as Dr. Jim Bayliss, who delivers a message about conflict and comprise, to 10-year-old Elliot Clyde as Bert, who holds a key to the play’s conclusion, deliver performances that round out the story and keep the audience engaged.

Ken Rowland’s set designs, Michael A. Berg’s costumes and an attention to historical detail capture life in America after World War II and place it firmly in time, and yet the play doesn’t seem dated.

Miller wrote “All Our Sons” in 1947, and the story is based on a real-life wartime case in which a manufacturer knowingly shipped faulty airplane parts to the military, causing several pilots to crash and die. The incident is central to the play, which debuted in New York at a time when the memories and trauma of war were still fresh. The themes—family, money, betrayal, conscience—are universal, however and go beyond the limits of time. Miller’s plays tend to be topical, but they work on two levels, both telling a story and reflecting on society, and this time capitalism and its pros and cons are in the spotlight, as well as the meaning of family.

Director Caroline Altman says the play makes her think of shadows, and we can perceive memories of past decisions hanging like shadows over the characters as they struggle to contain their secrets in the face of love and loss. “All Our Sons” is a snapshot of one family’s experience, but the conflict is timeless.

“All Our Sons” runs at the Barn Theatre at the Marin Art & Garden Center, 30 Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, Ross, through June 9. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday. Post-show talkbacks with the director and actors take place Sunday, May 26, and Sunday, June 9.

Tickets are $26 general admission and $22 for seniors 62 and over and students 18 and under. To order tickets, call 415-456-9555, ext. 1 or www.rossvalleyplayers.com.

May 24 2013
Love0

WHO NEEDS PROZAK?

By Joe Cillo

DRUG-ADDLED FISH

Tell me what you eat, and
I will tell you what you are.
Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

I am very careful about the food I eat because I know that what is in it goes into me.  I will not eat red meat because I was a huge fan of Elsie the Cow, Porky the Pig and Mary’s three little lambs.  However, since I never had an aquarium or cuddled something aquatic, I have been relying on fish as a staple to my diet.

I am amazed to learn that the reason I feel so relaxed and at peace with the world after a salmon dinner is that the fish on our planet are all becoming junkies. We are dumping our medications into the landfill helter-skelter and our Prozac, Vicodin and Demerol are being transmitted from the fish in the sea into my bloodstream.

I find this excellent news.  It has the potential to save me an immense amount of money when I am moved to escape my current reality. If I eat my perch and dine on cod I will be calm and collected, if a bit loopy, when disaster strikes.  I will not panic…I will be properly tranquilized by my dinner.

There is more good news to come.  Evidently, all that drug consumption has made our fishy friends sterile. The morning after pills we didn’t need and the birth control pills we discard are affecting the reproductive powers of our aquatic friends.   This is bad for the food supply I admit and terrible information for the pharmaceutical companies.  We no longer need rely on the pill or the morning-after remedies (some of which are disgustingly unpleasant) to take care of any repercussions from a night of pleasure.  All we need do is eat a generous helping of plaice for dinner.  (You can even deep-fry it and it will still fix you up). If you decide you would like to have a family, forget estrogen or in-vitrio fertilization.  Eat meat.

Ah, how times have changed.  Back in the uninformed early fifties, I had two exquisite Siamese Fighting Fish: Herbert and Tarrington.  They were lovely to watch, swimming from one side of their little bowl to the other, munching on algae and sparking in the sun.  But one day Herbert got into a snit and ate poor timid Tarrington. He digested him whole and didn’t even spit out the bones.  Had he lived in this knowledgeable century of ours, I would have scooped up some water for the nearest stream and cured his inappropriate behavior just like that.

Of course there are times when you do not want to dull your senses.  You long to heighten your awareness of life around you.  No need to waste hard-earned cash on speed, cocaine or ecstasy. Just run to the nearest fish grotto, pig out on sea bass and you are ready to party!

The only ones deprived of this safe avenue to contentment are vegetarians. They will have to rely on prescription medicines for their highs.  The poor among them will reproduce like bunnies if they don’t give up sex entirely.  It doesn’t seem fair does it?  They have already given up so much that makes life delicious.

Fish, to taste right, must swim three times –
in water, in butter and in wine.
Polish Proverb