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Sep 23 2012
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Seven Brides for Seven Brothers-6th St.Playhouse-SantaRosa CA

By Greg & Suzanne Angeo

From left: Clint Campbell, Jake Flatto, Trevor Hoffmann, Rebekah Patti

 Photos by Eric Chazankin

Reviewed by Suzanne and Greg Angeo
(Saturday, August 25, 2012 evening performance)

Disappointing Launch for 6th Street’s New Season

For its season kickoff last year, 6th Street Playhouse’s GK Hardt Theatre enjoyed a stunning triumph with “Kiss Me Kate”, and kept the momentum going with a string of standing-room only hits like “A Christmas Story”, “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”, “The Marvelous Wonderettes” and “The Producers”.  There were also a number of remarkable shows at 6th Street’s Studio Theatre. These successes raised the bar not only for local theatre overall, but for 6th Street itself.  Whether their newest production “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” can meet last season’s formidable challenge is far from certain.

As its 2012-2013 season opener, “Seven Brides” is a surprising choice for award-winning 6th Street Playhouse. This lavish MGM movie musical from 1954 was a great success, with stars like Howard Keel and Jane Powell, and an outstanding supporting cast. But the stage adaptation by Gene de Paul, Johnny Mercer, Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn was not much of a crowd-pleaser when it first appeared on Broadway in 1982. Actually, it was a flop – it closed after only five performances, and didn’t do much better when it opened in London’s West End a few years later. It saw more success on tour in the U.S. and in revivals, but was never what you’d call a popular hit.

The story is simple and the premise is flimsy. In 1850 Oregon, rugged mountaineer Adam decides it’s time to get him a wife, so he descends from his remote mountain cabin into town. There he manages to charm the naïve but lovely Milly into marrying him, over the strong suspicions of the townsfolk. When she arrives back at the cabin with her bumptious hubby, she discovers they are not alone. His six uncouth, unwashed and unmarried brothers are living there with him. When these wild boys get the idea they’d like to be married too, they end up kidnapping six girls from town. All heck breaks loose, with a happy ending guaranteed. But the show at 6th Street has problems.

To begin with, there’s the casting. While they do have good singing voices, it’s an understatement to say that most of the brothers do not look like outdoorsy types. It’s hard to believe these guys are supposed to be rough-hewn mountain men – felling trees, splitting logs and killing grizzlies with their bare hands. They’d look much more at home on the sofa, munching pizza and watching TV. Case in point: one especially embarrassing number has all six of Adam’s brothers surrendering their underwear to Milly for washing, and they end up doing a lively dance together shirtless, not a pretty sight. This is where unfortunate casting choices are painfully apparent. Some of the brothers display a little too much bouncing flesh in the process. If this is supposed to be funny, it doesn’t work.

In all fairness, there are a few standouts among the brothers: the acrobatic Trevor Hoffman as Benjamin, and Clint Campbell (so compelling as Brick in last season’s “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”) as Caleb, not only look their parts but are also convincing as powerful, independent guys that still long for love and acceptance. Probably the best of the boys is Joey Abrego as the youngest brother Gideon. He shows both strength and sensitivity, and has a truly wonderful voice. It’s easy to see how a young lady might find him appealing and sympathetic.

As for the brides, there were some really good performances by Kate Kitchens as Alice, and Vanessa Bautista as Martha. And even though she plays a supporting role in this show, the delightful April Krautner as Dorcas steals every scene she’s in. She’s always funny and charming in her leading roles (witness last season’s “The 39 Steps” and “The Producers”), and she’s also tops at singing and dancing.

Rebekah Patti, Ben Knoll

Ben Knoll as Adam needs to be bold and daring – a force of nature – but instead comes off as just an ordinary, likeable guy. Despite having a pleasant enough singing voice and demeanor, he lacks the rugged physicality of a man who takes long hikes in the mountains, a quality needed in this role to make it effective and believable. The excellent Rebekah Patti as Milly carries the show as best she can with her beautiful voice and engaging stage presence, with the help of just a few good supporting cast members playing townsfolk. Alan Kafton as the Preacher and Laura Davis as Mrs Hoallum are a pleasure to watch whenever they happen onto the stage. The chorus offers good, strong harmonies offset by only occasional pitch problems.

Fledgling director Patrick Varner’s staging is inconsistent. The fight scenes are a bit awkward and some of the group scenes are disorganized, like traffic jams onstage. There are some impressive bits of acrobatics and tumbling, and some good dance numbers (by choreographer Alexandra Cummins). The best part of the show: a brief, inspired shadow-puppet chase sequence that includes some creative wagon wheel-rolling and pantomime, involving nearly the entire cast. But with only a few bright spots like these, the end results are less than uneven. Set design by Vincent Mothersbaugh and costumes by Erika Hauptman are merely acceptable, but the 10-piece orchestra more than holds its own under the always capable direction of Janis Dunson Wilson.

To support such a lightweight musical show and bring it across to the audience, you need the assurance of blazing triple-threat performers combined with excellent casting, directing, set design and choreography. Without the help of this talent, a weak story stays weak, and just limps along. “Seven Brides” at 6th Street could use a crutch, maybe two.

When:  Now through September 16, 2012
8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays
2 p.m. Sundays
2 p.m. Saturday September 15
Tickets:  $15 to $35
Location:  6th Street Playhouse – GK Hardt Theatre, 52 West 6th Street, Santa Rosa CA
Phone:  707-523-4185
Website:  www.6thstreetplayhouse.com

Sep 22 2012
Love0

“The Normal Heart” timely after more than 2 decades

By Judy Richter

By Judy Richter
When Larry Kramer’s “The Normal Heart” opened in New York in 1985, knowledge about AIDS was growing but still sadly lacking. Today, even though drugs have been found to control it, there still is no real cure, nor is there a vaccine to prevent it. In the meantime, the worldwide death toll has grown to more than 30 million, and an estimated 33.3 million people, including 1.3 million Americans, are living with HIV/AIDS. Hence the 2011 Tony-winning revival seems necessary and timely, as evidenced by the Arena Stage production that has come to San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater.

Taking place between July 1981 and May 1984 in New York City, the plot focuses on a gay writer, Ned Weeks (Patrick Breen), who has become aware of a mysterious illness that is claiming the lives of gay men. When he talks with a doctor, Emma Brookner (Jordan Baker), who has been treating men with the illness, she has no answers. She doesn’t know what causes it, let alone how to treat it, cure it or prevent it. However, she suspects that gay men’s sexual activities play a large role in its spread. She tells Ned (a stand-in for the playwright) to tell gay men to stop having sex.

She might as well advise telling them to stop breathing. Sexual freedom has become a way of life, indeed a part of their identity. Still, Ned looks for ways to help. He and some other gay men form a group intended to provide support and resources for their afflicted brothers. However, their efforts are thwarted in several ways.

One is that government officials, the public health establishment and the mainstream press are virtually ignoring the epidemic. Ned believes they do so because gay men are not readily acceptable. He believes that if a similar crisis were confronting straight people, all sorts of resources would be unleashed.

Another problem is that most of the other men in his group are closeted. They fear losing their jobs if it were known that they’re gay. Then there’s Ned himself. He’s outspoken, abrasive, confrontational, leading to conflict within the group and alienating those who could exert some influence to help.

In the meantime, more men are becoming ill, including Ned’s lover, Felix Turner (Matt McGrath), a fashion writer for the New York Times. Some of Ned’s colleagues relate wrenching stories about the fate of their friends and loved ones.

When Berkeley Repertory Theatre presented “The Normal Heart” in June 1986, the San Francisco Bay Area was still reeling from the crisis. Leaning on canes or a friend, frail-looking young men with purple lesions (Kaposi’s sarcoma) on their skin could be seen at various public events like plays and the opera. Today, the revival of that play evokes sad memories of that tragic time. My review of that production concluded: ” ‘The Normal Heart’ isn’t an easy play to watch. Nevertheless, it’s an important play, one that moves its audience and provokes deep, disturbing thought about a social climate and crisis that could remain in the forefront for a long time.”

Now, 26 years later, the social climate is gradually changing for gays, but AIDS still remains a significant public health challenge, especially given the high expense of the drugs used to treat it. Gay marriage, depicted in the play, is still outlawed in most areas.

This revival, directed by George C. Wolfe, features a standout cast, led by Breen as the angry Ned Weeks and featuring Baker as Emma Brookner, the wheelchair-using physician who contracted polio three months before the introduction of the Salk vaccine. Besides McGrath as Felix, the cast also features Michael Berresse as Mickey Marcus, Nick Mennell as Bruce Niles, Bruce Altman as Ben Weeks (Ned’s straight brother), Sean Dugan as Tommy Boatwright, and Tom Berklund, Patrick Alparone and Jon Levenson in various minor roles.

The set is by David Rockwell with costumes by the late Martin Pakledinaz, lighting by David Weiner, music and sound by David Van Tieghem and projections by Batwin + Robin Productions. Leah C. Gardiner is the restaging director.

More than history, “The Normal Heart” is a cogent reminder of the need for people to be aware of how AIDS is transmitted and to try to prevent contracting it or spreading it. In a letter given to theatergoers after the play and in ACT’s “Words on Plays” publication, the still-crusading, still-angry Kramer has this to say, among other things: “Please know that all efforts at prevention and education continue their unending record of abject failure. … Please know that this is a plague that need not have happened. Please know that this is a plague that has been allowed to happen.”

“The Normal Heart” continues through Oct. 7. For tickets and information call (415) 749-2228 or visit www.act-sf.org.

Sep 21 2012
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THE OTHER PLACE — A PERFECT PLAY

By Lee Hartgrave

THE OTHER PLACE CAN GET A LITTLE SCARY

Pictured: Daniel Sage Mackay as Ian and Henny Russell as Juliana. Photo: Jennifer Reiley 

Juliana is a woman who is charming – but alarming. She has a dry humor. But it is hard to tell if she is a compassionate person deep inside or just someone who is on the edge of a cliff. I’ll say that she is probably more on the wacky side.

Juliana is going to visit a Doctor, one that she never met before. Right off the Bat, she takes over the room. Juliana does not like to be questioned. No, she is more of the talker – and she wants you to listen.

Dr. Teller wants to know more about Juliana. The Dr. asks her patient about the divorce. “That’s a recent development isn’t it?” Juliana glares at the Doc and says: “is this a personal question?” Well, yes and no – Juliana is like a slippery snake that can wiggle around anything.

Throughout this treacherous conversation with the Doctor – Juliana drags her ex-husband into the fray. The dramatic moments are explosive. It is beginning to bring out what is really wrong with Juliana. Now, if I were a Doctor – I would say that she definitely has signs of dementia.

She wanders into a former home on the Ocean. Sure, she lived there once, but Juliana thinks that it is still her home. Of course, the girl that now owns the house has to go along with the pretense until Juliana’s ex-husband finds out where she is – and what can be done with her mental condition.

Juliana is bombastic. One minute she is as sweet as pumpkin pie – the next moment she would just as soon, slap your face over and over again.

In this amazing story Juliana goes from being a bright scientist to a total nut case. We, the audience might as well be on the edge of Niagara Falls. This story is like watching an Egyptian paradise falling into rubble.

This is not a charming story that is hard to resist. And, it’s not sweet and intimate. No, that it is not. However, it is a strong story that brings out tragedy in life’s daily absolute chemistry between an ex-husband — who knows that his wife’s head is in turmoil. There is a gusher coming to ‘The Other Place’ and it is very soon.

I’ll tell you this – “You won’t feel like you’re on vacation!” No, No, No – that is not going to happen!

HERE’S THE EXCEPTIONAL CAST: Ian – Donald Sage Mackay* The Woman – Carrie Paff* Juliana – Henny Russell* The Man – Patrick Russell*

Written by the amazing Sharr White. Directed by the fantastic Loretta Greco.

RATING: Four Glasses of Champagne!!!! (highest rating) –trademarked-

(((Lee Hartgrave has contributed many articles to the San Francisco Chronicle Sunday Datebook and he produced and hosted a long-running Arts Segment of PBS KQED)))

NOW PLAYING THE MAGIC THEATRE IN FORT MASON

Sep 21 2012
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THE OTHER PLACE an engrossing medical mystery at the Magic

By Kedar K. Adour

THE OTHER PLACE: Drama by Sharr White and directed by Loretta Greco. Magic Theatre, Fort Mason Center, Building D, 3rd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94123. 415.441.8822 or www.magictheatre.org. September 12 – October 7, 2012.

THE OTHER PLACE an engrossing medical mystery at the Magic

Magic Theatre and Artistic Director Loretta Greco continue there love affair with multi award winner Sharr White mounting a very engrossing The Other Place that is somewhat a medical mystery as the lead character Juliana (Henny Russell) descends into a morass of confused memory. Just as AIDS was the medical mystery in last night’s ACT production of The Normal Heart, mental illness, often referred to as Alzheimer’s, takes center stage in this West Coast premier that is heading for Broadway in 2013.

Performing it here under the auspices of the Magic is an excellent decision since this local group has rightfully earned the reputation as a great place to smooth out any rough spots in the text and production. Comparing the written text with the staging reflects that changes are being made and there probably will be some minor fixes to remove ambiguity.

That being said, just as the causes of mental illness are ambiguous it is appropriate that the audience accept the ambiguities of the staging as part of Greco’s overall directorial conceits. Have you ever thought of problems attempting to of portray present action, past events and mental cognition simultaneously and making sense of it?

First, cast a superb actor in that role and they have done that by importing talented Henny Russell from Broadway. (In the scheduled NYC production Laurie Metcalf will repeat the role that she played in the award winning Off-Broadway staging). Then surround her with a top-notch a supporting cast that includes our own local favorite Carrie Paff (The Woman) and Donald Sage Mackay (Ian). Patrick Russell does yeoman duty as The Man with multiple small parts.

Of equal importance is the technical crew of Brando Wolcott (sound), Eric Southern (lighting), video (Hana Kim) necessary to make the shifts from present, past and mental ruminations understandable. With minor exceptions they are flawless.

Juliana is a brilliant scientist and “the original patent holder” of a new drug to cure brain lesions “with sales projected to exceed one billion dollars a month.” The play is non-linear reflecting and reinforcing the vacillating thoughts in her mind.

While giving a lecture to a group of doctors about the structure and effects of this new drug with slides projected on a stark white rear wall, her amplified lecture switches to her mental thoughts delivered un-amplified as an explanatory monolog to the audience. While addressing the doctors, Juliana envisions a young girl in a yellow bikini in the audience. This triggers a mental collapse and she is returned to her home and husband Ian and mention of “the other place” becomes a paramount importance.

The interaction between Ian and Juliana is cataclysmic, as her mind switches between real past events and auditory fantasies about a daughter that disappeared years ago. When the probable truth is blurted out by Ian in abject frustration it is a devastating suggestion.

Interposed between the Ian/Juliana scenes are her visits to a neuropyschiatrist (Carrie Paff dressed in clinical garb [costumes by Myung Hee Cho]) that are both humorous and frustrating. In a later scene the white projection screen opens and we are in the “other place”, a Cape Cod cottage formerly owned by Ian/Juliana but now owned by The Woman played by Paff.

Juliana has traveled to the cottage and her encounter with The Woman leads to a beautiful scene as Paff grasps the turmoil within Juliana and assumes the role of the missing daughter before Ian arrives to take her away. Before the final scene where we learn the identity of girl in the yellow bikini (marvelous video projections), Sharr White inserts a short scene where Juliana is probably going off to a sanitarium.  It is not as dramatic as Blanche’s “I have always been dependent on the kindness of strangers” but it works. Running time 80 minutes and worth every minute of your time.

Kedar Adour, MD

Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com

 

Sep 20 2012
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THE NORMAL HEART brilliant at ACT

By Kedar K. Adour


  The cast of The Normal Heart—playing at A.C.T.’s Geary Theater, September 13–October 7, 2012. Photo by Kevin Berne

 THE NORMAL HEART : Drama by Larry Kramer. Directed by George C. Wolfe. American Conservatory Theater (ACT), 415 Geary St., San Francisco. (415) 749-2228 or www.act-sf.org. September 13–October 7, 2012

A gut wrenching THE NORMAL HEART at ACT

As a practicing medical doctor in the 1980s this reviewer shared the frustration of the character Dr. Emma Brookner (Jordan Baker) who bookends the brilliant production of The Normal Heart gracing ACT’s Broadway transplant of Larry Kramer’s play. Whereas Kramer’s semi-autographical play is specific to New York City there was, unbeknownst to us in the medical profession, the “plague” that was devastating his gay friends was a world-wide problem that was to infect millions of people . . . gay and straight.

The Normal Heart that was first produced in 1985 at Joseph Papp’s Public Theater centers around Ned Weeks, who is Kramer’s alter ego (Patrick Breen) and his circle of friends who were dying of this mysterious illness that became named as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) caused by the Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Being given that diagnosis was a death sentence and deaths were frequently occurring in the Gay NYC population and became known as the “Gay Disease.”

Because of condemnation for gay people by political, religious and even the general population on the grounds that gays practiced abnormal sex, obtaining funds for research was almost impossible. In the play Ned is a Jewish writer who himself has lost friends and lovers undertakes a quest for the political community to declare an epidemic and spur research for the cause and treatment. Forward thinking Dr. Brookner suggests that the disease (virus) is sexually transmitted and the password amongst gays should be “abstinence.”  That is not be.

Ned appeals to his loving wealthy straight-laced lawyer older brother Ben (Bruce Altman) for financial help without getting a commitment. Ned, who is abrasive in his speech, sets out to form a group to obtain funds for research. When they are unsuccessful they establish a group to help those with the disease to cope with their progressive deterioration. To Ned this is not enough when NYC Health Department worker Mickey Marcus (Michael Berresse)tells him that the deaths have jumped to 41 in one week Ned goes ballistic and that is to be his downfall when he is ejected from the group(s) that he has championed.

All this may sound didactic but be assured it is not. The characters become real in their time upon the stage, and as they die on and off the stage. You will become involved in each as distinct individuals. Bruce Niles (Nick Mennell) a former Green Beret and now as collar and tie investment banker refuses to come out of the closet for the simply reason he will be fired. Late in the second act when he tearfully recounts how the body of his former lover who died of complications of AIDS was mistreated there were tears in the eyes of the audience.

The gorgeous Matt McGrath, as New York Times staff writer and eventual lover of Ned, underplays his role to perfection. His transformation from a charming, humorous boy to a patient with a deteriorating body is so heart wrenching to make you hold your breath.

The production values created by the Broadway and Washington’s Arena Stage staffs are superb and have been transferred intact to ACT. The stage is framed with bare white walls etched with lines and quotations from Newspaper articles and can be considered a mausoleum for dead. The first written word is ‘Patient Zero” and ending with a moving projection of all those who followed in death. Director Wolfe keeps the cast balanced and tempers Breen’s depiction of Ned allowing him intermittent breathing room but rarely for more than a couple of minutes. He may overstep the directorial conceit of bringing the wheel chair bound Dr. Brookner to the stage apron and lecture us about the unfairness of it all, but Jordan Baker ejects so much sincerity into her lines that you must listen as you recognize the problems of today as those of the past.

Kedar Adour, MD

Courtesy of www.theatreworldintermagazine.com

 

The cast of The Normal Heart—playing at A.C.T.’s Geary Theater, September 13–October 7, 2012. Photo by Kevin Berne.

Sep 18 2012
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Albee’s Challengiing Absurdist “Play About the Baby” at Custom Made Theatre

By Guest Review

Albee’s absurdist “Play About the Baby ” premiered on the West Coast at San Francisco’s Custom Made Theatre to bring a stark caricature of young marriage, the birth and loss of a baby, and an older couple’s lessons. The  action includes vaudeville and commedia style acting in a farce like approach that heightens the cruel caricatured tone and sharpens the irony of the message that life brings loss and wounds that nonetheless show us that we are alive and who we are.

Masterfully directed by veteran director Brian Katz, the role of the Woman is performed with gracious charm and command by Linda Ayres Frederick and with vivacity and wit by Richard Aiello. Anya Kazimierski and Shane Rhodes bring youthful freshness and innocence to their roles of Girl and Boy.

Kudos to Custom Made’s efforts and perserverance to produce thought provoking absurdist theatre inciting query.

“The Play About the Baby”  plays until Oct. 7th followed by Tracy Letts’ “Superior Donuts”. For info call 415-798-2682 or visit www.CustomMade.org.

Annette Lust

 

 

Sep 18 2012
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2Beholden: Or Not 2B! – Five New Short Plays by Susan Jackson

By Flora Lynn Isaacson

 

Susan Jackson as Jessie and Diana Brown as Jenny 
in Eye Tooth, Part 2.  Photo by Stacy Marshall

The Southern Railroad Theatre Company’s mission is to bring the true Southern experience to the Bay Area in the plays of Susan Jackson.  Her main characters are strong, irrepressible women, facing sudden challenges.  All of the characters in her plays are related by blood or marriage, and this family tree is the foundation of her producing calendar beginning with Heathen which takes place during the Civil War and continues to the present day. In addition, the selections of the plays are connected thematically–Blessings 2010, Forgiveness 2011, Mercy 2011 and Beholden 2012.

Act One opens with Heathen Part 2 which takes place in Bess Canaan’s bedroom in 1865.  Here Ann Kuchins has remarkable stage presence as Bess Canaan as she explains to Posey, her slave girl (Margo Sims) how she has always taken care of her and saved her life making Posey beholden to her for life.  This is followed by  contrasting scene in Posey Carter’s home, two miles from the Canaan Plantation in 1929 in which Posey has a monologue speaking her thoughts, explaining why she is never beholden to anyone.

The next play is Eye Tooth, Part 2 directed by Ann Thomas.  Eye Tooth takes place in the present day at a California State mental hospital. Here Diana Brown has a great deal of spontaneity as Jenny Safrit who explains in group therapy, why she took the life of Jessie Waters (Susan Jackson) who was one of her husband’s “bitches.” Susan Jackson is effective as the ghost of the waitress, Jessie Waters.  Robert Cooper is very professional as Dr. Phillip Brevard who is in charge of a group of patients which includes Adrienne Krug, Ann Kuchins and Margo Sims.

Act One concludes with For I Am Not Breaking, Part 5 directed by Stephen Drewes, which takes place at the Charlotte International Airport, September, 2011.  Here, Susan Jackson, in an appealing performance as Marion Peallin, soon to be ex-wife of bigamist Judge Peallin, meets a stranger (Eric Nelson) while waiting for the flight for her first trip to New York City.

Act Two opens with Rockets Red Glare: Lacy’s Story directed by Ann Thomas which stars Adrienne Krug as Crazy Lacy.  Here we join Lacy on her survival journey from an abandoned three year old in 1970 through 2012, a few days before The Wedding of the Century in 2012.  Here Krug gives a wonderful tour de force performance as Lacy at two years old, seven years old, nine years old, thirteen years old, twenty one years old, forty years old and forty five years old.

The grand finale of the evening is Rockets Red Glare: The Wedding directed by Ann Kuchins. This play takes place in the Anterooms and Sanctuary of the Beaver Dam Free Will Baptist Church in the present, 2012.  Here the entire cast joins in, in wonderfully comic performances.  The folks in Beaver Dam never thought they’d see the day that Salacious and Nancy (Diana Brown) would stop fighting long enough to actually get married, yet it seems that the day has finally arrived.  They are joined by a supporting cast in top notch performances which include Ann Kuchins as Rev. Rainbow, Robert Cooper as Billy Barnett, Susan Jackson as Mayor Peaches Nasterson, Adrienne Krug as Crazy Lacy and Margo Sims as Tulita.

Thanks to Susan Jackson’s marvelous sense of humor, a great time is had by all!

2Beholden or Not 2B! runs through September 29. Performances are held Thursday-Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Royce Gallery, 2901 Mariposa, San Francisco. For tickets and information, contact www.brownpapertickets.com/event/252834 or call 1-800-838-3006.

Sep 17 2012
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Rigoletto in the Ballpark

By David Hirzel

For those of us who are not opera purists, and by the 30,000+ turnout at San Francisco’s ATT+T Park September 16, I suspect there are a whole lot of us, this venue has got to be the best way to enjoy Verdi’s Rigoletto.  If you remembered to leave home with enough layers to keep you warm as the evening rolls along, you will find that there are no bad seats.  From the lawn (outfield) below to the upper deck, everyone has a good view of a BIG screen with excellent video graphics coupled with distortion-free amplified sound to carry the music to your ears.  Before each act a written synopsis appears briefly, to get you oriented to what’s about to happen, and much (not all) of the singing is subtitled.  Not that you need to read to enjoy such phenomenal singing, but it helps to keep you oriented to the players and the action onscreen: lust, treachery, tender love, betrayal, murder.

Such is Rigoletto.  The title character (Zeljko Lucic) is a jester to the Duke’s court, but he has a serious side, and a secret daughter, and it is on this Gilda (Aleksandra Kurzak) whom he dotes, and the depth and breadth of their relationship is the heart of the story.  It is in their tender moments together that the real value of this ballpark opera house makes itself known.  The big screen focuses on their faces, their eyes and lips, the bond they share, while their voices intertwine in music of marvelous beauty.  This passionate actress makes the show, lovely to behold and hear, a perfect match to her burly father’s abiding love.

The staging is a simple wonder.  Vertical panels angling into the distance do multiple duty, serving as the brilliant court or a dark alley or Verona’s empty square during a violent storm, with just a change of light and color.  A similarly undecorated room slides into view, and it changes into house, an inn, a bedroom with barred windows, again with just lighting and the most minimal of props.  The primary colors used—red, yellow, blue-gray—set the scenes so well that nothing more is needed.

Altogether, what a show!  Here’s how it works.  This is a simulcast of the live performance onstage at the SF War Memorial Opera House.  At the conclusion of the show, when the cast came on for their (well-deserved) applause, each was bearing or wearing a bit of Giants fan-gear: a big orange We’re Number One, a baseball bat, a black beard—a special nod to those of use in the stands.  It’s free, and this night at the opera in the ballpark comes but once a year in the fall, so look for it in 2013 and don’t miss it.  Special treat for those coming from Marin:  get the special opera ferry at Larkspur, straight to McCovey Cove.  But don’t forget to print out your online reservation, or you won’t get home by ferry later that night.

Review by David Hirzel

http://www.davidhirzel.net

 

Sep 17 2012
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Lend Me A Tenor–The Show Must Go On at RVP

By Flora Lynn Isaacson

Laura Domingo as Maria, Craig Christiansen as Tito and Gwen Kingston as Maggie in Ross Valley Players’ production of Lend Me a Tenor

Ross Valley Players opens their 83rd season with Lend Me A Tenor by Ken Ludwig, directed by Kris Neely and produced by Anne Ripley.

In 1934, renowned tenor Tito Morelli (Craig Christiansen) is scheduled to sing the lead in Otello. The opera is being produced as a gala fundraiser for the Cleveland Opera Company.  Unfortunately, even before the star leaves his hotel room, everything begins to unravel.  Chaos ensues when Morelli’s wife, Maria (Laura Domingo), who has mistaken an autograph-seeker hidden in the closet for a secret lover, leaves him a Dear John letter. The distraught Morelli, accidentally, is given  double dose of tranquilizers to calm him and passes out. Saunders, the company’s General Manager (David Kester) is determined that the show will go on (for his own financial interest), so he asks his assistant Max (Robert Nelson) to impersonate the opera star.  Max puts on the black-faced makeup required for the role of Otello and his disguise succeeds admirably–until Morelli, also in black-face, wakes up and heads for the stage. What follows is a chain reaction of mistaken identity, farcical plot twists, double entendres, innuendoes and constant entrances and exits through six different doors.

Kris Neely takes on the directorial challenge of creating a three-ring circus of slamming doors, double takes and pratfalls at top speed and top volume in his eight character romp. In the slapstick sweepstakes, David Kester, as the long-suffering director of the opera company, wins hands down, followed by Robert Nelson and Craig Christiansen who do a wonderful second act dance as the two Otellos being pursued by women (Christina Jacqua as a lecherous dowager, Gwen Kingston as an ingenue admirer, Dylan Cooper as a prima donna who hopes seducing the tenor may be her ticket to the Met and Amanda Grey as a sexy female bellhop in awe of the tenor).  Laura Domingo as the tenor’s long (but not silently) suffering wife, was almost as skillful and overblown in her stage Italian as her husband in their arguments.

There were lots of opportunities for actors to hustle in and out of the six doors in Ken Rowland’s handsome red and white set, hiding in bedrooms and closets, disappearing in the nick of time into the hallway or the kitchen.  The beautiful costumes by Michael A. Berg are easy on the eyes.

Lend Me A Tenor achieves true comic delirium at the curtain call when the cast romps through a mimed version of the lunatic plot in about two minutes.  Those two minutes are more charming and fundamentally funnier than the two hours of hard labor that have come before.

Lend Me A Tenor runs September 14-October 14 at Ross Valley Players’ Barn Theatre, Marin Art and Garden Center, 30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., Ross, CA. Performances are Thursday at 7:30 p.m.; Friday-Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. For reservations, call 415-456-9555, ext. 1.

Coming up next at Ross Valley Players will be You Can’t Take It With You by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, directed by Jim Dunn, November 16-December 16, 2012.

 

Sep 16 2012
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“The Great American Trailer Park Musical”

By Greg & Suzanne Angeo

Craig Miller, Julianne Lorenzen

 “The Great American Trailer Park Musical” at 6th Street Playhouse, Santa Rosa CA

Reviewed by Suzanne and Greg Angeo

Photos by Eric Chazankin

Come for the Fun, Stay for the Shoes – “Trailer Park” an Irresistible, Raunchy Good Time

It’s safe to say that 6th Street Playhouse has never featured pole dancers, dead skunks, agoraphobia, false pregnancies, and guys sniffing magic markers all on the same stage before. Well, there’s a first time for everything, and this first – a risky little gem – really pays off big-time. “The Great American Trailer Park Musical” at 6th Street is one rockabilly-rowdy, awesome show.

“Trailer Park” premiered off-Broadway in September 2005, and has seen sold-out shows in regional performances all over the country ever since. Music and lyrics are by David Nehls, and the book is by Los Angeles comedy writer Betsy Kelso, known for her irreverent spoofs and somewhat risqué humor.

(From Left) Shannon Rider, Julianne Lorenzen, Daniela Beem, Alise Gerard

Once settled in our seats at 6th Street’s Studio Theatre, we find ourselves in a north Florida trailer park called Armadillo Acres, where the outdoor thermometer is stuck at 118 degrees. Their motto is “We accept almost everybody” , and they aren’t kidding.  The park’s little travel-type trailers (minus the wheels) are just like the residents: really very cute, but slightly smudged and dilapidated, bravely scraping the bottom of the barrel of life. Park manager Betty, and her cohorts Lin and Pickles, worry about their neighbor Jeannie, who hasn’t left her trailer in 20 years. And now it seems like Jeannie’s husband Norbert has taken to canoodling with the new gal in town, a stripper named Pippi.  When Pippi’s slightly crazed roadkill-obsessed boyfriend Duke shows up with an impressive supply of magic markers, you don’t need much imagination to guess what happens next. This is part of this show’s lowbrow charm.  

“Trailer Park” is filled to the brim with non-stop laughs and relentless, high energy music, very much in the spirit of “The Rocky Horror Show”. The characters could have stepped right out of a comic book. Sure, they’re crude and vulgar, and maybe they play on broad stereotypes, but they’re so likeable you can’t help but fall in love at first sight. And the ladies wear the most fabulous collection of footwear seen in recent memory: sky-high glittery golden heels, thigh-high lace-up boots, acrobatic wedgies and scary-sharp stilettos. The shoes are nearly matched in tawdriness by the cheap-chic clothes and over-the-top hairstyles (all tributes to the talents of costume and wig designers Tracy Sigrist and Michael Greene). But these are mere accessories. What really makes this show is the stunning performers. 

(From Left) Taylor Bartolucci DeGuillio, Daniela Beem, Craig Miller

Each and every cast member is superb, a goldmine of North Bay talent. Betty, played by the truly amazing Daniela Beem, captures your heart with her spectacular voice, tacky wardrobe and unfailing concern for her neighbors. Also excellent is noted area vocalist Shannon Rider. She plays Lin (short for Linoleum!), the park’s resident bad girl whose bad boy hubby is on death row. She prowls the stage, alternately squatting and strutting, seething with resolve. Alise Girard (also the show’s choreographer) plays the charmingly goofy teenager Pickles. After using a pillow to fake her pregnancy, she produces a big surprise for everybody at the end of the show (Natalie Herman also plays Pickles for three shows, but we did not catch her performance).  Each of these ladies delivers exceptional individual vocals, but it’s their three-part harmonies that really get the joint a-jumpin’.

Julianne Lorenzen is at the top of her game as the neurotic Jeannie, who can’t make herself leave her dingy trailer ever since the day her baby was kidnapped long ago. Her character is less one-dimensional than the others, one you can identify with. She’s sympathetic and real, and serves as the pivot point around which the other characters move. In such a demanding role, she not only needs to be funny; she needs to be dramatically strong and believable, and she is, with her wild hair and wilder eyes. And on top of all this, she has a beautiful singing voice. Her buffoon of a husband Norbert is played to clownish perfection by 6th Street Artistic Director Craig Miller.

Mark Bradbury

 

Jeannie’s nemesis is Pippi, the sleazy but fiercely proud pole-dancer who moves into the trailer next to theirs. Taylor Bartolucci DeGuillio is outstanding not just in her vocals, but in her ability to make her character smolder with passion and heart. It’s not long before Pippi’s loony boyfriend Duke comes a-lookin’ for his woman. Mark Bradbury’s entrance nearly steals the show, which is really saying something. His nimble craziness as Duke, and in a couple of smaller non-speaking roles, provides the veritable icing on the cake.

The four-piece band, directed by Lucas Sherman, is cleverly tucked away upstage, on the rooftop of one of the trailers. Each musical number seems better than the last, but especially memorable are: “Flushed Down the Pipes” featuring the ladies twirling plungers; the pulse-pounding disco beat of “Storms A-Brewin”; and the rousing finale, featuring a breathtaking solo by DeGuillio. The ingeniously compact set, including those cute little travel-type trailers, is the creation of set design wizard Paul Gilger.

Director Barry Martin delivers a home-run hit with “Trailer Park”. He told us he didn’t want to give the audience a chance even to catch their breath, and he doesn’t. There are no pauses between scenes (except for intermission) and the pacing is fast and furious. With his full use of the Studio Theatre’s simple, open thrust stage – meaning there are views from three sides – Martin allows ample opportunity for the cast to mingle with the audience. You really feel a part of the story, and the fun.

“Trailer Park” is what musical theatre is all about – pure escapism. You think you got troubles? Nothing compares with the back-breakin’, heart-achin’ comic strivings of these zany folks. It’s been reported that shows are selling out in advance, so it’s advised that you call ahead for tickets. But be forewarned – the characters are colorful, and so is the language. You may want to leave the kiddies at home.

When: Now through September 30, 2012

8:00 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays

2:00 p.m. Sundays

2:00 p.m. Saturday, September 29

Tickets: $15 to $25 (general seating)

Location: Studio Theatre at 6th Street Playhouse

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

Website: www.6thstreetplayhouse.com