Feb 25 2013

Hope arises in ‘Spring Awakening’

By Judy Richter Judy Richter

By Judy Richter

Ignorance and repression are a dangerous, sometimes tragic combination, as seen in “Spring Awakening,” presented by Foothill Music Theatre and the Foothill Theatre Arts Department.

Set in a provincial German town in the 1890s, this musical focuses on a group of young adolescent friends who have little understanding of the changes they’re undergoing. The adults in their lives often exacerbate the problem. The central characters are 14-year-old Wendla (Juliana Lustenader); her boyfriend, Melchior (Jason Rehklau); and his friend and schoolmate, Moritz (Ryan Mardesich). Of the three, only the scholarly Melchior knows about reproduction.

In the meantime, the boys and their friends are dealing with all sorts of sexual fantasies, and one of Wendla’s friends, Martha (Holly Smolik), suffers from her father’s beatings and sexual abuse. Tragedies ensue, but hope arises.

Based on a controversial 1891 German play by Frank Wedekind, “Spring Awakening” features music by Duncan Sheik with lyrics and book by Steven Sater. After itsNew Yorkpremiere in 2006, it went on to win eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical.

Although it’s billed as a rock musical, which could connote loud and raucous, many of its songs are calmer. Foothill’s seven-member orchestra, seated in a corner of the stage, includes a violin, viola and cello for a more refined sound. The musicians are led from the keyboard by musical director Mark Hanson.

Except for Caitlin Lawrence Papp and Justin Karr, who portray all of the adults, the cast is comprised mostly of college-age performers. Although they’re older than the characters they play, most of them still look young enough.

Director Milissa Carey, aided by choreographer Amanda Folena, has assembled an energetic, committed cast. The three principals — Lustenader as Wendla, Rehklau as Melchior and Mardesich as Moritz — are especially noteworthy. So, too, are Papp and Karr, who assume various personas as the adults. Beyond that, everyone in the cast deserves kudos for embodying adolescent angst.

Helping to set the stage are Bruce McLeod, production supervisor; Ken Kilen, sound; Rebecca Van De Vanter, lighting; Carlos Acevedo, scenery; and Julie Engelbrecht, costumes.

Although the show has obvious cachet for young people — who were the main demographic in the first Saturday performance — it’s definitely not suitable for younger children because of its sensitive, adult issues and occasional rough language. However, it can and does appeal to more mature audiences who appreciate an interesting plot, strong characters and solid production values.

“Spring Awakening” will continue at the Lohman Theater, Foothill, 12345 El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills, through March 10. For tickets and information, call (650) 949-7360 or go to www.foothillmusicals.com.

Feb 23 2013

Love0

Nijinsky — Hamburg Ballet Performance

By Joanne Engelhardt Joe Cillo

Nijinsky

Hamburg Ballet Performance at the San Francisco Ballet

February 19, 2013

This is a huge, sprawling production done with imaginative, elaborate staging and lighting and superb technical skill from the dancers. It is inspired by the troubled life of Vaslav Nijinsky the famous Russian/Polish ballet dancer from the early 20th century. It is not an easy ballet to follow or immediately grasp. Some aspects of the ballet seem to refer to events and relationships in Nijinsky’s life and some aspects seem to represent states of his inner life or fantasies, and some seem to be blends of the two. There are ambiguities that seem to working on several different levels at the same time. I came to the performance completely unprepared. I didn’t know anything about Nijinsky except that he was a famous dancer and I didn’t know anything about the events of his life. The result was I found the performance rather confusing and obscure.

When I attend a theatrical performance, I am always most interested in the concept of the piece, it’s psychological import and meaning, it’s cultural and historical significance. I think about who wrote this and why. What were they trying to get across.

In this performance those aspects are not easy to grasp. Unless you are an expert on the history of ballet and know a lot about the life of Nijinsky, you are not likely to get all the references and allusions in this performance. I went with a friend who happens to hold a doctoral degree in musicology and she did not get it either, although she got a lot more of it than I did. She at least knew who he was and his significance, and was able to make connections to some of the other ballets he had been in and she knew a most of the music that was used. But she did not know the biographical details of Nijinsky’s life and was thus unable to understand much of what was going on.

I was able to discern that it was a kind of retrospective, that many of the sequences represented the contents of the lead dancer’s mind, reminiscences of things that had happened in the past. There was at least one and probably multiple triangles involving two men and a woman. I’m not sure if it was the same woman in all of them. There was a wedding, that was clear, but the character of the marriage was not clear. The second act seemed to be a descent into psychosis with references to the war (World War 1) and many deaths. The second act had a surreal quality that was less accessible to being grasped intellectually, but in my eyes it had a more powerful emotional and psychological impact.

This ballet should be very popular among experts on the ballet. The general public will have a harder time with it unless a special effort is made to prepare in advance. I studied for several months before attending the Ring of the Nibelung cycle in 2011, and that preparation paid off. However, I don’t really want to have to do that with every performance, but this is one of that sort where significant early preparation would make a big difference. Art should be challenging and it should push us beyond our natural boundaries of understanding and perception. My feeling, in this case, is that the authors did not think enough about who the audience was going to be and the impact that it would have on a naive viewer, which is what most of them are going to be, at least in the United States. Since this is a large scale production aimed at an audience made up of people who are mostly not experts on ballet and certainly not steeped in the details of Vaslav Nijinsky’s life, it could have been done in a way that would have made it more immediately accessible. This production might have worked well as an opera. It does seem to lend itself to that kind of grand conceptual enactment. The verbal aspect available in opera would have helped a lot in terms of making it intelligible to a viewer not steeped in the life of Nijinsky.

Having said all of that, I still like this. I liked that it was a big concept, that they were trying to do something with substance and powerful emotional significance, as opposed to gentle entertainment. This was a performance with real import, although the character of it was not immediately evident. It had narrative elements, it had subjective explorations of the inner life, it had allusions to historical events that were of relevant to the story line as well as the psychological development of the characters. It was imaginatively staged, flawlessly executed, and superbly performed. It is the kind of performance I like to attend. I came to it unprepared, which was my own fault. But even unprepared this ballet wins the audience over on the strength of its imaginative conception and first rate execution.

Feb 20 2013

Love0

‘Se Llama Cristina’ bends characters and timeframes

By Woody Weingarten Woody Weingarten

Sarah Nina Hayon and Sean San José star in the Magic Theatre production, “Se Llama Cristina.” Photo: Jennifer Reiley.

Offbeat.

A handful of Bay Area theater companies strive for it by focusing on the uncommon, the unusual, the unique.

These troupes provide a contrast with those that prefer to pick low-hanging fruit like Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard” for the 17th time, or retread musicals like “Grease” for the 11th local go-round, or believe casting two women as “The Odd Couple” will add laughs.

The Magic Theatre, thankfully, belongs in the first category.

Witness its latest chancy venture into the known unknown, “Se Llama Cristina.” In it, San Francisco playwright Octavio Solis toys with words (ranging from coarse to poetic) and emotions (ranging all over the proverbial map) and timeframes (troubled flashbacks, a problematic present and tentative flashes forward).

He embraces hyper-serious subject matter, then switches moods by lacing it with verbal gags (many of the gallows humor variety).

His main characters often speak in ultra-short outbursts that can long remain ambiguous (or appear unrelated to the topic at hand).

Vespa (or Vera) and Mike (or Miguel or Miki), start off trapped in a seedy, locked room with drug paraphernalia on the kitchen table, scraps of crumpled poetry covering the floor, and an empty crib (except for a fried drumstick) enticing them.

Are they really victims? Are they really junkies (or alcoholics)? Are they really parents?

Interactions with Rod Gnapp’s alter ego (Abel and Abe) are equally unclear. Is he an abuser, a lover, a sperm donor?

Even if you can answer all those questions, more emerge. Did Vespa’s minister-father impregnate her, beat her, abandon her? Will Mike replicate those patterns?

Does all the action actually take place in one nightmarish room, or does it shift from Texas to New Mexico to Arizona to Daly City, where Miki proclaims, “This ain’t no home. This is squalor. This is a dead end. This is not my California dream.”

Was the pair’s relationship an extension of how they met — a wrong number? If they indeed had a child, is it a “weight” or an “encumbrance”?

Director Loretta Greco, in her fifth season as the Magic’s producing artistic director, keeps the 80-minute, one-act play moving at breakneck speed, and she skillfully keeps the audience guessing about the substantial changes Solis puts his characters through.

Now and then the dialogue acts as synopsis, as clear as a winter’s night illuminated by a full moon: “I’m scared, Miguel, that we’re not going to make it…that you’ll leave me in a town I don’t know with a child so sick and hungry and you’ll be gone. I’m scared that she’s gonna end up like me.”

More often than not, though, it’s terse and punchy: “I’m damaged goods.”

Alas, the comic drama feels marginally derivative, evoking shades of other plays and playwrights.

It may for a moment drag your mind back to the hysterical pregnancy of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” It also may bring to mind the four-letter words and poetic phrases created by David Mamet, or the humor that makes Tony Kushner uses to make his ultra-heavy “Angels in America” bearable.

“Se Llama Cristina” is far from perfect — you’re apt, for instance, to be fuzzy about the protagonists’ backgrounds (at first they don’t speak Spanish despite being of Mexican extraction, then they do, in torrents that include dueling curse words).

Sarah Nina Hayon, who plays Vesta (designated in the program only as “Woman”), and Sean San José, who becomes Mike (“Man”), both deliver potent anguish and stinging humor.

Gnapp, too, holds your attention — with a gamut of verbal moves.

Perhaps one reason the Magic fills most of its seats with enthusiasts under 40, as opposed to the gray-hairs that populate many local venues, is its willingness to take chances — with its plays, playwrights and actors.

“Se Llama Cristina” plays at the Magic Theatre, Building D, Fort Mason Center, Marina Boulevard and Buchanan Street, San Francisco, through Sunday, Feb. 24. Performances Wednesdays through Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Tuesdays, 7 p.m.; Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinees, 2:30 p.m. Tickets: $17 to $60. Information: (415) 441-8822 or www.magictheatre.org.

Feb 18 2013

Love0

THE MOTHER F _ _ _ _ _ WITH THE HAT

By Joanne Engelhardt Joe Cillo

THE MOTHER F _ _ _ _ _ WITH THE HAT

Reviewed by Jeffrey R Smith of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle

Now through March 16^th, the San Francisco Playhouse is performing THE MOTHER F _ _ _ _ _ WITH THE HAT by Stephen Adly Guirgis.

If theatre was invented, as Artistic Director Bill English avers, “to fulfill a spiritual purpose in our lives,” then this play reaches a close approximation of that raison d’être.

The characters in the play are not the kinds of people who are likely to attend a performance of THE MOTHER … , they are not likely to be people you would strike up a conversation with on BART, well Veronica yes, but for all the wrong reasons.

The show is a high octane blend of volatility: part mystery—whose hat is it?—part comedy and part dysfunctional love story.

Jackie who discovers the hat in his girlfriend’s apartment—played by one of the finest actors in the Bay Area: Gabriel Marin—is likely to be the rantipole carrying on a heated conversation with himself on the subway; if you accidently sat next to Jackie, you would relocate to another seat, another car or possibly exit the train and wait for the next one.

Profanity rolls off Jackie’s tongue like it did for Pacino in SCARFACE.

Jackie—much to Marin’s superb acting credit—speaks a staccato Bronx dialect at a rate just a notch below the red line on your audio processing speed; were the entire cast to speak as rapid fire as Jackie, the show would be compressed to a half hour.

If Jackie is the explosive, then Veronica—played by Isabelle Ortega with self-absorbed detachment and sizzling eroticism—is the both Chiquita who lights the fuse and the detonator.

As the Jungians remind us, when the psyche is not well, it does not call in a psychotherapist, it invites a Joker into our lives; a Joker who resonates with us and one which has the power to torment us, lancing our psychic carbuncles and reopening scars.

Veronica is that Joker; a masterful manipulator, operating on a low budget, giving everyone what they want while extracting everything she needs via an invisible symbiosis.

Veronica is pure contractualism dressed up as intimacy and sensuality; you might let her into your life but you will never get her out of your mind.

Cousin Julio—played delightfully by Rudy Guerrero—is the rose in Spanish Harlem: sharp, savvy, cool, hip, funny, sensitive, buff and faithfully connected at the familial root with Jackie; he puts leavening and light into the show.

A set design by Bill English and Matt Vuolo looks like it was ripped from the hood; somewhere north of 125 Street.

High Speed Rail might never get to California but THE MOTHER F _ _ _ _ _ WITH THE HAT … has already pulled into the station; it is a bullet train that rips through the evening air, powered by a high tension plot line and an energized cast.

This is high speed entertainment; the seats should have shoulder harnesses.

For tickets, contact the Box Office at SFPLAYHOUSE.ORG or 415.667.9596.

Feb 14 2013

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Joffrey Ballet: Cal Performances

By Jo Tomalin Jo Tomalin

(above) Joffrey Ballet “After the Rain” Victoria Jaiani & Fabrice Calmels Photo Credit Herbert Migdoll

Visceral and Dramatic Joffrey Ballet

Review by Jo Tomalin

Joffrey Ballet “Age of Innocence”
(Photo Credit Herbert Migdoll)

The Joffrey Ballet, an award winning and renowned American dance company from Chicago performed to sold out performances at Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall, Cal Performances, on January 26 & 27, 2013. This world-class company presents classical to cutting edge eclectic dance works with excellence, and tours internationally.

On January 26^th the program included three ballets: The Age of Innocence, After the Rain, and The Green Table.

For ballet fans the opportunity to see a live performance of The Green Table, the antiwar classic by German dancer and choreographer Kurt Jooss, was reason enough to come, because it is performed so infrequently and is macabrely fascinating. Premiering in 1932 by the Ballets Jooss and subtitled A Dance of Death in Eight Scenes, this is an abstract expressionistic dance-theatre ballet in both choreography and visual design, yet with literal meaning about war. The scenes start with the pedantic diplomats uniformed in tight tailcoats and masked balding heads – the Gentlemen in Black – arguing. Then the scenes continue to the Battle, Farewells, Refugees, Partisan, Brothel, Aftermath and back to the still pedantic still arguing Gentlemen.

The striking discordant to lilting piano music by F.A. Cohen was played live by Mungunchimeg Buriad and Paul James Lewis and complements the craziness of the Diplomats, the athleticism of Death (Dylan Gutierrez), and the emotional and dramatic duo of a soldier leaving a young woman, as he goes off to war.

Joffrey Ballet “Age of Innocence”
Victoria Jaian & Fabrice Calmels
(Photo Credit Herbert Migdoll)

The Age of Innocence opened the program. This is a sinuous and sensual ballet beautifully danced by the company, choreographed by Edwaard Liang. Music by Philip Glass and Thomas Newman is at times vibrant, playful, dramatic and soulful. Costume Design by Maria Pinto are dreamy and flowing, all beautifully lit with Lighting Design by Jack Mehler, after Mark Stanley.

Two duos were standouts – the exquisitely danced duo of Jeraldine Mendoza & Mauro Villanueva – she leans and twists as he pulls, she glides, and balances – outstanding and achingly beautiful. Victoria Jaiani & Fabrice Calmels powerfully and sublimely danced the second duo, with a high level of precision, flexibility and impressive extensions.

Joffrey Ballet “After the Rain”
Victoria Jaian & Fabrice Calmels
(Photo Credit Herbert Migdoll)

Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain is set to the steely sounding music by Arvo Pärt and a palette of steel grey and flesh Costume Design by Holly Hynes.

Rich, warm tones of lighting and panorama by Mehler, after Stanley,Jo To perfectly coalesced with the wistful music of the last duo – longingly and lovingly danced by Victoria Jaiani & Fabrice Calmels. Wheeldon’s choreography and these dancers transported us to a beautiful space.

The Joffrey Ballet is a superlative company and this program was outstanding in every way. Highly recommended!

For more information:

Joffrey Ballet: http://www.joffrey.com

Cal Performances: http://calperfs.berkeley.edu

Next Dance Performances at Cal Performances, Zellerbach Hall feature the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, April 23-29, 2013

Jo Tomalin Reviews Dance, Physical Theatre, and Movement Performances

Jo Tomalin, Ph.D.
More Reviews by Jo Tomalin
Critics World
www.forallevents.com

Follow @JoTomalin

Feb 13 2013

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Hats off to the SF Playhouse with a play that will draw your attention!

By FloraLynnIsaacson Flora Lynn Isaacson

Jackie (Gabriel Marin) and Veronica (Isabelle Ortega)

The current production at the SF Playhouse, The Motherf**cker with the Hat, is their fourth show by Stephen Adly Guirgis (Our Lady of 121st Street, Jesus Hopped the “A” Train, and A Den of Thieves) which makes him their most produced playwright.

This West Coast Premiere is about Jackie (Gabriel Marin), a former drug dealer who has just been released from prison to join the American workforce. His girlfriend, Veronica (Isabelle Ortega), however still uses cocaine and other drugs. One night, Jackie finds a hat in Veronica’s apartment. Realizing it is not his, he accuses her of cheating and then goes to his drug and parole counselor, Ralph (Carl Lumbly) for help. Meanwhile, Ralph’s wife, Victoria (Margo Hall) has really had it with Ralph.

Next, Jackie obtains a gun. Ralph insists that he not keep it so Jackie gives it to his cousin, Julio (Rudy Guerrero) for safe keeping. Jackie reveals that he slept with his previous AA counselor which may be part of the reason Veronica mistrusts him. Later, Veronica is entertaining a lover which is revealed to be Ralph. They had slept together a handful of times when Jackie was in prison.

Meawhile, Jackie gets the gun back and returns the hat and then throws it on the floor and shoots it. He talks about this with Victoria who is tired of Ralph’s cheating and begs Jackie to sleep with her. She reveals to him that Veronica and Ralph slept together.

Jackie shows up at Veronica’s apartment drunk, accusing her of cheating, hurt because they had been in love since 8th grade. When he gets loud, she hits him with a bat. Julio takes Jackie in and reveals that he’s grateful because years ago, Jackie did an unexpected kindness for him. Jackie wants to confront Ralph and Julio is willing to stand behind him. Jackie goes to Ralph’s apartment and the two men try to fight it out, but end up futilely wrestling on the floor. Ralph admits he slept with Veronica, but he’s through with that and would like to be friends with Jackie. Jackie refuses to accept his friendship and returns to the apartment to pick up his things. He has broke parole by shooting the gun and is heading off to prison for a short time. He tries to tell Veronica he loves her, but she runs out of the room unwilling to listen. He leaves for a few moments. Later Veronica comes out of hiding and calls his name.

Playhouse Artistic Director Bill English gives the play energetic and powerful staging. He gets some superb performances from his talented cast. English is also a genius at set design with his expansive and multi-level set showing two apartments side-by-side and a patio looming high above with potted plants. Costume Designer Abra Berman designed the character-specific costumes and Lighting Designer Jordan Puckett provides the properly stark lighting.

Hat is about growing up and accepting responsibility. Stephen Adly Guirgis tells the story of five characters struggling with addiction, friendship, love and the challenges of adulthood. According to Bill English, the five characters, “may be locked in the vicious cycles of self sabotage but they express their yearning and their hopefulness with a fire that reminds us of our own yearnings and makes us feel along with them, profoundly alive!”

The MF with the Hat runs through March 16, 2013 at the San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post Street, San Francisco. Performances are at 7 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday. For tickets, call 415-677-9596 or go online at www.sfplayhouse.org.

There are a few productions coming up next at SF Playhouse including the San Francisco Sandbox Series’ World Premiere of Inevitable by Jordan Puckett and directed by Lauren English opening March 2, 2013 at 8 p.m. Reasons To Be Pretty by Neil LaBute and directed by Susi Damilano opens Saturday, March 30, 2013.

Flora Lynn Isaacson

Feb 13 2013

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Avner the Eccentric: Physical Theatre

By Jo Tomalin Jo Tomalin

(Above) Avner the Eccentric

The AMAZING Avner the Eccentric…

Review by Jo Tomalin

Avner the Eccentric

Avner the Eccentric performed his one-man show Exceptions to Gravity on January 29, 2013 at the Bankhead Theatre, Livermore Valley Performing Arts Center. It was a wonderful opportunity to see this world-class international master of physical comedy in an all too rare San Francisco Bay Area appearance.

Avner arrives as a janitor character busy sweeping the stage – aware of the audience he sits down to watch a show, but he is, unwittingly, the show. After a few moments looking at the audience he decides to juggle items he finds onstage such as baseball bats and a peacock feather. Sometimes he loses his hat or gets caught up in his clothing but he finds charming and clever solutions to each challenge.

Avner the Eccentric
(Photo: Marie Clauzade)

Later, he picks up a tall stack of paper cups and they seem to have a mind of their own as they bend and go out of reach, then one of his arms appears longer than the other…but again he finds a unique and entertaining resolution. Avner juggles, drops, defies gravity and plays with many other objects (and a few people), while the audience is totally absorbed in his fun and innocent world, laughing, oohing and aahing at his antics.

Avner the Eccentric

Oh, there’s something else, Avner the Eccentric never speaks a word. This is a silent theatrical clown show and Avner uses his physicality, eyes, facial expressions and timing so skillfully that he transcends language and cultural barriers – everyone understands what’s happening, especially if it seems like an impending threat (to him). In fact, the audience of adults and children enjoy this complicity, when the performer – and they – discover the situations Avner gets himself into quite accidentally and appreciate his creative ways out.

Avner the Eccentric

Avner is not only an expert clown, highly skilled at non-verbal physical communication, but he is also a magician. After an hour or so, Avner performed his Pièce de résistance – a special treat for the audience- Avner’s magical meal that playfully transforms itself unpredictably – and it thrilled everyone! Avner is brilliant and this was a fabulous ending to his show.

Interacting with the audience is the key to theatrical clowning and there is none better than Avner. He performed his one-man show Avner the Eccentric for a season on Broadway and co-starred in Lincoln Center’s production of Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors. In addition to acting in various other plays, TV appearances, film, and international tours, Avner directs and teaches workshops for aspiring and professional theatrical clowns. Check out his Schedule for where you can find him performing or teaching next – Avner the Eccentric‘s show is a must see for everyone!

For more information:
Avner the Eccentric: http://www.avnertheeccentric.com
Bankhead Theatre – LVPAC: http://www.mylvpac.com

Jo Tomalin Reviews Physical Theatre, Dance and Movement Performances

Jo Tomalin, Ph.D.
More Reviews by Jo Tomalin
Critics World
www.forallevents.com

Follow @JoTomalin

Feb 13 2013

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“A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” by Stephen Sondheim, Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart at Spreckels Performing Arts Center, Rohnert Park CA

By Suzanne Angeo Greg & Suzanne Angeo

From left: Matthew Lindberg, Tim Setzer, Dene Harvey

Reviewed by Suzanne and Greg Angeo

Photos by Eric Chazankin

Hilarious and Entertaining “Forum” Sets New Standard for Local Theatre

The New Spreckels Theatre Company, housed in the 550-seat Codding Theater at the Spreckels Performing Arts Center, is funded by public/private partnerships to maintain excellence in programming. In addition to a full-size proscenium stage and orchestra pit, these folks have, at their disposal, state-of-the art sound and lighting systems, a 45-foot wide cyclorama and the new Paradyne projection system which allows for still images and animation to be incorporated into the action onstage. They put this impressive setting to good use in the dazzling comic spectacle “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”.

“Forum” is a candy-colored musical comedy pleasure trip to ancient Rome, filled with catchy songs, lovable characters, delightful vaudeville shtick and madcap antics that are superbly done on every level. With music and lyrics by the acclaimed Stephen Sondheim, the show won several Tony Awards for its initial Broadway run in the early 1960s. Spreckels invites us to indulge in this generous and tasty dessert in a world that too often seems overloaded with organic sprouts and tofu. Their production of “Forum” is sure to satisfy even the deepest cravings of the funny bone.

From left, standing: Abbey Lee, Melissa Petty, Matthew Proschold, Michella Snider, Lauren Siler; Seated: Chelsea Smith, Sophia Grace Ferar

Director Gene Abravaya, with over forty years of television and theatre experience, is also Spreckels Theatre Company’s new Artistic and Managing Director. He’s tapped into a motherlode of talent for “Forum”, with not one weak performance in the bunch. The dancers are flawless, led by Choreographer Michella Snider who also plays Gymnasia, one of a troupe of merry courtesans. Everything from somersaults to fan-kicks are executed with energetic precision. The musical numbers are a joy to watch, and hear. The voices of the lead actors as well as the chorus give “Forum” a Broadway quality not often seen in North Bay musical productions. The casting is perfect, and just a few of the many excellent performances include Tim Setzer as the show’s endearingly silly lead character, Psuedolus the slave; Alan Kafton as his hapless sidekick Hysterium; Larry Williams as Lycus, a trader of female flesh; and Matthew Proschold as the pompously aggressive warrior captain Miles Gloriosus. The sweet young lovers, Hero and Philia, form the romantic heart of the story and are played with great charm by Matthew Lindberg and Dene Harvey.

Abravaya has plans to lead the way in Sonoma County theatre, with major shows like “Young Frankenstein”, “Peter Pan” and “Brigadoon” coming up for the 2013 season. He told us his goal is to offer touring Broadway shows a place to land, and within three years he hopes to establish Spreckels as the premier first-run theatrical venue in the county. If the quality delivered in “Forum” is any indication of things to come, he seems well-prepared to give other local theater companies a run for their money.

When: Now through February 17, 2013

7:30 p.m. Thursdays

8:00 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays

2:00 p.m. Sundays

Tickets: $20 to $26 (reserved seating)

Location: Codding Theater at Spreckels Performing Arts Center

5409 Snyder Lane, Rohnert Park CA
Phone: 707-588-3400

Website: www.spreckelsonline.com

Feb 12 2013

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SF Ballet: World Premiere

By Jo Tomalin Jo Tomalin

Wayne McGregor’s New Work – Borderlands

Review by Jo Tomalin

The opening season of SF Ballet began with Program 1 January 29, to February 3, 2013 at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House offered three different ballets, all distinct in flavor.

The headliner is undoubtedly the World Premiere of Borderlands created for SF Ballet by multi-award-winning British choreographer and director Wayne McGregor. McGregor has also created new works for La Scala, Paris Opera Ballet, the Royal Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theatre and New York Ballet.

Borderlands is a vibrant ballet inspired by the abstract paintings of German-American artist Josef Albers. In fact, McGregor and his team spent time at the Josef Albers Foundation in Connecticut immersing themselves in the way Albers worked with colors as a means to deceive the eye, which McGregor used as a starting point for this ballet.

Twelve dancers vividly perform the many fibrous, pulsing, zippy, four-minute segment dances in duos, trios, and groups starting in the huge walled white box (Scenic Design by McGregor and Lucy Carter). Slowly the white box turns shades of gray to dark gray.

The dynamic lighting design (Lighting Design by Lucy Carter) becomes its own element of this ballet as it ranges from gray to electric blue and neon orange; it complements and contrasts with the electronic sonic score music composed by Joel Cadbury and Paul Stoney. This is a visceral and relevant ensemble work with stunning solos and duos, unexpected shapes of athletic lifts, and dramatic visual and challenging choreographic movement.

Suite en Blanc choreographed by Serge Lifar, Staged by the accomplished Maina Geilgud with Édouado Lalo’s rapturous music, opened the program. This is a neoclassical ballet with a breathtaking traditional look set against a black background. As the curtains opened there were formations of dancers on two levels in long white dresses or tutus, the men in gray tights and romantic ruched-sleeved shirts filled the stage. The Corps of twenty dancers, trios and duos were exquisite and the four soloists on January 30 (Koto Ishihara, Vanessa Zahorian, Gennadi Nedvigin and Maria Kochetkova) were elegant, precise and projected well. A wonderful ensemble piece to start the season!

In The Night choreographed by Jerome Robbins was a passionate and lyrical ballet Re-Created by Kevin Connaughton, set to music by Frédéric Chopin, featuring pianist Roy Bogas. Three couples in beautifully ornate and richly textured costumes, designed by Anthony Dowell partner and interact in combinations. Sasha DeSola and Steven Morse danced romantically, reaching out to each other then entwining arms, Morse lifts and whisks DeSola away – beautiful. Next, Jennifer Stahl and Tiit Helimets, a couple with a compelling and strong presence, danced with quick changes of pace, swaying lifts and quivering swoops. Finally, Sarah van Patten and Luke Ingham performed flawless lifts and gentle placement in their fascinating lyrical and hot – cold relationship, which also had a playful side. In The Night is a captivating piece exploring love, under the starlit sky of Jennifer Tipton’s Lighting Design.

SF Ballet’s next program: Program 3 features Possokhov’s The Rite of Spring (February 26 – March 10).
Don’t miss it!

For more information:
SF Ballet: http://www.sfballet.org
Wayne McGregor: http://www.randomdance.org

Jo Tomalin Reviews Dance, Physical Theatre, Theatre & Movement Performances

Jo Tomalin, Ph.D.
More Reviews by Jo Tomalin – Click on list to right of page
Critics World
www.forallevents.com

Bio below…

Feb 09 2013

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“Waiting for Godot: A Tragicomedy in Two Acts” By Samuel Beckett, Marin Theatre Company, Mill Valley CA

By Suzanne Angeo Greg & Suzanne Angeo

From left: Mark Anderson Phillips, Ben Johnson, Mark Bedard

Reviewed by Suzanne and Greg Angeo

Photo by Kevin Berne

Send in the Clowns

As a college student in his native Ireland, poet, novelist and playwright Samuel Beckett was inspired by Charles Chaplin and Buster Keaton. This is delightfully apparent in his seminal work “Waiting for Godot” being presented at Marin Theatre Company. What is less apparent is a storyline or plot. This, as it turns out, was the playwright’s intent. “Godot” was so controversial during its first outing in Paris in 1953 that brawls erupted among theatergoers who had differing opinions on exactly what Beckett was trying to say. Originally written in French (Beckett’s favored language), its title “En Attendant Godot” translates literally to “While Waiting for Godot”, which is a much better description of what happens – or does not happen – onstage.

The curtain rises on Vladimir (called Didi) and Estragon (called Gogo), two clownish everymen calling up the friendly ghosts of Laurel and Hardy in their appearance and demeanor. They could be brothers, lovers or friends; it makes no difference. Both guys wear shabby ill-fitting suits and bowler hats, the uniform of silent screen comics. They linger near a barren tree by the side of a deserted road, and it’s obvious they’ve been there quite awhile, maybe for days. Who is Godot, and why do Didi and Gogo wait for him? This almost seems to be beside the point, and there are no real specifics in the dialogue. This overall vagueness, so intelligently designed by the playwright, has allowed audiences worldwide the freedom to make of it what they will, in much the same way the early silent comedies transcended language and culture. You can discover profound existential meaning, or let this comedy-of-the-absurd wash over you for pure enjoyment. It meets you where you are, whoever you are.

As Gogo and Didi pass the time, there’s much blathering on about nothing, and everything. There are farts, smelly feet, pratfalls and funny poses. There are discussions of halitosis, heaven and hell, suicide and mandrakes, memory loss and bladder problems. There are philosophical questions, songs and jokes. Mark Anderson Phillips infuses his Gogo with simple sweetness, the more earthbound of the pair. The assertive Didi is played with clumsy determination by Mark Bedard. Both actors are at the top of their game, cavorting on the razor’s edge between overt sentimentality and over-the-top silliness, where a tumble in either direction could spoil the effect. Like skilled trapeze artists, they keep their balance.

The peace is shattered suddenly, with a shout, when fearsome megalomaniac Pozzo (James Carpenter) bursts upon the scene. He is pulled along on a long, thick rope by a grim, wheezing, cadaverous-looking fellow called Lucky (Ben Johnson). This bizarre and unexpected event certainly rocks Gogo and Didi’s world, causing them much trepidation, then speculation. Carpenter lends Pozzo an air of controlled frenzy and a pathological need for attention. Johnson delivers an enormous performance as the mostly silent, dejected Lucky. His one turn to speak is like watching a great tree come to life. What at first seems to be a master-slave relationship between Pozzo and Lucky takes a strange and ironic turn between their first appearance and when they show up again near the end of the second act.

Just when we are beginning to doubt the existence of someone named Godot, a young boy who works for him (Lucas Meyers) arrives to deliver a message from his master to Gogo and Didi. It seems their wait will continue.

Instead of finding a need to fill every moment with some bit of business, director Jasson Minadakis (in his seventh season as MTC Artistic Director) carefully preserves the stillness between the lines with graceful timing and crisp, choreographic blocking of the characters’ movements. By focusing equally on the pair’s buffoonery and seemingly hopeless plight, and treating both comic and tragic elements of the play with an even hand, he reinforces the playwright’s intent in allowing the audience to identify with the characters as part of the universal human condition of interdependence. While playing Estragon in the original 1955 London production, actor Peter Woodthrope asked Beckett what the play was really about. Beckett replied “It’s all symbiosis, Peter; it’s symbiosis,” The secret, revealed.

Beckett’s play tells us we’re all waiting, and chained to habits. It illustrates how we can be rooted to the spot by lack of imagination or fear of change, but we need each other, and there is hope if we face life together, whatever comes. This play carries deep pleasure straight to the heart, which explains why it has endured for almost 60 years, through all times and all cultures of the world.

When: now through February 17, 2012

8 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays

7:30 p.m. Wednesdays

2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sundays

2 p.m. Saturday, February 16

Tickets: $36 to $57

Location: Marin Theatre Company

397 Miller Avenue, Mill Valley CA 94941
Phone: 415-388-5208

Website: www.marintheatre.org