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Apr 04 2013
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A BEAUTIFUL PIECE OF THEATER AT HILLBARN

By Joe Cillo

Lynn Ruth [rating:5] (5/5 stars)

HILLBARN THEATRE PRESENTS…..

JOHN & JEN
Music by Andrew Lippa; Lyrics Tom Greenwald
Directed by Jay Manley
Starring Alicia Teeter and William Giammona

Our brothers and sisters are there with us
From the dawn of our personal stories
To the inevitable dusk.
Susan Scarf Merrell

Cast aside your preconceived notions about what a musical is before you come to this beautifully staged and artistically produced play.  Jay Manley has taken a weak text and poorly developed plot and transformed it into a theatrical work of art. jon & jen is the musical story of a sister and brother who protect and love each other, yet are foiled by their own inadequacies.  Jen is the older sister determined to protect her baby brother from their dysfunctional parents.  Sadly, because she is only a child, she cannot keep him from absorbing their irrational behavior and warped values.  She can only give her brother her unconditional love and support.  John, determined to defy his sister and get his father’s approval enlists in the army and is killed.  When Jen marries, she names her baby after her lost brother and when her own marriage falls apart, she smothers her son with love and protection just as she did her brother.

It is very difficult to create believable characters when the only vehicle is song.  Andrew Lippa’s music and Tom Greenwald’s lyrics are lovely and deep but alone they cannot draw the depth of character we need to fully understand and relate to this poignant story.

Alicia Teeter is perfectly cast in her role as Jen.  She manages to touch our hearts with every note she sings and with every nuance of expression. She is a fine actress to the core.   Andrew Lippa has a much more challenging job.  He must portray a baby and grow up into a man in both acts.  He carries it off very well…but the audience must take a leap of faith to believe in the validity of his character.

And that is where Jay Manley’s genius shines through.  By choreographing the movements of these two fine performers and creating costume changes that tell as much of the story as the libretto itself, he carries the story through to its lovely resolution when the two stars sing the unforgettable Every Goodbye Is Hello.  Robert Broadfoot has outdone himself in designing the set…it is simple and yet perfect for action that spans 42 years. He has created four different levels to indicate the many changes of time and place on the spacious open stage at Hillbarn.

“Ultimately this musical play is about familial love, loss, grief, forgiveness of others and self, and most important, moving on – learning how to let go and forge a way forward,” says Manley.  “Who has not been touched by these universal tests?”

This is not a play for everyone.  It is deep and disturbing and will touch your heart, if you let it.  Kudos to Hillbarn for including it in their season.  jon and jen is a theatrical masterpiece.

IF YOU GO:

JON & JEN CONTINUES THROUGH APRIL 7, 2013

Ticket Flash Sale! $28 tickets to any remaining shows of “john & jen” Enter promo code “HBFLASH” when buying online and instantly save. MORE INFORMATION AT hillbarntheatre.org or 650 349 6411

HILLBARN THEATRE is located at 1285 Hillsdale Blvd. in Foster City.

 

Apr 04 2013
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THE NEW BRAND OF ARTIST

By Joe Cillo

ART IS GOING TO THE APES

A NEW TALENT

An ape cannot speak about his art
Anymore than a monkey can discuss a his digestion.
Jacques Cocteau and Lynn Ruth

In the late sixties, a gorilla won the Modern Art competition at the Detroit Museum of Art. The animals’ owner put several tubes of paint and a blank canvas in the ape’s cage.  The furry artist, whom I shall call Sybil, stomped on the tubes of paint and smeared the colors on the canvas with her paws.  After an hour, she tired of dancing and began eating the tubes of paint.  Her owner pulled the canvas out of her cage, hosed Sybil down and was amazed at the finished canvas.   It reminded him of a combination of a Jackson Pollack with a smattering of Kandinsky, a dash of Picasso and traces of Klee.  When Sybil’s masterpiece dried, he varnished it, framed it and entered it in the museum’s competition.

To his delight, the painting won first prize.  He bought a jeweled collar for Sybil, pinned a pink ribbon in her hair and brought her to the award ceremony. It was a little dicey getting her in the front door  but the owner insisted she was a service animal  He managed to keep her from molesting the guests by feeding her bananas and bit of cadmium red. When they called his name to accept the award, Sybil joined him on stage.  He told the astounded judges that it was not he who created the masterpiece they so admired.  It was his Sybil.

Years later, I took a class with the fabulously talented realistic painter Joseph Sheppard and he told me that Sybil was indeed a magnificent talent.  Indeed, he had joined her in her cage a few years after her triumph to raise money for the museum.  Together they painted a still life that hangs now in that same museum.

Evidently, gorillas not only paint, but they know what they are painting. Sister and brother gorillas Michael and Koko were taught sign language.  As a result, Koko (the artist in the family) was able to explain to her curator Dr. Penny Patterson, that she had painted a bird.

Just this past month, word is out that a zoo in North Dakota is selling the artwork of its 275 pound orangutan named Tal. His paintings are so colorful that they literally fly off the wall.  The animal’s favorite color is yellow and often he eats as much of the paint as he smears on his canvases. “Could be because it looks like a banana,” said the zoo’s curator.

There is no doubt that creativity is fundamental in the ape psyche. The animals  love using crayons, pencils and finger paint although they prefer oils they can eat. Everyone knows that children have the same propensity to eat the colors they use to paint. I believe we can learn a lot from the apes and their ability to transform their creative efforts into funds that support their favorite institutions.  I propose that we exhibit and sell all the paintings from local kindergarten classes to pay for amenities in their schools.  Think of it! We would no longer have to pay taxes to support education!  Our kindergartners would finance the system for us…and who knows?  There might be enough money left to reward the young artists with a few bananas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apr 03 2013
Love0

Stevie Nicks: In Your Dreams — Film Review

By Joe Cillo

Stevie Nicks: In Your Dreams

Directed by Dave Stewart and Stevie Nicks

This is a self-indulgent infomercial for Stevie Nicks recent CD, In Your Dreams.  If I had known what it was going to be, I wouldn’t have gone.  Ninety percent of it is Stevie Nicks.  Most of the other ten percent is people telling how much they love Stevie Nicks, thanking her for everything she has done, and rhapsodizing about how great she is.  She is a great song writer and a great singer.  That still works.  The music in this is good.  There should have been more music and less talk.  You do learn a lot about her character.  However, I didn’t like a lot of what I saw.  I think she is a very needy woman in the depths of her heart with an insatiable need for attention and adulation.  She has to be the center of attention at all times and completely dominates everyone around her.  She is very self absorbed and preoccupied with herself.  I found her oppressive after a while.  This kind of extreme neediness taxes me beyond my limits.  I don’t think I could stand being around her for very long.  But I would go see her in a concert.  Her voice still has that sultry, smoky, mesmerizing power that it always did, and her songs are still thoughtful and poignant.  The people who filled the theater where I saw this film applauded enthusiastically.  They seemed to be exactly the kind of adoring fans she needs.  Parts of the film mimic those video pieces for MTV, where an imaginative, theatrical video depicts the song being featured.  But the film also casts some light on her sources of inspiration and the creative process in writing a song and putting a recording together.  For example, Cheaper than Free started from a remark of Reese Witherspoon offering to let her use a condo she owns.  Dave Stewart is her guitarist and lead partner in the songwriting.  Mick Fleetwood appears and plays drums on a number of the songs.  Lindsay Buckingham also participates on a few of the numbers — but says little or nothing.  The recording took place in her Southern California home.  It presents each of the songs on In Your Dreams, informatively and sympathetically.  I would rather have seen a documentary about her life and career, preferably not directed by her.  If you are a dedicated fan of Stevie Nicks, you’ll probably enjoy this, but I would suggest instead just skipping this film and buying the CD.

 

 

 

Apr 02 2013
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Emperor — Film Review

By Joe Cillo

Emperor

Directed by Peter Webber

This is two films in one.  The main story is a narrative about the aftermath of the Japanese surrender to the Americans at the end of World War II and General Douglas MacArthur’s deliberations over what to do with Japanese Emperor Hirohito.  The issue was whether he should he be tried and executed as one of the architects of the war, or allowed to continue as titular ruler of Japan?  The film is misnamed.  It is not about the Emperor.  The Emperor is only a minor figure in the film.  It is about General Bonner Fellers on MacArthur’s staff, who is charged by MacArthur with investigating Hirohito’s guilt in war crimes.  His report will provide a justification for a decision that MacArthur had already made to allow Hirohito to continue on as Emperor of Japan.  The secondary story is a love story between Fellers and a Japanese woman Fellers met in the United States, who is related to a senior officer in the Japanese military.  The love story is much more interesting and better presented than the political narrative.  The girl is gorgeous (Eriko Hatsune) and she plays the role perfectly.  I think if this film had been recast to present the love story as the center weight of the film with the political drama as a backdrop, it might have worked better.

I am not steeped in the history of this period or in the biographies of any of the individuals portrayed.  So I am taking the film at face value.  I won’t make any judgment about whether the portrayals and the facts and the interpretations are historically accurate.  I will say that I did not find the performance of Tommy Lee Jones as Douglas MacArthur convincing at all.  In general, none of the portrayals of the American military officers came across as genuine.  On the other hand, the Japanese actors who played the roles of the Japanese officials were very effective.

The film attempts to teach some lessons on the nature of Japanese culture or the essence of the Japanese soul.  These discussions between Japanese and American officials take place mostly in the context of the military investigation into the role of Hirohito during the war.  This also has a superficial quality about it that I found myself resisting.  What actually taught more about the Japanese mentality and the culture was the romance.  It did it through the action and characterizations rather than through analytical discussion.

The film also tries to raise the issue of responsibility for the war and the nature of war crimes by comparing the war time behavior of the Japanese military and the American.  Again, this is a lightweight treatment that is completely unimpressive.  The romance (and Eriko Hatsune) is the best part of this film.

The film is engaging and tells an interesting story — actually two interesting stories that are intertwined.  The things it tries hardest to do probably don’t succeed all that well.  The subplot that simply told itself and didn’t think too much worked a lot better.

Mar 31 2013
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“The Price” by Arthur Miller, Cinnabar Theater, Petaluma CA

By Greg & Suzanne Angeo

From left: John Shillington, Madeleine Ashe, Sam Hood

Reviewed by Suzanne and Greg Angeo

Photos by Eric Chazankin

Good Casting Makes for Powerful, Engrossing “Price”
 

Legendary American playwright Arthur Miller tells stories of everyday life and expectations, with the American Dream as his backdrop. Deceptively simple dialogue is used to build his characters’ pasts, and colloquial language contains profound reflections on life and its meaning.  “The Price”, one of Miller’s lesser-known plays, has an autobiographical basis. It deals with the loss of a family fortune in the crash of 1929 that leads to dysfunction, misunderstandings and estrangement. Miller’s own father lost his business in the Great Depression, and he based the lead character in the play on a childhood friend.

First performed in 1968, “The Price” is a contemporary play rich with the Miller hallmarks of intense emotional interplay and subverted feelings. The title refers not only to the price of a family’s heirlooms, but also to the price of family harmony – a price that seems too high for them to pay. Vik (Sam Hood) is a dedicated cop who for years has denied himself true happiness and fulfillment while caring for his destitute father. Meanwhile, his brother Walter (John Shillington) has become a successful doctor, leaving his family behind in pursuit of his all-consuming career. After their father’s death, Vik’s world begins to crumble as he tries to connect with his long-estranged brother so they can deal with what remains of the family’s estate. Vik’s strong and devoted wife Esther (Madeleine Ashe) tries to give emotional support, even as masquerades begin to fall with the arrival of the feisty estate appraiser, Mr Solomon (Charles Siebert).

Charles Siebert

The wisdom of this Solomon is laced with wit. A noted Broadway, TV and film veteran, Siebert effectively makes Solomon the story’s catalyst and center of gravity, bringing his considerable experience to this, his first outing on the Cinnabar stage. Siebert presents Solomon as a multi-dimensional but reassuring and steady presence: richly endearing, comedic and dramatic.

Shillington as the success-driven Walter lends a deeply moving humanity to what could have been a cold, unsympathetic character. Through excellent use of his voice and gestures, Shillington expresses Walter’s deep longing to reach out to his brother.

Ashe as Esther allows us to see those inner wheels turning in her head. Through her reactions and interplay with the brothers’ characters – where at times Esther almost seems to be serving as referee – she fully expresses the confusion, frustration and love that permeate the performance.

Hood’s interpretation of Viktor reaches near- Shakespearean heights, although towards the end of the play he seems to lose some of the internal reflection behind his reactions. Even so, his ability to build from a simple fellow to finally reveal a very complex individual is extraordinary. In the end, Vik learns that his self-created identity as a victim is based on ignorance of the truth. Yet he clings to this identity, even after he learns it’s a false one.

In “The Price”, director Sheri Lee Miller had only a single set to work with, and a claustrophobic one at that, since the entire play takes place in a cluttered attic caught in a 1929 time warp. She brings all those powerful, hidden emotions sweeping to the surface like a whirlwind, clearing away all the dust and clutter in that family attic. According to Miller, this attic “serves as a metaphor for the relationship of the two brothers, and in fact, for their lives in general.” She gives the play a particularly strong closing, ironic and moving, but leaves it open-ended, suggesting the promise of hope and understanding. The audience had a powerful response to the excellent chemistry and performance of the cast – a standing ovation.

 

When: Now through April 7, 2013

8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays

2 p.m. Sunday April 7

Tickets: $15 to $25

Location: Cinnabar Theater

3333 Petaluma Blvd North, Petaluma CA
Phone: 707-763-8920

Website: www.cinnabartheater.org

Mar 31 2013
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reasons to be pretty at SF PLAYHOUSE IS A STUNNER

By Kedar K. Adour

reasons to be pretty. Written by Neil Labute. Directed by Susi Damilano. SF Playhouse, 450 Post Street (2nd Floor of Kensington Park Hotel) between Powell/Mason, SF 94102 in downtown San Francisco. 415.677.9596 or www.sfplayhouse.org.

March 26 to May 11, 2013

reasons to be pretty at SF PLAYHOUSE IS A STUNNER

The conceit of using lower case letters for the title of reasons to be pretty is not made clear by the author, press material or the storyline of the play that is the final cog of Neil Labute’s trilogy dealing with America, and the world’s obsession with physical appearance. The other two plays are The Shape of Things and Fat Pig, all in capital letters.  Regardless of the lower case title, the play mounted at SF Playhouse’s new theatre is a capital production that should not be missed.

Yes, the play has a misogynistic bent with the F word abounding but it is a slice of blue collar life and perfectly appropriate for the dialog. LaBute creates universality to his thesis by being non-specific about the time and place of the action except that three of the characters are in low end jobs working the night shifts without much chance for advancement. There is a touch of Tom from Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie in the protagonist Greg (Craig Marker) who spends is off duty time reading and is passive in his relationships with best friend and macho fellow worker Kent (Patrick Russell).

Greg has been living with Stephanie (Lauren English) for four years when he has made an off-hand remark to Kent that triggers a violent tirade from Stephanie.  During an innocuous man-to-man bull session Greg had remarked that, compared to the sexy new co-worker, Stephanie has a “regular face.”  Stephanie’s indignant outburst gives Lauren English a chance to emote and she nails the part in spades with Craig Marker a perfect foil for her histrionics.  It ends with Stephanie storming out and the relationship is over.

Bill English’s marvelous set is mounted on a revolving stage allowing the action to flow without interruptions. The excruciating first scene is tempered in the second when we meet dominant alpha male Kent and his very attractive wife Carly (Jennifer Stucker) who as a best friend to Stephanie has spilled beans about “the” remark.  Labute’s ability to define character through conversation is legion and he is at his best in this play as he telegraphs impending action layer on layer.  When Kent engages in a sexual liaison with the unseen Crystal (don’t you love the choice of name), the sexy new co-worker that has been compared to Stephanie he takes Greg into his confidence binding him to secrecy. That secrecy becomes a major source of conflict within Greg.

As well as being a denunciation of our obsession with personal appearance that the author has emphasized in his previous two plays, reasons to be pretty is also a coming-of-age story as Greg breaks the male bond with Kent with more than a suggestion that he will move on with his life dumping the stifling job as a warehouse worker. Whereas the breakup scene with Stephanie is a shocker the brutal confrontation of the two men who are still acting like boys is eye-popping.

Each actor invests their roles with verisimilitude that this reviewer can attest to having been brought up in a dying mill town in upstate New York. Occasionally the spectacular set interferes with the candor and dynamics of the story but one can never complain about the crackerjack production values of the SF Playhouse. Susi Damilano directs with complete understanding of human relationships doing honor to LaBute’s words and philosophy. Running time is about 2 hours including the intermission.

Kedar K. Adour, MD

Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com

Full Cast: Patrick Russell (Kent), Jennifer Stuckert*(Carly), Craig Marker* (Greg), Lauren English* (Steph)

Mar 29 2013
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DISCONNECT AT SAN JOSE REP VIVID ACTING & DIRECTING

By Kedar K. Adour

(l to r) Ross (Imran Sheikh) celebrates closing a sale while colleagues Vidya (Sharone Sayegh) and Giri (Ray Singh) continue to call in San Jose Rep’s West Coast premiere of Disconnect.

DISCONNECT: Comic-Drama by Anupama Chandrasekhar and directed by Rick Lombardo. San Jose Repertory Theatre (SJR), 101 Paseo de San Antonio, San Jose (Between South 2nd & 3rd Streets). 408.367.7255 or www.sjrep.com. March 27 – April 14, 2013

DISCONNECT AT SAN JOSE REP VIVID ACTING & DIRECTING

Have you ever wondered what is happening at the other end of the telephone line when you are talking to a company web site that has out-sourced its staff to India? My only exposure to Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)has been requests for technical help and the experience has been a mixture of elation and frustration. In Anupama Chandrasekhar’s depiction of the India end of the telephone line emphasizes the frustration that invades the lives of the workers. That frustration also invades the audience with the cacophony of overlapping dialog causing the vivid acting and directing to lose some of its luster.

Disconnect had its world premiere at the Royal Court theatre in London in 2009 that is also the time frame of the action and the place is a call center in the city of Chennai. This call center is named ironically True Blue and is the collection agency for bad credit card debt that has been farmed out to them by a major credit corporation.  We learn that there is great pressure to increase collections or they may lose the account to a call center in the Philippines.

In the introductory scene Jyothi (Devon Ahmed) the titular supervisor has summoned Avenish (Rajesh Bose) an older lower level manager for the New York accounts to her office. The office is adorned with smiley faces and mundane uplifting phrases. His staff has not been meeting the collection goals set for him and using every cliché reason in the books she banishes him from his cherished office with a window (even though it overlooks a garbage dump), to the smaller Illinois section on the windowless fourth floor. It is a degrading demotion that he accepts with dignity.

In India where 50 percent of the population is under 25, there are 4 million college graduates a year. These graduates have been taught English and are the source of workers for the BPOs. Speaking English without an accent is highly desirable and the workers often take English sounding names. The three young characters Chandrasekhar has created are emblematic of that group. When it is daytime in the United States it is nighttime in India thus the three callers are working at night with a disruption of their social lives.

The character that causes the major conflict is Roshan (Imran Sheikh) who has mastered the art speaking without an Indian accent using the name of Ross Adams and is the most successful in the drab office with the only color being a red nonfunctioning Coca-Cola dispenser.  His erstwhile girlfriend Vidya (Sharone Sayegh) works as Vicki Lewis and Giri (Ray Singh) became Gary Evans. Their personal interactions take up most of the conflict but it is their verbal contact with the deadbeats who are defaulting on their credit card debt on the other end of the telephone lines that drive the story.

Ross unceremoniously has dumped Vicki and fallen in love via the phone line with a Sarah who owes $23,000. This long distance psychological infatuation causes him to gain unauthorized access to the credit card data bank to erase her debt. That bit of chicanery does not go unnoticed. Vicki’s trauma derives from the suicide of one of her callers that occurs while she is on the phone with him. Gary has a problem of being over-extended on his credit card becoming one of the ‘dead beats’ he calls during working hours. Avinash is assigned to sort out the mess. All this leads to overly dramatic confrontation scenes and the penultimate scene ends on a strange note with the drab office decorated for a Fourth of July (??an American holiday) party and the cast in garish costumes. There is an epilog that leaves the audience confused with delayed clapping at the end of the one hour and 40 minutes without intermission.

Kedar K. Adour, MD

Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com

Disconnect 1: (l to r) Call center supervisor Avinash (Rajesh Bose) receives feedback from his manager, Jyothi (Devon Ahmed) about his job performance in San Jose Rep’s West Coast premiere of Disconnect.

Disconnect 2: (l to r) Ross (Imran Sheikh) celebrates closing a sale while colleagues Vidya (Sharone Sayegh) and Giri (Ray Singh) continue to call in San Jose Rep’s West Coast premiere of Disconnect.

Mar 25 2013
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GUYS AND DOLLS DISAPOINTS AT BERKELEY PLAYHOUSE

By Kedar K. Adour

 

(Left)Miss Adelaide (c, Sarah Mitchell) and the Hot Box Girls (l-r, Catherine Duval Petru, Simone Olsen-Varela, Louise Barcellos) perform “A Bushel and a Peck” at the Hot Box Club.(Below) In Havana, Missionary Sarah Brown (front l, Angel Burgess) finally lets loose with Sky Masterson (front r, Carmichael J. Blankenship) after accidentally drinking a milkshake laced with rum, as onlookers (back l-r, Louise Barcellos, Lucas Brandt, Melissa Martinez, Matthew McCoy, and Leslie Waggoner) watch with amused interest.

 

GUYS AND DOLLS: musical Comedy. Music and Lyrics by Frank Loesser. Book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. Based on “The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown” and “Blood Pressure” by Damon Runyon. Directed by Jon Tracy. Musical Direction by Robert Michael. Choreography by Chris Black. Berkeley Playhouse, Julie Morgan Theatre, 2640 College Avenue, Berkeley, CA 510-845-8542×351 or www.berkeleyplayhouse.org. March 23 – April 28, 2013

GUYS AND DOLLS DISAPOINTS AT BERKELEY PLAYHOUSE

Berkeley Playhouse continues its fifth season with an energetic mounting of Guys and Dolls one of the most beloved musical comedies ever to be produced. Although there were problems for the musical that arose between the concept finally reaching Broadway in 1950, none of those behind the scene hitches were detrimental and it played for 1200 performances winning a Tony Award for Best Musical. The shows luster has not diminished in the intervening 63 years and the present production bursts from the Julie Morgan stage and appears to be a labor of love.

Jon Tracy’s style of directing in a physical upbeat manner abounds and he has taken further control of the production by creating the scenic design in partnership with the talented Nina Ball (who happens to be his wife). A bare uncluttered center stage is very appropriate since much of the show consists of dancing to complement the incredible music and lyrics that carry the story line.

That story line was based on two short stories, “The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown” and “Blood Pressure” written by sports columnist Damon Runyon. To refresh your memory the one of the major characters Sarah Brown (Angel Burgess), the leader of the evangelical Save Your Sole Mission situated in the more seedier side of New York City that is populated with rather loveable ‘sinners’ addicted to gambling. Nathan Detroit (Michael Scott Wells) is one of those sinners responsible for setting up illegal dice games for the local denizens. He has been sort of engaged to Miss Adelaide (Sarah Mitchell) a lead singer and dancer in the Hot Box revue.  Enter Sky Masterson (Carmichael J. Blankenship), the suave inveterate gambler who would bet on anything.

The gambling denizens are mostly loveable, with the exception of Chicago hood Big Jule (Terry Rucker), include, to mention a few, Harry the Horse (Matthew McCoy), Angie the Ox (Lucas Brandt) Rusty Charlie (Aejay Mitchell) and the full bodied Nicely Nicely Johnson (Joshua Castro). The rest of the cast comes in and out of the wings without distinction.

One wonders what director Tracy’s concept for this show is and how it should be judged. He allows all the cast to over act with a great deal of mugging playing their roles for laughs. The dialog itself is loaded with laughs and does not require a blitzkrieg of physicality. There are plenty of laughs and intermittent great performances by individual cast members. Sarah Mitchell’s Miss Adelaide was obviously an audience favorite but she had to share accolades with Joshua Castro’s Nicely Nicely Johnson’s belting of “Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat.”

Even though Blankenship and Burgess have excellent voices the acting is a bit stilted and their loves scenes seem contrived without conveying charisma. The entire show is not aided by the costumes by the usually reliable Abra Berman who has elected to dress Sarah Brown and the evangelists in all white and the Hot Box girls in ludicrous garb.

Despite the perceived onus, Guys and Dolls with its plethora of words and music(“I’ll Know[when my love comes around]”, “A Bushel and a Peck”, “Adelaide’s Lament”, “Havana”, “If I Were a Bell”, “My Time of Day”, “I’ve Never Been In Love Before”, “Take Back Your Mink”, “ More I Cannot Wish You” “Luck be a Lady”, “Sue Me”, ‘Sit Down Your’re Rockin’ the Boat and “Mary the Man Today” comes through as a great musical comedy.  Running time about a bit over two hours including an intermission.

Kedar K. Adour, MD

Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com

Mar 23 2013
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ENCHANTED APRIL AT RVP IS ANOTHER HIT… Do not miss it!!

By Kedar K. Adour

 

 

 

 

 

 

L to R, Top Row: AvilaReese as Lotty;TweedConrad as Rose.  Seated L to R:  Anne Ripley as Mrs. Graves; Kate Fox Marcom as Lady Caroline

 

ENCHANTED APRIL: A romantic comedy by Matthew Barber, novel by Elizabeth Von Arnim. Directed by Cris Cassell. RossValleyPlayers (RVP) Barn Theater, MarinArt & GardenCenter, 30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., Ross.  415-456-9555, ext. 1 or www.rossvalleyplayers.com. March 15 –April 14, 2013

ENCHANTED APRIL AT RVP IS ANOTHER HIT… Do not miss it!!

This reviewer always attempts to avoid the first person singular when writing reviews but this time I personally endorse this production of Enchanted April, a sentimental old chestnut that probably has been staged by every community theater in the country. My first experience with the play was a bare bones affair in the Redwood Grove just down the hill from the RVP barn put on by Cinnebar Theatre of Petaluma. It was a joy to see.  The second performance was by the professional Equity Center Rep in Walnut Creek with a spectacular buffo cast and second act set that earned thunderous applause. Now the RVP in its 83 continuous season comes up a winner that is best described as a cross between the previous two mentioned and probably is the best buck for your theatre allowance.

The time is 1920 and the effects of WW I are still apparent and play a role in setting the tone in the early scenes played out in front a simple gray background with sound effects of depressing rain filling the stage. The play is book ended by unhappy housewife Lotty Wilton (a superb Avila Reese) who is described by her husband Melleresh (Ron Daily) as having a “mind like a humming bird” with incessant talking.

Lotty reads an ad in the paper offering a “sunny small castle, draped with wisteria and a view of the sea” in Northern Italy for rent. With her effusive charm she cons Rose (beautifully under played by Tweed Conrad) a member of her club and an equally unhappy wife of straight laced lawyer Frederick  (a fine Tom Hudgens who almost stole the show Tuna Texas as Vera Carp) to join her in the rental.

Needing a couple more ladies to share the cost of the rental, Lotty places an ad in the paper for two others to share the castle in Italy. Next up is the beautiful sophisticated society woman Lady Caroline Bramble who is depressed with her life in the limelight seeking solitude in the sun. That role is a perfect fit for the gorgeous Kate Fox Marcom whose elegant bearing makes up for the limited dialog written for the role. Finally, there is the grumpy older Mrs. Grave (an appropriate name) played to perfection by the always professional Anne Ripley who delivers her Oscar Wilde type lines with spot on timing always getting a laugh without breaking the ensemble acting concept. Wilding (Ross Berger) is the owner of the castle and is also an artist. His role, although limited, is a minor deus ex machina needed to solve minor problems and charm Mrs. Graves out of her grumpy attitude and be a love interest for Lady Caroline Bramble.

Then there is the cook and housekeeper Costanza (Maxine Sattizan) whose dialog is entirely in Italian except for a final “Marvellous” near the end of the play that caused the audience to erupt in laughter. She absolutely ‘nails’ the role and becomes the center of attention with her entrances and exits but never upsetting the ensemble concept. Credit Cris Cassell with a directing job well done.

Conflict is never serious and often hilarious and the ending justifies the title of Enchanted April. After the drab first act set is struck a glorious sunlight patio, complete with the promised wisteria abundant flowers and a naughty statue of Cupid propped in center stage. After all, the play is a love story. This play is highly recommended with running time about two hours.

Kedar K. Adour MD

Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com

Mar 23 2013
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FALLACI A DRAMATIC ‘TWO HANDER’ AT BEREKLEY REP

By Kedar K. Adour

 

Marjan as Maryam

Concetta Tomei as Oriana Fallaci

 

 

Fallaci: Drama. By Lawrence Wright.  Directed by Oskar Eustis. Berkeley Rep’s Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison St., Berkeley.  90 minutes. (510) 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org. Through April 21, 2013.

FALLACI A DRAMATIC ‘TWO HANDER’ AT BEREKLEY REP

If you are not familiar with the name Oriana Fallaci you are not alone. If so, plan on arriving early to read the program and discover she was an Italian journalist that became famous for her confrontational yet influential interviews of people in power as well as the famous in Hollywood. These included Quaddafi, Castro, Kissinger, Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir among others. Where journalists are expected to be factual without bias, she injected her personal views often being accused of writing self-serving articles that had more than a touch of fiction.

Pulitzer Prize winning author Lawrence Wright is himself a journalist famous for his essays in The New Yorker and best-selling books about al Qaeda and Scientology. He also writes plays and has acted in many of his own monologues. His journalistic background qualifies him to create a script where a fledgling journalist undertakes to interview Fallaci and before the evening is complete the pair is inextricably fused.

Fallaci who has been diagnosed with lung cancer has become a relative recluse in her New York apartment. Maryam (Marjan Neshat) a neophyte female New York Times reporter arrives to interview Fallaci (Concetta Tomei).

When Fallaci discovers that the purpose of the visit is to obtain data for her obituary the first conflict begins. Bit by bit Wright feeds scraps of information about each character into the play. Maryam is an Iranian and her family were resistant to the oppressive regime. Similarly Fallaci’s family were resistance fighters to the Italian fascists regime in World War II. Fallaci herself became an active fighter at the age of 14. After dropping out of medical school she became a full time reporter in Italy with an astounding career that brought her to the United States and places throughout the world. Her stint in Vietnam that reported the atrocities committed there where written after her actual visits to the front lines. She even interviewed the North Vietnamese. After the 9/11 downing of the World Trade building she wrote a scalding book denouncing Muslims that sold 500,000 copies in Italy.

The play is written in three scenes and the second scene takes place three years later. A more mature Maryam is back to confront Fallaci and we learn that Maryam had returned to Iran suffering severe indignities. The verbal exchanges between them start out as arguments about their differences but by end of the second scene their differences become shockingly similar and by the end of third scene, that is an epilog after Fallaci’s death, ends the evening on a hopeful note.

Neshat and Tomei are both superb and director Oska Eustis keeps the verbal sparring and the stage movements flowing adding emphasis to a rather strange play that will keep you thinking and may influence you to go to the Internet to find out the whole story about this tiger of a woman.

Photo: – courtesy of kevinberne.com – Marjan Neshat portrays a young woman sent to interview Fallaci – Concetta Tomei portrays legendary journalist Oriana Fallaci 

Kedar K. Adour, MD