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Jan 03 2024
Love0

Jiri Kylian Evening: Ballet de l’Opera Paris

By Jo Tomalin

The Ballet de l’Opera, Paris, presents a new production with work by renowned choreographer Jiří Kylián at the Palais Garnier, 8-31 December, 2023. The production, Jiri Kylián Evening, comprises three sections of four pieces performed by this company at the Opera national de Paris. 

Kylián, from Prague, started his career in the Czech capital as a dancer and later became an acclaimed award-winning choreographer after moving to Europe. Kylián’s works have been performed worldwide and are known for their musicality, imagery and dry wit.

In the first piece, Gods and Dogs, with Kylián’s choreography, set design, costume design with Joke Visser, and music design, the choreography ranges from angular to lyrical motifs, beautifully danced. Deep echos and sounds of the music by Dirk P. Haubrich and Ludwig van Beethoven fill the large, storied Palais Garnier auditorium. There’s an edgy air of what’s going to happen, and suddenly a strange monster appears up high. The choreography is often low gravity muscular movement in ever changing combinations, including trios and solos with surprises in the movement from changes of direction and jumps. There is a dramatic moment when a curtain comes down centre stage, which seems to be metallic and shimmery – due to the beautiful lighting by Kees Tjebbes, which is a highlight of this intriguing piece. The wide curtain is very effective as it changes levels and sways, giving a lot of visual movement behind the dancers. Costumes are modern with long wide pants for the male dancers and short sleeve tops and shorts for the female dancers. 

The second piece, Stepping Stones, choreographed by Kylián is very dramatic looking with black costumes, black backdrop, and a huge black triangle above the stage, which moves up and down and tilts. The other side of the triangle is an intricate wooden structure beautifully lit and adds to the atmosphere, with set and lighting design by Michael Simon. Costume design by Joke Visser is interesting, the male dancers in black shorts with narrow additions of red and green and female dancers’ black leotards include stylish front sections and straps with narrow, purple and teal stripes. Kylián’s choreography shows a traditional balletic foundation with modern extensions interspersed with quirky moments that complement the music choices of John Cage and Anton Webern very well. Several themes are expressed in this piece including mythology and ritual. A small group of dancers balance trays on their feet and move adeptly in unison in one part of the imaginative mise en scène across the stage, replete with a group of three large foreboding gold cats upstage. A section with a trio of three women is utterly glorious! The entire piece is on the music, quirky, and fascinating.   

The third and final part of the evening comprises two notable contrasting pieces, Petite Mort and Secus Tänze, both choreographed by Kylián. Petite Mort is set to beautiful music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart when the starting image is of six male dancers holding large swords, and then dancing with them! This piece is moving and visceral in both dance quality and choreography, with highlight sections of six athletic duets and an outstanding section with five female dancers. Romantic but not sentimental with costumes by Joke Visser and set and light design by Kylián, yet another exceptional duet later in the piece dazzles with sublime muscularity and extensions. Wow!

Secus Tänze is a wild and delicious visual storytelling of a time gone by filled with wit, joy and vibrant choreography set to glorious music by Mozart, with set and costume design by Kylián and lighting design by Joop Caboort. The bizarre and charming sections are supported by the large hair and powdered make up design with pink cheeks together with white calf length dresses and ethereal expressive costumes. Choreography includes unusual lifts, twirls, skirt flourishes and fast movement. What really shows through in this piece is the quality of this large company of Etoiles, Premieres Danseuses, Premieres Danseurs and the Corps de Ballet of the Opera national de Paris. They relate to each other so well with facial reactions and their physicality in this piece that it adds another dimension to the performance. Don’t miss this program or the glorious end moments of the evening! Highly Recommended!!!

More Information:

https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/artists/ballet

Dec 21 2023
Love0

Pick! ASR Film ~~ ‘The Crime Is Mine’ — French Screwball Satire Carves Up Justice, Feminism

By Woody Weingarten

By Woody Weingarten

Screwball comedies satirizing traditional love stories peaked in the early 1940s — after having begun to gain popularity during the Great Depression.

New examples of that romantic comedy sub-genre would manage to pop up every few years thereafter, but they’d usually fail to be as funny or polished as those of yesteryear.

But now comes The Crime Is Mine, a French-language satire (with subtitles, of course) that stands up with the best of them. The one-hour, 42-minute film time-warps back to 1930s Paris and provides a Duisenberg-speed storyline that repeatedly twists and turns as it focuses on a sexy, penniless actress who figures she can become famous by confessing to a murder she didn’t commit.

 … “The Crime Is Mine” ain’t subtle, but delightfully tasty it is …

Scheduled for release on Christmas Day by Music Box Films, the flick lays onto the marvelous comedy, an equally marvelous carving up of feminism, the class system, show biz antics, and courtroom machinations.

In the final analysis, though, within weeks after watching the movie, you’re likely not only to have forgotten slices of the plotline but exactly who is who, especially when it comes to lesser characters such as the judge, the prosecutor, the police inspector, and a boyfriend (even though all are amusing) and exactly what who said to whom.

Nadia Tereskiewicz merrily plays blonde bombshell Madeleine Verdier, a talent-less wannabe who desperately craves stardom and her close-up. She’s aided in her quest for fame by her brunette BFF and starving garret roomie, Pauline Mauléon (played by Rebecca Marder), a young lawyer with no other clients who launches a campaign based on the notion of self-defense against sexual assault.

Supporting their skillful acting chops is Isabelle Huppert, a French icon who, while chomping on the scenery, portrays silent film star Odette Chaumette, the real killer turned blackmailer.

All the main characters, each of whom is self-serving, mug a lot (except the murdered producer) — and every now and then, Madeleine’s combined flightiness and earthiness may remind a filmgoer of Renee Zellweger playing Roxie Hart in Chicago.

 … Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 100% rating

François Ozon’s direction of this adaptation of a 1934 stage play is almost as perfect. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 100% rating with 22 credits so far.

With humor ranging from dry to frivolously farce-like, it’s virtually impossible not to like the film—whether or not you can relate to kooky but intelligent women who easily outmaneuver the men in their lives.

The Crime Is Mine ain’t subtle, but delightfully tasty it is — a cinematic soufflé that never falls.

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ASR Senior Contributor Woody Weingarten has decades of experience writing arts and entertainment reviews and features. A member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, he is the author of three books, The Roving I; Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates; and Rollercoaster: How a Man Can Survive His Partner’s Breast Cancer. Contact: voodee@sbcglobal.net or https://woodyweingarten.com or http://www.vitalitypress.com/

Production The Crime is Mine
Directed by François Ozon
Run Dates Opens December 25, 2023
Venues TBA
Reviewer Score Max in each category is 5//5
Overall 4.25/5
Performance 4.25/5
Script 4/5
Pick? YES!

This story was first published on https://aisleseatreview.com, which publishes independent views and reviews on Bay Area arts, destinations, and lifestyle.

Woody Weingarten, a longtime member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critics Circle, can be contacted by email at voodee@sbcglobal.net or on his websites, https://woodyweingarten.com and https://vitalitypress.com.

Dec 21 2023
Love0

Dragon Lady–Magnificent!

By Flora Lynn Isaacson

Sara Porkalob was given a standing ovation last weekend at Marin Theatre Company following her amazing one-woman musical show Dragon Lady.  Porkalob’s energy and talent as a writer and performer is a joy to behold. She knows how to take the stage, sings like a superstar and acts with depth and emotion.

Like a gifted mimic, she changes her voice, accent, tone and mannerisms bringing multi-generational characters from her Filipino family to life. Kudo’s to Andrew Russell for his outstanding direction, Pete Irving for his beautiful original music and the live band Hot Damn Scandal (Irving, Mickey Stylin and Jimmy Austin) for never missing a beat.

The set is spectacular thanks to Randy Wong-Westbrooke (Scenic Design), Kahlil Gray (Carpenter) and Joshua Patterson (Painter).  A huge dragon tail frames the stage and set of the Red Dragon nightclub. The club’s seating areas are upholstered in rich, red silk and velvet. Eerie lighting (Spense Matubang), a smoky mist and a jukebox that plays itself create a surreal mood.

The creativity and talent from all of those involved in this production is truly inspiring, especially Porkalob who bravely takes on the subject of generational trauma and bares every emotion. Even after the show, she shed a few tears on stage and her belief that “it is never too late to atone for the pain we inflict on the ones we love most and to forgive ourselves for past regrets.”

Coming up next at Marin Theatre Company is Bees and Honey, a new play by Guadalis Del Carmen, February 15 to March 10, 2024.

 

 

Dec 15 2023
Love0

Emerging Afro Pinoy Choreographer “Ting” talks about Dance and Choreography

By Jo Tomalin

Agpalo “Ting” A.J. Alvarez-Maquinta talks about his background as a multidisciplinary artist, his choreography and storytelling to Jo Tomalin in San Francisco.

image of Ting Alvarez

Photo by Aigerim Sharipova

 

image of Ting dancing

Ting Alvarez: Photo courtesy of Ting Alvarez

Kinatao, Section 3: Photo by Chani Bockwinkel

Listen to our Interview with Ting here (17 minutes):

More information about Ting and the MPWRD Artists collective: MPWRDcollective.org

Interview originally published in the UK based online journal: The Fringe Review

Dec 11 2023
Love0

Emerging Afro Pinoy Choreographer “Ting” talks about Dance and Choreography

By Jo Tomalin

Agpalo “Ting” A.J. Alvarez-Maquinta talks about his background as a multidisciplinary artist, his choreography and storytelling to Jo Tomalin in San Francisco.

image of Ting Alvarez

Photo by Aigerim Sharipova

 

image of Ting dancing

Ting Alvarez: Photo courtesy of Ting Alvarez

Kinatao, Section 3: Photo by Chani Bockwinkel

Listen to our Interview with Ting here (17 minutes):

More information about Ting and the MPWRD Artists collective: MPWRDcollective.org

Interview originally published in the UK based online journal: The Fringe Review

Dec 07 2023
Love0

A Wonderful Show at RVP for the Holidays!

By Flora Lynn Isaacson

Ross Valley Players celebrates the holidays with Joe Landry’s radio play version of It’s a Wonderful Life on stage now through December 17.  It’s a wonderful show and a lot of fun thanks to Director Adrian Elfenbaum’s “immensely gifted cast, imaginative and creative designers, stalwart crew and gracious producer (Steve Price).”

As the audience enters the theater, the actors are already onstage, apparently just arriving to work at a radio station decorated beautifully for the holidays.

Set Designer Mikiko Uesugi does a fantastic job setting the scene with fabulous details and color. There is a piano on one side, four microphones at the front and two tables behind. On the tables are various objects to create sound effects that compliment the story the radio actors will perform.

Normally a “Foley” artist performs the sound effects, but Elefenbaum thought it would be clever to have the actors performing the effects and music themselves.  Luckily he found a group of multitalented actors capable of performing both music and various dramatic roles.

Loren Nordlund (Freddie) deserves special recognition for his acting as Mr. Potter, the angel, cabdriver and more. His music direction, original music and arrangements are incredible.  Evan Held (Jake) stands out playing both young and old George Bailey and Elenor Irene Paul (Sally) compliments him well in the role of George’s wife Mary.  Molly Rebekka Benson (Lana) has great energy and range in her multiple roles especially playing Violet, Rose, Ruth, Zuzu and Sadie.

Malcolm Rodgers (Harrry Jazzbo Heywood) plays Harry, Bert the Cop, Sam Wainwright and he also plays guitar and sings. All of these fine actors bring the era and story to life—making for a standing ovation from the audience at the end of the show.

This production is thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish.  Elfenbaum succeeds in his goal to “inspire us during this holiday season to always cherish the reality that we depend on each other and we need each other.”

Kudos also to Michael Berg for excellent costumes, Billie Cox (Sound), Michael Walraven (Set) and the entire production team for their dedication and talent.

Coming up next at Ross Valley Players is Our Town by Thornton Wilder and directed by Chloe Bronzan, January 26 to February 25, 2024.

 

 

 

Dec 05 2023
Love0

‘Title of Show’ is OMG! terrific at Santa Rosa’s Left Edge Theatre

By Woody Weingarten

Excellent in Left Edge Theatre’s amusing [title of show] are (from left)Jonathan Blue and Michael Girts. (Courtesy Dana Hunt/Left Edge Theatre)

Then in 2004, two self-described “nobodies from New York” concocted a hilarious autobiographical musical that depicts how two gay buddies wrote a successful four-character play in three weeks (with the aid of two lesbian actress friends) to enter a festival competition.

Their concoction — titled “[title of show]” and detailing every step of what they did (including the use of insipid dialogue from their everyday-speak) — is running at the Left Edge Theatre in Santa Rosa. It’s worth the trip there.

Director-choreographer Serena Elize Flores has created an almost flawless two-act, two-hour version with four superb actor-singers that guarantees you’ll laugh (or at least chortle) a lot at both the clever wordplay and the physical horseplay and mugging.

Jonathan Blue beautifully portrays music-and-lyrics composer Jeff Bowen and Michael Girts does equally well as Hunter Bell, who wrote the book. Both utilize usually broad (and occasionally subtle) expressions that can’t help but entertain. Eating a hot dog, for example, becomes Hunter’s elongated gag in which a mouthful of food becomes a mouthful of giggles for the audience.

The guys’ gal-pal muses are deftly conjured by Molly Larsen-Shine as glorious-voiced Heidi, a wannabe Broadway star relegated to understudy roles, who temps and caters to pay the rent, and Rosie Frater as Susan, who labels her day job as “corporate whore.”

Playing the foursome working on a new musical in Left Edge Theatre’s [title of show] are (from left) Michael Girts, Jonathan Blue, Rosie Frater and Molly Larsen-Shine. (Courtesy Dana Hunt/Left Edge Theatre) 

Language in the show can be prickly, to say the least, with scads of gay and sexual references — all played for laughs.

Repeated bits evoke wide grins, such as: when Jeff condescendingly corrects Hunter’s dance steps and language (“It’s redundant, ATM stands for automated teller machine so you’re saying automated teller machine machine”); when one of the women suggests having the two fellas as her “maids of honor”; when big names are dropped as they mull who’ll star in their show (would you believe Paris Hilton?); when cast members come up with monikers for drag queens (Lady Footlocker, as a for-instance); and when Playbills from a gazillion forgotten Broadway flops are projected onto two vertical screens onstage.

The showstopping song is “Die, Vampire, Die!” a spectacular, incisive look by Susan (and the three others) at fighting inner demons and not compromising when it comes to creativity.

But highly likeable, too, are “An Original Musical,” a comic duet featuring Jeff with Hunter wearing a ludicrous costume as a sheet of blank paper on which they write their original show for the New York Musical Theatre Festival; “I Am Playing Me,” an ideal showcase for Heidi; as well as “Change It, Don’t Change It/Awkward Photo Shoot” and “Nine People’s Favorite Thing” (“I’d rather be nine people’s favorite thing than 100 people’s ninth favorite thing”), both exuberantly mimed and sung by all four performers.

There is no slick scenery design. The set consists of black walls, two upholstered, plastic-covered chairs, two bare-boned others, and an old-fashioned dial phone on top of a stool.

Nothing else in the show, in which the characters continuously deconstruct reality, disappoints.

Left Edge’s “[title of show]” deserves bigger audiences. The musical comedy, which took two years to travel from the New York Musical Theatre Festival to off-Broadway (where the real Hunter and Jeff each won an Obie) and then another two for a crack at the Great White Way, is great fun and, in fact, OMG! terrific.

Left Edge Theatre’s “[title of show]” continues through Dec. 23 at The California, 528 Seventh St., Santa Rosa. Tickets are $20-$29 atleftedgetheatre.com or (707) 664-7529.

 

This story was first published on LocalNewsMatters.org, a nonprofit site supported by Bay City News Foundation http://www.baycitynews.org/contact/.

 

Woody Weingarten, a longtime member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critics Circle, can be contacted by email at voodee@sbcglobal.net or on his websites, https://woodyweingarten.com and https://vitalitypress.com.

Nov 29 2023
Love0

PICK! ASR FILM ~~ ASR Film: Hite Documentary Details Woman Sexologist’s Rapid Rise and Exile

By Woody Weingarten

By Woody Weingarten

Cancel culture wasn’t a concept in the 1980s, but slinky sexologist Shere Hite became victimized by something exactly like it.

The feminist author of a 600-page 1976 blockbuster, The Hite Report on Female Sexuality, was not only lambasted as a man-hater because of her writings but partially because, being broke, she’d posed nude for Playboy and modeled for paperback covers and ads that objectified women. She was slut-shamed even though that phrase hadn’t been coined either.

Hite became so distraught at her treatment, mostly at the hands of male critics who felt threatened, she ultimately fled from the states to Europe, mainly Britain and Germany, and relinquished her American citizenship.

Now, The Disappearance of Shere Hite, an R-rated biopic by Nicole Newnham, resurrects the researcher’s life by cobbling together frequent rolling texts of her basic material (and a voice-over by actor Dakota Johnson) with sometimes fuzzy newscasts and archival footage, next to interviews with the Missouri-born writer, her ex-lovers, her detractors, and her friends and supporters, including Kate Millett, author of the groundbreaking Sexual Politics, who bemoans Hite’s public erasure and self-exile and points out that the academic social scientist could no longer earn a living in the United States.

Shere Hite as she appears in new documentary. Courtesy of Mike Wilson. An IFC Films release.

The nearly two-hour documentary strikingly shows Hite being ambushed by tabloid-type television journalist Maury Povich, causing her to leave the interview almost as soon as it started (with the interviewer’s aide forcibly trying to stop her), as well as her haughtily blowing smoke in talk show host Mike Douglas’s face, and trying to cope with a rude, all-male Oprah audience that couldn’t wait to take pot-shots at her research.

It further connects disparate items such as Anita Bryant attacking gay rights, a conference of the National Organization of Women (NOW), Anita Hill testifying at a Supreme Court confirmation hearing that Clarence Thomas had sexually harassed her, Hite’s neighbor and KISS co-lead singer Gene Simmons reflecting on her New York parties that collected endless celebrities, and a James Bond poster for the movie Diamonds Are Forever with two sexy women flanking Sean Connery (Hite had posed for both, one featuring her signature strawberry blonde hair, the other with tousling pure blonde tresses).

Disappearance, which is being distributed by IFC Films, also builds a sense of a whole woman by stitching scenes of raw but lovely sexuality with staged images of women with tots, women cooking dinner, women strolling.

The film was written by director Nicole Newnham, who’d co-directed the Oscar-nominated Crip Camp, an amazing, feel-good 2020 doc that had a 100% Rotten Tomatoes critics’ rating after 99 reviews. That flick managed to link a summer camp for the crippled to both the American disability rights and civil rights movements, making sure to note along the way that the disabled are also sexual beings.

The Hite Report on Female Sexuality — which had started as a post-grad thesis at Columbia University — was based on questionnaires filled out anonymously by 3,000 women. Hite, an admitted bisexual, defended the anonymity of her interviewees by insisting the women wouldn’t have been honest had they been required to list their names because they feared negative reactions from their male mates and other men.

That approach, however, gave major ammunition to vilifiers who claimed her methodology was flawed.

The tome drew as much public attention as those by Kinsey and Masters & Johnson and earned a ranking as the 30th best-selling book of all time. It became a key element of feminist history by stressing that most women felt unsatisfied sexually with their male partners, that women achieved orgasm through clitoral stimulation and masturbated often, that rampant infidelity existed, that 95% of women faked orgasm, that sexual equality was possible, and that few people (men and women) knew much about the female genitalia.

Despite her instant best-seller and subsequent titles (including her first follow-up, The Hite Report on Men and Male Sexuality) that were believed to have advanced the so-called Second Wave of feminism, Hite, because of the extended backlash, never reached her goal of overcoming both gender and class bias — even after having sold 20 million books overall.

Shere Hite. Courtesy of Mike Wilson. An IFC Films release.

The sex educator was criticized heavily for virtually everything she peddled, especially such statistics as 84% of women being unsatisfied emotionally and only 13% of women still loving their husbands after two years of marriage.

Whether you think Hite an innovator or fraud, The Disappearance of Shere Hite is fascinating throughout — and offers viewers an opportunity to see how she flaunted her body and flamboyant costumes at the same time as it provides dramatic insight into her original, creative mind.

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ASR Senior Contributor Woody Weingarten has decades of experience writing arts and entertainment reviews and features. A member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, he is the author of three books, The Roving I; Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates; and Rollercoaster: How a Man Can Survive His Partner’s Breast Cancer. Contact: voodee@sbcglobal.net or https://woodyweingarten.com or http://www.vitalitypress.com/

This story was first published on https://aisleseatreview.com, which publishes independent views and reviews on Bay Area arts, destinations, and lifestyle.

Woody Weingarten, a longtime member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theater Critics Circle, can be contacted by email at voodee@sbcglobal.net or on his websites, https://woodyweingarten.com and https://vitalitypress.com.

Nov 29 2023
Love0

PICK! ASR Theater ~SF Playhouse Bends Genders in Superb “Guys and Dolls”

By Woody Weingarten

By Woody Weingarten

It’s virtually impossible to rate the new San Francisco Playhouse production of Guys and Dolls as anything but almost perfect, not quite as good as God’s long-running comic-tragedy, Mankind.

Sanitized, slang-spouting characters lifted from two 1920s and ‘30s Damon Runyon short stories remain extremely likeable 73 years after the Tony Award-winning musical comedy debuted on Broadway — New Yawk gamblers and gangsters mostly, but also a couple of inept Chicago crooks/crapshooters. And then, of course, there’s Sarah Brown, the Save-A-Soul missionary heroine who proves that love can conquer all.

Frank Loesser’s music (and lyrics) for this rendition — accompanied by a sprightly, hidden-onstage band under the direction of Dave Dobrusky — reaches the epitome of peppy, ideal for the holiday season.

Sky Masterson (David Toshiro Crane, center) and gamblers roll the dice.

Choreography by Nicole Helfer, even if somewhat derivative, hits an exciting high (with each dancer sublimely connected to all the others). Costumes designed by Kathleen Qiu appear both authentic to the era and playful (especially numbers in the Hot Box burlesque hall where Adelaide comically struts her stuff), augmented by sundry wigs concocted by Laundra Tyme—some straightforward, some whimsical.

Adelaide (Melissa WolfKlain, center) performs with the Hot Box Girls (from left, Malia Abayon, Alison Ewing, Jill Slyter, and Brigitte Losey) in “Guys and Dolls.”

The frequently revolving sets by scenic designer Heater Kenyon come across as exceptionally imaginative, a proverbial wonder to behold. Yet it’s the cast of the superb show — which is labeled a fable, but which adroitly delves into how one segment of society has trouble understanding another — that shines brightest.

Audience faces light right up, for example, each time Melissa WolfKlain, who delightfully and deliberately squeaks as Adelaide steps onto the stage, a stripper-star who’s been engaged for well over a decade to Nathan Detroit a guy whose livelihood stems from running a long-haul floating crap game. She’s particularly marvelous rendering “Adelaide’s Lament” (“In other words, just from worrying if the wedding is on or off, A person can develop a cough”), “Take Back Your Mink,” and “Marry the Man Today” (a duet with Abigail Esfira Campbell, as puritanical but seducible Sgt. Sarah Brown).

Campbell sings with a purity that can make most other vocalists jealous. She’s top-drawer on “I’ll Know” and “I’ve Never Been in Love Before,” with her acting chops becoming an ideal accompaniment to her vocals (her slinky drunk scene in Cuba is most noteworthy). Both melodies are performed, by the way, in duet with David Toshiro Crane as charismatic, cocky, sexy gambler Sky Masterson.

Crane gives the Masterson character a sturdiness that makes you believe he can change from a high-roller to a guy high on life and love. His voice, too, soothes while delivering whatever emotion is required.

Joel Roster acts appropriately oblivious to his doll as Nathan Detroit, the guy who can’t bring himself to commit to her but who’s committed to finding a gambling site somewhere.

Kay Loren, who uses the pronouns they/them, rounds out the frontline performers as Nicely-Nicely Johnson, a part usually filled by a man. Director Bill English and casting director Kieran Beccia, in fact, carefully gender-bent other actor-singers (such as having Kay Loren and Jessica Coker play Nicely-Nickely Johnson and Big Jule, respectively). They ethnic-bent, too, with Asian Alex Hsu assuming the slick role of Irish cop Lt. Brannigan.

But it takes only a minute or two for a theatergoer to fully suspended his or her disbelief and enjoy the binary and racial tampering.

Underscoring what unison truly means — musically and with a racial mix — is the praiseworthy chorus.

Sgt. Sarah Brown (Abigail Esfira Campbell, center) tries to enlist sinners for the Save-A-Soul Mission.

The major plot device is about finding a location for that dice game. The subplot feels terribly familiar: Guy meets and courts girl (because he bets the then huge sum of $1,000 that he can); girl is attracted to and then turned off by guy; guy gets girl.

Other don’t-miss tunes include the title tune, “Luck Be a Lady,” and “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat” — and two exhilarating all-dance numbers, “Havana” and “The Crapshooter’s Dance.”

The only thing absent from this two hour-plus version is the thick, unpolished Lower East Side of New Yawk accents — along with the “deses” and “doses” — that instantly tell visitors from Boise, Idaho, that they’re in the Big Apple.

Guys and Dolls has been considered by many as the ultimate musical comedy. The SF Playhouse production shouldn’t disavow that opinion.

Dancers Chachi Delgado and Malia Abayon move fast but sensually in a Havana nightclub.

A Footnote: I’ve told the tale of my wife’s obsession with the show for about 20 years — ever since the last time we saw it.

Before watching a touring company at another San Francisco theater, she’d played the entire score for me on our piano at home. She’d followed by humming most of its tunes during our trip into the city from San Anselmo. And, as I did, she loved the show itself.

But then she inserted a CD of the score on the way back from that performance. I knew she’d adored the show penned by famed theatrical storyline fixer Abe Burrows and Jo Swerling ever since as a pre-teen she’d seen the original with Robert Alda, Alan’s dad, playing Sky Masterson — that final over-the-top fangirl action was much too much for me to handle.

Ergo, I had some trepidation about leading her to the SF Playhouse, even as a MysteryDate, something we’ve been doing for all 36 years we’ve been wed. A MysteryDate, FYI, is an almost-certain way to help keep the sizzle in a relationship — an activity you arrange without your partner knowing where she or he is going until you get there. Or vice versa — that is, one arranged with you in the dark.

After five years of working on it, not incidentally, I’ve just finished writing a book about MysteryDates, one that can double as a travel guidebook while clobbering the myth that long-term relationships are inevitably doomed to become unexciting, monotonous, or drab. The book should be available in January. Check out https://woodyweingarten.com to be sure.

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ASR Senior Contributor Woody Weingarten has decades of experience writing arts and entertainment reviews and features. A member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle, he is the author of three books, The Roving I; Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates; and Rollercoaster: How a Man Can Survive His Partner’s Breast Cancer. Contact: voodee@sbcglobal.net or https://woodyweingarten.com or http://www.vitalitypress.com/

Nov 22 2023
Love0

Pick! ASR Theater ~~ Delightful, Funny Radio Play of “It’s a Wonderful Life” at RVP

By Woody Weingarten

By Woody Weingarten

I may not believe in angels, especially bumbling ones, but I do believe in redemption. It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Show fits snugly in that concept.

With at least two major wars raging at the moment, the charming 95-minute throwback is, because it’s mostly cornball, a major relief — and totally delightful.

Yes, this buoyant production by the Ross Valley Players — just like its classic Frank Capra holiday film predecessor starring Jimmy Stewart — toys with a viewer’s emotions. And because I welcome a good cry, I give the trip into Nostalgia Land four-and-a-half handkerchiefs.

The heart-warming, intermission-less play still focuses on George Bailey’s tale of love and loss (and, yes, of course, redemption). But this version also emphasizes wacky sound effects that might have been used by a snowbound 1940s radio station.

That makes the whole enchilada a lot funnier.

For a good chunk of Joe Landry’s play, Clarence Oddbody, George’s 292-year-old apprentice guardian angel, is more likeable than the guy he’s supposed to help. As anyone who’s ever turned on a TV set anywhere near the winter holidays knows, he’s sent to Earth to rescue George, whose father had willed him the family’s moribund savings-and-loan business.

For the three people on our planet who don’t yet know the storyline, heed this spoiler alert: Clarence accomplishes his mission by showing George, who’d been champing at the bit to get out of Bedford Falls where he grew up, what the town and his loved ones would have been like had he not been born. And by convincing the suicidal guy to do the right thing, the angel second class also manages to earn his wings because his actions also wrest control of the town from Mr. Potter (a purely evil dude who aims to deconstruct the savings-and-loan).

If for some demonic reason you’re looking to fault Adrian Elfenbaum’s direction, don’t waste your time — it’s almost impeccable. Rarely can a theatergoer be confused by rapid switches from one character to another to another all mouthed by a single actor.

Loren Nordlund takes a break from tinkering with the piano to voice one of 15 characters he plays. Photo by Robin Jackson.

Outstanding in the five-member ensemble are Evan Held, who flawlessly captures George and each of his changing emotions, and Loren Nordlund, who adeptly plays 15 parts and the piano. But the other three thespians — Molly Rebekka Benson, Elenor Irene Paul, and Malcolm Rodgers — are at most a quarter step behind in excellence.

Malcolm Rodgers reads from script of It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Show while Elenor Irene Paul ponders with some sound effects gadgets. Photo by Robin Jackson.

Each actor grabs items from two large tables to concoct sound effects that range from a big tin sheet that becomes a thunderous gong to sundry women’s and men’s shoes that are used to simulate footsteps. The cast’s dexterity not only eliminates the usual need for a Foley artist onstage but adds to the fun of the production by having everybody move hither and yon with fluidity.

In unison, the quintet twice breaks into the storyline to jointly present comic singing commercials — for a Brylcreem-like hair product and a soap that can clean bugs off your windshield.

Forming a chorus in It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Show are (from left) Molly Rebekka Benson, Elenor Irene Paul, Malcolm Rodgers, Loren Nordlund, and Evan Held. Photo by Robin Jackson.

Viewers are entertained, from before the radio show begins (via a recording of a vintage Jack Benny radio program) to a post-show sing-along (with audience participation) with the words of poet Robert Burns’ New Year’s Eve standard, “Auld Lang Syne.” Between those two events, sentimental moments are enhanced by lighting designer Jim Cave dimming the environment while costume designer Michael A. Berg ups audience pleasure with his ‘40s outfits that include vests, a bow tie, and silk stockings with seams in the back.

What also works perfectly is the conceit of the actors’ alternate personas, radio performers holding scripts, a device that helps them cover any lines they may have truly forgotten and could flub. This spin-off from the 1946 film was first performed in 1996 and has had more than 1,000 productions since then.

Ross Valley Players’ It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Show at the Barn Theatre in the Marin Art and Garden Center is clearly a holiday presentation, but its upbeat message transcends any calendar dates and should be fully absorbed by all local theatergoers (and, in fact, everyone else in our divided society).

With apologies to DC Comics and those who hate parallels, I think this Radio Play is a Superplay — dazzling as a speeding moonshot. See it!

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ASR Senior Contributor Woody Weingarten has decades of experience writing arts and entertainment reviews and features. A member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle,  he is the  author of three books, The Roving I; Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates; and Rollercoaster: How a Man Can Survive His Partner’s Breast Cancer. Contact: voodee@sbcglobal.net or https://woodyweingarten.com or http://www.vitalitypress.com/