Scott Coopwood as Oberon, King of the Fairies and Cat Thompson as Titania, Queen of the Fairies in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Marin Shakespeare.
Director Robert Currier transports the action of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream to the magical shores of mystical Hawaii under the gaze of the Tiki Gods which were created by Sculptor Antonio Echeverria. Made out of wood and foam, these gods flank the Hawaiian set designed by Mark Robinson. The scent of hibiscus and twang of ukuleles permeate Shakespeare’s story. The Hawaiian music is the creation of the Sound Designer and Composer, Billie Cox. This is all to get us in the mood before the play begins.
When we enter this slightly fantastical version of contemporary Hawaii, we encounter several beautiful girls in Hawaiian costumes with leis around their necks dancing the hula. While this is going on, an American tourist takes their picture. This is followed by three interlocking plots, connected by a celebration of the wedding of Duke Theseus of Athens (Damien Seperi) and the Amazon Queen Hippolyta (Sylvia Burboeck) and set simultaneously in the woodland and the realm of Fairyland under the light of the moon.
In the first plot, that of the real world, we meet Helena (Luisa Frasconi) who loves Demetrius (Evan Bartz) who is infatuated and wishes to marry Hermia (Jessica Salans) who loves Lysander (Brandon Mears). Hermia’s father Egeus (Jack Halton) appeals to ruler Theseus to force Hermia to marry Demetrius. Then the star crossed lovers run away and enter the realm of Fairyland.
In the second plot, a group of working men led by Peter Quince (Stephen Muterspaugh) have gathered to prepare a play to perform for Theseus and Hippolyta’s wedding. Nick Bottom (Jarion Monroe), a weaver, quickly establishes himself as the star actor of the group. Francis Flute (Alexander Lenarsky) is not excited to be cast as Bottom’s love interest. Regardless, the group agrees to meet the next night in the wood to rehearse; the play will be the ill-fated love story of Pyramus Thisbe.
The third plot involves the King and Queen of the Fairies, Oberon (Scott Coopwood) and Titania (Cat Thompson) who are in a heated debate. Their dispute has disturbed their fairy followers including Oberon’s henchman, the impish Puck (James Hiser), who screws everything up with a magic potion. Oberon is costumed by Tammy Berlin as a Polynesian God of War who in times of peace becomes the God of Fine Arts; he fights when necessary and dances when the fighting is done.
Bringing fresh takes to their roles are Jessica Salans as the pushy and feisty Hermia, Luisa Frasconi as the sexy and pouty Helena and the laugh out loud antics of Jarion Monroe as Bottom. Dressed in bright red, Cat Thompson makes a beautiful and graceful Titania and James Hiser as Puck, Oberon’s right hand man, carries the show.
Director Robert Currier has employed excessive physical action to garner laughs, and the young lovers do great justice to Currier’s use of physicality. Speaking of laugher, special mention should be made of Alexander Lenarsky’s portrayal of Thisbe, the leading lady when the play of the workmen is actually presented at the end of the show.
This modern adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream might make the strict, Shakespeare purist squirm a little but these additions definitely help to add context to the language by keeping things interesting and adding a modern spin.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream plays at Marin Shakepeare Company, July 28-September 30, 2012. Performances are held at Forest Meadows Amphitheatre, 890 Belle Avenue, Dominican University, San Rafael, CA. For tickets, call the box office at 415-499-4488 or go online at www.marinshakespeare.org.
Coming up next at Marin Shakespeare will be The Liar, by David Ives, adapted from the farce by Pierre Corneille, directed by Robert Currier and opening August 25, 2012 through September 23, 2012.
Flora Lynn Isaacson
Head of dinosaur appears to break through roof of Conservatory of Flowers. Photo: Woody Weingarten
And the winner is — drumroll, please — Robin Williams.
Three generations of my family agreed his improv at 142 Throckmorton in Mill Valley became the apex of a recent fun-crammed Bay Area vacation.
The icing on our cake, you might say.
Williams headlined a bill that included funnyman Mort Sahl, who at 85 walks haltingly but retains a keen mind.
I’d planned for us to catch a weekly Mark Pitta & Friends comedy gig so was surprised to find us watching 90 minutes of improvisation as beneficiaries of a scheduling switch.
Set List, with its catchphrase “stand-up without a net,” was being filmed for United Kingdom telecasting.
Each comedian (including Pitta) was captivating, but Williams, undoubtedly his generation’s primo comic genius, exceeded everyone’s highest expectations.
His steel-trap mind was fully transparent.
He instantly absorbed the never-before-seen phrases that flashed on a screen behind him and wove them into a web of delight.
Robin Williams as Mrs. Doubtfire, then.
Robin Williams as Robin Williams, now.
Yes, much of his humor, and that of the other verbal clowns, wasn’t for little kids — especially an uproarious rendition of a talking vagina.
But my 15-year-old grandson, Zach, roared.
So did my other grandson, who’s 24; my son, 46; and my wife, who’s been on the planet only two years less than my 74 years.
She, in fact, labeled the show “quintessential improv. Sahl was as sharp as a tack and Williams as sharp as two tacks.”
I shared all their euphoria.
I’d been in the theater many times, mostly to hear readings of plays by Writers with Attitude.
But the remodeled nonprofit theater, which dates back to 1915 when it showed Charlie Chaplin flicks for a few pennies, is also the site of concerts and jam sessions that include the likes of Joan Baez and Woody Allen (individually, not as a duet).
It’s worth supporting.
While planning the vacation for “the boys” from the East Coast, I couldn’t help but think I had 7,150,739 places to choose from — one each Bay Area resident might recommend.
At least that’s what it felt like when I invited suggestions from friends and colleagues.
The ideas poured in.
One of the best notions was the San Francisco Movie Tour, a three-hour bus ride featuring 70 clips from 60 films shot in the city, way beyond the anticipated “Bullit” and “Vertigo.”
If “Mrs. Doubtfire” star Robin Williams turned into the vacation cake’s frosting, this journey represented sparkling candles.
Wylie Herman, an actor well versed in cinematic lore, guided us. Humor and Hollywood back-lot scraps copiously trickled off his tongue.
When discussing the filming of the Mike Myers’ comedy, “So I Married an Axe Murderer,” for instance, he cited a Tinsel Town truism feared by actors and adored by Realtors: “The camera adds 10 pounds and five bedrooms.”
Zach called it “the best tour I’ve ever seen of San Francisco.”
And his father, my son Mark, gave it “two thumbs up — for a good balance between the films, the facts and the city sights.”
Academy of Science worker feeds ostrich chicks. Photo: Woody Weingarten.
Another of the family favorites was a visit to the California Academy of Sciences, which is featuring a new exhibit and planetarium show, “Earthquake.”
A couple of dubious moments resurfaced for my wife and me since we’d been downtown when the Loma Prieta tremor hit in 1989. Though I was decidedly nervous about being in the “shake house” when it started rattling, I survived the faux temblor — and my trepidation — as I had the real one.
“The boys” appreciated it more.
They also liked the permanent displays — the waddling penguins, the spiral Rainforests of the World and the always-exhilarating underwater creatures of the Steinhart Aquarium.
But all of us expressly reveled in the ostrich chicks, then 16 days old.
Noted Drew, my older grandson, “I liked the babies the best of anything. It’s amazing how they’ve learned to walk so quickly.”
Alcatraz, of course, is on or near the top of almost everyone’s list of tourist musts. It was no exception for us.
A walking tour of the site last used as a prison in 1963 was jammed with facts, facts and more facts, none more significant for me than solar panels having been installed in June to generate 80 percent of the power need.
Mark grinned broadly at being “locked” behind bars in a cell, a piece of the colorful audio tour created by Chris Hardman and his Antenna Theatre.
“It was interesting seeing things from a prisoner’s point of view,” he said, flaunting his mastery of
Zach Weingarten is imprisoned — momentarily — in Alcatraz cell. Photo: Woody Weingarten
understatement.
My wife Nancy agreed, adding that she was staggered to find “prisoners had been segregated. I’d never thought about that before.”
Hardman had also drummed up The Magic Bus, a 2-hour multimedia “time machine” tour of San Francisco that stresses the Summer of Love and the city’s Haight-Ashbury heyday — an era that, as the narration says, was “full of optimism, full of life.”
Music from the “sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll” decade blasted through the bus as retractable screens depicted scene after scene of local happenings, interviews about acid trips and psychedelics, and a historical context.
They transformed each of us into a Dr. Feelgood.
We also got off on wearing 3-D glasses that made the bus wallpaper and souvenir booklet photos jump out.
But I wept again when the assassinations of John and Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King flashed before my eyes and brain.
Nancy and I, who’d consciously experienced the ‘60s, liked the bubble-discharging ride better than my kin, one of whom had been a toddler and two who hadn’t even been conceived.
Our pleasure was even enhanced by bumper-sticker wisdom offered by the hippie-clad tour guide: “Life is to be lived, not just tolerated.”
Living it to the fullest, for us, meant additional stops at Pier 39, where we all marveled in the Mirror Maze (one of seemingly endless tourist attractions and views, restaurants and shopping opportunities there), and the Conservatory of Flowers, where we saw “Plantosaurus Rex,” an exhibit of “living fossils” (prehistoric plants), along with models of dinosaurs (with one ostensibly sticking its head through the roof).
When all was said and done, though, the biggest vacation takeaway for me was the discovery that “the boys” walked too fast for Nancy and me to keep pace.
I guess it’s appropriate that the Summer Olympics are in full swing: We definitely need to pass the foot-race torch.
Tourist info is available for 142 Throckmorton at (415) 383-9600, www.142throckmortontheatre.org; San Francisco Movie Tour, (800) 979-3370, (415) 624-4949, www.sanfranciscomovietours.com; Academy of Sciences, (415) 379-8000, www.info@calacademy.org; Alcatraz, (415) 981-7625, info@alcatrazcruises.com; Magic Bus, (415) 855-969-6244, info@MagicBusSF.com; Pier 39, (415) 705-5500, www.pier39.com; Conservatory of Flowers, (415) 831-2090, www.conservatoryofflowers.org
Quvenzhane Wallis stars as Hushpuppy in “Beasts of the Southern Wild.”
Although I did think “The King’s Speech” was a splendid movie, “Beasts of the Southern Wild” is the best film I’ve seen this century.
Stand aside, Meryl Streep. Get out of the way, Natalie Portman.
The movie’s six-year-old star, Quvenzhane Wallis, could well become the youngest ever to win an Oscar for best performance, though Shirley Temple was given a special honorary juvenile award at the same age.
The former non-actor seamlessly makes everything on this original cinematic canvas seem real, authentic despite blending elements of mythology and parable with premature coming of age and a gritty, perilous bayou life on the wrong side of a New Orleans levee.
Wallis’ character, Hushpuppy, is also six.
She’s watched over by her alcoholic, dying dad, Wink (Dwight Henry), a loving, protective father who wants his legacy to be his survival skills.
“Beasts,” a Sundance and Cannes award-winner narrated from Hushpuppy’s innocent and imaginative point of view, ultimately is about man’s uneasy coexistence with nature.
It’s about a storm as ugly as Hurricane Katrina that threatens to bury everyone and everything in its wake. Global warming runs wild, ice caps melt and the rise of the water shadows the rising temperatures.
It’s about mystical, carnivorous aurochs — prehistoric creatures that resemble giant boars and, surrealistically, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse — that trample all life in their path.
It’s also about Hushpuppy’s quest, while distanced from her ragtag home in the Bathtub, a swampland off the coast of southern Louisiana, for her dead mother who “swam away” and disappeared years before.
But, finally, it’s about faith in throwaway family and friends and makeshift rafts that may outlast the danger, and about faith in life itself.
The film’s components work in flawless concert to yank an audience into uncomfortable places it may not want to go — including a close-up view of government workers more concerned with regulations than humanity.
Aided by a passionate, throbbing musical backdrop, the fictional tale sometimes provides tension that may seem to override all else.
But flashes of love and bonding manage to quash that sensation.
Photography can range from blurry images of the girl to breathtakingly panoramic views of rising waters and crumbling homes constructed of detritus.
Like life, the camera, characters and story constantly shift. Regardless, it’s hard not to be magnetized to the screen through the 93-minute fantasy.
First-time director Benh Zeitlin has taken the allegorical screenplay by co-writer Lucy Alibar from her play, “Juicy and Delicious,” and knitted together diverse factors and a childlike voiceover that could make me forget the hand-held camera and think I was in a forgiving hallucination.
Some folks won’t like this film, and will label it too airy-fairy. Others will discount it as quickly as they do Terrence Malick movies.
It’s certainly not for 14-year-old boys only in need of flatulence jokes and car chases.
But for me, “Beasts of the Southern Wild” is an amazingly touching fable about a universe where everything connects, if only for a moment — a magical merger of components as polarized as the lyrical poetry of Percy Bysshe Shelley and the booze-colored harshness of Charles Bukowski.
If you even come close to being a film buff, or appreciate art or just like good, non-formulaic movies, this needs to be at the top of your must-see list.
“Beasts of the Southern Wild” is playing at the Rafael Film Center, 1118 4th St., San Rafael, and other Bay Area theaters.
Steve Silver’s BEACH BLANKET BABYLON: Musical Revue. Club Fugazi, 678 Beach Blanket Babylon Blvd, San Francisco. 415-421-4222 or www.beachblanketbabylon.com.
38 Years of Performances and Still Going Strong
When your editor requests a review (actually a re-review) of a show there is only one thing to do. So I grabbed my best friend and made a return trip to Club Fugazi to see the irreverent Beach Blanket Babylon (BBB) revue. Alcatraz may be the most visited venue in San Francisco but BBB cannot be far behind. On the Thursday night of our visit every seat was filled and the appreciative audience joined in the fun when cajoled from the stage by one of the actors.
BBB is a San Francisco institution that began 38 years ago and because of its success attracting visitors from all over the world, the powers that be in City Hall changed the name of the street to Blanket Babylon Blvd. There is no doubt that it will continue for another 38 or more years. Although the basic plot line has persisted for years, the skits are as topical as yesterday’s newspapers. Nothing is sacred with hysterical reference to the foibles of the famous, the peccadilloes of the politicians and even a romp with royalty.
You will not find a harder-working talented cast of 10 and marvel at their impressive quick costume changes that will keep you guessing who will come out next for their 15-30 seconds of fame (read infamy). It is a 90 minute non-stop evening of hilarity that spoofs all and everything. And the costumes are a kick-and-a-holler but are upstaged by elaborate wigs and hats along with the quality singing and acting. You will have your favorites and last night full-bodied Renee Lubin belted out memorable “Ain’t Misbehavin” and also has her stints as (alphabetically) Whoopi Goldberg, Beyonce Knowles, Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey.
Oh yes, the plot. It seems that transplanted San Franciscan Snow White is looking for her Prince Charming since she is hot to trot to the altar. But she knows that her chances in “Gay” San Francisco are limited so her big black, pink clad Fairy Godmother suggests she travel the world. Before that first stop in Rome we meet the Beatles in ‘Salt and Pepper’ headdresses, hippies romp in good old Frisco with the “Age of Aquarius”, “Let the Sun Shine In” and “Flowers in Hair” snippets with wacky (perverted?) lyrics.
Next stop is Roma and don’t ask who played whom because the program doesn’t give a clue. The costumes and headdresses you will remember: One shaped as a pizza, one filled with Chianti wine bottles and another as a full plate of spaghetti and meatballs.
Don’t’ ask how or why but Oprah Winfrey shows up and so does Bill and Hilary Clinton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Barack and Michelle Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Michelle Bachman, Jerry Brown, Sarah Palin ending with a bottle of huge bottle of Viagra moving to downstage center. Are they telling us something?
No time to think because it is time to move to gay Paree. You haven’t seen ‘gay’ until you’ve seen Louie XIV in a stunning pink outfit and a pink coiffeur three feet high. Sorry, Snow White, he is not for you. The three actors dressed as black French poodles are naughty, naughty, naughty. Would you believe that Coco Channel is decked in Cocoa Chocolate hat? Yes, the humor is not subtle.
There is more and more and more but this review must be content to stop being specific since space is limited. It will be mentioned that Queen Eliazbeth, Prince William and Catherine Middleton, and neglected Prince Harry get their turn on stage.
We finally get to the finale but not before Snow White has morphed into Madonna and been lifted over the head of the audience singing her heart out because she states “I can eat the apple and still be on my feet.” Really? You will not hear it from this reviewer whom she corrals but does and gets to wear a wedding dress and wedding cake hat three feet tall. Her hat is upstage by the enormous San Francisco Skyline hat, four feet tall with a working cable car to travel to the stars as “I Left My Heart In San Francisco’ is belted out.
Kedar K Adour, MD
Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com
620 words By ROSINE REYNOLDS
This “Tuna” Bites Back
Tuna, Texas is a fictional small town with a small town’s closeness. However, this community is not the pies- and-picket fences of Andy’s Mayberry, Hank Hills’ Arlen, Keillor’s Lake Woebegone or anyplace in “Our Town.” Tuna is more tumbleweed and barbed wire.
This town starts its mornings with local news from radio OKKK, delivered by veteran newscasters Thurston Wheelis and Arles Struvie. Today’s headline concerns the death of an important citizen, Judge Bruckner, beloved for being the judge who ordered the most hangings. The judge was found wearing a women’s bikini bathing suit. (This story will be corrected later as to the kind of swim suit it was.)
There follows a commercial from Didi’s Used Weapons, which, even though used, are “absolutely guaranteed to kill.” A standard Texas weather report follows, predicting “rain from all directions,” a dust storm, locusts and Tropical Storm Luther.
We then get a close-up look into the Buford household, where Mrs. Buford is being interviewed about her work on the Censorship Committee. The Committee objects to “Roots” in the public schools, saying that it “only shows one side of the slavery issue.” “Romeo and Juliet” is also on their list because of its “rampant disregard for parental authority and teenaged sex.”
But all is not harmony in Tuna. Many townspeople are at odds with the local animal lover, Petey Fisk of the Humane Society. (Petey has nightmares all through hunting season.) Mrs. Pearl Burras loves animals too, as long as they’re chickens, which she defends with modern science. Mrs. Buford doesn’t love animals as much as she used to before her Jody began collecting dogs. But Jody’s sister Charleen is having a personal crisis because she didn’t make cheerleader, and now she’s a senior.
There is, of course, a church, and the Rev. Spikes arrives to deliver a one-size-fits-all eulogy for the Judge. The Deity is also called upon for various needs throughout the story.
A genuine Texan, Linda Dunn, directed “Greater Tuna” for the finale of Ross Valley Players’ 82nd season. Its spoofs are, she says, “all these things I grew up around.” And it was on a visit back to the Lone Star State to see her mom that Ms. Dunn saw a production of “Greater Tuna” with more than two in the cast.
Originally created by three men – Jaston Williams, Joe Sears and Ed Howard — the show’s twenty characters were played by just Williams and Sears, each taking on multiple roles. The show debuted in Austin in 1981 and went on to become first in a series of four. It has since developed a loyal audience, even having an online General Store with its own merchandise.
Ross Valley Players’ version uses a cast of seven, including a number of recognizable names. Jim Dunn plays newscaster Thurston Wheelis as well as Elmer Watkins. Wood Lockhart is his partner, Arles Struvie, but is also Didi Snavely, the weapons saleslady. News banter between Wheelis and Struvie are highlights of the show.
The versatile Steven Price carries five parts, only four of whom are human. Robyn Grahn plays all the Bumiller children. Tom Hudgens (another Texan) is both the beleaguered Petey Fisk and the very proper church lady, Vera Carp. Jeffrey Taylor portrays three townspeople, including the Sheriff, and Javier Alarcon plays four others.
Michael A. Berg costumes all these people right down to the slip showing and the ear-flap hats.
“Greater Tuna” will be at The Barn Theater in the Marin Art & Garden Center, Ross, through Aug. 12. Thursday performances are at 7:30; Friday and Saturday shows are at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m. For complete information and ticket prices, see www.rossvalleyplayers.com, and for reservations, call 456-9555, ext. 1.
“King John” – Good Play about a Bad Guy
Just as hurricane names are retired after they cause devastation, the name John
seems to be off-limits for British kings. One John was plenty. This was the same king who usurped his brother’s throne while Richard was on the Crusades and the same who harried Robin Hood. He’s also the king who was forced to sign the Magna Carta in 1215 when his over-taxed barons demanded their “ancient liberties” back.
Marin Shakespeare’s Managing Director, Lesley Currier, has revived the Bard’s seldom-seen “King John” with a dynamic blend of fine acting and history. To appreciate this production fully, be sure to read Ms. Currier’s program notes before the action begins.
John has succeeded his popular brother, Richard Lionheart — killed in France by a crossbow — and is receiving an ultimatum sent by Philip, King of France, to relinquish all English claims to French territory. John refuses, though war between the two countries is sure to result. The ambassador leaves, and a pair of brothers arrives, one of whom claims to be King Richard’s illegitimate son. John’s mother, Elinor, sees the resemblance, and the older brother is knighted Sir Richard. He’s eager for the fight.
Back in France, King Philip’s ambassador delivers the bad news that England will not negotiate, and war is imminent. The court shelters young Arthur, son of John’s older brother Geffrey, and his devoted mother Constance, Geffrey’s widow.
(Those who are keeping score can see that there are now three possible claimants to the throne. Will there be more?)
A full-scale war erupts around the amphitheatre, after which it’s agreed that John’s niece, Lady Blanch, should marry Lewis, the French Dauphin; Arthur will be given a land grant as a consolation prize. Sir Richard, who has taken a fancy to Blanch, calls this peace agreement “most base and vile.” Everyone’s taking sides. Austria switches its allegiance to England; Cardinal Pandulph, the Pope’s emissary from Rome, is turned away, but first he excommunicates John and warns that France must not become his ally. King Philip chooses to remain with the Church, and the fight continues.
Shakespeare, by all accounts, never traveled, so it’s pardonable that he might have thought France and England were closer neighbors. But here’s where the Director’s program notes are essential.
Elizabethan audiences were proudly English and disdainful of foreigners. Besides, Gloriana herself might be in the audience. So Shakespeare’s French are shown as foppish and arrogant, his Austrian’s a brute in animal skins, and his Catholic emissary is deceitful. This way, even though King John is known to be a bad guy, he’s not as bad as the others.
There are thirty-three in the cast, and the ensemble playing is seamless. Scott Coopwood is a masterful King John, chilling in his conversations with Hubert (James Hiser.) Barry Kraft plays the beleaguered French King, torn between his love of country and this duty to the Church. Steven Muterspaugh portrays the Cardinal, accurately predicting John’s end. Liz Sklar, mother to young Arthur, holds the audience with her grief when Arthur’s been spirited away to England, and Erik MacRay is the ambitious Sir Richard.
And yes, there is another heir. In a wonderful concluding scene, Sir Richard will deliver the crown, and the Plantagenets will be redeemed.
“King John” plays at the Forest Meadows Amphitheatre in Dominican University, San Rafael in repertory with “Midsummer Night’s Dream” through Aug. 12. Parking and restroom facilities have been remodeled and greatly improved since last season. The amphitheatre is still outdoors, though, so playgoers should dress for the weather.
Ticket prices range from zero (under 18 on Family Day matinees) to $22. For complete information or reservations, please see www.marinshakespeare.org or call the box office, 499-4488.
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| Matt Gunnison, Brian Matin, Catz Forsman (on Hi-rise), Ryan Hayes and Dash Hilman. Photo: Jay Yamada |
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE — “FRESH – SURPRISING”
ACUTE PLEASURE, EVEN JOY!
Let’s give The Custom Made Theatre hands together for mounting this new take on “The Merchant”. The modern dress of the actors is not the style of today, but it is the style of the 50’s where Cigarettes lit up in offices and the men were always looking to hit on one of the Sexy Women that do the slink walk. By the way – in this updated version men also hit on men. As Judy Garland might say: “Oh My!” Yes, in this newer world – you could call the play “The Merchants of Wall Street!
The Shakespeare play of course, was categorized as ‘a comedy’. Yes, it is – and it is also a tragedy. Why? – Because it’s about an arrogant and rich Jewish man who is despised, by Christian citizens of Venice. Hey, they’re just trying to up the Ante when it comes to money. After all, it’s all business. And in this flashy show – that’s all they ever think about.
Problems arise when a friend, who lacks immediate Cash, turns to Shylock (the Jew), who makes the loan. Shylock forces Antonio to agree to yield a pound of flesh if he doesn’t cough up the money. Shylock is not amused when Antonio can’t come up with the cash and he threatens Antonio.
There are many lingering images in this fine production. ‘Shylock” (the Jew) is both wronged and overcome by his own dealings.
Here’s the bottom line of the story. It’s about men who pull sneaky and troubling tricks between the moneylender and a businessman. Comedy perhaps? – But, it also, is very heavy on the arrogant and sneaky. And Shakespeare might even say: Oh, it was ‘Much Ado about nothing.’ Well, actually – that is the title of one of his many plays. Just checking to make sure that you already knew that.
HERE IS THE EXCELLENT CAST: Brian Martin, Kim Saunders, Ryan Hayes, Claire Rice, Tonya Narvaez, Dashiell Hillman, Matt Gunnison, Megan Briggs, Molly Holcomb, Catz Forsman, Perry Aliado, Gabriel A. Ross, Stefin Collins, Jean Forsman and Perry Aliado. Great acting by all! The most applause went to CATZ FORSMAN. And, why not? To me, he was the most surprising actor so far this season.
*Superb Direction by Stuart Bousel
Sarah Phykitt – Terrific Scenic Design. Excellent Costume Design by Tim Malko Fabulous Lighting Design by Maxx Kurzunski and wonderful Sound Design by Ryan Lee Short.
Now Playing at the Custom Made Theatre on Gough Street.
RATING: THREE GLASSES OF CHAMPAGNE!!! –trademarked-
and hosted a long-running Arts Segment on PBS-KQED)))
(((Lee Hartgrave has contributed many articles to the San Francisco Chronicle Sunday Datebook and he produced a long-running Arts Segment on PBS-KQED)))
*courtesy: beyondchron
David Weiner (the Waiter) and Charles Guitron (playwright Leo Davis) in a lighthearted moment!
Photo by Dave Dierks
“Room Service”, written by John Murray and Allen Boretz in 1937 is a deliriously funny play that was a smash hit on Broadway in 1937 and 1938, running for 500 performances until the movie rights were purchased by RKO as a comedy vehicle for the wild and wacky Marx Brothers later in 1938. This delightful fun-filled farce is currently playing in the Starlight Amphitheater in downtown Orinda. The show epitomizes the perpetual financial nightmare that producers and writers face all the time, that of finding someone with the money and vision to invest in a show. Generally the less promising the show, the more difficult it becomes to find investors. Ergo, this company has been having a very difficult time finding their money man, their backer.This story opens with theatrical producer Gordon Miller (Geotty Chapple) in his hotel room attempting to read a script while an annoying room service waiter, Sasha (David Weiner) is attempting to convince an uninterested Mr. Miller that he was a very successful actor as a younger man in Russia, who would be perfect as one of the characters in a new play Miller’s actors are rehearsing in another part of the hotel. As the hotel manager and Miller’s brother-in-law, Joseph Gribble (Barry Hunau), barges into the room in a fear induced rage, it quickly becomes evident that Miller has incurred a huge unpaid bill for not only his own room and expenses, but also for approximately 20 other actors and staff, all residing in and sponging off the hotel as well, on a promise to pay pending the receipt of a huge advance from a hypothetical show backer. Gribble smells impending doom as an auditor is due to arrive any moment, an auditor who is bound to discover that a huge credit has been granted to a relative of the manager, a highly unethical action which he knows will end his hotel management career.
Upon learning that the auditor is going to quickly discover the huge deficit and financial deception, Miller initially decides to skip out, leaving his brother-in-law holding the bag. Almost within the next breath, Miller’s associate, Christine Marlowe (Laura Martin-Chapin), charges into the room announcing that she has finally found a financial backer for the show, a very well-known and wealthy individual. Somehow, the mottely theatrical crew has to remain in the hotel for at least 24 hours in order to pull off the deception of being very successful for the benefit of the potential backer, at least until he signs a contract. At the same time the theater company has to avoid the eviction and wrath of the auditor who will soon be on the war path.
As if this is not convoluted enough, the neophyte author of the play, Leo Davis, shows up at the hotel, seeking the next installment of the previously promised advance. Unable to pay the monies due the author, Miller convinces Davis (Charles Guitron) that it would be to his advantage to just hang out here in the hotel, “as Miller’s guest”, until the investor/backer comes and meets all of the principals, including the author.
The play continues to get wilder and wackier by the minute as an ever evolving cast of 16 characters are introduced in various supporting, albeit convoluted roles. I knew you were going to ask, yes, there is a love interest as the very attractive and young manager’s secretary, Hilda Manney (Giuliana Karezis), runs into Leo Davis, and faster than the flash of a zippo lighter, they immediately fall head over heels in love!
As you can probably guess, “Room Service “ is a totally madcap, mile-a-minute, door slamming, head banging play that is a perfect vehicle for the likes of the Marx Brothers or any other erstwhile comedic troupe of actors willing to participate in such absolute dumb fun. Dumb fun it is – – – and other than a few missed lines, gaps in timing and typical community theater faux paux, it is an absolute kick in the comedic pants. The acting for the most part is quite acceptable and several of the more experienced actors are really quite good. Regular admission is $16 for adults other than seniors and children, who pay only $8 per ticket. For seniors, that’s only 50 cents per actor, what a deal! I’m only kidding of course. It is a heck of a deal, a heck of lot of fun and it runs Fridays and Saturdays at 8:30 p.m., with the Sunday, August 5th performance at 4 p.m. and the Thursday, August 9th play at 8 p.m., closing on August 11th. The seating is the old fashioned wood benches on tiered stones on a hillside, amphitheater seating, so I would recommend you bring a folding lawn, beach chair or healthy cushions and dress in layers. If the fog rolls in over the Orinda hills, it can get downright chilly. The Orinda Outdoor Theatre is located in the Orinda Community Center Park, next to the library at 26 Orinda Way, across the street from the Rite Aid Pharmacy and the Orinda Post Office. Call (925) 528-9225 or visit their web site athttp://www.orsvp.org/ or you can email them at info@orsvp.org.
I love amateur, Community Theater, especially being able to meet and greet the hard working actors after the show, as they wait at the stage door to share their excitement and joy with you. I have always loved and supported the Orinda Outdoor Starlight Theater which has no community funding, they do everything out of their love of theater and their desire to share their experience of acting with you! Try it, you may like it!
The boarding house cast pleads with Landlady Kit Turner (Sally Hogarty) for her permission to add her daughter’s neophyte singing talent to the opening number in the Willows Theatre production of “Vaudeville” !
Photo by Judy PotterThe Willow’s Campbell Cabaret Theater at 636 Ward Street in downtown Martinez is currently playing a delightful and engaging production about a day in the life and times of “on stage” theater performers in Laurence Carr’s delightful comic and poignant musical entitled simply, “Vaudeville”. This theater is the perfect venue because, as live theater evolved, variety shows” were born in concert saloons, cabaret theaters and variety halls. Gradually they moved into more sophisticated and less provocative, less alcohol serving venues. As time passed and audiences became more educated towards live theatre, the entertainment business became more family oriented and gravitated towards a more “genteel” theatrical environment. The Willow’s Cabaret Theater is a wonderful cross between modern theatre venues with a legitimate stage, full stage lighting and stepped seating, but complete with little cabaret tables and independent chairs. The theatre even offers a minor selection of food and drinks so that you can sip or munch while you soak up the theatrical offering for the evening. Carr’s “Vaudeville” takes you back to a time in the early 1900’s, just after the ending of World War I, when jobs were scarce, money was tight, and the “talkies” were in tight competition with live theater for America’s entertainment expenditures. In many respects, the scenario is very similar to our own times, finding us emerging from a decade of war, tight finances across the country and mega-movies in heavy competition with live theater! Regardless of the time, the constant, evident by this wonderful production, is the “heart of the performers” who win out over their ingrained competitive nature.
On the vaudeville circuit of live performance theaters, it was said that if an act was good enough to succeed in Peoria, Illinois, it would succeed anywhere. The question, “Will it play in Peoria?”, has now become a metaphor for whether something appeals to the American mainstream public. The three most common levels of theatrical accreditation were the “small time” theaters (lower-paying contracts for more frequent performances in rougher, often converted theatres), the “medium time” theaters (moderate wages for two performances each day in purpose-built theatres), and the “big time” theaters (where possible remuneration levels of several thousand dollars per week were common in large, urban theatres, largely patronized by the middle and upper-middle classes). As performers rose in prominence and established regional and national followings, they worked their way into the less arduous working conditions and better pay of the big time. The capitol of the big time was New York City’s “Palace Theatre”.
In this particular production, nine seasoned vaudeville performers are stuck in Philadelphia in Kit Turner’s Boarding house. It is in this boarding house that the play with music, “Vaudeville”, unfolds, introducing us to its short term theatrical entrepreneurs. They return to the boarding house following their afternoon show to share dinner with the other performers prior to their return to the theater for their evening’s live performance. At once, it becomes obvious that each of these performers are diversified, each uniquely different from the other, and are highly competitive, while at the same time supportive of each other’s craft and talent, as long as the other guy doesn’t steal their theatrical thunder. With acts that range from animal acts, acrobatics, singing, dancing, and comedy, we get a chance to examine a little of their theatrical wares as they rehearse impromptu in the boarding house parlor before they leave for the theater.
This particular group of vaudevillian entertainers’ world is generally the small to medium theatrical venues where their rugged performance schedules consist of split weeks and two or more shows a day, and a new venue practically every week in the somewhat less than well-known theaters. They keep their hopes alive for finding greater recognition and eventually locating a sweet spot theatre and the pathway to “The Big Time” theatrical circuit. Hopefully they will finally find their way to theatrical nirvana, a theater in New York City called “The Palace”.
The show people residing in this boardinghouse at this time include the entertainment team of Benny Cohen (Morgan MacKay) and Frankie Cobb (Johnni Lew); Mack Maxwell (Tom Leone) and his wonder dog, Maxie; Mademoiselle Yvette (Donna Turner) “Vaudeville’s (Faux-French) Sweetheart”); Jackson Washington (Trevor Moppin); Billy Wiggins, a British war hero and entertainer extraordinaire; Paul Clayton (Michael Barrett Austin) the other half of the Cook and Clayton (Andrea Snow) duo, a song and dance team, and culminating with “The angry Mick” (Tiny), Tim O’Reilly, a salty and sarcastic Irish comedian. They represent a cross-section of this later generation of hoofers, comics and “novelty acts” who kept America entertained while Vaudeville was still king prior to being overtaken by the talking picture era.
Landlady Kit Turner (Sally Hogarty) and her daughter Kitty (Erika March) are in the midst of preparing the evening meal when they discover that one of their longer boarding house residents, Mack Maxwell, has come back to the boarding house and gone straight to his room, following the on-stage collapse of his longtime performing partner, Maxie, the wonder dog. Mack and Maxie have been the opening act of the local theater’s shows for a long time and with the looming crisis of not knowing who will open the show, suddenly thrust upon this passel of performers preparing to “hit the boards” in just a couple of hours, severe panic is setting in. Nobody wants to be the opening act, because the opening act cannot afford to flop while warming the audience up to the evening’s broad spectrum of performers. As with any tightly knit group of people whose world is a bit shaky anyway, the stress brings out the good, the bad, and the really ugly.
Vaudeville is a great show, with a great cast and a heartwarming message. I strongly recommend it. The acting is really quite excellent with long time local favorites, Sally Hogarty and Morgan Mackay, leading the way. The set, designed by Jan Zimmerman, is really quite amazing. Costumes, wigs, makeup, lighting and even the sound, all work very well.
This production plays Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8 p.m., with matinees on Saturdays at 2 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m., now through March 31st. Call (925) 798-1300 or visit their website athttp://www.willowstheatre.org/ for more information. Tickets range between $25 and $30 each. Tickets for seniors are a very reasonable $25 each. Great acting, great voices, great fun – – don’t miss this opportunity to journey back to the wonderful world of “Vaudeville” in the fun-filled Willows Theater!