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The cast of Masquers Playhouse’s “The People vs. Mona” includes, from left, Kamaria McKinney, Shay Oglesby-Smith, Steve Alesch, Arup Chakrabarti, Nelson Brown, Michele Sanner Vargas and Harrison Alter. (Courtesy Mark Decker)
“The People vs. Mona,” a zany musical comedy at the Masquers Playhouse in Point Richmond, deserves a needlepoint that labels it laugh-out-loud funny.
Or silly, sillier, silliest.
Because it can be tough to translate visual humor into the words of a review, it is suggested you get to a performance in the cozy (89-seat) theater to see for yourself.
“Mona’s” winning ingredients include exaggerated physical comedy and lyrics that evoke laughter almost every third line; music that ranges from country-rock to gospel (with a marching band tossed in for good measure); a multicultural cast of eight (half of whom play dual roles); a madcap plot by Patricia Miller that features a murder mystery (did Mona Mae Katt bludgeon her honeymooning husband to death with a glitzy guitar?), lots monkey business in the courtroom; and a touch of social commentary about changing an unobtrusive backwater town into a domicile for a shiny new casino.
Enrico Banson, who seamlessly directs the 105-minute “Mona” and inserted tons of unexpected schtick, doubles as an extraordinary musical director who’s onstage with his electronic keyboard throughout.
Michele Sanner Vargas is outstanding in the title role, bringing audience glee with her over-the-top facial and body distortions, not to mention her proficiency twirling a baton. Yet that’s topped by Kamaria McKinney, whose antics as Tish Thomas, a columnist and sex kitten, and blues singer Blind Willy, dare audience members not to smile.
Steve Alesch plays Officer Bell with a pseudo-operatic voice and a face so comically rubbery it’s virtually impossible to look away even when there’s another in the spotlight.
Harrison Alter portrays the ninety-something Euple R. Pugh with a flailing level of energy that can make any senior in the crowd jealous.
And Nelson Brown as Mona’s attorney and a hand-waving narrator who involves audience members in rising from their seats, muttering and getting rowdy, also turns in a five-star performance.
The remainder of the cast — Shay Oglesby-Smith, Jeffrie Givens and Arup Chakrabarti — also deserves high praise, as does costume designer Mara Plankers Norleen, responsible for a terrific singing quartet of cats (caps with ears, gloves with fur and imprinted paws, bushy tails) and Mona’s outstanding look with full-length sleeves that replicate tattooed arms and cowgirl boots decorated with butterflies.
Choreographer Katherine Cooper has invented a series of ridiculous moves guaranteed to keep those grins coming.
The production’s location is Tippo, Georgia, in the Frog Pad, a honky-tonk owned by Mona that’s the oldest juke joint in the state and spurring a tune spotlighting a chorus of “Ribbit.”
The show’s campy music and clever lyrics are by the Tony Award-nominated Jim Wann, the primary composer of “Pump Boys and Dinettes,” a 1982 show that jet-streamed from downtown basements to Broadway (with a stopover off-Broadway) and spewed good-ole-boy wisdom via a county rock-pop score.
It’s exciting that the latest incarnation of “Mona” is here. It would be hard to find an Actors’ Equity show that’s better.
While more than few Bay Area theater companies have taken down their curtains recently due to rising costs and diminishing audiences triggered by continuing waves of COVID, “Mona” proves that small, community theaters are not only still viable but can thrive while producing first-rate ensemble entertainment.
“The People vs. Mona” runs through Nov. 26 at the Masquers Playhouse, 105 Park Place, Point Richmond. Tickets are $30 at (510) 232-4031 or https://masquers.org.
Ah, Mame. You echo triumphantly down the years, a beacon of pure joy. You remind us to “Live, live, live!” You challenge young minds, and 42nd Street Moon has brought you to life on the Gateway Theatre stage.
Mame is based on Auntie Mame, a real person, created by Patrick Dennis. Mame, a socialite and free thinker, adopted her orphaned nephew in the Roaring Twenties, and that’s when his thrill ride began. Placed in a ‘progressive’ school that featured universal nudity, his life was anything but dull.
The lights came up on a man in a fedora entering a wild, bathtub gin-soaked party featuring the ensemble of singer/dancers. The tiny stage felt overpopulated much of the time, but when the group was narrowed down to half a dozen dancers for That’s How Young I Feel, they formed a charming stage picture.
When consummate performers are involved, the size of the theater doesn’t matter. We were lucky enough to be treated to three of these. Azzy David was a standout as young Patrick. The compulsively watchable youngster exuded exuberant innocence. Jillian A. Smith (Gloria Upson) was unapologetically cloying. And Larissa Kelloway proved a comic delight as Sally Cato.
Cindy Goldfield starred as Mame. Her performance was impeded by a puzzling array of costumes. The character Mame is a vibrant, avant-garde socialite. But Goldfield looked dowdy in most of her scenes.
Outfitted in a prim, ankle-length church dress, complete with lace collar and sensible shoes, Goldfield looked like Patrick’s grandmother instead of his aunt. Real-life Mame wouldn’t be caught dead in sensible shoes. Despite this, the actress had an affecting moment in Act 2, singing If He Walked Into My Life.
Mame is chock-full of can’t-miss standards, notably Mame and the inspiring <em>Open a New Window. In The Moon Song, loudly crooning background singers surprised the audience in a weird-but-good way. In Bosom Buddies, Goldfield and Elizabeth belted out the great lyrics effortlessly: “Who else but a bosom buddy will tell you how rotten you are?”
I polled audience members at intermission and the production earned unanimous raves. So If you’re looking for a perky musical with a homespun, “let’s put on a show in the barn!” feel, Mame is the show for you.
Mame plays at 42nd Street Moon through November 19th at the Gateway Theatre, 215 Jackson Street in San Francisco. Call (415) 255-8205 for tickets.
Reported by Deb Polfus
Reviewed by Suzanne Angeo (member, American Theatre Critics Association; Member Emeritus, San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle), and Greg Angeo (Member Emeritus, San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle)
Photos by Bureau Detroit
N’Jeri Nicholson (center)
“The Great American Trailer Park Musical” Promises a Cheeky, Raunchy Good Time
It’s safe to say that Stagecrafters has never featured pole dancers, roadkill, agoraphobia, false pregnancies and guys sniffing magic markers all on the same stage before. Well, there’s a first time for everything. To kick off their 68th season, “The Great American Trailer Park Musical” at Stagecrafters is one rockabilly-rowdy, enjoyable show.
“Trailer Park” premiered off-Broadway in September 2005, and has seen sold-out shows in regional performances all over the country ever since. Music and lyrics are by David Nehls, and the book is by Los Angeles comedy writer Betsy Kelso, known for her irreverent spoofs and risqué humor.
As the curtain rises, we find ourselves in a north Florida trailer park called Armadillo Acres, where the park’s little travel-type trailers (minus the wheels) are just like the residents: really very cute, but slightly smudged and dilapidated, bravely scraping the bottom of the barrel of life. Park manager Betty, and her cohorts Lin and Pickles, worry about their neighbor Jeannie, who hasn’t left her trailer in 20 years. And now it seems like Jeannie’s husband Norbert has taken to canoodling with the new gal in town, a stripper named Pippi. When Pippi’s slightly crazed roadkill-obsessed boyfriend Duke shows up with an impressive supply of magic markers, you don’t need much imagination to guess what happens next. This is part of the show’s lowbrow charm.
“Trailer Park” aims for non-stop laughs and relentless, high energy music, very much in the spirit of “The Rocky Horror Show”. The characters could have stepped right out of a comic book. Sure, they’re crude and vulgar, and maybe they play on broad trailer-trash stereotypes, but they’re likeable. And the ladies are nearly matched in tawdriness by their cheap-chic clothes and over-the-top hairstyles (all tributes to the talents of costume and wig designers Michelle Miller, Ari Holland and Jessica York). But these are mere accessories. What really makes this show is the excellent vocal performances.
(from left) Killian Elhaz, Alexa Carollo, Kirsten Renas, Aaliyah Flint
Betty, played by local music teacher and performer Kirsten Renas, captures your heart with her wonderful voice and unfailing concern for her neighbors. Also noteworthy is Alexa Carollo as Lin (short for Linoleum!), the park’s resident bad girl whose bad boy hubby is on death row. Aaliya Flint (a Stagecrafters newbie) plays the charmingly goofy teenager Pickles. After using a pillow to fake her pregnancy, she produces a big surprise for everybody at the end of the show. Each of these ladies delivers great individual vocals, but it’s their three-part harmonies that really get the joint a-jumpin’.
Erica Fell is the neurotic Jeannie, who just can’t make herself leave her dingy trailer ever since her baby boy was kidnapped 20 years ago. Her character is less one-dimensional than the others, one you can identify with. She’s sympathetic and real, and serves as the pivot point around which the other characters revolve. Her two-timing buffoon of a husband Norbert is played by Off-Broadway and TV veteran Bran Depetris.
Jeannie’s nemesis is Pippi, the sleazy but fiercely proud stripper who moves into the trailer next to theirs, played by N’Jeri Nicholson, veteran of the Baldwin stage. It’s not long before Pippi’s loony boyfriend Duke, played by theatre and film-trained actor Killian Elhaz, comes a-lookin’ for his woman. His performance provides the veritable icing on the cake.
The ensemble cast, accompanied by a four-piece band directed by Christopher Smith, is especially memorable in numbers like “Flushed Down the Pipes” featuring the ladies twirling toilet brushes and plungers, the pulse-pounding disco beat of “Storms A-Brewin”, and the rousing Finale. There is also a lovely duet, “Owner of My Heart” performed by Jeannie and Norbert. The ingenious set, including those little travel-type trailers, is the creation of set designer Gene Czewski.
Brian Depetris, Erika Fell
Says first-time director Kathryn Stewart: “Please take into consideration that while the stereotypes in the show are painted with a very broad brush, it is done with a kind heart…where everyone is included…”. There are no pauses between scenes (except for intermission) but even so, the pacing seems to lack a certain urgency and energy needed for such a show. And the set might be scaled back a little to allow more room, since there are 12 folks moving about onstage (including not only the cast but the “Onstage Crew”, which also takes part in the performance). Acting and stage technique could use some further development, but Stewart allows ample opportunity for the cast and crew to break the Fourth Wall and mingle with the audience, so you really feel a part of the story, and the fun.
Brassy, sassy “Trailer Park” is what musical theatre is all about – pure escapism. You think you got troubles? Nothing compares with the back-breakin’, heart-achin’ comic strivings of these zany folks. But be forewarned – the characters are colorful, and so is the language, with F-bombs galore. You may want to leave the kiddies at home.
Adult themes and language – not recommended for young children
Now through November 19, 2023
Tickets $35; $25 on Thursdays ($3 ticket fee for all tickets purchased online, by phone or at the door)
Stagecrafters at the Baldwin Theatre, Main Stage
415 S. Lafayette
Royal Oak, MI 48067
(248) 541-6430
Stagecrafters is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit performing arts organization with support from: Michigan Arts & Culture Council; National Endowment for the Arts; Royal Oak Arts Council; Oakland County; Royal Oak Downtown Development Authority; and DTE Foundation
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Ross Valley Players presented two spectacular benefit performances of The Best of Edgar Allen Poe,October 21 and 22 at the Barn Theater in Ross. Conceived and composed by Billie Cox and directed by Ellen Brooks, the show featured five talented actors and Scrumbly Koldwyn-Beck on piano.
The show opened with a welcome from Tom Reilly followed by Dan DeGabriele performing “Alone.” Next Mary Ann Rodgers thrilled the audience with Poe’s “Telltale Heart.” Kyra Kozlenko’s reading of “Annabel Lee” was powerful and Malcolm Rodgers joined DeGabriele for an entertaining rendition of the “Pit and the Pendulum. “The Raven, “El Dorado,” and “Never Bet the Devil Your Head” preceded the final two pieces,”The Bells” and “Israfel” (featuring the lovely voice of Kozlenko). The Pianist (Koldwyn-Beck), production team and all of these fine actors brought the era and brilliance of Poe to life. The audience showed their appreciation with shouts of “Bravo” at the end of the show. Kudos also to Michael Berg (costumes), Billie Cox and Ellen Brooks for their creativity and commitment to honoring the late great Edgar Allen Poe.
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