A Bronx Tale

 

I’ll bet when you think of Robert DeNiro, you don’t think of musical theater.

Yet, he was the original director, along with Jerry Zaks, of “A Bronx Tale,” the musical movie (It sounded to me like making “Godfather,” the musical). The musical theater production of the same name is this week’s high-energy touring Broadway show in Sacramento.

Based on the semi-autobiographical solo show by Chazz Palminteri, and the 1993 film (which DeNiro also directed and starred in), this tells the story of Calogero (“C”) (Alec Nevin) whose role model is mob boss Sonny (Jeff Brooks, whose charisma steals the show) and the struggle between Calogero’s father Lorenzo (American Idol winner Nick Fradiani) and Sonny for C’s devotion. Lorenzo is a hard-working man with great dignity who would rather work for a living than take dirty money.

C’s mother Rosina is played by Stefanie Londino, whose “Look to Your Heart” was very moving.
The curtain opens on an impressive set designed by Beowulf Boritt (love the name!), with projections and moving set pieces that accurately display the neighborhoods of the Bronx, including the “other side of the tracks,” where the African Americans live, with street signs for Belmont Avenue and Webster Avenue, which fly in and out, and versatile fire escapes, as well as the necessary “stoop” where all the action happens.

As the play opens, Calogero has returned to his old neighborhood to reminisce about his childhood, and the young Calogero is played by the very talented Anthony Gianni (some performances Trey Murphy takes the role). Gianni is making his national tour debut with this show and absolutely perfect for the role.

Impressed by the respect that Sonny gets from those around him, C turns his back on his bus driving dad (the role played by DeNiro in the movie) and becomes a kind of surrogate son for the mob boss and his henchmen like JoJo the Whale (Nathan Wright), Frankie Coffeecake (Mark Sippel), Tony Ten-to-Two (Daniel Rosenbaum), Sally Slick (Rhys Williams), Handsome Nick (Jacob Roberts-Miller) and Crazy Mario (Tyler Dema).

C falls in love with an African American friend Jane (Kayla Jenerson) and while Sonny is more tolerant of the relationship (“One of the Great Ones”), Lorenzo is more practical about the chances of the two becoming a couple. Their growing love causes “West Side Story”-like problems and C is faced with the question of whether it is better to be feared than to be loved, and almost loses his life in the process.

Ultimately, Sonny does a good deed that sends C back to his father (“Look to Your Heart”).
Doo-wop music by Alan Menken (perhaps best known for his work in Disney movies), with lyrics by Glenn Slater, and a 10-piece live orchestra under the baton of David Aaron Brown may not be the most memorable, but they are fun and the choreography recreated by Brittany Conigatti is athletic.

This is an entertaining production with a top-notch cast and first-rate staging. It is too good to be missed.

Dear Evan Hansen

 

“Dear Evan Hansen,” the current Broadway on Tour production, is perhaps the most visually exciting show you will see this year. The set is a cacophony of social media: big screens, little screens, vertical screens, horizontal screens, which practically fill the stage, slide in and out and up and down and play various things from text messages and tweets to Facebook entries, to photos and videos and even a penguin or two. It’s tour de force for scenic designer David Korins, projection designer Peter Nigrini and the crew that make it all work.

But the set is only the beginning of this 2017 Tony award winner for Best Musical, which is perhaps a testament to where theater may be going in the 21st century.

Evan Hansen (Stephen Christopher Anthony) is an isolated teenager longing to fit in. His arm is in a cast from, he explains, falling out of a tree on a summer job he was working, an incident which becomes more significant as the story progresses.

He is about to start a new school, is on medication and is regularly seeing a therapist, who suggests he write himself a letter every morning to talk about positive things that he expects to happen that day. His single mother Heidi (Jessica E. Sherman) cheerfully sends him off to school, with a suggestion that he have students sign his cast.

Things don’t go well, however, and the only student with whom he has an encounter is a guy named Conner (Noah Kieserman), who signs the cast with huge letters, and gets angry with Evan when he learns of the boy’s attraction to his sister. Three days later, Conner takes his own life, leaving his family bereft.

Anthony’s performance is astounding. He carries the show and has a couple of solos that are very moving, especially “You Will Be Found,” a message to every alienated person, and “Words Fail,” the ultimate apology song.

Connor’s family, father Larry (John Hemphill), mother Cynthia (Colleen Sexton) and daughter Zoe (Stephanie La Rochelle) are the perfect grieving family. Cynthia is distraught and missing her beloved child, Larry is confused and angry at his son and doesn’t know how to express his grief, Zoe is furious and won’t even talk about him. She calls him a monster. The lie Evan will eventually tell them ultimately brings the three of them together as a family.

Unsure what to say to a grieving family, Evan hints that he and Connor were friends and that simple lie, as lies often do, grows and grows until it encompasses not only the family and the school but ultimately the whole country, as Evan is asked to speak about Connor at a memorial service and his nervous speech (“You Will Be Found”) goes viral on the internet and results in a GoFundMe site to raise money to reopen an apple orchard in Connor’s memory.

Helping perpetuate his lie are Evan’s cousin Jared (Alessandro Costantini), who provides humor to the story, and a friend Alana (Ciara Alyse Harris), who becomes the zealous co-president of the Connor Murphy Project.

As the lie begins to unravel, everyone is affected, particularly Connor’s mother Heidi, who, realizing how miserable her son has been, has a particularly moving and show-stopping solo with “So Big/So Small.”

Loneliness, bullying and suicide may not seem like ingredients for a hit Broadway musical, but Dear Evan Hansen has struck a chord, especially with younger people.

A Christmas Story

How do you make a favorite Christmas movie even better? Add music to it. It doesn’t always work, but it does for the current production of Broadway on Tour.

From the moment the colorful title curtain rises, revealing the home of the Parker family, the musical version of the 1983 film, “A Christmas Story,” adapted from the writings of the radio personality Jean Shepherd (Chris Carsten), is a delight. The story now comes with an often catchy score by the young songwriting team of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.

Broadway on Tour usually performs at the Sacramento Community Theater, but the theater is undergoing an extensive renovation and so this season is being performed at the nearby Memorial Auditorium.

“A Christmas Story” is a fast-paced, lively story that sticks pretty close to the movie. There are 11 grammar-school-aged children in the cast and all are excellent actors, singers and dancers.
Ian Shaw has the role of Ralphie, alternating with Tommy Druhan. He is amazing and his solos bring thunderous applause.

William Colin is brother Randy, who doesn’t have much to say but when he gets out of his snowsuit, we find out that he is a talented tap dancer who brings down the house.

Briana Gantsweg is Ralphie’s mother, a somewhat Stepford-like stereotypical mom of the 1940s, but her poignant song about “What a Mother Does” was beautiful and will hit the heart of any mother in the audience.

Christopher Swan is “The Old Man,” pretty inept at handyman work, but diligent at entering crossword puzzle contests and thrilled when he actually wins “a major award” (unaware that his wife supplied most of the answers for him). It doesn’t matter how weird the award is — it proves he is now a “winner.”

The famous “leg lamp” prize is even funnier when it becomes the subject of a great dance number.
Special mention goes to Hoss and Stella, who play the “Bumpus Hounds” who chase The Old Man across the stage a few times.

Jay Hendrix, as Flick, does a great job keeping his tongue stuck on a flagpole outside the school for an entire scene.

Lauren Kent is Ralphie’s teacher, Miss Shields, who sheds her schoolmarm clothes and dons a hot red dress in a great dance number with Randy as part of Ralphie’s fantasy.

Having been written in 1983, bits of the story are somewhat dated. It is kind of cringe-worthy, for example, to hear Ralphie sing about all the reasons he wants a BB gun, one of which is to protect his teacher in case someone with a gun comes into the school. Oh, the innocent days when this was funny, and not a real concern.

Directed efficiently by Matt Lenz, with choreography by Warren Carlyle, this is a collage of childhood snapshots taken from the exciting month before Christmas, when children dream of a big haul from Santa Claus, even if their desires might “shoot their eye out.”

STOMP

 

If the guys with brooms in the 10-minute opening segment of “STOMP,” now at the Sacramento Community Center, were to take a trip up north and apply their expertise to a 240,000-acre forest, they could wipe out all the debris on the floor in short order.

“STOMP” is a 90-minute, nonstop action-filled show where one learns that just about anything — from garbage cans to plastic bags, to matchboxes —  and even the kitchen sink — can be incorporated into a segment.

Nearing its 40th year, “STOMP” is a unique combination of percussion, movement and visual comedy, created in Brighton, U.K., in the summer of 1991, the result of a 10-year collaboration between its creators, Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas.

Its success has to have been a “gotcha” nod from all those pot-banging kids whose mothers told them to stop making all that noise.

The group first worked together in 1981 as members of the street band Pookiesnackenburger and the theater group Cliff Hanger. Together, these groups presented a series of street comedy musicals at the
Edinburgh fringe festival throughout the early ’80s.

After two albums, a U.K. TV series and extensive touring throughout Europe, Pookiesnackenburger also produced the highly acclaimed “Bins” commercial for Heineken lager. The piece was originally written and choreographed by Cresswell as part of the band’s stage show; it proved to be the starting point for the “STOMP” climactic garbage can dance. (It’s worth checking out “Heineken bin commercial” on YouTube!)

In 1991, Cresswell and McNicholas first created “STOMP,” previewing at London’s Bloomsbury Theater and premiering at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh, where it became the Guardian’s Critic’s Choice and won the Daily Express “Best of Fringe” award.

Between 1991 and 1994 the original cast played to capacity audiences around the world, from Hong Kong to Barcelona to Dublin to Sydney.

“STOMP” began its run at the Orpheum theater in New York in February of 1994 and quickly went on to win both an Obie and a Drama Desk award for “Most Unique Theater Experience.” By the summer of 1994, the first American cast was in place at the Orpheum, freeing the original cast for sellout tours of North America and Japan. The company made a special appearance at the Academy Awards in 1996, with an original piece involving live synchronization of classic film clips and onstage action, featuring 20 performers from all five nominated movies.

“STOMP” performed on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in an after-midnight performance as part of President Clinton’s millennium celebration and later there was a Muppet-“STOMP” collaboration for

American television.

In 2006, the New York production passed its 5,000th performance, and in 2011 as it entered its 18th year at the Orpheum Theater, beating the previous winner at that theater, “Little Shop of Horrors.”
Most recently, 40 performers from 12 different countries appeared together in the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic games.

The program lists 12 performers, men and women, in the cast: Kayla Cowart, Jonathon Elkins, Desmond Howard, Alexis Juliano, Guido Mandozzi, Artis Olds, Jeremy Price, Krystal Renée, Ivan Salazar, Cade Slattery, Steve Weiss and Joe White.

It is impossible to tell who is who, other than “the guy in the baggy pants who got the audience clapping, the girl with purple hair, the childish guy with the odd hat,” etc.

There is also no program credit for the multi-level set design, but on stage is a metal wall hung with all sorts of noisemakers, from hubcaps to highway signs to oversized plastic bins.

Steve McNicholas and Neil Tiplady are credited with lighting design, and the lights playing a huge role in the feel of the show. Some of the best numbers were lit from each side of the stage, casting large, eery shadows on the theater walls and giving it the effect of some ancient tribe dancing by the light of a fire in a cave somewhere.

Choreography for numbers with brooms, wooden sticks and a number of other things rivals the synchronization of the Rockettes.

There was audience involvement, too, as increasingly more complicated hand claps were demonstrated so the audience could respond — and respond they did.

Not surprising, there was an enthusiastic standing ovation as the group appeared on stage for one final encore.

“STOMP” was last here in 2008, so it is unlikely that it will return again soon. Take the opportunity to see it while you can.

Finding Neverland

 

In 2014, we were fortunate to see “Finding Neverland” at its U.S. premiere in Cambridge, Mass., and I fell in love with the show. Since then, it has been modified, moved to Broadway, where it ran for 17 months and was nominated for Drama Desk, Drama League and Astaire awards. Now it is on a national tour and the California Musical Theatre opened its production this week. I still love the show.

There was loud applause before anybody had even appeared on stage, when a brightly flashing light, which didn’t need to be identified to anybody, started dancing around the curtain and the audience. Tinker Bell was welcoming us to the show.

“Finding Neverland” is the story of how the classic book, “Peter Pan,” came to be written and is loosely based on the 2004 Johnny Depp movie. J.M. Barrie (Will Ray) is portrayed as a successful playwright, unhappily married to a social climber (Janine DiVita). He is suffering from writer’s block. His producer, Charles Frohman (John Davidson, who later appears as Captain Hook) needs a new show now and Barrie has run dry.

While wandering London’s Kensington Park, looking for inspiration, he meets the Llewelyn-Davies brothers, George (Colin Wheeler), Peter (Turner Birthisel), Jack (Bergman Freedman) and Michael (Tyler Patrick Hennessy). (Each of the roles is triple cast; these were the children who played them on opening night.) He is drawn into the games of fantasy of three of the brothers, and particularly taken with the sadness of Peter, who has lost the ability to enjoy life, due to the recent death of his father.

A friendship with the boys and with their mother Sylvia (Lael Van Keuren) develops and as he learns what it is to be a child again, his creative juices start flowing once more as he imagines what it would be like if boys never had to grow up.

There is also a harridan of a grandmother, Mrs. du Maurier (Karen Murphy), determined to run her daughter’s life, a wonderful performance by Karl Skyler Urban, who makes the most of the small role of servant, and an outstanding performance by Sammy, a superb theater dog who played Porthos.

Though there is great sadness in the story, it is smoothed over by the music and the crisp, often intricate choreography (such as the “Dinner Party,” with dancing around, over and under the long dining room table). There are some simple scenes that are downright brilliant, such as the simple love song between Barry an Sylvia on an almost-empty stage with large shadows providing the only extraneous thing. Beautiful.

The musical also has its share of humor. “Do you know any fairies?” one of the boys asks one of Barrie’s somewhat effeminate actors. “My good lad, I work in the theater!” he answers, as the audiences roars.

The first act, of necessity, may run a little long due to having to get all those plot points in and bring in all the inspirations for the later play (like the handle of a threatening cane turning into Hook’s hook). But the first-act finale will blow your socks off.

By the time Act 2 rolls around, rehearsal for the play is in full swing and the action is swift and dizzying. A particularly wonderful song is “We Own the Night,” sung by the four boys on a makeshift stage with blankets forming the backdrop and wooden boxes making a stage.

The final dress rehearsal, performed in the boys’ bedroom for Sylvia, too sick to attend a performance, is lovely and as Sylvia passes into her own Neverland, the special effects are dazzling.

Performances, music, choreography and technical expertise come together to make this a magical evening for both adults and children (over the age of 4) alike.

Book of Mormon

The very funny, very popular “The Book of Mormon” by those guys who also gave you “South Park” (Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone) has returned for another engagement for California Musical Theater’s Broadway series.

The ticket gives a parental advisory for “explicit language,” which may be putting it mildly. In fact some of the funniest things are things that you find yourself shocked to be laughing about.

Back in 2011 when word got out that someone was writing a musical comedy called “The Book of Mormon,” people in the Mormon church went berserk. There were angry protests about the denigration of their religion, pickets were going to be at the theater on opening night.

But then the producers invited some of the Mormon elite to see the show and they realized that it did not really make fun of their beliefs, though it did poke fun at things that arise out of those beliefs. In fact, as highly irreverent as this show is, in the end it is actually spiritually uplifting with the message that love is the answer.

The Mormon “imprimatur,” as it were, is the full-page ad in the program which shows just a photo of the Book of Mormon with a message that says “our version is sliiiightly different” and gives information about learning more about the religion.

The show starts with a bang with the crisp and catchy “Hello!” as each of the clean-cut graduating Mormon students practice their approach to door-to-door contacts. It is such an appealing tune that it may become an ear worm.

This is the day when the graduates will find out where they are to be sent on their mission, and who will be their partner for the next two years. These are young idealists, convinced they will change the world, and none more passionate than Elder Price (Kevin Clay), who may be the holiest, most dedicated (and definitely most vain) of them all. He has prayed to God that he will be sent on his mission to his favorite place in the world — Orlando.

It is a shock, then, when he is paired with Elder Cunningham (Connor Pierson), whom everyone considers a flake and nobody seems to like very much. The two of them will be setting off for the country of Uganda. Elder Price decides to make the best of things because he knows he was destined for greatness and knows that he can do great things in Africa.

Things do not go well from the start, when the missionaries’ luggage is stolen by the warlord known as “General” (because you cannot print his real name in a program or a review) and his henchmen. They also find a lackluster group of missionaries who have been there a while and have done essentially nothing because the natives don’t want to hear their message.

The natives are a happy bunch, if suffering from unspeakable conditions. Their happy tune, explaining how they can remain calm in the face of AIDS and other terrible conditions is “Hasa Diga Eebowai,” another translation that can’t be printed in a family newspaper, but also ear-worm worthy. They are resigned to their lives and want nothing to do with a new religion, which might anger the General (Corey Jones) and make their lives even worse.

Nabulungi (Kayla Pecchioni) is the virginal daughter of Mafala (Sterling Jarvis), who acts like a tour guide for the missionaries. Pecchioni is a force to be reckoned with.

There is a rift between Elder Price and Elder Cunningham, during which each learn much about themselves and their ambitions and Elder Cunningham finds a way to appeal to the natives after all.

The story and energetic music will set your toes tapping. The dance numbers (choreography by Casey Nicholaw) are amazing. Each number is a show-stopper, as are the more tender moments such as the haunting “Sal Tlay Ka Siti” sung by Nabulungi about “the most perfect place on earth.” Her “I Am Africa” is an anthem worthy of being featured on International Women’s Day!

If you have not yet seen “Book of Mormon,” this is an absolute must see. And if you have already seen it, you’ll enjoy it as much the second time around as you did at first.

Jersey Boys

From left, Corey Greenan, Tommaso Antico, Jonny Wexler and Chris Stevens
belt out a rendition of “Sherry” in the Broadway Sacramento production of
“Jersey Boys” on stage at the Community Center Theater through Feb. 4.
Joan Marcus/Courtesy photo

Those boys from New Jersey are back at the Sacramento Community Center Theater. “Jersey Boys,” the wildly popular story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, has returned — and based on the nearly-sold-out house and enthusiastic reception, Sacramento is glad of it.

Whether you were raised in the 1950s, the 1960s or the 1970s, it’s hard to think there would be people who would not love this musical retelling of the story of The Four Seasons.

In its day, the group sold more than 100 million records and produced numerous hit songs (“Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry” and “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You,” to name a few), many of which are performed in this show.

Before the “British Invasion,” American popular music was dominated by two groups: The Beach Boys and The Four Seasons. Unlike The Beatles, the Four Seasons (Tommy DeVito, Nick Massi, Bob Gaudio and Frankie Valli) came before paparazzi, and the group fell apart due to internal fighting and personal problems at the height of its popularity.

After they disappeared from the music scene, nobody cared about the background of a bunch of blue-collar Jersey guys from the streets until book writers Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice came along and realized there was plenty of drama in the story. Director Des McAnuff, a longtime Four Seasons fan, gave the project the green light for development and opening at his La Jolla Playhouse in 2004.
After its move to New York, the show was nominated for eight Tony Awards and won four, and achieved such popularity that some predicted it could run “for decades.”

The story is told from the perspective of each of the members separately. Corey Greenan is DeVito, the tough guy, organizer of the group, and the one who got into the most trouble. He was the guy who left first and forced a restructuring of the music.

Tommaso Antico is Gaudio, who wrote most of the music and whose friendship and business partnership with Valli, which lasted for more than 20 years, was based on a simple handshake.
Chris Stevens is Massi, bass guitarist, who did most of the vocal arrangements, but who burned out on touring and just wanted to go home.

At the head of the group, of course, was Valli (Jonny Wexler). Wexler’s falsetto delivery seems to my doddering memory to be spot on, and he far better represents the character than the actor who played him the last time the show came through town.

The Four Seasons went through a number of names, including the Four Lovers and the Variatones, but they settled on The Four Seasons, which was the name of the night club where they were currently appearing.

Wade Dooley is Bob Crewe, the astrology-loving producer-lyricist, and Todd DuBail is Gyp DeCarlo, the Mafia Don who takes a liking to Frankie.

McAnuff’s staging and the non-stop energy of the cast are infectious. The enormous set by Klara Zieglerova — a massive thing of metal catwalks, fences, curving staircases and screens that move in and out for cartoon-like illustrations and video clips — add to the “massive” feel of it all.

But in the end, it is the music and the relationship among the four that makes this show and gives it its irresistible appeal.

Something Rotten

 

It is fair to say that “Something Rotten,” currently at the Sacramento Community Center, is the funniest show you will see all year (and this includes a year in which “Book of Mormon” is also included).

This hilarious musical, written by brothers Karey and Wayne Kirkpatrick, with John O’Farrell’s assistance on the book, is, at its heart, an homage not only to William Shakespeare, but also to just about every Broadway musical ever written.

I would also add, as an aside, that this may be the first musical I have attended at the Community Center where there was absolutely no difficulty understanding the actors on stage.

The story follows the Bottom brothers, Nick and Nigel (Rob McClure and Josh Grisetti), playwrights in Renaissance England (“Welcome to the Renaissance” is a wonderful opening number led by the Minstrel, Nick Rashad Burroughs).

The brothers are determined to make a name in show biz, but they keep being overshadowed by that rock star William Shakespeare (Adam Pascal), who sneaks looks at Nigel’s notebook and steals all his best ideas.

Nick is married to Bea (Maggie Lakis) a Renaissance feminist who is incensed about the inequality of women and determined to prove that a woman can do anything a man can do (“Right Hand Man”).
Frustrated by Shakespeare’s popularity (“I Hate Shakespeare”), Nick grumbles about how “a mediocre actor from a measly little town is suddenly the brightest jewel in England’s royal crown.”

He takes the family savings and hires a soothsayer (Blake Hammond) to learn what the next big thing in entertainment will be — and what Shakespeare’s next project will be.

Nostradamus, the soothsayer, tells him he should write a musical, where a character, for no reason whatsoever, will suddenly break into song, which audiences will love because it’s easier to understand than iambic pentameter. Musicals are unheard of at the time and will guarantee an audience lining up to get into the theater, Nostradamus predicts. “A Musical” is by far the hit number of the show and earns a lengthy standing ovation from the audience.

Nostradamus also struggles to understand what Shakespeare’s next play will be about but misunderstands it and only knows it is “something Danish,” so Nick and Nigel set out to write the first breakfast musical, “Omelette.”

Having lost their backer, who thinks they are crazy, they agree to accept help from the moneylender, Shylock (Jeff Brooks), a Jewish man whose dream is to be in theater, though it is forbidden for Jews to participate.

There has to be a love angle and Nigel falls in love with the poetry-loving Portia (Autumn Hurlbert), whose father, Brother Jeremiah (Scott Cote), a puritan preacher, is determined to shut down all theater (but who seems to be inordinately interested in the men involved …). Portia encourages Nigel to be true to himself.

This is a comedy which is rife with bad puns, gay jokes and phallic humor, though on a much milder (and possibly funnier) level than “The Book of Mormon.”

It is a thoroughly delightful evening that left the audience laughing even after the curtain came down. A must-see for Shakespeare fans and musical comedy fans alike.

Beautiful

 

It was the late ’50s and rock and roll was in its heyday. Nobody had heard of The Beatles yet. A perky young girl named Carole Klein, whose mother wanted her to become a teacher, was passionate about writing songs and determined to sell one of her songs to Don Kirshner, of the Aldon Music publishing company.

The song sold and the career of Carole King (as she changed her name) was born.

“Beautiful — The Carole King Musical” tells the story of King’s career and her music in a manner similar to the wildly popular “Jersey Boys.” It’s mostly music from the ’50s and ’60s, familiar to many of the gray-hairs in the audience: “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” “Up on the Roof,” “One Fine Day,” etc. There’s just enough dialog to trace King’s story, but not enough to fill in the story gaps before the next song or song snippet starts.

To watch this musical and see the activity around the studio, you’d think that writing music and getting published was a piece o’cake, as the songs flow instantly and are immediately grabbed up to be recorded by one of the popular groups of the day, one even sung by King’s babysitter, Little Eva (Alexis Tidwell).

Sarah Bockel is a perky, upbeat Carole, madly in love with Gerry Goffin (Andrew Brewer), her husband and writing partner of many years. Together they produced several top hits of the 1960s, and two babies. In her heart, she really wanted the normalcy of suburbia with a husband and kids, which her husband begins to find stifling and boring.

When Goffin begins showing mental instability and infidelity and using drugs, the marriage falls apart and Carole is a single mother, on her own. But she’ll not count herself out.

“The girls deserve better,” she says, “…and so do I!” which brings a loud cheer from the audience.
Reluctantly, she agrees to do some live performances, and discovers that she’s good at it — and the performing career of Carole King is born. The show ends where it starts, at a grand piano on the stage at Carnegie Hall, with the release of King’s first album, “Tapestry.”

A parallel subplot concerns the hypochondriac but humorous Barry Mann (Jacob Heimer) and the feminist Cynthia Weil (Sarah Goeke), a competitive writing team (producing such songs as “You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feeling”) who end up being their best friends. It takes years for Mann to convince Weil that marriage is not such a bad idea.

James Clow as Don Kirshner is always pushing both writing teams to do their best, but is understanding and supportive when problems arrive.

A fun bonus of this show are the familiar names from the ’60s: Neil Sedaka (John Michael Dias), The Drifters, The Shirelles and The Righteous Brothers — who must have studied videos of their respective groups, their look and sound is so similar to the original groups. (The Shirelles have an amazing costume change which will leave you agog.)

This show is a salute to female empowerment and how one woman can rise from the ashes of a painful relationship to the top of the charts, as she sings the powerful “You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman.”

The Bodyguard

 

I never saw the 1992 movie, “The Bodyguard,” so in preparation for seeing the musical version now at the Sacramento Community Center Theater, I rented it. I was unimpressed, and did not have high expectations for the stage show.

I was very happy to have my fears erased. From the explosive first couple of minutes, guaranteed to wake the sleepiest of snoozers, the plot of this musical, while staying true to the film, takes a back seat to the musical numbers, a tribute to Whitney Houston without attempting to imitate her.

This is a good thing, because while Houston was undeniably a wonderful singer, the same was not true for her acting. Deborah Cox, who plays Rachel Marron, the superstar whose life is being threatened, is a fabulous singer and a much better actress than Houston. Songs throughout the evening are sometimes gratuitous, but often are part of a concert Rachel is giving.

Rachel is threatened by a stalker who sends ominous letters and then sneaks into her dressing room and steals a dress. Manager Bill Devaney (Charles Gray) hires former Secret Service agent Frank Farmer (Judson Mills) as Rachel’s personal bodyguard. Frank reluctantly agrees to take the job when he learns of Rachel’s young son, though he has no interest in celebrities.

Mills, who is fierce and stoic, is a former regular on the TV show “Walker, Texas Ranger” and also appeared in such TV shows as “Law and Order SVU,” “The X-Files” and “Dexter.” He is perfect for the emotionally detached Frank — and, fortunately, does not sing.

The role of Rachel’s sister, Nicki, has been expanded and actress Jasmin Richardson has some musical numbers of her own. She is easily equal to Cox in quality (and is, in fact, Cox’s understudy), giving the audience an abundance of talent to enjoy.

But the real scene stealer is young Douglas Baldeo (who alternates in the role with Kevelin B. Jones III) in the role of Rachel’s 10-year-old son, Fletcher. A rendition of “Jesus Loves Me,” which features Fletcher with his mother and aunt, is a sweet moment in the show.

It is the music that keeps this otherwise pedestrian plot moving forward, but there are some eyebrow-raising scenes that grate. Frank, who is such a stickler for security, not only takes Rachel to a karaoke bar without back-up, but even encourages her to sing.

And as it is hate at first sight between Rachel and Frank, it is strange to find the two in bed together after the ruckus that erupts at the bar.

It also seems strange that he would whisk the family away to a deserted cabin in the woods and not realize that they are being followed by the attacker. Such carelessness may explain why he is a former Secret Service agent.

The shocking confession in the movie is not in this musical and the identity of the attacker is also different, and known by the audience since the start of the show.

The show has its problems, but overall it is enjoyable. And for Whitney Houston fans, it’s a chance to revel in more than a dozen of her famous songs.

Kinky Boots

What do you get when you mix singer/songwriter Cyndi Lauper with actor/playwright Harvey Fierstein? You get glitz and glam and a fabulous production, with a pair of shoes at the center of it.

The long-awaited “Kinky Boots” is now causing toes to tap at the Community Center Theater in Sacramento. It is a non-stop singing, dancing extravaganza with more sequins than may have graced the Community Center stage in years. The colors! The lights! The music! All pour out over the audience, which caught them with whoops and cheers.

The story (yes, there is one) is actually based on the true story of a five-generation family factory (W.J. Brooks) in Northampton, England. The whole town made shoes, but because of cheap imports that flooded the market in the 1980s and ’90s, many companies were going out of business and Brooks was forced to cut his staff by more than half.

Just as all seemed bleak, the current head of the factory received a call that would change his life. A fetish store in Folkstone commissioned him to create ladies’ shoes for men. Soon, Divine Footwear was born, a subsidiary of W.J. Brooks dedicated to making “kinky boots.” By 1999, the specialty shoes made up 50 percent of the company’s revenue.

(A sad P.S. to the story was that an American company dumped a big debt on Divine Footwear and they were forced to stop production.)

But proving that there is a silver lining to dark clouds, out of that story came an indie movie (non-musical) and now this amazing musical production showcasing the music of Lauper, her first-ever Broadway show, which won her a Tony for Best Musical and Best Original Score, as well as countless other awards.

“Kinky Boots,” however, is more than just the story of rescuing a factory and creating fabulous shoes. It’s about a guy who thought outside the box and took a chance on doing things a little differently. It’s about how unlikely people overcame their differences.

It’s about how two men come together and end up healing each other and accepting each other. And in the end they end up accepting themselves too.

Curt Hansen is Charlie Price, who really isn’t into shoes and who wants to break with tradition and go to London with his social-climbing girlfriend Nicola (Katerina Papacostas). But life changes for him when his father (Tom Souhrada) dies suddenly and Charlie must decide what to do with the factory, and its employees, who have been his lifelong friends.

J. Harrison-Ghee, as Lola, is a force of nature as he bursts though a shimmering curtain and joins the rest of the dancers at a seedy London club where he first meets Charlie. He inhabits the drag-queen role with every ounce of energy he has, and an assortment of gorgeous wigs and costumes. Seeing him on stage is worth the price of admission alone.

In the Fierstein-Lauper version of the story, both men are victims of failed parental expectations, which brings them a bond of understanding, beautifully highlighted in one of the show’s most moving songs, “Not My Father’s Son.”

Each man has his own signature song that comes from the depth of his pain. For Charlie it is “Soul of a Man” berating himself for not being as passionate as his father, and for Lola it is “Hold Me In Your Heart” an accept-me-for-who-I-am statement in the manner of “I Am Who I Am” from “La Cage aux Folles.”

Surrounding these two men are a host of talented actors, including Aaron Walpole as Don, the factory worker who, after a rocky start, learns to accept Lola for who she is.

Rose Hemingway plays Lauren, the girl who has a secret crush on Charlie and who is his biggest supporter when things go wrong. Her “The History of Wrong Guys” was gut-wrenching, and perhaps more lyrical than any other song in the show.

All’s well that ends well and Lola’s “angels,” a sextet of drag queens, save the day in the rousing finale, “Raise You Up”/”Just Be.”

After all, there’s no business like shoe business.

Motown the Musical

“Motown the Musical,” now at the Sacramento Community Center Theater, is the loud, flashy, audience-pleasing story of Berry Gordy, the man who gave the world Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and the Jackson 5, just to name a few. One wonders what the music world would be like today if not for Berry Gordy.

While Gordy’s musical vision was second to none, sadly, his talents as a scriptwriter are less acute. Gordy wrote the book for this musical, which is filled with 68 Motown songs by some of the best knock-off stars around, and the script serves — barely — as a hook on which to hang those famous songs. One wonders if Gordy should have been a bit more realistic about his shortcomings and left the writing of this show to others more experienced.

But then the happy crowd was not there for the story, but for the music, as each familiar tune brought cheers from the audience from the first familiar notes.

The device used to telling the Gordy story is the 25th anniversary of Motown, for which there is a show planned in Pasadena. Gordy (Chester Gregory) is refusing to attend because he believes all of the stars he helped to make “betrayed” him by going off and making it bigger on their own. (How dare they!)

This is a good jumping-off point for meeting the young Gordy and his dream to make records, and the growth from the original “Hitsville, USA” to the more familiar Motown, a name based on the location in Detroit, “Motor City.”

While covering the 25 years of the growth of African-American music, the show gives a backdrop of the tumultuous civil rights movement, the assassinations of both President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., and so in a peripheral way, it becomes the history of black America of the 1960s.

With sensational dancing, dazzling costumes and often eerily accurate vocal imitations, the show does not disappoint.

Galen J. Williams, as Jackie Wilson (Gordy’s first find), starts things off with a rousing rendition of “Reet Petite.”

Allison Semmes makes a wonderful Diana Ross, as she goes from a giddy star-struck teenager to the icon that she becomes. Her interaction with the audience in Act 2 is particularly good and, on opening night, she pulled an amazing volunteer out of the audience to join her at the mic. (I think Semmes was as stunned as the audience.) Ross gets the most stage time because of her years-long personal relationship with Gordy.

Jesse Nager had the audience at “hello” in his first appearance as Smokey Robinson, though like most of the other big Motown names, he pretty much takes a back seat to Diana Ross throughout the show.
Leon Outlaw Jr. may have a small role as Michael Jackson but he steals the show and was decidedly an audience favorite. He had all of Jackson’s moves down and it was almost sad to see how much joy he brought to the role, thinking of Michael’s later life.

A bittersweet moment was when Jarran Muse, as Marvin Gaye, sang an a cappella version of “Mercy, Mercy Me,” trying to explain to Gordy why he was leaving Motown.

At 2 hours and 45 minutes, this is a longer-than-usual musical. If you are a big fan of very loud concerts, you will love this show, but if your sensitive ears hurt from the amplification, you might consider ear plugs. It will make the whole experience less painful and still allow you to enjoy the music and the dancing. (Ear plugs won’t fix the script, though!)

Newsies

“Newsies,” now at the Community Theater in Sacramento, is another mega hit from the Disney machine. It is a stage adaptation of the 1992 Disney movie, inspired by a newsboy strike in New York in 1899 where an organized group of children brought the city to a halt. Hundreds of boys and girls who sold newspapers on the streets of New York formed a union and marched onto the Brooklyn Bridge and other places around the city in order to put a halt to traffic and other businesses.

While they were not happy with working conditions, the straw that broke the camel’s back was when publishers Joseph Pulitzer decided to raise the distribution prices the newsboys had to pay to get papers in the first place in order to increase his profits.

The kids won. Eventually the newspaper magnets came to a workable compromise with the spokesmen for the newsies and presumably everyone lived happily ever after.

“Newsies,” the musical, with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Jack Feldman and book by Harvey Fierstein is filled with high-energy physicality with about 15 male dancers who provide enough dancing for the most ardent of dance enthusiasts. They leap, they somersault, they tap up a storm.

When the show opened on Broadway in 2012, it was planned for only 101 performances, but it quickly gained such a cult following that it ultimately ran 1005 performances, was seen by over 1 million people and made Disney another $100 million. The show received eight Tony nominations and won the award for choreography and original score.

It is fortunate that the story is easy to follow because the always horrible acoustics at the Community Theater made it just about impossible to hear the words being sung. I was afraid it was my hearing, but have since heard from several other people that they couldn’t understand any of the lyrics either.
But then you aren’t likely to go home humming any of the tunes either. They are pleasant and enjoyable, but there is nothing memorable about them.

The universal “urchin look” of the boys made it difficult to tell one from the other, but Joey Barreiro as Jack Kelly, the leader of the pack who wants to leave New York and move to Santa Fe, and Zachary Sayle as “Crutchie,” his crippled friend were both quite good, as was Morgan Keene as Katherine, harboring a secret that could make or break the strike.

The real star of this production is the set designed by Tobin Ost. It looked like it was made with the world’s largest erector set, a massive collection of metal boxes and staircases that rolled in and out and around, and ended up as one giant wall across the stage for the finale. Onto the backdrop are projections of scenes from around New York that add a note of authenticity.

This is a triumphant, feel-good musical, with lots of things to like, but not destined to become a classic theatrical work.

Book of Mormon

Billy Harrigan Tighe performs in the Broadway
Sacramento presentation of “The Book of Mormon”
at the Sacramento Community Center Theater
through March 20.
Photo by Johan Persson.

When word got out that someone was writing a musical comedy called “The Book of Mormon,” people in the Mormon church went berserk. There were angry protests about the denigration of their religion, pickets were going to be at the theater on opening night.

But then they invited some of the Mormon elite to see the show and they realized that it did not really make fun of their beliefs, though it did poke fun at things that arise out of those beliefs. The fact that both the programs for the recent San Francisco production and the current production running at the California Musical Theatre contain full-page ads paid for by the Mormon church is a good indication of how the tide has turned.

And the fact that the run of “The Book of Mormon” is nearly sold out in the 3,000-seat Community Center is another indication of how the country has fallen in love with this show. In fact, you probably will go home after the show realizing that Mormons are very nice people and that you would like to get to know some of them.

But that’s not the say the show isn’t funny or irreverent and downright vulgar in spots. I can say that the song “Hasa Diga Eebowai” is the one of the funniest songs in the show, but if I were to translate the title, it could not be printed in this newspaper, though oddly enough it is crucial to the progression of the story.

The story starts on the day a group of young Mormon missionaries complete their education and get ready to find out their assignments for the next two years — the famous “mission.” With whom will they be teamed and where will they go?

As they wait for their assignments, they sing the song “Hello!” which is a salute to all those young Mormons who ring your doorbells and try to give you information about their book.

“Hello, my name is Elder Price
And I would like to share with you
The most amazing book
It has so many awesome parts
You simply won’t believe
How much this book can change your life …”

These are young idealists, convinced they will change the world, and none more passionate than Elder Price (Billy Harrigan Tighe), who may be the holiest, most dedicated of them all. He has prayed to God that he will be sent on his mission to his favorite place in the world — Orlando.

It is a shock, then, when he is paired with Elder Cunningham (A.J. Holmes), whom everyone considers a flake and nobody seems to like very much. The two of them will be setting off for Uganda.

They encounter a lot of friendly people suffering from all sorts of problems, from maggot infections to AIDS to dealings with the War Lord called “General” in the program (Corey Jones) because his full name can’t be printed in a family publication!

But still these Ugandans are happy and accepting of their lives and have no interest in hearing about some new religion that might incite the anger of the General.

Mafala Hatimbi (Stanley Wayne Mathis) is their tour guide and is father to Nabulungi (Alexandra Ncube), whose passion and assistance is crucial to the missionaries.

The story and energetic music by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone (yes, the writers of “South Park”) will set your toes to tapping and you’ll find yourself laughing at outrageous lyrics. The dance numbers (choreography by Casey Nicholaw) are amazing. Each number is a show-stopper, as are the more tender moments such as the haunting “Sal Tlay Ka Siti,” sung by Nabulungi about “the most perfect place on Earth.”
The show is howlingly funny. And as highly irreverent as it is — poking fun at Mormon dogma all over the place — at the end it is actually spiritually uplifting with the message that love is the answer.

This is definitely a not-to-be-missed show, though it may be difficult to impossible to get tickets at this late date.

The Little Mermaid

There were dozens of little girls in blue dresses with sparkly stuff on the bodice or on their shoes, some with wands or Ariel dolls in their hands at the Sacramento Community Center theater.  They were all there to see Disney’s “Little Mermaid, a visually stunning extravaganza of special effects that allows most of the cast to swim realistically in and out among the boulder and bubbles.

It’s your typical boy-meets-fish story.  Princess of the Sea longs to live in the sunshine, while on shore, the heir to the earthly kingdom is uninterested in ruling and would rather live by the sea.  A fortuitous accident tosses him into the briny deep and she rescues him, falling instantly in love.

Like Prince Charming searching for the girl to fit the glass slipper, Prince Eric sets out to find the girl he never saw, but whose voice set his little heart going pitter pat.

Meanwhile under the sea, Princess Ariel throws a hissy fit at daddy Triton and seeks the aid of evil aunt Ursula, the octopus.  She trades her voice for feet and is tossed out on the shores of Eric’s kingdom.  He finds her, but she can’t tell him who she is.  He is in the middle of a hunt for the girl with the beautiful voice, who will become his queen.

In due time, this being a fairy tale, all is resolved, Ursula gets her comeuppance, Daddy gives his permission for the inter-species marriage and everyone lives happily ever after, presumably not serving seafood for the wedding supper.

With music by Alan Menken with lyrics by Howard Ashman and Glenn Slater, this sounds like every other Menken-Ashman show you’ve ever seen (in spots exactly like “Beauty and the Beast,”) but their tunes are fun, including the signature “Under the Sea,” sung by Arial’s best friend, the delightful lobster Sebastian (Melvin Abston). 

Alison Woods is a beautiful Ariel, with a winsome personality and a beautiful voice, while her Prince (Eric Kunze) is all macho ‘n’ stuff, with a great set of pipes.

Fred Inkley is a majestic King Triton, while Ursula (Jennifer Allen) is a mean and vindictive octopus with a strong voice to shatter the walls. Think Cruella de Ville with tentacles.

Comic relief (though none is needed!) is provided by Jeff Skowron as the delightful Chef Louis, preparing a royal feast for the prince’s visiting love interest.  (Skowron has also played the Pilot, Grimsby and Triton in other productions of this show).

There are a host of sea creatures from the seagull Grimsby (Time Winters), Ariel’s best friend Flounder (Adam Garst) and Ursulla’s two eel minions, Flotsam and Jetsam (Scott T. Leiendecker and Jeffrey Christohper [sic] Todd).

The thing that impressed me most was the subtle but constant undulating of all of the undersea characters, indicating that they were in a moving body of water.

All is under the direction of Glenn Casale, no stranger to any Sacramento area theater patron, as he has directed most Music Circus productions over the last many years.

As much fun as this show is, and as wonderful as the performers are, the real stars of the show are the technical effects, with scenery design by Kenneth Foy, who has designed for such entities as La Scala, Radio City Music Hall, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and lighting by Charlie Morrison.

With the assistance of equipment from Flying by Foy, characters float, twist, turn, and swim realistically, the costumes of Amy Clark and Mark Koss with their flowing fins adding to the realism.

No one will be disappointed in this formulaic Disney musical which hits all the right plot points, gives you a song to hum on the way home, and is a visual delight from start to finish.

Pippin

The company of the national tour of PIPPIN presented by
Broadway Sacramento at the Sacramento Community Center Theater
Dec. 29, 2015 – Jan. 3, 2016. Photo by Terry Shapiro.

“Pippin.” Is it a musical? A magic show? An acrobatic show? Something akin to Cirque du Soleil?

Well … yes to everything.

This 2013 Tony award-winning revival of the original 1972 Broadway hit by Stephen Schwartz and Roger O. Hirson with choreography by Bob Fosse, is now at the Sacramento Community Center. It’s the 1972 original on steroids, thanks to director Diane Paulus and choreographer Chet Walker, who admits his work is a tribute to Fosse.

The book on its own is not particularly interesting. Pippin is the son of Charlemagne (“Charles” in this production), who has just graduated from university, educated and on a quest to find meaning for his existence. In the original, Pippin’s journey was a play within a play of a touring theatrical group with clown-like performers.

In this most-nominated Broadway show of 2013, the stage is literally a three-ring circus, with breathtaking non-stop acrobatics, amazing magic tricks, and puzzling sleight-of-hand effects which pass by so quickly you hardly realize what’s happening. The non-stop motion is thanks to Gypsy Snider, co-founder of “Les 7 doigts de la main,” a Montreal-based circus company.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this production is that the actors become acrobats and the acrobats become singers. Someone delivers a house-shattering solo and suddenly is twirling several feet above the stage, someone else has been doing somersaults overhead and suddenly is on the stage singing in a marvelous voice. It’s impossible to determine which are strictly actors and which are strictly circus performers.

Gabrielle McClinton is the Leading Player, who has played the role on Broadway. This seductive carnival barker leads Pippin from world to world as he tries to find the extraordinary, her real agenda not fully displayed until the end when she offers him the ultimate opportunity for glory. McClinton is an accomplished singer and dancer and her performance is snappy, physical and amazing to watch.

The title role is played by Brian Flores, making his professional theater debut with this production. He is innocent and engaging, has a great voice, and can climb a rope or leap off into waiting arms with the best of them. As Pippin, he tries war, sex, political revolution and ordinary domesticity in his search for something “completely fulfilling.”

Daddy Charles is played by John Rubinstein, who actually originated the role of Pippin in 1972. No doddering old man, this Charles, whose favorite response to any request is: “Denied!” He’s a despotic ruler, who feels his youngest son Lewis (Erik Altemus, who originated the role on Broadway) is an idiot, though his love for Pippin is strong.

Lewis’ mother Fastrada (Kate Wesler) is Charles’ trophy wife and, dressed in the brilliant costumes of Dominique Lemieux, her “trophies” have never been better displayed. She is ambitious for her son, though sometimes it seems like more intimate than a mother/son relationship.

A real surprise is Pippin’s grandmother, Berthe (Sabrina Harper), exiled from the Charles’ court. Her number, “No time at all,” may be the most surprising of the show, but to describe it would be to spoil the surprise. Suffice to say, it is quite memorable.

The widowed Catherine (Bradley Benjamin) is offered to Pippin to give him a taste of domestic life. Her son Theo was played on opening night by Jake Berman, who shares the role with Ben Krieger. Catherine’s growing love for Pippin is frightening to him because she is nothing “extraordinary” and he must find something extraordinary for his life.

This is an evening of razzle dazzle from the start, a sumptuous marriage of circus and simple musical story. In the end, it is a show you will never forget.

Cinderella

Kecia Lewis and Paige Faure perform in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s "Cinderella,"
presented by Broadway Sacramento at the Sacramento Community Center Theater
through Sunday. Carol Rosegg/Courtesy photo

It was like going to a royal wedding at the Sacramento Community Center for the opening of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella.”

There was a royal white Cinderella coach drawn by white horses on which you could have your picture taken, which pulled up in front of the theater. The red carpet featured a parade of pint-sized princesses with tiaras and sparkly shoes. (Left your tiara at home? No problem. You can buy one in the lobby.) In the lobby you could also pose in front of the stairway to the palace.

In the theater itself, the stage was dominated by a magnificent forest of trees which, over the course of the evening, would move in all sorts of wonderful ways to make different configurations.

In the orchestra pit there was a real live orchestra with a real live conductor (Jay Alger). So many musicals these days use synthetic music that the sound of a full orchestra of more than a dozen musicians and 20 real instruments was as refreshing as six months at the seaside.

Then there was the production, which features the most spectacular magical costume change I have ever seen — the sort that makes you want to hit “rewind” so you can see it again because you can’t believe what you just saw (kudos to William Ivey Long, costume designer). And if that wasn’t spectacular enough, or in case you missed it the first time, they’ll do a variation of it in the second act — just as spectacular.

There’s even a real fire-breathing dragon to start things off. No expense has been spared on this production!

This is not Disney’s Cinderella. Many of the traditional elements are there, but this version was written in 1957 as a TV vehicle for Julie Andrews. Then there was a 1965 version with Lesley Ann Warren and a 1997 version with Whitney Houston and Brandy.

The current book by Douglas Carter Beane, is a more politically correct version of the familiar story. Cinderella’s (Audrey Cardwell) main goal in going to the ball is to warn Prince Topher (Andy Huntington Jones) of the terrible things going on in his country.

While he has been out slaying dragons and fighting giants, he has left the running of the country to his power-mad Lord Chancellor, Sebastian (Branch Woodman), who has brought the citizenry to starvation and eviction from their homes.

Stepsister Gabrielle (Kaitlyn Davidson) is not evil at all, and really wants nothing to do with becoming queen because she is secretly in love with Jean-Michel (David Andino), the social activist who is trying to get his message to the prince. Gabrielle, in fact, helps Cinderella get to the ball so she herself can sneak off to work in a soup kitchen with Jean-Michel.

The Fairy Godmother, Marie (Kecia Lewis), is not the cuddly little grandmother from the Disney film, but an over-the-top vision in purple and sequins (her own transformation is pretty spectacular, too), there to push Ella to take charge, make her own decisions, and fight for her own destiny.

There is still an evil stepmother (Paige Williams), who does make Ella do all the dirty work, but she’s not as mean as we have come to expect.

Stepsister Charlotte, an audience favorite, who tries desperately to fit her foot into the glass slipper, is the comic figure in the show and her “Stepsisters’ Lament” tickles the funny bone.

Anna Louizos’ scenery is sumptuous and the costumes are show-stoppers, especially in the waltz scene where the lighting design of Kenneth Posner made it magical.

It was nice to hear the sound of an old-fashioned musical. Though none of the songs were familiar, they were unmistakably Rodgers and Hammerstein. In fact, one song (“Now is the Time”) sounded like it could have been lifted from “South Pacific,” and I was surprised to read later that it had, in fact, been cut from that show.

This is a production that will entertain all generations in the family, from grandma down to the toddlers.

Spoiler alert: The prince ends up with Cinderella.

Once

 

“Once,” with the book by Enda Walsh and music and lyrics by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, is not your typical Broadway musical. It was based on the movie by John Carney, made for an unbelievable $150,000.

Proving that you don’t need lots of CGI or to spend billions of dollars, this low-budget film became a big hit and won the 2007 Academy Award for best song and the 2007 Independent Spirit Award for best foreign film. It also grossed more than $9 million in the United States alone.

In 2011, the New York Theater Workshop brought a stage version to Broadway. It opened to a sold-out extended run, and picked up eight Tony awards. Now “Once” has come to Sacramento and, judging by the waves of crowds flowing into the Sacramento Community Theater, it is going to be a mega-hit here, too.

The original songs from the movie are in the stage show, though the book has been expanded.

This is a quiet show that doesn’t hit you over the head with any message. There are no fancy tech pieces flying about, no glitz, no loud synthesized music. It’s a love story — or it isn’t — and it’s a joyous celebration of music and relationships between people, through making music together. Its brilliance is in the impeccable direction of John Carney, and in the wonderful performances of the actor-musicians.

The set is a Dublin pub, slightly more expansive feeling than a real Irish pub, but they have lots of stage space to fill. The set design is by Bob Crowley, who cleverly includes a large mirror behind the bar, which allows the audience to see both sides of conversations that take place at the bar itself.
The musicians start “jamming” about 15 minutes before the show actually begins and audience members are permitted to join them on stage to enjoy the music, both toe-tapping Irish tunes, and the less-well-known, but equally lively Czech music.

The show begins without fanfare and, in fact, you aren’t sure it has really begun until the lights in the theater slowly begin to dim.

The hero, identified only as “Guy” (Stuart Ward), is a disillusioned young musician whose girl has just left to go to America and who has lost his confidence in himself and his ability to write music that others want to hear. He’s about to give up his dream of a musical career and continue to work in his father’s vacuum cleaner repair shop.

The heroine, identified as “Girl” (Dani de Waal), is a Czech young woman who hears Guy sing his song of unrequited love (“Leave”) and is taken with his passion. She offers to let him clean the vacuum cleaner she just happens to bring into the pub and in return she will pay him with music. She is an accomplished pianist.

DeWaal is a quietly winsome yet vulnerable Girl and her optimism about Guy’s talent is hard to resist. Over the next week she forces Guy to believe in himself again, to get a loan from the bank to pay for a recording session and, over 24 hours, to record a CD. Though that may seem a bit far-fetched in reality, you really do believe that this could be possible.

Girl’s costume helps in keeping space between herself and Guy as, though they are obviously having feelings for each other, she keeps her hands in her pockets almost all the time. We find out why in time.

A huge part of what makes this musical work is the musician-actors. Every musician on stage is also an actor — and a dancer, dancing some wonderfully choreographed numbers (movement by Steven Hoggett). Particularly delightful is Benjamin Magnuson (who also plays the bank manager) dancing with his cello, with moves Woody Allen never thought of in “Take the Money and Run.”

Also delightful is Evan Harrington (guitar, percussion, ukulele) as Billy, the owner of the pub. He’s big and blustery with that wonderful hair-trigger Irish temper that adds such authenticity to his performance.

Tina Stafford (accordion and concertina) plays Baruska, Girl’s mother, who seems to be developing a “thing”for Billy.

The only non-musician on the stage is Sarah McKinley Austin, as the child Ivanka. She is appearing in her first touring Broadway show and is adorable.

The final duet, “Falling Slowly,” with Girl at the piano and Guy on his guitar, is achingly beautiful and is at once a promise of a happy ending and a bittersweet reality of what might have been, and never will be.

This is an unforgettable musical and should appeal to everyone.

Rain

 

I had not seen that many arms waving the peace sign in decades.

The Beatles Tribute band, Rain, has returned to the Sacramento Community Center with a new and improved Beatles tribute, and the hundreds of ecstatic fans were screaming and whistling and clapping as soon as the lights went down, before the curtain even went up.

Their excitement was rewarded by a two-hour homage to the Fab Four by a group that has been celebrating The Beatles phenomenon for longer than The Beatles themselves actually were together (the Rain band started in 1975).

Aided by an incredible multi-media presentation using LED and hi-def screens, “Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles” takes the audience through Beatles history, starting with their appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” through the Shea Stadium concert, into their psychedelic years and their final concerts together, becoming more socially conscious and working to “give peace a chance.”

Included in this updated tribute are songs The Beatles recorded in the studio, but never performed for an audience. It’s all music, with no scripted dialog, though there are some clever asides to the audience now and then.

The audience whistled and cheered, clapped, waved their arms, sang along with familiar songs, got up and danced and in general had a fabulous time, all the while waving at themselves projected large on the screen on stage at the grand finale.

All four of the performers in Rain — Joey Curatolo (Paul), Steve Landes (John), Joe Bithorn (George) and Ralph Castelli (Ringo) — also performed in various versions of the Beatlemania band. All were profoundly affected by The Beatles at an early age.

Castelli knew from the moment he saw Ringo Starr on “The Ed Sullivan Show” that he wanted to be a drummer. He not only toured as Ringo in Beatlemania, but also played Starr in “Beatlemania: the Movie.”

Bithorn likewise was smitten after watching the Sullivan show and took up the guitar. He toured with Beatlemania as George until he joined Rain in 1983.

Curatolo, who taught himself to play the guitar at age 10, toured with the Broadway production after winning multiple McCartney sound-alike contests.

Landes is a second-generation Beatles fan who also taught himself guitar at age 10 by listening to Beatles records. He also traveled with Beatlemania and joined Rain in 1998.

The four are joined by keyboardist Mark Beyer, to fill in not only piano sounds, but also, when necessary, violin, harp and other instruments.

In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that I was never a Beatles fan, so I cannot speak to the accuracy of arrangement or vocal imitation, though it all sounded pretty spot-on to me, and the audience loved it. These are talented musicians and they put on an amazing show.

The opening segment alone, with banks of TV screens showing clips from Ed Sullivan — the host and the group and then thousands of screaming fans in the audience — set the stage for what was to come.

Later, the Shea Stadium concert was given authenticity by a stage-wide projection of the audience at that concert that made you feel you actually were there in the stands looking at the audience on the other side of the field.

The clever introduction of period television commercials to entertain the audience while the group members change costumes was fun. (Who remembers that Fred and Barney were once spokespersons for Winston cigarettes?)

As the group hits the ’60s and ’70s, light shows enhance the psychedelic years along with “Yellow Submarine”-type animation.

What is best about this show for the audience is the shared experience, remembering back to those bell-bottom days. Everyone (except perhaps me) has their own memories of how they were affected by The Beatles and Rain gives them a chance to relive those days.

It doesn’t matter that these guys aren’t the real deal — they sound real, they look real and they sing the songs that became the fabric of our lives.

Wicked

 

It is clear when you enter the memorial auditorium and see a fire breathing (or rather smoke blowing) dragon hanging over the stage, when you watch Glinda float to the stage in her metallic bubble, or when the Great and Powerful Oz starts huffing and puffing, why “Wicked” has been declared a “cultural phenomenon” by “Variety,” “The best musical of the decade by “Entertainment Weekly,” and has won over 50 major awards, including the Grammy and three Tony Awards.

There’s no question about it, this musical is magnificent.  A large cast, a spectacular set, beautiful costumes and more special effects than have been seen on the auditorium stage in a very long time.  There is an added plus of a real orchestra that does not need so much amplification that your ears hurt.

It is also clear why after an absence of only two years, the California Musical Theater Company is already bringing it back.  The ~2,500 seat house appeared to be, if not completely full, at least very nearly full.

“Wicked” is based on the wildly popular novel of the same name by Gregory Maguire, which tells the “back story” of the beloved Oz characters.  It is Maguire’s prequel to “The Wizard of Oz,” answering such questions as “why is the wicked witch green?” “Does she have a name?” (Yes--Elphaba--Maguire’s homage to L. Frank Baum’s name), “Why is she so mean?” “What do we know about her sister, other than that she was killed by a falling house?” and “Can anyone really be as sticky sweet as Glinda?”  (We never do learn if there was ever a Witch of the South, though).

Maguire’s book was adapted for the stage by Winnie Holzman with music and lyrics added by Stephen Schwartz.

Those familiar with the performances of Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, who originated the characters on Broadway will find that Emma Hunton (Elphaba) and Gina Beck (Glinda) have made the roles unique to themselves. Hunton, a powerful Elphaba, has appeared in no previous productions of this show, though Beck, making her U.S. debut, did play Glinda in London.

The characters meet at school.  Glinda is the overly perky, blonde, cheerleader type, who arrives at Shiz University surrounded by her adoring entourage and just knowing she is going to end up with the most handsome guy on campus.  She is a flibbertigibbet concerned only with herself, her looks, and what makes her look good.

Elphaba, having had a sad childhood that included abuse at the hands of her father, and being made to be the caretaker for her disabled sister Nessarose (Jenny Florkowski) is a serious student, concerned about real world problems, in particular the fact that something baaaad is happening in Oz, as Professor Dillamond (a goat) (Tom Flynn) is losing his ability to speak and forgetting how to understand, as are many of the heretofore English speaking animals in the country.

Through an error, Glinda and Elphaba are assigned to be roommates and it’s instant loathing for both, though over time Glinda can’t help herself and decides to help Elphaba become “Popular” (one of the perky hummable tunes from this show).

Rounding out the cast are a host of Ozians, such as Boq (Jesse JP Johnson), the Munchkin who is in love with Glinda and is willing to do anything she wants to win her heart, though in the process he loses his own.

Nick Adams is Fiyero, who arrives at Shiz the male equivalent of Glinda...not interested in study, wanting only to party and hang out with the most beautiful girls on campus.  Over the course of the show, he finds true love and undergoes perhaps the greatest transformation of anyone in the show.

Tim Kazurinsky is the Wizard, harboring a secret longing all of his life and realizing, too late, that he didn’t have to look farther than his own front yard because it was there all the time.

Alison Frasesr is Madame Morrible, headmistress at Shiz, who takes Elphaba under her wing when she discovers the girl has magical powers that can help her in her own goals.

There are wonderful enchanting moments in this show (such as the Act 1 Finale) and the tender farewell of Glinda and Elphaba, singing “For Good,” a song with which anyone who has had and lost a good friend can identify.

It’s a long show, but passes in an instant.  It’s also a pricey show, so see if you can win one of those $25 Wicked lottery tickets.  A day-of-performance lottery for a limited number of orchestra seats will be held. Two and one-half hours prior to each performance, people who present themselves at the Convention Center Box Office, 1301 L Street, will have their names placed in a lottery drum; thirty minutes later, names will be drawn for a limited number of orchestra seats at $25 each, cash only. This lottery is available only in-person at the box office, with a limit of two tickets per person. Lottery participants must have a valid photo ID when submitting their entry form and, if chosen, when purchasing tickets. For questions about the lottery, call the box office at (916) 557-1999.