Hamlet

I first reviewed Ian Hopps in 2016 in a production of “Bells are Ringing” for the Davis Shakespeare Festival. I called him “a dream of a leading man.” I have since seen Hopps in several productions in Sacramento and Davis, but he has now taken a huge leap and is stunning as Hamlet in the current Sacramento Theatre Company production. His rendition of the famous “To be or not to be” soliloquy is appropriately mesmerizing, as a tortured Hamlet considers his options.

Directors Casey McClellan and Greg Foro have worked to make the show accessible and engaging for a contemporary audience. It is set in a modern-day Denmark, the set by Timothy McNamara being a series of long sheer curtains that the tech crew moved back and forth to set parts of the stage for different scenes. Costumes by Jessica Minnihan were contemporary.

During Shakespeare’s lifetime, “Hamlet” was his most popular play and still ranks as one of the most performed.

The well-known story is about Hamlet’s rage on learning from his father’s ghost that he was murdered by Claudius (Eric Wheeler), Hamlet’s uncle and the deceased king’s brother. Adding to Hamlet’s rage is the fact that his mother, Gertrude (Jamie Jones) has married Claudius. Hamlet plans revenge and, feigning madness, he stages a whole play to let Claudius know he is aware of his crime.

Wheeler and Jones may be better known in Sacramento for their lighter roles, but they are up to the task of Shakespeare. Jones is particularly moving in her emotional scene with Hamlet in Act 2.

Dan Fagan is Laertes, whose final sword fight with Hamlet was very believable, probably due to the fight choreography of Karen Vance.

Vance also plays Ophelia, Hamlet’s love interest and their brief scenes together show a warmth and loving bond between them, destroyed by Hamlet’s “madness.”

Gary Alan Wright is Ophelia’s loving father Polonius, who provides comic relief but is accidentally murdered by Hamlet (not a good idea to hide behind a curtain during an emotional scene!).

Taylor Vaughan and Devin Valdez are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, childhood friends of Hamlet, who pretend to remain his friends, though they are now working for Claudius to discover the truth behind Hamlet’s madness.

This is part ghost story, part political intrigue, with a doomed romance that unfolds as a murder mystery, some great sword fights and lots of blood. If you’ve been missing “Game of Thrones,” this production may be a nice substitute.

The one “good guy” is Horatio (Ian Capper), tasked by Hamlet upon his death, not to kill himself in sadness, but to tell his story.

Pump Boys and Dinettes

 

Any show with a tap-dancing accordion player has got to be fun.

“Pump Boys and Dinettes” by John Foley, Mark Hardwick, Debra Monk, Cass Morgan, John Schimmel and Jim Wann is now on Sacramento Theatre Company’s Pollock stage. This is a 1982 Tony-award-nominated musical written by a performing group of the same name. It became Chicago’s longest-running theater production for many years.

This concert-style musical centers around the story of four men — L.M., Jim, Eddie and Jackson — who work at a gas station and two sisters, Rhetta and Prudie Cupp, who work at a diner called the Double Cupp-all in an isolated, small-town road stop somewhere between Frog Level and Smyrna, N.C.

The show was conceived when two of the writers (Wann and Hardwick) were playing music in a restaurant in New York City and wrote of their experiences in the restaurant.

As Jim Wann said in a 2010 interview, “I was a scuffling songwriter/guitarist and Mark Hardwick was a piano player/actor … Mark and I were unemployed and happy to take a job playing five nights a week in the Cattleman Lounge, attached to a restaurant on one of the darker blocks west of Grand Central. Our mission was to play country standards to entertain the ‘tired businessman’ who had come for the drinks, the steaks, and the waitresses in classic Western saloon girl attire.”

On slow nights, they would play original music, gradually adding costumes, which gave them the look of guys who worked in a gas station.

This is more a stand-alone story tied together with music, but it spotlights each of the characters: Jim (Sam C. Jones), L.M. (Brady Wease), Jackson (Darrell Johnston), Rhetta (Rebecca Mason), Prudie (Sidney Raey-Gonzales) and Eddie (Michael LaPlante).  The men are postponing working on Uncle Bob’s Winnebago by singing, they say.

As for the girls, they spend their time baking pies and flirting with the men.

Each of the performers gets his or her turn to shine. LaPlante, as Eddie, sings a loving song about his beloved grandmother, whose photo hangs on the wall. Johnston rocks out to “Mona,” Wease brings down the house with his Dolly Parton memory. The women stand out in their song “The Best Man” about “the one who got away.”

The charismatic Jones, who is sort of the MC of the show, stands out in each of the songs in which he is featured.

While this does not sound like much of a show, the 20 high-spirited country-rock tunes make this a concert rather than a real musical play, and many have the audience clapping along while the girls dance in the audience. Some highlights include “T.N.D.P.W.A.M.” (“The Night Dolly Parton Was Almost Mine”) by L.M., “Tips” by the girls, and a Menu Song. There is even a raffle for someone in the audience to win a new car … air freshener.

Scenic designer Andrew Fiffick has managed to create a complex set in the tiny Pollock theater, with half of the set in the garage and the other half in the restaurant. Costume designer Jessica Minnihan get stars for L.M.’s costume for the Dolly Parton number.

Director/choreographer Abbey Campbell has created a look that is special, with all of the musical numbers as precise and crisp as a military parade.

This show aspires to be nothing but a fun evening, to show off the talents of the cast. Add to that a collection of toe-tapping music and you have a show that will appeal to an audience.

A Christmas Carol

 

As important as Bing Crosby Christmas carols are to my enjoyment of the holiday season is the Sacramento Theatre Company’s production of “A Christmas Carol,” particularly with Matt K. Miller, playing the role of Scrooge this year for the eighth time.

This musical was commissioned by STC 32 years ago, written by Richard Hellesen with music by David de Berry, and has been an audience favorite ever since. This year’s production is directed by Michael Laun and Miranda D. Lawson (who also plays Mrs. Cratchit and Mrs. Fezziwig).
There are 35 named characters in the show and 39 actors, many of whom do more than one role and alternate with other actors throughout the run of the show.

The success of any production of “A Christmas Carol” is Ebenezer Scrooge himself, the miserly grump who finds holidays a “humbug” and just an excuse to steal money from employers by employees who take the day off to celebrate with their families, yet still expect a salary.

I have reviewed four of Miller’s eight performances. He just gets better and better. He has perfected the moments when the curmudgeon has a positive thought because of something he is shown. His absolute childish glee at the end, realizing that he has not missed Christmas after all is infectious, and his affection for Tiny Tim (Leo Bettinger, sharing the role with Kit Bettinger and David Ngirmidol) brings tears to the eyes.

In several reviews from previous years, I have complained about the reverberation used for the ghosts and I will complain again this year. Jacob Marley (Eric Wheeler) and the ghost of Christmas Past (Olivia Stevenson) were so reverberated as to make most of their dialog unintelligible, particularly bad for Wheeler, who gave an over the top dramatic performance that was lost due to reverb distortion. There was only minor reverb for the Ghost of Christmas Present (the effusive Ryan Blanning), and it was lovely to be able to hear him so clearly.

Blanning also plays an enthusiastic Fezziwig, Scrooge’s first employer, who makes working so enjoyable by the way he treats his employees. It makes the Scrooge of today have passing thoughts of how he treats his own clerk, Bob Cratchit (Mike DiSalvo).

Lexie Allison is a warm and loving Fan (Scrooge’s sister). She shares the role with Isabella Hernandez. The role of Ebenezer the child is shared by Lorenzo Lopez and Miller Traum. Sadly, I missed which actor played it on opening night, but he was quite good.

Griffith Munn plays Scrooge as a young man, in love with Belle (Maddy Grace Wood, who alternates with Elysia Martinez).

Devin Weiser is a street singer, who fills in many “change the scenery” spots. What a beautiful, clear voice she has. Lucy Lederer and Cara McIntyre share the role of the beggar child whom Scrooge attacks in his curmudgeon days.

The set by Renee Degarmo and Jarrod Bodensteiner is a wonder, with large pieces that roll or rotate while actors walk them telling the Dickens story, morphing into the characters singing the songs about the story. The smoothness of the transitions is due in large part to the lighting design of Jordan Burkholder, who directs the audience to one side of the stage while the technicians are quietly changing the scenery on the other side.

Costumes by Jessica Minnihan are lush, especially in party scenes, though I did wonder why so many of the guests at Fezziwig’s party were wearing glasses when there did not seem to be any other scene where glasses were so prevalent.

Charles Dickens described the holidays as “a good time: a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of in the long calendar of the year when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of other people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.”

As we move forward through this holiday season may we, like Scrooge, take those words to heart and be a little more kind, a little more forgiving, and a little more loving toward those around us.

Sacramento Theater Company’s “A Christmas Carol” is a 32-year-old Sacramento tradition and should be on everyone’s list of things to do to enhance their holiday spirit.

Deathtrap

 

There are some serious problems with trying to review the play “Deathtrap” by Ira Levin (who gave us “Rosemary’s Baby” and “Stepford Wives,” among others). The play holds the record for the longest-running comedy-thriller on Broadway. First produced in 1978, it was nominated for that year’s Tony Award for Best Play. In 1982, the play was adapted into a movie starring Michael Caine, Christopher Reeve and Dyan Cannon. While a few of the jokes seem dated, overall the script holds up well.

There’s nothing wrong with Sacramento Theatre Company’s production, directed by Michael Laun, which is excellent, and the five-character cast is a strong ensemble. The problem is that the show is so full of twists and turns that to talk about any of them would be to spoil the fun for someone new to the play.

Billed as a “comedy thriller,” it is more thriller than comedy and has surprises, plot twists and shocking moments that make the audience gasp — all combined to make for a great evening’s entertainment.

The story begins as writer Sidney Bruhl (Casey McClellan), who is in the middle of a slump — his last four plays have flopped and he is living off his wealthy wife Myra (Natasha Hause) — receives a script of a new play written by one of his students, his first play.

The script is perfect. It has everything to make it a Broadway success and Sidney begins to speculate about how he could convince the student, Clifford Anderson (Dan Fagan) to let him “polish” it, with the thought that he could share in the proceeds — or, better, steal the script entirely and publish it as his own.

As he plots and plans, Myra becomes worried that he will actually kill his student and isn’t quite sure if she’s happy or upset about it. She spends a lot of time pacing and wringing her hands, growing more and more upset. Hause gives a convincing performance, but the more nervous her character gets, the faster she speaks and it is sometimes difficult to understand what she is saying.

McClellan, on the other hand, is powerful and sometimes downright frightening, especially when he paces angrily inches from the front row of the audience. His performance is memorable.
The comic element is provided by neighbor Helga Ten Dorp (Gail Dartez), a madcap psychic, who visits because she senses something painful is about to happen (“tonight, not in many years have I had such a feeling”).

Fagan as Clifford also gives an excellent performance as this complicated character. Clifford is not quite as innocent as we originally think.

Greg Parker is fine as the lawyer Porter Milgrim, who has his own embarrassing secrets, revealed at the end.

Scenic designer Tim McNamara has built a beautiful set filled with hints of what is to come. The thunder and lightning by lighting designer Sarah Winter sync perfectly with the action on stage and add a few more cringe-worthy moments for the audience.

This is a fun night of theater. Go and bring a friend so you have someone to discuss the plot with — but don’t tell anybody else and spoil it for them.

Northanger Abbey

There are many reasons to see Sacramento Theatre Company’s world premiere production of “Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey,” adapted by local playwright, Carissa Meagher, but foremost among them is Olivia Stevenson, an alum of STC’s Young Professionals Conservatory, who plays both Austen herself and Catherine Morland, the heroine of the novel.

Stevenson has the herculean task of being on stage almost the entire show and she is magnificent.
“Northanger Abbey” was Jane Austen’s very first novel, but it was not published until it was discovered by her brother after her death. It was Austen’s satirical contribution to the gothic novels of the time, which she so enjoyed.

It was that satire that appealed to playwright Meagher. “I found myself absorbed in the budding romance of the book’s protagonist, Catherine Morland and her new suitor Henry Tilney, while also curious about the darkness to be found at Northanger Abbey — only to find myself suddenly cracking up at Austen’s commentary on it all.

STC decided that its 75th anniversary was the perfect time to introduce this 20-something playwright’s work to the world. And what a delight it is.

Feeling that the story needed a narrator, Meagher introduced Austen herself, along with her brother Henry (Corydon Melgoza). The story begins with the pair discovering Jane’s forgotten novel. They begin to read from the book and tell the story of the unlikely heroine who goes from a wild and free-spirited kid, who much prefers rolling down hills and playing cricket to learning the piano, to an intelligent young lady, ready for a life in society.

Catherine is invited by her neighbors, the Allens (Marie Bain and Michael Jenkinson, who also play Catherine’s parents at the start of the show) to come with them to Bath so that she can be part of the social season. Uncomfortable and shy, Jane makes friends with Isabella (Rebecca Mason, in an engaging performance) whose brother John (Mike DiSalvo) finds her appealing, though she is put off by his boorish attitude and has no interest in him. She is, however, interested in the dashing Henry Tilney (James Edwards) and becomes friends with his beautiful sister, Eleanor (Devin Wiesner).
Henry’s father, the stern, tyrannical General Tilney, is played by Capital Stage co-founder Jonathan Rhys Williams, who has not been on the STC stage since 2008. In those days he played the handsome young suitor roles, but he has grown into middle age roles elegantly.

Invited to Henry’s home, Northanger Abbey, Catherine’s gothic suspicions kick in and she becomes convinced that Henry’s mother was killed by his father and she searches the house trying to find clues. When the general discovers that Catherine is not rich, he denies Henry’s desire to propose to her, until the truth of her history is revealed.

Jarrod Bodensteiner has done a wonderful job of creating a gothic-looking castle using only a few doors, moved easily from place to place. It’s how to make a set without actually making a set — and it works

Isaiah Leeper’s lighting design is also integral to the story, going from present to past to gothic.
Teresa Stirling-Forsyth and Michael Jenkinson have directed a tight production that is certain to please any Austen lover, and a few new to the author themselves.

Sacramento Theatre Company’s 75th season is off to a good start.

Disaster!

The cast of “Disaster!” includes, from left, Nicole Sterling, Tim Stewart, Natasha Hause,
Jamie Jones and Michael Cross. The Sacramento Theatre Company
production runs through Sunday, May 12.
Charr Crail Photography/Courtesy photo

The laughter was so continuous at the opening night of Sacramento Theatre Company’s “Disaster!” that it was sometimes difficult to hear the dialogue. But that didn’t matter because the plot is more or less negligible to the zany nonsense going on on stage.

This jukebox musical, written by Seth Rudetsky and Jack Plotnick (with additional material by Drew Garaci), uses 27 popular songs of the ’70s like “I Am Woman,” “Feelings,” and “I Will Survive,” played by the five-piece onstage orchestra, to move the action forward — action that never stops, thanks to the nimble hands of director Michael Laun.

This is a parody of those silly ’70s disaster movies like “Poseidon Adventure,” “Jaws” and “Towering Inferno.” The setting is the opening of a new floating casino, and the first act pretty much introduces us to the players (a cast of 20 first-rate actors) who will be trying to escape the casino when disaster strikes in Act 2.

Tony (Tim Stewart), whose baby this casino is, has built it Trump-like, ignoring rules and regulations and taking shortcuts wherever possible. Professor Ted Scheider (Casey McClellan) is the disaster expert who knows what is going to happen but can’t get anybody to believe him. They’re all having too good of a time.

New York Times reporter Marianne (Melissa Brausch) is trying to write an article about Tony’s cost-cutting measures, which have made the casino unsafe.

Because there has to be a love story in there, Marianne runs into former lover Chad (Sam C. Jones) and the two rediscover their “Feelings” for each other, which may lead to their peril.

Lounge singer Jackie (Natasha Hause) is waiting for philandering Tony to pop the question. She has two children, Lisa and Ben, both played by Elizabeth Lamora (alternating with Kateyn Reeves), who proves that you can play two characters on stage at the same time if you stage it right!

The guests are great, particularly Nicole Sterling as Sister Mary Downy, a nun with a previous gambling addiction, trying to resist the lure of the slot machines as she attempts to let people know that if they gamble, they will go to hell. Her “Never Can Say Goodbye” is a highlight.

Maury and Shirley (Michael Cross and Jamie Jones) are a retired couple, celebrating Maury’s retirement (“You’re Still the One”). Shirley is a salute to Shirley Winters’ character in “Poseidon Adventure,” who ends up saving the young lovers. Winters’ character called on her swimming skills; this Shirley resurrects her skills as a former high school tap-dancing champion to tap out the morse code instructions to open a watertight door.

Miranda D. Lawson is Levora, a disco diva, who, in songs such as “Theme from Mahagony” and “Knock on Wood,” shows that she’s not quite ready for retirement yet.

Kudos to scenic designers Jarrod Bodensteiner and Renee Degarmo for creating realistic earthquakes and flooding, with the aid of Emma Bramble’s sound design and Craig Vincent’s lighting design.
If you like to laugh, and especially if you were a fan of either ’70s pop music or those crazy disaster films, this is the show for you!

Man of La Mancha

The Sacramento Theatre Company has opened a sumptuous new production of “Man of La Mancha,” directed by Michael Jenkinson.

The Broadway hit, by Dale Wasserman, with music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion is a musical drama — a play within a play within a play — which tells the story of Miguel de Cervantes, thrown into prison while awaiting examination by the Holy Inquisition for having the effrontery to foreclose on a church that had not paid its taxes. Cervantes’ original text was written in 1605.
Greeting the new arrivals, Cervantes’ fellow prisoners hold their own inquisition, a mock trial, accusing the writer of being, among other things, an idealist and a bad poet. If “convicted,” he will lose his belongings, which consist primarily of a trunk of theatrical costumes and props, and an unfinished manuscript. In his defense, the author proposes he act out the story of the manuscript, using other prisoners to fill in the roles.

It is the story of Alonso Quijano, an idealistic old man who imagines himself to be living in medieval times as a knight errant, Don Quixote de La Mancha, who travels the countryside fighting beasts and rescuing damsels in distress.

“He ponders the problem of how to make better a world where evil brings profit and virtue none at all, where fraud and deceit are mingled with truth and sincerity,” he says. He promises not to allow wickedness to flourish. The delusional Quijano is an embarrassment to his respectable family.
Director Jenkinson explains that “The themes this beautiful piece explores — truth, justice, love, accountability, and hope, to name a few — are timeless in their importance, and serve as profound lessons in the human experience.”

Chris Vettel is a commanding Cervantes, a strong actor with a rich baritone, never shown better than in the classic “Impossible Dream.” Vettel has the ability to transform himself into the idealistic Don Quixote with a mere change in the look in his eyes, and to return to the person of Cervantes just as easily. It’s an amazing feat!

Quixote’s faithful squire, Sancho Panza, is played by Jake Mahler, whose earnestness and love for his master is beautiful.

Nicole Sterling was a wonderful choice of the server Aldonza, whom Quixote elevates to the role of a wonderful “lady” and calls Dulcinea. Aldonza, the sexual plaything of all the men in the hotel, which Quixote calls a castle, has the lowest opinion of herself possible and can’t understand what “good” Quixote sees in her. (“What does he want of me?”) Though, ultimately it is Dulcinea who brings the greatest comfort to the dying old man.

Matt K. Miller gives a somewhat different interpretation of the Innkeeper (also the “governor” of the prison). A wonderful comedian, Miller gives more comedic overtones to the Innkeeper than I remember seeing before and it is a nice respite from the heaviness of the script.

In the role of “The Duke” in the prison and the old man’s physician, “Dr. Carrasco” back in reality, Michael RJ Campbell gives his usual towering performance.

Samuel Clein directs an on-stage orchestra of five, which is so much better than the recorded music STC sometimes uses.

Eric Broadwater has designed an uncomfortable prison, so dark and dank that you can almost feel the cold the prisoners must endure.

Director Jenkinson says that the musical may have more relevance today than it had when originally written, with Don Quixote journeying through his fantasy world, believing that true madness is to see life as it is and not as it should be. The line in the show which gets a big, if uneasy laugh, is, “Facts are the enemy of truth.”

Macbeth

Something wicked this way comes, and it comes with goddesses chanting, and lots of drums playing ominously.

The play is Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” (or “The Scottish Play” as superstitious thespians prefer to call it, fearing that speaking the actual name will bring bad luck), now at the Sacramento Theatre Company.

This version, set in 11th-century Scotland, is directed by Casey McClellan and is inspired by paganism and ancient ritual. The three witches, for example (Janet Motenko, Ruby Sketchley and Monique Lonergan), represent the Triple Goddess: the Maiden, the Mother and the Crone. They serve Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft and magic (Carissa Meagher).

This is a less-bloody-than-usual version of the classic, relying instead on the believability of the emotions of the characters than on the visual examples of the atrocities occurring, for the most part, off stage. (The “bloodiest” character wears red, but does not drip blood, as in some versions I have seen.)

With his tall stature and dark, searing eyes, William Elsman is unmistakably Macbeth, a man driven by ambition, who does terrible things to achieve his goals, but he is a man who is unable to bear the psychological consequences of his actions, and is constantly tormented with guilt. His later descent into madness as his power-hungry killing spree begins to weigh heavily on his soul was decidedly believable.

A worthy companion is Atim Udoffia as Lady Macbeth, who is smart, ambitious, brave and ruthless. Her passion for her husband is as strong as her passion for helping him become king. Her anguish over the murder of Duncan, a murder she precipitates, prevents her from sleeping soundly and her famous soliloquy while sleepwalking reveals how much their actions are weighing on her. Unlike her husband, she is eventually overwhelmed by her guilt and commits suicide.

Ian Hopps gives an intense performance as Macduff, the thane of Fife, who discovers the murder of the King, particularly when he learns of his family’s murder. It is he who ultimately kills Macbeth, yet acts not out of revenge, but to save Scotland from destruction.

Meagher returns as Lady Macduff, on stage just long enough to get murdered in a revenge killing.

Special note should be made of sixth-grader Sebi Fernandez, in his first year of STC’s Young Professionals Conservatory, for his performance as Fleance, son of Macduff, who suffers one of the best on-stage deaths I have seen in a long time. (Fernandez alternates in the role with Dakoda Jones.)

Macbeth’s buddy and companion is Banquo (Michael Jenkinson). When the witches prophesy that his children will one day be the kings of Scotland, it is enough to send Macbeth into a jealous rage and kill his friend, only to be haunted by his ghost as he begins his descent into madness.

As this play progresses, it is inevitable that comparisons will be made between the catastrophe that is the Macbeth reign and the current problems in our own country — in fact, situations are so similar in places that they evoked laughter in the audience. At least here (so far) the problems are not solved by murder.

Sacramento Theatre Company has given us a not-surprising excellent production, continuing its commitment to bringing Shakespeare to a new generation of theatergoers.

Musical of Musicals

David Taylor Gomes, Michael RJ Campbell, Kelly Ann Dunn
and Brad Bong perform in Sacramento Theatre Company’s
“The Musical of Musicals: The Musical!”
Charr Crail Photography/Courtesy photo

 

 

Anyone who has ever written song parodies knows how difficult it can be. To write lyric parodies and melody parodies is downright brilliant, so Eric Rockwell and Joanne Bogart may be real musical geniuses.

“The Musical of Musicals (The Musical!)” is making a return appearance on Sacramento Theatre Company’s Pollock Stage and is every bit as amusing and entertaining as it was when it first played here in 2011.

David Taylor Gomes acts as narrator and accompanist and explains to the audience that their beloved theater is about to be torn down because the actors can’t pay the rent. He begs the mean landlord (an offstage voice) to let them produce one more show and he’s certain they can pay the rent. Reluctantly, the landlord agrees and Gomes promises they can write a blockbuster.

The group then presents five possibilities: one in the style of Rodgers and Hammerstein (“Corn”), one in the style of Andrew Lloyd Webber (“Aspects of Junita”), one in the style of Jerry Herman (“Dear Abby”), one in the style of Stephen Sondheim (“A Little Complex” — “nobody understands Sondheim”) and one in the style of Kander and Ebb (“Speakeasy”).

All five musicals have the same plot, a heroine (Kelly Ann Dunn) named either June, Junita, Junie Faye or Juny, who can’t pay the rent, and a sinister landlord (Michael RJ Campbell), who will have his way with her if she can’t pay the rent.

Then there is the hero (Brad Bong) who will save her and the older diva (Martha Omiyo Kight), who will deliver the epic advice song to help the heroine make the right decision.

While all performers are excellent, Dunn is particularly noteworthy for her ability to sing several musical styles, from the corny Rodgers and Hammerstein to the more operatic Lloyd Webber — and sound authentic in each genre.

What makes it all work is that the writers of this show not only understand each of the styles they are parodying, but they obviously respect them and love poking fun at them.

“Corn,” for example takes “Oklahoma” as its base (“Oh What Beautiful Corn”) but then tosses in shows like “Carousel” (there’s even a salute to clam dip), “South Pacific,” “The King and I” and others.

“Big Willie” sings a salute to corn in which he tell us that a lark learning to pray needs to be carefully taught, and later on that milking cows will leave him with a pound and a half of cream upon his face. He also, when unsure about things, tells us that they’re a puzzlement. Mother Abby sings “Follow Your Dream,” to encourage June to make her own decision.

In “Aspects of Junita,” Junita repeatedly sings “I’ve heard this song before,” a reference to the repetitive nature of many of Lloyd Webber’s musicals. The villain also becomes Sir Phantom Jitter, an opera impresario who wants Junita to sing one of his operas (She: You wrote it yourself? He: Do you know opera? She: No. He: Yes, I wrote it myself.)

“Dear Abby” is a salute to all those Herman heroines, like Dolly, Mame or Albin from “La Cage aux Folles” (Jitter is told to put some more mascara on), while the pianist explains that the audience wildly applauds before they’ve done anything.

The section on Sondheim (“It’s Complex”) takes place in an apartment complex called “The Woods.” There is a lot of “Sweeney Todd” and “Sunday in the Park with George” about this piece.

The show closes with a salute to Kander and Ebb, which not only includes their famous musicals (“Cabaret” and “Chicago”) but also “Liza with a Z,” written for Liza Minnelli, transformed into “Julia with a J.”

With direction by Michael Laun and choreography by Michael Jenkinson, this becomes an evening of sparkling entertainment sure to appeal to any musical theater fan.

The Diary of Anne Frank

Dale Lisa Flint (as Mrs. Frank), Maddy Wood (as Anne Frank)
and Eric Wheeler (as Mr. Van Daan) perform in
Sacramento Theatre Company's “The Diary of Anne Frank.” Charr Crail Photography/Courtesy photo

When Anne Frank, a young Jewish girl in Amsterdam, received a diary on her 13th birthday, she dreamed of one day becoming a writer.

Given that her famous diary has been translated into more than 70 languages, published in more than 60 countries and sold more than 35 million copies, her dream was achieved beyond her wildest expectations! Her diary appears on lists of the bestselling books of all times.

A play, dramatized by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, opened on Broadway in 1955, ran 717 performances and won several Tony Awards, including one for Best Play.

Now, to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Anne’s receipt of the diary, the Sacramento Theatre Company is presenting an outstanding version of the story of eight Jewish people hiding in a secluded room for more than two years during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.

The production, directed by Casey McClellan, boasts a stellar cast, starting with Olivia Ingram as Anne (she shares this role with Maddy Wood). Ingram is perfect as the irrepressible young girl whose spirit cannot be dampened despite the circumstances of their claustrophobic incarceration.

During her time in the room, she works through problems with her mother, a first love and irritation with the other occupants, but keeps her positive attitude: “I don’t think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains,” and “I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are really good at heart.”

Michael Jenkinson is Anne’s father, Otto Frank, whose job it is to keep the peace among the disparate group forced to live together.

Mrs. Frank (Dale Lisa Flint) struggles with her relationship with Anne, and she is in charge of keeping the room running smoothly.

Kate Brugger is Anne’s older sister, Margot, quiet and shy. Brugger shares this role with Paige Johnson.

Otto’s business partner, Mr. van Daan (Eric Wheeler), joins the Franks with his wife (Natasha Hause) and son Peter (Nick Leras, sharing the role with Owen Larson). Mr. van Daan is perpetually hungry and tends to steal the small amounts of food the group has. His wife’s dearest possession is her fur coat, which she eventually must sell.

Peter is painfully shy to begin with and spends most of his time in his room with his cat (who must be the best cat in the world, since he lives in a small bucket without complaint!).

A late addition to the room is the dentist, Mr. Dussell (STC favorite Gary Martinez), arriving to spend a day or two, but staying for the duration. Dussell is persnickety and acerbic, allergic to the cat and resentful of having to share a room with Anne. Martinez is reminiscent of Leo G. Carroll.

Frank’s employee, Miep Gies (Kirsten Myers), and Mr. Kraler (William Oberholtzer) keep the secret identities hidden and bring supplies and news of the outside to the group weekly.

While this is a dark, depressing story, it is not without its lighter moments. There is a lovely Hanukkah celebration, where Anne reveals that she has made gifts for everyone, and the joy at hearing of the invasion of Normandy, which brings promise that their incarceration soon may be over.
But in the close quarters, nerves fray and little irritations take on greater significance, and though the audience knows how the story ends, the discovery of the hidden room by the Nazi soldiers is still heart-rending.

Anne died of typhus at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, but because Miep Gies saved her writings, Anne’s father, the only survivor of the group, was able to put her diary into shape to be published.

Anne’s message resonates with all of us today, as we look at all the problems we see around us: “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”

The Donner Party: The Musical

 

Just a short distance from Sutter’s Fort, the final destination of the 80-something settlers who started out from Missouri, intending to settle in California, Sacramento Theatre Company is premiering the musical “The Donner Party.”

The new American musical is by Eric Rockwell (music) and Margaret Rose (book and lyrics). The production is directed by Rose and Michael Laun, who have assembled the cream of the crop for the cast.

There is beautiful music in this saga. There is poignancy. There is humor. And there is deep sadness.
What there is not is consistency of tone. At times, with the crusty old grandma on her deathbed, looking for all the world like Ma Joad (Martha Omiyo Kight), it feels like “Grapes of Wrath” while with each “anthem” number (for want of a better word), it seems like something out of “Les Miserables.”

Then there are the “aren’t we having fun on this adventure” numbers, which could be from any musical comedy Western. What it desperately needs is to be unique and not derivative.

That said, this is definitely a must-see, if only for the wealth of talent and for the wonderfully stirring numbers like “Wagons Roll,” which comes early in Act 1 and caused me to whisper “wow!” to myself. It is followed by many (too many, at 19) numbers that are blockbusters, but too many that drag down the forward motion of the story.

A real plus for the show is the live five-piece band playing behind a screen on the stage, under the direction of Samuel Clein.

The Donner Party was led by two families, the Reeds (Michael RJ Campbell and Vivienne Cleary) and the Donners (Jerry Lee and Maggie Hollinbeck). The Reeds, including their four children, all made it to Sacramento, while both George and Tamsen Donner died while their five children survived.

Campbell and Lee are heroic characters who are obvious leaders whose voices boom out over the theater and make this a real experience.

Wives Cleary and Hollinbeck are less bombastic, but perhaps create more well-rounded characters and are the glue that hold their families together.

The children from STC’s Young Professionals are each wonderful, but I must single out Noa Solorio, who alternates in the role of Virginia Reed with Monique Ward Lonergan, as particularly good. She does not take a back seat to anyone.

Cat Yates is the pregnant Peggy Breen, carrying her bairn around for most of Act 1, but a plucky gal who is going to make it no matter what. (And records show that not only she but also her newborn managed to make it to Sacramento.)

The quartet of women — Tamsen Donner, Margaret Reed, Peggy Breen and Mary Ann Graves (Abbey Williams-Campbell) — provide a brief light moment with “He’s the Man I Chose,” laughing about the idiosyncracies of their respected spouses.

Graves has no spouse, but has fallen in love with Charlie Stanton (Sam C. Jones), who dies before they reach the Sierra.

As Act 1 ends, the group is realizing that they have started too late and they are going to be stuck until the snow stops — which is not until the spring thaw. The audience knows there isn’t going to be much levity in Act 2, but there are a lot (five) of reprises from Act 1.

Yes, the subject of cannibalism is handled tactfully (though apparently, recent excavations put that whole issue into question, as no human bones have been identified), but it is not a major part of the story.

I really want this show to be wonderful, and I think it has the possibility to be. I would love to see it go back to the drawing board to be tightened up and presented again in a couple of years.

I have no complaints about any of the performances, and I’d be willing to bet that many people who have seen the show have been googling the Donner Party to get more information about each of the characters they came to know during this show. Eighty-three started out on this tragic journey; 45 made it all the way.

The Glass Menagerie

David Crane as Tom and Janis Stevens as Amanda perform in Sacramento Theatre Company's
production of “The Glass Menagerie,” on stage through April 30.
Charr Crail Photography/Courtesy photo

“The Glass Menagerie,” now at Sacramento Theatre Company’s Pollock Stage, was the play that made Tennessee Williams a name in modern theater. The play was loosely based on his own life, his melodramatic mother, his emotionally and physically fragile sister, and himself as the would-be poet brother.

Purists who love this play may not be happy with the vision of director Casey McClellan, who has played rather loosely with the original stage directions.

This is described as a “memory play,” meaning that the action takes place in brother Tom’s mind, so important pieces of furniture and props are used, such as a table on which to eat and a couch, as well as a small table with four or five glass ornaments.

But most of the set and props, things that would not have been foremost in Tom’s memory, are mimed (designers Jarrod Bodensteiner and Renee DeGarmo). Lighting cigarettes, for example, involves an exaggerated match-lighting movement and an accompanying lighting effect (design by Jessica Bertine).

The mixture of set and no set, props and no props is a bit off-putting, though Tom warns “it is sentimental, it is not realistic.”

When an actor takes on a role, it is understood that he or she makes that role his or her own, under the direction from the director, and so David Crane’s overpowering, somewhat brittle Tom seems at odds with the wanna be writer/poet that the playwright described. But there is no denying that the performance is riveting, even though he approaches the role of the narrator of the story with the charisma of a snake-oil salesman.

It is the story of the Wingfield family forever affected by the unseen father, “a telephone man who fell in love with long-distance.” His departure left behind a mother and two children, one of whom is crippled (a word not allowed to be spoken) following a bout of polio.

There can’t have been a better choice than Janis Stevens to play the faded Southern belle, Amanda Wingfield, a woman rooted in the days of the “gentleman caller,” a cross between a strong matriarch and a flighty debutante. There is no doubt that Stevens knows who she is and gives a memorable, beautiful performance. She shines in her belle-of-the-ball finery, dressing up to meet a real gentleman caller, exuding all of the Southern charm she remembers from her youth.

Amanda wants only the best for her children — though her ideas of what they need are based on her own life, not the reality of the children in front of her.

Tom’s older sister, Laura (Katherine Stroller) is painfully shy and insecure, made even more so by the slight limp, which is barely noticeable in this production, but which bothers her a lot. Stroller fades into the woodwork, until her “gentleman caller” Jim (Eric Craig) shows up and there is a sweet scene between the two of them that shows the potential for Laura.

Jim is the gentleman caller Amanda has browbeat Tom into bringing home to meet Laura. She is unaware that he was Laura’s high school crush and the thought of his showing up in her apartment terrifies Laura. Jim was the high school star, but life has not treated him well. Still, Craig provides the one note of normalcy in this odd family dynamic.

The real “glass menagerie” of glass equine figures in this production seems to take on a very small role, but at the end of the play, one realizes more that it is, instead, the Wingfield family who are the glass menagerie, with their fragile, easily damaged egos.

The Tempest

Hope Luna as Miranda (also played by Monique Lonergan) and Matt K. Miller as Prospero |
perform in Sacramento Theatre Company’s “The Tempest.”
Charr Crail Photography/Courtesy photo

 When you cast Sacramento Theatre Company favorites Michael RJ Campbell, Gary Martinez and especially Matt K. Miller in anything, you know you will have a hit on your hands.

Such is the situation with the current production of “The Tempest,” directed by Aaron Galligan-Stierle, his first as director. The production, however, showed no evidence of a newcomer.

Miller is wonderful as Prospero, former Duke of Milan, deposed by his brother Antonio (Ian Hopps) and left to die on a raft with daughter Miranda (Monique Ward Lonergan in the production I saw. She shares the role with Hope Luna). All he is given is a box of books from which he has studied magic. The raft lands on an island, where he and his daughter have been for 12 years.

Prospero has cast spells over the island’s inhabitants. The spirit Ariel (Emily Serdahl), previously imprisoned by the late witch Sycorax, becomes Prospero’s slave. Serdahl is lithe and fragile-looking, playing a guitar to indicate when she is casting a spell.

Caliban (Atim Udoffia), a monster half-human-half-fish, is also enslaved by Prospero and becomes his muscle man. He is a bitter slave whom Prospero describes as “got by the devil himself.”
(It is an interesting casting choice, with Miller the very-white Prospero and Udoffia the very-black Caliban, which may upset some.)

In the midst of a tremendous storm, a ship is wrecked on the shore of the island. The scene features great effects by scenic designer Eric Broadwater and lighting designer Jessica Bertine, though it’s interesting that all the shipwrecked passengers arrive in clothes, designed by Jessica Minnihan, which are neither wet nor torn. Maybe some of Prospero’s magic?

The storm is a marvel, with tremendous wind blowing stage-height panels, strobe lights making convincing lightning and the music accentuating the sound of the wind, all while the actors do their best to portray being shipwrecked.

By fortuitous circumstances, the passengers on the ship include Antonio, Alonso, the King of Naples (Gregg Koski), his son Ferdinand (Sam C. Jones), brother Sebastian (Kevin Gish), and his adviser Gonzalo (Gary S. Martinez). There are also the king’s jesters, Michael RJ Campbell and Jake Mahler, who provide comic relief throughout the play.

This gives Prospero a chance to use his magic and cunning wiles to get his revenge on his brother. Miller’s Prospero, above all else a loving father working to make a match for his daughter with Ferdinand, comes across as less a vengeful king, but more a brother getting back at brother.

As for Miranda, she has lived on the island her whole life and her father is the only male figure she has seen, so this handsome young man sets her pubescent genes pulsing instantly.

Though the inhabitants of the island now are actually in three different places, there is little to indicate that in the set design, and it was sometimes confusing to figure out where exactly the current scene was taking place.

All’s well that ends well, however, and Prospero regains his status as king, the brothers patch things up, Miranda and Ferdinand live happily ever after, Arial and Caliban get their freedom, and Prospero gives a moving epilogue to the audience asking them to forgive him for his wrongdoing.

I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change

From left, David Crane, Melinda Parrett, Jennifer Morrison and Jake Mahler star
in Sacramento Theatre Company's "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change.”
Charr Crail Photography/Courtesy photo

 “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change,” by Joe DiPietro and Jimmy Roberts, is now on Sacramento Theatre Company’s Pollock Stage, directed by Jerry Lee.

This is a show that ran for 5,000 performances off Broadway from 1996 through 2008 and has been a favorite of small theaters around the country ever since. It has been translated into more than a dozen languages.

It is a pleasant “boutique musical” — a term used by STC Education Director, Michele Hillen-Noufer — which is guaranteed to appeal to white, older, married empty-nesters. For other demographics, perhaps not quite so much.

The show, while dated, is a celebration of the mating game. Act 1 explores the journey from dating and waiting to love and marriage, while Act 2 reveals the agonies and triumphs of in-laws, newborns, trips in the family car and pickup techniques of the geriatric set.

The cast consists of two men and two women. Melinda Parrett, frequently seen at B Street Theatre, has performed with STC twice before, but it is a debut performance for Jake Mahler, David Crane and Jennifer Morrison (so poignant in Green Valley Theater’s recent “Last Five Years”), all of whom are wonderful additions to the STC family.

The four are accompanied by Samuel Clein (alternating with Chris Schlagel), conductor and keyboard, and Annie Coke on violin.

The actors rotate through the approximately 20 roles in the show, from angst of the first date …

Will my hopes be met? Will my fear dispel?
Will I captivate? Or will I repel?
Will I show him/her just how wonderful I am?
Or will I be a date from hell?

… through marriage and the problems of finding intimacy when there are children in the house, all the way through trying to find a mate after a messy divorce, using a dating service (Parrett is very funny trying to figure out the new technology) and finding another partner following the death of the first, though each still loves the departed spouse.

Girl: Arthur, there is something I have to tell you, when it comes, to you know, I’m not the type of person who jumps in bed like an acrobat, it takes time with me,
Guy: Uh oh.
Girl: That’s a problem?
Guy: Depends, how much time you talking, cause if you’re talking years I don’t think either of us has that long.
Girl: I was talking a few weeks maybe,
Guy: No matter, I can live with that.

The scene is a less funny and more poignant moment that will touch the heart of those of us “of a certain age” who have attended too many funerals lately.

The longevity of this show is proof of its popularity, and with a load of talent like Mahler, Parrett, Crane and Morrison, along with Jerry Lee (who was in the show when STC did it in 2012), it can’t help but be another hit for the company.

Cinderella

Sacramento Theatre Company is bringing back its wildly popular “Cinderella” as a Christmas gift to audiences. Based on the British pantomime format, combining music, slapstick, cross-dressing and buffoonery, this version is written by Kate Hawley with music by local composer Gregg Coffin and direction by Michael Laun.

This particular production includes three students from Davis High School. In the title role is Emily O’Flaherty, who shares the role with Madeline Perez. Both are products of STC’s Young People’s program. O’Flaherty is lovely and everyone’s mental image of a Cinderella. Her transformation from scullery maid to princess is magical.

Another Davis High student is 10th-grader Jimin Moon, playing Knickers, best friend to Cinderella (with a big crush on her). Moon alternates in the role with Luke Crabbe.

Rounding out the DHS presence is James Hayakawa, a member of the show’s ensemble.

The cast is headed by the wonderful Michael RJ Campbell as the formidable stepmother Mrs. Baden-Rotten. In the days when STC also filled the roles of the evil stepsisters with cross-dressers,
Campbell was the whiny, pouty zaftig sister Goneril. He now fills his mother’s big shoes and is even more fearsome — the character you love to boo.

As Baden-Rotten’s daughters, Emily Serdahl as Goneril and Brandi Lacy as Regan are ugly, spiteful and utterly hilarious, especially the contortions they go through to try to convince the prince that theirs is the foot to fit that famous glass slipper.

Making his STC debut, Sam C. Jones is positively charming as the prince who would rather hunt than think about girls. He and O’Flaherty have a nice chemistry together, even if he can’t recognize her when she’s all dressed up at the ball.

His best friend is Brian Bohlender as Dandini, who enjoys a few hours wearing the princely crown so Charming can be just one of the guys.

Others in the cast are equally endearing, including Michael Coleman and Andrea St. Clair as the King and Queen, eager to find Charming a wife. St. Clair can be seen dusting the castle so well she forgets to take off her apron, and then is aghast that her guests might have seen her. Coleman is a laid-back king, with his crown sitting at a rakish angle on his head, more intent on letting Charming do his own thing.

Abigail Lambert (alternating with Jordan Taylor) was wonderful as the politically active anti-monarchy Little Bo Peep who wins the heart of Dandini. Her flock of sheep look more like Rockettes, as they sashay around the stage. They are a sight to behold, especially the black sheep, Leah Hassett.

Everyone’s favorite, though, may have been Jerald Bolden as the very-tall tap-dancing, picnic basket-stealing bear.

This show is certain to appeal to everyone. There is audience participation in the form of yelling out at certain times and waving hands in the air, and everyone loves the Prince’s search for the girl who will fit the glass slipper, as he goes through the audience trying it on several women and young girls.

With the opportunity to buy crowns in the lobby, everyone can feel part of the court, and after the show, the cast members line up for photos with people in the audience, particularly star-struck young children.

This is a fun way to share theater with children or grandchildren, with a show that has enough in-jokes and innuendo that adults enjoy it, too.

I Ought To Be in Pictures

Neil Simon has written more than 30 plays and has received more Oscar and Tony nominations than any other writer.

“I Ought to Be in Pictures,” now on the Sacramento Theatre Company’s Pollock Stage, may not be one of Simon’s better plays, but in the right hands, it can be a funny, sweet story. Fortunately, STC has the right hands.

Start with Kate Brugger, who plays Libby, daughter of has-been Hollywood writer Herb Tucker (Eric Wheeler). Brugger alternates in this role with Fiona Ross. Both actresses are members of STC’s Young Professionals Company.

Libby arrives, unannounced, at Herb’s home. She’s 19 years old and has not seen or heard from her father in 16 years, since he left her, her mother and brother in New York. But she knows he’s a writer and expects him to introduce her to people who can get her into the movies, because she knows she is destined to become a star.

Brugger is mesmerizing. She has a self-confidence and a bravado from her first lines. She is in charge of the stage. Yet she can be naive and vulnerable, and as her relationship with her father progresses, she is able to let that vulnerability peek through, while not letting go of the brittle shield that is her protection.

What Libby finds on her arrival in Hollywood is not what she imagined. She pictured her father living in some luxury home surrounded by famous friends. Instead, he’s in a seedy rented bungalow, in the chaos of a life going disappointingly wrong, suffering from long-term writer’s block. After three failed marriages, he is afraid of commitment, though he seems to lavish all of his love on his two citrus trees, of which he is inordinately proud.

Wheeler, perhaps more familiar for his comedic roles, ultimately settles into the role of Herb and makes the chemistry between the two actors beautiful, though his early scenes were a bit too over the top. But the evolution from disinterested father to concerned father is beautiful to watch. He’s never been a father, but he wants to try, even if he sometimes screws up. He comfortably walks the fine line between comedy and drama.

The third character in this show is Natasha Hause, as Steffy, Herb’s kinda/sorta girlfriend, though she would like to make it a bit more permanent. Steffy becomes a buffer between Herb and Libby, calming him down and getting him to give the girl a chance, then supporting her when she becomes frustrated with her father’s lack of response and convincing her to give him a chance.

Hause is a lovely calming influence, not taking over the stage, but always there is a presence when needed.

“I Ought to be in Pictures” is the story of a dysfunctional family and the girl determined to fix things. There is anger, confusion, frustration, but also camaraderie, love … and ultimately redemption.

Life for none of the three characters is what they dreamed it would be, but they manage to make reality work for them.

Director Bill Zarriello keeps the action crisp, which is essential in this play and allows the comedy to come from the natural flow of dialog rather than hitting the audience over the head with lines that he wants them to know are funny.

Twelfth Night

Chris Vettel (foreground) as Malvolio with (background, left to right) Don Hayden as Sir Toby Belch,
Sean Patrick Nill as Fabian, and Justin Muñoz as Sir Andrew Auguecheek
perform in STC’s production of Twelfth Night.
Barry Wisdom Photography/Courtesy photo

“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ’em,” says the dour stewart Malvolio (Chris Vettel) in Sacramento Theatre Company’s marvelous new production of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night.”

Fortunately, the actors had achieved greatness and those of us in the audience had the good fortune to have that greatness thrust upon us.

While everyone in the cast was wonderful, this particular production belonged to the women. Melinda Parrett was regal, cool and detached as the noble woman Olivia in her time of mourning for her deceased brother, until she sees Cesario, page to Count Orsino (actually the shipwrecked Viola, disguised as a man), who awakens her adolescent hormones and turns her into a horny teenager.

As for Alicia Hunt, fresh off her triumphant performance in B Street’s “Grounded,” she gave a magnetic performance as Viola, bold and brash in her male disguise, yet soft and feminine when a woman. When the two actors appear on stage together, there is something magical that happens.

Not quite on a par with those two, but still strong in her own right, is Taylor Vaughan as Maria, Olivia’s woman servant, with a wicked sense of humor as she creates a cruel trick to play on the hapless Malvolio. This is Vaughn’s first professional show and first appearance with STC.

Orsino (Ryan Snyder) is mooning around for the lovely Olivia, and can’t quite understand his attraction for his “man” servant Cesario. Snyder is soap-opera handsome and commands attention just by striding manfully on stage. His red coat (by costume designer Jessica Minnihan) sets him apart from the others before he ever speaks.

Directors Kirk Blackinton and Brian Harrower have chosen to set this play on an 18th-century Caribbean island, which lends itself beautifully to sand-colored mansions adorned with colorful flowers (designer Eric Broadwater), and it also gives the character of Feste, traditionally a clown, a different focus. Noah Lee Hayes is barefoot and carries bongos around with him and is always breaking into calypso songs when the spirit (or the dialog) moves him.

Olivia’s uncle, Sir Toby Belch, is perhaps one of Shakespeare’s best-known buffoons, and is there to lend a special comic touch. Don Hayden plays him to the hilt.

Vettel’s Malvolio’s haughty, judgmental opinion of things like drinking, singing and fun (which Sir Toby and his friends love to do) earns him the scorn of the revelers and the cruel trick Maria devises. Vettel’s reeling around in the ridiculous costume he dons to win favor with Olivia is very funny.

Aaron Kitchin is Sebastian, Viola’s brother, whom she assumed had been lost at sea. While they are obviously not “identical” twins (fraternal twins are never identical, despite what the play seems to imply), the two wouldn’t even pass as identical, as Kitchin has at least a foot of height on Hunt. But let it pass. He succumbs happily and readily to Olivia’s mistaking him for his sister.

This is a romantic comedy where, after many mixups, everything gets sorted out and all’s well that ends well (or is that a different show?)

In any event, Sacramento Theatre Company has done a wonderful job on a comedy that should appeal to everyone.

Driving Miss Daisy

Janis Stevens as Daisy gives orders to
Michael J. Asberry as Hoke in Sacramento
Theatre Company’s production of "Driving Miss Daisy"

The Sacramento Theater Company has discovered the perfect recipe for a hit.  Start with a wonderful Pulitzer prize winning play like “Driving Miss Daisy” by Alfred Uhry, add amazing actors like Michael J. Asberry as Hoke, Scott Divine as Boolie, and the incomparable Janis Stevens as Miss Daisy.  Stir all with the brilliant young director Benjamin T. Ismail, pop into the lovely Pollock Theater, let simmer for 90 minutes and produce a gourmet delight.

The play, which was inspired by the playwright's own grandmother and her chauffeur tells the story of the evolving relationship of an elderly white widow and her black chauffeur across 25 years and subtly mirrors the changing times in this country in the bargain.

Though this play premiered off Broadway in 1987, we are probably most familiar with the 1989 movie, starring Jessica Tandy in the title role and Morgan Freeman as the driver, Hoke (Freeman also played the role in the original play).

This 72 year old critic was a bit miffed when Boolie tells his mother at the start of the play that she’s 72 years old and, following an accident, is too old to drive and that he is going to hire a chauffeur for her.  The amiable Hoke is hired and spends his first week trying to get Miss Daisy to let him drive her...anywhere, but the irascible woman refuses his offers to help, determined not to give up her independence.
                   
She does eventually relent and thus begins the long road that leads, through all the emotional twists, turns and bumps along the way, to her admitting after more than 25 years that he has been her best friend. In this world of CGI, action films, loud music and frenetic dancing, this is a simple story of friendship, family and love.

Miss Daisy is a wealthy retired school teacher (though terribly embarrassed to admit that she has money, and so concerned about it that she is fearful that Hoke is stealing from her when she discovers one can of salmon is missing from her pantry).

Hoke’s patience is admirable and he gradually wins her respect and even her affection.
                               
When the old woman discovers Hoke is illiterate, and she teaches him to read and shows pride in his accomplishment.  Later, Hoke, cleverly negotiating a raise with Boolie, lapses into an Ohio accent, which is very funny.

Taking us through the turbulent post World War II years and through the Jim Crow south, this is a show that tugs at your heart strings without being sappy, it gives a moral lesson in the most understated, yet powerful, way, and still brings a lot of laughs.  It is a reminder that friendship can make all the difference in troubled times.

After the bombing of her synagogue, when Miss Daisy talks about anti-Semitism in the south, Hoke shares his experience seeing his uncle hanged for being black and their friendship deepens by their shared experience with racism.  A particularly strong, moving scene concerns Hoke’s need to take a bathroom break on a long drive and Miss Daisy being reminded that blacks cannot use restrooms in gas stations in the south.

When Miss Daisy, now 91, develops dementia and has to be placed in a mental health facility, Hoke, now retired, visits her not as her chauffeur, but as her friend.

The success of any production of this play depends on the skill and sensitivity of the three actors and STC could not ask for better.  Particularly impressive is watching all three very subtly age 25 years over 90 minutes.  The performance of all three talented performers should not be missed.

Kites and Kings

Benjamin Franklin (Ted Barton, left), Polly Stevenson (Katie Rubin),
and Temple (Riley Edwards) perform in Sacramento Theatre Company’s
“Of Kites and Kings.” Barry Wisdom Photography/Courtesy photo

I’m sure you remember Benjamin Franklin. You know — one of the fathers of our country? You’ve surely seen his picture on the money.
Ol’ Ben was a pretty impressive guy. He was a politician, a postmaster, a printer, a diplomat and so much more. As an inventor, he gave us the bifocals, and the Franklin stove; as a writer, he left us with wise sayings in “Poor Richard’s Almanac”; and as a scientist, he experimented with electricity.

But even larger-than-life heroes have their flaws. A wonderful world-premiere play, “Of Kites and Kings,” by Gary Wright, now at Sacramento Theatre Company, shows that in Franklin’s personal relationships there was much lacking.

The play is set in a boarding house run by a woman named Polly Stevenson (the always-funny Katie Rubin), where Franklin (Ted Barton, a convincing look-alike Franklin) seems to spend most of his time.

We learn that Franklin has an illegitimate son, William (Dan Fagan), with whom he has an uneasy relationship and the play centers mostly on that relationship — the good, the bad and, yes, the ugly. William has studied law and is a loyalist, which sets up all sorts of enmity between father and son. Both are fighting tyrants. Franklin is fighting King George while his son is fighting his father.

There are flashback scenes to Ben and William experimenting with electricity, which display a time when things were good between them — nice special effects by lighting and sound designer Les Solomon.

Costumes by Jessica Minnihan are handsome period pieces and work well for setting the feel of the play.

Rubin acts as a sort of narrator, as well as a part of the plot. She develops an instant crush on the handsome young William and her descriptions of events often include fantasy rendezvous with William. Rubin also briefly plays William’s fiancée, Elizabeth Downes, in Polly’s fantasy view of her, as an unlikable harridan with a shrill voice, in scenes that seem to play more for the humor (the kind Rubin does best) than for any important plot point in the story.

Toward the end of Act 1, we meet William Temple Franklin who, in a chip-off-the-old-block situation, is the illegitimate son of William. As the enmity between Ben and William intensifies, Ben’s relationship with Temple deepens.

Temple was played in the performance I saw by Adrian Anderson, but he shares the role with Riley Edwards. Anderson played William as a soft, spoiled young man who has affection for his grandfather and little or no relationship with his father.

As the play ends, we have perhaps a bit less of a feeling of awe about Benjamin Franklin because we have seen a serious personal flaw and it pains us.

This show has a lot of humor without being a comedy. It has a lot of serious situations without being a drama, and it discusses a bit of history without being a historical drama. What it is is a fun evening of theater by a top-notch cast.

Sense and Sensibility

Teddy Spencer as Edward Ferrars and Laura Klingaman as Elinor Dashwood

Whatever did young women do to find a man in the days before online dating sites?

Jane Austen seems to have had her own 18th-century Match.com, based on the plot of her most popular novels. Her “Sense and Sensibility” is currently having a delicious run at Sacramento Theatre Company, opening its 71st season.

Austen wrote this work in the form of letters, in 1795, at the age of 19, which may explain why she writes so knowledgeably about the thoughts and emotions of young women. It was not published until 1811, by which time Austen had changed the form to a narrative and the title to “Sense and Sensibility.” Its author was the anonymous “A Lady.”

The story follows the fortunes and misfortunes, the loves and heartbreaks of the plucky Dashwood sisters and the wicked and wacky characters who surround them.

Lenne Klingaman is simply outstanding as Elinor Dashwood, the “sensible” sister. She is noble to a fault in controlling her feelings for Edward Ferrars (Teddy Spencer), and later her disappointment in him. (Ferrars also takes a brief hilarious turn, as his brother Robert.)

Lindsey Marie Schmeltzer is sister Marianne, the drama queen who feels love is a waste until she is swept off her feet (literally) by roué John Willoughby (Kevin Gish), who will later break her heart.
This is a superior cast, but outstanding among them are Matt K. Miller, playing the kind of role he does so well as John Middleton, the affable squire who offers lodging to the Dashwood women after they are forced out of their own home. Miller plays Middleton with all the ebullience of Dickens’ Fezziwig.

Adding wonderful comic moments is Laura Kaya as Mrs. Jennings, mother-in-law to John, a substantial woman with a voice that shatters glass, an effervescent personality, and a big heart to boot.

Also in the comic department is Tara Henry as Mrs. Palmer, the ditzy wife of dour Mr. Palmer (Ron Dailey). Mrs. Palmer always finds something to laugh at and when she gets together with Mrs. Jennings, they are as funny as Lucy and Ethel off on some wacky caper.

David Campfield gives a subdued but solid performance as Colonel Brandon, hopelessly in love with Marianne, yet constantly rebuffed by her.

Special mention must be given to the marvelous sets by Renee DeGarmo, which, assisted by tech crew and cast members, roll in and out, twist and turn, and create several beautiful settings without a break in the action of the actors.

Jessica Minnihan’s costumes were beautiful, but I did feel sorry that everyone wore the same clothes for the entire show.

In the end, one always wonders if sense or sensibility will win out, and happily for the Dashwood sisters, they learn to combine them both for a happy ending.

That old guy in the Match.com ads would be so pleased.